Here’s an early must-have spotted at the PictureBox website:

A fantastic new publication by old pal Mike Reddy (and Comics Comics designer, not to mention Ganzfeld contributor) and cohorts The Fiery Furnaces. This is the illustrated lyrics for the Furnaces record Blueberry Boat. Reddy created over a dozen beautiful illustrations to accompany the lyrics (printed in multiple languages) and designed the whole thing, to boot!.

Given as how lyrics from “Blueberry Boat” were in our sig file for a year or so, we’ll definitely be securing a copy.

Many blogs, including Colleen Doran’s are reporting an item from Spin Magazine regarding COMIC BOOK TATTOO, a new anthology based on the songs of Tori Amos. The book will run some 400 pages and stories will be based on individual songs. Long-time Amos cohort Rantz Hoseley edits. Doran has a bit more:

I will be illustrating a 12 page short story for the anthology in fully painted color, using the style I used for the Orbiter cover art. The story is written by noted writer Derek McCulloch.

Other announced contributors include Lea Hernandez, Chris Arrant, Russell Lissau, and doubtless scores more. Hernandez had this to say:

I don’t know if I can say what mine is, but I can say no one will expect my take on it. Nope. Never. Being a fan of Tori’s since Little Earthquakes, and what a profound effect her music has had on me emotionally and artistically, this is not only a dream come true but an honor.

Amos is one of early adapters in the comics/media crossover trend, due to her friendship with Neil Gaiman (the two were introduced by Hoseley) resulting in many lyrical and comical mentions of one another over the years.

Some rumors about the upcoming Spider-Man musical are beginning to leak out:

Director Julie Taymor revealed that they recently had a workshop of the Broadway musical version of “Spider-Man.” Julie who directed “Across the Universe” is working on the show with U2’s Bono and The Edge. At the recent workshop, Evan Rachel Wood played Mary Jane and her “Across the Universe” co-star Jim Sturgess played Spider-Man.

The Beat’s quest for ‘08 is very simple: we are not resting until we have scored an interview with Bono about what it’s like to write a SPIDER-MAN musical. This is right in our wheelhouse!

#22 - Most Viewed (Today) - Music
#92 - Most Discussed (Today) - Music
#87 - Top Favourites (Today) - Music

Frightening, isn’t it? And that’s in ENGLAND where they have GOOD music.

This weekend’s Big Apple con was pretty well blogged with LOTS of photos from everyone. Including far too many of The Beat doing things like holding up purple pants.

Val D’Orazio.
ComicMix Part 1
ComicMix Part 2

There’s also this. And this. As far as the latter goes, we can only say you should hear us sing “Bali Hai.”

If the idea of Bob Dylan, Mr. Mumbles himself, having a radio show sounds like some kind of comedy sketch, you’d be wrong. He has a show on XM Satellite radio called THEME TIME RADIO HOUR, on which he simply spins his favorite records, and the show is highly spoken of. Now, one of the producers has commissioned Jaime Hernandez to draw a promo poster for the show, which you can see above in all its glory — the various vignettes refer to incidents in the show opening. You can see the poster in much better detail here.
[Link via Boing Boing.]

A few musical notes. One of our correspondents is sad we didn’t note the release of the new Radiohead album last week, but we only now had a chance to download it (paying £5 which seemed only fair) but we need a few more listens before it becomes a part of us. We were also enthused about Moog Acid, the mashup of Luke Vibert and Jean Jacques Perrey, the French electro pioneer. That is primo noodling, bleeps and blips, especially the track that sounds like Delius.

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International rock star, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE hearthrob and comics writer Gerard Way will be signing his new comics UMBRELLA ACADEMY at Forbidden Planet NYC. There are only a limited amount of tickets available and they may have already sold out, so call before going on down:

Gerard Way, writer of Dark Horse’s Umbrella Academy and lead singer of My Chemical Romance, will be signing at Forbidden Planet to celebrate the premiere of his new comic book.

Where? Forbidden Planet. 840 Broadway @ 13th Street. New York, NY.
When? 4pm - 6pm. Wednesday September 19th, 2007.

