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The Mix : What are people talking about today?
Mark Waid’s speech and the Napsterization of comics
Mark Waid’s planned Harvey speech on copyright, piracy, digital distribution, and the like is now posted at CBR. Please note that this is his Platonic ideal speech, not what I heard in the room– as I recall it and he himself noted, the speech he gave was significantly, shall we say, rougher. Sadly, no one has posted an actual transcript or video yet, which is a shame as I think that may have been even more important. (And yes, I have a lead on a copy.)
A while back, I wrote about a meeting I had with DC Legal talking about comics piracy, and I talked about how comics were being Napsterized. In the light of Mark’s call to start a dialogue on these topics, I’d like to revisit that topic– sadly, five years on, the issues are still with us.
Seth Godin recently talked about what publishing should have learned from the music industry:
1) We have a fresh slate at HarperStudio. What’s your advice?
The huge opportunity for book publishers is to get unstuck. You’re not in the printing business. The life and death of trees is not your concern. You’re in the business of leveraging the big ideas authors have. There are a hundred ways to do that, yet book publishers obsess about just one or two of them. Here’s the news flash: that’s not what authors care about. Authors don’t care about units sold. They care about ideas spread. If you can help them do that, we’re delighted to share our profits with you. But one (broken) sales channel–bookstores–and one broken model (guaranteed sale of slow-to-market books) is not the way to get there. If you free yourself up enough to throw that out, you’ll figure out dozens of ways to leverage and spread and profit from ideas worth spreading.
2) If everything is free, how is anyone going to make any money?
First, the market and the internet don’t care if you make money. That’s important to say. You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It’s not “how can the market make me money” it’s “how can I do things for this market.” Because generally, when you do something for an audience, they repay you. The Grateful Dead made plenty of money. Tom Peters makes many millions of dollars a year giving speeches, while books are a tiny fraction of that. Barack Obama used ideas to get elected, book royalties are just a nice side effect. There are doctors and consultants who profit from spreading ideas. Novelists and musicians can make money with bespoke work and appearances and interactions. And you know what? It’s entirely likely that many people in the chain WON’T make any money. That’s okay. That’s the way change works.
3) How do you think publishers and authors could work more productively together?
Publishing is far too focused on the pub day. The event of the publication. This is a tiny drip, perhaps the least important moment in a long timeline. As soon as publishers see themselves as marketers and agents and managers and developers of content, things change.
4) What’s the most important lesson the book publishing industry can learn from the music industry?
The market doesn’t care a whit about maintaining your industry. The lesson from Napster and iTunes is that there’s even MORE music than there was before. What got hurt was Tower and the guys in the suits and the unlimited budgets for groupies and drugs. The music will keep coming. Same thing is true with books. So you can decide to hassle your readers (oh, I mean your customers) and you can decide that a book on a Kindle SHOULD cost $15 because it replaces a $15 book, and if you do, we (the readers) will just walk away. Or, you could say, “if books on the Kindle were $1, perhaps we could create a vast audience of people who buy books like candy, all the time, and read more and don’t pirate stuff cause it’s convenient and cheap…” I’m a pessimist that the book industry will learn from music. How are you betting?
So let’s think about the state of the industries– where music’s been the last few years, and where comics could be heading.
Recession? Check.
Screwed up and weakened distribution channels? Check.
High studio costs? Check.
Nearly free, widespread distribution system that the fans use? Check.
Major industry execs and creators that are either clueless about the Internet, or are years late to the party? Check.
A newly empowered bunch of creators doing it themselves and distributing online? Check, check, check.
So is there a solution? Yes, but there are some big hurdles to overcome. Start discussing it in the comment threads, and we’ll be back in a bit with more.
The Snark Files: The Flash in a Marathon
Well, my loyal ComicMix fans, it seems you respond to me when I get snarky. So, I figure if Daniel Tosh can rip off Web Soup and be popular, why can’t I? Sure, I’m not standing in front of a green screen, making fun of YouTube clips, or filming it all in front of semi-drunk fans who thought they had tickets to the Daily Show… but hey, I can totally make off-hand comments when people put pictures in front of my face. Case in point? Everything the Source touts as being “Cryptic”. See example A and B. But I digress! On to today’s fun. We found this image thanks to the ‘Obvious Winner‘ blog, and couldn’t help ourselves.
- Look what poor Wally West has to do now that Barry and the “Silver-Age Only” Justice Leaguers buried him in backups.*
- Hey, no wonder Jim Parsons won that Emmy. He used his Flash costume to garner votes… that cad.
