§ Before we get going, we know you always read “Lying in the Gutters,” but this week’s is even better than usual, with a look at the LOEG lawsuit, an analysis of Neil Gaiman’s royalty structure, and some new shenanigans from the usual suspects.
PEOPLE:
§ Former Marvel editor Laurie Sutton is blogging and reminiscing at Colleen Doran’s blog.
§ Chris Mautner names Six ‘retired’ artists we’d like to see return to comics like Brian Biggs and Mary Fleener.
§ You will be shocked and perhaps repelled by this real-life Anime Makeover.
§ Tim O’ Shea talks with Esther Pearl Watson about UNLOVABLE, partially based on a real teenage girl’s diary:
O’Shea: The diary that inspired Unlovable was found in 1995, but you set the fictional version in 1987–was that an effort to distance the work even further from the inspirational source?
Watson: The diary was old (from the 80’s) when I found it.
O’Shea: Have you ever heard from women who think your work is based on a diary that they lost?
Watson: So many people come up to me and tell me they are Tammy…even guys.
PLACES:
§ Graphic NYC profiles well-travelled Simon Fraser:
“The idea, for me, a kid in the Highlands of Scotland, was that New York was like the Valhalla of comics,” Simon Fraser says as he leans back in his chair. “That’s where they come from. So I’m a good deal older now and I’ve lived in France and Italy, which have very strong comics cultures of their own. I’ve read a lot of Manga, the comics medium is obviously very much wider and more eclectic than I could have possibly imagined at 10 years old. However New York still has the feeling of a spiritual home. So I’m very happy and energized to be here.”
§ The NY Times looks at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as they turn (ulp!) 25:
But to two aspiring comic book creators in 1984, it seemed reasonable. Mr. Laird, then 33, and Mr. Eastman, then 26, had an admittedly offbeat way of looking at the world. “The whole concept sprang out of the strange sense of humor that I shared with the co-creator,” Mr. Laird said.
He observed that the rest of the world might look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and react to them as “four really mostly unconnected words” but “for us, it just seemed to flow naturally.”
The piece mentions that the Empire State Building will be turned green this Thursday in honor of the Turtles, while the Tribeca Film Festival screens the first Turtles movie.
§ Now it is newsworthy just for cartoonists to live in small towns!
THINGS:
§ Mark Siegel reviews Scott Pilgrim in cartoon form for Unshelved.
§ This short film Have you ever wanted superpowers? is quite well done. (Thanks to PD for the link.)
§ Jog reviews THE SPIRIT movie.
Or how about your local comic shop. Three men shooting the breeze while you’re trying to peek at the last page of 100 Bullets. Before you know it, one of them’s insisting “that Frank Miller movie” was okay. Voices rise. Bones crack. Blood everywhere. Blood in extraordinary quantities. That may have been the wrong comic right there, but better that than the wrong movies. Superheroes are serious business, but superhero movies are life and death.
§ Following up on yesterday’s discussion of web-to-print models, Rivkah has her own comments:
And then there’s this strange habit many publishers have of using the internet as a sort of litmus test for what will and won’t work in the mass market, and as we’ve seen time and time again, it just. doesn’t. work. (Snakes on a Plane, anybody?) I sometimes think there’s this whole world of people who don’t use the internet and then a world of people who use the internet and the internet only, and there’s almost a total disconnect. Just because something does well online doesn’t mean anyone can automatically assume it’s going to do well in the ah . . . “analog” world.
§ The UK Times online looks at REX MUNDI, currently being developed as a film for Johnny Depp, with the brash headline: Before The Da Vinci Code there was Rex Mundi:
Like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, which came after it, Rex Mundi deals with shadowy religious societies, codes embedded in famous paintings and books, Templar Knights and the secret of the Holy Grail. The plot centres on Julien Saunière, a doctor who stumbles onto a sinister conspiracy after a priest friend calls on him to investigate the theft of a medieval scroll, which “holds the key to an ancient riddle that threatens to drown the world in blood”. Expect a thrilling read.
The story includes a link to download the entire first issue free.
§ The Gorillaz, the animated supergroup, as you’ve never seen them before. Seriously, IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE YOUR ILLUSIONS ABOUT NOODLE, 2D, MURDOC AND RUSSEL, DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM:
This incredible film, “Bananaz” removes the secretive, mucky walls of Gorillaz, the cartoon band created by artist Jamie Hewlett & musician Damon Albarn, smashing down all artificial barriers to reveal the full and filthy details behind this awe-inspiring band.
§ Avi Rappoport sums up #AmazonFail with How Metadata and Sex Broke the Amazon Book Search and looks at some of the lingering effects and questions.
The Manga makeover seems like a scam. I don’t think it’s the same person. Just look at the chin.
the Tiki
I’d believe it if it wasn’t “just a makeover.”
shallow whores who want to look like a cartoon…go figure…
From Wicked-Pedia:
“Rex Mundi was initially published by Image Comics, starting in 2003.”
and
“The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective fiction novel written by American author Dan Brown.”
Given how much lead time is involved with a novel, how can it be said that Code follows Mundi? “Like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, which came after it, Rex Mundi…”. At best, they were a synchronistic happening.
“You will be shocked and perhaps repelled by this real-life Anime Makeover.”
Certainly repelled.
FINALLY!!! Some really cool stuff in this multi-post!! :)