Dennis O’Neil: Don’t Ask
Geriatric boy editor here.
Denny’s okay. Honest.
Just… don’t… ask.
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
Molly Jackson: Editing Strength!
I’ve beaten back the technological revolt happening in my apartment! It’s a time for celebration and joy. So two days ago, I saw the Batman Vs. Superman Ultimate Edition at a special event in theaters. On purpose. Seriously.
I purposefully dragged my fellow ComicMix columnist Joe Corallo because I couldn’t suffer through it a second time alone. For the record, he agreed to go and then was confused as to why he agreed. Also, I purposefully did not tell Mike, our fearless editor, that we were doing this since he tried to talk us out of seeing it the first go-around. (I only wish I could see his face when he reads this.)
A little backstory, I hated it the first time. I remember stumbling out of the theater wondering how the studio executives could have let that happen. How? Why?! Still, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I wanted to see it again. Perhaps to reconcile the movie in my mind.
I feel obligated to say spoiler alert. So hey, if you keep reading, you may be spoiled on the Ultimate Edition. Just sayinâ.
After the first time around, I remember thinking that script and direction were the biggest issues with the film. That hasn’t changed much but I did discover a bigger issue was editing the film. The first release cut out parts that made the film coherent. Whole explanations were removed, which contributed to a lot of the complaints. You don’t have to guess as much at the characters’ motivations or decision making. Some, but not all, plot holes are closed and the scene transitions are better for it.
About those critical scenes. There was a naked Bruce taking a shower. There were a few scenes showing Clark investigating Batman and his actions against the people of Gotham. He talked with mom and Bruce had a really nice extra few lines with Alfred (who also chops wood, because…). Those really helped flesh out small parts of the film, adding connections to disjointed scenes. Now, from what I remembered from the original release, it appeared that the most significant extra (a.k.a. deleted) scenes were female-led storylines.
I wish I was surprised, but Iâm not. Why should companies focus on Lois Lane being a fearless investigator when Batman can have an extra-long fight scene with a truck? She spends a whole story arc to find the pathway to Lexâs maneuverings. We watch Lois push back against Perry White and Clark Kent in her desire to find the truth. She works with lab tech Jenet Klyburn (as played by Jena Malone in her unreleased role) to realize the metal bullet is experimental. She investigates the suicide bomberâs apartment, only to realize that he wasnât planning on killing himself. And then she connects the pieces when she finds out from Jenet that the wheelchair was lined with lead. Look at the plot holes cleaned up with one paragraph.
The other storyline covered up was lead by Kahira Ziri, played by Wunmi Mosaku. Do you remember the woman who testified against Superman in the beginning of the film? She actually carries a storyline that humanizes Clark more while dehumizing Lex and still shows her finding her strength. She reveals to Holly Hunterâs Senator Finch that she was being threatened by Lex to denounce Superman. In the meantime, Clark tries to search her out and instead gets pointed towards the misdeeds of Batman. It added a crucial human connection to his story while showing a woman stand against corruption. All of this was cut, despite adding a compelling connection to multiple characters and storylines.
Upon seeing the Ultimate Edition, I realized that women were used to tie the story together completely but when it came down to a coherent story or a big fight scene, action won. And in a movie with two male leads, they will take center stage. Still, when your entire story movement hinges on women, maybe they should actually be included.
DC is trying with diversity, I wonât deny that. But for every male superhero, there is a traditional support system in place. For Batman, itâs Alfred. For Superman, itâs Lois Lane. But just like Alfred, Lois is a strong character independent of the hero. She has proven herself in the comics time and again, as a woman who doesnât rely on a man to carry from place to place. Lois, as a realistic hero of the people, is a role model for girls and women everywhere. Sadly, she will never get her own solo film, so her chance to shine is in these films. Superman deserves a strong partner who can fight in her own way, not just at his side but on her own.
After seeing this, I still am not a fan of Batman v Superman. However, the extra scenes took the trainwreck of random scenes and made it a coherent, if not bad, story. With every successful superhero film, it works because the support characters are given the chance to develop and grow. Their story only serves to make the hero, and the film as a whole a triumph. Regulating the women to the DVD extras makes the story weak and the superhero star suffer because of it.
