NEws FrOm AboVE
Place not your hope in me, for I am a Titan
posted by thetechnocrat at 1:27 AM
4 comments
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
How Can Marvel Be Fixed? - I'm gonna ramble
Looking at the outbreak of failing mutants titles & cancellations on once proud franchises like Silver Surfer & The Punisher, what the hell is happening at Marvel? From the time of Jim Shooter to now, I've become less and less enthused about Marvel as a company. No longer is it the "House Of Ideas", it's more "The House of Bendis & Movie Tickets." Bendis does a bang-up job on Powers and Ultimate Spider-man, his Alias was great but enough is enough. Just because he is a talented man who can produce eleventy billion comics a month doesn't mean he should.
Let's look at this from another angle. Take New Invaders. It's a well written title with great characters and a fresh team dynamic. Now look at the horrible coloring style and lack of inking on the book. If this book had a decent inker it would be saved from the "soon to be cancelled" bin. There is a vocal following of the book, but you know it's coming. In this new era of M-Corp, unless it has Spider in the title, low selling books are canned.
That's what we'll call it from now on, M-Corp. The stands for "Mutants or else you bastards Corporation."
With all the mutant crap out there, I starting to wish a Sentinel would destroy their offices for being mutant collaberators.
Now throw in the "Young Guns" crap we're being fed. Yeah some of them are decent, but c'mon they are shoving these guys at us like they are the 2nd coming of Lee & McFarlane. "House Of M? Give it to Coipel. His Legion was gangbusters!" ........Jesus!
Do the lunatics run the asylum?
Deadlines are a thing of the past.
The EIC can't even turn his own book in on time.
Their core talent pool is solid, but they are filled out with a lot of mediocrity.
They are grabbing headlines, love & rancor for the Bendis-ization of Avengers.
Give me some books that aren't trade driven.
How many issues do I have to read to figure out if I like a story?
What is the company's direction?
Is there one?
Or is it more of just a throw as much shit at the wall and see what sticks attitude?
Will the tpb style of storytelling die, or will it only get worse so that they keep up with manga?
Why is the general thought of modern M-Corp making me angry?
phew, I feel better now.
Let's look at this from another angle. Take New Invaders. It's a well written title with great characters and a fresh team dynamic. Now look at the horrible coloring style and lack of inking on the book. If this book had a decent inker it would be saved from the "soon to be cancelled" bin. There is a vocal following of the book, but you know it's coming. In this new era of M-Corp, unless it has Spider in the title, low selling books are canned.
That's what we'll call it from now on, M-Corp. The stands for "Mutants or else you bastards Corporation."
With all the mutant crap out there, I starting to wish a Sentinel would destroy their offices for being mutant collaberators.
Now throw in the "Young Guns" crap we're being fed. Yeah some of them are decent, but c'mon they are shoving these guys at us like they are the 2nd coming of Lee & McFarlane. "House Of M? Give it to Coipel. His Legion was gangbusters!" ........Jesus!
Do the lunatics run the asylum?
Deadlines are a thing of the past.
The EIC can't even turn his own book in on time.
Their core talent pool is solid, but they are filled out with a lot of mediocrity.
They are grabbing headlines, love & rancor for the Bendis-ization of Avengers.
Give me some books that aren't trade driven.
How many issues do I have to read to figure out if I like a story?
What is the company's direction?
Is there one?
Or is it more of just a throw as much shit at the wall and see what sticks attitude?
Will the tpb style of storytelling die, or will it only get worse so that they keep up with manga?
Why is the general thought of modern M-Corp making me angry?
phew, I feel better now.
posted by thetechnocrat at 6:54 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 28, 2005
The Countdown to Crisis 2 marches on...
COUNTING DOWN IN THE DCU WITH DAN DIDIO
by Matt Brady
The DCU, it is a changin’.
March sees DC Countdown #1, which promises to follow up on the events from Identity Crisis, and maybe even, if the cover is any indication, add another to the body count. Then, in April, things get rolling in a big way, with the launch of two miniseries spinning out from Countdown, The OMAC Project and Day of Vengeance, with two more miniseries promised for May.
What does it mean, and where are these changes leading? We sat down with DC VP, Editorial (and editor of Countdown), Dan Didio for some answers, some larger-picture looks, and of course, the obligatory teases
Newsarama: First question, to set the stage – from your chair – what’s the big picture of DC Countdown, and what does it do for the universe?
Dan Didio: If you look at Identity Crisis as one of our starting points, that helped reset he tonality of the DC Universe, and gave it an attitude and a personality. What we’re doing with Countdown is setting the direction, and further defining the tone, and giving a backdrop against which all of the characters will exist and survive, and really give a feel that this is a world picture, and this is a comprehensive universe. This is a place where everybody exists together as one.
NRAMA: With Countdown coming out of Identity Crisis as it is, when did you realize that Identity Crisis was going to be, for lack of a better phrase, the story that keeps on giving? After all Brad [Meltzer] has said that he never went into the story looking to write a blueprint for the next era of the DCU…
DD: When we got Identity Crisis in from Brad, I knew what we wanted to do with the DCU and where we wanted to go. I knew what the tone I wanted to see come into the DCU was – I wanted to put a level of danger and of consequence to the DCU and the characters. We had been addressing that piece by piece, but realistically speaking, you can only change tonality on the individual books incrementally without turning off too many people, or confusing people along the way.
So, when we got to Identity Crisis, and I saw that the story basically hit the nail on the head in terms of the number of characters that we wanted to address as well as changed the whole feel and perception of how people saw the DCU characters – I felt that was a great starting point from which we could move out from.
NRAMA: Going back to what you said you wanted the DC Universe to have – a level of danger and consequence – prior to Identity Crisis, do you feel that was missing, or just not emphasized?
DD: I always hit on a little speech that I fall into when I’m talking to anyone about this. I’ve always looked at the DCU as very proactive universe. Our heroes get powers by accident or circumstance, they inherently know how to put on a costume. They inherently know how to do good. They go out on patrol, they’re proactive, and they’re greeted in the world as heroes. They walk into a bar, and the folks in there would pat ‘em on the back and buy them a drink.
What I was looking for was to give them a reason. The heroes are putting on a costume for a reason. They’re motivated to do so, because something inside them tells them that they don’t exist as they are if they don’t put that costume on. If they do that, they know that they are sacrificing other aspects of their life, and more importantly, they’re out to make the world a better place, and they know that not everyone will agree with their views and motives to achieve that goal. There are a lot of choices being made – a lot of difficult choices being made. I guess what I’m getting to in a rambling fashion is that I want to give purpose for them to put on a costume. I want to give them a reason, and show that they are doing it at a sacrifice to themselves.
If you compare DC with how other companies do heroes, they may be reactive, that is, the problems come to them. If our people are going out, seeking trouble, and trying to stop it, then ultimately, they are doing it at a cost to their own lives, and I want to show what that cost is. I want to give them a sense of vulnerability. Even though they may seem invulnerable, they can be hurt – as Identity Crisis showed.
NRAMA: Where did the desire for a shift in tonality within the DCU come from?
DD: A lot of this actually came following September 11th. After everything that occurred in New York City, I was coming to work at DC, and going through the Port Authority. At that time, you would walk into the Port Authority, and you would have National Guardsmen standing there with machine guns. He’s standing there holding his machine gun, and is supposed to be making me feel better and more protected, but somehow, that gave me a greater sense of dread – it put me more on edge.
NRAMA: It brings the danger to a visible point…
DD: Absolutely. Honestly, when I looked at that, I felt that was an attitude that we had to bring to our heroes. There should be two reactions when a superhero walks into a room. The first reaction is, “Oh shit, they’re here for something,” and the second reaction is, “Oh shit, I hope they’re not here for me.” No one should be taking a step forward to pat them on the back – they should be taking a step backward, thinking, “Something bad is about to happen here.”
NRAMA: This is kinda of along the lines of what Howard Chaykin said when I spoke with him about Legend he’s doing for WildStorm with Russ Heath – that, as a species, humans don’t normally treat the special or the different as something to be cherished. They’re usually pushed into isolation by society out of fear…
DD: Absolutely. So what happens is that when you look at it that way, from the “outsider” approach, they band together as a group because they share a common goal – to make the world a better place. When you peel that away, though, what’s everybody’s definition of “a better place?” what are they going out and trying to achieve? Now what we’ve done is brought in a level of conflict in how our heroes go out to do their business. That aspect makes up a lot of what we’re going to be exploring over the next year – what might be good for one might not be good for another...or for a third.
We’ve broken up the trinity – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are no longer standing shoulder to shoulder. And now they’re the focal points of everything that’s about to happen, because they should be.
NRAMA: Let’s go into those three, and how the other heroes seem to fall under one of them in terms of their respective approaches. How do you see them as being different?
DD: If you want to break it down into the simplest terms: Batman is the policeman; he goes out on patrol and tries to prevent crime. If a crime happens, he finds the person, apprehends them, and brings them in. Superman is the fireman – he goes out and is waiting for a problem. When something does happen, he’s the first responder. He’s there to help; he’s there to save people. He’s not there to affect change or pass judgment; he’s there to help whoever is in trouble.
