She is considered the “Godmother Of Reality Television” and now Sharon Osbourne has reinvented herself again with her part in AMERICA’S GOT TALENT and a daytime talk show. She tells us how to live the 24 hour day, plus we get some disturbing news from DC on Vertigo.
Is the DC Relaunch a mistake or comics’ “last chance”?? Drop us a comment below!
Yesterday, we covered 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s dad-centric video offerings as a part of their A Year Of A Million Moments. Now, they have unveiled we some brand new spoofs of Taken and the classic Rocky. Both satires come from the people that brought you the Office Space the Musical and Fight Club in the nursing home skits.
Both of these brand new pieces take Fox’s popular films of yesterday and today with Liam Neeson’s 2008 thriller and the classic film that catapulted Sylvester Stallone to critical acclaim and stardom. The two videos feature our favorite cast of characters from the Fight Club bit that went viral last year! The nursing home gang continues its love of film, and I hope you can post a piece about these hilarious spoofs for your audience online.
Twentieth Century Fox and MGM Home Entertainment have come up with some cool packages that will make shopping for FatherâÂÂs Day a lot easier. Below is their press release detailing the television series and feature films that are part of their library and aimed squarely at dads of all ages.àHere are the details:
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and MGM Home EntertainmentâÂÂs twelve-month campaign, Year of A Million Moments, continues by recognizing heroes during the month of June. Between heroes from movies like Oliver StoneâÂÂs masterpiece PLATOON, the underdog fighter in ROCKY, or the comedic spy father in TVâÂÂs AMERICAN DAD, pay tribute by logging on to www.YearOfAMillionMoments.com for the opportunity to win $1 million dollars!
As an added bonus for FatherâÂÂs Day gifts, up to $12.00 âÂÂHollywood Movie Moneyâ to see X-MEN: FIRST CLASS will be available for consumers to print at home to use towards the purchase of a movie ticket. This exclusive offer is only available with the purchase of select Blu-ray titles including Quantum of Solace, Mad Max, Escape From New York, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Live Free Die Hard and Max Payne. (more…)
In the fall of 1972, I was 14 and consuming as much science fiction and heroic fantasy as I could mainline. As a result, I was the prime candidate to fall in love with a television series that had great concepts, an appealing cast and plenty of action. None were more disappointed when the series, Search, faded after a single season. Thanks to the Wayback Machine that is Warner Archive, the pilot film, Probe, is currently available with hints that the series itself may follow.
Billed as “science fiction in today’s world”, NBC offered up a series that may be a little creaky upon watching today but the series offered some forward looking thinking that was all too rare during the 1970s. It all began with a two-hour telefilm that served as a pilot from Outer Limits creator Leslie Stevens. Producing the show was Star Trek veteran Robert Justman which may well explain why so many of the sound effects at Probe Control remind you of the Enterprise bridge.
World Securities Corp. was a nondescript business but within its office building lay the ultra-high-tech, secret Probe division. The field agents were outfitted with neural earjacks and dental implants that were wirelessly connected to the control room. Each agent carried a scanner that could transmit audio, video, infrared, medical telemetry and the like. Worn as a ring, cufflink or medallion, it was the ultimate fashion accessory. At Probe Control, a quintet of operatives monitored incoming and outgoing data, the physical health of the agent or the target, and could call up information from international databases. Orchestrating the flow and playing Jiminy Cricket to the field operatives was the no-nonsense VCR Cameron. (more…)
Looks like DC isn’t the only one canceling long-running titles of late, as this October Uncanny X-Men #544 concludes the long running series.
For a while, this was the highest selling title Marvel had, and was the benchmark against which all other titles were measured. But hey, let’s get that first issue sales pop, right?
For years, comics executives have quietly worried that the comics audience is aging out. We’ve been seeing surveys year after year showing that the average age of a comic book reader has been moving up year by year, leading many to conclude that we haven’t been bringing younger readers in– and thereby causing a lot of panic.
But that may not be the conclusion to draw at all.
According to a survey of 1,200 households compiled by the Entertainment Software Association, the average videogame player is now 37 years old, and the average buyer is 41. In fact, 29% of players are over 50. And the average gamer has been playing for 12 years. 42% of them are women.
