2013 Eisner Award Nominees

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Mike Glyer

The awards named for comics creator Will Eisner are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Nominees were selected by a panel of judges. The winners will be voted on by comic book professionals and announced July 19 at Comic-Con International.

Best Short Story

“A Birdsong Shatters the Still,” by Jeff Wilson and Ted May, in Injury #4 (Ted May/Alternative)
“Elmview” by Jon McNaught, in Dockwood (Nobrow)
“Moon 1969: The True Story of the 1969 Moon Launch,” by Michael Kupperman, in Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8 (Fantagraphics)
“Moving Forward,” by drewscape, in Monsters, Miracles, & Mayonnaise (Epigram Books)
“Rainbow Moment,” by Lilli Carré, in Heads or Tails (Fantagraphics)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Lose #4: “The Fashion Issue,” by Michael DeForge (Koyama Press)
The Mire, by Becky Cloonan (self-published)
Pope Hats #3, by Ethan Rilly (AdHouse Books)
Post York #1, by James Romberger and Crosby (Uncivilized Books)
Tales Designed to Thrizzle #8, by Michael Kupperman (Fantagraphics)

Best Continuing Series

Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
The Manhattan Projects, by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra (Image)
Prophet, by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy (Image)
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Best New Series

Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover (Monkeybrain)
Fatale, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image)
Hawkeye, by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Image)

Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7)

Babymouse for President, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House)
Benny and Penny in Lights Out, by Geoffrey Hayes (Toon Books/Candlewick)
Kitty & Dino, by Sara Richard (Yen Press/Hachette)
Maya Makes a Mess, by Rutu Modan (Toon Books/Candlewick)
Zig and Wikki in The Cow, by Nadja Spiegelman and Trade Loeffler (Toon Books/Candlewick)

Best Publication for Kids (ages 8-12)

Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
Amulet Book 5: Prince of the Elves, by Kazu Kibuishi (Scholastic)
Cow Boy: A Boy and His Horse, by Nate Cosby and Chris Eliopoulos (Archaia)
Crogan’s Loyalty, by Chris Schweizer (Oni)
Hilda and the Midnight Giant, by Luke Pearson (Nobrow)
Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)

Adventure Time: Marceline and the Scream Queens, by Meredith Gran (kaboom!)
Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, by Joseph Lambert (Center for Cartoon Studies/Disney Hyperion)
Ichiro, by Ryan Inzana (Houghton Mifflin)
Spera, vol. 1, by Josh Tierney et al. (Archaia)
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, adapted by Hope Larson (FSG)

Best Humor Publication

Adventure Time, by Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb (kaboom!)
BBXX: Baby Blues Decades 1 & 2, by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman (Andrews McMeel)
Darth Vader and Son, by Jeffrey Brown (Chronicle)
Naked Cartoonists, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

Best Digital Comic

Ant Comic, by Michael DeForge
Bandette, by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
It Will All Hurt, by Farel Dalrymple
Our Bloodstained Roof, by Ryan Andrews
Oyster War, by Ben Towle

Best Anthology

Dark Horse Presents, edited by Mike Richardson (Dark Horse)
No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, edited by Justin Hall (Fantagraphics)
Nobrow #7: Brave New World, edited by Alex Spiro and Sam Arthur (Nobrow)
2000 AD, edited by Matt Smith (Rebellion)
Where Is Dead Zero?, edited by Jeff Ranjo (Where Is Dead Zero?)

Best Reality-Based Work

Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, by Joseph Lambert (Center for Cartoon Studies/Disney Hyperion)
The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song, by Frank M. Young and David Lasky (Abrams ComicArts)
A Chinese Life, by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié (Self Made Hero)
The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, by Julia Wertz (Koyama Press)
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me, by Ellen Forney (Gotham Books)
You’ll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier’s Heart, by C. Tyler (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—New

Building Stories, by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Goliath, by Tom Gauld (Drawn & Quarterly)
The Hive, by Charles Burns (Pantheon)
Unterzakhn, by Leela Corman (Schocken)
You’ll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier’s Heart, by C. Tyler (Fantagraphics)

Best Adaptation from Another Medium

Chico and Rita, by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal (Self Made Hero)
Homer’s Odyssey, adapted by Seymour Chwast (Bloomsbury)
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)
Road to Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, adapted by Hope Larson (FSG)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

