I’m not sure what’s harder to believe: that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have just hit their 25th anniversary, or that the Empire State Building will be lit up green tonight to honor that fact. But there it is. So take a look tonight as they light the Turtle-Signal. Or something.
Me, I’m going to break out my stash of TMNT Pudding Pies. You can’t tell if they’ve gone bad because the insides are already green.
I’m running this image just to tick off Alan Kistler.
He asked me for input on eco-aware comics characters. I mentioned Captain Planet. His response was… charged:
HE SUCKED!
He was not a character!
He was a literal Deus Ex Machina.
These kids have powers, and there are five of them, yet despite this, they eventually get too scared and figure screw it, we’ll call up the non-entity with the green mullet who will take care of it for us.
To see the list that he finally came up with, go to MTV’s Splash Page here.
And if you’d like to see more of Captain Planet, you can see episodes here.
UPDATE: The original title of this post said SERIES FINALES. My bad– I meant SEASON and typed SERIES. That’ll teach me to write blog posts at 4 AM. (No, it probably won’t.)
The quick hit list. Ladies and gentlemen, start your TiVos:
On ABC:
May 6 – Scrubs at 8p
May 10 – Brothers & Sisters at 10p
On CBS:
May 3 and May 10 – Cold Case two-part sixth season finale at 9p
May 10 – The Amazing Race 14 at 8p; The Unit at 10p
May 11 – The Big Bang Theory at 8p
May 13 – The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8p; Gary Unmarried at 830p
May 14 – CSI at 9p
May 15 – Ghost Whisperer at 8p; Numb3rs at 10p
May 17 – Survivor: Tocantins at 8p
May 18 – How I Met Your Mother at 830p; Two and a Half Men at 9p; Rules of Engagement at 930p; CSI: Miami at 10p
May 19 – NCIS at 8p; The Mentalist at 9p; Without a Trace at 1001p
May 20 – Criminal Minds at 8p; CSI: NY at 10p
On FOX:
May 8 – Dollhouse at 901p
May 11 – House at 8p
May 12 – Fringe at 9p
May 13 – Lie To Me at 8p
May 14 – Bones at 8p; Hell’s Kitchen at 9p
May 15 – Prison Break (series finale) at 8p
May 16 – MADtv (series finale ) at 11p; Talkshow with Spike Feresten at 12a
May 17 – King of the Hill at 730p; The Simpsons at 8p; Sit Down, Shut Up at 830p; Family Guy at 9p; American Dad at 930p
May 18 – 24 at 8p
May 19 – American Idol Part 1 at 8p (followed by series preview of Glee at 9p)
May 20 – American Idol Part 2 at 8p
On NBC:
April 27 – Chuck at 8p; Heroes at 9p
May 1 – Howie Do It at 8p
May 10 – The Celebrity Apprentice at 8p
May 12 – The Biggest Loser: Couples at 8p
May 14 – Parks and Recreation at 830p; The Office at 9p; 30 Rock at 930p
May 21 – Southland at 10p
Hat tip: Cynopsis.
Think of this as an animated XKCD…
Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART
(Not to be confused with XKCD <a href=”
live action.)
For those who came in late:
"Lady Sybilla" announced the publication of her very own sequel to "Twilight" entitled “Russet Noon.” She claimed that Stephenie Meyer had no copyright protection to her work (very wrongly).
Peter David, writer of stuff, in an absolute state of whimsy*, decided that simply mockery wasn’t enough, and a long, sustained campaign of mockery is what was called for. So he decided to invite people to a gang-fang called "Potato Moon".
And as Peter’s long-time stooge friend, he roped me into creating the cover for all of this, to help set the tone.
The story starts on Friday. You’ve been warned.
* Note: "Whimsy" is the auctorial equivalent of the famous last words, "Hey, everybody, watch this!"
It’s true! Look at him! That photo just says, "Guilty! Take me away, ladies!"
Sigh.
No, it’s just Hugh Jackman cementing his place in Hollywood history by putting his hand and foot prints into cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Personally, I was hoping he’d put claw marks into the cement as well, but you can’t have everything.
You’ve probably heard that Hugh will be in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening May 1st, right? Okay. Go forth and see it and make this thing gross $80 million in its opening weekend.
It’s a good thing she hasn’t seen this picture, I shudder to think what she’d say…
Welcome to the second article in our series, where American animation and comics and fans of Japanese anime and manga can connect with each other through pairs of titles that share tone, themes or character types in common.
