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RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Things to do in Dublin this weekend (August 8-10)
From wildflower workshops in Raheny to an evening of art in Fade Street, there is plenty happening in Dublin this weekend. Dublin Comic Con 2025 DCC is taking part in the Convention Centre from 9-10 August, with celebrity guests including Frank Miller, Jamie Campbell Bower, Theo Rossi, Tia Carrere, Vincent D'Onfrio, and many more. You can also meet a host of comic creators, international cosplayers, SFX Industry pros, artists, fans and professionals throughout the weekend of workshops, demos, and activities. Guided by artist Dave West, participants will explore the essentials of open-air painting on Friday, 8 August. Aimed at those aged 16 and over, the session will be held on the inspiring front lawn at the National Gallery of Ireland from 11.00 - 13.30. Tickets cost €45. Taking place at Fade Street Studios on Friday, 9 August, this special evening brings together The Ink Factory and PIERCED teams for a one-of-a-kind exhibition of artful skateboards and piercing-inspired objects — bold reflections of body art, imagination, and identity. This is a full-day creative experience designed to reconnect you with your inner artist and explore creativity as a form of self-expression and well-being. Ticket prices vary. On Friday, 8 August, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will host an evening of orchestral storytelling under the baton of Anna Sułkowska-Migoń. The evening begins with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, followed by a performance from RTÉ CO oboist Suzie Thorn, who will play Strauss' Oboe Concerto. Ticket prices range from €15-€42.50. Get ready for a thrilling night of musical theatrics at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. They are showing an all-new Irish production of Little Shop of Horrors - coming to the stage for the very first time! This beloved musical, packed with unforgettable songs and quirky characters, is set to bloom like never before. Recommended for ages 11+, attendees under 16 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian aged 18+. Dublin Horse Show Since it was first held in 1864, the Horse Show has become a Dublin institution. A celebration of Ireland's affinity with the horse as well as a chance to dress up to the nines, the event is a hit among guests every year. This year's show will once again take place in the RDS, running from 6-10 August. On Sunday, 10 August, a BIG STRETCH guided yoga class to help raise vital funds for the DSPCA. Catherine of 'Yoga With Cat' will lead the class on the beautiful grounds of the Pet Memorial Garden at the DSPCA, Mount Venus Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Kicking off at 10:30am, tickets cost €25. This wholesome event will be taking place in The Red Stables, Raheny, on Saturday from 10am - 5pm. Pop in, paint your terracotta pot, learn about biodiversity, and pick out seeds to plant and watch grow! Tickets cost €11.70.
Forbes
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Jim Shooter, Marvel Editor-In-Chief Through Crucial 80s Era, Dies At 73
Controversial Marvel writer/editor Jim Shooter Jim Shooter, who began his career writing comics at age 14 and guided Marvel Comics through one of its most creatively and commercially successful eras as editor-in-chief in the 1980s, died today at age 73 after a long fight with esophageal cancer. Shooter took over Marvel Comics in the late 1970s when the comics industry was transitioning from mass market newsstand distribution to direct market sales to comic shops. He quickly grasped the opportunity of selling to long-time fans rather than casual consumers, leaning into Marvel's dense story universe and encouraging creators to move the medium in more challenging directions. Thanks to the breakout success of the X-Men by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, the signature title of Shooter's reign, Marvel began a rise that saw the company bring in exciting young creators like Frank Miller, Walter Simonson and Bill Sienkiewicz, experiment with new formats like original graphic novels and trade book collections, spike sales with annual 'events' and mini-series, and attract a new generation to a medium that many thought would not survive beyond the 1970s. At one point during Shooter's tenure, Marvel sales were estimated at over 80% of the entire US comic book market. But that success came, 80s style, with sharp elbows and attitude. Shooter had strong opinions about how to make comics and he leaned hard on the company's talent to execute according to his vision. His tenure was marked by stories of creative blowups and controversies, including his insistence that the X-Men character Phoenix had to die to atone for crimes she committed in the story, over the objections of the creative team. In 1987, after Marvel had been acquired by New World Pictures, Shooter, whose welcome was already wearing thin, was fired for demanding editorial autonomy and the payment of royalties. 'He really polarized people, but it was because he had a passion for what he was doing,' said Bill Sienkiewicz, who drew Moon Knight and New Mutants during the 1980s. 