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Mindy Newell: Man Of $teel

In 1978, we were enticed to go see Superman this way:

  • You will believe a man could fly.

In 2013, we have been enticed to go see Man Of Steel like this:

  • He can walk through fire.
  • He can melt glaciers with his eyes.
  • He can rip through metal with his bare hands.
  • So, how does the Man of Steel shave?
  • Apparently with a Gillette razor.

Or…

  • Fly in for Sears Memorial Day Mattress Spectacular and get up to 60% off plus an extra 10% off mattresses over $999.
  • Plus special financing.
  • Plus free delivery and haul-away.
  • This is something super.
  • This is Sears.

Newell Art 130624Does Superman prefer Sealy, Simmons, Serta, Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic, or Sears’s own Sears-O-Pedic? And what size mattress – twin, full, queen, king, or California king?

According to a June 3rd article in Advertising Age by Maureen Morrison, Man Of Steel had already made $160 million even before it even opened in cinemas around the world. The British newspaper The Independent upped that ante, reporting on June 10th that Man Of Steel had snared $170 million in product placement and advertising before it opened on June 14th.

Product placement isn’t new. In the “director’s cut” of Superman, there is a scene just before Martha Kent sees Clark out in the wheat field of the farm that didn’t make it into the theatrical version – and by the way, any theories on just how long it was between Jonathan’s death and Clark getting the call from the green crystal? At the funeral Martha’s hair is grey, but on the day Clark leaves for the “North,” her hair, as Clark later describes it to Lois, is “silver-white.” Anyway, in the aforementioned scene we watch as Martha does her morning routing, yelling at Clark to “get up, breakfast!” and placing a box of Cheerios on the kitchen table. And later in the film, Superman hurdles Zod into the Coca-Cola sign in Times Square – well, Metropolis’s version of Times Square – and while attempting to save the passengers on a bus thrown by the super-villains, Superman crushes a Marlboro delivery truck (Cigarette advertising? How retro!)

But these placements were subtle, and actually added to the reality – the first voice we hear in the 1978 Superman is Marlon Brando’s “This is no fantasy.” – of the film, aiding our suspension of disbelief.

But the amount of “product” associated with the newest film is really stunning. According to Morrison’s article, “there are more than 100 global promotional partners” attached to Man Of Steel. Some of them, in addition to the Sears Roebuck Company and Gillette, are:

  • Warby-Parker Shades, where you can buy a pair of Clark Kent eyeglasses
  • Hershey’s
  • Chrysler, which is offering two different “Superman” S-class cars
  • Kellogg’s
  • Walmart
  • Nokia
  • Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr, where you can eat a “Super Bacon Cheeseburger”
  • United States Army National Guard, which is using Man Of Steel as an enlistment tool
  • Under Armor
  • Mattel
  • Budweiser
  • Toshiba

To borrow from another DC iconic hero:

Holy marketing, Batman!!!!!

•     •     •     •     •

A confession. I did go to Gillette’s YouTube site to watch four videos entitled “How Does the Man of Steel Shave?” Bill Nye the Science Guy, Kevin Smith, Mayim Bialik – a PhD. in neuroscience? Really? – and Mythbusters’ Andy and Jamie offer their theories on how Kal-el goes from heavily bearded in the beginning of the film to smooth-shaven by the time he’s fighting Zod. And I must also confess that the vids are fun and entertaining. The four hypotheses are: (1) LHC Worm Hole Theory; (2) Materials Science Theory; (3) Follicle Denaturation Theory; and (4) Baby Rocket Theory.

I leave it to you to match up the theories with their progenitors.

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

 

Royer Goldhawk to the Rescue

  • Uncategorized
  • June 24, 2013

Matter Deep Publishing has released Rescue, or Royer Goldhawk’s Remarkable Journal by Amy Leigh Strickland with illustrations by Carly Strickland.

About Rescue, or Royer Goldhawk’s Remarkable Journal:
When Royer Goldhawk witnesses a fly-by kidnapping, he becomes inextricable entangled in a madman’s plot to break the barrier to another world and harness an unimaginable power. With the help of his friends, Royer embarks on a mission of rescue and revenge that will lead him across the country and plunge him into a world of magic, machines, and danger.

This novel is Part One of the Royer Goldhawk series.

Learn more here.

THIS MEANS WAR!