NRAMA: And Wonder Woman? Don’t say postman…
DD: [Laughs] No, no - Wonder Woman is the activist of the DC Universe. She has a social purpose, a social cause, a direction, and an opinion. She is going out to affect change to make a better world through her social beliefs.
Each one of these three – if you look at them individually, they’re all working to make the world better, but they’re approaching it in different ways. It’s only natural that those approaches might bring them into conflict in how they help people, and work to make the world better.
NRAMA: Getting to the more practical side of this then, with DC Countdown #1 coming out, you’ve got Geoff Johns, Judd Winick and Greg Rucka as three writers on one book that’s the gateway for these changes. How much are they the architects of what’s coming, and why were they selected?
DD: I reached out to Greg, Judd, and Geoff over a year ago, and we started to lie some of the groundwork. Jeph Loeb was involved with it too, but he was basically the one who we were bouncing ideas off of, rather than being physically in the room with the rest.The first thing that’s wonderful about these guys is that they’re friends, and they’re talking amongst each other normally, so there’s a natural camaraderie among the three. The second thing is that, when the three walk in a room, all egos are gone, and any attitude is checked at the door. They only want to do one thing – tell a great story.
Looking at the guys individually, they give me three interesting directions on how we can approach characters and storytelling. Judd has a level of irreverence, but he brings a social conscience to it. Greg has depth and a way to bring in the weight of the world, and get you really emotionally involved in the core characters themselves. Geoff has a sense of superheroes and adventure, and the epic nature of storytelling, too. Put the three together, and every one of them has all of those aspects, some of them are just a little stronger in the others. When they’re together as a whole, they have a real sense of how to tell the broadest, most accessible stories that we, as a company, can put out for the mass audience.
What’s even more interesting is that when you put the three of them together in a room, they’re driving about 25% of my lineup, based on sheer volume of work. As a group, they can affect story and drive over all story for the entire universe, just thanks to the books they’re working on. But I don’t have to work with just those three and their books – they work so well with others that other people are joining in and wanting to be a part of it. It’s something that’s easy to build when you have a strong foundation like these guys.
NRAMA: So basically, the three of them can never be on the same plane together?
DD: [laughs] No comment.
But we have so much fun. The best thing about being the editor of Countdown for me is finding a way to use each one of them to their strength and build a straight through storyline with chapters moving in and out. Each one comes in with their own style and tone, and I get to make sure all the pieces have a flow to them. That’s fun.
NRAMA: How do things get from the one issue in March to four miniseries coming up?
DD: Countdown serves two purposes – for one, it’s an entertaining, exciting story. All things considered, the first thing we said when we started was this was that we didn’t want to do, for lack of a better term, Marvel Age Annual, which back in the day just gave individual snapshots of series and stories that were coming up. Not that there was anything wrong with the Marvel Age Annuals – I got hooked on a lot of storylines I probably wouldn’t have checked out thanks to the small previews those issues had in them. That’s just not the approach we wanted to take with Countdown.
I wanted to make sure that Countdown was something that had a beginning, middle and end, and was a strong story in its own right. It also has to serve as a springboard for the four miniseries coming out.
NRAMA: Let’s talk about those miniseries…
DD: So we have the four miniseries coming out of Countdown. Running them down:
The OMAC Project, written by Greg Rucka with art by Jesus Saiz. Probably more so than anything else, this spins directly out of the story of Countdown. It also picks up on storylines that are left over from Identity Crisis, and starts to answer the question of does Batman know what the Justice League did to him, and more importantly, what’s he going to do about it?
The next one after OMAC is Day of Vengeance, which deals with things spinning out of Identity Crisis and Green Lantern: Rebirth. We have the Spectre spirit loose and attacking the magical aspects of the DC Universe. It’s written by Bill Willingham and drawn by Justiniano.
Number three, which follows in May, is Villains United, which also spins out of Identity Crisis. We set up the sense of camaraderie among the villains, now we’re moving it up to the next level. The villains are organizing. Who’s organizing them, and who doesn’t want to be a part of this group and why are two of the major questions being asked in that miniseries. That’s written by Gail Simone and penciled by Dale Eagelsham.
The final miniseries will be The Rann/Thanagar War. This is being established a bit in Adam Strange, and it will be coming out and crossing over with Green Lantern, and work to reestablish the cosmic scope of the DC Universe, and build on it. That one’s written by Dave Gibbons, and drawn by Ivan Reis.
NRAMA: Wait – are all four of these miniseries connected?
DD: Not really. The four miniseries are so strong on their own that I feel we could have done any one of them individually. The key of this was to four miniseries at the same time, and that way, creating a backdrop for all the DC Universe. You don’t need to read all of them, you don’t need to cross them all over, but what you’re getting now is a sense of scope in the DCU.
That said though, we’re addressing different issues in each of the stories. The Rann/Thangar War rebuilds the cosmic aspect of the DC Universe, as well as the science fiction aspect of the DC Universe. Day of Vengeance lays out what we believe to be the magical world of the DCU, something that was very strong for a long time, and something that we want to rebuild. There will be a lot of old characters appearing in that miniseries – some that haven’t been seen in 20 or 30 years.
The OMAC Project really addresses what it takes to be a superhero and the social aspects of the DCU and how the world reacts to the heroes. And then, in Villains United, I’m going to steal a phrase from Judd Winick – ‘It’s just a big honkin’ superhero versus supervillain story.’ It’s about action, adventure, and everything that goes into a superhero story. We want to bring that level of action and excitement back into the DC Universe across the entire line. This is why it was important to get a group of writers who like to work together, as well as a group of editors who were out there working with everybody, working to create something that would be a solid backdrop against which the DC Universe will be set.
NRAMA: You keep mentioning the entire line – but so far Countdown and the miniseries seem to be pretty isolated…
DD: Not so fast – there’s been a story that’s been unfolding in the DC Universe since the death of Donna Troy. We’ve been dropping secrets and hints and bits and pieces across the DCU since she died. Everything is starting to come together and make sense. Everything is starting to have a cohesive feel and starting to appear like it’s happening in the same place art the same time, and this is something that I think people can invest in and enjoy reading, and enjoy experiencing part of our world.
Believe it or not, things that started in that story – back with Donna Troy’s death will finally bear fruit down the line.
NRAMA: So you’ve been seeding things for nearly two years?
DD: Right. What we’re trying to do is work with an ideal in mind. We started with a small group of writers to lay the groundwork, and as we do it, we bring more writers into the story. The great things is that if you work far enough in advance, other writers get a chance to think about what’s going on, give input to the larger picture, get excited about the larger picture, and also take ownership of the stories that we’re creating as a whole.
That’s the main thing – everybody at DC is actively involved. Everybody is working to make something that we feel will ultimately result in a better DC Universe.
NRAMA: With the name…Countdown…usually that’s indicative that something is being counted towards…
DD: One would think so…
NRAMA: Yes one would…is there something that can be talked about now?
DD: The end of my contract maybe if it doesn’t all work [laughs]. Seriously, we are counting down to something, but I want to concentrate on the start of the countdown, rather than the end of it.
NRAMA: And the body on the cover of Countdown #1?
DD: Again, that’s me if this thing doesn’t work. Although, if you talk to Jim Lee, he’ll tell you it’s one person, and if you talk to Alex Ross, he’ll tell you it’s someone else. Once I saw the cover, I had to hustle to make sure everyone who appeared there was in the book too.
NRAMA: The entire event seems to be a throwback in a way to the big summer crossovers – Armageddon 2001 and their ilk, but…what? More contemporary?
DD: I’d say so, yes. Every one of the miniseries can stand on its own legs and be its own story. We could have introduced them separately, but I wanted to introduce them together because I wanted to bring a sense of excitement and importance in the DC Universe.
Part of my job here, and has been since day one is that I always wanted to rebuild the sense of the periodical. I love the idea of getting the issue, reading it, and not being able to wait for the next one to come out the following month. The idea of waiting for the trade is boring to me. We create comic books that are bought on a monthly basis, and my job, and the job of everyone here is to make people go back into the store the next month or next week, and buy the next issue because they can’t wait for something to come six months or a year down the road. That’s what the fun of what we do is – we have a unique business in that our business is built on putting out books on a monthly basis, so therefore they have to be exciting on a monthly basis. They have to be compelling. They have to be filled with characters and situations that people want to see more of. We’ve got to create stories that are too big for movie budgets. We’ve got to tell stories that are too big that can just be collected and sit on a shelf. We’ve got to tell stories that people want to see and read every month, every week.
NRAMA: Well said, but still…isn’t there a fine line between being loved for providing people with great entertainment every month, and being hated for making too much good product that people therefore, can’t afford?
DD: I understand that there is a limitation to people’s budgets. Realistically for me, we try to create as much diverse products to attract the widest breadth of audience as possible. This is something that the people who enjoy the community, the continuity of the larger universe. But you know what? We can tell great stories outside of that, such as JLA: Classified, where readers can picks and choose where it fits in. On top of that, we can tell something like Seven Soldiers, which is so broad that it can’t be contained – it’s a force unto itself, and should be allowed to be the best it can be, without worrying where it fits into the world.