Those demographics are disturbingly close to the comic book reading audience in general, and to ComicMix in particular– 32% of our readers are between the ages of 35 and 44, and 29% of our readers are over 45. We do tend to skew male, though, with 67% of our readers being male.
The study also notes that as games become ubiquitous on all platforms, especially smart phones, more players could eventually make that demo younger, considering games are now played, in some form, by 72% of American households, stealing away audiences from TV shows and movies, the trade group said.
With such similar demographics, DC’s move to focus so much on digital platforms, both the day-and-date reboot this fall and the DC Universe Online MMORPG, make a lot of sense– they want part of that $25.1 billion on game content, hardware and accessories that consumers spent in 2010.
Something to consider as everybody goes out to E3 this week.
Pro Se Productions released a second trailer spotlighting its upcoming release of Barry Reese’s THE ROOK: VOLUME SIX today. Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of Pro Se, states, “This book is good enough to have its own movie, much less more than one trailer! This trailer shows a different aspect from the first one and actually previews art from the upcoming volume!” Produced by Pro Se CEO Fuller Bumpers, this trailer showcases THE ROOK: VOLUME SIX, due out in a matter of days!
TIPPIN’ HANCOCK’S HAT-Reviews of All Things Pulp by Tommy Hancock
THE BLEEDING HELLS
by Barry Reese
Published by Wild Cat Books
2008
If you know New Pulp, then you probably know the work of author Barry Reese. Even more likely you know the character Reese is best known for creating, THE ROOK, formerly with Wild Cat Books, coming soon from Pro Se Press. Barry has made quite a name for himself by producing ROOK story after ROOK story, most of them collected in six total volumes with plans for three full novels to come over the next year or two. What you may not know about, though, is a little Reese gem that slides under most radars. And not only is The Rook central to the story, but Reese with all his New Pulp skill and style reaches into the land of Classic Pulp and the Public Domain and adds a liberal dose of The Black Bat, Ascott Keane, and Doctor Satan into one bleeding helluva story that may be one of my favorite ROOK adventures.
THE BLEEDING HELLS focuses on The Knife of Elohim, a blade that is a major part of The Rook’s arsenal. This blade, once bathed in the blood of Christ, is blessed with supernatural energy. Within this story, it turns out there were four such blades and two criminals have decided to collect all four and open up a portal into The Bleeding Hells, essentially the worst version of Lucifer’s headquarters one could imagine. It turns out that not only does The Rook have one of these knives, but The Black Bat has one and the infamous Dr. Satan has the other two. The criminals of course end up getting hands on all four and our heroes…and yes, one incredibly evil villain…have to pool resources, set aside differences, and hope they can save the world, even if they already be too late.
THE BLEEDING HELLS is Reese’s ROOK at its best. The characterization of Max Davies shows not only an avenger of justice, but a man troubled enough by his own past to fight like heck to insure the safety of the future. Reese goes to a whole other level, however, within this tale than just putting his best Rook forward. Once again, Barry shows an excellent grasp of what’s come before and gives fantastic portrayals of THE BLACK BAT, ASCOTT KEANE, and a thoroughly chilling and enjoyable DOCTOR SATAN. Other strengths shine through as well, including the pacing being dead on. Barry builds the tension of the story well, even as he thrusts you immediately into the action. Dialogue pops all the way through, from the smarminess of Satan to the back and forth charming dialogue between the various heroes’ sidekicks. In all ways Reese, this is one of the best efforts I’ve yet to see and definitely makes me want to see this collection of heroes and villains once again…and even twice.
The only drawback to this volume and unfortunately it’s a significant one, is the editing. It’s not that there’s a mistake on every page, but the misspelling and absence of words is enough that it proved distracting from the beginning to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed THE BLEEDING HELLS, but I have also built up a tolerance to editing errors to a small degree. Even with that, though, the editing or lack of it made THE BLEEDING HELLS a little more difficult to read than I would have liked.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE TIPS OF THE HAT-The editing is an issue for me, but to be honest, the story is just awesome enough to overcome it.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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