So basically Thing doesn’t need to wear his XXXL raincoat and Carmen Sandiego hat get-up anymore, right?: I enjoyed this really smart piece by Colin Smith about how Ben Grimm’s transformation into The Thing and the tragic nature of his appearance as originally conceived no longer means the same thing that it once did, in the Marvel Universe or our universe. (Via Comics Reporter)
“It’s all fiction. None of this happened”: That’s Gary Groth vs. Jim Shooter’s recent blog posts on one of the more important/touchy issues in the last few decades of the American comic book industry—Marvel vs. Jack Kirby over Jack Kirby’s art. It’s a great read. Plus, I learned two new words while reading it.
Okay, Swamp Thing can return to the DC Universe: But Josh Bayer gets to do the covers. Deal?
The tradition of casting black folks in viking movies: Writing for Salon, Bob Calhoun examines the tempest in a teapot that was casting Idris Elba as a pseudo-Norse space-god in the upcoming Thor movie, and notes its hardly the first time a black guy has appeared in a viking movie.
Someday someone will mount a full production (I hope): This sounds kind of neat. Apparently a theater company that does Shakespeare is performing a reading of Anthony del Col and Conor McCreery’s Secret Wars-starring-Shakespeare’s characters comic Kill Shakespeare. That’s obviously a comic with a lot of dramatic potential, and I figure it’s only a matter of time before it gets full-on adapted. I wonder if it will make it to the stage or to the silver screen first though…?
