Tim Gunn, fresh off his stint in the Iron Man armor and his guest appearances with Aquaman, reunites with Alan Kistler to discuss super-hero fashion
and judge the looks of Mr. Miracle, Star Sapphire, Power Girl,
Catwoman, Spider-Man and Batwoman on this episode of Crazy Sexy Geeks!
It’s Halloween time and that means I and co-host Graham Skipper are ready to debate the merits and drawing power of movie monsters such as Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, the Aliens and the Predators.
Last week, the CSG gang spoke with Tim Gunn about super-hero fashion and then attended the DC Comics/Bloomingdale’s fashion show in NYC where they asked Batman and Catwoman how fashion techniques have influenced their costumes.
And if that isn’t enough for you, all previous episodes of Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series have been remastered with better audio quality! Enjoy!
This is my first step towards fulfilling my new-year resolution: to post items of interest in a timely fashion. (There are two assumptions there: that I can post anything in a timely fashion, and that this is interesting, but bear with me.) If I close these windows, my browser will run faster and new posts will go up faster. That’s the theory, if that doesn’t work, I’m getting a new computer and declaring email bankruptcy.
* In the strictest sense, this probably counts as a comic strip. And now the song will be stuck in your head.
* Will Elder, remembered by the New York TImes Magazine.
* "I usually dream up a dozen or so profoundly stupid ‘high concepts’ for stories every day." — Brian K. Vaughan, interviewed in Esquire. Explains why J.J. Abrams hired him for Lost, I suppose. (Via io9.)
* Baby, if you’ve ever wondered… wondered if there ever really was a WKRP in Cincinatti… there is now, but it’s a TV station.
* We hate to burst bubbles, but there’s no way the Lone Ranger melted silver over a campfire to make bullets. (And we mean silver the element, not the horse. That’s just disgusting.) This also means that any medieval werewolf stories are in trouble too…
With Heroes building up to a climax for “Villains”, details are starting to slip out about volume four, kicking off in January. E!’s Krstin de los Santos says there will be some house cleaning coming up with characters being killed off in a dramatic fashion.
“I’m told Hunter (Zeljko Ivanek) captures many of our favorite Heroes and loads them onto a transport plane. (Think prisoners heading to Guantánamo Bay.) When the plane goes down, ‘You don’t know who survives,’ says [Greg Grunberg]. When asked if Angela Petrelli would be joining their nondirty ‘mile-high club,’ Cristine Rose tells me, ‘I’m getting old, I don’t see myself parachuting.’ So could that be how some of our Heroes survive? More importantly, did the plane go down because Desmond forgot to key in the numbers in the Hatch?”
One of the romances will be ending as one of the partners also dies with suspicion aimed at Grunberg’s likeable Matt Parkman, who recently got involved with the charming Daphne, the speedster.
The series will take a long break with the fourth volume airing its first episode Monday, February 2 during the next Sweeps period.
I sit here amazed that I still live in the HELL HOLE which is Los Angeles. I’m getting more and more pissed at myself for being here. Why? Well, earlier this week there was a real possibility that I could have lost my home to one of the many massive fires that went through part of L.A. like McCain went though “Joe the goddamn plumber” references.
WHAT the Hell was that about? With all the Joe Six Pack and Joe The Plumber stupid anecdotes being thrown around, I can see the next ad from McCain:
VO: John McCain. An American Hero.
Image: McCain in his military Uniform.
VO: John McCain spent 5 years as a P.O.W.
Image: McCain in captivity.
VO: His cellmate will tell you that McCain stood firm in the face of the enemy.
Image: G.I. Joe Action figure.
G.I. Joe: He never threw me away … never.
VO: I’m John McCain and I approve this message.
As Peter David says, I digress.
Instead of being pissed at myself (which is clearly silly as I am damn near perfect in every way) I will instead address my ire at the fashion industry. It’s no secret I HATE the fashion industry. One of my first rants when I started writing this column was about my confrontation with a super model and her boy toy. Or as I like to refer to her, that skinny little Ho that needs a sandwich so she can throw it up bitch.Long story short: she told me to get a real job when I mentioned I worked in comics. A model telling anyone to get a real job is like a porn star having issues with YOUR morals.
This is the same fashion industry that owes the term “super model” to us in the comics industry. Without that term (which WE own) what would they call these “ultra” models?
Whoever thought that lipstick would make major Silly Season news in the 21st century? Although I have to admit I’d rather hear about it being applied to pit bulls and pigs than human beings, but I’ve never had the best relationship with makeup, accessories and other fribbles, as this past week has reminded me.
Every September sees the re-emergence of Fashion Week here in New York City. In keeping with the acknowledgement that this Silly Season is in many ways sillier than most, this year Mercedes-Benz, the chief sponsor, has even decided to go with an election theme on the event’s home page. Maybe they want to emphasize how uselessly trivial it all is. Or, to be fair, how much “fun” people have ooh’ing and aah’ing at emaciated creatures who rarely resemble real people strutting the catwalks wearing creations that rarely resemble real clothing. And there are all sorts of tie-ins, one “big deal” this year being Target’s special “Bullseye Bodega” outlets in strategic areas of the city, only open this past Friday through Monday, which purported to sell high fashions at low (i.e., Target-level) prices.
