By Dawn C. ChmielewskiLos Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 31, 2009 | 7:33 a.m.
Disney to buy comic book powerhouse Marvel Entertainment
The estimated $4-billion deal would give Disney access to a library of more than 5,000 characters and help it strengthen its appeal to the young male audience. Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s CEO, will work directly with Disney to build and integrate Marvel’s properties.
The Walt Disney Co. today announced that it had agreed to acquire comic-book giant Marvel Entertainment, creator of such characters as Iron Man and Spider-Man, in a cash-and-stock deal worth an estimated $4 billion.
The acquisition would give Disney access to a library of more than 5,000 characters — several of whom have inspired major films for other Hollywood studios. Marvel, meanwhile, gains the clout of Disney’s ability to take a popular character and make money on it through films, television and licensed merchandise.
Looks like Disney is going for the young male audience (who are not so into princesses). Much talk about the characters (esp. Iron Man) and licencing, not much about the actual comics and graphic novels.
BATMAN: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER?, by Neil Gaiman and others. (DC Comics, $24.99.) This collection chronicles the last days of Batman, the secret origin of the villainous Poison Ivy and a tale which depicts the Dark Knight and the Joker as actors in a television show.
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FINAL CRISIS, by Grant Morrison, J. G. Jones, Carlos Pacheco and Doug Mahnke. (DC Comics, $29.99.) The heroes of the DC Universe have their backs against the wall in this event storyline which features a much-publicized “death,” a surprising rebirth and bits and pieces of Morrison brilliance.
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BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. (DC Comics, $17.99.) This critically acclaimed story from 1988 offers a possible origin for the Joker.
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BATMAN: R.I.P., by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel. (DC Comics, $24.99.) Thomas Wayne, the father of the caped crusader, is cast in a sinister light.
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HALO: UPRISING, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. (Marvel Entertainment, $24.99.) This graphic novel bridges the storyline between Halo 2 and Halo 3 of the video game franchise.
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GREEN LANTERN: RAGE OF THE RED LANTERNS, by Geoff Johns, Shane Davis and others. (DC Comics, $24.99.) The march toward the “Blackest Night” event continues to build in this story that introduces the hopeful Blue Lanterns, the rage-filled Red Lanterns and more.
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ASTERIOS POLYP, by David Mazzucchelli. (Pantheon, $29.95.) The title character is an architect who is suffering from a midlife crisis. But will leaving New York City for small-town America help?
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DARK TOWER: TREACHERY, by Peter David and Robin Furth. (Marvel Entertainment, $24.99.) This comic series explores the world set forth by Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” novels.
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MOUSE GUARD: WINTER 1152, by David Petersen. (Archaia Studios Press, $24.95.) How will the Mouse Guard, and those they protect, survive the winter season with a dire food shortage?
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A. D.: NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE DELUGE, by Josh Neufeld. (Pantheon, $24.95.) The true story of seven survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
i don’t know a librarian who is a fan of the Accelerated Reader program and Susan Straight, a novelist and parent, agrees in a New York Times essay, “Reading by the Numbers“:
Accelerated Reader, introduced in 1986, is currently used in more than 75,000 schools, from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The Web site for Renaissance Learning, which owns the program, describes it as a way to build “a lifelong love of reading and learning.” As a novelist and mother of three passionate readers, I’m all for that. But when I looked closer at how the program helps “guide students to the right books,” as the Web site puts it, I was disheartened.
Straight goes on to explain this program does little to encourage a love of reading with its emphasis on points.
But as a writer and mother of three girls who love novels, I find the idea that we can apply a numerical formula to reading a bit insulting to literature. I’m not against all quantifying. But as Renaissance Learning itself emphasizes, Accelerated Reader’s formula cannot measure “literary merit for individual readers.” It cannot consider emotion and landscape and character, and certainly can’t identify what makes even some of the simplest-seeming sentences so complex and lovely and painful.
an eloquent piece capturing what is wrong with the Accelerated Reading program. i’ll never forget a few years back being asked at the reference desk for a copy of “Gone with the Wind” by a 4th grader because it supposedly fell within his reading level and gained him the points he needed.
The WreckerCussler, Clive / Scott, Justin
Investigating a series of attacks on the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Cascades express lines, Detective Bell learns of the existence of an elusive saboteur who recruits and murders his own accomplices while engineering schemes of maximum havoc.
Spartan GoldCussler, Clive / Blackwood, Grant
After discovering a U-boat in a Delaware swamp containing a map to Napoleon’s “lost cellar,” the Fargo brothers race to find the treasure before a rival collector can, in this new series debut from the best-selling author.
Divine MisdemeanorsHamilton, Laurell K.
From the #1 “New York Times”-bestselling master of paranormal romance comes the latest pulse-pounding installment in the Meredith Gentry series. The tension continues to mount, and Merry, pregnant with twins, refuses the throne of faerie and seeks to create a haven for her unborn children.
Last Night in Twisted RiverIrving, John
In a story spanning five decades, a twelve-year-old boy in New Hampshire mistakes the constable’s girlfriend for a bear, leading to an unfortunate accident that forces the boy and his father to become fugitives pursued by the constable.
Evidence: An Alex Delaware NovelKellerman, Jonathan
Investigating the murder of a pair of lovers in an exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood, detective Milo Sturgis recruits Dr. Alex Delaware to analyze psychological factors behind the killings, a case they discover to have ties to a brutal conspiracy.