Giant Days, Vol. 1 by John Allison and Lissa Treiman
This series does not necessarily have to be connected to Allison’s webcomics, if the reader doesn’t know of that connection. One of the three main characters — gothy center-of-all-drama Esther De Groot — was a major character in Allison’s strip Scarygoround, but Giant Days is a mildly alternate version of that Esther, who went off to college in about 2004 from that strip and landed in college in about 2013 in these comics stories. (That’s one long road trip on the way to school!) And this comic is set entirely at college so far, with no excursions back to the Tackleford of Allison’s webcomics, and I don’t expect there to be any.
Giant Days is about three female friends: Esther, tightly wound Susan, and happy-go-lucky Daisy. Allison is amazingly good (particularly for a man) at writing about young women and their friendships and daily life — Giant Days is all about the small moments in life that don’t feel small at the time. These three freshmen at an unnamed UK university study (or don’t), have crushes and dates and boyfriends and friends who are boys, get angry and happy, and just talk to each other. It’s the moments they’ll remember fondly ten or forty years from now, presented cleanly and with truth, the story of three specific women and their lives.
Allison is joined here by Lissa Treiman on art — he draws his own webcomics — and she has a great energy and vigor that works well with his story. (But don’t get too used to her; she’s only on this series for these stories and the first two issues of the next collection.) Look, I’m clearly in the tank for Allison, but this series is a lot of fun — particularly for young women, who don’t get to see people like themselves in comics all that much.
Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.
Mike Gold: Our Own, Personal, Joker
Dark Night: A True Batman Story, written by Paul Dini, drawn by Eduardo Risso • Vertigo Comics, $22.98 hardcover, $13.79 digital.
Wow. This one is tough.
It’s tough to read, it must have been tough to write, and knowing that makes it even tougher to read. Of course, doing so is at the reader’s discretion. The writer had no choice but to live it.
Dark Night is subtitled “a true Batman story” and, well, it is. It is true, and it is a Batman story. And it’s Paul Dini’s story.
Paul is one of those people who needs no introduction. However, if I don’t give him one I’ll be taunting the ghost of my junior-year high school journalism teacher, and after reading this book I don’t want to piss off anyone in the ecto-sphere. Mr. Dini is the well-celebrated writer of animation, television, video games and comic books. He’s perhaps best known for his work on Tiny Toon Adventures and on Batman: The Animated Series. Oh, yeah, and he co-created Harley Quinn with animator Bruce Timm. Now that I’ve made the late Mr. Koerner happy…
Some two dozen years ago, Paul was walking home in the dead of the Los Angeles night and encountered a couple of muggers who proceeded to beat the crap out of him. Surgery saved his sight and time put the rest of his pulped body together, although – of course – the psychological scars are far more enduring. Your brain scoops up all kinds of life-long memories and turns them up to 11, distorting them like two elephants mating on a wah-wah pedal. The inner-dialog never really ends, even while you try to figure out how to stuff it in its place. In this telling, Paul uses the characters of the Batman, the Joker, Two-Face, the Penguin and, yes, Harley Quinn as that inner-voice, all the while revealing the youthful neuroses common to those of us pop culture fans of baby boomer vintage.
It’s a harrowing experience made all the more horrific for the reader by knowing it’s a hell of a lot easier to read than it is to live. For those few who have never endured any degree of that experience, let me tell you this: releasing the story might be cathartic, but taking another peek into Pandora’s Box is risky to say the least.
Paul Dini is and has been one of the best comics and animation writers of the past 30 years and if all you’ve done is read and watched his stuff, you might not have known of his travails. While writing Dark Night might be his crowning achievement (after all, how you do top your own bloody, painful near-death experience?) in so doing he has taken American graphic novel writing to a whole new level, combining his life, his obsessions and his lifelong fictional posse to reveal a journey no one in his or her right mind would ever want take. People will be studying this book in writing schools forever.
