The Mix : What are people talking about today?

MARTHA THOMASES: Anticipation

3519005904-2712620Tomorrow is the Big Day. After months of blogging, after weeks of teasing on the podcasts, we’re going to announce what’s next here at ComicMix at the Baltimore Comic-Con. If you aren’t able to be in Baltimore with us, I’m sure Editor-in-Chief Mike Gold will make sure you know as soon as everybody else. He’s good about sharing that way.

As I write this, the Big Day is not tomorrow. It’s the day after the day after the day after tomorrow. This makes me very happy. I have nearly 90 hours to look forward to our panel.

Anything can happen.

When I was a child, I was a huge fan of The Mickey Mouse Club – the real one, with Darla, Annette, Karen and Cubby, not the fake one with Justin, Britney and Christina. Every day of the week was something special. Monday was Fun with Music; Tuesday was Guest Star Day; Thursday was Circus Day and Friday was Talent Round Up. The best was Wednesday because that was Anything Can Happen Day. That’s because, well, anything could happen.

Often, I like the anticipation as much as or more than I like the event I was anticipating. For example, I spend most of March waiting for the warmth of summer, and then I hate summer in the city. Spring is really the best, with the buds on the trees promising flowers and shade.

I’ve been happily with the same man for nearly 30 years, but sometimes I miss courting, when we didn’t yet know how the other would taste or smell or speak.

Comics? When I was the kid watching Mouseketeers, I couldn’t wait until Sunday, when I got to pick out my weekly comic book. Then, when it was Sunday, I would pick up each one, examining the covers, looking for clues (like a giant gorilla) that would tip me off that this was the best story ever.

Trust me, this is not one of those times when the anticipation is the best part. This is better.

You don’t believe me. You think I’m a publicist, and therefore I’ll say anything to get your attention. I once worked for a man who described a the job like this: a pessimist says, “The glass is half empty;” an optimist says, “The glass is half full.” A publicist says, “Oh my god! It’s a flood!” A funny story, but it’s not the way I see my job. I’ll tell you the story about where the glass came from, what happened to the water, and which of you might someday be thirsty.

So go about your Saturday, and enjoy yourself. If you find yourself in Baltimore, come by the ComicMix booth and say “Hi.” You can talk to some of the talented writers, artists, and crew, maybe get some clues about tomorrow’s big story. If you bring your own yarn and needles, I’ll show you how to knit.

If you aren’t in Baltimore, enjoy the summer weekend. And if you find yourself in traffic, or there’s a seventh-inning stretch, you can think about tomorrow and smile.

It’s worth it.

Martha Thomases is ComicMix‘s empiress of all things media, a.k.a. Martha the Merciless.

Madeleine L’Engle: 1918-2007

madeleinelengle-6333172The New York Times reports that Madeleine L’Engle, award-winning author of more than 60 books, died yesterday in Connecticut of natural causes at the age of 88.

Ms. L’Engle (pronounced LENG-el) was best known for her children’s science fiction book A Wrinkle in Time, which won the John Newbery Award as the best children’s book of 1963. By 2004, it had sold more than 6 million copies, was in its 67th printing and was still selling 15,000 copies a year. Many sequels followed, including A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters.

We offer our condolences to her family, friends, and fans.

Happy birthday, Monty Python!

On this day in 1969, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gillaim, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin gathered to start filming the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. If it weren’t for them, we’d have to call massive piles of junk email something completely different.

And now for something completely different…

Dial “B” For Back!

x-1892222We’ve mentioned them before, but this is the day my favorite comics website, Dial B For Blog, returns to the Internet with all-new entries.

Written and designed by "Robby Reed," Dial B For Blog covers the history of the comic book form in detail and with panache. It’s always a joy to read, and even a guy like me who has consumed all the American comics history he could find over the past many decades learns a lot from each entry. Today, Robby begins a three part look into the real origins of the Batman, going beyong Anthony Tolin’s recent unearthing of The Shadow connection and noting relationships with folks like Alex Raymond and Will Eisner.

Better still, all the previous "issues" of Dial B For Blog remain online, all 388 of them!

Welcome back, "Robby Reed."

 

 

Meyer-Briggs for fans

The Myers-Briggs Personality Sorter was intended to be a general, universal personality ID that divides people into one of sixteen distinct personality types, along four axes for Introverted (I) or extroverted (E), Sensing (S) or Intuitive (N), Thinking (T) or Feeling (F), and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

That said, these folks have applied it to the way we look at personalities:

ENTJ: The Evil Overlord

The ENTJ is best characterized by his charisma, his ability to grasp complex situations and to think flexibly and creatively, his keen and active intelligence, and his overwhelming desire to crush the world beneath his boot. ENTJs are naturally outgoing and love the company of other people, particulalry minions, henchmen, slaves, and the others they rule with ruthless efficiency….

