According to this item at Howard Cruse’s blog, a group called the Library Patrons of Texas has made a list of every dirty word, racial slur and suggestive image in his award-winning graphic novel, Stuck Rubber Baby. The group’s purpose is is to encourage "local control of taxpayer-funded libraries and responsible age-appropriate selection, classification and access policies sensitive to local community standards and values."
In a spirit of cooperativeness, Howie has offered to re-do his book to suit Texan tastes. Here’s one example:
Artwork copyright Howard Cruse. All Rights Reserved. Thanks, Howard! Keep fighting the good fight!
Don’t people have day-jobs? Accordiing to Variety, Transformers made $8.8 million on Monday, playing on 3,050 screens around the country. Today, it adds another 500 screens, and will probably make even more money. The studios behind the movie (Paramount and DreamWorks) hope to earn more than $100 million by Monday, in what they describe as a 6 1/2 day weekend.
Ratatouille earned $7.5 million. Live Free or Die Hard made $4.3 million.
Transformers stars upcoming ComicMixer Mark Ryan as the voice of Bumblebee.
Box Office Mojo reports that Ratatouille is the top-grossing film this weekend, as expected, with grosses of more than $47 million. This beats Live Free or Die Hard, which earned a tad over $33 million.
"But wait," you say. "Die Hard 4 opened on Wednesday. Didn’t the real fans go then, driving up the gross?"
Well, I certainly went on Wednesday. However, even with a jump start, the total gross thus far is a mere $48.178 million.
Other films in the top ten are (in order) Evan Almighty, 1408, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Knocked Up, Ocean’s 13, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Sicko and Evening. I find it interesting that, on average per-theater earnings, Ratatouille is tops with $11,986, while Sicko is second with $10,204, ahead of Bruce Willis at $9,727.
Spider-Man 3, with a ranking of 12, has a per-theater average of only $985.
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.”
Beowolf, the new film directed by Robert Zemeckis with a scrpt by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, is set to hit screens November 16. Filmed in a computer-animation style similar to The Polar Express, there will also be an IMAX 3D version that will debut at the same time.
The voice-actors for the film include Crispin Glover (my density!), John Malcovich, Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins, among others.
"IMAX 3D has enabled us to tell stories in a whole new way, and we are very excited to offer moviegoers a chance to experience Beowulf in this incredible format," said Robert Zemeckis in a company pres releasae. "IMAX lends itself to the incredible image detail in Beowulf and in 3D, it will transport the audience directly into the story."
I think Kyle Baker is the funniest man in comics. With the exception of the recently completed non-fiction Nat Turner, everything he¹s done has made me laugh, including the artwork for DC’s Shadow series and Vertigo’s King David. After the publication of his second graphic novel, Why I Hate Saturn in 1992, Ben is Dead, a popular e-zine, proclaimed "Kyle Baker is God." Since then, he¹s written and drawn for every major publisher, and his work has appeared in New York Magazine, Spy, Vibe, ESPN and more. He¹s adapted the Dick Tracy movie and Alice in Wonderland for comics. His graphic novels include You are Here, I Die at Midnight, King David, the previously mentioned Nat Turner, several collections of short pieces and a continuing series about his family, The Bakers.
We recently had a chance to talk to Kyle and his oldest daughter, Lillian, herself a talented self-published cartoonist. At eight, she¹s written and drawn five books, most recently The Dumb People¹s Convention. Fans and fans-to-be can see her work at conventions this summer, where she will frequently share booth space with her father.
Lillian and I had just seen Spider-Man 3 the night before, and had a pajama party at my house.
Kyle: Any nightmares?
Lillian: No.
CMix: She wasn¹t scared. We talked about how everything is special effects and not real.
Kyle: Sometimes, she has nightmares after the movies.
CMix: The title — Babies and Kittens, your new book from Image (scheduled to ship in July). Why both?
Kyle: What¹s cuter than babies? Babies and kittens.
CMix: This is the second book that¹s being distributed by Image, after Nat Turner. What other projects do you have in the works?
Kyle: I¹m writing a book for Watson-Guptill, How to Draw Stupid. It¹s not a graphic novel, it¹s text with illustrations.
