THE MASK OF THE RED PANDA #1 the first issue (of 3) of New Pulp Creator and all around Creative Genius Gregg Taylor’s comic based on his Red Panda series is available right now from Comixology.
http://www.comixology.com/Mask-of-Red-Panda-1/digital-comic/DIG003156/?app=1 Racketeers, gangsters, the occasional power-mad supervillain— all have fallen before the iron resolve of the city’s masked protectors. But when forces with powers from beyond this world threaten to bring their war to the streets of Depression-era Toronto, can even the Red Panda prevent disaster? Bringing to life characters from The Red Panda Adventures, Decoder Ring Theatre’s award-winning radio drama series, Mask of the Red Panda is pulse-pounding pulp perfection for all those who love the classic two-fisted adventures of the golden age of radio, classic movie serials and the hero pulps. – See more at: http://www.comixology.com/Mask-of-Red-Panda-1/digital-comic/DIG003156/?app=1#sthash.wWyRkBam.dpuf 32 pages of story for $0.99. Art by Dean Kotz and published by MonkeyBrain Comics.
Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the playing field for book retailers. If they’re successful, the lawsuit could completely change how ebooks are sold– and could have big implications for Comixology.
BURBANK, Calif. (February 28, 2013) – Dane Cook has been tapped to voice the lead character Dusty, a plane with high hopes in Disney’s Planes. Inspired by the world of Cars and directed by Disneytoon Studios veteran and aviation enthusiast Klay Hall (King of the Hill, The Simpsons), Disney’s Planes is an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure about Dusty’s dream of competing as a high-flying air racer—and his decidedly unfortunate fear of heights. The film takes off in theaters in 3D on Aug. 9, 2013.
“Dane Cook brings unmatched charisma and brilliant comedic timing and instincts to the character,” said Hall. “He gives Dusty a great edge.”
Cook is well known for his appearances on Comedy Central and HBO specials, and for his successful comedy albums. He recently guest starred on Louie opposite Louie C.K., and his film credits include starring roles in a host of films, including My Best Friend’s Girl opposite Kate Hudson, Dan In Real Life opposite Steve Carell, and Mr. Brooksopposite Kevin Costner. The actor/comedian just signed a deal with NBC Entertainment and Universal Television to develop a new project starring Cook.
The all-new story offers an exciting cast of characters and centers on Dusty’s high-flying dream. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing, so he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. The film is produced by Traci Balthazor-Flynn and executive produced by John Lasseter.
It’s not often these days when Mad Magazine is topical, timely, and funny but with the furor surrounding the European horse meat scandal reaching America’s Ikea shelves, they hit the bullseye with this cartoon.
The White House has a petition to appoint Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, to be the new Secretary of Energy. The petition explains that Randall Munroe has displayed the ability to explain complex topics in a wry, easily digestible fashion to millions of people 3 days/week in his web comic. As Secretary of Energy, he will be able to have an even larger platform for this purpose, and probably more importantly, the ear of the President of the United States.
Better hurry, though– the petition ends March 3 and he needs 99,000 more signatures.
Before Lincoln, Steven Spielberg has explored other vital periods of history, stunning the world with his adaptation of Schindler’s List. That film is coming out next month in a 20th Anniversary Limited Edition and yesterday, the director announced the launch of the USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Video Challenge.
“I implore educators not to allow the Holocaust to be a footnote in history, please teach this in your schools. There are 350,000 experts who just want to be useful for the remainder of their lives. Please listen to the words and the echoes and the ghosts and please teach this in your schools.”
– Steven Spielberg
Here’s the official release; Steven Spielberg, USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Dr. Stephen Smith and USC Shoah Foundation Director of Education Dr. Kori Street commemorated the Schindler’s List 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Blu-ray™ release with the global launch of the USC Shoah Foundation’s IWitness Video Challenge on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at The Chandler School in Pasadena, CA. They were joined by middle and high school students who had participated in the program while in Beta.