ISTP: The Psycho Vigilante

ISTPs are quiet, unassuming people, who tend to be mechanically gifted but withdrawn and reserved. ISTPs often need a great deal of personal space and "alone time," which may give others the impression that they are aloof; in reality, this time is necessary to hide their secret identities….

ENTP: The Mad Scientist

The ENTP, like the ENTJ, is charismatic, outgoing, and intelligent. ENTPs are often quickwitted, clever, and genial; they typically display a highly organized, rational cognitive ability which makes them natural scientists and inventors….

Now if they can just come up with a conversion chart for comic book professionals, I’m golden.

MICHAEL DAVIS: Reading is Fundamental

rif-1245405My friend Tony Isabella has mentioned that I give a good rant, Tony; this is about to be the rant to beat all rants!

I am soooooo pissed. I had two columns ALREADY written so I could get ahead on my ComicMix deadlines. I have a great deal of work to do with my comic book line, a new project called The Adjuster (you will hear about that soon enough) and The Underground from Dark Horse, so I wanted a few S-No-C’s in the can so I could deal with those projects but then…

LAST SATURDAY I WATCHED THE TV SHOW CNN’S NEWSROOM!

I have no idea why they call this show CNN’S Newsroom. News is supposed to be reported fairly. This show was SO biased that it reminded me of the McCarthy witchhunts of the 50s.

The host of any news show should be impartial. The host of this show was about as impartial as a Jewish mother who has the choice between saving her child or Hitler from falling off a cliff.

The show focused on Black Entertainment Television’s (BET) hard-hitting satirical video Read A Book that asks the viewer to (wait for it) read a book. The key word in all of this is satirical, as in satire.

The creators of the video were on the show but were never given a chance to complete a thought. The host kept cutting them off. He would ask them a question and not let them answer. That’s real journalism right? They should change the name of the show from CNN’S Newsroom to Shut up while the host talks.

The “panel” consisted of concerned parents. In another journalistic milestone, there were NO parents on the opposing side. All the parents on the show hated the video. I told Reggie Hudlin when he first showed me Read A Book some months ago that some people would have a issue with this. I said some people.

Little did I know that the chorus CNN choose to sing would only include parents that hated the video? How fair is that? Let’s see, let’s have a new show debating the war in Iraq. Our panel will be George Bush, Dick Cheney and… that’s it! All you will need for CNN’S Newsroom.

(more…)

Sunday morning cartoons: Hi, Marlo!

Here’s an esoteric one for you– if you remember the sub-sub-basement of the Leo Dullo computer company, and the hapless Marlo who worked there, then you remember that after that five o’clock whistle blew, he’d hang out with a machine he brought to life, the Magic Movie Machine.

Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine ran in syndication in the late 70s, usually appearing on Sunday mornings on tv stations that had to put some educational programming in, but generated a love/Pavlovian reflex that has only grown over the years. So come on back with us behind the fake bookcase…

Wachoski Brothers No More!

wachowshis-5019789Yes, it’s true. The Wachowski Brothers, who started writing comics for Marvel before they went on to direct The Matrix trilogy, wrote and produced the V For Vendetta movie, publish Burlyman Comics (home of Doc Frankenstein and Shaolin Cowboy), and now making Speed Racer, exist no longer.

Why? Well, one of them’s not a brother anymore.

Larry Wachowski has completed his gender reassignment and is now going by the name Lana. From now on, Lana and brother Andy will now be known simply as "The Wachowskis", and it’s expected that Andy will be handling the press junkets for Speed Racer.

dickt-9878663

BIG BROADCAST: Calling All Crimestoppers!

dickt-9878663For over 75 years, this copy has put away more bad guys than Batman, the CSI Guys and Joe Friday combined. He’s gone from comic strips to radio, movie serials, TV, comics and even a big screen flirtation with Madonna. Now there is a group working hard to give Dick Tracy the credit he deserves – and you can help! On other fronts, today’s Big ComicMix Broadcast tells you how NBC makes sure you don’t miss a new show, DC gives you some big hoops to jump through to get variant covers and Canada gets a really cool cartoon channel!

No need to whip out that widescreen surround-sound wristwatch home theater system – just PRESS THE BUTTON!

 

Sarah Jane’s Back Revealed

sjs1-2106191After a successful pilot was aired at the end of last year, the second Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures, will begin airing in England the end of this month.

Oriented more towards children the way Torchwood is geared towards adults, the ten-episode season will see the return of various Doctor Who villains, including the Slitheen. The production and writing crew will be the same as that for Doctor Who and Torchwood, masterminded by executive producer Russell T. Davies.

Thus far, Sarah Jane Smith is the only continuing human character from the classic series to return to the new Whoverse. Elisabeth Sladen returns to the role she made famous with Doctors three and four, and in nine original audio dramas from Big Finish Productions.