Author: Glenn Hauman

Frank Miller Gets Sent Up

  • News
  • October 22, 2007

There are a lot of people who owe a LOT of their careers to parodying Frank Miller. Exhibit A: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Now, sadly, it looks like the movies are following suit.

We are not particularly proud to present Meet The Spartans, starring (left to right) Carmen Electra, Diedrich Bader, and Kevin Sorbo. Brought to you by the same people who bring you Scary Movies, I suspect that the only surprise in the film is what you see in this photo: that Diedrich Bader actually has a six pack.

We’re going to just recommend you save the price of a ticket and ninety minutes of your life and go watch United 300 instead:

Cory Doctorow’s Futuristic Tales of the Here And Now #1: Review

  • News
  • October 17, 2007

Cory Doctorow is either very arrogant or very smart.

Anyone who knows Cory would dispute the first bit, but consider: he gives away all of his writing to readers for free. If you want to read his website at boingboing, by all means; if you want to download his novels, go to Cory’s website and do so, he encourages it and wants you to spread the word. And he expects that he will make money doing this, that his stuff is so good that people will send him money in one way or another. So he either is very arrogant about the quality of his work– or he knows something about the workings of the world that you don’t. Which makes him, if not very smart, then certainly a born science fiction writer. And since he does make money doing this, he’s certainly not dumb.

IDW has begun to adapt his shorter fiction pieces into comic book form, starting with 2004’s "Anda’s Game". You can read the story (for free, of course) here, so the question is: does it work in comics? It certainly does. Esteve Polls’s art reminds me of the work of various Filipino horror comics artists of the 70’s, and Dara Naraghi does a solid condensation and adaptation of Cory’s story. Give this book a shot– the stories are done in one issue, and it’s worth the time.

Disclaimer: I help package books for IDW, and in fact, I’m already late delivering the art for the Munden’s Bar trade paperback…

American Idol’s Aiken in Spamalot?

  • News
  • October 17, 2007

Playbill tells us that Clay Aiken is going to make his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python’s Spamalot in the role of Sir Robin. Aiken will be making his Broadway debut in the role originated on Broadway by David Hyde Pierce. His run begins Jan. 18, 2008, and is scheduled to continue through May 4.

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Stephen Colbert for President?

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  • October 17, 2007

51yvj3-asyl-_aa240_-5835564Finally, Stephen Colbert is throwing his hat into the ring and officially announcing his candidacy for President of the United States.  Colbert appeared on The Daily Show last night and suggested he might consider considering a run for the highest office in the land, but then said he would make his official announcement on a "more prestigious show."  Then appearing on his own show, he made the big announcement amid a waterfall of red, white and blue balloons.  He went on to say he plans to file and run in South Carolina, his home state, and only in South Carolina, and will file for both the Republican and Democratic parties.

We suspected it ever since he took over Maureen Dowd’s column.

On this day: flu epidemic shut down the movies

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

If you think the pending Writers Guild of America strike could throw Hollywood into a tizzy, just imagine how much worse it’s been in the past.

89 years ago today, the leading film studios announced they would stop releasing films due to the 1918 flu epidemic. It’s good to know that if this happened today, we would take equally cautious measures. But to be extra safe, we’d close the supermarkets. And have a curfew. And invade a country. Because after all, they gave us the flu because they hate our freedom. Today, at least we can pretend to have Jack Bauer saving us from biological threats.

And think how happy certain Tinseltown types would be to have something to blame the weekend grosses on.

Happy birthday, ABC!

  • News
  • October 14, 2007

On October 14, 1943, Edward J. Noble bought the Blue Network for $8,000,000. So what, you say? A bit of media history to explain first…

In the 30’s and 40’s, the National Broadcasting Company was a radio network and its big star was Jack Benny. NBC was made up of two separate units, the Red Network and the Blue Network, which were created in 1928 to better manage the company’s increasing number of radio affiliates. By 1938, the Red Network was producing roughly 75 percent of NBC’s commercial shows, with the only big hit on the Blue Network being Amos and Andy.

A few years later, the FTC was wary of monopolies taking over the industry, so they mandated that companies would no longer be allowed to control more than one network. NBC was forced to sell one of its divisions and, of course, chose the weaker Blue Network to put on the auction block. The aforementioned Edward Noble, who had already earned millions from sales of his popular Lifesavers candy, bought the network, promptly renaming it American Broadcasting Systems. And a year later, Noble changed the name again, this time to what has become a more familiar title… the American Broadcasting Company.

The rise of the Revolutionary Misfits!

  • News
  • October 12, 2007

Every once in a while we come across things on the interwebs we cannot begin to explain, we can only point at them and go, "Wow." We have effectively been stunned into silence by what we see, and can only share them with you.

In this spirit, we present to you… the Revolutionary Misfits! Thrill to the evil plans of Apathy Man! Chill to the exploits of Global Warming Man! Spill to the– oh, just look. I can’t even figure out where to start, other than here.

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O’Neil, Uslan, Foglios, DeFalco Go Public

  • News
  • October 12, 2007

batmanbegins-3026568People really are taking this comics stuff seriously. This Saturday, October 13, at 7 p.m. at the Montclair Art Museum as part of their "Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of American Comic Book Superheroes exhibition," there will be a lecture on "Superheroes and Society," moderated by Michael Uslan, executive producer of Batman and Batman Begins; with Danny Fingeroth, author of Superman On the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves; ComicMix columnist Dennis O’Neil, and Tom DeFalco, former editor in chief of Marvel Comics. $12 for memebers, $16 for non-members.

Meanwhile, the Association for Computing Machinery at the University of Illinois is hosting its 13th annual computing conference on October 12–14, with guests Phil and Kaja Foglio speaking on a panel entitled: "I can haz money now? Successfully Reengineering Traditional Comic Publishing For The Web," where they will be discussing, what else, Girl Genius.

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