Author: Glenn Hauman

Monday Mix-Up: SUPERMANDREAS

Monday Mix-Up: SUPERMANDREAS

From creator Nick Acosta:

…a new disaster movie starring The Rock called “San Andreas” is slated to premiere in theaters. From the trailer I noticed that some of the film’s big disaster set pieces (the destruction of the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate bridge) looked very familiar to me. They are almost shot for shot the same as from one my favorite movies growing up – the 1978 film “Superman.” So I decided to re-edit the “San Andreas” trailer to take out The Rock and put in a 27-year-old Christopher Reeve as Superman. I even rotoscoped him flying from the 1978 film into “San Andreas.” Christopher Reeve’s Superman was my first childhood hero growing up. I still consider him the definitive Superman and I still can hear his voice when I read new Superman comics. So it was an immense pleasure to drop him into a modern day movie and see him fly one more time in his prime. Please check out “San Andreas” re-cut to the 1978 film “Superman,” I call it SUPERMANDREAS For more info on how this was made and to compare it to the actual “San Andreas” trailer you can goto my portfolio site.

Enjoy.

“Watchmen” Described for Screen Reader Users

watchmen-trade-paperback-200x300During a 1940’s newspaper strike, New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia would read the comics over the radio so kids wouldn’t miss out on the funnies. In a similar vein, Liana Kerr is reading Watchmen for people who can’t see it:

Watchmen is a classic comic book written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, published in 1986. It’s set in an alternate history where the existence of superheroes changed American politics, culture and everyday life. I’ve described it panel-by-panel for blind and low-vision readers, including the supplementary material at the end of each chapter. Text within asterisks indicates bold text.

Source: Watchmen: Described for Screen Reader Users | Liana’s Paper Dolls

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

2014 Nebula Awards Winners

2014 Nebula Awards Winners

nebulalogowhiteThe 2014 Nebula Awards were presented June 4, 2015 in a ceremony at  SFWA’s 50th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, held in Chicago, IL. Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Axe Cop) hosted the awards. Larry Niven was honored with the 2014 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions and achievements in the field.

Scott Edelman gave a heartfelt acceptance speech for the Bradbury Award on behalf of Guardians Of The Galaxy, which we transcribed in its entirety for you:

I am Groot. I am Groot? I AM GROOT.

Now, who among us can argue with that?

The full ballot, with winners listed first:

Novel

  • Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals; Fourth Estate; HarperCollins Canada)

Novella

  • We Are All Completely Fine, Daryl Gregory (Tachyon)
  • ‘‘The Regular’’, Ken Liu (Upgraded)
  • ‘‘The Mothers of Voorhisville’’, Mary Rickert (Tor.com 4/30/14)
  • Calendrical Regression, Lawrence Schoen (NobleFusion)
  • ‘‘Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)’’, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’14)

Novelette

  • ‘‘A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i’’, Alaya Dawn Johnson (F&SF 7-8/14)
  • ‘‘Sleep Walking Now and Then’’, Richard Bowes (Tor.com 7/9/14)
  • ‘‘The Magician and Laplace’s Demon’’, Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 12/14)
  • ‘‘The Husband Stitch’’, Carmen Maria Machado (Granta #129)
  • ‘‘We Are the Cloud’’, Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed 9/14)
  • ‘‘The Devil in America’’, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com 4/2/14)

Short Story

  • ‘‘Jackalope Wives’’, Ursula Vernon (Apex 1/7/14)
  • ‘‘The Breath of War’’, Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/6/14)
  • ‘‘When It Ends, He Catches Her’’, Eugie Foster (Daily Science Fiction 9/26/14)
  • ‘‘The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye’’, Matthew Kressel (Clarkesworld 5/14)
  • ‘‘The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family’’, Usman T. Malik (Qualia Nous)
  • ‘‘A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide’’, Sarah Pinsker (F&SF 3-4/14)
  • ‘‘The Fisher Queen’’, Alyssa Wong (F&SF 5/14)

Ray Bradbury Award

  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Birdman
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • Edge of Tomorrow
  • Interstellar
  • The Lego Movie

Andre Norton Award

The Solstice Award was given to Joanna Russ posthumously, and to Stanley Schmidt. Jeffry Dwight received the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award.

Winners were announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet on June 6, 2015, during the Nebula Awards Weekend (June 4-7, 2015) in the Red Lacquer Room at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago IL.

Nichelle Nichols hospitalized after mild stroke

Last night while at her home in Los Angeles, actress Nichelle Nichols suffered from a mild stroke and was taken to a hospital. She is currently undergoing testing to determine how severe the stroke was. Her publicist provided a statement to EW: “Nichelle Nichols is resting comfortably and undergoing tests. We do not have a prognosis yet but everyone’s prayers and well wishes are appreciated.”

Nichols, 82, is best known to fans as Lt. Nyota Uhura on Star Trek in a diverse career spanning over fifty years including appearances on stage and screen, from singing with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands to voice-overs on Futurama and The Simpsons, with possibly her biggest impact coming from her volunteer work with NASA to help recruit minority and female candidates for the agency.

We hope she gets better quickly, and look forward to seeing her at conventions soon. This lady is a hard one to knock down.

Singapore Arts Council pulls $8,000 grant for Sonny Liew graphic novel

Sonny Liew, artist on the upcoming Dr. Fate series written by Paul Levitz for DC Comics, has published a graphic novel overseas that’s gotten a bit of political attention in his home country of Singapore…

A hot-off-the-press graphic novel seems to be in hot water, with the National Arts Council (NAC) revoking its $8,000 publication grant because of the “sensitive content”.

