Hey, folks. Welcome back to the Book Report!

Last month, Disney released Tangled, a new take on the Germanic fairy-tale Rapunzel, collected by the Brothers Grimm. It had an official budget of $260 million, making it officially the second most expensive film ever made. Silly Disney.

But I like the fairy-tale with a twist idea. Quite a few books have been written with the idea in mind, and I thought for today’s Book Report I’d take a look at a few of them.

Probably the king of twisting fairy-tales around is Gregory Maguire. In 1995 he turned a classic villain into a sympathetic heroine in Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of the West. The excellent book was adult-oriented and very dark, and the butchering that happened to it on Broadway hardly does it justice, no matter how much you believe the musical was excellent. He returned to his version of Oz in 2005 with Son of a Witch and again in 2008 with A Lion Among Men, but before that he twisted the Cinderella fairy-tale around in 1999 with Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (which Disney converted into a TV movie in 2002). In 2003, Maguire twisted another fairy-tale with Mirror, Mirror, presenting a new look at Snow White.

In 1983, Anne Rice (writing under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaure) published The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, an erotic Bondage/Dominant/Submissive/Masochist retelling of the fairy-tale. She made the story a trilogy with Beauty’s Punishment in 1984 and Beauty’s Release in 1985. The highly graphic erotica series out-sold her previous best-seller, Interview With the Vampire.

One of my favorite revisions of a fairy-tale is the 1999 novel Enchantment, written by Orson Scott Card. More than just an alternate retelling of Sleeping Beauty, it sets the fairy-tale smack-dab in the middle of Russian folk-tales, mixes it up with a little Jewish home life, and throws in some Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court for good measure. Then he inverts it all and adds the slightest dash of Narnia.
The recipe concocts a delicious yarn, where the villains revel in their villainy and heroes realize just how bloody difficult it is to actually be heroic.

I’ve written about Orson Scott Card before (twice, actually), and it’s a testament to his talent that each time it’s been about a different genre of fiction. I’m not sure I’ve ever agreed with his personal politics or religion, but he manages to tap into something universal in his fiction that resonates strongly with me, and he’s been the most recommended author I’ve given people (seriously, go read Ender’s Game).

Grimm’s Fairy Tales are currently available for free as an ebook at Barnes and Noble right now. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to go give ‘em a read (or reread) and then check out some of these revisions. I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Until next time,
Still paddlin’ the old knew…
_-Akatzen-_

Happy Friday all!

I would be remiss if I did not write something  about the biggest comic book news of the week/month/year. That’s right, the news that Disney bought Marvel Entertainment for a reported $4 Billion Dollars. What does this mean? How do I feel? What Happens next?

Marvel is now a part of the Disney empire. That’s every bit Marvel, characters, licensing agreements, Marvel film studios, EVERYTHING. From press releases I have read from both parties, there isn’t going to be a lot of change in the near future. Marvel’s leasing agreements with video games and toys are staying in place for the immediate future, and existing film deals with other studios will be honored. Eventually Disney will take these things in-house, but not until current contracts are done. Disney seems to be easing the transition, which I think is a smart move.

I can see the potential for a lot of great things coming out of this deal, but as a child who grew up a Marvel zombie, I can see the other side as well. But, let’s focus on the positive for now. This is a great thing for Marvel in terms of exposure. Disney has the ability to now drop Marvel comic books where ever Disney products are sold, which is, well, everywhere. Disney has it’s own TV stations, that currently play 20 hours of animated Marvel programming a week, so imagine what they will do now that they have the rights to these shows. It will be awesome to see Marvel comics so accessible.

Another thing about this deal that could be great is the movie side of the equation. Disney owns Pixar, so I see visions of Marvel comics done by Pixar, and my inner geek does back-flips. Disney also does a good job of quality control, so the odds of seeing another Daredevil film that makes me want to puke are decreased.

As a small press publisher, I get excited because I see an opportunity for people like myself. Now movie studios that want to make comic movies have to go to the smaller guys, because the big two are spoken for. That’s right Universal, I am waiting for my phone call.

This could also help the small press guy with distribution. Marvel will probably be distributed through Disney now, and not Diamond, which means that Diamond is going to be looking for smaller books to fill it’s catalog. Yay, little guys!

Of course, this news isn’t all puppy dogs and rainbows either. There are lots of things about this deal that could really suck. For example, I don’t want to see Spider-man in the Magic Kingdom, he doesn’t belong there, and he would not fit. It would be a raping of two different aspects of my childhood, and that would make is serial rape.

Along that same note, I do not want to see Darkwing Duck joining the Avengers, or the Gargoyles taking up residence in Hell’s kitchen to bother Power Man. If Disney decides to become an editorial force in the comic publishing arm of Marvel, it could set the company back in a huge way.

So, my stomach is all atwitter with this news, but I do not know, and I don’t think that I will know for a few years, if this was a good thing or a bad thing for Marvel comics, and for the rest of the comic book world. What do you guys think?

Hello my internet peoples!

I am pleased to introduce my weekly section here at Semantink.com, “Cinegasm.”  I’m stoked that Ben invited me to help contribute to his already amazing blog and website.  Semantink Publishing has some awesome things in store this fall, so stay tuned!

So, I’m sure you are all wondering, “What the hell is/are ‘Cinegasms?’”  Cinegasm will be my weekly indulgence in the world of cinema and all things rad.  I love movies.  I’ve been watching awesome movies since I was a fetus.  My palette has a wide range, so don’t fret.  I’ll be covering new and upcoming films, old films, comic related films, films I think you should see before you die, and an occasional DVD review as well.  Over the years I have begun to notice the convergence of art.  Everything from graphic design and technology, to toy design and graffiti art.  To me, art is art.  Comics, movies, video games, etc. are all art to me.  Recently, comics and movies have become pretty good friends again.  I haven’t seen a surge of comic based movies like this since the 90’s, so attending Comic Con was as good as ever.  I grew up a child of the 80’s.  I’ve always loved science and computers (I’m the resident MacTard in my circle of friends) so Tron, to me, has always been one of the definitive Sci-Fi films of its time.  I know what you’re thinking, “You went to Comic Con? Did you see the Tron Guy?!?”

“Wanna toss my disc of Tron?”

Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of being blessed with the presence of Jay Maynard in tight spandex.  I actually can’t even say I got the opportunity to see the new trailer for Tron Legacy in 3D.  :(  Take a look at the classic Tron trailer to reboot your memories of the film:

Now bask in the glory of the logo for the new, Tron Legacy!

Sooo gloooowy…

Luckily, Disney has released the trailer online in glorious and crisp HD. Here’s a quick look at it if you don’t have the bandwith/computer to handle HD (If you do, I highly recommend the HD version.)
Tron Legacy Trailer

I took the liberty of making some desktop pics
out of the HD trailer for you to download:

(Click to the thumbnails to embiggen.)

Enjoy!

-“Ash”

P.S.  My favorite French Robot DJ’s, Daft Punk, are confirmed to be working on the Tron Legacy soundtrack!  Check out the first leaked track:
Daft Punk — Tron Legacy Theme

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