The end of January is sort of an odd time to release a book about the campaign that ended the previous November’s election. It’s been over for almost three months now, which may not actually be that long, but it sure feels even longer now that the news cycle has been reduced to less than a day.

What happened on November 4 seems a bit like old news now, doesn’t it? Even given the historic nature of this one, the election of President Barack Obama seems a bit overshadowed by his inauguration, which itself seems a bit like old news now, particularly given everything else that’s been going on this month—war in Gaza, the transition, the financial crisis, the Illinois governor circus, and so on.

Of course, the shrinking news cycle and the dramatic events occurring in each of them may actually have helped 08: A Graphic Diary of The Campaign Trail (Three Rivers Press), as the events it covers now feel so long ago, that they seem older than old news—they seem downright historical. And I suspect that is a perception that will only deepen with time; certainly the experience of reading this next year or in five years or in ten years will be very different than reading it in January of 2009.

Despite the title, the book actually begins in 2006, with the Democratic victory over the Republican Party during the mid-term elections (Actually, the first image is from September 11, 2001…unless you count that one panel of toddler Barry Obama being held by his mother right after the title page). It therefore offers a rather thorough accounting of the campaign, start to finish, from the candidates all throwing their hats in the rings to the party primaries to the epic Clinton/Obama battle to the main McCain/Obama event, which only makes up 29 pages near the end.

(more…)

Grandpa, what’s a Muslim? And why are you dressed like that?: A Chrsitian couple in Singapore are on trial under the Sedition Act and Undesirable Publications Act for distributing a couple of anti-Islamic Chick Tracts, including this one, “The Little Bride.” Like most Chick Tracts, “The Little Bride” seems far too stupid to be offensive (um, to me, anyway, obviously not to some in Singapore), and it demonstrates the usual shaky theology and willful ignorance of both Christianity and Islam that makes them all so easy to dismiss. But after reading this one, I’m still haunted by one question that I can’t dismiss quite so easily—Why is Susy’s grandpa wearing a tuxedo and eye patch?! Is he a British spy or… or…what, exactly? (Link yoinked from Dirk Deppey).

What he said: Tucker Stone explains how DC, Marvel, their imitators and all you jerks who buy variant covers are destroying the comics industry, and screwing things up for the rest of us. (Serious question: Is the comics industry in the field of publishing or the field of collectables?)

“Accident or frantic effort or whatever, the cacaphonic style of this issue does a disarming job of touching something deep and strange inside the Event comic”: In a perfect world, DC’s Final Crisis trade would feature a six-page introduction or afterword by Joe “Jog” McCulloch pieced together from his reviews of the series, and DC will allow him to remain brutally honest in his assessment (count the number of deeply’s Jog uses to describe “deeply flawed” in this review; I dare you!). Why? Because he manages to explain the book’s various virtues and vices as a text better than, frankly, any DC staffers or even Grant Morrison himself have been able to do in interviews. I mean, Morrison knows what he was trying to say, obviously—you can certainly take his word on what he was going for—but it takes another party to say what’s actually there, and Jog does a great job of it.

Comics have finally driven a stake through the heart of the 1950s comic book scare because a guy who used to write comics won a prestigious award for the latest of his very popular works of prose fiction for young readers, hooray!: Oh hey, wait a minute, that doesn’t make any sense at all, now does it?

Don’t worry political cartoonists, at lest this one guy’s reading you: If you, like me, are an American, then you probably won’t recognize a single name in this article that isn’t Gordon Brown or Margaret Thatcher because we Americans just barely know who’s running our own country, let alone Donald Rumsfeld’s Old Europe, but this article from an Irish paper points out that Brown’s complaint about being drawn too fat should warm cartoonists’ hearts since, after all, it’s proof that one of the most powerful men in England still reads them.

Speaking of Gordon Brown and whether he’s fat or not…: This is the craziest headline I’ve seen in a while.

Is it weird to refer to Harvey Pekar as a “maven?” It sounds weird to me: Dean Haspiel talks print vs. web in a piece in The New York Times, a print publication that you can read on the web.

