Tagged: Disney

Is Apple Going To Own Marvel?

  • News
  • October 26, 2010

Far be it for me to report on Wall Street rumors… but I’m going to report on a Wall Street rumor. This one’s too good to pass up.

Apple, the people who make the computer I’m typing on right now, is the world’s second largest company when measured in market capitalization. They’ve got $51 billion in cash and investments, an amount that is somewhat in excess of comprehension. It is likely that the hot shit gizmo maker will use some of this money to buy something cool – they do that all the time.

Leading the pack of rumor dogs is Sony, which owns Columbia Pictures. That’s not a great fit – Sony is heavily invested in retro technology and, besides, international hostile takeovers rarely succeed in Japan. They also developed Blu-Ray, which Apple hates. Barron’s, the Rupert Murdoch owned business weekly, noted several potential takeover targets: the aforementioned Sony, the software manufacturer Adobe (which is in a blood feud with Apple right now), Facebook… and Disney.

Apple honcho Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest stockholder. He’s on Disney’s board. He used to own Pixar, before he sold it to Disney.

Disney owns Marvel.

Last week, Jobs stated Apple will use that $51 billion for “big moves.” Acquiring Disney takes enormous ego, and if there’s anything Apple has in excess of cash reserves, it’s ego.

We note that when Apple launched its revolutionary iPad (which, by the way, I regard as a wonderful comic book reader), Marvel’s comic book app was one of their very top “sellers.” That’s in quotes because the app is free, although most of the comic books are not and Apple gets 30% of the “cover price.” So Marvel received great exposure in the Apple App Store. Remember, Marvel is owned by Disney and Jobs is the biggest mouse on their lot.

Disney’s ABC-TV has a bunch of Marvel properties in development
and Marvel has promoting Disney’s new Tron movie as though it starred Iron Man.

There’s a lot of reasons why this could happen. There are a lot of reasons why it wouldn’t: quite frankly, there are better investments than Disney. But still, it’s a real nice fit.

I can hardly wait for the inevitable Disneyland Justin Long “I’m A Mac” thrill ride.

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’

beautyandthebeastdiamondeddvdcombo2-8817811The climb back to not only respectability but creativity was a long painful one for Walt Disney Studios but you could see bits and pieces of improvement throughout the 1980s. [[[The Little Mermaid]]] in 1989 was the first serious indication that the animators found their mojo. As a result, audiences were primed and ready for 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. What they didn’t anticipate was just how magical and wonderful the film would be.

Clearly, one of the crown jewels, the studio has polished their gem to a bright luster in the just-released Diamond Edition. There are a variety of formats including the combo pack which has the movie on standard DVD plus two Blu-ray discs chuck full of goodness.

First of all, you get three versions of the movie: the original theatrical release, the extended edition (containing the number “Being Human”) and the work-in-progress print which was screened in New York a year prior to release that gave everyone a hint at how special this film would be. While the animation shines in DVD, it’s glorious in Blu-ray, complete with spectacular sound. If anything, the high definition images are too clear so you actually see animation flaws here and there. Watching the film lets you lose yourself in the finely crafted story with lush visuals and lovely tunes.

The classic tale was reimagined in England under a different creative director and when the first 18 minutes of storyboards were presented, the Disney executives, including Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, didn’t think it was quite right. They trashed six months of work and reassigned roles. At that point, it was also decided to add music and that is when the creative problems plaguing the story got solved.

Fortunately, the team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were fresh off The Little Mermaid and stepped in. Ashman was ill, dying before Beauty was released, but did some of his finest work. The finished results had all the Disney magic generations had come to expect and added at least one new generation to its collection of believers. The story of Belle and the Beast is dramatic, emotional, humorous and touching. There are wonderful supporting characters, memorable songs, bits of business for adults and plenty of action for all. No wonder it received a Golden Globe and was nominated for Best Picture, forcing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create a separate category.

(more…)

INTERVIEW-MATT MORING, PUBLISHER, ALTUS PRESS!!!

  • News
  • October 1, 2010

diamondstone_cvr-6802527
AP: Matt, thanks for taking the time out to visit with ALL PULP. To kick this off, can you share some personal/professional background about yourself?

MM: Sure, I’m a web/graphic designer who’s worked in publishing for a number of years. In the past, I’ve put this art background to use doing artwork reconstruction work for Marvel, DC, AC, Disney, etc., for their various golden- and silver-age reprints.

But I’ve always loved pulps and I thought I could do at least a serviceable job in making attractive pulp reprints that matched their “cousin” hardcover comic reprints that Marvel and DC are doing.

AP: You are the head man behind Altus Press. What is Altus Press in terms of what it produces and its mission and purpose?

