UPDATE: How NOT To Demonstrate Accountability

Original Story July 16, 2012 8:52pm EDT:

Over on BleedingCool, a freelancer made a pretty big mistake covering the Firefly 10th Anniversary Reunion Press Conference.

Kate Kotler reported that Joss Whedon made a serious statement about continuing the franchise by doing a reboot.

I have been unable to find a single soul other than Ms. Kotler who thought this was the case. Her own editor, Brendon Connelly, originally ran it correctly as an article stating that Whedon had a snarky/sarcastic response about doing it. But she pushed on (allegedly with the support of Rich Johnston) to report her version.

That version stood up as an article for three days, as Brendon allowed her the opportunity to back it up.

During this time, she claimed she was in active communication with Debbie Myers (of The Science Channel) in her attempts to confirm it. The three days ended with the indication being that she was not once in touch with her beyond being directed to schedule an appointment with her assistance as the press conference broke up.

She blamed her equipment, saying her recorder broke down, when video and audio of the whole thing was available online within nine (9) hours of her article posting. She had over two (2) full days to see that how she recalled events happening (she says her notes eventually didn't fit what was recorded as happening, demonstrating sloppiness) was incorrect.

In the end, when she finally admitted her mistake 72 hours later, she said the following:

I strongly believe that the mark of character is the ability for an individual to stand up and honestly admit when they are wrong and have made a mistake. That is what I am here to do today.

I thought that took the cake. But then I saw the following exchange on Twitter:








Seriously? She objects (and continues to object when people call her on it) to having her own Twitter account tagged to her work, wanting the heat for her mistake (and that was hardly heat there) to go to the BleedingCool account, instead.

"I understand you're mad about the article, but could you make sure to blame the people I wrote the inaccurate article for instead? Kthnx!"

That about sums up the whole crazy ride.

UPDATE July 17, 2012 9:28pm EDT: Oh Lord, she gets even more ridiculous.

I feel a little like that there are a lot of people who were just waiting to take shots at me, when/if I was caught in a situation where I fucked up.

Being spectacularly wrong and refusing to acknowledge it for three days happened because people were rooting for it and waiting for it. She's running from the "innerwebs" to avoid seeing people take shots at her for her mistake, which is probably about the only reasonable response I've seen from her. Of course, until she actually takes an honest and sincere bit of responsibility for her error, I'd rather she have to take her lumps, but avoiding her "bad press" is generally a health approach.

Hypocrisy Sparkles (or "Hypocrisy & Stances on Creators' Rights")

So, news came out that JMS is partnering with Image Comics.

You know...the same JMS that Eric Stephenson, Image Comics publisher, railed against after the writer put both feet in his mouth when he chose to defend Before Watchmen in saying:

"Did Alan Moore get a crummy contract? Yes. So has everyone at this table. Worse was Siegal and Shuster. Worse was a lot of people."

Making that statement was going far beyond just participating in the project, as well as being patently ridiculous. It is, also, diametrically opposed to Stephenson's stand on the project and the larger issue of creators' rights.

So, shouldn't Stephenson then politely rebuffed the approach of the writer looking for a home for his own projects? Wouldn't that have been the principled stand to take?

Well, I thought that prior to going to Stephenson's blog to look up his response to JMS's idiocy. Which is when I found him piggybacking on Joe Keatinge's announced Thanos mini to push Keatinge's current and Jim Starlin's previous Image work, without once touching on the fact that Starlin indicates he created Thanos before being contracted for it and is not properly compensated for the character's continued use in comics or any other media.

Why no position on Marvel's continued use of a character without properly compensating the creator (never mind changing the character without the creator's approval)? It was a different time? Other creators have been screwed over far worse? Or, perhaps, was the public reaction more about seizing on the moment to turn it into marketing for your company?

I'd really like to know.

On Alan Moore & Before Watchmen

If you personally think Moore & Gibbons have been screwed over by not getting the WATCHMEN rights back by now, I respect that. If it leads you to want nothing to do with the BEFORE WATCHMEN project, I respect that.

If you think that WATCHMEN was a perfectly contained story that having more work done on ruins and feel the need to protest BEFORE WATCHMEN on that basis, you completely lose me. Prior to the relationship souring, Moore added more story via the RPG supplement and indicated he could be interested in doing a Minutemen story. But, beyond that, one's own personal entertainment preference is NOT reasonable basis to demand a story not be printed and condemn those involved (as publisher, creator or consumer). But if that opinion leads you to want nothing to do with the project? I respect that.

If you condemn the whole thing because the creators should be working on something of their own creation (which is not inherently tied to the ethical argument), you've lost me. If that is why you want nothing to do with the project? Whatever works for you.

If your argument is ethical (creator rights), rant on. If you consume any of the works where other creators are considered as having been screwed (much of the Marvel & DC libraries), you look a little silly.

PROMETHEUS: Picking Apart A Picking Apart

I was listening to the great Comedy Film Nerds podcast on the ride home today, when I heard them discuss Prometheus...and wanted to hurt my iPod because of where they complained about things that weren't entirely legit.

I'm not talking about the nitpicks, like complaining about the accents of Elba and Rapace. Anything I offer here is purely from observing the movie, not listening to interviews or reading fan speculation.

Let's dig right in.

Needless to say, there will be spoilers.

What?

SPOILERS!
(clicky the SPOILERS! for the rest)

Not To Be A Naysayer...

A lot of hay is being made out of May 2012 outperforming May 2011 by about 40% in comic sales.

May 2011? Four Wednesdays.
May 2012? Five Wednesdays.

