Thank you Facebook for bringing this one to my attention. Though not comic book related, it’s using known sci-fi (Star Trek) to take Republican Virginia leadership to task.
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Image via Wikipedia
Yesterday news spread quickly that Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean had placed Neil Gaiman on his “hate list” and accused Gaiman of stealing $45,000 from the people of Minnesota after giving a speech. Dean also called Gaiman a “pencil-necked weasel” (sticks and stones people).
Gaiman went to his blog to explain the situation further, after first giving his non-political credentials. Gaiman also showed the humor of it all listing four thoughts he has of them. Gaiman generally thinks that “it’s funny,” he actually likes being on someone’s “hate list” as it reminds him of Nixon and tacks a jab back about the “pencil-necked weasel” part. Gaiman also sets the record straight saying he received $33,600. That’s a bit less than the $45,000 (25% less) than Dean claimed, showing that Dean is not only into hyperbole but also a liar. Gaiman also points out that Dean’s complaining also is a bit hypocritical. If the man believes in market principles, Gaiman is just taking advantage of that. Nothing like hypocrisy in politicians.
It also looks like Dean has apologized for the “pencil-neck weasel” comment. Not because he actually feels bad, but because his mom made him. From the Minnesota public radio:
“My mom is staying with us right now because my wife’s out of town,” Dean said. “She was very angry this morning and always taught me not to be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.”
Now, can Dean explain the exaggeration (outright lie actually) as to the fee itself?
Mark Millar is a writer who’s not afraid to speak his mind (I find the guy entertaining). In the below interview, Millar comes out and endorses the Scottish Nationalist Party after being a long time Labour Party supporter. He makes good points and has some reasons behind his decision. You can check his endorsement of the party and Alex Salmond below.
WonderCon is well underway and I’ll be at synDCon today (and maybe tomorrow if it’s good). Expect some coverage of the show and my thoughts. It looks like I finally found my band of geeks here in DC, so it looks like some non-video game gaming will now be sucking up some of my time. That’s super as I need another hobby. We have some special sections including an April Fools round up as well as WonderCon news!
Around the Blogs:
Bleeding Cool – McG Launches Comic Book Imprint With Aspen – Not to sound bitter, but Aspen is one company who’s never responded to my reaching out to be added to a press list. Oh well.
Union College – Jewish graphic novel exhibit open in Schaffer Library – If you’re in the Schenectady area, stop by and check this out. It runs until April 15.
Arts Beat – Graphic Books Best Sellers: Super-Hero Central – The New York Times continues it’s weekly list of best sellers.
Denver Post – Signs of intelligent life: Comic books? No, this is real lit in panels and pics – Looks like mainstream media is finally noticing comic books aren’t just tights and super powers anymore.
Borneo Post – PKR deplores comic books on Anwar – Comic books have entered the political discussion in Malaysia.
April Fools Pranks:
Bleeding Cool – FOOL: Arianna Huffington Buys Avatar Press – Comics Alliance And Bleeding Cool To Merge
Comics Alliance – Grant Morrison Denies Comic Delays a Result of Being a Reality-Protecting Wizard [WonderCon]
Comics Alliance – Time Warner to Release Superhero Character Copyrights to Original Creators
Comics Alliance – IDW Announces ‘The Room 2: Roomier,’ the Comic Book Sequel to Tommy Wiseau’s Film
Comics Alliance – DC Announces Their Next Major Crossover: ‘DCU DISARMED’ [Exclusive]
Comics Alliance – Marvel and DC Go Pre-Day & Date with Digital Comics, Single Issues Priced at 10 Cents
Comics Alliance – Ask Chris: Terrifying Gypsy Curse Edition
Comics Alliance – ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’ Gains Sentience, Hungers For The Flesh Of the Living
Comics Alliance – Variant Covers to 8 ‘Flashpoint’ Tie-In Comics Revealed [Exclusive]
iFanboy – BREAKING: Sentry Returns! Announcement at WonderCon!