MM: Honestly, it’s to produce the books that I’d like to personally have on my bookshelf. That doesn’t just mean producing a collection of, say all the Secret Agent X stories just because I want them, but making them the de facto place to get these classic stories. In this case, all the Secret Agent X stories have been reprinted in one place or another, in one format or another, over the course of nearly 50 years. So my hope is that my Secret Agent X volumes will allow fans to toss out all those mis-matched reprints they already have–whether they’re the 60s Corinth paperbacks, Hanos digests, Bill Blackbeard photocopies, PDFs, etc.
In addition, I want to share with as many people as are interested all the interesting pulp stories that I’ve encountered, and there seems to be an endless supply of such material. The more I learn, the less I know, as the saying goes.

AP: Altus Press is well known for its collections of reprinted material, a lot of it thought long lost to the public at large. Can you give us a list of what characters you’ve got in your stable of reprints?

cm1cvr-4389227
MM: Certainly. I try to do a healthy mix of “done in one”-type collections as well as multi-volume series. Some of the characters include Ravenwood, Mr. Death, Diamondstone, Doctor Death, Johnny Saxon, Ka-Zar, Ki-Gor, Jim Anthony, Polaris, Secret Agent X, Armless O’Neil, Seekay, The Bat, The Black Bat, The Cobra, Sheena, Senorita Scorpion, The Griffon, The Crimson Mask, Red Finger, The Man in Purple, The Black Hood, The Secret 6, The Purple Scar, The Blond Adder, Thunder Jim Wade, and many, many more that are on their way.

AP: What is the process you went through to gather these stories? Is everything you’re reprinting public domain?

MM: No. I generally tried to focus on PD material when I started, but in recent years, I’d say it’s about 50% PD, 50% licenced.
The process on each title is different. Sometimes a final product is quite clear to me, such as my recent Diamondstone: Magician – Sleuth book. In that case, it was very straightforward: there were only six stories and together, they filled out a nice 250-page book. There weren’t any other related stories from the author, G.T. Felming-Roberts, that made sense to include. So that book only took a matter of weeks to finish.

Other books take much longer to complete. My recent Norvell Page detective anthology, When the Death-Bat Flies: The Detective Stories of Norvell Page, has taken over a year to finish. It collects over 30 stories, and I only owned two of them. So it took quite a while to track all those down at finish that 800-page book. And there are other books that I’ve started but am looking for additional pieces to add to flesh them out. Some of these have been in this state for several years.

AP: What about new stories based on existing characters? Is this an area Altus Press works in? What titles?

MM: We do some new material here and there, but since other publishers like Airship 27 do a lot of that, I’ve focused on mainly reprint material. But I will recommend everything that Tom Johnson has written for Altus Press… he’s a pro and everything is a solid read. He’d done full collections such as the book Pulp Detectives, and he’s filled the lion’s share of our semi-regular anthology, Triple Detective. He’s also done new stories to augment reprint material such as in The Hand of Red Finger and The Man in Purple. And he’s got more on the way!

I hope that we’ll also do new material by other authors in the future.

seekaycvr-5558127
AP: In dealing with new stories based on old characters, what is your opinion on modernizing/changing them to possibly appeal to a broader readership?
MM:  Well, since I don’t do a lot of new material, I don’t have much to say on it. But a lot of these long-running characters, such as Doc Savage, The Black Bat, The Phantom Detective, etc., all changed and grew within their original pulp runs. If they were published non-stop from the 1930s to now, something tells me editorial & buying tastes would have changed these characters anyway. So as long as the changes don’t make the characters unrecognizable, I have no beef with updating things.

AP: How about all new original characters in the pulp vein? What original characters has Altus Press published?

MM: I’ll just say this: look for news on this in the future.

AP: Yet another line that Altus Press has is its pulp companions/histories. What is the importance of providing these published histories to the modern reader and overall, why is pulp history relevant?

MM: There’s a lot of pulp scholarship that was written in the 1970s-80s in fanzines such as Echoes, Pulp Vault, etc., which deserves to be made more available to the public. These are great fun to assemble, as they’re like a puzzle to put together… what articles & content could/should be collected under one cover on a certain topic? These are the books I’ll frequently pull out to browse through for enjoyment.

Pulp-reading is, by its nature, an insulated group. By that, I mean it’s tough for a person to learn about a character/topic/theme without having to refer to multiple sources to get a thorough history. We shouldn’t force people to do homework. So I think making my Companion books available is a solution for those fans who wish to learn more about a topic… after all, there’s not a top of information on most of these characters online.

amd_cvr-3792350
Additionally, many of these books revolve around series which were written by multiple authors under a house name. A lot of time has been spent on attempting to identify writers, and I felt it was important to make that research available. The next generation that wants to dig deeper on IDing authors will appreciate having this information in easy-to-reference editions, I’d reckon.