From the Mail & Guardian, information on the glamorous Angouleme comics festival, now in its 36th year.

Subjects range from sci-fi, superheroes and children’s fantasy, to ambitious graphic novels on politics, war or the legacy of slavery, all the way to romance, erotica and social satire — with offerings from around the planet.

“A comics strip is always a window open on the world,” said the festival’s art director Benoit Mouchart…

A special exhibit focuses on the South African authors of Bittercomix, a cult comics fanzine that violently attacks Afrikaaner culture and the lasting legacy of racism more than a decade after the end of apartheid…

A jury of industry professionals will award its coveted Golden Lion for the year’s best album on Sunday, with separate prizes for runners up and for best youth and classic albums.

Further prizes will single out the best comics blogs, a fast-growing sub-genre and hotbed of young new talent.

Known in the French-speaking world as Bande-Dessinee, or BD — pronounced “Bay-Day” — comics are big business in France, with about 4 700 new titles hitting the shelves in 2008, a third of them manga, up from 1 500 in 2000…

But so far, experts say, comics have held up well against the economic slowdown, with a turnover of €350-million ($450-million) in French-speaking Europe in 2008.

And with on-screen adaptations on the rise — from Persepolis and Tintin to the brooding hero Largo Winch, the Roman-bashing adventures of Asterix or the sharp-shooting cowboy Lucky Luke — the future of comics looks bright.

Nice to know that comics are still holding up in the rest of the world. I’ll try to follow up on the winners here, and see if they’re available in translation…

GameTrailers.com has the exclusive Cinematic Trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine: The Game coming up from Activision. No gameplay footage yet in this one (I’ll be checking it out next week, look to the main site for that coverage), but still a pretty awesome little trailer. Enjoy here, or click through to the site for glorious HD.

The top of the Ka-Blam site currently says it all:

Breaking News!! Ka-Blam to Launch Direct Market Comics Distribution System!
Details Coming Soon!

Ka-Blam Digital Printing and IndyPlanet.com have long been the friend of the small press.  Is this one going to be a game-changer?  You can bet that we and the mothership will stay on this as it develops.

Courtesy of The Onion:  

I swear, how do president-appointed officials not know this stuff???

Obama Disappointed Cabinet Failed To Understand His Reference To ‘Savage Sword Of Conan’ #24

Veeps, the snarktastic look at America’s Vice Presidents, is subtitled “Profiles in Insignificance.”

This isn’t always an accurate description, since such well-known figures as Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George H.W. Bush started off as vice-president. Still, there are many names in here that you’d be forgiven for not knowing, such as George Mifflin Dallas and William Rufus DeVane King.

Whether well-known or lost to history, the veeps are certainly entertaining, whether you’re a history buff or just someone who enjoys a bit of schadenfreude. Rather than detailing the lives of the also-rans of the executive branch, Bill Kelter offers up the best anecdotes about each man, with cartoons and a portrait of each by Wayne Shellabarger. (more…)

The Cartoon Network animated Star Wars series The Clone Wars will have an encore run on TNT, the Hollywood Reporter has said.

Back-to-back episodes will begin February 14 following NBA All-Star Saturday Night.

According to the Reporter, the original 22-episode first season opened to fantastic ratings on Cartoon Network, as the series examined the trials and tribulations of a young Anakin Skywalker.

Masi Oka, who plays Hiro Nakamura on NBC’s Heroes, spoke with SCI FI Wire about the upcoming premiere for the fourth chapter in the saga — Fugitives. Some of the highlights:

Q: What will Hiro be up to in this new arc?

Oka: What’s interesting about Hiro is he starts off powerless. I find it actually interesting to play a powerless character, because you kind of get the joy of rediscovering that power and what it means to be a hero without powers. So having someone who had had powers and going to someone who’s powerless is an interesting character mindset. You kind of fall from grace in many ways. So it’s about adjusting to that, and how do you live your life knowing that once you were a hero and that you can still be a hero by helping others … and possibly trying to get the powers back?