I said this is Paul’s story, and that story is so overwhelming that at first reading you might miss the power and proficiency of artist Eduardo Risso’s work. Don’t worry; it’ll hit you once you wrest your nose from your belly button. Known for his work on 100 Bullets, Alien Resurrection, Wolverine and that other Dark Knight book released this year, his efforts are every bit as worthy as the story. Whomever put together that creative team – Paul, and/or editor Shelly Bond (who will be missed at DC) and/or others – hit the nail right on the head.
A non-fiction story co-starring Batman. Damn. This one was tough… and worth it.
Personal note: Really glad you made it through, Paul!
Michael Davis: Over and Done
I’m done.
I’m SO done trying to help anyone do anything.
I’m done with the Black Panel, the Bad Boy Studio mentor program, and Dream City my free management company.
Don’t know any of my work? Here.
My disdain started when a rumor damn near became fact. The rumor spreading like a Donald Trump lie was that Milestone stole their business plan from Brotherman. It damn near broke my heart.
But then, the show of support for Milestone was overwhelming!
I could hardly contain my tears of joy so much was the love I felt from the thousands of fans who stood by us. So with all the love shown us why was this the beginning of the end for me?
Because there was no love, the above paragraph was an invention just like the rumor.
Instead of love many, some thought to be friends, jumped on the fairytale co-signing the notion the Milestone partners were thieves. This not too long after Dwayne McDuffie passed away.
One moment the Black comic book community universally saddened over the death of one of the greatest comic book writers there ever was showed the kind of love that inspires books and movies.
The next moment there was universal hatred of Dwayne.
YES, Dwayne!
Didn’t those motherfuckers realize that if you call Milestone thieves you’re saying that of Denys Cowan, Derek Dingle, Christopher Priest, myself AND Dwayne McDuffie?
Yeah, they knew. They didn’t care. Shit, why the fuck should they have? Except for me no one and I mean no one fought those kind of battles. With not one exception no other Milestone partner old or new continually fought the rumors surrounding the company.
I kept Milestone alive in a culture where some are so dense they forget what day we celebrate the Fourth of July. Some may be OK leaving rumor alone to become fact not me. Branding Milestone liars and thieves are NOT the same as some bullshit gerbil stuck in an actor’s ass story.
No one is going deny a big time player a role even if that gerbil story is true, unprovable if it is. If promoting a movie at Comic-Con, no will stand up and ask; “What about the accusations made by three hamsters, a gerbil and Stacy Dash?” Unless said, actor decides to write a tell-all book entitled; It’s My Ass, She’s My Gerbil & I Love Her Up There, it’s safe to bet that won’t define a spectacular career.
But stealing the idea for the greatest African American comic book company? You don’t address that type of shit, and it sticks. Then when Dreamworks is looking for great African-American superhero content they are not looking at Milestone.
Yeah, it’s like that in Hollywood.
So, I made sure any and all bullshit surrounding Milestone was addressed LOUDLY.
Those who doubt that I don’t blame you. But click the link below and scroll down a bit. What are you looking for? Believe me; you will know it when you see it.
FUN FACT: The Brotherman crew got some bad information and some dates wrong. That shit happens to everyone and that includes me. They admitted as such and we’re MORE than cool.
So cool in fact a meeting is planned in the near future. Funny, we talked, we worked it out. Nobody ignored the other. They have treated me with a TON more respect and love than M2.0.
Like I said, funny.
Back to the rant, I’ve gotten no encouragement or support from the community I’ve spent more time creating opportunities for others than myself. Nobody writes me a check for my Bad Boy Studio mentor program or the Black Panel or Dream City, my management company. All of those are set up to provide access to young people of color. I charge nothing; it’s called giving back.
I write the checks to make sure young people of color get the encouragement and support they need. No support from that community was horrible slight and the spark which began this decent.
Being treated by Milestone 2.0 like I had not contributed most of the now superstar talent, oversaw the massive press and groundbreaking convention presence and created the universe of its most successful character, Static, lit the fire.
Being used and then rejected at the lowest point IN MY LIFE without a word as to why beforehand, without a word afterward or (GET THIS) without a fucking word in the almost two years since. Oh, while you’re getting THAT, get THIS, “We’re family. You’re family. We’re going to do great things.” That was said to me in front of my mother’s casket from a member of my “family.”
