The PopCulteer
February 10, 2012

You Gotta Fight For Your Rights To Comics

Revisiting last week’s “Watchmen” item in the PopCulteer, I don’t want it to seem like I’m completely coming down on the side of DC Comics in the whole creator’s rights issue. There are a few facts that can’t be denied. First, DC Comics, like most corporate entities, has a pretty dodgy history when it comes to treating creative people in a fair and ethical way. Second, recent changes in copyright law have greatly confused matters for everyone involved. Third, while DC Comics has treated Alan Moore exceptionally well compared to other creators, that’s mainly because he’s made them a buttload of money over the years. Creators are still running into a brick wall at times with DC.

I'm the Man Of Steel, and I ain't lion!

From day one, DC Comics (known in the beginning as National Periodical Publications) has exploited the creativity of young, not-too-savvy, non-business people. Their treatment of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, has been legendary in its greed and pettiness. DC purchased the rights to their flagship character for less than a couple of hundred dollars in 1938, and it was not until the eve of the release of the 1978 Superman movie that DC’s corporate owner, Warner Communications, was shamed into paying Siegel and Shuster a pension and restoring their names as the creators of Superman.

You didn't hear Bob Kane complain about his deal with DC.

It’s important to note that DC Comics brokered a much better deal with Bob Kane, the credited creator of Batman. Kane, who was around the same age as Siegel and Shuster, negotiated a deal with DC Comics for the rights to Batman that made him a multi-millionaire/celebrity artist. Proof that it’s not just soulless corporations that can screw creative people is the fact that Kane managed to omit the contributions of his collaborator, Bill Finger, from those negotiations. Finger, a law student and writer of most early Batman stories, made several suggestions to Kane during the creation of Batman. He suggested changing

One of the few photos of Bill Finger.

the name from “The Bat,” he came up with the Bat Cave, the name Bruce Wayne, the idea that he was independently wealthy; plus, he suggested that Batman’s costume should be gray and black instead of green and yellow. Finger never received full credit for role as co-creator of the Batman and died a penniless alcoholic in 1973.Even after his death, Kane refused to allow DC to give him an offical co-creator credit. His writing was considered “work made for hire.” With “work made for hire,” the publisher is considered the creator or author of the work, while the actual creators are considered mere workers, as if they were on an assembly line.

Then we get to the matter of the new copyright laws. It’s no secret that corporate America has been lobbying Congress for years to change the copyright laws so that they more strongly favor corporations over individual creators. This is not just in the case of comic books. It also applies to movies, the music industry, book publishing, and any other endeavor where there’s a lone creative voice waiting to be smothered under a laundry basket full of lawyers and bled dry.

Congressman Bono, above on the left, gave his life so that copyrights could be extended.

Ironically, they would not have been as successful in screwing with the copyright laws if it hadn’t been for one unfortunately placed tree. Sonny Bono, a Congressman from California who was bought and paid for by the entertainment industry, was pushing a bill through Congress that was part of a slate of copyright law reforms that corporations hope will eventually allow them to retain ownership of their intellectual property forever.

This is a direct contradiction of the will of our Founding Fathers, who set forth the notion that a person should benefit financially from their creative works, but that after a period of time, those works should fall into the public domain for the betterment of society as a whole. Originally an author could protect his work for up to 28 years. It was actually Charles Dickens (whose 200th birthday was just this week) who helped push through reforms to more effectively protect creative works from exploitation by greedy businessmen during his second US tour in the mid-nineteenth century.

Recently DC changed their logo, feeling that their previous logo was not corporate and soulless enough.

The “Sonny Bono Bill,” which included The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, was not gaining much traction in Congress until the unfortunate skiing death of the former Mr. Cher. Out of sympathy over Bono’s death, the bill was passed and several bizarre and arcane new copyright laws fell into place. The idea was to stack the deck in favor of corporations and against individual creators. However, the bill was so strangely written that some of the estates of creators are attempting to exploit it to regain the rights to some very well known characters. So far, none of these efforts have proved completely successful in court.

The big giveaway to the corporations however, was the lengthening of the period of time before a work falls into the public domain from seventy-five years to ninety-five years, up to one-hundred-twenty years in some cases or seventy-five years after the author’s death. While the idea was that this would give authors and creators twenty extra years to earn money based on their work, in the case of “work made for hire,” the governing principle under which the vast majority of comic books are created, it merely gives corporations the right to exploit those works for an additional twenty or more years.

Barsoom is in the public domain now.

