Just came back from the film and I’m left wondering one thing:
Will SF fans have the balls to nominate it for a Hugo?
In a landscape where PC and boycotts dominate, will the fans have the nerve to see that this is, with the possible exception of Gravity, the best SF film to come out this year? It should be up for best dramatic presentation. If anyone else’s name than Card’s were attached, it would be. It was simply wonderful. So will the fans be able to do what’s right or won’t they?
PAD
A few years ago, I wrote a video game called “Shadow Complex.” It was based on a tie-in novel by Orson Scott Card. You remember him: Mr. Anti-Gay. Now the novel had nothing to do with gays or any of Card’s more dubious beliefs.
Nevertheless, the fact that I was associated with Card at all prompted people to cry out for boycotts of not only the video game, but of all my work. X-Factor, Dark Tower, my novels: everything was to be avoided because I had dared to have anything to do with someone that had been designated a pariah, not because of his work, but because of his opinions and where he chose to spend his money.
How in God’s name boycotting X-Factor to protest Card made any sense at all…well, the answer lay within the skulls of those who were organizing it, I guess. Never made any sense to me.
And now, of course, the cries for boycott are sounding again as “Enders Game” opens today. That’s just what Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield need for their careers: people refusing to see a movie because they (rightfully) disagree with the writer’s opinions. Even though those opinions aren’t reflected in the film. Even though his deal is structured in such a way that he will make no money from the film no matter how much BO it generates.
Screw that. We’re seeing “Enders Game” this weekend. Personally I don’t care; I’ve never read the book. But Kathleen did and loves it, so we’re going. We’ll also likely be seeing “12 Years a Slave” and “Last Vegas” as well. And we have no idea of the political opinions of anyone involved. Not sure how it’s relevant.
PAD
Originally published September 10, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1347
So there I was, working on the plot for Young Justice #4. It was intended to be a startling opening sequence, in which the character Arrowette is depicted having been gravely wounded, with an arrow protruding from her shoulder. For a series that had garnered a reputation for tongue-in-cheek silliness, it was to be a departure. A signal to the reader that the title should not be taken for granted. That it was capable of changing mood at a moment’s notice. I didn’t want anyone to get too comfortable, because nowadays, once readers figure they have a bead on you, that’s when you become disposable.
What was uppermost on my mind in working out the sequence, you may ask? Was it the impact it would have on the reader? The shock value? The drastic means taken to introduce Arrowette (plus the other girls) into the series?
Nope.
It was the Comics Code Authority.
Marvel was kind enough to let me post this cover on my website ahead of previews. Enjoy!
Originally published September 3, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1346
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
–John Donne, “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions”
There are two movies out at the moment, one squarely comic book related, the other tangentially related, both of which serve to remind me of my earliest days of comic reading. Specifically, what heroes were about, or at least what they were supposed to be about.
Continue Reading “Movie reviews: Mystery Men, The Iron Giant”
So I saw “Waiting for Godot” last night with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. Oh, and Doctor Manhattan (Billy Crudup) as well. Kathleen has stage managed three productions of it and so this play meant a lot to her.
It was the first time I’d seen it. Here’s my spoiler free review:
WTF?
Seriously. What the hëll was THAT about?
I am happy to award a brand spanking new Peter David WTF award to the best explanation.
PAD
Originally published August 27, 1999, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1345
It always gives one a nice, tidy, false sense of security to think that the only comic books which undergo attacks by watchdogs or misguided individuals with no clue as to what the First Amendment is all about, are those comics that somehow “deserve” to have it happen. Over-the-top pørņ, raging obscenity, stories that seem to encourage violence towards women or in some other way make you feel ever so slightly unclean just for having to defend it.
I want to welcome you, then, to the latest case to fall into the docket of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, as a part-time dealer in comic books—selling them at flea markets—finds himself facing two counts of trafficking in selling obscene material to minors. The name of the ever-so-foul comic that this scumwad was dealing?
Elfquest.
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