Hergé’s Tintin enters the public domain, Apple’s Vision Pro struggles to move units, and veteran political cartoonist Ann Telnaes announces her resignation from the Washington Post. Read more in Post Rendered’s news roundup for January 2025.
Spider-Man Noir co-creator launches Kickstarter for Tintin: The Big Lie
Hergé’s Tintin entered the public domain in the United States this month. Bleeding Cool reported that while the property won’t enter the public domain in the United Kingdom of Europe until 2054, Frabrice Sapolsky (co-creator of Spider-Man Noir) announced that he was penning a new entry in the franchise titled The Big Lie.
Details regarding The Big Lie can be found on the book’s (successfully funded) Kickstarter page, though, as of now, only those located in the United States are permitted to back the project.
Apple Vision Pro no longer being manufactured
Eurogamer reported that Apple has ceased production of its Vision Pro headset. Apple had apparently been expecting to sell around 1 million units in 2024, but reportedly only sold around 370, 000. The cost of the device, starting at $4999 CAD, may be a factor in sluggish sales. Exclusive content, like the platform’s own “spatial games”, have seemingly not been enough to sway consumers to adopt the new tech, and perhaps speaks to the lack of direction developers have previously voiced concerns about.
Ann Talnaes’ cartoon blocked from publication in the Washington Post, prompting her resignation
Cartoonists Rights reported that cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced her resignation from the Washington Post after her cartoon portraying business leaders (including Post owner Jeff Bezos) bowing before a statue of President Donald Trump was rejected by the outlet. Cartoonists Rights stated, “While certainly not a human rights violation, this incident forms part of a long pattern of deterioration in American editorial cartooning and is strongly indicative of a wider malaise and chilling of free expression in the domestic press as a whole.” You can read Telnaes’ resignation letter here.
Post Rendered Recommends: Doom: The Gallery Experience
Filippo Meozzi and Liam Stone released Doom: The Gallery Experience, on itch.io earlier this month. Described as “an art piece designed to parody the wonderfully pretentious world of gallery openings,” the standalone level runs on id software’s 1993 Doom engine. The level is set in a retextured E1M1, with artworks from around the globe featured in the gallery’s various wings. There are no enemies present in the level, with players instead being invited to “walk around and appreciate some fine art while sipping some wine and enjoying the complimentary hors d’oeuvres.”
Doom: The Gallery Experience is available for Windows and mobile devices, and can be downloaded here.