'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Best Selling Graphic Novels
My review this week isn't going to be a review so much as some notes on the best selling Graphic Novels of last month in comic shops. The Comic Shop market is different from the market for Graphic Novels in mainstream bookstores like Amazon.com or Borders, as they sell more to the fan, and mainstream bookstores sell the vast majority of translated Japanese comics (or Manga). As a result, the comic shop market is more heavily weighted to Super-Hero books.
The top selling graphic novels for July:
1) Y THE LAST MAN VOL 5: RING OF TRUTH, DC Comics
This is a series of Science Fiction graphic novels set after all the male mammals on Earth have died except for an escape artist Yorick and his pet monkey. The series has some good ideas, and interesting plots, but it is starting to turn into "Yorick and his friends meet a bunch of crazy women, and it takes them a while to find out just HOW they are crazy." The first three, however, are excellent reading.
2) ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 11: MOST DANGEROUS GAME, MARVEL Comics
This reprints the new X-Men series that started around the time of the first X-Men movie to try and clear away all of the confusing back story and complex relationships between characters. However, after 11 different trade paperbacks, it is has become confusing and intimidating for a new reader. If you are looking for a good X-Men graphic novel, "E For Extinction" is not just one of the best, but it also is "new reader friendly" and takes time to get new readers up to speed on the characters.
3) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 13: HOBGOBLIN, MARVEL Comics
On the other hand, the Ultimate Spider-Men series has been excellent at keeping it simple for new readers, while still telling great stories. This collection deals with the son of the Green Goblin while still telling a compelling story about Peter Parker dealing with the responcibility of being Spider-Man. The best graphic novel in the top ten.
4) DEAD BOY DETECTIVES DIGEST, DC Comics
Artist Jill Thompson is using characters from the Neil Gaiman Sandman series for a group of Manga style graphic novels. This one shows off her excellent art, but feels as if she has gone to the well one too many times. For fans of the Neil Gaiman Sandman series only.
5) SUPERMAN BATMAN VOL 3: ABSOLUTE POWER Hardcover, DC Comics
I know that Bartcop is a big fan of the old Superman stories, but over the years, Superman has proven to be a hard character to write for. Most comic creators prefer to save their "Big Stories" for Batman, and that's why it's hard to recommend any of the Superman graphic novels, while I could give you a HUGE list of well-done Batman graphic novels. This is a story that begins with Superman and Batman having taken different turns in life than the ones we know, and have become rules of the world through their powers. It reads like a Big Budget summer movie, and has an ending that seems a bit rushed, but it's one of the better Superman efforts out there.
6) 100 BULLETS VOL 8: THE HARD WAY, DC Comics
The premise of 100 Bullets is that a character is given a gun with 100 untracable bullets to with as they want…and then the creative team pays out the morals of each character as they confront the worst part of their lives. Even with this episodic series idea, it has a lot of on-going continuity and is confusing for new readers. I highly recommend the first three in the series, but you have to have read the previous seven to make your way through this book.
7) SPACE GHOST, DC Comics
About the last character I expected a serious origin story of was the old 60's Hanna Barbera cartoon super-hero, Space Ghost. Unlike a lot of characters who comic creators try to add a more mature and "dark" past to, Space Ghost works as a stand alone story, even incorporating kid sidekicks and a "space monkey" without seeming too goofy. Still, it's for Super-hero fans only.
8) X-MEN: NEW AGE OF APOCALYPSE, MARVEL Comics
I've read this mess of a book 4 times now, and I still can't figure out who most of the characters are, or what is going on. A sequel to a story from 10 years ago featuring an "alternate universe" version of the X-Men. For hard-core fans only.
9) FRUITS BASKET VOL 11 TOKYOPOP
A manga series I haven't read. It sells about 20 times the copies in bookstores that it does in comic shops, and it sells fairly well in comic shops.
10) WIZARD MICHAEL TURNER MILLENNIUM LIMITED EDITION DELUXE HARDCCOVER, WIZARD Publishing
This shows how the comic book store market caters to hard-core fans. This book features sketchbook art by Artist Michael Turner as well as interviews, reprints of some of his early work, and reprints of articles about him. For collectors only.
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Engelhardt: Cindy, Don, and George (Tomdispatch.com. Posted on Alternet)
Cindy Sheehan's blunt, take-no-prisoners approach has been remarkably successful and may even spark the Iraq War's first 'tipping point.'