'He went to bat for freelancers in a way you don't see many people in editorial roles do today.' Shooter broke into comics at age 14, submitting scripts to DC's Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes. His first credited work was published in Adventure Comics #346, published in July, 1966, and he became a fan-favorite for bringing a fresh, authentic teenage voice to a comic about teenage heroes. Shooter worked in a number of jobs in comics through the 1970s until he caught on as an assistant editor and writer at Marvel in 1976. Stan Lee had left day-to-day editorial and publishing roles several years before, succeeded by a series of young writer-editors who had difficulty with the managerial responsibilities. The company was brimming with energy, but lacked direction. Short-lived books, missed deadlines and other issues exacerbated challenges the business was already facing amid the inflation and economic turmoil of the era. In January, 1978, Shooter was named Marvel's 9th editor-in-chief, implementing a series of strict measures designed to restore luster to the so-called 'House of Ideas.' Some responded to the challenge by creating some of their best work. Others bristled under his uncompromising style. 'As many people have been saying, Jim was complicated," said 80s-era Marvel writer and editor Danny Fingeroth. "I've always thought that without him and Frank Miller, and regardless of the many other amazingly-talented people at the company, Marvel might not have survived into the 1980s.' Following his ouster, Shooter reemerged with a new company, Voyager Communications, which launched the Valient Comics imprint. Once again, his tenure was marked by creative highs and lows, and he was fired again in 1992. As independent comics led by the Image imprint, founded by a bunch of young Marvel veterans, flourished, Shooter tried again and again with the likes of Defiant Comics, Broadway Comics, and Acclaim Comics. None of them survived the decade. Shooter continued doing work inside and outside the industry over the past quarter century. He offered commentary on comics history on his blog, and was often a featured guest at comic book conventions, where fans remembered the high points of his career and often ignored the lows. 'We played poker for years, rose to very different but significant positions in comics,' said Paul Levitz, who also gained popularity writing Legion of Super Heroes, then occupied a series of leadership positions at DC Comics including Publisher and President, during Shooter's years in the business. 'We competed sometimes (didn't think he could get Marvel's management to follow our lead and start royalties since it would be much more expensive for them, but he did). We watched each other, learned from each other, occasionally conspired [to help creators in need], each championed the comic shop market within our companies in very different ways.' As word of his death began spreading on social media the evening of June 30, several generations of creators have posted to honor his legacy and recognize the contributions that this towering figure left on the industry.
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Next Wave Of Comic Book Movies: Creator Documentaries
Legendary comics storyteller Jack Kirby (1917-1994) is set to be the subject of a feature length ... More documentary. Though comics and superheroes have been at the center of the franchise entertainment boom of the past twenty years, large chunks of the global audience remain in the dark about the artists and creators who initially brought these characters to life. That's about to change as a wave of new documentaries are under development, often via crowdfunding campaigns, to bring their stories to a wider audience. Following on the heels of 2024's Frank Miller: American Genius (about the iconoclastic auteur behind Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, The 300 and Daredevil), new projects spotlighting Jack Kirby (Captain America, The Avengers, most of the rest of the Marvel universe, and the American comic book industry as we know it), Steve Ditko (Spider-Man, Doctor Strange), painter Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come) and trailblazing publisher/activist and artist Denis Kitchen (Kitchen Sink Press, underground comix) are all in various stages of production. You might not imagine that people who spent most of their time indoors slaving over a drawing table meeting intractable deadlines would make for very good subjects of a feature film. Indeed many of these folks were anonymous for a reason: temperamentally, they are or were artists first, preferring the company of their supplies and their muse to the spotlight enjoyed by more gregarious industry figures like the late Marvel empresario Stan Lee. This is arguably why these figures deserve their moment in the sun, even if the glow is unlikely to be as bright as that which shines on their creations. Each creator contributed immensely to American art and culture, while laboring in an industry that, until recently, produced very little financial rewards or