If you are not already watching Wynonna Earp, there’s no excuse! Season 1 is on Netflix, we’re half way through an exciting Season 2 on Syfy and the big news at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday was that Season 3 is go.
Maddy was able to talk to the cast – Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp, herself), Shamier Anderon (Agent Dolls), Tim Rozon (Doc Holliday), Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Waverly), Katherine Barrell (Officer Nicole Haught), Varun Saranga (Jeremy), Tamara Duarte (Rosita Bustillos), Wynonna Earp creator Beau Smith & show runner Emily Andras at Comic-Con and it was really fun. And while it’s mostly all the questions a feminist teenager wants to know (though we didn’t have a lot of time — so it wasn’t ALL the questions we wanted answered), we have to warn you there might be some spoilers if you aren’t caught up with the current season.
You can tell in the interviews how genuinely nice and amazing everyone is on this show. Is it because they are Canadian? Or is it because such they are just so happy to be one of the best shows on TV right now (maybe of ever)?
Was that a sigh of relief I just heard? That means you’re back. All you San Diego Comicon pilgrims. Bags stuffed with loot and a different kind of bag under your eyes because the lack of sleep will do that to you. Knees sore from being forced into space obviously meant for a Lilliputian? An autograph bestowed by your favorite demigod while you actually stood there in front of him breathing the same air!
You’re home now.
I’ve gone to a lot of these shows, probably somewhere north of 20 and my feelings are mixed, as they often are. At best these San Diego affairs are a grand gathering of the tribes, a place to re-meet professional colleagues and fellow hobbyists, folks who may not live on the same continent as you do but who share your zeitgeist and are nice people, besides.
At worst…oh my. Too much! Noise and crowds and frantic scurrying to get a glimpse of an admired celebrity before said celeb vanishes whatever alternate universe the convention organizers must make available to these Big Names to hide in between appearances… And if one of them actually speaks to you, well… oh, my! It happened to Marifran a few years ago and she might tell you about it if you ask sweetly.
For some conventioneers, it’s business. They’re looking for work and will settle for a civilized conversation with an editor, and no complaints here. And there are the editors themselves who are looking for… talent, I guess. I never actively searched for possible contributors when I attended cons wearing the ol’ editorial guise but if I found someone whose portfolio had exactly what I needed or knew that I was going to need soon, I didn’t shoo the person away.
So, some seek employment, some want to network, some might be searching for congenial company, and for some, the bigger cons – and San Diego is the biggest in the country – are a chance to don bizarre finery and compete in costume contests or be happy just to rove around looking cool. I’ve enjoyed myself just sitting in hotel lobbies watching the passing parade.
Everyone should have the San Diego Experience once. Maybe once will be enough, unless you have a fondness for heat and noise and traffic or you’re looking to buy stuff – a Star Trek uniform, anyone? – you might have trouble finding elsewhere, in which case, get yourself to the edge of the continent, live long and prosper.
I didn’t go this year. The convention staff has treated me particularly well in recent years, and there is fun to be had. But the crowds, the noise, that stuff… I can pass unless there’s a compelling reason not to.
This year, I’m particularly glad I skipped the trip because I would have returned to sad news. Flo Steinberg, a woman I met when she was Stan Lee’s assistant and whom I’ve known and cherished for a half-century, died of cancer. Maybe I’ll write about her sometimes, or maybe I’ll be satisfied with memories.
Vol. 26
does something slightly different: it collects related works. It has comic book pages and advertising art and gift-sized books (some of which could be called “graphic novels,” with only a tiny bit of squinting) and similar things — all featuring the Peanuts characters, all written and drawn by Schulz. Obviously, this was culled from a far larger mass of related Peanuts stuff — dozens of hours of TV specials, to begin with, plus major ad campaigns for many products over most of those fifty years, among other things — but Schulz managed and supervised and oversaw (or just licensed and approved) the vast majority of those.
This book has just the art and words that can be attributed cleanly to Schulz personally. Not all of it — there’s plenty of other spot illustrations, and a number of other small cash-grab gift books, that Fantagraphics could have included if they wanted to be comprehensive, but they didn’t. Instead, this is a book about the size of the others, that will sit next to them on a shelf and complement them.
