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Regional billboard company Adams Outdoor Advertising had this running on their electronic billboards Friday afternoon. Nicely done.
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Legendary Pictures announces Electra Woman and Dyna Girl remake
Legendary Digital Media and Fullscreen have partnered with YouTube phenoms Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart in an updated version of Sid & Marty Krofft‘s classic 70’s TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, bringing the property to a new generation of viewers. Fullscreen will debut and exhibit Electra Woman and Dyna Girl in the U.S. with Legendary Television Distribution overseeing global distribution. Sid & Marty Krofft will executive produce the project.
The reboot will start internet superstars Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart as the seventies icons (shut up, this is my article). The series, comes on the heels of Helbig’s crossover from YouTube fame to television as the host of a late night talk show for E! which premieres in April. Both Helbig and Hart have large social media followings with a combined total of over 10 million subscribers and followers over all of their YouTube and social media platforms. This series also follows Helbig’s and Hart’s recent digital feature film success, Camp Takota, which was executive produced by Helbig and Hart and produced by Fullscreen’s Chief Content Officer Michael Goldfine, and picked up by Netflix last year.
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was one of the tentpole shows of The Krofft Supershow, which also featured Wonderbug, Magic Mongo and Dr. Shrinker. (and if you’ve got the theme for the last one in your head now, you’re welcome.) Deidre Hall (Days of our Lives) and Judy Strangis (Room 222) played the title characters as well as their secret identities as reporters for NewsMakers magazine. With the assistance of technical genius Professor Frank Heflin (Norman Alden) they fought “Electra-Villains” like Glitter Rock, The Pharaoh and the Spider-Lady.
Am I gonna insert the theme? Oh you KNOW I’m gonna insert the theme…
Of course, the synopsis of the new series certainly suggests that we may not see the same level of action and special effects as the original…
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl follows two superheroes as they move from Akron to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big in the crime fighting world, only to find competition with other vigilantes and infighting amongst themselves.
So there’s that.
Sid and Marty Krofft are responsible for some of the most memorable children’s entertainment of the seventies, and some of the most over the top variety programming in the years to follow. Starting off with classics like H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville and The Bugaloos, the Kroffts ruled the roost of Saturday mornings. Breaking into prime time programming, they produced the Donny and Marie variety show, as well as ones for the Brady Bunch, the Mandrell Sisters, and God help us, <a href=”
target=”_blank”>Pink Lady (and Jeff).
We’ve seen a number of remakes of their shows over the years – ABC presented a new version of the Land of the Lost, which Marty Krofft, in an interview with yours truly, suggested was indeed connected in some way to the land as seen in the original series. There was a <a href=”
target=”_blank”>pilot for a new version of Electra Woman in 2001 with Markie Post and Anne Stedman. Several years ago they announced that Dreamworks had obtained the right to Lidsville to produce an animated feature, a project still in development, if it hasn’t already fallen into the Shampoo River.
For more information on the new series, sign up for updates at www.ElectraWomanDynaGirl.com, follow their twitter, @ElectraDyna, or just follow me around, cause I’m not gonna stop talking about this, ever.
Marc Alan Fishman: Gotham Gets Better
Back in November I lamented that Gotham was a train-wreck with glimmers of hope peaking out amongst the smoldering boxcars abandoned near Arkham Asylum. Well, here we are, a large smattering of episodes later, and I’m starting to change my outlook on Fox’s proto-Batman dramedy. Hear me out, skeptics.
My turn of opinion first peeked its tepid head out into the light when I came to the realization that the show was not, nor would it ever be, Gotham Central by way of Ed Brubaker. The fact is I’ve circled my wagons around the ideology that business and the boardroom will always help dictate the creative endeavors of the Big Two™’s creations. That means that as critically acclaimed a graphic novel may be, at the end of the day all Warner Bros is going to care about is ratings and the potential syndication of Gotham. Hence, the fact that producers are making a show that by-and-large is built to appeal to the widest audience possible by way of brazen continuity-shattering canon-damning characterizations was bound to happen. Or in lesser terms, we were never ever ever going to not get interpretations of Batman’s rogue gallery. So I got over it.