Please Note: THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT.
Limited to the first 200 participants.
Tickets may be purchased at Forbidden Planet starting Monday, 9/17 @ 4pm and include:

* One (1) copy of Umbrella Academy #1
* One (1) autograph from Gerard Way

Way signs TOMORROW in Boston at Newbury Comics.

Thursday, September 20th
4-6 PM Newbury Street
Boston, MA location
Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance will be autographing copies of his new comic book, The Umbrella Academy #1: Apocalypse Suite available Wednesday, September 19th.

We’ve been listening to Venetian Snares lately to see if we like them.

We don’t.
* * * * *
Mark Evanier went through 24 hours without electrical power recently and experienced our worst nightmare:

While waiting for power to be restored, I mused on how much of my life — not just professionally but personally — is entwined with computers and how I have trouble functioning when I don’t have access to one. The battery on my laptop lasted only so long and after it went out, I was rather paralyzed. Never mind not being able to write all the scripts and assignments and e-mails I have to write. It was worse than that. A thought would come up and my first instinct would be to go Google the topic for further info and —

Whoops. Can’t do that. Can’t do a lot of things I need to do.

Evanier found solace in his Blackberry, something we have been resisting the idea of for a long time, but something we are considering as a stopgap until the iPhone comes out in a version we like. Is that just giving in to the devil?

UPDATE: Aaaaaand as if by magic…cheaper iPhones! Yeah!

Controversial comics writer Alex DeCampi has been having quite a bit of success in the video field of late. Her video for “Those Rules” by The Schema a became the #1 music video on YouTube.

This week we’re ahead of the new videos by Enrique Iglesias (Universal), the new band Domino is pushing hard (Animal Collective), Ne-Yo, and something involving Pharrell Williams.25,000 50,000 136,000 views. Remember, this is for a video made for £500 on one week’s notice for an unsigned band. I don’t know what to say, except… well, I’m thrilled, mainly for all the people (especially my long-suffering and amazingly talented DP, Guy Routledge) who give up their weekends to work 12-hour days on my shoots for gin, cheeseburgers and a promise of “some day, we’ll make it big”.

The Indiependent has a big article on unsigned wonders tells more of the tale:

I appeal via e-mail and my blog on the www.schema.co.uk website, asking if anyone can help. Within a couple of hours a friend sends me the e-mail address of Alex de Campi, a graphic novelist who is also a budding video director looking to expand her portfolio. We exchange e-mails. She says that she is interested, and – incredibly – she reckons she can turn it around in just over a week. When we met up, her straight-talking, can-do attitude terrifies me; she has already come up with a complete video treatment, combining the paranoid emotions of the protagonist of the song with a meta-commentary on how difficult it is to make a video.

De Campi just directed a video for Thomas Truax, which you can see below.

Alex tells us that her “magnum opus” ADAM IN CHROMALAND part 1 has just been released in France, and KAT & MOUSE 3, “which is by far my favourite in the series”, is also just out from Toykopop.

§ Toronto Fan Expo link round-up at Sequential.

§ Round-up of cupcakes in comics courtesy Rachel Kramer Bussel:

§ Jon Spencer Geek explosion interview at Daily Cross Hatch. BTW, Spencer’s wife, if we recall, is Boss Hog’s Christina.

What are you reading [comic-wise, naturally]? The Pushman & Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Silverfish by David Lapham, B.P.R.D., Fear Agent, Batman, Jeff Smith’s Shazam, The Pride by Brian K. Vaughan, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and anything by Sfar and/or Trondheim.

§ Former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Mar has become the latest celeb to add a comic book to their multi media presentation, which also includes a “Viking-themed film.”

The ambitious bass player has decided to release all her current projects at once, proving she’s the ultimate ‘triple threat’.
Fans who buy her second solo album, Out Of Our Minds, can also check out her short film and comic book, released under the rocker’s initial pseudonym MADM.
Auf Der Mar tells Billboard.com, “I was basically building relationships because those comic book companies are crossing over into film and video games.

