Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Comics A.M. | Comix Experience robbed; Wertham’s distortions
Crime | Comix Experience in San Francisco was robbed at gunpoint Friday afternoon, with two young men demanding that owner Brian Hibbs empty the cash register containing about $75 and turn over an iPhone used for credit card transactions. A Lower Haight neighborhood blog interviewed Hibbs about the incident: “Divis [Divisadero Street] is generally pretty safe these days, so I was a LITTLE shocked at, y’know, a ‘brazen daylight armed robbery’ of it — but I am kind of more shocked that anyone thought that a comic book store was a high value target about an hour after they opened. Hell, life is like 85% credit cards these days, so even at our fattest there’s seldom enough to risk that kind of jail time, in my opinion …” [Haighteration]
History | Scholar Carol Tilley gives a first-person account of her research on Fredric Wertham, the super-villain of comics history, and how looking through his papers led her to an unexpected conclusion: His published works misrepresented what his research subjects had told him: “For many hard-to-articulate reasons, I didn’t want to write the scholarly paper on Wertham and the problems I found in his evidence, but not to write it seemed a disservice to the young people whose words and experiences Wertham distorted to help make his case against comics.” [Boing Boing]
Riverdale gang meets Glee cast on cover of Archie #641
BuzzFeed has debuted Dan Parent’s cover for Archie #641, the first issue of a storyline in which the Riverdale gang meets the cast of Fox’s hit musical comedy-drama Glee. The image is kind of odd, in that it looks as if someone may have gone in after the artist to touch up the faces of Glee characters Rachel, Finn and Quinn. See the full cover below.
Announced in July, the crossover is penned by comics writer and Glee co-producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Parent, and arrives on the heels of publisher’s much-publicized “Archie meets KISS” storyline.
“If you go back to the beginnings of modern music, if you will, with Elvis and moving forward with the Beatles and [Bob] Dylan – they established culturally the tone of what’s going on in the country,” Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater told Comic Book Resources. “That’s what I’ve been trying to establish in Riverdale. The characters stay the same, but Riverdale changes. And as musicians change in the culture, they can seamlessly integrate into comic books.”
Archie #641 arrives Feb. 27.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Route 666 revivals ‘shelved’ by Marvel
More than three months after Marvel said it was merely delaying the debuts of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Route 666, Senior Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort revealed this morning that the planned revivals of the CrossGen titles “have been shelved for the time being.”
Announced in August at FanExpo Canada, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Route 666 were set to join recent revivals of Ruse, Sigil and Mystic in December and February, respectively, under Marvel’s fledgling CrossGen imprint. Buoyed by nostalgia for the defunct publisher, Ruse and Sigil had solid enough debuts, selling an estimated 28,500 copies each in February 2011. But by their conclusions in June, sales of Ruse had plummeted to about 10,500 copies, and Sigil to 8,900. Mystic‘s August premiere was considerably weaker, moving around 18,800 copies. By October’s Issue 3, that figure had tumbled to about 6,000, suggesting nostalgia only goes so far.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated Peter Nguyen, Route 666 was to re-imagine the CrossGen horror series, transplanting protagonist Cassie Starkweather to the 1950s, where she was a deputy to U.S. Marshal Evan Cisco. Likewise, writer Peter Milligan and artist Roman Rosanas put a new spin on the Mike Perkins-Tony Bedard espionage comic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with a young agent ordered by MI6 to assume the role of super-spy Charles Kiss.
