The Master Plan has been revealed!

Joss Whedon’s minisode musical for the Internet, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion, will be broadcast for free starting July 15. There will be three episodes, and then downloads will be offered for a charge, with a massively-packed DVD coming along later. This is Joss’ plan for taking his skills straight to the people! The “people” meaning us. And, in his announcement,  he has marching orders for us:

3) Joss, you are so kind, and generous, and your forehead is like, huge, like SCARY, like I think I can see Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging off it… what can WE do to help this musical extravanganza?

What you always do, peeps! What you’re already doing. Spread the word. Rock some banners, widgets, diggs… let people know who wouldn’t ordinarily know. It wouldn’t hurt if this really was an event. Good for the business, good for the community – communitIES: Hollywood, internet, artists around the world, comic-book fans, musical fans (and even the rather vocal community of people who hate both but will still dig on this). Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen.

Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I’m a little afraid of you.

Get ready! Brace yourselves! Take whatever mental and spiritual precautions you feel are necessary! Also, spread the word. Head to the Dr. Horrible website and watch the teaser, join the MySpace and Facebook and Twitter pages, grab banners to spread around. Digg it! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell your enemies’ friends!

It’s coming…

Just a quick post to let you all know that I just talked to the California Browncoats, and it looks like I’ll be doing a couple of signings at their booth at San Diego Comic-Con this year. No details on the times yet, but it will probably be early afternoon on Thursday and late afternoon on Saturday. I’ll keep you posted with more specifics as I get them.

We’ve got a bunch of really exciting things in the works for Comic-Con. Some of them will be things you can only get if you’re at the con itself, but there’s special stuff in store for the rest of you too! Stay tuned!

California Browncoats Special Events and Guests

Great news for all you people out there with the same interests as me! (Me being Twitch, which is me)

First, the complete 41-DVD set of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” — 105 episodes, plus all kinds of extras — is coming out October 21. This is the same set that was previously available only through Time-Life, with the attache case and everything, but now it’ll be in the stores and 50 bucks cheaper.

And I was torn on this one, but finally gave in. Tim Minear’s unproduced screenplay of Robert A. Heinlein’s classic “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” has been released online. I wasn’t sure if, technically, this was a copyright violation since Mr. Minear didn’t put it there and I don’t download things I’m not supposed to, but apparently he approves of it being spread around and read. nd Walker downloaded it for me anyway because I couldn’t click the link with my eyes closed, so U.S. Copyright Office enforcers should talk to him and totally not me. That’s “Walker M. Gerhardt,” you probably know him already. Anyway, the script is great. There’s more than a few changes to fit a massive and detailed book into a two-hour movie, but the tone feels right and it’s way better than “Starship Troopers” even if it did have Neil Patrick Harris.

Hi folks, Tess here. We’re going whedony with our links today, with good news and bad news.

First, the bad news. The Serenity laser-etched lucite ornament coming from Dark Horse is no longer coming from Dark Horse. Cancelled, they say, for lackluster sales.

Also cancelled: the Buffy Tarot Deck. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, Dark Horse will not be producing the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” Tarot Deck. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but no existing orders will be filled. We appreciate your support of this program, and again apologize to those who placed advance orders and to fans alike.” Boo, hiss. How will I know my hard-to-interpret future now?

Joss’ last “Runaways” comic, the end of his Dead End Kids arc, comes out today (here’s a preview). Yay, new comic! Boo, last one, although incoming writer Terry (”Strangers in Paradise”) Moore is an excellent choice.

So, bummers. But in good, good, good news, the teaser for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon’s Internet minisode musical starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion, is out on the Web! Let the squeeing commence!

This isn’t really Hiatus-related, but I had to share it. I just discovered the artwork of Eric Tan, who does some absolutely stunning retro artwork for Pixar. He recently finished some ridiculously cool WALL-E posters, which make me giddy both because of the art and because I’m so excited to see WALL-E.

Here are just a couple examples (there are more on his blog):

His art represents the kind of work I only dream of being able to do, but I’ve suddenly become very inspired to do some more poster work. Hopefully I can keep that inspiration long enough to actually make something tangible out of it.

The Art of Eric Tan [via SlashFilm.com]

Plenty happening around the world, but the part you need to know about right now is that the first big run of “Can’t Stop the Serenity” screenings begin this week. Big-screen showings of Joss Whedon’s immortal “Serenity” are happening in 52 cities on three continents, with all proceeds going to Equality Now. Over $160,000 has been raised in previous years, and this year we aim to set a record. Some of the screenings have raffles and giveaways, some have special guests (Dark Horse’s Scott Allie and Sierra Hahn and Amanda Sullivan Director of Equality Now’s Women’s Action Network in Portland, Tim Minear in Dallas/Fort Worth, Cedric from the Bedlam Bards in Dallas and Houston, Buffy artist Jo Chen in Arlington, and a video greeting from Jewel Staite in Vancouver, so far) and all of them have a blast. Here’s the site for more info: Can’t Stop the Serenity.

Please note that not all showings of “Serenity” are for charity; some theaters are apparently taking advantage of the event to get a little business. Check the list at the official site to make sure you’re going to a charity event.

