For The Love of Comics

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• Platinum Adapting Hero By Night for TV
  Posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 in Small Press - Comments: (0)
  One of the biggest problems with being away from blogging for awhile, at least for me, is trying to come back. I feel like I need to write something really interesting to justify all of that time away and the longer I’m gone the bigger the pressure I put on myself to find something good, which makes it even harder to come back and I stay away even longer.
• The Dark Knight For Best Picture
  Posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 in DC - Comments: (5)
  Warner Brothers has begun pushing The Dark Knight for best picture by placing “For Your Consideration” ads in trade papers and across the internet in attempts to sway Oscar voters.

  [/caption]Imagine - a comic book adaptation winning the biggest award of the year.Fellow geeks, validation is at hand.

• Drama at DC
  Posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 in DC - Comments: (3)
  Yesterday’s Lying In The Gutters column has the internet abuzz starting with the successful exposure of a con artist presenting himself as the legendary Art Adams (see what I did there with the “con artist thing? HA!) and ending with several rumors about trouble at DC Comics.First there were rumors about trouble between Dan DiDio and Grant Morrison over Final Crisis:A familiar source known collectively as “New York comics industry employees talking in bars” tells me that the last issue of “Final Crisis” is further delayed as it is suffering from serious rewrites.
• Josh Schwartz Writing X-Men First Class
  Posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 in Marvel - Comments: (2)
  Some of you may remember that Josh Schwartz, creator of Gossip Girl, O.C., and Chuck, let it slip a few months ago that he was working on an X-Men movie script, followed by complete radio silence.Last night, Variety confirmed Schwartz’s slip by reporting that Fox and Marvel will be rebooting the X-Men franchise that Brett Ratner ruined with X-Men First Class, produced by Lauren Schooner Donner and written by Josh Schwartz.
• James Robinson Apparently Staying On Superman
  Posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 in DC - Comments: (0)
  Yesterday, I posted about a rumor that Superman writer James Robinson quit over a heated argument with Dan Didio.According to Superman Homepage, Superman editor Matt Idelson has said that this is not true - James Robinson will still be writing Superman.So now you know. And you know what they say about knowing…
• Captain America Recruits Chronicles of Narnia Writers
  Posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 in Marvel - Comments: (1)
  It’s a big day for Marvel comic movie adaptations and writers!While I was on hiatus, Joe Johnston was announced as the director of First Avenger: Captain America. Johnson directed another WWII-era superhero movie, The Rocketeer, and worked on art direction and character design on the Star Wars movies, so I’m optimimistic that he’ll be able to bring a little something extra to Cap.
• 84 Comic Book Movies in the Works!
  Posted on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 in Dark Horse - Comments: (0)
  Image via WikipediaSo I found myself scrolling through geek news the other night on Fark.com and came across this little tidbit: Den of the Geek . This page has a pretty full list of comic books being turned into movies. I won’t give a full list here but here are a few of the ones that stand out the most:Doctor Strange (2012)Already the subject of two low-budget adaptations (in 1978 and 2007), there have been many contenders to helm and star in the tale of the New York superhero/mystic; Christian Bale - perhaps unimaginatively - is the latest to be offered the cape, while Guillermo del Toro has flirted endlessly with the project, which remains without a confirmed director.
• Heath Ledger For Best Supporting Actor
  Posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 in DC - Comments: (0)
  Continuing their Dark Knight Oscar push, Warner Brothers has begun circulating “For Your Consideration” ads for Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker.I’m telling you, we old-school geeks are going to be known as visionary trend-setters!
• The Dark Avengers Are Skrulls
  Posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 in Marvel - Comments: (2)
  Since Marvel released a teaser image of the Dark Avengers (nice throwback to the cover of New Avengers #1, by the way), speculation has been rampant over the identities of these team members. I honestly hadn’t been paying much attention until Mike Hayne’s speculation post last week on Panels of Awesome, when it became very clear to me.I’ll get into my ideas after I show you that teaser image I mentioned, along with the “clues” that Marvel released with the image.
• Batman RIP Off
  Posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 in DC - Comments: (18)
  First of all, I should warn you that this post contains some spoilers of Batman 681 and the Batman RIP storyline if you’ve yet to read these issues and/or you hate having anything spoiled, you should probably stop reading now and come back when you have everything read.As for the rest of you, I just finished reading the final issue of Batman RIP and.
• Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends Rick-Rolls The Nation
  Posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 in Miscellany - Comments: (5)
  Absolutely brilliant.
• Gay For Spider-Man!
  Posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2008 in Marvel - Comments: (2)
  Mike Haynes’ reposting of his Spider-man toy comics reminded me of some stuff I’d seen on JayPinkerton.com. Basically, he took old Spider-man comics from the newspapers and wrote new dialogue.

