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Review: ‘Scrambled Ink’

  • Uncategorized
  • September 11, 2008

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Scrambled Ink
Edited by Anonymous
Dark Horse, July 2008, $19.99

[[[Scrambled Ink]]] is the latest in the recent flurry of comics anthologies by animators, following the high-profile and very successful Flight series (which recently hit its fifth volume) and the slightly newer but still popular [[[Out of Picture]]] (which had a second volume earlier this year). It was published quietly a few months back, and doesn’t seem to have made much of a stir.

And that’s a real shame, since Scrambled Ink is more inventive and ambitious than the most recent [[[Flight]]] and Out of Picture books put together. (And that despite Scrambled Ink being a physically smaller book with only six stories in it.) I’m not sure why that would be – Scrambled Ink comes from animators who worked on [[[Bee Movie]]], not what one thinks of as an excitingly transgressive piece of cinema – but these DreamWorks animators are definitely doing something different from their Blue Sky compatriots from Out of Picture.

Two of the tales in Scrambled Ink – “[[[Kadogo: The Next Big Thing]]]” by David G. Derrick, Jr. and Ken Morrissey & Keith Baxter’s “[[[Greedy Grizzly]]]” – would have been right at home in one of the other anthologies: they’re morality tales, with animal casts, that could easily have been afterschool specials or “heartwarming” animated shorts. Both also have excellent art – Derrick with an earth-toned watercolor palette very appropriate to his African story and Baxter with an appealingly loose version of a cute-animal children’s’ book style. These stories could have fit in perfectly well in [[[Flight 12]]] or Out of Picture 9, but here in Scrambled Ink, they’re notable for seeming a little less refined and a little more obvious than the other four stories.

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Marvel & DC News from Retailer Summit

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Heidi MacDonald’s The Beat has a nice breakdown of the various news nuggets that came out of the just-concluded Diamond Retailers’ Summit in Las Vegas. Here are some of the highlights from the two majors:

In addition to Dark Reign, Marvel announced that television ads will run to promote Secret Invasion and The Stand miniseries.

The company recognized the success of its Invincible Iron Man series and has planned one for next May when X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens, joining Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins and Wolverine First Class. Similarly, three new What If ?one-shots will explore fresh takes on major events.

Marvel is gearing up for its 70th anniversary and part of the plans will include a new Marvel Index, a second volume of Marvel’s Greatest Collections and the inauguration of trade paperback versions of their Masterworks, commencing in January and continuing with one title per month.

In storylines, the third Marvel Zombies miniseries will be set in the core Marvel universe and they promised the return of the mutant Psylocke. Teases included Sinister 666, a female Black Panther.
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Gregory MacDonald: RIP

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

The Associated Press reports the sad news that author Gregory MacDonald died of cancer at his home in Tennessee.  Best known as the author of the Flynn books and Kevin Smith’s favorite Fletch books, he wrote 26 books in all.  In addition, he served as president of the Mystery Writers of America, and won two Edgar awards.  He was 71 years old.

With the success of the Fletch books and the ensuing celebrity, MacDonald moved to a farm in Pulanski, Tennessee.  He is best known there for his work against the Ku Klux Klan, where he was a founding member of Giles Countians United.  According to his neighbors, he was a passionate advocate for tolerance:

“Greg Mcdonald was an intricate part of the effort to combat bigotry in the face of visits to Pulaski by the KKK and Aryan Nation,” said Bettye Higgins, another founding member of GCU. “He willingly lent his name, his energy and his enthusiasm as a founding member of Giles Countians United, and he was unwavering in his support.”

 

He is survived by his wife, Cheryle, and five children.  His last book, a revised edition of Souvenirs of a Blown World, was be published recently by Seven Stories Press.

 

‘Sarah Jane’ to Return Sept. 29

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

The BBC has released details on the new season of The Sarah Jane Adventures which will debut in the United Kingdom on September 29 and run through December 15.

Starring the Doctor’s former companion, Elisabeth Sladen, the second season is largely unchanged from the first and barely reflects on her appearance in Doctor Who’s fourth season finale. (more…)

Are They Experienced? by John Ostrander

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

I was talking with “goldeneye” Glenn Hauman about a week ago and our conversation, as it often does, turned to politics. Glenn told me both presidential candidate Barack Obama and presidential candidate John McCain were asked which was their favorite games of chance. Obama replied “poker” and McCain replied “craps.” Glenn and I both found these choices telling, especially with McCain’s recent choice of Sarah Palin as his running-mate which certainly qualifies as something of a crapshoot.

Poker involves a lot of different elements: reading the other player, calculating the odds based on the cards played and the cards you hold and, as the song says, knowing when to hold ‘em and knowing when to fold ‘em. You need to think. Craps counts on luck and your gut feeling. You do your ritual, roll the dice, and hope.

That’s not the main reason I’m for Obama over McCain in the Presidential race but it is indicative of why I prefer the senator from Illinois over the senator from Arizona. We’ve had almost eight years of someone who trusted his gut and rolled the dice and the country has come up craps. We’re neck deep in it. It’s time for a poker player – someone with intelligence and skill.

There are/can be/should be a lot of different elements that goes into choosing the person you want in the most powerful position on Earth. There’s been a lot of talk about “experience” and which presidential/veepal candidate has the most or what kind of experience they’ve had. I’ll tell you a secret, though – everyone has experiences. The real question is have you learned anything from them and, if so, what.

The American poet Emily Dickinson lived most of her life within her house and even her room. Yet from that set of circumscribed experience she distilled 1800 poems and described vividly the “landscape of the spirit.” On the other hand, we also all know people who seem to never learn from their experiences and keep repeating them over and over again to their own detriment.

