Author: Glenn Hauman

Circulations drop at newspapers

Comic books aren’t the only media who are having bad times with circulation drops. Comic strips are feeling pinched too, perhaps even more, as many of the large metro newspapers across the country are experiencing significant circulation drops, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Circulation at The New York Times fell by 1.93%, at Tribune’s Newsday by 6.9% and at Belo’s Dallas Morning News by 14%. National dailies fared slightly better, remaining flat compared to last year.

Round up the usual suspects. Darn that Internet.

Shrek heading to The Great White Way

If you’ve ever wanted to make an ass of yourself on Broadway, now’s your chance.

The casting call for Shrek – The Broadway Musical, has gone out for the roles of Shrek and Donkey. All audition materials need to be submitted by May 18, 2007.  For specifics on what the creative team is looking for in each character, and how to submit audition materials, all would be ogres and asses should go to http://iwanttobeshrek.com/ . A two-week reading of the show is slated to take place this in NYC, July 23-August 3.

Shrek – The Broadway Musical is scheduled to premiere on Broadway sometime in 2008.

(Artwork copyright 2004 Dreamworks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. Watch your ass. Get it?)

Mitt Romney favors L. Ron Hubbard

  • Uncategorized
  • May 2, 2007

battlefieldearth-3363928Quoting Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Making Light:

"The good news: Even unblinking, homunculus-like Republican presidential candidates, asked for their favorite novel, cite works of modern SF!

"The bad news: Mitt Romney’s professed “favorite novel” is Battlefield Earth."

(more…)

Citizen Kane anniversary

  • Uncategorized
  • May 1, 2007

citizenkane-4638952Sixty-six years ago today, Citizen Kane premiered in New York.

We mention this because not only is it one of the greatest films of all time, nor because it’s been the basis for everything from Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker’s Shadow Annual #2 to the unproduced screenplay for I, Robot by Harlan Ellison, nor even that without Orson Welles, we don’t have that great scene in Ed Wood or even the Brain or possibly the radio version of The Shadow.

No, because after two thirds of a century, we can now officially dispense with SPOILER WARNINGS and talk freely about the plot of the film and its amazing ending.

And man, I would never have suspected that Rosebud was really Luke Skywalker’s father.*

So let’s raise a glass and toast, Jedediah, to love on our own terms.

And if you don’t want to watch Kane tonight, watch RKO 281 instead. A great behind the scenes story, and everybody in the cast is great– yes, even Melanie Griffith.

* You think I’m kidding. Orson Welles was actually considered for the voice of Darth Vader.

Doctor Who episodes online…

Stringer Lisa Sullivan notes: "Doctor Who is scheduled to be among the programs to be made available on demand via the BBC’s iPlayer service. BBC News says the service will be launched later this year.

People will be able to watch selected shows online for seven days after their first broadcast. Episodes will also be able to be downloaded and stored for up to 30 days. The iPlayer has been given the go-ahead by the BBC Trust after consultations with the public. Initially, the iPlayer application is only available for people with Windows PCs but the trust wants the application to run on different systems within "a reasonable time frame."

It is unclear at present whether access will be limited to UK users, but based on their previous actions with the interactive comic, it’s sure looking like they’re going to try.

Comics soon in a theater near you

  • News
  • April 30, 2007

As a contrast to all the Spider-Man stories this week, Alan Kistler sends us a quick update on other movies in the pipeline:

"This is an interesting week in terms of comic book movies and the like.

Iron Man director Jon Favreau has confirmed that Jeff Bridges will be shaving his head to play the role of Obadiah Stane, who in the comics was a wealthy, sociopathic industrialist who took Tony Stark’s company and manipulated the recovering alcoholic into drinking again.

Rumors are flying that Sarah Michelle Gellar is up for the role of Harley Quinn in the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight, but this has yet to be confirmed by anyone.

