Year: 2002

Lack of Visionary

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

People who pre-ordered from Amazon the “Hulk: Visionaries” collection by myself and Dale Keown are asking me why they’re being informed that their order was cancelled.

The answer is simple: The book was cancelled. And it wasn’t just cancelled in June. It was cancelled back in January. It never existed.

Apparently, back in January Marvel decided to scale back on projected trade projects, and the “Hulk: Visionaries” collection was one of the ones that was dumped. I’m not entirely sure why mine was so honored, nor am I certain which other ones were scuttled. Bottom line, though, is that solicits are done for the paperback market six months in advance, so even while orders were being taken, the book was already off the table. I’ve no idea when it will be rescheduled. If I had to guess, I’d say “never,” but that’s just me.

PAD

Dodging a bullet

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

My esteemed colleague, Monsieur Evanier, on his website takes to task those in the industry whom he feels displayed excessive joy (although he used a fancy shmancy German word for it) over another’s misfortune when Todd McFarlane initially was on the receiving end of a multi-million dollar judgment against him. Seems TMcF thought it would be funny to name a gangster character after real life hockey player Tony Twist in the SPAWN comic and TV show. Twist didn’t think it was funny, sued him, and brought in testimony stating he’d lost $100,000 in endorsements because of it. Jury awarded him a ludicrous amount of money. The judge subsequently tossed out the jury verdict, and the appeals court just supported the judge. Mark believes this to be a Good Thing and a triumph for the First Amendment.

Mark, of course, has this luxury. He, after all, wasn’t portrayed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan, as I was in an issue of SPAWN. To me, it was never a First Amendment issue. It was a “Todd’s being a jerk” issue. Yes, the First Amendment defends Todd’s right to be a jerk, but not at someone else’s monetary expense. The courts felt “no reasonable person” could confuse Twist with the comic book character. Oddly, to my mind, no reasonable person could confuse a soap opera actress with her character, yet actresses portraying bad girls get slapped in public by irate soap fans. No reasonable person could think “Harry Potter” can lead a child to witchcraft, yet the book is banned from some school systems and libraries. No reasonable person could find OJ Simpson innocent, yet he’s out playing golf. No reasonable person could think that a comic book store selling adult comics to adults presents a danger to the town, yet stores are shuttered, store managers arrested and lives disrupted.

We do not live in a reasonable society. And the question is whether Todd McFarlane, now having hidden behind the skirts of the First Amendment, will take greater efforts to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund…or will just see this as a vindication and empowerment to screw over other people, such as Neil Gaiman.

I think we all know the answer to that.

PAD

Rest in Peace Process

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

So the world opinion now is that Israel wants to sabotage the peace process. Because, y’know, sixty years of people killing you because you’re a Jew and you’re there isn’t enough; they want to prolong it.

For a month, things were quiet. Then another series of suicide bombers. Israel retaliates…and Israel is trying to scotch the peace process.

In my opinion, there will never be peace–ever–until the Palestinian people root out and destroy the terrorist organizations within their midst. It just won’t happen.

PAD

Another One Bites the Dust

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’m finishing up proofreading the sequel to “KNIGHT LIFE” and am turning it in to my editor this afternoon. Haven’t decided on the new title yet, although we’ve pretty much got it narrowed down to either KNIGHT TIME or O, HOLY KNIGHT.

I contracted for an 80,000 word manuscript. It came in at 114,000. So Penguin-Putnam got some bang for their buck.

PAD

D’OH!

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

And so, guided to a ticket site that actually worked thanks to William Lopez, Gwen and I went up to Montreal this weekend to watch “The Simpsons In the Flesh.”

It was as entertaining as one could possibly have hoped. It was incredibly disconcerting to watch Nancy Cartwright open her mouth and Bart Simpson’s voice would come out, and every time a new character would leap out of someone’s throat, the audience would go nuts. Particularly entertaining was when an actor would essentially start talking to himself: Crusty the clown shouting at Homer, for instance, with Castellaneta barely seeming to expend the slightest effort in the change as he switched from one to the other.

We not only had a great time at the 4 PM but, when we found out they were doing a different episode for the 8 PM, we went to the box office and discovered–to our amazement–that there were some seats left. So we took in the second show as well.

Man, could you imagine them doing it as a special feature, or charity event or something, at the San Diego con? How cool would that be?

PAD