Category: News

On this day: Marie Antionette beheaded

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

Today, we honor the patron saint of women in refrigerators. Devoid of pop-culture nerd-dom, somehow this event in history never loses its morbid charm.

Yes, this day two hundred and fourteen years ago, the extravagant life of Marie Antoinette was ended by the French resistance. Upon hearing that the French peasantry had no bread to eat, she famously responded, "Let them eat cake," and paid for such callousness with her head.   Little did she realize what her notoriety would leave in her wake: thousands of musical theatre fans and a peg in Kirsten Dunst’s unfathomable career. 

Perhaps Ms. Hilton should take heed of history’s lessons…

UPDATE FROM GH: The missus reminds me that Marie Antoinette is a character in the manga and anime series, The Rose of Versailles.

Yep. We can be Heroes…again

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

Our top of the week Broadcast covers a lot of ground starting with our rundown of the newest comics and DVDs to hit the stores, including:

• A new zombie variant for Ultimate X-Men

• A second printing variant for the Green Arrow Black Canary Wedding Special

• A new Ride one-shot from Image, plus a look ahead to the future of the series from the creators

• A new DVD collection of the Angel series

Plus News Updates on:

• Captain America‘s return and costume make-over

• The American Girls jump into video gaming

• Heroes gets yet another graphic novel

And much more of the usual fun… including a trip back to what was on our pop culture on this day in 1988!

Jump right in & Press The Button!

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Comics Great Marie Severin Suffers Stroke

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

images-3507439Long-time comics giant Marie Severin suffered a stroke last Thursday. She is recouperating at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, New York.

Marie is perhaps best-known for her work as the primary EC Comics colorist during the 1950s, doing much to set the tone and style of comics’ most highly-respected line. She is also well-known for her work as an artist, working on a wide variety of characters primarily for Marvel Comics: from Doctor Strange and The Sub-Mariner to Alf and Kull The Barbarian. She is particularly well-known for satiric work in titles such as Crazy and Not Brand Ecch!, drawing one of the finest comics parodies, "Kaspar The Dead Baby," written by Marv Wolfman.

Born in 1929, Marie’s brother, John Severin, is also one of the all-time comics greats.

Marie’s family suggests sending get well cards to:

Marie Severin, patient

c/o Huntington Hospital

270 Park Avenue

Huntington, NY 11743

(Thanks to Larry Shell for sharing the news.)

Cap In The Saddle Again

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

O.K. By now you’re heard that "Captain America" will be returning to Captain America, in issue #34. Place your orders today, folks!

I have no problem with Cap’s return. It was inevitable. That’s fine. I don’t know if it’ll be Steve Rogers resurrected; I certainly hope not. That sort of shoddy storytelling got tiresome about 20 years ago. Like the flag and the nation for which he was named, Captain America endures and that’s fine by me.

I’m not going to join the loud chorus of nay-sayers who have been pooping all over Alex Ross’s brand-new costume design. Cap’s got a gun and a knife? Bg deal. He’s a soldier, remember? If a gun was good enough for Alex Schaumberg, it’s good enough for Ross and for me.

However, there is a storytelling problem here. If the costume is so vital that it must survive as the skin of another, as it had before in the 1950s, then why change the costume? I guess we’ll find out. I hope we’ll find out. (more…)

Costumes, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

My beloved has just been pushed out of a fourteenth story window and is plummeting toward certain doom. I must rescue her and I will – as soon as I change clothes…

We were discussing, last week, how superheroes are evolving and we agreed – didn’t we? – that, on the whole, with a few notable exceptions, they’re getting grimmer.

They also seem to be changing their taste in wardrobes. None of the current television superdoers wear anything more than normal clothing, albeit sometimes very spiffy normal clothing. Time was, and not so long ago, when…shall we call it unconventional garb was an indispensable part of the superhero thing. Capes, masks, tights, all kinds of bizarre raiment, often in the primary hues that were friendly to the aniline dyes and rather primitive printing presses used to color them.

It began, as did so much superheroish stuff, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Superman. To the best of my knowledge, these pioneers never went on record regarding exactly why they chose this particular visual strategy, but it was a good idea. It gave the their character and immediate and utterly unmistakable image and it separated him from his ordinary brethren as a police uniform or priestly vestments separate the wearers from plain joes and janes, at least when performing unique services. As Peter Coogan wrote, Superman’s outfit “does proclaim his identity.” The costume was obviously a part of Superman’s appeal, and immediate success, and, being no fools, Siegel and Shuster’s army of imitators copied it.

Consider that, for now, the why of superhero costumes. As to the whence…

(more…)

Study in contrasts: Shazam! and Simon Dark, by Charlie Meyerson

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

Arriving in one press kit from DC, a couple of comics as different as day and night: The deluxe edition hardcover collection of Jeff Smith’s four-issue miniseries SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil and the first issue of Steve Niles and Scott Hampton’s Simon Dark, promoted as Gotham City’s other protector.

 

SHAZAM! is Smith’s brightly colored love letter to the original Captain Marvel comics, a new take on a storyline first presented in the 1940s. It’s yet another relaunch for a character DC has proven unable to handle with any consistency, but it brings Smith’s clear sense of storytelling to a plot that is, in the end, a little too simple. It’s a handsome volume – with a dustjacket that unfolds into “a giant-sized poster!!!” (to quote the enthusiastic cover blurb), and elaborate production notes and sketches. But longtime fans may be disappointed. The story itself is better suited for parents looking to introduce kids to the adventures of the Marvel family. (more…)

On this day: flu epidemic shut down the movies

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

If you think the pending Writers Guild of America strike could throw Hollywood into a tizzy, just imagine how much worse it’s been in the past.

89 years ago today, the leading film studios announced they would stop releasing films due to the 1918 flu epidemic. It’s good to know that if this happened today, we would take equally cautious measures. But to be extra safe, we’d close the supermarkets. And have a curfew. And invade a country. Because after all, they gave us the flu because they hate our freedom. Today, at least we can pretend to have Jack Bauer saving us from biological threats.

And think how happy certain Tinseltown types would be to have something to blame the weekend grosses on.

Who’s Who for Hallowe’en

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

The Guardian reports on a "must-have" item among British children for the upcoming holiday season: a mask modelled on the Dalek-human hybrid which appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Daleks in Manhattan" and which "changes the voice of the wearer to the metallic scream of the doctor’s mortal enemies."  Parents everywhere will no doubt be thrilled.

The mask featuress two play buttons; the first activates a Dalek question, followed by Dalek Sec Hybrid’s reply, and the second activates the Dalek Voice Changer Function.  The product was mentioned in the context of many other TV-based toys available for Christmas which are expected to be best-sellers, but what about those who need to have it for Hallowe’en?

Never fear, it’s available now, at least in the UK.  Sure beats "Anna Rexia," if you ask me!

All Ages Night

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

All Ages Night is a new film about the cool kids who reject the Britneys and Timberlakes for the classic joys of Patti Smith and the Ramones. Written by former Marvel editor (and Wolverine / GI Joe scribe) Larry Hama and his writing partner, Gabrielle Kelly, it’s the story of a London punk who comes to Los Angeles and meets kindred spirits. You can find out more at the film’s MySpace page or by checking out this story in the Los Angeles Times.

Happy Birthday, I Love Lucy!

On this day in 1951, CBS first aired the hilarious classic, "I Love Lucy," and it’s never been off the air since. We must also honor the memory of Lucy for inspiring countless cosplayers across the country.

Where would they be without her?  Forced into the likes of Barbra Streisand and Cher? Is that really the world we would want to live in? Thanks Lucy, we owe ya.

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