To put it bluntly, there are famous characters whose early stories would be in the public domain right now if it were not for this law. There are even some characters that are in the public domain already, but which are not being heavily exploited due to aggressive corporate lawyering. Disney’s big action movie this year is “John Carter,” based on Edgar Rice Burrough’s “John Carter, Warlord of Mars” books. Those books are in the public domain. Anybody can make a movie based on “John Carter, Warlord of Mars.” “The Wizard of Oz” books are in the public domain. The early “Tarzan” books are in the public domain.

If it were not for the “Bono Bill,” Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Dick Tracy, The Phantom, and Porky Pig would be public domain characters that anyone could use in a creative work. Next year, Superman turns seventy-five. If the “Bono Bill” had not passed, that would mean that next year, anybody who wanted to publish a comic book with Superman in it could do so. They couldn’t call him Superman on the cover because DC still owns the trademark, but they could put Superman, Clark Kent, and Lois Lane as much as they wanted to inside the comic. This is one reason that DC Comics has spent so much money maintaining every possible trademark that could be used for a comic book title, such as Krypton, Metropolis, Smallville, The Daily Planet, and The Man of Steel.

Seigel and Shuster, in the 1970s, after gaining some recompense from DC.

"I gots new pants," says the last son of Krypton.

One of the quirks of the “Bono Bill” is a provision that allows the estates of deceased creators to file to terminate any assigned rights to their creations within a few years after their passing. This is why DC Comics is on the verge of losing half the copyrights to the original Superman stories to the estate of Jerry Siegel and why they will probably also lose the other half of those rights to the estate of Joe Shuster. The problem is that the law as written is vague and has created a huge mess of litigation in terms of derivative rights, trademark ownership, and how much money is owed to which parties for what rights. The Siegel case has been dragging on for years and may have actually inspired the recent changes to Superman’s costume (he’s lost the red trunks).

Similar cases which have the estate of Jack Kirby seeking his half of the rights to The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, the X-Men, The Hulk, and most of the foundation of Marvel Comics, have been less successful, possibly due to Marvel’s parent company, Disney, having an endless supply of ninja-like corporate lawyers to descend on the courtrooms like carpet beetles on a carcass.

Legendary comics creator, Jack Kirby, right, with a giant Alan Moore.

Over the years, DC Comics has employed situational ethics when it comes to giving the creators of its many characters proper credit and renumeration. However, in the 1980′s, thanks largely to then-publisher Jenette Kahn, DC took a more progressive approach, awarding creators proper credit, royalties, and in some cases, more liberal reversion rights than DC had been used to giving out before. My point last week was that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons pretty much had the best deal that DC gave any creators at the time and they have been paid quite well for their efforts over the last twenty-five years.

Other creators who did not have the marquee value of Alan Moore were not so lucky and there are many cases where it seems like DC Comics is deliberately sitting on properties that have had offers to be developed as movies or TV shows but to which DC is not willing to negotiate or give up the rights. There is some speculation that DC is doing this under a corporate directive from their parent company, Time Warner, to surpress potential movies or TV shows that would compete with other Time Warner properties like “True Blood,” “Supernatural,” or the Harry Potter franchise.

While Moore is upset that the rights to the Watchmen have not reverted back to him because DC Comics has kept the book in print, there are other creators who have watched six-figure movie options go down the drain because DC Comics still has their books in a warehouse somewhere, technically still in print, and is sending them a royalty check for six dollars or so each year.

So basically, copyright law was a morass of red tape to begin with. Its been made worse with the recent changes and it may all be made moot with new technology. Creators facing the digital age may find that it’s simply impossible to earn a living wage creating comic books (or regular books,or music, or short films) in an age where they can be digitally transmitted and downloaded in a matter of seconds. Current business models with publishers, studios, and record labels are quickly becoming irrelevant. Somebody can write a catchy song, create a clever video, upload it to YouTube and if it goes viral and gets a few million hits, they’ll probably wind up getting a bigger check than if they’d recorded a hit single for a major label. As digital comics become more accepted, we could see creators bypass Marvel and DC and go directly to the public via the Internet. The future, as always, is uncertain.

The Greatest Thing In The World

Good Morning!

Weekend Events

Friday night, there’s entertainment all over town. Bare Bones bring their acapella music to Taylor Books at 7:30 PM, with no cover. Also cover-free at 9 PM, The Bark-O-Loungers perform at Bruno’s on Leon Sullivan Way. The Hybrid Soul Project kicks off at 11 PM at The Empty Glass with a $7 cover, $5 before 11 PM. Also, you still have a chance to see Mandy Harper as Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst” at 8 PM at the WVSU Capitol Center Theater. At the Kanawha Players Theater at 8 PM, it’s opening night for “Lend Me A Tenor.” From 9 PM to 11PM you can head to Little India for The Snake And The Pot, original music and bellydancing, plus access to tasty Indian food.