Then days ago delivered to Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnson from an unnamed source, (THANK YOU MASKED MAN!) was what some would call the smoking gun.
It’s pretty fucked up.
I’d call it the big bang rather than a smoking gun. So to paraphrase Dr. Dre, FUCK COMICS YOU CAN HAVE IT BACK.
The above (all of it) was an excerpt from the article I was going to run called Michael Davis has left the building.
Then some people showed me a better way so I’m not going to do that.
I’m going to do this…
To Be Continued…
Box Office Democracy: Independence Day: Resurgence
Independence Day: Resurgence is inexcusably boring, the kind of movie script I would expect if you went to one of those experimental Google A.I. routines and asked them to make a summer blockbuster. None of the ideas feel clever or new but instead a naïve attempt to maximize potential profits. It’s a disaster movie mixtape with a couple alien cliché deep cuts thrown in to appear hip. Resurgence tries so hard to traffic in the positive memories we have of the original Independence Day and while it’s occasionally evocative enough to stir that up, it so much more often completely fails to not only carry the weight of the first movie but to even be a coherent film.
The original Independence Day was particularly relatable because we were offered so many different slices of life. We saw the goofy scientist and his nebbishy father, we saw the air force pilot and his exotic dancer wife, and, yes, we saw the President of the United States and his family but we also saw the trailer parks and the end of the world parties. We got a world that felt lived in. Every principal character in Resurgence is either a holdover character from the first film, now renowned for their work saving the earth, one of their children who are uniformly top fighter pilots, or a spectacularly important global political figure. There’s no relating to any of these people because so few people actually travel in these circles. The problem seems to come from the world being way more science-fiction-y than the original film and there seems to be no desire to explore how things have changed in any respect besides anti-alien war machines. The world feels so much less lived in and so it’s much harder to care when they start wrecking things.
Along with being unrelatable, none of the characters have narrative arcs at all. With the exception of being sad about loved ones being killed or mad that alien invaders are back, none of the characters have any kind of emotional growth. None of them have to change the way they interact with the world to solve the problem of the alien invasion, they just sort of do the same things over and over again and eventually it works and the day is saved. There’s a certain catharsis to seeing a bunch of alien ships explode and everything but there’s no meaningful character work happening here so there’s nothing but hollow victories.
Independence Day: Resurgence is set in a world where all of humanity has come together in harmony after the monumental alien attacks of 20 years ago. This new one world government is composed mainly of American and Chinese people and I’m sure it’s a complete coincidence that these are the two largest markets for movies these days. No other nations are represented in any significant way at all unless you count the African warlord of a nameless country who seems to exist only to provide a vague sense of menace and have a kind of racist interaction with a minor character toward the end of the film. One of the three big disaster sequences also takes place in China, which is either an attempt to underscore the stakes for all of the main players (including the Chinese fighter pilot) or more transparent pandering to the Chinese market, and I’m betting heavily on the latter.
I could go on and on with things that were boring or lazy about Independence Day: Resurgence. The alien queen looks suspiciously like the one in Alien vs. Predator. Two different plotlines have separate bumbling nerdy guy characters, I assume because they couldn’t figure out a way to combine them, and they both get external validation of their masculinity to close out their stories. Jeff Goldblum is carted around from place to place to react to things in his inimitable way and they rely on his charm being so strong that we don’t notice that he doesn’t ever do anything in the film; he could be replaced by a handsome coat rack. The mysterious object that can save the world is stunningly poorly designed and could quite accurately be described as a mecha-Pac-Man. The third movie basically announced in the closing moments of this one is a hundred times more compelling conceptually but still isn’t a movie I want to go see after this wretched chapter. The original Independence Day was an iconic disaster film that shaped a decade of blockbusters, but Resurgence is an emotionless husk, an exoskeleton with no alien pilot, gracelessly going through the motions.
Joe Corallo: Tragic Chalice
Last week it was announced that Aftershock Comics will be launching a new superhero series in September named Alters. The series will be seasoned comic writer Paul Jenkinsâ second title with Aftershock, and itâs drawn by Leila Leiz. Though it will feature a few different kinds super powered humans, referred to as Alters in this world, the central character currently getting all the buzz is Chalice.
