- Kevin Smith. Writer. Director. Comic book author. Standup Sensation. Podcaster. And now? Add TV Producer to that list. In what’s being billed as a “Pawn Stars” for comic book lovers, the show is now searching for fans aged 21-35 in the tri-state area. The Inquisitr summarizes it well:
Kevin Smith: ‘Pawn Stars For Fanboys’ TV Series in Works
Kevin Smith has been quite the busy man over these past couple of months. He announced his retirement from filmmaking (after his next movie Hit Somebody comes out, that is), revealed his own radio station S. I. R., and now he’s apparently got a television show in the works. You’d think that he’d want to, you know, kick back and enjoy his retirement. Apparently not.
As is all the rage lately, the announcement came through on Twitter from Kevin Smith himself just yesterday. The tweet points to a Facebook page with a casting call for comic book fans age 21-35 in the New York tri-state area. They aren’t looking for actors for the role, however they’re looking for comic book fans who ‘live and breathe the comic book lifestyle.’
The show will take place in Kevin Smith’s own comic book shop The Secret Stash. Going by the information found on the Facebook page posting, it appears the show will essentially be Pawn Stars for the comic book geeks. Pawn Stars has proven to be a pretty winning formula for History Channel, so it’ll be interesting to see how it will work out with comic books.
If you have a collection of rare and cool comics of your own, you’ll have the chance to head over to the comic book store and potentially appear on the show yourself. If that sounds like your sort of thing, head over to this link for more information on how you can potentially participate.
The Facebook page makes it sound like there’s actually two different programs being tested out here, and provides details on how you can be a part of it. It’s all going down at the world famous “Red Bank” Stash. Hate facebook? Get info at the Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave site. Be there!
You are at the archive for the Comics category &rarr
View Askew NewsBites™
(W) Kevin Smith, Phil Hester (A) Jonathan Lau
Steve Austin is back and acclaimed film maker Kevin Smith unleashes his high octane vision in this new series from Dynamite. Featuring 28 pages of story/art in an action-packed first issue! Kevin Smith is joined by Phil Hester, artist Jonathan Lau, and cover artist/character designer Alex Ross (the team who brought you The MAIN Green Hornet series), Smith unleashes Bionic Man into the 21st century as only he can. Covers by Alex Ross, Paul Renaud (1-in-10), Stephen Segovia (1-in-15), Jonathan Lau (1-in-20).
The book hits shops on August 31, 2011. Suggested retail is $3.99, but stick with us for details on how to get a signed copy.
As a thanks to her fans, and a tribute to her mentor Christina Aguilera, you can take a look at a new video of Raquel singing a cover of “Ain’t No Other Man”.
Watch an NBC News interview with Raquel where “Jersey Girl” scores a mention.
Most movie bachelor parties promise untold levels of debauchery, but — much like their real-life counterparts — tend to be relatively tame affairs. Leave it to Kevin Smith to film an exception to the rule with Clerks II, which puts audiences in the front row for a donkey show with an unexpected twist. A film so gleefully profane that Joel Siegel infamously walked out of his screening, Clerks II ultimately failed to capture the cultural zeitgeist the way its predecessor did, but for some critics, it represented Smith’s growth as a filmmaker. Calling it “Probably the funniest film Smith has done since the original,” Joe Utichi of FilmFocus argued, “it’s chock full of childish humour and witty observations on pop culture — but there’s something real beneath all of that as well. Something, dare it be said, touching.”
View Askew NewsBites
- Details on that “Rocketeer” event sponsored by Disney, hosted by Kevin, are now available. Kevin will host a panel discussion with members of the film’s cast and crew on Tuesday, June 21, starting at 6:45 PM. Another can’t-miss event, for a great flick — Event check-in begins at 6:45 p.m. at the El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Blvd; panel and screening begins at 7:30 p.m. The Walt Disney Archives exhibit will follow the screening from 9:45 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Museum located at 1660 N. Highland Ave.
- Remember way back when….When Kevin wrote a “Six Million Dollar Man” film script? That one takes us back to the early days of News Askew in the 90’s…Well, much like his Green Hornet script, this one’s now coming to life in the form of a new comic series — Take a look at some beautiful cover art for the project from the legendary Alex Ross, courtesy of Bleeding Cool. Courier Mail reports that Dynamite Entertainment will once again produce the project, though the number of issues or a release date have yet to be announced.