Saturday from 7 to 9 PM at the Bluegrass Kitchen, with no cover, you can see Mirium Bria. Rick Perdue will be performing 7:30 to 11:30 with no cover at the Bridge Road Bistro. At 7:30, Taylor Books presents Mike Bennett. At 11 PM, c2j2, Ghost Fleet, and Freaktent will be at The Empty Glass with a $7 cover ($5 before 11 PM.)

That’s it for this week. Your PopCulteer is still hard at work on Radio Free Charleston 150. Our tribute to LiveMix Studio should be online by the end of the month. Also remember to check PopCult for Sunday Evening Videos and Monday Morning Art and maybe, in the next few days, we’ll have a little bonus coverage of the International Toy Fair in New York City.

Last night I saw the Contemporary Youth Arts Company production of “The Belle Of Amhearst,” a play by William Luce that uses the poets own words to weave a narrative that lets us spend an evening with the much-loved innovator of verse, Emily Dickinson.  This is a one-woman show, and it is an amazing performance by Mandy Harper. This George Washington senior pours herself into the role and becomes Emily Dickinson for over 90 minutes. It’s quite a feat of theater, and something that should be witnessed by every patron of the arts in this town. Our video tonight is a brief snippet of the show.

Harper manages to act and embody the words of Dickinson. She does not merely recite them, instead making them come to life in a delightfully vibrant way.  I’ve seen Mandy in CYAC shows for almost two years now, and it’s wonderful to see her shine like this. Kudos to director Dan Kehde for guiding this production to the stage.

You have three more chances to see “The Belle Of Amhearst,” February 9-11 at the WVSU Capitol Center Theater, 123 Summers Street, Charleston. Produced by The Contemporary Youth Arts Company. Performances start at 8 PM. Tickets are ten dollars for adults, six dollars for students and seniors.

The PopCulteer
February 3, 2012

We have some cool stuff in The PopCulteer this week, from cool local events to a big comc book controversy. So let’s jump right into the thick of things.

The Belle of Amherst

The Contemporary Youth Arts Company is presenting a show that’s a bit of a departure for them beginning this weekend. Last night saw the opening of The Belle of Amherst, a one woman show about Emily Dickinson. This 1976 Broadway play written by William Luce is a tour de force performance by George Washington High School senior, and CYAC veteran, Mandy Harper, who plays the poet, along with fourteen other characters.

We’ve been watching Mandy grow as a performer with CYAC over the last two years and she has been consistently impressive. We’re really looking forward to seeing what she does with this play. You can see the play at 8:00 PM tonight and tomorrow and from February 9 – 11 at the WVSU Capitol Center Theater, 123 Summers Street. Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Your PopCulteer is planning to attend Saturday night’s performance.

Ease On Down Abbey Road

Charleston’s own Beatles tribute band, Rubber Soul, returns to action Friday and Saturday night at 8 PM at the Alban Theater, 65 Olde Main Street, St. Albans, with a live performance of the classic Beatles album, Abbey Road. The seven member group, led by Mark Scarpelli, will be joined by a string quartet, brass, and woodwinds.

In addition to the Abbey Road album, the ninety minute show will also include performances of other Beatles tunes with full orchestrations. Tickets are $10, with half the proceeds going to the American Heart Association. Surprise guest artists and giveaways are also promised for the event, which is sponsored by Brooks Run Mining.

Last year Rubber Soul performed the White Album at the Alban Theater and people are still talking about how incredible those shows were. You won’t want to miss Rubber Soul’s Abbey Road Live.

Hot Piping Ska

Friday night in St. Albans at 10 PM, conveniently just after the Rubber Soul show, peoples can stroll across the street to the VIP Lounge and indulge in the ska madness of The Tom McGees. These punk/ska veterans, many of them from the band 69 Fingers, will be skanking up the joint with three sets of high energy mod beat toasting. Five dollars gets you in the door if you’re eighteen or older.

RFC 2012

You may have noticed its been a few weeks since the last episode of Radio Free Charleston. We are hard at work on our very special 150th episode, which will be a special tribute to the late lamented LiveMix Studio. But after that, the floodgates will open as Radio Free Charleston spills forth into the new year with music from Karma To Burn, The Pepper Fandango Band, Miniature Giant, along with several bands that we have yet to record. With any luck, 2012 will see the RFC debuts of Marium Bria, Breedlove, Scooter Scuderi, and a whole bunch more local bands that we have on our wish list.