May 2011? Fear Itself (built off of Captain America & Thor) and Flashpoint, two underwhelming and underperforming "events in name only".
May 2012? Sure, the renewed DC...but, also, the bi-weekly shipping AvX event, plus a fight book spinoff.

Are we really thrilled by a 40% jump, when nearly 20% should have simply come from the calendar (5th week) and a good deal of the rest seems to come from the "let them eat cake" event from Marvel and the remnants of DC's "hail mary" relaunch?

Help A Creator In Need

Renae De Liz (the woman who put together the WOMANTHOLOGY Kickstarter project) is in the CCU of a hospital, slowly recovering. It's one of those catastrophic illness situations, where modern medicine in America can ensure your biological survival, but, without insurance, can lead to your financial downfall.


They're not 100% asking for donations, but, if you can spare something, her husband says they'd greatly appreciate it.

The World Will Bleed - Ian Brill's Dracula (PR)

For Immediate Release:

THE WORLD BLEEDS!

DRACULA WORLD ORDER IS HERE!

ALL STAR CAST OF ARTISTS JOIN WRITER IAN BRILL TO BRING DRACULA BACK TO LIFE

Tonci Zonjic, Rahsan Ekedal, Declan Shalvey, and Gabriel Hardman bring you Dracula like you’ve never seen him before!
Available in select retail stores and exclusively on comiXology

June 8th 2012 – Los Angeles – When Ian Brill set out to write a new vision of Dracula, he called on some of the greatest talents in comics to bring it to life —Tonci Zonjic (WHO IS JAKE ELLIS?), Rahsan Ekedal (ECHOES, SOLOMN KANE), Declan Shalvey (THUNDERBOLTS, 28 DAYS LATER), and Gabriel Hardman (HULK, BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES). This June 13th, comic fans everywhere can find DRACULA WORLD ORDER at select retailers across the North America and exclusively worldwide digitally on comiXology across their entire platform including iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire and the web.

Following in the foot steps of Sam Humphries’ OUR LOVE IS REAL and SACRIFICE, Ian Brill’s DRACULA WORLD ORDER is self-published by the author and is offered digitally on comiXology while at the same time a very limited 300 copy print run will be available from these retailers:

·      4 Color Fantasies in Rancho Cucamonga, CA

·      Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, CA

·      The Beguiling in Toronto, Canada

·      Collector's Paradise in Winnetka and Pasadena, CA

·      Comix Experience in San Francisco, CA

·      Desert Island in Brooklyn, NY

·      Laughing Ogre Comics in Lansdowne, VA, Fairfax, VA and Columbus, OH

·      Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, CA

·      Midtown Comics in New York City, NY

·      Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, OK

·      It can also be purchased online from Things From Another World (http://www.tfaw.com).

Featuring an all star cast of today’s best artists and written by Ian Brill, DRACULA WORLD ORDER tells the story of how the greatest villain of all, Count Dracula, takes advantage of a world on the brink of economic collapse. In a world where the top 1% of the population are vampires, the rest of the human race are prisoners…or the 1%’s next meal. Dracula’s own son Alexandru leads the 99% in rebellion against the Vampire elite – in a battle that will leave you breathless.

Within four startling chapters Tonci Zonjic (WHO IS JAKE ELLIS?), Rahsan Ekedal (ECHOES, SOLOMN KANE), Declan Shalvey (THUNDERBOLTS, 28 DAYS LATER), and Gabriel Hardman (HULK, BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) bring their amazing talents to Brill’s story. With Zonjic, Jordie Bellaire (BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, FANTASTIC FOUR), and Stephen Downer (DRACULA: THE COMPANY OF MONSTERS, DRACULA THE UNCONQUERED) bring searing color art, with the amazing Josh Krach lettering the book. All of this under an amazing cover by Shalvey and Bellaire.

Advance praise for DRACULA WORLD ORDER:

“This would be incredibly cool even if it didn't have some of my favorite artists working! Brill is making one of those books that get me excited about comics, and I would like to read a lot more of this. Read DWO and spread the word, this is the real deal!” says Jeff Parker, writer of HULK and THUNDERBOLTS.

Brill will be celebrating the release of DRACULA WORLD ORDER is dual signings on the release date.  He will be at Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, CA from 12-2 and Collector’s Paradise in Winnetka, CA from 5-8.

Learn more at HTTP://WWW.DRACULAWORLDORDER.COM

An Experiment Of Sorts

Deliverance
American History X
Pulp Fiction
The cover to FLASH #9

All things with images of male rape.

C'mon, look at it...

Held down on the left...



Held down on the right...



Held at knife point and held down from behind...



Then there's the full cover with the titling...






Which all combines for:



I'd be interested how many folks can't "unsee" that perspective on the cover now.

Look, I'm sure it wasn't intentional or desired...and it takes some finagling to see it this way. But the elements are there and I thought it'd be funny to share.

Until next time, when we go over the cover where Dreamgirl lures Brainaic 5 into being tentacle raped...

AQUAMAN Subscriptions Saved

I might have missed it being stated elsewhere, but after Didio hinted that there might be a change as to whether the Aquaman subscription was being killed, I can confirm it is no longer the case.

I called the company that handles the subscriptions and they indicated that, not only was the cancellation reversed, but subscribers would be getting an extra issue tacked on to their subscription to make up for the confusion.

Interestingly enough, when I asked them about the Green Lantern: New Guardians sub I had a letter telling me was being moved to GLC, they could find no record that GL:NG was having its subscriptions cut off. They're going to look into it to make sure, but it might well be another book that is surviving, albeit due to a miscommunication, rather than a change in plans.