Culture

The Last Airbender movie gained controversy for casting white actors in the roles associated with Asian characters in the cartoon original. Many folks are boycotting it because of this, including cartoonist Gene Luen Yang.

Writer Ian Boothby has been at play in the fields of Gail Simone's forum, and aided and abetted by other posters, it turns out Ryan Choi, the recently deceased Atom, is not dead, he's just resting, or something. (The above example of "His Choi is Alive" art is by a poster, it should be noted.)

With Comic-Con's rise in the popular imaginaion over the last decade, we've heard many folks mutter over the years "I need to write a screenplay about Comic-con!" If you have been working on such a script, it is time to quietly set it aside and start working on that oil spill comedy you had been pondering. In keeping with the times, Comic-Con will be the subject of a geekumentary by Morgan Spurlock (Super-Size Me) following the fan's journey of seven con attendees. But Spurlock's not going it alone, because that would be too much for any man.

What a difference a few years can make. Not so long ago, some people believed that manga was poised to take over the world, and with reason; it dominated the BookScan charts, gobbled up bookstore shelf space, and became an important part of the graphic novel landscape. Over the past two years, however, overall manga sales in the U.S. have been reported to be down by one- third, eight manga publishers have gone out of business, while the two biggest players TokyoPop and Viz have shrunk as Shojo Beat and Yen Plus turn to digital publishing. What the hell happened?

Over the weekend, writer Stephen Perry -- best known for working on the Thundercats cartoon show in the '80s, but also the author of...

"Once there was a way, to get back homeward, Once there was a way, to get back home Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I...

Last night's season-ending episode of Fringe included a sideways universe, and that universe included an alternate version of DC, that had its own versions...

As the hours tick away toward the Television Event of the Decade, the New York Times giveth, the New York Times taketh away: Last night...

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, probably the single greatest event in the history of nerddom. STAR WARS might have been new and cool and funny and fresh, but EMPIRE was all that AND sad and tragic and shocking and filled with the kind of terror and awe that the greatest storytelling inspires. From the frozen beauty of an icy horizon studded with AT-ATs, to the steaming green swamp where Luke Skywalker begins his archetypal but unique hero's journey, to the crimson horror of the carbon freezing chamber, to the primal red and blue of the final battle between Luke and Vader, no SF blockbuster has ever captured the imagination so cleanly and completely. It was grown up in an unself-conscious way that nothing to do with Star Wars would ever be again. (Almost certainly because it was the last one that producer Gary Kurtz would in involved with; after EMPIRE it was George Lucas all the way.)

Graphic Novel Reporter, the resource site for book industry professionals, has released a list of "core" graphic novels that librarians and store owners should consider basics to carry. The list starts with a basic ten book list:

o "Forget Everything You Know"

The major publishers started releasing their advertisements for comics shipping in August 2010. At DC, the big thing of the month is J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis's Superman: Earth One paperback, an original book-length reinvention of Superman at 136 pages, with a retail price of $ 19.99.

I'm inclined to say that there's potential in this move and it's about time and such, but then again, I'm not even sure how to measure that book's success right now. Will it have to reach people in bookstores to do what it's supposed to? Probably. On the other hand, though, I'm thinking that it could be a major step in the right direction even if it "just" manages to break, say, 25K in the direct market in its first month.

That sort of success would be a limited one, but in the long term, it might lead to a transformation of that market segment that the field as a whole could stand to profit from tremendously, even if it doesn't catch on with a mainstream audience immediately.

In other DC news, they're starting to test the waters for 22-page, $ 3.99 comics with the new ongoing series Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, in addition to the previously launched miniseries Time Masters and The Mighty Crusaders.

Dear lord, what is coming out of this woman's vajayjay? People, dogs, monster claws, golden light, frayed denim. This one has it all. The...