(1) COURT STRIKES DOWN MARVEL, DC ‘SUPER HERO’ TRADEMARK. Bleeding Cool tells how it happened: “US Court States Marvel And DC Have Lost Their Super Hero Trademark”.
The law firm of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg (RJLF) has announced a landmark victory in its trademark case against comics publishers Marvel and DC Comics. They have obtained an order from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cancelling Marvel and DC Comics’ joint trademark for the word “Super Hero” and thus allowing their clients, S.J. Richold and Superbabies Limited, to freely use the term.
This was granted after Marvel and DC failed to respond to court requests.
RJLF challenged the exclusivity of the SUPER HERO trademarks after DC attempted to block Richold’s efforts to promote The Super Babies—a team of superpowered superhero babies. In its cancellation petition, RJLF charted the history of the superhero trademarks and showed how Marvel and DC used the marks to stifle competition and oust small and independent comic creators.
In 1977, DC Comics and Marvel Comics’ legal departments co-operated over the registration of the trademark “superhero” which they decided to share. It was granted by US authorities in 1979/1980. And it is a trademark that they have successfully defended with their legal departments ever since, disputing numerous challenges in many countries, until today….
(2) READ AND REREAD. Here are the “Science-Fiction Books Scientific American’s Staff Love” from Scientific American. It’s really a collection of lists divided into “Top-Shelf Recommendations”, “Series and Short Stories”, “Ghastly Thrillers”, “Dastardly Dystopias”, “All’s Fair in Love and War and Time Travel”, and “Fantastical Space Operas”. How many of these have you read?
There are few things as memorable to a young reader as the first spaceship they wanted to be onboard or the first fantastical world they wished to inhabit. If you’ve ever discussed the mechanics of warp speed, the anatomy of a shai-hulud or the ethics of a Vulcan mind meld, you know one thing for certain: science fiction is a way of life. Giants of the genre such as Mary Shelley and Isaac Asimov showed readers the horror, the excitement and the gargantuan consequences that arise from combining our scientific knowledge with the expanse of our imagination. What does it feel like to live forever, to breathe something other than air or to love someone from another planet? How will science inspire fiction next? What fiction will inspire new science?
The staff at Scientific American ask questions such as these across lunch tables and whisper book recommendations in hallways. We examine new science every day and read exceptional books each night….
(3) ANOTHER SNOUT IN HOGWARTS TROUGH. “Comcast Sues Warner Bros. Over Refusal to Partner on Harry Potter Series” – The Hollywood Reporter briefed its readers.
A legal brawl has broken out between Comcast‘s Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery, with the European media giant suing over breaches to a 2019 deal for exclusive rights to shows.
Sky, in a lawsuit filed Friday in New York federal court, says Warners is obligated to offer the opportunity to partner on at least four shows per year, including the upcoming Harry Potter series, but “fell far short of that mark” for nearly the entire duration of the contract.
Instead, Warners has “largely disregarded the parties’ agreement and sought to keep the Harry Potter content for itself so that” it can be used as the “cornerstone of the launch of its Max streaming service in Europe,” the complaint states. Sky seeks a court order that would force the David Zaslav-led company to bring it on as a co-producer on the production….
(4) DREAM DESTINATIONS. Nnedi Okorafor pointed out on Facebook:
The airport in Austin, TX has a gate for “Interimaginary Departures” and, Oomza Uni from the Binti Trilogy is on there! How cool!
For those who don’t know, Oomza Uni is the finest university in the galaxy. It’s an entire planet that is a university and only 2% of its students are human (no human faculty).
(Click for larger image.)
(5) EATON COLLECTION GAINS DONATION. Phoenix Alexander, Klein Librarian for Science Fiction & Fantasy at UC Riverside, has a big announcement.
(6) GROWTH OF SFF IN CHINA. In “The Dark Shadow of the Chinese Dream”, the Los Angeles Review of Books gives an overview of Chinese sff while reviewing three books, including Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction by Mingwei Song.
…Celebrity author Liu Cixin not only became the first Chinese writer to win a Hugo in 2015 for the first book in his Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, but also has gone on to become the best-selling Chinese author of all time in international markets. He has become a household name globally, a unique feat in the Sinophone fiction writer community. His name is certainly far more recognizable than those of Nobel laureates Gao Xingjian and Mo Yan, and his fame exceeds that of writers of earlier generations such as Eileen Chang and Lu Xun. Liu has cemented Chinese science fiction’s status as part and parcel of world literature.
