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24 Feb 2012 14:48

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Politics: Comedian Bill Maher: Now a major pro-Obama Super PAC donor

  • $1 million donated to the poorly-named Priorities USA Action source
  • » But wait … isn’t that a conflict of interest? Granted, Maher, who leans on the liberal side but has called himself libertarian in the past, doesn’t exactly hide his political views, but considering he’s a commentator who regularly questions both sides of the aisle, you wonder if that crosses an ethical line. Then again, will his audience care? On the other hand, as the Christian Science Monitor points out, Maher tends to do better, comedy-wise, when there’s a Republican in office, so this might hurt him a little. By the way, Maher’s announcement, which came during a Yahoo webcast, was a bit of a shock to those in the audience, though Maher had fun with the announcement, mocking the name of the Super PAC he’s donating to.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 22:25

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U.S.: Spider-Man joins The Fantastic Four, but with two downsides

  • cool Following the death of the Human Torch, Marvel is shaking things up with The Fantastic Four. First and foremost, they’re adding a new member to the team: Spider-Man. Intriguing!
  • stupid They’re also giving the troupe lame new costumes and an awful new name, “The Future Foundation,” that sounds more like a political action committee than a team of crime-fighters. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jul 2010 20:39

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Culture: Harvey Pekar was one of our heroes. RIP, dude from Cleveland.

  • 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

24 Apr 2010 15:56

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Culture: Archie’s got a new friend, and he’s (*gasp* spoiler alert) gay

  • *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

30 Mar 2010 22:37

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Culture: Superman worth more if he’s in mint condition with no yellowing

  • $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

01 Feb 2010 19:22

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Culture: “Calvin and Hobbes” creator Bill Watterson is no longer J.D. Salinger

  • I think some of the reason ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I’ve never regretted stopping when I did.
  • “Calvin and Hobbes” creator Bill Watterson • In his first interview since ending the strip 15 years ago. While he appreciates the success it gave him, he’s glad he stopped and has been able to recover some semblance of a normal life. “I wrote “Calvin and Hobbes” in my 30s,” he noted, “and I’m many miles from there.” Is it ironic that he came out of the woodwork the week J.D. Salinger died? Yes, yes it is. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2009 10:01

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Culture: Daily poll: Is the Disney/Marvel deal good or bad for comics?

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

31 Aug 2009 09:52

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Biz, Culture: Disney to buy Marvel: Cute heroes meet dark antiheroes

  • $4 billion Marvel’s going rate – a price raised, we’re sure, by the company’s recent box-office success
  • 5,000 number of characters Disney gets in the deal; personally, we want to see a Goofy origin story source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2009 10:30

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Culture: Where’d the nerds go? They’re at Comic-Con in San Diego

LARPers, furries, comic book nerds, superhero freaks, idiots and Pokemon fans alike are all in one city, unprepared for the world’s villans to attack. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

23 May 2009 20:33

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Culture: Archie is finally ready to choose his lady. Great. Now we don’t care.

  • Betty or Veronica? Who gives a crap? After 68 years of keeping comic book fans vaguely interested in their boring misadventures, Archie Comics has finally decided that, in August, its main character will propose to either Betty (the blond one) and Veronica (the black-haired one). Personally, we think Archie should actually make us interested in his stupid comics again by marrying Jughead. It’d be so modern and unexpected! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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