  • News
  • June 23, 2013
Art: Nik Poliwko

Starting June 29th, writer Martin Powell and artist Nik Poliwko bring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The War Chief to life in a new webstrip from Edgar Rice Burroughs Comics.

For only $1.99 per month you can subscribe to Edgar Rice Burroughs comics, including the all-new Tarzan comic strips by Roy Thomas and Tom Grindberg, Carson Of Venus by Martin Powell, Thomas Floyd, and Diana Leto, and The Eternal Savage by Martin Powell and Steven E Gordon.

Don’t miss the Adventure at www.edgarriceburroughs.com/comics.

NOBODY DIES FOR FREE-But You May Get TWO Copies of Spy Thriller for FREE!!!!

  • News
  • June 23, 2013

NOBODY DIES FOR FREE by Aaron Smith from Pro Se Productions features the debut of Richard Monroe, former CIA Operative turned one Man Espionage Force for the Missions no one else can handle!  Want to check out Monroe’s first full length novel adventure?  Maybe NOBODY DIES FOR FREE, but you may get a FREE ebook of Aaron’s spy novel for You and Your Closest Spy friend by taking on the following mission yourself!

In 500 words or less, Tell Pro Se Productions who YOUR favorite fictional spy is- From Literature, Television, Movies, Comics, etc– and WHY they are the best Spy fiction has to offer!  Email your entries to MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com by June 30th, 2013! Aaron Smith will select the winning entry and the winner will be announced across the internet on July 1, 2013!  While it’s true NOBODY DIES FOR FREE, You have a chance to get a Pro Se Ebook for just that much!

MARS McCOY TO THE RESCUE

  • Uncategorized
  • June 23, 2013
Cover Art: Michael Youngblood
PRESS RELEASE:
Airship 27 Productions is proud to present the second in our exciting space opera series featuring Captain Mars McCoy, Space Ranger.
When the universe is imperiled, the call goes out to the brave men, women and robots of the Space Rangers; a group of highly skilled pilot/warriors dedicated to the preservation of law and order throughout the known worlds.  Headquartered in the hidden free-floating asteroid station known as the Black Hole, the Space Rangers are ready to respond to any threat traveling the space lanes in their ultra-fast and powerful Black Bird patrol ships.
In this second volume, Captain Mars McCoy, and his gorgeous co-pilot, android Lt. Betty-12 of Black Bird 5 confront two unique and malevolent threats.  In “The Curse of the Star Lance,” by James Palmer, they discover a lost Imperial Space Cruiser and the hidden horror that still dwells within it. 
Next up is Van Allen Plexico novella length adventure, “Mars McCoy and the Chaos Horde.”   A mysterious army of monsters begins materializing at random throughout the Fringe worlds wreaking chaos in their path.  What is their secret origin and how can Mars and Betty-12 put an end to their lethal rampage?
This second volume features a stunning painted cover by Michael Youngblood with interiors by Shannon Hall, designs by Art Directory Rob Davis and edited by Ron Fortier.

Cast in the mold of classic pulp sci-fi heroes ala Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, Mars McCoy Space Ranger blasts off once more for brand new outer space adventures jammed packed with galaxy spanning suspense and thrills.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCITONS – Pulp Fiction for a New Generation!
Available now at Amazon
—

John Ostrander: We Have Met The Enemy

Ostrander Art 130623Finally got around to seeing Iron Man 3 this week (which I enjoyed). Yeah, I know. We’re way behind on our movie viewing at this url. At the rate we’re going, we won’t see Man Of Steel until Labor Day.

In any case, I was struck by the underlying premise of the movie and certain events of the past week. (SPOILER ALERT: To discuss this, I’m going to have to tell things about Iron Man 3. If you are even more behind in your movie going than I am but still intend to see it and want to be unspoiled, you may want to avert your eyes.)

Central to the whole plot of Iron Man 3 is the idea of creating a terrorist threat to provoke a reaction in the American public and justify certain acts. In the news in our so-called real world this week, it’s been revealed that the NSA has not only been reading our emails but is creating a massive building to store and analyze everything they read. All in the name of “National Security,” of keeping us safe from terrorism. The idea is that we trade in our freedoms and we are safe from the hands of terrorists.

