HeroesCon '08 In One Week

Heroes Aren't Hard To Find revealed the exclusive signed and numbered HeroesCon 2008 Advance Ticket Incentive Print on the HeroesOnline blog today. Darwyn Cooke provided the artwork for this year's print, based on his DC: The New Frontier. Cooke will be at the show this year, so in addition to the print, I'm hoping to get my copy of The New Frontier (both the TPB and the animated DVD based on his work) signed next weekend.

Harvey Dent Wins In A Landslide!

Harvey Dent was elected as District Attorney of Gotham City today. Shocking, I know. Anyway, here's the e-mail they sent:

Quote: If someone were to tell me four months ago that Harvey Dent was going to win by the biggest margin in Gotham City history, I would have directed him to Arkham Asylum. But that’s the big story today. Thanks to the incredible efforts of people like you, we have changed the fate of Gotham City. Harvey Dent won every precinct, every neighborhood, every demographic, and every gender and age group. His sweeping victory shows just how far the desire for real change goes in Gotham City. This is not just Harvey Dent’s victory, it’s your victory. You passed out flyers, rallied, marched, created political videos, and got out and voted. You made your voices heard. And today, the entire world can hear you. Today, “Take Back Gotham” is not just a slogan – it is a reality. This is the last campaign email we’re sending out. Now, we turn our energies to the hard job of fighting and winning the war on crime and corruption. We’ll need your help – to keep the pressure up on the politicians, to show the criminals our will, and to support Harvey Dent’s crackdown on corruption. Together, we will save Gotham City. Allan Cypes Media Manager

Still more than a month to go for the flick, but at least there's an "alternate" trailer on YouTube today.

Sam Register Dooms All Hope For DC Animation

I somehow missed this last week, but Warner Bros. Animation has given Sam Register a full-time job title as "Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs". What does that mean?

Quote: Register will oversee all development and production for the studio's toon wing, which aims to reinvigorate its operations to produce series and other content for TV, online and direct-to-video platforms. Register reports to (Peter) Roth, and will also work closely with the Warner Premiere direct-to-DVD division.

Awful. Seriously, just awful. It really shouldn't be a surprise, though, considering the way studios keep throwing cash at music-video-cameramen-turned-movie-directors like Michael Bay and Brett Ratner. Why would animation be any different?

Sam Register Dooms All Hope For DC Animation

The What?

So a Canadian G.I. JOE collector posted on one of the JOE sites that he wanted some of the Valor vs. Venom figures that were showing up at KB Toys. He said there were no KBs near his location and asked if someone could pick up a set for him. Well, KB was selling the figures for $4, and they're $2 each at Family Dollar, the discount retailer that's headquartered here in the Charlotte area. I told him I'd look around and see if I could grab a set for him. He said they were for his son to open, so card condition wasn't important. I had to go to multiple stores, but I acquired a complete set, boxed it up, took it to the post office for a shipping quote, and sent him a total: $27.16. This was a month ago. A week later, he sent me a message apologizing for the delay, saying he would mail a money order that day.

Three more weeks go by, and I sent him a message today to inquire about the money order. He responded within just a few minutes by saying he's having money problems, he can't afford them, and that he's sorry for wasting my time. Meanwhile, he has three posts on the same web site within the last week trying to buy items from other collectors, another five trying to make trades (including one where he says he doesn't want money for his items!), and still three more where he's trying to get someone to pick up exclusives for him at the G.I. JOE convention in Dallas. He even promises to mail out a money order on June 12, two days from now.

So for all those people who complain on forums about, "Why didn't you grab some more to help out your fellow collectors?" or, "Did you have to buy so many? You could have hooked up other collectors with a few of those," here's a really goddamn good reason as to why not. Some of my "fellow collectors" aren't worth the time it would take to offer assistance, let alone the bother to actually go out and hunt down shit for them. But because I know how difficult things can be for Canadian collectors, I thought I'd help out a little, only to get a pitiful sob story about "money problems" for my time. What a prick. It's only twenty bucks, and it's not like I'm hurting for it, but the idea that we should all be spending our time to help strangers on the internet is tired and absurd, so shut the fuck up about it. I'll gladly do what I can for people with whom I have an established familiarity, but just random message board posters?

Fuck the world,
Don't ask me for shit,
Everything you get,
You got to work hard for it.
-Biggie and Method Man

The What?

I Voted! (for Harvey Dent)

Got this e-mail from the Harvey Dent campaign yesterday:

Quote: It’s been an incredible last few weeks. Ever since the vicious smear campaign collapsed and Harvey Dent’s remarkable courage at the hostage crisis at Rossi’s Deli, our campaign has ridden a wave of support I have never seen in all my political life. Our Headquarters reopened and thousands of volunteers show up here every day, every night, fighting for change. Fundraising has reached incredible heights, with over 100,000 Gotham citizens contributing their hard-earned money in support of Harvey Dent’s vow to take back Gotham. We’ve expanded our reach, opening branches in neighborhoods that haven’t seen political campaigns take them seriously for decades. And we’ve harnessed the incredible grassroots support by sending volunteers to knock on doors throughout the city. Amazingly, we will achieve our two millionth door knock sometime in between now and Election Day. Harvey Dent has committed himself to lead the charge to take back our city, face down the criminal and corrupt and restore hope for our future. Now, we need your help. We need to get out the vote!. And we need you to vote yourself. If you can’t make it to the polls, go to www.gothamelectionboard.com and find out how you can vote online. Working together, we will take back Gotham! Allan Cypes Media Manager

Once you register on the site, you'll get an e-mail confirmation with a voter registration number to vote in Gotham's election.


According to SuperHeroHype.com, those in possession of the Joker's Verizon phones got the following text messages yesterday, as well:

Quote: 1) Clowns, are you ready for some laughs? (y/n) 2) You put a smile on my face. Hope you're not superstitious.

So they're expecting something on Friday, which is going to be Friday the 13^th.

The Gotham Cable News ("a Comcast Network") site is up and running now, as well, with an article about Citizens for Batman, a video about Dent's grassroots campaign, and ads for Gotham Tonight with Mike Engel, Anthony Michael Hall's character in the film. It says an "all-new episode" of the show will premiere on Comcast On Demand Friday night. The cable provider already has this site online, and the partnership is an interesting choice, considering Time Warner (the parent company of Warner Bros. and DC Comics) owns controlling interest in Time Warner Cable, the country's second-larget provider. Of course, Comcast is the largest, so that means potential to reach more people, and Time Warner is splitting from the cable company later this year, so it's really not much of a conflict (there's even a "Comcast Gotham" banner on the site).

There's also an article about Bruce Wayne's new penthouse, and depending on which section of the site you visit, the weather report will give you a different current temperature. The team behind the marketing campaign must be having a lot of fun.

I Voted! (for Harvey Dent)

Two Weeks Until HeroesCon '08

And they just recently debuted this on their blog:


The shirt was drawn by Evan Dorkin and colored by Sarah Dyer. Don't know who they are? You need to beef up on your DCAU knowledge. Check out Evan and Sarah's site.

More Commentary On The Joker Figure

David Willis, who satirizes the hobby of toy collecting in Shortpacked, his online comic strip, focused on the Movie Master Joker topic yesterday with his weekly strip for TNI. You can read it here.