Michael Hutchison: February 2006 Archives
Small Press Idol 3 has begun, and so far there are two former Fanzing Magazine contributors who are in the running. Best of luck to Stephen Legge and Jerry S Loomis!
Small Press Idol, for you newcomers, is the indy press comic version of American Idol, where contestants compete to get their comic idea in front of an audience, and the winner gets published by Dime Store Productions in their Mysterious Visions Anthology. Yours truly, with the considerable visuals of artist Phil Meadows, won the first Small Press Idol with Metro Med, the comic which I'm currently working on, and our initial story was published in Mysterious Visions Anthology #1.
The call for entries is still open.
I'm five days late on the black Spider-Man costume in Spidey 3 issue. I haven't even seen it until today. Thanks to Neal and Chris (neither of whom posted here about this major story; what's up with that, guys?) for getting me a link when I finally had to ask for help in finding it.
Henson Entertainment announces "Power of the Dark Crystal", a new sequel to the 1982 fantasy movie Dark Crystal. This new film will have the same character designer, fantasy artist Brian Froud, but there will be CGI special effects mixed in with the animatronics. There will also be Dark Crystal spinoffs in other media, including a Tokyopop manga series.
Thanks to ScurvyDawg for the tip!
Dixonverse features the Panel of the Week, and this one will guarantee that you can never keep a straight face at the phrase "magic totem" ever again.
My comic books for sale site is updated. I fixed up the entry page, lowered prices all over the place, added a ton of pictures and tweaked it here and there. The one thing I have yet to do is add all of my trade paperbacks for sale, but that's going to be a whole separate project. (Don't wait up!)
You can also buy all of my books online (by which I mean ones I've written), including package deals that save some cash. Note that you'll get a free copy of Job Wanted just by buying $50 worth of comics, so bear that in mind. (If you already have Job Wanted, I'll throw in something else. Just let me know.)
Thanks in advance for your patronage, and if you get a chance drop me a line to tell me what you like and don't like about the site. There are numerous technical limitations but I'll improve it any way I can.
Prolific Darren McGavin, the dad on Christmas Story, the Night Stalker, has died.
One of my favorite character actors, Don Knotts, passed away today. I know people don't live forever, but in Don's case I wouldn't have minded if the heavens had made an exception.
I have to do another update to Scott Beatty's web site, and I'm still working on the Metro Med script (it's a big project), but I have one more thing to do this weekend that you may be interested in.
See, my wife and I are going on a cruise to the Bahamas in April. I've never been on a cruise before. My wife's never been out of the country before. And we haven't had a vacation proper since our last one which was the second week of September of 2001. Given what happened, I wouldn't even count that. Suffice to say, it's probably the only real vacation we've had since our honeymoon in '99.
I now have about six weeks to lose some weight, so I'll be away from the site even more because I'll be on the elliptical walker. (Then I'll take a cruise where the buffets will put all the pounds back on, so I'm not sure what the point is. Still...) But even before that, I need to get one thing done.
I have to raise some cash for the trip. It's a spendy trip, and the time in Orlando Florida at the end of the trip will be even more spendy. What can I do to raise some moolah fast?
Well, sell my comic book collection, obviously!
I've had my collection online for years, though it's been a long, slow slog from a mere list of titles and numbers to my new full catalog that has a Paypal shopping cart integrated into every page. I'm STILL trying to get more images, put prices on the last 200 or so comics, add in a page of trade paperbacks and other merchandise, pretty it up, etc. Simply put, there's always more to do. But it's about time I started aggressively selling them.
So earlier this week I went through the whole thing and started knocking down the prices. This weekend I'll be posting the new listings with the reduced prices, more comics that I've added (about 500 since November) and maybe some discounts for purchasing a certain amount.
In answer to the question I get all the time about this: no, I'm not giving up comics. For one thing, I have two long "keeper" boxes of the stuff that isn't getting sold. As for the rest, I rarely pull these comics out and reread them.
I will let you all know when the site is updated.
Spider-Man Robs Comic Book Store and they have it on videotape!
