The Karada needs your help to bend some spoons

All is not well in the multiverse, and Emma’s going to need your help.

As previously reported, The Karada is a supernatural thriller about a young woman, Emma Gossett, who struggles to save the multiverse as realities collapse around her. Who can you trust and rely on when each shift of the multiverse changes everything? Who will be there for you tomorrow? Who will unexpectedly turn up today? And just how can one navigate all these conflicting and ever-shifting realities? To make sense of the ever-changing conditions, Emma and her partner David Blunt will reach out to the audience to help them solve the mysteries that unfold through time and space.

The audience is a critical part of creating this story, and this is where The Karada gets most interesting.

Producer Tom Liljeholm and friends

“Community contributions will be taken seriously and matter,” said Emmy-award-winning producer Tom Liljeholm. “For example, participants will be called upon to write in the details of Emma’s alternate realities, the basis of which will be produced into a digital comic series. Further, as our heroine in the dramatic series crosses paths with these alternative lives, participants will feel the true impact of their contributions on the storyline.”

Beyond just passive entertainment, The Karada will involve a complete interactive experience, including the web, mobile devices and even live events that fans can attend in person. Each component is integral to the total experience – one in which the participants will have a say in contributing to the story.

The international production team behind The Karada is quite at home with creating immersive experiences with strong storylines. Jim Martin, who is best known for his work on Heroes’ Web series in which he won two webby awards, met producer Tom Liljeholm while working on Tim Kring and Nokia’s Conspiracy for Good, the darling transmedia project of last summer. Rounding out The Karada creative team is director Jakob Berglund of Furnace Fighter Media, Ki Henriksson, who penned the original concept of The Karada, writer for The Truth about Marika and Conspiracy for Good ARGs, and Tom’s partner in Tea4two Entertainment, and Carrie Cutforth-Young, a writer and multimedia artist based in Toronto.

Keep your eyes on The Karada website for the latest, and be sure to follow the project on Facebook and Twitter.

Torchwood: More chemistry, less torture please...

How much more must Rex and his chest wound endure?

Let me begin this entry by saying again that I haven’t seen any of the old Torchwood series and very few episodes of Dr. Who, so I can’t compare Torchwood: Miracle Day with previous efforts. That said, the pilot hooked me and hooked me hard, being so far above the quality of most sci-fi shows on today and having a fantastic premise. Obviously both John Barrowman and the character of Capt. Jack Harkness are extremely charismatic, and being the main connecting thread  of Torchwood he deserves every minute of screen time he gets.

Last week’s episode was a fantastic showcase for Jack and his history, his endearing and loathsome traits coming through to show us that, despite his miraculous immortality, he’s still just a flawed man. “Immortal Sins” was extremely well written (by Russell T. Davies), and when I saw Jack begin to think about teaming up with his companion in more ways than one, I knew right then that I would watch an entire series of the very likable (and very hot) Jack and Angelo traveling through time and having adventures without the need for a Tardis and a sonic screwdriver. Apparently that would make a lot of other fans happy, too, judging from Facebook and Twitter.

“Immortal Sins,” however, was perhaps the best episode of the series so far, which is a shame. When characters do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, or that are just plain dumb, just to advance the plot, it’s obvious. Every previous episode of Torchwood, unfortunately, has suffered from this syndrome, and it’s maddening to watch unfold. I find myself frequently yelling at the television, “Why would you do that?!?” My husband has gotten so frustrated by it that he no longer watches and leaves the room rather than upset me further by going Mystery Science Theater 3000 on it.

I’m going to watch the “Miracle Day” arc through to the end for a number of reasons, however, in part because of “Immortal Sins” which I felt redeemed the series as a whole. I’m now dying (no pun intended) to know what happens with Angelo and Jack... but that’s about it. I like Gwen Cooper, even if she does shockingly boneheaded things for a supposedly amazing secret ops agent, and seems like she’s had about five energy drinks all the time. Rex Matheson is also likable, but how many times is this guy going to be tied up, tortured and generally kicked around? The rest of the characters... eh. I really don’t care if I ever see any of them again.

Speaking of torture, enough’s enough, writers. I loathe modern horror like Saw and its ilk, and the graphic nature of the show needs to be turned down by about half. I understand the need for Jack’s slaughterhouse scene, but it was double what was needed. I also did not need to see a pen being inserted into a chest wound at an excruciatingly slow speed, or two peoples’ brains being blown out. If you’re doing it for shock value, stop it. It does nothing for the plot, the characters, or the show at large, and actually cheapens the dramatic value of these scenes by showing cheap gore rather than creativity. Thank goodness you chose not to show every excruciating minute of Vera’s death but instead suggested most of it (and feed the frighteningly skinny Arlene Tur a sandwich, for crying out loud).

While my overall review of Torchwood has slipped a lot since my glowing review of the pilot, I still have hope for redemption, and it’s still better than almost anything else on television right now. C'mon, Captain, show us what you've got.

Decision 2012... in comic book form?