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the Hiro-Ando relationship and what we have to look forward to in that regard?

Oka: In the beginning, Hiro’s powerless, and Ando has a kind of supercharger power, so Hiro is trying to nudge him on. In many ways he realizes, “OK, well, now he’s had his turn, so he needs to kind of step up and see what he can do.” And he takes on pretty much the role of the butler. He becomes Alfred in many ways. He’s trying to make a Batman out of Ando, but Ando is reluctant, and he only cares about girls right now. So Hiro is trying to make him use those powers for good, to save other people. And of course, Hiro ends up getting in trouble, and Ando ends up helping him. But then, you know, then it’s about them trying to work together and find new ways to get [Hiro's] power back.

At this point, I’m not sure Batman would be high on anyone’s list to emulate (unless you want to become extra-crispy when you grow up), but the series certainly promises to get more down-to-earth.

Because there’s no such thing as a surprise anymore, Sony Online Entertainment’s “mystery guest” for NYCC has been revealed by early shipping copies of Wizard’s latest issue. The man in question is living legend Marv Wolfman. With a tiny story in his past called Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wolfman has a pretty intimate knowledge of most every character in the DCU. Geoff Johns did the original plotting, and Wolfman will be working from those plots to further flesh out the missions your created hero or villain can undertake alongside DC’s best and brightest good and bad guys. He joins Johns and artist extraordinaire Jim Lee, lending three very high profile comic book names to the ambitious PC and PS3 MMORPG. More details on Wolfman’s involvement will be revealed next week at the convention. Regardless, this game is looking better and better.

When reached for comment, the game’s PR representatives were currently unable to confirm or deny, as they didn’t expect the issue in question to be out this week at all.

Entertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider points us toward cruelfilms.com, a new website for Cruel and Unusual Films; Cruel and Unusual is the production company of Watchmen director Zach Snyder.  As Snyder says:

“We just wanted to have a place where people could see what we’re up to. . . . As a company, we’re into a lot of cool stuff, like aesthetic and design. The movies we make, and are making, feed a lot off of pop-culture.”

In addition to exclusive new images from the film, there’s also a chance for artists to interpret the violent schoolgirl logo of Cruel and Unusual; you can see Dan Milligan’s take here. 

Topless Robot brings together some photos from Watchmen drawn from sources like Empire and Total Film.

Reactions?  I happen to think that Nite Owl’s Arctic suit is pretty much dead-on.  However the final product plays, I’m pretty sure it’s going to look outstanding.

[Via Topless Robot, Empire and Total Film.]

Connor:  . . . so really, it’s a metaphor for the Information Age and how we digest narrative in terms of absorbing quick bytes of radically reconstructed story, much like we scan and process feed-driven internet communication.

Kyle: Dude, I’m two.

Geoffrey Ammer, Marvel Studios’ president of world marketing and home video, will be leaving the comics-to-film wing after a year of service.

Ammer oversaw the releases of Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, and working with the home video department contributed to the recently-released Hulk Vs. series.

“Now that the marketing infrastructure is in place and the studio’s slate is announced, I want to refocus efforts on my own practice, working with a broader client base,” Ammer told Variety. His firm, G2 Consulting, has worked with Sony Pictures, Revolution Studios, and Adam Sandler’s production company Happy Madison.

No, I’m not talking about the icing from flying in the stratosphere (seen in the 2008 Iron Man film).

I mean literal frosting.

Because this, courtesy of James Briscone, is an Iron Man suit made completely of chocolate which he constructed for a November 2008 contest.

This completely explains why Obediah Stane felt he HAD to have one.

If early reports are correct, the Flash may be running alongside a Green Lantern film soon enough.