WonderCon Coverage:
Comics Alliance – DC Comics Announces ‘Retro-Active’ One-Shots [WonderCon]
The Beat – WonderCon 11: Marvel — #801
The Beat – WonderCon 11: IDW – #701
The Beat – WonderCon 11: DC Comics — #140
The Beat – WonderCon 11: D&Q debuts at show — #416
The Beat – WonderCon 11: Boom! Studios – #415
The Beat – WonderCon 11: Image Comics – #401
The Beat – WonderCon 11: Top Shelf – #414
The Beat – WonderCon 11: Game of Thrones
The Beat – WonderCon: Flesk #709
Bleeding Cool – Nate Cosby Punches Humberto Ramos At WonderCon
Bleeding Cool – Green Lantern Movie Banner Thing At WonderCon
Bleeding Cool – WonderCon Waiting To Get In…
Assignment X – WonderCon 2011: ANGEL comic books will become ANGEL AND FAITH (Exclusive)
Around the Tubes Reviews:
The Comics Journal – Xombi #1
Not really comic book related but definitely political related. It’s too perfect to not share with folks.
VCU is going to the Final Four. That’s be a college basketball thing for folks out there not in the know. The team didn’t even pay attention to the seeding and took out the number one ranked Kansas. Congrats! On to this weekend comic book news.
Around the Blogs:
Bleeding Cool – Racebending With The X-Men – Do these products give you super powers too?
Comicvine – Breaking: Amy Adams to play Lois Lane – That’s a good looking cast.
Kotaku – Sunday Comics – Kotaku wraps up what they consider the best of webcomics.
Around the Tubes Reviews:
Good Comic Books – Ultimate Spiderman #156
Choice Quotes:
Osbron #4
Norman Osborn – Politics. The struggle for power. It always comes back to politics. And these people, my people, their lives are the casualties of that struggle.
and
Norman Osborn – Gray, green or blue — if they were born on American soil, those little devils have rights!
It was a pretty quiet weekend as far as breaking news. But, there was some interesting items that you can check out yourself below!
Around the Blogs:
The Beat – Diamond Data: Diamond Retailer Summit, 2011 – Sales numbers from the major comic book distributor.
NJ.com – That comic book cost how much??? – A humorous look at the cost of comic books.
Tech 2 – Gadgeted Superheroes – No Superpowers, Just Technology – Where does he get those wonderful toys?
Village Voice – New Generation of D.C. Pundits Reading Comic Books, Using Newfangled Internet – They also play video games and enjoy pop culture. Now, if they only admitted to all of it.
The Providence Journal – Comic book conference at Rhode Island College explores the educational value of visual storytelling – Great to see events and discussions like this.
Choice Quotes:
Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #5
Spider-Man – So we’re TV stars now, huh? I should probably have my own catchphrase then. Popycock! Razzmataz! Parchesi! Blagojevich!
Captain America #615.1
Captain America – You’re supposed to be the guy who knows right and wrong… outside the partisan crap that’s ruining our country…
Think those in the comic industry just chat about tights and superheroes on Twitter all day? Check out their ruminations on politics, culture and more.
Official Press Release
The City of New York
Office of the Mayor
New York, NY 10007
Mayor Bloomberg And Marvel Entertainment unveil “Spider-Man, You’re Hired” – a Special print and Digital comic promoting
New York city’s FREE job PLACEMENT resources
Comic Book Available Free from Marvel Comics’ App on iTunes and in the
New York Daily News as a Public Service at No Cost to the City
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver, Small Business Services Commissioner Robert W. Walsh, Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief and Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, New York Daily News CEO Bill Holiber and Editor-in-Chief Kevin Convey, and Spider-Man today announced the creation of “Spider-Man, You’re Hired,” an all-new comic book highlighting City resources available to New Yorkers who are navigating the job market. The comic, which features an unemployed Peter Parker starting his job search, is the Administration’s latest effort to connect out-of-work to New Yorkers to job training and placement services. It was inspired by the NYC Media original television production, “Job Hunt,” a ten-part series on how the City is helping New Yorkers to get back to work – focusing on Workforce1 Career Centers, libraries and other City services. Mayor Bloomberg made the announcement at Midtown Comics’ new store in Lower Manhattan.
“New York City provides free, first-rate job training and placement assistance, and we want every New Yorker that needs help to know about it, so we asked Spider-Man to help us spread the word,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “One of the reasons we created the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment was to find new ways to connect with New Yorkers. Our partnership with Marvel and the Daily News is a fun and innovative way to let everyone know about the web of resources the City has to offer New Yorkers that need job assistance.”
“Marvel’s proud to team-up with the City of New York to help inform all New Yorkers about the free services designed to assist them in finding employment. We couldn’t ask for two better leading men than Spider-Man and Mayor Bloomberg,” said Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada“Because even New York’s most famous Super Hero needs a day job!”
