So You Want To Hear A Superhero?

Podcasts
July 21, 2007

OK. So buried deep in your closet, you have that mask and cape that you might wear during those "special times," but do you have the powers and abilities to really be beyond mortal men? If so, then you aren’t alone as hundreds of would-be crusaders sought to gain the favor of Stan Lee – and the Big ComicMix Broadcast talks to a few of them this weekend!

And speaking of masks, the one that the Green Hornet used might worn by someone new … DC and Marvel fill up the comic shelves for the fall … and there’s more on San Diego … plus what do you do when you have 17 kids to feed? Of course, you farm them out to make hit songs!

Press The Button and you will gain the amazing ability to … listen!

Who’s Tony Blair?

Uncategorized
July 21, 2007

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Now that he’s no longer Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair just might be up for a part in Doctor Who. At least, that’s what producer / writer Russell T. Davies hopes.

The London Daily Express reports the Doctor Who producers are trying to obtain Mr. Blair’s services for a fourth-season guest shot or cameo. The former Prime Minister, who previously had appeared on The Simpsons, does have a new job and might not be available: he’s the Middle East peace envoy for "The Quartet," a Led Zepplin-like supergroup consisting of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. But that job probably has a lot of down-time.

This could be a good career move for the former PM. After all, thus far the new Who has begat no less than three spin-off shows; four, if you count the animated series. If Blair agrees to appear in Doctor Who (perhaps as a Cyberman), might George W. Bush be called upon to drop by Torchwood?

Baseball and comics go together

News
July 21, 2007

38pitches-2796247 Want to excite that baseball fan whom you’d like to drag along to the Comic-Con International in San Diego next week? Tell her or him that Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be there, or at least his company will.

On his blog 38 Pitches, Schilling links to a Businesswire story about his 38 Studios corporation having a San Diego presence. It should come as no shock that one of the company’s executives is noted baseball fanatic and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, but it may surprise some folks to see fantasy author R.A. Salvatore’s name in the mix as well.

McFarlane and Salvatore will be a the 38 Studios booth in Hall C, Booth #2601. Don’t miss your chance to ask Todd about those valuable baseballs he owns, and whether he’ll be looking to purchase the ball from Barry Bonds’ #756, which may well be a reality by this time next week.

Comics All Over The Place

News
July 21, 2007

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Comics Reporter reviews 1-800-MICE #2, All Flash #1, and Magic Hour #2.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews this week’s comics, starting with All Flash #1.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good also reviews this week’s comics, but he starts with Annihilation: Conquest – Quasar #1.

At the All-New, All-Different Savage Critic(s):

Graeme McMillan reviews World War Hulk #2
Douglas Wolk reviews mostly the advertisements in Giant-Sized Marvel Adventures The Avengers #1
McMillan is back to review All Flash #1
And someone named Jog really likes Brendan McCarthy and Peter Milligan’s Rogan Gosh one-shot from 1994.

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MARTHA THOMASES: Dorothy Parker

News
July 21, 2007

dorothy-parker-200x218-3330504 Dorothy Parker was a poet, short story writer and critic for The New Yorker in its heyday. When I was first writing, I wanted to be Dorothy Parker. Well, actually, I wanted to be Nora Ephron, who wrote a column in Esquire at the time, and who said that she had once wanted to be Dorothy Parker. A quick trip to the library, and I had an entertaining week reading her poetry. You probably know at least one of her poems, “News Item,” which goes:

Men seldom make passes

At girls who wear glasses.

Her literary and theatrical criticism, under the nom-de-plume of Constant Reader, was also hilarious, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. You can catch up with her poems, short stories and reviews in the omnibus Portable Dorothy Parker.

Mostly, however, she was celebrated for being the only woman at the Algonquin Round Table. In a group that included Robert Benchley, Harold Ross, George S. Kaufman, Harpo Marx, Alexander Woollcott and others, Parker was the only woman considered witty enough to be a regular (although Edna Ferber and Jane Grant, Ross’ wife, sat in occasionally).

It was an attractive fantasy for an unpopular girl in boarding school. I was not a person who got to sit at a table with boys. The only males who listened to me were my teachers, who were paid for it. Naturally, I looked for a way to be sought after, instead of merely tolerated. I spent the next twenty years writing, trying to earn my place at the table. If only I had known that the easiest thing to do was to work for a comic book publisher.

I’d freelanced for Marvel in the 1980s, but being on staff at DC was an entirely different animal. All of a sudden, I had everyone’s telephone number, and if I called someone for no apparent reason, my call was still answered happily. I could go to one of the Warner Bros. movie screenings and have people save me a seat. I could sit at any table at any bar near a convention and be welcome. In fact, I was often the only woman at the table.

It was heady stuff. True, these were not the prep school boys whose attention I had craved in my teens, but instead comic book editors, artists and writers. They were often smart and funny, but hardly ever blond or WASPy. Still, it felt as if I was sitting at the table with the cool kids. I was getting laughs telling jokes to guys who weren’t my husband. This was better than therapy!

