I love a good mash-up, where two different things are combined to create something completely new, and generally unexpected. Whether it’s a song like The Time Lords Doctorn’ The TARDIS or candy like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, it’s always a joy when you find two great taste that taste great together.

Where the Deep Ones Are is a mash-up of two of my favorite classic tales: Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. These may seem like unlikely stories to intermingle, but they actually share more parallels than you might think:

Both stories have their protagonists journeying into strange territories that slowly reveal their darker sides.

Both stories have mysterious creatures that really want the protagonists to stay.

In both stories the protagonists have to flee, with an angry mob of monstrous creatures hot on their heals.

Read the entire article Where the Deep Ones Are Is a Fun Halloween Read, But May Not Be for the Little Ones on GeekDad »

Tags: Culture, Design, Featured by jason
No Comments »

The World's Greatest Super Heroes

Sometimes it’s hard to be a super-hero. It takes a lot of effort to save the world from an endless stream of egomaniacal geniuses and swarms of planet marauding alien armadas! But what about the daily problems of human existence—hunger, disease, poverty, and equality? Shouldn’t super-heroes put some effort into confronting these problems as well?

It’s not like there’s no one on Earth “Prime” trying to take on these issues. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending TEDxChange 2010 at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. At this event, some of the top thinkers about the human condition were discussing the progress of the Millennium Development Goals—eight pressing issues facing humanity that need to be solved. The goals include ending poverty and hunger, ensuring universal education, promoting gender equality, improving child health, and combating HIV/Aids. These are the real problems that need real heroes. So, why don’t the super-heroes of legend ever try to tackle these more pedestrian, but equally important issues?

That’s the question posed in the recently released The World’s Greatest Heroes graphic novel from DC Comics. This collection of stories take the all stars of the DC Universe—Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and the Justice League of America—and ask them to deal with some of the real issues of being human.

Read the full article on Geek Dad »

Tags: Culture by jason
No Comments »

The Little Endless Storybook by Jill Thompson

Comic books, graphic novels, sequential art or manga; whatever you call them, illustrated books are a great way to tell a story. I’ve been reading comics for most of life, except for a brief period from age 12 to 16 when I thought I was too old for them. Boy was I wrong.

I’ve been reading comics to my kids almost since the day they were born, mixing them in with other storybooks and eventually novels. One of the great things about reading comics is that graphic stories cut out all of the boring “He said” and “She said” stuff. If you combine this with distinctive voices for the different characters, your kids will always know who’s saying what, making stories much easier to keep up with.

Here are a few of their favorites, roughly arranged for age appropriateness from younger to older readers.

Read the full article on GeekDad »

Tags: Culture, Featured by jason
No Comments »

Going to the show? Let me know.

My 2009 speaking and conference schedule will be kicking off in March at South By South West (or SXSW as it is more commonly called) where I’m hosting a panel discussion about Online Comic Books. Originally I had pitched two ideas, the first on Web Safe fonts; however, what the good folks in Austin eventually choose was a panel presentation to discuss how the comic industry is using the Web. I’ve long been fascinated by how graphic novels are (and are not) being successfully moved into the online world.

My own experience trying to bring sequential art storytelling off the page and onto the screen taught me a lot about the inherent difficulties. Balance and Grace (renamed from The Innocents) was a comic project I worked on with Top Cow Comics a few years back while I was the Creative Director of AOL RED. We were going to provide the online component for the print version of the book. Due to legal hang-ups, the online version was finished but never officially launched. However, we came up with the best online comic-book reader that I’ve seen.

I’m still putting together the panel, so I can’t make any announcements about who will be on it. I should have representatives from several of the larger comic companies, some comic book creators, and other industry pundits. We’ll start off by defining what is meant by “Online Comic Books” and possibly even try to come up with a better name!

If you have any suggestions for who you would like to see on the panel, please let me know ASAP and stay tuned for more updates: jason at brighteyemedia • com.

Tags: Culture, Technology by Jason Cranford Teague
No Comments »