If you’re like me, some of the happiest moments in the Spider-Man films came when Sam Raimi found a spot to slip in the theme from the ’67 animated series. So, for your listening pleasure, we have some cover versions of the song, from Michael Buble…
…to the Ramones.
And for some additional information about that animated series, we highly recommend Wallopin’ Websnappers for a look behind the scenes at the show.
Look out. Here comes the you-know-what.
So here we are, smack-dab in the middle of the unforgiving Summer Blockbuster Land of 2007, we’ve already got 300 Spartans, a few talking turtles, a spider, an ogre, and a whiney Kurt Russell under our collective belts, and we still have so much more to get to. But here we are with the culmination of the summer in Disney’s third installment to their Pirates of the Caribbean franchise entitled World’s End.
Now, going into this film I had pretty high expectations, which I normally don’t, but this film had enough build up in the first two films to get just about anybody excited for an outcome. So with that said, I had a few issues with the movie as a whole, but before we get to that, so as not to ruin tradition, lets break down the film into the specified categories.
Starting off with the best element of the film, the acting, I was more than pleased with the performances of the cast. Geoffrey Rush returns as Captain Barbosa and did an amazing job playing off of Depp’s Captain Jack. His performance is full of creepy glances and pirate lingo which I had completely no idea what it meant, but it still sounded awesome. Knightley was impressive in stark comparison to her role in the first film, this film was meant as the “all grown up” point in her life where she’s no longer the dainty, naïve Governor’s daughter, and has embraced the pirate way of life. Orlando Blooms role, while large in the last 20 minutes of the film, was somewhat lacking in the other 2 hours and 40 minutes. There seemed to be way too many different parties to give enough screen time to each of them. Bill Nighy did an amazing job, of course.
Which brings us to the final member of our massive leading cast, Captain Jack Sparrow. I only had two major problems with this film, we’ll get to number two later, but the biggest one was the unnecessary, force fed comic relief in this film. It isn’t even considered to be comic relief because it consumes 90% of the movie, which just makes the other 10% well needed dramatic relief. I was happy in the first two films where our comedy came mostly from our two would be pirates Pantel and Ragetti, and the occasional wackiness from Depp’s Sparrow, but in this film, Captain Jack ends up going crazy in Davey Jones’ locker, which apparently makes everything, yes everything he says sound like it was written by Larry David. Now normally I’m the first one to complain that a movie is taking itself too seriously, but this became ridiculous after three hours of zany one liners and slapstick visual jokes. I was rooting for the major death at the end of the movie, only because the audience needed a shellshock to help us realize that it wasn’t a Night at the Apollo.
It is traditional to see Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer. Entertaining blockbuster movies open, people who rent summer homes start their weekend commutes, beaches open, and the more enlightened workplaces close early on Fridays. It is nearly as traditional for newspaper editors to write essays decrying the fact that people “celebrate” a holiday that was started to honor the memory of those who lost their lives defending our country in wartime.
Throughout the history of literature, war has been glorified and those who fought have been lauded more than those who resisted. Graphic storytelling is no exception. Throughout World War II, when many comics sold in the millions of copies per title, war comics and other stories where the good guys trashed the evil Axis were favorites.
The Fifties continued in this vein, with a few ripples in the undercurrent. Harvey Kurtzman’s Two-Fisted Tales showed that war might be more than glory. At the same time in other parts of popular culture, the Hollywood witch-hunts, searching for Communists under ever bed, inspired brilliant science fiction and fantasy, as creators tried to tell their story through metaphor. The Twilight Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still – all are more profound entertainments because of the complexities of the time.
By the Sixties, everything you ever knew was wrong. The civil rights movement, the war – and the draft – affected everyone and everything. It was a fabulous time for pop culture. Top 40 radio played Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Jefferson Airplane, all jumbled together like jambalaya. Events like the Woodstock Festival made clear that topical issues were interconnected, that poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia and environmental destruction were the results of what happens when violence and capitalism are out of control. Underground comix made the scene, and the people who made comics were an honored part of the counter-cultural art scene. They made comics that were completely unlike the heroic fantasies that were popular before.
That’s the basis for where we are today, pop culturally speaking. In between, the people who sell entertainment for a living got a lot more savvy, and blurred the lines between rebellion and consumption. Want to save Africa? Buy a phone. You say you want a revolution? We’ve got the car for you.
My best friend lost her brother in Viet Nam, and that was horrible. Richard was smart and funny and would have served his country much better if he’d stayed home, worked at a job, amused his friends and had a family. There are tens of millions of people with similar memories, and our current administration is doing all that they can to ensure that people will continue to mourn for generations.