(via Blog@Newsarama)
Comics A.M. | Digital comics market triples to $25 million
DC Comics app
Digital comics | ICv2 estimates the total value of the digital comics market in 2011 as $25 million, triple the 2010 figure, and boldly predicts that digital will account for 10 percent of the entire comics market in 2012. Digital sales grew faster in the second half of the year, which ICv2 attributes to three factors: DC’s decision to release its New 52 comics digitally the same day as print, the industry-wide trend toward same-day print and digital releases, and the proliferation of different platforms on which to read digital comics. As for digital taking away from print, the publishing executives ICv2 has spoken to over the past few months don’t seem to think that is happening. [ICv2]
Retailing | Retailer and journalist Matt Price takes the temperature at the ComicsPRO Annual Members Meeting, which kicks off today in Dallas, noting that members remain interested in DC’s publishing plans, and report “very strong sales” for Image’s Fatale and Thief of Thieves. [Nerdage]
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark producers fire back, sue Julie Taymor
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
The producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark struck back Tuesday against a lawsuit by Julie Taymor, claiming the former director violated her own contract before she was fired in March, and shouldn’t receive any royalties from the $75 million Broadway musical.
Taymor, who also co-wrote the long-troubled show, sued producers in November, arguing that the overhauled musical violates her copyrights. She also said she deserves full credit and pay, despite her public ouster. Taymor seeks at least $1 million, as well as future royalties.
But according to The New York Times, the producers’ countersuit insists Taymor “could not and would not do the jobs that she was contracted to do,” forcing others to undertake those responsibilities, resulting in a new show over which she has no claim.
In the court filing they say Taymor refused to create an original, family-friendly musical based on Marvel’s Spider-Man and instead “insisted on developing a dark, disjointed and hallucinogenic musical involving suicide, sex and death.”
Following Taymor’s firing, Spider-Man shut down for three weeks to undergo an overhaul at the hands of new director Philip William McKinley and writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Glen Berger. When the musical returned in mid-May for previews, it was described as “virtually unrecognizable” from the show savaged by critics in February.
“As a result of all of the changes that Taymor could not and would not make, the Spider-Man musical is now a hit,” the producers say in their suit. “The show is a success despite Taymor, not because of her.”
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which costs $1.2 million a week to produce, grossed about $1.4 million last week, behind Wicked and The Lion King. It has brought in about $81 million since performances began in November 2010.
Marvel’s Route 666, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang delayed but not canceled
Route 666 #1 cover sketches, by Peter Nguyen
In the wake of a wave of cancellations from the House of Ideas, there emerges some good news for fans of CrossGen: While Marvel’s revivals of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Route 666 won’t debut in December and February, as originally announced, the publisher assures the titles aren’t canceled but merely delayed.
A Marvel spokesman tells Robot 6 the planned four-issue miniseries are simply being moved around on the publisher’s 2012 calendar.
Announced in August at FanExpo Canada, Route 666 and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are set to join recent revivals of Ruse, Sigil and Mystic under Marvel’s fledgling CrossGen imprint. Buoyed by nostalgia for the defunct publisher, Ruse and Sigil had solid enough debuts — for miniseries, in any case — selling an estimated 28,500 copies each in February. But by their conclusion in June, sales of Ruse had plummeted to about 10,500 copies, and Sigil to 8,900. Mystic‘s August premiere was considerably weaker, moving around 18,800; by October’s Issue 3, that figure had fallen to less than 6,500.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated Peter Nguyen, Route 666 re-imagines the CrossGen horror series, transplanting protagonist Cassie Starkweather to the 1950s, where she’s a deputy to U.S. Marshal Evan Cisco. Likewise, writer Peter Milligan and artist Roman Rosanas put a new spin on the Mike Perkins-Tony Bedard espionage comic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with a young agent ordered by MI6 to assume the role of super-spy Charles Kiss.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark returns ‘almost a brand-new show’
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark returned last night from a three-week hiatus “virtually unrecognizable” from the troubled musical savaged by critics in February.
That assessment comes courtesy of the production’s most vocal detractor, the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, who quotes lead producer Michael Cohl as saying, “It’s almost a brand-new show.”
Indeed, it certainly looks that way. As anticipated, Arachne, the eight-legged villainess created by former director Julie Taymor, has been reduced to a minor role (she previously dominated the second act). Both the “utterly superfluous” Geek Chorus — a group of four comic fans that provided much of the show’s exposition — and the Furies — Arachne’s minions who performed the widely panned “Deeply Furious” shoe-shopping number — have been cut entirely.