And when I did, the sky opened up, and the show instantly became more entertaining to me. Jim Gordon – the John Wayne of Gotham – and his trusty drunkish sidekick Harvey Bullock are the lone moral compass amidst a sea of corruption. Hell, Bullock up until the 8th or 9th time Gordon saved his ass was as much a part of the problem as anyone. But as the show settled into itself, there was a slight shift in the dynamic duo’s camaraderie.
After sticking his neck out on the line enough times, Bullock and the police chief both turned from broken records (“You’ll never beat this city, Jim!) into begrudging do-gooders. And it did the series a hell of a favor. Instead of one man against a city, there was a subtle cracking of a window, piercing the muck and mire with rays of hope.
Hope. It’s the biggest concept the show misplaced at the onset. But over time, the cases of the week gave way to those notions that yes, in fact, some people did want to fight against the rampant corruption. And to a degree even those who existed on the other side of the law started to show depth of character. Make no bones about it: Carmine Falcone is an evil and bad man. But he bleeds the same blood as we do, and through the plot line of Fish Moody’s planted girlfriend, we saw shades of grey in what was an otherwise black and white caricature of any gangster we’ve seen a million places elsewhere. OK, and let me not give too much credit here. The shtick of an Italian-American loving his mother is not exactly original storytelling. Again, lowest-common-denominator here. Take the small victories as big ones.
Because Gotham was given more than twenty shows to produce within the first season, the writing team has been very sneaky in utilizing slow-burn storytelling in-between the predictable ratings bait. While we’ve been treated to outright terrible iterations of the Scarecrow and the maybe-Joker to-be, we’ve been privy to the ebb and flow of several well-defined debauchees.
Oswald Cobblepot immediately comes to mind. Robin Lord Taylor steals nearly every scene he’s in. While his recent pyrrhic victory over Fish has left him her club, yes, it’s at the cost of anyone believing him ever again. His playing of Maroni and Falcone has no doubt left him as a pawn to more powerful men – until he figures out yet-another way to squawk out of harm.
Outside of The Penguin, the aforementioned Fish herself has been perhaps the only other critically acclaimed person on the show. And while I had not been fond of her personally, I see the appeal. A strong female lead who plays an elegant sexy versus the traditionally slutty alternative amongst Batty’s libertine ladies does leave a better taste in the mouth. Combine this with her more recent turn as a sympathetic heel and you have the makings of another breakout star. My hope though is when she makes an eventual return to Gotham City she does so to rebuild her empire independently. Let Ozzie keep the club for now. Heck, maybe he should turn it into a casino.
And then there’s Bruce. There was no way around the awkwardness of his origins. We’d seen them done dozens of times before. The pearls. The gun shots. The scream into the night. Followed of course by stoic angst amidst solid oak furniture and priceless bric-a-brac. But once Gotham got past the traditional beats, we’ve been granted a look into Bruce Wayne’s life that otherwise has not been better captured. As Alfred would denote several times since my last writing, the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne have granted their sire an unyielding independent streak. He’s been focused (even when gallivanting as the weakest looking punk ever depicted on TV, with Selina Kyle), keen-eyed, and bright. And he’s been all of this whilst figuring how to cope with the grief. The performance has been stilted now and again, but the storytelling has been solid as a rock. This is a Bruce Wayne about to enter adolescence. And it’s slowly become an enjoyable B story against the cases of the week.
While Gotham is still significantly flawed, it has leapt forward in its ability to put a smile on my face. When the show isn’t confined to redefining known properties, there’s an original mish-moshing of noir, black comedy, and a decent (if dumb) police procedural.
Combine this with an astoundingly nice production budget, and the backing of a major network and you have a show that I once thought would be unsalvageable, and over time has become a minor fleet-of-fancy. It’s not Flash or Arrow mind you… but for the time being it doesn’t have to be. It just needs to ultimately calm down and realize its best adventures are still yet to come.
