According to a poll taken last week by CBS/New York Times – well past the “heat of the moment” generated from the Newtown Massacre – 88% of the American public are in favor of sanctions that would limit the gun-buying capabilities of terrorists, criminals, and the insane.
88% of the American people. That’s higher than, say, “should we continue to prevent starving grandmothers from receiving free life-saving health care?” Higher than “do you think we landed on the moon?” or “did the holocaust really happen?” Higher than “where do you want to go for lunch?”
Oh ho ho… won’t the Parker fan-boys be in a tizzy. Spoiler Alert: this Snarky Synopsis is gonna dive deep into the recesses of Superior Spider-Man #9. If you don’t want to be spoiled, let me give you the skinny: It’s a great book. You should be reading it. If you’re not, I don’t know how we can ever be friends again. It’s awesome. So there. OK. Everyone else ready? Good. Let’s dig in.
For those not in-the-know, but don’t care if I get detailed… the book is crazy simple to pick up. Otto Octavious in a last-ditch effort, swapped brains with Peter Parker right before his lumpy body kicked the bucket. A smidgen of Parkers memories stowed away though, and since the Superior Spider-Man has been taking New York by storm, Memory Parker was trying to figure out a way to return to control of his body. Last issue, Otto-Spidey figured it out. In issue #9, he attempts to perform a memory-ectomy. Perhaps he should have watched “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. But I digress. The issue itself is the astral plane smackdown we’ve been waiting for. In the balance? Control of Peter Parker’s body for all time. And hence the mental war begins!
Those of you who keep track of such things (and if you don’t, why not?) may have noticed that my recent columns have linked more often than usual to the War Resisters League. The first political organization with which I was ever involved, WRL has been part of my life ever since my friend, Liz Turner (now Haase) told me about it when we were 11 and 12.
This year is the 90th anniversary of WRL’s founding, And to celebrate, we’re asking you and people like you to join us.
Don’t worry. You don’t have to become vegan, or go on a hunger strike until our troops are out of Afghanistan, or go to jail because you refuse to pay taxes that support the military. I haven’t done those things, and I still think I’m part of the movement.
One of the most enjoyable successful stories on TV this season has been NBC’s GRIMM. Despite a Friday night time slot, the show has grown to the point where the network has rewarded it with another full season in 2013-14. Star David Giuntoli talks about what it feels like to be on top and how it all has worked. Plus what books are flying out of the book stores these days, who will be The Black Panther on the big screen and how Charlie McCarthy is getting a biopic.
Springtime means Tornado Season for most of the midwest and this week The Weather Channel is blowing out Tornado week. Meteorologist and morning host Mike Bettes talks with us exclusively about what’s coming up over the next few days, plus more with Jack Kenny and Eddie McClintoick on this season of WAREHOUSE 143 (and the next?). Lots of news out of C2E2, new homes for ELFQUEST and ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE and a new Comic Sales Countdown.
It was really touch and go for me this week but it looks like I’m going to make it through. I was a guest on Monday’s episode of Outside the Lines on ESPN to comment on Jason Collins coming out of the closet and becoming the first openly gay player in any of the four major American sports leagues. When I was asked about it I said:
“I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is…. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be … that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ.”
A lot of people had a problem with that and there were calls for me to lose my job as NBA analyst for ESPN. I seem to be safe but ESPN has issued a statement saying that they regret that my comments distracted from the story. What should I do?
-Chris Broussard, Analyst, ESPN
Chris,
I didn’t expect to say this but I think you’re doing everything right and you should probably just stay the course. That doesn’t mean I agree with anything you said but after seeing more of the segment than the pull quote I used up there and seeing your clarification on Twitter I believe you’re less of an anti-gay bigot and more of a completely backwards bible thumper and that’s well within your rights. I don’t think any serious cultural commentators think there’s no place for sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. Your moral views are a touch anachronistic but I don’t go around tearing down the Amish. [Read the rest of this entry...]
59 years ago, four men and women came to Washington DC and shot five Congressmen on the House floor. It’s possible you haven’t heard of this one; I’ve been surprising people with this story for a long, long time.
On March 1, 1954, in an attempt to illuminate the world on the horrors of American imperialism, four Puerto Rican nationalists came to Washington armed to the teeth, got themselves seats in the visitors’ balcony (referred to as the Ladies’ Gallery) and, at the moment they deemed appropriate, unfurled a Puerto Rican flag, whipped out their semi-automatic pistols and got off 30 rounds, wounded five Congressmen – one seriously but none fatally. They did not have to be burdened with gun laws or checkpoints, and they were not shot down by schoolteachers where they stood.
