Batman cartoonist Jerry Robinson dies
Cartoonist Jerry Robinson, who worked on the earliest Batman comics and claimed credit for creating the super-villian The Joker, died Thursday at the age of 89, his family confirmed.
"Batman has lost another father," said Batman movie producer Michael Uslan said. "Farewell to my dear, dear friend, mentor, and idol, Jerry Robinson."
Robinson, in a panel discussion at New York Comic Con in 2009, said he was a 17-year-old creative writing student at Columbia University when he was hired as a writer and illustrator at DC Comics.
Although he was initially just assisting Batman creator Bob Kane and Bill Finger, his chance to create The Joker came in 1940 when the demand for more Batman stories overloaded Finger.
"This was going to be a problem, so I volunteered to do one of the stories," Robinson said.
He handed in the work for a grade in his college creative writing class, he said.
"I wanted a very strong villain because I thought that's going to carry the story," Robinson said. "Villains are more exciting."
Great gifts for gadget geeks
Geeks and gadgets tend to go hand in hand. If the geek in your life loves tinkering with computers and all things digital, this is the gift guide for you.
Most nerds have a desire to rule the universe, either for the forces of good or evil. One way to earn real pointage with the geek in your life is to give him or her the ability to harness the awesome power of the sun. This Piggyback Solar Powered Gadgetbag is the first step to making this happen.
A flexible, portable solar panel that attaches to a backpack, the Gadgetbag soaks up the sun and converts rays into 1000mA at 5.6volts. For cloudy days, the bag also stores power in a lithium ion battery pack. Geeks can also connect their gadgets into the panel via USB for direct charging. The back has two pouches, big enough for a Kindle and iPad, granting your geek the power of even more space.
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, so don’t be shocked when souped-up geeks start fighting crime with solar-powered supersuits.
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David Giuntoli and the underdog success of 'Grimm'
Of the fall television season, it's probably safe to say, NBC's "Grimm" was not expected to be the breakout hit, or any hit for that matter.
The time slot was terrible (Friday nights), it had no major stars attached to it and the premise - Grimm fairy tales set in modern times around the banner of a police procedural - sounds like it could be the cheesiest thing ever.
But it's not. The show is dark and imaginative, both in rich, lush set designs and writing that puts a spin on the original Grimm tales where they come alive and make sense in the context viewers are given (short answer: the Brothers Grimm weren't writing early kid-lit; they were writing about real occurrences).
"Grimm" centers around Detective Nick Burkhardt (played by David Giuntoli), who in the first episode finds out he's a long lost descendent of the Grimms and is starting to see people for who they really are - in short, evil. Giuntoli has been a working actor for the past several years, picking up mostly one-off roles on shows like "Grey's Anatomy," "Cold Case" and "Hot in Cleveland" before landing the plum role on "Grimm."
CNN recently spoke with the actor from the "Grimm" set in Portland, Oregon, about what makes the show such an unlikely hit and the process of bringing fairy tales to the small screen.
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