Here’s the official word on the project:

“BLUE
by Elizabeth Genco w/art by Sami Makkonen, coming July 2008 from Desperado Publishing. Available for pre-order in MAY 08 PREVIEWS (MAY083778). Preview pages HERE.

A fresh, fantastic take on the bloodiest of classic fairy tales. When Blue’s ex-boyfriend appears on her doorstep, he says he wants to make things right. His true intentions are far more sinister. Blue’s shape-shifting powers can help her outrun him, but to survive, she must face him as herself.”

And, rather than trying to summarize her diverse bio, I merely direct you to go here. Finally, I am fairly certain this is the first time I have interviewed a busker–I could be wrong.

Tim O’Shea: How did you end up collaborating with Finnish artist Sami Makkonen?

Elizabeth Genco: Oh, gosh, I’m not even sure anymore! I think I first found his work on The Engine, maybe? I can’t remember exactly, but I do remember thinking, “This guy is the bomb… he’s probably got starving writers crawling all over him… he’ll never have time for l’il old me!” But I tend to be pretty ballsy when it comes to approaching artists, so I just gave it a shot.

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They are tightly edited, sometimes annoying so. For example, one Snyder interview they do has Dave along with Merrill Markoe and other folks–whom you never see. Letterman refers to Markoe at one point in the interview, that’s the only way I know, because they edit her bits completely out. Markoe, I dare say, is as funny as Letterman at times and I’m annoyed she was edited out of the piece.

It’s vintage Dave, shown driving his old pick-up truck to his gigs to substitute for Carson. Dave doing a stand-up routine. A tour of his new home, where you can see his beloved dog, Bob, is another interesting bit. A 1970s era Johnny Carson associate Fred de Cordova (with baseball cap no less)  talking to Letterman before a taping of the Tonight Show. Later we see a clip of Letterman talking to Mariette Hartley about his morning show for NBC (I forgot he got a whole 90 minutes with that show…) and an upcoming feature on the show called Stupid Pet Tricks (still in its infancy, I believe). It’s a fun romp leading up to Brokaw’s interview with Letterman on the night of his last NBC show.

I was surprised to find this on Hulu, given that as a Universal property in some ways it is very much an NBC product. And more importantly, while I know Carson had the rights to his Tonight Show (meaning unless the estate/company makes a deal, it will not be showing up on Hulu), was this an effort by NBC to test the waters and ultimately start offering Letterman’s old NBC shows on Hulu?

Part of me would love to see that, but I’m sure it would irk Dave to no end. Maybe I’m wrong on both counts. We’ll have to wait and see. Either way, be sure to check out the documentary for vintage and I do mean vintage Letterman. I would love to know what producer thought it a good idea to have Today show host Jane Pauley interview Letterman while the both sat on an inactive merry go-round…

Tim O’Shea: How often in trying to research facts for Secret Lives did you find out the anecdote was not true?

Robert Schnakenberg: That happened occasionally. Sometimes I’d find a really good anecdote about someone, and then another source would say that it happened to someone else entirely. You know, one book says it happened to Ernest Hemingway, another says it happened to F. Scott Fitzgerald. That happens with quotes a lot. They are always attributed to two or three different people. So you throw those out, or you find the one source that you trust and you go with that. I can’t promise that every anecdote in my book is 100% true—I mean, I wasn’t in the men’s room with Hemingway and Fitzgerald when they compared schlongs—but I can say everything is reliably sourced. Double and triple sourced, in fact, as much as possible.

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For me the show is very much an ensemble cast. TV critic pundits much smarter than me have aptly explained why and how  NBC decided to squander the last season of the show. I had lost interest in watching the show in the past few years–as J.D.’s subplots (He is the star I understand, but still…) seemed to drag the show down to a great degree.

So, I was really pleased to see this TV Guide/Michael Ausiello interview with the series creator, Bill Lawrence (after being directed there by Pop Candy/Whitney Matheson’s blog). In the interview, Lawrence notes
“some of the strongest episodes in the second and third year had character comedy.” 

Here’s hoping that the show can return to form once it relaunches at ABC next year.

But they won’t be the same without Tony Kornheiser. He took the buyout offer from the Washington Post. Sure, he had not written for the paper to any great extent in years. But still, it’s a shame. And as noted by Reuters, Tony is bailing in good company, given that “U.S. political columnist David Broder” has also taken the buyout.

Oh well, at least we’ll still be able to enjoy Tony on the radio and on TV.

Tim O’Shea: Other than not having to handle a great deal of the business minutiae of self-publishing, what have been some of the best benefits of shifting from self-publishing to Image Comics?

Mike Allred: Simple. A well oiled machine. Top notch crew. Ace printing and marketing costs. Smooth.

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So, when I discovered that Dave Campbell (formerly the guy behind Dave’s Long Box [a great blog about comics]) was writing for ABC.com via Live from L.A.–and in particular about Wife Swap–I was happy. Why? Well Dave has a unique pop culture view of the world like myself. So to have a blog where I can read about one of my current TV guilty pleasures, Wife Swap, well it’s a good thing.

Campbell is a witty writer with some good observations (about several ABC shows, not just Wife Swap). Be sure to check Campbell’s Live from L.A., you won’t be sorry.

So find find out they had a website gave me hope that the band was still together. Sadly they split up in the late 1990s, but they still maintain a website, which includes lyrics, videos and audio clips.

My favorite song of theirs is Let My People Go-Go, which features the following great lyrics:

Jesus went out for a walk with his mother
The scribes and the pharisees plotting hugger-mugger
They locked him up and they threw away the key
He said why’s everybody always picking on me?

I did not put you here to suffer
I did not put you here to whine
I put you here to love one another
And to get out and have a good time

Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go-go-go
Let my people go

Those lyrics take me back to a fun time earlier in my life.