My bottom line is that, if a story is exciting, if a story is interesting. If the creators are the ones whose work you want to see, that’s the story you should be buying. Just because you have 500 issues of something in a row isn’t a good enough reason t buy something that you’re not enjoying anymore. I want to create books that people are excited about and want to read, and that’s the bottom line.
NRAMA: Going back to what you were saying about the breadth of Countdown and the associated miniseries is about a $40 financial commitment – that’s a good news/bad news thing for you, in that fans are excited about it, but then realize how much it will cost them?
DD: And I can sympathize. Before I took this job, and started getting all these lovely comics delivered to my office at no cost to me, I had to go out and buy comics on a regular basis, and I was on a budget. I had to make the same hard decision every week of what I could and couldn’t afford. I hate to say it, but our job is to make it a very tough decision for people in regards to which book they want to buy. That’s our goal, but I don’t want to force anybody to buy anything they don’t like. But we will continue to try and make the books possible, every day.
Fans speak to us very simply – they buy our books. If they buy our books, we know we’re doing the right thing. If we don’t buy our books, we know we’ve gone wrong somewhere, and we will continue to try and improve ourselves until we’re creating what people want to buy.
Honestly, you’re going to see people who will want to buy all four of these miniseries, people who buy one, and maybe buy none. Bottom line is, you can do it any way you want - you can buy all four and enjoy them all, or only one, and enjoy that as well. You should only buy DC comics for one reason – because you like them, and you enjoy them
by Matt Brady
The DCU, it is a changin’.
March sees DC Countdown #1, which promises to follow up on the events from Identity Crisis, and maybe even, if the cover is any indication, add another to the body count. Then, in April, things get rolling in a big way, with the launch of two miniseries spinning out from Countdown, The OMAC Project and Day of Vengeance, with two more miniseries promised for May.
What does it mean, and where are these changes leading? We sat down with DC VP, Editorial (and editor of Countdown), Dan Didio for some answers, some larger-picture looks, and of course, the obligatory teases
Newsarama: First question, to set the stage – from your chair – what’s the big picture of DC Countdown, and what does it do for the universe?
Dan Didio: If you look at Identity Crisis as one of our starting points, that helped reset he tonality of the DC Universe, and gave it an attitude and a personality. What we’re doing with Countdown is setting the direction, and further defining the tone, and giving a backdrop against which all of the characters will exist and survive, and really give a feel that this is a world picture, and this is a comprehensive universe. This is a place where everybody exists together as one.
NRAMA: With Countdown coming out of Identity Crisis as it is, when did you realize that Identity Crisis was going to be, for lack of a better phrase, the story that keeps on giving? After all Brad [Meltzer] has said that he never went into the story looking to write a blueprint for the next era of the DCU…
DD: When we got Identity Crisis in from Brad, I knew what we wanted to do with the DCU and where we wanted to go. I knew what the tone I wanted to see come into the DCU was – I wanted to put a level of danger and of consequence to the DCU and the characters. We had been addressing that piece by piece, but realistically speaking, you can only change tonality on the individual books incrementally without turning off too many people, or confusing people along the way.
So, when we got to Identity Crisis, and I saw that the story basically hit the nail on the head in terms of the number of characters that we wanted to address as well as changed the whole feel and perception of how people saw the DCU characters – I felt that was a great starting point from which we could move out from.
NRAMA: Going back to what you said you wanted the DC Universe to have – a level of danger and consequence – prior to Identity Crisis, do you feel that was missing, or just not emphasized?
DD: I always hit on a little speech that I fall into when I’m talking to anyone about this. I’ve always looked at the DCU as very proactive universe. Our heroes get powers by accident or circumstance, they inherently know how to put on a costume. They inherently know how to do good. They go out on patrol, they’re proactive, and they’re greeted in the world as heroes. They walk into a bar, and the folks in there would pat ‘em on the back and buy them a drink.
What I was looking for was to give them a reason. The heroes are putting on a costume for a reason. They’re motivated to do so, because something inside them tells them that they don’t exist as they are if they don’t put that costume on. If they do that, they know that they are sacrificing other aspects of their life, and more importantly, they’re out to make the world a better place, and they know that not everyone will agree with their views and motives to achieve that goal. There are a lot of choices being made – a lot of difficult choices being made. I guess what I’m getting to in a rambling fashion is that I want to give purpose for them to put on a costume. I want to give them a reason, and show that they are doing it at a sacrifice to themselves.
If you compare DC with how other companies do heroes, they may be reactive, that is, the problems come to them. If our people are going out, seeking trouble, and trying to stop it, then ultimately, they are doing it at a cost to their own lives, and I want to show what that cost is. I want to give them a sense of vulnerability. Even though they may seem invulnerable, they can be hurt – as Identity Crisis showed.
NRAMA: Where did the desire for a shift in tonality within the DCU come from?
DD: A lot of this actually came following September 11th. After everything that occurred in New York City, I was coming to work at DC, and going through the Port Authority. At that time, you would walk into the Port Authority, and you would have National Guardsmen standing there with machine guns. He’s standing there holding his machine gun, and is supposed to be making me feel better and more protected, but somehow, that gave me a greater sense of dread – it put me more on edge.
NRAMA: It brings the danger to a visible point…
DD: Absolutely. Honestly, when I looked at that, I felt that was an attitude that we had to bring to our heroes. There should be two reactions when a superhero walks into a room. The first reaction is, “Oh shit, they’re here for something,” and the second reaction is, “Oh shit, I hope they’re not here for me.” No one should be taking a step forward to pat them on the back – they should be taking a step backward, thinking, “Something bad is about to happen here.”
NRAMA: This is kinda of along the lines of what Howard Chaykin said when I spoke with him about Legend he’s doing for WildStorm with Russ Heath – that, as a species, humans don’t normally treat the special or the different as something to be cherished. They’re usually pushed into isolation by society out of fear…
DD: Absolutely. So what happens is that when you look at it that way, from the “outsider” approach, they band together as a group because they share a common goal – to make the world a better place. When you peel that away, though, what’s everybody’s definition of “a better place?” what are they going out and trying to achieve? Now what we’ve done is brought in a level of conflict in how our heroes go out to do their business. That aspect makes up a lot of what we’re going to be exploring over the next year – what might be good for one might not be good for another...or for a third.
We’ve broken up the trinity – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are no longer standing shoulder to shoulder. And now they’re the focal points of everything that’s about to happen, because they should be.
NRAMA: Let’s go into those three, and how the other heroes seem to fall under one of them in terms of their respective approaches. How do you see them as being different?
DD: If you want to break it down into the simplest terms: Batman is the policeman; he goes out on patrol and tries to prevent crime. If a crime happens, he finds the person, apprehends them, and brings them in. Superman is the fireman – he goes out and is waiting for a problem. When something does happen, he’s the first responder. He’s there to help; he’s there to save people. He’s not there to affect change or pass judgment; he’s there to help whoever is in trouble.
NRAMA: And Wonder Woman? Don’t say postman…
DD: [Laughs] No, no - Wonder Woman is the activist of the DC Universe. She has a social purpose, a social cause, a direction, and an opinion. She is going out to affect change to make a better world through her social beliefs.
Each one of these three – if you look at them individually, they’re all working to make the world better, but they’re approaching it in different ways. It’s only natural that those approaches might bring them into conflict in how they help people, and work to make the world better.
NRAMA: Getting to the more practical side of this then, with DC Countdown #1 coming out, you’ve got Geoff Johns, Judd Winick and Greg Rucka as three writers on one book that’s the gateway for these changes. How much are they the architects of what’s coming, and why were they selected?
DD: I reached out to Greg, Judd, and Geoff over a year ago, and we started to lie some of the groundwork. Jeph Loeb was involved with it too, but he was basically the one who we were bouncing ideas off of, rather than being physically in the room with the rest.The first thing that’s wonderful about these guys is that they’re friends, and they’re talking amongst each other normally, so there’s a natural camaraderie among the three. The second thing is that, when the three walk in a room, all egos are gone, and any attitude is checked at the door. They only want to do one thing – tell a great story.
Looking at the guys individually, they give me three interesting directions on how we can approach characters and storytelling. Judd has a level of irreverence, but he brings a social conscience to it. Greg has depth and a way to bring in the weight of the world, and get you really emotionally involved in the core characters themselves. Geoff has a sense of superheroes and adventure, and the epic nature of storytelling, too. Put the three together, and every one of them has all of those aspects, some of them are just a little stronger in the others. When they’re together as a whole, they have a real sense of how to tell the broadest, most accessible stories that we, as a company, can put out for the mass audience.
What’s even more interesting is that when you put the three of them together in a room, they’re driving about 25% of my lineup, based on sheer volume of work. As a group, they can affect story and drive over all story for the entire universe, just thanks to the books they’re working on. But I don’t have to work with just those three and their books – they work so well with others that other people are joining in and wanting to be a part of it. It’s something that’s easy to build when you have a strong foundation like these guys.