The gravity manipulating Chalice will be joining the ranks of characters like Coagula on the incredibly and embarrassingly short list of trans superheroes in comics. The hook for Chalice is that while Chalice presents as female, her civilian alter ego presents as male under the name Charlie Young. At the start of the story, Charlie is a college student who is currently transitioning in secret to Charlie’s family, though some friends may be aware. We just don’t have all the details on that yet.
Paul Jenkins himself is a straight cis white man, which he will readily admit. His mother who raised him is an out lesbian and he’s stated before that diversity is important to him, though in this case we should be careful not to conflate sexual orientation and gender identity. Mr. Jenkins in particular had in mind to put a trans character in this series from its onset. According to his own account, Chalice didn’t fully come into being until he met Liz Luu at a convention panel who suggested the idea of a trans superhero who had not yet transitioned and who could only present as the gender they identify as when in superhero attire.
With that in mind, I can’t help but be cautious about the idea. Before even delving into the concept behind Chalice, the initial reason I have for being cautious is that this is a character, though created by well-meaning allies, that did not have a trans creator involved. That is not to say that people can’t create characters outside of who they are and what experiences they have personally had over the years. However, we have seen time and again characters that have been created (or retconned in many cases) to represent the LGBTQ community that haven’t had LGBTQ input over the years with mixed results. Examples include most queer characters in 90s TV and movies, as well as Icemanâs coming out last year at Marvel, despite Brian Michael Bendisâ best intentions, which I wrote about here and here.
Now letâs go into the character of Chalice herself. As I started to explain earlier, Chalice is a super human trans woman that can only be herself when sheâs Chalice. Otherwise, sheâs Charlie Young and presumably goes by male pronouns. The hook they proudly stress is that she can only be herself when sheâs not herself. I have a problem with that.
Look, I understand issue #1 hasnât even hit the shelves yet. However, Aftershock Comics and Paul Jenkins are certainly making it a point to do the rounds and build buzz for the book, and theyâre working to get reactions from people. Positive reactions ideally, but still. The idea of a trans character that can only be herself when sheâs in her superhero costume lends itself heavily to the tragic queer trope. Itâs been done. Itâs been done a lot. It was also done in comics like with Batwoman in 2013.
Being queer is not tragic. Being trans is not tragic. Having a character whose tragedy in life is rooted in their queerness is lazy writing and shouldnât be acceptable to audiences in 2016. Yes, plenty of characters have tragedy that lead them to being superheroes. Spider-Man losing his Uncle Ben, Batman losing his parents, Superman losing his home planet, and so forth. None of them had something tragic about them based on them being cisgender or heterosexual. And to be clear, I donât mean to be conflating gender identity with sexual orientation with that previous statement. My intention was to address queerness broadly and to stress how those characters mentioned are cis het.
Even characters in teams like the X-Men or Doom Patrol that donât like the side effects of their powers arenât burdened by their sexual orientation or gender identities. Hell, Coagula is an out and proud trans woman in her first pages of Doom Patrol twenty years ago. Thatâs not to say that Aftershock Comics or Paul Jenkins are consciously supporting the tragic queer trope, but that doesnât change the fact that when you make the central internal conflict of a character their queerness and promote the comic with that as the hook, that you are feeding into that trope.
Beyond the queer is tragic trope, itâs also made clear that this story will involve the character of Charlie Young transitioning in secret from her family. Popular media is obsessed with transitioning. Whether it be Caitlyn Jenner, TV shows like Transparent, or movies like The Danish Girl, the media canât seem to get enough of it. Thatâs not to say that Charlie Youngâs transitioning will not be relatable to someone out there in the trans community just coming out or planning on doing so. However, people like Caitlyn Jenner are interviewed and analyzed by cis reporters, and shows like Transparent and movies like The Danish Girl star cis actors in the lead roles, and characters like Chalice are being written and illustrated by a cis creative team (the colorist is trans, but thatâs not a position with creative control in a narrative sense) which means we see these more popular glimpses into the trans community and physical transitioning safely through a cis lense.