CMix: That sounds great, but it doesn¹t sound like something that would sell in comic book stores.
Kyle: There are at least two different audiences for comics these days. What sells the best at Barnes & Noble isn¹t what sells the best at a comic book store. They both think their market is the only one, and no one will buy what doesn¹t sell in their kind of store. I¹ve gone into a comic shop and asked why they don¹t have kids comics. They say, "Kids don¹t like Scooby-Doo." Of course kids like Scooby-Doo. What they don¹t is like most comic stores.
CMix: How do you feel about the competition from Lillian?
Kyle: She¹s very good at it. She¹s done five books.
CMix: Do you have a favorite?
Kyle: I like them all. They¹re all fun.
CMix: Lilli, are there comics you would like to read that aren¹t in stores?
Lillian: I like fairies. I¹d like to read a fairy comic.
CMix: Are there any?
Kyle: Disney and Nickelodeon have that market cornered. They do the cartoons.
CMix: There was that Terry Jones book.
Kyle: That had art by Brian Froud. He¹s done a lot of Lillian¹s favorite books.
CMix: What conventions do you plan to attend this summer?
Kyle: We did New York in February. I¹m going to San Diego (July) and I¹m doing Baltimore (over Labor Day). Check with Liz (his wife), she¹ll know the rest of the schedule.
CMix: It must be difficult to go with three kids.
Kyle: We used to fly all around the world with Lillian when she was a baby. She was one of those babies who would only stop crying if you walked her around the block in a stroller, and she wouldn¹t start to cry until I was completely set up to start signing books. The worst was Germany, where they went through all our bags. We were on a tour where we went from town to town, signing books. We ran all over Europe with twenty bags and a baby. Always racing for a plane or train.
CMix: Tell me about Special Forces? It¹s expected to appear monthly, starting in August. You were inspired by the story of the autistic teenager who was recruited into the armed forces. Is this a mini-series?
Kyle: The story can go on as long as the war does. Every generation has their own war comedy. There was Catch-22 for World War II, and M*A*S*H for the Viet Nam era. Everything in my book is going to be true things I read in the paper. Nothing could be funnier or more absurd than that.
CMix: You¹re going to get lambasted for that.
Kyle: I love reading bad reviews because they can¹t figure out how to attack it when it¹s true. Like with Nat Turner, nobody complained in the first volume, when all these black babies were getting killed. "Oh, that¹s accurate and profound," they said. Then, in the second half, when the white kids were killed, that was different. The same reviewers vcalled it "brutal." It was all historically accurate. It¹s what happened.
CMix: Lillian, do you want to be a cartoonist when you grow up, like your Daddy?
Lillian: Yes. Or maybe a doctor.
CMix: On your website (kylebaker.com), you have a lot of animation. Why aren¹t the studios throwing money at you to produce features?
Kyle: Not enough penguins in my stuff. I¹ve made a lot of money working for the studios. After Why I Hate Saturn, I spent two years working for Warner Bros, developing sit-coms that never got made. And I worked on the Loony Tunes movie. I got paid a lot of money. I don¹t care that I didn¹t get a single joke in the movie, because it¹s the most money I ever made.
CMix: Why didn¹t they use your jokes? You¹re the funniest person in the world!
Kyle: They want to see a script. If I write a script and it says "Sylvester falls in a pool," it¹s not funny. It¹s not funny on the page, but it will be funny in the execution. I¹ll do a storyboard, but they only understand what¹s typed. Most people can¹t even understand a storyboard. I kept doing my gags as doodles, and nobody knew what to do with them.
CMix: That¹s terrible.
Kyle: I¹d rather do it and then sell it. That¹s what I did with The Bakers. If I pitched those Bakers ideas, no one would buy them. But when you see it, it¹s funny. I like to do humor because comedy is quantifiable. You can¹t argue about it. Either people laugh, or they don¹t, so either it¹s funny, or it¹s not.