Today’s pairing is about series that have been influenced by classic works of fine arts and literature, but with orginal twists.
BEAUTY AND LITERATURE
Anime/Manga: GANKUTSUOU
Anime directed by Mahiro Maeda, produced by Gonzo studios
Manga written by Mahiro Maeda, illustrated by Yura Arikawa
This is a fantastical re-telling of the classic novel, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, set in a space-faring future with some supernatural elements. Unlike the original novel, which was told from the point of view of the eponymous count, this story is told from the perspective of Albert, a young man who meets the Count at the beginning of the story and eventually discovers they have a disturbing connection. The anime also has a very different ending from the book – so don’t use this as a substitute for reading the book if it’s assigned to you for a class.
The 2004 anime’s most striking features are its lush and unique visuals. Instead of flat planes of color, the figures are depicted with textures and patterns that can delight – or boggle – the eyes. The Comic Con panelists said you can turn off the sound and just gaze in amazement at the characters’ costumes, some of which were created by real-life fashion designer Anna Sui. The series received critical acclaim as well — in 2006, Theron Martin of Anime News Network named Gankutsuou the best series of the year.
There is a manga adaptation of the anime currently being released, but for the full effect of the visuals you should go for the DVDs.
| Availability | Current Numbers | English-Language publisher |
| Original Japanese |
26 episodes, concluded
3 volumes of manga adaptation of anime
|
|
| US Manga |
2 of 3 volumes released so far
|
Del Rey
|
| US DVDs |
6 DVDs originally released from Geneon, which recently went out of business (but you may still be able to find it. Boxed set available.) FUNimation has picked up the license and is re-releasing them this year.
|
FUNimation
|
And to think it only took another thirty-one years.
Spider-Man is having another encounter with the folks at Saturday Night Live — only this time, cast members of SNL are writing the adventures instead of appearing in it, as they did waaaay back when in Marvel Team-Up #74, back in 1978. Noted comics fans Bill Hader and Seth Meyers are writing the Spider-Man one-shot, "The Short Halloween" which will be on sale on May 13th. Rick Marshall over at MTV’s Splash Page has the details:
The single-issue story promised to take a tongue-in-cheek look at the misadventures of a costumed party-goer mistaken for the real wallcrawler and kidnapped by Spider-Man’s foes.
Along with an original story by the comics-savvy “SNL” duo, “The Short Halloween” features art by Kevin Maguire — the man who helped put the “funny” back in funnybooks during the late ’80s alongside another comedic duo, “Justice League” writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis.
Rick also has a brief interview with editor Steve Wacker about the project.
Ohhh my.
Captain Hikaru Sulu.
Kaito Nakamura.
The Warlord Shank.
Announcer for the Howard Stern Show.
Lok Durd in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Activist. Asteroid. And, oh yes, comic book writer.
He’s 72 years old today. Long may he wave.
Truth time, FOMAFers*, I found this webcomic a couple years late. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s still going… but I know out there in cyberspace, someone will snicker when they see this week’s choice. I can see them now, sipping a Brandy Alexander, puffing away on a grape cigarello. I can see them, and frankly, I hate them. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. On a recent tour of the internet (which seems to get bigger every day, I tell h’yew h’whut, I came across a comic that made me chuckle. I skimmed back across a few more strips, and more laughs fell from my mouth. Two hours later, I’d realized I forgot about addressing my save-the-dates with my fiance, and was promptly put in the dog house. Because I was in the dog house anyways, I cracked open a browser, and continued laughing until the wee hours of the morning. What made me laugh you ask? Why don’t I tell you… it’s the “Least I Could Do”. Get it? See what I did there? Yeah, I’m that awesome, and that’s why you’re a FOMAFer**.
“Least I Could Do” is a wonderfully humorous tale of a would be casanova, Rayne Summers. In another world, Rayne might be just like most of us… a bit of nerd, a pinch of geek, a jot of immaturity, and a dash of twenty-something sex maniac. The misadventures of Rayne have been dutifully written by Ryan Sohmer, and drawn first by Trevor Adams, then Chad WM. Porter, and now Lar deSouza. The strip has been going on since February 10th, 2003. Presently, it’s boasting daily updates. Kudos to them. But enough with the wikipedia crap, right? Let’s get into why this strip is heavy on the yuck-yucks.
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