The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Ed Catto: You’re Number One

bitchplanet_01-1_300_462-6972651 I always thought that more you know about something, the better you are at evaluating it. For example, movie critics who understand films, filmmaking and film-history evaluate movies more effectively than the rest of us. But this isn’t always true. Whenever experts evaluate something, they are blind to that thrill of experiencing it without baggage. So often they can’t, by their very nature, genuinely relate to the experience of someone who’s less knowledgeable about it all. In the advertising and marketing business, professionals often try to put their own experiences aside and listen to what “real” people say. And that’s exactly what I tried to do for this mad little experiment.

As you may know, I’m a comic geek with entirely too much knowledge about comics and the industry. My new neighbor is just the opposite. He’s a Millennial with a wonderful wife and two young kids. In fact, every time I see him and his family it’s kind of like looking into a window of my own past. But this guy doesn’t have that life-long fanaticism of comics. He read a few comics as a kid, and now, sparked by the Arrow TV show and the Marvel movies, has wandered back into reading comics. He’s usually a digital reader. He finds that works best for his commute into the city and for late nights with his baby daughter, when the lights are off to encourage her trips into slumberland.

Lately I’ve been passing along some of the very best comics to him. Sometimes it’s new stuff that I think is outstanding (FadeOut, WinterWorld) and other times its older comics that he’s asked about (“Who is this guy, named Deadshot / Hawkeye / Mark Waid?”). And as part of the population who is used to binge watching TV shows and bundling episodes on the DVR, he usually prefers that I collect several issues in a row so he can read them all at once, trade-paperback style.

But this time I thought I’d try something a little different. Lately I’ve been so impressed by all the great new comics debuting. I’ve also been curious as to how someone with fresh eyes would evaluate and engage with these new comics. Even before I read the new Image comic Red One, I’m the type who runs through an elaborate mental checklist of all the stories I’ve read from the talented artists of this series – what I liked, what I didn’t like and what I expect in this new series. I wondered what the reaction would be of someone encountering the creators, characters and situations for the first time? So here’s what I did: I gave my neighbor, let’s call him Fan X for this experiment, a stack of recent debut issues. My only instruction was “tell me what you like and why.” His reactions were insightful, interesting and in many cases surprising. Here’s what he said:

Red One #1 by Xavier Dorison, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson, Image

This was a big winner for Fan X. He explained how he loves spy thrillers, and that’s typically the genre of prose fiction he enjoys the most. He liked the bright red cover with the attractive girl, but the series wasn’t anything like he expected. He did say he wished that it wasn’t’ a period piece at first, but then found himself enjoying the backward glance at that 70’s elements like the Walkman.

Would he buy issue #2? Yes, he can’t wait.

Ah-hah Moment: He also explained how he’s really enjoying another female-protagonist spy series, Velvet, by Brubaker and Epting. In fact, that’s the series that has spurred to him on to reading the floppy issues – he just can’t wait until it’s collected as a trade paperback anymore.

Ei8ht by Raphael Albuquerque and Mike Johnson, Dark Horse

Fan X was drawn to the art and the simplified color scheme, but wasn’t a big fan of the time travel elements or the two interlocking storylines. He explained he’s not a fan of those types of stories and gets impatient waiting for parallel plotlines to converge.

Would he buy issue #2? Probably not.

Ah-hah Moment: Despite the guide in the inside front cover, he didn’t get that the color-coding denoted different times and places Divinity #1in the storyline.

Divinity #1 by Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine, Valiant

Like his complaints about Ei8ht, Fan X was not thrilled with the time travel aspects and two parallel storylines. He explained that he was muddling through this, mildly entertained, until page X, when it’s revealed that the straight-laced protagonist has a secret girlfriend. That’s when the story grabbed him in.

Would he buy issue #2? He most likely wouldn’t follow this one.

Ah-hah Moment: He loved the heavy cardstock cover!

Dream Thief: Escape #1 by Jai Nitz and Greg Smallwood, Dark Horse

It took FanX a moment to remember Dream Thief, but when he did he said, “This one I liked.” He liked the rough lead characters and enjoyed Smallwood’s art, although his interviewer (ahem) may have prompted that observation.

Would he buy issue #2? Yes!

Ah-hah Moment: The fact that it was a four-issue mini-series, i.e. short with an end in sight, was something he liked.

Spider-Woman #5 by Dennis Hopeless and Javier Rodriguez, Marvel

(While this isn’t technically a #1, it’s a first issue as the previous issue were part of a crossover).