After we deliver episode 150, you can expect either a new episode or a re-mastered version of one of our old episodes coming your way every week. We have decided to go back and remaster the early episodes of our show, with some missing elements restored, to take advantage of the higher quality video available on YouTube now. You can still find every episode of Radio Free Charleston scattered among the RFC Archives at MySpace, Vimeo, and YouTube, but our goal is to gather them all in one place so that they can be more conveniently ignored.

Winding Up Watchmen

There’s been a lot of controversy this week as DC Comics announced one of the worst-kept secrets in comics, their plans to release “Before Watchmen”, a collection of mini-series that will explore the characters and the comic universe of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons classic “Watchmen”. This is controversial because it’s being done against the wishes of the series co-creator, Alan Moore. If you don’t know the history of Moore’s relationship with DC Comics, it’s easy to take his side and condemn DC for proceeding with these new books.

However, it’s not that simple. Alan Moore had a major falling out with DC Comics after the completion of the “Watchmen” maxi-series in 1986. He became so soured on the company that he has taken the extreme action of refusing to accept any money from movies based on his works that DC Comics owns and complaining at every turn about how he wishes his work would be returned to him. The problem with this is that Moore was a full grown, intelligent adult with full knowledge of the history of comic book contract law when he signed his deal with DC to create the Watchmen with artist Dave Gibbons.

Moore is a genius. I’ve been a fan of his work for over thirty years, going back to the original “Marvelman” and “V For Vendetta” in the British comics magazine, Warrior. However, he’s been a pretty cranky genius for some time now, with a legacy of burned bridges that matches his legacy of great comics work. He told the New York Times that the “Before Watchmen” project was “completely shameless” and went on to say, “I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.” The irony of this statement will become apparent.

Originally, the series that became the Watchmen was supposed to tell the story of a group of superheroes that DC Comics had recently purchased from the Charlton Comics group. DC’s publisher at the time, Dick Giordano, on seeing how monumental and innovative Moore’s story was, urged him to create brand new characters to tell his story, in the process causing Moore and Gibbons to receive much more money and higher royalties on ancillary products than they would have otherwise.

It’s still pretty easy to see which characters in the Watchmen were based on which Charlton characters. Doctor Manhattan is clearly based on Captain Atom. Nite Owl is a modified version of the Blue Beetle, even down to having the same type of flying ship. Steve Ditko’s creation, The Question, became Rorschach and The Comedian was a revamp of The Peacemaker. The new deal that Moore and Gibbons signed with DC for the creation of the Watchmen would reportedly return control of the characters to the creators five years after the book goes out of print.

Nobody expected that twenty five years later, having sold four million copies and spawning a movie, that Watchmen would still be selling well enough to remain in the Top Twenty graphic novels sales list each year. It’s unlikely to ever go out of print. However, while Alan Moore refused to accept money for the Watchmen movie, instructing DC to pay his share to the artist, Dave Gibbons, he has not turned down royalties from the continued sale of the Watchmen trade paperback. So it’s not like he’s getting screwed out of any money here. He’s turned down a lot, but it was offered to him.

Moore famously started refusing to accept money for movies based on his work after the producers of “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen” settled out of court with a person who charged that the idea for the movie was stolen from an idea that he had pitched to them…five years after the comic book co-created by Moore had been published. After seeing the poor job done adapting that book and his Jack the Ripper opus, “From Hell,” the settlement was the last straw. Moore could not block the movies based on “V For Vendetta” or “Watchmen,” but he would not let them use his name on the films, and refused any money for them.

The truth is, DC Comics has spent years begging him to consider writing these prequel stories himself. They even offered him a huge check to simply approve of them and he turned it down. They have bent over backwards to try and involve him in this further exploitation of the characters that he created at the request of the company twenty five years ago. There are reports that he even turned down a deal that would have completely given him ownership of the characters, if he would just come back and oversee a follow up series. His co-creator, Dave Gibbons, cannot be happy about that.

Having exhausted every effort to appease Moore, DC has finally decided to exploit this very commercial property with a thirty-five week event that will feature some of the comics world’s top creators doing their take on Moore and Gibbons’ creations.

Before anyone declares it sacrilegious that DC dare to explore the world of the Watchmen outside of the events of the graphic novel, it should be noted that before his falling out with DC Comics, Moore himself was enthusiastically talking about how much he wanted to do another twelve issue maxi-series that would tell the adventures of The Minutemen (The group of superheroes that were the predecessors of The Watchmen) during World War II.

