Comics artist and illustrator Mark Chiarello(Batman, Hellboy, Star Wars) and non-fiction writer (National Geographic, The History Channel), former Marvel Comics senior editor, colorist and writer, and consultant for Major League Baseball Nel Yomtov have teamed up to join the ultimate baseball debate: Who are the greatest 100 players in hardball history? Who holds the number one spot? Is it Babe Ruth? Willie Mays? Jackie Robinson? Shoeless Joe Jackson? Baseball 100: A Celebration of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Timeis a new book offered as part of a crowdfunding campaign that began yesterday. And it is already halfway funded.
Legendary artist Frank Cho is back this month with a new way to get your hands on an exclusive run of a variant comic book cover design he created for Dynamite Entertainment’s ongoing Red Sonja series. Initially part of an earlier crowdfunding campaign, Dynamite has just opened up the opportunity for anyone to get their hands on one of four styles of Cho’s beautiful rendition of the famous “She-Devil with a Sword,” with color work supplied by frequent Cho collaborator Sabine Rich. According to Cho, “When Dynamite asked me to draw the Red Sonja cover, I jumped at the chance. Who doesn’t love a redhead with a sword? The cover will show Red Sonja at her best – power and beauty. My goal is to make her look strong, classic, timeless and iconic.” This limited time opportunity also provides the opportunity to purchase other collectibles featuring this definitive image of Red Sonja.
Mouse Guardis the New York Times bestselling series of graphic novels in a classic square children’s hardcover book format by author-illustrator David Petersen. Petersen has stacked up awards for his series like no other comics creator, including for Mouse Guard: Black Axe, the Harvey Award in 2014, for Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Volume 1, the Eisner Award in 2011, for Mouse Guard: Fall: 1152, two Eisner Awards in 2008, for Mouse Guard: Winter: 1152, the Eisner Award in 2008, and for Mouse Guard: The Role Playing Game, the Origins Award in 2009, among others. A movie with Fox was in pre-production before the Disney-Fox merger cancelled it. Now fans of the internationally popular series can purchase fully customized miniature figures from Crazy Bricks featuring Petersen’s fantastical characters.
Originally previewed here at borg in 2018 and marketed by Dynamite Comics as Miss Fury, Volume 3, the third recent Miss Fury reboot was delayed again to September 2019, finally to be sidelined to an Indiegogo campaign beginning yesterday. Fortunately Dynamite learned fast that Miss Fury fans will keep coming back for each new effort to resurrect writer/artist/creator Tarpé Mills’ first superheroine, as the campaign was funded in less than two hours. So Dynamite will be publishing its third solo Miss Fury project in early 2021, this time taking what was to be a three-issue limited series straight to the graphic novel trade edition with one hardcover option.
Twenty years ago the last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered, and for its anniversary a crowdfunding project funded a feature-length retrospective on the series. Deep Space Nine: What We Left Behind will be familiar to any fan of Deep Space Nine who has delved into the special features found in the DVD sets or online via YouTube. It’s full of those reminiscences, albeit updated, diehard fans have viewed countless times in interviews with cast and crew and via panels at the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. But the unique feature for this new documentary is a reunion of writers from the series who sit down and block out what a possible next episode of the series might include.
Deep Space Nineshowrunner and executive producer Ira Steven Behr leads the documentary, hitting the high points of his seven years creating Deep Space Nine, intercutting new and old interviews with key and supporting cast members, a few members of the production staff, co-creator Rick Berman and the man representing the business side of production, Kerry McCluggage, former chairman of Paramount Television Group. Deep Space Nine: What We Left Behinddoes not look closely at the production from a design, costumes, props, music, or technical standpoint, but is almost exclusively focused on the writers and actors, and why the crew thinks its show was different from competing programs in the 1990s (although some art production familiar faces including Herman Zimmerman, Michael and Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler make brief appearances).
The writers room reunion of Behr, Ronald D. Moore, René Echevarria, Hans Beimler, and Robert Hewitt Wolfe talking through a spec script idea for a new 20th anniversary reunion episode is a great guide for anyone wanting a glimpse at the process of developing a television show. Backed by a cartoon art/Ken Burns-esque multimedia mock-up of characters and sets by artists Magdalena Marinova, Kai De Mello-Folsom, and Luke Snailham, it’s a better presentation format than watching more talking heads. The result feels quite like a Brannon Braga or Ronald D. Moore series finale episode (see Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “All Good Things…” and Star Trek Voyager’s “Endgame”), complete with a time jump and appearances by grown-up regular players, in this case Jake Sisko and Molly O’Brien. Vedek Kira? Captain Nog? With some make-up and new costumes, the writers’ episode creation would have actually made a fine final episode to the series, providing some resolution to the fate of Avery Brooks′ Captain Sisko.
Four artists are helping a UK company’s bionic arms become the functioning hands of many with the benefit of stylish designs. Open Bionics is an entrepreneurial company that has created and fitted hundreds with its advanced, multi-grip bionic arms since their release this April. Called the Hero Arm, it’s the next step toward true borg technology and it’s been called a game-changer in health technology alongside genome sequencing, Fitbit, and smartphones. From kids as young as nine years old who haven’t had arms and hands since birth to amputees of all ages, the 3D printed devices go beyond prosthetics of the past. With the slogan “We turn disabilities into superpowers,” the company is doing that in more ways than one. Instead of making the arms look like real arms, they are adding eye-popping designs–a feature praised by their users, who have remarked, “This is a cool way to stand out for all the right reasons.” Instead of asking “what happened to your hand?” those seeing the Hero Arm on a person for the first time ask “how does that work?” “Can we shake hands, can we do a fist bump, can I have a photo?” The difference is a big one for wearers.
