Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:07AM16 comments ›
Mon Dec 31, 2007 — by Mike Gold
The Happy Optimist, by Mike Gold
Whizzy's Wazoo #47
As I write these words on the final Friday of 2007, I’m already tired of all the “best of” lists on all the media, so I’m going to go in the other direction and point my antennae towards the future. Chipper li’l guy that I am, here’s some of the reasons why I’m looking forward to 2008.
• Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in the Iron Man movie. I can’t think of a better casting choice, except maybe for Howard Chaykin – and I’m not sure Chaykin could pull off the moustache thing. Downey’s got the right look, the right attitude… we’ll see if he gets the right screenplay.• The inauguration of ComicMix: Phase Three and ComicMix: Phase Four. Actually, Brian tells us Phase Four might be ready before Phase Three. If so, we’ll probably rename Phase Four Phase Three. I went to school for this, you know.
• The end of Campaign 2008. Maybe we’ll get somebody worthy of the job. There’s a better chance of that if we all go out and vote at least once. I suspect I’ll be voting twice, as I once registered in Chicago.
• The most amazing and astonishing Munden’s Bar story ever told. With luck, we’ll have it done in 2008. It’ll be worth the wait.
• The end of the WGA strike in such a fashion that it doesn’t chase away the few people of genuine talent left in the movie and teevee business.
• The first volume of The Complete Little Orphan Annie, coming February 25th from my buddies at IDW and my ol’ pal Dean Mullaney. This tome reprints Harold Gray’s classic strip from its beginning in 1924 through some point in 1927, and I’ve only read some of this material. It’ll be interesting to see Gray’s skills as a storyteller develop and to see Annie’s personality form (trivia fact: did you know Annie’s real last name is Coulter?). Oh, yeah, and maybe I’ll be able to figure out how Gray sold the strip to my hero, Captain Joe Patterson, despite the unimpeachable fact that he couldn’t draw a line with a straight-edge. And, clearly, he had never even seen a dog.• Working with Tony Isabella, Mark Ryan, Stuart Gordon, Bryan Talbot, John K. Snyder III, Dick Giordano and Frank McLaughlin on new ComicMix projects, to name but a few. The best part of this job is the ability to work with old friends who also happen to be ungodly talented.
And, finally…
• The Cubs World Series victory. I figure they can do it once every 100 years, and if the Chicago Tribune sells them fast enough, maybe there’s a remote chance they’ll pull it off. Just don’t sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field. And if they sell it to Macy’s, I’ll expatriate permanently.I’m sure you’ve got your own ideas, and of course we’d love to hear them and make genuinely witty comments and such. But even if you don’t make your dreams known to us all, on behalf of my friends here at ComicMix I thank you for a fantastic first year and wish you all the happiest of new years.
Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix.
Jump to comments (16)
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Comments (16)
Glenn Hauman (8:23 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Regarding the Cubs in 2008:
It's a little known fact that the devil appeared to the people of Massachusetts (Daniel Webster only made it that no one from New Hampshire could lose their souls, but there are other ways to reach them) and gave them a choice-- their long suffering baseball team could finally win a world series, or their senator could be elected President of these United States.
This year, it's Cubs fans who have that choice to make. One hopes they make a better choice this time around.
Mike Gold (8:32 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Good call, Glenn. A lot of people don't know that Hillary Clinton is from Park Ridge, Illinois. My guess is that most Cubs fans will pick the World Series over Hillary, unless, of course, she runs against a Republican.
John Ostrander (8:49 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
The bestest Munden's Bar ever?! Wow! I'm really looking forward to THAT!
Who's doing it?
Mike Gold (9:05 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Didn't you get the memo?
"Dear John,
Please write the bestest Munden's Bar story ever.
Happy New Year,
Mike
P.S. You're late."
Martha Thomases (9:07 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
*ahem*
Mike Gold (9:13 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Not THAT way!
Howard Johnson (9:26 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
"Macy's Field?" Just a matter of time, my friends... (And it's as close to "Marshall Field" as we're likely to get...)
Of course Obama is a White Sox fan, while Hilary is a fan of the Cubs...and Yankees...and pretty much anybody that will help her chances...
Sounds like a good year. Think I'll stick around.
mike weber (8:44 AM on Tue Jan 1, 2008)
"'Macy's Field?' Just a matter of time, my friends... (And it's as close to 'Marshall Field' as we're likely to get...)"
When they first announced that they were gonna rename Marshall Field, i couldn't believe they'd get away with it.
But then i reflected that they'd *already* gotten away with renaming Rich's, which for Atlanta was at least an ingrained tradition as Marshall Field was for Chicago...
Mike Gold (9:38 AM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Howard, when you typed "Macy's Field," you probably heard a soft scream wafting out from the east.
That was John Ostrander.
Glad you're going to stick around.
Tom Fitzpatrick (12:00 PM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
What was Phase I and II, if you don't mind?
Mike Gold (12:08 PM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Phase I is our blog stuff -- our columnists, our little news and opinion pieces, our reviews. Beware of Phase I.2; we're adding a few columnists.
Phase II is our ever-expanding and evolving online comics, both brand new, like Demons of Sherwood, and classic like Hotspur.
Which starts Thursday.
Tom Fitzpatrick (3:11 PM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Don't forget to add Maggie the Cat, Swords of Texas, New America, Zot, Prowler, Fashion in Action, etc., etc., etc.
Mike Gold (4:06 PM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Wellllll... we got some of that lined up. And John K, Snyder III is hard at work even as we speak on... something that we'll probably have up around February or March.
Tom Fitzpatrick (4:41 PM on Mon Dec 31, 2007)
Just some? You're not doing your job if you don't have ALL. ;-)
Glenn Hauman (6:00 PM on Tue Jan 1, 2008)
Don't tempt us. Besides, if we're going to put all the comics up online, that would imply... well, that would imply something very big, wouldn't it?
Tom Fitzpatrick (7:37 AM on Wed Jan 2, 2008)
That you guys have better web-comics than Image, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse?
Why sure, why not?
Put 'em all up anyway.