Month: February 2007

And I suddenly realized that maybe we should be grateful for the fact that the only thing wrong with it was the plot.

That may sound odd, but consider: It wasn’t all that long ago that the TV version of Daredevil had no horns because of concerns over devil imagery and his costume was black instead of red. And Thor wasn’t allowed to be a god for fear of offending the religious right.

Just consider the studio notes that they COULD have gotten for “Ghost Rider”–

“Okay, we’ve gone over the script and we have some concerns. First of all, he can’t be ‘Satan’s bounty hunter.’ This is our hero, and he simply can’t be connected to Satan. We’ll get killed by various conservative Christian organizations. So find a way to make him work without the whole ‘Mephistopheles’ thing. Also, does it have to be a blazing skull? We don’t understand the need for his head turning into a skull. We’ve got Nic Cage for this, who’s a name star: Why are we making his face disappear? It means we can’t have him in action as Ghost Rider on the poster. Kills maketing. Let’s have his face visible even when he’s in action as Ghost Rider. And he can’t have his head on fire in any event. If any kids set their heads on fire in order to imitate him, we’ll get a butt load of bad publicity. So just have Nic Cage’s head glowing a little, maybe, suffused in light. Oh, does it have to be ‘Ghost Rider?’ Technically it’s not even correct since the protagonist isn’t a ghost. Plus ghosts get us more flack from the religious right because they don’t like the whole concept of dead people walking. Plus we tested the name ‘Ghost Rider’ and it’s confusing: People think that it’s about someone who rides ghosts. We’ve taken the liberty of testing various alternate names and have found that “Death Rides a Cycle” is the best.

Please implement these changes and we’ll talk later.”

All things considered, we may have gotten off lucky.

PAD

Just came back from the advance screening of “Ghost Rider.” Discussion with some minor spoilers below.

Continue Reading “GHOST WITH THE MOST” →

My musical tastes are slowly being shaped by “Scrubs.” In one episode entitled “My Lunch,” three patients die one after the other, and Dr. Cox’s futile efforts to save the last one with the defibrullator–followed by his explosion of anger–were heartwrenching. During that scene the soundtrack was playing this haunting song that I wasn’t familiar with, which I eventually learned was called “How to Save A Life” by The Fray. The thing was, when I saw it on “Scrubs” I was aware of the refrain and the melody, but wasn’t listening closely to the words. At my request, Kath went out and got me the album and once I heard the whole thing, I realized what it was really about: A poor devil whose friend has committed suicide, and he’s blaming himself because he didn’t take the time to stay by his friend’s side and hear him out. What a tragically sad song. At any rate, I’ve listened to all the songs and am playing it while I’m writing. Great stuff.

PAD

Following up on my earlier posting, below you’ll find a list of stores who are deemed “Friends of the Angel”–those stores that make certain to stock “Fallen Angel” and/or have no problem ordering copies (as opposed to stores that not only don’t stock it but won’t even fill pull requests…typically while claiming that Diamond has screwed up somehow.) If you’re a retailer, you’re an FOTA, and you’re not on there, feel free to drop me a line at padguy@aol.com and be included.

Also check out the front page of www.newsarama.com for a detailed article about upcoming “Fallen Angel” plans and some nifty artwork.

PAD

Continue Reading ““Friends of the Angel”–the list so far” →

The signing photos are here and there’s a separate interview with Peter as well.

Ask Peter about that puppet on his hand, which helped him become hoarse by the end of the evening…

(Via ComicMix.)

The following is a link to the interview I did on the local Maine TV magazine “207”:

http://www.wcsh6.com/life/lifestyle/207/video/default.aspx

I’m busy serving the Tower, up in Maine for a store appearance today at Casablanca Comics from 3-6. Did an appearance yesterday on a local news magazine show called “207” and had a reasonably good time doing that. Certainly better than the last TV stint I did where the interviewers invited viewers to call in and try and stump me with “Star Trek” trivia questions.

In any event, FNSM #17 brings back the Sandman while Dark Tower is, of course, the New Big Thing. Whad’ja think?

PAD