Author: Glenn Hauman

The Dark Knight Rises (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As with The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man, Glenn and Mike saw The Dark Knight Rises separately to do this Siskel and Ebert style review. We were going to run this last Friday on the movie’s opening day, but as we’re sure you can appreciate the events of Friday morning in Colorado demanded we delay this publication to give our readers more time to see the film.

Again, we offer our standard disclaimer: there are all sorts of spoilers in this review. And this time around, there is an observation that may actively ruin the end of the film if you haven’t seen it and you intend to do so.

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What’s the difference between justice and punishment? The answer is in this short film starring Thomas Jane, Ron Perlman, and directed by Phil Joanou. (I’m loath to call this a Punisher fan film, even though it obviously is a labor of love unsanctioned by Marvel— because, really, you don’t get A-list directors and actors reprising their roles from major motion picture releases in any old fan film.)

Quoth Thomas Jane:

“I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in – a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish — we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.”

Follow the creators on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/thomasjane
https://twitter.com/adishankarbrand
https://twitter.com/chadstjohn
https://twitter.com/pjoanou

In case you weren’t following our Twitter feed on Friday (and why weren’t you?) you missed the winners of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writer’s annual Scribe Awards ceremony, held Friday night at Comic-Con in San Diego.

[[[Kevin J. Anderson]]] was awarded this year’s Grandmaster award for remarkable achievements in the tie-in field, which include more than one hundred novels, adding up to over 20 million books in print in thirty languages. His work includes the Star Wars “[[[Jedi Academy]]]” books, three internationally bestselling [[[X-Files]]] novels, the Superman novels The Last Days of Krypton and Enemies & Allies, many novelizations ([[[Sky Captain And The World of Tomorrow]]], [[[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]], etc.) and ten globally bestselling [[[Dune]]] novels he has co-authored with Brian Herbert.

But he wasn’t alone accepting honors on Friday. [[[Cowboys & Aliens]]] by Joan D. Vinge was the winner for Best Adaptation, [[[Dungeons & Dragons — Forgotten Realms: Brimstone Angels]]] by Erin M. Evans took the prize for Best Speculative Original Novel, [[[Mike Hammer: Kiss Her Goodbye]]] by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane won for Best Original Novel, [[[Thunderbirds: Extreme Hazard]]] by Joan Marie Yerba was honored for Best Young Adult Novel, and [[[Mike Hammer: Encore for Murder]]] by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane won the Best Audio award.

The IAMTW (*I Am* a *T*ie-In *W*riter) is dedicated to enhancing the professional and public image of tie-in writers, working with the media to review tie-in novels and publicize their authors, and providing a forum for tie-in writers to share information, support one another, and discuss issues relating to their field.

Related articles

• Max Allan Collins on working with Mickey Spillane: essay and exclusive excerpt from long-lost Mike Hammer novel (boingboing.net)

We’re still writing up all of our San Diego Comic-Con coverage, but this may already be the crowning event of this year’s convention, and it didn’t even happen at the convention center. This comes from the Nerd HQ “Conversations for a Cause” featuring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill.

And if you can’t believe what the Doctor prescribes, who can you believe?

Cover of Life In Hell No. 4, published in 1978. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No, the San Diego Comic-Con isn’t ending early… but today is the official end of Matt Groening’s comic, Life In Hell.

After exploring a world populated by “anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers” for over 30 years, “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is putting down his pen and ending his highly acclaimed comic strip, “Life in Hell.”

The last “Life in Hell,” Groening’s 1,669th strip, was released on Friday, June 15. For the next four weeks, editors will have their choice of strips from Groening’s extensive archive before they close up shop in July on Friday the 13, which seems oddly appropriate.

“I’ve had great fun, in a Sisyphean kind of way, but the time has come to let Binky and Sheba and Bongo and Akbar and Jeff take some time off,” Groening, 58, said by email.

“It’s hard to imagine how the business model that sustained alternative social-commentary and political cartooning for two decades (and is now all but dead) would have evolved had papers not discovered the power of Groening’s strip and its ability to attract readers,” said syndicated cartoonist Ted Rall by phone.

The popularity of “Life in Hell” opened a path for a new breed of alternative cartoonists to appear in alt-weeklies across the country, cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow, Ruben Bolling, Ward Sutton, Keith Knight and Rall. It also showcased the power of sharp, biting cartoons to editors looking to attain and grow a new group of readers.

“Groening is modern cartooning’s rock God, a Moses who came down from the mountain (or the East Village office of the Voice) and handed us the rules we followed,” said Rall.

“Life in Hell” actually earned Groening his big break in Hollywood. It started running in Wet Magazine in 1978, then moved to the now-defunct LA Reader, where Groening worked. The strip eventually made its way to LA Weekly. Its popularity grew, amassing a client list of more than 250 papers, when producer Polly Platt noticed “Life in Hell” and showed it to actor/producer James L. Brooks.

Brooks contacted Groening and wanted him to develop a series of “bumpers” based on “Life in Hell” for “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Groening was a bit apprehensive at the thought of handing over the rights to his characters, so he created the Simpsons to fill the slot.

via ‘Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening ends ‘Life in Hell,’ comic that started it all | Poynter.

This is the final “Life is Hell” strip, which ran Friday, June 15.