Tagged: Wonder Woman

Sunday Cinema: Wonder Woman fan video making the rounds

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Jesse V. Johnson, the director behind Anchor Bay‘s The Package and the recently announced Kill ‘Em All, John (both vehicles for former wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin) used $3500 and a bunch of favors to make a fan film to demonstrate his chops beyond direct-to-video action fare. He cast Danish singer Nina Bergman as Wonder Woman and got Peter Stormare and Sons Of Anarchy‘s Timothy V. Murphy to play oily Nazis. The resulting video, produced by Hugh Daly and Faz Brahimi and aided by Johnson’s Station 3 manager and producing partner Kailey Marsh, can be seen here…

Martha Thomases: Udder Catastrophe

thomases-art-130215-4551025There are two totally unrelated things I want to talk about this week. Well, not entirely unrelated. Both have actual connections to comics, something my last column managed to completely miss.

1. In a move that reminds absolutely everyone of Dick Tracy, Apple may be developing the twenty-first century version of the two-way wrist radio. This would be a flexible all-class device that one would wear on the wrist. There is speculation the screen would be 1.5 inches in diameter.

I hate this idea. I can barely type on the keyboard of my phone with two thumbs. There is no way I could tap out anything even vaguely intelligible on my wrist with one hand.  There is only a slightly larger chance that I would be able to read anything on a screen that small, so I guess that would limit the amount to typing I would need to do.

There is apparently an entire department at Apple that is developing wearable computers. The article alludes to the possibility of Apple sunglasses as well.

My first reaction was to get excited, because I would look much cooler in sunglasses, and also, Neuromancer. However, the more I think about it, the more I think it’s either a bad idea, or requires more refinement. I mean, it’s difficult enough to walk a city sidewalk now, when the multitudes are so engrossed with looking at their phones that they walk into traffic. And they have to actually take their phones out of their pockets and hold them in their hands to look at those screens. With glasses, even that little bit of effort is superfluous. As you walk down the sidewalk (or, God forbid, drive your car) you won’t be able to tell who is or isn’t paying attention.

We’re all doomed.

At least, with a watch, there’s the possibility of fighting crime.

2). Those of you who keep track of my every utterance may remember how appalled I was last year when the editorial brain trust at DC Comics decided that super-powered female lizards have breasts

http://comicmix.com//columns/2012/03/23/martha-thomases-what-would-women-worldkillers-wear/. For one thing, I kept formulating a joke in my head (“Like tits on a lizard, these are the Days of Our Lives“) that no one would understand anymore.

But, mostly, it upsets me that purportedly adult humans either know nothing about human biology or think the customers who pay their salaries are stupid tools who are easily manipulated. Both of these alternatives fill me with despair.

And this week, as I read my DC Comics, I was let down in exactly this way by a few books I normally enjoy.

The first was the end of the “Rot World” storyline, taking place in the #17 issues of Animal Man and Swamp Thing. Our title heroes and their allies are fighting creatures who have been overtaken by The Rot, so that they are desiccated zombies or monsters. Among the zombies are Superman and Wonder Woman. They are skeletal, except for Superman’s enormous muscles, and Wonder Woman’s muscular arms and giant breasts.

It makes no sense whatsoever for Wonder Woman to have a body that indicates she has no fat, but the gigantic breasts belie that. I suppose it’s possible that her breasts are full of pus, which would be scary, but also disturbing.

And then, in Dial H for Hero #9, the woman with a dial turns into a Minotaura, a female minotaur. She is covered with hair, has horns on her head, again with the exaggerated musculature, and again with ginormous boobies.

Think about it. A minotaur, half man and half bull. The female version would be half woman, half cow. No horns. And, if mammary glands, just as likely to be an udder as breasts.

Consider the possibilities of the super-powered udder. There could be jet-propelled milk, used to knock opponents off balance. A full udder is heavy, and an empty one could be flexible. It would be awesome.

