Where’s WALL*E?
Can you find him?
See if you can also find:
- Eva
- Moe
- Two Paranoid Andriods
- Two Cybermen
- Two Cylons
- Tom and Jerry surrogates
And for bonus points, name five that are missing from this picture.
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
FRIGHT NIGHT Now & Then With Chris Sarandon
Chalk up FRIGHT NIGHT as the newest cult reboot to hit theaters and we talk to original actor Chris Sarandon about his role in the new version, and his recollections about the first. Plus if you paid big bucks for a copy of ELSEWORLDS 80 PAGE GIANT, better unload it quick!
The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebookright here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
MARTHA THOMASES: Sex and Comics and Rock and Roll
When I started out in comics in the late 1970s when dinosaurs walked the earth, the comic book business was like a small town. It was possible to be at least a nodding acquaintance of all the major players on the publishing side, and quite a few of the retailers as well.It was a small town – a small town scattered around the world. And like all small towns, there was always gossip.
Gossip, being gossip, is often nothing but lies. However, I’ve always found it fascinating because 1) I’m petty and shallow and 2) even untrue gossip reveals something about our feelings for the person involved.
Back in the day, the gossip was a particularly heady mixture of sex, drugs, and the kind of behavior that can only be the result of hideous self-loathing and bad brain chemistry. People would date, cheat, marry, divorce, hook-up, stalk each other – the usual.
And then there were those who were less usual. I don’t know if the stories were true, but they were fascinating: Freelancers who lived in their cars because they couldn’t manage their money, as opposed to freelancers who lived in their cars because they worked for scumbags. People who were such hoarders that they couldn’t walk from one room to another. The editor who did so much coke that they’d find this person dancing on the desk. The editor who had sex in the elevator on way to the office. The freelancer whose wife, looking for him, screamed into the phone so loudly that you could hear her across the office, even though she was out of state.
There is something both charming and small-minded about <a href=”
kind of gossip. The small-mindedness is obvious. The majority uses gossip to keep everyone in line, obeying the rules. The charming part develops from the fact that we all knew each other and, for the most part, cared about each other.
Today, comics is a bigger business and a bigger scene. There’s more money at stake, and the stories (true or not) have changed accordingly. Now we hear about the men whose marriages fell apart because they were having affairs with their publicists. Or maybe they left their wives for an actress on the set of the movie based on their books. Or maybe it’s a coke habit. The same vices are involved, but the rise in status ups the ante. People (thankfully) can afford to go to rehab. They can afford to pay child support. The problems might grow with the money available, but so do the solutions.
There’s also a different tone. There is more envy, and, as a result, more a note of satisfaction when the person being discussed can’t handle success. It’s meaner.
We aren’t living in that small town anymore where we care about each other. We’re not even in Kansas anymore.
Martha Thomases, Dominoed Dare-Doll, has been a comic industry publicist for two decades, and no client ever made a pass at her. The stories she hears make her wonder what’s wrong with her.SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman
DYNAMITE SNARES THE SPIDER!
Following up the announcement made on 8/17 that Dynamite Comics will be bringing the Pulp icon THE SHADOW back to comics, Dynamite announced today that fellow Pulp legend THE SPIDER will be joining the company’s growing cast of characters.On board for Dynamite’s take on the millionaire turned somewhat horrifying hero will be writer David Liss, currently writing Marvel’s MYSTERY MEN mini series, artist Colton Worley and cover artists Alex Ross and John Cassaday.
Based on the art released thus far, Dynamite’s visual take on the character hews more toward how The Spider appeared in serials produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s by Columbia Pictures than how he has been portrayed in the original Pulps or in other comic adaptations, most recently that done by Moonstone Entertainment.
Table Talk: Creative Envy
Table Talk returns to http://www.newpulpfiction.com/. This week Bobby, Barry, and Mike discuss creative envy.
Someone coined the term “creative envy” a while back in response to seeing the intellectual property of another and wishing they’d come up with it first. Most, if not all creators have a particular character or property they wish they’d thought up first. This week Barry Reese, Bobby Nash and Mike Bullock discuss creative envy and take a look at their own properties they wish they had time to fully realize.