Annoyingly, this very miscellaneous book avoids a table of contents — possibly because the previous books didn’t need one? — so you discover things one by one as you read it. It starts off with seventeen gag cartoons that Schulz sold to the Saturday Evening Post in the late ’40s, featuring kid characters much like the ones in L’il Folks and so somewhere in the parentage of Peanuts. Next up is seven comic-book format stories from the late ’50s that Jim Sasseville (from Schulz’s studio at the time) has identified as all-Schulz (among a much, much larger body of comic-book stories that I think were mostly by Sasseville). These are interesting, because they show Schulz with a larger palette (both physically and story-wise) than a four-panel comic strip — he still mostly keeps to a rigid grid, but there’s more energy in his layouts and he has room for better back-and-forth dialogue in multi-page stories.
Then there’s a section of advertising art, which begins with five pages of camera-themed strips that appeared in 1955’s The Brownie Book of Picture-Taking from Kodak but quickly turns into obvious ads for the Ford Falcon and Interstate Bakeries. The latter two groups are intermittently amusing, but mostly show that Peanuts characters were actively shilling for stuff a few decade before most of us realized it.
The book moves back into story-telling with three Christmas stories, which all originally appeared in women’s magazines from 1958 through 1968 (at precisely five-year intervals — what stopped the inevitable 1973 story?). The first one is two Sunday-comics-size pages; the others are a straight series of individual captioned pictures in order. After that comes four of the little gift books — two about Snoopy and the Red Baron, two about Snoopy and his literary career — which adapt and expand on gags and sequences from the main strip. (I recently tracked down and read
the one about Snoopy’s magnum opus, which I still have a lot of fondness for.)
Two more little gift books follow, these more obviously cash-grabs: Things I Learned After It Was Too Late and it’s follow-up, from the early ’80s. These were cute-sayings books, with pseudo-profound thoughts each placed carefully on a small page with an appropriate drawing. Schulz’s pseudo-profound thoughts are as good as anyone’s, I suppose.
Last from Sparky are a series of drawings and gags about golf and tennis, the two sports most obviously important to him — we already knew that from the strip itself. The golf stuff is very much for players of the game, and possibly even more so for players of the game in the ’60s and ’70s, but at least some of the gags will hit for non-golfers several decades later. The tennis material is slightly newer, and slightly less insider-y, and so it has dated a little less.
The book is rounded out by a long afterword by Schulz’s widow, Jean Schulz. It provides a personal perspective, but takes up a lot of space and mostly serves to show that Jean loved and respected her husband. That’s entirely a positive thing, but I’m not 100% convinced it required twenty-four pages of type in a book of comics and drawings.
Vol. 26 is a book for those of us who bought the first twenty-five; no one is going to start here. And, for us, it’s a great collection of miscellaneous stuff. Some of us will like some of it better than others, but every Peanuts fan will find some things in here to really enjoy.
[1] OK, a few months shy of actually fifty years — it started in October 1950 and ended in February 2000. But that’s close enough for most purposes.
It was, for its time, the coolest comic book on the racks. Lucky for me, having just turned eight years old I was at the perfect age to best enjoy it.
In fact, I already was lusting for the comic by the time it hit my local drug store. The house ad promoting the issue had been running in several of the DC comics for a few weeks, and it intrigued the hell out of me. Back in those days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, new comic book heroes were very few and very far between, even though 1958 was something of a boom year. DC had a title called Showcase that offered new concepts a try out – usually three issues. Yes, it was joined by The Brave and the Bold, but not until the summer of 1959. Showcase begat the Challengers of the Unknown, Lois Lane, the Metal Men, and the silver age Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom… among others.
Whereas it isn’t hard to get an eight-year old all excited, this comic book had a pedigree that few others approached. It was created by, if you’ll forgive the word, legends. Julius Schwartz was the editor and the ringleader, and he reached for his A team. Gardner Fox, arguably the most accomplished comics writer in American history, did the scripting and he co-plotted it with fellow comics writer and science fiction icon Edmond Hamilton, along with the aforementioned Julie Schwartz. The cover artist was Gil Kane, and the story artist was Mike Sekowsky.
The series was called Adam Strange. It featured a run-of-the-mill Earthling who found himself transported by Zeta Beam to the planet Rann where he fell in love with the chief scientist’s daughter while flying around, usually with her, vanquishing alien invasions and monsters and such. When the Zeta Beam wore off Adam faded back to Earth, usually right after he saved the day but right before he could kiss his lover. That drove him bugfuck, and back on Earth he figured out where and when that Zeta Beam would strike next… usually just in time to save Rann once again.