IWitness Video Challenge is an online program from the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education aimed at middle and high school students that brings thousands of taped testimonies of Holocaust survivors into the classroom for guided exploration, connecting kids with the past while engaging them in the present. For more information, please visit http://iwitness.usc.edu
Inspired by the experience of making Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg established the USC Shoah Foundation in 1994 to videotape interviews with survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. Since the Foundation’s inception, nearly 52,000 eyewitness testimonies have been recorded in 56 countries and in 32 languages. Today the Institute is committed to teaching with testimony, endeavoring to make the power of each story accessible to students, educators, scholars, and the general public on every continent. A powerful reminder of the heroism and humanity of those willing to stand up against intolerance, Schindler’s List will be available for the first time on Blu-ray™ on March 5, 2013. Digitally restored in high-definition from the original film negative, the Blu-ray™ release will expose the film to a whole new generation of viewers.
Did Fredric Wertham imitate superheroes? And if so, did he realize that he was doing it?
But let’s back up and give you latecomers an establishing shot or two. Way back in the early 50s, Dr. Wertham, a New York City psychiatrist, wrote a book provocatively titled Seduction of the Innocent which claimed to use science to demonstrate that comic books were corrupting the nation’s youth. Comics were already being attacked by editorial writers and at about the same time as the book’s publication, a senator named Estes Kefauver was convening hearings to investigate the same charge. The result of all this accusing was twofold: comics publishers went out of business leaving over 800 people suddenly unemployed, and the ragtag remnants of the business created The Comics Code Authority to censor their publications and thus placate the witch hunters. The comic book enterprise went into sharp decline, both financially and artistically until the late 50s, when Julius Schwartz and Stan Lee reinvented the superhero genre.
A sorry story. But ancient history. Well, not quite. Dr. Wertham was back in the news last week. According to the New York Times, Carol L. Tilley of the University of Illinois, examined Wertham’s papers and found numerous examples of research that were “manipulated, overstated, compromised and fabricated.”
Wow. And ouch. Not only did the doctor help put hundreds of decent folk out of work and, arguably, cripple an American art form, but he cooked the books to do it. There have been, for decades, doubts about Wertham’s methods, perhaps the most prevalent of which was that he ignored the validity of control groups. (Okay, goes the narrative, the doc found a hundred young lawbreakers who read comics, but he disregarded the thousands of Eagle Scouts who were also comics readers.) But until now, nobody has accused him of outright lying
Apparently he did lie.
I wonder why. Did he find these entertainments so unutterably vulgar that he was able to convince himself that they were also malign? Was he a zealot who honestly believed that these comic books were pernicious! and corrupt! and evil! and were obliterating the decency of American youth? And did he feel that he was justified in using any means available to quell this menace? That seems to be how zealots like to think.
Or was he a superhero? Consider: the bad guys in superhero stories may blather about ruling the world or getting rich or attaining revenge or, like zealots, proving that they’re right, but the real reason they exist is to give the hero a chance to show his stuff. We like heroes, and we like them to do magnificent deeds, and villains provide the circumstances for superheroic action. So, Dr. Wertham: did he see, in the anti-comic book excitement, a chance to get famous and cement his reputation and maybe grab a royalty check? Were comics his supervillains, giving him his big opportunity? He was already respected and, on the whole, he seemed to be a pretty decent guy, but maybe he had his share of hidden demons.
I don’t know. I’ll probably never know, and neither will you. But we might find a lesson in the Wertham saga: don’t trust authority figures. I hope that isn’t news to you.
JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN to be published by Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics. Based on the classic anthology by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Daren Bader, Pablo Marcos, Terry Beatty, Will Meugniot, Nik Poliwko, Antonio Romero Olmedo, Mark Wheatley, Diana Leto, Steven E. Gordon, Lowell Isaac, Tom Floyd and Jamie Chase.
The ESO crew takes a look at one of tv’s tried and true tropes, the spinoff. Mike Faber, Mike Gordon, and Bobby Nash are joined by Joe Crowe, Dan Carroll, and Greg Plunket to review the best and worst of the bunch, even including spinoffs of spinoffs! We are also joined by writer Jim Beard, who may be familiar with monsters, but can he survive The Geek Seat? All this, along with the usual Rants, Raves Khan Report and Shout Outs!
