News Around the Net!
So, who loves Kit Kats as much as I do? If you do, then you must read the New York Times Magazine’s deep dive into the story behind that candy, and how Kit Kats flourish in Japan. (I was also happy to see that Kit Kats made it into the top five of fivethirtyeight.com’s Ultimate Halloween Candy Power Ranking! Put aside what you’re doing and go read that fascinating analysis of what qualities make the most popular candies. This is a great read!!)
Whoo-hoo! Matt Groening’s new Netflix animated show Disenchantment has been renewed for a second season! And, since the 10-episode first season currently on Netflix was just HALF of the first season, and this second season will also reportedly have two 10-episode halves, this sort of means the show will be around for THREE more seasons at least. Great news. My review of the first 10-episodes will be coming soon.
So, wow, only a week after Iron Fist was cancelled, Luke Cage was cancelled too. This interesting assessment at io9 is a good read and a fairly accurate assessment of my feelings. It’s a shame to see this African-American-focused show cancelled, but the series’ low quality is hard to dispute. Can we get a Daughters of the Dragon spin-off show, with Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, please?? (Those two characters were the best aspects of Iron Fist and Luke Cage!!)
There were a lot of headlines last week that The Simpsons might be quietly writing Apu out of the show. The original source appears to be from this article, which doesn’t seem to me like it contains any actual evidence that this is happening. I guess we’ll see. I found Hank Azaria’s depiction of Apu funny and endearing for a long time, but I can clearly see how this stereotype hasn’t aged well. Personally, I’d prefer to see The Simpsons somehow salvage the character by finding a way to update how he is depicted. I feel like this could be done. But if the show feels that is not doable, I don’t object too strongly to Apu’s being sidelined. Anyone who wants to see more of the character has THIRTY SEASONS of the show to go back and watch, at their convenience…!! (Meanwhile, this reply from The Simpsons’ current show-runner seems to indicate that Apu isn’t going anywhere…)
So… there’s going to be a new Star Trek show that is animated, and a comedy? Not exactly what I’m looking for in terms of new Trek, but I’ll keep my mind open for now…
This is a compelling spotlight on Hasan Minhaj, who is launching a new show, “Patriot Act,” on Netflix.
I still can’t quite truly believe that James Cameron will be making FOUR Avatar sequels. We know very little about this super-sized expansion of his original film, but now we know one thing: after much mockery, the sequels will have a new logo that is not in Papyrus font.
Peter Jackson has directed a World War I documentary? “The film mixes previously unseen footage and audio recordings from the Imperial War Museums’ film archives with state-of-the-art technology that includes colorized and sharpened images converted to stereoscopic 3D.” Wow! Count me in!
Mike Mignola is one of my artistic idols, and his Hellboy universe of interconnected comic book series are magnificent. This is a wonderful interview with Mr. Mignola in which he reflects on a variety of his comic book covers. This is a great read for anyone interested in the art of comic book cover art, of which Mr. Mignola is a master.
I’ll end with a reminder that the print version of SCI: The Jewish Comics Anthology vol. 2 is now available on Amazon! The digital version is available, for a lower price, on Comixology. This second volume of The Jewish Comics Anthology is focused on sci-fi tales. I am delighted to be included in this volume, along with incredible talents such as Bill Sienkiewicz, David Mack, Ty Templeton, Michael Netzer, Neil Kleid, and many more! The story I illustrated for volume 2 is called “Wrestling with Jacob,” and it was written by Michael Norwitz. Whereas my story for volume 1 was in black in white, this story for volume 2 is full-color painted artwork.