Author: Martha Thomases

Ellison, Fantagraphics settle

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

The world is a bit nicer today, as the acrimonious lawsuit between Harlan Ellison and Fantagraphics has not only been settled,but the terms of the settlement have been released.  Both parties agreed that "ad hominem, personal attacks" will cease as long as each is alive (or, in the case of Fantagraphics, in business). 

In addition, Fantagraphics agreed to remove Harlan’s name from the cover of future editions of Comics Journal Library 6: The Writers, as well as his interview, and to remove passages from the book Comics as Art: We Told You So, as well as removing those paragraphs from its website.  At the same time, Ellison’s website will remove allegations that Groth embezzled funds, anad which "likened him to a child molester."  A rebuttal statement will be on his site for at least 30 days.

Fantagraphics may not solicit any further donations of art for its Defense Fund, but may market those pieces which have already been donated.

Ellison will receive two copies of all Fantagraphics publications or any of its imprints which contain material he wrote.

Each party is responsible for its own legal fees.

 

Can you ReBoot?

  • News
  • August 16, 2007

reboot-8996452As part of a promotion for the ReBoot TV series (which Rainbow Entertainment is trying to revive), Zeroes 2 Heroes is going to publish a new ReBoot comic.  They’re looking for an art team with a contest online. 

Here’s what you do:  Pick a ReBoot character and sketch it.  Fans will vote and you’ll be notified in August and start work in September.

  1. The ReBoot pitches are found here; you need to be logged in.
  2. Launch the Flash viewer by clicking on any of the pitch thumbnails.
  3. Browse through the pitches and pick the character or world you think is the most interesting.
  4. Upload a sketch using the "Upload" button.

Then tell ComicMix how it goes.

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

  • News
  • August 11, 2007

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin, and the cotton is high.  Or so I’m told.  Living in a major metropolitan area in the twenty-first century, I have to take such things on faith.

This summer, the fun times for someone like me are largely political.  The presidential election is over a year away.  The first primaries are six months away.  Nothing is going to be decided any time soon, so I can pretend it will all turn out for the best. 

I spent the summer I was 15 going “clean for Gene,” campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, who was running against Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform.  Four years later, I ran as an alternate delegate for George McGovern. Four years ago, I nearly got arrested outside the Republican convention up the street from here.  Presidential campaigns are fun!

Which is not to say they couldn’t be much more fun.  The problem is that presidential candidates tend to be politicians.  They spend all their time hustling campaign funds, writing policy, and meeting the public.  They go on the Sunday morning news shows and show how serious they are.  They go on Oprah or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to show they’re regular folks who can take a joke.

They don’t save the world from alien invasions.  They don’t even fight crime.

Presidential campaigns would be a lot more fun if, instead of Republicans versus Democrats, it was Marvel versus DC.   For example debates between:

 

Captain America and Superman on immigration reform.

Luke Cage and John (Green Lantern) Stewart on affirmative action.

Thor and Wonder Woman about the separation of Church and State.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne on the inheritance tax.

Storm and Aquaman on global warming.

The Punisher and Batman on prison reform.

Professor X and Green Arrow on family values.

The Avengers and the Justice League on national security.

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Smell like Neil Gaiman?

  • Uncategorized
  • August 7, 2007

stardustfurr-8140427With the opening of Stardust just days away, there’s never been a better time to exploit Neil Gaiman for a good cause.  According to a press release, Black Phoenix Alchemy lab will release five fragrances "inspired by Stardust" including  ‘Fairy Market" and "The Witch Queen."   Good Omens, while not a movie at this time, is a very funny book Neil wrote with Terry Pratchett, and the inspiration for scents titled "Crowley" and "Aziraphale."

Proceeds will be split between the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a charity with which Neil has long been associated, and the Orangutan Foundation UK, which preserves habitats and research for orangutans.

Here’s the best paragraph of the release:

"The collaboration between artistic visionaries is always an exciting and thought-provoking endeavor. Rarely, if ever, though, have modern literary characters been so lovingly and accurately interpreted by a skilled perfumer. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s interpretations of Gaiman’s colorful and thoroughly unique characters are, like the characters themselves, creative masterpieces and not to be missed."