Cruisin’ with the Hound, by Spain (Fantagraphics)
Ed the Happy Clown, by Chester Brown (Drawn & Quarterly)
Everything Together: Collected Stories, by Sammy Harkham (PictureBox)
Heads or Tails, by Lilli Carré (Fantagraphics)
King City, by Brandon Graham (TokyoPop/Image)
Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson by Mark Siegel (First Second)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim, vol. 2, edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)
Mister Twee Deedle: Raggedy Ann’s Sprightly Cousin, by Johnny Gruelle, edited by Rick Marschall (Fantagraphics)
Percy Crosby’s Skippy, vol. 1, edited by Jared Gardner and Dean Mullaney (IDW/Library of American Comics)
Pogo, vol. 2: Bona Fide Balderdash, by Walt Kelly, edited by Carolyn Kelly and Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
Roy Crane’s Captain Easy: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips, vol. 3, edited by Rick Norwood (Fantagraphics)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books

Crime Does Not Pay Archives, edited by Philip Simon and Kitchen, Lind & Associates (Dark Horse)
David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil Born Again: Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Wally Wood’s EC Stories: Artist’s Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)
Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man, by Carl Barks, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)
Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby’s Romance Comics, edited by Michel Gagné (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

Abelard, by Régis Hautiere and Renaud Dillies (NBM)
Athos in America, by Jason (Fantagraphics)
Blacksad: Silent Hell, by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (Dark Horse)
The Making of, by Brecht Evens (Drawn & Quarterly)
Monsieur Jean: The Singles Theory, by Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian (Humanoids)
New York Mon Amour, by Benjamin LeGrand, Dominique Grange, and Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

Barbara, by Osamu Tezuka (Digital Manga)
A Chinese Life, by Li Kunwu and P. Ôtié (Self Made Hero)
Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)
Nonnonba, by Shigeru Mizuki (Drawn & Quarterly)
Thermae Romae, by Mari Yamazaki (Yen Press/Hachette)

Best Writer

Ed Brubaker, Fatale (Image)
Matt Fraction, Hawkeye (Marvel); Casanova: Avaritia (Marvel Icon)
Brandon Graham, Multiple Warheads, Prophet (Image)
Jonathan Hickman, The Manhattan Projects (Image)
Brian K. Vaughan, Saga (Image)
Frank M. Young, The Carter Family (Abrams ComicArts)

Best Writer/Artist

Charles Burns, The Hive (Pantheon)
Gilbert Hernandez, Love and Rockets New Stories, vol. 5 (Fantagraphics)
Jaime Hernandez, Love and Rockets New Stories, vol. 5 (Fantagraphics)
Luke Pearson, Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Everything We Miss (Nobrow)
C. Tyler, You’ll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier’s Heart (Fantagraphics)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)

Best Penciller/Inker

David Aja, Hawkeye (Marvel)
Becky Cloonan, Conan the Barbarian (Dark Horse); The Mire (self-published)
Colleen Coover, Bandette (Monkeybrain)
Sean Phillips, Fatale (Image)
Joseph Remnant, Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland (Zip Comics/Top Shelf)
Chris Samnee, Daredevil (Marvel); Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom (IDW)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

Brecht Evens, The Making Of (Drawn & Quarterly)
Juanjo Guarnido, Blacksad (Dark Horse)
Teddy Kristiansen, The Red Diary/The RE[a]D Diary (MAN OF ACTION/Image)
Lorenzo Mattotti, The Crackle of the Frost (Fantagraphics)
Katsuya Terada, The Monkey King vol. 2 (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist

David Aja, Hawkeye (Marvel)
Brandon Graham, King City, Multiple Warheads, Elephantmen #43 (Image)
Sean Phillips, Fatale (Image)
Yuko Shimizu, The Unwritten (Vertigo/DC)
J, H. Williams III, Batwoman (DC)

Best Coloring

Charles Burns, The Hive (Pantheon)
Colleen Coover, Bandette (Monkeybrain)
Brandon Graham, Multiple Warheads (Image)
Dave Stewart, Batwoman (DC); Fatale (Image); BPRD, Conan the Barbarian, Hellboy in Hell, Lobster Johnson, The Massive (Dark Horse)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)

Best Lettering

Paul Grist, Mudman (Image)
Troy Little, Angora Napkin 2: Harvest of Revenge (IDW)
Joseph Remnant, Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland (Zip Comics/Top Shelf)
C. Tyler, You’ll Never Know, Book 3: A Soldier’s Heart (Fantagraphics)
Chris Ware, Building Stories (Pantheon)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)
ComicsAlliance, edited by Joe Hughes, Caleb Goellner, and Andy Khouri
The Comics Reporter, edited by Tom Spurgeon
Robot Six, produced by Comic Book Resources
tcj.com, edited by Timothy Hodler and Dan Nadel (Fantagraphics)