This hypervisibility, however, is not evenly distributed. Liu defended the Chinese state’s mass internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang in a 2019 New Yorker profile and has been embraced and heavily promoted by the state. Han Song, by contrast, a writer of the same generation whose works repeatedly satirize Xi Jinping’s public admonitions to “tell the good China story” (or “tell the China story well,” as if there is just one acceptable basic narrative), has struggled to get his writing published in China. The 2023 Hugos further amplified this entwinement between visibility and the “right” kind of politics. A retroactive investigation revealed that the Canadian and American organizers, seeking to abide by local laws, disqualified numerous titles by Chinese and Chinese American authors that were deemed politically sensitive, a form of preemptive self-censorship. Behind every blockbuster spectacle with crossover appeal—such as the 2019 film The Wandering Earth, and its prequel, both based on Liu stories—a darker, more ambiguous strain of speculative fiction struggles to make it into the light.
In his 2023 study Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction, which won the Science Fiction Research Association’s Book Award, Mingwei Song attempts to make sense of these contradictions….
(7) HE’S PAVING THE WAY. Batman’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled on September 26: “Batman is the first superhero to get a Hollywood Walk of Fame star” reports CBS News Los Angeles.
A caped crusader who’s been around for more than 85 years got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday.
Batman is the first superhero to get a Hollywood star, with neighboring sidewalk stars belonging to television’s Batman, Adam West and the co-creator of Batman, Bob Kane.
Created for DC Comics by Kane with Bill Finger, Batman first appeared in 1939’s “Detective Comics #27” and since then the Dark Knight has stood as a symbol of determination, courage, and justice.
“Zock,” “Pow,” and “Whap!” Batman made it into the Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1968, with Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s “Batman: The Animated Series.” The series also won acclaim with an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, the first cartoon based on a comic book to do so…
(8) NOT A SPRINT BUT A MARATHON. Samit Basu will lead Clarion West’s nine-month “Online Novel Writing Workshop”.
Are you a science fiction, horror or fantasy writer with a partially written novel but are feeling stalled out on where to go next? Do you have early chapters and a sense of the overall arc of your book, but can’t see a way through to the final pages? Are you bogged down in the Mushy Middle with no momentum to reach ‘The End’?
There’s no one way to complete a novel – the journey is about discovering what works for you, your writing style, and the story you want to tell. Whether you’ve outlined extensively or are navigating by instinct, Clarion West’s nine month virtual workshop is designed to guide you from conception to completion of your novel.
Led by author and six week workshop instructor Samit Basu, with the support of the Clarion West team, this program is built around finding your unique process.
This workshop offers:
- Weekly classes (6-months of the 9-month period) on craft, genre, and process, starting with your existing draft or outline.
- Monthly one-on-one meetings with Samit Basu to help fine-tune your approach and keep you on track.
- Guest lectures from industry professionals to expand your understanding of the speculative fiction landscape.
- Author-centered workshop models that prioritize your goals to help you gain clarity and confidence in your writing process.
- Community and critique partners that will help keep you on track.
At the end of nine months, you’ll have a complete draft, or a solid roadmap for completing your manuscript. From the initial spark to a finished draft, we’re here to support your journey.
(9) DUELING WP’S. “The messy WordPress drama, explained” by The Verge.
WordPress is essentially internet infrastructure. It’s widely used, generally stable, and doesn’t tend to generate many splashy headlines as a result.
But over the last week, the WordPress community has swept up into a battle over the ethos of the platform. Last week, WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg came out with a harsh attack on WP Engine, a major WordPress hosting provider, calling the company a “cancer” to the community. The statement has cracked open a public debate surrounding how profit-driven companies can and can’t use open-source software — and if they’re obligated to contribute something to the projects they use in return.
The conflict has escalated in the days since with a barrage of legal threats and has left swaths of website operators caught in the crossfire of a conflict beyond their control. WP Engine customers were cut off from accessing WordPress.org’s servers, preventing them from easily updating or installing plugins and themes. And while they’ve been granted a temporary reprieve, WP Engine is now facing a deadline to resolve the conflict or have its customers’ access fall apart once again.
WP Engine is a third-party hosting company that uses the free, open-source WordPress software to create and sell its own prepackaged WordPress hosting service. Founded in 2010, WP Engine has grown to become a rival to WordPress.com, with more than 200,000 websites using the service to power their online presence…
(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.
[By Cat Eldridge.]
Born September 28, 1946 — Joe Dante, 78. He started off as one as us as he wrote columns and articles for fanzines and APAs.
Now let’s look at what he’s done that I find interesting.