Obviously, this will work out best for orangutans arrested for obscenity.

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MARTHA THOMASES: Space Oddity

  • News
  • August 4, 2007

x-1225417Jerome Bixby’s Man From Earth is a profoundly unfashionable film. Written by Bixby before he died and directed by Richard Schenkman, it’s a science fiction movie with no aliens, no space ships, not even any explosions. It’s a thoughtful movie, intimate, with adult actors dealing with complex philosophical ideas.

When I was first reading science fiction, I liked the books with lots of talking and big ideas. I liked Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and the robot books, where scientists explained large concepts and the societies these concepts would inspire. I liked it so much that I could often overlook inane plots and cardboard characters. When the books were more literate, that was even better.

Jerome Bixby is a science fiction writer from the old school. He wrote episodes of Twilight Zone and Star Trek, including “Mirror, Mirror.” He wrote screenplays, including Fanatastic Voyage, which was based on his short story. Just before he died, he wrote the screenplay to The Man From Earth.

It’s a small film, produced on a shoestring budget of $200,000. The closest thing to a celebrity in the cast is William Katt, formerly the star of The Greatest American Hero. Also in the cast is Richard Riehle, a character actor you’ve seen in a zillion movies, Annika Peterson, Ellen Crawford, John Billingsley, Tony Todd, Alexis Thorpe and David Lee Smith as the central character, John Oldman.

There is only one set, a cabin in the woods, and the entire story takes place over the course of a single day. John Oldman is a university professor packing his belongings to leave for a new job. His friends, other professors and a student, have come with food and drink to wish him well. Over the course of the day, he tells them that, to the best of his knowledge, he’s 14,000 years old.

For the rest of the film, these highly educated, polite people argue with each other about whether or not such a thing is possible, or is Oldman pulling some kind of cerebral practical joke. They consider religion, anthropology, history, and the other fields in which they are expert. No one attacks Oldman for a DNA sample to run tests, no one pulls out an old photograph or other evidence. The devout Christian character feels threatened, but does not condemn Oldman to Hell, nor does she stone him. They talk from mid-afternoon until night, when the last few people at the party go out to look at the stars. (more…)

Fabulous Baker Girl!

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

the-new-baker-coverWe’re thrilled to pass on the news that the newest Baker is a girl, born this morning at 7:53 AM.  She is 8 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long.   Everyone at ComicMix says congrats to Liz and Kyle, Lillian, Isaac and Jackie.

Artwork copyright Kyle Baker. All Rights Reserved.

Howard Cruse launches local rag

  • Uncategorized
  • July 31, 2007

perp1-inddFamous underground cartoonist (and friend of ComicMix) Howard Cruse will launch his newest project, The North County Perp, a new magazine covering the art scene in his hometown, on Wednesday, August 1.  If you’re in the neighborhood, there’s a party at the MCLA Gallery 51 (51 Main Street) from 6 PM to 8 PM.

The Perp is 24 pages of "humorous writing, home-grown cartoons, and essays on topics too off the beaten path to claim space in our local dailies and weeklies," Cruse says.  

Cruse shares his personal account of the Perp’s origins in a recent entry of his blog: http://www.howardcruse.com/loosecruse/

 

Additional information may be found at the Perp’s own web site: http://www.northcountyperp.com

(more…)

MARTHA THOMASES: Like a Virgin

  • News
  • July 28, 2007

martha100-4663510In many ways, this will be my first San Diego ComiCon. Oh, sure, I went to ten of them before, but that was because I was working for DC Comics. This will be my first San Diego without booth duty.

At DC, I was Publicity Manager from 1990 to 1999. I had a great time showing off our ever-expanding list of titles and, eventually, imprints. Turning people on to Vertigo, to Milestone, to Impact and to Helix was really fun.

Unfortunately, I never got to leave the booth. I mean, I could take bathroom breaks, and if one of my many media contacts came by, I could walk that person around to show off what was cool in comics. For the most part, however, it was four solid days of standing in the booth.

