‘Last of the Funnies’ Explores News-less Future
Last of the Funnies is a new novelette from Mike Cope, a Canadian cartoonist. The 80-page book has garnered some positive comment with Editor& Publisher noting, “One thing the book wrestles with is the issue of digital copyrights in a virtually paperless world. Cope also pays homage to characters, people, and organizations tied to comics — including The Yellow Kid, Rube Goldberg, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and the National Cartoonists Society.
"The Last of the Funnies concludes with an eight-page illustrated appendix featuring selected reference images from sources such as the NCS, Creators Syndicate, King Features Syndicate, and the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library.”
Daily Cartoonist describes it this way, “After a worldwide energy and economic crisis, newspapers have ceased production and nearly every form of art and entertainment is a digital simulation. In this seemingly impossible (but plausible) future, a crusty old cartoonist named Frost has a great gift to leave Giles, his only child. Frost is the creator of Li’l Nibs – the most celebrated comic strip about four little aliens who crash-landed on Earth during the crisis and aptly announced, ‘Weez Comez in Peez!’
“However, to Giles, the funnies have caused nothing but conflict in his life. He’s grown to resent Frost’s crudely hand-drawn creations. But as the young Virtual Art professor soon learns, things aren’t always as they appear.
“Like a cartoon wizard behind ink-stained curtains, Frost weaves a whimsical tale about the origins of the funnies, web comics, and a terrorizing menace that threatens to kidnap every artist’s childhood dreams!
“Whether Giles believes it or not, the fate of the funnies is in his hands . . .”
The Seven Samurai remains one of the classic storytelling devices invented for movies and has been the template for many films beginning with The Magnificent Seven. It has now also proven to be the inspiration for Doomsday Protocol, a science fiction thriller. The original script by Shane Salerno was purchased by 20th Century Fox for development.
Fear(s) of the Dark, an animated horror film from France, will receive a limited US release in October through December. The movie screened this past January at the 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam and garnered good reviews.
Katee Sackhoff will star in a new series created by Chris Levinson, Lost and Found for NBC according to 
IDW has announced an October 1 release for the hardcover collection of Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft. The book is from novelist Joe Hill who created the miniseries for the publisher and was surprised by its enthusiastic reception. It has since been optioned by Dimension Films.
As Smallville prepares to premiere next week, word from the CW is that there will be a long break between episodes ten and eleven. This is being done for two reasons: one, it provides the network somewhere to run the second season of Reaper, and two, it allows them the opportunity to retool for a ninth season if ratings and casting issues indicate that makes sense.
Director Jon Favreau says if Paramount and Marvel Studios pony up the money, he’d love to shoot some or all of Iron Man 2 in 3-D and for IMAX. At a Paramount Home Video press conference with Stan Lee to promote the September 30 release of the smash hit film on DVD, he described The Dark Knight’s IMAX sequence as a “game changer”.
Joan Winston, one of the founders of the very first Star Trek convention, passed away this week.
Late reshoots usually mean a film is in trouble but that’s not necessarily the case for the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly were summoned back by 20th-Century Fox for “rather extensive” reshoots according to IESB. The reason though may have more to do with readying the December 12 release for its just-announced IMAX debut.
When Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved from November to July, every other studio studied their release plans for next summer and began getting out of the way.