What made Adam Strange work – in 1958 – was the costume. It was classic science fiction spaceman. Jet-pack, helmet, ray gun, and all red with white accents. It was designed by still another legend, Murphy Anderson. Murphy had been drawing science fiction heroes since 1944. In fact, he drew the newspaper adventures of one of the very first such heroes, Buck Rogers, and Buck’s influence on Adam’s costume was quite evident – and very welcome.
The whole thing started as a contest. DC executive vice president Irwin Donenfeld thought what the world needed was a new s-f hero and he challenged editors Julius Schwartz and Jack Schiff. Jack’s Space Ranger was published in Showcase #15 and #16; Adam Strange lived in the next three issues.
As it turned out, neither character won – yet neither character lost, either. Adam Strange became the lead feature in Mystery In Space, drawn by the near-mythic Carmine Infantino and always occupying the cover, while Space Ranger lived in Tales of the Unexpected. For the record: Space Ranger also was created by Gardner Fox and Edmond Hamilton, but the two were as different as night and day. The main difference: Space Ranger was rather typical, and Adam Strange was exciting.
Both series lasted until the mid-60s. By that time, the United States and Russia had sent a passel of humans (and a few dogs) into outer space, and the reality of what you could see on the home screen was vastly more compelling than 1950s science fiction heroes.
Of course, in comic books nothing ever goes away, and here Adam got the best of the Ranger. Adam Strange remains a vital force in the DC Universe to this day, and now Adam Strange is going to enjoy something of a starring role in the latest DC teevee show, Krypton. Mindy Newell reported on this Monday, although she revealed only a fraction of our deeply existentialist conversation.
I’m glad to see Adam is still around, but I’m reminded of DC publisher Jenette Kahn’s reaction to the character back in 1977 when Jack C. Harris and I discussed a run in the revived Showcase. She took home a couple bound volumes from the library, read them over the weekend, came back and pronounced it “dated.”
Yup. It was. And that was the point. But DC needed to develop its astrophysical borders, so Jack pretty much kept the story, which also featured Hawkman and Hawkwoman. We renamed the series Hawkman, and it did okay.
Amusingly, Hawkwoman (or Hawkgirl) will be joining Adam Strange in the new Krypton series. This will not be the same woman from the current DC/CW teevee shows as these shows (except Supergirl) inhabit a parallel universe in which Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman do not exist.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a stunning chasm between the quality of the visuals of a movie and the dreadful script tying it together. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a gorgeous film with ambitious action sequences that can keep a frenetic pass without looking choppy or rushed. It’s also got a plodding, boring script completely devoid of narrative or emotional nuance. At its peak Valerian is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before— and in its valleys is like a Mad Libs version of Avatar and The Matrix.
The big action sequences in Valerian are stunning feats of direction. There’s an action sequence where many of the characters involved are in multiple dimensions at once affecting what they can and can’t interact with. There’s a suspense beat, a chase, and then several bits leading to another chase all in this multi-leveled reality bending circumstance. Some characters integral to the operation don’t ever see or interact with the actual sequence. It’s dizzying in all the best ways. There’s also a chase scene that goes through all the different parts of this elaborate space station with dozens of alien races and their unique habitats that would have been the best sequence in every science fiction movie I loved as a child. Luc Besson does an outstanding job framing these sequences and the effects team really outdoes themselves. I don’t know how many of these alien races or habitats come from the source material, but it all looks tremendous.
It’s a struggle to praise the directing in Valerian when the acting is so terrible. Dane DeHaan performs like he’s doing an impression of mid-90s Keanu Reeves and not a terribly flattering one. He has the same flat delivery no matter what he’s trying to say. He starts the movie with a declaration of love and it sounds like he’s barely awake trying to figure out what toppings he would like on a pizza. I’ve never DeHaan impress me in a role and I’m starting to wonder what the casting directors of the world see in him that I don’t. No one else in the cast is doing good work either. Clive Owen is wooden, Rihanna was better in Home, and Cara Delevigne is acting like she can never remember the emotional tone of the last thing she said and has to guess for the next line at random. It’s like everyone involved in the production was so invested in the effects they couldn’t be bothered to care about the people.