Trans people and the trans community do not exist to transition for our entertainment. Not to mention that not everyone in the trans community transitions, has the same goals in their transitioning or transitions in the same way. Not everyone is concerned about âpassingâ as one gender. Some people in the trans community are non-binary as well.
They are more than their transitioning, and we need to stop acting like thatâs the only story worth telling with trans characters, or even the most important story to tell. Characters who are often played by or written by cis people in the first place, only adding to how cis people use trans people for entertainment, oscars, and pats on the back for being oh so progressive.
Aftershock Comics, Paul Jenkins, Leila Leiz, Liz Luu, and other people who are working on Alters in some capacity all seem to be creating characters like Chalice with the best of intentions. They all appear to have a vested interest in increasing diversity in comics, and itâs certainly nice to see how many women are working on a book like this when the mainstream comics industry still sorely lacks hired female talent, which is something important to Paul Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins also have a history of writing quality comics.
That being said, if you want to tell more diverse stories with rich characters of different backgrounds, then you need to hire people with those backgrounds. We need more diversity behind the pages just as badly as we need them on the pages.
Iâm hoping that Alters will be a deeper, richer story for Chalice than the press hits lead on. Iâm hoping a character like Chalice may be around long enough to develop and grow into something more than a tragic queer trope and a way to continue feeding these obsessions with physical transitions and people âpassing.â Mostly, Iâm looking forward to the potential that a character like Chalice could bring to getting more comics publishers to green light more projects with trans characters.
And hey, maybe theyâll even get a trans writer or illustrator on it too.
Is fandom “entitled”? A history of fan-made material
For those who came in late, a bunch of fans crowdsourced the funds to make a Star Trek fan film, Axanar. The funding campaign was outrageously successful, earning over 1.1 million dollars. That large an amount of money set off Paramountâs sensor array, and they quickly filed suit against said fans for unauthorized use of trademarked items. The folks behind Axanar counter-sued, claiming Paramount didnât have hold of all the items they claimed. It was going to get testy (and potentially untenable for Paramount if any of the points made in the counter-suit were deemed valid) until J.J. Abrams stepped in and convinced Paramount to calm down.
In response to said events, this week Paramount released a series of guidelines that fan films must follow in order to stay on the right side of the law, or at least on the right side of Paramountâs battery of white-lipped attorneys. Some of those rules are quite reasonable â the producers of the films canât make merchandise of their property, and Paramount wrote up a paragraph of verbiage the producers must include in the filmâs credits. Some of the rules are a bit more stringent â the films canât be more than 15 minutes long, and nobody in the production can have any âprofessional creditsâ. That second one is drawing a number of eyes â some are arguing that it could mean youâre not allowed to use union workers for the production crew, something the unions will likely have something to say about.
Now, the real problem here is that for years there was an unspoken âlineâ to determine what was considered acceptable by fansâ creations. The exact details were never set in stone, but centered around basic ideas like âdonât make too much money, donât do anything particularly untoward with the property,â and so on. While the exact location and cartography of the line may not be known, itâs pretty obvious that Axanar crossed it miles back. This was no simple pack of fan on cardboard sets and an eight-millimeter camera â the film (and its short prequel) had professional actors, some who had not only appeared on Trek before, but ones like Gary Graham who were actually portraying characters they had played on the actual shows. The producers of Axanar had stated that in addition to making this film, they were effectively setting up a movie studio, dedicated to making more features in the same vein. So basically, they broke the âdonât make too much moneyâ rule before they even stepped on the set.
These new âguidelinesâ are far stricter than what was allowed before, and are clearly in response (Retaliation? Perhapsâ¦) to the liberties taken by the Axanar team. To make an example, an apartment house has a tacit agreement that nobody can play their stereos above six, and even though people were playing them at seven or eight, nobody was complaining. But one guy threw a party and turned his stereo to ten, and the landlord had to step in and put his foot down, so now everyone has to keep their stereo at four.