AP: You’re a publisher and a lot of pulp publishers are also writers? What about you? Are you a writer and if so, what is your general interest as an author?

MM: No, I wish. I’m not a good writer, so I’ll leave that to the people who are.

AP: Altus Press obviously deals with multiple pulp characters. Are there any you haven’t worked with/researched enough/been involved with in some way that are on your to-do list?

MM: Not really. I’ve published Lester Dent which was a dream come true. If anything, it would be great to have a hand at publishing an authentic Doc Savage or Shadow original story and have it considered part of cannon.

AP: It obviously doesn’t seem like you or Altus Press have anytime soon to slow down. Any further projects you can discuss?

MM: There’s plenty in various stages of completion now. The Page Death-Bat book I mentioned earlier is almost done. That’ll make 1200 pages of Norvell Page that I’ve done in just a couple of months.

pdc_cvr-5818637
I’m just about finished with another companion book, this being The Dime Detective Companion, which reprints a pretty cool story: the fifth anniversary story (from 1936) “The Tongueless Men”. What makes it cool is that it’s written in round robin style, with five of Dime Detective’s most popular writers at the time–William E. Barrett, Carroll John Daly, Frederick C.Davis, T. T. Flynn and John Lawrence–writing a chapter apiece. And it’s up to the reader to figure out who wrote which chapter! It’s pretty fun and it’s never been reprinted before.
I’ve also got my reprinting of the complete series of The Green Lama coming out soon. While I’ve spaced out my previous multi-book series reprints, I’m going to be putting these out in succession, across three volumes. So Green Lama fans won’t have to wait too long for the next books.

I also have a pair of books collecting the adventures of The Suicide Squad coming… two books containing six stories each.

Several more Companion books from Tom Johnson, such as The Black Bat Companion and The Dan Fowler Companion, as well as another collection of Tom’s new stories.

Another multi-book reprint series starring Richard Knight by Donald Keyhoe.

A special Phantom Detective anthology… Doc Savage fans will really enjoy this one!

And last (but certainly not least) is a collection of Paul S. Powers western material, about half of which is comprised of unpublished manuscripts. It’s going to be a great book.

And that’s just the next few months! There’s plenty more down the road. And I’d like to add that these would be impossible to do without the help of so many kind people in the pulp community, among them Tom Johnson, Will Murray and Ray Riethmeier… without their help, our books would be much weaker products.

AP: We can’t thank you enough for being with ALL PULP today, Matt!

MM: Thanks for having me. I’m pleased to see so many regular updates on All Pulp; it makes for frequent visits!

NEW MOVIE REVIEW AT THE LONG MATINEE!!!-National Treasure!