Poor Elijah (Peter Berger): The Twelfth Annual Emperor's Awards (/irascibleprofessor.com)
Sometimes you can judge a man by what he chooses to be proud of. That's why Poor Elijah presents his annual Emperor Awards. They commemorate the monarch who posed in his underwear while his subjects nervously applauded his good taste. In that spirit here are some of last year's proudest press release education moments.
Jim David: The right is so wrong (newyorkblade.com)
When was the last time a liberal burned a cross on someone's lawn, lynched a black person, or blew up a gay bar? Why are conservatives more violent?
MATT TAIBBI: Four Amendments & a Funeral (rollingstone.com)
A month inside the house of horrors that is Congress
HELEN THOMAS: Pictures of caskets show public the awful costs of war
The American people - sheltered for the last two years from some photos of the grim reality of the war in Iraq - are beginning to see more pictures of the kind that had previously been suppressed.
Will Durst: Intelligent Is as Intelligence Doesn't (AlterNet)
We have brains the size of peas. And I tell you, if we keep dumbing down our schools, the concept of fudge will seem complicated. Not to mention innocent before guilty.
Rob Stein: Lifestyle may be key to slowing brain's aging (The Washington Post)
A large body of evidence indicates that people who are mentally active throughout their lives are significantly less likely to suffer senility, and a handful of studies have found that mental exercises can boost brain function
David Bruce: Wise Up: Alcohol (athensnews.com)
Some advertisements can be too effective. The ads for Bert and Harry Piel beer were so funny that customers rushed to buy the beer, but after tasting it, they hated the beer so much they never bought it again.
Weekly church-related crime update, August 7 - August 13
Douglas Eugene Parker, pleaded guilty to molesting two teenage girls, ages 14 and 15, who are also related to Parker. Parker was "a preacher at a Baptist church in Marks, Miss., and he later became their pastor," said prosecutors.
The never-ending chronicle of church-related crime
Ralph Cuts the Classics #4
Casablanca
The Accidental Classic
Perhaps the greatest of all movies,
Casablanca (1942) [view trailer] is a most unlikely classic.
It starts with the screenplay, which was written as the movie was being filmed. The story, which comes from an unproduced stage play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's" by a High School teacher named Murray Burnett. Burnett's play, aside from a few classic lines, was massacred by Julius and Philip Epstein, the screenwriters. The screenplay was such loose adaptation of the play that the ending was in doubt as they were filming (more on this later). Burnett would go on to fight for recognition for writing Casablanca, but he would never receive the credit the Epsteins did. I have never seen the script for the play so I won't judge.
Production of Casablanca was likewise a dicey game. Warner Brothers owned the rights to the play, but Hal Wallis, who had purchased those rights, left the studio after the purchase. He formed his own production company and took the rights with him. Wallis produced Casablanca under an agreement with WB that earned him 10% of the net. So the most famous WB picture of all time is only indirectly a WB picture.
And, of course, the cast. Warner Brothers planted a story in the Hollywood Reporter on January 4, 1942 that announced the cast as Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan. This has been debunked as a publicity stunt on the part of WB. WB may have floated the idea, but it is now believed that Wallis never had anyone in mind other than Humphrey Bogart. Bogart's star was on the rise and he was making a transition from bad guy rolls like the bizarre Doctor X and the ruthless "Mad Dog" Earl. And, of course, the Maltese Falcon (1941) was a triumph. But the role of Rick was certainly a gamble on Wallis' part. However, in retrospect it is impossible to imagine anyone other than Bogart in that role.
Ingrid Bergman was relatively new to Hollywood and had only a few English language credits. While a consummate professional to the end (she died after undergoing breast cancer treatments during the filming of A Woman Called Golda, there was certainly nothing to indicate WB or Wallis expected her to turn in a performance more worthy of an Oscar than any of the three she actually won.
Three other actors are worthy of note: Conrad Veidt, who ironically plays the German officer Major Strasser, was actually a strident anti-Nazi and had to leave Germany in 1933. Veidt actually donated a portion of his salary to British War efforts. Claude Rains turns in a stellar performance as well. Finally, Paul Henreid plays his recurring role as anti-Nazi hero very well.