Fan X likes female spies and thus was pre-disposed to like Spider-Woman. He enjoyed the fact that she used energy blasts, but most enjoyed the non-superhero moments.

Would he buy issue #2? He would.

Ah-hah Moment: Surprisingly, he didn’t enjoy the simplified art of Rodriguez. He much prefers his superheroes comics to look more “superhero-y”.

The Valiant #1 by Jeff Lemier, Matt Kindt and Paolo Rivera, Valiant

Here the switching up of timelines didn’t bother him at all. He liked Paolo’s art. He enjoyed Bloodshot, as a Punisher-type hero, and found the new character, Kay McHenry to be intriguing and relatable. He especially was drawn into the two-page spread where Kay speaks directly to the camera. (I did too!)

Would he buy issue #2? Probably, and he knows nothing of the Valiant Universe.

Ah-hah Moment: Again, he loved the heavy cover stock of the cover. And this is coming from a ‘digital guy’.

Bitch Planet #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro, Image

He didn’t think he’d like this one. The cover wasn’t appealing to him. In particular, Fan X was put off by the logo and the pink color scheme. But when he read it, he found that he was hooked. He thought the character layers were fascinating and thought provoking.

Would he buy issue #2? Definitely, he would.

Ah-hah Moment: He said he also likes the TV Women-in-prison drama, Orange is the New Black.

Invisible Republic 1Invisible Republic by Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko and Jordan Boyd, Image

Fan X procrastinated about reading this as he assumed he wouldn’t like it. But in fact- he loved it. He enjoyed the sketchy, loose artwork of Gabriel Hardman, and in this case, he wasn’t bothered by the parallel plotlines. In fact, he was fascinated by the characters and the hints of what they would become.

Would he buy issue #2? He’s looking forward to it.

Ah-hah Moment: I found it fascinating how he expected to like this one the least, and it ended up being his #1 or #2 favorite.

So.. there you have it. His reactions were certainly different from mine. But they really got me thinking. I was especially surprised how Valliant’s cardstock covers appealed to him, especially as he’s ‘mostly’ a digital comics reader. I’m not sure what lessons we learn from this sampling of one reader other than one I’m always learning – people like the stuff they like for the reasons they like. Simple, but true. But now the question is – what do you think?

 

Mindy Newell: Of Corsets And Kilts

Jamie Frasier (Sam Heughan): This will go faster if ye just yield, woman!

Claire Randall Frasier (Caitriona Balfe): I’m going to make you suffer!

Jamie: Ye already have! 

Jamie: I am your master and you’re mine. It seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.

Jamie: Sassenach…


Claire: Yes, master?

Jamie: What does fucking mean?

Outlander • Ronald D. Moore, Producer. Based on the novel by Diana Gabaldon

Question 1: Has there ever been a show on television, network or cable – not counting the porn channels – in which the camera stays focused on the action as the man sucks on his lover’s nipple?

Question 2: Have you been watching the second half of the first season of Outlander on the Starz network?

And you thought the sex scenes in the first half were hot? Whoa!

Well, just in case you’re thinking that this old bag is only watching this genre-mixing series (part historical, part adventure, and part romance, and based on Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling novel) only to get her rocks off, I want you to know that, im-not-so-ho, the intimate scenes between the “time-crossed” lovers Claire Randall and Jamie Frasier aren’t in the least bit gratuitous.

Claire and Jamie, two strangers divided by 200 years of societal, political and technological upheavals, were married last season not for love, but for political circumstance and to protect Claire from the British captain who believes she is a spy; there has been some very ugly words between them, as well as some 21st century “politically incorrect” physical abuse that lit up Outlander message boards across the web. And so their relationship seesaws between love and hate, need and independence, conflict and harmony, competition and accord.

None of this should be surprising; Outlander is produced – with some episodes directed and written – by Ronald D. Moore, who has never shied away from the realities of relationships and the forces that work upon them, making those relationships a basic element of all his work, most famously in his reboot of Battlestar: Galactica.

Aside: Mr. Moore has stated that he left Star Trek: The Next Generation because he became frustrated with Gene Roddenberry’s dictum that everyone on the U.S. S. Enterprise NCC 1701-C got along like stoned-out-of-their-minds hippies at Woodstock or a conclave of Scientologists slobbering at the foot of Tom Cruise. A few minor skirmishes were allowed, hints of romance every so often, but no any real character growth and development between crewmembers. “Conflict is the heart of drama,” Moore has said. “No conflict, no drama.”

