The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig hit Broadway

  • Uncategorized
  • July 11, 2009

hugh-jackman-wolverine-nude-6079446First it was Doctor Who meets Captain Picard in Hamlet. Now it’s James Bond meeting Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig
will appear in the Broadway production A Steady Rain this fall, a play about two
Chicago policemen and how the events of a few days change their lives
forever.

Jackman has been on the New York stage before, winning a
Tony for his role in the musical The Boy from Oz, but this is Craig’s Broadway debut, although he has appeared
in the West End.

A Steady Rain is expected to open on September 29 and run for 12 weeks. Previews begin on September 10 at the Schoenfeld Theater. Tickets are expected to sell very quickly, for some reason. Let the fangirl drooling begin.

Deadpool Becomes Green Lantern

  • News
  • July 11, 2009

After months of speculation and jerking around, Warner Bros. announced the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern in their forthcoming movie of the same name.

No stranger to the world of super-characters, Reynolds most recently played Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He will be reprising that character in the forthcoming solo movie. He also played Hannibal King in the third Blade movie and, at one time, was alleged to play The Flash in the movie project that disappeared in a wink.

The husband of Scarlett Johansson, Reynolds beat out Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto, and Justin Timberlake. He’ll be playing Hal Jordan, the off-again/on-again GL who dominated the continuity over the past half-century.

Green Lantern is produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti and written by Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim. It will be directed by Martin Campbell for a 2011 release.

No word on who’s playing Ch’p.

Review: ‘Up’, Pixar and Storytelling

One of the things that I love about Pixar is that they
remember what a lot of filmmakers – and sadly, particularly those working in
the CG medium – have forgotten:


A film needs a story.

So many films today focus on technological dazzle, shock value, making pretty
pictures, or cleverness. None of these are bad things; any and all of them can
add enjoyment, but for me a good story is more important than anything else. I’ll
enjoy the spectacle, the beauty, the wit, but what stays with me is the story.
If story is absent, everything else fades quickly. Pixar’s films have had
consistently strong storytelling, letting the characters carry the viewer along
on their adventures, and this summer’s offering, [[[Up]]], is no exception.

Up doesn’t come near to matching the sheer dazzling brilliance of last
summer’s [[[Wall-E]]], but it is a sweet and charming movie in its own right,
and like Wall-E, it remembered to have a story.
Not only that, but Up takes a startling number of storytelling risks,
particularly for a movie aimed at children.

First there was the absolutely heartbreaking montage of Carl
and Ellie trying to save for their dream trip, and having their dream
constantly derailed by crisis after crisis, only to have Ellie fall ill and die
just as the trip was finally in their reach. This montage is also a rare
instance of a wedding being the beginning of a couple’s story rather than the
“happily ever after.” Seeing Carl lose the legal battle to stay in his home was
also painful.

(more…)

The Point More Ryan Reynolds as GL?

  • Uncategorized
  • July 10, 2009

WEDNESDAY COMICS made a big splash this week and Mike Gold dissects the good and bad, plus Chuck Barris tells us how he came to write a mystery and is Ryan Reynolds wearing a red or green super-hero costume?

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Comedy Tonight: The State, Stella, and Victor Von Doom

  • News
  • July 10, 2009

Tonight at 1 AM Eastern, Comedy Central is running episodes of The State, the 90’s sketch comedy show from MTV featuring the comedy group from NYU, and Stella, with three alumni from The State.

And just for the heck of it, the comedy stylings of Victor “Boom-Boom” Van Doom.

This Weekend: ComicMix crew at Shore Leave 31, Baltimore

  • News
  • July 10, 2009

Shore Leave 31. It’s where I’ll be this weekend, at the Hunt Valley Inn, along with (deep breath) ComicMix people Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Jenifer Rosenberg, and comics pros Peter David, Mike W. Barr, Greg Cox, Keith DeCandido, Kevin Dilmore,
Michael Jan Friedman, Allyn Gibson, David Mack, Dayton Ward, and an armada of other SF writers and media guests.

Make sure to get there Friday night at 7:30, when we’ll be roasting Keith DeCandido. Cheap shots will be taken and mud will be thrown. 18+ to enter, 21+ to drink. The event’s for charity; all proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross. And stick around for Mystery Trekkie Theater 3000 on Sunday, with a few other special guests along the way.

