For the lucky ones who will be watching the Doctor Who season opener soon – and for those who think Daleks make for lovely bric-a-brac – here’s some things to do around the home on a rainy day, courtesy (again) from our friends at Bibi’s Box!
From time to time this blog receives visits of people searching for Daleks. Those incredible extraterrestrial mutant creatures from Doctor Who series are much more popular that I imagined. The first time I made a post about the Daleks I had no idea that it wouldn’t be enough to cover it. Then, a while after, I saw a very nice tutorial of How to Make a Dalek and IR Control Daleks.
Of course that wasn’t enough. Every time there are new stuff about them: crochet and more crochet Daleks (via Quiddity), Dalek cakes and many other kind of related Dalek stuff that fans collect. For fans it’s never enough. And to keep you busy for a while, here is a list of tutorials to you make your own Dalek. Chose the material and start working:
We’d like to bring your attention to this fascinating comics event, courtesy of the Bibi’s Box website:
The on-line exhibition from the Bibliotèque nationale de France Comics Before Comics (La BD avant la BD) presents precious panorama of the comics beginning. The visual travel begins with the ancient illustrated bibles made for Kings and the aristocracy’s books, inquires about its style origins, it shows the story of narrative, the page layout procedures and it ends with the use of sound in images – dialogues and onomatopoeia.
April Fool’s weekend, and we offer nothing but the truth from Sushi Based Super Heroes to a Close Encounter From Jean Luc & Q to the Secret Origin Of How Stan Lee’s Secretary Got Me Through Puberty. We’ve got the low down on the new Spider-Man animated series AND the new Santo animated show (our editor-in-chief is a big Santo fan).
All this, Timeline, e-mailbag, and Vanessa Williams on ComicMix Podcast #21 – available by clicking right here:
Moonstone Comics’ long-awaited prose anthology will be in the shops this coming week.
Based upon the historic (and oft-reprinted) pulp character The Spider, this anthology features brand new short stories by noted comics writers Steve Englehart, Ron Fortier, Joe Gentile, CJ Henderson, Elizabeth Massie, Christopher Mills, Will Murray, Ann Nocenti, Chuck Dixon, and Robert Weinberg, as well as a number of s-f and mystery writers – including John Jakes of North and South, Kent Family Chronicles fame.
All this appears under an introduction by ComicMix columnist and comics legend Dennis O’Neil.
From April 4 through May 4, the Starz cable network will promote the new movie, Spider-Man 3. The month-long event features behind-the-scenes footage, a sweepstakes, and a day-long marathon of super-hero movies.
The "Starz Spider-Man 3 Sweepstakes" begins on Wednesday, April 4 and runs through Sunday, May 4. One grand prize winner will be awarded a Sony Bravia 40" LCD HDTV and 100 first prize winners will receive a Spider-Man 3 poster. Enter to win the "Starz Spider-Man 3 Sweepstakes" by filling out the entry form at http://www.starz.com.
The "When Comic Books Attack" marathon airs on Starz Thursday, May 3 and will feature "On the Set: Spider-Man 3" and other comic-book inspired films including Sin City, Underworld: Evolution, Silver Hawk, Blade, Judge Dredd, Dick Tracy, Darkman, and Batman and Robin.
Variety has a three minute interview with Doug Jones, the man behind the Silver Surfer in the new Fantastic Four movie and Abe Sapien in the Hellboy live action and animated films.
If you have the time next Thursday and you’re in Los Angeles with a little spare change burning a hole in your pocket, you might want to stop by the Profiles in History auction house. They have a Christopher Reeve Superman costume from the first movie, a Winkie uniform from The Wizard of Oz (the Winkie’s were the guards of the Wicked Witch of the West, the ones who sing the song with words that always sounded to me like "Oreos – Oreos – Oreos – Oooh – Oh").
Other iots feature a Batman costume from the 1995 Batman Forever, an alien costume from Alien (1979) and various other Superman ephemera, including transcripts from brainstorming sessions.
In all, there are more than 700 lots. If you’re not in LA and want to bid, you can go online at ebayliveauctions.com or profilesinhistory.com.
The Fantastic Film Festival will present Terry Gilliam with its Lifetime Achievement Award next month. The festival, which runs from April 18 through April 25, takes place in Amsterdam.
Gilliam deserves the award, festival organizers said, because "he never allows his fantasy to be limited." His films include Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King, The Brothers Grimm and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Gilliam, of course, was a member of the Monty Phthon troupe and had been Harvey Kurtzman’s assistant editor on Help! magazine.
Pan’s Labyrinth, from director Guillermo del Toro, opens the festival.
The first Fantastic Film Festival was in 1984, when it was known as the Weekend of Terror. The event was then described by the media as a "meeting ground for nerds with a taste for stomach-churning, violent horror." Since that time, the festival has included fantasy and science fiction films as well as horror.
Previous lifetime achievement award winners include Wes Craven and Paul Verhoeven.
There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…
David Letterman’s Top Ten List, the only list I pay any attention to
The Top Ten Movie List
The Hollywood Power List
The richest people in the world list
Blackwell’s worst dress list
The Sexiest Man List (I can’t believe that I have not made that one)
Joan Rivers best / worst dress list
The New York Times Best Seller list
AFI greatest movies of all time list
Rolling Stones greatest albums ever list
These are just the ones I can think of while waiting at LAX for a flight to Chicago. There are a multitude of lists out there. Everybody has a list, every magazine, every TV news show, every critic, every commentator, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a list. Well why can’t we have a list? You, me everybody? What makes Rex Reed’s list better than yours or mine? With all due respect to Mr. Reed, I seem to remember he hated Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Need I remind everybody that that film is one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time. Well I think that it’s time we all have a list. Let’s start with mine. My list will not be a Top Ten list. Nope. I’m twice as cool, so mine will be a top 20!
Comics:
1. The greatest comic book ever: Avengers #66 (My first comic!)
2. The greatest superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest superhero ever: Captain Marvel (Shazam!)
4. The greatest super team: 60’s Teen Titans
5. The greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Thing
6. The second greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner
7. The greatest team up ever: Spider-Man and Superman (the first one)
8. The greatest graphic novel ever: Watchmen
9. The second greatest graphic novel ever: The Killing Joke
10. The third greatest graphic novel ever: The Death Of Captain Marvel
11. The fourth greatest graphic novel ever: Marvels
12. The saddest event in comic books: The death of Gwen Stacy
13. The saddest event in the comics industry: The death of Jack Kirby
14. The greatest writer in comics: Denny O’ Neal
15. The greatest artist in comics: Jack Kirby (DUH!)
16. The greatest publisher in comics: Milestone
17. The second greatest publisher in comics: DC (love them or hate them, they do great books)
18. The smartest man in comics: Mike Richardson
19. The guy with the best job in comics: Paul Levitz
20. The sexiest man in comics: Michael Davis (finally!)
Movies:
1. The greatest movie ever (Tie): My Best Friend’s Wedding / Team America (long story)
2. The greatest movie superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest movie superhero ever: Superman
From the warped mind of 
There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…
