Background info on the unauthorized Stephen Colbert “World of Warcraft” card
By
DB blogged about this card last week, but there are a few more details about it trickling out now.
From Multichannel News:
Stefen Colbear, World of Warcraft ‘Warrior for Truthiness,’ Puts The Horde on Notice!
February 25, 2008A forbidden graphic of Comedy Central’s mock conservative pundit Stephen Colbert – costumed as a heroic, torch-clutching, chest-armored World of Warcraft character – escaped its shackles and buzzed the Internet over the weekend.
It’s not known exactly how the image broke out onto the Internet. The copyright is held by Upper Deck and [Todd] Lockwood is forbidden to display it. Lockwood says he had nothing to do with the release and the artist spent a sleepless weekend trying to cork the effervescence. “I’ve been doing my best to remove it…I don’t want any trouble from Upper Deck,” wrote a rather distraught Lockwood by email to me last Saturday.
By today, Upper Deck had bowed to the inevitable. “Given the power of the Internet and based on the response [the image] was getting, it was kind of pointless to try to stop it,” Upper Deck publicist Anna Maria Mannino explained. She said the company took pains this morning to reassure Lockwood that “no action would be taken” against him.
Lockwood says the image was rejected by Colbert’s reps.
“Upper Deck loved it but Colbert’s agent for reasons unknown to me didn’t okay it,” Lockwood lamented early this afternoon when we spoke by phone. “His agent, as I understand it…never even showed it to Stephen Colbert.”
Lockwood limits his work-for-hire but couldn’t resist the offer when Upper Deck’s art director, Jeremy Cranford, presented the Colbert opportunity.
“The chance to paint Colbert as a ‘Warrior for Truthiness’? I jumped at it. I thought, ‘people will love that!’” recalls Lockwood.
When I asked about the the eagle claw and arrows rising from the microphone, Lockwood says he was looking for something that was peculiarly American and also ripe with “truthiness.” He found inspiration on the dollar bill. “It’s the eagle clutching the olive leaf in one set of talons and arrows in the other,” he points out.
“If I had a title for this work, it would be ‘I am Captain America (and so can you!)’” quipped Lockwood, an avid reader of the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell and – you guessed it – a big fan of The Colbert Report.
. . .
Tip of the hat to aidan for the link!
Related posts
15 Comments
February 26th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The hi-res version makes a great desktop. :D
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I am not surprised that Stephen’s card is the most powerful (and American!) card in that TCG. I only hope Stephen “notices” this on his show and give him material. Too bad Stephen’s reps themselves rejected this idea, not Upper Deck.
Well, I called it! On that character being a paladin, heh. :)
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
That’s freaking awesome, lol. I love that card. :D My friend in German class plays Magic all the time, and the other day, he showed me that he had taped that Colbert Magic card (that’s on the internet…I dunno how long ago it was released, lol) to an actual Magic card. He knows how obsessed I am, so he was all excited to show me, LOL. And I was like, “HECK YES!” :D Anywho, this thing is so awesome. I wish it could be made into a real card…better yet, they should do an entire deck of Colbert-inspired cards (if they were allowed to, lol). :]
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
And how about the eagle claw clutching a clawful of arrows? Someone should make a replica of that sword, give it to Colbert, and let him pose with it and the Captain America shield.
And then sell plastic replicas to the Nation so he can get a piece of that, LoL
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
You know, as someone who quit playing WoW about a month and a half ago, this is EXACTLY what I don’t need to see. I try to get out, but they keep pulling me back in!
That’s such an awesome picture.
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
That article was well done and I loved the videos that were included.
I wonder why Stephen’s reps didn’t approve of the card, especially if Stephen is a big gaming fan. There must be more to the story than it appears on the surface.
Didn’t the other article that was posted on NFZ say that Stephen’s lawyer said no to the card’s release? Maybe it has something to do with Viacom and the use of Stephen’s character. Or maybe not. I hope more information will surface so that we will know what the issue was.
I don’t know anything at all about WoW or gaming. Is there anything about the game that Stephen’s reps wouldn’t want him to be associated with?
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Who is Stephen’s rep / press guy (or gal)? Who represents him?
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
it is really well done. too bad it wouldn’t be released.
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I’m not a gamer. Nor do I know anything about gaming. But I think that card is just FREAKIN’ AWESOME! I seriously hope this makes it somehow to his show. I can see an awesome segment coming from this.
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
This makes me so proud to be a WoW player. ^_^
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Perhaps his reps will issue a second opinion now.
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Colbert enthusiasts thought Lockwood’s rendering of Colbert was made of “win”
Haha, love the quotes.
It’s such a great picture! It’s a shame it was rejected. Maybe that will change?
Reply
February 26th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
this picture was posted as a comment to my myspace page on the 23rd… Interesting and awesome. I find it odd that his agent never apprised him of it
Reply
February 27th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Unless there’s some legal shmegal drama happening behind the scenes with this, why do I have a feeling that this may get mentioned on the show? Just a hunch…awesome freakin’ artwork.
Reply
March 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I think Stephen needs to fire his agent if this stuff is not even making it to him.
The massive D&D player that is Stephen would pee his pants at a chance of having himself forever etched in one of the biggest RPG’s this side of D&D.
This must be the same goofballs that sent the form letter rejection to The Venture Brothers.
Reply