So you are all worn out after waiting on line for that iPhone yesterday? We’ve got a Heap O’ Hot Summer Stuff on the Big ComicMix Weekend Broadcast, including that Watchmen rumor everyone will be talking about, a tip on what will be the hottest variant comic of the summer, plus more Summer Reading Previews and a look at something in the comic stores just for the grown ups!
Press The Button. Who knows – maybe an iPhone will pop out of your disk drive!
Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist was not impressed by David Bilsborough’s debut fantasy novel, The Wanderer’s Tale.
The Baltimore City Paper reviews the new all-original anthology The New Space Opera, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan.
Another review of the Dozois-Strahan New Space Opera comes from Locus’s Gary K. Wolfe.
Thirty years ago today, Marvel released the debut of Marvel Comics Super Special #1 featuring Kiss, where they squared off against (who else?) Mephisto and Dr. Doom. The issue was printed with ink that had blood added from each of the band members, a feat not surpassed until Mark Gruenwald’s ashes were mixed in with the trade paperback of Squadron Supreme.
Kiss would later star in a second Super Special, a 31 issue run of Kiss: Psycho Circus with Image in the 90’s, guest star in Howard The Duck, and made an announcement back in February of the creation of the Kiss Comics Group.
Gene Simmons is a huge comic book fan, reportedly taking the heavy metal salute of index and pinky fingers extended (pictured below) straight from Doctor Strange, and publishing some of his own titles with the Simmons Comics Group, such as Gene Simmons’s House of Horrors, which will be out in July from IDW.
And Simmons noted in his autobiography that the character he most identifies with is Jon Sable. Boy, is he going to be happy soon…
Popeye by Bud Sagendorf, reprinted in newspapers last Wednesday but originally published a couple decades ago. In fact, Bud Sagendorf has been dead for 12 years. No, it wasn’t a suicide.
About a dozen years ago, Popeye cartoonist Bobby London got fired for a storyline that set-up a minor, passing joke reference to abortion, without even employing the word. It was so subtle it didn’t offend King Features editors at the time; they dutifully sent it along to subscribing newspapers. When somebody objected, London got aborted from the strip.
Olive survived both gags. She will be appearing later this year in a commercial for Prego pasta sauce.
Yep. "Prego."
Artwork copyright King Features Syndicate. All Rights Reserved.
According to Dirk Deppey at The Comics Journal’s ¡Journalista! website, and Dirk should know, the Harlan Ellison vs. Fantagraphics Books lawsuit has been "resolved."
Deppey received the following e-mail from his boss, Gary Groth:
THE LITIGATION BETWEEN THE PARTIES HAS BEEN RESOLVED.
THE PARTIES ARE NOT AT LIBERTY TO DISCUSS THE TERMS OF THE RESOLUTION AT THIS TIME.
Congratuations to all involved.
For background, our interview with Harlan, and our interview with Gary.
More as it develops. If.
Ratatouille is the latest feature film from Pixar/Disney. Written and directed by Brad Bird (with additional story assists from Jim Capobianco, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg and Jan Pinkava), it’s the story of a young mouse (Remy) who finds himself alienated from his family because of his preference for fine cooking over garbage.
Lillian Baker (age 8) and Martha Thomases (age 54) attended an early screening on opening day in New York’s East Village.
MT: This movie was very different from The Incredibles, the last movie Brad Bird directed for Pixar. He worked on The Simpsons, too.
LB: I want to see The Simpsons Movie.
MT: Do you think the Simpsons would like Ratatouille?
LB: Yeah. Why not?
MT: It was a terrific film. The characters were believable, even the talking, cooking rats. And the animation was amazing. That scene early on, where Remy is rushed to Paris via the rivers going to the sewers underground, was spectacular. I loved the way the rats’ fur would get wet, and look different as it dried.
LB: The whole thing happened because of that book, Everyone Can Cook, a cookbook written by Gusteau. Remy was a little blue-ish.
