Did We Even Cover This Show?

Okay, this may seem a little odd, but I saw Hawk on "Meet My Folks," and my jaw dropped. I went to school with him years ago, and haven't seen him since! I just got all excited and wanted to find him somehow and just tell him I say hi and that I saw him on TV and almost died, I never thought i'd see him again! So if you know his email address, I'd love to write him. Thanks for your help!

-- Katie Srednicki

I'm in the embarassing (?) position of having no idea who this Hawk person is. Here at Fanboy Planet, that can only mean that birdguy who traveled with Buck and Wilma in the second season of Buck Rogers, but I'm pretty sure that's not who you mean.

But in general, even if we do possess a film, television, or comics personality's e-mail address, we would not give it out. It's bad enough that we talk to them; they have to be able to trust us with something. But in general, my advice is to go to the official website for the show in question and e-mail there. Perhaps the producers will forward your message.

A Request We Can Fulfill...

Do you know where I can find lots of artwork by Josh Middleton please?

-- Mark Norman

That we can do. Last week Marvel sent us pages and pages of Josh Middleton artwork from the upcoming NYX. I hope this appeases you, Mark.

Defending Fanboy Radio...

In regards to this site, its just two guys who do interviews with people in the industry. One of them is my brother's roommate.(my brother dosn't even like comics, but he still got to party down with Joe Quesada....that magnificent bastard!) Anywho they host a internet radio show out of Dallas Ft. Worth broadcast on the T.C.U. radio station. They are cool guys from what my bro tells me, and they even got him (a total jock) to check out X2, and Daredevil so they can't be all bad!

-- M. Montgomery

They got him to see Daredevil. I think we can rest our case.

We know who they are. And in truth, they do good work. However, since people seem to confuse their site with ours (to our faces, anyway), we have determined that they must die. Sorry. That's just the way it is. But we mean that in a friendly manner simply meant to engender heavy traffic for the both of us.

Where the heck are the Fanboy Planet supporters wreaking havoc on THEIR website, huh, telling Fanboy Radio people how cool WE are?

Dammit.

Besides, our own Mish'al Samman got to party down with Joe Quesada, too. He just didn't know who it was at the time.

The Once And Future RVD...

Hi! I heard about you at robvandam.com. And since I'm a fellow Derek, I was wondering if you could do one thing for me. Tell me what it was like to meet my hero and role model, Rob Van Dam. If you ever see him again, could you please tell him I'm workin on the frogsplash and rolling thunder. I busted my arm doin the rolling thunder. I'm a total maniac for RVD. If you could write me back, I'd love to talk to you about RVD.

-- Derek Hebeler
"RVD In Training"

The special time I had with Rob Van Dam is something I've sworn never to share. Some things just have to stay private.

What happens in San Diego, stays in San Diego.

But when I transcribe my interview with the guys at Noodle Soup, who are illustrating RVD's comic book, I hope you'll come back and read it.

And...The Villikon Chronicles Revisited...

I have read The Villikon Chronicles and think it is interesting. I liked it, and think your review of it stinks. The writer has a unique way of explaining how Villikon feels. We are talking about a well-accomplished and well educated man being exiled on a prison planet, keeping a journal of his miserable existence, and that is how he is thinking and how he feels. Sounds like you like pretty pictures, but can't read big words. Maybe the scantily clad women were a tad too distracting for you?

"...little explanation of the society and characters"? Funny, the inlay of all the books gives it's complete history, and I got a very clear visual of all characters and the society they live in,
and "...leaving it to the events and dialog to do the job." isn't that what events and dialog are supposed to do?

I believe the third book has an index of characters explaining their role in the story. But then again, there aren't large colorful pictures next to all of the text, so you probably
skipped right over them. Have you visited the website? The index of characters is there as well.

Finally, as you pointed out, this is an adaptation of a screenplay (a screenplay having won several awards for creativity and descriptiveness, having researched it fully.) It is not going to be your average-joe 'boom-splat-pow' comic book. It is a complex story.

Maybe dialog above a sixth grade level is too much for you? Try something easier next time.

-- Meribeth and David Johnson

I'm not sure which of the two this is actually from, since he or she used the singular first-person, but I'll let Marin handle this one herself.

Marin responds:

Thanks for writing. I appreciate all feedback.

Regarding your counter arguments to my review of The Villikon Chronicles, I’d have to say we still differ in opinion.

True, Kort Villikon is an educated man, and I have no problem with polysyllabic words. However I feel that the writing in these books is excessively flowery. The text is self-consciously ornate, as if the writer had had a thesaurus in his hand, and was looking up the most complicated way of saying something. The language feels contrived and unnatural, and it detracts from the telling of the story. There are also several misusages of words and punctuation, which I find distracting.

I don’t recall the book ever saying he was keeping a diary. Where was that said?

I do rather like pretty pictures. That’s why I read comic books. If it didn’t have good art, what would be the point? The scantily clad women were distracting, however they were meant to be. As the authors said, “Female vampires are alluring.” Maybe that’s why they wore next to nothing while the porphyrian males were in head-to-toe armor. However I don’t think it had much to do with distracting me from writing the review. I’m not a lesbian. Not my thing.

The inlay has a brief, two paragraph run-down of the universe. I call that “little explanation” rather than “complete history.” And yes, the events and dialog are there to explain all that, and that’s where I felt the structure of the books failed. I thought the voice-over and narration did a poor job of explaining what the action and dialog should have been showing us. Rather than having the characters stand around looking at each other while the voice-over explains what they’re thinking, they should have shown is by having the characters act on their desires.

I did read the character explanations. They shouldn’t have been necessary. If a story is so convoluted that you can’t remember who is who, then something needs to be pared down. Each character should be an essential enough part that their role is obvious and memorable. They won’t have the luxury of a “rogues gallery” if this ever gets made into a film.

And clearly, the measure of something’s quality is how many awards it wins.

’m not sure what you mean by “average-joe ‘boom-splat-pow’” comic book. Aside from the fact that comics tend to have more complex plots than movies and screenplays, many of the “boom-splat-pow” books I’ve read have excellent stories and well developed characters. Comic writers have the luxury of time to get their ideas across. Screenwriters have to get it in one shot, in one brief two-hour time frame. The audience can’t gaze at a scene as long as they want, or flip back to re-read. The writer must be concise and clear, and the Villikon Chronicles is neither.

...Derek again: And that's where we'll leave it for now. Bryan and Roy took their lumps from us, and we still have great respect for their earnestness and dedication to the industry. Despite our far from enthusiastic response to the initial Villikon Chronicles, we look forward to seeing what they're doing next.

If anybody still wants to talk about this, or anything else, let's take it to the forum!

Thanks for reading and writing, and please remember that if anything sparks your interest on Fanboy Planet, we want to hear about it!

Derek McCaw