Posts Tagged ‘Comics’

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INDIE AIN’T ALWAYS BETTER

by Tom on June 7, 2010 at 12:00 am
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Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, comics, mainstream, indie, sophistication, Top Ramen, Iron Man

I realize this comic might get me in a little bit of trouble with the pants-wetting crowd excited for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited to see it, too. But after watching the effusive praise pour in across Twitter last week when the second trailer was announced, I was left wondering what all the fuss is about.

I'm certainly not making the case that mainstream comics are better than indie comics. But I will go out on a limb and say just because it's indie doesn't mean it's automatically better.

Now, as someone who has never read Scott Pilgrim, maybe I'm not the best person to be critical of the movie adaptation. I can certainly understand someone who has never read an issue of Iron Man looking at me with skepticism.

But here's the thing... When the FIRST trailer for Scott Pilgrim came out, I felt it was trading heavily on that "Hey, geeks! You know that thing you love? WE MADE A MOVIE OUT OF IT!" mentality. There wasn't anything specifically about the first trailer that made someone like me - someone who is not ALREADY indoctrinated into the cult of Scott Pilgrim - excited to see the film.

The second trailer fine-tunes things a little bit. I feel like it's been put together much more effectively. But there's still so much of that mid-90's digital hipster smarm dripping from that thing, the Old Curmudgeon in me kind of curls his lip at it.

Say what you want about Iron Man. But the first trailer made you want to see the movie.

Anyway, like I said, I'm still going to see Scott Pilgrim when it comes out because I like the look of it. All I'm saying is that I'm a little skeptical based on the effectiveness of the first two trailers.

Maybe it's because I know a lot of people in comics, the feel like this is a victory for them - seeing something like Scott Pilgrim on the big screen. Maybe they're pre-disposed to thinking it's awesome just like I was pre-disposed to thinking Iron Man would be awesome.

Maybe I should just shut up and read the books. Maybe then I'll understand what the fuss is about.

But my point is... I shouldn't have to read the books first.

The strength of the material should already be evident in the trailers. Maybe that's because they were cut together poorly. But I'm just not seeing it yet.

What do you guys think? Is there anyone else out there confused by the hype surrounding Scott Pilgrim? Everyone I've talked to is basically screaming at me to read the books, but I'm dragging my heels. Am I wrong? Leave your comments below and let's get the conversation started!

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REDDIT

by Tom on January 18, 2010 at 9:55 am
Posted In: Blog
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Hey, guys. I'm trying to make a push for Theater Hopper through Reddit and wanted to let you know that a link to Monday's comic can be found here. If you have a Reddit account, please give the link a few thumbs up or a comment to help it move up the list a little bit.

In the past, I would submit to Reddit's main area with very little luck. But this time I'm testing out links to Reddit's sub-category for comics under http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/. I think it will help to actually target people who WANT to read comics for a change.

By the way, if you submit one of Theater Hopper's comics to Reddit's Comics category, please let me know so I can promote the link here.

I would submit my own links to Reddit, but they're pretty savvy about people who try to self-promote. I feel this approach kind of splits the difference between an authentic representation of word-of-mouth on your part and callous marketing on my part.

Whatever works, right?

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DISNEY BUYS MARVEL

by Tom on August 31, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Posted In: Blog
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Mickey + Spidey = $

Unless you've been completely cut off from the internet today (in which case, I'm glad Theater Hopper was your first stop after being plugged back in to The Grid), then you might have missed the news that Disney has acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion.

There aren't a lot of details at the moment, but the news pretty much set the internet on fire this afternoon. Since I'm a bit of a movie nut AND a bit of a comic book nut, I feel a responsibility to comment.

A lot of people are responding to the news Chicken Little-style. They swear up and down that the sky is falling and that the House of Mouse is going to ruin their favorite super heroes by flattening their appeal, making them more mainstream and toothless.

As much as I have enjoyed portraying Disney as the Evil Empire in the past (and it is likely I will continue to do so in the future), I'm optimistic about this deal with Marvel.

People forget that roughly 15 years ago, Marvel declared bankruptcy. Getting in bed with Disney means the likelihood of that happening again are slim to none. Anything that protects Marvel's solvency at this point is a-okay in my book.

Some people claim that Disney can be careless with the properties they acquire - citing Mirimax and The Muppets as examples. I don't know if I see a lot of evidence supporting that. If anything, Marvel being associated with Disney gives them far more opportunities to cross-pollinate their characters into other media outlets than they would have been able to do otherwise.

Never mind the distribution advantage they now have with their movies. What other studio besides Disney can put a movie on 3,000 screens opening weekend every single time? Not many.

I guess I'm trying to be more pragmatic in my response to the acquisition rather than gloom and doom. If Spider-Man could survive The Clone Saga, he'll survive this.

What are your thoughts about the Disney / Marvel merger? Are you a fan of the comics, movies or both. How do you think this will affect Marvel's output in the coming years? What was your first reaction to the news?

Leave your comments below!

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THE FOURTH WALL NEEDS MAINTENANCE

by Tom on September 8, 2003 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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I was kind of sitting on this joke for a little while waiting to use it for a Monday strip when I knew more people would read it. I hope you like it.

I'm usually not one to call attention to "The 4th Wall." In all honesty, one of my unofficial rules when I started Theater Hopper was to never break it. I always kind of viewed it as a cheap out.

But with American Splendor being all about the dissolution between reality in entertainment (decades before reality TV or LiveJournal, I might add), the joke was too perfect to pass up.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the film. It won't come to Des Moines until this Friday, but I plan on checking it out early. There's a lot of good stuff out this weekend. I'm going to be busy!

I've received some e-mails from people in other areas of the country where American Splendor is currently playing and I'm hearing nothing but positive reviews. I've always been a fan of Paul Giamatti, so I'm looking forward to it.

My good friend Nick suggested renting the documentary Crumb to help flesh out the experience. Since R. Crumb was a frequent artistic collaborator to Splendor's author, Harvey Pekar, that's good advice. I intend to follow through sometime this week.

Did anyone else notice that Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star was number one at the box office this week? I can't say it was an enormous victory. It only raked in $7 million.

The last number one movie to rake in that little was the Ashley Judd thriller Eye of the Beholder in January of 2000. It only did $6 million in business.

When that's the case, how much pride can David Spade really take home after getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

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