With Arachne diminished, Patrick Page’s Green Goblin is given a more prominent role. Previously, the classic villain was killed off in the first act, only to make a confusing return in Act II. Now, Entertainment Weekly says, his climactic battle with Spider-Man is, appropriately enough, the show’s finale. He’s also given the only new song, “Freak Like Me”; most of the other musical numbers have been reworked.
Characters like Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Norman Osborn’s wife Emily, who had been little more than footnotes in the $70-million production, have been given upgrades as well.
In short, as Riedel writes, the show now “hews more closely to Spidey’s original comic-book sensibilities.”
However, the overhaul, spearheaded by new director Philip William McKinley, Taymor’s co-writer Glen Berger and script doctor (and comics scribe) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, creates a tangled web of credits.
Critics are invited to attend preview performances June 9-11, ahead of the show’s scheduled June 14 opening night. You can view the new trailer for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark below.
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to lose Geek Chorus in overhaul
Patrick Page as Green Goblin and Reeve Carney as Peter Parker in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"
The sweeping changes to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the elimination of one of Julie Taymor’s signature elements, the widely panned Geek Chorus.
Based on the troubled musical’s four original creators — Taymor, her co-writer Glen Berger, Bono and the Edge — the geeks are four comic-book fans who make up the plot as the story unfolds, serving as a device to cover the show’s complicated scenery changes while doling out chunks of exposition. As practical as their purpose might be, they were described by some critics as “useless” and “utterly superfluous.”
The New York Times reports the four actors — Mat Devine, Gideon Glick, Alice Lee and Jonathan Schwartz — were told Thursday night that the Geek Chorus will be cut when the $70-million production goes on hiatus on April 18. The newly expanded creative team, led by director Philip William McKinley, Berger and script doctor (and comics writer) Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, apparently has found a way to execute scenery changes without the aid of the chorus. According to Broadway World, there’s no word yet on what will happen to the performers once their roles are dropped.
The loss of the geeks is only the first in what’s expected to be a wave of major changes made in the wake of Taymor’s departure on March 9. Green Goblin’s confusing story arc will reportedly be clarified, the unpopular “Deeply Furious” number cut, and the role of the eight-legged villainous Arachne reduced if not eliminated entirely (The Times says the character, another of Taymor’s signature creations, “is expected to remain, for now, though as a scaled-back character”). Bono and the Edge are also writing at least two additional songs.
In another change, Broadway World confirms that Chase Brock is replacing original choreographer Daniel Ezralow, a Taymor loyalist who designed the show’s complex flying sequences.
Spider-Man will return from its three-week hiatus on May 12, and continue preview performances until the scheduled opening night on June 14.
New opening date, new rumors, for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
The announcement of a June 14 opening night for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark — the sixth delay for the troubled musical — was quickly followed by conflicting reports about a stalemate with departing director Julie Taymor.
Lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris set the new date on Friday, and confirmed preview performances will shut down from April 19 to May 11 to allow the newly expanded creative team, which includes director Philip William McKinley and script doctor Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, to implement what are expected to be sweeping changes to the show.
Within hours of that news, the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, who’s been gleeful if not always accurate in his chronicling of the musical’s myriad troubles, wrote that Taymor is digging in her heels, refusing to leave without a “hefty payday” — and the script she co-wrote with Glen Berger. Riedel cites a source as saying the standoff has caused “chaos” in what’s already a chaotic production. A show representative was quick to deny the claims, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “All discussions are proceeding positively.”
An “exclusive” early this morning from Showbiz411′s Roger Friedman, whose frequently zealous defense of Spider-Man has softened dramatically in the past couple of weeks, contends Taymor will remain credited as director and co-writer (that point appears unchanged from Thursday), in large part because producers don’t have a “hefty” payout for the Tony Award winner. That certainly sounds right, as the show’s price tag is now being placed at north of $70 million — nearly triple its initially envisioned budget. While the musical is bringing in more than $1 million a week during preview performances, it will be at least four years before Spider-Man recoups its costs.