One of my favorite quotes from the Bob and Brian podcast. You can listen to their streamed show every day from their web site, or you can download the occasional favorite bit which they offer as a podcast: http://www.BobAndBrian.com/pod/BB_onDemand.xml is the podcast link.
If you just want to listen to the podcast bits in MP3 form, you can listen and download from this page. I could give you links to all of my favorites, but let's make it simple: I like just about everything on the page that isn't about sports. The Christmas catastrophe stories are a riot (be careful to not drink anything while listening unless you want it up your nose), and the home destruction stories and bad breakup stories are enjoyable. Steve Czaban, their sports commentator, gives his views on Brokeback Mountain, lists what he eats in one day, and argues why Al Qaeda should have an Olympic Team so they can show off their monkeybar skills. (That's where I got the quote in the subject line above.) Plus, what do Hillary Clinton and the Wayne Knight Death Lizard have in common? There's also a fun interview with a local couple that was on Trading Spouses.
I've been into Bob and Brian for years, ever since my brother (living in Milwaukee at the time) started letting me hear his albums. Bob and Brian, once a year, put together an album of their best stuff from the year and donate proceeds to the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. The latest album is Mexican Balogne Roll. They also offer a mondo super pack of their albums for the last five years, and it works out to about $5 each so I ordered one last week. (And no, I'm not getting any money for linking to it; it's not on Amazon.)
Visitors to my web site, The Hutch, know that I do some audio editing. I took one of their skits, "Radio Baghdad", and edited out some of the extended laughter and noise. I'd love to turn it into a Flash animation someday.
I call them "skits" but really they're live radio improvs. The giggling from other people in the room actually improves many of these.
Reader Don Smith just e-mailed me regarding one of the toys recently unveiled by DC Direct, and oddly enough he asked me a question that I had asked myself when I first saw it yesterday. At first, I wasn't going to post about it because I thought it was just my imagination, but Don's message confirms my impression.
It seems that DC Direct may have given away a MAJOR part of Infinite Crisis, which still has three issues left to go.
I don't want to say any more without putting this in the extended entry, because it concerns the reveal of the figure and a major guesstimate as to what happens in the next few months. I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
DO NOT CLICK ON THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO RUIN A SURPRISE AND POSSIBLY A PIVOTAL PART OF INFINITE CRISIS!!!
Oh, and NO THIS ISN'T A JOKE.
THERE'S ALSO A MONSTER IN THE EXTENDED ENTRY AND GROVER DOESN'T WANT YOU TO TURN THE PAGE!
This was originally announced for December 2005, but now Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke's "Batman/The Spirit" special will come out in the summer of 2006.
This will integrate the Spirit into the DCU, and it will be followed by Cooke's Spirit ongoing series.
Warner Brothers has decided that the Batman Begins movie, while performing well with teens and adults, was just too seriously scary and adult for kids. Casting for a new actor, they have settled on one who will be more appealing for all ages. I'm being vague here to avoid spoilers.
The identity of the new Batman actor is in the extended entry. DO NOT CLICK BELOW unless you want to know!
Birds of Prey #93's cover perhaps shows the new Bird of Prey member. I think I know who it is.
I'll hide it in the extended entry in case you don't like Spoilers!
Well, the title got your attention, didn't it? Yes, she was punished recently for making "Catwoman":
Berry Can't Escape 'Catwoman' During Award
Halle Berry had to write "I will not make 'Catwoman II'" on a chalkboard four times Thursday in order to earn her pudding pot as Harvard's Hasty Pudding woman of the year.
I did this post just for the AP picture.
Haven't had much time for comic news this morning. I was reading something different.
Debunking Hurricane Katrina Myths sounds like a political piece, but it's actually a clear-headed engineering analysis of problems on the Gulf Coast. I'm posting it mainly for Phil, my Metro Med artist who lives on the coast and loves engineering stuff.
Here were my results... though, frankly, I belong on the Babylon 5 crew. Take the quiz yourself!