- Sorry, all you Ethiopians, Kenyans, and Nigerians… y’all ain’t got nuthin’ on the Speed Force.
- Actually, come to think of it, thanks to Flash: Rebirth, we don’t even know how the damned “Speed Force” works anymore. And when we called Mark Waid for clarification, he only tried to sell us a copy of Irredeemable.
- Just to be a jerk about it, the Flash waited 3 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds after they fired the starting gun to begin running. He still won by 48 minutes.
- Not pictured here, but who’s also running in the race in an attempt to stay fresh in readers’ minds? Max Mercury, Impulse, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, and Wally’s one kid who isn’t Impulse…who no one will care about until he turns into a Rogue, which is bound to happen since he had his power siphoned off by his greedy sister. And he’s part Asian.
- Flash Fact: running in 90-degree heat in a bright red costume with only his face exposed equals bugs in your teeth and metahuman-level BO.
- We were sure this was Wally West, but after a careful look at the bright red suit and full-circle lightning belt, this is indeed Barry Allen. Turns out he thought this was another “Flash vs. Superman” charity race. Silly Barry, fun comics are for kids–from the 70s!
- In accordance with his new M.O. of “causing all the trouble in Barry Allen’s life,” the original Reverse Flash is waiting at the 2-mile marker with a cup of water to give to Flash. Little does Flash know…the water is stale and lukewarm. Bwa ha ha ha!
- Because he’s still not “with the times,” Flash was nearly laughed out of the marathon for using his original Walkman, loaded with a cassette of “We Built This City”.
- Flash Fact 2: Barry uses Crisis on Infinite Secrets Antiperspirant (TM). Strong enough for a woman, but made for a boring relic, brought back because Geoff Johns can do no wrong.
Well, that ought to rile up some of you fine readers! Feel free to disagree in the comments below.
- We know that the Justice League contains plenty of non-Silver Age leaguers right now. But trust us, Hal, Ollie, and Barry sat in a diner four years ago and decided Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Conner Hawke, and Roy Harper should take a break. It’s not like Hal, Ollie, and Barry had 20 or so years to gain a fan base.
Baltimore Comic-Con 2010 summed up in three pictures
Even though the show is still very family friendly, you still get creepy old guys and fruits showing up…
…and by the end of the day, your kids look like this:
Lost ‘Dial M for Monkey’ Cartoon Surfaces!
Hey there kiddos. We were playing around working hard to find you awesome content the other day when we stumbled across this little gem! For those who recall the most excellent Dexter’s Laboratory cartoon, once shown on Cartoon Network (now being shown on Cartoon Network’s dump for it’s old toons and Hanna-Barbara classics, Boomerang!), had within it several “mini-shows”. While we were huge fans of the “Justice Friends” mock reality cartoon (in which Major Glory, the Infragable Krunk and the mighty Valhallan shared a small apartment…) the real gem of the extras was “Dial M for Monkey”. Monkey, an homage to SHIELD, Dial H for Hero, and several spy/superhero thrillers in the 60s, always spoke to me. Why? Cause super-powered monkeys are hilarious. Even more-so, super-powered monkey’s having to face off against a flamboyantly gay Silver Surfer homage, and his master, the planet eating Barbequor is too funny to pass up.
While the episode ran once in 2002 on Cartoon Network, it’s since been pulled from the run, due in part to the portrayal of said Surfer, but probably more due to the Infragable Krunk getting intoxicated, throwing up, and having to be driven home. Kids these days… so innocent. Don’t want them copying what they see on the the ole’ teevee now do we? But we trust you, loyal ComicMix fan. We’re gonna post up this “lost” episode for your enjoyment anyways. Cause we’re rebels like that. Rebels that love monkeys.
Review: ‘Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers’
Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers
By Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic/Graphix, 208 pages, $10.99 (paperback)
When last we left the cast of [[[Amulet]]], they were in the forest being chased by the bad guys and things were slowly starting to make sense for Emily, keep of the powerful stone. They managed to survive the evil king’s forces but it took a toll, damaging the mechanical tree house they used for a refuge.
Now, a year later, the third installment in Kazu Kibuishi’s fantasy graphic novel series continues from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. Across 200 colorful pages, Kibuishi manages to explain a bit more about what is going on, raising the stakes, and moving the players to a new level.
Unfortunately, the overly familiar story gets feels even less original as they wend their way to Mos Eisley in search of a pilot wiling to take them to the cloud city of Bespin. That’s pretty much all that happens from a big picture standpoint but we also see Emily accept the power of her stone and begin to train with it. She and the prince, Trellis, forge an unusual bond.
