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On This Day (Sorta): Charles M. Schulz Day

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

It’s hard to wait for February 13th when you’re a California resident. There you are, counting down the days until a kid in a yellow, zig-zagged shirt comes down your chimney, pontificates on life and lets out bloodcurdling screams of "Aaaaarrrrghh!" while trying in vain to kick your football.

Sadly, you have another six days to wait until Charles M. Schulz Day. Yes, on today’s date in 2000, the California Legislature declared February 13th the official day to honor the creator of Charlie Brown, who died just a day earlier on Feb. 12. They liked him so much, in fact, that they also named an airport after him.

Just think, comic hopefuls, someday something as simple as a few scribbles of a beagle with World War I-related delusions could earn you a day of recognition and your name on a major traffic hub.

 

The Scoop On Secret Invasion and Simone & Ajax

  • News
  • February 7, 2008
 
Look up and you’ll see today’s premiere of the all new full color Simone & Ajax here on ComicMix, then listen to ComicMix Radio and hear creator Andrew Pepoy reveal all the hidden details!
 
Plus:
 
• Marvel reveals the McNiven variant to Secret Invasion … plus another surprise
• Dark Horse goes into the high-end collectible figure biz
• Lego gets set to go – go Speed Racer
• Boomerang shows their love for the bad guys
 
Press The Button quick – the Skrulls are watching!

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Catching Up With DC’s Lesbian Superheroes

  • Uncategorized
  • February 7, 2008

crime_bible-4317876Advocate.com recently posted this online-exclusive look at the lesbian superheroes of the DC Universe, specifically The Question and Batwoman, which features some thoughts on the subject from DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio and Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood writer Greg Rucka, among others.

"When we introduced Batwoman we wanted to make the readers very aware of the fact she was gay, but more importantly that she was a strong superhero in her own right. The stories and the characters always come first." says DiDio. "We don’t make decisions like, ‘Let’s tackle racism or homophobia in the next issue of Superman.’ Gay and lesbian heroes — and villains — are a part of the DC Universe, and their stories are just as interesting as the straight ones."

 

(via blog@)

 

Studio Tour: Jay Fotos of ‘Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer’

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

The latest installment in CBR’s tours of comic artists’ studios is a fun one. This time around, they take you through the workspace of Jay Fotos, one of the co-writers and artists behind the surprisingly good Image Comics miniseries Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer.

Sure, Fotos’ studio is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to research material, artist’s equipment and knick-knack geekery, but then you come upon his desk:

I’m also including a nice “clean” picture of my desk. People freak when they see past all the crap on it and really notice it. This is a solid one piece 8ft long table top with 10 skulls, bones, chains, rivets all over it giving it a look of a giant hunk of wrought iron metal, even though it’s MDO board, bondo and model kits of human skulls.

Me, I’ve got action figures of Hourman and The Question on my desk. He’s got human freakin’ skulls.

Fotos wins. Fatality.

 

Finding a Hotel for San Diego Comic-Con International

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

 

The news feeds are buzzing today with countless horror stories about creators, media and exhibitors trying to find lodging for this year’s Comic-Con International. Apparently, the only way you’re going to get a room near the convention center this year is to shack up with a lonely furry. Seriously.

Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald weaves a tapestry of epic victories and crushing defeats in the quest for San Diego room reservations:

Just like when you’re hunting for an apartment in New York City, at moments like these you have to make a snap judgement. There’s no “think about it”. There is only “do”. We hit our sentimental favorite hotel, The Horton Grand, which is sort of out of date and yes, the staff is cranky, but, hell the toilets have pull chains. Old skool. We hit it again. Rooms available. Name, address, credit card…we kept forgetting to check the boxes to approve everything, so had a nerve wracking wait. A bad feeling crept over us. The blue bar moved so slowwwwwly. Would THIS be the year? Could this be the disaster we’ve avoided for so long?

She also checks in with a few big-name creators about their search for rooms, and examines some questionable factoids being thrown around by San Diego’s local officials. Yes, it seems that Comic-Con isn’t nearly as much of a boon for the local economy as a convention for "geographic information system software."

… Or is it?

