Category: News

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.

 

Upcoming Lucifer TV Series Coming Under Fire

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It’s been a couple weeks since we got the news of this coming fall’s network TV lineups. Many have noted it’s a golden age for comic-sourced television. One of the fall’s new shows on FOX will be Lucifer, based on the series of the same name featuring characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith & Mike Dringenberg for DC Comics.

Not so surprisingly, a show about The First of The Fallen getting bored with his tenure ruling Hell so he moves to L.A. to be a nightclub impresario has some folks upset, namely the American Family Association and its offshoot OneMillionMoms.com. AFA & OMM have started online petitions to “urge Fox [to] drop plans to air Lucifer” citing “The program previews mischaracterize Satan, departs from true biblical teachings about him, and inaccurately portrays the beliefs of the Christian faith. By choosing to air this show, FOX is disrespecting Christianity and mocking the Bible.” OMM also points out that “Previews of the pilot episode depict graphic acts of violence, a nightclub featuring scantily-clad women and a demon,” as objectionable content.

Here’s the first look trailer for Lucifer starring Tom Ellis:

OneMillionMoms.com state that “Our goal is to stop the exploitation of our children, especially by the entertainment media,” which begs the questions: Why haven’t they gone after the source material? Why are there no online petitions against any comics or comic book publishers on either the OMM or AFA sites? Doesn’t Fredric Wertham’s theories of youth corruption dovetail nicely with their “values”? Are comics not an entertainment medium?

At the time of this writing 9,175 “Moms” had e-signed (that’s almost 1% of one million) and 53,386 e-signatures have been collected on the AFA petition. It’s unclear if AFA’s numbers include the Moms or not. Oh, and the trailer has 565,783 views on YouTube.

It’s probable that if their petition fails to get FOX to cancel the show prior to its 2016 airdate, they will turn to the tactics they are currently using against TV Land’s Younger and urge sponsors to pull their spots.

The Point Radio: HALT AND CATCH FIRE Ablaze Again

AMC’s 80s computer drama, HALT AND CATCH FIRE, is back for a new season and Mackenzie Davis is here to talk about how her character has a big challenge ahead. Plus he is called one of the most original comics of our time. Michael Blackson is the African King Of Comedy, but how did he get it all started?

 We’re back at the start of the week with a look at UNREAL, the new drama that blows the lid off what really goes on with reality TV.

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…

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Denver ComicCon Had a Women In Comics Panel With No Women

no-girls“This weekend’s Denver ComicCon came under fire when attendees discovered that a Women in Comics panel had only male panelists. While a representative of DCC has defended the panel as “not about current women creators or anything to do with industry bias,” it seems odd that a convention with Trina Robbins, the eminent historian of women as creators and characters, as a guest would not invite her to join in on a discussion of the history of women in comics. While the misstep here is primarily on the panel organizers, it also raises a question of what obligation conventions have to moderate and comment on panels that are accepted.”

Read the whole article at ComicAlliance

The Point Radio: The Mysterious Debra Messing

Actress Debra Messing rolled the dice and came back to TV this season with NBC’s MYSTERIES OF LAURA. We talk to her about how the gamble paid off and what lies ahead for next season, and what about that WILL AND GRACE reunion? Plus this weekend may be the unofficial start of summer, but the season began weeks ago at the box office. Have we seen the summer’s biggest hits already? The folks at Fandango weigh in on that and more.

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.

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