The script is also quite bad. The story takes forever to get going and it always feels like key pieces of information are kept out of the characters hands not because it makes sense in the universe but because otherwise the whole thing would take 30 minutes to resolve. The love story seems tacked on and only moves forward because they have Valerian and Laureline tell us it does and not because we see them do anything to move closer together. I suppose I could accept that they’re going through a lot but this is their job, they must be in harrowing situations all the time. There’s also a healthy dose of the kind of noble savage bullshit that I’m sure was all the rage in France in the 60s when this comic started publication but feels terribly tone deaf in 2017. Even beside that the dialogue is 80% dry exposition delivered with the cadence of someone bored of being there. Every time someone talks in Valerian the experience gets worse and worse.
It would be amazing to find out something like Valerian syncs up perfectly with a famous album or something because it would be nice to watch the movie again without having to listen to any of these characters talk. I want people to see this film, it’s so fun to watch when it’s on top of its game. Unfortunately it’s just as terrible when it isn’t. Valerian is a film that should be watched in a theater, on a big screen, but only by people who paid to see another film and have sneaked in with good headphones and a podcast on or something. This movie is a technical demo for what good effects people and cinematographers should do, and a cautionary tale for writers and actors. Study hard, film students and drama majors— or else you could end up making a film like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and be trapped forever in pretty nonsense.
Raw, riveting and relentlessly compelling, Marvel’s Jessica Jones: The Complete First Season ignites a firestorm of suspense cloaked in the haze of a noir-inspired slow burn. Haunted by a tragedy that broke her world apart, Jessica Jones settles in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, and opens her own detective agency, called Alias Investigations, with the hope of rebuilding her life and keeping the lights on in her apartment. She discovers that the source of her trauma, a mind-controlling sociopath named Kilgrave, has resurfaced, forcing her to use her gifts as a private eye to track him down before he causes more damage to her life or to anyone else.
The complete first season of the Netflix original series Marvel’s Jessica Jones is available to own on Blu-ray™ and DVD on Aug. 22 with 13 exciting episodes for fans to add to their libraries.
CAST: Krysten Ritter (Big Eyes) as Jessica Jones; David Tennant (Broadchurch) as Kilgrave; Rachael Taylor (Transformers) as Trish Walker; Mike Colter (Million Dollar Baby) as Luke Cage; Wil Traval (Once Upon a Time) as Will Simpson; Erin Moriarty (Captain Fantastic) as Hope Shlottman; Eka Darville (Empire) as Malcolm Ducasse; and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) as Jeri Hogarth
CREATOR: Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight, Dexter)
EXEC. PRODUCERS: Melissa Rosenberg and Liz Friedman (Elementary), along with Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s The Punisher, Marvel’s Inhumans) and Jim Chory (Marvel’s The Punisher, Marvel’s Inhumans).
PRODUCER: Tim Iacofano (24)
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 2017
PACKAGING: Blu-ray & DVD (13 episodes)
EPISODES:
1. AKA Ladies Night 8. AKA WWJD?
AKA Crush Syndrome 9. AKA Sin Bin
AKA It’s Called Whiskey 10. AKA 1,000 Cuts
AKA 99 Friends 11. AKA I’ve Got the Blues
AKA The Sandwich Saved Me 12. AKA Take a Bloody Number
AKA You’re a Winner! 13. AKA Smile
AKA Top Shelf Perverts
RATING: TV-MA
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
AUDIO: Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, DVD: English 5.1 Dolby
SUBTITLES: Blu-ray: English SDH, DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French
CLOSED CAPTIONS: English
————————————————————
The razor-thin line between redemption and retribution explodes with a vengeance in Marvel’s Daredevil: The Complete Second Season.
With Wilson Fisk behind bars, Matt thinks his efforts to bring order to Hell’s Kitchen are succeeding—until chaos reignites with two new arrivals: Frank Castle (a.k.a. The Punisher), an anguished ex-soldier determined to visit bloody, irrevocable “justice” upon his adversaries, and Matt’s volatile old flame Elektra Natchios. Meanwhile, a lethal, relentless source of ancient evil continues to amass power. Now, as both the stakes and the body count rise, Matt faces a life-altering choice that forces him to confront what it truly means to be a hero.
The complete second season of the Netflix original series Marvel’s Daredevil is available to own on Blu-ray™ and DVD on Aug. 22 with 13 exciting episodes for fans to add to their libraries.
CAST: Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire) as Matt Murdock/Daredevil; Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) as Karen Page; Elden Henson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2) as Foggy Nelson; Vincent D’Onofrio (The Magnificent Seven) as Wilson Fisk; Rosario Dawson (Marvel’s Luke Cage) as Claire Temple; Stephen Rider (Shameless) as Blake Tower; Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) as Frank Castle/Punisher; and Elodie Yung (The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo) as Elektra Natchios.
