Author: Glenn Hauman

Bid on dinner with Joss Whedon at Comic-Con

There are some parties at San Diego that are impossible to get into. Sometimes, it’s better to get into a nice quiet upscale dinner, and even those can be amazing — I happened to be at one two years ago where the food was great and the stories were stunning.

But this might be the topper for the year: Joss Whedon (Astonishing X-Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain America’s surrender in Civil War) is auctioning off five seats at a dinner table with him at the San Diego Comic-Con this year. Bidding is up to over $4000 a seat with a week to go. Here’s a link to one of the seats, but check on eBay as there are five separate ones and eBay didn’t set this up as a Dutch Auction.

Dinner will be on July 27th in San Diego, and 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit Equality Now. Here’s Joss making a speech for them:

Hat tip: Heidi MacDonald.

John Rogers on the Cheney Administration

On this American Independence Day, Blue Beetle and Transformers: The Movie writer John Rogers has a post that sums up the feeling that many have in America today: 

We are faced with utterly shameless men. Cheney and the rest are looking our representatives right in the eye and saying "You don’t have the balls to take down a government. You don’t have the sheer testicular fortitude to call us lying sonuvabitches when we lie, to stop us from kicking the rule of law and the Constitution in the ass. You just don’t. What’s beyond that abyss — what that would do to our government and our identity as a nation — terrifies you too much. So get the fuck out of our way."

And to a great degree, the White House is right. You peel this back, and you reveal that the greatest country in the world has been run, for the last six and a half years, by men who do not give a shit about the Constitution, or fair play, or honesty. No, not just run by corrupt men, or bribe-takers, or adulterers or whatever, we could handle that –no we’d be admitting It Went Wrong.

There is a sizeable population in America that just does not, cannot wrap their head around the fact that the President may be a Bad Man who does Bad Things. He’s President of America. We’re Americans. We’re the good guys. Remember, the Nixon mythos in America is that the system worked. "See, in America, even the President is not above the law."

As they say, read the whole thing.

Be a patriot! Support the First Amendment!

Contribute to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

Sequential Tart’s Editor-in-Chief Katherine Keller has even made it easier for your money to go farther: if she gets forty people to kick up $25, she’ll match all of their contributions, $1000 bucks out of her own pocket, and Carl Rigney has volunteered to match her donation– so $25 from you means $75 to the CBLDF. She’s got ten more contributors to go as of this writing… but don’t think that you get off the hook if they hit the numbers, they need every dime that they can raise for the Gordon Lee fight. (Hat tip: ¡Journalista!)

Vampire tour of New York City

We get some strange mail here at ComicMix, but this one’s a bit more unusual than usual:

This July 13th, you can learn the history of New York City as you never imagined it! Count Dracula’s faithful servant, Dr. Jack Seward, will escort you through the Upper West Side of Manhattan, starting at Central Park and West 72nd Street. The late Dr. Seward will recount the history of some of the most famous spots, and how vampires played a role in that history! By the Count’s orders, he will reveal closely-guarded secrets of the vampire community. The Count may even join you himself; at the very least, he’ll be watching… $25 per person, payable on site. For full details, to register for July 13th, and/or to be added to our list for future tours, email Dr. Seward at glinzner@hotmail.com before noon on July 13th.

If you go, let us know if it bites or sucks.

Harvey Birdman going down

harveybirdman-5421298The New York Post (I read it only for the Page 3 girls, honest) reports that Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is ending its run after 39 episodes. The series, which helped launch CN’s "Adult Swim" block back in the carefree days of September 2001, will air a new episode Sunday, July 15 (11:45 PM). That’ll be followed by a 30-minute sendoff special July 22 (also 11:45 PM), in which Harvey falls into a drunken spiral after his methods are questioned and his past legal wins are overturned.

No word on what will happen to the characters, although I understand Peter Potamus is supposed to appear on the next season of The Biggest Loser, Avenger has something lined up with Animal Planet, and Myron Reducto is going to show up on Heroes — although it will be a small part.

Artwork copyright HB. All Rights Reserved.

Happy 60th birthday, Dave Barry!

davebarry-5768050Yes, it’s the 60th birthday of Mr. Language Person himself, David Barry Jr. Without his tireless "journalistic" efforts, the world might never know about exploding whales, or how to count to a million billion gazillion, or even what phrases would be good names for a rock band.

So let’s all gather round our monitors and watch the fireworks a day early…

DC toy license goes to Mattel

mattel_logo2-3076756dc2005logo-2094568Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded Mattel, Inc., the master toy license for the complete DC Comics Universe of characters and properties.  In addition to the rights to existing DC Comics characters/animation/movies, the multi-year pact provides Mattel with the rights to produce toys based on future DC Universe film and animation projects that are developed and produced during the term of the agreement.  Mattel will support the DC Universe characters across all of its key brands including Hot Wheels, Radica, Fisher-Price, Tyco and Mattel Games. 

The financial terms of the deal were not released, and there’s no word how this will impact the DC Direct brand.

Me, I’m waiting for the Wonder Woman merchandise to start showing up in American Girl stores.

kissmarvelsuperspecial1-5714909

Happy 30th Anniversary, KISS comics!

kissmarvelsuperspecial1-5714909Thirty years ago today, Marvel released the debut of Marvel Comics Super Special #1 featuring Kiss, where they squared off against (who else?) Mephisto and Dr. Doom. The issue was printed with ink that had blood added from each of the band members, a feat not surpassed until Mark Gruenwald’s ashes were mixed in with the trade paperback of Squadron Supreme.

Kiss would later star in a second Super Special, a 31 issue run of Kiss: Psycho Circus with Image in the 90’s, guest star in Howard The Duck, and made an announcement back in February of the creation of the Kiss Comics Group.

Gene Simmons is a huge comic book fan, reportedly taking the heavy metal salute of index and pinky fingers extended (pictured below) straight from Doctor Strange, and publishing some of his own titles with the Simmons Comics Group, such as Gene Simmons’s House of Horrors, which will be out in July from IDW.

simmonsagamotto-5253258And Simmons noted in his autobiography that the character he most identifies with is Jon Sable. Boy, is he going to be happy soon…

Tony Blair retires…?

So what does Tony Blair stepping down have to do with us over here? Well, apparently, the way they get a new Prime Minister in England has changed a bit, as evidenced by this interview that aired on BBC2:

Happy 29th birthday, Garfield!

garfield_19_jun_1978-5600786

How did we get to this before Mark Evanier did? 29 years ago today, the above strip brought Garfield to the world at large. Since then, he has consumed more lasagna than the entire cast of The Sopranos and has shed enough hair to clog Hoover Dam. Oh, and a whole lot of books, TV shows, and even a few movies.

Happy birthday, big guy– but now that you’re getting on in years, might you consider watching your weight?