  • News
  • September 26, 2010

THE LONG MATINEE – Movie Reviews by Derrick Ferguson

NATIONAL TREASURE                         

2004                                       
Walt Disney Pictures

Directed by Jon Turtletaub
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer
Written by Jim Kouf, Oren Aviv & Charles Segar (story)
Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley (screenplay)
I had heard a lot about NATIONAL TREASURE before I saw it.  Friends of mine told me to see it because it reminded them of something that I would write.  Roger Ebert just about called it an out-and-out rip off of “The DaVinci Code”.  Other people said it was boring, stupid, trite, a rip-off of this or that movie or character, mostly Indiana Jones or Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt
I saw it for myself and you know what was the most surprising thing to me about the movie was?  That this was a Jerry Bruckheimer/Nicolas Cage collaboration that didn’t have any of the qualities that were evident in their other films together such as “Con Air” or “The Rock”.    This is an action movie, yes.  But when you compare it to what we call action movies today, it’s practically a throwback.  There is only one explosion, one car chase, one shootout, one death and even that is due to the poor dumb bastard who gets killed making a wrong step.  NATIONAL TREASURE is a movie that plays as if Cage and Bruckheimer had deliberately sat down and said: “let’s do an action movie that’s totally different from what we’ve done before.” and in doing so, they’ve given today’s audience what amounts to an updated version of my beloved pulp adventure serials from the 1930’s/1940’s.
Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage) has spent his entire life looking for a treasure that has passed from Emperors to Kings to Pharaohs and finally to The Founding Fathers of The American Government.  The treasure has grown to such enormous wealth that supposedly it’s “too large for any one man or nation to own” and The Knights Templars protected it in Europe for hundreds of years until it was moved to America along with The Knights Templar who became The Freemasons.  The Freemasons counted among their members such notable Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin who left clues scattered among the various works they left behind as to where this fabulously immense treasure could be found.
 Gates has discovered that the map to where the National Treasure is located is on the back of The Declaration of Independence.  What is unfortunate is that he can get nobody to believe him, especially The FBI or Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who is a curator at The National Archives.  When Gates tells her about the invisible map that is on the back of The Declaration of Independence and has been there for hundreds of years undetected she asks him quite seriously: “Who wrote it there?  Bigfoot?”
Gates doesn’t have much time to try and change the minds of the FBI or Dr. Chase since his former partner Ian Howe has double-crossed him and intends to steal The Declaration and find the treasure.  Gates decides that the only thing to do is steal The Declaration of Independence himself, along with his brilliant tech-savvy sidekick Riley Poole and find the treasure before Ian does. 
NATIONAL TREASURE has a lot going for it in the way it handles the characters and the motivations behind what they’re doing.  Gates is not a treasure seeker in the conventional sense and indeed, he keeps telling people that he’s a ‘treasure protector’.  He’s looking for the National Treasure to vindicate his family name since The Gates Family are looked upon as crackpots by the historical/archeological community for believing that the treasure is real.   And he’s got a diverse and interesting background as shown by a scene where the FBI Agent assigned to catch Gates (played by Harvey Keitel) reads Gates’ file.  Gates has degrees in a whole bunch of diverse fields, which leads Keitel to muse; “I wonder just what this guy wanted to be when he grew up”.
And the relationship between Gates and his rival Ian is interesting and well handled as well.  For once, the bad guy in a movie isn’t a bloodthirsty maniac out to kill everybody in his way.  In fact, Ian tries to go out of his way not to kill anybody because as he sensibly explains to one of his gun happy henchmen: “The authorities tend to want to find out why dead bodies have bullets in them and who put them there” As a matter of fact, NATIONAL TREASURE is one of the few action/adventure movies I’ve seen recently where the bad guy actually has good reasons for why he doesn’t kill the hero when he has a chance to, especially in a scene near the end where Ian leaves Gates and his sidekicks alive in a secret tomb underneath New York’s Wall Street when he certainly would have reason not to.  It surprised me and that’s not easy for movies nowadays to do.
I liked a lot of the performances here.  Nicholas Cage looks more at home playing Benjamin Franklin Gates than any of the other characters in his other action movies he’s done with Bruckheimer and maybe that’s because Gates isn’t an Indiana Jones, despite what you may have read or heard.  Gates isn’t a super martial artist or expert gunman or daredevil adventurer.  He’s an historian searching for vindication of his family’s dream and he plays it that way.  When he’s confronted with bad guys brandishing automatic weapons he runs like his ass is on fire and he only stops to fight when he has no other way out.  What makes him dangerous is his brainpower: he sees connections and can make them faster than anybody else and he’s smart enough to know that about himself and use it to his advantage.
Sean Bean is absolutely great as Cage’s rival in the race for the treasure and you get the sense that a lot of the reasons why he doesn’t kill Gates is that he really admires and respects Gates’ knowledge and resourcefulness.  Jon Voigt has a lot more to do here as Patrick Henry Gates, the father of Cage’s character than he had to do as Lara Croft’s father in “Tomb Raider”.  Justin Bartha as Riley Poole is one of the best sidekicks I’ve seen in recent moves and he has a wonderful scene where he proves just how much that a sidekick can enhance the hero’s character.
The main selling point for me with NATIONAL TREASURE, that it isn’t an Indiana Jones type of cliffhanging-thrill a minute-claw your date’s arm-type of movie.  It’s more in the nature of a scavenger hunt and the fun comes from seeing Cage’s character and his sidekicks put together the clues and piece them together.  Not that to say that there aren’t thrills aplenty: this is an exciting movie with fights, captures, chases and plot twists.  It’s just that it isn’t packed with explosions, car chases and deaths every five minutes 
images1-4554491
Having said all that let me say that I recommend NATIONAL TREASURE wholeheartedly.  I had an excellent time with the story and characters and I don’t even think you’ll miss the usual mayhem that we expect from a Bruckheimer/Cage action movie.  Are there holes in the plot holes and flaws?  Sure there are.  Cage and his crew find a ship that has supposedly been buried in the Arctic ice for hundreds of years far too easily.  And would gunpowder burn after being buried under the ice for that long a time?  And there’s another scene later on where Cage and his crew just happen be standing at the tower where The Liberty Bell is kept so that the shadow of the sun will be cast at just the right moment at just that right moment so they can find another clue to the treasure.  But by that time I had been so captivated by the performances and the sheer audacity of the story’s premise I was just watching and saying to the movie; “what the hell, let’s go.”  And I suppose that’s the best way I can tell you to take your viewing of NATIONAL TREASURE: sit back in your seat with your soda, popcorn, candy and say: “what the hell, let’s go.” Movie studios don’t make Saturday Morning Serials anymore but every so often they do make movies like NATIONAL TREASURE to remind us that once upon a time they did.