NRAMA: So basically, the three of them can never be on the same plane together?
DD: [laughs] No comment.
But we have so much fun. The best thing about being the editor of Countdown for me is finding a way to use each one of them to their strength and build a straight through storyline with chapters moving in and out. Each one comes in with their own style and tone, and I get to make sure all the pieces have a flow to them. That’s fun.
NRAMA: How do things get from the one issue in March to four miniseries coming up?
DD: Countdown serves two purposes – for one, it’s an entertaining, exciting story. All things considered, the first thing we said when we started was this was that we didn’t want to do, for lack of a better term, Marvel Age Annual, which back in the day just gave individual snapshots of series and stories that were coming up. Not that there was anything wrong with the Marvel Age Annuals – I got hooked on a lot of storylines I probably wouldn’t have checked out thanks to the small previews those issues had in them. That’s just not the approach we wanted to take with Countdown.
I wanted to make sure that Countdown was something that had a beginning, middle and end, and was a strong story in its own right. It also has to serve as a springboard for the four miniseries coming out.
NRAMA: Let’s talk about those miniseries…
DD: So we have the four miniseries coming out of Countdown. Running them down:
The OMAC Project, written by Greg Rucka with art by Jesus Saiz. Probably more so than anything else, this spins directly out of the story of Countdown. It also picks up on storylines that are left over from Identity Crisis, and starts to answer the question of does Batman know what the Justice League did to him, and more importantly, what’s he going to do about it?
The next one after OMAC is Day of Vengeance, which deals with things spinning out of Identity Crisis and Green Lantern: Rebirth. We have the Spectre spirit loose and attacking the magical aspects of the DC Universe. It’s written by Bill Willingham and drawn by Justiniano.
Number three, which follows in May, is Villains United, which also spins out of Identity Crisis. We set up the sense of camaraderie among the villains, now we’re moving it up to the next level. The villains are organizing. Who’s organizing them, and who doesn’t want to be a part of this group and why are two of the major questions being asked in that miniseries. That’s written by Gail Simone and penciled by Dale Eagelsham.
The final miniseries will be The Rann/Thanagar War. This is being established a bit in Adam Strange, and it will be coming out and crossing over with Green Lantern, and work to reestablish the cosmic scope of the DC Universe, and build on it. That one’s written by Dave Gibbons, and drawn by Ivan Reis.
NRAMA: Wait – are all four of these miniseries connected?
DD: Not really. The four miniseries are so strong on their own that I feel we could have done any one of them individually. The key of this was to four miniseries at the same time, and that way, creating a backdrop for all the DC Universe. You don’t need to read all of them, you don’t need to cross them all over, but what you’re getting now is a sense of scope in the DCU.
That said though, we’re addressing different issues in each of the stories. The Rann/Thangar War rebuilds the cosmic aspect of the DC Universe, as well as the science fiction aspect of the DC Universe. Day of Vengeance lays out what we believe to be the magical world of the DCU, something that was very strong for a long time, and something that we want to rebuild. There will be a lot of old characters appearing in that miniseries – some that haven’t been seen in 20 or 30 years.
The OMAC Project really addresses what it takes to be a superhero and the social aspects of the DCU and how the world reacts to the heroes. And then, in Villains United, I’m going to steal a phrase from Judd Winick – ‘It’s just a big honkin’ superhero versus supervillain story.’ It’s about action, adventure, and everything that goes into a superhero story. We want to bring that level of action and excitement back into the DC Universe across the entire line. This is why it was important to get a group of writers who like to work together, as well as a group of editors who were out there working with everybody, working to create something that would be a solid backdrop against which the DC Universe will be set.
NRAMA: You keep mentioning the entire line – but so far Countdown and the miniseries seem to be pretty isolated…
DD: Not so fast – there’s been a story that’s been unfolding in the DC Universe since the death of Donna Troy. We’ve been dropping secrets and hints and bits and pieces across the DCU since she died. Everything is starting to come together and make sense. Everything is starting to have a cohesive feel and starting to appear like it’s happening in the same place art the same time, and this is something that I think people can invest in and enjoy reading, and enjoy experiencing part of our world.
Believe it or not, things that started in that story – back with Donna Troy’s death will finally bear fruit down the line.
NRAMA: So you’ve been seeding things for nearly two years?
DD: Right. What we’re trying to do is work with an ideal in mind. We started with a small group of writers to lay the groundwork, and as we do it, we bring more writers into the story. The great things is that if you work far enough in advance, other writers get a chance to think about what’s going on, give input to the larger picture, get excited about the larger picture, and also take ownership of the stories that we’re creating as a whole.
That’s the main thing – everybody at DC is actively involved. Everybody is working to make something that we feel will ultimately result in a better DC Universe.
NRAMA: With the name…Countdown…usually that’s indicative that something is being counted towards…
DD: One would think so…
NRAMA: Yes one would…is there something that can be talked about now?
DD: The end of my contract maybe if it doesn’t all work [laughs]. Seriously, we are counting down to something, but I want to concentrate on the start of the countdown, rather than the end of it.
NRAMA: And the body on the cover of Countdown #1?
DD: Again, that’s me if this thing doesn’t work. Although, if you talk to Jim Lee, he’ll tell you it’s one person, and if you talk to Alex Ross, he’ll tell you it’s someone else. Once I saw the cover, I had to hustle to make sure everyone who appeared there was in the book too.
NRAMA: The entire event seems to be a throwback in a way to the big summer crossovers – Armageddon 2001 and their ilk, but…what? More contemporary?
DD: I’d say so, yes. Every one of the miniseries can stand on its own legs and be its own story. We could have introduced them separately, but I wanted to introduce them together because I wanted to bring a sense of excitement and importance in the DC Universe.
Part of my job here, and has been since day one is that I always wanted to rebuild the sense of the periodical. I love the idea of getting the issue, reading it, and not being able to wait for the next one to come out the following month. The idea of waiting for the trade is boring to me. We create comic books that are bought on a monthly basis, and my job, and the job of everyone here is to make people go back into the store the next month or next week, and buy the next issue because they can’t wait for something to come six months or a year down the road. That’s what the fun of what we do is – we have a unique business in that our business is built on putting out books on a monthly basis, so therefore they have to be exciting on a monthly basis. They have to be compelling. They have to be filled with characters and situations that people want to see more of. We’ve got to create stories that are too big for movie budgets. We’ve got to tell stories that are too big that can just be collected and sit on a shelf. We’ve got to tell stories that people want to see and read every month, every week.
NRAMA: Well said, but still…isn’t there a fine line between being loved for providing people with great entertainment every month, and being hated for making too much good product that people therefore, can’t afford?
DD: I understand that there is a limitation to people’s budgets. Realistically for me, we try to create as much diverse products to attract the widest breadth of audience as possible. This is something that the people who enjoy the community, the continuity of the larger universe. But you know what? We can tell great stories outside of that, such as JLA: Classified, where readers can picks and choose where it fits in. On top of that, we can tell something like Seven Soldiers, which is so broad that it can’t be contained – it’s a force unto itself, and should be allowed to be the best it can be, without worrying where it fits into the world.
My bottom line is that, if a story is exciting, if a story is interesting. If the creators are the ones whose work you want to see, that’s the story you should be buying. Just because you have 500 issues of something in a row isn’t a good enough reason t buy something that you’re not enjoying anymore. I want to create books that people are excited about and want to read, and that’s the bottom line.
NRAMA: Going back to what you were saying about the breadth of Countdown and the associated miniseries is about a $40 financial commitment – that’s a good news/bad news thing for you, in that fans are excited about it, but then realize how much it will cost them?
DD: And I can sympathize. Before I took this job, and started getting all these lovely comics delivered to my office at no cost to me, I had to go out and buy comics on a regular basis, and I was on a budget. I had to make the same hard decision every week of what I could and couldn’t afford. I hate to say it, but our job is to make it a very tough decision for people in regards to which book they want to buy. That’s our goal, but I don’t want to force anybody to buy anything they don’t like. But we will continue to try and make the books possible, every day.
Fans speak to us very simply – they buy our books. If they buy our books, we know we’re doing the right thing. If we don’t buy our books, we know we’ve gone wrong somewhere, and we will continue to try and improve ourselves until we’re creating what people want to buy.
Honestly, you’re going to see people who will want to buy all four of these miniseries, people who buy one, and maybe buy none. Bottom line is, you can do it any way you want - you can buy all four and enjoy them all, or only one, and enjoy that as well. You should only buy DC comics for one reason – because you like them, and you enjoy them
posted by thetechnocrat at 9:05 AM
0 comments
The rise and fall of 99.1 WHFS
Well it seems the last bastion of hope in the DC/Baltimore area has finally bit the big one. 99.1 WHFS has been erased from the airwaves by the greedy corporate radio giant Infinity Broadcasting. The architect of such things as The HFStival & other great yearly events, HFS was more than just an alternative station. It was THE alternative station. I guess we could see the handwriting on the wall a few years ago when they opted to put the sad Sports Junkies on the air in the morning rather than the usual rotating hosts call-in show that was fun for all. From the early 80's until the late 90's it was the cusp of what was different & cool about music. When the Infinity team took over the ratings & mainstream "alternative hits" mattered more than the events, music & community. At least it ended with Buckley.