EXEC. PRODUCERS: Marvel’s Daredevil is executive produced by series co-showrunners Marco Ramirez (Sons of Anarchy, Fear the Walking Dead) and Douglas Petrie (CSI: Crime SceneInvestigation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Horror Story), along with Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s The Punisher, Marvel’s Inhumans), and Jim Chory (Marvel’s The Punisher, Marvel’s Inhumans).
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 2017
PACKAGING: Blu-ray & DVD (13 episodes)
EPISODES:
1. Bang 8. Guilty as Sin
Dogs to a Gunfight 9. Seven Minutes in Heaven
New York’s Finest 10. The Man in the Box
Penny and Dime 11. .380
Kinbaku 12. The Dark at the End of the Tunnel
Regrets Only 13. A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen
Semper Fidelis
RATING: TV-MA
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1
AUDIO: Blu-ray: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, DVD: English 5.1 Dolby
SUBTITLES: Blu-ray: English SDH, DVD: English SDH, Spanish, French
CLOSED CAPTIONS: English
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment proudly presents the return of America’s favorite animated family on DVD when THE SIMPSONS”– SEASON 18 arrives on December 5. Featuring Springfield’s lovable legitimate businessman, this long-awaited season features commentary on each of the 22 episodes and never-before-seen deleted scenes along with the bonus episode “22 For 30” from Season 28 that includes a memorable scene with Fat Tony.
THE SIMPSONS”– SEASON 18 was a historic one; the last before The Simpsons Movie, the season-finale 400th episode, “You Kent Always Get What You Want”, “24 Minutes” with guest star Kiefer Sutherland, Treehouse of Horror XVII with the sepia-tone classic “The Day the Earth Looked Stupid” and much much more. Guest stars include Michael Imperioli, The White Stripes, Tom Wolfe and Natalie Portman and classic episodes include the Emmy-nominated “The Haw-Hawed Couple” and WGA winner “Kill Gil, Volumes I & II.”
BONUS FEATURES
4-Disc Set Contains The Complete Eighteenth Season With All 22 Episodes
Welcome Back, Loyal Fans!
Audio Commentary On All Episodes With Writers, Actors and Directors
Deleted Scenes With Commentary
Bonus Episode
Multi-Angle Animation Showcase
Special Language Feature
A Conversation With Fat Tony
And more!
THE SIMPSONS”– SEASON 18 DVD
Street Date: December 5, 2017
Screen Format: Widescreen 1.33:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0, French Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH / Spanish / French
Total Run Time: Approximately 481 minutes
Closed Captioned: Yes
Last week here I wrote about the Kickstarter that’s currently running for Unmasked Volume 2. It’s still going strong, so check it out if you haven’t yet.
This week is all about the Meatspace Universe Omnibus Collection on Kickstarter. It’s a video game revenge thriller in a cyberpunk setting written by Josh Gorfain with various artists including Andrew MacLean. This Kickstarter will be funding an ambitious expansion of the Meatspace-Verse including a prequel volume and a sequel volume illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Sean Von Gorman. They currently have a little under three weeks to raise another $12,000 to reach their goal.
I got the chance to chat with Sean and Josh about this Kickstarter the other which you can read below.
JOE: Sean, Josh, what are your elevator pitches for Meatspace Volume 2?
SEAN: Full Body Amputee turned Cyborg fights for Internet fame and sometimes Crime/ Occasional Detective trying to solve the biggest Mystery of all… LOVE.
JOSH: Well, the second volume takes place six months after the first the first volume. Lance has settled into his new life as a celebrity and a member of one of the top guilds in the game of DungeonWorld. We find life catching up with his new girlfriend, Rebecca and we also find out what’s up with The Sentinel…the guardian that Johnny set up to protect his secrets.
JOE: I’m a big Andrew MacLean fan. Apocalyptagirl is one of my favorite stand alone graphic novels. How did Andrew get involved with Josh Gorfain to design such great characters?
JOSH: I was introduced to Andrew through Jamie Gambell (creator of The Hero Code) back in 2011. I knew back then he was destined for greatness.
SEAN: Andrew’s work on the 1st issue is part of what made me fell in love with the project all those years ago. I’m really excited to help bring it back and play in the world he helped to make. And that facial hair, WOOF. You can get lost in there.
