Category: News

MoCCA’s ‘Watchmen’ benefit screening discounted for costumed fans

  • News
  • March 3, 2009

Go to MoCCA’s Benefit Advance Screening of Watchmen on March 5th dressed as your favorite Watchmen character and get a ticket to the benefit, including the advance screening, VIP reception and after party for only $20! (That is $80 off the general ticket price.)

Tickets are limited, so order right away. Call today to order your tickets: 212-254-3511. Tickets available for Advance Purchase Only.

This once-in-a-lifetime evening begins with a reception at MoCCA for The Art of Watchmen exhibition, continues with an advance screening of Watchmen at AMC 19th St., and concludes with an author signing of Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos.

5pm: VIP Reception & SILENT AUCTION at MoCCA
7pm: SCREENING at AMC 19th Street 890 Broadway
10pm: AFTERPARTY back at MoCCA with special guests and a signing of Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos

Tickets are $100 | $75 for MoCCA members | $20 for Masked Heroes
Tickets may be purchased on-line at www.moccany.org, in person at MoCCA or by phone, 212-254-3511, Tues. – Sat., 12-5pm.

All proceeds from this special event go to support MoCCA programming.

Service advisories: PeterDavid.net, MichaelDavisWorld.com

  • News
  • March 2, 2009

Just letting people know, since folks have been asking:

PeterDavid.net was not pointing to the right folder for a while last night as part of the update brought on by the traffic update, but the nameservers have updated and it seems to be resolved now. Some of the older entries are still migrating over, but you should be able to reach it. As part of the upgrade, you may want to check your RSS feeds.

MichaelDavisWorld.com, on the other hand, has been having server problems for a few days now, but we’re told it should be resolved soon.

The Point – March 2nd, 2009

In like a lion with news on the resurrection of DEAD LIKE ME and how the stars feel about coming back from the dead. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith proves he still has it and makes our 5 Cool Things In The Comic Shop this week, and BATTLESTAR plus DOCTOR WHO equals LAW AND ORDER?

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The Un-Ethics of Watchmen, Part 1: A Bird’s-Eye View

  • News
  • March 2, 2009

drmanhattan-8414138Editor’s note: With the imminent release of Watchmen, we thought we’d try and get a different perspective. So we asked Alexandra Honigsberg, a professional ethicist and genre author, to read the book for the first time and delve into the ethos of the world created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

If super-hero comics are the literature of ethics, then Watchmen is the literature of un-ethics. It is the template for what not to do and makes Batman look like a Boy Scout, even at his darkest Dark Knight. They make Dirty Harry look clean. There’s a new saying on the street that Bitch is the New Black, it Gets Things Done. Well, these guys and gals are certainly the biatch. But is there any way to redeem their actions so that the ends justify the means? Or, more importantly, that even the most inhumane or inhuman retains some sense of what it means to be human?

The study of ethics is the exploration of the good life and how to live it. Now by the “good life” I don’t mean the bling life. I mean a life that is honourable, virtuous and, on a profound level not shaken by the winds of change, happy. Happiness (or pleasure or joy or The Good). That’s the end, the ultimate goal, or what Aristotle calls “that at which all rational beings aim.” Ari makes a fine distinction between the acts of a man (animal, non-rational) and the acts of a human (rational) or what some of us might term the mensch (gender neutral). One of the biggest invectives that Laurie hurls at Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman is that, after working for so long in the lab and being so all-powerful (the man not only to end all wars, but end all worlds), he ceases to be human. Moore emphasizes this with quotes from Nietzsche, who claims that when we become evolved enough we will not need rules, we will have become extra-moral – the superman (not the Nazis’ bastardization thereof) who has no need of ethics as we now know them. But are we still human? Extreme means change the agent and therefore change the end (e.g., The Comedian’s total amorality). Can we still give a damn if we’re all god-like? Or in the midst of so much horror that no human could reasonably be expected to survive unscarred (think of the Holocaust), are we still human? What’s human? What’s life? What’s good and who decides? Who gives authority to whom and why?

 

(more…)

The latest on the Scans_Daily shutdown

  • News
  • March 2, 2009

Well, this has been an entertaining weekend.

To recap: on Friday, the LiveJournal community scans_daily has been suspended for posting copyrighted material without the permission of copyright holders, which is against LiveJournal’s ToS.

Many people, looking for a focus to blame, have taken out their venom on Peter David, bombarding his site with comments, some supportive, some abusive, and pretty much chewing up computer cycles. This has required moving up a planned migration and upgrade to the site, and there’s nothing like doing an upgrade while a comment storm is going on.

(Incidentally, this person is one of the more obnoxious pinheads I’ve come across in a while, whose argument seems to distill to "I was rude to someone I stole things from, so he took back what I’d rightfully stolen, I think, and this makes him a bad man". I suspect this person felt that the three bears had no right to chase Goldilocks away, let alone eat her– especially since she didn’t like two-thirds of the porridge that she ate.)

Further commentary has been brought up by Johanna Draper Carlson and Gail Simone on the "you’re shutting down a free comics site! Bad!" side, Kevin Church and Lisa Fortuner on the "About bloody time" side, and Digital Strips’ Brigid Alverson giving equal time to both.

As for the scans_daily moderators, the best summation seems to be from schmevil. Stubbleupdate has offered to answer questions in an interview; I’ve already sent a list.

