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It’s been announced that Steven Spielberg will produce a series of Tintin movies. Tintin, if you don’t know, is a hugely popular and influential cartoon character from Belgium, created by the late Georges Remi, who worked under the pen name of Hergé.
An excellent documentary about Hergé, Tintin and I, was on PBS last year. The video player above has the first few minutes.
With Captain America now deceased, who gets his shield? Stephen Colbert!
I simply cannot believe all of the coverage the “death” of Captain America is receiving. Because the whole thing is, of course, a non-event. It’s nothing more than a publicity stunt by Marvel Comics.
When I was a kid in the 60’s and early 70’s, being a comic book fan was both a reason why I was something of a social outcast, and my coping mechanism for dealing with being relatively unpopular. The idea that the Marvel Comics characters would become as widely accepted as they are today, and Stan Lee would be a cultural institution, was beyond the most fantastic adventures of any comic book hero.
Yet on Thursday I heard both the BBC and NPR cover the “story” of Captain America’s assassination — a manufactured event! I wish Cap co-creator Jack Kirby were alive to see it. Fortunately, Joe Simon is still with us. I met Kirby in ’72, and Simon in ’80. Here’s the NPR feature.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/CaptainAmerica.mp3]
The Dog Rat gallery has two tellings of the origin of Captain America. The first is from the Golden Age of comic books, and the second is from Cap’s return in the Silver Age of comics. Click the pictures to go to each of the gallery albums.
If there’s one thing that’s for sure in the realm of comic books, death is a common event, and it’s never permanent. So at some point in the future, expect Marvel to hype the return of Captain America. Undoubtedly around the time the movie is about to be released.
OK, I admit it. The real reason I posted “Jesus Rides a Harley” was that I needed an antidote to seeing Ghost Rider last weekend with my son Eric and my old friend Morris. Is it as bad as Ang Lee’s Hulk movie? Probably not, but it sure isn’t much better.
Stephen Colbert did indeed make an appearance at the New York Comic Con last Friday afternoon to promote his Tek Jansen comic book mini-series. Yay! But only 75 people were allowed to get his autograph. Boo!
Head’s up, fans of Stephen Colbert and comic books. You are one and the same. Colbert will be at the New York Comic Con this weekend! My buddy Dennis will be there too, although mostly to see Stan Lee. I’ll be right here. Starting work on the taxes. 🙁
Stephen Colbert is the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. He will be at NYCC on behalf of Oni Press in support of his new 5-issue comic book miniseries, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen, which will arrive in stores on March ’07. The series is written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with Jim Massey and illustrated by Scott Chantler with others. It is a full color, 32-page comic book that will retail for $3.99. Colbert will be autographing on Friday, February 23 at 4:30pm.