 

Me Eat Meat, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

So there I was, in my car, tooling along, headed towards my eye doctor appointment, listening to my public radio station, WNYC, and one of their talk shows – the Brian Leherer Show. The segment was referred to as “Can Meat Be Ethical?” The guests were Joan Gussow, professor emeritus of Nutrition and Education at Teachers College Columbia University, and Gidon Eshel, Bard Center Fellow and a geophysicist at Simon’s Rock College.

I could already tell we weren’t going to be on the same wavelength for this segment.

Here are my basic ethics about meat: if it hasn’t eaten me, I can eat it.

Professor Gussow seemed relatively reasonable. She said grass fed cows are eminently preferable to grain fed and that one should shop locally for everything – meats, grains, fruits, vegetables – as that reduces the amount of fossil fuel for transport. And that we should reduce the amount of meat that we consume and treat it more like a flavoring or a condiment as many cultures do around the world. That would be healthier.

Professor Eshel would have none of it. I should probably try to separate his snide, patronizing tone from his message. The tone probably comes with his turf; Simon’s Rock, up in the Berskshires in Maine, is – according to its website – “a small, selective, supportive, intensive college of the liberal arts and sciences” whose “400 students come to us after 10th or 11th grade in high school.” The few, the proud, the elite.

Professor Eshel maintained that grass fed beef is worse than grain fed beef. Why? Because, as bad as cow shit and cow farts may be for the environment, cow belching is worse not only in volume but in kinds of gases being released into the atmosphere.  (more…)

‘Doctor Who’ Season 4, Digital Audio Downloads Announced

  • News
  • February 6, 2008

A variety of "Doctor Who" news hit the ‘Net recently, so here’s a quick wrap-up of some stories "Who" fans might want to keep on their radar:

  • SCI FI Channel has confirmed that Season 4 of "Doctor Who" will begin this April on the network, with Catherine Tate replacing Freema Agyeman as the Doctor’s companion. Tate appeared in an earlier episode of the series titled "The Runaway Bride." Agyeman will appear in the series again midway through the season.
  • SCI Fi Channel also confirmed that the youth-targeted "Who" spin-off series "The Sarah Jane Chronicles" will also begin airing in April.
  • And if you’re the sort who wants to reconnect with some of your favorite Doctors of the past, Big Finish has annoucned that they’ll begin supplying the "Doctor Who" audio plays they’ve been producing since 1999 on CD in a download-friendly MP3 format.

The plays feature popular "Doctor Who" writers such as Paul Cornell and Mark Gatiss, as well as writers familiar to the comics crowd, including Dan Abnett (Nova) and Simon Furman (Transformers). Former "Doctor Who" actors lending their talents to the plays include Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann.

(Hat-Tip to io9)

LEGO Version of ‘The Dark Knight’ Trailer

  • News
  • February 6, 2008

Ahh, the art some people will create, given enough time – and LEGOs.

Here’s the trailer for "The Dark Knight" rendered entirely out of LEGOs. Yes, LEGOs. It’s really impressive in that "I would never have the patience to do this myself" way:

 

 

George Romero on ‘Diary of the Dead’

  • News
  • February 6, 2008

The ShockTillYouDrop crew has posted an interview with legendary "Living Dead" filmmaker George Romero about his upcoming film "Diary of the Dead."

The film, which chronicles a movie crew’s escape from zombies on the day the dead returned to life, hits theaters Feb. 15. With movies like "Cloverfield" proving that there’s still interest in the homemade-style horror that first popped up with "The Blair Witch Project," Romero is going a similar route with the latest installment of the "Living Dead" franchise – and taking a back-to-basics approach both in style of filmmaking and setting for the film, which takes place on the same night as the original "Night of the Living Dead":

We were shooting shots that were eight pages long. There were a couple of days when we did nothing but set the shot up and then shoot only one shot that day, but it’d be eight pages. So, I think this cast, if I asked them, ‘We’re gonna do the whole movie in a single shot,’ they would’ve done it. Never was a shot blown because an actor blew their line. It completely reminded me of the days on Night of the Living Dead where it was just friends coming together to make a movie with no interference.

 

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