Articles by glenn-hauman
Fri Oct 9, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Best-selling comic book character of 2009 wins Nobel Peace Prize
Congratulations, Mister President.
(No, before you ask, this is a mock up cover. Marvel is not going back to press with another variant cover. Yet.)
Fri Oct 9, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
New Alan Moore zine, free Charles Vess, submit to Viz, and Gravel to film: ComicMix Quick Picks for 10/9/09
All the quick news while shooting at the moon and waiting for stories from Baltimore Comic-Con to come in...
- Alan Moore is launching Dodgem Logic, "the 21st century’s first underground magazine from his home town of Northampton, a community that is right at the geographical, political and economic heart of the country; one which has half its high street boarded up and is at present dying on its arse, just like everywhere else." Josie Long, Graham Linehan, Kev O'Neill, Melinda Gebbie, Steve Aylett, Leah Moore and John Reppion will be contributing. (Hat tip: Cory Doctorow.)
- Dark Horse Comics just announced that, in honor of their imminent publication of Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess
in December, they are offering the entire book online for free viewing for an indefinite time. All two hundred-plus pages of Drawing Down the Moon can be found on the Dark Horse website.
- VIZ Media is now accepting submissions and pitches for original comics. Interesting. I think this is a change in policy and direction.
- I almost don't believe this story from Superhero Hype and Variety about Legendary Pictures picking up the film rights to the Warren Ellis series Gravel, just because I would automatically assume Bleeding Cool would have that story first. Tsk, tsk... Rich is slowing down. (Warren: we have just the guy for the role for you. Honest.)
- And in case you didn't hear, Archie's an imaginary bigamist.
Anything else in the news? Consider this an open thread.
Thu Oct 8, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
'South Park', the MPAA, and the memo
In honor of South Park's new season startig yesterday, we wanted to take the time to show you this memo between co-creator Matt Stone and the MPAA over the release of the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
It's my favorite memo too. Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan
Wed Oct 7, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
On sale today: 'GrimJack: The Manx Cat' #3!
The continuing printed adventures of John Gaunt and friends. Available at finer comic book stores nationwide.
Tue Oct 6, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
FTC new rules to affect comics bloggers: disclose or be fined $11,000?
In a move guaranteed to accelerate the adoption of the PDF review copy, the Federal Trade Commission revised their "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials" (click here to download),
urging bloggers who review products, from a book or DVD to a video game
system, to disclose if they received the product for free when giving
an endorsement. According to the Washington Post, breaking these new guidelines could generate up to $11,000 in fines. (There are no penalties directly associated with violating the rules. But the FTC could seek a cease-and-desist order. If you ignore that, the fines start coming in.) These new guidelines will be put into
effect on December 1, 2009.
Bureau of Consumer Protection representative Richard Cleland was interviewed about the guidelines to clarify for blogging reviewers. In a statement that shows that he doesn't understand how the book reviewing process works, Cleland said that newspaper book reviewers are exempt because "the newspaper receives the book and it allows the reviewer to review it, it's still the property of the newspaper." Cleland saw no problem with a blogger receiving a book, provided there wasn't a linked advertisement to buy the book and that the blogger did not keep the book after he had finished reviewing it. Keeping the book would, from Cleland's standpoint, count as "compensation" and require a disclosure-- but there would be no such disclosure required if the blogger took the item and sold it for cash or store credit? Huh? (Are they trying to put the Strand out of business?)
This may accelerate another trend I came across recently: I understand that at least one major website has cut their book reviews back from twice a week to twice a month-- and this was before the announcement of these guidelines, so maybe it will just be easier to cut reviews altogether. But apparently, it'll be fine for them to keep promoting their own product relentlessly, and will presumably do so.
Tue Oct 6, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
#makecomics Colorist tip: How to un-antialias a file to make flats
Here's a tip that you may rarely need, but when you do, hoooo boy.
Let's say you've been flatting a page for coloring, or you've sent it out to be flatted. The page comes back, and it looks decent-- except when you go to select an area, you discover that the page was created with antialiasing on, which makes it impossible to make a decent selection for further rendering. How do you get the page un-antialiased, without redoing the entire page?
Here's how.
First, you're going to need to the BPelt Flatten plugin for Photoshop. (You may find it and Multifill useful for other flatting jobs as well.)
Duplicate the color layer.
Apply Filter -> Stylize -> Find Edges
Apply Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold at 255.
Set layer to multiply and merge down.
Apply Filter -> bPelt -> Flatten.
That's it. You'll get an un-antialiased image. Zooming in, you'll go from this:
to this:
Tue Oct 6, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
'Doctor Who's new logo UPDATE: with video!
Just up on the BBC website, in time for the debut of the new bloke, Matt Smith.
UPDATE: Oh, look, some nice person has posted the video that you're not supposed to see if you aren't in England:
Fri Oct 2, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Happy 50th Anniversary to 'The Twilight Zone'!
On this day in 1959, Rod Serling and CBS introduced us to a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a
dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit
of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area
which we call... the Twilight Zone.
The Twilight Zone ran for five seasons on CBS, then entered the dimension of infinite reruns to this very day-- often with rerun marathons on July 4th and New Years Eve in local markets, a tradition that extends to its current home on the Syfy Channel. It won numerous Emmys and Writer's Guild awards and spawned two series revivals, a movie, a song by Golden Earring, and countless other homages, and may be one of the most influential shows to air on television.