Rated: PG

131 Minutes

glee-season-11-4779684

Review: ‘Glee the Complete First Season’

[[[glee-season-11-4779684Glee]]] is frothy, delightful television that is as prone to being over-the-top as it is to be emotionally powerful. That it can successfully veer from one extreme to the other is one of the more impressive aspects of the Fox series, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. The show burst into the public consciousness with the clever airing of the pilot in the waning days of the 2008-2009 season and got people excited with something fresh and seemingly original (at least for prime time; no doubt Fox saw its potential after Disney’s success with [[[High School Musical]]].

When the show arrived last fall, it proved it was able to blend soap opera, music, and dance with an oddball assortment of characters with several vying for breakout status before Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester captured pop culture’s heart. The plight of the misfits that find themselves forming a glee club at Ohio’s William McKinley High School is the overarching theme as the team grows from a sextet to a full squad and prepares for sectionals and then regionals. As a result, we see them working on numerous pieces and with the show’s ratings climb, they stuffed in even more musical numbers which has neatly resulted in several soundtrack CDs already available.

When the show took an extended hiatus, Fox Home Entertainment released Glee, Volume One: Road to Sectionals to tide fans over. Now, in time for the premiere of season two this evening, Glee; The Complete First Season is out in both standard DVD and Blu-ray sets.

The show revels in its absurdity and doesn’t once try to make us think any of these characters are real or that the high school is really a place for learning. After all, we never see the kids in any academic class nor is homework ever a factor. Apparently, few of them need jobs or when they do can take them without breaking a sweat. We know there’s a faculty because we see them in the lounge where some of the more embarrassing adult shenanigans get discussed.

Where the series fell down was properly making us care for the dilemma Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) faced with his ditzy, desperate, deceptive wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig). Her fake pregnancy sub-plot was totally wasting time for other stories and her expulsion from the marriage seemed pre-ordained and yet, she remains attached to the show like a barnacle that won’t go away.

(more…)

MOONSTONE MONDAY-INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH MASSIE!

  • News
  • September 20, 2010
ELIZABETH MASSIE, Writer of JULIE WALKER IS THE PHANTOM and the upcoming MOON MAN for RETURN OF THE ORIGINALS, MOONSTONE BOOKS

　

AP:  Elizabeth, it’s a treat and a half to have you with All Pulp today!　 Can you give us a bit of background on yourself, personal and professional?


EM: Thanks so much! I’m a native Virginian, living within 20 miles of where my family moved in 1746. We tend to stay put once we put ourselves somewhere. I’ve been a newspaper receptionist, a camp counselor, a life guard, a teacher, and have been a full time freelance writer for 16 years. My first short story, “Whittler,” which was published in the now gone but well respected magazine, The Horror Show, earned me the grand sum of $2.00. Since then I’ve had close to 100 horror short stories published in magazines and anthologies, have had 23 novels for adults and young adults – both historical and horror – published by some of the best houses in the biz (Berkley, Tor, Simon & Schuster, Pocket. I’ve won two Bram Stoker Awards for my fiction, presented by the Horror Writers Association. I later branched out and did several media tie-in novels, one set in the Dark Shadows universe and one in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe. It was the first time I’d hopped over to play in someone else’s sandbox but found it a great deal of fun. Since then I’ve continued writing original fiction, nonfiction for educational publishers, and media-tie ins. In 2001 I met illustrator Cortney Skinner at the best horror convention EVER – Necon, which is held in Rhode Island. He moved down to Virginia and we’ve been sharing life and abode ever since. In 2010 I won a Scribe Award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers for my novelization of the third season of Showtime’s television series, The Tudors. I love Pepsi and chai. I hate cheese. I love the beach and World’s Softest Brand socks. I have never bungee jumped or skydived. I hate fun houses; they scare me.
　
AP: Let’s talk about your work with Moonstone.　 You’ve worked with pretty two classic characters, Zorro and The Phantom.　 What about these iconic characters appeals to the writer in you?


EM: Well, Zorro was my first crush, so that’s an appeal all to itself. When I was a little girl we used to watch Disney’s Zorro. I was too young to know it was a crush, but why else would I carve a Z into the wooden base of my grandmother’s old-fashioned sewing machine? Plus, I loved that he was such a good guy with a sense of humor. So confident and so brave. People looked up to him and depended on his being there in the nick of time. What’s not to love? Even though he wore a mask and cape there was nothing scary about him. Writing about Zorro was really enjoyable in that I was able to take a serious story but highlight Don Diego’s sense of humor and ability to go back and forth between two completely different personas – the rich young man who enjoyed relaxing and playing cards and had no desire whatsoever to fight and the dashing mysterious hero who can out duel, out ride, and outwit any criminal who comes along.