 

Webcomics You Should Have Read: ‘Perry Bible Fellowship’

  • News
  • March 2, 2009

It started innocently enough, folks, I swear. I was patrolling my normal series of blogs, whence I came upon a startlingly funny little comic. Instantly I thought “Hey! Another opportunity to share with the masses an ongoing, intelligent, mildly offensive online comic! And again without fail, I find yet another online comic worthy of praise… that had already been deemed dead. But, my gentle readers (and my gentile readers too), I again choose to share with you a comic to be lifted on high and praised as “A Webcomic You Should Have Read!”. I give you The Perry Bible Fellowship. (Note: at this point henceforth when I declare things like this, you should quickly load up an MP3 of “O Fortuna Carmina Burana” and pour yourself a fine glass of Burgundy. If neither are available, a reasonable alternative would be a cassette single of "Step By Step" by NKOTB, and pour yourself a slop bucket full o’ Mountain Dew.)

I admit I find many things to be funny–religious zealots, explosions, bum fights, british curtness, farting, and my fiancé’s face when she’s asleep… and truly, this little strip seems to cover all those bases well, and then some*. A brief history tells us:

The Perry Bible Fellowship (or PBF) is a newspaper comic strip and webcomic by Nicholas Gurewitch. It originated in the Syracuse University newspaper The Daily Orange. The comics are usually three or four panels long, and are generally characterized by the juxtaposition of whimsical childlike imagery or fantasy with extremely morbid, surreal humor. Common themes include irony, religion, sexuality, war, science fiction, suicide, violence, and death.

The comic received its title, taken from the name of a church in Maine, in its Daily Orange incarnation.

Let’s dive in, shall we? (more…)

cosmiccomicsolivepanter-9910089

ComicMix Quick Picks – March 1, 2009

  • News
  • March 1, 2009

cosmiccomicsolivepanter-9910089Today’s list of quick items:

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Watchmen: Now Universal joins in with new clips

  • News
  • February 28, 2009

So far, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Fox have all had ties with Watchmen. Now, we can add NBC/Universal to the list.

Next week, NBC Networks will be airing never before seen exclusive Watchmen character profiles during the programming of shows on NBC, USA and SCIFI to gear up for the release of Watchmen on March 6th.

Here’s the schedule:

  •  March 1 – Clip montage featuring Dr. Manhattan airs exclusively during "National Treasure" on USA Network.
  •  March 2 – Clip montage featuring Rorschach airs exclusively during "Heroes" on NBC.
  •  March 4 – Clip montage featuring Ozymandias airs exclusively during "Ghost Hunters International" on SCI FI.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring Nite Owl airs exclusively during "Battlestar Galactica" on SCI FI.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring Silk Spectre II airs exclusively during "Burn Notice" on USA Network.
  •  March 5 – Clip montage featuring The Comedian airs exclusively during "30 Rock" on NBC.

Following their network airing, the clips will be available for viewing on nbc.com/watchmen.

Meanwhile, Disney is trying to figure out a way to tie things in. Some Ozymadias/ScroogeMcDuck crossover, I suppose. Or Donald Ducktor Manhattan, he’s already not wearing pants…

The Point – February 27th, 2009

  • News
  • February 27, 2009

Say Goodbye to February and Hello to March which will give us STAR TREK:TNG on FAMILY GUY, WONDER WOMAN on DVD, more episodes (and maybe a second season of ISSUES) but no SOUTH PARK on the iPhone and maybe no third season of REAPER. It’s a mixed bag for us and oh yeah, Mike Gold misses comic book racks.

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Marvel ends open submissions policy

  • News
  • February 27, 2009

We received the following statement from Marvel:

Due to an unprecedented number of unsolicited art and writing submissions, Marvel has altered its open submissions policy effective immediately.  Marvel has remained the only major publisher to continue accepting open submissions, however that practice has been halted as we review our strategies for accepting future submissions.
 
Marvel has a proven track record of attracting new and emerging talent and does not plan on ending those efforts in any way.
 
"If you look at our track record over the last 18 months, I think you’ll find the names of more new writers and artists in Marvel books than ever before.  Maybe more than at any other major comic book publisher, as a matter of fact," says Marvel Talent Liaison C.B. Cebulski. "We pride ourselves on finding new voices and artistic styles to help us shape the Marvel Universe in original and exciting ways. And while the hunt for new artistic resources to help us ever expand the Marvel mythos will continue, we’ll just be going about it in different ways. We’ve examined all our past practices concerning talent recruitment and it quickly became clear that more ‘reactive’ methods such as open submissions were the least effective ways to open the Marvel door for up-and-comers. So instead we’ll be continuing with the more ‘proactive’ methods of artist and writer discovery that we’ve found so successful of late, including some soon-to-be-announced new outlets."
 
While the open submissions policy has ceased, Marvel will continue its active recruitment of artists through its Talent Management department.  Artists are also encouraged to bring portfolios for review to the major conventions at which Marvel will have a presence this year.
 
Talent Coordinator for Marvel, Chris Allo adds, "In regards to finding new artists, we in the Talent Management department will still continue to look at online websites such as Deviant Art, Comic Art Community, as well as comic art blogs, and other related sites.  Online comics are rapidly becoming a source for scouting as well.  And, of course, we will still go to the comic book stores on Wednesdays and see what new artists are out there working for other companies and on independent books."                        
 
With the successful discovery and publishing of writers in the fields of comics as well as TV, film and literature, Marvel will continue to search out new voices in all published fields, as we have for the past number of years.
 
As new media and means of publishing comics on the web as well as small and independent press, we encourage all new creators to continue honing their craft by using all of the tools available during this time.  Marvel will be announcing a new submissions policy in the near future.

Let the speculation begin. Is this because Marvel’s been laying off people one at a time, and one of the folks let go was the guy who went through the slush pile of submissions? Is the market full up right now, and Marvel has enough talent to produce the limited number of books they’ll be doing? Have they finally figured out a way to clone Bendis?

And with this door closing, how many other people are just going to migrate to the web and start there, and not need Marvel at all? Don’t forget, Marvel Digital’s chief exec doesn’t think YouTube is a real entertainment channel… despite what Nielsen says.

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