BOB INGERSOLL: THE LAW IS A ASS #347: THE THING HAS GONE NON CORPUS MENTIS
Things have been better for Thing. Not to mention for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch. Over the course of the past year in the “The Fall of the Fantastic Four” story line, the FF was forced to vacate their home and headquarters in the Baxter Building. The government took custody of Reed and Sue’s children Franklin and Valeria. Johnny lost his powers. Ben was accused of murdering the Puppet Master. Oh yeah, and they’re wearing these silly red costumes.
But even though “The Fall of the Fantastic Four” is a massive year-long epic, it still has some quiet moments. In Fantastic Four v 5 #12, we find one of those moments. Find it, in all places, on Ryker’s Island. I know what you’re saying, Ryker’s Island is the New York island prison that sits in the East River, what kind of quiet moment could we find there? This kind.
The Thing is imprisoned on Ryker’s Island, waiting trial after being framed for murdering the Puppet Master. Johnny Storm, the now-powerless, former Human Torch – who will, if the cover to the up-coming Silk # 4 is to be taken at face value, be the re-powered, present Human Torch before this story is over and does that surprise anyone? – went to Ryker’s to visit the Thing. Johnny told Thing that “Puppet Master’s body’s gone missing. Pre-autopsy, too.” Then he asks,” What’s that rule of law? Habeas corpus, right?”
Wrong.
The phrase Johnny meant was corpus delicti. But I’m not going to jump all over Johnny because he doesn’t know his habeas from a hole in the ground. He never studied law. How was he supposed to know one obscured-by-Latin legal phrase using the word “corpus” from another?
Other than asking me, that is.
Habeas corpus is a Latin phrase that means “that you have the body.” In and of itself, that doesn’t seem all that much. However, when you add “writ of” in front of habeas corpus, then you’ve got something.
The writ of habeas corpus, also known as the great writ, is one of the many writs that exist in our system of jurisprudence. Of course, saying that doesn’t help much unless one happens to know what a writ is. So let’s move one step back so that we can go forward; and I have it on no less an authority than Matthew McConaughey that sometimes you gotta go back to actually move forward.
A writ is not the thing from which the Moving Finger moves on. Rather a writ is a written order issued by a judge or magistrate or similar in-charge type authority. So writs are written. See, sometimes even Latin can’t obscure the meaning.
Petitions for a writ of habeas corpus are filed on behalf of people being detained, such as in a prison or a jail or a mental hospital. Usually it’s a lawyer but detainees may also file pro se petitions. The petitions allege that the detention is unlawful or without authority and ask that the judge release the prisoner.
Many such petitions – no, most such petitions – are denied out of hand. But sometimes the judge will order that whomever is the custodian of the detainee – like a prison warden – bring the detainee before the court for a hearing, so that the court can determine whether the detention is lawful. If the judge finds that the custodian has the legal authority to hold the detainee, said detainee is returned to detention and another Latin phrase comes into play; status quo. If the judge finds that the detention is unlawful, the judge will order that the detainee be released and another Latin phrase comes into play; etgay outyay ofyay ailjay eefray.
In the case of the Thing, a writ of habeas corpus would go about as far as a melodrama heroine tied to the railroad tracks. The judge would ask why was the Thing being held on Ryker’s Island. The warden would answer, because he’s been arrested and charged with murder. The judge would find Thing’s detention was lawful and would not issue the writ. That’s how I know Johnny erred when he said habeas corpus, because a writ in Things case wouldn’t be worth the paper it was writ on.
Johnny was talking about the fact that Puppet Master’s body had disappeared from the Medical Examiner’s office before an autopsy could be performed on it. The Latin phrase that would apply to this situation is not habeas corpus, it’s corpus delicti.
For those of you who slept through your foreign language class because it was scheduled Latin the afternoon, corpus delicti means the body of the crime. It doesn’t refer to the physical body in a murder case, such as Puppet Master’s missing corpse. It means body in a more metaphysical way, the elements of a crime. It means that in a criminal trial, the prosecution must prove the body of the crime; that is must be able to prove the essential elements of the crime exist.
In a murder case, the corpus delicti would be that the defendant unlawfully caused the death of another person. Here the corpus delicti would involve an actual corpse. (Unless the defendant were Hannibal Lecter, then the case would involve the corpus delectable.) In a theft prosecution, the corpus delicti would be that the defendant took the property of another person without the owner’s permission. It would involve no actual, physical dead body.
