ComicMix

Cartoonists Conundrum

News
May 2, 2007

While we’ve been in the throes of office hell, we’ve noticed some changes going on in cartoonist-land that bear passing along:

Alison Bechdel has announced that she’s cutting back on production of her popular Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip from biweekly to monthly, in order to work on her new memoir, which she estimates will be ready in 2009. She’ll be interspersing the new strips with "archive strips" (aka reruns), the first of which was published today — check out the very first episode of DTWOF, from 20 years ago! (And be sure to check out Amanda Marcotte’s review of Bechdel’s Fun Home on the A-list political blog Pandagon.)
Mikhaela Reid passes along the news about Ward Sutton ending Sutton Impact (check out The Beat for more) and about the closing of The New Standard, a very friendly venue for political cartoonists which will be sorely missed. (See Glenn’s post below for further cartoonist troubles at larger circulation papers.)
We do have some good news to pass along, however. The Ormes Society’s Cheryl Lynn has kicked off the Torchy Brown Art Meme over at her blog, the results of which will be published on TOS’s site. (That’s Torchy over on the right.) And Heidi MacDonald crows that the House of Twelve Comic Jam folks have a new meeting place, starting this very evening. It’s not far from Jim Hanley’s, so Manhattanites can grab their weekly haul and a drink with that jam, if they have the bread.

And if you are going to drink, please draw responsibly.

Optimus Prime speaks

News
May 2, 2007

If John Wayne were a giant robot with a gun, he would be Optimus Prime.

Now Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime from the original Transformers Generation One cartoon series (as well as the voice of Eeyore, Monterey Jack from Disney’s Rescue Rangers and Murky Dismal from Rainbow Brite) has given an interview on tformers.com . For those who don’t want to read the entire interview, Alan Kistler sent us the major highlights.

On deciding to audition for the new movies:

Cullen: "[I thought,] okay, what the heck. I’m going to go in and fand out what they want … Had they asked me to do changes in the character, I would have declined.

"It was interesting. I didn’t have any problem trying to find him … it was like riding a bike and he came right back … And he still stands for the qualities the writers gave him from the get go.

"The qualities of [all the Transformers] are still there. It’s like an elastic band and stretching it, but it’s still the eastic band and the strength of the characters are still there.

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Circulations drop at newspapers

News
May 2, 2007

Comic books aren’t the only media who are having bad times with circulation drops. Comic strips are feeling pinched too, perhaps even more, as many of the large metro newspapers across the country are experiencing significant circulation drops, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Circulation at The New York Times fell by 1.93%, at Tribune’s Newsday by 6.9% and at Belo’s Dallas Morning News by 14%. National dailies fared slightly better, remaining flat compared to last year.

Round up the usual suspects. Darn that Internet.

Who’s late?

News
May 2, 2007

There won’t be a new Doctor Who episode a week from this Saturday, also known as May 12th here on Earth. The hit show is leaving this time–space continuum to make room for the Eurovision Song Contest and if they didn’t bump it the BBC would have to move the Doctor’s starting time up and the earlier the starting time the lower the ratings so screw it, they’re taking the week off.

Of course, the BBC is ad-free, so why sweat the ratings? Whatever. We’ll live. Angry, but breathing through it.

At least Doctor Who‘s not being bounced for Dancing With The McCartneys.

Spider-Man 3 advance tickets set new records

News
May 2, 2007

Fandango, the phone and online advance movie ticket source, sent out a press release saying that as of 9 this morning, Pacific time, 94% of all weekly ticket sales online were for Spider-Man 3. Most of the Thursday midnight shows around the country have sold out, and lots of theaters added 3 AM shows.

As comparison, Fandango reports that SM3 is selling six times as many tickets as SM2, and two and a half times as many tickets as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at the same point in their sales cycles.

In an online poll, Fandango asked moviegoers their thoughts about possible Spider-Man movies in the future. In responding to the poll, 58% of fans said they would not consider buying a ticket to a fourth Spider-Man movie with someone other than Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Also, 52% of fans said they would not consider buying a ticket to a fourth Spider-Man movie if it were directed by someone other than Sam Raimi.

Shrek heading to The Great White Way

News
May 2, 2007

If you’ve ever wanted to make an ass of yourself on Broadway, now’s your chance.

The casting call for Shrek – The Broadway Musical, has gone out for the roles of Shrek and Donkey. All audition materials need to be submitted by May 18, 2007. For specifics on what the creative team is looking for in each character, and how to submit audition materials, all would be ogres and asses should go to http://iwanttobeshrek.com/ . A two-week reading of the show is slated to take place this in NYC, July 23-August 3.

Shrek – The Broadway Musical is scheduled to premiere on Broadway sometime in 2008.

At last: Frank Miller’s Ronin to big screen

News
May 2, 2007

I guess the first question is, what took them so long?

Frank Miller’s 1983 mini-series Ronin has been optioned by Warner Bros., no doubt noticing the success of Miller’s recent movies Sin City and 300. Whereas there are only reports of an option deal, Variety reports director Sylvain White is going to direct the live-action project.

It will come as no shock that Ronin will be shot in the blue/green screen method used for Sin City and 300.

No word on any guest-shot from Samurai Jack, who would fit in like a glove.

Superhero patrols Phoenix

News
May 2, 2007

Via BoingBoing, we learn of a certain guy named Jim. He lives in Tempe, AZ. He drives a Nissan.

And he is a crime-fighting hero.

Several nights a week, he patrols the streets of his town as Citizen Prime. He wears a leather mask, a silk cape, and a steel-plated body shield on his upper body. He drives through bad neighborhoods, armed with a cell phone to take photos and call the police. If things get really tough (they haven’t yet), he has a stun gun and a bean bag stun gun.

When he isn’t driving, he walks the streets, distributing pamphlets to his fellow citizens urging them to get more involved in their community.

If you want to learn more, check out his MySpace page. Sorry, girls, he’s married!

Now if he can only do something about Tempe’s vampire outbreak…

Spider-Man 3 sets records in Asia

News
May 2, 2007

Variety reports today that Spider-Man 3 set records in each of the eight Asian territories in which it debuted on Tuesday. In Japan, it earned ¥415 million ($3.47 million). In Korea, it took in 3.2 billion won ($3.44 million), and in Hong Kong the flick had the largest opening day ever, with $HK 7.5 million ($958,984). Other records were set in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillippines and Taiwan.

The film also opened in France, German, and Italy. Tomorrow, it distracts China, Australia and Russia, among others, before opening in the US, India and the UK on Friday.

Variety quotes a Sony distribution "honcho" saying, "This is a great way to start the summer. Box office for the past few weeks has been lackluster, and audiences seem very ready for summer."

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