Best Comics-Related Book

The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist, edited by Alvin Buenaventura (Abrams ComicArts)
Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, by Dewey Cassell (TwoMorrows)
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, by Sean Howe (HarperCollins)
Mastering Comics, by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden (First Second)
Team Cul De Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson’s, edited by Chris Sparks (Andrews McMeel)
Woodwork: Wallace Wood 1927–1981, edited by Frédéric Manzano (CasalSolleric/IDW)

Best Educational/Academic Work

Autobiographical Comics: Life Writing in Pictures, by Elisabeth El Refaie (University Press of Mississippi)
Comics Versus Art, by Bart Beaty (University of Toronto Press)
Crockett Johnson & Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature, by Philip Nel (University Press of Mississippi)
Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass, by Susan E. Kirtley (University Press of Mississippi)
The Poetics of Slumberland: Animated Spirits and the Animating Spirit, by Scott Bukatman (University of California Press)

Best Publication Design

Building Stories, designed by Chris Ware (Pantheon)
Dal Tokyo, designed by Gary Panter and Family Sohn (Fantagraphics)
David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil Born Again: Artist’s Edition, designed by Randy Dahlk (IDW)
Mister Twee Deedle: Raggedy Ann’s Sprightly Cousin, designed by Tony Ong (Fantagraphics)
Wizzywig, designed by Ed Piskor and Chris Ross (Top Shelf)

The 2013 Eisner Awards judges were reviewer Michael Cavna (“Comic Riffs,” Washington Post), academic/author Charles Hatfield (Cal State Northridge), retailer Adam Healy (Cosmic Monkey, Portland, OR), author/educator Katie Monnin (Teaching Graphic Novels), cartoonist/critic Frank Santoro (Storeyville; TCJ), and Comic-Con International registrar John Smith.

The voting in one Eisner Awards category, the Hall of Fame, is already completed. The award judges selected Golden Age artist Mort Meskin (Vigilante, Wildcat, Johnny Quick for DC) and the late underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez (Trashman, Nightmare Alley) to automatically be inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for 2013.

Judge Michael Cavna of Comic Riffs discusses the experience here. He recused himself in the Best Comics-Related Book category where Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw The Line at Parkinson’s, for which he wrote the main text, was selected as a finalist by the others on the panel.

Oh, Isaac

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Mike Glyer

Frank Deford

Frank Deford, for decades a writer and editor at Sports Illustrated, and briefly top editor of “The Greatest Paper That Ever Died” – The National sports daily that lost $150 million, has published a memoir titled Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter.

Deford is a character right out of Mad Men, little affected by the 21st Century. And when his path crossed Isaac Asimov’s in 1975 the Good Doctor was in typical form (a form considered here last autumn in “Monsters of the Idway”) —

One of my first books was a light cultural history of Miss America, There She Is, so I got invited to lots of book functions for women, in order that I might regale them and thus have them rush out to purchase my tome. At one of these sessions, a book-and-author luncheon in Hartford, another of the speakers was Isaac Asimov, who wrote something like eight thousand books – sometimes I think it was a dozen or so a week. He titillated the little old ladies by saying, “All I can do with my hands is type and sex.”

I thought: you are my brother.

You-Know-Who

(Anyone looking at their pictures might be tempted to take that literally – twins separated at 65.)

Deford tells several stories like this (the rest are about athletes), assuming an appreciative audience among older sports fans, but assured of a mixed reception in the sf field.

Gerhartsreiter Trial on NBC 4/17

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Mike Glyer

Tonight’s Dateline on NBC promises a “sneak peak into the trial of the man who posed as ‘Clark Rockefeller’”. The episode also can be viewed online after airing.

Those who have been following the murder case may also want to visit the Charley Project, a site that profiles over 9,000 missing people. Its page about Linda Sohus has been updated since the trial. Prosecutors suspect Gerhartsreiter murdered both John and Linda Sohus although her body has never been found. The Charley Project does not investigate cases, but publicizes missing people “who are often neglected by the press and forgotten all too soon.”

[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]

Allyn Cadogan Passes Away

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Mike Glyer

Allyn Cadogan. Photo by Gary S. Mattingly.