But Outlander is also richly detailed in its historical facts – the Jacobite movement to restore “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Stuart to the throne of England – and 18th century Scottish creeds, customs and mores, including its costume design. Speaking of which, today’s New York Times includes a piece on Mr. Moore and his wife, Terry Dresbach, who is Outlander’s costume designer. According to the New York Times, “The couple share a similar philosophy when it comes to period costumes: Make them as authentic as possible. ‘I want them to look lived-in, beaten-up and home-repaired,’ Mr. Moore said. To that end, his wife assembled a 15-person aging and dyeing department, whose primary objective is to weather the costumes and ‘make them look real,’ he explained.

“Occasionally they clash when the needs of the story and the reality of costumes collide,” the NYT continued. “For instance, when the villainous redcoat Capt. Black Jack Randall rips Claire’s bodice, Mr. Moore said, ‘Terry tells me in excruciating detail how impossible it is to rip open these dresses unless you’re the Hulk, because there are many layers of thick fabric’…[they] settled on having Black Jack slice open Claire’s dress with a knife.”

Like most actors and actresses the cast of Outlander says that wearing appropriate to the era costumes only increases their ability to “step inside” their characters’ minds and lives. However, the wearing corsets can be, well, inhibiting. Caitrona Balfe, who plays Claire, said, “Once you’re sucked into these corsets, you realize just how repressed women were.” And her co-star, Lotte Verbeek, who also starred in HBO’s The Borgias, says, “The costumes help, but they also kind of hurt.” As for the men, well, they have fewer complaints in their kilts. “There’s something very freeing about wearing [it],” said Graham McTavish, who plays Dougal MacKenzie, the war chief of Clan MacKenzie, and Jamie’s uncle. “It represents something from the past that has style and elegance – you’re not going out dressed in sweatpants, sneakers, and a baseball cap.” Though Tobias Menzies, who plays the aforementioned British Royal Army Captain Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, doesn’t like them. “Put some trousers on,” he says. Well, he does, for Menzies also plays Frank Randall, Claire’s 20th century husband and a descendant of Black Jack.

I don’t know if the men wear underwear under the kilts, though that is truly the way kilts are worn. I know, because my ex-husband wore a kilt to our wedding….

Um, ‘nuff said!

 

Bruce Timm Returns for Justice League: Gods & Monsters in July

Justice League Gods & MonstersBURBANK, CA (April 16, 2015) – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Warner Bros Animation and DC Entertainment present an all-new animated feature film from the innovative vision of renowned producer and animator Bruce Timm, Justice League: Gods & Monsters, on July 28, 2015.  The DC Universe Original Movie, which will include never-before-seen bonus content, will be available on Blu-Ray™ Deluxe Edition, Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD.

Witness a divergent reality where the Justice League protects the planet – but answers to no one but themselves. Employing methods of intimidation and fear, this Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman deal brute force in the name of justice. From the creative genius of executive producer Bruce Timm and co-producer Alan Burnett comes an original story where the world’s greatest triumvirate of super heroes has distinctly different origins. Superman was not raised by the Kents in Smallville, the Caped Crusader is not Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman is not an Amazon warrior of Themyscira. They are as likely the world’s saviors as Earth’s despotic rulers. When a group of famed scientists experience untimely “accidents,” a government task force follows the trail of clues to the Justice League – but is there a more powerful player operating from the shadows?  It’s a high stakes game of intrigue, mystery and action that asks the question: How do you serve justice to those above the law?

With a twist on your favorite Justice League characters, this film is full of thrilling new adventures and jam-packed with a celebrity voice cast which includes Michael C. Hall (Dexter) as Batman, Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order, 24) as Superman, Tamara Taylor (Bones) as Wonder Woman, Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) as Lois Lane, Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter films, Dig) as Lex Luthor and C. Thomas Howell (E.T., Southland) as Dr. Will Magnus.

Sam Liu (Batman: Year One) directed Justice League: Gods & Monsters from an original story by Bruce Timm (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) and Co-Producer Alan Burnett (The Batman), who also wrote the screenplay. Executive Producers are Sam Register and Bruce Timm. Benjamin Melniker and Michael Uslan are Co-Executive Producers.