Except we’re not. To quote Rocket J. Squirrel to Bullwinkle J. Moose who was trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat, “But that trick never works.” Not completely. Of course, the justification becomes that the measures the government is taking makes terrorism more difficult, that some plots are stopped even if you can’t stop all of them, that some American lives are saved. Doesn’t that make it worth it? If it saved your life or the lives of those you cared about, wouldn’t the sacrifice of those freedoms be justified?

I think of the British people during the Battle of Britain in 1940. To break the ability of the UK to defend themselves in the air after the fall of France, the German Luftwaffe launched massive air attacks that escalated, finally, to terrorist bombing missions against the civilian populations in key British cities, notably London. Everyone has seen the photographs and newsreels, especially of the aftermath – the burning buildings, the shattered homes, the struggling people.

The purpose of the terrorism was to drive the British government to an armistice or even to surrender. That’s one of the key things to remember about terrorism – the acts of violence are not the purpose in and of themselves. As terrible as they are, the purpose is to achieve some other goal.

The Germans failed in 1940. The British people stood defiant. They did not break.

The purpose of the acts of violence on 9/11 was not the death and destruction alone that they caused. The purpose of the architects of those acts of terror was to change us, to make us destroy ourselves, our values, our way of life. We’re doing that.

For an illusion of safety, we seem to be willing to trade in at least some of our freedoms.

When we allow the government to tap our phones willy-nilly, to spy on us, to even kill some citizens deemed hostile combatants without any pretense of due process of law, the terrorists win.

The alternative is to live with the threat of destruction, of death for ourselves or those we love, of more horrific, terrifying images such as we saw on 9/11. To stand firm as the British did in the face of Nazi terrorism and not surrender.

In hard boiled fiction, the “tough guy” is defined not so much as the one who can hand out punishment but take it and not give in. Today, we seem more interested in someone who is “bad ass” – who can hand out the blows. Personally, I’ll take a “tough guy” over a “bad ass” any day of the week. They show more character.

So, gentle readers, what do you think? Do we trade in some outdated “freedoms” and maybe sleep better at night or do we take some chances in the interests of being who we are or are supposed to be?

You tell me.

MONDAY MORNING: Mindy Newell

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

 

GUEST ESSAY BY AUTHOR MICHAEL A. GONZALES-B-BOYS, PULP CULTURE, AND BLACK PULP!

  • News
  • June 22, 2013

On B-Boys and Pulp Culture:

Black Pulp edited by Gary Phillips and Tommy Hancock

by Michael A. Gonzales

Michael A. Gonzales

Planet Hip-Hop has always overflowed with folks into various forms of

pulp culture. Over the years, I’ve interviewed many rap artists and

producers who shared their love for Star Wars, crime movies, karate

flicks and the novels of Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines. Still, I was

surprised when Queensbridge legend Nas told me in 1999 that he had

once created a Black Pulp hero when he was a kid.

“I used to used to draw my own character called Sea God,” Nas told me.

“I copied the body of Conan the Barbarian, but had him standing on the

corner instead of in the forest.” Without a doubt, I’m sure Nas isn’t

the only one with a stash of drawings and/or writings detailing the

bugged adventures of urban champions.

Last year, when respected crime novelist/comic book writer Gary

Phillips invited me to contribute a short story to his latest project

Black Pulp (Pro Se, 2013), co-edited with Tommy Hancock, I immediately

thought of that long ago conversation with Nas and decided I too

wanted to create a hood hero.

Leaning back in my office chair, I closed my eyes and thought of my

own pulp filled childhood growing-up in Harlem: of listening to old

Shadow radio programs that were released on records, watching

blaxploitation and kung-fu flicks every weekend, devouring the

Marshall Rodgers/Steve Englehart’s version of Batman, discovering the

weird worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, watching

Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon serials on PBS and falling in love with the

work of pulp artist supreme Howard Chaykin, the dude George Lucas

requested to illustrate the first Star Wars comic book.

After an hour of drifting on those dusty memories, quicker than I

could say, “Batman and Robin, Green Hornet and Kato or Easy Rawlins

and Mouse,” my own pulp heroes Jaguar and Shep were born. The lead

character Coltrane (Jaguar) Jones owns a Harlem rap club called the

Bassment and drives through Harlem cool as Super Fly in a fly sports

car. His murderous friend Shep, who just got out of prison, becomes

his badass sidekick as the two self-appointed crime fighters go in

search of a music minded kidnapper.

