For those "process wonks" out there, two good blog posts that shouldn’t be missed: Steve Gerber writes about his upcoming Dr. Fate series (it’s billed as "Part 1" so keep checking back with Gerber for more), and Marv Wolfman shares his thoughts on Nightwing.
Do you have a favorite "process wonk" post? Let us know!
The British Film Institute is celebrating 100th anniversary of the birth of Hergé (Georges Remi) with an evening of English-language versions of the live action 1961 film Tintin and the Golden Treasure. The showing also includes rare footage of Hergé speaking in English about his creation (from the 1975 BBC programme Them and Us: Belgium) and Tintin as a Mastermind subject (BBC 2004).
Ticket information is available at the BFI website. (Via Forbidden Planet)
Before you give your hard-earned money to Gary Groth and Kim Thompson for their recently announced Fantagraphics Legal Defense Fund, you should know a few facts about publishing companies and their insurance obligations. Fact #1: It is highly unlikely that a company the size of Fantagraphics isn’t covered by a standard publishers insurance policy for lawsuits precisely like the one they now find themselves entangled in with author Harlan Ellison.
While it is rare when a publisher is found liable for incitement or negligent publication, there have been certain well-publicized instances where publishers have been forced to pay damages resulting from the content contained in their publications. For instance, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune was held liable for the death caused by a "hit man" following the magazine’s publication of an advertisement for a professional mercenary. Speech may be protected by the First Amendment, but that doesn’t give you the right to yell, "Poker game!" in the middle of a crowded firehouse. For instance, speech designed to incite lawlessness isn’t protected by the First Amendment. Neither is slander. When slander is written, that’s called libel.
Ian Brill, a man who calls himself the Earth-Prime Jimmy Olsen and who clearly hasn’t seen the shirts at the DC booth at WonderCon, reports that Hero Squared is coming to a close, according to BOOM! Studios head Ross Richie, who also says "this will be the last word for J.M. DeMatteis when it comes to the superhero genre."
Marc, Marc, Marc… don’t you know that never is a very long time in the span of the eternal cosmos that is but a metaphor for the mind of the infinite… er, just never is a long time.
Mike Raub has a major interview with George Perez who tells us all about the new Brave and Bold and gives us the low-down on the Hero Initiative plus our usual allotment of comics and media news and Timeline.
All you have to do is… press play:
Keep an eye on your bandwidth, comics folk — if Cory Doctorow or Mark Frauenfelder or any other contributor to the must-read "Directory of Wonderful Things" site Boing-Boing notice you, your traffic may just bounce into the stratosphere.
So far in the past couple days, Cory’s briefly reviewed the new Jack of Fables collection (which should make Andrew Pepoy very happy – remember that name, you’ll be seeing a lot more of Andrew in the near future on ComicMix!) and Mark has recommended three comic art books, including Matt Madden’s 99 Ways to Tell a Story. So far all the links have gone to the Amazon offerings of the books, but authors should still beware of the Google effect…
"Now, pay attention, 007. This link looks like it takes you to the 30-Second Bunny Theatre website…"
"Yes, I’m well aware of the site, Q."
"This is different, 007. This is actually a 75 second clip, filled with a variety of highlights from your professional career."
"Hmm. And some candid moments as well. Well, at least the bunnies make sense in that context."
"Oh, DO grow up, 007."
The Beat has all the Marvel and DC sales info that the hardcore stats junkies want. Nothing truly surprising, except for all of the books held for the end of Civil War, some serious drop offs in the numbers on the Ultimate books over the last few years, and lateness on a lot of DC books from people working in Hollywood.
The BBC has made an arrangement with YouTube to air clips on the popular website, already servicing two of their three planned channels.
Up already and of interest to Doctor Who fans – on-set video diaries from David Tennant, the current Doctor, and from Freema Agyeman, the new companion. Freema makes her debut as Martha Jones when the new season of Doctor Who begins airing in Great Britain the end of this month.
No word yet on the availability of Torchwood, the PG-13 rated (maybe R-rated) spin-off from Doctor Who. The series is being broadcast in much of the English-speaking world, but no arrangements have been made in the United States as of yet. Torchwood‘s Captain Jack will be returning to Doctor Who for the final three episodes of the upcoming season.
Over the last 30 or so years some comics have tried to bring the "real world" into the medium. One of the first and best examples was written by my fellow ComicMix columnist Denny O’ Neil. His epic story about Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy becoming hooked on drugs is a classic. That story was written over 30 years ago and could have been written today. It still holds up.
I will resist the urge to ask Denny why Speedy had to get hooked… hee hee hee.
Denny may not remember, but I often think back in fondness to a day I gave him a ride home from DC Comics. That, for me, was a good day. Denny most likely was thinking "tuck and roll" as he looked for an opportunity to jump out of the car.
That story Denny wrote was on the forefront of comics that tackled the real world. Since that comic there have been many comics that tried the real world approach — some of the finest have been Marvels, Kingdom Come and of course the granddaddy of them all, Watchmen. Now all of those comics and many others have dealt with the question, "What would happen if superheroes really existed?"
Well, none of those comics dealt with what really would happen if those superheroes existed in the real world… and tried to get a date.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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