Part of the faannish trio who founded Corflu, Allyn Cadogan died of liver cancer on April 16 in Tucson, AZ.

The fanzine fans’ convention was the margarita-inspired idea of Cadogan, Lucy Huntzinger and Shay Barsabe during an evening in 1983 spent lamenting the marginalization of fanzine fandom at the big conventions. They held the first Corflu the following year in Berkeley.

Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Cadogan was an integral part of Vancouver’s vibrant fan community — editor of the local club’s BCFSAzine (August 1976-September 1977), and treasurer of Westercon 30, held at the University of British Columbia in 1977.

In 1977, Allyn Cadogan, Susan Wood, William Gibson and John Park also released the first two issues of Genre Plat, which Cadogan continued to publish solo once she set down in San Francisco.

What seemed a supremely important piece of esoterica in those days was the source of the title, a reference to a box of Kaybee toothpicks with a bilingual label saying “Flat style” in English, and in French, “Genre Plat.” Those of us who knew no French at all felt it added to the zine’s Canadian mystique.

Genre Plat was that rare fanzine able to maintain a faanish atmosphere while paying a great deal of attention to science fiction. The 1978 issue featured Cadogan’s interview of Kate Wilhelm at Westercon 30. Gibson had just sold his first short story in 1977, but was a few years away from hitting the big time, meanwhile wrote sercon for Locus and SF Review. Susan Wood, then a professor at the University of British Columbia, was actually the best known of the editorial quartet, winning the second of her three Best Fan Writer Hugos the year the zine began.

Cadogan would be associated with a more distinctly faanish zine when she co-edited Convention Girls’ Digest with Sharee Carton and Lucy Huntzinger in the 1980s. And along the way she also produced several issues of Bunnies, Zucchinis, & Sweet Basil.

The Cadogan-Huntzinger-Barsabe trio, before founding Corflu, produced the Emperor Norton Science Fiction Hour, a public-access television program in San Francisco during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In the mid-1980s she was married to Karl Mosgofian for awhile and the couple had their own company, Asta Computer Services.

Lucy Huntzinger paid this final tribute to Cadogan:

She was wickedly funny, generous, enthusiastic, artistic, smart as hell. She was a very good friend.

Keeping an Eye on Tomorrowland

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mike Glyer

Hugh Laurie

I thought it was time to follow up on Tomorrowland, the Walt Disney Studios project I wrote about in “Don’t Forget To Hype”, which is gaining attention through cryptic publicity.

The movie, directed by Brad Bird and co-written by Damon Lindelof, was originally announced under the working title 1952.

We now know that Hugh Laurie (House) will play the villain opposite George Clooney’s hero.

The film will shoot in Vancouver beginning August 1, according to the B.C. Film Commission.

And casting sheets give this synopsis of the story:

A teenage girl, a genius middle-aged man (who was kicked out of Tomorrowland) and a pre-pubescent girl robot attempt to get to and unravel what happened to Tomorrowland, which exists in an alternative dimension, in order to save Earth.

Alternatively, The Guardian says this about the story:

Described as a paean to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the 1978 film in which a man goes in search of aliens who are visiting Earth…

Can it be, the less you know, the more you’ll want to see the film?

Campaign for Asimov Historical Marker

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mike Glyer

On April 6 fans and pros gathered in West Philadelphia across from the apartment building where Isaac Asimov lived during WWII and kicked off a campaign to have the site commemorated with a Pennsylvania state historical marker. Philadelphia Weekly is behind the application:

We were thrilled to be joined by a bunch of speculative-fiction luminaries—including authors Michael Swanwick, Gregory Frost, Victoria McManus, Tom Purdom and Gardner Dozois, several of whom knew Isaac personally. We all signed the petition of support that will be part of our application to the Historical Marker Commission later this year. And our favorite geektastic photographer, PW contributor Kyle Cassidy — whose idea all this was in the first place — shot a photo to commemorate the moment the Asimov historical movement officially began.

The petition is posted at Change.org. The appeal for signatures reads —

Though he’s often thought of as a New Yorker, he spent three very important landmark years in Philadelphia. From 1942 to 1945, while living and working here during WWII as a chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Isaac Asimov wrote half a dozen of the key stories that comprise his two most influential cultural masterpieces: the Foundation series, which introduced the idea of “psychohistory,” the mathematical modeling of the future; and the Robot series, which introduced the famous Three Laws of Robotics governing how artificial intelligences should behave.