You scored as Deep Space Nine (Star Trek). You have entered the dark side of the Star Trek universe. The paradise of Earth is far from you and you must survive despite having enemies on all fronts. But you wouldn't have it any other way because you thrive in conflict and will know what needs to be done to take care of those around you. Now if only the Founders would quit trying to take over the galaxy.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I can now expand on my post of six days ago about Superman saying he's ashamed to be an American. My advice to jwd over at Dixonverse, reposted here, led to some spirited discussion this week, all of which has been quite exciting.
At the time, I was working off of the first part of the story in Superman #226 (which was, and still is, sold out and back-ordered in my area). Today, I read the story's conclusion (or continuation, really) in Action #836. The impression I get is that the Golden Age Superman, in his many years of exile, has become deluded and judgmental. What we are seeing of his life, and of the modern Superman's, are rather what he wished he'd done. And as we see, this Superman is much more tyrannical. Perhaps JWD, if he bought the second installment, will draw some comfort from that.
Andreas Katsulas has passed away from lung cancer at age 59. This is very sad but hardly a surprise, since every reference to Katsulas in a Babylon 5 episode commentary or interview mentions that he was smoking at the time.
Katsulas was one of the true shining stars of Babylon 5, making his character shine despite being buried in makeup and molding.
Babylon 5 from the 1990s now has as many dead castmembers as Star Trek from 1966!
Seems to me that this was news a month or two ago, but for some reason it's just hitting the wires now: Batman to Go After Bin Laden
The oddball thing is: where is all the outcry?
Two years ago CrossGen announced that Chuck Dixon would be writing "American Power", with a #1 issue cover that featured an American strongman, surrounded by armed terrorists, smacking a mighty fist across Osama Bin Laden's ugly puss. It was clearly a tribute to the old "Captain America vs. Hitler" type of images that were often found in WWII-era comics, yet the reaction was swift and outraged. In the end, despite the preorders for the book being so huge that (according to Chuck Dixon) this "Free Comic Book Day" issue was going to actually make a profit(!), CrossGen pulled the book. In the end, the whole thing was mooted by CrossGen going belly up before Free Comic Book Day.
Now Frank Miller wants to have iconic figure Batman taking down Osama and everyone's fine with it? What's the deal? Is it just that Frank Miller isn't an avowed right-winger like Dixon, or is everyone expecting the final product to be far from the rah-rah propaganda that Miller is claiming it is?
Look, Chuck's one of the better buddies I have in the industry, so I'm openly biased here. However, in evaluating his work as a fan, I'd have to say that Chuck's writing isn't anything like the jingoistic charicature that some people make it out to be, and he's written numerous characters whose viewpoints do not mirror his own. Despite the cover, I anticipated that "American Power" would be a tad more complex than the provocative cover of the first issue made it out to be.
Fortunately, we may soon get a glimpse of what Chuck would have done; today, he announced on his board that he may be posting the scripts on his web site. I'll let y'all know when they're up, of course.
Meanwhile, getting back to Wayne Manor... Frank Miller is doing this "Holy Terror, Batman" (I wish it wasn't so similar to the title of one of my favorite Elseworlds comics) as a 200-page graphic novel. Given how raw fans are over plunking down $27 for the disappointing "Dark Knight Strikes Your Wallet," I doubt Miller wants to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. If this project is actually what it claims to be, it could be fun.
Scott Beatty.com is in the middle of a major update. Check out his "What's New" and "Previews" sections to catch glimpses of the up and coming books from Scott.
The site also has a new color scheme just for today (it's Valentine's Day). That's because I'm Scott's webmaster and I was giving Monitor Duty a V-Day stylesheet anyway, so I recycled it. Yeah, that's right, I'm upfront about my stinginess.
If you aren't seeing the Valentine's Day color scheme at either site, click on "refresh".
Monday. Ugh. I need to decompress. How about you?
How about a circular game of Breakout, which can be played one-player or two-player? It also has a mini-game which is completely different and even more fun.
Pianographique is a strange, strange thingy where playing various keys will launch 1970s video and sounds.
(HT: The Corner)
Over on the Dixonverse, poster JWD comments on something in Superman #226 that bothers him greatly. I'll have him tell it. (I'm reposting it here because Dixonverse does not have an archive.)