- The original that started it all is back with a new episode — SModcast #169 continues “MALLRATS THRU A GREEN PRISM”, live in Milwaukee.
View Askew NewsBites™
- Kudos to Jeaux Janovsky for his fanart to Kevin after watching “Too Fat For 40”. Nicely done, sir.
- Canada’s “Treasure HD” channel advertises a weekend of Star Wars documentaries airing on the channel — You’ll catch a quote from Kevin towards the end of the ad, where he mentions the classic comedic nature of the R2/D2 and C3P0 pairing.
- Kevin was attached to a project based on comic book “Preacher” many years ago…Turns out, using the word “attached” might even be too strong. For the record, here’s the most detail we’ve seen on it:
“Preacher was never “set up” at View Askew with a $25mil budget. http://t.co/CY2WSx5 At one point, Garth & Steve grabbed a beer & burger with me & @SMosier at the Tribeca Grill, where we said “Use our names for whatever our names are worth.” Our names were worth bupkis. @SMosier & I pitched it to BobWeinstein, who said “I don’t get it. This is a comic book? The Crow I get. This? No.” And that was the extent of our involvement with Preacher: a beer & burger & a no from Bob. It was Rachel Talalay’s flick; me & just fans of the book & the creative team of Garth & Steve. James Marsden was never involved during this period (which wasn’t even a period, so much as a three day stretch). So strange to watch a fiction become fact. Happy to have Twitter as a means to correct misinformation.”
- Take a visit and bookmark Jason Mewes’ new Web site, http://jmewes.com/, where he’ll be posting daily “Mewesings” (video journals), appearance info, and more. The Stark Toons animated intro is also worth a watch.
- We’ll leave you with this quote from “Hit Somebody” shared by Mr. Smith:
Coach said “Buddy, remember your role: the fast guys get paid, they shoot & they score. Protect them, Buddy, that’s what you’re here for.” With all due respect to RedState, Hit Somebody is all I can think about lately. Top shelf, glove-side in 2012.
The goal is for a Toronto Film Festival preem of this one in the Fall of 2012 — We’d sure love to be there as Kevin’s last ever debuts to the world, much like we were lucky enough to be for “Dogma” back in ’99.
View Askew NewsBites™
- A classic moment that’s become iconic amongst the “Plus One” faithful marks the Season Two debut of the always-hilarious and genius Stark Toons on SModimations, with “The Fishies Have no Eyes” and more. Steve Stark is a genius! Enjoy it, totally free.
- It appears that the Westboro Baptists plan to protest Kevin once again, this time when he comes back to Kansas City on May 2nd. Good times.
- Thanks to creator Chad Blakely, we’ve got a couple pages to share from that new comic we mentioned last week, “Kidnapping Kevin Smith”. Click to embiggen. The book will retail for 10.95, and will be solicited in the June issue of Previews, for an August release (meaning, your local comic book shop can place an order for the book for you starting this June). Learn more at Chad’s official website, and support this great fan and his beautiful work. Congrats, Chad.
Win Awesome Green Hornet Art & Prizes!
- You gotta love Barnes & Noble’s “Green Hornet” contest — While the Rogen flick is hitting theaters, but has nothing to do with Kevin’s vision for the film from a few years back, their prizes are ALL ABOUT IT — Both the grand and first prize feature original artwork coupled with Kevin’s recent “Green Hornet” run, which takes his original script and turns it into comic form.
Entering is easy. Just send an email to blogsweepstakes@book.com after 10 am (eastern time) on January 14, 2011 and before 12 pm (eastern time) on January 21, 2011 with subject line ‘Green Hornet.’ One Grand Prize and One First Prize will be awarded.
The Grand Prize is a copy of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet Volume One: Sins of the Father with an original sketch of Green Hornet by contributing artist Alex Ross on the book’s endpapers and a copy of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet Volume Two: Wearing O’ the Green with an original sketch by Alex Ross of Kato on the book’s endpapers.[Approximate retail value $400.00]
First Prize is a copy of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet Volume One: Sins of the Father with an original sketch of Kato by contributing artist Phil Hester on the book’s endpapers. [Approximate retail value $100.00]
Good luck, readers!
