Nancy Dolman, wife to Martin Short for 30 years, passed away over the weekend, though no details have been released. Dolman was also a comedic actress, appearing most notably in Soap, but gave-up her career to raise her children. Our condolences to Short, and their friends and family.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Actress Betty White first gained fame as a regular on the Mary Tyler More Show before going on to even greater success in The Golden Girls. But the actress, now 88, is enjoying one of the strangest career rejuvenations ever. She brought down the house while guest-hosting Saturday Night Live and has become a popular pitchwoman on countless TV commercials. She's even landed a new role in the TV series, Hot in Cleveland.
Now, White is slated to become the star of her own comic book biography from Bluewater Productions. Female Force: Betty White hits comic book stores and online retailers such as Amazon.com in November. The 32-page book will retail for $3.99.
Writer Patrick McCray, a veteran of the comics industry, traces White's amazing showbiz career from her days providing voice talent for the radio show, Blondie, to her return to sitcoms in Hot in Cleveland.
"Working on the Betty book was an honor and a blast," McCray said. "While covering a new entertainer is always fun, there is something special about profiling an icon. Not only did it allow me to savor nostalgia, it also let me catch-up on areas of pop culture that had passed me by."
Todd Tennant is the artist on Female Force: Betty White. He, too, is a veteran of the art world. Tennant is a professional illustrator with 31 years of experience. He dove into the world of comics about 10 years ago. He runs his own online King Kong vs. Godzilla comic series, and is the co-creator of the graphic works King Komodo and Gigante.
Tennant, too, said that it was a thrill to work on bringing Betty White's story to life. "I remember seeing Betty White and her hubby, Allen Ludden, on reruns of the original Password program after school as a kid, and grew very fond of them even then," Tennant said. "Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore show will always stand-out as my strongest and fondest memory of her. Needless to say, I was happy to be given the opportunity to attempt illustrating Betty's fascinating personal life and her prolific career."
Bluewater president and founder, Darren G. Davis, says the biography comics are a way to bring new readers to comics. He added that fans of White's might learn a bit more about the veteran actress by reading Female Force: Betty White.
"Betty White has had such an amazing entertainment career," Davis said. "It's one that has now spanned more than 70 years. The biggest challenge that the creative team behind this book faced was figuring out how to include as much of this career as possible in one comic.”
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, and I hope everyone got a good three days out of it! I will return to regular posting tomorrow, but today, I am taking it easy and getting a little housework done. Please be safe and enjoy the archives, and don't forget to comment!
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
We're on Hour 9 and we're going all the way, guys and dolls! My fellow MSTies and myself are hitting the #marathonriff all over the Interwebz. We're hitting the 'cast streams intermittently, relying largely on www.archive.org and similar, free, Interwebz movie archives. You need Axon to join us, and... it kinda helps if you know someone, but if you can find us, we're happy to have you! So come on, bring your best punchlines, and get druck as funk with us!
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Comedian, Robert Schimmel, died early this morning from injuries sustained in a car wreck. His 19-year-old daughter was driving when she was swerved to avoid an oncoming car. Though she was also wounded, sources say she is stable and will be fine.
Schimmel was an amazing comedian, apparently known to many largely for his appearances on the Howard Stern Show (of which I was unaware). Robert Schimmel fought a long battle with cancer. He was 60.
Our hearts go out to his family, his friends, and especially his daughter.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
A Transformers 3 extra suffered a serious injury when a cable snapped and struck her head. The extra was not on-set, nor was the injury caused by anything related to the film; her own car was being towed by another vehicle, though details are unknown. Yesterday was to be the last day of filming in Indiana, but production was suspended following the extra's injury. Her condition is unknown.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Sorry guys, I forgot about Monday being Labor Day, so I had to do some things around the house, including catching-up on my TV shows (which sounds like an excuse, but since I use Hulu, Fancast, and the like, if I go too long, the shows I want to see will expire). I still have a lot more to do because it appears I'm going to have company this weekend, but I'll be here.
It has also been an extremely slow week, news-wise. There have been a few developments here and there, but as far as press releases and the like, I haven't received many. I also hold on to some of them because they are three to four months ahead of release. Still, there have been a lot of get-togethers and parties in advance of the holiday weekend, so there hasn't been much going on.
Anyway, we're back to the Grind today and I don't expect anything to be coming in today or Monday, but that doesn't mean I won't be around -- it really just depends on what, if anything, is happening. I'm still catching-up on my reading, and not just comics.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
Battlestar Galactica developer, Ronald D. Moore, just signed a two-year development deal with Sony TV, and his first project is described as "Harry Potter for adults." NBC Universal has ordered a pilot and series from the developer, to the reported tune of $2 million (said to be one of the highest of the new season, so far). No title was available at the time of this writing.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
An attorney representing both Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber sent Bluewater Comics a Cease & Desist order regarding their coverage in the ongoing FAME line. The lawyer leaked the news to BledingCool dot Com yesterday.
"It was odd for a lawyer to leak it to Bleeding Cool," said Bluewater President, Darren Davis, via e-mail. "There really is nothing to say about it. We are within our First Amendment rights."
The lawyer in question is none other than Kenneth Feinswog, the same lawyer who unsuccessfully sued Revolutionary Comics over their Rock n Roll Comics biography line back in the 1990s. Feinswog represented the New Kids on the Block and Motley Crue in that case. A judge decreed that comic books are protected by the First Amendment, just as any other unauthorized biography. Bluewater recently acquired licensing rights to Rock n Roll Comics.
Davis told MTV's Splash Page, "We reach out to all the celebrities and some choose to work with us and some do not." In cases where the celebrity chooses to get involved, the profits are donated to a charity of his/her choice -- as was the case with the recent Fame: Olivia Newton-John issue. Davis said Bluewater Comics even offered to send Justin Bieber a copy of the comic book before it was released.
In the Rock n Roll Comics trial, the judge decreed that while Revolutionary Comics was free to continue its biographical line, it could not use any band logos or trademarks, which means Bluewater will have to excise these before re-release. Davis says Feinswog is trying to assert that the Fame comics are little more than posterbooks.
"It is 100% a biography of [their lives]." Davis told me via e-mail, "All the biographies are like this, and we have dealt with Kristen Stewart and Taylor Swift's people on the same matter. [Neither objected] to the biographies. We have our lawyer dealing with it, as well as the Comic Book League of Defense to protect our rights."
So what's really behind the cease-and-desist? Well... one of these people is a man.
© C Harris Lynn, 2010
