Latest Shoot: Art Spiegelman!

We took production of the Comic Book Literacy Documentary to the east coast recently and landed a couple of huge interviews. New York City is the home of Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize winning creator of the groundbreaking comic book "Maus" which chronicles his father's struggle through the Holocaust.

He and his wife Françoise Mouly, art editor for The New Yorker magazine, have started a company that publishes comics geared toward getting children interested in reading. TOON Books releases titles by today's most talented writers and artist with the specific intent of developing literacy skills in readers age 4 and up. We were fortunate to be able to interview both Spiegelman and Mouly about their work.
They spoke to us about comics, reading, "Maus" and everything else under the sun. Many thanks to both of them and to everyone from the RAW offices and TOON Books. Be on the lookout for them in the Comic Book Literacy Documentary.

It Came from Metropolis

During production of the Comic Book Literacy documentary we were fortunate to shoot in a real live fictional city. The marvelous municipality of Metropolis exists both on the comic page AND in Southern Illinois.

Heading straight for downtown, the average visitor flocks right to the 15 foot tall representation of Metropolis' favorite son. I've since learned that this is the town's second Superman statue due to the uncharacteristic, non-bullet proof nature of the previous one.
If anyone was ever inclined to purchase the rights to the John Williams' Superman theme strictly for an individual blog entry, now would certainly be the time.

Since that's not going to happen, we can move on to the town's bigger attraction. Within super-spitting distance from the statue stands the Superman Museum...jam packed to the rafters with more Super-memorabilia than you could fit into the Fortress of Solitude.
The museum covers the entire Superman history in every medium imaginable. There are several standouts in the collection that no doubt garner the majority of the "oohs" and "ahhs" from roadtripping travelers stopping by to bask in the Supermania.

However, I thought it would be more fun to list some of the more unusual pieces that stood out on my visit. Now, these might not be the most exciting or relevant super collectibles to the average vacationing fanboy but they were personal favorites, each with a uniqueness worthy of immortalizing on the internet. Why? Because I can.
We begin outside the museum with an item that, I would imagine, most people walk past without a thought.
Clark Kent typically treated all of Metropolis' phone booths as his own personal changing room. When you are the city's alpha dog I suppose that's your prerogative. Sadly, as phone booths continue to disappear from the real world, this element of the Superman mythos will most likely disappear as well.

But for now a phoneless booth still stands in Metropolis as a reminder of simpler days.

Now we can finally head inside.
Arguably the worst way to disguise yourself would be to simply put on a pair of glasses. But Clark Kent made it work. And no one nailed the geeky-cool CK swagger like George Reeves. The museum has plenty of props and costumes from his "The Adventures of Superman" TV series, but for me, no item captures the horn rimmed charm of the series like these prop glasses.

Next on our list is an item, or series of items, that always gets my attention...especially on an empty stomach,
Anyone who knows me knows that I am quite the Super Hero Food enthusiast. So seeing the Superman food exhibit at the museum was a welcome sight. From this picture you can identify several versions of Superman Peanut Butter, Macaroni and Cheese and Salt & Pepper shakers. There was more on display but what kind of words could possibly do justice to this perfect storm of Super-merchandising?
It seems to me that a Superman Halloween costume is a no-brainer. But I've always wondered about the need for a mask. Sure, the spit curl gets represented but it seems like as long as you have a face you probably don't need a Superman mask.

And allow me to use this forum to once again register my disgust with Halloween costumes that have the picture of the character on the chest. Especially when that unnecessary element replaces one of the most recognizable symbols in the world.
And finally, we have the Superman Pogo Stick. It lives near the ceiling of the museum and quietly oversees the rest of the collectibles as they sit in their glass cases and wish they were as cool as he is.

If only we were all as cool as the Superman Pogo Stick,

Fast Food: The Wild & Wacky World of Product Mobiles

Not getting enough blog in your diet? Well, here's another one courtesy of your Comic Book Literacy pals:

You can also keep up with these wonderfully wacky promotional vehicles on Facebook:

Star Trek: The Undiscovered Crunchy

The new Star Trek movie takes us where no Star Trek movie has gone before: with an official Star Trek licensed cereal...and it's about time.

No, you're not seeing double. I'm just pulling the old "one to keep and one to eat" maneuver. Classic.

It looks like we've got a modified Lucky Charms template complete with multi-colored marshmallows and crunchy "galaxy" swirls. The swirls look like they may be "Mini Swirlz" cinnamon bun cereal components but it tastes like the cinnamon flavor got red shirted so the marshmallows have to pick up the slack.

Although the side by side comparison holds up pretty well:
The breakdown works out to be: the red planet Vulcan, the blue planet Earth and blue, yellow and red Starfleet insignias (or "Delta Shields" according to the box).

You wouldn't automatically think that the Star Trek franchise would lend itself to creative marshmallow shapes but I've seen worse (cough cough Hulk Cereal cough cough).