Although I’ve never been big on constructing strict outlines for

fiction, I knew that I wanted the period to be 1988, the last year

Mayor Koch was in office. Crack was at its height, Public Enemy’s

brilliant It Takes a Nation of Millions was rockin’ the boulevards,

Dapper Dan was creating his bugged designer fashions and New York City

was still on the verge exploding.

Recalling Fab 5 Freddy, who also appears in the story, telling me

about the jazz/hip-hop shows he did with Max Roach at the Mudd Club in

the 1980s, the finished story told the tale of a be-bop lover trying

to rid b-boys and their music from the streets of Sugar Hill.

While working on the story, I consulted with my good friend Robert

(Bob) Morales, himself an accomplished comic book writer, co-creator

of the black Captain America graphic novel The Truth and a pulp

culture aficionado. Although he was working on a graphic novel about

Orson Welles at the time, he always found the time to talk. Once, when

I thought the Paul Pope/John Carpenter-Escape from New York inspired

climax might be too crazy, Bob reminded me, “It’s a pulp story…there’s

no such thing as too wild.”

So, after several weeks of calling Bob, sometimes a few times a day,

and writing, “Jaguar and the Jungleland Boogie” was finally finished.

Sadly, Bob Morales died suddenly on April 17, so I’d like to dedicate

the story to him.

In addition to my b-boy/be-bop tale, Black Pulp has a cool line-up of

creators of color that include famed novelist Walter Mosley, who

penned the introduction, Gar Anthony Heywood, Christopher Chambers,

Kimberly Richardson, Mel Odom and others.

Walter Mosley introduction:

REVIEW: Stoker

REVIEW: Stoker

Stoker_Rental_BD_Spine_rgbWhen you name a thriller Stoker, you immediately have people concluding it has something to do with Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and therefore maybe the movie involves vampires. The film’s characters address that at one point but let’s stipulate that there are no members of the undead here. Instead, we have a stylish, noirsh film that marks a mostly successful American debut for Korean director Chan-Wook Park. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, and Matthew Goode, it’s an uncomfortable story of family.

India Stoker (Wasikowska) has just lost her father, shattering their close bonds. Distraught, she is withdrawn, and initially shrinks further within Goth herself when Uncle Charlie (Goode) turns up and comes to live with her and her mother Evelyn (Kidman). In her eighteen years, India has never heard of an Uncle Charlie and more, what she begins to hear strikes her as fantastic and contradictory. Is he a rich adventurer, an ex-con, an opportunist? Maybe all of the above. But, as Charlie insinuates himself into their Tennessee home, life changes.

India is uncomfortable around Charlie until his charismatic personality begins to change how she acts and more, how she sees herself. There’s a hint of sexual desire pouring forth while her own mother, dealing with the loss in her own way, seems equally drawn, making dinner time more than a little awkward. There’s a piano duet that is nicely sexually charged and the film is filled with visual metaphors that make this a cut above most thrillers.

Wentworth Miller’s script was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt down to naming the mysterious stranger Uncle Charlie. There are plenty of structural ticks Miller picks up from the old master, successfully maintain the tension throughout the 99 minutes. Unfortunately, like Hitchcock, the characters are cold, never quite warming up to one another or the audience and undercuts the movie’s impact. And trust me, this film has plenty of impact, especially when things get violent and here Park exceeds Hitchcock, bringing his natural talents to the fore.

The performances are strong and should have been stronger and this might be a culturally issue as Park works with his Australia/English cast in an American setting. Goode (Watchmen) is nicely creepy while the women vie for coolest character.

This is a strong transfer to Blu-ray, out this week from 20th Century Home Entertainment. Cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon’s imagery is well preserved, letting the atmosphere ooze into your home. The matching audio allows you to enjoy the splash of rain, the crack of a hardboiled egg and the eeriness of Clint Mansell’s excellent score.

The disc, which comes with an Ultraviolet digital copy, contains a handful of extras. There are three deleted/extended scenes (10:01), none of which are really missed; Stoker: A Filmmaker’s Journey (27:50), a Making Of mini-documentary that is cut above others of its ilk; Photography by Mary Ellen Mark (11:15), on-set photographs that can be auto-played or manually advanced;

London Theater Design (2:35), showing how a London theater was transformed for the film’s premiere; and,  Theatrical Behind-the-Scenes, seven short featurettes that were repurposed from the documentary and rehashes that material. You also get the theatrical trailers.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Tex Avery’s “SH-H-H-H-H-H”

  • News
  • June 22, 2013

sh-h-h-h-h-h

Here’s something you’ve probably never seen before: a Tex Avery cartoon from 1955 produced by Walter Lantz simply called “Sh-h-h-h-h-h”.