respect. Kirbyvision, with Ricki Stern ('Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,' 'UFOs: Investigating the Unknown') in line to direct, is under development by a group led by Dan Braun and Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment ('The Andy Warhol Diaries,' 'Wild Wild Country'), with Mike Cecchini, Ron Fogelman and Christopher Longo. This film promises to be a long-overdue look at the visionary storyteller Jack Kirby, who burst on the scene as one of American comics' first marquee-name artists in the 1940s, created the visual vocabulary of superhero comics with his dynamic work on titles like Captain America and Sandman, launched or invigorated a half-dozen new genres including romance and crime comics, and, in one of the great second acts American culture, brought the whole constellation of Marvel characters to life in the 1960s, including the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, Silver Surfer, The X-Men, the Avengers and the Black Panther. After moving to DC in the early 1970s to do what many fans consider his greatest work, followed by a coda at Marvel and some independent comics in the 1980s, Kirby and his family spent decades fighting for the rights to his artwork, credit, and financial compensation they believed were his due. A legal case with Marvel was finally resolved in 2014, twenty years after Jack's death. 'If there were a Mount Rushmore of 20th century pop culture luminaries, Jack Kirby should be the first one to be carved into the mountain,' said Josh Braun. 'Kirbyvision will let audiences experience the full scope of Jack's limitless imagination, creativity and heart.' The project enjoys the full support of the Kirby family and the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. Kirby is also the subject of a huge retrospective show running at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, providing further evidence of his cultural reach. Kirby's compatriot in the rise of Marvel in the 1960s was Steve Ditko, whose idiosyncratic style defined the initial look of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Ditko's strong views about culture and philosophy kept him well out of the public spotlight at his own insistence, earning him a reputation as a recluse. But following Ditko's death in 2018 at the age of 90, his family began sharing photos, home movies, artifacts and anecdotes that cast new light on both his personality and his career. In conjunction with this effort, Steve Ditko: A Documentary promises to build on the scholarship of Ditko biographer Zack Kruse (Mysterious Travelers) and the wealth of new information coming from the family estate with a film that 'not only honors Steve Ditko's prolific body of work by expands on our understanding of the man himself.' Kruse set to direct and coproduce alongside Matt White, who has previously collaborated with Whoopi Goldberg and Snoop Dog. Another artist who changed the visual iconography of American comics is Alex Ross, who came along in the 1990s using a fully-painted illustrative style that gave his books a realism unprecedented in a medium that typically relied on simplification and cartoony-ness to tell stories. The Legend of Kingdom Come, produced by Ross's agent Sal Abbinanti and directed by Remi Atassi, tells the inside story of one of Ross's signature works, the Kingdom Come mini-series (later graphic novel) written by Mark Waid, which provided a chilling new context for the classic DC universe. After a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $463,000, the film screened at Chicago's Music Box Theatre earlier this month, ahead of a major retrospective of Ross's artwork set to open at the Dunn Museum in Libertyville, Ill. A documentary about underground comix publisher Denis Kitchen, Oddly Compelling: The Denis Kitchen Story, is also looking to Kickstarter to get it over the finishing line. Kitchen is an artist, publisher, historian and free speech champion who got his start in the underground comix movement in the 1960s, publishing work by Robert Crumb, Trina Robbins, Howard Cruise and S. Clay Wilson. He was a friend, publisher and agent for pioneering comic book creators Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman, and successfully transitioned his Kitchen Sink Press imprint into a mainstream independent comic publisher in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. One of Kitchen's most important contributions to the medium and the industry was the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization he launched in the 1980s to combat efforts to censor comics and their creators, and which has carried on into the present day. Buried beneath Kitchen's advocacy work and entrepreneurship is his own work as an artist and storyteller. He has recently published several collections of drawings and a career retrospective. According to the campaign announcement, Filmmakers Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio have captured hours of in-depth interviews with notable friends and colleagues of Kitchen, as well as archival footage, new animations of Kitchen's artwork, and his own reminiscences. The film hopes to be in release in Fall, 2025.