Johnny had a valid point, the corpus delicti rule probably does apply to Thing’s situation. If Puppet Master’s body disappeared before the autopsy, then no one has been able to determine the cause of Puppet Master’s death. Maybe he wasn’t murdered, maybe he died of a heart attack or a heart break or having literally left his heart in San Francisco. If no one knows how Puppet Master died, than no one knows whether someone killed him. More specifically, no knows whether Thing killed him. Without Puppet Master’s actual corpse and the necessary autopsy on said corpse, the prosecution might not be able to establish the corpus delicti in Thing’s case.
So, if Thing is smart, he’ll just sit things out in his cell and wait for the charges to be dropped as they, inevitably, will. The last thing Thing should do is…
Exactly what he does in Fantastic Four v 5 #13.
What does Thing do? Well that would be telling. So come back next week, when I’ll be telling.
The Point Radio: BLACK SAILS Still A TV Treasure
Season two of the Starz high seas drama, BLACK SAILS, is sailing along and series regulars Hannah New, Toby Stephens & more talk about where the trip will take them over the next few weeks. Plus Kevin Bigley and Kevin Daniels show us why the USA Network comedy SIRENS is scoring some pretty big laughs.
THE FOLLOWING returns to primetime TV in a few days, and Kevin Bacon joins us to talk about what makes the show’s third outing so drastically different.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
Leonard Nimoy: 1931-2015
Leonard Nimoy, best know to the world for his role as Mr. Spock in Star Trek, died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 83.
Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans.
Martha Thomases: Understanding Scott McCloud
If you haven’t read The Sculptor, stop reading this and go get yourself a copy immediately,
Need more persuasion? Okay, but you’re missing out on valuable time that could be spent reading this awesome book. I’ve been a fan of Scott’s since Zot because it was funny and human and had a villain named Art Deco. More people became fans when he published the brilliant Understanding Comics. There is no one who uses the graphic story medium to better effect than Scott McCloud.
The Sculptor showcases McCloud’s mastery of technique. His use of color is impeccable. The book is black and white with blue tones, giving the different scenes a variety of moods and weights. The way he uses overlapping word balloons reminds me of an Altman movie. The panel arrangements speed up time and slow it down, depending on the needs of the character.
All of this is in service to the story: David Smith is a frustrated artist trying to make it in New York. He makes a deal with Death (not the cute girl but an old Jewish man who reminds me of my mom’s Uncle Harry) to have 200 days when he create whatever art he wants, in exchange for dying at the end of the deal.
Then he falls in love.
Meg isn’t anyone’s dream girl. A struggling actress, she has serious emotional problems including, I think, a variation of bi-polar disorder (Note: I am not a doctor). Still, her energy and her compassion strike a chord with David. It’s not an easy relationship for either of them. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to believe it.
I’ve seen people compare the story to Faust, and I guess I get that analogy, but it doesn’t really hold up. David doesn’t ask for fame or power – he just wants to make his art the way he wants to make his art. He doesn’t even negotiate for a gallery show where people can see his work.
It’s all about the art.
A major character in this book is New York City. Not the New York of Friends or Sex and the City or even <a href=”
Parker, this is the New York of cheap rent, scummy landlords, tight money and brilliant, artistic friends. It’s the New York I wanted to live in when I came here nearly 40 years ago. So much so that I almost thought the story took place at that time, until I noticed everyone had cell phones.
I thought that New York was gone. Maybe I’m just too old for it. I’m grateful to The Sculptor for letting me live there again, for at least as long as it took to read.
And another thing! It’s bugged me lately that critics seem to think that superhero movies are the root of all evil. It’s a genre that gets sneers from everyone, even though it’s relatively new (I would say it started with Superman in 1978).
Okay, we can discuss whether or not Thor: The Dark World was as good a film as The Imitation Game. I don’t think it was. Still, it brought happiness to millions. I think that’s a good thing.
