Today’s buzzComix incentive sketch features a much more plausible choice for Green Lantern. Click here to reveal the obvious.
Today’s comic comes from an honest-to-goodness report that Ain’t It Cool News published. According to them, they sat on the news for quite a while waiting for it to be verified by Warner Bros. (the studio that is producing it). Sure enough, it came to pass.
I am particularly disturbed by the claim that the first modern version of the Green Lantern character to be brought to the silver screen will be done so as a “zany comedy a la The Mask.” Apparently some suit at Warner Bros. was sitting around trying to think of other green comic book characters that made the leap to film. Since Hulk was done only two years ago, aping the style of the decade-old Mask was a safer bet.
This has “BAD IDEA” stamped all over it in big, red letters. If there is any truth to it, I find it unfortunate that DC cannot seem to weigh in with how they want their properties to be expressed in different mediums.
Personally, I’m not putting a lot of stock in it. It sounds too outlandish to be true and I can’t imagine DC rolling over on this – EVEN IF their corporate parent tied their hands.
But then again, who thought Jack Black would land the role of Carl Denham in Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake? All I can say is that he has one hell of an agent working for him.
Our vacation to Memphis was a real hoot. The 12 hour drive was kind of brutal, but we made it there and back okay. I plan on providing more details of my trip along with photos in the THorum, but only in the Donaters’ Only area. How do you get access to this content – this little window into my private life? Easy! Just donate! Even if you can only spare a penny, you’ll still get access to this area of the THorum.
It’s a good deal. Donating also provides you access to the collected incentive sketches. All of them are represented there.
I’m starting to shift my focus to Wizard World Chicago on August 13 through 15. I’ve even dedicated a page of the site to the event. It houses all the information you need to know about my attendance. Where you can find me. What I’ll be selling. Will anyone else be with me? All those questions and more answered here.
Not much else to report. Still getting my head straight after all that time on the road. I still feel like I’m moving. It’s weird to think that it’s Wednesday.
Thanks again to all of the artists and writers that provided guest comics while I was gone. I’ll be pulling their work out of the archives soon, but their efforts will find a permanent home in the Bonus Materials area of the site. I’ll be sure to leave a note when that occurs.
Cami and I didn’t see Nacho Libre this weekend mostly because we were busy doing errands and getting things ready for Father’s Day. We had both my folks and Cami’s folks over to the house for a bar-b-que. It was a good time. I hope you and yours had a great weekend celebrating the old man as well.
I don’t really know if I have much to say about Jack Black playing a Mexican in Nacho Libre. Some people recognize it as very poltically incorrect, but not culturally insensitive. Other people find it kind of offensive. Much like Charlie, since I haven’t seen the movie, I can’t put the performance into context. But if you want to see a truly offensive caucasian portrayal of a Mexican, rent Orson Welle’s Touch of Evil with Charlton Heston playing the latino in question. Don’t blame Welles, though. The studio pressured him into casting Heston in the role. Still a good pot-boiler mystery, though. Check it out. Just ignore Heston if you can. Amazing what they thought they could get away with in 1958.
Charlie hasn’t made an appearance in a while and I thought this was kind of a good opportunity to indirectly address the race question in Nacho Libre. Often I dangle the carrot of Charlie’s true ethnenticity, but I intentionally do not reveal it. I’ve had some people say that she’s latina, some people say that she’s Native American or even from the South Pacific. I enjoy the guessing game. It makes me think I created something more clever than I actually did and didn’t just stumble into things like I normally do.
I should mention that I received the June issue of Zoinks Magazine on my doorstep this weekend and it features my interview with the publication. I don’t know if it’s too late to grab one from them or not – although I’m sure you can backorder – but you should really check out Zoinks Magazine online and then get a subscription. I’ve been really impressed as to how they’ve been able to improve the quality of the publication in such a short amount of time!
Anyway, that’s it for me today. Talk to you soon!
