Your must-watch of the day, courtesy of AOL Video — the unaired Aquaman pilot. It’s been around for a bit, and it’s available on the bootleg circuit, but with the announced Justlce League movie and all that Smallville action, we thought you might find it of interest.
It’s preceded by an ad, ’cause it’s AOL so what do you expect… But at least AOL and Aquaman share a common owner.
I haven’t talked that much yet about being what my life is like being married to one of the relatively few lucky and talented people able to make a living as a comic book artist. There are a few reasons for this, among them being stuff I’m not allowed to reveal in a public forum because of various confidences. (For instance, it’s driving me nuts not being able to talk about Robin’s next inking assignment, and ComicMix readers will understand why once it’s been officially announced.) I walk a fine line between wanting to crow about the comics I see in their formative stages and realizing that any specifics thereof will often require massive doses of pre-approval before I talk about them.
But I can still indulge in generalities, one being a topic on which I’ve briefly touched before — the blurry line between being a fan and being a pro. Today I want to talk specifically about dealing with pros from a fan’s point of view.
What brought this on was my musings after attending the Dave Cockrum memorial last week. I was acquainted with Dave and Paty from the days when they used to appear at NYC comic shows, mostly the Fred Greenberger ones but I think they were also at some of the "church cons" that Mike Carbonaro held before those shows moved across the street from Penn Station. When Dave was at the VA hospital a bus ride away from my apartment, I visited him once in the bitter winter because it was the right thing to do, not because he was This Big Name. I’ve been lucky enough to get to know a lot of luminaries from those old cons as people and friends before I really knew any of their work. And I remember when I used to mention their names in Usenet posts, the way I’d mention other friends and acquaintances, I’d often receive nasty accusations of "name-dropping" from my fellow comic fans, with an attitude of "how dare she talk about these Names as though they were — people!"
It seems far simpler for many fans to think of pros as abstracts on whom they can project their own entitlements than to interact with them as fellow human beings. And whether this consists of treating fictional characters as more important than the real people who create and work on them, or erecting pedestals and shrines to the objects of your affection, the result is much the same.
The Harvey Award nominations are out! The full list can be found at the Harvey website, as well as pretty much everywhere else in the comic-o-news-o-blog-o-sphere.
Nominations for the Harveys Awards are selected exclusively by folks involved in a creative capacity in the comics field — as the site notes, "the only industry awards both nominated by and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Professionals who participate will be joining nearly 2,000 other comics professionals in honoring the outstanding comics achievements of 2006."
Final ballots are due Friday, August 3, and voting is open to anyone involved in a creative capacity within the comics field. Your intrepid news editor will doubtless be kibbitzing over my local inker’s shoulder…
Via Heidi at The Beat, the newest Friends of Lulu anthology has been formally announced.
The Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff has a whole bunch of contributors both new and well-known, from A (Elizabeth Argull) to Y (Shayna Yates) — sorry, no "Z" surnames spotted — with each contributor presenting her take on "men and their interests." I have mixed feelings about this antho, mostly awe and jealousy, as it’s the first FoL effort in which I won’t have a story because I just couldn’t think of one. So I’m really looking forward to seeing what all these fine women have come up with!
If you click on the above link you can preorder the book, which will also be in stores in July in time, one presumes, for Lulu’s annual appearance at the San Diego Comic Con.
This little homebody has had enough of running around in The City. Sometimes you just have to stay home and collapse before facing another workweek, and what better way to relax than with another reading of some fine ComicMix columns?:
And some listening to Mellifluous Mike Raub‘s most recent podcasts?:
And by phrasing everything in the form of a question?
I’m getting way too old for this. Nonetheless, had I the energy to walk around and the time to have planned ahead (a must!), I would have loved Book Expo America even more. It’s been at least 15 years since I’ve been to this trade show (the last time I attended it wasn’t even called BEA), and it’s as exhilarating as ever. Whoever believes nobody has any interest in books any more needs to be dragged to this show.