But it wouldn’t give the fanboys boners, so I guess it’s not to be.

I await the Apple computer that gets built into bras.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

 

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR ANNOUNCED!

PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AND DISTRIBUTION

PULP ARK 2013 GUESTS OF HONOR REVEALED!
APRIL 26-28TH, 2013
10/15/12

Pulp Ark 2013, the Official New Pulp Creators’ Conference/Convention in its third year announced today its Three Guests of Honor for the Third year of the convention to be held in Springdale, AR.

“Pulp,” Tommy Hancock, Pulp Ark Organizer and Partner in Pro Se Productions, the company sponsoring Pulp Ark, “is a marvelous, massively diverse field…a style that has transcended its origins in the early 20th Century in cheaply printed magazines and found its way into every medium available to modern fans.  Classic characters and stories are finding new life with readers and enthusiasts today and new tales centered around original characters are exploding onto the scene as well.  This year, Pulp Ark 2013 will celebrate the variety that is Pulp in many ways.   Our Three Guests of Honor most definitely reflect both the differences and the common denominators in Pulp, both classic and new, both originals of today and inspirations of yesteryear.   I am extremely proud to announce that Joe Devito, Martin Powell, and Paul Bishop will be the Guests of Honor for Pulp Ark 2013 this year!”



Martin Powell has been a professional writer since 1986. He received early critical praise with the Eisner Award nominated Sherlock Holmes/Count Dracula graphic novel, Scarlet in Gaslight, which has remained in print for more than twenty-five years.


Powell has since written hundreds of stories in numerous genres, including mystery, science fiction, horror, and humor, and has been published by Disney, Marvel, DC, Moonstone, Wild Cat Books, and Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics, among others, working with such popular characters as Superman, Batman, Tarzan, Lee Falk’s The Phantom, Frankenstein, The Spider, Kolchak the Night Stalker, The Avenger, and more.

He also a prolific author of many acclaimed children’s books, and is the creator of The Halloween Legion. His The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan won the coveted Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Best Graphic Novel of 2010.



Martin lives in Saint Paul, MN.


Joe DeVito was born on March 16, 1957 in New York City. He graduated with honors from Parsons School of Design in 1981 and studied at the Art Students League in New York City.


Over the years DeVito has painted many of the most recognizable Pop Culture and Pulp icons, including King Kong, Tarzan, Doc Savage, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Newman and various characters in World of Warcraft, with a decided emphasis in his illustration on dinosaurs, Action Adventure, SF and Fantasy. He has illustrated hundreds of book and magazine covers, painted several notable posters and numerous trading cards for the major comic book and gaming houses, and created concept and character design for the film and television industries.


In 3D, DeVito sculpted the official 100th Anniversary statue of Tarzan of the Apes for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate, The Cooper Kong for the Merian C. Cooper Estate, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman for Chronicle Book’s Masterpiece Editions, several other notable Pop and Pulp characters. Additional sculpting work ranges from scientifically accurate dinosaurs, a multitude of collectibles for the Bradford Exchange in a variety of genres, to larger-than-life statues and the award trophy for the influential art annual SPECTRUM.


An avid writer, Joe is also the co-author (with Brad Strickland) of two novels, which he illustrated as well. The first, KONG: King of Skull Island (DH Press) was published in  2004. The second book, Merian C. Cooper’s KING KONG, was published by St. Martin’s Griffin, in 2005. He has also contributed many essays and articles to such collected works as Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend and Do Androids Artists Paint In Oils When They Dream?in Pixel or Paint: The Digital Divide In Illustration Art.


2012 saw the release of Kindle and iBook versions of KONG: King of Skull Island that were accompanied by Part 1 of a cutting edge app version of the book. With the property in full development as a motion picture, other plans include the release of Part 2 of the interactive Kong book app, the beginning of a KONG: King of Skull Island YA series and Kong collectibles for the Cooper Estate.