The remainder of the cast is woefully underutilized so Emily’s mom, her brother Navin, the titular leader Leon Redbeard and others are all along for the ride but are given virtually nothing to do. Instead, we meet Enzo, the grizzled pilot of the Luna Moth, who of course has an unexplained history with Selina, owner of the floating fueling station.
Filling out the rest of the book are either chase scenes, fight scenes or aerial combat scenes that must be fun to write and draw but do little to make the world seem any more real or interesting. There are also all-too-brief interludes such as a nice bit between Emily and her mom, but doesn’t make either character any more interesting.
There’s no recap page so anyone starting with volume three is somewhat lost nor do we have a sense of how many volumes it will take for Emily the Stonekeeper to fulfill her destiny and rid her world of the evil king.
The world of Alledia, described as a land of “wildly imaginative and dangerous things”, is the most imaginative part of the series and Kibuishi is ably assisted by an army of colorists who do a nice job. The notion of an order of stonekeepers protecting the world is a timeworn concept that should offer some twists and turns but seems to be merely a semi-sentient object of power.
While these books remain top sellers for Scholastic, I can’t help but want something fresher and more imaginative for the 9-12 readers who seem to gobble these books up.
Season 11 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Released!
ABC’s Dancing with the Stars announced the star-studded celebrity participants for the upcoming 11th season! This fall taking the stage will be:
- Brandy, who will reignite her career right out of the grave it’s been sleeping in since it keeled over in 1998.
- Jennifer Grey, who will prove once more why “Baby” shoulda’ stayed in the corner.
- Margaret Cho, who will show off all the fat she shed back in 2005, when people still didn’t find her funny. Cho, famous for calling herself a “fag hag” will be an instant fan favorite for the target of DWTS… the “hyper-gays”.
- Audrina Patridge, who was on some show on MTV called the Hills. I had to look that up on Wikipedia, so that pretty much shows you just what class of celebrity passes for a “Star” on this show.
- Florence Henderson, who will remind us why she was on VH1’s “Surreal Life”… because even on a show surrounded by Z-listers, ole’ Carole Brady can brighten a screen long enough for you to remember her acting ability is much like her star power. By the way, did you know she’s hocking internet service for seniors now? I rest my case.
- Bristol Palin, who will prove to America that with a little charm, a little limelight, and a mother who looks like Tina Fey… anything is possible. Just a quick network note, if for any reason Bristol needs to attend to her child, her spot will be replaced by someone with as much ‘star cred’ as Bristol; Remember Joe the Plumber?
- Michael Bolton, who will show the wit, class, and grace he’s always shown when in the public eye. In order to combat the instant narcolepsy effect that will occur when people see him, ABC will cut all his performances in with clips from Pokemon.
- Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, who will, to no one’s surprise, dance all numbers without a shirt. This should create high drama with the judges, and gay population rooting for Chunk-Lite Cho.
- David Hasselhoff, fresh off his comedy central roast, will dance as long as he is paid in plastic bottles of Vodka, purchased from the drug store down the street from the set.
- Kurt Warner, this season’s token athlete, fresh off his 2008 Super Bowl loss as an Arizona Cardinal. We’re not actually knocking his NFL career, he was amazing. But as a dancer? We’re hoping for a career ending injury.
- Kyle Massey, who we also had to look up on wikipedia, is from Disney’s That So Raven. Seriously? Is Raven Symone too good for the show, that they instead hire a 4th rate Keenan Thompson?
- Rick Fox, the second token athlete… with 3 NBA championships under his belt, and a recent 2009 loss on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox is set to ballroom dance his way back to the lowest tier of page 20 in People Magazine.
We can’t wait to tune in to see who eventually takes home the golden dance shoes. In an unrelated story, Spike TV is bringing back the third season of it’s hit show, 1000 Ways to Die. SPOILER ALERT. #957? Watching Dancing with the Stars, 10 seasons after it peaked.
Henson Family Donates Original Muppets to the Smithsonian
Alongside his not-as-famous pals, Kermit the Frog was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History by Jim Henson’s wife, Jane, this past Wednesday. Originally cast as a post-news puppet show, Kermit and the original Muppets debuted in 5 minute sketches, usually lip-syncing to popular music, after the local news.
While most today won’t recognize the other puppet-cohorts of Kermit, the museum plans to show clips from early appearances, and help promote the new display in the Pop Culture Gallery, set to debut in November. Curator Dwight Blocker Bowers (say that three times fast) said the Muppets would be a welcome addition to the museum’s collection. “It certainly shows the Muppets at the beginning of the career of a large family of entertainers,” he said. “More than anything, I think it shows the genius of Jim Henson.”
