Groonkly Bits

Somehow inside the tendriled insanity that is this week’s Do Anything by Warren Ellis, I found coherency and decided to remember it for all time.

(…And inside, atop a rotting plinth that you belatedly realise is composed of the bodies of Len Wein’s Swamp Thing and Steve Gerber’s Man-Thing seized by cellular coma in the act of copulation, is Alan Moore on his ultradimensional stone throne, pointing an armoured finger at you and lurching forward and his scary atom eyes are burning into the front of your head as he says “There is no escape from structure. You are reading this inside a machine for living in, from a surface that is the end product of hundreds of years of industrial processes, and also you forgot –”)

No Comments | In: Comics, Quotes | tags: alan moore, bleeding cool, do anything, warren ellis. | #

You know, the internet might be a nicer place if, before posting anything, we asked ourselves: What would Kurt Busiek do? —Jens Altman

Quoting random comics people off their Twitters seems to be my theme these last few weeks.

Let’s see how long it lasts.

No Comments | In: Comics, Quotes | tags: jens altman, kurt busiek, twitter find. | #

The year’s nowhere near over but the best/worst lists are piling up like week old laundry. I don’t have anything against such year end reviews. I just never made the time to see/watch/read/do all the things discussed on said lists. Any reviews I make would be damn incomplete. So I’ll rely on others to do my dirty work.* Then judge them appropriately when I find their results wrong.

Heh.

Entertainment Weekly’s Best & Worst of 2008
It’s surprising how a crap magazine can get a few things right once in a while.

I’m tempted to pick up EW tomorrow for the HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER photoshoot. The entire cast acts out random moments in 2008. If the show were as cool as the cast seems to be, I’d still be watching HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

Pitchfork Media put forth two bits of bests so far. For those who don’t know, they’re the Indie Rock Pete of the online music media game. Bursting forth from the ashes of what Rolling Stone used to be, maybe 20 years ago, I look forward to running through their tracks to discover something new and majestic and not found easily on mainstream radio.

…

No Comments | In: Animation, Books, Branding, Buy Me, Comics, Movies, Music, Pop Culture Love, Television, Too Many Thoughts | tags: 2008, closing of the year, listapalooza, magazines, oh no they didn't, the best worst things ever told. | #

Just peeking out from the doom of my own making to reveal this:

A federal judge here on Wednesday ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel — who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130 — were entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to the character. The ruling left intact Time Warner’s international rights to the character, which it has long owned through its DC Comics unit.

[…]

If the ruling survives a Time Warner legal challenge, it may also open the door to a similar reversion of rights to the estate of Mr. Shuster in 2013. That would give heirs of the two creators control over use of their lucrative character until at least 2033 — and perhaps longer, if Congress once again extends copyright terms — according to Marc Toberoff, a lawyer who represents the Siegels and the Shuster estate.
—New York Times “Ruling Gives Heirs a Share of Superman Copyright”

What exactly does this have to do with the cost of Bud Light in Arab, AL? I’ll tell you what others, indirectly, told me(and the world, really).

Better yet. Have their words. I’m too tired and it’s way too damn early for processing information.

In brief, a share in the copyright to Superman that should have returned to the creators, under laws that helped creators of art and music who had been ripped off when younger to regain a portion of the rights to their song or creation, has been deemed by a judge to have been returned to the heirs of Jerry Siegel, with Time Warner and DC Comics kicking and screaming all the way. (On the one hand, I can hardly blame them. On the other, the law was obviously the law, the conclusion was pretty much inevitable — although I’m sure it’s been an enormous relief to the family — and I suspect the main purpose of the court case has been to put off the moment of reckoning as long as possible; not the moment of financial reckoning, because that clock started ticking in 1999, but the moment that the heirs to Superman could license Superman to entities other than DC Comics, which, as co-copyright holders, they are entitled to do. Marvel Comics publishing their own Superman comic, anyone?)
Neil Gaiman’s Journal

Also:

Even with the limitations noted in the supporting article, this is fucking immense…
— Warren Ellis

In case you still don’t get it:

hey comics internet: this is really important.
— Matt Fraction

Plus: http://uncivilsociety.org/2008/03/the-siegel-superman-decision.html

The actual 86 page court opinion in PDF form.

Crazy, beautiful times we live in, yes?

More down-to-earth translation of the Superman ruling by JTraub on the Freakangels forum.

No Comments | In: Comics, Mornings Go Boom | | #

click for full (1680 x 1050) goodness

FREAKANGELS is a free, weekly ongoing comic written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Paul Duffield. As the interview with Warren Ellis via CBR states:

“FreakAngels” takes place in an imaginative future world in which something has gone horribly wrong. In this case, the “something” is the fault of the FreakAngels themselves, a group Ellis described in a “Bad Signal” email blast as “a clan of unrelated young people with purple hair and purple eyes.” The trouble, Ellis goes on to say, comes when “a girl called Alice from Manchester turns up with a shotgun and a grievance, having met the lost, prodigal last Freakangel, who had very different ideas about what they should do with themselves and this flooded future England.”