Presently DeVito is painting covers for The All NewWild Adventures of Doc Savage (written by Will Murray), while also finishing the screenplay and developing imagery for his newest creation, a faction world of truly epic proportions tentatively titled The Primordials.


FB: Joe DeVito-DeVito Artworks


Paul Bishop is a thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department whose career included a three year tour as an interrogator with his department’s Anti-Terrorist Division and over twenty-five years’ experience in the investigation of sex crimes. For the past eight years, his various Special Assaults Units have consistently produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rate in the city. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, Paul also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the City of Los Angeles.

As a nationally recognized interrogator, Paul co-starred with his professional partner, bestselling author and prosecutor, Mary Hanlon Stone, as the regular interrogators and driving force behind the ABC reality show Take The Money And Run from producer Jerry Bruckheimer.  Based on his expertise in the area of deception detection, Paul continues to work privately conducting interview and interrogation seminars for law enforcement agencies, military entities, and human resource organizations.

   
Paul has had twelve novels published, including Hot Pursuit, Deep Water, Penalty Shot, Suspicious Minds, the short story collection Running Wylde, and five novels in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series – Croaker: Kill Me Again, Croaker: Grave Sins, Croaker: Tequila Mockingbird, Croaker: Chalk Whispers, and Croaker: Pattern of Behavior.  All his novels have recently been released in e-book format. 

Paul has also written feature film scripts and numerous episodic scripts for television, including such shows as Diagnosis: Murder, LA Dragnet, The New Detectives, and Navy Seals: The Untold Stories

Paul is currently writing and editing the monthly Fight Card series, 25,000 word e-novels, designed to be read in one or two sittings, inspired by the fight pulps of the ’30s and ’40s – such as Fight Stories Magazine – and Robert E. Howard’s two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan.  His latest entry, Fight Card: Swamp Walloper (written as Jack Tunney) will premiere at the 2013 Pulp Ark convention.   He can be found blogging at www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com  and followed via twitter@bishsbeat.  A full list of his novels  is available at http://tinyurl.com/7x8xo5k



“These three,” Hancock stated, “represent a huge variety within Pulp today, but they all also show the commonalities of what Pulp is.  And as far as mediums, everything from books to comics to television to sculpture to painting and more is represented by these fantastic Guests.   It’s a privilege for Pulp Ark to have them as its centerpiece in 2013.”

Pulp Ark is a Writer’s Conference/Convention focused on ‘Pulp’ fiction.  Although defined narrowly by many, Pulp Ark promotes Pulp Fiction as multi genre multi medium storytelling that typically involves action, adventure, larger than life heroes and villains, and a strong focus on both plot and characterization.  “Pulp,” Hancock said, “began as a medium in which many great writers told a lot of wonderful stories and readers could pick ’em up a 100 or more pages at a time for a dime.  Although it’s no longer that necessarily, the sensibilities of Pulp storytelling, the style, the methodology, all the stuff fans have remembered and enjoyed for over 80 years about those kinds of tales, all of that is still around and available from all sorts of authors, artists, performers and companies.  That is what Pulp Ark is all about.”

Pulp Ark 2013 will be held in Springdale, Arkansas April 26-28, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Springdale Hotel and Convention Center in Springdale, Arkansas, 1500 South 48th Street, phone number- 1-479-751-8300.  For a peek at the venue, click HERE!

SPECIAL PRICES UNTIL JANUARY 1ST, 2013!  Any and all who plan to attend Pulp Ark 2013 and want to get the Discounted Room Rate MUST reserve a room or rooms by January 1st, 2013 to take advantage of the Special Pulp Ark rate of $84.00 a night.  To reserver your room online, please click HERE!  

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PULP ARK 2013-Springdale, Arkansas!  For further information, go to www.prosepulp.com or contact Hancock at 870-834-4022 and/or proseproductions@earthlink.net.  Expect more Pulp Ark Announcements VERY SOON!

Mindy Newell: The Sexual Preferences Of Wonder Woman, or The Hero’s Journey Part II

Before continuing, I must say mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.