And it gives a lot of people a chance to make a living in a field they love. Or, as Marvel writer Gerry Duggan said on Twitter Sunday night after J. K. Simmons won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, “J Jonah Jameson beat two Hulks to win an Oscar, then Ra’s al Ghul said there are too many comic adaptations. #Oscars2015”
Tweeks: MLP Cutie Mark Crusaders DVD
Attention Bronies: My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic: Adventures of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was released on DVD this week. As you know, a pony’s cutie mark shows their special talent on their flank for all to see, but what if you’re a pony who hasn’t figured out how you are unique yet? Cutie Marks are the quest for the Cutie Mark Crusaders and this DVD features them in 5 episodes (well, really truly only 4 because “Pinkie Pride” is about Pinkie Pie’s party planning showdown with a pony called Cheese Sandwich, voiced by Weird Al), plus bonus features like coloring pages, a sing-a-long and digital wallpaper. All the details are in this week’s video…as well as our true feelings about Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.
Dennis O’Neil: How Green Is My Arrow?
Green Arrow was never really a loner. When he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 he already had a young partner whose nom de arrow was Speedy and whose other name was Roy Harper. As GA – other-named Oliver Queen – sauntered through the years, he formed alliances with another greenish hero, Green Lantern, and, maintaining the color-motif, Black Canary, with whom he had a full-out, bells-and-whistles romance. And he was a member in good standing of the Justice League of America, comics’ first…what? – superhero club, I guess.
So no, Ollie, as we are pleased to call him, was never a loner, but I never thought of him as a clubman, either. He was this guy who did what he did and had occasional friends and associates.
Now he is enjoying what are undoubtedly the largest audiences of his life as the title character of a network television series. For whatever (corporate?) reason he’s lost an adjective and is now known as plain old Arrow. And Roy Harper – you remember Speedy – is still in the picture and so, sometimes, is Black Canary and then there’s John Diggle and a cop friend and the lovely computer whiz Felicity and, recently, a guest superhero in the person of The Flash and…Golly! It must be getting crowded in the Arrow’s subterranean headquarters, there in Starling City.
Well, what did we expect? It’s television and television drama, with no current exception that I can think of, is built around families. These are not necessarily biological families – in fact, they are seldom that. But they have a clear family dynamic.
Cop shows are good examples: There’s the father/mother figure – often a bit grumpy, and usually bearing an elevated rank – and sometimes an aunt/uncle avatar – those cadaver-cutting medical folk, for instance – and occasionally the young guy/gal who, while lovable, is not yet fully formed professionally – and don’t we adore the youngsters in the house? – and finally, and most important, the brother-sister combos, the heavy lifters who get the jobs done.
You could find a family on the flight deck of the Starship Enterprise and in the streets of Dodge City, and in the corridors of the Jeffersonian, whatever that is. I’m not a fan of sitcoms, but there are probably some in laughtrack land, too.
Way, way back in the early 1940s, the producers of the daily Superman radio program added young Jimmy Olsen to regulars Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Perry White and he’s been a part of the – yes! – family ever since. Those loner private eyes that were in vogue back then didn’t know that their days were numbered.
Now, we have Arrow and his cadre of virtuous ass-kickers saving Starling City. Literally: in a recent episode, that’s what they said they did – saved the city.
But do they pose for group photos at Christmas?
Michael Davis: From The Edge – The Hidden Beach
This will be hard to believe, but the truth is I seek neither understanding nor accolades regarding my work here and at Bleeding Cool. The bravado and swagger I write with is, more often than not, part of the attitude I’m trying to convey in the article. Frequently, that does not come through – what does is my seemingly “I could give a damn” attitude.
Once that becomes the takeaway from what I’ve written, admittedly I do enjoy throwing fuel on a fire. That is a dick move and it’s clear I can be a dick.
That’s not hard to believe.
There is a reason and a purpose behind everything I write and how I write it. It’s not just the rewards that come with it. One day I’ll write the “Why” of what I do, but today I’d like to give my little contribution to Black History Month.
