Posted in: Comics | Tagged: broadway, Comics, idw, john layman, mars attacks, topps

Mars Attacks Is Not A Broadway Musical Written By John Layman. But It Should Be.

Two days ago, I got the Mars Attacks To Be A Broadway Play press release from IDW. I didn't run it for three reasons. First, I was going to bed at the time. Secondly, I forgot to run it when I woke up, life got in the way. And then thirdly when I had time to consider, I realised something that should have been obvious.

It's not true. It's a precursor to some April Fool's announcement, probably at ECCC tomorrow.

The clues are there if you look.

One, John Layman talks about having seen Sound Of Music on stage in New York when he was a child. But it wasn't on the stage then.

Two, seven foot males with full vocal ranges? If released on April 1st, that would be the natural line meant to indicate it's April Foolery.

Three. The only people running this story are the comics sites. The stage and Broadway sites… aren't. Because the PR wasn't sent to them.

And four, it's a fucking comic book adaptation of Mars Attacks on Broadway written and produced by John Layman. Seriously. I'd see it. But it will never happen.

It's so easy to do what Nick Davies refers to as "churnalism" in Flat Earth News. A company sends a press release, you just run it verbatim like some sites, or maybe you rework it with a enthusiastic, pessimistic or sarcastic slant, like others including… well, Bleeding Cool. But little time is spent looking into it.

Normally that wouldn't matter. A company announces a new project, a new hire, a new promotion, you take it as read. Why doubt it? You just run it. At Bleeding Cool we like to think we run articles that aren't part of the promotional cycles of the big companies , but the truth is, if I hadn't been wanting to get a relatively early night, I'd have probably run the same, possibly mocking John Layman in the process.

But having a little time, I was minded to ask certain people certain questions. And when I did, the edifice fell apart. It's confirmed as a hoax.

Comics Alliance and Comics Beat ran the PR while also casting possible doubt on it, but didn't counter with any research. The Mary Sue, Geeks Of Doom, Topless Robot, ICV2, Fellowship Of The Geeks, Nerd Bastards, EGM Now and Comic Book Resources however, all go nuts deep.

Now, about that off Broadway one-man production of Chew starring Patrick Stewart….

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