Via PulpSecret, the Activism Center at Wetlands Preserve takes a look at The Paper Problem, specifically Adam Weissman’s quest to get comic book companies to get comic book publishers to consider using more environmentally-friendly paper. The collective’s "Greening the Comics Industry Campaign seeks to shift the comic book industry to use of 100% post-consumer recycled paper and to reduce overall paper use." To that end, the WP folks are offering Forest Defense Internships.
If this sounds good to you, here’s the online application form. As PulpSecret notes, internships are unpaid positions, but they look terrific on resumes.
Anime News Network reports, "In a press conference following a meeting of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s cabinet on Tuesday morning, Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Asō announced the creation of an ‘International Manga Award’ for manga artists and creators from outside Japan."
Asō, known for being an outspoken manga fan, said "I want to make the award like the Nobel Prize of manga, to enhance the voice of Japanese pop culture and subculture." Asō will lead the task force which will establish the award, funding for which will come from the Japan Foundation, Japan’s endowment to support international relations.
Candidates for the prize will come from general applications and recommendations by publishers in Japan and overseas. Slice of SciFi reports, "June 22 will be the day the Award Committee, comprised of manga artists and publishers, releases their list of final nominees for the award. Japan’s governmental body of ministers will pick the winner and three runner-ups on July 2, 2007."
Yes, today’s the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, or as some folks have suggested, Universal Day of the Jedi. It’s also the 24th Anniversary of the release of Return of the Jedi. But did you know it’s also Towel Day?
Towel Day was created to commemorate the passing of that hoopy frood Douglas Adams, who passed away on May 11th, 2001, and it was the fastest date that people could agree on. A towel, of course, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. Anyone who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
It’s also, of course, the start of a three day weekend — always a cause for celebration — and I understand there’s some pirate movie that’s opening today. So go forth and enjoy. But make sure you bring a towel.
In the category of "familiar names in not so familiar places," editor Barbara Randall Kesel (late of CrossGen, Dark Horse and DC) has a new gig — overseeing a comic entitled The National Triumph League, which will be cowritten by New York Jets fullback Darian Barnes.
The Jets’ official site is already publicizing this venture, including an interview with Barnes where he discusses the comic (about 4:50 into the video) and mentions their nascent web home.
A bit more from the book’s colorist, Jason Embury: "The National Triumph League is the story of super powered teams, battling to capture villains in a competitive environment for points, and deals with the real life issues concerning the pressure and notoriety of being a professional athlete and life in the public eye. A fun new twist on standard superhero fare." Barnes is cowriting the book with Josh Goldfond, and the art will be by Jim Muniz, with coloring by Embury and lettering by Jason Hanley.
Barnes notes that the book is still looking for a publisher, but one assumes that a professional NFL player won’t have any trouble funding this kind of enterprise.
Via Forbidden Planet: A Star Wars fan Down Under "was making his way to a 30th anniversary photo shoot earlier today ‘dressed in black and carrying a backpack with a replica laser blaster poking out the side’ when he ‘alarmed diners at a food court in central Melbourne.’ According to Reuters, the 32-year-old was quickly "surrounded by armed police, forced to the ground, and handcuffed,’ and will now be charged with possessing an unregistered firearm." Emphasis ours. More from the Herald Sun.
Oh, and here’s the Beeb’s video take on the American celebrations for SW‘s 30th.
Today’s YouTube find comes courtesy of BoingBoing, so you’ve probably already seen it, but what the heck. Presenting Govinda as Superman and Kimi Katkar as Spider-Woman:
Govinda’s shoulders may not be all that broad, but he really knows how to work that cape. I wish they still made American musicals like this…
A long time ago (30 years ago today) in a galaxy far, far away… actually, for me it was the old Fox Theater on Route 347 in Setauket, on a screen the size of a battleship… a little film called Star Wars was released.
Worlds lived, worlds died, and the cinematic universe would never be the same again.
As for us, we here at ComicMix will be pulling up all sorts of personal memories all day, along with other Star Wars oddities we find on the net, and John Ostrander is already out at Celebration IV in Los Angeles signing copies of the new Star Wars: Legacy trade paperback at the Dark Horse booth with Jan Duursema, so if there’s any breaking news, he’ll let us know.
But really, how could we be bigger fanboys than Steve Sansweet? He literally wrote the book on the matter.
In the meantime, to kick things off, here’s a little bit of what we love about it.
Congrats, George. Love It. So when’s Clone Wars coming out?
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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