The LacunaKingsolver, Barbara
Harrison William Shepherd, a highly observant writer, is caught between two worlds–in Mexico, working for communists Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, and later in America, where he his caught up in the patriotism of World War II–in a gripping story about identity and the power of words by the best-selling author of The Poisonwood Bible.
I, Alex CrossPatterson, James
Determined to capture the psychopath responsible for murdering his niece, Alex Cross discovers that the young woman was among a dangerous group of people and was not the only one to have disappeared, a case that draws Alex into the heart of an underworld fantasy club, in a book by a best-selling author.
A Christmas PromisePerry, Anne
When a younger fellow orphan is imperiled by her uncle’s murder and the disappearance of a family donkey, Gracie, Charlotte Pitt’s maid, aids the child’s search for both the killer and the donkey.
Angel Time: The Songs of the SeraphimRice, Anne
A metaphysical tale by the best-selling author of the Christ the Lord series finds contract killer Toby O’Dare accepting a seraph’s offer to leave his violent existence in order to save lives, an opportunity for which he is transported to thirteenth-century England and challenged to defend falsely accused Jewish citizens.
House of ReckoningSaul, John
Outcast by an injury sustained from her father, foster child Sara Crane befriends a former mental patient and her art teacher and soon creates paintings of long-ago violent crimes committed by the inmates of a local asylum, a situation that is complicated by brutal attacks on two of Sarah’s enemies.
Posted by Jenifer Brown
Apparently, there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of the Reading Rainbow and so the show hosted by Levar Burton for 26 years will air for the last time today.
Why is it ending? Money and politics. Money, apparently PBS, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting both are either unwilling or unable to pony up the money to renew broadcasting the show.
Politics, seemingly during the Bush administration the Department of Education felt that educational television should shift the emphasis from encouraging kids to read, to a heavier focus on the basic tools of reading like phonics and spelling.
a great picture book like this
It’s hard to argue with the idea of developing basic reading skills, but in my experience kids and parents have always been much more excited about a great picture book than any of the dreadful phonics books I’ve helped them find when asked.
Updated | 8:11 a.m. Dominick Dunne, the author and journalist who covered the trials of celebrity defendants like Claus von Bülow, O. J. Simpson and William Kennedy Smith, and wrote frequently on the intersection of high crimes and high society, has died. He was 83. His son Griffin Dunne told the Web site of Vanity Fair, where Mr. Dunne was a special correspondent, that he died of bladder cancer at his home in Manhattan.
His books include the best-selling novels “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles,” “An Inconvenient Woman” and “A Season in Purgatory,” as well as the essay collection “Fatal Charms” and the memoir “The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper.” Vanity Fair said that his last book, “Too Much Money: A Novel,” is scheduled for publication in December.
For more information and a complete obituary go to:
Stanley H. Kaplan test prep guru to millions of students died August 23rd of a heart ailment at his home in New York. He was 90 years old. Kaplan began operating his tutoring company out of his basement in Brooklyn in 1938. Kaplan’s test prep guides would become immensely popular, and in 1983 Kaplan sold Kaplan Inc to the Washington Post for $45 million dollars.
The Kaplan GRE test prep guide helped me pass the GRE, and get into library school in 1987. At the time I was working a couple of part time jobs and redigging the drain field for the septic system on my mother’s house. If there is a more powerful incentive for studying, than spending your Summer afternoon’s ankle deep in gray water, I never want to find it out.
So thank you, Mr. Kaplan your guide made it possible for me to overcome the anxiety attack I experienced while waiting in Kane Hall with 300 other students, walk through the door, pick up my pencil and begin my career in librarianship.
with the approaching deadline of September 4th to comment on the Google Book Search settlement, the Urban Library Council (ULC) has weighed in with suggested changes.
Like the major library groups did in their brief, filed in May, ULC did not oppose approval of the settlement, but rather alerted the court to where the deal falls short, and asked that the court require the parties to address the issues “before approving the proposed settlement.” Among its concerns, the single free terminal per public library building, which ULC said was “admirable but unworkable.” The parties have said that the Book Rights Registry can authorize more terminals if needed, but ULC members stressed a better plan should be in place before approval.
also of concern in addition to other issues previously mentioned here and here is the importance of protecting patron’s privacy. there are many opinions surrounding this venture and it will be very interesting to see what comes of it.
Oprah is set to pick her next Book Club title on September 18th according to a tweet last night:
Hey all you BookClubbers. Tune in Friday, September 18th to find out what my new book club pick is–never made a selection like “this”.
of course, there is all sorts of speculation here and here as to what title it will be with “Say You’re One of Them” by Uwem Akpan as a top contender. for me, this (no pun intended) seems too obvious, but i am horrible at guessing.
Knopf sent along some sweet temporary tattoos to celebrate Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” thanks to Joe for modeling said temporary tattoo. i have 25 tattoos to give away – let’s break a record for commenting on this blog! the first 25 (wishful thinking) Sno-Isle Libraries employees to comment will receive a temporary tattoo.
the question remains – how will Knopf commemorate “The Girl Who Played with Fire?” i can only imagine.
Knopf sent along some sweet temporary tattoos to celebrate Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” thanks to Joe for modeling said temporary tattoo. i have 25 tattoos to give away – let’s break a record for commenting on this blog! the first 25 (wishful thinking) Sno-Isle Libraries employees to comment will receive a temporary tattoo.