Read all about Creative Envy at http://www.newpulpfiction.com/2011/08/table-talk-questioning-character.html
NEW COLUMN ON THE LINK BETWEEN PULP AND COMICS-MAKE THE COMICS CONNECTION!
THE COMICS CONNECTION-A column discussing, exploring, and theorizing about the link between Pulp and Comics- By Joshua Pantalleresco
GREEN LANTERN-PULP THROUGH A COMIC LENS?
Green Lantern is one of the richest concepts in superheroes. I mean, just how awesome is it to talk about someone that has a ring that can make any wish come true as long as you have the willpower for it?
The concept has evolved since the beginning. Before there was Abin Sur, before the guardians, the corps, Sinestro and all the mythology we know today, Green Lantern was originally a riff on Aladdin. It was a magic ring that was part of an old Chinese prophecy. It came to earth in the form of a meteor, promising three things; death, life, and power. The meteor killed a village, restored a man to sanity, and finally fell into the hands of our hero.In the wake of a train wreck caused by one of Alan ScottâÃÂÃÂs competitors during a trial, Alan finds a lantern and by talking to the green flame inside it he learned how to make a ring. He fashions a costume and seeks revenge of Dekker, the man that sabotaged his train. After defeating him, Alan Scott feels the call of destiny and decides to become a hero. He forges his costume and becomes the Green Lantern.
Like the Shadow or Batman before him, Alan emerges from the tragedy a changed man. He becomes a larger than life figure and battles the underworld, whether they were mobsters or the truly villainous Solomon Grundy. That isnâÃÂÃÂt to say there wasnâÃÂÃÂt a light hearted side to the character. When he first moved to Gotham City, Alan Scott met Dolby Dickles, who would become his sidekick and drove a cab named âÃÂÃÂGoitrudeâÃÂÃÂ, a rocket powered cab, which would signal emergencies to the Green Lantern. A lot of these stories were more light hearted and fun. Dolby added much needed levity to the series when needed.
Contrary to the space stuff in the more modern incarnations, the original Green Lantern dealt with more traditional crime or adventure stories with a touch of the supernatural. It wasnâÃÂÃÂt until the sixties until we came closer to the concepts we know and love today.
Hal Jordan is a test pilot that finds an alien spaceship crash landing to earth. Inside, a mortally wounded Green Lantern, Abin Sur, tells Hal that he has been chosen to be a Green Lantern. With his sidekick, Tom Kalamaku, mechanic and able bodied assistant, Hal battled foes such as Hector Hammond, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Doctor Polaris.This version of Green Lantern has more similarities to The Lensmen than say The Shadow. The two strongest connections are The Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe. While they donâÃÂÃÂt try to breed a solution to their problems, the Guardians do share the evolved tendencies of the Arisians and the mental energies projected by the Arisians could be similar to the energy projected by both the guardians and the power rings.
As for the Corps themselves, they are at the very least influenced by the Lensmen. Although DC initially denied it, two corps members were named Arisia and Eddore in honor of the Lensmen series. Arisia still appears regularly in the pages of Green Lantern.
Through many revamps and reincarnations, Green LanternâÃÂÃÂs mythology has grown and expanded into what we know and love today, the concept both from its beginnings with Alan Scott, to today with Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner and company can trace its roots back to a pulpy beginning.
Who Knows What Evil Lurks? Dynamite Knows As It Picks Up “The Shadow”
Dynamite Entertainment has signed a comprehensive licensing agreement with Conde Nast for comic books based on The Shadow. Arguably the most famous pulp hero of the 20th century and an inspiration for Batman among many others, The Shadow has been featured in comic books, comic strips, television, video games, and at least five motion pictures.
“We are pleased and excited to entrust The Shadow to the capable, creative hands of Dynamite Entertainment,” said Jerry Birenz, licensing attorney for Conde Nast. “We look forward to a continuation of the long tradition of The Shadow in comic books, and the enjoying of the new adventures and experiences Dynamite Entertainment will bring us.”
Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets, and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson.
The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show’s listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.
“Pursuing The Shadow has been a life time quest,” says Dynamite Entertainment President and Publisher Nick Barrucci. “Dynamite is working to launch the Shadow with some of the comic industries leading talent including John Cassaday, Alex Ross, Ryan Sook and Jae Lee, with more to be announced – creators who will bring justice to The Shadow.”
Just as with Dynamite’s pick up of The Green Hornet, this could also signal movement on a new Shadow movie. The Shadow was last seen on screen in 1994 in a film starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, John Lone, Ian McKellen, and Tim Curry. In years past, Sam Raimi has also expressed interest in doing a Shadow movie.
Reviews from the 86th Floor: Barry Reese Looks at The Black Bat Graphic Novel
The Black Bat
Written by Mike Bullock
Art by Michael Metcalf and Fernando Peniche
Letters by Josh Aitken
Moonstone Books
ISBN 978-1-933076-96-6
$8.99
Longtime readers of my review column know that I’m a big fan of Mike Bullock’s run on The Phantom. So when Moonstone announced their “Return of the Originals” projects, I was intrigued to see Bullock’s name on both a revival (The Black Bat) and a new creation (Death Angel). This collection collects stories of both characters, though the cover is a bit misleading — it prominently features The Black Bat, with a relatively small “Also Starring Death Angel” logo on the lower right. There aren’t enough Black Bat pages to make it a graphic novel on its own so I understand the inclusion of Death Angel but I would have preferred a title that made it clearer that this was, in fact, a book with equal amounts of both heroes.
The front and back covers are by Tom Grindberg and are absolutely gorgeous. I really, really liked both images and I think the cover will definitely help sell a few copies. Super stuff.
Inside the book we get alternating Black Bat & Death Angel stories (both comic and prose), with one short teaming the two. In both cases, the heroes are tracking down drug pushers and the like. I was a little confused about the era these stories were set in — some things in the Black Bat stories definitely made me think this was set in the 1930s (fashion, the language used, etc.) but Death Angel seemed more modern, both in design and in terms of her hi-tech nano-fiber tachyon-shooting power suit. The two characters interact, so obviously they are in the same era, whenever that may be.
Let’s tackle The Black Bat first. This is not your father’s Black Bat. As in the original stories, this is District Attorney Anthony Quinn. Blinded by a criminal’s attack, Quinn later gets his vision restored and takes to the night as a vigilante. But in this version, The Black Bat suffers from multiple personality disorder and is as bloodthirsty as The Spider. While interrogating criminals, he uses various legal terms to question them, all the while arguing with himself for leading the witness, etc. It’s an interesting take on the character but purists will feel that this is not The Black Bat and perhaps should have been a new character instead. I’m okay with updating characters and this one retains enough of the original for me to recognize him but his willingness to kill (and kill graphically) was shocking. I wish there had been more time to show The Black Bat in his civilian identity, though. The profile that’s included implies that he’s relatively normal in his day-to-day affairs and that it’s only as The Black Bat that his mental instability comes to light. I’m curious how that would have played out. There were places in the story – and I’m not sure if the fault lies with the script or the art, or both — where things felt very, very disjointed and the scene jumps made me pause and flip back a few page to see if I’d missed something. It kinda felt like I was reading the Cliff note’s version of much cooler stories.
From an art standpoint… Hmm. Michael Metcalf does all but one of the Black Bat stories (Fernando Peniche does the one that teams The Black Bat with Death Angel) and I have to admit… I did not like it. The art is far too scratchy and actually looked unfinished in places. It detracted from the story. There were individual panels that looked kind of cool but overall, the story was not served well by this. The Peniche art was a step up and I liked it much better.
Death Angel is a far stronger package overall — perhaps because the burdens of our past expectations are not challenged here. With The Black Bat, pulp fans are constantly comparing and contrasting this version to the original — but Death Angel is a new character and is free from that. Strangely, Michael Metcalf does the art on these sections, as well, but the art looks much, much better. I can only assume that Metcalf deliberately used a different style on The Black Bat stories — this artwork is much stronger.