Goodbye Dr. Demento, Flashback cafe and all the events I'll never see again. Our time was sweet and I'll have a soft spot in my heart for you always.
Screw you Infinity, I hope your company fails and you all rot in hell!
Here's a couple of articles:
WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish
Alternative Rock Pioneer Targets Latino Audience
By Teresa Wiltz and Paul FarhiWashington Post Staff WritersThursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01
WHFS-FM, the Washington area radio station that was a pioneering purveyor of alternative rock to generations of young music fans, did a programming U-turn yesterday by ditching the genre for a Spanish-language, pop-music format that transforms it into the largest Spanish-language station on the local dial.
In an instant, the station abandoned the likes of the White Stripes, Green Day and Jet for middle-of-the-road superstars such as Marc Anthony, Juan Luis Guerra and Victor Manuelle.
The switch reflects both changing demographics and a corporate war of attrition involving Washington's two major radio station owners, Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, and Clear Channel Communications, which owns WHFS's chief competitor, DC-101.
Despite its self-proclaimed "legendary" status, WHFS (at 99.1 on the dial) has long trailed DC-101 in the race to win the ears of rock listeners in the Washington-Baltimore area. At the same time, Spanish-language radio is the fastest-growing format in the country, while alternative rock radio is a withering niche.
At noon yesterday, the station behind the HFStival, a popular annual concert, broadcast the late Jeff Buckley's 1995 hit, "Last Goodbye." And then came something that WHFS listeners hadn't heard before in the station's 36-year history as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock:
"WHFS transmitiendo desde la ciudad capital de America:
"Esta! Es! Tu! Nueva! Radio!"
"Transmitting from America's Capital City: This! Is! Your! New! Radio!"
Lanham-based WHFS is now "El Zol," where they're "siempre de fiesta" -- always partying. (Zol plays off sol, the Spanish word for sun, and is a station brand of the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. which owns other "Zol" stations.)
Although radio insiders have discussed the likelihood of WHFS changing formats for many months, the switch came as a shock to former employees and fans who grew up listening to the radio station that, since the late 1960s, had gained a reputation as the place to go for new music. Radio stations often switch formats and often without promoting the change in advance.
WHFS was among a handful of stations that developed the album-oriented format: The music was alternative and free-form, featuring such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Who and Yes, but with the occasional bluegrass or other unexpected ditty. Disc jockeys weren't confined to the strictures of a corporate-mandated playlist. They played what they wanted.
Out of this freewheeling approach came the station's music festival, which grew from an offbeat spring event to a nationally recognized bacchanalia that last year drew 65,000 people to RFK Stadium.
"Certainly this will have major ramifications for new music in Washington, D.C.," said Seth Hurwitz, owner of the city's 9:30 club and producer of last year's HFStival, with featured 36 acts. "They were always the forerunner for presenting new music," said Hurwitz, who began his career in 1976 as a disc jockey at the station. "They were a vital fabric of Washington's culture."
WHFS began as a classical music station, then switched to pop music in the early-to-mid-1960s before turning to rock about 1968. The moves were orchestrated by Jake Einstein, who began as an advertising salesman and became one of the station's owners in the mid-1960s.
Hispanics tune to new HFS
Reeling rockers bemoan their loss
By Rob Hiaasen
Sun Staff
Originally published January 14, 2005
They had heard the news and wanted to hear the music, maybe catch some uptempo salsa to start their day for a change.
In the Baltimore office of the Mayor's Hispanic Liaison, staff members yesterday tuned into WHFS 99.1 FM - which Wednesday had dropped an atom bomb on its alternative rock listeners by switching to a Spanish-language format. They found a station called El Zol. Siempe De Fiesta ("always partying") is the station's new sunny slogan, but apparently it's not partying quite yet.
"We called over there to make a request," said Jose Ruiz, the mayor's Hispanic liaison. "But there was no one there who speaks the language!" He says the call was transferred until apparently out of frustration, someone at the station hung up the phone. "Amigo, it's insane! This is an insult. Come on!"
Ruiz, much more amused than angry, was also tickled to hear a morning announcer joyfully announce in Spanish, "Thank God, it's Friday!" then proceeded to give Saturday's weather. "Me, I thought it was Thursday," Ruiz said.
There were bound to be glitches given the seemingly overnight format switch. Change can be confusing and cruel - just ask WHFS rock fans, still reeling, wondering about the fate of their beloved HFStivals, Adam and Dr. Drew's Loveline, and the Sports Junkies (headed, perhaps, to mid-days on WJFK AM), sharing their pain with their parents, and signing an online petition in e-droves.
As of yesterday afternoon, more than 11,500 signatures were on the "Bring Back HFS" Internet petition, which also posted comments. "No reason to remove this station. This was our lives," wrote one fan. "My brother's in a coma and he always listened to HFS and it was the only thing he loved," said another. "This won't stand" and "This is not cool." There were other more pointed comments, but the message was clear: HFS was their station, so bring it back. But, despite its confusion over what day it is, 99.1 is now the El Zol show.
Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, offered these explanations. The reformatted WHFS does not yet have an on-air staff. For the first 24 hours, the station was simulcasting with other stations in the Spanish Broadcasting System, a Miami-based Hispanic broadcasting company that served as a consultant to Infinity. What listeners heard was a "Best Of" show from one of the network's stations where, perhaps, it was Friday.
As of yesterday afternoon, the station had stopped simulcasting. "Right now, we're just playing music," said Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo. The station plans to hire hosts in the coming weeks.
As for requests for songs by Victor Manuelle, Luis Guerra or Marc Anthony or anyone else, listeners should hold off for now."
The station is not taking listeners' requests at this time," Mateo said. "As we hire an on-air staff, that will be something that we will do."
While rockers lament the passing of a rock station (HFS stood for "High Fidelity Stereo"), others welcomed the change. It is the largest Spanish-language station serving the area's Latino population, an increasing number of whom are new immigrants. About 55,000 Hispanics call the Baltimore metropolitan area home, according to the latest census figures. Statewide, the Hispanic population grew about 15 percent between 2000 and 2003 to more than 262,000.
"I used to listen to HFS. I like rock, but I'm very happy to have the station," said Ives Martinez, president of the Association of Latino Marylanders of Anne Arundel County. "Hispanics need another media outlet to reach our community.
"It's also good for business, said Enrique Rivadeneira, who owns Latin Palace, a restaurant and dance club on Broadway, in Baltimore's Latino community. Rivadeneira is also the president of Baltimore's Hispanic Business Association.
"We now have an opportunity to do promotion and advertisement," he said. "We have struggled through without it. But for many of the small businesses, there are hundreds of them now, they can now use the radio as a medium to help advertise and promote products."
Others, however, want more than just music from a Spanish-language station. Carmen Nieves, executive director of the nonprofit Centro de La Communidad in Baltimore, says a thought-provoking talk radio show is needed. "That's way more important, educating them about laws and things that may have an impact on their lives," Nieves said. "I'm happy there's a radio station that will play music all day, but that's not what we need."If I want to listen to salsa, I'll put a CD on my stereo."
Staff writers Mary Carole McCauley and Kelly Brewington contributed to this article.
Goodbye Dr. Demento, Flashback cafe and all the events I'll never see again. Our time was sweet and I'll have a soft spot in my heart for you always.
Screw you Infinity, I hope your company fails and you all rot in hell!
Here's a couple of articles:
WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish
Alternative Rock Pioneer Targets Latino Audience
By Teresa Wiltz and Paul FarhiWashington Post Staff WritersThursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01
WHFS-FM, the Washington area radio station that was a pioneering purveyor of alternative rock to generations of young music fans, did a programming U-turn yesterday by ditching the genre for a Spanish-language, pop-music format that transforms it into the largest Spanish-language station on the local dial.
In an instant, the station abandoned the likes of the White Stripes, Green Day and Jet for middle-of-the-road superstars such as Marc Anthony, Juan Luis Guerra and Victor Manuelle.
The switch reflects both changing demographics and a corporate war of attrition involving Washington's two major radio station owners, Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, and Clear Channel Communications, which owns WHFS's chief competitor, DC-101.
Despite its self-proclaimed "legendary" status, WHFS (at 99.1 on the dial) has long trailed DC-101 in the race to win the ears of rock listeners in the Washington-Baltimore area. At the same time, Spanish-language radio is the fastest-growing format in the country, while alternative rock radio is a withering niche.
At noon yesterday, the station behind the HFStival, a popular annual concert, broadcast the late Jeff Buckley's 1995 hit, "Last Goodbye." And then came something that WHFS listeners hadn't heard before in the station's 36-year history as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock:
"WHFS transmitiendo desde la ciudad capital de America:
"Esta! Es! Tu! Nueva! Radio!"
"Transmitting from America's Capital City: This! Is! Your! New! Radio!"