The ComicMix contingent was out in force for this one. Pictured here are Mellifluous Mike Raub, Head Honcho Mike Gold, and Spin Queen Martha Thomases. Not pictured are Kai Connolly and Glenn Hauman. Expect any info from these folks to be far more valuable than my meager photos, as they got info and interviews galore.
More than ever before, comics and particularly graphic novels are firmly ensconced in the pantheon of publishing, and enthusiastically accepted by show attendees. Lots of emphasis was put this year on graphic novels for kids, and Harold Buchholz and Jane Fisher were doing their part to expand that — do check out their Kids Love Comics website! I also had my photo taken a bit later with Harold and Colleen Doran, who warns me it’ll be up on her site when she gets home. It was terrific to see so many Team Comics people at this show!
Yesterday I alluded to an item which would explain the presence, all in one room, of people like Paul Levitz, Joe Quesada, Tom Brevoort, Dan DiDio, Mike Carlin, Bob Wayne, Jim Shooter, Dan Buckley, Peter Sanderson, Mark Waid, Chris Claremont, Peter David, Steve Wacker, Danny Fingeroth, Jo Duffy, Jack C. Harris, Irene and Ellen Vartanoff, Al Milgrom, Ken Gale and Mercy Von Vlack, and Cliff Meth all in one place and not at a convention.
All these folks and more gathered in the Time Life Building’s 2nd floor conference center on Thursday afternoon for both a happy and sad occasion — remembering and celebrating the life of the late Dave Cockrum and his many wonderful contributions to comics.
Paul Levitz led off the event by recalling the first official memorial over which the comics family presided, that of Wally Wood. (The last one Robin and I attended before this was ten years ago, for Kim Yale. While I don’t actually enjoy these events, I’ve found great comfort in like-minded folk coming together to salute one of their own and thus strengthen the bonds that exist between us all.) Paul suggested the memorial tributes be done "open mike" style, where anyone who wished to share a story about Dave could come to the podium and speak about him, with Dave’s widow Paty being last to speak.
Cliff Meth, a very close friend of Dave and Paty, talked about how Dave’s love of comics shone through even in his passing (wearing his Superman pj’s under a Batman blanket) and cremation (in his Green Lantern t-shirt), and how strongly he felt Dave’s spirit still around, a feeling which would be echoed by Paty. Cliff also passed along remembrances from two Californians who couldn’t be there, Marv Wolfman and Harlan Ellison — who recorded his eulogy, the reaction to which there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and not from crying.
The producers of Battlestar Galactica announced today that the show’s upcoming fourth season would be its last.
Yesterday David Eick and Ronald Moore released a statement noting that BSG "was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and finally, an end. Over the course of the last year, the story and the characters have been moving strongly toward that end and we’ve decided to listen to those internal voices and conclude the show on our own terms."
The recent 20% decline in the show’s ratings are presumably beside the point.
Snapped this photo yesterday afternoon:
Some interesting faces there, including Tom Brevoort, Mike Carlin, Peter David, Ivan Cohen, Steve Wacker and… wait a second…
Why, it’s DC Comics President+Publisher Paul Levitz and Marvel’s EIC Joe Quesada, mere feet away from each other. And they say the recent meetings involving Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are historic! (Yes, DC’s EIC Dan DiDio was there as well, and wound up sitting in the row in front of Quesada, but you’ll have to take my word for that as I don’t have a photo.) What could bring all these comics luminaries together? We’ll have the full report later today.
As reported earlier, the Cannes Film Festival awarded the animated film Persepolis (adapted from Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel of the same name) the Jury Prize, which it shares with Silent Light by Carlos Reygadas. Here’s a nice photo of all three winners (including Satrapi’s co-director Vincent Paronnaud).
If you’re not Persepolis‘ed out after ComicMix running the trailer twice, here’s a nice interview with Satrapi from the International Herald Tribune.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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