Paper Comic DeathWatch: BryantMan?

Todays intro graphic and first entry into the PCDW both come from Sean Kleefeld.

Is BryantMan a Harbinger of Doom?

Sean remarks on how a seemingly innocent use of a superhero in a marketing campaign could point to trouble down the line for paper comics...

Sean says...

So does anyone NEED to look towards comic books for inspiration for movie and TV ideas any more? Not really. How many people who saw and enjoyed The Incredibles ever read a comic? How about Sky High? My Super Ex-Girlfriend? Zoom: Academy for Superheroes? It'd certainly be cheaper if the movie studio didn't have to option the rights to use somebody else's character, certainly. But when that gets down to TV (Who Wants To Be A Superhero, Heroes) and now basic commercials and marketing (Bryantman), where does that leave the comic book industry?

/endquote

This isn't the first time someone has pointed this out - Sean refers to the Incredibles, and the success of that movie DID get a lot of people talking in that direction when it first came out.

Zoom: Academy for Superheroes - not so much. Hm...my daughter Haigen liked it though, which says something I suppose.

We have this notion that because we have grown up with Superman and Batman all our lives that they will always be with us - but there are some characters (Doc Savage, Sherlock Holmes, Prince Valiant) that seem to be totally forgotten by Hollywood now.

An Aside: I really think that the only way you could make a Sherlock Holmes movie now is to make him a serial killer - which is of course is what Hannibal Lecter is, isn't it?

Will there come a day when Superman, by virtue of just being around forever, is deemed too *old* by Hollywood to try and push out to the masses? (I'd argue that the first weekend grosses of Superman Returns may have already proven this to Hollywood.)

It's easy to point to Iron Man now and go - "Hey, comics are gonna be okay because Hollywood wants to make movies out of them!" - but I really think it's more credit to how Marvel handled the Iron Man movie than anything else.

I don't know - maybe instead of pouring a ton of money into a Justice League movie - DC should make a High Moon movie instead? Which concept has more wide ranging appeal?

Anyway, more to Sean's point - let's see what happens with Will Smith's Hancock movie.

PCDW points: 1000

One Laptop Per A Child Version 2

This last week has been a big one in the Ultra Mobile PC world for two reasons. One, which I discussed last week is the Too Good To Die Rumor that Steve Jobs is going to announce an iTablet at WWDC next month.

The other reason is a next version of the One Laptop Per a Child laptop (OLPC) was shown - and it looks sweet!

This really sounds like the eBook of the future...and that's because it's meant to be...

Nicholas Negroponte the founder of the OLPC initiative said this about the XO-2

...the new system has two touch-sensitive displays. As you can see from the video and the pictures, the XO-2 will be much smaller than the original machine (half the size, according to the press release) and will have a foldable e-book form factor. “The next generation laptop should be a book,”

You can read more and see a video about the OLPC X0 2 here

The kicker? These things are set to be priced at $100 a pop!

On the flipside - they aren't scheduled to be available until 2010.

Just enough time for you to unload your entire collection of paper comics on eBay

I might add. :D

Thanks to David for the link!

PCDW points: 100,000

That's all for this week - I'm off to Rock Hill to visit my folks.

Have a great weekend!