It’s a comic book industry first! This November, DECISION 2012 debuts the comic book industry’s first straw poll — with biographical comic books for all the top candidates in the 2012 Presidential race. The decision is in your hands; it's up to you to see who wins. All print runs of each series will be announced this November and the candidate with the highest print wins.

If you want your candidate to win comic book's first straw poll, you need to call your local comic shop and pre-order your candidate's comic book before September 29th, 2011. To find your local comic shop just go to www.comicshoplocator.com, or call 1-888-COMIC BOOK to find the shop near you.

The people of Iowa just had their straw poll and only Iowans could participate. Now with comic book's first straw poll, all of America can participate!

"The DECISION 2012 line of comic books has something for everyone," said BOOM! Studios Marketing and Sales Director Chip Mosher. "For those political junkies that love a good horse race, we have comic book's first straw poll. For those voters and our young soon-to-be-voters, we have some great non-partisan biographical comics on all the major candidates - announced and waiting to be announced - in the presidential 2012 race. And finally, for the comic book collector we have a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime collectible. The DECISION 2012 comic line and comic book's first straw poll is a great way to spotlight the upcoming 2012 election and get people excited about voting."

The DECISION 2012 line of comics and comic book's first straw poll isn't just a contest, but also a great way for voters and students to educate themselves on the candidates running in the 2012 Presidential election. This series of biographical comic books details the history and political lives of the candidates for the 2012 Presidential Election, giving non-partisan background on President Barack Obama and such presidential hopefuls as Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. The DECISION 2012 line of comic books are aimed at anyone of any age who enjoys reading and discussing U.S. politics.

More information on the straw poll and the DECISION 2012 line of comics can be found here: http://www.decision2012comics.com/

Remember to make sure you pre-order your candidate’s comic from your local comic shop by September 29th, 2011. If your candidate's comic book does not get pre-ordered by at least 1,500 copies then it will not be printed.

The Karada will be melting heads on an Internet near you

I just got wind of this new transmedia project yesterday, and I'm really excited about it. The Karada explores the concept of the multiverse and weaves it together with ancient archetypes to explore a new way of looking at reality. Or, in this case, overlapping and intersecting realities.

"The world is made up by endless layers of reality. Every time one makes a decision, reality is divided between what is and what could have been. Every reality has a group called the Patternseekers, safe-keepers who keep the alternate realities distinct and separate. When the threads of multiple realities begin to intermingle, problems arise.

"Since the death of her grandmother (the last Patternseeker alive), designer Emma Gossett has been experiencing strange unexplainable shifts in reality. One moment she has a brother, the next she doesn't. At night, she goes to sleep with one man, only to wake up next to another. Decisions no longer have logical consequences or repercussions. And it's starting to threaten her sanity."

This is a brilliant idea, and I cannot wait to see how it's executed. Considering that it's from the keyboards of James Martin, one of the writers of Heroes, and Tom Liljeholm, head of the Conspiracy for Good ARG, this has a lot of potential, especially as a transmedia project with audience participation. 


For a more complete description of the plot, visit the Facebook page for The Karada.

Is Comic-Con Too Big?

I first attended San Diego Comic-Con in 2007, and have been to three others, as well as a few other conventions of this kind, such as WonderCon and Dragon*Con. In 2007, you could still buy a four-day Comic-Con pass within a few weeks of the opening, but this year tickets sold out in January in a matter of two days, and tickets for next year were on sale at the convention, ensuring another sellout crowd. The attendance of Comic-Con is over 130,000 people, but I submit that the real capacity is actually much smaller.

It was Friday morning, I think, that was the final nail in the coffin for me. I had planned on attending the Torchwood panel as press, and had no aspirations of sitting in the front row, so I made my way over to Ballroom 20 at about 9:00 AM to get in line. After some time of being directed here and there and still having no idea where I was going, I asked one of the security personnel where the end of the line was. He pointed across the yacht harbor, and I saw a line of people stretching beyond that and around the corner behind the trees probably a half mile away. There was literally no end in sight.

I said something to the effect of “Are you s---ing me,” and after determining that it was, in fact, the line for Ballroom 20, I walked away.

Comic-Con has changed over the past five years. This year, as I passed by other people, I kept hearing the words “frustrated” and “disappointing” as they conversed with others. I saw the same thing on Twitter. I heard other attendees complain about how difficult it was to get into the panels they wanted. Friends that I had hoped to see there, both attendees and professionals, didn’t go this year. There seemed to be less of a feeling of joy and exhilaration in the crowd, and almost more of a sense of duty to be there.

And then there’s the problem with security. As you may or may not know, Rhys Ifans, who plays The Lizard in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, apparently pushed a female security guard out of the way after one of the people he was with was questioned about not having the proper pass. The security guard placed him under “citizen’s arrest” but he was later released without charges.

