‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
Deadlines were mounting, so I emailed Herr Claus
The scripts were all posted on the Internet with care
In hopes that the editing elves would soon be there
The artists were nestled, all snug in their beds,
While visions of royalty checks danced in their heads.
The list:
Well, the bad news is, a Fort Madison Iowa casino worker got fired for posting a Dilbert comic strip (above) on a company bulletin board.
David Steward told the local unemployment compensation judge that he felt the strip would help cheer people up after the casino dismissed 170 employees on its way to going out of business. No great long-term loss to Steward, as his job was going blooie as well. The casino’s human resources director said management was highly offended by Steward’s action. Evidently, they only had a short time to take umbrage.
The good news is, the unemployment compensation judge sided with Steward. It was a "good-faith error in judgment," the judge said. He’ll get his unemployment comp, along with the other employees who lost their jobs.
The Reuters headline says it all:
Spears’ parenting book off after teen pregnancy
Their lead paragraph: "A Christian publisher said on Wednesday it has called off a parenting book written by Lynne Spears — the mother of troubled pop star Britney Spears and her pregnant 16-year-old sister, Jamie Lynn."
Don’t you just hate it when somebody drops a bomb on you right before Christmas?
You’ve heard about 2000 AD<span style=”font-style:
normal”> – most recently, on ComicMix Radio. I doubt that there’s been a more influential comic book published in the past three decades. Cutting edge at the outset, the various series launched in 2000 AD were as different from the norm as Marvel was from DC back in 1961.
I was lucky enough to read the first, oh, couple hundred issues of the weekly publication from the very first issue (OK, prog), as friend, fan and later 2000 AD editor Richard Burton sent ‘em to me with a note saying “Hey, look at this!” Since then, the weekly became the showcase for a lot of the best talent to appear in the medium. A complete list would frighten you, but at least I can provide a short and highly incomplete list: Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Ian Gibson, Brendan McCarthy, Kevin O’Neill, Bryan Talbot, Alan Davis… good grief, the list goes on forever.
According to Outpost Gallifrey, don’t put too much into all those rumors about David Tennant leaving Doctor Who at the end of this season.
Last week, co-star Catherine Tate told famed British broadcaster Jonathan Ross (In Search Of Steve Ditko) she thought that 2008 might be Tennant’s last. Last night, Tennant told the BBC’s Richard Bacon "It’s a decision I’ve not been forced to make, so I’m just going to play my cards close to my chest as long as I can. Despite what Catherine might have you believe, I haven’t made any decision about the next series yet."
Tennant confirmed he will be staring in four extra-long dramas in the year following the next season, allowing him to fulfill his stage commitments. After that, it’s anybody’s guess.
In an unrelated matter, the London Daily Mail is reporting Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders may be taking on the role of Doctor Who for a special episode. If she does, she’ll be joining AbFab co-star Joanna Lumley as the only female doctors; Ms. Lumley joined Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent at the Doctor in Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, which some consider to be outside regular continuity.
Despite my firm belief that I know everything about everything, I humbly admit there is something about this variant cover thing I don’t understand. Therefore, I’m tossing these questions out to you, the public, for comment. I’m not really trolling for comments; I honestly don’t understand this stuff.
I got into this because I just finished filling out my part of the retailer’s order form for Diamond distributing. My wife will do so tomorrow, my daughter already did. None of us are particularly interested in variant covers. In fact, I can’t recall any of us ever ordering one, let alone juice up our orders so we can procure one of those “for every ten you get one” deals.
Some publishers release as many as five different covers on damn near each title they publish. Some only restrict themselves to two, and then only occasionally. I understand how the device works as a sales incentive for comics shop owners, but, really, do you – as a reader – enjoy this? Do you usually buy alternate covers? All of them? Some of them? Only particular artists? Do you ever pay a premium for one?
More important, if you can’t get one at your store, do you buy it at a premium on the collector’s market? If there’s an alternate cover out there you want, do you track it down online or at conventions or sic your friendly neighborhood retailer on the quest?