The falling out between Moore and DC initially was over the royalties on a promotional item. DC Comics authorized a company to produce a limited edition wristwatch with the Watchmen smiley face logo on it. Because this was such a limited edition, DC only charged a token fee for the company to produce these watches. As such, there wasn’t really any licensing money left over to pay Moore and Gibbons what would have been their normal merchandising share. Moore complained about this so loudly that DC Comics offered him ten thousand dollars to make up for what he felt he deserved. But by that point, Moore was too upset to continue working with the company. He finished the Batman graphic novel, “The Killing Joke,” and vowed never to work for DC Comics again.

Which is totally his right. After leaving DC, Moore co-created “From Hell,” “The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and an entire line of retro comics, “America’s Best Comics,” which, ironically, wound up being published by DC when DC Comics purchased Wildstorm, Moore’s publishing partner. After a few tense years, Moore once again severed ties with DC.

Which brings us back to “Before Watchmen.” The event will encompass seven mini-series with a unified back-up strip and a one-shot epilogue. One book will be released each week. The books, and their impressive creative teams, are:

RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo
MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke
COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones
DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes
NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert
OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee
SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

The issues will be released weekly, with each featuring a two-page back-up story called CURSE OF THE CRIMSON CORSAIR, written by Wein wih art by original series colorist John Higgins. It’s not clear if the books will be released one series at a time,or if they’ll alternate weeks.

The writers are some of the best in the business. Azzarello has a string of incredible works behind him. Cooke wrote and drew the amazing “The New Frontier” series. Straczynski created Babylon 5, and has written tons of hit comics for Marvel and DC. Wein was the editor of the original Watchmen series, and co-created Swamp Thing, along with spending time writing every major character at both Marvel and DC over the last 40 years.

The artists are all stars in their own right. Joe Kubert is a legend and his son, Andy, a major name. Jae Lee is primarily known for his Marvel work, but has a huge following. Adam Hughes is considered one of the best artists in the business when it comes to drawing the female form. Amanda Conner is just amazing. I’ve raved about her work on Power Girl in PopCult before. Cooke is a unique talent, who has yet to falter. Bermejo and Jones are also top-flight creators. Higgens is going to be the real surprise here. His art is not that well-kmown in America.

The question stirring up the controversy is, “Is it okay for other creators to muck around with the characters created by Moore?”

The answer…yep. He knew what he was doing when he signed the contract. He’s been very well-paid over the years. He was offered the chance to do this himself and turned it down. And, he’s not exactly an innocent when it comes to mucking around with other people’s creations.

Moore first made a name for himself mucking around with “Marvelman,” a British knock-off of Captain Marvel that was created to fill the void when Captain Marvel ceased publishing in the US. It remains one of the most brilliant and shocking things ever done in comics. Moore’s American debut was a drastic revamp of Len Wein’s Swamp Thing. The Watchmen themselves were based on the Charlton Action Heroes. Heck, except for “V For Vendetta” and “Top Ten,” almost everything he’s done has been based on, or an homage to, somebody else’s creations.

I don’t think Moore bothered to get permission from the creators of Allan Quartermain, Mina Harker, Dr. Jeckll or The Invisible Man before he included them in “The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen.”

The important question, yet to be answered, is, “Will these be any good?”

I’m curious to see the answer myself. I have pretty high expectations.

That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer. Keep your browsers tuned to this blog for all the breaking news.

Friady and Saturday, February 3 and 4, at 8 PM, Rubber Sould will once again grace the stage of The Alban Theater,  65 Old Main Plaza, St. Albans, with all of Abbey Road, from start to finish!

Tickets are $10, and the show is a benefit for The American Heart Association. Sponsored by Brooks Run Mining Company.

An added treat on Friday night is The Tom McGees, a hot Ska outfit, who will be performing sort of across the street after Abbey Road wraps up. For a mere five bucks, you can help David Scarpelli (his dad, Mark, is the man behind Rubber Soul) celebrate his birthday with a mad Ska meltdown at The VIP Lounge, 54 Olde Main Plaza, St. Albans, WV.

To remind you how much fun Rubber Soul is, tonight we’re bringing back episode 117 of Radio Free Charleston, which previewed last year’s White Album show. Enjoy, and come out to see the show.