In order to hype this donation, and future installation, a road show has been set up, with a first opening in the Windy City, opening on September 24th at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.
Jane donated this first batch of Muppets, with plans to continue the donation in the years to come. We hope in time to take out own children (when we have children, mind you) to the Smithsonian to see some of our favorites from Henson’s workshop, including any Muppets who made their way into Bill Cosby’s show. You know that episode we’re talking about. Doc eats the sausage sandwich, and have some weird dreams, ala Muppetland. He’s visited by the Hippocritic Oaf, and eventually opens the fridge to find all the contents to have been transformed into puppetry. But we digress… At very least, expect Kermit’s longtime female companion, the far-from-kosher Ms. Piggy to join her lime-green romeo soon (in tow, we’re sure, with other actual major Muppet players). In the mean time… Expect Kermit and his pals to enjoy the sans-pig-silence.
Tip of the hat to artdaily, for sharing. Cause sharing is caring.
Review: ‘FlashForward The Complete Series’
In 1999, Robert J. Sawyer wrote FlashForward
, a clever science fiction novel that showed how the world reacted to a suddenly global blackout and people glimpsing their futures 21 years hence. The catalytic event was centered at the CERN supercollider in Europe and largely focused on the scientists who worked there.
Interestingly, it was optioned for television and was being developed into a series at HBO, which decided it was trending more towards a prime time broadcast network show, so the rights got to ABC. With great fanfare and terrific initial reviews, the show debuted on September 24, 2009.
Maybe it should have stayed a limited run series on the premium channel. The resulting 22 episodes had lofty goals and a dynamite cast, but the sprawling story was messy, with way too many things not holding up well enough to sustain viewer interest. Ratings suffered after the show took a break at the midpoint and was finally ended on May 27. On Tuesday, ABC Studios is releasing FlashForward: The Complete Series
as a five disc set.
One of the creative problems was that the producers had no idea how much time they had to tell their story. They received an initial order for thirteen and it was a month after the debut before ABC ordered the back nine and subsequently added three episodes to the order. As the ratings nosedived, the order was trimmed from 25 to 24 and finally the standard 22. The feeling that they were spinning their wheels makes sense now that you see what they had to deal with.
Additionally, the personnel guiding the characters and storylines also shifted which led to altered tones. The show was initially being run by Marc Guggenheim, David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga but shortly after the full season was ordered, Guggenheim left the show and Goyer took over until February when he moved away from the sinking ship, letting his wife Jessika, Lisa Zwerling and Timothy J. Lea complete the series.
What should have been a limited series run made substantive changes to Sawyer’s novel beginning with altering the flash forward from 21 years to a handful of months, April 29, 2010. The ensemble cast was centered not at CERN but at the Los Angeles branch of the FBI. Over the course of the first few episodes, it was fascinating to see people react to their visions or lack of visions. The FBI team, led by an overly dour Ralph Fiennes, discovered a vast conspiracy behind the event and their investigations let us meet many people around the world and get a greater sense of what was experienced and how society was being altered.
‘Spider-Man’ caught by Australians
Dateline: Sydney! It seems a fickle Frenchman, nicknamed “Spider-Man” was nabbed by Aussie Police after he scaled a 57-story building in Sydney, with his bare hands! Alain “So not Peter Parker” Robert is a noted building climber… having scaled over 70 buildings, (as only a spider can.) including the 41-story Royal Bank of Scotland building in Sydney, The Sears Willis (ugh) Tower in Chicago, and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur.
It seems this Spider-Man has had plenty of run-ins with the law, having paid a whopping $676 dollar fine once before to the Aussie Feds for his previous scaling of the aforementioned Royal Bank, as well as numerous arrests for his previous climbs. “I’m sad he’s been arrested, but hopefully he’ll get out soon and we can have some champagne,” said his agent, Max Markson. We can only assume Robert and Markson’s next scaling may be away from the land-down-under. We suggest Chicago’s Trump Tower next. Why? Cause the Donald loves publicity stunts, and his half-filled building needs a little TLC from the media.
We stopped the editor of the Daily Bugle, one J. Jonah Jameson, who had this to say: “If we only knew the identity of our own city’s wall-crawler we could fine him too for all the buildings he’s scaled. I talked to our attorney, Matt Murdock, and he’s certain that if that French kid gets arresting for just climbing a building, our web-spinning, car-flipping, joke-spewing ‘Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ would get an instant ‘Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200’ card! And we’ll figure out WHO the web-crawler is too… All we need is one more day.”
Kudos to Yahoo! for this one.