View Askew NewsBites™
- This week, Kevin will debut a second “Red State” character poster for the highest charitable bidder. Watch his twitter feed for your chance to bid, benefit charity, and receive a sweet, sweet exclusive. This week’s poster will feature “the son” by a hint of Kevin, stating that what comes after “the father” (last week’s poster) will be next.
- Kevin recently revealed that the next sneak from Etnies Culture will be a SModcast-based shoe called the SMeaker. After seeing what they were able to do with the awesome Clerks kicks, we can’t wait to see ’em. Design’s done, and once it’s revealed, we can’t wait to share it with ya.
- Wizard hasn’t forgotten about the great work Kevin’s been doing for the comic world — Here’s scans of the latest ink focusing on trade paperbacks collecting his works from over the years. Click to embiggen.
- In case you missed it, Kevin’s blog featured another airline run-in last week, this time with Virgin America. The story quickly died down, however, after the airline took quick action to contact Kevin and make everything right. Still, it’s nice to see that the blog-sphere helps get poor customer service incidents out in the open. Here’s hoping that things like this push companies to improve service all-around, as it seems to be lacking at a lot of places these days.
- KTLA gave Kevin and Jay a few minutes on their morning program late last week to promote the upcoming “Get Old” gigs. Watch Kev also chat live about the above-mentioned airline incident as well.
- The holiday season is a fantastic time to give yourself or the fan in your life the gift of Askew — Might we suggest the new Widening Gyre hardcover on sale for just $24.99 via the Stash? For that price, it’s amazing that it also comes with original artwork personally signed by artist Walt Flanagan. Wow.
Hate paper? Starting getting involved with Gyre and Green Hornet digitally for a low price.
Lots more up for grabs at the online Stash, or in person in Red Bank, New Jersey — One of our favorite places to shop for Christmas.
View Askew NewsBites™
- SModcast Network fans! You can now follow @SModcastNetwork on Twitter and be notified the moment a new episode of any of your favorite SMod shows arrives. A must-follow for any fan using Twitter. Check it out, and follow today.
- Issue #9 of Kevin’s acclaimed “Green Hornet” comic series, following his original script for the film, is now available via your favorite comic shop (including of course, our own Secret Stash). You can also catch a trade paperback which catches you up on the story — Both will ship later this month. Signed copy of the first volume from the Stash is just $19.99. Hit the Secret Stash comics page for signed back issues, too.
- We certainly hope that you’re watching Fall’s best new series “The Walking Dead”, on AMC. The show airs Sunday nights at 10 PM, and is some of the best-portrayed zombie action and character builds done on film. In week two, on Sunday, Mallrats’ Michael Rooker appears in a memorable role and chews the scenery bigtime. Rooker plays a fantastic villain. Will he return? Tune into AMC for weeks 3-6 and find out, every Sunday at 10 PM EST.
- Take a peek at two of the stars who were there at the beginning: A new interview with Marilyn Ghigliotti (Veronica) & Scott Schiaffo (Chewlies Gum Rep) from the original “Clerks”. The interview happened over the summer at Wizard World Philly, courtesy of Numa Network (www.numanetwork.com) , an entertainment/comedy YouTube channel. It’s a nice interview and runs over 12 minutes. Interviewer Chris is a big View Askew fan and asks a ton of interesting questions, and as always, Marilyn and Scott are more than happy to share their memories and experiences.
- Finally today, via Twitter, follower Jeff Smith sends us a couple west-coast shots from the “Clerks 2” set — While the Days Inn, where the cast and crew lived for the shoot, stands, Mooby’s is now sadly, no more. Here’s what the lot looks like today.
The Twitter Report…
- Kevin’s busy prepping for “Red State”, kicking off production in just over a week, so tweets have been less frequent (though he promises a return to form once he’s done filming). Until then, you can still keep up with him and the crew as SModcastle shows are scheduled regularly, even during production. For the latest schedule, which covers us all the way through the end of the month of September, hit the tickets page. Get to the castle for a one-of-a-kind experience with the world’s only podcasting theater. Yes, all your faves including Kevin, Malcolm, Scott, Mewes, and more are on the schedule.