Fool that I was, I ventured into one around noon on Friday, just out of curiosity, and found it to be the single most pretentious experience I’d ever witnessed. A cramped place with absolutely nothing of any practical value to me, but filled to the brim with a sea of people desperate for couture at closure level. I saw only one piece that would have fit me, a XXL man’s thermal top for around $35, but I’m afraid I just wasn’t in the market for one, and even if I were I could have gotten the same thing (sans designer label) for far less money by shopping at Amazon. That’s the kinda gal I am. But other gals seemed to like it just fine, so obviously one’s mileage may vary.
Even comic geeks have been able to get into the spirit of fashion this year. My ComicMix colleague Martha Thomases has reported on the “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rick Marshall covered the Marvel Fashion Show at the San Diego Comic-Con. There does appear to be a fun element to the idea of heroic costumes being more frivolous than practical, especially when worn by women. But even the guys are taken to task, and taken down a peg, by wry observations about their chosen uniforms. The word “capes” alone elicits either giggle-fits when watching Brad Bird skewer that fashion-don’t in The Incredibles, or sneers in comic pages wherein non-powered citizens dismiss the antics and lifestyles of the heroic and famous.
Over at Hypergeek, newly citizen-ized Edward Kaye has decided to celebrate his Canadian residency by profiling comic book creators who also hail from areas north of U.S. border. That in itself is an ambitious project fur sure, but he’s doing it in A-Z form. He kicked it off yesterday with a look at the career of Adrian Alphona, co-creator of Marvel’s teen superteam Runaways.
Adrian Alphona is known for his intricate linework, incredible grasp of the human figure, as well as a good understanding of teen fashion. Many fans of Runaways have commented that the characters actually look like people you could find in Los Angeles, the city which provides the primary setting for the title.
A-Z of Canadian Comic Book Creators looks to continue with 25 more profiles of north-of-the-border comics people, so now it’s time to start taking bets on whether he’ll be able to find that many Canadian creators with the appropriate letters in their names.
I’m not sure what to make of the "Marvel Fashion Show" event held during San Diego Comic-Con. I didn’t attend the event, and now that I think of it, I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone express an opinion about it one way or another.
All I know is that Marvel.com just posted photos and a video from the event… and that provides a nice opportunity to open up discussion and hear what people think about it.
What do you think about Marvel’s superhero fashion show, ComicMix readers? Let us know in the comment section of this post.
Writing in the Scotsman (which has become one heck of a paper for comics coverage, if only for regular appearances of Mark Millar’s nonsense), Stephen McGinty reflects on more than 20 years of buying comics in Glasgow, and he looks forward to the medium’s potential oversaturation.
Flicking through this month’s edition of Vogue (the American edition, much classier), I came upon the pictures from a recent fashion bash in New York which was styled on a superhero theme and had supermodels and fashion writers extolling the virtues of their favourite comic-book character. When Anna Wintour starts regaling us about superheroes it’s time for the backlash to begin. The comic book should never be too cool. It’s at its best when mocked and derided and will only topple off any pedestal on to which it is raised. The brilliance of the spotlight focused on comics will lead to burn-out. Comics thrive best in the shadows to which, I hope, they will soon return.
In case you’re curious about the event, which was a superhero-themed ball at the Met, the New York Times covered it well. Here’s a classic exchange (and one that makes me think supermodels being interested in superheroes isn’t all bad:
Then Gisele Bündchen (in Versace), passed by, saying, “I want to take that Wonder Woman costume down and wear it right now, but it would probably be too revealing.” Her escort, Tom Brady (in Tom Ford), quickly commented, “I want her to wear the Wonder Woman outfit.”
I’ve always thought that each person should gage what he or she thinks is cool. I hate those magazines and television shows that tell you what’s cool or what’s hot and proclaim what they think we mere mortals should follow. Not just follow, but follow blindly. How do we know the person entrusted with that list is not some stupid old fart who still thinks that The Beatles were Paul McCartney’s first back-up band? This is the person who gets to decide what I will think is cool? For my money that’s the problem with the television and fashion industries. Take an original show like Sex in the City* –that show was bold and funny and deserved the label of cool.
* I must admit I only watched that show when I was trying to impress a girl. I am straight, you know.
So what do TV executives do? They green light shows which are pretty much carbon copies of Sex in the City. One is called Lipstick Jungle. The names of the other shows, I can’t think of. Let’s call those other shows Middle Age Girls Gone Wild or Booty Call Diaries or I Can’t keep a man so I have to devote my time to my career because I’m just not that attractive anymore but that’s OK I have my work but I’m ugly.
The hope is that these shows will garner ratings and become cool enough to spawn spin offs and licensing.
Not likely on any of those counts.
This “we think this is cool” happens a lot in the fashion industry also. Some “experts” say what they think is cool to wear and hope we will act like sheep and follow along.
Bah. Bah, my tight firm ass. Yeah, I work out. It’s the PS3, 360 and Wii ass workout.