Lanham-based WHFS is now "El Zol," where they're "siempre de fiesta" -- always partying. (Zol plays off sol, the Spanish word for sun, and is a station brand of the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. which owns other "Zol" stations.)
Although radio insiders have discussed the likelihood of WHFS changing formats for many months, the switch came as a shock to former employees and fans who grew up listening to the radio station that, since the late 1960s, had gained a reputation as the place to go for new music. Radio stations often switch formats and often without promoting the change in advance.
WHFS was among a handful of stations that developed the album-oriented format: The music was alternative and free-form, featuring such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Who and Yes, but with the occasional bluegrass or other unexpected ditty. Disc jockeys weren't confined to the strictures of a corporate-mandated playlist. They played what they wanted.
Out of this freewheeling approach came the station's music festival, which grew from an offbeat spring event to a nationally recognized bacchanalia that last year drew 65,000 people to RFK Stadium.
"Certainly this will have major ramifications for new music in Washington, D.C.," said Seth Hurwitz, owner of the city's 9:30 club and producer of last year's HFStival, with featured 36 acts. "They were always the forerunner for presenting new music," said Hurwitz, who began his career in 1976 as a disc jockey at the station. "They were a vital fabric of Washington's culture."
WHFS began as a classical music station, then switched to pop music in the early-to-mid-1960s before turning to rock about 1968. The moves were orchestrated by Jake Einstein, who began as an advertising salesman and became one of the station's owners in the mid-1960s.
Hispanics tune to new HFS
Reeling rockers bemoan their loss
By Rob Hiaasen
Sun Staff
Originally published January 14, 2005
They had heard the news and wanted to hear the music, maybe catch some uptempo salsa to start their day for a change.
In the Baltimore office of the Mayor's Hispanic Liaison, staff members yesterday tuned into WHFS 99.1 FM - which Wednesday had dropped an atom bomb on its alternative rock listeners by switching to a Spanish-language format. They found a station called El Zol. Siempe De Fiesta ("always partying") is the station's new sunny slogan, but apparently it's not partying quite yet.
"We called over there to make a request," said Jose Ruiz, the mayor's Hispanic liaison. "But there was no one there who speaks the language!" He says the call was transferred until apparently out of frustration, someone at the station hung up the phone. "Amigo, it's insane! This is an insult. Come on!"
Ruiz, much more amused than angry, was also tickled to hear a morning announcer joyfully announce in Spanish, "Thank God, it's Friday!" then proceeded to give Saturday's weather. "Me, I thought it was Thursday," Ruiz said.
There were bound to be glitches given the seemingly overnight format switch. Change can be confusing and cruel - just ask WHFS rock fans, still reeling, wondering about the fate of their beloved HFStivals, Adam and Dr. Drew's Loveline, and the Sports Junkies (headed, perhaps, to mid-days on WJFK AM), sharing their pain with their parents, and signing an online petition in e-droves.
As of yesterday afternoon, more than 11,500 signatures were on the "Bring Back HFS" Internet petition, which also posted comments. "No reason to remove this station. This was our lives," wrote one fan. "My brother's in a coma and he always listened to HFS and it was the only thing he loved," said another. "This won't stand" and "This is not cool." There were other more pointed comments, but the message was clear: HFS was their station, so bring it back. But, despite its confusion over what day it is, 99.1 is now the El Zol show.
Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, offered these explanations. The reformatted WHFS does not yet have an on-air staff. For the first 24 hours, the station was simulcasting with other stations in the Spanish Broadcasting System, a Miami-based Hispanic broadcasting company that served as a consultant to Infinity. What listeners heard was a "Best Of" show from one of the network's stations where, perhaps, it was Friday.
As of yesterday afternoon, the station had stopped simulcasting. "Right now, we're just playing music," said Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo. The station plans to hire hosts in the coming weeks.
As for requests for songs by Victor Manuelle, Luis Guerra or Marc Anthony or anyone else, listeners should hold off for now."
The station is not taking listeners' requests at this time," Mateo said. "As we hire an on-air staff, that will be something that we will do."
While rockers lament the passing of a rock station (HFS stood for "High Fidelity Stereo"), others welcomed the change. It is the largest Spanish-language station serving the area's Latino population, an increasing number of whom are new immigrants. About 55,000 Hispanics call the Baltimore metropolitan area home, according to the latest census figures. Statewide, the Hispanic population grew about 15 percent between 2000 and 2003 to more than 262,000.
"I used to listen to HFS. I like rock, but I'm very happy to have the station," said Ives Martinez, president of the Association of Latino Marylanders of Anne Arundel County. "Hispanics need another media outlet to reach our community.
"It's also good for business, said Enrique Rivadeneira, who owns Latin Palace, a restaurant and dance club on Broadway, in Baltimore's Latino community. Rivadeneira is also the president of Baltimore's Hispanic Business Association.
"We now have an opportunity to do promotion and advertisement," he said. "We have struggled through without it. But for many of the small businesses, there are hundreds of them now, they can now use the radio as a medium to help advertise and promote products."
Others, however, want more than just music from a Spanish-language station. Carmen Nieves, executive director of the nonprofit Centro de La Communidad in Baltimore, says a thought-provoking talk radio show is needed. "That's way more important, educating them about laws and things that may have an impact on their lives," Nieves said. "I'm happy there's a radio station that will play music all day, but that's not what we need."If I want to listen to salsa, I'll put a CD on my stereo."
Staff writers Mary Carole McCauley and Kelly Brewington contributed to this article.
posted by thetechnocrat at 7:15 AM
27 comments
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
A Hearty Welcome To Blarticle's Newest Addition
A welcome from the king...
I bid greetings and salutations to Blarticle Physics newest member Planetary.
Winter is a fine woman who, hopefully, will add a female perspective to this blogs ravings.
Welcome sweetness, you know I love you most of all ;>)
I bid greetings and salutations to Blarticle Physics newest member Planetary.
Winter is a fine woman who, hopefully, will add a female perspective to this blogs ravings.
Welcome sweetness, you know I love you most of all ;>)
posted by thetechnocrat at 9:18 PM
1 comments
Return from the almost beyond pt.1
Well it's all over. The grand 10th anniversary of Hoffmanstock is behind me now. As I predicted Mad Scott was trouble during the trip & the girl from Rio turned out to be a very friendly one indeed. The festival was that of a gathering of lost souls who, once united, managed to raise hell on a purely mind blowing level. But let's not get ahead of myself shall we...
Hoffmanstock - A Brief History
In the year of 1996 A.D. there was a dreamer. A dreamer who was torn between his half Jewish/half Christian heritage. He followed neither, nor did he believe in any gods. He longed for a gathering of all kinds of freaks & flatscans alike. He was a well read young fellow. He liked pretty girls. He even enjoyed a good buzz now & then. His name you ask? His name was Hoffman!
In the summer of 1996 in the shadow of the Sturges bike week, he decided there needed to be, for lack of a better term, a festivus for the rest of us. The freaks, mods, punks, outcasts, brainiacs, losers & winners. He informed as many as he could that for 1 week his house would be open to all who wished to enter. A non stop party that would be bigger than life itself.
Being on the inner circle, or square for this matter, I was on the ground floor of this event. Our base quadumvirate was a weird mix of those we shall not name. The codenames were:
Ed McFartney(me)
Weird Scare-son
Dungo Starr(Hoffman)
Ron Lennon
We began buy purchasing every amount of crap we could get our hands on:
Hash, Rum, Tylox, Blueberry Schnapps, DMT, Homebrew, Liquid LSD, Absolut, Louis XIII, Blow, Beer, Every cet pill known to man, Pot, Wild Turkey, Special K & some other ingrediants I can't recall.
After the things were bought it was agreed upon that no one would show allegiance to anything.
At first it seemed that our normal "close" crew of about 10 people would be showing up for the week long festivities. We figured it was no big deal as these were our good friends. For me, nothing could be more fun than hanging with the unholy number 13 for a week. During the day a few people would trickle in here and there. One here, two there. "Oh look, it's 4 people." All told 22 people arrived on the fateful first day. By the end of the week the numbers were somewhere between 45-50 people. Not bad for a word of mouth party that saw most people going and coming at the own will. The only incident was that two men came to blows over a woman. The girl didn't even end up with either, which was fitting. We ending up clearing a makeshift "fight pit" for the occurance of an unavoidable duke 'em out contest. The only trouble I got into was that I was filmed exposing my left nut/right nut gag for the ladies. Now I am forever branded as the nuts man. Good times.
The developing years have seen a progression in the size of Hoffmanstock. The average for the last bunch of years is about 100 people. Not too bad. Just big enough where you don't know everyone, yet not big enough where you don't know anyone. The exact date of the party is set by Hoffman himself. He just decides one day that this is the week and makes the appropriate calls. Only once did the festivals happen very close to each other. Sadly, I'm not sure how many more there will be. Hoffman himself is struck with a tumor. He's been living on borrowed time for about a year and a half now. He remains ever feisty. Not wanting anyone to pity him or tone down his behavior.
To be continued...
