Year: 2002

We missed seeing “Firefly” last Friday since we were out seeing “Dance of the Vampires,” but Glenn taped them for us and we just saw it.

Definitely the best episode so far. The multi-layered storytelling style would have been hëll on anyone who can’t follow non-linear stories, but it certainly propelled things along. I assume the clips were from the unseen pilot, and although it seems to have been poorly received by Fox execs, I know *I* am sure interested in seeing it now. Those clips made it actually seem like a Joss Whedon show.

Most disconcerting for me was the introduction of Kaylee. I still think of Jewel Staite as the little fifteen year old we hired for “Space Cases.” Meeting her character by seeing her humping some guy in engineering and then hurriedly getting dressed afterwards just gave me the willies.

PAD

“60 Minutes II” ran a somewhat unfocused segment last night about our little industry. The good news is, there was nary a “POW or “BAM” in sight. The bad news is, I wasn’t entirely sure what the piece was about.

It seemed to be about comics in general and Marvel in specific. There was a good deal of attention paid to the translation of comics into movies, including footage shot during “Daredevil” in which apparently Elektra was slugging it out with some muggers on what appeared to be Sesame Street. At first I thought the main impetus for the piece was the arrival of Spider-Man on DVD. Then the piece broadened to comics as Hollywood fodder, featuring lots of time spent talking to Avi Arad. Nice puff piece so far.

Then, abruptly, the piece did a 180 and the reporter was grilling an obviously uncomfortable Stan Lee as to the raging discontent he felt over the fact that he doesn’t see dime one from the Spider-Man film. “Do you feel you were screwed?” asked the reporter. Even if Stan did feel that way, he’s far too much of a gentleman–and too canny a businessman–to cop to it. Besides, it’s not exactly news. He’s had decades to come to terms with the fact that he doesn’t get a share in the billions that his characters have generated for Marvel. The most he would admit was feeling a little down about it. But the reporter then talked about how Stan Lee was “unhappy” over not getting his fair share of Spider-Man…except Stan didn’t say that.

Then he started asking Avi Arad about whether Stan had gotten his “fair share” from the film. Arad said Yes, he had. Of course, since Stan (as he himself made quite clear) worked as “work for hire,” his “fair share” is nothing. “Fair” has nothing to do with “just.”

So Arad looked bad and Stan looked not thrilled.

So the reporter had opened a significant can of worms. Was his next stop Paul Levitz to discuss Siegel and Shuster? Chris Claremont to discuss X-Men? Gerry Conway to talk about how much of his material was lifted for the climax of the Spider-Man movie without so much as a by-your-leave? No. Instead he interviewed Art Spiegelman about how comics were reaching more adult audiences.

Weird. If you’re going to do a story that makes people look bad, see it through. If you’re doing basically a puff piece, then go with that. Don’t produce a puff piece with delusions of hard-hitting reporting. It’s just annoying.

PAD

Seems we’ve gotten a lot of traffic from a new weblog, iJournalista! and their coverage of what they call the Marvel Lovefest. Take a look– it surprised me.

I promised I’d give you guys an update as to Gwen’s status with New England Comics. Well, they didn’t call, so I guess she didn’t get the job. It’s entirely possible they simply didn’t need the additional help.

Still, I seem to recall someone here in the Boston area saying their local comic retailer wished that Gwen had applied at his store. Well, now’s your chance.

PAD