If you're a fan, you can't do better than the DVD compilations
Sat Sep 26, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Dancing in the aisles at New York Anime Festival
No, really. The energy level here is amazing.
We'll have more for you later, but man, I am impressed by the reaction.
Fri Sep 25, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Venezuela to fine networks that air 'Family Guy'
Just in from the APCARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan authorities plan to impose fines on cable television companies that refuse to stop airing the animated television series "Family Guy."
Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the program should be pulled from the airwaves because it promotes the use of marijuana.
He said Thursday that cable networks that broadcast "Family Guy" would be fined by Venezuela's telecommunications regulator if they refuse to dump the program.
And you all know what the folks at Family Guy think about that sort of thing, right?
You don't? Maestro, take it away...
If you haven't seen it, here's the episode in question.
Fri Sep 25, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Paul Kirk, Manhunter-- er, Senator?
Jesse Ventura was elected governor, so why couldn't a costumed mystery man serve in the U.S. Senate?
Paul Kirk, the late Senator Ted Kennedy's temporary replacement, shares a name but (probably) not the predilection for vigilante crime-fighting, with Manhunter, a DC character with an interesting history.
In the comics, Paul Kirk used decides to become a crimefighter when his friend, Empire City police inspector Donovan, was murdered by the supervillain known as the Buzzard. He wore a superhero-like red costume with a blue mask. While he had no superpowers, he was an above average athlete and possessed superior tracking skills. Later, he went off to become a big-game hunter, but was killed by an elephant, then brought back to life by a secret society intent on ruling the world (insert obligatory Obama/ACORN reference here) and set up to lead an army of clones of him, but he rebelled and brought down the Council in a story chronicled by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.
That doesn't seem to describe the real-world Paul Kirk, but who knows? He could be a man of hidden talents.
Or it could be yet another one of those Paul Kirk clones running around...
Mon Sep 21, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Even more calls for medical fundraising: Jeanne Robinson, Bob Beerbohm
Hugo and Nebula winner Jeanne Robinson is undergoing treatment for a rare and virulent form of biliary cancer. Various auctions are going up to raise money for her treatment, including a one-of-a-kind dinner with Harlan Ellison at his home in Los Angeles. Bidding ends tonight and is already over $1100. However, he probably still won't read your script.
Bob Beerbohm is also in a pretty bad way. Quoting from Gary Groth:
Bob could be a poster child for our pathologically dysfunctional and systemically cruel and capricious health care system. He was in a serious car accident while leaving the 1973 Houston Comicon and, as a result, he's worn all the cartilage from his hip joints, which means that when he walks, his hips are grinding bone on bone. Naturally, his health insurance company dropped him as soon as he complained about this because, they said, it constituted a "previously undisclosed condition," and they wouldn't cover the operation he now desperately needs. So, the bottom line is that he's in continuous pain, can barely get around on crutches, can no longer do all the physical labor that his business requires (like lifting and carrying boxes of comics), is broke, and needs you to buy some comics from him so he can afford the $18,000 it'll cost him in cold hard cash for this operation. If we lived in a better world, America's generous socialistic health care would give him the operation he needs, or, at the very least, some rich patron would come forward and write him a check. We do not live in that world, and he needs all the help he can get.
If you have the time and money, please consider purchasing something from Beerbohm, either via his site or his ebay store.
Sun Sep 20, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
What about Jack? Kirby estate files notice of copyright reversion aainst Marvel, Disney, Sony, Universal, Paramount...
And now, the other shoe drops.
Jeff Trexler points to this New York Times piece saying that the Jack Kirby estate sent notice of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and others who have been making films and other forms of entertainment based on the characters Jack created or co-created for Marvel.
The Kirby estate lawyer is Marc Toberoff, the man representing the Siegel estate in the Superman copyright case, who has already done an excellent job of raking DC and Warner Brothers over the coals. Toberoff has an impressive winning tally; Nikki Finke reminds us that Toberoff has also won or settled lawsuits on Lassie, Get Smart, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Wild Wild West.
Kirby battled Marvel for years over the return of the physical artwork to his comics, and was asked to sign documents that would have irrevocable and specifically signed away rights to the characters, something he refused to do. This led to heavy coverage in the industry, including the ad at right from 1986.
Two immediate questions come to mind:
1. Does this potentially sour the Disney-Marvel deal? Disney said in a statement, “The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.” Really? You think Disney shareholders are ready to spend four billion dollars on intellectual properties they're prepared to lose in seven years? Related: there's a $140 million dollar kill fee Marvel has to pay if the deal doesn't go through. Does this mean that Marvel has an extra 140 million reasons to settle with Jack's kids?
2. If the copyright reversion is settled with Marvel and/or Disney, does this give them additional leverage in breaking existing contracts with other movie studios? In other words, does that "right to make X-Men movies in perpetuity" hold up if they don't control the rights to the underlying characters?
Sat Sep 19, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
One more for the holiday...
...because when else will I get to run it?
The Devil Ate My Blintzes, an illustrated poem, tells the story of Goldie and Gus, who live in Dogpatch-like bliss and sell "blintzes and wheel alignment" as well as "chicken soup and transmission fluid." The trouble (and fun) starts when the Devil finds out about Goldie's delicious blintzes and all hell breaks loose.
Do the forces of Evil and Destruction triumph over the forces of Goodness and Pot Cheese Filling?