The rest of the cast are the WB stable, nothing special. Greenstreet, Sakall, Dooley Wilson (as Sam), and even Peter Lorre do little to provide a classic sense to the film (although I always love Peter Lorre, who was a favorite of German playwright and communist Bertold Brecht.
The movie has lots of interesting tidbits, like when Rick says "It's the new German 77's…and close." Germany didn't have a 77mm gun, but they did have an 88mm gun. The War Department asked Wallis to change the reference so the Germans wouldn't know that we knew about the 88. Also, the Lockheed Electra in the final scene is actually a half-size replica with little people working on it. A full-size Electra wouldn't fit on the set. Rick never says "Play it again, Sam," one of the most frequently quoted lines associated with the movie.
Casablanca spurred a number of spinoffs, ripoffs and TV shows-some of which Bogart starred in himself (including Passage to Marseilles, which has a mind-numbing number of flashbacks within flashbacks and a similar cast).
As the screenwriters frantically pumped out pages of the screenplay, the shooting was winding down and the cast, sensing a magical movie, wondered: How would it end? Would Rick rat on Lazlo and send him to a concentration camp? Or would he give up Ilsa? When they shot the first version, the Epstiens were working on writing on the second. Director Michael Curtiz told them not to bother: the first shot at it was right.
See, Curtiz understood something that our current Commander in Thief would never understand: War demands sacrifice. Not only from the soldiers, but from those who want to stay out of it as well.
So while Casablanca is a classic, and arguably the greatest movie of all time, it certainly was not planned that way and any number of things could have turned a memorable movie into another Passage to Marseille.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still cooler than seasonal and overcast til mid-day.
Talked to dear old Dad - things have cooled off there a bit, too.
They haven't had the usual rain & his water use is restricted - no watering lawns or gardens, no washing cars.
The river down back (Clarion) is low & the creek that runs through Rolfe and into it is nearly dry.
Radio Station Won't Cancel Show
Garrison Keillor
A public radio station in Kentucky has reversed its decision to cancel Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" over concerns about offensive content, after what station officials said was an outpouring of support.
WUKY-FM, based in Lexington, canceled the show in early August. The daily spot runs a few minutes and features Keillor noting important milestones in writing history, after which he typically reads a poem.
Recent poems had included words such as "breast" and the phrase "get high." Another included suggestive sexual content, according to WUKY General Manager Tom Goddell.
He said there were no listener complaints, but station officials had worried about recent moves by the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on language it considered obscene.
"We've had a lot of response to 'The Writer's Almanac,' most of it favorable," Keillor said. "I don't think it's ever been taken off or been censored before."
Keillor added, with a laugh: "It's an honor to be taken off the air. I had to wait until I was 63. You are nobody in radio until you've been fired at least once, and I've never been fired. At least it's vindication."
Garrison Keillor
Comedy Central On Trail
'Comedians of Comedy'
Comedy Central is in production on a new series, "Comedians of Comedy," which blends stand-up performances with behind-the-scenes footage that takes viewers anywhere from backstage to hotel rooms.
Comedians featured on the series include Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt ("The King of Queens"), who also serves as an executive producer. "Comedians" could premiere as early as the fourth quarter.
'Comedians of Comedy'
Reunion DVD
Cream
A DVD chronicling power-rock trio Cream's May reunion run at London's Royal Albert Hall will be released October 4 via archival label Rhino Records.
The shows found guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker performing together for the first time in nearly 37 years, save for a one-off set at Cream's 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The group is said to be mulling a similar run at New York's Madison Square Garden in late October, but has yet to confirm specifics. The London shows grossed more than $3.6 million, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Cream
British Answer To Hollywood Walk O'Fame
Avenue of the Stars
Nicole Kidman, Charlie Chaplin, the Rolling Stones and Laurence Olivier will be among names on the British equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Television network ITV announced Wednesday it was sponsoring the Avenue of the Stars, dedicated to performers from Britain and the Commonwealth.
The thoroughfare of silver stars will be set within the courtyard of St. Paul's Church - a 17th-century structure nicknamed "the actors' church" - in London's Covent Garden market.
Avenue of the Stars
Hospital News
Madonna
Madonna's 47th birthday celebration was marred when she suffered several broken bones in a horse riding accident at her country home outside London, her publicist told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The superstar was hospitalized with three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand, according to Liz Rosenberg, her spokeswoman based in New York.