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Harry Potter Mania: The Final Battle

News
July 20, 2007

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I may have to do another one of these round-ups on Monday to get the post-publication stuff (and the reviews that won’t annoy Rowling by their very existence), but, after that, I never want to hear the words "Harry Potter" in my life again. (Above, Mr. Potter illustrates my mood.)

CNN just realized that Deathly Hallows publishes tomorrow and they haven’t run a bland “it’s coming” story yet. Problem fixed.

The Houston Chonicle runs Potter Story #5A, “these kids grew up while reading the Potter books.”

The Vail Daily News, on the other hand, files #6B, “this wait is killing us.”

The University of North Texas declares that it has professors standing by to comment profoundly on Deathly Hallows at a moment’s notice.

The Business Gazette of Maryland knows where all the good parties are.

Blogcritics has one of those “it doesn’t matter what happens in the outside world, I’m going to have my own special moment with Deathly Hallows and no one can stop me” pieces, this time by Katie McNeill.

Inside Higher Ed goes inside baseball with a story about the media coverage of Harry Potter. And then I comment on a story about the media coverage, here! Coming soon: meta-comments on my comments, and a spiral into utter madness.

Nicholas Clee, at the Guardian blog, is overjoyed to see arrogant UK supermarket chain Asda brought to heel by the power of J.K. Rowling.

The Indianapolis Star puts its money down on the “classics forever” marker.

Michael Burstein is an observant jew, and has been trying to figure out a way to get a copy of Deathly Hallows on publication day (which is also Shabbat, when engaging in commerce is forbidden). Any particularly clever rabbis out there want to help him?

The Belfast Telegram notes that Deathly Hallows goes on sale at midnight tonight. (Doesn’t a “Belfast Telegram” sound like a euphemism for something – like maybe a Molotov cocktail through the letter-slot?)

The Baltimore Sun reports on the odd people who are following Rowling’s demands and not opening their early-release packages of Deathly Hallows.

The Edmonton Sun watches bookstores batten down the hatches and prepare to be boarded.

The Times of India notes that a lot of people will want this book. Thank you, Commander Obvious.

Fox News has a transcript of the “Big Story” segment that talked about the Deathly Hallows internet leak. Has Bill O’Reilly blamed it on Hillary yet?

Publishers Weekly’s Book Maven blog thinks that Michiko Kakutani’s New York Times review of Deathly Hallows was scrubbed of spoilers after initial publication.

Speaking of the Times, only they would be so full of themselves as to actually use the phrase “muggle soirees” in a headline.

E! News thinks that it’s very sad that the mean ol’ New York Times reviewed a book before the author said it was OK to do it. Mean ol’ Times!

The Cleveland Leader has a somewhat less dramatic take on reviewing a book before the publication date.

Reuters tries to sum up the entire history of Harry Potter in one article.

The San Francisco Chronicle obsesses about whether Harry and Voldemort live or die in Deathly Hallows. (Of course Voldemort dies, silly, it’s that kind of book. Harry, on the other hand, isn’t a sure bet either way, though he’ll probably pull through, merely “greviously injured.”)

Immediately after guaranteeing that they’ll have stock on Deathly Hallows by giving a groveling, French-style apology to Ms. Rowling, the British supermarket chain Asda has announced that they’ll be selling it for £5 – roughly $10, and solidly below their own cost.

The Huffington Post apparently thinks that reviewing a book before the on-sale date is a hanging offense. Now, I’m happy to beat up on the New York Times as much as anyone – maybe even more so – but the job of a newspaper is to seek out news stories and report on them, which is exactly what they’ve done here.

The Bookseller reports on Bloomsbury’s attempts to cap Deathly Hallows returns in the UK by holding reprints until Wednesday.

The Scotsman reports on a hotel where you can get “Mrs. Weasley’s breakfast” tomorrow. (Again, that sounds like a euphemism for something I don’t waant to know about. "Darling, can you come over here? The dog’s got into Mrs. Weasley’s breakfast again, and I need a hand cleaning up.")

Publishing News is already looking past Potter to Christmas.

The Financial Times wants to know who, exactly, is making how much money on Potter. (It’s not the bookstores, as we all know by now.)

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Getting All Ralled Up Again

News
July 20, 2007

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Outside of Michael Moore and maybe anybody named "Clinton," nobody can piss off America’s right-wingers better than cartoonist / columnist Ted Rall. Every once in a while, this turns into war.

Last week, Ted did a commentary (shown above) that really rattled "conservative" columnist Michelle Malkin. According to Michelle’s blog, Rall threw "another troop-bashing tantrum," saying "he has accused our troops of being murderers for Halliburton, mocked soldiers as sexual deviants, and derided the late Pat Tillman as an ‘idiot’ and ‘sap.’ Now, all in one cartoon, he shows his naked contempt for the very traits of the American soldier that helped give birth to this country and secured it for 231 years: willingness to sacrifice, faith, courage, respect for the commander-in-chief, and determination to complete their mission."

