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Happy Birthday, David Firth

Happy 25th, David Firth!

The creator of a few strange but entertaining flash animations such as Salad Fingers, Burnt Face Man and Devvo is celebrating his quarter-century one today. Firth’s characters depict what must go on in his head: they are strange, stick-figured  humanoid creatures dealing with the abtract, the surreal and often mentally ill. Although it’s fun to venture into someone else’s subconscious imagination, we must remember it’s mere vacationing, lest it remind us too much of our own deeper selves. That’s not blood, it’s red water. Creepy.

Q&A: The Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

With the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards on the horizon, ComixTalk has a nice Q&A with WCCA Chairman Frank "Damonk" Cormier on the state of the show and what changes to expect this year.

This is the Eighth Annual WCCAs. Looking back at the beginnings what are the big changes if any from the start of this award.

It depends on perspective, really. From the eyes of those who’ve been involved in webcomics since 2000, it’s gained some momentum and respect – from being misperceived as a self-interested “backpatting” exercise run by a bunch of “Keenspace smallfry”, to being accepted as an earnest event that reaches the ever-growing corners of webcomicdom, both big and small.

From the eyes of a newer webtoonist, the biggest change is more logistical: we’ve attempted various voting/balloting systems (some more successful than others), have gone through a fair bit of turnover in terms of committee members, and have now starting holding a live presentation in Orlando.

WCCA voters must register before Jan. 23, 2008. Winners will be announced at MegaCon on March 8, 2008. For rules regarding eligibility, timelines and a list of ways you can promote the WCCA on your own site, visit the WCCA homepage at www.ccawards.com/.

Star Trek Teaser Hits the ‘Net

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

Paramount has posted a new teaser trailer for the upcoming J.J. Abrams-helmed Star Trek film over at the film’s official website.

The film is scheduled for a Dec. 25, 2008, release and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood, John Cho, Simon Pegg and Anton Yelchin.

Networks Tighten Belts, Cut Pilots

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

Television networks are drastically reducing the number of pilots scheduled for production this year, according to statements issued in the last few days by many of the major networks. An elimination of pilots and reduction in the number of new script orders was announced by several networks recently, with each of the statements citing a need to cut costs due to the writers’ strike.

According to Variety, CBS announced that it had dropped several scripts due to the work stoppage late last week, while 20th Century Fox and CW announced this week that they were each dropping 8-12 pilots from their upcoming production schedules.

"Due to the ongoing work stoppage, the CW will be taking a more targeted approach to what is certain to be a truncated pilot season," the [network] said in a statement released Tuesday. "As a result, we are releasing some scripts that had been in development in order to dedicate our creative energy and resources to those projects we choose to pursue."

 

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Creating the Annihilation: Conquest Covers

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

Sure, we heard about this whole Civil War thing that was going on in the Marvel Universe a while back, but as far as we’re concerned, that was small potatoes compared with the epic, universe-spanning shenanigans occurring throughout the Annihilation saga.

Okay, so Civil War left Captain America on a slab and Spider-Man unmasked. We’ll give you that, because they were all big deals at the time, but we challenge you to come up with a bigger event than the Annihilation Wave strapping Galactus to a freakin’ spaceship and using him as a gun, people! Seriously!

… But we digress.

Where were we again? Ah, yes, we were about to direct your attention to this great behind-the-scenes peek at the creation of the Annihilation: Conquest covers. The feature includes plenty of art from both cover artist Aleksi Briclot and Conquest editor Bill Rosemann, the mastermind behind the whole Annihilation event, and it serves as a great "director’s commentary" of sorts for both the storyline and the creative process.

"For the first cover, which I created for the Conquest Prologue, Bill gave me a lot of art suggestions (Joan d’Arc in space, a cinematographic and epic feeling, movies references…)," Briclot recalled. "Over time he also sent me new character concept art (all designed by Marko Djurdjevic), work in progress pages and lots of ideas. Then it was the usual process for each of those covers: sharing ideas and notes via e-mail, making some early quick sketches, a new discussion step, choosing the final content of each covers… Then it was up to me, polishing each picture and trying to produce the most impressive and attractive cover illustrations."