Justice League: Gods & Monsters will be available on Blu-rayTM Deluxe Edition for $29.96 SRP, Blu-rayTM Combo Pack for $24.98 SRP and on DVD for $19.98 SRP. The Blu-rayTM Combo Pack includes a digital version of the movie on Digital HD with UltraViolet. The Blu-ray™ Deluxe Edition will include the Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack, along with an exclusive Wonder Woman figurine in a numbered limited edition gift set. Fans can also own Justice League: Gods & Monsters in Digital HD on July 28 via purchase from digital retailers.

“We are thrilled to announce this new and totally unique DC Universe Original Movie,” said Mary Ellen Thomas, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Vice President, Family & Animation Marketing. “With Bruce Timm presenting his distinctive take on the alternate universe of Justice League: Gods & Monsters, we know fans will be gripped by the plot twists and the question of whether we are dealing with heroes or villains.”

BLU-RAY AND DVD BONUS CONTENT

Justice League: Gods & Monsters Blu-rayTM and Blu-rayTM Deluxe Edition contain the following special features:

  • ALTERNATE REALITIES: Infinite Possibilities – Justice League: Gods & Monsters falls into a category of storytelling where our well-known characters and the worlds they inhabit are re-imagined. This documentary explores the various attempts by writers to have a little fun and tinker with the characters, resulting in exceptional storytelling that posed thought-provoking questions to audiences.
  • CALCULATED RISKS: The Making of Gods and Monsters – Justice League: Gods & Monsters was an idea that pushed the boundaries.  It began with that challenging question writers face: “What haven’t we seen before?”  Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett audaciously answered that challenge, resulting in a fresh and exciting film that forces us to think differently about the DC Universe.
  • The New Gods – Encore presentation of 2010 documentary about Jack Kirby’s New Gods.
  • A Sneak Peak at DC Universe’s Next Animated Movie – An advance look at the next DC Universe Original Movie.
  • Bonus cartoons from the DC Comics Vault

Justice League: Gods & Monsters DVD contains the following special features:

  • A Sneak Peak at DC Universe’s Next Animated Movie – An advance look at the next DC Universe Original Movie.

Sequart goes Ape in a Galaxy Far, Far Away with 5 New Books

apes-comics-cover-e1429469188471-3164210With the success of last year’s analysis of Star Trek’s entire comics history, Sequart is proud to announce that work has commenced on three Star Wars books and two POTA books.

Over the next three years, Sequart will release essay anthologies analyzing all aspects of the Star Wars mythos:

  • First up will be 2015’s A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe: Edited by Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato, this book will examine the entire big- / small-screen saga that is Star Wars. From theatrical films to TV movies, from cartoons and commercials to variety shows and video-based amusement-park rides, the mythos continues to keep audiences glued to their seats. This anthology features insightful, analytic essays about the franchise’s long history from popular film historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts, exploring why the films proved so immediately popular, where the movies and TV shows have succeeded and faltered, and why we all keep going back for more.
  • Next will be 2016’s A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Exploring Star Wars Comics: Editors Joseph F. Berenato and Rich Handley pick up where their previous volume left off. Over a thousand comics have been produced from a variety of publishers, including Blackthorne Publishing, the L.A. Times Syndicate, Dark Horse Comics, Scholastic, Tokyopop, and more. They’ve spanned the history of the franchise, from millennia before Anakin Skywalker’s birth to beyond Luke Skywalker’s death, and they’ve focused on every aspect of the Star Wars This anthology features insightful, analytic essays examining the Star Wars comics, written by popular comic historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts — plus, a foreword by fan-favorite Star Wars comics writer John Ostrander. From Jaxxon to Cody Sunn-Childe, from Ulic Quel-Droma to Lady Lumiya, find out how comics helped to keep the Star Wars Universe alive, and why you’re missing out if you’re not reading them.
  • Finally there’ll be 2017’s A More Civilized Age: Exploring the Star Wars Expanded Universe: More than 250 Star Wars novels have been published by Del Rey, Bantam Books, Ballantine Books, and others, aimed at both young and adult readers. Spanning the decades before, during, and after the films’ events, the books have spawned new galactic governments, explored the nature of the Jedi and the Sith, and developed the Star Wars mythos well beyond merely a series of films and television shows. Editors Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato complete their trilogy with a look back at not only the Star Wars novels but also video games, radio shows, role-playing games, and more.  This volume offers insightful, analytic essays examining the Star Wars U., written by popular film historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts — including fan-favorite Star Wars novelists Timothy Zahn and Ryder Windham. The films were just the beginning; find out how the universe expanded.

