Our host at Heroes Con (really Our Man Thompson's as I was the driver and go-fer) Dustin Harbin's just posted a cool blog post and drawing about cartoonists he's met and liked recently. Our Man Thompson is not actual size.
Neat, isn't it?
Monday, July 07, 2008
Washington realtors have a new hero
The real estate multiple listing service, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., of Washington launched its own DC-based web superhero.
For details, see "Introducing 'Mr. Is,' an MLS superhero; Comic strip promotes Web site relaunch," Inman News, Thursday, June 26, 2008.
To read the strip Mr. Is, click here. He's even got a backstory!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Rory Root memorial photographs
Miron Murcury sent in these three pictures and encouraged me to post them. Please note that these are Miron's titles and the pictures are copyrighted by him.
Mark Bode at Rory Root memorial. June 21, 2008
Ron, Last Gasp, Turner
Why's everybody looking at me?
Mark Bode at Rory Root memorial. June 21, 2008
Ron, Last Gasp, Turner
Why's everybody looking at me?
DC (Comics, that is) fan films
Chris Cowan must have noted my "Films and TV Adaptations" book and sent in the following note the other day. I've got to say that I'm a big proponent of the idea of fan films. I've seen some really good ones. In Japan, this type of fan participation with fans writing comic books and having whole conventions devoted to them has been popular for years. And I really loved What If (Marvel) and Elseworlds (DC) before both companies went for that extra dollar and published too many to keep track of. Anyway, here's the note:
I'm a filmmaker who loves making films dealing with SciFi and Comicbook Universes. Lex Randleman (a long time friend of mine and aspiring comicbook writer) and I are creating a new webseries for DC Fans called "Elseworlds". Its based upon the DC Comics Elseworlds series where heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into alternate realities. (All done just for fun out of the love for the DC universe - No Budget). They will be a series of five 2-8 minute original story webisodes dealing with some of the famous characters in the DC Universe (Different groups of characters but following one linear story arc overall). Part 4 should be up in the next week and a half. Please take a look for yourself. We're trying to do something really different. Its not your average fanfilm.
A little bit of info:
Chris Cowan (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Film Production Focus) - Director/Editor/Camera/Cyborg
Lex Randleman (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Creative Writing Focus) - Writer/Concept/Costume/Mister Terrific
DC Elseworlds Part One - "Fair Play" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseVgcEmx1A
DC Elseworlds Part Two - "Titans" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQ3UjeLcRE
DC Elseworlds Part Three - "What's in a name?" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iguQCdU1K_o
I'm a filmmaker who loves making films dealing with SciFi and Comicbook Universes. Lex Randleman (a long time friend of mine and aspiring comicbook writer) and I are creating a new webseries for DC Fans called "Elseworlds". Its based upon the DC Comics Elseworlds series where heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into alternate realities. (All done just for fun out of the love for the DC universe - No Budget). They will be a series of five 2-8 minute original story webisodes dealing with some of the famous characters in the DC Universe (Different groups of characters but following one linear story arc overall). Part 4 should be up in the next week and a half. Please take a look for yourself. We're trying to do something really different. Its not your average fanfilm.
A little bit of info:
Chris Cowan (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Film Production Focus) - Director/Editor/Camera/Cyborg
Lex Randleman (24 yrs old - The Ohio State University Graduate: Creative Writing Focus) - Writer/Concept/Costume/Mister Terrific
DC Elseworlds Part One - "Fair Play" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseVgcEmx1A
DC Elseworlds Part Two - "Titans" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQ3UjeLcRE
DC Elseworlds Part Three - "What's in a name?" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iguQCdU1K_o
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE THURSDAY (not Wednesday) 07-10-08
QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE THURSDAY (not Wednesday) 07-10-08
By John Judy
BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 by Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens. Booster meets Peter Platinum, who is a superhero, NOT a star of a certain type of movie! So don’t even go there, pal!
BPRD: THE WARNING #1 of 5 by Matt Wagner, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Armageddon threatens. Time for the team to punch in.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Look what happens when “Heroes” gets shut down by a writers strike! (Not saying this should happen more often…)
CRIMINAL VOL. 3: DEAD AND DYING SC by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Collecting the done-in-one masterpieces we all must have in our glass-covered, climate-controlled bookcases. Highly Recommended.
DEAD SHE SAID #2 by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson. Posthumous noir by horror’s master illustrator. IDW Publishing is doing its best to keep all knowledge of this series to itself. Don’t let them!
FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. DC says this is “a very special FINAL CRISIS one-shot” which, given that it’s a tie-in to this year’s huge Summer cross-over series, may be code for “this one doesn’t suck.”
GOON #26 by Eric Powell. “Bill, ya can’t eat a whole bag of cookies and follow it up with a whole chocolate-covered cat! You’ll ruin yer dinner!” Also featuring machine guns and axes. Recommended!
I KILL GIANTS #1 of 7 by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. The story of a 5th grade girl and her Norse giant-killing war hammer. “Hello kitty!” Gotta look.
JOKER’S ASYLUM: PENGUIN by Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson. This is written by Jason Aaron, therefore all must read it.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. This and ASTRO CITY are the last two projects with which Alex Ross is even tangentally associated that don’t make me want to break things and give up comics.
KYLE BAKER’S NAT TURNER HC & SC by KB. For all of us who wondered whatever happened to this title. Still recommended because Baker’s a friggin’ genius.
NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE GN by NG and P. Craig Russell. It was text with illustrations. Now it’s the opposite. P. Craig and Neil: ALWAYS a winning combination. Recommended.
SECRET INVASION #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. Skrulls! They kick puppies! They green-lit “The Love Guru!” They rigged the last two elections! Miley Cyrus is a dirty !@#$* Skrull!
ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 of 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Butch Guice. It’s Ultimate Project Pegasus! No lie! And the origin of Ultimate Captain America. No Skrulls. Yet.
WOLFSKIN ANNUAL #1 by Warren Ellis Mike Wolfer and Gianluca Pagliarani. Wolfskin. He’s Conan without the sensitivity. Plot credit to Ellis so it probably contains the requisite Depraved Indifference to Human Life we demand of such things.
www.johnjudy.net
By John Judy
BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 by Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens. Booster meets Peter Platinum, who is a superhero, NOT a star of a certain type of movie! So don’t even go there, pal!
BPRD: THE WARNING #1 of 5 by Matt Wagner, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. Armageddon threatens. Time for the team to punch in.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #0 by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Look what happens when “Heroes” gets shut down by a writers strike! (Not saying this should happen more often…)
CRIMINAL VOL. 3: DEAD AND DYING SC by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Collecting the done-in-one masterpieces we all must have in our glass-covered, climate-controlled bookcases. Highly Recommended.
DEAD SHE SAID #2 by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson. Posthumous noir by horror’s master illustrator. IDW Publishing is doing its best to keep all knowledge of this series to itself. Don’t let them!
FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM #1 by Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke. DC says this is “a very special FINAL CRISIS one-shot” which, given that it’s a tie-in to this year’s huge Summer cross-over series, may be code for “this one doesn’t suck.”
GOON #26 by Eric Powell. “Bill, ya can’t eat a whole bag of cookies and follow it up with a whole chocolate-covered cat! You’ll ruin yer dinner!” Also featuring machine guns and axes. Recommended!
I KILL GIANTS #1 of 7 by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. The story of a 5th grade girl and her Norse giant-killing war hammer. “Hello kitty!” Gotta look.
JOKER’S ASYLUM: PENGUIN by Jason Aaron and Jason Pearson. This is written by Jason Aaron, therefore all must read it.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17 by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross and Dale Eaglesham. This and ASTRO CITY are the last two projects with which Alex Ross is even tangentally associated that don’t make me want to break things and give up comics.
KYLE BAKER’S NAT TURNER HC & SC by KB. For all of us who wondered whatever happened to this title. Still recommended because Baker’s a friggin’ genius.
NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE GN by NG and P. Craig Russell. It was text with illustrations. Now it’s the opposite. P. Craig and Neil: ALWAYS a winning combination. Recommended.
SECRET INVASION #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. Skrulls! They kick puppies! They green-lit “The Love Guru!” They rigged the last two elections! Miley Cyrus is a dirty !@#$* Skrull!
ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 of 5 by Brian Michael Bendis and Butch Guice. It’s Ultimate Project Pegasus! No lie! And the origin of Ultimate Captain America. No Skrulls. Yet.
WOLFSKIN ANNUAL #1 by Warren Ellis Mike Wolfer and Gianluca Pagliarani. Wolfskin. He’s Conan without the sensitivity. Plot credit to Ellis so it probably contains the requisite Depraved Indifference to Human Life we demand of such things.
www.johnjudy.net
These Times demand the Times
5 comics-related pieces this Sunday:
"Michael Turner, 37, Creator of Superheroines, Is Dead," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times July 6, 2008
Rob Esmay, a local artist whose cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker curates an exhibit in a hardware store - "In Williamsburg Store, Customers Find Art Among the Wrenches," By JUSTIN PORTER, New York Times July 6, 2008
Hellboy II's director del Toro's character-design artwork is featured in "Elves and Killer Beanstalks From Director’s Personal ‘Hell’," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times July 6, 2008 with audio commentary at "Dear Diary," New York Times July 6, 2008.
An editorial calls for a bold new direction - "Wall-E for President," By FRANK RICH, New York Times July 6, 2008.
Finally, Rutu Modan is doing the comic strip in the Magazine.
"Michael Turner, 37, Creator of Superheroines, Is Dead," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times July 6, 2008
Rob Esmay, a local artist whose cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker curates an exhibit in a hardware store - "In Williamsburg Store, Customers Find Art Among the Wrenches," By JUSTIN PORTER, New York Times July 6, 2008
Hellboy II's director del Toro's character-design artwork is featured in "Elves and Killer Beanstalks From Director’s Personal ‘Hell’," By DAVE ITZKOFF, New York Times July 6, 2008 with audio commentary at "Dear Diary," New York Times July 6, 2008.
An editorial calls for a bold new direction - "Wall-E for President," By FRANK RICH, New York Times July 6, 2008.
Finally, Rutu Modan is doing the comic strip in the Magazine.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Ed Stein's cartoon journalism
I got an email from Ed Stein's newspaper, which I reproduce below. I was a big fan of Stein's Denver Square strip, and cartoon journalism's been an interest of mine as well. This should be good - it's great to see people experimenting with the artform.
CONTACT:
Ed Stein
101 W. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80218
303-954-5479
stein@rockymountainnews.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Ed Stein, veteran editorial cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, debuts "Long Time Passing," a new graphic blog series to run every Friday from July 4 through the 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 25-28. Told in a unique and engaging first-person narrative, the special series will cover the build-up to the convention and the current political climate in light of Ed's personal experiences at the Chicago convention 1968 and as a seasoned journalist 40 years later.
The first installment, to be pulished tomorrow, July 4, focuses on what democracy, freedom and independence truly means to a cartoonist who has covered national politics and elections since Jimmy Carter was in office.
Ed Stein has served as the editorial cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, since 1978. He graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in fine arts in 1969. Stein recently retired his popular local comic strip, "Denver Square," after 11 years to focus on his editorial cartoons. "Long Time Passing" will run every Friday from Friday, July 4 until August 24 and daily during the convention from August 25 to 28.
This week's installment is attached to this email and can be re-posted with a link to Stein's blog at the Rocky Mountain News website, http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/stein/ . Subsequent editions can be read every Friday on his blog or via RSS here: feed://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/stein/index.xml .
For more information, contact Ed Stein directly.
Book review: Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications
This will appear in the fall's International Journal of Comic Art, but I'll give Rob a plug here as well.
Robert G. Weiner. Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications: An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965-2005. McFarland, 2008. $49.95. ISBN-13: 978-0786425006. www.mcfarlandpub.com or 800-253-2187.
Rob Weiner, a librarian at Texas Tech University, has attempted a Herculean task in this amazingly ambitious annotated bibliography. Marvel’s publishing history runs for over sixty years and, through licensing, covers dozens of publishers. In his preface, he notes, “This volume is intended to be a handbook, not only for the Marvel Comics fan and collector, but also for academic, public, and school librarians, who want to include Marvel graphic novels in their collections. While many of the publications in this work are known to most Marvel collectors, it is my hope that even the most knowledgeable collectors will find something new in it. There are some entries in this volume, which, to my knowledge, describe material not documented anywhere else.”
Weiner lists citations with annotations for all kinds of publications from Marvel. He has attempted to bring some order to the citations by breaking them up into seventeen categories, three of which are appendices, along with two introductory “Background Highlights” sections on the history of both graphic novels and Marvel Comics.
A typical citation, chosen at random (p. 73), reads:
DeFalco, Tom, Pat Olliffe, Al Williamson, et al. Spider-Girl: A Fresh Start. New York: Marvel, 1999. ISBN: 0785107207. Reprints Spider-Girl 1-2.
Peter Parker’s teen-age daughter, May Day, inherits amazing powers from her father. She becomes Spider-Girl, much to her father’s dismay. She defeats Crazy Eight and encounters Dark Devil.
One can see both the strengths and limitations of bibliography here. One is given the basic information about the book, along with a plot summary of the story and who Spider-Girl actually is, except that in standard Marvel continuity, Spider-Man does not have any children. In fact, since 2008, he is not even married – a deal with the devil erased his marriage to save his Aunt May’s life. So one must come to a project like this with a good bit of existing knowledge, namely that Marvel published a series of comic books set in their character’s ‘future’ in which the normal aging not usually permitted fictional characters had taken place.
As mentioned above, Weiner broke up the book into sections. The major category “Marvel’s Superheroes” is divided into sections like “Major Characters, Teams, and Team-Ups” which is then further reduced into subsections like “Conan / Kull” and “Fantastic Four / Dr. Doom and Inhumans.” A sampling of other subsections include “Epic Comics Graphic Novels,” “Marvel/DC Crossovers,” “Movies and Television,” “Prose Novels” and “Scholarly Publications,” the last of which cites several articles from this Journal. The three appendices include single line citations for 2005 publications, game books, and possibly unpublished books for which an ISBN exists.
As with any project of this size and complexity, one can quibble. Weiner’s introduction is too concerned with rationalizing the importance of the study of comic books. Anyone willing to even glance at his bibliography does not need to read an argument which sums up “Epic Stories like Earth X, Kree/Skrull War and Marvels exhibit as much character development, and thought, as any work by Shakespeare, Stephen King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Margaret Mitchell, or Jack London.” (p. 7) By engaging theoretical critics, Weiner gives them both too much credibility and ammunition. His work is a bibliography of an aspect of popular culture, and as such, does not need defense or apology, let alone attempting to reach an intellectual high ground. Any library or scholar interested in studying Marvel Comics, and especially their publishing history, should add this bibliography to their collection.
In today's Times...
Disney on Ice lets the company slide into new markets - "A Solid Surface for Disney Success," By BROOKS BARNES, New York Times July 5, 2008.
On the editorial page, James Stevenson's got another one of his great Lost and Found New York pages - Best Rocks of the Bronx.
On the editorial page, James Stevenson's got another one of his great Lost and Found New York pages - Best Rocks of the Bronx.
Nate Beeler featured in American University's magazine
I found this magazine in the library's sale section today:
Which led to finding this link to American University's alumni magazine for you gentle readers - "Drawn to Washington: Editorial cartoonist for the Washington Examiner, Nate Beeler '02 has a ringside seat for D.C.'s political circus," by Adrienne Frank, American (Spring 2008): 26-27. I don't know why he doesn't tell me about these things - maybe it's the new baby. By the way, the Examiner started running his work in color this past week.
Bought at the same library - three Story magazines, just for R.O. Blechman's covers:
If you haven't read Blechman's graphic novels, such as The Juggler of Our Lady, step away from this website and hunt them up through a used bookseller NOW.
Which led to finding this link to American University's alumni magazine for you gentle readers - "Drawn to Washington: Editorial cartoonist for the Washington Examiner, Nate Beeler '02 has a ringside seat for D.C.'s political circus," by Adrienne Frank, American (Spring 2008): 26-27. I don't know why he doesn't tell me about these things - maybe it's the new baby. By the way, the Examiner started running his work in color this past week.
Bought at the same library - three Story magazines, just for R.O. Blechman's covers:
If you haven't read Blechman's graphic novels, such as The Juggler of Our Lady, step away from this website and hunt them up through a used bookseller NOW.
Comics-related obituaries from the Post
Today the print paper had Michael Turner's obit from the LA Times. Here's a link to it from the Times - "Comic-book artist Michael Turner dies at 37: Turner became known for the highly stylized covers he created for major titles and his depictions of curvaceous female characters," By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, July 4, 2008.
Yesterday we had a Bozo obit which touched on an animated version - "Larry Harmon, 83; Actor Made Bozo the Clown a Household Name," By John Rogers, Associated Press, Friday, July 4, 2008; B07.
And a local obituary for a former NY Herald Tribune cartoonist - "Charles E. Kavenagh, Graphic Artist," - Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Friday, July 4, 2008; Page B08.
Yesterday we had a Bozo obit which touched on an animated version - "Larry Harmon, 83; Actor Made Bozo the Clown a Household Name," By John Rogers, Associated Press, Friday, July 4, 2008; B07.
And a local obituary for a former NY Herald Tribune cartoonist - "Charles E. Kavenagh, Graphic Artist," - Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Friday, July 4, 2008; Page B08.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Washington writer on superheroes for NPR.org
See "Holy Bookworms! Superheroes Take To The Page," by Glen Weldon, NPR.org, July 3, 2008 for a look at fiction and non-fiction prose about superheroes.
Secret History of Comics includes Crumb, courtesy of Warren Bernard
Warren writes in with a modern piece:
I went last month to Stripdagen, the biennial comics show in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Found myself at the booth which does the printing for lithos and prints by Chris Ware and Joost Swarte. While poking around their amazing collection of prints, I struck up a conversation with one of the people running the booth. In the middle of the conversation the guy stops and asks, "Are you a Robert Crumb fan?". After saying yes, he handed me the flyer you now see.
It's for a concert in Paris and I was real lucky to get this. I am sure thousands were printed, but how many will actually make it to America?
So, regardless if it's Crumb or Gluyas Williams for Texaco or Charles Schulz for Metropolitan Life, there is a ton of commercial art by great and famous cartoonists that needs to be revealed by SHOC.
I went last month to Stripdagen, the biennial comics show in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Found myself at the booth which does the printing for lithos and prints by Chris Ware and Joost Swarte. While poking around their amazing collection of prints, I struck up a conversation with one of the people running the booth. In the middle of the conversation the guy stops and asks, "Are you a Robert Crumb fan?". After saying yes, he handed me the flyer you now see.
It's for a concert in Paris and I was real lucky to get this. I am sure thousands were printed, but how many will actually make it to America?
So, regardless if it's Crumb or Gluyas Williams for Texaco or Charles Schulz for Metropolitan Life, there is a ton of commercial art by great and famous cartoonists that needs to be revealed by SHOC.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
In today's papers
Zadzooks reviews Frank Miller's Batman - "Batman becomes too brutal," by Joseph Szadkowski, Washington Times Thursday, July 3, 2008.
Online only, the Express rails against animated bears selling toilet paper - "Tissue Issue: The Charmin Bears Have Got to Go," by Greg Barber, ReadExpress.com July 2, 2008.
Also online only is an interview with Robert Grossman - "Grossman Land," By Steven Heller, New York Times' Campaign Stops blog July 2, 2008.
Online only, the Express rails against animated bears selling toilet paper - "Tissue Issue: The Charmin Bears Have Got to Go," by Greg Barber, ReadExpress.com July 2, 2008.
Also online only is an interview with Robert Grossman - "Grossman Land," By Steven Heller, New York Times' Campaign Stops blog July 2, 2008.
July 27: Babymouse at ALADDIN’S LAMP
MEET AUTHOR JENNIFER HOLM: Sunday, July 27 at 1:30 p.m. Author Jennifer Holm will discuss her graphic novel series about a sassy mouse with attitude to spare ... BABYMOUSE! In addition to the eight Babymouse books, Ms. Holm is the author of the Newbery Honor novels A Penny From Heaven and Our Only May Amelia. The ninth Babymouse book, Monster Mash, will be coming out in August. Grades 2-6. Please call to register.
ALADDIN’S LAMP
Children’s Books & Other Treasures
703-241-8281
aladlamp@speakeasy.org
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center
Lower Level Shops
2499 N. Harrison St, Suite 10, Arlington, VA 22207
STORE HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday & Thursday 10 am to 8 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
ALADDIN’S LAMP
Children’s Books & Other Treasures
703-241-8281
aladlamp@speakeasy.org
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center
Lower Level Shops
2499 N. Harrison St, Suite 10, Arlington, VA 22207
STORE HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Tuesday & Thursday 10 am to 8 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
Payne, Bat-Senator and Wall-E complaint today in the Post
Caricaturist CF Payne has a large drawing of Tiger Woods on the front of a special AT&T National Section in today's paper. It's not online.
To read about the Bat-Senator, see "Leahy's Hat Trick as a Batman Cameo," By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane, Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A15...
...and a Letter writer to the Editor missed an e-bay opportunity:
Why a Movie Has Disney in the Dumps
Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A16
In his review of Pixar's new movie "Wall-E" ["From Pixar, a Droid Piece of Filmmaking," Style, June 27], John Anderson pointed out that the movie's dark messages are making co-producer and distributor Disney nervous.
Should I therefore assume that it was the Walt Disney Co.'s marketing machine that had the great idea to hand out useless, trashy plastic watches (complete with excessive packaging) to every child attending the movie? This movie is about the impact of trashing our planet -- literally.
My family came home from the movie with four of these watches. They are all in the garbage today, heading out to the dump to meet the tons of other silly, free plastic "toys" generated by Disney and distributed every day through McDonald's and Burger King.
If Disney is nervous about the movie, it is because the movie challenges the core of Disney's moneymaking strategy: insatiable consumerism.
ALLISON SCURIATTI
Washington
To read about the Bat-Senator, see "Leahy's Hat Trick as a Batman Cameo," By Mary Ann Akers And Paul Kane, Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A15...
...and a Letter writer to the Editor missed an e-bay opportunity:
Why a Movie Has Disney in the Dumps
Washington Post Thursday, July 3, 2008; Page A16
In his review of Pixar's new movie "Wall-E" ["From Pixar, a Droid Piece of Filmmaking," Style, June 27], John Anderson pointed out that the movie's dark messages are making co-producer and distributor Disney nervous.
Should I therefore assume that it was the Walt Disney Co.'s marketing machine that had the great idea to hand out useless, trashy plastic watches (complete with excessive packaging) to every child attending the movie? This movie is about the impact of trashing our planet -- literally.
My family came home from the movie with four of these watches. They are all in the garbage today, heading out to the dump to meet the tons of other silly, free plastic "toys" generated by Disney and distributed every day through McDonald's and Burger King.
If Disney is nervous about the movie, it is because the movie challenges the core of Disney's moneymaking strategy: insatiable consumerism.
ALLISON SCURIATTI
Washington
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Reviews for three local exhibits
Here are reviews for the fall issue of the International Journal of Comic Art that I just turned in tonight. I'm posting them here first because I usually say that I'll be doing a more complete review, but don't get around to it until the last minute. 2 of these shows are gone, but the Herblock exhibit is still up and well worth seeing.
Scrooged! Arnold Blumberg, Andy Herschberger, and John K. Snyder Jr. Baltimore, MD: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, February 29-May 31, 2008. http://www.geppismuseum.com/
Thanks to the generosity of curator Arnold Blumberg, I saw this exhibit almost a month before it officially opened. All the artwork had been hung, but its final form was different with more labeling and information. Carl Barks was the focus of the exhibit – the title derives from Uncle Scrooge, Barks’ most enduring creation for Disney. The exhibit was rather diffuse, not focusing on any particular aspect of either Scrooge or Barks. It included the complete original artwork for the Scrooge story “North of the Yukon,” oil paintings of the Disney Ducks, oil paintings of landscapes from the 1960s, prints of “Famous Characters In Fictions As Waterfowl,” i.e. Robin Hood as a anthropometric duck, from when Disney was not permitting Barks to paint their ducks, pencil sketches of Disney work, and Another Rainbow objects such as a Faberge egg with Scrooge inside. All the items exhibited are apparently owned by museum founder and Diamond Distributors owner Steve Geppi.
Certainly displaying the entire original “North of the Yukon” artwork is justification enough for a small exhibit on Barks, and I enjoyed this show even though it did not really hold together. See Barks’ small landscapes which were obviously done for his own pleasure, scenes as so many cartoonists do in their retirement, was satisfying. Seeing him draw rather sexy dancing female ducks was odd, but interesting. Blumberg said to me, “I found it most fascinating looking at the paintings. There’s something really luminescent in the way the characters leap off the painting. It’s so much more than a casual viewer expects from a cartoonist.” Blumberg may be selling many cartoonists a bit short, but there is a peculiar fascination in seeing Donald Duck rendered using Old Master techniques, and the exhibit was worth visiting to see examples of Barks’ art beyond the pages of the comic book.
The museum’s current exhibit is “Out of the Box” – a playroom for the type of toys that will eventually make it into the Museum.
Heroes of the Negro League. Mark Chiarello, Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale. Reston, VA: ArtInsights, March 29-May 30, 2008. http://www.artinsights.com/
This exhibit is reviewed by virtue of Chiarello’s position as art editor for DC Comics. In 1990, Chiarello, in collaboration with his best friend Jack Morelli, created baseball cards for forgotten baseball players from the Negro Leagues, who had never had cards in America before. These paintings were watercolors over pencil that were based on photographs. The exhibit came about as the paintings were collected in a book, Heroes of the Negro Leagues (Abrams, 2007; $19.95, ISBN-10: 0810994348). Chiarello and Morelli did research at Cooperstown and the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and Chiarello painted the images from photographs and, surprisingly baseball cards – which had been issued in Cuba and Venezuela for some of the players.
Gallery co-owner Leslie Combemale interviewed Chiarello for a March 10th press release that is no longer on the gallery’s website. An exchange on Chiarello’s techniques is worthy of reprinting here:
LC- The Negro Leagues players portraits have a depth that goes beyond just (an image) How do you find the perfect picture to use?
MM- I can look through 200 or more pictures and only one is just right. With my portraits, I try to let the viewer know who that person is, just by looking in their eyes. I think the Cool Papa Bell is the most successful at that...it's why I chose it for the cover. I know the moment I find the right picture for reference, and I'll keep looking as long as it takes...
LC- Once you find that picture, how do you proceed from there?
MC- I pencil it out as tightly as I can. It’s my roadmap, so there's not much guesswork. After that I just try to get out of the way.
LC- I see your two styles of painting as so different from each other. One being the watercolor you used for the Negro League illustrations and the other the style you paint in oil, used for the Star Wars Celebration "Enlist Now" propaganda limited edition. I think of watercolors as unforgiving, hard to do, and hard to control.
MC- A lot of people say that and I disagree. Maybe it can't be controlled, but that's what's so great about it. After I pencil the image in, painting in watercolor is all about feel, control is beside the point. Your brain has to stay out of it and you have to stay out of the way of the paint. It becomes itself.
LC- What do you mean by that?
MC- For me it becomes about the emotional connection between the artist, the subject, and the wetness of the paint. The watercolor helps you-
LC- If you know what you're doing...
MC- Watercolor is in the moment. It flows into weird shapes and if you corral these shapes, they form the person's face. But you'll never see it if you have expectations or try to control the outcome too much from the beginning. With watercolor, once you have the roadmap a drawing creates, you've done most the work. After that you just have to enjoy the ride...Really my two styles are diametrically opposed. When I paint in oil it's very cerebral, I have to map the entire piece out from start to finish. It’s very precise work. Watercolor is all about flow.
Chiarello was also featured in the April issue of Juxtapose magazine for anyone who would like more details on this project; the paintings were technically excellent and appealing and the exhibit was worth seeing.
The gallery, which sells artwork (including the Negro League paintings) had other items of interest to IJOCA readers. There was an original story book artwork page from Snow White as well as an original movie cel with a background. Other cels from Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Aristocats, Fantasia and Peanuts lined the walls. Combemale told me that for fourteen years the focus of the gallery had been on animation, but recently they were widening their scope. "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color," their next exhibit, opens on July 12th.
Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity’. Sidney Hart. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, May 2-November 30, 2008.
Herbert ‘Herblock’ Block died in 2001, but his images linger on in Washington, at least partly because his estate donated over 10,000 of his cartoons to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they be displayed regularly. Curator Sidney Hart, a historian by trade, undertook the current exhibition and did a very credible job. Hart made two key decisions to define the show – it would be on presidents and the cartoon had to be negative. Hoover was not included because he “didn’t fit the theme of our show.” The two decisions had three points backing them up – 1.) Herblock’s presidential cartoons were among his most powerful, 2.) a negative cartoon was a more constructive force and, 3.) the exhibit went into the Presidential Gallery space.
The show was arranged by president beginning with Roosevelt. Herblock’s line was visibly smoother and he used the texture of the paper for shading. On the gallery tour, Hart pointed out some of his favorite cartoons. In one on McArthur and Truman, Truman is on a treadmill that McArthur is pulling in a different direction. For Eisenhower, Herblock drew him in a boat, blowing on a paper sale, while not running the motor on the boat. Another Eisenhower cartoon featured Herblock’s hated foe, Senator McCarthy, who is shown mugging the State Department and the Army, while Eisenhower is told, “Relax – he hasn’t gotten to you yet.” Hart noted the curious omission of no Kennedy cartoon for the Bay of Pigs; the JFK cartoons were usually positive so it was harder to find ones for the exhibit. Herblock’s best cartoon of Lyndon Johnson, from January 6, 1967 read “That’s a little better, but couldn’t you do it in luminous paint.” It showed Johnson looking at a painting of himself and referred to his official White House portrait -- which showed a heroic Johnson, but since LBJ did not like it, it rests in the next gallery over in the Portrait Gallery. Herblock’s Nixon cartoons were among his most famous – the exhibit included ones of Vice President Spiro Agnew in a sewer and the Saturday Night Massacre when Justice Department investigators of the Watergate break-in were fired on Nixon’s orders.
The Ford cartoon that Hart focused on showed both the President and the economy going to hell in a hand basket. Reflecting Block’s fondness for Alice in Wonderland, Jimmy Carter was depicted as the Cheshire Cat. One of the Carter cartoons showed an amazing detail from Block’s working methods – the paste-up corrections were done on mailing labels! Reagan and Nixon got the most cartoons with five each. Reagan was the president that Block disliked the most and his cartoons showed it. Clinton disappointed Herblock and his cartoons frequently showed Clinton with mud from scandals on him.
There was one major flaw in this exhibit for viewers. Some cartoons were matted badly and had their titles covered, or had no titles on them. The June 28, 1990 cartoon of George H.W. Bush crossing a bridge labeled “no new taxes” makes little sense without its caption “Anyhow, it got us across.” Frequently the individual cartoon labels, while full of historical information, were no where near the piece they were describing.
Also on display were Block’s Pulitzer Prize from 1941, a Reuben Award from 1956 and his Presidential Medal of Freedom from 1994 as well as some of his art supplies. A kiosk in the corner had hundreds more cartoons on it. The exhibit had only forty cartoons in it, but they were well selected. The exhibit was of the artwork, not necessarily the content, and seeing the cartoons on a screen detracted from the ideal of the museum in this reviewer’s opinion. As a museum curator myself, I would have stuck the kiosk in the exhibit as well since one always feels that more information is better, but it was not really needed in the show. I believe it became technically possible this year as the Herblock Foundation is planning on issuing a book with an accompanying DVD of 16,000 cartoons for Block’s 100th birthday next year.
Herblock: Drawn from Memory was an accompanying program by Hart who moderated with Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post reporter Haynes Johnson, Washington Post editorial writer Roger Wilkins and Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth. The three men mainly talked about Herblock’s mid-career at the Post, especially the Nixon and Johnson years. Block’s internationalist, and thus interventionalist, approach to foreign policy and the display of this in his cartoons was a particularly interesting part of the evening. Auth also made an extremely interesting observation. While Block was a good enough caricaturist to avoid labeling everyone, he still used labels on characters regularly. Auth said, “I was struck going through the exhibit here today – I always thought of cartoons as having kind of a half-life. They being to lose their power – and sometimes it’s a very long half-life and sometimes it’s eternal because it’s beyond the moment – but many cartoons have a relatively short half-life. I realized his use of labels extends that so that coming to a cartoon of his that was done forty years ago, you really can figure out what it’s about whereas a lot of cartoonists expend a lot of energy trying to get away from labels and they end up with cartoons that maybe a week, or two weeks later, you can’t figure out because you don’t know exactly what stimulated this drawing.” For those interested in the program, a recording of it can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/Herblock-drawnFromMemory
Overall Hart did an excellent job boiling down a massive amount of material to a coherent exhibit which, while not large, was well-done and informative.
Scrooged! Arnold Blumberg, Andy Herschberger, and John K. Snyder Jr. Baltimore, MD: Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, February 29-May 31, 2008. http://www.geppismuseum.com/
Thanks to the generosity of curator Arnold Blumberg, I saw this exhibit almost a month before it officially opened. All the artwork had been hung, but its final form was different with more labeling and information. Carl Barks was the focus of the exhibit – the title derives from Uncle Scrooge, Barks’ most enduring creation for Disney. The exhibit was rather diffuse, not focusing on any particular aspect of either Scrooge or Barks. It included the complete original artwork for the Scrooge story “North of the Yukon,” oil paintings of the Disney Ducks, oil paintings of landscapes from the 1960s, prints of “Famous Characters In Fictions As Waterfowl,” i.e. Robin Hood as a anthropometric duck, from when Disney was not permitting Barks to paint their ducks, pencil sketches of Disney work, and Another Rainbow objects such as a Faberge egg with Scrooge inside. All the items exhibited are apparently owned by museum founder and Diamond Distributors owner Steve Geppi.
Certainly displaying the entire original “North of the Yukon” artwork is justification enough for a small exhibit on Barks, and I enjoyed this show even though it did not really hold together. See Barks’ small landscapes which were obviously done for his own pleasure, scenes as so many cartoonists do in their retirement, was satisfying. Seeing him draw rather sexy dancing female ducks was odd, but interesting. Blumberg said to me, “I found it most fascinating looking at the paintings. There’s something really luminescent in the way the characters leap off the painting. It’s so much more than a casual viewer expects from a cartoonist.” Blumberg may be selling many cartoonists a bit short, but there is a peculiar fascination in seeing Donald Duck rendered using Old Master techniques, and the exhibit was worth visiting to see examples of Barks’ art beyond the pages of the comic book.
The museum’s current exhibit is “Out of the Box” – a playroom for the type of toys that will eventually make it into the Museum.
Heroes of the Negro League. Mark Chiarello, Michael Barry and Leslie Combemale. Reston, VA: ArtInsights, March 29-May 30, 2008. http://www.artinsights.com/
This exhibit is reviewed by virtue of Chiarello’s position as art editor for DC Comics. In 1990, Chiarello, in collaboration with his best friend Jack Morelli, created baseball cards for forgotten baseball players from the Negro Leagues, who had never had cards in America before. These paintings were watercolors over pencil that were based on photographs. The exhibit came about as the paintings were collected in a book, Heroes of the Negro Leagues (Abrams, 2007; $19.95, ISBN-10: 0810994348). Chiarello and Morelli did research at Cooperstown and the Schomburg Center in Harlem, and Chiarello painted the images from photographs and, surprisingly baseball cards – which had been issued in Cuba and Venezuela for some of the players.
Gallery co-owner Leslie Combemale interviewed Chiarello for a March 10th press release that is no longer on the gallery’s website. An exchange on Chiarello’s techniques is worthy of reprinting here:
LC- The Negro Leagues players portraits have a depth that goes beyond just (an image) How do you find the perfect picture to use?
MM- I can look through 200 or more pictures and only one is just right. With my portraits, I try to let the viewer know who that person is, just by looking in their eyes. I think the Cool Papa Bell is the most successful at that...it's why I chose it for the cover. I know the moment I find the right picture for reference, and I'll keep looking as long as it takes...
LC- Once you find that picture, how do you proceed from there?
MC- I pencil it out as tightly as I can. It’s my roadmap, so there's not much guesswork. After that I just try to get out of the way.
LC- I see your two styles of painting as so different from each other. One being the watercolor you used for the Negro League illustrations and the other the style you paint in oil, used for the Star Wars Celebration "Enlist Now" propaganda limited edition. I think of watercolors as unforgiving, hard to do, and hard to control.
MC- A lot of people say that and I disagree. Maybe it can't be controlled, but that's what's so great about it. After I pencil the image in, painting in watercolor is all about feel, control is beside the point. Your brain has to stay out of it and you have to stay out of the way of the paint. It becomes itself.
LC- What do you mean by that?
MC- For me it becomes about the emotional connection between the artist, the subject, and the wetness of the paint. The watercolor helps you-
LC- If you know what you're doing...
MC- Watercolor is in the moment. It flows into weird shapes and if you corral these shapes, they form the person's face. But you'll never see it if you have expectations or try to control the outcome too much from the beginning. With watercolor, once you have the roadmap a drawing creates, you've done most the work. After that you just have to enjoy the ride...Really my two styles are diametrically opposed. When I paint in oil it's very cerebral, I have to map the entire piece out from start to finish. It’s very precise work. Watercolor is all about flow.
Chiarello was also featured in the April issue of Juxtapose magazine for anyone who would like more details on this project; the paintings were technically excellent and appealing and the exhibit was worth seeing.
The gallery, which sells artwork (including the Negro League paintings) had other items of interest to IJOCA readers. There was an original story book artwork page from Snow White as well as an original movie cel with a background. Other cels from Lady and the Tramp, The Fox and the Hound, Aristocats, Fantasia and Peanuts lined the walls. Combemale told me that for fourteen years the focus of the gallery had been on animation, but recently they were widening their scope. "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color," their next exhibit, opens on July 12th.
Herblock’s Presidents: ‘Puncturing Pomposity’. Sidney Hart. Washington, DC: National Portrait Gallery, May 2-November 30, 2008.
Herbert ‘Herblock’ Block died in 2001, but his images linger on in Washington, at least partly because his estate donated over 10,000 of his cartoons to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they be displayed regularly. Curator Sidney Hart, a historian by trade, undertook the current exhibition and did a very credible job. Hart made two key decisions to define the show – it would be on presidents and the cartoon had to be negative. Hoover was not included because he “didn’t fit the theme of our show.” The two decisions had three points backing them up – 1.) Herblock’s presidential cartoons were among his most powerful, 2.) a negative cartoon was a more constructive force and, 3.) the exhibit went into the Presidential Gallery space.
The show was arranged by president beginning with Roosevelt. Herblock’s line was visibly smoother and he used the texture of the paper for shading. On the gallery tour, Hart pointed out some of his favorite cartoons. In one on McArthur and Truman, Truman is on a treadmill that McArthur is pulling in a different direction. For Eisenhower, Herblock drew him in a boat, blowing on a paper sale, while not running the motor on the boat. Another Eisenhower cartoon featured Herblock’s hated foe, Senator McCarthy, who is shown mugging the State Department and the Army, while Eisenhower is told, “Relax – he hasn’t gotten to you yet.” Hart noted the curious omission of no Kennedy cartoon for the Bay of Pigs; the JFK cartoons were usually positive so it was harder to find ones for the exhibit. Herblock’s best cartoon of Lyndon Johnson, from January 6, 1967 read “That’s a little better, but couldn’t you do it in luminous paint.” It showed Johnson looking at a painting of himself and referred to his official White House portrait -- which showed a heroic Johnson, but since LBJ did not like it, it rests in the next gallery over in the Portrait Gallery. Herblock’s Nixon cartoons were among his most famous – the exhibit included ones of Vice President Spiro Agnew in a sewer and the Saturday Night Massacre when Justice Department investigators of the Watergate break-in were fired on Nixon’s orders.
The Ford cartoon that Hart focused on showed both the President and the economy going to hell in a hand basket. Reflecting Block’s fondness for Alice in Wonderland, Jimmy Carter was depicted as the Cheshire Cat. One of the Carter cartoons showed an amazing detail from Block’s working methods – the paste-up corrections were done on mailing labels! Reagan and Nixon got the most cartoons with five each. Reagan was the president that Block disliked the most and his cartoons showed it. Clinton disappointed Herblock and his cartoons frequently showed Clinton with mud from scandals on him.
There was one major flaw in this exhibit for viewers. Some cartoons were matted badly and had their titles covered, or had no titles on them. The June 28, 1990 cartoon of George H.W. Bush crossing a bridge labeled “no new taxes” makes little sense without its caption “Anyhow, it got us across.” Frequently the individual cartoon labels, while full of historical information, were no where near the piece they were describing.
Also on display were Block’s Pulitzer Prize from 1941, a Reuben Award from 1956 and his Presidential Medal of Freedom from 1994 as well as some of his art supplies. A kiosk in the corner had hundreds more cartoons on it. The exhibit had only forty cartoons in it, but they were well selected. The exhibit was of the artwork, not necessarily the content, and seeing the cartoons on a screen detracted from the ideal of the museum in this reviewer’s opinion. As a museum curator myself, I would have stuck the kiosk in the exhibit as well since one always feels that more information is better, but it was not really needed in the show. I believe it became technically possible this year as the Herblock Foundation is planning on issuing a book with an accompanying DVD of 16,000 cartoons for Block’s 100th birthday next year.
Herblock: Drawn from Memory was an accompanying program by Hart who moderated with Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post reporter Haynes Johnson, Washington Post editorial writer Roger Wilkins and Pulitzer prize-winning cartoonist Tony Auth. The three men mainly talked about Herblock’s mid-career at the Post, especially the Nixon and Johnson years. Block’s internationalist, and thus interventionalist, approach to foreign policy and the display of this in his cartoons was a particularly interesting part of the evening. Auth also made an extremely interesting observation. While Block was a good enough caricaturist to avoid labeling everyone, he still used labels on characters regularly. Auth said, “I was struck going through the exhibit here today – I always thought of cartoons as having kind of a half-life. They being to lose their power – and sometimes it’s a very long half-life and sometimes it’s eternal because it’s beyond the moment – but many cartoons have a relatively short half-life. I realized his use of labels extends that so that coming to a cartoon of his that was done forty years ago, you really can figure out what it’s about whereas a lot of cartoonists expend a lot of energy trying to get away from labels and they end up with cartoons that maybe a week, or two weeks later, you can’t figure out because you don’t know exactly what stimulated this drawing.” For those interested in the program, a recording of it can be found at http://www.archive.org/details/Herblock-drawnFromMemory
Overall Hart did an excellent job boiling down a massive amount of material to a coherent exhibit which, while not large, was well-done and informative.
July 12: "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color" at ArtInsights gallery in Reston
Co-owner Leslie Combemale posted on their website:
Also, we have Disney interpretive and 2006 official olympic poster artist Tim Rogerson coming to the opening weekend of his show "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color". Not sure honestly how many originals we'll be getting for the show as he just had a baby, but what we are getting is wonderful, and there'll be color concepts for his newest works which my clients get first dibs on, and the originals they are sending are really cool! He has a website of his Disney and non-Disney art, www.timrogerson.com. Let us know if you are interested in some of the art you see, and remember you can commission him when he's here!
The show starts on July 12th, and he'll be here 2-6 pm, along with Merrie Lasky, who has worked for Disney for many years and is now with Collectors Editions, who represents all Disney interpretive art. She will not only be helping out with orders for Tim, but will be onhand to explain the new Disney Fine Art Glass we just started carrying, that is gorgeous and very intricately designed and created.
Also, we have Disney interpretive and 2006 official olympic poster artist Tim Rogerson coming to the opening weekend of his show "Tim Rogerson's World of Disney Color". Not sure honestly how many originals we'll be getting for the show as he just had a baby, but what we are getting is wonderful, and there'll be color concepts for his newest works which my clients get first dibs on, and the originals they are sending are really cool! He has a website of his Disney and non-Disney art, www.timrogerson.com. Let us know if you are interested in some of the art you see, and remember you can commission him when he's here!
The show starts on July 12th, and he'll be here 2-6 pm, along with Merrie Lasky, who has worked for Disney for many years and is now with Collectors Editions, who represents all Disney interpretive art. She will not only be helping out with orders for Tim, but will be onhand to explain the new Disney Fine Art Glass we just started carrying, that is gorgeous and very intricately designed and created.
Hancock reviews in today's papers
Both the Post and the NY Times gave so-so reviews to it.
"Man of Bent Steel: 'Hancock' Runs Into a Kryptonite Plot Twist and Loses Its Superpowers," By Stephen Hunter, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, July 2, 2008; C01.
"Able to Leap Tall Buildings, Even if Hung Over," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times July 2, 2008.
I'm going out on a limb here and guess the twist that's referred to in both reviews:
Hunter: ...and then the movie takes the strangest turn in quite possibly movie history, which I will not disclose. It's as if the screenwriters were working in their bungalow one day, stuck on a plot point, and one said to the other, "What if --" and the other said, "No way," and the first said, "Okay, genius, you come up with something better!" and genius never did.
Dargis: The extent of that complexity doesn’t emerge until the big reveal, which involves Ms. Theron’s character and is so surprising that I heard several grown men loudly gasp. (“No way!”)
My guess, without anything beyond those two sentences, is that Theron's character is actually a superhero, just one who does things right and keeps a secret identity secret. Feel free to write in and let me know if I got it.
"Man of Bent Steel: 'Hancock' Runs Into a Kryptonite Plot Twist and Loses Its Superpowers," By Stephen Hunter, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, July 2, 2008; C01.
"Able to Leap Tall Buildings, Even if Hung Over," By MANOHLA DARGIS, New York Times July 2, 2008.
I'm going out on a limb here and guess the twist that's referred to in both reviews:
Hunter: ...and then the movie takes the strangest turn in quite possibly movie history, which I will not disclose. It's as if the screenwriters were working in their bungalow one day, stuck on a plot point, and one said to the other, "What if --" and the other said, "No way," and the first said, "Okay, genius, you come up with something better!" and genius never did.
Dargis: The extent of that complexity doesn’t emerge until the big reveal, which involves Ms. Theron’s character and is so surprising that I heard several grown men loudly gasp. (“No way!”)
My guess, without anything beyond those two sentences, is that Theron's character is actually a superhero, just one who does things right and keeps a secret identity secret. Feel free to write in and let me know if I got it.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Kal is back, back, back in the USA
He reports on his trip on his blog at "Kal talks Cartoons in Azerbaijan" from June 29 2008.
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