The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by award-winning comics artist Sonny Liew tells the story of a Singaporean artist who represents 60-odd years of local history through his satirical comics.

Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his political rival Lim Chin Siong appear in the 340-page book in cartoon form.

The 1987 Operation Spectrum, when 16 people were detained allegedly over a Marxist conspiracy to overthrow the Government, is turned into a plot to replace all music in Singapore with the melodies of American singer Richard Marx.

Published here this month by Epigram Books, the comic scored a publishing deal with American publisher Pantheon for an international edition next year.

It was awarded a grant of $8,000 from NAC before publication, of which $6,400 was disbursed, according to Epigram Books’ publisher Edmund Wee. He will return the $6,400 and is printing stickers to cover up the arts council logo in the printed books.

via National Arts Council withdraws $8,000 grant for newly published graphic novel by Sonny Liew – Books News & Top Stories – The Straits Times.

Sonny Liew is also known for his work on [[[My Faith in Frankie]]] together with Mike Carey and Marc Hempel, and Marvel Comics’ [[[Sense and Sensibility]]] adaptation.

Ash Is Back, Baby: New Teasers for “Ash vs. Evil Dead”

The Starz Original series “Ash vs Evil Dead” is rolling out new teasers this week for the 10-episode first season of the half-hour series executive produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell, the original filmmakers of the franchise, and Craig DiGregorio who will serve as executive producer and showrunner.  “Ash vs Evil Dead,” which is currently in production in New Zealand, is the long-awaited follow-up to the classic horror film franchise The Evil Dead and is set to premiere on Starz in Fall 2015.

Ash, his boom stick, and his chainsaw have made numerous appearances in comics, both in his own series from Dark Horse and Dynamite, and crossing over with a wide variety of characters such as Marvel Zombies, Darkman, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Dracula, Xena, Danger Girl, and Re-Animator.

Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead.  When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal.  Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.

The cast is led by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, “Burn Notice”) in the role of Ash Williams, Lucy Lawless (“Salem,” “Spartacus”) as Ruby a mysterious figure who believes Ash is the cause of the Evil outbreaks, Ray Santiago (“Touch,” Meet the Fockers) as Pablo Simon Bolivar, an idealistic immigrant who becomes Ash’s loyal sidekick, Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) as Kelly Maxwell, a moody wild child trying to outrun her past and Jill Marie Jones (“Sleepy Hollow”) as Amanda Fisher, a disgraced Michigan State Trooper set to find our anti-hero Ash and prove his responsibility in the grisly murder of her partner.

Raimi (Spider-Man) is directing the first episode of “Ash vs Evil Dead” that he wrote with Ivan Raimi (Darkman, Army of Darkness, Drag Me to Hell), and Tom Spezialy (“Chuck,” “Reaper,” “Desperate Housewives”). Raimi will also serve as executive producer, with Rob Tapert (Evil Dead, “Spartacus,” Xena: Warrior Princess”) and Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, “Burn Notice”) along with Craig DiGregorio (“Workaholics,” “Chuck”) who will serve as executive producer/showrunner. Ivan Raimi will co-executive produce and Aaron Lam (“Spartacus”) and Chloe Smith (“Spartacus”) will serve as producers.

 

Hatter M goes YA on “The View” Friday, with heavy cosplay action

Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass War series, a dark fantasy look at Alice In Wonderland, has had a strong spinoff life in comics with Hatter M, the story of Hatter Madigan who is the bodyguard to the Queen of Wonderland and head of the elite security force known as the The Millinery.

Beddor has debuted a new Young Adult prose series at BookExpo America, Hatter Madigan, which shows his early days at the Millinery. And to mark the occasion, fan of the series Whoopi Goldberg will be highlighting the series and characters on The View on Friday. Beddor literally brought his characters to life on The View by inviting a team of cosplayers dressed up as his characters to appear on the show. “The audience exploded when they saw them come out. Fantasy rules reality. The reaction was amazing.”

The new book, Hatter Madigan: Ghost In the H.A.T.B.O.X, is a prequel to the existing Looking Glass Wars time line and will hit stores in March of 2016.

But we know what some of our readers really care about is the cosplay. Well, fear not– we got our hands on some photos for of the behind-the-scenes of the costumes…

The DC Comics vs. David Letterman Top Ten List

Everyone is talking about whatever contact they may have had with David Letterman this week, and I’m no different.

I’ve mentioned before that I believe some of the reasons I ended up working at DC Comics almost 27 years ago was because I could pitch softball better than what most people there and that the guy I was interviewing with was the head of the company softball team, and that I went to the game that was scheduled to be against the crew from Late Night With David Letterman.

What I’ve never mentioned before now is that somebody in the DC production department had devised their own strategy to psych out the other team, and had written the entire thing out on big pieces of cardboard, like cue cards.

When the game was forfeited, the giant cards were left behind on the field— and I, being a true comic collector of one of a kind stuff, grabbed them. And kept them. Through five or more moves, I kept them.

And now, on the occasion of the end of David Letterman’s run in late night television, I bring you this never before seen list…

TOP 10 REASONS DC WILL BEAT “LATE NIGHT”! (more…)

Game Of Thrones: The Musical!

Game Of Thrones: The Musical!

Because Coldplay and Peter Dinklage think there’s money to be had here…

…actually, it’s to help benefit Red Nose Day to help fight child poverty, which is a good thing for the ex-Minister of Coin to be doing. Enjoy.