When I arrived on Thursday afternoon (hot and exhausted after an eight-hour car trip), the first thing I did was to walk to the back of the hall in order to pull out my cell phone so I could locate the friend I was supposed to meet up with. One of the red-shirted guards (if you’ve ever been there, you know the ones I mean) immediately took it upon herself to yell at me to move, despite the fact that I was standing there a total of about ten seconds next to several other people in the same area. I explained that I was merely getting out my phone, and she became hostile. I looked at her, clearly hot and tired, and said “Don’t. Just don’t.” Her reply was to raise her voice even more and yell at me “You don’t!” in her best “oh no you di’nt” voice. At that point, I thought it best to try and find somewhere else to stand to make my phone call.

Again, others experienced the same thing. Everyone I asked, which was a random sampling of friends, vendors, professionals and random people I was standing in lines with, said that security was a lot more belligerent and rude this year. I passed by one area where a dozen or so people were seated along a wall, and a man was saying to the nearby security person, “They get to sit there and I don’t? You just kicked me out of there!”

I’m not surprised in the least by what happened with Ifans’ group, since it was happening to less famous people all over the convention center the entire time.

The other question I asked my random sampling of attendees was, “Is Comic-Con too big?” Every single one of them, without exception, said yes. One man even applauded me. Literally. He said “thank you,” and clapped as we were standing in line for the Deepak Chopra booksigning which was across the street at the Hard Rock Hotel because there was no room in the convention center itself.

More and more of the convention is spilling out into the adjacent Gaslamp District, with many downtown parking lots being converted into party zones and the kind of spaces that companies used to have inside the convention center, which merely compounds the downtown parking and traffic nightmare. One entire parking lot was taken up with some kind of Playboy party – we could see the distinctive bunny logo on a flag from over the high security fences as we walked by.

What does Playboy have to do with a comic book convention? For that matter, why does Glee have a panel there? Why did I receive email press releases and onsite handouts for some kind of smokeless cigarettes?

San Diego Comic-Con has become a marketing machine that attendees have the privilege of paying through the nose for, if tickets can even be had at all. Once there, if you even want to get into the room for one of the larger panels, you have to camp outside in line for hours and hours. I later heard that the Torchwood line that I had been trying to get into was already 3000 people long at 6:00 AM.

Disappointingly, it looks as though Comic-Con may get even larger. A publicist friend of mine (one of the many who agrees that it’s too big) told me that there are plans to push the entire back wall of the convention center out into the current marina area, doubling the size of the hall, just for Comic-Con. I would guess that this is how the planners were convinced not to move the convention elsewhere – the promise of an even bigger San Diego Convention Center in the future.

Honestly? Count me out.

By contrast, WonderCon in San Francisco is a wonderful convention. Unlike San Diego, which doubles or even triples their hotel room rates, the flagship Marrott Hotel just two blocks away has a special half price WonderCon rate, making it accessible to most people who wish to attend. Additionally, since it is the flagship hotel, most of the talent stays there, and I had the pleasure of running into Sergio Aragonés in the lobby last year.

“Hey, I know you!” I said, recognizing his trademark glasses, mustache and tropical shirt.

“Yes, hello! Nice to meet you!” he said enthusiastically, shaking my hand.

“Are you having a good con?”

“Yes, I love WonderCon. You can actually talk to people here, unlike Comic-Con. That one’s just too big.”

Comic-Con pre-news

Just a quick entry to let people know what's what. So far we've secured interviews with the talent and producers of both Ugly Americans (the hit animated show on Comedy Central) and Grimm, (the new fairy tale police procedural mashup debuting this fall on NBC).

We're purposefully leaving our schedule as open as possible so that we can remain flexible to get other interviews as talent is available. Between the scheduled press interviews, visiting certain booths and displays we have on our checklist, grabbing people as they become available and evening parties, we're booked solid!

Sleep is for chumps! We'll report as we can, time and internet connectivity allowing. For the most current news from the convention, please follow us on Twitter and don't forget to tell your friends!

Canadian superhero Captain Canuck is back

Minds Eye Entertainment has picked up the rights to the Canadian comic book superhero Captain Canuck from writer/creator Richard Comely, as announced today by Kevin DeWalt, CEO and President of Minds Eye. Working closely with Comely, Minds Eye is currently in development on a film adaptation based on the comic book series.

The first issue of Captain Canuck hit newsstands in May 1975. Thirty-six years later, the superhero franchise has garnered fans around the world.  To date, more than 2 million copies have been sold and 26 different editions have been printed. IDW Publishing recently published two hard cover collections of the original issues that have since sold out.

DeWalt said: “I have always been a big fan of Captain Canuck, and we are honored to be working with Richard on bringing Canada’s greatest Superhero to the big screen.”

Over the years, there have been a number of licensed Captain Canuck products, including t-shirts, sweat shirts, doodle posters, etc. Canada Post issued a Captain Canuck postage stamp in 1995. In addition, Captain Canuck has also made the cover of Time magazine.

Creator Comely said: “I’ve had a great beginning with Minds Eye. I’m confident we can make a movie that will appeal to audiences both in Canada and around the world.”