Heath Ledger’s Funeral to be Picketed

  • Uncategorized
  • January 23, 2008

As much as sites like TMZ are picked on for being media whores, they’ve got nothing on Fred Phelps. Fred Phelps’s Westboro Baptist Church announced that it would picket the funeral of Heath Ledger, presumably because he starred in Brokeback Mountain.

"God hates fag-enablers," the WBC proclaimed in a news release issued yesterday, concluding with: "Heath Ledger is now in Hell and has begun serving his eternal sentence – beside which, nothing else about Heath Ledger is relevant or consequential."

Phelps and his followers are known for other fun picket-sign messages such as:

  • "Thank God for 9/11"
  • "Thank God for the Tsunami"
  • "Thank God for Katrina"
  • "Thank God for Dead Soldiers"
  • "Thank God for IEDs"
  • "Thank God for California fires"
  • "Thank God for AIDS"

Hat tip: Lisa Sullivan.

J’Onn J’Onzz, Martian Manhunter, Marked For Death?

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

plea_00-8922793After Rich Johnston named J’Onn J’Onzz and Aquaman among the characters slated for termination in DC’s Final (Infinite Countdown to Identity Earths) Crisis event, creator Michael Netzer has begun a campaign to save the green-skinned shapeshifter.

Netzer has drafted a letter to DC and posted it on his website along with a petition to save the character and testimonials from comics fans. He’s even created several banners and other images to promote the cause.

Right around the middle of the letter, he even offers up his creative services as the character’s future caretaker:

And so… in the spirit of the image I produced to illustrate this plea, I’d like to offer my services as an artist to help revive the Martian Manhunter again, as I did back in 1977, and prevent the possibility of his untimely death… and to do it within an upcoming project of your choice for DC Comics.

While neither the certainty of J’Onn’s death nor the ability to halt any existing plans for his demise at this point are certain, there’s something to be said for the support the character is receiving from Netzer and other fans. On the flip side, a quick Google for "Save Aquaman" campaigns doesn’t seem to register any hits.

 

elayne-riggs-100-5355317

The Great Divide, by Elayne Riggs

  • News
  • January 23, 2008

elayne-riggs-100-1215696As I’ve made clear in previous columns, I like reading. I have Bloglines subscriptions to almost 700 blogs, of which I probably read 400-500 pretty regularly. I tend to group my blog subscriptions into two major categories, culture and politics – what I call “news and views” – although lately I’ve been supplementing those with blogs speaking to other interests of mine, like food and grammar and LOLcats. And I’ve noticed the same problem with these blogs, particularly the political ones, which I came across in just about every hobby of mine through the years. By and large, the writers seem to believe their subject matter is the only one worth pontificating about, and any blogger who has “outside” interests is not worthy to be in their circle.

We live in an era of divide and conquer, where each faction is encouraged into its own little category, where the idea of a well-rounded individual is anathema to getting ahead, where specialization is the order of the day. Because of deadline pressures, many artists who make their living doing comic books have to choose between penciling and inking. My husband is fond of noting that in England, where he lived for the first 36 years of his life, there was no such artificial division of labour when he learnt his craft. Imagine his frustration when we were going over the rudiments of baseball and he found out about all the different subdivisions of pitchers and fielders! He still can’t understand how a professional ballplayer can’t field at just about any position, and why most pitchers can’t complete an entire game. To tell you the truth, the part of me that’s been a baseball fanatic since girlhood, and remembers lots of complete games, readily agrees.

But everything these days is compartmentalized to within an inch of its life. “General interest” and “Renaissance person” have become almost freakish notions these days. Why this is so in the days of “multitasking” is beyond me. We’re expected to juggle umpteen tasks simultaneously at work but we can’t choose more than one passion in our downtime? (more…)

Heath Ledger – Evening Update

  • Uncategorized
  • January 23, 2008

The New York City police department has released a statement saying there is no reason to suspect Heath Ledger’s death this afternoon was a suicide. His body, while naked, was found on the bed and not on the floor. Whereas there were perscription drug bottles found, Ledger had been suffering from pneumonia.

The police have not ruled out suicide or any other cause. As in all unfolding stories, details will continue come out as the investigation procedes.

FURTHER UPDATE – 10:00 PM: Alan Horn, President and COO of Warner Bros. and Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group have issued the following statement to TMZ. The studio is producing the next Batman film, The Dark Knight.

"The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news. The entertainment community has lost an enormous talent. Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person. Our hearts go out to his family and friends."

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