The first would be his collaboration with John Sayles when they completely rewrote the first draft of Gary Brandner’s The Howling novel for that film. Brandner was said to extremely angry with the film that was produced.
Because of The Howling, Speilberg offered up Gremlins, one of my all-time favorite films, to him. I’ve watched it more times than I can count and I enjoyed it each time. Gremlins II, not so much.
Spielberg also brought him on as one of the directors on John Landis’ Twilight Zone: The Movie. Dante’s segment, a remake of the original Twilight Zone “It’s a Good Life” episode as written by Serling. That story was based off a Jerome Bixby story published in 1953 in the Star Science Fiction Stories anthology series, edited by Frederik Pohl.
Ahhh, Innerspace with Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan. The Studio hated it, Dante made the film he wanted to despite the Studio and audiences stayed home. I thought it was sweet.
I hadn’t realized til now that Dante was responsible for Small Soldiers, an interesting film. Not a great film but it did have a possibility of being something. Not sure what that something would have been though I kind of liked it. Dante says that there were twelve writers involved in writing the script. Ouch.
So, Dante directed Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Moving on. Once seeing was way, way more than enough.
Finally, Dante came back to Gremlins by serving as a consultant on the Max Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai prequel series. Don’t get too excited as this is an animated series.
(11) COMICS SECTION.
- FurBabies explains some clichés.
- Jerry King initiates a new saying.
- Wannabe points out a problem with some books.
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal uses King Arthur to point out the problem with cultural appropriation.
- Tom Gauld gets his nuts in an uproar.
(12) THE INVISIBLE SUPERMAN. “Stan Lee Used To Roast DC For Clark Kent Taking Off His Glasses And Suddenly Becoming Unrecognizable As Superman” at CinemaBlend.
In the history of comic book superheroes, the two biggest names have always been Marvel and DC. While many, especially in recent years, have downplayed the “war” between the two major comic companies, it can’t be denied that there is competition between them. So it should come as no surprise that Stan Lee used to throw shade at Superman, even if he ultimately still loved the character.
An old clip has recently resurfaced showing Larry King interviewing Stan Lee and King asks about his favorite DC character. Lee says that Superman is his favorite because the character launched superhero comics in general. That doesn’t mean he can’t have some sun at Supes’ expense, as Lee pokes fun at Clark Kent’s disguise and the fact that nobody recognized Clark as Superman because of a pair of glasses. Lee said…
“I have joked about that. I say, ‘Hello. My name is Stan Lee.’ [removes sunglasses]. Oh, where did Stan go? Who’s this fella now?’ I know it’s ridiculous.”…
(13) REALLY UNSUSPECTED. Here’s somebody who’s doing a better job of concealing his secret identity. Not that he makes it easy on himself.
(14) V.E. SCHWAB Q&A. CBS News finds out in an interview “How author V.E. Schwab is redefining the fantasy genre”.
Author V.E. Schwab has written nearly two dozen books since making her debut in 2011. Her novels feature modern characters and twisty plots, and are helping redefine the fantasy genre. Dana Jacobson has more.
(15) NOW THAT THE HURRICANE HAS PASSED. “SpaceX launches mission that will bring home Starliner astronauts” reports CNN. So it’s not quite like the movie Marooned, but I’ll just drop that thought here….
A SpaceX mission due to unite the Boeing Starliner astronauts with the spacecraft that will bring them home has taken flight. NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have now been on the International Space Station more than 100 days longer than expected.
The SpaceX mission, called Crew-9, took off at 1:17 p.m. ET Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA previously delayed the launch attempt from Thursday, rolling the spacecraft back into its hangar as Hurricane Helene threatened Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States. Mission teams reset everything at the launchpad Friday after the danger had passed.
Unlike other routine trips ferrying astronauts to and from the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program — of which SpaceX has already launched eight — the outbound leg of this mission is carrying only two crew members instead of four: NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Two other seats are flying empty, reserved for Williams and Wilmore to occupy on the spacecraft’s return flight in 2025. The configuration is part of an ad hoc plan that NASA chose to implement in late August after the space agency deemed the Starliner capsule too risky to return with crew.
Williams and Wilmore rode the Starliner to the International Space Station in early June for what was expected to be about a weeklong test flight….
(16) VOCAL POWER. Here’s is a video compilation of “James Earl Jones’ Comedy Highlights” from the The Late Show with David Letterman.
(17) FROM A LIST LONG, LONG AGO. Going down the same rabbit hole: “Top Ten Things Never Before Said By A ‘Star Wars’ Character”.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Daniel Dern, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, and Mike Kennedy for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Brian Jones.]