It was at an apartment on the corner of 50th and Spruce streets in West Philadelphia where Asimov wrote these historic stories.

Since 1946, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has authorized more than 2,000 cast aluminum markers recognizing names and sites connected with “Native Americans and settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, struggles for freedom and equality, factories and businesses.”

Pennsylvania added 17 in 2012, honoring both high culture — the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia — and pop culture — the “Birthplace of Commercial Ice Cream Production.” (Since a 2009 budget cut it’s been the nominators’ responsibility to cover the cost of the marker.)

None of Pennsylvania’s existing historical markers celebrate anything associated with science fiction – not even the alleged world’s first science fiction convention held in the Rothmans’ Philadelphia living room in 1936. Markers have been approved for a few writers, native-borns like Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), and others who grew up in the state like James Michener and Margaret Mead. Based on such a track record, it would be surprising if the Commission approved a marker for somebody who lived in the state only three years.

[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]

LSC3 Trims Multi-Table Rates for Dealers

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mike Glyer

The cowpokes at LoneStarCon 3 hope to round up as many dealers as possible with a cheaper rate for a second table.

Tables in the dealer’s room are now $175 for one (unchanged), and $200 per table (previously $250) for two or more tables (maximum five allowed per dealer). These are 8 ft x 30″ tables.

Prices for 10 ft x 10 ft booths have been reduced from $750 to $500 for the run of the convention.

Dealers can also buy memberships at a special rate – see terms in the full press release after the jump.

Continue reading →

Cape Town Film Fest in LA

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Mike Glyer

The first Entertainment Weekly CapeTown Film Fest runs April 30-May 6 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

May 1 – Shaun of the Dead, Q&A with Edgar Wright

May 2 – The Thing, Q&A with John Carpenter

May 3 – Escape from New York, Q&A with Kurt Russell

May 4 – Return of the Jedi, “surprise guests and photo opps”

May 5 – Despicable Me, Coraline, Q&A with Neil Gaiman and Travis Knight, The Goonies, Q&A with Richard Donner, Twelve Monkeys, Q&A with Terry Gilliam

May 6 – Star Trek (2009), Q&A with Leonard Nimoy

Click here for more information.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Nick Pollotta (1954-2013)

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Mike Glyer

Nick Pollotta

Nick Pollotta died April 13 after a long bout with cancer. The author of 54 published novels, Pollotta was best known for his humorous sf – Illegal Aliens (with Phil Foglio) and Bureau 13. Much of his pro work did not appear under his own name, but under the house names “James Axler” and “Don Pendelton.”

He lived in Chicago with his wife, Melissa.

Years ago, when he resided in North Jersey and in Philadelphia, Pollotta was a force in the Philadelphia in ’86 Worldcon bid. He helped publicize it with a series of comedy tape recordings about Phil A. Delphia, fannish Secret Agent 86, played at conventions around the country.

Indeed, he had recently created a series of YouTube videos from the old sketches, adding images to the scratchy soundtracks.

Pollotta was a guest of honor at Capclave in 2004 and Capricon 26 in 2006.

[Thanks to Michael Brian Bentley for the story.]

Lookout Shreveport!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Mike Glyer

The only kind of “incoming” fanzine editor Guy Lillian III ordinarily watches for are letters of comment on Challenger. But the Shreveport resident might have a new worry, suggests Andrew Porter – North Korean missles! The Washington Post reports —

The latest ridiculous North Korean propaganda video includes threats to launch … missiles at four U.S. cities: Washington, Colorado Springs, Colo., Los Angeles and Honolulu.

The only problem is that the video, released by the state-run media organization Uriminzokkiri, misidentifies Colorado Springs’ location by about 1,000 miles. As the voice-over excitedly discusses North Korea’s plan to launch a missile at the home of a number of important military installations, as well as the U.S. Air Force Academy, a dot on a map meant to indicate the city actually appears somewhere over the deep south.

You can hear the narrator mention Colorado Springs at about 1 minute, 20 seconds into the video, as a scary-looking line is shown shooting out from North Korea and landing somewhere in the vicinity of Shreveport, La., a 900-mile drive southeast from the intended target.

Better keep watching the skies there, Guy.

The North Korean video had already alarmed another friend of mine who awoke to it playing on the news one morning. His company creates collections of synthesizer music for use in the film industry, and the video’s soundtrack is their composition.