Bat Boy's Back and Ed Anger's Angry!
January 13, 2010 11:55 PM Subscribe
Two and a half years after ceasing publication, and months after its back catalog was archived by Google Books, The Weekly World News has returned to the dead-tree marketplace as a comic book in a limited 4-issue series from IDW. So what's next for Bat Boy and his Friends? A TV show? (Maybe...)
BAT BOY LIVES!
The Weekly World News Guide to Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks That Shape Our World was the first and last book I ever reviewed in my abortive career as a freelance media critic for popmatters.com. (self-link)
I'm still pleased with the phrase "lackluster Photoshop japery."
posted by jcruelty at 2:41 AM on January 14, 2010
The Weekly World News Guide to Politics, Culture, Celebrities, Alien Abductions, and the Mutant Freaks That Shape Our World was the first and last book I ever reviewed in my abortive career as a freelance media critic for popmatters.com. (self-link)
I'm still pleased with the phrase "lackluster Photoshop japery."
posted by jcruelty at 2:41 AM on January 14, 2010
I really miss the Weekly World News... I often preferred Bat Boy and Ed Anger's reality over the real thing. It makes me pig-biting mad that when I shop all I get to stare at now is crap about losing weight and Heidi Pratt's addiction to plastic surgery. I'd much rather be reading an update about Obama's most recent meeting with aliens.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:41 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by miss lynnster at 2:41 AM on January 14, 2010
"Thanks to Pope Guilty and his amazing link, I no longer have to visit the Daily Mail website to get my daily dose of stupid! I can get all my crackpot theories without having to decide if women who put on 2lbs are fatties or redefining women's attitudes to their bodies. Thank you Pope Guilty!" - Sir Twine42 (Mrs), Maidenhead.
posted by twine42 at 5:59 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by twine42 at 5:59 AM on January 14, 2010
That looked like I was being sarcastic, didn't it....? Damn.
posted by twine42 at 7:06 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by twine42 at 7:06 AM on January 14, 2010
If only there were a useful symbol for that!
posted by applemeat at 7:10 AM on January 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by applemeat at 7:10 AM on January 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
This is proof that the public will pay for quality print journalism.
posted by Tashtego at 7:24 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Tashtego at 7:24 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, there is Bat Boy: The Musical. I saw this in NYC in the 90s at it was actually pretty good.
posted by exogenous at 7:42 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by exogenous at 7:42 AM on January 14, 2010
Sorry, on thinking about it, the production was in late 2000 or early 2001.
posted by exogenous at 7:43 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by exogenous at 7:43 AM on January 14, 2010
If only there were a useful symbol for that!
HAMBURGER
man, when I was little I always thought the weekly world news was trying to be serious and fool people into buying it with the most outrageous stories they could conceive. When I saw the hubble telescope photographs heaven front page back when I was in college, I finally got the joke. I know I know, I came very late to the party. For years afterward I was a devoted reader. It was only later that I realized that apparently much of their readerbase really did believe what they were reading in the WWN. which was sad.
but then I think about the endeavor. Someone decided to try to publish, nationwide, a joke tabloid full of "evidence" that was just intentionally bad photoshop or analog photo editing work. and succeeded! for a long time, the WWN was my best evidence that the world is better than it often appeared to be.
posted by shmegegge at 8:00 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
man, when I was little I always thought the weekly world news was trying to be serious and fool people into buying it with the most outrageous stories they could conceive. When I saw the hubble telescope photographs heaven front page back when I was in college, I finally got the joke. I know I know, I came very late to the party. For years afterward I was a devoted reader. It was only later that I realized that apparently much of their readerbase really did believe what they were reading in the WWN. which was sad.
but then I think about the endeavor. Someone decided to try to publish, nationwide, a joke tabloid full of "evidence" that was just intentionally bad photoshop or analog photo editing work. and succeeded! for a long time, the WWN was my best evidence that the world is better than it often appeared to be.
posted by shmegegge at 8:00 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
also, this is amazing: Miley Cyrus Asian Photo, with followup article: Miley Cyrus Apologizes, Joins Communist Party. Oh Weekly World News, you still got it, baby!
posted by shmegegge at 8:02 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by shmegegge at 8:02 AM on January 14, 2010
Worth reading for WWN nostalgia: the Economist's full-page obit of WWN editor/Ed Anger/Bat Boy creator Eddie Clontz.
posted by grounded at 8:56 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by grounded at 8:56 AM on January 14, 2010
I still wonder what happened to the horse with a human head. According to some scientists he was smart as a whip!
posted by Man-Thing at 8:58 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Man-Thing at 8:58 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Fucking SOLD, batboyblue!
posted by cmoj at 10:06 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cmoj at 10:06 AM on January 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yes, Man-Thing! Manny the half-human/half/horse boy appears to be expunged from the archives - I suspect a CIA/NIH/Petco conspiracy.
posted by memewit at 10:50 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by memewit at 10:50 AM on January 14, 2010
It's humorous to follow the saga of THE WORLD'S FATTEST CAT, which seemed to make it on the cover a few times a year.
posted by Rashomon at 1:53 PM on January 14, 2010
posted by Rashomon at 1:53 PM on January 14, 2010
When the News reported the discovery of a hive of baby ghosts, more than a thousand readers wrote in to adopt one...
Awww! Ghost babies are so cute. Especially the hived ones... I'd probably adopt a drone or two myself. Uh, and ghost babies don't eat much, right? And I won't have to put them through college, I'm assuming? Cool.
Okay mom, here's yer damn grandkid. Yes, I know it's pale...
posted by miss lynnster at 7:24 AM on January 15, 2010
Awww! Ghost babies are so cute. Especially the hived ones... I'd probably adopt a drone or two myself. Uh, and ghost babies don't eat much, right? And I won't have to put them through college, I'm assuming? Cool.
Okay mom, here's yer damn grandkid. Yes, I know it's pale...
posted by miss lynnster at 7:24 AM on January 15, 2010
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Something I haven't seen mentioned on MeFi yet is that The WWN is currently publishing as a website.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:00 AM on January 14, 2010 [2 favorites]