There have been many conversations about the new rules online â many saw it as a potential death-blow to the staggeringly popular Star Trek Continues series, an acclaimed web series which was likewise inspired by another fan production, Starship Farragut. Another fan production, Renegades, simply announced they planned to excise all Trek references in its new production and become a completely new franchise.
But it was a conversation with an online friend that I found the most interesting. He described fans who wanted to make amateur films as âentitledâ. That they somehow thought they had the right to make their own versions of other peopleâs IP and share them with the world. To say that I disagreed with him is an understatement.
First off, letâs look at the history of fandom… starting with the Epic of Gilgamesh.
You heard me.
The classic epic poems could arguably be described as the first fan fiction. The stories were created by persons (largely) unknown, re-told and embellished by countless other creators. The versions we know were assembled from various bits and bobs by people who usually ended up getting credit for âwritingâ them, though you could make a case that âeditorâ was a better description.
Jumping ahead centuries, Sherlock Holmes had its share of fan fiction. When Arthur Conan Doyle decided to stop writing about Holmes (because apparently he got tired of money) the fans rose to the cause. Doctor Who fans kept the flame alive during The Dark Years with fan productions like PROBE and the audio plays of BBV, which eventually became the official audio plays by Big Finish. Indeed, many of the people who worked on those fan productions went on to create for the new series.
Entitled? Hardly. Dedicated, committed, even? Absolutely.
The big change between the fan films of past decades and those of today is technology. Thirty years ago, such films were only seen at conventions, often in peopleâs hotel rooms. Save for a copy of a copy of a VHS tape, there was no way to obtain one for yourself. So too for fanzines â stories and art got a hundred or so copies made, which were hawked at conventions, eventually selling through their single print run, never to be heard of again. Now, literally anyone can film an adventure in 4K quality, with cinema-quality effects, and make it available globally with the click of a button. This makes these fans no more âentitledâ than the fans of yore, it just makes them a lot easier to get recognition. Indeed, many times these fan productions catch the eyes of the official producers in a positive way. A fan-made opening for Doctor Who was considered such a good idea, they got a hold of him and used the idea for the seriesâ new opening titles.
But at the core is that Line. It was virtually impossible to make money on fan material back in the day â itâs almost difficult NOT to now. But still, for the most part, the desire of the fan is not to make money, but to share their love for the property, and show off their own ideas and jokes. Weâve seen entire video games created by fans based on their favorite shows and movies. The sheer breadth of creativity by the fans of the worldâs various popular properties likely outstrips the original works by an order of magnitude.
But I donât know of many fans who think they have a ârightâ to do so.
When a company steps up and points out a fan project that crosses the line, there is usually a hue and/or cry to some degree. People will claim the company has âgotten greedyâ, and there will be some muted mumblings of boycotts, but in almost all cases, the item in question has simply stepped past that Line, and pretty much deserved to get hit with the ban-hammer. And in the cases where they werenât, so far, cooler heads have prevailed. Iâve talked in the past about the Harry Potter Website scare. When the HP books (and especially the films) became popular, fan websites proliferated, with various names that used terms and phrases from the series. And someone in the Warner Brothers legal department thought these sites would cause the downfall of the franchise, and the Cease and Desist orders went out like the exact opposite of Hogwarts acceptance letters. And the news articles began to appear about ten-year-olds getting threatening legal letters, and there was much clicking of tongues, and Warner Brothers quietly waved their hand and the complaints were cancelled.
Itâs always been a dance between creator and fandom. The creators know they owe their fans for the money theyâve paid into the property, and respect their desire to want to play in their garden. The challenge has been in making sure nobody goes too far with their work, and have it potentially become a challenge to the original. In the age of the electric-type internet, thatâs becoming more possible.
Weâre starting to see amazing new ways that fans and originators can co-operate. Cartoon Network just announced a program where theyâd work with fan artists to turn their creations into limited run officially licensed items. The fans get both major recognition for their work, and a few dollars to boot, and the creators get to wet their beak, and maintain control of the property.
In a very real way, these rules set forth by Paramount are a GOOD thing. Strict tho they may be, they set up an actual set of rules that fan creations can follow. The Line is now LITERALLY drawn, which means thereâs less chance of stepping over it in error.
