Author: Rick Marshall

Neil Kleid of Rant Comics stirred up some debate in the comics scene Wednesday when he posted an open letter to New York ComicCon calling the decision to schedule the event on the first days of Passover "frankly insulting."

Now, I’m a realist and I understand that the majority far outweighs the minority here. Holding the convention on Passover won’t really affect con attendance one way or another. The number of Jewish attendees who will choose to forgo NYCC this year won’t even make a dent in the turnout. But as a Jewish cartoonist/creator, I have to admit to being a bit annoyed that the folks at Reed didn’t even take the holiday into account. I could understand if they’d scheduled it for the following week, the second days of Passover which are less religiously observed… but the first two days of Passover, the Seder nights, are almost like… Christmas Eve. But with more guilt. And matzah.

The message produced a fairly active discussion on Kleid’s website, with some interesting back-and-forth about the potential effects of the decision.

Shortly thereafter, NYCC Con Director Lance Fensterman posted a response on the event’s official blog.

Needless to say, I’m none too happy about the Passover situation either, so let’s get that out of the way right off the bat – we are really sorry about this and certainly intended no disrespect towards anyone. The unfortunate reality is that these were the dates we were given at the JavitsCenter. Javits is unlike most places in that the demand for the space far outstrips the availability, so customers, such as NYCC, are left with little to no choice as to what dates we are given. To that point, I’ll announce here first that the show will be moving back to February next year – because we want to be in February? Not really. Quite simply, these are the only dates we can get next year.

Billy Batson will have his work cut out for him if "Shazam!" director Peter Segal has his way.

According to this report on IGN, the "Get Smart" director likes the idea of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson donning the pointy ears of Captain Marvel nemesis Black Adam. And Johnson doesn’t sound opposed to the idea, either.

According to Segal:

We were looking for something else to do together. [Johnson] said, ‘What are you working on?’ And I told him among other things Shazam!. And he said, ‘Do you think I can read a draft when you’re ready?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ John August is writing it and then we went on strike, so I don’t have a draft to show him yet. But I just started telling him the story and I thought that he might be a great Black Adam.

Segal also teased that "Shazam!" wouldn’t be the light-and-fluffy affair that "Fantastic Four" turned out to be. Instead, he said Batson’s desire to avenge the loss of his parents would provide a more serious

tone to the film.

Ah, as Valentine’s Day nears, it’s time to turn your thoughts to… Halloween?

Comic Book Resources has an interesting interview with Stefan Hutchinson, the writer of Halloween: Nightdance, a four-issue miniseries hitting shelves in February from Devil’s Due Publishing. The topics of discussion include, of course, "Why February?"

What’s really interesting about the interview, however, is what Hutchinson has to say about the "Halloween" film franchise and when he believes it lost its edge.

As Hutchinson explains it:

The first half of [the first "Halloween" film] is all in daylight, with very ‘normal’ characters, and it’s really, really creepy. You can’t really get that when you have Busta Rhymes performing Kung-Fu moves on a villain that worked principally due to his uncertain and ethereal eerieness. It’s the same sense of disappointment that comes from finding out the Wonderful Wizard of Oz is just an old man.

Even if you aren’t the sort to buy into the Halloween comics, you’ll be certain of one thing after you read the interview: Hutchinson knows his "Halloween" history.

The wait is over, and so is the Season 4 Premiere of "Lost." If you’re anything like me, the first thing you did after the end credits rolled was to hop on the InterWebs and check out the chatter about tonight’s episode.

Here’s a quick roundup of some interesting pre- and post-episode buzz:

• The 48 Questions That MUST Be Answered In Season 4 – Okay, so some of these could already be answered, and at least one or two were answered in the premiere, but it’s a great checklist for Season 4.

• The Chapter 5 Conclusion To The Find815.com Alternate Reality Game – LostBlog.net has posted the video you can view after navigating your way through Chapter 5 of the complicated Find815.com tie-in game. Promotions for the game also popped up during the Oceanic Airlines commercials broadcast during the premiere of "Eli Stone" immediately after "Lost."

It’s nowhere near a necessity for "Lost" fans to play this game, but it made the time between the end of Season 3 and the start of Season 4 go by quickly for those who played it. Now that Season 4 is in full swing, you can jump right to the end of Chapter 5 and fill in the pieces between a few dangling plot points in the "Lost" mythos. My Advice? Navigate back through the Find815.com updates on LostBlog.net and see how it played out.

• LostPedia’s Episode 4 Spoiler Section has a decent rundown of the episode’s flash-forward segments, as well as a mention of the new character introduced at the very end of the episode, whose name appears to have changed.

• Last, but certainly not least, keep checking back on LostEasterEggs for all sorts of screencaps and hints about some of the things you might be wondering about in the Season 4 Premiere. At the time of this post, they have a great series of screencaps from the scene around Jacob’s cabin. Whose eye appeared in the cabin? What was on the painting?

No surprise here: "Cloverfield" will receive a sequel, according to a report in Variety.

Paramount is in "early talks" with "Cloverfield" director Matt Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard to produce a sequel to the record-breaking, low-budget (if you consider $25 million "low-budget," that is) horror film. The film earned nearly twice its production costs in the first weekend it hit theaters, and set a record for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.

According to the report, Reeves is also in talks to direct a film titled "The Invisible Woman," but production of that film will likely be held off until after the "Cloverfield" sequel.

"Comics Theorist" Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) is the subject of this English-language interview by the crew at ComicGate, a German comics news site.

The interview touches on a variety of subjects, from McCloud’s early expectations for Understanding Comics to what exactly his job description is these days. Apparently, it’s not easy to come up with a title when you’re creating comics as a study of comics.

McCloud explains:

When somebody asks me what I do, how do I answer? What words do we put down on the catalogue, or whatever? These days I say cartoonist and author. That pretty much sums it up. I do a lot of public speaking, but I am doing it as a cartoonist and an author. I would like to be a little more cartoonist and a little less author for a little while. I would like to create a graphic-novel next and I plan to spend the next two or three years of my life doing that. I think it is time after writing about how comics work to actually put those ideas into practice and try to create a work of fiction.

It’s a fairly long interview, but certainly worth a read for anyone interested in comics theory and the evolving role of technology in the comics scene.