The Phantom has many of the same appealing characteristics. He fights crime to protect the innocent from the clutches of evil. He also lives two different lives, and wears a disguise when fighting criminals and defending the defenseless. However, the Phantom (AKA Kit Walker) is a more brooding, more serious character, even during his “down time.” As a writer, I could appreciate the depths of character here, how his life truly is tuned in to the needs of others and how that can torment his soul. This gives a writer a lot to work with. I also love the exotic setting of his home – the fictional country of Bengalla in Africa.
　
AP: Your work with the Phantom involved a twist to the usual take on the character.  Can you tell us a bit about ‘Julie Walker is the Phantom’?　 Was there any particular impetus or inspiration for the idea?


EM: Well, I was actually asked to do a “female Phantom” comic from the outset. I thought it was a grand idea, and set to work researching the Phantom and the various time periods in which Phantom stories have been written. Some might not know that there has been a long line of Phantoms, beginning in 1536; that the mantle is passed down from father to son. My story begins as a more typical Phantom story, with the legendary Nellie Bly setting out on her round-the-world trip in 1889. Kit, as the Phantom, sets off to secretly protect her from those who wish her harm, but is wounded terribly soon afterwards. This leaves Kit’s twin sister, Julie, to be the Phantom in his stead. I loved this…writing about two strong, independent, adventurous women in one comic.
　

AP:. You’ve also written a story for Moonstone about a classic TV character. Tell us about writing KOLCHAK, THE NIGHT STALKER.


EM: Carl Kolchak is another t.v. character on whom I had a bit of a crush, though this time I was definitely grown up! Unlike Zorro or the Phantom, Kolchak is just a guy wanting to do his job – a reporter who investigates and exposes and often unwittingly fights and conquers monsters of all every imaginable types. In my story, “They Came From the Dark Ride,” two of my favorite topics were merged – The Night Stalker and old Coney Island, which in itself was a fascinating, colorful, fun, yet potentially terrifying place. Kolchak encounters a man who has purchased several hundred-year-old rides from Coney Island, with no clue as to what supernatural elements he’s actually brought to his home by doing so. Good ole’ Carl must investigate, figure it out, and try to halt the deadly force.
　
AP: With your work with pulp characters, you’re definitely stepping into an area that has always been largely male dominated and unfortunately so, in most peoples’ opinions I think. Do you think female writers bring anything different to the table in presenting pulp stories than male writers?


EM:  I don’t think so, at least not now. I’ve heard some people say women writers (in pulp, in horror, in science fiction, in mystery or crime fiction) tend to write more emotion-based or character-driven works, but honestly, these days I think men delve into the emotion of the pulp characters as often as women do, and women as often write action-packed, plot-driven, hard-edged stories as the men do.
　
AP:  What do you feel is the appeal of pulp fiction and characters to the audience of today?


EM: People love a good hero, someone who, like themselves, struggles with the actualities of real life but are able to turn on a dime and go out and fight with strength, courage, determination, and purpose for those in need or those in peril. It’s fun to imagine such people exist; and hey, I not only imagine it but believe it. There are amazing heroes all around us, they just don’t wear capes or have comic books about them.
　

AP: You have an upcoming project that surely will be a favorite for pulp fans. Talk to us, if you can, about your MOON MAN comic.

 EM: Moon Man is a great crime fighter. Living in the era of the Great Depression, he is a police detective in his real life but has an alter ego that robs from the rich and gives to the poor while wearing a robe (or cape, depending on the story) and an “Argus glass” bowl on his head. Quite a wild and wonderful bit or creativity there! The glass bowl allows him to see out, but others can’t see his face. It’s also rigged so his breath doesn’t steam up the inside. My wide vision Moon Man comic, “Feint of Heart,” pits our hero the Moon Man against a wealthy, devious, and evil real estate mogul who wants to destroy a tenement (where many poor people live!) for his own purposes while also luring his young ward (a pretty female boxer) back into his clutches for his foul purposes.


AP:  Are there characters in the pulp realm that you haven’t tackled yet that you’d love to get your hands on? If so, who and why?


EM: Actually, I’d just love to do another Kolchak, Zorro, or Julie Walker/Phantom tale!
　
AP: Do you have any projects outside of Moonstone that might interest the pulp community?


At last I’ve been dragged into the world of e-books. While I love holding books and comics in my hand, I also realize that e-books are here and that many people are buying them. Soooooo…..some novels and collections from my back list are heading that way. In fact, my first novel, Sineater, (a Bram Stoker Award winner) is now available from Crossroad Press http://crossroadpress.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=126 and soon will be available as an audio book. I also have several new ghost stories out in anthologies from Woodland Press, including two due to be out October, 2010 –“Something You Need to Know” in Specters in Coal Dust and “Someone Came and Took Them Away” in Legends of the Mountain State 4.



AP:  Any future Moonstone projects we haven’t discussed you’d like to share about?