If all of that leaves any heads spinning, The New York Times has a terrific overview of the musical’s troubled history that notes, perhaps, why Taymor’s Lion King thrived while Spider-Man has foundered: Disney reined in the director, whom many regard as a creative genius, while Cohl and other producers gave her freedom, at least up until the past several weeks:
Details surface of sweeping changes to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark"
A post-Julie Taymor Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will likely be a radically changed show, with many of the director’s trademark elements altered or removed, multiple outlets report.
Among the rumored revisions are the strengthening of the love story between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, said to have been a point of contention between Taymor and some cast members, the loss of the widely panned “Deeply Furious” number, and a clarification of the Green Goblin’s story arc (he dies in Act I only to reappear in Act II). But perhaps most notable are the plans for Arachne, the eight-legged villainess created by Taymor in 2002. The character, who dominates the second act, will see her scenes reduced or cut entirely, Bloomberg reports.
The details surfaced today, less than 24 hours after producers finally announced what many had expected for some time: that the beleagured director would leave and the critically savaged musical shut down for two weeks to undergo a massive overhaul. Philip William McKinley (The Boy From Oz) was brought in as Taymor’s replacement to work with an expanded creative team that includes composers Bono and The Edge, musical consultant Paul Bogaev, playwright and comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, and sound designer Peter Hylenski. Opening night, most recently scheduled for March 15, will be delayed for a sixth time, to early summer.
Julie Taymor exits Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, new director hired
Julie Taymor
As expected, the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark announced this evening that Julie Taymor will step aside as director of the much-delayed and derided $65 million musical. They also confirmed that opening night has been moved from March 15 to early summer, marking the show’s sixth postponement.
Taymor will be replaced by Philip William McKinley (The Boy From Oz), who joins an expanded creative team — it includes playwright and comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, musical consultant Paul Bogaev and sound designer Peter Hylenski — that will overhaul the production over the next three months. Performances are expected to shut down for two to three weeks in April and May to accommodate the retooling and rehearsals.
According to The New York Times, the producers, along with composers Bono and the Edge, told the cast this evening that Taymor was out but would remain involved in the show, although not in a day-to-day capacity.
That point was emphasized in a joint statement from lead producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris: “Julie Taymor is not leaving the creative team. Her vision has been at the heart of this production since its inception and will continue to be so. Julie’s previous commitments mean that past March 15th, she cannot work the 24/7 necessary to make the changes in the production in order to be ready for our opening.”
The Times notes that the producers’ press release doesn’t include a comment from Taymor, an omission the newspaper characterizes as “a sign of the discord among them.” Indeed, today’s announcement follows weeks of friction, during which the Tony Award-winning director reportedly refused requests by producers to allow outsiders to make changes to the widely panned show.
Reports: Taymor leaving Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, producers shutting down musical for overhaul [Updated]
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Besieged director Julie Taymor will leave Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark as producers prepare to shut down performances for two to three weeks to overhaul the $65 million musical, multiple sources report. However, The New York Times now contends she could remain in some capacity, “perhaps in name only,” following her rumored resignation Tuesday night.
The news follows two days of negotiations that were believed to center on the Tony Award-winning Taymor either working with an expanded creative team to retool production, or possibly exit the show she co-wrote and shepherded to Broadway. “Taymor is out. She’s left the building,” a source close to the production tells the New York Daily News.
The shutdown dates for Spider-Man, which was supposed to open March 15, are expected to cover late April and early May, The Times reports. However, a spokesman sticks by the line that “the opening night is still scheduled for March 15.” A shutdown would mean a loss of about $1.3 million a week — although still in previews, Spider-Man is one of the highest-grossing shows on Broadway — and push the production past the April 28 deadline for Tony Awards eligibility (apparently not a concern). Producers are now thought to be eyeing a June opening date, the show’s sixth.