It’s a fun convention. Come on by and say hi.

Superman and Batman arrested in Times Square

  • News
  • July 10, 2009

batman-in-times-square-8237062Sad but true. Ten blocks away from DC’s corporate headquarters, Superman and Batman were arrested yesterday by police– Superman was even charged with resisting arrest. Was the big red “S” being mind controllled?

When the men in tights refused to produce proper identification,
officers quickly cuffed Batman, while Superman flew off, screaming, “I’m not getting arrested!” Witness Ryan McCormick tells the Post, “The Man of Steel didn’t go down with just two officers, it took seven officers! He was putting up a good fight. Little kids were like, ‘Mommy, it’s Superman!’ ” The Batman quickly confessed that Superman, his cowardly cohort, “freaked out and punched the girl cop in the face.”

We have no idea where the cops got the Kryptonite needed to bring Supes down, but we assume it was from Batman’s utility belt.

I love New York in July. How about you?

Hat tip to (where else would you expect a story about Batman?) Gothamist. Photos by Idle Type.

gods-cartoonist-jack-chick-2007097

‘God’s Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick’

  • Uncategorized
  • July 10, 2009

gods-cartoonist-jack-chick-2007097The most prolific comics publisher in world isn’t DC or Marvel. It’s a religious tract publisher in Rancho Cucamonga, run by a man who makes Steve Ditko look like an extroverted publicity hound.

And just like what happened to Mr. Ditko, people have now made a documentary about him… God’s Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick.

For nearly forty years, Chick Publications, under the leadership
of Jack T. Chick, has published over three quarters of a billion
religious tracts that have been distributed in over 100 languages
around the world.

In the process, Jack Chick’s name has become
revered in the world of fundamentalist teachings, reviled among dozens
of major religions and banned as hate literature in several countries, including Canada.
Outside the world of religion, the tracts have become highly valued pop
culture collectibles with presentations in galleries from NY to LA and
a permanent collection in the Smithsonian.

Notoriously reclusive, Chick Publications let camera
crews in for the first time to meet the creators of the infamous works, as well as noted
authors, artists and collectors who have covered the history of all
things Chick– including the art, artists, writers, controversies, death
threats, witch spells, Illuminati, Catholic assassins and more!

And there are interviews with Hal S. Robins, Bob Fowler, Daniel Rayburn, Rev. Ivan Stang (the man who married me) and for the first time on camera, Chick artist Fred Carter.

You can purchase God’s Cartoonist: The Comic Crusade of Jack Chick from Amazon in DVD or Video on Demand, or you can watch the entire film here now:

And if you need a break, you can read these instead.

‘Curses! Foiled Again!’ Marvel goes back to 90’s cover gimmicks

Yesterday I wrote about how DC was trying, with Wednesday Comics, to do something that couldn’t easily be reproduced on the computer screen to drive sales of paper. Marvel has now announced they’re doing something that doesn’t work on computers well– though it might be the return of the biggest disaster to hit comics in the 90s.

Don’t worry, says the press release:

“This is Marvel doing the nineties right,” explained David Gabriel,
Marvel Comics Senior Vice President of Sales & Circulation. “We’re
taking two of the most popular cover treatments of all time—foil and
holograms—to create an all new kind of cover, as a ‘thank-you’ to fans
who’ve been demanding this kind of variant! Retailers and fans don’t
need to worry. We’re only doing this on a limited basis. You won’t see
one on Ms Marvel #46 or Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #4. We’re using
them to mark very special occasions…such as the launch of Ultimate
Comics line.”

I had the same type of feeling when the Bush Administration said it didn’t torture, and anyway those were special circumstances.

The hell of it is, foil covers do catch the eye and help promote books, that’s why they do it with novels, record covers, and every other kind of packaging. But if they crank up the stupid collectibles market again… or rather the collectibles stupid market… Marvel will have no one to blame but themselves.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to reading piles of press releases about stupid exclusive collectibles being released at San Diego Comic-Con this year. Ooh, a special Gleek action figure only at SDCC! How could I have ever survived without it…?

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