EM: A new anthology, edited by Lori Gentile, is due out in a few months. It’s called Chicks in Capes. The title alone probably gives you a good idea of the contents! Each writer (yes, all female writers and illustrators in this project) was to write a new story based on a character they owned or a new character they created for the book. My story, “Silver Slut: And So It Begins,” features a young bike messenger who discovers to her amazement that, while wearing a silver-lined cape given her on her birthday she has several super powers, but also discovers to her dismay that the first name someone calls her when they see her in her cape becomes her super hero name. My story is fast-paced, character-driven, and with a lot of humor.
　
AP: Again, it’s been a pleasure to visit with you!


EM: Thanks! It’s been fun!

NEW QUIZ FROM SARGE’S P.O.P QUIZ CENTRAL!!

  • News
  • September 19, 2010
P.O.P. QUIZ CENTRAL: PULP ART
Well, here’s another pop quiz from P.O.P. QUIZ CENTRAL, where the P.O.P. in P.O.P. QUIZ stands for Periodic Outcome Profile (Sounds pretty test happy ta me!). While our last P.O.P. Quiz was fairly general in content, this one concentrates on pulp art, comicbook art and artists. Again only circle one choice per line! With this particular P.O.P. QUIZ don’t feel obligated to answer every item. If you’re not familiar with the following names just look ‘em up later. Consider it homework that will amaze and astound you! Many of us Many of us are not familiar with the names of the authentic pulp artists of yesteryear but are quite familiar with the comicbook artists of the 1940’s to the present. Others have become quite familiar with the cracklin’ crop of artists who are posting their awe inspirin’ artwork on fb.  Again, don’t sweat the small stuff, it’s only a test! If it were the real thing I’d sit you down at Disney with a drawing table and a mess of markers and tell ya ta draw a caricature of every guest that plunks themselves down in front of ya!  I think you’ll be happier with the end results and analysis here. Well, here we go again!
(Circle only one answer per line, please. It’ll make it a lot easier for self-scoring. Don’t worry, I still trust you!)
  1. Hal Foster or Alex Raymond?
  2. Little Nemo or Popeye?
  3. The Magnificent Seven or Seven Angry Men?
  4. Dennis the Menace or Peanuts?
  5. Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko?
  6. Gil Kane or Neal Adams?
  7. Gil Kane or Bob Kane?
  8. Wayne Boring or Paul Reiman?
  9. Joe Kubert or Jerry Robinson?
  10. John Buscema or Johnny Romita?
  11. Will Eisener or Jules Feiffer?
  12. Jay Piscopo or Delfin Barral?
  13. Wally Wood or Mark Wheatley?
  14. Battle Star Galactica or Star Trek?
  15. Seascapes or Still Life?
  16. Nik Poliwko or Lawrence Leeson?
  17. Monopoly or Clue?
  18. Carl Barks or Walter Lantz?
  19. Art Deco or Craftsman?
  20. Evan Quiring or Del Hewitt, Jr.
  21. Law & Order or Dragnet?
  22. Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers?
  23. Dave Lung or Danny De Bruin?
  24. Twin Earths or Lost In Space?
  25. Jeremy Billadeau or Mike Spicer?
  26. Danny Kelly or Pete Hernandez II?
  27. Addams Family or the Munsters ?
  28. Jim Steranko or Peter Max?
  29. Desperate Housewives or All My Children?
  30. James Bama or Frank Frazetta
Well, did you find a pattern here? No? Look again, if you circled mostly names on the left you enjoy going to the movies. If more of your choices were on the right than you most likely enjoy live theatre. Now how does this translate to pulp art and design? Easy! The more names and titles you circled on the left the more you’re drawn to a cinematic angle and perspective. The more answers you circled on the right tells us you enjoy a dramatic feel and approach that can only be achieved on stage. If your choices even out between, let’s say 14 of one and 16 of the other, then you’re comfortable with more styles and techniques than most pulp artists, fans and writers.

blackcauldron25thanndvd-1979969

Review: ‘The Black Cauldron’

blackcauldron25thanndvd-1979969Fantasy author Lloyd Alexander was beloved for his imaginative series, the [[[Chronicles of Prydain]]] so anyone who read the series, originally released between 1964 and 1968, were no doubt apprehensive to see the entire story collapsed into an 80 minute animated feature from Walt Disney.

The filmmakers decided to focus on the second book, [[[The Black Cauldron]]], and substantially altered characters, settings, and events so when it opened July 24, 1985, fans of the material were not happy. Worse, people unfamiliar with the source material were not particularly entertained leading to a box office collapse. That this film came at the tail end of a period where creativity was clearly lacking meant that it looked and felt like a generic Disney animated film. Jeffrey Katzenberg arrived on staff just prior to the film’s release and he could merely nip and tuck sequences, but recognized their most expensive feature to date, and the first to use computer-generated animation, was not working.

