Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist was not impressed by David Bilsborough’s debut fantasy novel, The Wanderer’s Tale.
The Baltimore City Paper reviews the new all-original anthology The New Space Opera, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan.
Another review of the Dozois-Strahan New Space Opera comes from Locus’s Gary K. Wolfe.
Thirty years ago today, Marvel released the debut of Marvel Comics Super Special #1 featuring Kiss, where they squared off against (who else?) Mephisto and Dr. Doom. The issue was printed with ink that had blood added from each of the band members, a feat not surpassed until Mark Gruenwald’s ashes were mixed in with the trade paperback of Squadron Supreme.
Kiss would later star in a second Super Special, a 31 issue run of Kiss: Psycho Circus with Image in the 90’s, guest star in Howard The Duck, and made an announcement back in February of the creation of the Kiss Comics Group.
Gene Simmons is a huge comic book fan, reportedly taking the heavy metal salute of index and pinky fingers extended (pictured below) straight from Doctor Strange, and publishing some of his own titles with the Simmons Comics Group, such as Gene Simmons’s House of Horrors, which will be out in July from IDW.
And Simmons noted in his autobiography that the character he most identifies with is Jon Sable. Boy, is he going to be happy soon…
Popeye by Bud Sagendorf, reprinted in newspapers last Wednesday but originally published a couple decades ago. In fact, Bud Sagendorf has been dead for 12 years. No, it wasn’t a suicide.
About a dozen years ago, Popeye cartoonist Bobby London got fired for a storyline that set-up a minor, passing joke reference to abortion, without even employing the word. It was so subtle it didn’t offend King Features editors at the time; they dutifully sent it along to subscribing newspapers. When somebody objected, London got aborted from the strip.
Olive survived both gags. She will be appearing later this year in a commercial for Prego pasta sauce.
Yep. "Prego."
Artwork copyright King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved.
According to Dirk Deppey at The Comics Journal’s ¡Journalista! website, and Dirk should know, the Harlan Ellison vs. Fantagraphics Books lawsuit has been "resolved."
Deppey received the following e-mail from his boss, Gary Groth:
THE LITIGATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES HAS BEEN RESOLVED.
THE PARTIES ARE NOT AT LIBERTY TO DISCUSS THE TERMS OF THE RESOLUTION AT THIS TIME.
Congratuations to all involved.
For background, our interview with Harlan, and our interview with Gary.
More as it develops. If.
This past month has been a very busy one for me. I’ve been out of town three times, twice on business, and I’ve attended two trade shows and three comics conventions. It’s a lot of time to be thrust into crowds of people, whether waiting at an airport, a synagogue, a taxi line or a display booth.
This past month has exposed me to a variety of interpretations to the phrase, “customer service.”
I first started to think about this nearly 20 years ago, when I saw a presentation by Peter Glen, the author of It’s Not My Department: How to Get the Service You Want, Exactly the Way You Want It. At the time, I was working in the special events department for a large retailer, and we were just starting to feel the first effects of Wal-Mart and other discount stores. According to Glen, the way to compete was not by cutting prices, but by offering more service.
He doesn’t just mean stores need to hire more sales assistants. He means the customer must be treated with respect, as if her time has value, and her needs are important. Customer service includes displays that feature all available sizes, quality merchandise that doesn’t break, and efficient check-out. This shows the customer that the merchant understands her, and provides the best value.
“Value?” you say. “How can you say value is important when you first said stores shouldn’t compete on price alone?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Would you rather shop at Wal-Mart, where costs are kept so low that they won’t hire a security guard to patrol their notoriously dangerous parking lots, or at another store where the management demonstrates a concern for your safety? Would you rather by a cheap coffee-maker (or other small appliance) that you need to replace every year, or a good one that lasts a decade or more?
As a comics reader, would you rather buy a comic that has a cover that’s teasing or unclear, or would prefer one that clearly represents the story inside?
When I worked at DC Comics, I was astounded at how obscure some of the covers for the trade paperback collections could be. “Where’s the title?” I’d ask. “How can I tell who wrote and drew the story?” Often, this information would be on the back of the books, invisible to the customer looking at the display. “It doesn’t matter,” I was told. “By the time the book is racked, we’ve already been paid for it.”
I can’t make this stuff up. Well, I mean, I can, but why the hell would I want to?
You may have heard things have been getting a little hot over in the Gaza Strip, even by local standards. The Associated Press reported Friday that a Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children’s television program was beaten to death in the show’s final episode Friday.
Go back and re-read that paragraph. Now look at the photo.
Yep, that’s right. Hamas killed Mickey Mouse – and blamed the Israelis.
The way the story goes, an Israeli official was trying to buy the land of the show’s hero, Farfour the Mouse, who looks and sounds exactly like Mickey. The mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist" and the Israeli killed him. According to the AP: "Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.
If you gaze at ABC’s fall schedule, all of a sudden you’ll find a show called Samantha Who? This is not another Doctor Who spin-off, and star Christina Applegate is probably not the new companion.
This show was originally titled Sam I Am until the Dr. Seuss estate (Private Snafu‘s Theodore Geisel) said something to the effect of "are you out of your damn mind?" So the Mouse Network changed it to Samantha Be Good. It’s amazing how many people at Disney never heard of George and Ira Gershwin or Chuck Berry, but I guess eventually somebody squawked.
So the alphabet geniuses came up with Samantha Who? Since it’s their third generation, I assume the show is actually a tribute to Jon Pertwee.
According to TV Guide Online, here’s their latest top 30 cult teevee shows of all time.
I would scoff at this, but it turns out I really like at least a dozen of ’em.
30) Strangers with Candy (1999-2000)*
29) Absolutely Fabulous (1994-2003)
28) Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)*
27) H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1971)
26) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1975-1978)
25) Firefly (2002-2003)*
24) Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
23) Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
22) Doctor Who (1963-present)
21) Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Beowolf, the new film directed by Robert Zemeckis with a scrpt by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, is set to hit screens November 16. Filmed in a computer-animation style similar to The Polar Express, there will also be an IMAX 3D version that will debut at the same time.
The voice-actors for the film include Crispin Glover (my density!), John Malcovich, Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins, among others.
"IMAX 3D has enabled us to tell stories in a whole new way, and we are very excited to offer moviegoers a chance to experience Beowulf in this incredible format," said Robert Zemeckis in a company pres releasae. "IMAX lends itself to the incredible image detail in Beowulf and in 3D, it will transport the audience directly into the story."
The Shadow, everybody’s favorite seminal pulp crime-fighter, has been getting a lot of play here at ComicMix – largely in anticipation of volume nine of Anthony Tollin’s series of Shadow reprints to be released in about three weeks. In case you missed the story and are short on time, this volume reveals in detail how the first Batman story was a point-by-point rip-off of a previously published Shadow saga.
So, on the lighter side, today we offer two alternate views of crime’s nocturnal nightmare. The black-and-white piece is by long-time fan and historian Russ Maheras and poses the question "What if The Shadow had been a 1960s Mort Weisinger comic?" This isn’t quite as odd as it might seem: Weisinger, of course, was the classic Superman comics editor of the 1950s and 1960s (and story editor of the original teevee series), and Superman creator Jerry Siegel wrote The Shadow comics for Archie during this period. Russ captured the style of Mort’s books to a tee.
The color piece, by Dial B For Burbank’s Robby Reed, suggests the cover design of a 1960s Shadow Annual as if Street and Smith published it in the style of DC Comics’ 80-Page Giants. Dial B For Burbank is one of the most innovative pulp-and-serial sites I’ve seen, and we appreciate his allowing us to share an advance look at the art.
The Shadow is copyright Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc., Condé Nast Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. They know what evil lurks in the hearts of fans!
Thanks to Russ and KK for the swell stuff!
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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