Culture

It's billed as "The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told...The Prequel!" and it shows that when you have access to ALL the Lego sets you can make a pretty bitchin' lego toon . May 4th is celebrated around the galaxy as Star Wars Day not because it's when the original STAR WARS opened (that would be May 25, 1977) but because it's a pun on "May the Fourth Be With You." It is celebrated by gradually replacing humans with droids and disappointing expectations.

Last night the newest reboot of the Looney Tunes, The Looney Tunes Show aired on the Cartoon Network and I didn't watch it, but there are a bunch of clips floating about such as the above. The show is billed as a new concept for the venerable characters -- Bugs and Daffy have moved to the suburbs and are roommates and have wacky neighbors. YOU know...a sitcom. You should probably give this clip it a watch before you read the following, because I wouldn't want to prejudice anyone. Rebooting the Looney Tunes is one of the most thankless tasks on earth, and the general level of wretchedness of the various efforts over the years testifies to how pointless it is.

We all know Green Lantern is HOT. The comic, the movie, Ryan Reynolds. Blackest Night set the DCU on a whole new course, and the GL family of books under the guidance of Geoff Johns, has continued to lead the sales charts. But in Green Lantern hot enough to start a small electrical fire? Yes.

While we were poking around UGO we came upon this surprisingly lengthy gallery of Hot Black Widow Cosplay. Well maybe not to surprising -- all you need is a black catsuit, some wrist thingies, a red wig and a good figure and you too can fight for SHIELD.

While we were checking out our ego Google alert, we found a response to our brief critique of a piece on the Anaheim Comic-Con that didn't mention a single comics type person. The writer of the piece, one Matt Patches, says he was right to stay mute on comics, because everyone expects to find comics and cartoonists at a comic-con so it is not noteworthy enough to report:

One more for the weekend -- meet the future superstars of comics at FRESH MEAT, SVA's annual comics fair for graduating students. More info on participants in the link, but this is one place where you are sure to find some future superstar in the making.

The PEN World Literary Festival is a pretty big deal, bringing authors and audiences from around the world together for over a week of readings, talks and other events. They've had several cartoon-related events over the years (including a complete day of comics a few years back.) This year they are presenting a single event but it's pretty sweet: Get Super Lit: Comic Books Come Alive on Stage

ACTION COMICS #900 is a momentous occasion for many reasons -- both numerically and thematically. The issue includes stories by an all-star line-up of folks including Paul Cornell, Damon Lindelof, Richard Donner, David S. Goyerm and Geoff Johns. It also includes a mild little tale by Goyer wherein Superman decides to help out some Iranian protesters and gets chided by the US government for getting involved in "policy." Prompting Superman to proclaim that he's not a US citizen but a citizen of...the universe! Or, as Fox News succinctly puts it:

Superman is no longer an American.

Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.

Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.

It's a newish comics chat show, set at Brave New World in Santa Clarita with hosts Bryan J Daggett and Atom! Freeman with guests Mark Waid and Andy Khouri, this time out talking about digital comics. The show airs live Tuesday at 7 pm on Justin.tv's Geekweek channel, or on YouTube right this very minute. We'd definitely spend an hour listening to this crew.

Librarians love cartoonists who create books that people of all ages want to actually check out of the library. And cartoonists love librarians who buy their books and shelve them in high traffic GN sections. This great love affair for our times is going even further at this year's American Library Association conference in New Orleans -- organizers are making space available for an Artist Alley for the first time.