Posted by jwd on February 10, 2006 at 08:29:11:The gist of the story is that our current Superman is in the midst of a fight (from apparantly Kal-L Earth 2 Superman) and everytime he's hit he's getting visions of Superman Earth 2 history. The majority of the story is the Earth 2 history. Apparently the current Kal-El may actually be able to influence and change things as well. It's not really made clear.
So anyway at the end of the book - They are focusing on the JSA disbandment. I belive this is shortly after WWII
"These are dangersous times for America. The enemy lives within us." and there's more.
They ask the JSA to take off their masks. They refuse.
Superman shows up."How dare you, sir? How dare you question [the integrity] of the men and women before you? You are poisoning this country with fear and hatred... and I will not see my nation undermined by cowards.
If it will take a name to stop you... you can have mine. I am Clark Kent. I am Superman, and today. I am ashamed to be an American."
And no I have no idea what's going to happen next.
Now [his not liking their questioning] the JSA's [integrity] doesn't bother me a bit. What I hated was the line "I am ashamed to be an American". I mean I can understand people not agreeing with the government sometimes but it just feels like a slap in the face to other Americans and especially to people like the troops risking their lives everyday to give us the freedom a lot of us take for granted.
So now my dilemna is - Do I want to read 2 more parts to a Superman story where he's "ashamed to be an American" ?
My response to JWD was to encourage him to buy part 2 but to write DC a letter on paper and mail it in letting them know why this upsets him. I also expounded on the whole "JSA stands up to HUAC" moment which has become part of comic book history, even though it didn't happen until a few decades after HUAC. My analysis of it is below.
For some reason, I thought one of the other Monitor Duty contributors had written something about the Danish cartoons of Mohammed and the riots, so I hadn't written about it. My apologies to everyone for neglecting this issue that is so relevant to the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and, oh yeah, the right of cartoonists to continue breathing.
Pictures of the glorious leader of the Pentaverate are everywhere!
If you don't get any of this, you haven't seen So I Married An Axe Murderer and shame on you!
Showcase Presents: Elongated Man debuts in July. This 560 page black and white volume will reprint the screwball mystery series "Elongated Man" which ran in the back of Detective Comics. This may, in fact, reprint the entire run. I did a rough count over on Dixonverse where we're discussing these and I came up with 68 stories. I don't know if they were 8 pages, 10 pages or 12 pages, though, and I know a few of them are full-length guest spots teaming with Batman.
This really is a dream come true. Literally. I've been asking for this since 1999!
I wish this could have come out two summers ago when everyone in the world was saying, "Sue Dibny is murdered? Who cares?!"
I highly recommend Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex. I wasn't even a Hex fan until I read this book, and it helped me develop an appreciation for the new ongoing series.
I just picked up Showcase Presents: House of Mystery, Vol. 1. I haven't even cracked it open yet, but I love that cover.
Other upcoming editions which you can pre-order:
Showcase Presents: Teen Titans, Vol. 1 on April 5th.
Showcase Presents: Haunted Tank, Vol. 1 on May 30th.
Showcase Presents: Superman, Vol. 2 on June 30th.
I haven't been posting too often because I'm trying to limit my computer time. The problem is this numbness in my fingers, which a doctor told me is the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. Wearing wrist braces and cutting my typing time a bit is helping.
The biggest help has been RSI Guard, a small computer program that monitors my typing and mouse usage and then, at certain limits, makes me take a break. Little videos guide me in doing a few exercises for my hands. I've been using it for about two weeks and my hands are feeling a lot better; I certainly don't have the numbness to the degree I did before.
I know a lot of you work on computers and run the risk of carpal tunnel, tendonitis and other Repetitive Stress Injuries, so I wanted to point you to this program. RSI Guard has a 45-day trial, so you can test it out for free. Purchasing it will cost $65...which is less than your first doctor's visit will cost, if you look at it that way.
Brokeback to the Future is another one of those retrailers that shows how much you can distort a film through editing. This is better than that one with the Jedis falling in love, and I think it shows real talent (and a good eye).
