The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Darn you, Westinghouse!

  • News
  • October 21, 2007

On this day in 1925, the first photoelectric cell was publicly demonstrated by the Westinghouse Electric and Mfg. Co. at the Electrical Show at Grand Central Palace in New York.  That palace no longer exists, having been replaced by an office tower, but it seems photoelectrics will always be with us in one way or another.  Heck, you’re probably soaking in them right now.  And with that cheery thought in mind, here’s your weekly one-stop ComicMix columnist shopping:

As you can see in our previous item, Ric is across the ocean from us, probably having the time of his life, and will return next week.  And now to return to my current masters, the television/DVD combo…

Judd Aptow, Will Ferrell, and Gunsmoke

  • News
  • October 21, 2007

If you’re like me, you are already bored with most of the new TV season, there certainly aren’t any movies that are compelling me to buy a $10 ticket and Countdown is making my head hurt. Best way to solve it all – let’s go to the web:

TV Land has relaunched its website here adding full-episode streaming of classic shows like The Andy Griffith Show, Leave It To Beaver and Gunsmoke. Be sure to check out the music player featuring songs, commercials and movie themes and then look fort another upgrade on the site scheduled to launch Nov. 1.

Go to Scud creator Rob Schrab’s website here for more info and previews on how he is concluding the book with that four-part miniseries. Incidentally, the guest covers on those issues will be:

    #22 – Jim Mahfood (March 2008) “Challenge of the Over-Used Muse”

    #23 – David Hartman (April 2008) “Retaliation of the Over-Used Muse”

    #24 – Doug Tennapel (May 2008) “Death of the Over-Used Muse”

You have just over a week left to bid here on one (or all) of the charity auctions benefiting The Hero Initiative, featuring lunch with Marvel Comics Legend John Romita Sr.  The events themselves will take place November 27-30 in New York City and, as a special bonus, John will be accompanied by his wife, Virginia Romita, on each of these events (Virginia was the longtime production manager at Marvel Comics) and each of the winners will also receive a Romita head sketch of your favorite character over lunch. (more…)

Happy 51st birthday, Carrie Fisher!

  • News
  • October 21, 2007

Today could not go by without our wishing a happy birthday to one of the greatest figures in sci-fi film history, Ms. Carrie Fisher. Fisher, who famously portrayed Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies, was born in 1956. She adorned a golden bikini while kicking Jabba’s butt, winning the hearts of boys all over and her ear-muff hair-do became her character’s trademark. Certainly wardrobe had a thing to do with it, but it is also the lady who carried the look that really sealed her iconic status. Happy Birthday, Princess!

On the off chance you’ve never seen it, here’s Carrie’s audition. Note the day player she’s acting against:

The Perils and Pleasures of Moviola, by Michael H. Price

  • News
  • October 21, 2007

I’ve been sorting through the newspaper-cartoon backlog lately, beefing up the digital-image archive while determining whether anything from a busy stretch at the drawing board during the 1990s might bear resurrecting for fresh publication. Much of this material involves a Hollywood-lampoon strip called Moviola, which originated as a weekly feature for the Star-Telegram of Fort Worth, Texas, during its last years as a higher-minded publication.

The first movie parody I ever encountered – and thus, a building-block of my long-stretch involvement in cartooning and film scholarship – came from my Uncle Grady L. Wilson, a theatre-chain manager. Grady could concoct the damnedest jolly nonsense from the flimsiest of material, and keep a straight face in the bargain. He announced to me one day in 1954 that he had booked a picture called "The Preacher from the Black Lagoon."

Now, I was six years old at the time and as impressionable as Silly Putty, and so I found it necessary to witness the arrival of Jack Arnold’s Creature from the Black Lagoon on the big screen before it dawned on me that my uncle had been just woofing.

  (more…)

Happy anniversary, Return of the King!

  • News
  • October 21, 2007

This day in 1955 brought us the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King, the last part of The Lord of the Rings series. Had Tolkien been around for recent transformations, or more accurately, annihilations of books into film, he might have perished merely at the thought of his masterpieces being turned into movies. Rest easy, Mr. Tolkien, as director Peter Jackson was a thankful exception to usual butchery, for the large part maintaining the stories’ integrity in film form. Here’s hoping he can resolve that bitter battle with New Line surrounding the compensation on his first three films so that he can get to direct The Hobbit.

Dick Ayers On … Stan Lee!

  • News
  • October 20, 2007

Our Weekend Big ComicMix Broadcast begins our look at the career of Dick Ayers. From the days of Jimmy Durante to the creation of Ghost Rider and the trek toward the Marvel Age Of Comics and his decades-old friendship with Stan Lee.  Plus there’s news updates on:

• A chance to win dinner (for four) with comics legend John Romita Sr.

• Chaotic jumps from Saturday morning TV to the gaming table

• Fox’s Terminator series gets a premiere date

And much more, including a look back at a year when Julia Roberts riled the box office and an overly aggressive British band made political waves.

The spooky guy on the horse says  Press The Button!

Mothership Connection, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • October 20, 2007

There’s been a lot of conversation lately in the girls’ section of the comics blogosphere about the way women’s lives are depicted in superhero comics. Even so-called strong, independent female characters are little more than an excuse to show tits’n’ass. Some site evidence that female characters are used as plot points, citing the “women in refrigerators” syndrome. More recently, discussions have centered on the premise that married characters are boring.

A lot of this is a reflection of the larger pop culture, which is at least as male-dominated as comics. The people who can greenlight movies, or put a television show on a network, are most likely Penile-Americans. Book publishing tends to be more diverse because there are more women in positions of authority, and (this is related) book publishing tends to pay less than other mass media.

Most of it, however, is lazy pandering to the perceived target audience. It’s assumed that boys find the single life more glamorous and more exciting than marriage. Up to a point, I agree. The thrill of the chase is, well, a thrill. That said, even the new gets old after a while. Dashiell Hammett used Nick and Nora Charles to show that marriage can be sexy and fun. Why can’t comics? (more…)

Happy 61st birthday, Philip Pullman!

  • News
  • October 19, 2007

Today is Philip Pullman’s birthday, who, sad to say, does not yet share the deserved household name status of his colleague, J.K. Rowling. Mr. Pullman was born in 1946 and penned the brilliant and award-winning series, His Dark Materials. The first of the series, The Golden Compass (or Northern Lights if you read it in the U.K.), starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is being released as a movie this December 7th. Here’s the latest trailer:

Here’s hoping the film does better than the last Kidman/Craig outing, The Invasion… 

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