2009 March
Hey, kid, big superheroes don’t cry
From "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"
The BBC’s version of Stan Lee’s reality show Who Wants to Be a Superhero? reportedly is under fire for subjecting contestants — ages 9 to 13 — to unnecessary stress and criticism.
I didn’t even realize there was a British take on the series, which aired for two seasons in the United States on SciFi.
Although the original, American version featured adults, the Children’s BBC show focuses on 13 kids who create their own superheroes and participate in a series of trials. Each week the contestants are judged on their performance, and one is cut from competition.
The winner will travel to Los Angeles to meet Lee.
According to the Daily Mail, the controversy was sparked by the past two episodes, which each showed children crying or choking back tears as they were eliminated.
The newspaper quotes a few psychologists who say the experiencing is potentially damaging to children, but a BBC spokesman disagrees. “There is absolutely no evidence of any distress to the children,” he said. “They have all said they had a happy time.”
- March 2, 2009 @ 10:49 AM by Kevin Melrose
There you go, Astro Boy (uh-huh, yeah, like that)
Inflatable latex/rubber cosplay outfits
Gia Manry points us to the future of all-male revues fetish-wear cosplay: inflatable latex/rubber costume knock-offs of beloved anime and manga characters. There’s “Astro Kid,” “Doraimon” and, of course, “Pikachoo” — among others.
Who could’ve guessed that the phrase “Pikachu! I choose you!” would be followed by the insertion of a dollar bill into the Pokémon’s booty shorts?
The designer, one Oliver Spiers, offers the custom-made outfits for sale (you have to contact him directly, though). There are, undoubtedly, many words of caution that should accompany these ensembles, but Spiers warns on the “Astro Kid” page that “Actual flight isnt possiable [sic] in this costume!”
- March 2, 2009 @ 09:34 AM by Kevin Melrose
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of 2/23
Apologies for the late posting, but Wonder-Con, lack of sleep, lack of dependable internet and coming home to find the home network in a shambles due to the well-intentioned work of my brother-in-law all added up to no big weekly wrap up for The Thirsty, not until this morning anyways.
- March 2, 2009 @ 09:01 AM by Matt Maxwell
Attention fans of The Winter Men: Bid on this
The Winter Men Case Files
Knowing my love for The Winter Men, the Wildstorm miniseries by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon, artist Cliff Chiang sends word of an eBay benefit auction that has me trying to wring some money out of my bank account.
It’s “The Winter Men Case Files,” a one-of-a-kind collection of character designs and descriptions, project proposal, story notes, and an Issue 1 script, collected in a custom-made cloth-bound binder signed by Lewis, Leon and editor Will Dennis. There’s also a complete set of Winter Men comics, signed by Lewis and Leon.
The auction is part of an effort by several creators to help with a friend’s medical bills. Any money raised beyond what’s required for those expenses will be donated to The Hero Initiative.
The auction for The Winter Men piece ends on March 8.
- March 2, 2009 @ 08:56 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC Comics is kryptonite to NBA’s merchandising plans
The planned "Krypto-Nate" T-shirt
DC Comics put a quick end to the National Basketball Association’s plans to sell “Krypto-Nate” T-shirts commemorating the slam-dunk victory of Nate Robinson.
However, the New York Post reports, the NBA is trying come to an agreement with the comics publisher and parent company Warner Bros., which hold the rights to most everything Kryptonian.
“The NBA decided not to release the Krypto-Nate T-shirt because of future initiatives we are working on with Warner/DC Comics,” an NBA source told the newspaper.
Robinson, a New York Knicks point guard, beat Dwight “Superman” Howard in the Slam Dunk Contest held Feb. 14 during the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. Dubbing himself “Krypto-Nate,” the five-foot-nine-inch Robinson catapulted himself over the six-foot-11-inch, cape-wearing Howard.
Within two days of the win, the NBA launched plans to sell a green Knicks T-shirt bearing Robinson’s No. 4 and the words “Krypto-Nate.” A day later, those plans were scrapped. (The Post notes the NBA Store is close to the DC Comics offices.)