For the record, I haven’t had a chance to see Tropic Thunder yet – even though it was released in theaters on Wednesday. But I read an interview in Entertainment Weekly and they spilled the beans about Jack Black’s birthday suit appearance. It has put me off food for the last two days, but it was great fodder for the comic and an excellent way to deflate some of the seriousness surrounding the controversial aspects of the film.Jack Black’s
I’ll probably see Tropic Thunder either Friday or Sunday. Kind of depends if Cami wants to see it or not and if we can round up a babysitter for Henry. I’d say she’s 50/50 on it. The reviews and the buzz has been good, but some of the controversy has cooled her on it, I think. Or maybe I’m projecting. That’s kind of how I feel, I think.
I know if I go to see it, I’ll probably enjoy it. Before Henry, I wouldn’t have second-guessed it. But once you have a kid, you have to prioritize things. I’m not talking about the subject matter of the movie. I’m talking about just having the free time!
Even though I’m less interested in it than Tropic Thunder, I’ll probably see Star Wars: The Clone Wars later tonight. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Cami has no interest in this one. I’m just crossing my fingers that it won’t suck. I mean, if Harry Knowles bashed it, the movie is in trouble, right?
Deep down I know it’s going to spit on my faithfulness to the Star Wars franchise. This movie is for the kids, pure and simple. I mean, have you seen the TV commercials with the baby Hutt that belches in Anikin’s face? I mean, c’mon! Bodily functions in a Star Wars movie? It’s totally for kids.
Changing gears for a minute, I wanted to say “Thank you” to you guys for a couple of things.
First, the reaction to Wednesday’s comic was really insightful. A lot of people wrote in to lend support, tell me that I’m on the right path, not to cave in to critics and not to beat myself up. It’s totally appreciated and I think people understood the gist of my original message. But, to reiterate, I’m not planning on shying away from the controversial stuff because of anything anyone said. It really was a matter of me taking a step back, reassessing some of those comics and deciding that was not the image of myself that I wanted to present.
Interestingly enough, one e-mail I received pointed out that Wednesday’s comic was a grim departure from the normally happy-go-lucky vibe I put out and the comic really turned this person off. In my attempt to excise something negative, I went further down the rabbit hole.
It was a wake-up call, but I want to stress that I’m not getting down on myself. Wednesday’s comic was not about the characters being violent toward one another. It was about the characters abusing me – the creator – by proxy. That nut shot was meant for me, metaphysically. Does that make sense?
I just want to let people know that I’m doing fine and that I’m excited to forge a new path. Frankly, I’m really looking forward to the end of the blockbuster season so I can forgo some of the more timely aspects of the comic’s commentary and maybe switch gears onto a longer storyline. It feels like ages since I’ve done one and it’s a good opportunity to stretch creatively.
Anyway… something to look forward to.
I also want to send another shout-out to everyone who has contributed to the donation drive. I am ASTONISHED that we have been able to collect nearly one-third of the money needed to reacquire the data lost in the hard drive crashed I experience last week.
You’ll notice that I added a handy progress bar both to the top of the page as well as to the donation page to let everyone know where we stand.
Incidentally, did you know I lost all of my data 6 years to the day from the first Theater Hopper comic – August 5, 2002? I don’t know if I mentioned that her before, but I thought it was interesting.
At any rate, I’ve been in touch with OnTrack Data Recovery and I have good news. Turns out they were able to recover ALL of the files from my hard drive. Well, all of them except for one MP3 and a temporary Photoshop file – neither of which I will miss.
So that means all of my family photos, videos, and – MOST IMPORTANTLY – 5 years of original Theater Hopper artwork is safe and sound.
The bad news is the price (hence the drive, natch), but I’m talking to the sales rep and doing all I can to negotiate a lower price. They seem open to it. The last exchange I had with them, they asked “What did you have in mind?”
Y’see, kids. It pays to haggle!
But just because things are improving doesn’t mean that I still don’t need your help. Even if I negotiate a lower price, it’s still pretty steep! If you’re able to contribute anything at all, please visit the donation page and do so! Even $5 helps!
I think once I start producing some of the custom artwork people have purchased through their donations, I’ll scan and post them so you guys can see what you’re missing!
Thanks again to everyone who has chipped in.
That does it for me today, but I hope everyone has a great weekend. I’ll see you here on Monday!