There were chairs at the booth, lots of chairs. Unfortunately, these comfortable pieces of foldable furniture were not for those of us in the Marketing Department. The chairs were for the talent. Now, I agree that the writers and artists who work on comic books, who interrupt their work to come to conventions (where they don’t get paid) should be made as comfortable as possible. They deserve to be treated like rock stars. The Marketing team should be there to make life easier for the talent and for the fans, and to assure everyone of a good time.

That’s my belief, and I tried really hard to live up to it with a smile on my face. Usually, I got through Thursday and Friday pretty well. By Saturday, even with my best running shoes, my feet would be hurting. By Sunday afternoon, my face would hurt from smiling. There would be lots of news and excitement I’d overhear among the fans that they’d picked up at panels, which I could never go to because I was at the booth.

There would be some weird things I’d have to do that weren’t, strictly speaking, in my job description. I’d get the talent bottled water, because the water in San Diego gives me horrible headaches, and talent shouldn’t have headaches. I’d be the bitch at the end of the signing line, the person past whom no one else would get their books signed. It’s a horribly thankless task, because you have to tell people they can’t have something they really want. The worst is being the bitch at the end of the Neil Gaiman line. Neil will have agreed to sign for two hours. After these two hours, I would get in line to stop it, but the line would grow behind me. By the time I got to the front of the line, Neil would have been signing for more than three hours. I’d tell people they couldn’t get anything signed, and Neil would say, ‘Oh, no! That’s alright, I’m happy to do a few more.”

On the plus side, I had an expense account. I could take journalists and talent out for dinners and drinks. DC had travel agents who put us up at the Marriott, and then the Hyatt, which were close to the convention center. My feet might hurt, but I didn’t have far to walk.

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MARTHA THOMASES: Dorothy Parker

  • News
  • July 21, 2007

dorothy-parker-200x218-3330504Dorothy Parker was a poet, short story writer and critic for The New Yorker in its heyday. When I was first writing, I wanted to be Dorothy Parker. Well, actually, I wanted to be Nora Ephron, who wrote a column in Esquire at the time, and who said that she had once wanted to be Dorothy Parker. A quick trip to the library, and I had an entertaining week reading her poetry. You probably know at least one of her poems, “News Item,” which goes:

Men seldom make passes

At girls who wear glasses.

Her literary and theatrical criticism, under the nom-de-plume of Constant Reader, was also hilarious, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. You can catch up with her poems, short stories and reviews in the omnibus Portable Dorothy Parker.

Mostly, however, she was celebrated for being the only woman at the Algonquin Round Table. In a group that included Robert Benchley, Harold Ross, George S. Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woollcott and others, Parker was the only woman considered witty enough to be a regular (although Edna Ferber and Jane Grant, Ross’ wife, sat in occasionally).

It was an attractive fantasy for an unpopular girl in boarding school. I was not a person who got to sit at a table with boys. The only males who listened to me were my teachers, who were paid for it. Naturally, I looked for a way to be sought after, instead of merely tolerated. I spent the next twenty years writing, trying to earn my place at the table. If only I had known that the easiest thing to do was to work for a comic book publisher.

I’d freelanced for Marvel in the 1980s, but being on staff at DC was an entirely different animal. All of a sudden, I had everyone’s telephone number, and if I called someone for no apparent reason, my call was still answered happily. I could go to one of the Warner Bros. movie screenings and have people save me a seat. I could sit at any table at any bar near a convention and be welcome. In fact, I was often the only woman at the table.

It was heady stuff. True, these were not the prep school boys whose attention I had craved in my teens, but instead comic book editors, artists and writers. They were often smart and funny, but hardly ever blond or WASPy. Still, it felt as if I was sitting at the table with the cool kids. I was getting laughs telling jokes to guys who weren’t my husband. This was better than therapy!

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Shatner’s Raw Nerve

  • News
  • July 17, 2007

william_shatner-6294262He’s been captain of the Starship Enterprise and a partner at a Boston law firm.  He’s shilled for websites and arrested bad guys.  Now William Shatner is going to be a talk-show host, like Jay Leno or his buddy Henry Rollins.

Variety reports that the Biography Channel has ordered 13 episodes of the show, called Shatner’s Raw Nerve.  They say the show "will explore life’s most intriguing questions and unearth his guests’ strange and unknown stories."

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