Aside from the more than consistant, lovely storytelling by Ellis and the wonderful character designs and artwork by Duffield, FREAKANGELS has something else worth noting. It’s a completely free comic done by comic professionals. It’s out there on the web for all to see and enjoy. Also, the professionals in question are getting paid for their work. The comic is free and the creators are being paid. Avatar Press has gone and made me a happy 21st Century Man.

For readers, the benefits of a free web comic from a top-name creator are obvious. But from a publishing standpoint, there are still many questions surrounding web content—particularly free, open access content—that still do not have straight, easy answers. What is the best way to present material online? How will free access affect sales of a printed edition? How does one measure whether the endeavor has been successful?

There are genius webcomics out there in Internetland. Yet I have not run across a site yet that features fully established creators putting their work on something that is not a clunky flash reader. Each page is a jpg without any browser enabled image blocking. In theory, a savvy user could download each page and have the entire collection living on their harddrives. What they do with it after that is anyone’s guess.

I’m sure Avatar Press will release a printed collection as soon as the content allows. But they’re taking a lot on faith. They’re hoping that people would rather have nicely organized stack of dead trees, than digital shadows lurking about random external drives. In my case, they’re half right. I appreciate the convenience of the webcomic yet I’d rather re-experience the story away from the burden of technology.

Nothing compares to a quiet night, a book at the ready, and your iPod whispering sweetness in your ears.

I hope this experiment is the beginning of something new. I’d like the think that Marvel or DC or even smaller publishers can take full advantage of the internets in a similar fashion and not feel threatened by all the inherit dangers within.

I also hope that Paul Duffield doesn’t mind me using his works to make a widescreen wallpaper. If there is a problem, just follow the link on the above picture and leave a comment on my Flickr.

Below are links to the first two episodes of FREAKANGELS with a link to Avatar’s official FREAKANGEL wallpaper set.

• Episode 0001
• Episode 0002
• FREAKANGELS Flickr set
• FREAKANGELS stats, week 1

No Comments | In: Comics, The Friday Relax | | #

Captain America‘s old, insanely old by real life reckoning, sidekick will be the new Captain America. This is the first decision regarding one of Marvel’s flagship characters that makes sense this year.

I’m looking forward to more good storytelling and sense-making from you Marvel.

Right. Bucky Barnes, Bucky was put in suspended animation by the evil Russians (back when they were evil) and stayed that way for the better part of 60 years.

“So he’s probably in his late 20s right now,” jokes Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada, who decided to promote him to Captain America.

Rogers’ old sidekick had already returned to the Marvel pantheon of heroes some time back as the rugged Winter Soldier, redeeming himself for the years he’d spent under the control of the bad guys, who would occasionally thaw him out for evil deeds.

“We were toying with the idea of someone new taking over the mantle of Captain America,” Quesada said by phone from his New York office. “But we kept coming back to Bucky. Not only because he seemed such an obvious choice but especially because of the fact that when we brought him back as the Winter Soldier he was so incredibly popular.”

It’s funny that the first place I heard about Cap’s replacement is through Stephen Colbert’s interview with Joe Quesada late last night. Guess I need to put a foot back on the mainstream comics web-line so I know when the big stuff’s about to go down. When you get caught unawares, you get stung and ate.

It appears Bucky won’t gulp down any super soldier serum. Which is good. No need for him to be a clone of Steve Rogers. Bucky apparently morphed himself into a gym rat these past few years, bulked up his special operations knowledge, and carries a gun.(We’ll save the cultural comparsions of the social times each Captain America was born for another post.)

I must admit, a lot of the stuff about Bucky’s history I had no idea about. I tended to hang out towards the mutant/cosmic adventure/magical borroughs of the Mighty Marvel-verse. That is when capes ruled my subcription box. Nowdays my box holds its fair share of independant books along with an issue or two of Marvel or DC.

Quesada says he isn’t worried, however, adding that killing off Captain America last year seemed to give him new life with readers. The editor was taken aback when newspapers even carried obituaries on the character.

“Not since the 1940s have we seen Cap being this popular,” he said.

Has anyone else noticed that it’s become a running gag for Colbert’s guests to remark on how much he really needs his writers back? I’ll be damned if those moments aren’t the funniest parts of the show. They seem to crack-up/annoy Colbert the most.

(Thanks to Myway news and 7d for sharing Myway News. Image courtesy of “please don’t sure me I’m just a poor player on the internet” Marvel.com)

No Comments | In: Comics | | #

Last week, members of Panel & Pixel shared their love of a documentary that aired on BBC. The show, “In Search of Steve Ditko,” featured documentarian Jonathan Ross revealing his geekish tendencies and showing lots of love for artist Steve Ditko.

Ditko was Stan Lee’s co-conspirator on a little Marvel book you may have heard about: Spiderman.