For example, Wile E. Coyote has lots of experience chasing roadrunners. He never seems to learn much from those experiences. He’s not a quitter; got to give him that. He has lots of tenacity. And he just announced Petunia Pig as his running-mate. I like ol’ Wile E. but I’m not going to vote for him for President. I want the guy who avoids the traps, not the one who steps into his own trap time and time again. (more…)

Television Notes

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

seth-green-8969589Seth Green chatted with Entertainment Weekly about his forthcoming projects including joining the cast of NBC’s Heroes this season. He and pal Breckin Meyer and “starting on set Monday. I’m a really big fan of the show, and I kind of begged for a long time to see if there was anything I could do.” He also confirmed that a second Star Wars Robot Chicken special is in the works. Carrie Fisher will be participating. Meantime, Fox will be rebroadcasting the season premier of Fringe for those who missed it or forgot to set their DVRs on September 14. To round out the full two hour slot, they will preview the first four minutes from the September 16 episode plus sneak an extended scene from 20th Century Fox’s feature The Day the Earth Stood Still, opening December 12, and a preview of the two-hour November TV movie 24: Redemption. “>Entertainment Weekly about his forthcoming projects including joining the cast of NBC’s Heroes this season.  He and pal Breckin Meyer are “starting on set Monday. I’m a really big fan of the show, and I kind of begged for a long time to see if there was anything I could do.”

He also confirmed that a second Star Wars-themed Robot Chicken special is in the works.  Carrie Fisher will be participating.

Meantime, Fox will be rebroadcasting the season premier of Fringe for those who missed it or forgot to set their DVRs on September 14 from 8 p.m – 10 pm.  To round out the full two hour slot, they will preview the first four minutes from the September 16 episode plus sneak an extended scene from 20th Century Fox’s feature The Day the Earth Stood Still, opening December 12, and a preview of the two-hour November TV movie 24: Redemption.

NBC and Apple Kiss and Make Up

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

NBC released an announcement indicating their problems with Apple and iTunes are over. Beginning immediately, their top 10 programs will be available for download and season passes can be purchased for most of their series. This applies not only to the Peacock network but its USA Network, SCI FI Channel, Bravo, Sleuth and NBC News channels as well. Oxygen, Telemundo, Mun2 and NBC Sports will be added later.

With the debut yesterday of iTunes 8, the shows will be available in standard ($1.99) or HD ($2.99) formats. Older series can be seen for $.99 each while some can be had for free. Among these shows will be The A-Team, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Miami Vice, Kojak, and the original Battlestar Galactica.

NBC Universal is offering one free episode from each of their top series, available in either SD or HD, on the iTunes Store for the next two weeks. The premiere episodes of upcoming series, such as Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy and Kath & Kim will be available on iTunes a week before their broadcast premieres later in September and October, with subsequent episodes available the day after broadcast.

Depp and Verbinski Reteam for ‘Rango’

  • News
  • September 11, 2008

Rango is a new CG-animated feature film from Paramount Pictures, set to begin production in January.  It is being directed by Gore Verbinski, making his animated debut, and he’s being joined by his Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp as the lead voice, that for a pet that goes on an adventure. The script is from John Logan (Star Trek: Nemesis) using an idea by Verbinski.  Industrial Light & Magic will handle the actual animation chores.

The studio has staked a March 2011 release date.

The ambitious method of animation, Verbinski told Variety "will allow us to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny’s performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen in an animated feature."

According to the trade, Verbinski and Logan have are also collaborating on Bioshock, a video game adaptation for Universal Studios.
 

Tennant to be Time Lord on Screens Both Big and Small?

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

The Sun in the UK is reporting today that David Tennant’s negotiations to return for a fifth season as Doctor Who may include a guarantee that he star in the much-rumored feature film. The contract being dangled before the 37-year old actor is reported to be worth £1.5 million.

An unnamed source told the tabloid, “For ages, BBC Worldwide held the rights and were planning to make a movie, but it got held up and former BBC1 boss Lorraine Heggessey decided to bring back the TV series in 2005.

“But everyone is keen now and the fans are clamoring. Part of David’s conundrum is that he wants to do films, so this looks like it would solve both issues.”

Peter Cushing in 1965 and Paul McGann in 1996 both starred as the Doctor in previous film versions. Tennant is already committed to four specials and a Christmas story for airing in 2009.

xmen-origins-wolverine-still2-8708204

20th to Rely on Mutants and Blind Men to Lead Them Back to Health

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

xmen-origins-wolverine-still2-8708204As reported during our weekly box office items, this was not a good summer for 20th-Century Fox. We’re not the only ones to notice and an analysis in Variety shows the depth of their troubles as the studio has tumbled from its number one spot, getting through the lucrative season without a single film to break the $100 million box office barrier for success.

The lack of a break out film is partly being blamed on X-Men Origins: Wolverine being a year behind its anticipated release.  This was precipitated by Hugh Jackman agreeing to star in Australia, opening this fall, but pushing back Wolverine’s schedule. The production proved troubling with the studio nearly firing director Gavin Hood until Richard Donner flew to the Outback to smooth things over on the project, being produced by his wife, Lauren Shuler Donner.

Coming to their rescue, could be other Marvel Super-Heroes.  In addition to Wolverine, David S. Goyer’s X-Men Origins: Magneto inches towards green light.  Following could be the Young X-Men project we tipped you off to a while back. Now they include on their development slate Deadpool, possibly spinning out of Wolverine.  Ryan Reynolds plays the merc with a mouth and could gain his own spotlight.

They’re even thinking of rebooting Daredevil, the way Paramount rebooted Universal’s Hulk.  A director’s cut of Mark Steven Johnson’s film is due out September 30 and its performance could influence the decision.

First, they need to win back to the fanboys who are outraged that Fox’s lawsuit might deprive them of seeing Watchmen next March.
 

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