Everyone seems to have their favorite:
So even though it took over 40 years for Star Trek to release a cereal, I still have high hopes of an Iron Man cereal before the next reboot.

Free Comic Book Day 2009

Another year, another Free Comic Book Day. On Saturday we shot Free Comic Book Day 2009 at Titan Comics in Dallas, TX.
Brady is a young comic book fan who is learning to read with the help of comics. He loaded up with all the free comics he could carry. His story will be a part of the documentary,
Special thanks to Jeremy and the staff of Titan Comics. Visit them online here:
http://www.titancomics.com/

Celebrity Suds

Surprisingly, there aren't many celebrities in the world of novelty beer. But the ones that do stand out usually have the benefit of cashing in on a famous name. Rightfully so, since nothing moves products off the shelves like a prominent name or face slapped on a label. Our favorite bubbly amber beverages are no exception.

The beer aisle is usually dominated by Rocky Mountains and Silver Bullets but occasionally a famous face will slip in and some TV marketing synergy makes its way out of the liquor store and into your refrigerator. While these instances are few and far between, we found several intoxicating examples of celebrity suds.


TV tycoons deserve their own private stock. So it's only natural that J.R. Ewing, the ultimate "love-to-hate-him" bad guy from the 1980's juggernaut soap opera Dallas, had his own exclusive brew.

Some argue that the show reached its zenith during the "Who shot J.R.?" cliff hanger but I respectfully submit that the release of J.R.'s Private Stock easily trumped that moment.


Another 80's TV mega-hit, M*A*S*H, also took it to the next level by releasing their own beer. If memory serves, they seemed to drink more martinis than beer on the show but the military minded marketing masters of M*A*S*H wisely decided that beer would be easier to sell than the do-it-yourself still that appeared on the show.


For years, every Halloween, Elvira would crawl out of her dungeon to be the spokesghoul for Coors Light. And as the years went by Coors realized...that years had gone by. So the next year the company picked a younger model to be their Halloween huckster.

Always the entrepreneur, Elvira decided she didn't need Coors one bit and decided to create her own witch's brew. And that my friends is the story of Elvira's Night Brew.


Not all Hollywood beer stories have happy endings. In Australia both the Simpsons and beer have huge fan followings. So naturally they decided to combine the two and even more naturally they decided to name it after Homer Simpson's favorite brand: Duff. No problem, right?

Not according to attorneys from the Fox network. They put a quick kibosh on the Australian ale turning it from novelty nosh to collector's commodity. As with most confrontations, the real winner was eBay since enough cases of the embargoed brew were created to keep bidders in a frenzy.


Speaking of illegal substances, the most famous outlawed ale in the Alpha Quadrant comes from the Romulan Empire. Romulan Ale is blue in color and is infamous throughout the galaxy for creating some of the worst hangovers in Starfleet history.

This stuff was sold by the case and from the tap at the former Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. Since it closed the universe has held its breath waiting for the inevitable return.


And finally, Panther Brewing Company brings back old school slapstick with our old pals Moe, Larry & Curly. There's not an obvious connection between beer and the comedy trio which makes the tie-in both odd and brilliant.

The randomness adds to the fun, which is really what celebrity novelty beer is all about. That and blatant marketing,

So as you can see, while TV and beer are two of the greatest of mankind's achievements, nothing tops the combination of the two.

Slurp Slurp Snikt

It's that time of year again. 2009's summer Slurpee® Spectacular stars "Wolverine & His Wacky Pals®"...(All Rights Reserved...Trademark/Copyright enforced by punishment of death and/or poking and prodding by plastic Wolverine-style claws...available wherever plastic claws are sold.)

Now that the strangling legalese is taken care of, we can actually see what the new cups look like (Image courtesy of 7 Eleven...whew!)

Probably the best part of 7 Eleven's frequent Slurpee movie tie-ins is the new flavor. Sure, that may not mean much to you but for someone like me, a new Slurpee flavor is more exciting than the new X-Men movie on which it's based. The Hulk and Iron Man had their turns, now Wolverine shows up to the party with "Mutant Berry." And even though it sounds like a a grotesque skin condition, it's actually quite tasty.

When they change the signage then they mean business. You can choose from Wolverine, Sabretooth or Gambit "lenticular" (meaning, it looks like the picture moves) cups and, as you know, no Slurpee can be consumed without the assistance of a novelty straw. $1.69 will get you said straw, featuring either Wolvie, Sabretooth, Gambit and everyone's favorite: Blob. It's true. You can relax now. You can finally own a Blob straw.

7 Eleven's press release also had talk of Wolverine X-tra Caffeinated Coffee but so far I've seen no evidence. Further investigation is undoubtably necessary.

So with a brain freeze that only a mutant healing factor could resolve, I took my Wolverine cup and went home. My summer has officially started. I have plans to now scour the grocery stores for Wolverine Soda, Wolverine Low Sodium Tomato Soup and Wolverine Bouillon Cubes.

Oh yeah, and if I have time, I'll go see the movie.