IESB has reported that, according to multiple sources around Hollywood, Jonny Quest writer Dan Mazeau is currently writing a script for the Fastest Man Alive. While Flash producer Chuck Roven wouldn’t confirm if the hero would be Wally West or Barry Allen — or that Mazeau was still writing the script — he did say:

I was always a big fan of the comics. I was around for… Gosh, this is embarrassing, you know, the last two Flashes. The Flash that was the policeman and Kid Flash, Wally, and his uncle. Those are the two Flashes that I grew with, so I was excited to have the opportunity to try and see if I could actually translate those characters to the screen.

Me, I’m hoping this isn’t the Hollywood rumor mill at work. While we reported earlier that most of the DC slate was currently on hold, how cool would it be to see some Morrisonian superscience on the big screen? And that’s a Flash Fact.

This year’s New York Comic Con promises to have an expanded set of awards from the Comicbook Artists Guild, the Guild has said in a press release.

Growing from six awards last year, the third annual event will now have 15 awards. New categories include Best New Cartoonist, Best Web-Comic, and Best Workshop, in addition to old standbys like Best Writer to Art Direction Excellence.

Winners of the contest will be announced during NYCC on February 6th at 7pm in room 1A23.

Now this, readers . . . this is a great prank.  Someone hacked an electronic highway sign in Austin, Texas, posting a variety of warnings to drivers.  The sign, standing about half a mile from the University of Texas, was changed to display notices like “Caution!  Zombies ahead!!!” and “Run for cold climates”.  According to the report from NBC-Dallas/Fort Worth, some drivers found the bit funny (and why wouldn’t they?), while the Department of Transportation was very . . . not amused.

This bit reminded me of GenCon’s annual Zombie Walk, which last year spilled into the Circle Center Mall in downtown Indianapolis.  Imagine if you were a shopper, and this happened . . .

Man, that’s not right.

Just to show how much I loved He-Man growing up, this is from memory:

I am Adam, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my Fearless Friend. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said, “By The Power of Grayskull. I HAAAVEEEE THE POOOOWWWEEEEERRRRR!!!!”

So, the new live action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe has been in something of development hell for a few years. After all, how do you top Dolph Lundgren facing down Skeletor on Earth? I mean, it’s what every kid dreamt of!

Regardless, Joel Silver, Matt Reilly (Warner Bros), and Barry Waldo (Mattel) are bringing the most powerful man in the universe back to the silver screen. Now, John Stevenson has joined the forces of good as Director. His only directing credit to date is a co-direction of Kung Fu Panda, but he’s worked in the industry on the art side of things for over two decades. The script is by Justin Marks, who may sound familiar to geek culture fans; he wrote the soon to debut Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li and is also working on the Hack/Slash comic adaptation screenplay. The script will be another strange meld of the classic cartoon story and modern elements, with He-Man leading the forces of magic against Skeletor’s technological army. No word yet on when all this will come together, or if He-Man’s voice will echo no matter where he is, even if he’s in the middle of a field, but hopefully it’s faithful enough to evoke some great memories.

And just for fun:

[Via]

(Spoiler alert! Frankenstein gets set on fire while riding a giant dog and carrying a battle axe in one hand and a broadsword in the other in Final Crisis #7!)

I had a lot of different thoughts while reading the final issue of Final Crisis yesterday. Wow, Doug Mahnke’s the best. Earth-D! Sunshine Superman! Wouldn’t it be great if Lex and Sivana had their own team-up title like Superman and Batman? Will Morrison’s next Batman story pick up right where this leaves off?! I love Most Excellent Super-Bat. Huh? Whuh? Buh? Which Earth is this we’re on now? Who’s that supposed to be? Did I miss a tie-in? And so on.

Among those thoughts, most of which ended with a question mark, an explanation point, or some combination of the two, was this one: Good God, how will they be able to collect this thing into a trade that won’t be an extremely weak read, particularly compared to all those other trades available in book stores and libraries with the name Grant Morrison on the spine?

That occurred around page 24, when— Oh, hey, I interrupt this blog post to point out that there are spoilers in it! So if you haven’t read FC #7 and or/its tie-ins yet and want to experience it in a vacuum, don’t click on the “Read the rest of this entry” below!

(more…)