And "Moriarty" at Ain’tItCoolNews has posted up a review of an advanced screening of The Transformers. The review is full of spoilers concerning plot, so if you want the gist without having the story ruined for you, here are the highlights:

  • The plot will involve the Allspark cube, analogous to the "Autobot Matrix of leadership" from the original cartoon series.
  • The characters in the film are said to be very accurate to how they were portrayed in the Generation One cartoon series.
  • Optimus Prime is said to have amazing action scenes and is showcased as an incredible warrior.
  • To the satisfaction of older fans, Megatron and Starscream do indeed argue quite a bit.
  • The supporting cast of John Turturro, John Voight and Josh Duhmel are said to give a solid performance.
  • The special effects are supposed to be very good, though it is said that a couple of the robots look odd when speaking with robot lips.
  • There is a criticism that certain characters are not shown enough or given enough to do, as screentime must be focused on explaining the origin and nature of the Transformers.
  • There are supposed to be several references to the old cartoon for fans to enjoy, including lines by Optimus that were lifted from the original series.

Sounds like a great report to me. Here’s hoping the movie lives up to the hype."

Spider-Man Week in New York City

  • News
  • April 30, 2007

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! It’s here at last! Some people love Christmas in New York, some live for the July 4th fireworks, some like the Thanksgiving Day Parade, some people even love to freeze their butts off in Times Square on New Year’s Eve – but nothing in the world compares to Spider-Man Week! Nothing in the whole wide wo–

spideyrippingoffvenom-3658446

–thank God, I was able to rip that brain-sucking parasite off my body.

Anyway, here’s the list of events. Some fun stuff, including activities at the Bronx Zoo, the American Museum of Moving Images is showing episodes of the 60’s animated series, Peter David is signing copies of the novelization Thursday at Midtown Comics, all leading up to Free Comic Book Day– oh, and the US premiere of Spider-Man 3 in Peter Parker’s home borough, Queens. We’ll be covering some of the more interesting activities here.

Religion in comics, the current version

  • Uncategorized
  • April 29, 2007

Believe it or not, there’s other ways to use comics to reach the faithful than those little Jack Chick pamplets prostelytizers hand to you.

joemax-6929544In the more traditional way, we have The Guardian Line, a line of comics put out by traditional comics pros like Michael Davis, Mike Baron, and Lovern Kindzierski. They have three titles so far with a fourth on the way, all intended for a young urban audience who are more comfortable with traditional action/adventure stories.

Then we have The Manga Bible, brought to us by British religious publisher Hodder & Stoughton. This is a manga adaptation of the TNIV Bible, itself an updated and current language version of the Bible. The Manga Bible only adapts the New Testament, but the Old Testament should be done by the end of the year.

Although I really do wonder where all the cherry blossoms come from when Jesus is dying…

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And finally, we go from traditional comics to manga to webcomics. Called Today is an online web presence from the National Office for Vocation which uses webcomics to help illustrate the myriad ways that people can follow a religious calling today.

Of course, we all know that Superman’s just one great big Christ metaphor, right?

Hat tip to Wired for the Manga Bible info.

Todd Goldman sending cease-and-desist letters

  • Uncategorized
  • April 27, 2007

Boy oh boy. We’re a little late to the party, here’s the quick recap: Todd Goldman is the founder of "David and Goliath," a merchandise company which produces clothing, posters and other merchandise featuring a variety of artwork and slogans that he theoretically created all by himself. According to the Wall Street Journal, the sales volume of "David and Goliath" was US$ 90 million in 2004. Earlier this month, Goldman was accused of plagiarism by webcartoonist Dave "Shmorky" Kelly, in a post on the Something Awful forums, claiming that Goldman’s piece "Dear God Make Everyone Die" was taken directly from a 2001 comic by Kelly.

116px-purple_pussy_make_everyone_die-9030693120px-todd_goldman_make_everyone_die-5497820

Since Kelly’s initial accusation, other bloggers and webcartoonists have found numerous other cases of alleged creative tracing. In the meantime, Goldman (or someone claiming to be him) has accused Kelly of pedophilia, posted pornographic images to defame Kelly which ended up being seen by minors, hijacked the MySpace account of the person who originally reported the theft, openly mocked anyone who expressed concern about this… and has enlisted his lawyer to threaten anyone who reports on any of the above, even when such reportage sticks to verifiable facts. As a result, Publisher’s Weekly has now taken down posts from Heidi MacDonald on the issue.

Dirk Deppey, Gary Tyrrell, and Tom Spurgeon have been all over this story, and now it’s gotten the attention of Boing Boing, Penny Arcade, and Slashdot.

Mr. Goldman, meet the Internet – filled with lots of people from all over the planet who do their research and hate bullies and like crusades.

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