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With Further Ado #244: Five and a Half Questions with Mike Reiff (An ITHACON Prelude)

With Further Ado #244: Five and a Half Questions with Mike Reiff (An ITHACON Prelude)

Posted on by Ed Catto

I can’t wait for ITHACON! It’s coming up soon – April 22nd and 23rd. And if you buy your tix before April 16th, you also get this amazing swag bag. Trust me – there’s so much cool merchandise in these that it totally offsets the (modest) ticket prices.

Educator and writer Mike Reiff will be presenting at ITHACON this year too, and I couldn’t be happier. I caught up with him just so I could keep track of everything he’s up to!

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Question #1

Ed Catto: You are doing so much work with Graphic Novels and kids now. Can you tell me about it all?

Mike Reiff: Well, I would first note that I’m working with an outstanding team at Ithaca High School (IHS) on this – from the support of the district leadership to building principal Jason Trumble to a great English department, when we think about our recent push to diversify our literacy offerings – with “diversify” a complex and expansive term – one person couldn’t do what’s being done, it takes a team. So I’m speaking as a reporter as much as an implementer of some of the shifts, and some of the graphic novel work pre-dates my active involvement in this, including texts taught in classrooms and a astonishing array of graphic texts offered and promoted by our High School librarian team. Continue reading “With Further Ado #244: Five and a Half Questions with Mike Reiff (An ITHACON Prelude)” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?

Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?

Posted on by Mike Gold

Hey girl, we’ve got to get out of this place. There’s got to be something better than this. I need you, but I hate to see you this way. If I were Superman then we’d fly away. (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman, written by Ray Davies.

This past week has been quite full of two things, the first one being news.

Among the very few items in the news that promoted a sense of hope and tranquility was the communication from the very fan-friendly co-head of Warner’s DC Studios James Gunn, who tweeted the eventual possibility of a big-ass Marvel / DC crossover movie. He pointed out that he remains good friends with Marvel Media Emperor Kevin Feige, particularly with Gunn’s third and final Guardians of the Galaxy movie set to drop any day now, and that they talk all the time.

Well, that’s amusing. Maybe it will happen, although I have no doubt that would come off no earlier than a year with a “7” in it at best. But I’ve been through this before over on the publishing side, and you’ll note that the last time a DC / Marvel comic came out was well before any of Marc Alan Fishman’s multitude of children were born. When the first such effort was announced the word around DC Comics was “why should we give Marvel such a massive promotion opportunity?” Yet the 1976 Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man tabloid tome was published, and it was worthy. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Billion Dollar Babies?” →

With Further Ado #343: SXSW Part 3- Mrs. Davis, Tetris & Motion Comics (kind of)

With Further Ado #343: SXSW Part 3- Mrs. Davis, Tetris & Motion Comics (kind of)

Posted on by Ed Catto

Let’s take one more bite out of the SXSW apple. I’ve been writing about this business + music festival. There was a lot going on, and here’s three more pop culture efforts to focus on:

Who’s That Nun?

AI’s been such a big topic, a scary topic, It makes sense that an action hero will rise to fight it. I hadn’t quite expected this particular action hero.

In the spirit of the “Keep Austin Weird” mantra that is woven into the background fabric of the SXSW festival, it was kind of fun to see a couple of nuns whoosh by in a pedicab. But then when I saw “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS NUN?” posters plastered around downtown Austin, it was apparent something was up.

It was all a promotion for the upcoming Peacock show, Mrs. Davis. The Hollywood Reporter described the show like this:

Mrs. Davis is a perfectly timed warning about AI Madness

It’s a Catholic nun vs. AI in a wild new drama for the creators Damon Lindelof (The Watchmen) and Tara Hernandez (Big Bang Theory) that pits faith against technology run amok: “The most exciting thing about ‘Mrs. Davis’ is that there’s nothing like ‘Mrs. Davis.’”

Continue reading “With Further Ado #343: SXSW Part 3- Mrs. Davis, Tetris & Motion Comics (kind of)” →

With Further Ado #242: SXSW Part 2 – Flatstock

Posted on by Ed Catto

South By Southwest (SXSW), the business + music festival that seemed an awful lot like a giant comic convention to me, was stuffed full of an almost incomprehensible amount of many things to see and do. It isn’t conceivable that anyone could do everything there – even if they figured out a way to forgo sleep.