JOE: The issues of Meatspace you’ll be illustrating make up the second volume. The first volume was described as a self-contained three issue arc. What does this new volume bring to the table that readers of the first arc need to come back?
JOSH: A bit more world-building; and a big shake up. I always like my stories to go big. I feel disappointed when a comic is just one conversation and a half of a fight. I want important stuff to happen! This volume builds upon Meatspace and the prequel (which I am also doing at the same time) GameSpace (which is also being offered in this Kickstarter. It’s a huge undertaking but it’s all coming together!
JOE: This Kickstarter will also be funding Gamespace, the prequel to Meatspace. Are there big tonal differences between the two? What can readers expect?
JOSH: In GameSpace, we find out where The Sentinel come from and why he’s the way he is. Surprisingly, this has kind of become The Sentinel’s story…sort of like how Star Wars was really Darth Vader’s story despite having Luke as the main character.
SEAN: I for one am super happy to see “Gorfainverse” expand like this. A Shared Comic Universe is something that to my knowledge has not yet been seen in Comics, and I think will change the way we look at the Medium.
JOE: Sean, you’ve been involved in quite a few high profile projects these past few years. As an artist taking on projects like this is very time consuming so I know you pick these projects with care. What about Meatspace appeals to you as an artist?
SEAN: I have been very lucky to get to work on some Amazing stuff in the past few years like the now Eisner Award Winning Love is Love Anthology from DC/IDW. Part of my favorite things about working in comics is when I get to work with friends, and now I am contractually obligated to refer to Josh Gorfain as a friends. Which completes on of my Contractually Obligated calling Josh a Friend. Just 2 more to go then the Court Appointed “Hang Sesh” with ‘ZA,
I like Josh and I like Meatspace. Josh has been working very hard to get this project out to a wider audience and I’m happy to help
JOE: If I could follow up on that question with you, Sean, who’s your favorite character in Meatspace to draw and why?
SEAN: Lance 100% It’s been fun adding my own flavor to a slightly updated design from Andrew’s to show how Lance has grown and where he is now in Vol. 2
JOE: Why is Kickstarter and by extension Phoenix Dreams Publishing the best place to take Meatspace?
JOSH: Noel and the Phoenix Dreams team has believed in Meatspace since day one! Honestly, I was ready to put this behind me when Noel came to me and proposed a second volume and this Omnibus. His confidence in this project has made all this happen!
JOE: Josh, you’re also working with Phoenix Dreams Publishing on a tabletop rpg for the Meatspace-Verse, adding some extra flair to the Kickstarter. Do you know what people might expect if they pledge to be part of the playtest group?
JOSH: An epic story that will have a direct impact on the future of the Meatspace-verse. I know where the (hopefully) next chapter will go and this game will set it up. I’m very excited about this game as it tries to do something that hasn’t really ever been done in gaming (that I can recall) before; and thanks to the old is new RPG system, it’s actually possible
SEAN: I should point out that Josh is really committed to making this project happen. As of this writing he has agreed to literally put his money where his mouth is but adding some REALLY exciting Kickstarter reward involving his body. My favorite Reward being Josh will offer his body up to Science to become a Cyborg like Lance in Meatspace for only $50,000. The Backer would have to provide the Technology and cover Medical Costs to finish the project. Other rewards include Clean Urine from Josh for Job Interview Drug Tests, and his hand in a Green Card Marriage.
JOE: Before we wrap this up, is there anything else you’d like to plug?
SEAN: Amy Chu’s Girls Night Out Kickstarter Gold Edition, which will collect the stories that launched Amy’s prolific Career as we’ll as new stories including BATFREAK an ALL NEW story from Me and Amy which I’m excited to see in print. The Kickstarter has a few days left so everyone needs to get on that and kick in some $$$ to expand the Chu Dynasty.
JOE: Thank you both so much for taking the time to talk with me! And all of you reading this please check out their Kickstarter and consider helping them reach their goal to make this omnibus collection of Meatspace possible.
SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 21: Chadwick Boseman attends the Marvel and Lexus Black Panther Party at Comic-Con San Diego on July 21, 2017.
Lexus and Marvel have announced a collaboration to pair the first-ever 2018 Lexus LC with Marvel’s dynamic Black Panther character in the highly anticipated film, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, slated to hit theaters on Feb. 16, 2018.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, and starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan and Lupita Nyong’o, the film follows T’Challa, who, after the events of Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to take his place as King.
