Year: 2005

Conclusion to the “House of M” tie-in. Whad’ja think?

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Studio executives have been sitting around scratching their heads or their backsides and wondering why in the world movie going is dropping off. They’re blaming DVDs, they’re blaming cable, they’re blaming all kinds of things.

Well, we just came back from the premiere of “Green Street Hooligans,” a film that every single major studio passed on distributing, and I can tell you with full confidence that at least one factor in audience erosion is that studios can’t discern quality when it’s right in front of them.

And quality is what “Green Street Hooligans” most certainly is. It’s easily the most riveting two hours I’ve spent at a movie this year. Elijah Wood plays a disconnected, frustrated college dropout who sojourns to England and becomes involved in a “firm”–a gang, if you will, of cocky, proud, hard-drinking, fight-seeking football (not “soccer,” please) hooligans. When Wood’s character tries to compare the rivalry between certain rival firms as “Yankees and Red Sox,” he’s corrected with “More like Israelis and Palestinians.”

What unfolds is a fascinating tale of brotherhood on numerous levels, and the ultimate futility of lives lived in violence and vengeance. It is, quite simply, a brilliant piece of movie making.

Yet every major studio passed. Insanely, they claimed that it glorified violence, making it seem like a positive means of solving problems. Any person with an IQ above that of a kumquat who sees this film will realize that the studios completely and totally botched it. It takes some serious stupid to think this movie is a celebration of violence.

You absolutely must see this film. You must get all your friends to see it. And as soon as you do, you must go and plug it long and loud on your own blogs and get the word out. Not just because it’s a fantastic movie. You must see it to send a message to movie executives, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent. They have to be told that they are insane to pass up high quality films such as this one. They have to be told that audiences are not getting it up for the movies because they want to see something other than the latest paint-by-numbers action flick or play-it-safe romantic date movie. That movies such as “Green Street Hooligans” deserve studio support and audience attention.

Also, on Kathleen’s blog, she’ll be writing about the film as well (and since she used to hang with football hooligans in London, she knows about this stuff personally) and also posting a photo of Ariel with Elijah Wood.

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Over on Newsarama, the first seven pages of “Fallen Angel #1” are up. You might want to check ’em out.

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The Bush administration has embraced a term that truly sets my teeth on edge: The Blame Game.

Yet again, the administration trivializes that which it wants to draw attention from or diminish, finding new and innovative ways to dodge questions and avoid responsibility.

I have no clear idea yet, for certain, if lapses in administrative judgment can be blamed for everything from siphoning money away from shoring up the levies in order to support the war and Bush’s tax cuts, to slow response to the emergency. But these are questions that must be asked. Clearly, the Bush administration embraces this notion with the same enthusiasm and thirst for truth that it did the 9/11 panel. Instead it endeavors to sprint along the obvious “high road”: The Bush administration will not play “the blame game” when people need to be helped.

You know what? The government is large enough to multitask. There’s no reason it can’t help people AND investigate. Not play “the blame game.” It’s not a game, Mr. Bush. Perhaps much of your life has been thus far. Play with toys such as corporations, governments and armies, run them into the ground, and then wait for others to clean up your mess. But it’s not. A game. It never has been, and that’s something that this administration has yet to comprehend.

One thing guaranteed, though: They’ll try to find a way to blame it on Clinton. But Clinton shouldn’t take it personally. It’s all part of the game.

UPDATED 10:45 AM. Maggie Thompson sent me the following link: http://www.thisisnotover.com/archives/2005/09/heres_what_gets.html This is one of those “I wish I’d said that” entries.

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In addition to the awesome art of J.K. Woodward, the first issue of “Fallen Angel” from IDW will feature an alternate cover from original series artist David Lopez. Check it out.