The PopCulteer
January 27, 2012

Brain Stew

Last week your PopCulteer was missing in action for the first time in nearly three years. Circumstances beyond our control, including a computer virus and a real-world illness, conspired to knock yours truly out of commission. We are feeling better this week, and the PC problems are just about resolved, so we’re going to tenatively climb back on the blogging pony and bring you a column of random images, news items and odd bits of information..

Popeye Returns

In April IDW Publishing launches a new comic book based on Popeye The Sailor, one of my personal favorites, and not just because of the spinach.

Beginning in April fan-favorite, Roger Langridge will write the company’s all-new POPEYE comic series. King Features and IDW are expanding their partnership  to include new material, IDW’s POPEYE comics will offer all-new adventures with the famous “Sailor Man” and his friends, including Olive Oyl, Bluto, Wimpy and Swee’ Pea. Joining Langridge to bring Popeye back to comics is rising-star artist Bruce Ozella. The monthly POPEYE series will be co-edited by IDW’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Ted Adams and renowned comics Zen master Craig Yoe.

We go to the press release for more…

“I grew up reading Segar’s Popeye and we’ll be bringing his sensibility to our new series,” said Adams. “Especially now with our all-star creative team, I’m really looking forward to launching this series in April.”

“Throughout his more than twenty years in the comics industry, Langridge has garnered critical and fan acclaim for his work on an impressive list of projects, including the Harvey Award-winning Muppet Show Comic Book (Boom! Studios) and Thor: The Mighty Avenger (Marvel Comics).

“Ever since I was a kid, the two cartoonists who have had the biggest influence on me have been Carl Barks and E.C. Segar, so getting a chance to write Popeye is quite a thrill,” said Langridge. “I’m especially pleased that IDW have decided to go with a Segar-flavored interpretation. As much as I like some of the later versions of the character, for me, it’s those early strips where the magic really happened. Just as well Segar drew everybody with big feet, because Bruce and I have some enormous shoes to fill!”

You can bet that I’m going to be all over this comic when it comes out. Can’t get enough of Popeye. Check out this sample page…

Spartacus Returns and Self-horn-tootery

Spartacus: Vengeance returns tonight on Starz (it’s already available On Demand). Even with Liam McIntyre stepping into the role of Spartacus fter the death of Andy Whitfield, the show still works.  This is sort of season two, or three, if you count “Gods Of The Arena,” the prequel, as a second season. I wrote about Rittenhouse Archives trading cards in the latest issue of Non Sport Update, seen above, on newsstands now.

Not Monday Morning Art #1

Above you see a piece of art I was playing around with after reinstalling my graphics programs following the mid-January virus. Not much to it, ehe?

RIP Epstein

Another sign of how quickly time is passing us by is the news of the death of Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein, one of The Sweathogs, on “Welcome Back Kotter.” Mark Evanier, who was a story editor on the show, has a nice obit here.

More Popeye, Please

Ice Cream Break!

Not Monday Morning Art #2

Above is an alternate version of last Monday’s art. I sorta like this one, too.

I Thought This Was A Better Movie Than “Meloncholia”

Captain Action Is Coming!

Snack Break

I miss these compressed potato-flake processed foodish items

More Popeye, Please

Not Monday Morning Art #3

Above you see a digital painting of a little Manga due who mutated out of a Sudoku puzzle I was playing with. I may have used a version of this in PopCult before. I can’t really recall.

That’s it for this week. With any luck we’ll be back to normal next week.

So in place of a Dr. Sketchy’s piece, I am bringing you a digitally-assaulted vintage pin-up photo, glommed from somewhere’s on the internet. As always, click the image to see it bigger.  The computer problem and swelling, itching brain are probably going to combine to delay Radio Free Charleston’s 150th episode until February.  It’s going to be a tribute to LiveMix Studio, and will be the first of at least five retrospective shows planned for 2012. I gotta go pill up now.

The PopCulteer
January 13, 2012

“But If It’s On TV It Must Be Real!”

Reality is being warped. Television is to blame. I’m not talking about the kind of skewed reality you find on FOX News, where the bizarre notion that Republicans can be trusted to govern is pounded into viewer’s heads 24 hours a day. I’m talking about the unreal world of Reality TV.

I’m not a big fan of reality television. In fact, you could probably safely accuse me of being rather snobbish about it. I think it’s lowest-common-denominator programming that carries with it the bottom-line-enhancing quality of being dirt cheap to produce, mostly by non-union crews.

But it is booming. Reality shows have spread like a fast-growing cancer, mutating several formerly sophisticated cable channels into slack-jawed, drooling shadows of their former selves.