MT: I saw lots of different colors in the rats. There were brown and gray and even green rats in the crowd scenes. They had lots of different body types, too, from skinny like Remy to fat like his brother, Emile. I noticed that Remy, Emile and their father, Django, spoke American English, while the humans spoke with French accents except for the restaurant critic, Anton Ego. Do you have a favorite scene?
This past month has been a very busy one for me. I’ve been out of town three times, twice on business, and I’ve attended two trade shows and three comics conventions. It’s a lot of time to be thrust into crowds of people, whether waiting at an airport, a synagogue, a taxi line or a display booth.
This past month has exposed me to a variety of interpretations to the phrase, “customer service.”
I first started to think about this nearly 20 years ago, when I saw a presentation by Peter Glen, the author of It’s Not My Department: How to Get the Service You Want, Exactly the Way You Want It. At the time, I was working in the special events department for a large retailer, and we were just starting to feel the first effects of Wal-Mart and other discount stores. According to Glen, the way to compete was not by cutting prices, but by offering more service.
He doesn’t just mean stores need to hire more sales assistants. He means the customer must be treated with respect, as if her time has value, and her needs are important. Customer service includes displays that feature all available sizes, quality merchandise that doesn’t break, and efficient check-out. This shows the customer that the merchant understands her, and provides the best value.
“Value?” you say. “How can you say value is important when you first said stores shouldn’t compete on price alone?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Would you rather shop at Wal-Mart, where costs are kept so low that they won’t hire a security guard to patrol their notoriously dangerous parking lots, or at another store where the management demonstrates a concern for your safety? Would you rather by a cheap coffee-maker (or other small appliance) that you need to replace every year, or a good one that lasts a decade or more?
As a comics reader, would you rather buy a comic that has a cover that’s teasing or unclear, or would prefer one that clearly represents the story inside?
When I worked at DC Comics, I was astounded at how obscure some of the covers for the trade paperback collections could be. “Where’s the title?” I’d ask. “How can I tell who wrote and drew the story?” Often, this information would be on the back of the books, invisible to the customer looking at the display. “It doesn’t matter,” I was told. “By the time the book is racked, we’ve already been paid for it.”
I can’t make this stuff up. Well, I mean, I can, but why the hell would I want to?
You may have heard things have been getting a little hot over in the Gaza Strip, even by local standards. The Associated Press reported Friday that a Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children’s television program was beaten to death in the show’s final episode Friday.
Go back and re-read that paragraph. Now look at the photo.
Yep, that’s right. Hamas killed Mickey Mouse – and blamed the Israelis.
The way the story goes, an Israeli official was trying to buy the land of the show’s hero, Farfour the Mouse, who looks and sounds exactly like Mickey. The mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist" and the Israeli killed him. According to the AP: "Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.
If you gaze at ABC’s fall schedule, all of a sudden you’ll find a show called Samantha Who? This is not another Doctor Who spin-off, and star Christina Applegate is probably not the new companion.
This show was originally titled Sam I Am until the Dr. Seuss estate (Private Snafu‘s Theodore Geisel) said something to the effect of "are you out of your damn mind?" So the Mouse Network changed it to Samantha Be Good. It’s amazing how many people at Disney never heard of George and Ira Gershwin or Chuck Berry, but I guess eventually somebody squawked.
So the alphabet geniuses came up with Samantha Who? Since it’s their third generation, I assume the show is actually a tribute to Jon Pertwee.
According to TV Guide Online, here’s their latest top 30 cult teevee shows of all time.
I would scoff at this, but it turns out I really like at least a dozen of ’em.
30) Strangers with Candy (1999-2000)*
29) Absolutely Fabulous (1994-2003)
28) Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)*
27) H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1971)
26) Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1975-1978)
25) Firefly (2002-2003)*
24) Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
23) Dark Shadows (1966-1971)
22) Doctor Who (1963-present)
21) Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
Stephen Colbert, we have your writer for “The Chronicles of Amber”!
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