Story and Art by by Kevin Eastman, Script by Tom Waltz
For those who follow my column at ComicMix, they will no doubt know my love of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I grew up with them. I have essentially followed their careers from their first cartoon up until the present. I admit though, that I knew nothing of their comic book counterparts. Whilst I knew the basics—that Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman mocked the current love of ninjas and Frank Miller-dom in the 80s by parodying the tropes and producing TMNT—I simply never “got on board” with their run in pulp. Knowing that, I’d been tipped to an interview of Eastman on CBR wherein he pitched issue 21 as being a great jump-on point. To his credit, I didn’t need to know much if anything about the previous 20 issues of the series in order to read #21. Of course there is one thing Eastman didn’t add in his interview… that this comic is an atrocity.
WAREHOUSE 13 is back on SyFy for a new run of episodes, and fans are wondering how they can begin to clean up the mess left at the end of last fall’s season. Show Runner Jack Kenny along with stars Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly talk about how it will all play out for the show. Plus WalMart gives of MAN OF STEEL and DAREDEVIL comes home to Marvel Studios.
This has been something of a Bizarro week, at least as far as the news goes. I would love to use the opportunity to make a bunch of mean-spirited jokes, but unfortunately (for real humans and for my cheap laughs). the situations are generally horrific.
To start, there is the Boston marathon bombers. Fortunately, they were found and captured within the week, thanks to excellent police work (and some martial law). In the process, a policeman was killed.
When is making a short zombie film an act of protest?
When the heroes and heroines are black. When there is no Sacrificial Negro to fulfill the fantasy that our lives matter less than white lives. When there is no cooning, shucking or jiving. When no black “Spiritual Guide” exists only to ennoble and enlighten white characters. When artists and backers unite to circumvent cultural barriers to tell our own stories.
As authors and screenwriters, we never set out to become filmmakers. But after years of options, pitches and meetings, we realized Hollywood is just a money machine following the ticket-buying habits of America as a whole. It will never lead. It was time to stop waiting for Hollywood to translate our stories to screen.
So the idea for our short film Danger Word was born.
We’ve all heard TV shows described as being “on the bubble” when it comes to this time of year, but what is it like for the cast of one of these series? We talk to Eliza Coupe and Elisha Cuthbert on how the cast of HAPPY ENDINGS is handing the waiting game for a renewal from ABC. Plus rumors on the JLA movie, a speed up on the FF movie and why eBay has decided that RACHEL RISING is the next WALKING DEAD.
When the bombs went off last week, former George Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer gave an interview saying this wasn’t the time for partisan posturing, it was a time for coming together as Americans. I was impressed; Fleischer has been one of the more political posturers, and it was refreshing to see him do the right thing.
I mentioned this to daughter Adriane, who texted “Oh, then you didn’t see Fox.” Well, no, I didn’t. The idea of watching Roger Ailes’ cable version of Heckle and Jeckle ranks just behind taking high-strychnine LSD and setting my nostril hairs on fire. She said Fox reported 10 deaths and an arrest of a Saudi terrorist. They were off by, well, seven deaths (eight at the time) and one arrest.
Written and Drawn by Dan Dougherty, Colors by Wesley Wong
I have come to relish the independent scene recently. It is because of books like Revival, Nowhere Men, Clone, and now Touching Evil. And while Dan Dougherty’s book may not sit right between Image imprints on shelf somewhere (yet), it could easily do so and no one would be the wiser. Dougherty’s macabre tale is a bit mystery, a bit horror, and a bit character-driven drama that jumps out of the gate with a big story to tell. In 30 or so pages, we are left with a book that stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best genre-hopping indie books being put out today. While Marvel and DC flip and flop about with their capes, cowls, reboots, and crossovers… The other guys are exploring what comics can really become.
So Thursday, my deadline day, I was all set to write about the situation in Boston, and how these things always happen in April. I take these events quite personally, because my birthday is usually in the middle of the trauma, and they not only are horrific events, but they take the attention away from me.
But then, yesterday, I got some horrible news about one of my best friends and couldn’t write. Overnight, the situation changed. If the column I planned to write had run, I would have looked like an idiot. Sometimes, rarely, not being able to write is a good thing.
According to a poll taken last week by CBS/New York Times – well past the “heat of the moment” generated from the Newtown Massacre – 88% of the American public are in favor of sanctions that would limit the gun-buying capabilities of terrorists, criminals, and the insane.![[Facebook]](http://mdwp.malibulist.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
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