Gephyrophillia #3

Originally Posted on 07/30/2008 by Jeff Harris

After a week off, welcome back to Gephyrophilia, the weekly editorial page of BXT: Absolution Station.

Last week, I had planned to post this week's new cover story about DC Comics' lack of direction when it comes to handling its properties in other media, most notably television and movies. Then, two things happened. Summer storms bombarded my side of the world for the bulk of the week and the comic book world descended on San Diego for Comic-Con.

The Original Universe made numerous announcements, including the acquisition of Archie Comics' superhero characters and the return of the Milestone "Dakotaverse," both of which are becoming a part of the New Earth of the current DCU, which is good because more characters mean more variety and more opportunities for these characters to be seen outside of the comics pages. Plus, it's always good to see a little more color in the comics, especially the long-dormant heroes like Icon, Hardware, Blood Syndicate, and, of course, Static, who is poised to be a new member of the Teen Titans.

But that was pretty much it.

DC Comics still has no idea WHAT to do with their now increased stable of characters and they're still lagging behind Marvel when it comes to adapting their characters and franchises to other mediums, so, this week, the article is here.

I've also noticed the birth of a new animation powerhouse over the past couple of weeks under the form of a deceptively simple moniker. The Cookie Jar Company has emerged from the ashes of the former CINAR to become the company that many smaller companies, including 4Kids Entertainment, long to be. With their acquisition of DiC Entertainment and American Greetings-owned properties like Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, and Sushi Pack, Cookie Jar has become the largest independent producer and distributor of animated productions with ownership of a global animation channel (that would be KidsCo, co-owned with NBC Universal and their Canadian rival, Corus Entertainment), a digital children's entertainment network (KEWL), a programming block on broadcast television (KEWLopolis on CBS), numerous shows on PBS Kids channels, and, coming this October, a daily programming block on the new ThisTV digital channel. Oh, and they own many of their animated properties outright, including licensing and merchandising options.

Is it me, or is the Saturday morning lineup announcements slower this year? Usually by this time, we have an idea about what the networks are offering, but considering 4Kids is programming two blocks and the whole American Greetings/DiC/Cookie Jar situation that's now cleared up, there's no clear look at what the youngsters are going to watch. Even the cable networks aren't cleared up for the fall yet (that should be revealed within a week or two anyway).

I do have my ideas as to what the Cowboy Bebop live-action movie should look like, but you're going to have to see that in the coming days. People aren't exactly thrilled with the idea of a live-action version of probably one of the greatest animated series ever created, but I'm morbidly curious. I know we have talented creators that could do it right, but the fear of a trainwreck could make a lot of people squirm.

<-- Hopefully, I'll post my picks there in the BXT Extras link on the side this Monday, replacing The Birth of a Network article that had been there since July 10. Wait. It hasn't been there for a month? Hmm. Interesting. Anyway, the new extra will be on the site next week.

Weather permitting. You never know when these summer storms will prop up.

See you next week. Send feedback to this section and any other article to me at the boards and through e-mail at the side

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
July 30, 2008