Hoffmanstock - A Brief History
In the year of 1996 A.D. there was a dreamer. A dreamer who was torn between his half Jewish/half Christian heritage. He followed neither, nor did he believe in any gods. He longed for a gathering of all kinds of freaks & flatscans alike. He was a well read young fellow. He liked pretty girls. He even enjoyed a good buzz now & then. His name you ask? His name was Hoffman!
In the summer of 1996 in the shadow of the Sturges bike week, he decided there needed to be, for lack of a better term, a festivus for the rest of us. The freaks, mods, punks, outcasts, brainiacs, losers & winners. He informed as many as he could that for 1 week his house would be open to all who wished to enter. A non stop party that would be bigger than life itself.
Being on the inner circle, or square for this matter, I was on the ground floor of this event. Our base quadumvirate was a weird mix of those we shall not name. The codenames were:
Ed McFartney(me)
Weird Scare-son
Dungo Starr(Hoffman)
Ron Lennon
We began buy purchasing every amount of crap we could get our hands on:
Hash, Rum, Tylox, Blueberry Schnapps, DMT, Homebrew, Liquid LSD, Absolut, Louis XIII, Blow, Beer, Every cet pill known to man, Pot, Wild Turkey, Special K & some other ingrediants I can't recall.
After the things were bought it was agreed upon that no one would show allegiance to anything.
At first it seemed that our normal "close" crew of about 10 people would be showing up for the week long festivities. We figured it was no big deal as these were our good friends. For me, nothing could be more fun than hanging with the unholy number 13 for a week. During the day a few people would trickle in here and there. One here, two there. "Oh look, it's 4 people." All told 22 people arrived on the fateful first day. By the end of the week the numbers were somewhere between 45-50 people. Not bad for a word of mouth party that saw most people going and coming at the own will. The only incident was that two men came to blows over a woman. The girl didn't even end up with either, which was fitting. We ending up clearing a makeshift "fight pit" for the occurance of an unavoidable duke 'em out contest. The only trouble I got into was that I was filmed exposing my left nut/right nut gag for the ladies. Now I am forever branded as the nuts man. Good times.
The developing years have seen a progression in the size of Hoffmanstock. The average for the last bunch of years is about 100 people. Not too bad. Just big enough where you don't know everyone, yet not big enough where you don't know anyone. The exact date of the party is set by Hoffman himself. He just decides one day that this is the week and makes the appropriate calls. Only once did the festivals happen very close to each other. Sadly, I'm not sure how many more there will be. Hoffman himself is struck with a tumor. He's been living on borrowed time for about a year and a half now. He remains ever feisty. Not wanting anyone to pity him or tone down his behavior.
To be continued...
posted by thetechnocrat at 1:06 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
General musings of the day
Had some time to visit CBR before I set sail on the gassy frontier of cool. The best site around for comic talk. It's too bad that JD is banned. His generosity was one of the reasons that I stayed on that board. Maybe one day the banned of old will be let back in the gates. If they even want to come back.
I'm a little wary of my traveling companions. One is an attractive girl from Rio that speaks little english. Her "handler" is a man known for violence and madness. A wierder triumvirate I cannot think of at the moment. We'll probably be chased down by wild suburbanites and hung by our feet in the town square. All the while they pelt us with homemade chili & bracelets. Better strap in this is gonna be the death of me. Look out Hoffman House, here I come!
I'm a little wary of my traveling companions. One is an attractive girl from Rio that speaks little english. Her "handler" is a man known for violence and madness. A wierder triumvirate I cannot think of at the moment. We'll probably be chased down by wild suburbanites and hung by our feet in the town square. All the while they pelt us with homemade chili & bracelets. Better strap in this is gonna be the death of me. Look out Hoffman House, here I come!
posted by thetechnocrat at 5:10 PM
0 comments
Not much time left...
My quest begins soon.
The road to Hoffmanstock will not be an easy one.
I fear this year will be the last that I attend.
My life is too different now than it had been then.
Most of the people I've known that go have either died, married or disappeared completely.
Such is the way of things.
I've gassed up the suv & made all the necessary contacts.
The only thing left to do is tie up some loose ends and watch the sun rise on the beach tomorrow morning.
The road to Hoffmanstock will not be an easy one.
I fear this year will be the last that I attend.
My life is too different now than it had been then.
Most of the people I've known that go have either died, married or disappeared completely.
Such is the way of things.
I've gassed up the suv & made all the necessary contacts.
The only thing left to do is tie up some loose ends and watch the sun rise on the beach tomorrow morning.
posted by thetechnocrat at 2:20 PM
0 comments
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Captain America 2 Review
Well we are 2 issues into the Brubaker/Epting run on Cap & it's getting better.
Eptings pencils for the issue were crisp and very defined. The use of shadows in the tunnels was superb. His style has greatly evolved from his Avengers days.
The flashback/dream sequence by Michael Lark was great. Blurry & not quite in focus. Much like my own dreams.
The coloring by Frank D'Armata was good. Especially in the sewers.
Let's get to the meat of the story...
We find the return of one of my personal favs Crossbones. Out of jail and apparantly working for the Skull to detonate a bomb underneath Manhattan. His characterization of being smart and staying in the shadows to elude detection & contact the other Skull cells was in good standing with his personality in the past.
Cap has a dream of a battle in which Bucky takes a bullet in the gut. Contradicting the actual events of his death. He notes that it was a familiar situation, but not how he died. Was it just a dream? Was it a foreshadowing of the revelation that someone has been using the Cosmic Cube and altering events? Not sure, guess we'll find out in the issues to come.
Cap is called into SHIELD to give a sample of his DNA to properly identify the body of the Skull. It's a nice touch to include the fact that they dispose of his samples, every time they are used, to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. We see Cap in disbelief and a bit meloncholy over the death of his arch enemy.
Forward to the scene of the crime. Cap has requested a visit to see it for himself. He notes that the Skull's mask is on the ground. Upon inspection, he realizes that it was someone he had seen on the street. Realizing that he had been surveilled. The agents find a communications device and see that it's still live. They trace the signal back to where Crossbones and his men are in the sewers. Sharon & Cap head out to investigate. Upon meeting resistance in the sewers, Sharon calls for backup. Crossbones, noticing Cap's shield flying by, decides to stay in the shadows and make an exit when the coast is clear.
Upon defeating the terrorists Cap gets out of one of them that they are employed by the Skull and are from AID, a radical branch of AIM. When Sharon reports in to Fury, they also learn that the Skull was in possession of a Cosmic Cube. The fear lies in who killed him and has the cube now.
The last part of the story shows Crossbones overhearing that the Skull is dead and the cube is gone. Climbing out of the sewers he makes a call to another cell setting up to do the same as him. He tells them to proceed and to contact the Paris group with the same instructions. The last words of the issue are spoken by him, "He may not be here to see it, but this world is gonna burn tonight in his memory." Ominous words indeed.
A great follow up to the 1st issue of this new Cap series. I encourage all to crap their pants and send them to the editor!
Eptings pencils for the issue were crisp and very defined. The use of shadows in the tunnels was superb. His style has greatly evolved from his Avengers days.
The flashback/dream sequence by Michael Lark was great. Blurry & not quite in focus. Much like my own dreams.
The coloring by Frank D'Armata was good. Especially in the sewers.
Let's get to the meat of the story...
We find the return of one of my personal favs Crossbones. Out of jail and apparantly working for the Skull to detonate a bomb underneath Manhattan. His characterization of being smart and staying in the shadows to elude detection & contact the other Skull cells was in good standing with his personality in the past.
Cap has a dream of a battle in which Bucky takes a bullet in the gut. Contradicting the actual events of his death. He notes that it was a familiar situation, but not how he died. Was it just a dream? Was it a foreshadowing of the revelation that someone has been using the Cosmic Cube and altering events? Not sure, guess we'll find out in the issues to come.
Cap is called into SHIELD to give a sample of his DNA to properly identify the body of the Skull. It's a nice touch to include the fact that they dispose of his samples, every time they are used, to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. We see Cap in disbelief and a bit meloncholy over the death of his arch enemy.
Forward to the scene of the crime. Cap has requested a visit to see it for himself. He notes that the Skull's mask is on the ground. Upon inspection, he realizes that it was someone he had seen on the street. Realizing that he had been surveilled. The agents find a communications device and see that it's still live. They trace the signal back to where Crossbones and his men are in the sewers. Sharon & Cap head out to investigate. Upon meeting resistance in the sewers, Sharon calls for backup. Crossbones, noticing Cap's shield flying by, decides to stay in the shadows and make an exit when the coast is clear.
Upon defeating the terrorists Cap gets out of one of them that they are employed by the Skull and are from AID, a radical branch of AIM. When Sharon reports in to Fury, they also learn that the Skull was in possession of a Cosmic Cube. The fear lies in who killed him and has the cube now.
The last part of the story shows Crossbones overhearing that the Skull is dead and the cube is gone. Climbing out of the sewers he makes a call to another cell setting up to do the same as him. He tells them to proceed and to contact the Paris group with the same instructions. The last words of the issue are spoken by him, "He may not be here to see it, but this world is gonna burn tonight in his memory." Ominous words indeed.