The problem is not so much that real life is stupid. It’s the conventions of the genre of “Reality TV” that make the shows so formulaic and contrived. Some of these shows cover really interesting ground, but they bow so far to the conventions of the genre that they are, at best, guilty pleasures. I’ve been watching a few of these shows lately, and even when they entertain, they manage to insult my intelligence.

First, a little history: Reality TV pretty much means any television show that isn’t scripted in the traditional sense. It can mean games shows, clip shows, documentary shows, hidden camera prank shows and those hideous messes where a camera crew follows around a bunch of dysfunctional nobodies and tries to make their inappropriate antics appeal to a nation of voyeuristic twits.

That last category, which includes shows about Kardashians, Hiltons, or people locked in a house together or drawn from the dumber parts of New Jersey, is not something that I will let my brain ingest. So I’m not going to talk about that crap. What I plan to cover in today’s column are some of the so-called documentary shows that follow people through their everyday lives, supposedly showing us how interesting their jobs are.

These are shows that can be genuinely entertaining, until you think about them too much. Once you ask yourself a few key questions, these shows start to lose their luster, and then you realize that the “reality” in these programs is more contrived than WWE RAW.

Let’s start with Pawn Stars, a major ratings hit on The History Channel. The show is a fun half-hour with mostly likeable characters and quite a bit of real history lessons sprinkled throughout. It follows the goings-on at a Las Vegas pawn shop, as people come in to sell their rare items.

The show is almost 100% staged.

Logic dictates that you can’t shoot every transaction in the pawn shop and just edit it into a workable show. Pawn Stars is completely made up of staged reenactments, and some partially fictionalized, pawn shop encounters.

What happens is, if a transaction occurs that seems like it might be good for the show–if there’s a visual hook, historical item, or just a strong personality of the seller–one of the show’s staff producers contacts the person to see if they’d like to appear on the show to be in a dramatization of their recent dealings. The person gets a decent fee (but less than it would cost to hire an actor) and the research staff digs up tons of info on the item so that they make Rick, the main pawnbroker, look like he knows everything.

Whlie they’re showing you something that really happened, it’s not real. It’s reconstituted reality, chewed up and spat down your throat like a mommy bird does with her young ‘uns. Do you really think they can call an expert from almost any field and have them stop by the pawn shop to look over an item by the time the commercial break is over?

Each episode of Pawn Stars also has a sub-plot starring the guys who work in the shop. This follows reality show convention. There’s the strong, competent guy, the cranky old guy, the screw-up kid, and the comic relief doofus. These segments are occasionally funny, but they’re usually just stupid. The haggling over the price on the show–all faked.

The Science Channel has a knockoff of Pawn Stars called Oddities. The twist here is that Oddities follows the dealings at a store called Obscura, in New York City. Obscura deals in offbeat weirdities like freaky taxidermy and Victorian medical devices. The show is less of an insult to the intelligence because they don’t focus so much on the folks who work in the store.

The clientele of Obscura are colorful enough that they don’t need the stock comic relief incompetent co-worker. The show falls down a bit when they stray from the customers and oddball items and focus too much on the social lives of the stores employees, but for the most part it’s a fun waste of time. Again, it’s all reenacted for the cameras.

Back on The History Channel we find American Pickers. This show is fascinating and infuriating at the same time. We follow two guys, Mike and Frank, as they roam the back roads picking through junked-up barns and hoarder’s houses looking for antiques. They have a hot, tattooed babe, Danielle,  who calls in leads and the show is pretty interesting, though it seems to be in a rut.

There are things about the show that will drive you nuts. The contrivances, like the phone calls where the camera captures both sides of the conversation, or the “cold calls” that turn out to be gold mines wear a bit thin. There’s also the whole camera placement issue. Mike will look directly at the camera and talk about what an honor it is to be the first person to set foot in a particular barn in fifty years. Then the next shot is him supposedly entering the barn the first time…shot from inside the barn.

The fact is, they never acknowledge that there is a film crew, with audio people and lighting folks accompanying them on every pick. We wouldn’t be watching it if there were no cameras there, but the way the show is edited and presented, it just seems dishonest to the viewer.

Another problem I have with the show is that Mike is presented as an expert on almost all antiques, yet I’ve seen him pass over very rare toys to zero in on worthless crap. When the guy passes up a GI Joe jeep that’s worth over a hundred bucks so he can buy a box full of beat up Green Army Men, then he really has no business buying toys at all.

The values they present on the show for the various items they pick are pretty arbitrary, too. They’ll show the guys fake haggling with a grizzled old dude before they buy a rusted crankshaft, then they put up a graphic with what they paid, and how much it’s “valued” at, then list the difference as a profit. It’s not in the books as a profit until it’s sold. They do the same thing in every episode.

