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Good News for Bat Boy: Weekly World News Is Back

New owner plans to resurrect tab online

By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 22, 2008 11:58 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Weekly World News—you know, of Bat Boy and "Hillary Clinton Adopts Alien Baby" fame—is, like Elvis, back from the dead. The supermarket tab folded last year, but now it has a new owner and a new life online. "We really think this audience lives online," says Neil McGinness, who may start printing it again, too. "We are a welcome antidote to mainstream media."

McGinness has advertisers lined up for the updated website, and he's also thinking licensing deals and movies. "The popularity of Heroes and Lost on primetime television shows that the fringe culture is more relevant than ever," he says. Not that he expects people to believe everything they read. It's satire, "kind of an Onion-type thing," as one advertiser puts it.

The Weekly World News, which stopped printing last year, has a new owner and a new website.
The "Weekly World News," which stopped printing last year, has a new owner and a new website.   (©Mykl Roventine)
Bat Boy: The Musical had its premiere in Los Angeles in 1997 and ran Off Broadway in 2001.
Bat Boy: The Musical had its premiere in Los Angeles in 1997 and ran Off Broadway in 2001.   (©Thomas Roche)
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From the promo DVD of "Batboy: The Musical."   (ltylcz)

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We weren’t going for pure zaniness. It was more like a short story in tabloid form. - Michael Forsyth, former writer for the Weekly World News

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
boiwonder
Nov 18, 2010 3:41 PM CST
And its official! Weekly World News is coming to a TV set near you: http://www.buzzhollywood.com/celebrity-news/ext/212069/
boiwonder
Oct 12, 2010 4:05 PM CDT
Bat Boy faced off against MJ wanna be at this year's Comican .. couldn't find the video anywhere else but this book website: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Going-Mutant-The-Bat-Boy-Exposed!/Bat-Boy-LLC/9781439157008 If someone finds an HD one let me know
cjdaniels
Oct 6, 2010 10:53 AM CDT
Glad to see someone is finally recognizing the quality work that www.weeklyworldnews.com is putting out. The jetpacks being purchased by california was a great story. See the coverage from CNN at the link below: http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/23295/wwn-takes-off-on-cnn/

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