Ted responded. He categorically regards only those soldiers guilty of rape and torture as sexual deviants. As for Pat Tillman, whose death by American gunfire was covered up by the Bush Administration, Ted does not regard the football hero as an idiot. "I was reading a list of character traits ascribed to Muslim suicide bombers and was taken by the obvious similarities to traits required to serve in the military: blind obedience to authority, religiosity, etc. Both the suicide bombers and the soldiers are victims of a vicious con: die for someone else’s benefit, without questioning whether the sacrifice is worth it."

Stay tuned. With the war being rejected by an ever-increasing majority of Americans, tempers are going to heat up considerably. The graphic art medium will continue to play a role in the debate.

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Architect

Reviews
July 20, 2007

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Imaginative literature thrives on the “what if?” story. What if aliens invaded Earth? What if vampires were real? What if a superpowered infant was rocketed to Earth from a doomed planet?

Or, in this case: what if Frank Lloyd Wright were an insane evil druid whose wrath extended years after his death?

OK, the architect in this graphic novel isn’t precisely Wright. He’s a prickly, arrogant, obnoxious know-it-all (so far, that doesn’t just describe Wright, but all architects) building his dream home (with some Fallingwater-esque elements) in 1969 Wisconsin. He’s running low on money, but that never stops arrogant, visionary architects in imaginative fiction – he just runs off to do some lectures to raise some money. Which leaves his young, city-jaded, hot-to-trot wife alone, and bored, in the company of the young, dashing, level-headed construction foreman. Do I need to draw you a diagram?

I draw a veil over what happens next, except to say that the bulk of this graphic novel (which has seventy pages of story, for those counting at home) takes place in the present day, among a group of young people cleaning up and restoring the aforementioned dream home.

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Wolverine To Tear Up The Screen At Last

News
July 20, 2007

wolverine000505-9041281 After two years of discussion and rumor, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine movie is finally a go.

Variety reports Gavin Hood will be directing from a David Benioff script. Hood is a director relatively unknown in the United States, although his work as an teevee actor (Stargate SG-1, King Solomon’s Mines, Rhodes) is somewhat better known. His movie Tsotsi won the Oscar last year as best foreign language movie.

Brian Cox (Deadwood, the Bourne movies) is expected to reprise his role as William Stryker from X2.

MICHAEL DAVIS: Do Over

News
July 20, 2007

michael-davis100-5644230 The other day I met a young lady at an airport. She looked around 16 or so. I noticed her looking at the comic book I was reading. When I was done I gave it to her. We started talking. She is a young artist who is struggling with her weight. She is being picked on at school and has one real friend. She wants to be a comic artist and is a big fan of Static Shock. She rarely goes outside and says that she sometimes wishes she were not born. She also has a family, which is a little odd. I told her that her family does not define her and that one day what is happening to her will help her. She wished she could start over. Before I could tell her anything else her father noticed we were talking and told her to “Get the **** over here.’

I never got her name, but I hope she remembers the ComicMix information I gave her so she can read this. This is for her…

When I was in grade school I had a terrible reputation. I was known as a punk kid who could not fight. When I was very young I was raised by my mom, my sister and my grandmother. Being raised by three women you tend to get a lot of advice like this,

“You are better than that.”

“Just walk away.”

“Sticks and stones.”

From time to time, my sister would have a different slant on things. Her advice really depended on how she felt that day. I would get, ‘Who cares what he said?’ Or ‘I can’t believe you did not kick his ass!’ That kind of mixed advice is enough to land any kid in therapy.

Living in the projects the last thing you want to known as is a punk. If you are then you better hook up with a group of friends or a gang who can look after you. Either that or you need a family member who was crazy so people would leave you alone for fear of that crazy relative of yours. I actually have a crazy cousin. He murdered four people in a drug-induced state. He was my favorite cousin until he did that. I have not spoken to him in more than 30 years; that’s how long he’s been in jail. I am not one of those people who think that blood is thicker than water.

Nope. Not me, I’m not that guy.

I don’t care who you are, you murder four innocent people to support your drug habit, then you are out of my life, period. Before I get all kinds of comments saying that I am heartless and that family is everything consider this: you may stick by a family member no matter what and I respect that, but I’m not you. As loud as I can get sometimes I am a real simple guy. My simplicity is almost comical to my family and friends. I only need one thing to make me content, that one thing is piece of mind.

If he ever gets out of jail then do I really want him around me? Do I really want to hear him explain why he did it? Do I really want to share holidays with this stranger? Make no mistake, the moment he killed four people he was no longer my favorite cousin, he was a stranger because the cousin I knew would not have done that. Yes, I have forgiven him, but that’s not even the point because the people he needs to forgive him is the family of those kids (yes, kids) he killed.

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