In his journey, Ross talks to several old geeks, the wonderful Alan Moore, the lovely Neil Gaiman, and Mr Excelsior himself, Stan Lee. That particular interview is the first time I’ve ever seen Stan “The Man” Lee at a loss for words. Many a comics geek who ever followed marvel know that’s a rare bird indeed.

If the universe is fair, I’ve managed to understand the wylie meta video search site Trooker.com and you’ll be able to sit back and watch all 54 minutes of the, oddly intriguing and a bit mystifying, search for the legendary Steve Ditko, uninterrupted.

(BTW it’s not my documentary as the Trooker embed claims. It’s Jonathan Ross’. When I figure out how to be smarter than Trooker, I’ll have that title fixed and sent to the pound.)

UPDATE: The Law has come down hard and destroyed any chances you have of seeing this wonderful thing. Be sure to thank them for their generosity.

UPDATE 9/25/09: YouTube saves the day.

No Comments | In: Comics, Hero of the week | tags: interview, jonathan ross, marvel, stan lee, steve ditko. | #

Also it’s Death of NEXTWAVE Day:

For as long as you live. Whether you know what I’m talking about or not. Something will always be missing from your heart, and that constant incompleteness will drain the joy from every single moment of your existence until you lay on your death bed, listening to your pulse stutter and stop, knowing that somehow, someway… you failed at life.

Knowing that nothing in the world had been right since Death Of NEXTWAVE Day.
Warren Ellis, BAD SIGNAL 02-14-2007

NEXTWAVE was love. Now nothing means anything anymore. Excuse me while I crawl into my fetal corner and gently weep tears of skunky beer.

Damn you, NEXTWAVE! How can you do this to me!?

What am I saying? I deny your denial. My heart will forever carry your thoughts of me in that pathetically stalker kind of way. You better shut your blinds, NEXTWAVE, cause I’m outside looking in with a pair of binoculars,a rubber hose and a can of pepper spray.

I love you, NEXTWAVE.

I hate you.

No Comments | In: Comics, Funny HaHa, Holidays, Quotes | tags: nextwave. | #

The purpose of the ‘Sonic Jacket‘ is to record sounds from the environment through which one moves during the day or night. By the end of the day/night a traveler will have a collection of an environmental sound experiences. Time of the traveling is determining different characters of experience. By the time differentiation are concerned distinct periods of the day and of the night.
—Twenty1F: Fashion for the 21st Century

Flupocalypse be damned.

In my between times, I’ve been reading through Warren Ellis’ TRANSMETROPOLITAN and enjoying every fucking page of it. TRANSMET was published in the mid 90s and ran for about 5 years. The Sonic Jacket(featured below) has a similar counterpart featured in Ellis’ TRANSMET comic. A little over 10 years ago, the jacket created today was used in Ellis-verse as a future New Media device in the hands of the everyperson.

10 years ago Ellis fictionalized what would become fact today.

Considering most science fiction writers are at least two decades dead before any of their ideas pass into reality, seeing this jacket(and many other Ellis ideas) become reality has gotta screw with his old noggin something fierce.

No Comments | In: Comics, Too Many Thoughts | | #

Drive Thru RPG markets itself as the “iTunes for comics.”

They’re looking to take advantage of the digital generation by selling vast collections of comics books made for your desktop. A noble enterprise, I think. It would be handy to have your favorite books on your laptop or what have you whenever you’re on the go. Carrying around stacks of comics would be troublesome in airports. Well, less troublesome than a laptop.

Sorta.

In the meantime, I grabbed free offerings of Don Quixote de la Mancha and Lovecraft Country(I must find out what this love of all things Cthulhu is about) just to give the system a whirl.

How does it work?
1)You register on DriveThruComics.com
2)Browse their selection
3)Grab the book in pdf form on checkout.
4) Read it in your crappy little pdf viewer

Each pdf is watermarked with your name(or the name you gave them) on each page. If you decide to be a sneaky fucker and push the pdf file into bittorrent world, they will boot you off their system the moment they find your name.

It’ll stop the lazy hackers, at best. A determined mind will find a way around this security system faster than geek lightning.

Publishers signed up for the launch include Dabel Brothers Productions, Shi, About Comics, Arcana, Archaia, NBM, UDON, Heroic Publishing, and Kenzer and Company, plus a number of others, including some publishers of adult material. Publishers expected to make content available soon include Antarctic, Heavy Metal, and Markosia. Around 250 products are available on the site now.
— blog@newsarama

I’m still not sold on eBooks replacing real ones. Current ePaper technology isn’t practical yet. It’s either too stiff and Star Trek-like, not functional for the daily reader, or created for totally superfluous reasons.

I’m still a fan of the tactile reading experience. Hardcovers, softcovers, or the simple pleasures of manga/american comics. When scientists improve upon the pliable ePaper tech and make it cheap enough for your average buyer, I’ll be first in line to give it a go.

Until then, I’ll enjoy the bulk of my reading the way the Old Ones intended.

No Comments | In: Comics, Too Many Thoughts | | #