As with The Black Bat, Death Angel is a vicious character. Her stories all revolve around two things: drugs and sexual abuse. This latter plays well off her origin but I would have liked to have seen a little more variety in the threats she faces here. I found the Death Angel stories to be more interesting and would definitely like to see more.
The overall package… I will say that taken as a whole, this is probably my least favorite of Bullock’s works to date. If I separated out the character arcs, I’d give much higher marks to the Death Angel portions of the book.
Do I think it’s worth your time and money? If you’re looking for the classic Black Bat or if you like your heroes to be of the “don’t kill, but bring the bad guys in for justice” variety… No. If you’re looking for bloodthirsty vigilante types or want to sample a genuinely interesting New Pulp hero in Death Angel, I’d say yes.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
DENNIS O’NEIL: Enough with the Superhero Movies?
Not long ago, I was chatting with a movie guy (yes, that was me, riding shotgun in the gold Ferrari, tooling down Rodeo Drive, heading for Brad and Angie’s…) and he said that the summer of ’11 could be make-it-or-break-it time for superhero flicks.
As you know by now, there have been four – count ‘em four – such entertainments released in the past several months, raising the question: Have we had enough?
Hard to say. Three of the four films were solid profit-makers and the last will probably limp into the black eventually, if it hasn’t already. So the chair-fillers aren’t reacting against super-doers, but if you squint, you might be able to detect signs that the honeymoon is over. A hundred and ten minutes of a dude in a funny suit doing grandiose stunts and bashing other dudes, also in funny suits, is no longer box-office surety. The novelty value is gone.
Remember when kung fu flicks first hit the U.S.? (Okay, most of you don’t because that happened before you were born, but indulge me.) For some of us, including me and my post-toddler son, any martial arts movie was the right martial arts movie and we spent a lot of afternoons in sticky-floored theaters watching them. The new approach to action-melodrama, the exotic casts, and – oh yeah! – the nifty fight-acrobatics (and whatever amusement could be gotten from bad dubbing) were enough to engross us, regardless of these Asian imports’ other merits or demerits. Then along came Bruce Lee and Enter the Dragon and then Jackie Chan and…
And, eventually, kung fu became just another genre, like westerns and war and romance and family comedies and raunchy comedies… Another genre. I still watch and enjoy martial arts films, particularly those with acrobatics, particularly acrobatics as practiced by performers from Thailand, and you can enjoy them, too, because your local Blockbuster has a goodly selection for rent and you don’t have to troll too far on your cable TV hookup to find one or two or…
Another genre, yes, but one that comes in a lot of sizes and shapes and languages and one you might patronize because of the virtues of a particular movie, not because of that movie’s label.
Superhero movies are, I shyly contend, undergoing a similar evolution. Already, perhaps, some of you don’t go to see a Marvel flick, you go to see Robert Downey, Jr., doing his Iron Man, and it’s well worth the trip. The acting is improving, the themes becoming more complex and the special effects…well, sometimes you aren’t aware of them as effects; they exist to serve the narrative, not to make us ohhh and ahhh as though we’re watching a spectacular fireworks display. It’s about story, not spectacle.
Spectacle is fine, but narrative offers other rewards, and most movies are narratives. The best special effect I’ve seen all summer happened early in Captain America, when somehow the cinematic wizards grafted Chris Evans’s head onto someone else’s body – seamlessly, perfectly realizing a plot element. No explosions, no shattered planets, just splendid storytelling.
Recommended Reading: The Boy Who Loved Batman: A Memoir by Michael Uslan.
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases
The Shadow Returns!
After sixteen years, The Shadow will once again be haunting the comic book shops. The classic character who starred in both pulp magazines and his popular radio show will be returning in the hands of Dynamite Entertainment. Dynamite currently publishes pulp-related properties The Green Hornet, The Phantom and John Carter of Mars. Dynamite’s President and Publisher were quoted in a press release, saying “pursuing The Shadow has been a lifetime quest.”
No creative teams have been announced thus far.
