Do you ever find yourself talking to a voice inside your head? Â And, if so, what do you do next?
Danny and Scott seek an answer to that question in today’s brand-new episode of EZ Street by Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell. So turn up the soundtrack and read on!
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)
More: EZ Street
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You’ve likely heard a bit about a recent cartoon in the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest (seen at right) that was a pretty direct ripoff of an old Jack Kirby cover. The New York Post, among others, called it plagiarism.
This doesn’t delve too much into that debate, but Patrick House, the man who won that caption contest, gives an explainer at Slate.com about the formula he used to win, and what it says about the New Yorker.
His winning caption, by the way, was: "O.K. I’m at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?"
He also touched on the differences between this cartoon and the Kirby original:
And what better archetype of urban ennui could there be than a man in a cardigan holding a drink, yapping on his cell phone while blissfully unaware of looming dangers? A very similar cartoon by Jack Kirby from 1962 — similar enough to lead the New York Post to shout plagiarism — has the person inside the window frightened and cowering, sans drink, glasses, or phone. But that was 50 years ago, and drudge and complacency have settled on the urban landscape sometime between now and then. You must look for these themes in your cartoon and pounce.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In previous editions of ComicMix Six, our contributors have given you their lists of comics’ top political campaigns, the best and worst movies based on comics, and even a few reasons why a Skrull invasion isn’t anything to worry about.
This week, we have a special guest contributor, Vinnie Bartilucci, whose name can often be seen in the comment sections here on ComicMix. We thought he had a great idea for this week’s list, so without further introduction… Take it away, Vinnie! -RM]
Comics work fine all by themselves, in their own little universe. But at some point, just like on television, someone always says, “Hey, let’s bring in a guest star!”
Maybe it’s because the star in question is a comics fan, or they thought it’d bring the book some publicity if the star help it up on The Tonight Show, or any of the other inspirations that come after a late night of pacing the floor with a stomach full of pastrami. But the real world and the world of comics clashed a lot of times over the years.
Sure, comics creators would often put themselves in the books – Julie Schwartz made more than a few appearances in the DC titles after the discovery of Earth-Prime, and Stan Lee almost deserves his own ComicMix Six for all the times he appeared in the books. Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis even had their own titles for many years. But it’s the one-shot, “Hey, did that just happen?” crossovers I’m honoring in this article today.
So here they are, in no fixed heirarchy, my ComicMix Six list of the The Best Celebrity Team-Ups in Comics:
SUPERMAN AND ORSON WELLES: One of the earliest examples I’m aware of, the creator of Citizen Kane and later spokesman for the Paul Masson Wineries Orson Welles appeared in Superman #62. While working on his latest film, Black Magic, Welles accidentally stumbles across the launch site for an unmanned rocket to Mars, and while exploring the ship, it varooms off to the red planet, not as unmanned as previously presumed.
On Mars, he is confronted by the Martian’s tyrannical leader, “Martler.” Martler had taken that name because of his admiration of the Earth Dictator, and patterned his armies after the Nazi example. Apparently he didn’t get the last few news items… Welles naturally refuses his offer to become propaganda minister of Earth, and forces them to show him how to broadcast to Earth. He beams an impassioned plea home with news of the coming invasion, but you guessed it, thanks to his little prank a few years earlier, people don’t believe him this time. Well, nobody but Superman.
Superman arrives in the traditional nick of time and helps stop the “Solazi” invasion fleet, while Welles keeps the soldiers on the ground spooked with a few cheesy magic tricks, a skill that would serve him well later in life on Merv Griffin. He eventually knocks out Martler, and using him like a puppet, fakes a broadcast (irony!) to the people of Mars telling them to stand down. Martler is banished to an unpopulated asteroid, where we must assume he remains to this day.
Chris Hastings’ ongoing webcomic The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is one of my favorite pay-it-forward comics. It was recommended to me a little more than two years ago, and I’ve been recommending it to anyone with even a passing interest in webcomics ever since.