Now released in a standard DVD 25th Anniversary edition, the movie has been cleaned up a bit but still lacks suspense and imagination. Rather than visually embrace the Welsh mythology that Alexander mined for his novels, Disney made everything look fairly bland.

In short, the Horned King (John Hurt) is attempting to find the legendary Black Cauldron which would give him the power to rule the world. According to a trio of witches, no one had been looking for the magical artifact in over 2000 years, but now the time seemed ripe. What the tall, shadowy figure did not count on was the plucky band of adventurers to stand in his way towards global domination. Leading the charge was the teenaged Taran (Grant Bardsley), who we meet as he laments his having just missed out on participating in the last war. Instead, he works as the assistant pig keeper to a wizard, unaware the prize pig, Hen Wen, can conjure up images of the future. When the pig goes missing, Taran goes in search only to encounter a talking creature named Gurgi (John Byner), followed by a dim-witted princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) and Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne), a broken down balladeer.

The movie barely resembles the book with characters altered beyond recognition and the Horned King a possible threat, as opposed to the malevolent force he is in the books. Instead, the standard quest story and coming of age for Taran are inserted much to the disappointment of the readers. Comical elements are there for the children but overall there’s no spark to ignite the imagination.

The new edition comes complete with a deleted scene, “The Fairy Folk”, that would have added to the exposition and you see it in semi-complete and pencil form with the soundtrack. A scene Katzenberg ordered cut, is not here. Also new to this set is “The Witches’ Challenge”, a trivia game for the youngsters. “The Quest for the Black Cauldron” game and art gallery are preserved from the previous release along with the 1952 Donald Duck short “Trick or Treat” included merely because it featured a witch.

Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’

I found myself interested in seeing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
entirely based on the trailer, and the engaging banter between Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton. Not being a game player, I had no frame of reference and therefore no preconceived notions when I sat down to watch the Disney production.  The visuals, largely CGI-generated, are enticing, with enough period costuming and countless extras to make it feel like a timeless Persia of story and legend.

The movie was considered a disappointment, opening weakly and garnering mixed reviews. Now, Disney Home Entertainment is releasing the film Tuesday as a single-disc Blu-ray or a combo pack. Gyllenhaal’s acrobatics makes it clear he would have been an excellent replacement for Toby Maguire in the second [[[Spider-Man]]] film, as he leaps, jumps, and acrobatically performs as Prince Dastan. While he does not at all look Persian, he also is the most empathic member of the cast, constantly looking at people with gentle eyes.

An orphan whose bravery impressed the King, he was taken into the palace and made a brother to the King’s sons. As we open the film, they have been manipulated to attack Alamut to end their treachery. Dastan, though, discovers Princess Tamnia (Arterton), attempting to hide a special dagger. From that point on, the story becomes a standard high-octane adventure story mixed with the Princess’ spiritual responsibilities. Of course, the twin themes mesh into a noisy climax set at the Hourglass of the world, or whatever it’s called.

The film is populated with stock types, the wise father, treacherous Uncle (Ben Kingsley, phoning it in), cannon fodder brothers — Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell) — and comic relief in the form of a gambler (Alfred Molina) who rails against taxes. Dastan’s greatest obstacle seems to be surviving the central casting figures to defeat the leader of the Hassansins in an overly drawn out set piece.

All the banter that appealed in the trailer was never expanded upon or deepened in the actual film and Tamina rarely acts like a princess or the keeper of a legendary trust. She certainly cowers well, though.

Director Mike Newell seemed to go out of his way to give us anything fresh and original, so scenes were reminiscent of many other genre features or even other video games. None of the characters rise above their roles so the end result is a mediocre popcorn experience.

On blu-ray, the film looks lovely, especially the exterior settings of the various kingdoms. This is one of the strongest video transfers I‘ve seen in a while. The single blu-ray contains one extra: a 1:30 deleted scene while the version in the combo pack also comes with the CineExplore feature. The Sands of Time offers up about two hours of extra material, some 40 behind-the-scenes tidbits about how the film was constructed. The annoying aspect, though, is that you have to literally sit through the film and look for a dagger icon, which triggers that moment’s video tidbit. There’s no other way to access it as there should be which makes it quite vexing. The standard DVD in the combo pack contains the obligatory Making Of featurette, which reuses much of the same material.

First Look at ‘Lost: New Man in Charge’

  • News
  • August 7, 2010

Walt Disney Home Entertainment sent us an extended clip from the 12-minute Lost epilogue entitled “New Man in Charge.” As detailed in the current Entertainment Weekly, the new short is a tantalizing hint at how Hurley and Ben performed as guardians on the island — and beyond.

This bonus feature will be available on both LOST: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON and LOST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION which debut on Blu-ray & DVD on August 24, 2010.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks