By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 10/9/2015
The September sales slowdown that many have predicted based on DC and Marvel glitches was revealed in Diamond’s figures released earlier today. While the gap between Marvel and DC narrowed, Image had a strong month with 11% of the dollars and 12% of the units. The lack of Secret Wars and late shipping seems to have hurt Marvel, but […]
By: Kirsty,
on 12/12/2011
According to the tradition accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, a fifty-five-year old Native American who had converted to Christianity was moving down Tepeyac Hill to a church in Mexico City to attend mass. Suddenly, he beheld a vision of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ and an iconic figure in the Catholic Church. She instructed him to tell the local bishop to build a shrine to her on the spot. The Native American, Juan Diego, hurried to the bishop to relate the story. The bishop was intrigued but unconvinced; he needed proof, he said. Three days after the first encounter, on December 12, 1531, Diego saw the vision again. Asking for a sign, Mary told him to gather roses and carry them in his cloak to the bishop. When Diego opened his cloak and the roses fell out, the image of the Virgin Mary was embedded in the fabric of the inside of the cloak. A shrine was built on the site, and later a basilica.
The account is not universally accepted. The bishop identified in the story did not reach office until three years after the visitation was said to take place, and his papers say nothing of the event nor of Juan Diego. Indeed, documentary evidence about the visitation comes from more than a century later. Nevertheless, since the 1550s, the site has been home to a shrine—one of many dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe across Mexico. The Virgin of Guadalupe was named the patron saint of Mexico and recently was named the patroness of all the Americas. She has long been a national symbol for Mexicans. Today, the basilica in Tepeyac Hill contains a cloth said to be the original cloak—and is a much-visited pilgrimage destination.
“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
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Virgin Books will be rocking out with a new biography of Led Zeppelin lead guitarist Jimmy Page after acquiring the title in a joint deal with Crown Publishers in the US.
Publishing director Ed Faulkner bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Linda Kaplan at Crown Publishers in New York to Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page.
Written by editor-in-chief of Guitar World magazine, Brad Tolinski, its draws on more than 50 hours of conversation with Page.
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By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 4/13/2010
Last week I returned to the Museum of Jewish Heritage for the 2010 PSFK New York Conference. This time around the format was tweaked to a model similar to the TED talks with short presentations riffing on applying the overarching prompt of "Good... Read the rest of this post
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 8/31/2009
Barbie goes viral (with the premiere of a music video on YouTube to support the upcoming launch of Mattel's new Barbie Fashionistas doll line. Plus KidRobot promotes its designer toys with QR codes ) (Examiner) (MediaPost, reg. required)
- Disney... Read the rest of this post
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/31/2009
If this is dumb, I don’t want to be smart.
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 6/16/2009
Calvin Klein shocks again (with a recent billboard ad featuring teens engaging in a group makeout session. Plus, a surprisingly edgy viral ad from Tampax) (AP) (Ad Age, reg. required)
- Unithrive (an online network for Harvard alumni to sponsor... Read the rest of this post
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/26/2008
The Hollywood Reporter has more on the launch of Liquid Comics, formed when Virgin Comics’ Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman bought out the assets of the company. As previously expected, Liquid will continue to develop digital content, films, animation and gaming projects based on its original characters and stories. Director Shekhar Kapur will have a changed role, however.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kapur said he will no longer be associated with the company, except as a minority shareholder. “The company is in the process of being restructured, and I continue as a founder-shareholder,” he said.
Liquid’s management plans to proceed with a number of projects previously announced by Virgin and said it soon would announce project launch dates.
But it was not clear whether Virgin-associated talent such as actor Nicolas Cage, porn actress and entrepreneur Jenna Jameson and U.K. musician Dave Stewart would work with Liquid.
Ongoing projects include “Virulents,” a feature based on a Virgin graphic novel to be directed by John Moore (”Behind Enemy Lines”).
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/24/2008
Virgin Comics is no more…but Liquid has risen in its place. Virgin’s management team has completed a buyout of Virgin’s assets that they have renamed Liquid Comics. The new entity will have an emphasis on digital content. Developing.
Liquid Comics has completed the management buyout of Virgin Comics led by the founding management team of Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman. Liquid Comics will continue to develop innovative digital, film, animation, and gaming projects for its original character, stories and other properties.
Commenting on the change, Sharad Devarajan said, “Virgin Group has been a fantastic partner with whom to work and together we have established a strong foundation of great character properties and media partnerships.
We remain fully committed to continuing our mission to provide a home for innovative creators and storytellers across the world.”
Virgin Group senior vice president of corporate development Dan Porter added, “The management team has a track record of great relationships with artists and media partners. Under this new ownership structure, the company is well positioned for future growth in the rapidly changing global comic space. As Virgin Group focuses on its core activities in North America, we wish them well in building their exciting business.”
Founded in 2005, Virgin Comics is a character entertainment company that has forged partnerships with Warner Brothers, New Regency, Sony Online Entertainment, Sci Fi Channel, Studio 18, UTV and others. Under the new Liquid Comics name, the management team plans to proceed with a number of the projects previously announced as Virgin Comics and will make announcements shortly regarding those projects and the restructured launch dates.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/27/2008
Looking at my calendar for today was a single item, planned about a month ago:
12:00 — Lunch with Virgin Comics
The meeting had already been postponed once — it was a planned confab between Publishers Weekly’s team with Virgin’s people to talk about upcoming projects and how we could “work together.” Pretty standard stuff in the publishing biz, but a lunch that was never to be.
Last month, at one of San Diego’s numerous parties I ran into a colleague from back in the day, a veteran of many companies and many booms and busts. We were talking about the problems at Tokyopop and Platinum, and the question came up of what company would be next. I have to admit, when asked I was stumped. Virgin flashed briefly through my mind, but things like the looming lunch hoodwinked me into thinking that systems at Virgin were go. I never really had any reason to think they were “go,” but Virgin didn’t really do anything that showed they even considered panicking, or shoring up or cutting back…or ANYTHING business related, really. Putting out books by celebrities — with an occasional, half-hearted marketing push — seemed to be the sum extent of Virgin’s business plan.
But apparently, the handwriting had been on the wall, as an official statement released yesterday showed:
Virgin Comics announced today that it will be reorganizing its operations and closing its New York office to consolidate in an LA base.
The Company is currently working with management to restructure the business and will release its future plans in the next few weeks.
Sharad Devarajan, CEO, said, “We remain excited about the business and partnerships we have built through Virgin Comics and are working towards a restructuring that properly takes the business forward. The decision to scale down the New York operations and concentrate on core activities is due to the current macro-economic downturn and is in no way a reflection on the dedicated and valuable employees we have had the privilege to work with.”
I’ll return to this in a bit, but to me, anyway, the blazingly obvious thing about Virgin’s publishing failure — and the concurrent problems at Tokyopop and Platinum — is that starting a comic book company just to get movie options is a business plan THAT DOES NOT WORK. Or as a a financial analyst told PWCW, “movie and video game deals are typically seen as one-time windfalls, not a bankable business strategy.”
Oh, it may work for the folks at the top — I doubt Scott Rosenberg or Stuart Levy is in any danger of losing their homes over the failures of their own business plans. And perhaps that is all that matters. But anyone who hopes to make an ongoing business out of optioning comics plots to Hollywood without actually publishing comics that people want to read, will be in for some disappointment. (Ironically, Tokyopop actually did publish lots of comics that people wanted to read–but they haven’t been able to sell Hollywood on any of these ideas.) Everyone who has tried it has failed — from Tekno to late-period CrossGen on. And there’s no evidence to show it’s going to start working soon — Radical, I’m looking at you.
The other day I joked that Oni was an “IP farm” which drew a nice letter from Oni President Joe Nozemack. Joe knew I was joking, but said ” …we just want to make sure that people realize it’s about the comics first for us. There are going to be a number of announcements in the next few months and we just want to make sure that people realize it’s about the comics first for us. We left past representation and partners because they wanted us to change things in the comic to make them easier to sell and we just don’t feel that is the right way to do it.” Indeed, while Oni and IDW have been seen as getting in on the “Movie Option” bandwagon, they are living examples of what Frank Miller preached at the Eisners: “If it doesn’t make a good comic book, it won’t make a good movie.” Compare The Last Call or Wormwood or Maintenance to any randomly selected Virgin book and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Then there’s Boom!, the last company standing from the Class of ‘05, and a company that has managed to keep tilling the fields at the “comics-to-movies” plantation. Now, I remain as skeptical as anyone that Boom’s pamphlet publishing program is a massively profitable one, but they’ve also managed to put out comics that are modestly entertaining on their own terms and no one seems to think they are rip-off artists. IN fact they’ve managed to inspire more ire from comics shops for unorthodox marketing methods than any other faction.
As for Virgin’s specific story, they were never the object of widespread hate and gossip the way other companies I’ve mentioned here. I think everyone just knew that they were going to run out of development money some day and it would all fold up. By every account I’ve heard, they treated freelancers decently — I wouldn’t expect any different from the extremely professional and smart editors who worked there, like Mackenzie Cadenhead. I interviewed the top guys, Sharad Devarajan and Gotham Chopra a few times, and while they had something of the salesman about them, it was also clear that their enthusiasm for comics was real, as was, I think — and maybe I’m just being naive — their hope that they could create popular characters for the Indian subcontinent. I don’t think they ever had any doubt that Richard Branson hadn’t written them a blank check, however, and I don’t think they ever really thought that they’d be buried next to Michael Silberkleit, either.
In many ways Virgin was just another example of Underpants Gnome thinking. You know the drill:
1: Collect underpants; Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit!
Step 2 was never more than an ephemeral notion of wistful hopes. I’m sure that Nicolas Cage was actually quite happy to find someone to publish his comic book idea — Cage is a lifelong comics nerd, and certainly as welcome as any LCN to try to break into the big leagues of comics. But take it from a former editor for a few major companies — everyone who walked into my office, whether an escapee from jail or a celebrity, had an idea for a comic book (and a movie and a TV show and probably a novel). And most of them sucked. I certainly wouldn’t base a business plan around these sorts of ideas.
Virgin’s comics with a few exceptions were faceless and vague. The production values were high, but the concepts were generally not ones that any one could latch on to. The lack of outcry among online readers over the end of the company’s major publishing plans has been chilling. (A Millarworld thread quickly turns into a discussion of Space Ghost.)
When TP and Platinum ran into troubles, my inbox was filled with people who couldn’t wait to spill their stories. Virgin has been mostly absent of such stories (but see below) and most people are just chalking it up to experience. Contacted for his comments, former freelance editor Stuart Moore had nothing but nice things to say. “I had a blast working with those people, and I’m square with them. Everyone there was both really nice and had a passion for the work and the art form; I look forward to working with them again, wherever they may pop up.”
Mark Frangos was one of several marketing people I dealt with over the life of Virgin — Michelle Gomes was the other — and both were as nice and helpful as could be. Mark sent us the following requiem:
I was the first employee hired by Virgin Comics in New York City. I saw great promise in this company that was staffed by people who loved comics and backed by a huge company like Virgin. I was excited when I heard that big names like John Woo, Nicholas Cage and Guy Ritchie would be working with us. It was a great experience working there and I met some great people.
Many comic book publishers have failed for a variety of reasons. It’s a tough business to be successful in, especially when you think you can compete with Marvel and DC (which is impossible for any new publisher). When John Woo’s Seven Brothers #1 was released, I was ecstatic to hear we sold more than 15,000 copies, placing us in the top 125 comics that month. It was the highest selling book starring original characters. At Virgin though, this was considered a letdown. They were reaching for the top.
Some of the things Virgin Comics did made them pioneers. The problem with pioneers is they tend to get shot. I learned a lot working for Virgin Comics. I wish everyone that I worked with the very best, especially the marketing and editorial departments and my mentor and friend, Larry Lieberman.
Virgin Comics failed, ultimately, because it viewed comics as a means to an end and afforded them the same respect that implies. And when I say Virgin Comics, I mean the people at the top—the people who developed the business model, not the incredibly hard-working employees, editors, studio artists, and creators who gave their all to produce the best work they could within the rather significant limitations of the company.
Although there were certainly people at Virgin who cared about they were doing, the vast majority of hires had absolutely no experience with the comic book industry, which put the company behind the eight ball from day one. Worse, this ignorance extended to the very top of the company. Rather than looking at models of successful publishers within comics, Virgin modeled itself as a mass-media entertainment company – perhaps unsurprising, given CMO Larry Lieberman’s background in television.
The problem is that you can’t behave like a comic book-based mass-media entertainment company unless you have properties capable of transferring to mass media. While a company like Marvel has an entire stable of characters with decades of history to license, Virgin had none of its own, and behaved as though it could create them own from scratch with the specific intent of licensing them and achieve the same kind of success.
There was a particular obsession with Dynamite, another fairly new company that was experiencing better sales. Despite the fact that this was almost entirely due to their reliance on licensed properties like Battlestar Galactica et al, I was constantly asked how we could duplicate their success with original Virgin properties. The CMO once brought up the reader response to Dynamite’s Lone Ranger saying, “If they want some guy in the desert wearing a hat, we can make a comic about a guy in the desert wearing a hat.”
He subsequently drew a picture for me to explain our business model wherein Dynamite and Virgin Comics were both rocket ships, and the Virgin rocketship soared ahead of the Dynamite rocket. The parabolic arcs of both rockets ended with them crashing into the ground, though the implications of that escaped him. Sequential art wasn’t really his strong suit. (I still have this picture, btw)
Comics wasn’t considered an art by management—it was a property machine. There was an expectation that by plugging certain variables – like creators, or worse, celebrities – into the equation, that direct market sales should follow in predictable ways. More than once, I was called into marketing meetings where my boss demanded that I explain why Garth Ennis’ 7 Brothers wasn’t selling commensurate with Preacher, or why Mike Carey’s Voodoo Child wasn’t selling like Hellblazer.
I have plenty of personal problems with the way the company was run, mostly revolving around the fact that in one instance the entertainment industry model also extended to the worst caricatures of the verbally abusive executive, but my biggest issue with Virgin – and Virgin’s biggest issue in general — was the disdain for the medium and the fanbase inherent in the way its executives ran it. And ultimately, ran it into the ground.
So there you go. Virgin’s clear plan of company ownership from the gitgo and use of industry vets resulted in seemingly fewer broken hearts than Tokyopop left in its wake. Maybe that’s because, very simply, no one ever took Virgin very seriously as a publisher.
Tomorrow I’ll talk about the soul of the DM, but that’s all for now.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/26/2008
Somewhere, Nicolas Cage is crying. Calvin Reid at PW gets the tale of the tape:
Although calls to Virgin Comics CEO and cofounder Sharad Devarajan (who is also president of Gotham Entertainment) have not been returned, sources confirm that the venture has been closed and that a statement will likely be issued soon. The closing appears to effect only Virgin Comics’ U.S. publishing operations in New York City and does not effect the operations of Gotham Entertainment, the Bangalore, India-based partner in the venture that produces comics targeted at the South Asian consumer market.
The company produced about 17 different comics series in addition to publishing about 18 trade paperback collections and 3 hardcover titles. It is unclear what will happen to the rights to these properties.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/26/2008
We’re in transit back to civilization today. Full posting resumed tomorrow.
We’ll have more coverage of the Virgin Comics realignment soonish. Three former Virgin freelancers confirmed the company’s publishing shut down in our own comments thread but elsewhere on the web the response seems to be a resounding “So?”…it looks like Virgin never really got a hold of any kind of audience. Another pamphlet publisher down the tubes
.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/25/2008
Rumors about Virgin Comics are flying fast and furious this weekend. Sources are telling me that the comics publishing is getting drastically reduced or eliminated and most of the New York staff has been let go…however official announcements or confirmation are yet to come.
Virgin Comics launched in 2006, funded by billionaire mogul Richard Branson, with input from author Deepak Chopra and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. However, the principle movers and shakers at the company are comics-loving entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman, and Gotham Chopra. From the start Virgin has produced several lines of comics — the “Shakti” line, based on Hindu mythology and culture, and the “Director’s Cut” line which features concepts by directors such as Kapur, Guy Ritchie, and John Woo. The “Voices” line includes comics based on concepts by a variety of Hollywood/entertainment types, from Nicolas Cage (Nowhere Man) and Dave Stewart to Hugh Jackman and, most notoriously, Jenna Jameson.
Virgin Comics had also recently pacted with the Sci-Fi Channel to both produce comics based on TV shows and develop comics as shows. The first was The Stranded, by Mike Carey, which is being developed as a pilot.
Virgin’s most recent notable announcements are a deal with Stan Lee to create an entire new superhero universe, and The MBX, a series of webisodes based on the Mahabharata written by Grant Morrison.
Virgin’s print comics line never seemed to catch fire, either in the US or India, so cutbacks would come as no surprise. It would be equally surprising to see a lot of their development deals and web-based material disappear, however.
Developing.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/12/2008
Vintage Grant Morrison in an interview with A. David Lewis at PWCW:
GM: Yeah! Because it’s the obvious, isn’t it? Again, this isn’t a mystical concept, because I’m not a mystical person sometimes. I got into magic to see if it was real. If someone says, “Ok, a demon will appear if you do this spell,” I just say, “Bullshit.” So, I did this spell, and then the demon appeared. So I had to revise my vision of what the world was and how it worked. Again, that’s another element of magic for me, trying to figure out, why do these things happen—what are we doing to our nervous systems to make us believe a demon has entered the room? It became to me about the actual “nuts and bolts” of it, not the fantastic thing or the mystic thing or the names of angels. I became interested in what’s actually going on.
PWCW: But you tried it out, and a demon did appear?
GM: Yeah!
PWCW: Wow.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 7/21/2008
Virgin is having portfolio reviews, exclusives and lots and lots of Grant Morrison, plus a contest to get drawn into Hugh Jackman’s comic NOWHERE MAN:
Kicking off the Con on Thursday morning (July 24) is our first panel, Stan Lee and Grant Morrison talk Virgin Comics, at 10:45-11:45am in Ballroom 20. Two of the most important comics creators team up to discuss the bold new frontiers being explored in the art of storytelling. Stan Lee shares his insights on the world of comics, and presents never-before-revealed hints about his new superhero universe with Virgin Comics, while the brilliant and prolific Grant Morrison discusses and debuts footage from his new animated project MBX from Virgin Comics and Perspective Studios. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event!
And after an exhausting Con, end the weekend by kicking back on Sunday afternoon (July 27) with Grant Morrison and Deepak Chopra discuss Science, Soul and Superheroes, at 2:45-3:45pm in Ballroom 20. Grant joins Virgin Comics co-founder Deepak Chopra to talk… superheroes! We’re talking social theory with sound effects, four colors fused with existentialism. Two of the greatest minds of comics and culture talking… this is not to be missed!
Make sure you swing by tables AA1-AA2 in the Sails Pavilion before the panel from 1:30-2:15pm for a signing session with Grant and Deepak! Please note, Grant Morrison’s MBX Sketchbook (read below for more info on this Con exclusive!) serves as the ticket for Grant’s signing.
At our booth, we’ll have special SDCC ‘08 variants and exclusive Virgin Comics swag, including two limited edition variants of Dan Dare #7 featuring a gorgeous wrap-around cover by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen). There’s an ink variant (limited to 500) and a pencil sketch variant (limited to 250), so act fast because once they’re gone they’re gone forever! We’ll also have a very limited number of Dan Dare #1 Bryan Talbot ink variants signed by Garth Ennis.
Also on tap is the debut of the SDCC exclusive Grant Morrison’s MBX Sketchbook (limited to 1,000), featuring mind-bending insight from Grant Morrison, beautiful concept art from superstar Mukesh Singh (Jenna Jameson’s Shadow Hunter, Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper), script excerpts and more.
To celebrate the release of this fall’s new sci-fi/action series Nowhere Man, we’ve got our Be A Real Nowhere Man contest where we’re giving five lucky winners the chance to be a real Nowhere Man and get drawn into an issue!! Not only will you get yourself immortalized in comic book history, but creators Hugh Jackman, Marc Guggenheim and Paul Gulacy will sign the issue in which you appear. Ten runners-up will receive a copy of Nowhere Man #1 signed by Hugh Jackman. If you aren’t going to be out at San Diego, visit virgincomics.com/nowheremancontest now to enter.
And lest we forget our inaugural Portfolio Reviews, when aspiring artists can meet our editors Charlie Beckerman and Sana Amanat for one-on-one portfolio review sessions. And who knows… if they’re really blown away by an artist’s work, they might just walk away with a gig. We’re ready to hire the best artist we meet with to do an upcoming cover, so bring your A-game! We’ll be hosting reviews in the Virgin booth on both Friday and Saturday from 10:00-11:30am and 5:30-7:00pm. Go here for all the details.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/19/2008
In a week in which he announced a new superhero, announced a new manga deal and was awarded the first ever New York Comics Legend Award, Stan Lee just had to ramp it up a notch with news of a new line of superhero comics from Virgin:
“It will be a team of 10 heroes and they will be dealing with personality conflicts, personal problems and chemistry within the team,” Lee said in an interview this week. “I’m going to get started working on it right away and I’m very excited about doing something that will be fresh and breaking new ground. I can’t give away the details or the names yet, but I have some exciting things in mind.”
Virgin has had a number of big-name creators writing comics under its banner, among them filmmakers Guy Ritchie, Terry Gilliam and John Woo, actor Nicolas Cage and musician Dave Stewart.
The company has largely steered clear of traditional superheroes. While Lee has an esteemed background in that sector, his most vital work was in the 1960s and 1970s, and his most recent work, with its bombastic dialogue, is not in sync with the tone of today’s elite comics writers.
Technorati Tags: Stan Lee
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/15/2008
Dan Dare, Jenna Jameson, and Grant Morrison – Can you imagine the buddy pic? Morrison teams up with Virginonce more to announce an animation project with the company. More details in the jump.
Here’s a taste of how you can experience Virgin Comics first-hand at the Con. Be sure to check out our various panels and stop by the Virgin Comics booth (# 1415) to pick up some free Comic-Con goodies!
Friday, 4/18 6pm - 7pm Room 1E15: “INDIA’S EDGE is India’s Fantasy - Shakti”
Join legendary comic author Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Doom Patrol, The Invisibles) as he exposes the Indian influences in his work and introduces his new animated project with Virgin Comics. Joining Grant is Virgin’s Chief Creative Officer Gotham Chopra and Sharad Devarajan, Virgin Comics CEO, as they discuss their line of Indian-infused fantasy comics called SHAKTI (including Ramayan 3392AD Reloaded, Devi, Deepak Chopra’s Buddha, Project: Kalki and others). Pronounced shuk-TEE, an ancient Sanskrit word meaning Power, these comics tap into thousands of years of storytelling, folklore and mythology.
Friday 4/18, 7pm - 8pm Room 1E15: “Girls Who Kick Ass”, featuring the Shadow Hunter herself… Jenna Jameson!
How do the ladies creating comics do it? They’re constantly blowing us away with the most outrageous and provocative titles. Jenna Jameson (Shadow Hunter), Colleen Doran (Distant Soil, Reign of the Zodiac), Amanda Connor (Birds of Prey, Painkiller Jane, Lois Lane), Louise Simonson (New Mutants, X-Factor, Superman) and special guests reveal why they know what Fan-Boys want.
Friday 4/18 8pm - 10pm IGN Theater: Free copies of The Stranded at “SCI FI Friday Night Screening”
SCI FI is hosting a special advance screening of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who, and each attendee will receive a special The Stranded mini comic. Written by Mike Carey, this collaboration between SCI FI Channel and Virgin Comics has oficially been picked up as a 2 hour pilot for SCI FI!
Saturday 4/19 1:30pm - 2:30pm Room 1E12-13-14: DAN DARE: BRITIAN’S GREATEST HERO - What Americans Need to Know!
This is the one you’ve been waiting for. Garth Ennis (The Boys, Preacher, John Woo’s Seven Brothers) will be making his first U.S. public appearance in many years to discuss the brilliance of Dan Dare’s enduring legacy and why he needed to write this quintessential British story for readers in the U.S. In Garth’s own words, “He’s our Captain America, our Superman, our Batman, he’s all of them rolled into one. He’s the original and the best.” Joining Garth is Peter Hampson, whose father, Frank, created Dan Dare in 1950 and Larry Lieberman, Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin Comics.
Also, keep an eye on www.nycomiccon.com for information on special autograph sessions with Garth Ennis and Jenna Jameson.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/25/2008
Now here is the interview we have been waiting for! Hugh Jackman and Marc Guggenheim are teaming up on the latest Virgin Comics panel-to-screen project, Nowhere Man. Is it about a guy who doesn’t have a point of view and knows not where he’s going to? Not really, but he may be just a bit like me and you.
Story was being kept under wraps, but Jackson’s Seed Productions partner John Palermo said it features a protagonist reminiscent of the one Will Smith played in “I Am Legend.” The concept is a futuristic world where mankind has traded privacy for safety, a premise that sprouted with Seed, Virgin CEO Sharad Devarajan and chief creative officer Gotham Chopra.
“This is our first comic, and we feel the concept is transferable to other arenas, perhaps first as a videogame, and then a movie,” Palermo said.
We want you to get more involved, too, Hugh. Very very involved. We’re here to help you every step of the way. Just say the word.
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By: Sara Lewis Holmes,
on 11/16/2007
I wake up and pretend
it's between my shoulder
blades. I get out of bed:
Shook foil
I walk the dog and plot
how it gets stamped
on my ankle bone:
Crushed
I reach for a high-heeled
shoe and it flares
across the small
of my back:
Bleared
I want to flaunt it,
roll up my sleeves
in winter. Oh my
god! There,
on her bicep!
Smell
If you shaved off my hair,
it would be on my skull,
curved like cornrows:
Deep down things
I run after what’s
blown from my hand.
The poem lifts
with my hamstrings:
Brown brink eastward springs
It splays on my chest
like Eve's claws:
Broods
A microdot of information,
it could be mistaken
for a mole:
Ah!
Did it hurt?
Nah, I lie.
I turn my forearm up.
A word has appeared:
Cantilever
I don't even know what that is.
I look again.
The word
has changed. I bend
my wrist in the light:
wings
I want a tattoo of wings.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Here at the base of my throat:
Bright wings
----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
See here for a copy of the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem and my first post about memorizing it.
Process Notes: If you'd like to see a rough draft and notes on how I constructed Inked, or hear me read it in either an MP3 or Quicktime format, go here: A Cast of One.
Poetry Friday is hosted by Big A, little a
By: Sara Lewis Holmes,
on 11/9/2007
"Why, man he doth bestride the narrow worldBut now? Tell me a simple thing, like your name, and I'll forget it in two seconds.
like a Colossus and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
By: Michele,
on 8/24/2007
*Phew* It's the start of a long weekend here in England and I've got Monday off work, yay ! So after an exhausting week that included a 3.45 fire alarm call (uh, thanks...), I'm feeling glad that it's Friday and in a little bit of a contemplative mood, so I chose a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem for you this week:
The Candle Indoors
SOME candle clear burns somewhere I come by.
I muse at how its being puts blissful back
With yellowy moisture mild night’s blear-all black,
Or to-fro tender trambeams truckle at the eye.
By that window what task what fingers ply,
I plod wondering, a-wanting, just for lack
Of answer the eagerer a-wanting Jessy or Jack
There God to aggrándise, God to glorify.—
Come you indoors, come home; your fading fire
Mend first and vital candle in close heart's vault:
You there are master, do your own desire;
What hinders? Are you beam-blind, yet to a fault
In a neighbour deft-handed? Are you that liar
And, cast by conscience out, spendsavour salt?
This week's round up is over at The Book Mine Set.
The Shat + Palin’s Tweets = WIN
I hope Conan keeps asking Shatner to recite transcripted Sarah Palin ramblings on a regular basis. These two appearances have been absolute gold.
Hulu is not available outside of USA
oops, I used a keyboard character that was interpreted as code and deleted the rest of what I was going to say there…
Anyway, Hulu not available outside of USA, but maybe YouTube has it viewable for us foreigners…
I think those two should formally team up and take thier show on the road. Sarah could be the Flavor Flav to Shatner’s Chuck D.
OR you could just watch Conan’s show! ;P
But yes, that was very funny!!
The Tonight Show website doesn’t block out non-Americans (or at least lets Canadians view it):
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/shatner-does-palin-072709/1139665/
The video is just so incredibly funny!
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