We jump into the New Year with our first regular broadcast, covering that New Doctor (“Doctor Twilight”?), What went wrong with The Spirit (Frank Miller liked the voices), What we guarantee will be hot in ’09 and Five cool things in your comic store this week. And that’s just the start!
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The 2008 Weblog Awards finalists have come out and voting starts today. The nominees for Best Comic Strip:
Day By Day
Calamities of Nature
Town Called Dobson
Garfield Minus Garfield
What the Duck
The Book of Biff
Medium-Large
Dilbert
Jesus and Mo
xkcd
In addition, The Comics Curmudgeon is up for Best Humor Blog. Go forth, vote early, and vote often.
A press release from the Hero Initiative:
The Hero Initiative announced today that annual memberships for the organization are now available for purchase. There are four levels of membership: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Excelsior!
A Bronze membership costs $29 and includes: a personalized membership card (which will arrive approximately 4-5 weeks after you sign up), a quarterly newsletter and a Hero Initiative sketch card from a randomly selected artist. Artists include Mike Bencic, Dan Brereton, Dick Giordano, Bob Hall, Dan Jurgens, Mike Mayhew, George Pérez, Joe Quesada, John Romita Sr., Dave Simons, Jim Valentino, Carly Wagner, Bob Wiacek, Richard Zajac and more!
A Silver membership costs $99 and includes: all of the Bronze perks, plus a Hero Initiative T-shirt (your choice of Dawn or Hero Hand), a copy of the Marvel Then and Now DVD and a copy of The Unusual Suspects graphic novel.
A Gold membership costs $250 and includes: all of the Silver perks, plus invitations to Hero Initiative VIP Members-Only parties at 2009’s Wizard World Los Angeles and Wizard World Chicago.
An Excelsior! membership costs $500 and includes: all of the Gold perks, plus your flat item (maximum size 11” x 17”), signed and personalized by the one and only Stan Lee.
“I’m always amazed and happy to see the support that fans have shown Hero,” said Hero Initiative President Jim McLauchlin. “Hopefully, this will be a new way they can show affinity, and get some nice goodies in the process.”
This is the first time memberships to The Hero Initiative have been offered. It was put into place with the fans foremost in mind and on consultation with GeekInTheCity.com, a website that covers all things geek, from comics to movies to games. As such, GeekInTheCity’s Aaron Duran is member #1, Jen Duran is member #2 and Stan Lee is member #3. Creator Paul Dini (Detective Comics, Madame Mirage) is also a member already, as is Mid-Ohio Con promoter Roger Price.
The Hero Initiative does more than help people in need,” said Aaron Duran, explaining why he was eager to help start this membership drive. “They give back to those that inspired our hopes and dreams. They help artists and writers in need, artists and writers that inspired all our tomorrows. Please help the Hero Initiative protect theirs.”
To become a member of The Hero Initiative, fans can sign up at www.atomiccomicsstore.com/heroinitiative.html or on-site at The Hero Initiative booth at the following upcoming comic book conventions: Phoenix Cactus Comic-Con, Jan. 23-25; New York Comic Con, Feb. 6-8; WonderCon, Feb. 27 – March 1; Orlando MegaCon, Feb. 27 – March 1; and Wizard World Los Angeles, March 13-15.
More info at their blog: http://heroinitiative.blogspot.com/
If Avi Arad was hoping that the Bratz franchise would completely disappear and take the movie he produced with it, he’s out of luck. A US federal judge has ruled that Bratz dolls will be able to remain on store shelves through 2009. The judge gave MGA Entertainment, the manufacturer of Bratz merchandise a stay of sorts, asking MGA and Mattel to come up with a proposal under which the dolls can continue to be manufactured and sold through the year, according to the LA Times. Under the original ruling, MGA would have had to pull the dolls from shelves as of February 11, 2009. The judge made this new modified ruling "to address the concerns regarding the 2009 retail buying season."
Last year, Mattel sued and won a copyright infringement against MGA Entertainment concerning the Bratz dolls. But like the vampire blodsuckers they emulate, they keep coming back from the dead.
Yes, yes. Highest grossing movie of 2008. Second highest of all time. A billion dollars in box office when all is said and done. And yet– it could have made even more money, if only they’d worked with the studio with the best batting average in the business…
We all know it’s about the toys anyway, right?
Hat tip: Mark Waid.
AP News reports that Pat Hingle, the actor whose career included a recurring role as Commissioner Gordon in four Batmanfilms from 1989 to 1997, died at his home in Carolina Beach shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday after battling blood cancer. He was 84.
His career in movies and television spanned six decades, and he was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1958. Hingle’s last movie was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which was released in 2006.
I was lucky enough to see him perform on Braodway a decade ago, playing Ben Franklin in 1776 opposite Brent Spiner as John Adams. And much to my surprise, he was the original choice to play Elmer Gantry in the movie, before an accident knocked him out of the role and handed it to Burt Lancaster.
He will be missed.
As Kyle notes, "This joke will be old fast." So we’re spreading it before it dies.
In the meantime, go visit Kyle Baker‘s site. Spend money. His kids need kid stuff or something.
Should we put this behind the cut because there are spoilers? Nah…
We’ve just saved you weeks on your NetFlix queue. You’re welcome.
A year after the events of One More Day, Spider-Man has gone back to unmarried status in the newspaper strip.
So for all of you who thought this might just be a passing phase– like me– your hopes have finally been dashed. At least, until the next reboot.
One of these days I have to write that blog post on how to save One More Day and make Peter’s actions heroic…
Hat tip: Blog@Newsarama.
…Matt Smith?
Yes, apparently. Putting an end to all the rampant speculation, the 26 year old will be taking over the role of the Doctor in 2010.
A relative newcome to the scene, Smith already has experience working opposite companions to the Doctor, having played opposite Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) in TV adaptations of Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart novels The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow of the North as Jim Taylor, and again in Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
Now let the ritualized mocking of Rich Johnston commence.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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