- March 2, 2009 @ 08:12 AM by Kevin Melrose
A little more on the shutdown of Scans Daily
LiveJournal
In the wake of LiveJournal’s closing of Scans Daily for posting copyrighted material without the permission of the rights holder, two new incarnations have sprung up in hydra-like fashion.
Daily Scans’ Journal, at InsaneJournal, continues the images-with-commentary tradition, while NoScans Daily, as the name suggests, features discussion without the scans.
The shutdown was the talk of the comics Internet over the weekend, overshadowing most of the announcements coming out of WonderCon and MegaCon.
Countless creators, bloggers and Scans Daily contributors have weighed in by now, so I hope within the next day or two discussion moves beyond the specific event — the shutdown — to focus, rationally, on some of the larger issues: copyright, digital piracy, Internet marketing, fandom (and, yes, fan entitlement), etc.
But before the page turns, a few thoughts:
• Scans Daily probably — probably — did more good than harm. Until someone takes the unlikely step of commissioning a study of the effects of digital piracy on comic-book sales, we won’t be able to say with any certainty whether communities like Scans Daily increased or decreased sales. There are studies focused on music and, more recently, books that seem to suggest larger-scale piracy (i.e. peer-to-peer networks) actually helps those mediums. Does the same hold true for comics? I have no idea.
- March 2, 2009 @ 07:04 AM by Kevin Melrose
Just Past the Horizon: The male space is just better hidden
So Scans_Daily has finally been shut down by livejournal. The usual hand wringing when a livejournal community gets suspended is going on, and there are places in the conversation where I see the feminine space versus masculine space argument creep in. I’m always interested in that argument, but I can’t really agree with the idea that Scans_Daily was deleted because it was feminine space. It wasn’t shut down because it was a girl community. It was shut down because it was a soft piracy community hosted by a panicky social networking website.
Continue Reading »
- March 1, 2009 @ 10:06 AM by Lisa Fortuner
WonderCon | Day two thoughts
• Got to the city a little earlier on Saturday than Friday, as I had an 11 a.m. panel to cover. Friday was absolutely beautiful in San Francisco. It wasn’t quite as sunny on Saturday, but it also wasn’t raining, which it very well could have been. So let’s offer something up to the rain gods that Sunday lives up to its name (it’s a bit darker today, so I’m a little worried I might get stuck in a downpour). When I arrived Saturday, here’s what was outside the Moscone Center:
WonderCon day 2 line
One big line going down the block as people waited to buy their pass. Like last year, Friday was pretty low key, but Saturday saw people come out in mass. You could see it and feel it on the floor as well.
• First panel I covered was the IDW Publishing panel, where Scott Dunbier talked about several very cool things, such as The Rocketeer collection. I’m also jazzed about Bob Fingerman’s From the Ashes, though that’s not a new announcement. It was also nice to meet Scott, who has been a tremendous help with all the auctions we did for Lance and Carla.
- March 1, 2009 @ 07:12 AM by JK Parkin
Title: Black History Month ’09 #22: Shake This
Editor’s note: In honor of Black History Month, David Brothers took “every day in February to talk about specific aspect of black culture and comic books. It’s mainly focused on superhero comics, since that’s what I grew up reading and still makes up the bulk of my reading material.” The series ran through yesterday over at the 4thletter!, and David was gracious enough to let us repost some of them each Saturday in February. The one reprinted below appeared on the 4thletter on Feb. 22.
by David Brothers
I really like Adam Warren’s Empowered. I’ve been a fan of his since Gen13, and Empowered, though pretty pervy, is one of the best superhero comics out. I can’t get enough of it. Though the art would make you think that it’s a T&A-focused title, and that isn’t necessarily untrue, the book has the kind of character work and evolution you don’t usually see in mainstream books. There’s no chance of a character suddenly reverting to a personality from decades ago because it’s Warren’s own work. You end up with well-rounded characters who can go through surprising changes.
One of the more interesting characters in the book is Sistah Spooky. She’s a black member of the Superhomeys, which is basically the premier super-team of the Empowered universe. Empowered is her rival, for lack of a better word. Here’s a few pages that basically explain their relationship. Scans mildly NSFW.
- March 1, 2009 @ 06:51 AM by JK Parkin