“We are always looking for new ways to reach people in all forms of media about the job resources offered by the City,” said Katherine Oliver, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “Working with Marvel, the Daily News and Small Business Services on this special ‘Spider-Man: You’re Hired’ edition is a tremendous example of how the government can work with the private sector to really help people.”
“Thank you to Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Oliver, the New York Daily News and the City’s great new partner, Marvel,” said Small Business Services Commissioner Walsh. “This is an exciting collaboration and a real super hero effort that will ensure that many more New Yorkers know about the City’s excellent free employment services. I’m glad that Peter Parker is helping us to spread the word to jobseekers that visiting a Workforce1 Career Center can help them get a job in this tough market.”
“As New York’s Hometown Newspaper, the Daily News is proud to use our printed pages and the power of NYDailyNews.com to help New Yorkers, like unemployed Spider-Man alter-ego Peter Parker, find work,” said New York Daily News CEO Bill Holiber. “The City of New York and the Daily News have been tremendous partners on this and other projects – such as the “Hire Me” series that partnered with the “Job Hunt” show and caller helpline – by combining our resources to help New Yorkers get to work. In today’s Daily News, not only will New Yorkers find a special edition of the Spider-Man comic created by Marvel Entertainment, but we’ve also provided readers with a guide to the city’s services for job searches, training and research. We hope our efforts not only help one of New York’s most famous super heroes find work, but other ‘real’ New Yorkers, as well.”
The recently created Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment is identifying and implementing new ways to let New Yorkers know about City resources available to them. To promote the City’s free workforce training and job placement services, the Office worked with Marvel Custom Solutions, a special division within Marvel Entertainment that develops innovative programs addressing the specific needs of partners and philanthropic interests, to create a special edition Spider-Man comic book featuring Mayor Bloomberg.
The full-color, eight-page comic features an out-of-work Peter Parker, frustrated and at a loss about how to find a new job. A serendipitous meeting with the Mayor helps to put him on the right track. The unique comic is available for free download online via iTunes through the popular Marvel Comics app (www.marvel.com/marvelcomicsapp). The New York Daily News is also printing a special edition of “Spider-Man: You’re Hired” at no cost to the City, appearing in over 600,000 papers with a list of all the Workforce 1 Centers in the City where the comic will be available.
The Department of Small Business Services oversees a system of nine Workforce1 Career Centers located throughout the five boroughs, which provide New York City jobseekers with a full array of free employment services, including job preparation, training and job placement in a professional setting. Since 2004, the Department of Small Business Services transformed a system that was placed New Yorkers in about 500 jobs a year into one that placed New Yorkers in more than 25,000 jobs in 2009. To find a Workforce1 Career Center and learn about services, New Yorkers can visit NYC.gov or call 311.
Two additional one-page comics have also been created in conjunction with this launch. In the first comic, Spider-Man can be seen at various well-known New York City attractions describing the great free job services that the City offers. Workforce1 Career Centers are located throughout the five boroughs and provide job seekers with a full array of employment services, including job placement, career counseling, professional development, and access to training opportunities. In the second comic, Spider-Man takes his friend Mary Jane to learn more about the “Made in NY” Production Assistant Training Program. Developed in partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, this free program helps diverse New Yorkers gain access to entry level positions in the entertainment industry. The program is currently recruiting for applicants.
The one-sheet comics are available for download on NYC.gov and can also be seen on phone kiosks and other signage throughout the city. A public service announcement featuring the comics can also be seen in City taxi cabs and on NYC life (channel 25) and NYC gov (channel 74), the City’s government station. The public service announcement, which debuted on Wednesday, explains the project and encourages people to download the comic. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has worked closely with the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission to ensure that the public service announcement can be seen by as many people as possible. It can also be viewed on the NYC Media Video On Demand Player available on nyc.gov.
“Job Hunt” – produced by NYC Media, the official television, radio and online network of the City of New York and part of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment – offers expert advice about navigating the job market and features New Yorkers who have taken advantage of City resources. In each episode of “Job Hunt,” a panel of experts and recruiters shares tips on resume building, interview skills, and landing a new job. Episodes are available to watch online at NYC.gov on the NYC Media Video on Demand Player.
On November 2, The Entertainment Consumers Association held a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court as it heard oral arguments in Schwarzenegger v. EMA and we were there (taking photos and shooting video). We’ll have more about the court case on Friday.