Now I have the Blue Beetle's song from Electric Company going through my head.
No, not the Ted Kord Blue Beetle. The children's show had an ineffectual superhero called The Blue Beetle played by Jim Boyd, and he sang this song whenever people asked him to do something dangerous and/or impossible:
I would, if I could,
but I can't, so I won't.
Forgive me if I don't.
I hope that everything is understood...
that I would, if I could,
but I can't, so I won't.
I'm going to be 36 next month and I've had this stuck in my head for 30 years.
You know, it's entirely possible that the Children's Television Workshop approach to educating children is totally wrong. I mean, our generation was the first one educated by this method of catchy visuals and singable songs repeated over and over on TV in hopes that kids would absorb letters, numbers and words just as beer ads reinforce drinking beer for fun. (Seriously, they studied beer ads when creating Sesame Street.)
Well, great. Thanks a lot. Decades after I learned the number 11 I still remember that stupid skit about the painter who paints an 11 on a window and then someone washes it off while he's packing up his brushes and he mourns, "My ELEVEN!" And there's this little tune that plays as a maraschino cherry rolls down a little metal track, and as it hits three spinners in a row, they sing "One...two...three!" I have entire days at IBM where I'm trying to do my TTR processing and all I can hear is "DOO DO DODODODODODOOOO DOO DO DODODODODODO ONE TWO THREE!!!" No, those idiots at CTW never did think about what will happen if we impressionable kids get their dumb songs locked into our brains long, long after we learned how to say agua and to not pronounce a silent e.
How can I get rid of the vivid memory of Rita Moreno asking, "Hey Pete's Pop's Pal, is this your pickle?"
Also, I think Judy Graubart's outfit as Jennifer of the Jungle was a bit too sexy to show a kid. My wife keeps wondering why I buy her leopard prints.
I actually think that ol' Easy Reader from Electric Company himself, Morgan Freeman, has the right idea about Black History Month. That said, it does serve as a good excuse to point everyone to an issue of Fanzing Magazine from five years ago. Issue #32, February 2001, was our "Affirmative Action Comics" issue.
Rise and shine, campers, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
It's cold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?
Not hardly. So the big question on everybody's lips...
(On their chapped lips)
...their chapped lips is, does Phil feel lucky? Punksatawney Phil, thats right wood chuck chuckers it's
GROUND HOG DAY
Just flipped the calendar and noticed, and it brought the urge to recall one of the greatest movies ever made, Groundhog Day.
Frankly, the groundhog may have seen his shadow today, but we've hardly had any winter up til now and I'm hoping it's all over. (Notice the photo of handler Bill Deeley. The resemblance to the movie's Brian Doyle Murray is uncanny! I thought that it was a still from the film, not a photo from this morning.)
[UPDATE: The "greatest movies" link now points to the entire article, readable free of charge. Sorry about that.]
Science News - 'Tenth Planet' Bigger Than Pluto
Scientists are debating whether our solar system's 10th planet... unofficially named "Xena" with a moon named "Gabriel"... is officially a planet. After all, it's bigger than Pluto, which many people doubt should be officially a planet (it isn't in a proper planetary orbit and it doesn't have a moon, for two). [CORRECTION: it does have a moon; it's named Charon. Charon was discovered when I was 8 years old and had already learned my planets.]
Now...what should be the planet's official name? It should be something from mythology, after all, not from an Action Pack syndicated TV show.
I have an idea, which let the record show I proclaim here on Monitor Duty:
It should be called Procrustes, named after the mythic thief who had an exacting standard for his houseguests. (They had to exactly fit into his iron bed. If they were too short, he would stretch them, and if they were too tall he'd chop them down to size.) The moon for the planet could be named Theseus after the man who put Procrustes to his own standard.
Given all the questioning as to whether the planet meets the standards, I think it would be highly appropriate.
This would have the added benefit of updating the children's mnemonic in a convenient way:
Men Very Early Made Jars So You Now PLay PRoudly!
And should we ever reach the point where Pluto is discounted as a moon, the old Mnemonic could be kept in favor of the new letter P planet.