And the sci-fi fun continues! Over the next 18 months, Sequart and the editing dynamic duo of Handley and Berenato will deliver two Planet of the Apes essay anthologies:

  • Coming out in just a few months will be The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes: More than 150 POTA comics have been published during the past four decades, from Gold Key, Marvel Comics, Power Records, Brown Watson Books, Editorial Pa.Sa., Malibu Graphics, Dark Horse, Mr. Comics, and BOOM! Studios. Writers have explored the settings, concepts, and characters from the films (and occasionally the TV series), while introducing an array of new characters and scenarios. Back stories have been revealed, plot holes filled in, and histories extrapolated upon. The comics have employed multiple genres and styles, taking readers to distant villages, ruined cities, and oceanic civilizations — and have even seen the apes battle alien invaders from War of the Worlds and Alien Nation. It’s been quite the madhouse, to be sure. But by and large, the Apes comics have remained true to novelist Pierre Boulle’s simian spirit. This anthology will feature insightful, analytic essays about the franchise’s four-color continuation, from popular comic historians, novelists, bloggers and subject-matter experts.
  • And 2016 will see Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos: The Planet of the Apes franchise has spawned eight films, with a ninth currently in the works, as well as two television series and several novels. It’s one of the most respected franchises in film history. This anthology will examine every Apes film, TV show, and novel, from 1968 to present. Like the first volume, this anthology will feature insightful, analytic essays about the franchise’s long history, from popular film historians, novelists, bloggers, and subject-matter experts. If you’re eager to learn more about Apes lore, then you’ll need to get your stinkin’ paws on this book.

John Ostrander: Get Out of My Head (Over You)!

“Earworm – A catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person’s mind.” – Oxford Dictionaries

I am a child of pop culture. Phrases, jingles, songs, names and much much more pass through my brain and, on occasion, get stuck there. Sometimes it’s only for a few moments and sometimes it is for hours. I don’t mind it so much when it’s a song I like but often it’s one of which I’m not fond or actively hate. It’s like on vinyl LPs when the needle would get stuck on a record and you have to jar the needle to get it to move on (young’uns, have the oldsters explain that reference for you). Unfortunately, slapping myself upside the head doesn’t help with earworms. They’re there until they’re not.

Warning: I’m going to be listing some of these and they could get caught inside your skull. You may want to bail out now.

Sometimes it’s not musical. Sometimes it’s a phrase that catches my attention and settles in such as:

Ndamukong Suh Ndamukong Suh

Ndamukong Suh Ndamukong Suh

or

Atorvastatin Atorvastatin Atorvastatin

The first is a football player; the latter is a medication.

Sometimes it only repeats a few times and sometimes it repeats in an endless loop. Such as:

Come Saturday morning,

I’m going away with my friends.

We’ll Saturday spend

‘til the end

of the daaaaay.

I hate that song to begin with, and repeating it doesn’t make it better.

The theme to The Avengers movie. Or maybe The Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I get the two confused. Or one morphs into the other in a sort of mash up.

Speaking of mash-ups, this here is a recent one: “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” but with the start of Blue Swedes “”Hooked on a Feeling.” So I get

Ooga chukka

Ooga Ooga

Ooga chukka

Ooga Ooga

I’m Looking Over

A Four Leaf Clover

That I Overlooked Before!

Ooga chukka

Ooga Ooga

(On a loop)

Hey kids, I just have them; I can’t explain them. Sometimes I think my brain has a mind of its own.

Some songs aren’t always the best known version. For example, I’ve had it “I Did It My Way” (one the most overblown songs I’ve ever heard) but not in the best known Frank Sinatra version. Oh no. My mind uses the John Cleese version from the end of the movie George of the Jungle which actually is more amusing and I don’t mind it as much.

Or how about Madeline Kahn singing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” from Young Frankenstein? That one was also on an endless loop. Amusing the first three or four times it ran through my head. Less so the fiftieth or so repetition. The more you hear something, the less funny it gets. Much like my jokes, I’ve been told.

I also was treated to an endless looped version “Going Out of My Head (Over You)” (hence the title of this column). That one runs from the Little Anthony and the Imperials version (which is great) to The Lettermen version (the sonic equivalent of Velveeta) that also includes “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” which morphs into the Frankie Valli version of the latter, with and without the Four Seasons.

And, yes, my brain does hurt sometimes.

I was told at one point that doing games or puzzles somehow stops earworms and usually writing does that for me as well. However, they always come back or a new one takes up residence.

Note that none of these earworms includes classical music even for a few bars or Shakespeare or anything like that. Nope. Pop culture all the way. You are what you consume.

That thumping sound you may be hearing is probably me banging my head on the desk trying to escape the earworms. Of course, another good way of losing them, or so I’m told, is to pass them on to someone else.

This has been a (mis)guided tour of my mind. Thank you and good afternoon.

 

Marc Alan Fishman: Silly Consumers… Comics Are For Kids!

Watch_mr._wizardThe evening on which I am writing this article (Tuesday, the 14th), marks the third year I’ve been an “Artist In Action” for a small program run by a local elementary school. The day finds me giving a presentation (alongside two other fine artists) on how I make art via the computer, in 20-minute blocks, for every class in the school. The kids themselves range from kindergarten through 5th grade. Their teachers range from fully interested in what I’m presenting, to completely happy they don’t have to do much more than tell Billy to stay seated for an hour. It’s a long day, all things considered. But suffice to say: it’s a soul-satisfying experience that I hope will continue for years to come.

As in years past, I’ve actually felt a bit embarrassed. Next to oil painters, and collage artists… my work has often felt sub-par or perhaps juvenile. And my techniques – which include lightboxing (“Your mother’s a tracer!”), flatting (“Because good boys and girls know how to stay in between the lines!”) and other tricks of the Comic Book trade (“What? That’s not a filter!”) – leave the real artists often scoffing under huffy breath over my end-product. Yet today, my two adjoining artists were technophiles in their own right. A sculptor with work experience in Auto-CAD, and a collage / multi-media artist who squeed at the very mention of a GoPro. It was a breath of fresh air knowing that only three years into the program, the message to the children was not of the Luddite bible. But I digress.

The largest lesson I took away from the day hit me early in one of my presentations. Ever the eager-beaver, and teacher-pleaser, this year I came prepared with a take-home lesson for all the kids. I included an assignment sheet asking children to make their own six-panel strip, and included the simple steps Unshaven Comics takes in producing our own work. I also included the page with the panels (just-in-case), as well as a sheet for coloring (just-in-case the assignment wasn’t their speed). The unmitigated glee hit me after this exchange:

Me: Kids! Since you’ve been so attentive and awesome here today, I have a gift for you.

Kids: *Gasp!*

Me: Homework!

Kids: Boo! Noooo! Why! Awwwww!

Me: The homework is to draw your own comic!

Kids: *Undecipherable cheers, hoops, hollers, and genuine joy*

Watching the kids throw their arms up in cheers over the idea that they could make a comic was something that at first my snarky brain could not process. Certainly these video-game addicted ne’er-do-wells could give two poops about making a hand-drawn comic! But nay, in fact there they sat – Indian style, of course – all buzzing and humming over who would collaborate with who on this story or that. Shortly after, their questions came at lightning pace.

How do we start? Where do we start? Can it be about Pokemon? And with my cheeks literally in pain over the unyielding smile, I told them the truth: Start anywhere you want, just write out what you think is exciting, scary, funny, or cool. And yes, it absolutely can be about Pokemon. It took several minutes to calm them down. And with that, the presentation ended, and the next group sat down ready to figure out why their friends were high-fiving and jumping off the walls.

It’s here of course I have to take a step back. In the eyes and minds of children, comics represent infinite possibilities. Long before printer quotas, direct market subsidized pricing models, future IP copyright options, online distribution platforms, or dreaded convention travel and table costs amortization ledgers, there truly is imagination at the heart of our industry. There, amongst two-dozen ten-year olds, comics were an opportunity to collaborate, and entertain. And to their teachers, comics were an opportunity to converge lessons on writing, observation, comprehension, and visual communication into a single assignment.

As I left the school for the day, I saw several teachers lining up at the copy machine; it was all I could do not to fist pump the air like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club.

The Point Radio: Farewell To LOST GIRL

It’s the fifth and final season for the SyFy supernatural show, LOST GIRL. Series star Anna Silk talks about her favorite moments (and the things she grabbed from the set on the last day) plus BITTEN’s Laura Vandervoort talks more about her show’s new season and what it was like to be TV’s first Supergirl.

We are back in just a few days and so is the hit Game Show Network series, THE IDIOTEST. We take the test – here – no holds barred!   Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Law Is A Ass

Bob Ingersoll: The Law Is A Ass #353: WAYNE ENTERPRISES NEEDS TO BATMAN DOWN ITS HATCHES

Batman wasn’t always a thief.

Early in his history he wasn’t, because early in his career, Batman built the Batmobile. 2013-01-02_164926_Batmobil.jpg.phpHimself. Okay, Alfred and Robin helped. But Batman designed the car. He assembled it. He supplied the equipment. He installed the options. Batrays and Batchutes don’t exactly come factory-installed. He even knew what wheels to grease in order to get the thing declared street legal. (I mean wheels on the car, silly. I’m not suggesting that Batman would ever stoop to something as crass as bribery.)

Same was true of the Batcave, batcave-bigthe Batplane, the Batboat, the Batcycle, the Batcomputer, the Batcopter, the Batshield, the Batarang, and for those barbecues in the Batyard, the Batula. (Bruce was so fixed on his leitmotif, I don’t understand how Robin never got an inferiority complex from living with all the eponymous accoutrement day in and day out.) And, while we’re at it, Bruce also made the strange costumes of Batman, the amazing inventions of Batman, the Bat-signal, and everything else we marveled at in Batman Annual v1 #1. All those 1001 secrets of Batman and Robin? Batman built them all. All by his lonesome.

Of course back in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and even well into the 70s, Batman had to build them all himself. Bruce Wayne was an incredibly wealthy man who inherited a lot of money from his incredibly wealthy father. And he funded his war on crime himself. Bruce was so rich, he probably had enough in the Wayne Manor spare change jar.

Then in the late 70s, something changed. Batman got retconned so that he wasn’t just the rich son of a rich doctor. Starting with Batman v1 #307, Bruce Wayne was the head of Wayne Enterprises. He was a captain of industry. The latest scion of a long-standing family of incredibly rich industrialists that dated back to the 19th Century when Judge Solomon Wayne started up WayneCorp and used the money he earned to found Gotham City. Over the ensuing decades – through Alan Wayne, Kenneth Wayne, Patrick Wayne, Thomas Wayne, and up to Bruce Wayne – the family fortune never waned.

And WayneCorp became a multi-national conglomerate with subsidiaries such as Wayne Pharmaceutical, Wayne Mining, Wayne Weapons, Wayne Aviation, Wayne Airlines, Wayne Oil, Wayne Energy, Wayne Manufacturing, Wayne Botanical, Wayne Studios, Wayne Records, Wayne Stage, Wayne Television, Wayne Automotive, Wayne Electric, Wayne Retail, Wayne Industries, Wayne Medical, Wayne Electronics, Wayne Entertainment, Wayne Biotech, Wayne Aerospace, Wayne Chemicals, Wayne Shipping, Wayne Steel, Wayne Shipbuilding, Wayne Foods, and, most important of all, Wayne Technologies. (How’d they miss out on the dating service, Wayne Will I Find Love?) The only things about WayneCorp that changed were its fortunes – they got much bigger – and its name. In the 1980s, it became Wayne Enterprises.

When Batman’s history was retconned to include Wayne Enterprises, Batman didn’t have to build anything on his own anymore. He had a huge, multi-national conglomerate piggy bank he could raid whenever he wanted to. And he did want to. Frequently. Batman no longer needed to develop or build his equipment anymore. Wayne Technologies did it for him.

Problem was, Wayne Technologies didn’t know it was designing and building all those wonderful toys for Batman. After all, Bruce Wayne couldn’t exactly go to Wayne Technologies and say, “Hey can you build me a new car with armor plating, puncture resistant tires, a mobile crime lab. Oh yeah, and scalloped batwings for fenders?” Not without someone getting suspicious.

So Bruce started appropriating the discarded prototypes built for projects that fell through or that Wayne Technologies abandoned. Rather than have those prototypes gathering dust and cluttering up more garage space than Jay Leno’s http://www.nbc.com/jay-lenos-garage car collection; Bruce took them, retrofitted them, and adapted them to be used as Bat-whatevers.

The most prominent example of this was in the movie Batman Begins, where Bruce Wayne took the abandoned prototype for an army vehicle called the Tumbler and turned it into the Batmobile. He also used the prototype nomex armor developed by Wayne Enterprises for another abandoned project to build his bat costume. But it wasn’t just the movies, the Bruce Wayne of the comic books did the same thing, too.

And at that point, Batman was a thief. Every time Batman did this, he was embezzling.

See all those prototypes that Bruce Wayne converted into bat paraphernalia weren’t his. They were the property of Wayne Enterprises. As Wayne Enterprises was a corporation and not a sole proprietorship, Bruce Wayne didn’t own Wayne Enterprises; the shareholders did.

If Bruce Wayne were the sole shareholder of Wayne Enterprises, there would have been no problem. He would have been the only owner, so, in essence, would have been stealing from himself. But there was more than one other. Several Bat stories mentioned other shareholders including, but not limited, to Lucius Fox. So Batman was stealing from himself and the other shareholders.

Wayne Enterprises may have been a closely-held corporation with very few shareholders. And Bruce was probably the biggest shareholder. He may even have held 99.99 % of Wayne Enterprises. But the other shareholders still owned a fractional part of the company, including a fractional part of all the equipment Bruce appropriated for his own personal bat-use. Didn’t matter if the only purpose the property served was to sit around in warehouse gathering storage fees, the fractional owners had the right not to have that fraction taken.

As one of my law school professors used to say, “He who takes what isn’t hissen, must make good or go to prison.”

And when you’re the CEO of a large multi-national conglomerate who takes corporate property for your own personal use, you’re embezzling from the company and stealing from the shareholders. You’re also breaching your fiduciary duty to the shareholders, but that’s another topic for another day.

So first Batman wasn’t a thief. Then he was. Then, recently, he wasn’t again. But why he wasn’t again is part of that fiduciary duty discussion that’s another topic for another day.

Wow, Batman and a cliff-hanger. Guess I should close with, “Tune in next week! Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!” 

Martha Thomases: New York is Comics Country

There used to be a wonderful street fair on New York’s Fifth Avenue in the fall, usually on a Sunday, called “New York is Book Country.” Publishers would show their wares. A few bookstores would set up shop on the sidewalk in front of their shops (there were still bookstores on Fifth Avenue then), and one could stroll down the middle of the street, meeting authors, finding new treasures, and enjoying the city that was, then, the center of American publishing.

That was where I met Madeleine L’Engle, a true high point of my existence.

New York used to be Book Country and, even more, it was Comics Country. Comics were born here. The largest comic book companies were here (or, in the case of Archie, in our suburbs). The business was small enough so that one could no everyone in it. An outsider (like me) could become an insider by learning where people hung out and arranging to be in those places often enough to become friends.

Last week, DC Comics moved its offices to Burbank California, and many noted that this was the end of an era.

Yet just as I might have tumbled into a pit of nostalgic regret, the very next day saw the beginning of this year’s MoCCA Festival. In the heart of the hyper-hip Chelsea gallery district, MoCCA was a breath of fresh air. Literally, in that it was housed in a building with a lovely rooftop terrace.

MoCCA is unlike most of the other New York comic shows in that it doesn’t include retailers or dealers. There are a few booths from publishers (including Abrams, Pantheon, .01, Fantagraphics and others), but mostly it is individual creators, selling their own creations. And while sometimes this can make me feel like an old fart, it’s also exciting and energizing. Every year, there is so much eager new talent.

As I walked down <a href=”

West 22nd Street from Tenth Avenue, I noticed that almost all the other pedestrians were women and girls. I think most of the people inside the facility were also women and girls. Klaus Janson tells me that more than half of the people who take his class at the School of Visual Arts are female.

Another sign that this is a new era for comics.

The very next evening after MoCCA ended, there was a panel discussion at Columbia University about the work of Denis Kitchen, who just donated his archives to the library’s collections. He spoke, along with a few academics and Howard Cruse about the early days of underground and independent comics. At one point during the Q & A part of the conversation, one of the academics said he looked forward to a time when comic book studies were considered to be just as important as film studies.

Still another sign.

In two weeks, the City University of New York will host a two day conference titled, “08,” which will feature keynote speakers Howard Cruse and Alison Bechdel. Alison’s keynote is already sold out.

Publishing comics might not rely on New York City anymore, but it’s still home to a lot of people who love to read them.

 

Tweeks: WonderCon Haul Part 1

As you can imagine, we bought a lot of stuff at WonderCon.  And if you know anything about tween/teen YouTube viewing habits, you know hauls (shopping show & tells) are key.  So, this week we bring you Part 1 of our WCA Haul! We’ll show you which geeky chic items we’ve added to our collection and which “vintage” comics caught our eye. We also review Joie Brown’s Heavenly Kibble Guardian Corgi issues 1 & 2 and Crystal Cadets by Anne Toole and Katie O’Neill. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 (maybe even part 3 — we took home a lot of comics) for more reviews.

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