Over in her on-line blog at Comicon.com, in an entry entitled “Quality or Ramifications”…since apparently the two are mutually exclusive…Heidi MacDonald cited a question asked by a retailer during the Spidey press conference on September 1. The retailer said his readers were concerned that they would read eleven issues of Spider-Man having “spider-cancer” and at the end of the storyline, he’d be cured, and there’d be no ramifications. He asked if if there would be any lasting impact as a consequence of the storyline. I said, “Yes.” Heidi then wrote:

“The Pulse’s transcript doesn’t make it clear, but David’s yes meant tat (sic) there would, indeed be ramifications.

“Which made us wonder…what “ramifications” did WATCHMEN have? or DARK KNIGHT? Or SANDMAN?

We have no idea of THE OTHER will be any good, but we would have thought that a good, solid story would sell more in the long run than mere ramifications.”

An interesting question. Would that Heidi had actually asked it during the press conference. Instead, with over a dozen retailers and on-line reporters there, as I recall she was the only one who took a pass on asking any questions whatsoever. Of course, maybe she hadn’t thought of it at the time. She could have e-mailed me later. Or gotten my phone number at the Dragon*Con hotel from Marvel and called me. Didn’t do either. Oookay.

In answer to the question directed to me that she never actually asked, I submit the following scenario:

“Peter, will there be ramifications?”

“Well, you know, why can’t we just tell a good story and let that be enough?”

“So you’re saying there will be no long term impact after fans have invested in twelve issues of this storyline.”

“I didn’t say that. But I can guarantee you it’ll be a really good story.”

That loud thud you would then hear would be orders dropping like a rock. So I’ll go with my answer rather than Heidi’s, thanks.

And as for her other question, the obvious answer is that it shows a shocking lapse of understanding of the nature and requirements of on-going serialized stories as compared to series with a beginning, middle and end. In picking up limited series in particular, all readers are looking for is a good story. When they’re being asked to embark on reading a mega-crossover and investing the time and money into reading books they ordinarily aren’t reading, a good story simply isn’t enough. Perhaps it should be…but it’s not. As the retailer’s question makes clear, they want to know they’re going to be present at a major turning point in the protagonist’s fictional life. That’s part of what MAKES it a good story. As a matter of fact–and this is purely speculation on my part–it may well be that one of the reasons various limited or spin-off series nowadays have such a rough slog in terms of sales is specifically because they’re seen as NOT having any sort of impact on the “main” storylines presented in the ongoing titles.

And the less obvious answer is, Yes, you bet your ášš the series in question had ramifications. “Watchmen” and “Dark Knight” were responsible for launching a grim-and-gritty mentality into comics that continues to this day (“Identity Crisis” owes far more to Moore and Miller than it does to Marv Wolfman). And the ramification of “Sandman” was that it was responsible for launching the entire “Vertigo” line. The ramifications of “Sandman” are “Fables” and “Y.”

It’s just that no one knew that at the time.

So that’s the answer to Heidi’s question.

Which she never asked me.

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Thus far I’ve seen virtually nothing of Dragon*Con. I’ve either been doing panels or been at my table, autographing stuff and meeting fans. But that’s okay. That’s pretty much what I’m here for, and certainly the fact that it’s been busy for me is far bettr than just sitting there with nothing to do.

Aside from the initial panel I had Friday which was a solo reading, everything else I’ve been doing has been well attended. The major misfire was during my spotlight panel on Friday when I was doing a dramatic reading of an upcoming FNSM story…and discovered to my horror that the last several pages of the script were missing. Apparently my computer never printed them out for some reason. So that kinda sucked. I did my best to summarize the remaining pages, but it certainly wasn’t anywhere near as effective.

The CBLDF raffle for breakfast with myself and Jewel Staite raised around $500 and the winner was, thank God, a nice normal guy. Understand, I love fans, but there are some folks that, y’know, can kind of creep you out a little. But that wasn’t remotely this fellow, so there was serious relief there.

Kath and Ariel are out at the moment, Kath to the con suite and Ariel to go hear the Boogie Knights sing. Caroline needs something. Gotta go.

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