I made a major error last week. My terrific correspondent in last week’s column is not Bill Hannigan. He is Bill Mulligan. As in – sing along, folks – m-u-double l-i-g-a-n spells Mulligan. I cannot explain it, but can only blame it on my menopausal mind. A hundred thousand apologies to Bill.

•     •     •     •     •

newell-art-1209101-5572729So last week I went to Vector Books, my local comics emporium, and picked up Justice League #12 (by Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and David Finch, with kudos to those gentlemen and everyone involved for terrific writing and gorgeous artwork).

In case you need reminding, it’s the issue with The Big Kiss.

But it is not a kiss of love.

It is a kiss of longing.

It is a kiss of confusion.

It is a kiss of desire.

The desire to know.

Who am I?

Where do I belong?

Am I capable of love?

Can you love me?

Can I love you?

Do you know?

If you do, tell me.

I need to know.

Longing and confusion.

Straight or gay or bi, these questions are at the heart of our relationships, our selves.

When we are in the womb, we are cocooned in an aquatic nest. Our every need is met. The only sound we hear is a muffled whoosh-whoosh, and it comforts us. We are at peace. We know we are not alone.

Then suddenly we are separated from the waters of life, the warmth and the comfort and the muffled sounds of love, and we are thrust into a harsh world of brightness and cold and noise. We are helpless as we are poked and prodded and laid against cold medal. We want to go back. But somehow we know that we can never go back, and we cry for that world where we were safe, where we were loved. And we are afraid that is gone forever.

But it is not gone forever, for we discover that in this harsh world there will be others who will love us, who will protect us and care for us, who will understand our fears and our confusion and our longing, because we will discover that these others are feel these things, too. And we will look to each other for that comfort and that warmth and love which will banish the fear and the loneliness and the confusion always hovering at the edges of our consciousness.

Loneliness.

Confusion.

Desire.

The desire to know ourselves.

The desire to know another.

The desire to not be alone.

The desire to share.

The desire to love.

Human emotions we don’t normally equate with super-heroes, especially mythic heroes such as Wonder Woman and Superman. But we build our heroes on the frail foundations of our humanity, so we should not be surprised when they reflect these frailties back upon us.

The hero’s journey is our journey.

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten Continues With The Big Con

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis Stands Tall

 

Batman on Nook

DC Comics graphic novels now available for Nook e-reader

07_frontview-batman2-300x411-1181507In a move widely expected to happen after the exclusive with Amazon expired, Barnes & Noble today announced a partnership with DC Entertainment to put graphic novels featuring DC Comics and Vertigo characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Sandman to the NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color, as well as Android tablets via the NOOK for Android app.

With the addition of DC Entertainment content, Barnes & Noble is also introducing Zoom View, an all-new NOOK Comics feature designed for NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color. Zoom View allows readers to focus in on individual panels in graphic novels and comics, allowing them to fully enjoy the stunning artwork and compelling storytelling that brings this genre to life. Zoom View will be immediately available on all DC Entertainment titles.

“Our goal is to reach the broadest possible audience and this new partnership with Barnes & Noble brings Batman, Superman and many other iconic DC Comics and Vertigo characters to the millions of NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color readers,” said Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Entertainment. “The new Zoom View feature makes our comics even easier to read, and emphasizes the graphic and artistic storytelling that is paramount to our art form.”

“Barnes & Noble is committed to offering NOOK customers a wide selection of digital graphic novels, and we’re excited to offer DC Entertainment’s fan-favorite collections on NOOK,” said Jim Hilt, Vice President, eBooks for Barnes & Noble. “The new Zoom View feature makes the reading experience even more interactive, and takes these graphic novels to a whole new level of entertainment.”