A great follow up to the 1st issue of this new Cap series. I encourage all to crap their pants and send them to the editor!
posted by thetechnocrat at 4:57 PM
5 comments
Some heartening news
By Martin Wolk
Chief economics correspondent
MSNBC
The economy added 157,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said Friday in a report that fell a bit short of expectations but was good enough to close out the best year for job growth since 1999.
The moderate job growth — just about what is needed to absorb new entrants to the labor market each month — left the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4 percent, where it has lingered for the past six months. Economists on average had forecast the report would show an increase of 175,000 jobs.
“Jobs are being created, but the pace is nothing to write home about,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors in Philadelphia.
For the year, employers added about 2.2 million jobs to non-farm payrolls, the best total since the boom year of 1999, when 3.5 million jobs were created. For 2005, most analysts expect similar steady but unspectacular employment growth in an economy that is expected to slow a bit as it moves into the fourth year of expansion.
“To me this is still a dysfunctional labor market,” said Jim Glassman, senior economist at J.P. Morgan Chase. He pointed out that total employment has not yet returned to its previous peak more than three years after the expansion began.
That is extremely unusual compared with past recoveries. Even in the so-called “jobless recovery” that began in 1991, employment had surpassed its previous peak within two years.
Glassman expects the pace of employment growth to pick up in 2005 to an average of more than 200,000 a month and possible 300,000, compared with 186,000 in 2004. “We’ve had flat employment for four years running — that can’t be normal,” he said.
Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist at Lehman Bros., said that forecast was far too optimistic. He projects job growth of about 165,000 a month in the year ahead, which he called “healthy” but far from enough to drive strong growth in wages.
Hourly wages rose by an average of 2.7 percent last year, according to Friday’s report, but consumer prices rose 3.5 percent, so “Joe Sixpack hasn’t done that well,” Harris said. Most economists assume oil prices will decline in the year ahead, allowing wage-earners to stay ahead of inflation even though employers will face little pressure to boost pay.
Most of the job gain last month came from the service sector, including education, health care and business and professional workers. The retail segment lost 20,000 workers on a seasonally adjusted basis, and manufacturing employment was roughly flat, adding 3,000 jobs. For the year, manufacturers added 76,000 jobs for the first annual gain in seven years, although the sector remains more than 3 million jobs below 1998 levels.
“We’ve got a problem if this industry does not come back,” said Glassman. “The whole Midwest has been lagging the national economy. Those states are very industrial, very dependent on this trend. It has the potential to snap back more strongly, but we’re not seeing it yet.”
Financial markets showed little reaction to the employment report, although analysts said there was nothing in the numbers to alter the prevailing view that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again Feb. 2 at the next meeting of policy-makers.
Minutes from the last meeting released this week suggest Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues plan to continue raising rates slowly but steadily this year.
For the White House, which was whipsawed by erratic job creation figures during last year’s election campaign, the latest numbers were welcomed as a sign of continuing steady economic growth.
“The economy has been creating jobs since the summer of 2003, and the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.3 to 5.4 percent,” said White House chief economic adviser Greg Mankiw. “The economy is very much headed in the right direction.”
He predicted the economy would add 175,000 jobs a month in 2005.
Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, noted that job growth last year was about 1.4 million below what historically would have been expected in the third year of a recovery.
“We’re a bit behind the curve, but the jobless recovery is solidly behind us,” he said. “It’s good to see ongoing job creation.”
The administration has had to steadily ratchet back its job-growth projections after earlier forecasts used to promote President Bush's tax-cut programs proved overoptimistic. For example the current White House projection of 2.1 million net new jobs in 2005 is much lower than a previous administration forecast of 3.6 million.
Labor force participation is trending down, reflecting “long-term structural and demographic shifts, as well as more short-term business cycle fluctuations,” said Kathleen Utgoff, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The participation rate has declined sharply in the past several years among younger workers, with economists speculating that a weak labor market is causing those people to stay in school, including seeking higher degrees. But the number of people age 55 and older working or looking for employment has risen in the past four years.
Chief economics correspondent
MSNBC
The economy added 157,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said Friday in a report that fell a bit short of expectations but was good enough to close out the best year for job growth since 1999.
The moderate job growth — just about what is needed to absorb new entrants to the labor market each month — left the unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4 percent, where it has lingered for the past six months. Economists on average had forecast the report would show an increase of 175,000 jobs.
“Jobs are being created, but the pace is nothing to write home about,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors in Philadelphia.
For the year, employers added about 2.2 million jobs to non-farm payrolls, the best total since the boom year of 1999, when 3.5 million jobs were created. For 2005, most analysts expect similar steady but unspectacular employment growth in an economy that is expected to slow a bit as it moves into the fourth year of expansion.
“To me this is still a dysfunctional labor market,” said Jim Glassman, senior economist at J.P. Morgan Chase. He pointed out that total employment has not yet returned to its previous peak more than three years after the expansion began.
That is extremely unusual compared with past recoveries. Even in the so-called “jobless recovery” that began in 1991, employment had surpassed its previous peak within two years.
Glassman expects the pace of employment growth to pick up in 2005 to an average of more than 200,000 a month and possible 300,000, compared with 186,000 in 2004. “We’ve had flat employment for four years running — that can’t be normal,” he said.
Ethan Harris, chief U.S. economist at Lehman Bros., said that forecast was far too optimistic. He projects job growth of about 165,000 a month in the year ahead, which he called “healthy” but far from enough to drive strong growth in wages.
Hourly wages rose by an average of 2.7 percent last year, according to Friday’s report, but consumer prices rose 3.5 percent, so “Joe Sixpack hasn’t done that well,” Harris said. Most economists assume oil prices will decline in the year ahead, allowing wage-earners to stay ahead of inflation even though employers will face little pressure to boost pay.
Most of the job gain last month came from the service sector, including education, health care and business and professional workers. The retail segment lost 20,000 workers on a seasonally adjusted basis, and manufacturing employment was roughly flat, adding 3,000 jobs. For the year, manufacturers added 76,000 jobs for the first annual gain in seven years, although the sector remains more than 3 million jobs below 1998 levels.
“We’ve got a problem if this industry does not come back,” said Glassman. “The whole Midwest has been lagging the national economy. Those states are very industrial, very dependent on this trend. It has the potential to snap back more strongly, but we’re not seeing it yet.”
Financial markets showed little reaction to the employment report, although analysts said there was nothing in the numbers to alter the prevailing view that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again Feb. 2 at the next meeting of policy-makers.
Minutes from the last meeting released this week suggest Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues plan to continue raising rates slowly but steadily this year.
For the White House, which was whipsawed by erratic job creation figures during last year’s election campaign, the latest numbers were welcomed as a sign of continuing steady economic growth.
“The economy has been creating jobs since the summer of 2003, and the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.3 to 5.4 percent,” said White House chief economic adviser Greg Mankiw. “The economy is very much headed in the right direction.”
He predicted the economy would add 175,000 jobs a month in 2005.
Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, noted that job growth last year was about 1.4 million below what historically would have been expected in the third year of a recovery.
“We’re a bit behind the curve, but the jobless recovery is solidly behind us,” he said. “It’s good to see ongoing job creation.”
The administration has had to steadily ratchet back its job-growth projections after earlier forecasts used to promote President Bush's tax-cut programs proved overoptimistic. For example the current White House projection of 2.1 million net new jobs in 2005 is much lower than a previous administration forecast of 3.6 million.
Labor force participation is trending down, reflecting “long-term structural and demographic shifts, as well as more short-term business cycle fluctuations,” said Kathleen Utgoff, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The participation rate has declined sharply in the past several years among younger workers, with economists speculating that a weak labor market is causing those people to stay in school, including seeking higher degrees. But the number of people age 55 and older working or looking for employment has risen in the past four years.
posted by thetechnocrat at 4:53 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
A nice quote for no one to see
In a far country where I once lived the ladies used to go around paying
calls, under the humane and kindly pretence of wanting to see each other;
and when they returned home, they would cry out with a glad voice, saying,
"We made sixteen calls and found fourteen of them out"--not meaning that
they found out anything important against the fourteen--no, that was only
a colloquial phrase to signify that they were not at home--and their manner
of saying it expressed their lively satisfaction in that fact.
-Mark Twain
calls, under the humane and kindly pretence of wanting to see each other;
and when they returned home, they would cry out with a glad voice, saying,
"We made sixteen calls and found fourteen of them out"--not meaning that
they found out anything important against the fourteen--no, that was only
a colloquial phrase to signify that they were not at home--and their manner
of saying it expressed their lively satisfaction in that fact.
-Mark Twain
posted by thetechnocrat at 11:18 PM
0 comments
Awww shit!
Now I've got one of these things.
The world must be ending.
I guess I'll just post random thoughts and general minutia of daily life in the ocean.
The world must be ending.
I guess I'll just post random thoughts and general minutia of daily life in the ocean.
posted by thetechnocrat at 10:53 PM
0 comments