This was Tex Avery’s last animated short cartoon. The sounds of the trumpet player and the laughing woman who keep the man awake through the night are taken directly from the novelty OKeh Laughing Record, which was released in 1923. The voice, of course, is Daws Butler. Beyond that, we should obviously say no more. Enjoy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w0QoQX48kw[/youtube]

Marc Alan Fishman: OK WB, Now What?

Fishman Art 130622I’ve little to no doubt by the time I write this article everyone on this site, and every other comic-ish site will have weighed in on Man of Steel. For what it’s worth? I liked it a whole bunch. Disaster porn? Sure. The controversial ending? Made complete sense to me. And I’m not even a pessimist. I found the flick to be a popcorn chomping, scenery eating behemoth on par with Marvel’s Cap or Thor. Feel free to disagree with me. This li’l op-ed though isn’t about Man of Steel as much as it’s about what it means for DC in the near and not-so-near future.

The fact is the movie is making money. Good money. The most money to come in for the month of June in fact. And with no “big” weekend coming to theaters presumably until The Lone Ranger bombs, DC should be on the road now to adding some serious shekels to their calamitous coffers. Many nerds (myself included) all figured that all this time Marvel was running away with all the sick-movie profits. But let’s look at the tale of the tape:

According to Box Office Mojo: Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers totaled roughly 1.75 billion dollars domestically. In the same amount of time Nolan’s Batman franchise, Watchmen, The Losers, Jonah Hex, and Green Lantern earned 1.45 billion. All things considered? It’s not necessarily a run away gravy train for Mickey now is it?

We all know the old adage: war is won with a single battle. Man of Steel rights a train derailed with Green Lantern. The fact of the matter is in the last five years of blockbusters, Mickey was laying foundation while DC merely rented a timeshare. It’s no secret (especially if you read comic book movie news on the Internet) that the Brothers Warner wanted Man of Steel to be the initial volley towards a larger franchise universe of their own. It’s fair enough to consider the movie to be a success. So, what’s next?

We know there’s talks to get Supes back in the multiplex as soon as late next year. Unless they actually know how to reverse time by flying around the Earth though? Color me doubtful. And the rumor mill has also turned out gems like a possible Batman / Superman team up. Or a Justice League movie that will spin-out into single character franchises. I envision the execs over at the Warner lot looking at a pile of New 52 books, with a sweaty Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns (no doubt wearing a dunce cap over his Green Lantern: The Movie cap) doing their best to help them plan. And somewhere behind two-way glass, Christopher Nolan sits in his private Inception pod (yeah it’s a pod now) smugly scoffing.

Enough pussy-footing around. If the reigns were in my hands, I’d bank on what made Warner money. While every comic-classicist sharpens their knives I boldly say the unthinkable. If you made money going real and dark? Go real and dark. There was optimism, hope, and smiles to be had in Man of Steel. Seriously. If DC uses that at it’s base, and builds a Justice League that stands with Big Blue in their front court? Those are big shoulders to do it with. Add in Jospeh Gordon-Leavitt’s Batman (heresy!) and introduce the movie-going public to Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Cyborg? Well, it’ll sure give Whedon and his Bro-Vengers a little competition. Put the movie in the hands of a capable comic-inspired director. Say… Brad Bird. And if Nolan can assist in crafting a picture that isn’t just filler, quips, and a fifty minute fight sequence… you’ve got yourself the making of a real counter blow to the powerhouse mouse.

At the end of the day, Man of Steel was a solid start to a new beginning. While many our brethren ball their fists and curse at the wind, many others are finding a new take on a familiar face. I hope sincerely that DC and WB figure out what worked (Optimism. Confidence.) and what didn’t (Wanton destruction.) and use it to find solid footing on a new course. The world needs a Justice League movie. We need a great Wonder Woman franchise. They need a movie DCU. It’s time to look up, up, and away from the past and soar towards a more profitable future. And I for one will be looking forward to the movies.

Because you know, their comics sure ain’t doing it for me right now.*

*My apologies to Scott Snyder and Gail Simone who totally get a pass

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

 

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