§ Brian K. Vaughan: ‘The Aaron Sorkin Of Comics’? Given the fate of STUDIO 60 this might not be considered the most complimentary comparison, but be that as it may, MTV has a profile on the writer up.

Okay if you go to this link you will see this:

In this excerpt from the VH1 Rock Doc: NY 77: The Coolest Year in Hell (premiering August 11, 2007), a memorable rap battle between Grandmaster Caz-DJ Disco Wiz and Afrika Bambaataa is recounted in classic comic book style by the artist Jim Rugg.

WE’re not entirely clear on where this has been published, but it looks cool and you get to learn about old skool rap, too.

PR — Opera at the Con!

Comic-Con International (Comic-Con) is proud to present the San Diego premier of the Too Much Coffee Man Opera at the Horton Grand Theater (Espresso Theater) July 27 & 28, 2007.

The brainchild of artist/writer Shannon Wheeler, Too Much Coffee Man first appeared as a self-published strip back in the early 1990¹s. Since that time his creation has enjoyed life as a single strip in comic books, alternative newspapers and a series of Graphic Novels, as well as an incarnation as a magazine dedicated to comics, and interviews.

The opera, created by Wheeler and based on his famous comic character, chronicles the tragedy when Too Much Coffee Man, a simple, average cup o¹joe, falls for his caffeine-supplying barista. Also vying for her attention is Espresso Guy. Can all this coffee peacefully co-exist in the already-twitchy world of relationships?

Too Much Coffee Man Opera will play at the Horton Grand Theater, 444 Fourth Avenue in San Diego. The theater is (appropriately) also home to the long running favorite Triple Espresso. Performances of Too Much Coffee Man Opera will coincide with Comic-Con, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the United States.

Those with a Comic-Con badge will be able to see the show free (space permitting) on Friday, July 27 at 3:00pm, Saturday, July 28 at 1:30pm., and 11:00pm. Tickets for the Comic-Con performances will be available at Shannon Wheeler¹s booth (#2200) and at the Comic-Con booth (#2045) located at Comic-Con inside the San Diego Convention Center.

Community performances open to the public will be held on Friday, July 27 at 4:30pm and 11:00pm. Tickets for those performances are available now through TICKETMASTER and, should any remain, at the theater before performances. Show is general seating and tickets are $25.00 each.

Comic-Con International is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture.

Over at our MySpace account — no, we’re not above that kind of thing — we recently received a friend request from a band called Fox Hollow. Now, we don’t friend up just ANY band (although it is how we found our now beloved Simian Mobile Disco and Klaxons) but this one had such CUTE ARTWORK. It turns out Fox Hollow is the successor to the The Rheas, the Seattle-based comic bookical type music ensemble. The Fox Hollow line-up includes Eric Reynolds, Kevin Schlosser, Adam Grano, Kaela Graham & Rhea Patton, so you can see it has a complete pedigree.

While trying to track down the artwork, we found it belonged to Kaela Graham. Man, her stuff is CUTE.

And it turned out she is married to band member, Fantagraphics designer and artist in his own right Adam Grano. And what do you know, his stuff is really cute too!

My god, can you imagine HOW CUTE THEIR HOUSE MUST BE??? Sweet mercy, it must be like Margaret Wise Mary Blair Scarry or something. Yowie.

Or else it’s all a front and it looks like a nasty old cabin in the woods.

A few slow news days have become a slow news week. Aside from a few bursts of convention related news, things have slowed to an August like torpor. Is it just the summer buzz of activities? Is everyone too busy working on their graphic novel? Or too busy working on their blogs, message boards and MySpace profiles? Whatever it is, not much comics news out there. That is good, maybe, because we have two big bags of MoCCA loot, and the Charles Schulz and Milton Caniff biographies to read.

I did notice that a new album by our beloved Luke Vibert is coming out in the UK anyway in a few weeks: Chicago,Detroit,Redruth. This album is notable in that it’s by Luke Vibert and not one of his countless alter egos like Wagon Christ, Plug, Kerrier District, Amen Andrews, etc etc.

As prolific as he is, Vibert is usually pegged as acid, or drum ‘n’ bass, which is accurate to a point. I’d call him electro stock music. Stock or catalog music is that stuff written by various talented composers that goes into the catalogs of various stock music houses to be licensed out for industrial films, or cartoons or whatever. The soundtrack of REN & STIMPY was mostly stock music. To show we’re not just making this up, Vibert himself assembled two compilations of stock music, Nuggets and Further Nuggets by people like Johnny Hawksworth and Roger Roger, who wrote background music for thigns like the original Spider-man cartoon and THE PRISONER. Beloved of obscure music collectors, this stuff is the salon music of its day, well crafted, and somehow blandly evocative but just pleasant to listen to with some kind of ironic commercial detachment. It’s not bad like muzack, but rather a pleasant diversion.

That’s what most of Vibert’s music is — a few ideas mixed up for a few moments, a catchy drumline, a few chords slashed out on an organ, in the foreground some kind of theme. None of it is very complex (although in fairness some of the Wagon Christ stuff digs a little deeper.) Unlike his fellow Cornish tweaker Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) Vibert stays away from the true dark side. Maybe that’s why he’s such a cult figure — he’s hardly a household name even in Dj circles. He’s a modern day Raymond Scott.

But so what. I like him.

Apparently there’s a new version of this, which even mentions graphic novels.

Source

Charles Addam’s ghoulish family may be duking it out with Spidey on the Great White Way: A $10 million musical based on the artists NEw Yorker cartoons is on its way :

Addams’ cartoons about the ghoulish-but-likeable Gomez and Morticia Addams and their family appeared for more than 50 years in the New Yorker. The cartoons also were the basis of a television series and two movies.

It hasn’t been determined whether the stage production will receive permission to include the familiar TV theme song.

Composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa will write the songs, while Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice will provide the book. Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch will direct and design.

“This property has great potential,” Elephant Eye producer Stuart Oken said. “It’s an iconic title. We have both the advantage and the responsibility of having these characters that people all think they know.”

Yep, you read that right. Superhero Hype has the casting notice:

SPIDER-MAN
Theatre
MUSICAL
AEA 29-HOUR REHEARSED READING

Director: Julie Taymor
Music and Lyrics: Bono and The Edge of U2
Musical Supervisor: Teese Gohl
Book: Julie Taymor and Glen Berger
Producer: Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment
Casting Director: Telsey + Company
Rehearsals: Begin 7/2/07 in NYC
Reading: 7/12/07 and 7/13/07

The notice includes casting calls for Peter Parker, MJ, J. Jonah, and…

[ARACHNE] Female, 20-35 years old, any ethnicity. A beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods. She subsequently appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders dance of death; and, finally, a lonely, fragile young woman. Possesses an ethereal, unique, gorgeous singing voice. Strong Celtic, Balkan style, e.g., Sinead O’Connor. Outside the box ideas are welcomed. Could be someone from the music industry.

Okay now, we are very VERY excited by this because Julie Taymor is one of the authentic geniuses of today. Long known for her visionary theater stagings, she actually made THE LION KING Broadway show an amazing post-modern multi-culti experience. TITUS ANDRONICUS was just radical, and her upcoming ACROSS THE UNIVERSE Beatles musical is supposed to be incredible…too incredible for the studio to even release. You can see the trailer here.

Of course, we haven’t even mentioned the idea of Bono and the Edge writing a Spidey musical.

“When a maaaaaaan must climb the towers,
He’s caught in a web, caught in a web…”

We can hear the hit single “When I look in your eyes, MJ” already.

Truly, this marks the beginning of a very special story for The Beat, one we will give our most specialest coverage.

Comics Allianceis yet another general interest comics blog that launched recently. We meant to link to it a while ago, but what with one thing and another, it got driven clear out of our mind. Anyway Comics Alliance is notable for being an AOL-affiliated blog, and we’d be lying if we said we weren’t jealous of the groovy sidebar with a calendar of events, covers, polls and other snappy doodads. Anyway it’s a solid effort by proprietors John Anderson and Chris Dooley.

Anyhoo, we mention this because we’re stealing our very first link from Comics Alliance, Gabba Gabba Hey! which WAS linking to a swell animated video of the Ramones singing the Spider-Man theme song, directed by LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE’S Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. Alas the video has removed by Viacom. Oh well. Of course, it took us about five minutes to find ANOTHER YouTube upload, so hey ho! Let’s go anyway! This will be down in no time, we’re sure.

The song was from the Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits album of 1995, when many more Ramones were alive than now. The album, which we own, contains such things as Wax covering “Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy” and Helmet covering “Gigantor” which is fun but not as good as the Dickies version, which is one of the greatest things ever recorded.

We know that artistic rights clearances and so on make this video stuff subject to all the laws of intellectual property and what not, but it would be nice if such things were readily available, for real and legally, right? *sigh*

Indie band Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez is one of a growing number of musical stars who itch to create their own comics. Indeed C&C have been putting out graphic novels, illustrated by folks like Christopher Shy, along with their albums for some time. Perhaps Sanchez can join other comics-creating tunesmiths MCR’s Gerard Way and Gene Simmons to have a battle of the comic book bands! That would be cute!

Coheed and Cambria is one of the more formidable rock bands in the world today, with two gold records under their belt, a new album in the fall, and a rabid, loyal fan-base. The band’s frontman, Claudio Sanchez, is known for his ability to craft amazing stories with his lyrics. Now he’s taking those stories and transforming them into comic books in THE AMORY WARS.

Sanchez had this to say: “œTHE AMORY WARS is the overall title of the mythology that surrounds Coheed and Cambria. Bringing this story to life on the printed page, exactly the way I’ve always envisioned it, is very exciting to me.”

Claudio’s own Evil Ink Comics has teamed up with Image Comics and 12 Gauge Comics for a June debut. THE AMORY WARS chronicles the life and death of Coheed and Cambria, a young couple who discover their lives have been a lie, that memories have been imprinted on their past, and that their future is tied to a deeper — and perhaps more sinister — purpose within the universe. The series is edited by acclaimed writer David Tischman.

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We always said that Gene Simmons was far from a comics dilettante, but rather someone who just can’t stay away from the funnies, despite his busy duties as the bass played in KISS. Now he’s launching his most ambitious comics venture yet with The Simmons Comics Group, which will publish through IDW. Simmons’ son Nick is heavily involved and the venture will be discussed at the IDW panel at this weekend’s Wizard World Los Angeles. The line is launching four titles, including GENE SIMMONS’ HOUSE OF HORRORS, an anthology of stories about kitties and bunnies…oh we kid, it’s a HORROR ANTHOLOGY! Boo!

He has the most famous tongue in the world. He created the two-fingered “horns” salute everyone uses at sports events (and, of course, they all stick their tongues out while doing the salute). Did we mention he also spits fire, throws up blood and has probably bedded down your sister?

Mostly, he has grown up with, deeply loves and knows more about comic books than you would imagine. He will reel off who lettered (!!!) the first six issues of almost any Marvel comic, and tell you with certainty about the history of the medium (whether you ask him to or not). So great is his love for the art form, that his college paper was (rightfully) called ‘THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PANEL GRAPHIC ART FORM.’ Grade? A+. And, when this soon-to-be Demon was teaching sixth grade in Spanish Harlem (!!!), he brought in a Spider-Man comic to use as a teaching device.

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James Kochalka’s BAD ASTRONAUT!

Is there any question that Prince is the only living human who could go on stage during halftime at the Super Bowl wearing an AUNT JEMIMA HEAD SCARF — possibly because it was raining and he didn’t want to ruin his hair — and still be cool as hell?

Plus he was wearing a turquoise suit with an orange shirt…IN THE RAIN. Dude is hardcore.

We were more alarmed by the appearance of Katie Couric, who had a very, very unfortunate hairdo, and in a bumper for the CBS Evening news, she — honest to god we aren’t making this up!–praised “America’s can-do spirit.”

Can-do spirit!

Best Super Bowl ad for our kind:
Evil Mapasaurus