Month: July 2005

Getting ready to hustle out to San Diego. Here’s my schedule at the present time:

Thursday, 4:30 to 5:30 — Comic Book Weblogs
Saturday, 11:30 to 1:00 — Impact University: How to Write and Draw Comics
Saturday, 1:00 to 2:00 – Signing at IDW.
Saturday, 3:00 to 4:00 — IDW Publishing Overview
Sunday, 11:30 to 12:30 – CBLDF panel (I *think* I’m on this.)
Sunday, 1:00 to 2:00 — Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man: The Other

I’ll also be signing at the Claypool table from 4-5 on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and I’ll be at the Krause Publications/Impact booth as well. I’m not sure of the times on that yet, so we’ll all be surprised.

PAD

In the interest of full disclosure, I will state what most of you already know: I wrote the novelization of “Fantastic Four.” So obviously it’s to my benefit for the film to do well. Anyone who feels that linkage to the film colors my opinion can disregard it as he or she sees fit.

Now–

Just came back from the FF screening in the city. I heard a number of adults crabbing about how terrible it was, and I was left wondering whether they saw the same film I did. I then asked every kid I could find who was in attendance what they thought of it, and kids of (literally) all ages loved it. Girls liked Sue Storm, boys grooved on the Thing and, particularly, the Human Torch. No one loved Reed. But, hey, what else is new?

Whatever you’re expecting in terms of the more mature angle that comic book films have taken, be it “Batman Begins,” “Sin City,” or even the sophistication of X2…to enjoy “Fantastic Four,” you simply have to set the wayback machine in your mind back to when comic books (and movies thereof) were mostly cornball fun. Think “Superman” but without the camp. Some mild spoilers follow:

Continue Reading “Fantastic Fun” →

We have a number of regular participants and occasional contributors to this blog who reside in London or vicinity. Please sound off so we know you’re okay.

PAD

Johanna Draper-Carlson was, and is, a bigger supporter of “Fallen Angel.” So when she expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming Spike one-shot, I offered to send her the completed script. She read it and loved it. Her comments can be found in the July 5th installment of her blog, “Cognitive Dissonance.” If I do this right, the link below should take you to it.

http://www.comicsworthreading.com/blog/cwr.html

PAD

I think I speak for most New Yorkers when I say–without the slightest intention of sour grapes–good. One less thing to worry about.

PAD

So to give Kath more time to work on the costumes, Ariel and I took Caroline to a local kiddie amusement park that she’d never been to. Dead center of the place was a carousel. Caroline absolutely loves carousels, ever since Kath took her on the main one at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld. Having bought unlimited ride passes for the sisters, I stood behind the fence as Caroline was seated on one of the horses, Ariel one horse over. The young lady running the ride clipped Caroline into place with a seatbelt that snapped behind her.

The carousel began turning. It was going at a pretty brisk pace, but Caroline was undaunted, grinning like a loon.

Then I noticed she appeared to be shifting off-center, hanging more toward the outside. That was when I saw that the belt had somehow come unclipped from behind her and was dangling uselessly on either side. Ariel hadn’t spotted it yet. The only thing that was preventing Caroline from being flung off the carousel at high speed was her own grip on the pole.

The operator was in the middle of the carousel. I shouted over the music, “Shut it down! She’s not buckled in” as I yanked open the gate. The operator saw it and killed the power, but there’s no braking mechanism; it moves until it stops. Ariel, realizing, grabbed Caroline’s foot, but Caroline was now 3/4 of the way off the horse.

I ran alongside the carousel, grabbed one of the freestanding poles, and jumped on while it was still spinning, bounced between two horses like a pinball, got to Caroline and yanked her back up onto the horse. Caroline continued to grin. Not a trace of concern. I buckled the seatbelt around her myself this time, testing it. It must not have fully engaged the first time. The operator asked if I’d like to stand next to Caroline and just ride along, which was fine by me.

Ariel then went off to drive the Go-carts. And Caroline, who didn’t have to get off the carousel because there really wasn’t a line of kids waiting to get on, proceeded to ride to her heart’s content.

Forty five minutes.

Forty five frickin’ minutes of non-stop carousel. The more nauseated I got, the happier she got. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore, forcibly removed her from it and said, “We’re doing something else now.” I carried her away while she was kicking and screaming and yelling, “Horse! Horse!”

Later, as Caroline rode on the teacup ride with Ariel, I called Kath and said, “Just out of curiosity, how did you get Caroline off the merry go round at Disneyworld? Did she eventually tire of it?”

“No,” said Kathleen. “I had to carry her away while she was kicking and screaming.”

Twenty years from now, when they ask me at what point I knew she was going to be a jockey, I’ll be able to tell them. Although she’ll probably be over six feet tall, so maybe that’s not really a career path for her.

PAD

TOKYO (July 3) – Japanese coast guard officials said Sunday they believe an underwater volcanic eruption has caused a 3,300-foot high column of steam to rise from the Pacific Ocean near Iwo Jima.

The vapor was reported Saturday after Japanese troops stationed on the small island observed the massive, cloudy plume rise from the sea about 30 miles southeast of the island, said Maritime Self-Defense Forces Hiroshi Shirai.

Defense officials who flew over the area in a helicopter said the surface of the water appeared red where the column was reported, which could indicate underwater volcanic activity, Shirai said.

Okay, now honestly…am I the only person who read this and thought it’d be cool if Godzilla emerged from the midst of the smoke?

PAD