Flatstock was one of those events-within-an-event that I’m really happy I got a chance to experience. Continue reading “With Further Ado #242: SXSW Part 2 – Flatstock” →

Brainiac on Banjo: Bond… Hoagy Bond?

Brainiac on Banjo: Bond… Hoagy Bond?

Posted on by Mike Gold

Have no fear, look who’s here… James Bond… They’ve got us on the run… With guns… And knives… We’re fighting for our lives. – Casino Royale, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The US release of the first James Bond comic book.

Sherlock Holmes. Tarzan. Superman. James Kirk. James Bond. The public’s continuing appetite for heroic fantasy superstars has long been well established, and ever since communication went mass they have been at the center of the most prevalent form of entertainment worldwide. This is a truth that validates our low-brow culture: it turns out that both boys and girls just want to have fun.

Not all such characters live forever. Tarzan, like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Bulldog Drummond and many other superstars of action, are in serious danger of being relegated to the storage stacks of cultural history. Of course, that death need not be permanent: Doctor Who, Star Trek and several others have been successfully resurrected and modernized without destroying the fabric of their creation.

When it comes to one of the most successful heroes, at the present we are on hold. Daniel Craig has retired as the latest James Bond and, even though the next Bond flick is just entering its development stage I can’t help but wonder how they’ll pull off James’ inevitable resurrection. Continue reading “Brainiac on Banjo: Bond… Hoagy Bond?” →

With Further Ado #241: SXSW Part 1 – Vault Unbound

With Further Ado #241: SXSW Part 1 – Vault Unbound

Posted on by Ed Catto

My head just about exploded at the South by Southwest Conference and Festivals (SXSW) this past week. This is an amazing event- kind of like the love child of San Diego Comic-Con and a musical festival and a business conference with a ton of forward-looking panels. There’s so much to dissect and analyze. I’ll be doing a deep dive in next week’s column.

But to give you a taste of it, I will focus on the lone comic panel at the SXSW this year – the Vault / Def Leppard / Kajabi panel.

This was a high-profile event that was designed, on the surface of it all, to celebrate Vault’s upcoming Hysteria project with Def Leppard. Phil Collen of Def Leppard was on the stage, along with Vault CEO Damian Wassel and Kajabi’s Sean Kim as part of the new Headshell imprint. Continue reading “With Further Ado #241: SXSW Part 1 – Vault Unbound” →

Brainiac On Banjo: Tits and Boobs and Breasts… Oh, My!

Brainiac On Banjo: Tits and Boobs and Breasts… Oh, My!

Posted on by Mike Gold

“‘Tits’ doesn’t even belong on the list! That’s such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname. ‘Hey, Tits, come here, man. Hey! Hey Tits, meet Toots. Toots, Tits. Tits, Toots.’ It sounds like a snack, doesn’t it? Yes, I know, it is a snack. But I don’t mean your sexist snack! I mean New Nabisco Tits!, and new Cheese Tits, Corn Tits, Pizza Tits, Sesame Tits, Onion Tits, Tater Tits. ‘Betcha Can’t Eat Just One!’ That’s true. I usually switch off.” – George Carlin, The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television

Of course there are a lot of things going on in this world that confuse me, and I suspect that might be true with you as well. Much of that confusion comes from America’s new environment of interpretive truth. To be fair, that is exacerbated by our politically correct atmosphere — that which the Christian Nationalists, dullards and assholes call “woke” because they can’t cope with five extra syllables.

One of the things that confuses me, and it has for quite some time now, is the proper euphemism for breasts. Oh, c’mon. It’s not like we don’t all have them. I realize the holy-moly rounders are not allowed to say “breasts” unless they’re in a Chick-fill-A and their hunger overwhelms their religious angst. Yes, I’m looking at you, Mike Pence.

From watching television commercials these days, it is clear that the word “boobs” is the current preference. Some find the word “tits” to be rude or even outright disgusting. Whereas boobs sounds like it’s more fun than tits (which is nonsense; they are equally fun), I don’t quite get it. The Oxford Dictionary defines boob as “a foolish or stupid person” and, second, as “an embarrassing mistake.” The whole breast thing is noted further down the listing. Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: Tits and Boobs and Breasts… Oh, My!” →

Continued After the Next Page #022: Planning Panels and Conventioning in the Windy City and Ithaca

Continued After the Next Page #022: Planning Panels and Conventioning in the Windy City and Ithaca

Posted on by Bob Harrison

In the “before times”, people would come to the gathering place and wander the concourse taking in the sights purchasing shiny wares with no fear of deadly disease. That was three years ago. Are we back to that point? Probably not, and probably not for a while still, but we are getting closer.