With more than 100 DC Entertainment graphic novels now available, the world’s greatest superheroes, their most acclaimed stories and most powerful graphic novels are on NOOK. More titles will be added every month and can be purchased at www.nook.com/dccomics, or directly on NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color, and Android tablets via the NOOK for Android app. DC Entertainment’s graphic novels are also available in Barnes & Noble retail locations.

Key DC Entertainment titles that are available immediately include graphic novel titles from DC COMICS – THE NEW 52, including Justice League, Vol. 1: Origin, Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt, Batman Vol. 1: The Court of Owls, Justice League International Vol. 1: The Signal Masters, Catwoman Vol. 1: The Game, Green Lantern Vol. 1: Sinestro, Stormwatch Vol. 1: The Dark Side, Green Arrow Vol. 1: The Midas Touch, Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Blood, and Batman: Detective Comics Vol. 1: Faces of Death.

Other best-selling graphic novels including Watchmen, All Star Superman Vol. 1 and 2, Fables Vol. 1-15, The Sandman Vol. 1-10, Superman Earth One, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 1-2, V for Vendetta, Batman: Hush, and Batman: Year One, among many others.

DC Comics July 2012 Solicitations

It’s that time again… okay, it’s a little past that normal time, thanks to the Mix March Madness wrapup, but here are the preview materials for DC Comics releases for July 2012.

What’s on tap this month? More of the Before Watchmen books, with the debut of Ozymandias from Len Wein and Jae Lee, the conclusion of the Court of Owls storyline and crossover in all the Bat-books, and the debut of the done-in-one book, National Comics, featuring the New 52 Debut (coming right at you) of Eternity.

And in the white elephant of desire category, there’s the $300 statue showing the climactic scene from The Dark Knight Returns.

Once more, into the breach? Banzai!

 

As always, spoilers may lurk beyond this point. (more…)

REVIEW: JLA: DOOM

justice-league-doom1-300x4021-2474974When Mark Waid joined the creative team on JLA, he told a pretty terrific story about Batman’s secret protocols for neutralizing the Justice League of America falling into Ra’s al Ghul’s hands. In the “Tower of Babel” story, he used it to take out the League in order to execute a plan for world domination.  It made for a fine story arc that allowed Batman to leave the team for time and resonated with fans given the weighty thematic material. It has endured in memory and prompted Warner Premiere to approve JLA: Doom, an adaptation as a part of their ongoing series of direct-to-DVD animated features

The resulting production, on sale tomorrow, is bittersweet because it marks the final script from the talented Dwayne MacDuffie. And it needed series editing which clearly was not done, making it a deeply flawed adaptation of the source material. The dramatic core is here, but given short shrift in two brief scenes while the remainder of the story is a series of chaotic and badly choreographed fights strung together. Any semblance of characterization for the heroes or villains is seemingly accidental as the story allowed the JLA to trade blows with a variety of familiar villains. (more…)

DC Comics May 2012 Solicitations

bm_earthone-288x450-8575253It’s that time again… here are the preview materials for DC Comics releases for May 2012.

As you can see, DC is clearly getting excited about the imminent arrival of The Dark Knight Rises with new movie statues showing Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, and Tom Hardy, the return of Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham’s Batman Incorporated and the long awaited arrival of Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, and the Talon appearing in every single Batman book this month… and even All-Star Western?

Plus, with the return of Earth One, we also get the return of Earth Two– and the return of the World’s Finest.

Shall we get into it? Let’s!

As always, spoilers may lurk beyond this point. (more…)

DC Entertainment’s We can be Heroes Campaign to fight Hunger in Africa

we-can-be-heroes-advertisement-300x397-1113765(January 23, 2012 – New York, NY)  DC Entertainment, home of the world’s greatest super heroes, today unveiled an unprecedented giving campaign to fight the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.  This multi-million-dollar commitment over the next two years will be supported across all Warner Bros. Entertainment’s and Time Warner’s businesses and feature DC Entertainment’s iconic Justice League characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, issuing the call to action, “We Can Be Heroes.”  The announcements were made at a press conference today in New York by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros.; Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group; and Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment.