While the series remains a consistent source of great storytelling and endlessly amusing, over-the-top action cliches presented in proud, black-and-white glory, I think it’s the tagline that really sells it. Go ahead and Google "Dr. McNinja," and you’ll see what I mean.
According to the InterWebs gods:
Dr. McNinja is a doctor who is also a ninja.
And there you have it.
Sure, I could tell you about the series’ excellent, ongoing and continuity-laden stories featuring a man torn between his medical oath to heal and his ninja oath to kill, as well as the raptors, ghost wizards, pirates, giant lumberjacks and flying sharks he finds himself battling time and time again, but when everything is said and done, that tagline really sums it up best.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Hastings is a witty, approachable creator who continues to seem pleasantly surprised by his status as one of the ‘Net’s most prominent webcomic creators. I recently had the opportunity to send some questions to Hastings about Dr. McNinja, the perils of giving characters a backstory and who he would cast in the big-screen version of Dr. McNinja. (*nudge* Take a hint, movie people, and get on this one!)
COMICMIX: While a lot of webcomics rely on the one-shot model with little continuity between episodes, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja thrives as an ongoing series with a massive, ever-expanding cast of characters. Why do you feel this is the right model for the stories you want to tell?
CHRIS HASTINGS: I think the Internet is the right model for me, because there are a lot more people with computers in their homes than there are people who go to comic shops and conventions looking for indie comics. I also had to spend way less money to put the comic online than to print it myself (which I did do eventually, but only after having a demand for it).
I recognize that long stories and continuity aren’t necessarily a massive trend in comics online, since typically someone’s attention span is reduced to about 12 seconds once they open their browser. But it was already my style to have something funny or exciting or generally satisfying in each individual page or update. And after someone reads a few pages and likes them, hopefully they’re hooked, and they’ve got some investment in the story and characters.
CMix: Do you ever worry about getting bogged down in the continuity you’ve created?
CH: I do occasionally. Like this recent story has been going on for a little over a year now, broken up into chapters, and I’ll be quite happy to go back to doing shorter stories like the first few were. But years down the road if the continuity gets to be an actual burden, like it is for Spider-Man, the X-Men, and others, I have the freedom to deal with it however I like.
I first came across the concept of "safe spaces" for women when I was in high school. I went to an all-girls religious school (yeshiva) in 9th and 10th grades. The idea didn’t make sense to me at the time, separating boys and girls just when they were beginning to find out about each other, to really relate to one another as fully-realized people. I was convinced then that the segregation could only come to no good, that we’d grow up completely lacking in social skills regarding how to communicate with the opposite sex, and that it was all doomed to end in tears.
And while I think I was partially correct, at least in my case, Bruriah was the first place I remember feeling this inexplicable sense of female safety (at least when the male instructors weren’t around), of proto-feminist solidarity. It even (temporarily) helped me break some bad personal habits, I’m pretty sure that was the first time I stopped biting my nails for an appreciable period. There was just something amazing about having all that support around me that made it seem anything was possible.
At Rutgers University in New Brunswick, I minored in feminism, which at the time was called Women’s Studies. So naturally, everyone assumed, and still does, that I attended not Rutgers College, but the University’s "female auxiliary" affiliate, Douglass. I didn’t go to Douglass, which by that time was trending from all-female to co-ed anyway. But it was still considered a relative safe space for women, and there were a number of Douglass students in my feminism classes. There, we learned that "safety" didn’t just mean shelter from potential violence (rape awareness was a big part of my curriculum, and I never did figure out why more of it wasn’t aimed at the gender that committed the most rapes — i.e., the guilty party — rather than the gender that was raped most often) but from male aggression in general, even when that aggression took the form of vigorous debate. We analyzed how women in co-ed classes and curricula tended to be more withdrawn and reticent than the men, who interrupted far more and were paid more academic (rather than prurient) attention by the instructors. Without so many men around to hog the limelight and make us feel scholastically intimidated, we were able to blossom more into our own diverse personalities. (more…)
While the second run of Dark Tower is coming to a close, Marvel has another Stephen King project in the wings — one that will please his fans new and old, plus:
— The Scarecrow moves to Heroes
— Magic: The Gathering gets a big makeover
— Another great week of new comics and DVDs, including Secret Invasion and the debut of DC’s Trinity
M-O-O-N spells “Press the Button!”