Madonna
Turns Into a Stampede
Laptop Sale
A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.
An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299.
Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene.
Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.
Laptop Sale
She's B-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-C-K!
Kathie Lee Gifford
Two of Howard Stern's favorite personalities will soon be on the same show together.
Kathie Lee Gifford, former co-host of "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee," will join Pat O'Brien on the showbiz gossip show "The Insider" as a special correspondent, starting September 12. She will appear at least two days a week to cover celebrity interviews and the Broadway beat.
Stern was fixated by Gifford's antics during her run on "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee," while "Insider" anchor O'Brien's recent drug problems have also fascinated the radio humorist.
Kathie Lee Gifford
TV Stunt Fools Nessie-Hunters
Loch Ness Monster
Loch out! Hundreds of stunned tourists were duped into thinking they had seen Scotland's famous Loch Ness Monster, the television pranksters behind the stunt revealed.
Around 600 people got just what they were looking for when they saw a 16-foot (five-metre) beast rise through the water.
However, Britain's Channel Five television admitted Tuesday that the startling vision was actually a 440-pound (200-kilogramme) animatronic model named Lucy which had roamed the loch for a fortnight.
The television channel said the public reaction ranged from those utterly convinced they had seen the legendary beast and those who know a fibre-glass and polyurethane rubber hoax when they see one.
Loch Ness Monster
Potluck Fodder
Lucky Cows
Russia's long winter will just fly by for a herd of Russian cows which, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, will be fed confiscated marijuana over the cold months.
Drug workers said they adopted the unusual form of animal husbandry after they were forced to destroy the sunflowers and maize crops that the 40 tonnes of marijuana had been planted among, Novye Izvestia daily reported.
"There is simply no other way out. You see, the fields are planted with feed crops and if we remove it all the cows will have nothing to eat," a Federal Drugs Control Service spokeswoman for the Urals region of Sverdlovsk told the paper.
"I don't know what the milk will be like after this."
Lucky Cows
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Aug. 8-14. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.9 million viewers.
2. (28) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 11.7 million viewers.
3. (8) "Without a Trace," CBS, 11.5 million viewers.
4. (7) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.4 million viewers.
5. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.9 million viewers.
6. (13) "Two And a Half Men" (Monday, 9 p.m.) CBS, 10.1 million viewers.
7. (37) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 10.1 million viewers.
8. (20) "NCIS," CBS, 9.5 million viewers.
9. (X) NFL Exhibition: Miami vs. Chicago, ABC, 9.1 million viewers.
10. (33) "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 8.7 million viewers.
11. (X) "Museum of Television and Radio: Unforgettable Moments in Television Entertainment," NBC, 8.6 million viewers.
12. (11) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 8.5 million viewers.
13. (X) "AFC-NFC Hall of Fame Showcase," ABC, 8.5 million viewers.
14. (16) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 8.3 million viewers.
15. (36) "Crossing Jordan," NBC, 8.2 million viewers.
16. (24) "CSI: NY," CBS, 8.1 million viewers.
17. (16) "Cold Case," CBS, 8.1 million viewers.
18. (73) "Big Brother 6" (Tuesday), CBS, 8.1 million viewers.
19. (X) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (Sunday, 7 p.m.), ABC, 7.6 million viewers.
20. (20) "Law & Order," NBC, 7.6 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements, a fiddle virtuoso and A-list studio musician who played with Paul McCartney and an array of others, died at his home Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter said.
Clements, 77, was hospitalized for 18 days earlier this year, receiving chemotherapy and other treatment.
"He had no quality of life since he'd been diagnosed," said daughter Midge Cranor, who added that the cancer had spread to his liver and brain.
During his career, he recorded on more than 2,000 albums, joining artists as varied as McCartney, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, Hank Williams Jr., the Byrds, Woody Herman and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Clements, a Kinard, S.C., native who grew up in Kissimmee, Fla. also recorded more than two dozen albums of his own.
Clements, who appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film "Nashville," taught himself to play at age 7 and had no formal training. The first song he learned was "There's an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor."
"I don't read music. I play what I hear."
He was employed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a year in the mid-1960s, working on plumbing. At various times, he also worked in a Georgia paper mill, was a switchman for Atlantic Coast Railroad, sold insurance and had a potato chip franchise.
Vassar Clements
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