Supervillain? Or Newt Gingrich?

“Celebrating our next president’s best ideas:” This wonderful little website presents you with a proposal, and then asks you to guess whether it came from Newt Gingrich, or a supervillain from a movie/comic book/etc. It’s harder than it looks; we follow Gingrich pretty well, and we only scored 50%. source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

the title …of the new Batman movie will be “The Dark Knight Rises,” according to an interview with Christopher Nolan, who’s returning to direct it.
the villain …will not be The Riddler, as many had speculated. Nolan wouldn’t reveal who it will be, but he did also rule out Mr. Freeze. source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

A modest antihero if there ever was one. Harvey Pekar may not have had a super-exciting life by traditional standards, but he certainly knew how to make it feel a lot more important than it really was. The miserable guy from Cleveland took all those failings and little victories and turned them into “American Splendor,” one of the greatest underground comic books ever made. Beyond being one of our personal inspirations, his autobiographical works helped inspire a generation of DIY artists – even if he couldn’t draw anything beyond a stick figure. Beyond the comics, here are three ways you know his work:

His Letterman guest spotsPekar’s many guest appearances on “Late Night With David Letterman” were often funny, but this particular clip got him banned from the show for a number of years – not only did he wear a shirt bad-mouthing NBC, he trashed on the network’s corporate owners, General Electric. A gripping watch.
His protegé ToBy RadloffPartly due to the Letterman appearances, some of his friends, who regularly showed up in his comic books, built a name outside of them. Radloff is the best-known Clevelandite to build success off his comic notoriety, with appearances on both MTV and the local “The Eddie Marshall Show.”
His popular hit moviePekar, Radloff and pretty much everybody else in his life got the documentary-slash-biography treatment in the 2003 film “American Splendor,” which pulled off the neat trick of mixing comics, drama and real people – and built a base for Paul Giamatti’s later “Sideways” fame. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

*GASP* What will Archie and the gang think? The most conservative of daily comics, Archie, is getting a bit of a shake-up later this year, when a new character, Kevin Keller, steps onto the scene is. Thing is, though, he’s gay. And that might throw the sensibilities of the entire comic out of whack. Or not. Either way, on the cultural scale, Archie is now officially twelve years behind the sitcom’s acceptance of gay characters in the form of “Will and Grace.” source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

$1
million amount paid for a near-mint copy of “Action Comics No. 1” in January; that’s kinda super
$1.5
million amount paid for a mint copy of “Action Comics No. 1” earlier this week; that’s very super source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

The industry still has to make new inroads if it’s to survive – from distribution right down to the corner comic shop. I have no doubt that Disney may bring in a different distribution model.
“Iron Man” writer Bob Layton • Describing the limited market and distribution of the comic book industry in the context of Disney’s recent purchase of Marvel Comics. Disney might push for a more Barnes & Noble-friendly approach to the print products. Layton goes further: “A large number of comic shops in America are dingy, poorly managed venues, akin to porn shops.” And they’re run by this guy. • source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 22:47