REVIEW: Eye in the Sky
If it takes a village to raise a child, it seems to require an international village to kill a terrorist. In the contemporary military thriller Eye in the Sky, the moral and legal issues resulting from the decision to launch a drone strike against three of the most wanted causes discussion, consternation, and a lot of hand wringing. Out Tuesday from Universal Home Entertainment, the movie is available as a blu-ray combo with Digital HD.
Helen Mirren is the woman in the center of the action, orchestrating the American done opeeators, consulting with Alan Rickman, safe at headquarters, and desperate to take these enemy combatants out. The problem: they are readying suicide bombers in a residential neighborhood so collateral damage is a given so limiting it becomes the challenge as they race against the clock.
Director Gavin Hood wrings as much tension out of the situation for 92 minutes, but he is hampered by the reality that the key players are never together. Instead, we watch reaction shots and debates occur and really, editor Megan Gill gets all the credit for sustaining the tension.
Mirren’s desperation grows as every time she is ready to give the kill order, everyone wants to run the risk assessment again and higher up the chain of command. Aaron Paul and Phoebe Fox are in the bunker, controlling the drone and he actually refuses an order to fire at one point, seeking verification about a little girl selling bread next to the target. According to a consultant who watched with me, he was in the wrong especially in front of a junior officer.
The reliance on technology and law protects hut hampers the efforts and brings up interesting themes for post-viewing discussion, the film itself, though, has lots of the right elements and several solid performances but is less than the sum of its parts. It just doesn’t hold together and sustain interest.
The high definition tansfer is crisp as is the audio. The film comes with a mere two electronic press kit packages about the themes and totally underwhelms. Considering this is Rickman’s final film, I just wish it was overall a better experience.
Mindy Newell: Post-Denver Blues
Hey, guys, I’m home.
I was going to tell y’all about my absolutely fabulous weekend at the Denver Comic Con, but besides bringing home great memories, super inspiration, and renewed zest to write a children’s book and some comics, I also brought home…
Something not so pleasant.
It started with a sore throat on Wednesday morning—my tonsils were swollen and it hurt to swallow, but I felt all right otherwise, so figured it was from the air conditioning and popped an Advil along with my tea and usual dosages of Vitamin C and D3 and all those anti-oxidant supplements. And I felt better by the afternoon.
But it didn’t go away. Not really. I felt okay enough to visit with Alix and Jeff and my little Meyer on Thursday night (and really ate too much of absolutely delicious home-made pizza), but I awoke on Friday morning with a sledgehammer working out a beat on my head and absolutely no desire to get up. And the rest of the weekend has been just as joyful
I don’t think it’s the flu, even though I’m totally knocked out and can barely drag my ass to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and every joint and muscle is aching and I’m coughing like poor, tubercular Alex Randall in last night’s penultimate episode of Outlander, Season Two, except that I’m not bringing up blood, thank God, and not even very much phlegm, which I actually wish I could because I can feel it in there weighing down my chest like an anvil and I want to get it out of my system. But I still don’t think it’s the flu because I don’t have a fever, and that’s pretty much the single symptom that rules in flu as a diagnosis and delineates it from “just a cold.”
At least I don’t think I do—I haven’t taken my temperature because my thermometer is somewhere in my laundry closet, and I’ve been too tired to get up from the couch to dig it out.
So I’ve just been taking Advil and drinking lots of water and grapefruit juice—‘cause I don’t like o.j.—and limeade and sucking on ice cubes. And yes, chicken soup and lentil soup and tomato soup.
The consensus is that I got sick from the plane because “everybody gets sick from the plane.” Only then why didn’t I actually get sick in Denver? (Yeah, yeah, I know, incubation periods and all that—it was cooking, in other words.)
Anyway, whatever it is, whether a summer cold or a mild flu or the dread “Airplane Adenovirus,” I feel like shit.
Plus, I can’t stop worrying that I’ve infected my almost 3 years-old grandson.
So next week I’ll tell you about my adventure in the Mile High City and all the great people, pros and fans, I met and about how it was so damn hot and humid I felt like I was still in New York City. Okay?
I’m going back to bed.