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Salu Digby was born in the 30th century—though she was born on Earth, her parents are actually from the planet Imsk.
Like all her people, Salu had the power to shrink herself to microscopic size. As a teenager she heard about the Legion of Super-Heroes and decided to seek them out. She applied for membership and was initially rejected but applied again and was accepted, adopting the name Shrinking Violet.
The name is only partially due to her powers—Salu was one of the quieter, shyer members of the Legion. She is a stalwart heroine, however, and has been one of the Legion’s most steadfast members.
Over the years, she grew in confidence, particularly after begin kidnapped and held captive by Imskian freedom fighters. After that incident, Salu became considerably more aggressive and more outgoing. She also became one of the Legion’s most skilled hand-to-hand combatants.
Leading North American manga publisher Tokyopop announced today that it will be creating a new company, Tokyopop Media LLC, to manage its comics-to-film and digital media projects, while also cutting production in its print department by nearly 50 percent.
According to iCv2:
Publishing production will be reduced by roughly 50% through the rest of the year, reducing output to roughly 200-225 titles per year from a planned total of over 500 titles. Tokyopop CEO and Chief Creative Officer of the Tokyopop Group, Stuart Levy, explained the reasons for the reduction in output. “The time is now for us to focus our publishing business to overcome current market challenges. Few releases will allow for less cannibalization at retail.”
The company is reducing its workforce by 39 positions in connection with the changes. "We must adjust our overhead to properly execute this new business plan," Levy said. "We are doing it with a heavy heart," he continued. "It involves saying goodbye to 39 of the most talented, creative and compassionate people I’ve ever known."
Regular readers of Publishers Weekly comics blog The Beat were privy to some recent foreshadowing of the move, courtesy of Heidi MacDonald, but the official announcement provides a lot of food for thought regarding the state of the industry.
Tokyopop has also come under a significant amount of fire recently regarding its Pilot Program contracts, which you can also read about at length over at The Beat.
Hard times, indeed.
Today on ComicMix, the legendary art team of Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin begin a new series, White Viper, with scripts by Erin Holroyd. A mother abandons two bundles in the snow. A rapacious gang of bandits is following her. They find one. What happens to the other?
Credits: Erin Holyrod (Writer), Frank McLaughlin (Inker), Dick Giordano (Penciller), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor)
More: White Viper
I’m not going to even pretend to understand 80 percent of the Scientific American article I was recently sent with the title "Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?" The 20 percent I can make sense of, however, seems to fall right in line with the subject line that accompanied it: "Maybe Doctor Who Was Right"
To the best of my summation, the article describes physicists’ investigation of the potential "timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly" nature of the fourth dimension, and the likelihood that time might not always be a one-way street. Of course, this is all old hat to fans of the relaunched BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, who were told something similar by The Doctor in last season’s award-winning (and terrifying) episode titled "Blink."
If the observable universe were all that existed, it would be nearly impossible to account for the arrow of time in a natural way. But if the universe around us is a tiny piece of a much larger picture, new possibilities present themselves. We can conceive of our bit of universe as just one piece of the puzzle, part of the tendency of the larger system to increase its entropy without limit in the very far past and the very far future. To paraphrase physicist Edward Tryon, the big bang is easier to understand if it is not the beginning of everything but just one of those things that happens from time to time.
While I’m always interested in the ways life (or science, in this case) matches up with my favorite television series, I’m not so keen on the idea of stone statues attacking me whenever I turn my back (the other element of "Blink" worth noting). Even if you’re not a fan of Doctor Who, the SciAm article provides science-fiction fans some food for thought… and who knows, it might be just the impetus you need to brush up on your theoretical physics.
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