Open Bionics boasts the Hero Arm as “the first medically approved 3D printed arm.” The Hero Arm is a lightweight, powered bionic hand controlled by the wearer’s muscles. Because muscles generate small electrical signals when they contract, electrodes placed on the surface of the skin can measure muscle movements. A full suite of tools provides feedback to the user, including posable wrist, posable thumb, and a freeze mode (for use when holding something like a glass), plus proportional control for varying tasks. Comfortable, adjustable and breathable, the arm can lift more than 15 pounds of weight. According to the company, the Hero Arm is half the price of its closest competitor. Still, Open Bionics has stated that it has received donations to be able to provide free Hero Arms for qualifying children residing in the UK–the only place the bionic arms have been approved for sale. They aren’t covered by the nation’s healthcare system yet and can cost about U.S. $2,500 on up. Compare that to similar functioning U.S. electrical prosthetics with a cost upward of $50,000 to $100,000, and anyone can see why this product looks like the future of cybernetics. (You can help a woman get her own Hero Arm via crowdfunding. Learn more about her story below).
Hero Arms can also be worn with swappable custom covers. And now Open Bionics has four new styles for wearers to get a Hero Arm that best fits their personality. Each work shown (above, top, in order), was designed by an artist in Bristol: “Handala” by Daniel Bowler, “Tree Rex” by TRex, “Palette of Patterns” by J West, “Nebular” by Cheba, and “Open Bionics Doodles” by Kid Crayon. Even more covers are available for the Hero Arm, like the futuristic Deux Ex design (above). The Deus Ex video games explore human augmentation in a near future world. Open Bionics partnered with Eidos Montreal, basing the Deux Ex cover on the game’s protagonist Adam Jensen. (But they issue a disclaimer: It won’t give you the power to smash through walls!). Check out the future of this technology at the partnership website AugmentedFuture.com. Candidates for the Hero Arm can see customization options at the Open Bionics website here.
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner previewed the near future for Hasbro licenses and products at New York Toy Fair 2018 this weekend, including the creation of a new initiative called HasLab. According to the company, HasLab will be an avenue to bring “dream projects” to fans. In essence HasLab is a financing vehicle whereby fans willing to prepay for an item can do so via Hasbro’s new online crowdfunding. As with other Kickstarter or Indiegogo platforms, if the presales don’t meet the demand target, buyers won’t be billed for the product. But if the target is met, buyers will be charged and the production will proceed. First up? Apparently Star Wars fans have been clamoring for a classic Kenner 3 3/4 scale version of Jabba’s Sail Barge from Return of the Jedi.
Although diehard fans have been building scale versions for their action figures for years, including most recently via 3D printing, Hasbro displayed its mock-up at the show this weekend. On the design side, to create the Sail Barge (called The Khetanna in the books), Hasbro tapped Mark Boudreaux, principal designer on Star Wars for Hasbro and one of the creators of the original Kenner Millennium Falcon, and designer on other toy vehicles from the Star Wars line including the AT-AT, X-Wing fighter, and Boba Fett’s Slave 1. Modeled using Lucasfilm digital archives and set photos, the final toy is expected to be a little more than four feet long. It will feature classic Kenner style packaging, a 3 3/4 scale Jabba the Hutt figure, and lots of features. The required target to proceed is 5,000 units, and the base purchase price is $499.99. As of this morning 611 backers have contributed, with 44 days left before the program is closed. Check out the details at the new HasLab website here.
The mock-up of the ship definitely has echoes of the original Star Wars Death Star playset. And it has the historical feel of an early clipper ship, including a brig in the lower deck. Here is a video preview of the Sail Barge playset:
In a strange twist to the home video release marketing strategy, IDW Entertainment, the company behind both Wynonna Earp the comic book series and the Syfy Channel television series, is well on its way through what looks to be a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to bring Wynonna Earp Season One directly to its fans. The first season will only be released on Blu-ray–no DVD–and only via the Indiegogo campaign. Discs are expected to ship around September 2017.
Wynonna Earp follows Wyatt Earp’s great-granddaughter as she battles demons and other creatures in a town called Purgatory. With her unique abilities, a demon-killing gun named Peacemaker, and a posse of dysfunctional allies, only she can bring the paranormal to justice.
Although fans and new viewers can also watch each episode of the first season on Netflix, as Wynonna Earp begins its second season (with the premiere episode of the season airing on Friday nights beginning last Friday, June 9), it’s going to be a little bit harder for the new viewer who would otherwise be willing to buy the first season to get caught up, especially if they missed the Syfy Network recap this Memorial Day weekend. But this likely will really only have an effect on the fans of the show who would ordinarily pay to have Season One in-hand closer to the start date of the next season. Will this be the next regular marketing method for shows that would otherwise not justify a home release to still be able to make fans happy?