And that’s the biggest problem with American Pickers. The show is in a major rut. Frank and Mike find a colorful old man who sells them rusty signs, motorcycle parts or old oil cans, then they find “that one big score that makes this pick worthwhile” and the show ends. The haggling is not believable. It’s clear that each “pick” is carefully per-arranged, and lately the show has been stretching the bounds of credibility with their contrived “character segments.” Recent episodes featured a pathetic sub-plot where one of the pickers played hooky to go to the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, and another involved selling an elephant head to Jack White.

It was nice of White to demonstrate that he can’t act, though.

American Pickers, again, can be a fun guilty pleasure, but the show needs a major kick in the ass. It would be nice if, once in a while, they’d follow the items that they pick as they find their way to their new owners. I’d imagine a lot of what they find winds up on the walls at Cracker Barrel and TGIFridays.

A related show on The History Channel is American Restoration. This is a bit of a spin-off of Pawn Stars. Rick Dale, who runs Rick’s Restorations in Las Vegas, restored several items for the folks at Pawn Stars before he got his own show. There have been crossovers among all three History Channel shows.

American Restoration is probably the best of the three. It’s hurt somewhat because the actual process when they restore an old vending machine or barber’s chair gets the short shrift in favor of the formulaic reality show trappings. I would have much rather seen the painting, sanding and detail work being done on a candy machine in a recent episode than watch one of the crew take his sick cat to the vet.

But the show does cover the process, and that’s pretty cool. I just wish they’d show more work and less crew antics.

Another show that looked promising  Saw Dogs, premiered last week on the HD Velocity Channel. This one follows chainsaw sculptors, a topic with endless possibilities and loads of interesting stuff they can show.

And from the first episode, they mucked it up with formula reality show conventions. There’s fake conflict, a goofy apprentice who breaks things with a forklift, long sequences of guys riding ATVs to blow off steam. And maybe five minutes of actual carving shown in each half-hour episode.

That was sad because I was really hoping they’d show the process, instead of a soap opera about people who just happen to do chainsaw sculpting.

That seems to be the problem with most of these “documentary” shows. They don’t trust the topic to be interesting enough to carry the show, so they borrow from those damned annoying reality shows like The Real World and Big Brother to make the shows more attractive to morons.

It seems to be the goal of the folks who produce these shows. They are working toward a dumber reality.

Facing Off With Another Kind Of Reality

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention another reality show that debuted this week, Face Off 2, on Syfy. Rob Haddy, a local effects make up wizard and teacher, is a contestant on this reality show/competition, and I have mixed feelings about the show.

I’ve been a fan of Rob’s (he’s called “RJ” on the show) work for years. I would love to see him win this thing and get some Eugene Landau Murphy-sized recognition. He clearly deserves it.

Yet, I also loathe artistic competitions. I won’t ever allow any of my work to be entered into any of them, and I won’t allow spots on Radio Free Charleston to be given away to any winners of battles of the bands or film competitions. I think that type of artistic competition demeans and destroys the integrity of the art and the artist.

So the show rubbed me the wrong way from the start.

It’s supposed to be a competition program, but there are still conventions and formulas for that genre, too. You’ve got three judges, the nice one, the prick, and the incomprehensible twit. The contestants are thrust together into teams even though there will be only one winner in the end. The contestants are straight out of central casting. Rob is the ringer, the one who should win. You’ve also got your cute bimbo in the short dress, your arrogant jerk, your token gay, your token black, your non-descript people who will go home in the early rounds..if you’ve watched any of these shows, like American Idol, Dancing With The Stars or WWE Tough Enough, you’ve seen it all before.

Face Off is pretty loud and obnoxious, with too much talk and not enough of the actual process of creating the make up shown. It’s pretty typical for this type of television show.

If not for Rob, I would not give this show a second look. However, since I am a fan of Rob’s, and would love to see him win and get the prizes and recognition, I’ll probably try to keep up with the show. I’ll probably watch with the sound off, though.

That’s A Wrap

That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer. Don’t forget that a special Friday The Thirteenth tribute to Twin Peaks comes to you courtesy of Dr. Sketchy’s tonight at 7 Pm at Kanawha Players Theater. Also, don’t think we’ve forgotten about Radio Free Charleston 150. We can now announce that episode 150 will be the first of five themed retrospective shows that will spread out over the next year. RFC 150 will focus on music and other coolness that originated at Livemix Studio. Look for it by the end of January.