Collecting mania aside, there’s really nothing new about alternate covers – the magazine business has been at it since the invention of the staple. In our little donut shoppe, it goes back at least as far as 1956 – Mad #28 had three variant covers. About 15 years ago, our hobby (as opposed to art form) was consumed by gimmick covers: prisms, holograms, lenticular pasties, all kinds of stuff. More recently, we’ve even combined the two with the variant gimmick of the “pencil” cover. Yep, you’re paying more for an unfinished product. (more…)
Our favorite role models, The Katzenjammer Kids, turned 110 years old yesterday. In case you weren’t aware, the newspapter strip is still being published each Sunday.
Created by Rudolph Dirks and first appearing in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal on December 12, 1897, the strip was among the very first to be regularly published and endure. It also helped establish the language and format of the comic strip and, therefore, the comic book.
The Katzenjammers also helped establish intellectual property copyright and trademark law. Dirks left Hearst to work for the even-scivvier Joe Pulitzer and his New York World, taking his characters with him. Hearst sued. The courts ultimatey ruled that Dirks had the right to continue his feature, but so did Hearst. However, only Hearst owned the name "The Katzenjammer Kids." (more…)
I haven’t seen the movie The Golden Compass, but I will, and soon. I don’t care if it’s a complete piece of crap – I want to see it because the Religious Right told me not to.
They say that sort of thing a lot. Here’s what pissed me off. They said the author of the books upon which the movie is based, Philip Pullman, is an atheist. They’re afraid that if your children like the movie, they might actually pick up the book and read it. Somehow, the book will destroy their belief in the unigod.
Now that seems a little paranoid to me, but even if it happens, well, damn, we sure don’t want kids to make up their own minds – overruling the evidently flimsy influences of their parents, their relatives, their pastors, and their friends just by reading a damned book, right?
This sort of thing frightens me. According to these folks, we live in a Christian nation, founded by good Christian god-fearing men who were really, really stupid when they built religious freedom into our Constitution.
I’ll tell you what scares me even more. Last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said, and I quote, “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.” Say what? Historically, organized religion and its militant outreach has been an astonishingly awesome suppressor of freedom. That’s history, folks, and we’ve had a hell of a lot of wars, crusades, pogroms, inquisitions, cross-burnings, and Jihads to prove it.
“In recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning,” Romney went on to say. “They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong.” (more…)
If I were to tell you that a major British icon has returned, and you hadn’t read the headline above, what image would first pop into your head? Winston Churchill? The Union Jack? Pete Townshend?
Well, all those icons are still around, but I’ll admit that if I weren’t a comics fan, Pete jumping in his jump suit would certainly come to mind. But I am a comics fan, so that space in my filing lobe belongs to Dan Dare.
In case you didn’t know, Dan Dare was to the Brits what Superman is to Americans: their seminal comics hero. This makes Judge Dredd the Brits’ Spider-Man, which, to me, is a funny image. Sadly, Dan hasn’t fared quite as well as the Man of Steel, and he’s suffered through almost as many “reboots.” Created in 1950 by Frank Hampson, who drew most of the stories in that decade. A number of artists succeeded him, first and foremost the astonishingly talented Frank Bellamy. Since the Brits tend to favor (okay; favour) the anthology format, Dan Dare appeared in Eagle (after which the awards were named) and later in may different titles, including the birthplace of the “modern” British comics movement, 2000 A.D.; Dave Gibbons was among the artists on that venture. Much of his career has been chronicled in album reprints and he’s had his share of video games, audio dramas and spud guns.
Dare was a science fiction hero in the classic sense: perhaps more like Buck Rogers than Flash Gordon, but with the requisite sexless British stiff-upper lip. He’s been referenced in rock songs, and a band named itself after his Doctor Doom, a little green tyrant named The Mekon.
Okay. That’s the backstory. The new story is, Virgin Comics has leased the rights and relaunched the series, the first issue of which is on sale now. And it’s damn good.
This is no surprise. Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine are the creative team, under alternate covers by Bryan Talbot (pictured) and Greg Horn. Virgin honcho Richard Branson is a long-time fan and has also glommed onto film, television and video game rights. (more…)
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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