“Serenity” isn’t the only cult-favorite to be getting some love. “Hiatus” got a shout-out over at Ominous Knife, and we appreciate it. Get the word out, everyone! It ain’t over yet.

Hi, this is Twitch. I mean, my name is Twitch. It’s what people call me.

I wasn’t sure how to go about the links thing, so I asked my friends to suggest some, and they did. Me, I enjoyed “The Incredible Hulk” last weekend. Lots of action, great characterization, and the dialogue was perfect. And I loved how it worked in so much of the history of the comics and TV show! I think it was even better than the last Hulk, which I really liked.

These are the movie novelizations by Peter David, I mean. He’s wrote the novelizations for all three “Spider-Man” movies, “Return of Swamp Thing,” “Batman Forever,” “The Rocketeer,” and “Iron Man,” and both Hulk movies, and they’re better than the movies. In some cases, much better. Although I heard the Hulk movie was pretty good, too, so I’ll prolly check that out eventually.

Anyway, links.

Stan Winston died. Genius behind the Terminator exoskeleton, a zillion monsters, and the recent “Iron Man” armor. Walker is currently in mourning and refusing calls.
Ven sent me a link to the original concept paintings by Ralph McQuarrie for BSG, including Cylons, ships, and bugthings. This is the guy who did the 1977 “Star Wars” posters, so he’s, like, God.
And the massive Firefox 3.0 Download Day starts more or less right now (10 a.m. PDT). They’re looking to set a world record for most downloads, so even if you don’t like .0 releases you can download it anyway and then delete it, I guess. Apparently half of our visitors use Firefox so it’s a big deal. I use Opera.

There, that wasn’t so bad.

Hey Gang,

I’m going to take this opportunity to do some shameless plugging. Many of you know that in addition to drawing Save Hiatus, I also am the proprieter of BlackMarketBeagles.com. BMB started off as a Firefly fan t-shirt shop, but has begun to (slowly) evolve into a more general geek-themed store.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve done a fairly major redesign of the site, and I’d like to invite you to be some of the first to check it out! A couple of the new features include a section where you can buy the officially-licensed products I’ve designed for Quantum Mechanix, and a page where you can buy some really cool limited-edition prints.

I’ll be adding some more sections soon, and I have a bunch of new designs in mind that I’ll be adding on a regular basis.

So please check it out, and let me know if you have any feedback!

– Adam

P.S., I have to admit, with great guilt and shame, that this redesign has taken up most of my week, and I haven’t gotten started on tomorrow’s strip yet. Tomorrow’s strip will still be posted tomorrow, but it may be a teency bit later than usual.

Hey peeps! Some cool stuff going on, and here’s what you need to catch up:

CHLOE’S LINKS

• iTunes has seven minutes of “Get Smart” for free.
• Hulu.com now has “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” and “Angel” is coming!
• All three seasons of “Beauty and the Beast” will be released in one big package this September. Squee!
• And early reports of…

Alert! Alert! I’m breaking into this boringness with a call to arms for all Marvel Comics movie fans! Word on the webs is that Jon Favreau, the man who made “Iron Man” what is was (namely, one of the very few comic book movies that can bear watching without first putting a live electrical cord in your mouth), still has not been signed for the sequel. According to IESB.com and AintItCoolNews.com, Marvel is trying to get away with not paying Favreau what he’s worth because their head honcho feels anyone could have turned in the same quality. I think Marvel chairman David Maisel should be strapped down and forced to watch “Ghost Rider,” “Spider-Man 3,” “X-Men 3,” “Daredevil,” or any of the Captain America or Punisher monstrosities, nonstop, Clockwork Orange-style, until he gets the point. Favreau understood Iron Man, and he understood Iron Man fans, and that’s why the movie worked. Also, wasn’t Favreau the one who championed Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark? While we don’t have confirmation of any of these negotiations, it’s time for us fans to do what we do best: instantly overreact and assume the worst. E-mail Marvel and tell them you want Favreau for IM2 or you won’t buy any “Incredible Hulk” 7-11 cups. OK, go back to your lives.

Walker, dammit, you… never mind. Go watch Get Smart, everyone.

I have to post what? Where does it say that? Where? Right… promos, TV spots, at least two public promotional appearances per quarter, and… damn. I need to read these things more closely.

So. What’s happening in the world… there’s the tomato thing, that’s pretty scary. And the presidential campaign, which is now between two honorable and decent men and when does that ever happen? But you want links, I guess, so let’s see.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkTQwP2gFxU This is a Star Wars Dance-Off that Ven sent me, along with a lot more information than I really needed, so I’ll just pass this on.
  http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858/detail/ Some guy recreated classic photos with Legos. Which is pretty cool, I guess.
  http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/20962966/the_field_guide_to_guitar_jam_face Rolling Stone has a field guide to guitar jam faces. Can you find your own?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4yBvvGi_2A Bananas are atheist nightmares! Apparently God wants me to have gas.
• http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/reds/2008-06-09-griffey-600_N.htm And in real news, Ken Griffey Jr became the 6th player in history to reach 600 career home runs. Go Junior!

Well, there it is. My first ever blog post. I guess that wasn’t too painful.