Business Mayor
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Nestlé backs Barretstown in €100,000 three-year deal
International food group Nestlé has teamed up with Barretstown – the organisation providing camps and programmes for seriously ill children and their families – in a programme that aims to raise more than €100,000 over the next three years. Apart from raising funds, Nestlé, which employs more than 700 people in Ireland, intends to be involved in 'strategic supports', such as volunteering, mentoring and supplying product to help reduce the Kildare-based charity's costs. Barretstown was established by actor Paul Newman in 1994. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times Barretstown chief executive Dee Ahearn said it was the charity's ambition to ensure any child with a serious illness has the opportunity to participate in its programmes. 'Partnerships with organisations like Nestlé Ireland will play a hugely important role in supporting Barretstown to achieve this objective,' she said. Established in 1994 by actor Paul Newman, Barretstown is Ireland's largest and longest-established provider of therapeutic camps and programmes catering for the needs of children and young adolescents diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses. It works with more than 25,000 children and families every year and aims to have provided services to more than 250,000 children by the end of the decade. 'We are proud to have been chosen as Nestlé Ireland's staff charity and to have an opportunity to work closely with the largest food and beverage company in the world,' Ms Ahearn said. Nestlé Ireland staff nominate and vote every few years for a charity on which to focus its support. Its community engagement programme has contributed more than €8.5 million to charitable causes in Ireland over the past two decades as well as providing business support and mentoring programmes. Nestlé Ireland country manager Kieran Conroy said that partnering with Barretstown was an opportunity for Nestlé to bring its community work to life in a tangible way to benefit both Barretstown and the team at Nestlé. 'It's an exciting three-year partnership and we are so proud to be involved with an organisation which is making an incredible difference to the lives of seriously ill children and families every day,' he said. 'We look forward to working closely with Barretstown and playing a role, building awareness of its life-changing work.'
Irish Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Nestlé backs Barretstown in €100,000 three-year deal
International food group Nestlé has teamed up with Barretstown – the organisation providing camps and programmes for seriously ill children and their families – in a programme that aims to raise more than €100,000 over the next three years. Apart from raising funds, Nestlé, which employs more than 700 people in Ireland, intends to be involved in 'strategic supports', such as volunteering, mentoring and supplying product to help reduce the Kildare-based charity's costs. Barretstown was established by actor Paul Newman in 1994. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times Barretstown chief executive Dee Ahearn said it was the charity's ambition to ensure any child with a serious illness has the opportunity to participate in its programmes. 'Partnerships with organisations like Nestlé Ireland will play a hugely important role in supporting Barretstown to achieve this objective,' she said. READ MORE Established in 1994 by actor Paul Newman , Barretstown is Ireland's largest and longest-established provider of therapeutic camps and programmes catering for the needs of children and young adolescents diagnosed with cancer or other serious illnesses. It works with more than 25,000 children and families every year and aims to have provided services to more than 250,000 children by the end of the decade. 'We are proud to have been chosen as Nestlé Ireland's staff charity and to have an opportunity to work closely with the largest food and beverage company in the world,' Ms Ahearn said. 100 days of Trump: 'It's like The Karate Kid, tax on, tax off, tariffs on, tariffs off' Listen | 42:49 Nestlé Ireland staff nominate and vote every few years for a charity on which to focus its support. Its community engagement programme has contributed more than €8.5 million to charitable causes in Ireland over the past two decades as well as providing business support and mentoring programmes. Nestlé Ireland country manager Kieran Conroy said that partnering with Barretstown was an opportunity for Nestlé to bring its community work to life in a tangible way to benefit both Barretstown and the team at Nestlé. 'It's an exciting three-year partnership and we are so proud to be involved with an organisation which is making an incredible difference to the lives of seriously ill children and families every day,' he said. 'We look forward to working closely with Barretstown and playing a role, building awareness of its life-changing work.'
