Helium Party Balloons

Photo: Jonathan Liu

For a long time, comics lovers have been struggling to have comic books recognized as Real Literature. To be sure, some comics have achieved this distinction—Art Spiegelman’s Maus won a Pulitzer in 1992, but even then it was a “special award” because the board found the book “hard to classify.” Despite the wide range of subject matter, artistic style and target ages of comic books these days, the phrase “comic book” is still tossed around as an insult. Just think what it means if somebody says a novel or a movie or a TV show is “comic book-ish.” Generally, they’re not saying that it’s innovative or emotionally compelling or profound—though comic books can be all of these things. The use of the term “graphic novel” is a concession to the fact that “comic book” just sounds like lightweight fluff, and it’s used in many cases for books that really don’t qualify as “novels. ”

Getting the world to acknowledge that comic books can be serious literature is an uphill battle. But there’s one group of people that makes it especially difficult, a group that has a significant influence on this issue. In my opinion, comics will never break the “low-culture” barrier until these particular people decide to treat comics as deserving of respect. Who are these people?

You guessed it: comic book writers.

Oh, that wasn’t your guess?

Here’s the thing: many comics I’ve read are full of errors—grammatical, spelling, punctuation and sometimes just plain using the wrong word. Honestly, I’m not sure if this is really the fault of the writer, or perhaps the letterer, but surely anything should be proofread before it gets published, right? As a bit of a grammar stickler myself, I cringe when I see misplaced apostrophes. Sure, a picture is worth a thousand words, but when your gorgeous illustrations are accompanied by the wrong “its/it’s” choice it feels like putting the Mona Lisa in a cheap $3 frame—or giving her an extra nose. How can you expect somebody to treat your comic book as Serious Literature when you don’t even know the difference between “their” and “there?”

[Read the rest of Jonathan Liu’s excellent rant from Friday.]

So another Academy Awards evening is in the archives and there are two things we can all agree on: 1) They would have been a heckuva lot better if Ricky Gervais had hosted and 2) the Academy hates geeky movies. Yes, Inception was nominated for best picture and Iron Man 2 and Tron: Legacy had some very minor nominations, but when it comes to science fiction, fantasy and other geeky movies, the Academy routinely serves up null sets. With the exception of Return of the King, wins outside of the makeup and special effect categories are as rare as unicorn horns and these movies earn notable nominations only slightly more often.

Challenge:

It’s time to set things straight. Your challenge this week is twofold. First, identify the criminally overlooked geeky films below, then give us your slate of the top five geeky movies that’ve been bypassed over the years just because they weren’t “the right kind” of movie.

• Alex, reprogrammed
• Tornadoes to color
• Porkins
• Tyrell Corporation
• Speak & Spell communicator
• G-A-F-F-C
• Ruse: Oliver’s Army
• Wing Attack Plan R
• Heuristically programmed
• Multinational United

Solution:

• A Clockwork Orange
• The Wizard of Oz
• Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
• Blade Runner
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• The Dark Knight
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
• 2001: A Space Odyysey
• District 9

There were a lot of good suggestions for geeky movies that had been overlooked, including The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Big Lebowski and Terminator 2. This week’s winner is Joe Danza, who scores a $50 gift certificate from ThinkGeek. Congratulations, Joe! And if you’d like to get a discount on some great geeky gear, just enter the code GEEKDAD37MD when checking out at ThinkGeek. You’ll get $10 off any order of $50 or more.

Be sure to check back on Monday for another GeekDad challengetacular!

Candace meets Jeremy's mother, voiced by Jane Lynch. Image: Disney Channel

I know I’ve been very subtle and secretive about it, but I really like Phineas and Ferb. In fact, most (if not all) of us here at GeekDad are fans of the show, and it’s not hard to see why: it celebrates imagination, innovation and invention, and does so in a consistently funny and geeky way. It is, as geek icon John Hodgman tweeted, “the only current show that rivals Mr Rogers/Schoolhouse Rock for modeling smarts, humor, decency, and good taste,” and higher praise would be hard to come by.

So, then, as part of my ongoing quest to get more and more people to watch Phineas and Ferb, because I want it to do so well it goes on for many more seasons, I have three items of news:

First: Tonight, at 9:00pm ET/PT, the first episode of the show’s third season will premiere on Disney Channel. Tune in to see Phineas and Ferb build a giant robot dog, Candace and Jeremy literally become attached at the hip and Agent P work to prevent Dr. Doofenshmirtz from causing a big soccer game to be rained out (not all in the same story, of course). If you miss it tonight, you can find it “on demand” on most cable/fiber optic service providers, or catch it tomorrow at 8:00am ET/PT on Disney XD. The show’s third season promises to be a good one — they’ve got an incredible  line-up of guest voices, including Michael Douglas, Jane Lynch, Tina Fey, Michael J. Fox, Anna Paquin, Joan Cusack and Jamie Oliver.

Second: Speaking of tomorrow, and of Agent P, tomorrow has been declared “Platypus Day” by Disney. In honor of Perry/Agent P, Disney XD will be running a Phineas and Ferb marathon from 8:00am (the season 3 premiere, as mentioned above) to 5:00pm ET/PT. As soon as that marathon ends, Disney Channel will air six episodes (until 8:00pm ET/PT) of the show that focus on everyone’s favorite fedora-wearing monotreme. As if that weren’t enough, Disney XD’s website has (already available) a host of Perry-related games and activities to help celebrate the day.

Tabitha Comstock with Swampy Marsh. Photo: Disney Channel

And third, a heartwarming story: Back in January, Disney and Make-a-Wish Foundation teamed up to fulfill the wish of a 16-year-old girl named Tabitha Comstock. Tabitha’s wish? To go behind the scenes at Phineas and Ferb. She met the show’s creators, Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh, observed the production of an episode, and — coolest of all— got to provide the voice for a character who will appear in an episode of season 3. Not really news, I suppose, but a good story anyhow.