We Can Be Heroes will support the efforts of three humanitarian aid organizations working in Africa—Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps—as part of the global effort to fight the current hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa.  The region is suffering its worst drought and famine in over 60 years, with 13 million in need of critical assistance and 250,000 facing starvation in Somalia alone.  Each partner organization was chosen for its track record of effective and expeditious humanitarian aid efforts in Africa.
merchandise-shot-300x195-4575331We Can Be Heroes will be supported via promotional exposure across all of Time Warner’s divisional advertising platforms (Warner Bros., Turner Broadcasting, Time Inc., HBO), generating millions of consumer impressions and creating crucially needed awareness of this crisis worldwide.  Save the Children, International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps will equally share a corporate donation of at least $2 million over the next two years comprised of cash donations, employee matching funds and consumer matching funds.
“Warner Bros. has a long history of corporate philanthropy and outreach, and this campaign proudly continues that tradition,” said Meyer.  “We are a global company, and this is a global issue.  By marshalling our expertise in consumer and fan engagement and creating global awareness, we hope we’re able to inspire others to join us in becoming ‘heroes’ and make a difference in the Horn of Africa.”

(more…)

NEW PULP WRITER, EDITOR, SUPPORTER AND FRIEND HOWARD HOPKINS-REST IN PEACE

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Howard Hopkins, prolific writer as well as Historian, Editor, and Friend of Pulp writers, publishers, and fandom, passed away on Thursday, January 12, 2012.   This is a tremendous loss for the Pulp Community specifically and the world as a whole.  All Pulp will be honoring Howard’s memory with a retrospective as well as other articles possibly and other sites, such as New Pulp Fiction, also intend to do so this week.

At the request of Dominique, Howard’s wife, we are sharing the following notice with all those affected by Howard’s living and passing.

http://www.cotefuneralhome.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=323:unnamed&catid=7:obituaries&Itemid=4

Continue to follow All Pulp for any further news concerning Howard as well as plans by his wife to continue Howard’s work and dreams.

Howard Lance Hopkins PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 16 January 2012 03:30
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Howard Lance Hopkins
January 14, 2012
Old Orchard Beach
Howard Lance Hopkins, 50, of Old Orchard Beach, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, January 12, 2012, inBiddeford.
He was born in Biddeford on December 12, 1961, son of Frank and Lynne Dion Hopkins. He was a graduate ofScarborough High School.
The superheroes of Howard’s youth, Doc Savage, The Avenger and The Shadow, influenced his decision to become a professional writer. For the past 24 years, Howard has written numerous books including Westerns for Hale Publications, graphic novels such as a Sherlock Holmes series and a widely known children’s series called the Nightmare Club. Most recently, he focused his energy on writing the Chloe Files, a character derived from his novel Grimm.
Howard was an avid reader of superhero comic books, including Wonder Woman, Superman and The Hulk, to name a few.
He will be remembered as a devoted, loving and very supportive husband. He will be greatly missed not only by his loving and caring wife of 22 years, Dominique Morency Hopkins, but by many, especially his nephew Steap and niece Sam, who he loved, mentored and guided as his own.
Mr. Hopkins was a member of the United Methodist Church.
He is survived by his wife, Dominique of Old Orchard Beach
                        His parents – Lynne and Frank Hopkins
                        His sister – Robyn Hopkins
                        His in laws – Madeleine and Victor Morency and Marianne and Michael Fleischmann
                        His goddaughter – Renee Whitehouse
                        Several Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews and Cousins
A Visiting Hour will be from 10:30-11:30AM Wednesday at Cote Funeral Home, corner of Beach and James Streets, Saco. A Funeral Service will be held at 11:30AM Wednesday at Cote Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Saco. Arrangements are by Cote Funeral Home, Saco. You may wish to send flowers to the Cote Funeral Home or a donation to your local animal shelter in Howard’s name.  To send private condolences to the family go towww.cotefuneralhome.com