My secondary goal in the comic book industry is to grow the industry. Grow it with people of color who come in with a keen business sense and unquestionable professionalism. My Bad Boy Studio Mentor Program has done a pretty decent job at that. Unlike a great many studios that produce talent, the artists and writers who come out of my studio, don’t draw or write like me (Thank you Jesus! is now being shouted at DC Comics) that’s never been my thing. I’m about young creators being successful to that end; I’m not looking to influence anybody with my technique.
That’s my secondary goal and for years I’ve tried to do away with it as a goal, I’ve been unable to.
Surprise! Yeah, I’m tied of all that mentoring shit. What I really want to do is direct.
Unfortunately, try as I might to leave the future of creators of color to others, so I might pursue my real first love (Directing? Nope; was joke) unrestrained by the wailings of those bastards ungrateful for my invaluable teachings. Alas that is not to be, I’m simply much to good at it and vanity prevents me from leaving. Yeah, I’m vain. That cannot news to anyone.
In certain circles I have a reputation as a deal maker and I do so love to close a good deal. With that in mind, some may believe my first goal is business. How little you people must think of me if money is what above all is what I seek.
It most certainly is not.
It’s money and power.
Remember, first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the pre-nup, then you get the woman. What?
Okay, bad jokes aside, my first goal in comics, what I delight in, is the creation of a new universe.
My greatest joy professionally is constructing worlds, building narratives filled with infinite possibilities limited only by my imagination. Yes, they feature but are not limited to characters of color, but just as important to me is making something so damn cool it boggles people’s minds that it has not been done before.
But to do that, I had to take care of some business first. A business that started a longtime ago in a housing project far, far away…
For as long as I’ve been in the industry, I’ve wondered why certain things that seem obvious to fans are seemingly impossible tasks to achieve in the industry. Since I was a kid, a shared TV and movie universe was a dream all of my fellow comic book fans wished for. We just did not understand why it couldn’t be.
The biggest superhero television moment of my life is still when The Green Hornet showed up on Batman, and that was 40 plus years ago! It’s incredible; although I was decades away from being born I remember that. What?
Almost 50 years since Kato kicked the crap out of Robin, Marvel now has a shared film and television universe and DC is trying to establish theirs. How Barry Allen showed up on Arrow was lame but I’ll take it. The comics industry only seems to act when pushed. Case in point: Disney had to buy Marvel before a Justice League film became a reality. So in a very real way, Marvel green-lit DC’s movie.
Twenty years ago, while speaking at Pro Con, I proposed to the industry we set up Ad Council. One of the things I wanted to do was a comic book TV commercial. I thought it was a real easy sale. It made sense and I volunteered to pay the entire up front costs to set up the council and the first commercial.
I would have gotten more interest if I suggested we start doing snuff comics.
I know what you’re thinking and I’m with you – I still can’t figure that one out.
What I’ve learned to do is not wait for the comics industry. That’s enabled me to get comics into markets sought after but not served by the rest of the industry. I’ve been able to get major comic book lines into the African American Church and mainstream Christian market, public schools, hospitals, and related health care facilities. The series are distributed nationwide, and in the case of The Guardian Line, nationwide and Africa.
These are really major comic book and graphic novels, produced by major comic book creators. Creative and production costs for each, The Guardian Line published by Urban Ministries Inc. and the Action Files published by Simon & Schuster and Pearson Learning, were budgeted well over a million dollars.
The Guardian Line debuted 10 years ago. The Action Files turns 20 this year. Each universe is still sold today. One of the reasons the lines were successful in aimed markets is with targeted television (gasp!) commercials and venues.
More than two decades ago at the same Pro Con I saw my Ad Council and commercial idea shot down like an unarmed black kid, I suggested targeting conventions, tradeshows, and book fairs outside of the comic book market. My Pro Con pitch to creators and publishers netted me a big “you stupid” from the audience – it simply did not add up for them.
Maybe it’s the new math, they’re having a problem adding up. Let’s see now, take 20 years in the schools add 10 years in the African American Church and Christian market, that equals 30 years of revenue.
Who’s stupid now?
Publishers scoffed at my new market suggestions; however, some retailers embraced them. In a series of articles I wrote for Diamond Retailer, my recommendation was met with a resounding thumbs up. I received tons of thank you letters from retailers who followed my advice or were intending to do so.
