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Family Time: How You Can Give Your Family The Gift Of Time This Christmas
What if I told you there was a very simple way you could spend more time with your family starting this Christmas? What if I told you it wouldn't cost you a cent? What if I told you there was a simple way to get up to four extra hours every day with your ...
Television's Mysteries
The Twilight Zone of other Television Programs You unlock this door with the key of imagination. That's what Rod Serling would say. It appears to me that the Twilight Zone may have affected more than the 30 minutes it controlled every week those many ...
Violence in Media
In the news, we hear and see an increasing number of reports about violence among children. This goes from rude fights on the playground to armed incidents in schools that result in injuries or even casualties. Now asking ourselves where this behaviour is ...
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Well at least in the next few months one way to keep score is to watch the revenues generated between the recently released "Batman Begins" and "Fantastic Four", which were both childhood fascinations of mine. Not only are there superhero "what ifs" going on here, but which comic book company will stand to gain the most economic substantiation? Batman Begins punches the daily time clock at DC Comics and the Fantastic Four was the brainchild of Stan Lee and crew at Marvel Comics.
And don't tell me there is a small comic book hero market. Batman Begins claimed the number one spot in gross revenue on its opening weekend. Hollywood is definitely increasing the thickness of its silver lining these days with comic book hero movies. Batman Begins took in almost $49 million it's opening weekend. How many mint condition old comic books would you have to sell to make that kind of dough? Are we in the wrong end of the comic book world (ha ha)?
The rivalry between Marvel and DC used to be a major dividing line amongst the tight knit group of comic book collectors. When comic book interest started to decline in the 1970s, this issue became largely irrelevant. But now as video games, online role-playing games and major motion picture productions are spreading across the globe, the classic Marvel-DC conflict is springing back to life.
Superman is coming back to life on the big screen as well as Wonder Woman. Marvel has been riding high off their major successes with the X-men and Spiderman. They are now digging deep into their catalog of characters and are working on screen adaptations of Iron Man, the Submariner, Thor and Silver Surfer, among others. Have we entered a new comic book age that will have to be defined around major motion
pictures? Maybe it could be call the "Greenback Age". Do you have another definition?
And as computer literate as so many are these days, Marvel and DC will have to start developing more online games and virtual universes of all their characters that you and I will be willing to pay a monthly fee to access through our computers and game consoles. Ka-ching, Ka-ching. DC has already announced a deal with Sony Online Entertainment and Marvel is working with Vivendi Universal Games. With the massive successes of the X-Men and Spiderman movies, this has proven that the Marvel characters still have life and relevance in today's pop culture.
While DC may be playing a bit of catch up, they are quick to point out that they and Warner Bro. have been more successful on the small screen with TV shows like "Smallville" and several animated cartoon series. And further since their TV and film projects are filmed and aired by the Warner Bro. conglomerate, DC gets to keep more of the profit than Marvel does on their projects.
What do we, the consumer public, get out of all this? Well, for one, we get to see our heroes in a more realistic light than ever before. We can grab that popcorn and maybe an extra drink and watch our comic book heroes and characters come to life in a real world setting, at least for a few hours, and walk out with a little more joy in our hearts. Go out and get immersed in Batman Begins and hold your breath for the Fantastic Four. And besides, this new revelation in Hollywood may just increase the value of our old mint condition comics. We can only wait and see.
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Turkey struggles to preserve childhood cartoonFox NewsToday, as he's eclipsed by more flamboyant cartoon characters, a few ardent fans are working industriously to revive this faded icon, who helped steer the early consciousness of many Turks who describe him wistfully as a cute, childhood companion.and more » |
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Nick Galifianakis cartoons, the early yearsWashington PostArtist Nick Galifianakis has been illustrating Carolyn Hax's advice column in The Washington Post since it launched in 1997. Here , a look at his earliest work. Monument climb, baby heart transplant, robotic fish and more. Barn owls, pit bulls, ...and more » |
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About that cartoon . . .Concord MonitorBy Felice Belman / Monitor editor I certainly didn't think state Republican Party officials would laugh out loud at Mike Marland's cartoon on yesterday's Opinion page. If you missed it, Marland drew House Speaker Bill O'Brien sporting a Hitler ...and more » |
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Cartoons: A long way to goIBNLive.comThey no longer have to watch the boring and mediocre cartoons to kill time. Out of the wide array of sub-standard cartoons and kids' shows, only a handful are genuinely funny and worth watching. Cartoons, which are now finding their way through the ... |
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