The Alien has spoken.
Last week, a newly formed Bat Boy LLC, announced its intentions to take over the former supermarket staple Weekly World News. Formerly owned by the struggling American Media Inc., the News has been a leading source of news for those curious about the Alien’s presidential endorsement, following Ombatma, Barack Obama’s half-man half-bat half-brother, or wondering what Elvis is up to these days (or is it Kim Jong Il?!).
Since shutting the presses fourteen or so months ago, “The World’s Only Reliable News” has been available online, but after this take over, it seems readers can look forward to a slightly more, well, accessible Bat Boy. CEO Neil McGinness, a former VP of Entertainment at IMG Media sees the value in the paper: “We think this is the greatest alternative media vehicle in the universe,” he told the New York Post.
What else does he see in the paper's future? Branding, of course. Branding, creating ubiquity of images, seems to be something of a specialty for IMG, and under McGinness’ guidance, it seems WWN will test its luck in the merchandising and movie licensing world. “We see tremendous potential for growing the brand and significantly expanding business,” McGinness told MarketWatch. Bat Boy the Musical, after all, was received positively.And so it seems, “some newspapers” will run inserts of the Weekly World News and Bat Boy will regain his cultural ubiquity, and hopefully, his resistance to any truth/fiction status. These days, it’s difficult to draw a line between the serious and comedy, between the imagined and the incredible, the absurd and the bogus. I mean, it can’t hurt the MSM to have a loveable half-bat half-boy like him around to give their fantastical headlines a little more credibility.
Amongst the few major news outlets to cover this revival, were MarketWatch and New York Post. It’s almost as if you can hear Murdoch pointing and laughing, “Who’s more credible now?”
10 comments:
Interesting, and funny, but I kept wondering when you were going to start drilling deeper, into a more profound analysis of this deceptively LITE news item. Here's the meat of the matter: "resistance to any truth/fiction status. These days, it’s difficult to draw a line between the serious and comedy, between the imagined and the incredible, the absurd and the bogus. I mean, it can’t hurt the MSM to have a loveable half-bat half-boy like him around to give their fantastical headlines a little more credibility." Exactly. Reminds me of Jean Baudrillard's quoted-to-death observation, in his essay on Disneyland in SIMULATIONS, that Disneyland's theme-park simulacrum exists only to make the surrounding mirage of Los Angeles, the mecca of media illusion, seem real by comparison. What the reader (okay, THIS reader) really wants to know is: Why do people read the WWN? I mean, really? Do they see it as an implicit critique of the MSM, in a COLBERT REPORT-ish vein, or just whackjob fun? Also, it would be fascinating to hear your take on the similarities between the WWN and the yellow journalism of the late 19th century, which was full of flat-out fabrications (most famously, a fictional professor's reports about Martians glimpsed through his telescope). And then there's Mencken's essay about how he created a crime wave, out of thin air, one dull newsday. And the correspondences between the WWN and Matthew Glass and Jayson Blair. Wish you'd dug deeper, excavated some of these connections.
You better believe Bat Boy is back! His new book Going Mutant has to be one of the best pieces ever put out by www.weeklyworldnews.com
Glad to see that Bat Boy is back!! Weekly World News is Back and Going Mutant is a great surprise. Hopefully the first of many new books by this comedic empire WWN!
Oh this is just the beginning .. just read another article that talks about a TV show and potential movie deal. This publication is taking off the same way Marvel did a few years ago .. glad to see a tabloid getting more momentum than Rupert Murdoch's news empire
Glad to see that people are finally starting to recognize the quality work that www.weeklyworldnews.com is putting out. The coverage on the jetpacks being purchased by california is great. See the CNN coverage on the link below
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/23295/wwn-takes-off-on-cnn/
Leave it to www.weeklyworldnews.com to break the hottest stories out there.
Miley Cyrus in Playboy!
Ever since Miley Cyrus turned 16, Hugh Hefner has been trying to sign her up to pose naked in Playboy immediately after her 18th birthday. Finally, with the approval of Miley Cyrus’ parents (Billy Ray and Tish), it’s a done deal – according to reports out of Arizona.
I don't believe that story about Miley for even one second, she is good Christian girl who is waiting for me to come and be her man.
Dont stress over who you're voting for ... Do something meaningful and Bat Boy Yourself...
http://www.facebook.com/weeklyworldnews?v=app_7146470109&ref=ts
Weekly World News has the latest on the Election results ...
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/24427/election-2010-pot-loses-mcrib-wins/
Weekly World News is coming to a TV set near you:
http://www.buzzhollywood.com/celebrity-news/ext/212069/
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