“Marvel continuously captures audiences through charismatic characters and inspiring stories — the ideal fit for Lexus’ mission to craft amazing, engaging experiences,” said Brian Bolain general manager, Lexus marketing. “And the LC’s aggressive styling, high performance and agile handling are a perfect fit for the Black Panther’s quick, cat-like reflexes and superhuman feats. We’re excited to see the duo in action.”
To accompany the collaboration between Lexus and Marvel, Lexus also teamed with Marvel Custom Solutions to create an original graphic novel, with storytelling driven by famed writer Fabian Nicieza and cover illustrations by emerging graphic artists Scott “Rahzzah” Wilson and Szymon Kudranski. Centered around the balance between human and machine, the comic features the Lexus LC 500 with a new, Wakandan spin and its role in helping the Black Panther defeat a legendary villain.
SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 21: Chadwick Boseman attends the Marvel and Lexus Black Panther Party at Comic-Con San Diego on July 21, 2017.
Lexus and Marvel will celebrate their collaboration during Comic-Con after-hours at an exclusive Black Panther-themed event on Friday, July 21, with special performances by DJ Lulo Café and a surprise headliner. During the invite-only event, six variant covers for the graphic novel will be revealed to industry guests and comic enthusiasts.
“This campaign clicked from the get-go,” said Mindy Hamilton, Marvel’s SVP of global partnerships. “We have this bold, sophisticated hero stepping into the spotlight for the first time, and it’s been a blast to work with the Lexus team to build out a story that’ll familiarize fans with T’Challa as well as his advanced home nation of Wakanda.”
Lexus’ collaboration with Marvel is being coordinated by Lexus’ multicultural advertising agency, Walton Isaacson.
Ushering in a new era of design and engineering at Lexus, the LC 500 is expressive and stylish, with enhanced dynamic capability and performance. Additional information on the flagship coupe can be found here.
When the father of quantum mechanics, Erwin Schrodinger – he of Schrödinger’s Cat fame – told a Dublin audience in 1952 that “…his Nobel equations seemed to describeseveral different histories, these were ‘not alternatives, but all really happen simultaneously,’ it was the first time that the multiverse was addressed as a scientific theory and not just science fiction.
So Editor Mike texted me on Saturday to let me know that Adam Strange – I don’t mean an actor, I mean the DC character–is going to be a regular on the new Krypton series on SyFy sometime in 2018, if everything stays on track – and how often does that happen?
For those not in the know, and that’s all of you, because I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it here, Adam Strange was my first “comics crush” back in the day, and I continue to love him. And I don’t mean any modern interpretation of him, but the original science fiction personage created by Julius Schwartz, with a costume design by Murphy Anderson, and who first appeared in Showcase #17, cover-dated November 1958. (I was five years old.)
I texted him back:
“Adam Strange has nothing to do with Krypton.”
Mike: “Well, he does now. This series, which lives in a universe separate from the comics, the movies, and maybe even the other teevee [sic] serieses [sic], is set in both the deep past (on the planet Krypton, no longer extant) and in the present day. But let us remember that Superman does not exist on the teevee [sic] Earth where Flash, Green Arrow, and the Legends live.”
Me: “Part of the multiverse.”
Mike: “Sure. Aren’t we all?”
And then, I wrote this back to him:
“Maybe that’s what death is. I mean the ‘near death’ experiences that people talk about…that white light…some kind of “wormhole” event horizon connecting us to the next life in the next universe, the one that is ‘second star to the right and straight on to morning’…And that’s why people have reincarnation experiences and/or déjà vu…They are glimpses of the multiverse.”
Quantum leaping.
• • • • •
Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. So don’t be afraid… Matthew 10:29, 31
Driving down to Cherry Hill with Alixandra to see my mom last Sunday – somewhere in my heart I knew this would be the last time – we hit traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. Not enough to slow down completely, but the speedometer was reading 45 or 50 mph. All of a sudden, a sparrow landed on the passenger side-view mirror. It just sat there for a few seconds, maybe five, looking at us through the window. And then it flew away.
As in an M. Knight Shaymalan movie, there are signs everywhere.
My favorite line in Ben-Hur:
“The world is more than we know.”
• • • • •
Today, as I write this, is Sunday, July 23, 2017.
It has been six days.
Four since the funeral.
Yet somehow it feels like forever.
And at the same time like it didn’t happen at all.
I guess that is as good as any definition of grief.