Underserved markets can still be reached with very little outlay of capital.
Black Expos, Latino Festivals, Block Parties and civic organizations are ripe for the comic book market. And not just for books that feature characters of color. Comic books are great sellers regardless at these venues.
The end user is very often not who is buying the product at these forums.
Parents and grandparents buy for their kids and teens. Siblings and significant others of comic fans purchase for them. Extended family, friends, and teachers are among the many types of folk who would not typically be inclined to go to a comic book store. This approach makes sense for retailers and creators who are trying to build an audience outside of the mainstream comic book market, which is a mess. Comic book publishers still and have always cannibalized off each other. Everyone’s chasing the same buck.
Back in the day this was a concern to publishers. Now, they could care less about the comic book market. Disney didn’t buy Marvel to sell comics. They bought Marvel to sell everything based on comics. Make no mistake – the real play in comic book publishing is the movie or TV deal and the merchandising that intellectual property will generate. Comics are still the redheaded ugly stepchildren of Hollywood and their corporate parent companies.
How ugly? So ugly, Time Warner rarely included DC Comics as anything but a line item in its Annual Report to stockholders.
That ugly.
While this article and many before have focused on the comic book business, that’s a secondary objective to me. I seek alternate markets, distribution, and new talent to reach diverse audiences who continue to be underserved because the industry gave me little choice but to do so.
So, back to me my greatest joy…
My greatest joy professionally is constructing worlds, building narratives filled with infinite possibilities limited only by my imagination. Yes, they feature but are not limited to characters of color, but just as important to me is making something so damn cool it boggles people’s minds that it has not been done before.
I think I’ve done that. I hope I have.
The Hidden Beach is the story of a very near, dark future, where the government dictates music, art, literature, relationships, and worship to the citizens of the United States. Anything that isn’t sanctioned by the current administration has been outlawed.
Anything.
You will pay the IRS one way or another, you will obey the law. If the police knock on your door, there’s been a mistake. They no longer knock. All government agencies regulate and enforce the new world order with extreme prejudice.
Any citizen caught enjoying unapproved music, worshiping the wrong God, loving the wrong person is subject to severe persecution. In a very real way, any free will you think you have, you don’t. The government of these United States of America wants to own what makes you… you.
America wants to own you – and if it were possible, your soul as well.
In the midst of this time of total and absolute subjugation, a talented Los Angeles singer named Angie Fisher continues to make illegal music in underground concerts, where the audience shows approval through hushed whispers of respect rather than loud applause. She’s resigned to her life of unlawful music and black market performances, but she’s heard whispered rumors of a group fighting the government and a place where she and others like her can live freely.
If they exist, the Guardians of Soul are said to be seven men rumored to have incredible abilities. Alone, they stand against the new American sovereignty with a singular purpose: to protect the one last thing the government needs to kill all hope of its citizens, the legendary safe haven for America’s soul – the Hidden Beach.
Angie prays the Guardians are real – they have to be. If not, she’s dead. The IRS is looking for her, and except for $2000, they are the only thing that can save her life.
Yeah, it’s one of those “in the not too distant future” yarns…with a twist.
Angie Fisher is a real person. The ‘7’ are real people with incredible abilities. The Hidden Beach is a real entity. Most of the supporting characters in the story are real also.
The American government I speak of is real…almost.
Think if you will what would happen if the most extreme of the extreme of any political group comes to power. It happened before in Nazi Germany and it’s happening now in North Korea and a few other places.
Both Angie Fisher and the 7, known as Naturally 7 have added something to this new universe, never done before….
A soundtrack.
This is not a gimmick. This is a merger of music and comics I’ve been trying to accomplish since my days at Motown Animation.
The universe was created to be a part of the music. Indeed some music was created just for the universe. Its never been done before, except in the minds of comic book fans.
It’s got a beat and you can read to it. The Hidden Beach Graphic Novel Book One: Hidden In Plain Sight hits the stores December 2015. Angie Fisher’s IRS and Naturally 7: Hidden In Plain Sight, the album on sale now, notice the album design with artwork by yours truly and Bad Boy Studio alum Felix Serrano.
The beginning…