Variety reports that, as expected, Evan Almighty topped the weekend box-office charts with $32.1 million in ticket sales. What was not expected was that 1408, the movie based on a short story by Stephen King, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jaackson, would come in second with $20.1 million.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was third, and Ocean’s Thirteen was fourth.
Sicko, the new documentary from Michael Moore, opened in limited release and earned $70,000 at its one and only venue in New York City. Reports say that all the Saturday screenings for the film sold out in 43 markets.
Does your hair get in your eyes and keep you from reading the latest Harry Potter book? Don’t know what to wear to the moves this summer when you go to see Harrry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Sassy Tails has just what you need — Licensed Harry Potter hair accessories!
Kim Madden, a mom who started a company called Sassy Tails, has created a line of ponytail holders with patterns, colors and textures based on the popular books by J. K. Rowling. There are nine different designs, including silhouettes of Dumbledore’s Army and the Ministry of Magic.
When I left DC Comics in 1999, I stopped traveling to comic book conventions. I’d still go to the Big Apple shows and MoCCA Art Festivals to see my friends, but these take place in New York City, which, coincidentally, is also where my closets are. Now, for the first time in this century, I’m going to shows again.
At DC, those of us in the marketing department were required to wear t-shirts promoting the company’s characters, or with one of the company’s logos. At ComicMix, we wear our logos as well while we’re on duty. When I go to local shows to see my friends, I figure they already like me, and I’m not particularly going to make any new pals.
This is the long way to say that I don’t especially worry about my appearance at comic book conventions. Either someone has made that decision for me, or I was going to see someone who already had formed an opinion about me.
None of this is not to say I didn’t obsess over my appearance. I do. I worry constantly that people look at me and think, “Who let that fat old woman out of the house? Aren’t there laws against such public displays of cellulite? Is it really possible for flesh to sag that much in so many different places?” However, when going to a comic book event, I didn’t worry about these questions any more than I do when going to get a newspaper, or mail a letter.
To me, comic book conventions were a professional obligation. I presented myself as my profession requires, just as I wear a suit to meetings with journalists or clients, and a sweater to the yarn store. When a comic book convention is a social occasion, I’ll dress as my peers dress, perhaps taking the occasion to wear some cute shoes my friends can admire.
I do not consider conventions to make new friends. In fact, I never went to one before I worked at DC (except to go to parties when I first started working in comics, but, as a freelancer, I needed the free hors d’oeuvres). Even though I’ve been reading comics since 1958, I never socialized around them. Comics were something I liked, like rock’n’roll music, or blueberries. My friends were more likely to come from my political activism or the swim team or, later, from jobs or parents with kids the same age as mine.
Until recently, I’d guess most women at comic book conventions also didn’t worry too much about their appearance. As Heidi MacDonald has observed, most women at comic events were “dragalongs,” women who were attending because their boyfriends, husbands or sons liked comics, not because they were fans themselves. The best thing about going to a show used to be that there were never any lines for the ladies room.
LB: I want to see The Simpsons Movie.
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.
I think Kyle Baker is the funniest man in comics. With the exception of the recently completed non-fiction Nat Turner, everything he¹s done has made me laugh, including the artwork for DC’s Shadow series and Vertigo’s King David. After the publication of his second graphic novel, Why I Hate Saturn in 1992, Ben is Dead, a popular e-zine, proclaimed "Kyle Baker is God." Since then, he¹s written and drawn for every major publisher, and his work has appeared in New York Magazine, Spy, Vibe, ESPN and more. He¹s adapted the Dick Tracy movie and Alice in Wonderland for comics. His graphic novels include You are Here, I Die at Midnight, King David, the previously mentioned Nat Turner, several collections of short pieces and a continuing series about his family, The Bakers.
Does your hair get in your eyes and keep you from reading the latest Harry Potter book? Don’t know what to wear to the moves this summer when you go to see Harrry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Sassy Tails has just what you need — Licensed Harry Potter hair accessories!
When I left DC Comics in 1999, I stopped traveling to comic book conventions. I’d still go to the Big Apple shows and MoCCA Art Festivals to see my friends, but these take place in New York City, which, coincidentally, is also where my closets are. Now, for the first time in this century, I’m going to shows again.