Comic convention season is back in full force. That break in con scheduling that we normally have from before the December holidays until late February didn’t really happen this year. Most people seems to be willing to return to the circuit with little concern for the pandemic creating coronavirus. The best part of this is that my social media feeds are not filling up with tales of infections or even the dreaded con-crud.

All of this has me even more excited to begin my 2023 convention season in a couple of weeks. Your intrepid correspondent will be part of the press contingent at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, more commonly known by its geek friendly acronym C2E2. I will be walking the floors all three days talking to exhibitors and fans and checking out some of the interesting panel programming.

However, the most exciting panels, in my not so humble opinion, will take place on Sunday April 2, 2023. I will be hosting two panels a Reed event for the first time in my career, and I am beyond excited. Continue reading “Continued After the Next Page #022: Planning Panels and Conventioning in the Windy City and Ithaca” →

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #083: Creative Devolution

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #083: Creative Devolution

Posted on by Marc Alan Fishman

In a few short weeks, Unshaven Comics kicks off our 2023 convention season with a trip… home. After applying and failing to gain admittance to C2E2’s Artist Alley, our FOMO kicked in, and we grossly overpaid for a small press booth. For those coming out to the show who’d like to rub it in? We’ll be at SP12 — in the small press area between Artist Alley and the autograph lanes. 

Here’s the funny part — to me at least. I was the one who felt the biggest pangs of pre-regret when the small press table contract was sent to us. I was the one who all but told my Unshaven mates “we’re doing this show even if we break even”. This knowing we’re still a few months away from a new Samurnauts issue being ready. This knowing all we have new is the awesome Blooms: Heist on the Magical Girl Vault that Kyle completed last year with Stephanie Mided. 

Nerf gun to our collective heads? Unshaven feels like this show won’t feel like some amazing homecoming. Especially because Blooms did debut in Chicago… Last year. At the massively underwhelming Fan Expo Chicago (the mutated carcass of the original Chicago Comic Con, aka Wizard World Chicago). We moved 43 copies at that show, and honestly, that was pretty good all things considered. So, we waltz into C2E2 praying that the fans walking in did not attend Fan Expo last year — or if they did, they somehow missed us.

So, knowing that we’d need to hit decent-to-awesome revenue numbers at the show to make back our booth cost, enter desperation! 

With limited time and maximum flop sweat, I looked to my personal cash cow — PokeMashups — to hopefully give us a little buzz.. Since I started offering these silly things, I’ve personally seen continuous exponential growth. 

Before I talk about our hail Mary for success…A bit of backstory for the uninitiated. Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #083: Creative Devolution” →

Brainiac On Banjo: The Wolfe In Creep’s Loathing

Brainiac On Banjo: The Wolfe In Creep’s Loathing

Posted on by Mike Gold

A brave man once requested me to answer questions that are key. Is it to be or not to be? And I replied, oh why ask me? — “Suicide Is Painless,” lyric written by Michael B. Altman (age, 15)

For 89 years, one of the more reliable cultural stalwarts in the global pop culture has been the adventures of private detective / gourmand / orchid-raiser / fussbudget genius Nero Wolfe. His fictional history encompasses 33 novels and 41 novellas and short stories written by mathematician and pro-labor, pro-New Deal, pro-Roosevelt, anti-fascist Rex Stout through 1975. Wolfe has been featured in a gargantuan number of movies, radio shows, television series, stage plays and postage stamps produced all over the world.

As careful readers of Brainiac On Banjo (et al) may be aware, I am among Rex Stout’s many rabid fans. What appeals most to me is the dialogue between Wolfe and his assistant / legman / tormentor Archie Goodwin — quite frankly, I have found these particular scenes (of which there are many in each novel) to be among the best and more entertaining exchanges of words in the English language. A decade after Stout’s death the Wolfe series was and has been continued by Chicago Tribune journalist Robert Goldborough, who, to date, has written 16 more Wolfe novels including an origin of the Wolfe/Goodwin “team.” Continue reading “Brainiac On Banjo: The Wolfe In Creep’s Loathing” →