Kevin’s latest tweets help you keep up with the greatness that is the live shows, as they’re made available free to the public for your listening pleasure, along with a few other tidbits. Check ’em out:
Via @GrahamWilko “when Gyre hardback” 12/23. But HORNET hardcover’s out NOW. And it’s fucking SWEET: http://viewaskew.com/kevin/HornetHC.jpg
Take a stand, motherfuckers! Live free or #BLOWHARD ! Hear the BRAND NEW EPISODE in which we try CHAT ROULETTE! http://smodcast.com/blowhard
On Sunday night, I give you aural: A BRAND NEW #SModcast http://smodcast.com/main SMod 133: Lanny McDonald. In which no books are burned.
Lights, camera… BABBLE! A brand new HOLLYWOOD BABBLE-ON (with me & @RalphGarman) is now ready for insertion! http://smodcast.com/babbleon
Via @Lunakitten “what’s the wheelchair access/seating like at SMODcastle?” No ramps, sadly, but we carry you & ride in for front row seats.
On Thursdays, me & @JayMewes GET OLD! Yes, a BRAND NEW Jay & Silent Bob Get Old! Ep4: I’ll Tumble 4 Mewes. – http://www.smodcast.com/getold
Via @JasonMatthew “will there be a new Tuesday show?” Yup. And when I’m done shooting RED STATE, we’ll be adding 4 NEW shows to the network.
Via @Kobrakai80 “any news on Mallrats Bluray” Not a word, not a sound. Dear Universal Home Video: the kids want the MALLRATS on the Bluray.
Via @ErnestSalazar “I’d rather see you making movies.” Meh. Been there, done that. I’m having way more fun with #SModcast & her spinoffs…
Via @donnaleetree “I miss the days when you tweeted more” Sometimes I have to make a movie. Once RED STATE’s done, it’ll be full throttle.
All this and more via @ThatKevinSmith on Twitter. Follow Follow Follow!
The Twitter Report…
- Continued success for SModcastle shows, more online, casting controversy and more from Kev on Twitter recently. Here’s some samples:
Via @rockerprod “just pre-ordered Widening Gyre” Be like this amazing American hero! http://tinyurl.com/GYREcumsInHardcover on 12/13!
It’s Sunday! If you’re not at @SModcastle watching #BlowHard the hear some SMOD! SModcast 131: Limmortal. Get it now at http://smodcast.com
Via @kellybutton “GetOld starts off hilarious, ends up heartbreaking. A+ to you, @jaymewes” Give it a listen: http://www.smodcast.com/getold
Prepare to be blown out the back of (or in the back of) the theater! #BLOWHARD episode 2 is NOW ONLINE! http://www.smodcast.com/blowhard
Via @dmaul53854 “u say @JayMewes fell off the wagon in Apr. He ok now?” Tune in & find out: http://smodcast.com/getold New episode tomorrow!
Local press that GETS it: @ThrillistLA puts @SModcastle on their front page today: http://www.thrillist.com/list/Los+Angeles
We’re moving BABBLE-ON to Mondays & HIGHLANDS to Saturdays. HIGHLANDS feels more like a Saturday show – our own “A Scary Home Companion.”
Via @jpalmiotti “its Joes 10th anniversary as EIC of Marvel” 1 of the few times I’ve ever seen true talent get rewarded. Go @JoeQuesada, Go!
Congrats @JayMewes! # 1 on iTunes Comedy pod chart (& #2 overall!) with JAY & SILENT BOB GET OLD! http://tinyurl.com/GetOldWithMeAndMewes
Via @GetFcked “Hollywood BabbleOn was funny as Fuck. Can’t wait to hear it weekly.” It ALSO went to #1 on the Comedy chart, and #7 overall!
More on @ThatKevinSmith this week, including a few interesting remarks about a run-in with a Hollywood agent relating to “Red State” casting. Sure can’t wait to hear that story told at a future live show…
Also, QS covers “Blow Hard” with a new interview with Malcolm where he talks about the new breakout hit of SModcastle.