Technorati Tags: Monthly Recap, Platinum, Hero By Night, DJ Coffman, Academy Award, Oscar, Best Picture, The Dark Knight, Best Supporting Actor, Heath Ledger, Joker, Batman, DC, Dan Didio, Garth Ennis, James Robertson, Superman, Final Crisis, Josh Schwartz, X-Men, X-Men First Class, Captain America, Marvel, Joe Johnston, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Chronicles of Narnia, Dark Horse, Deadpool, Green Lantern, Sin City, Iron Fist, Superman, Iron Man, Avengers, Captain America, Shazam, Captain Marvel, Namor, Submariner, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Flash, Witchblade, Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh, Ryan Reynolds, Silver Surfer, Thor, Red Sonja, Nick Fury, Wonder Woman, Doctor Strange, Dark Avengers, Skrulls, Iron Patriot, Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends, Rick Roll, Macy’s, Thanksgiving Day Parade, Spider-Man

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So I found myself scrolling through geek news the other night on Fark.com and came across this little tidbit: Den of the Geek . This page has a pretty full list of comic books being turned into movies. I won’t give a full list here but here are a few of the ones that stand out the most:

Doctor Strange (2012)
Already the subject of two low-budget adaptations (in 1978 and 2007), there have been many contenders to helm and star in the tale of the New York superhero/mystic; Christian Bale - perhaps unimaginatively - is the latest to be offered the cape, while Guillermo del Toro has flirted endlessly with the project, which remains without a confirmed director.

Wonder Woman (2011)
Possibly the most controversial piece of casting of the decade, there are a million forums alive with speculation as to who will play DC comics’ Amazonian warrior, though Jessica Biel is looking hot right now. Errr. Anyway Joss Whedon’s wasted two years on the project are further indication that no-one really knows what to do with such a cheerful character post-Dark Knight.

Namor: The Submariner (aka Submariner) (2010)
Originally with Chris Columbus, this Marvel Studios tale of the Atlantean wing-heeled hero has had Angel’s David Boreanaz attached for some time. Central character Prince Namor will be caught up in an ecological war between the land-dwellers and the sea-denizens whose habitat they have polluted. Jonathan Mostow is still said to be attached to the project.

The Avengers (2011)
Slated for a prime summer slot on July 15th 2011, this is set to be one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the next few years, directed by Jon Favreau with Robert Downey Jr. firmly signed to it as Tony Stark/Iron Man and new ‘Rhodey’ Don Cheadle attached too. Marvel Studios are financing and Paramount distrubuting, as usual. Rumours are obviously rife regarding casting.

Iron Man 2 (2010)
7th May 2010 and the wait will be over for Downey Jr. to rocket upwards for a sequel to the smash hit 2008 Marvel Studios’ debut. Terence Howard’s replacement by Don Cheadle (see The Avengers above) has caused a stir, but we’re all pleased that Downey Jr. has signed on the dotted line up to Iron Man 3.

Nick Fury (2010)
Jack Kirby’s streetwise S.H.I.E.L.D supremo was a huge hit in a guest spot with Samuel L. Jackson at the end of the credits for Iron Man, and many are hoping that Jackson will return and make the film that Shaft should have been.

Red Sonja (2009)
The Robert Rodriguez-produced adaptation of the adventures of the Marvel comics heroine (a Conan spin-off derived very loosely from a Robert E. Howard short story) generated much interest at Comicon when Rodriguez and Sonja star Rose McGowan showed off some sexy new posters, but there’s some speculation the film may go straight to disc.

Thor (2010)
Kenneth Branagh was entranced by the classical tale of Marvel comics’ Norse god with a big hammer, which remains without a leading man (Daniel Craig turned it down). The film is slated for release 16th July 2010.

The First Avenger: Captain America (2011)
Jurassic Park III director and effects guru Joe Johnston is slated to direct the tale of the New York fine arts student who takes a super-serum that soups him up for action against the Nazis in WWII America. Narnia writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have been put on scripting duty.

Silver Surfer (2009)
2009 is looking a bit unlikely for the (rumoured) return of Doug Jones as the shiny semi-hero of Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. J. Michael Straczynski revealed that the character’s association with the unappreciated FF2 doesn’t help. Galactus is rumoured to return, hopefully not just as a VGER-type cloud. Dark City’s Alex Proyas refused the helm, and Fox is rumoured to be awaiting the reception of the Wolverine movie before committing.

Sin City 2 (2010)
Frank Miller returns to helm the sequel to the stylistic 2005 hit. Based on the GN story “A Dame to Kill For”, Clive Owen reprises his role as Dwight McCarthy to take revenge on (a rumoured) Rose McGowan, an ex-lover who makes an unwelcome return to his life.

Sin City 3 (2010)
Miller is slating the second Sin City sequel to cover the ‘Hell and Back’ story featuring ex-navy SEAL Wallace, a vigilante character that Miller says was based on Johnny Depp, though the actor is not officially attached to the role.

Superman: Man of Steel (2011)
Despite profitability, Bryan Singer’s 2006 Donner-loving reboot/sequel Superman Returns inspired little studio confidence for a franchise run, and many - including Mark Millar - have been seeking to completely reboot the franchise. Brandon Routh is not as out of the picture as many think, it seems, and neither is Bryan Singer. But how far will they have to reboot the franchise to get Superman off the ground again?

The Witchblade (2009)
Battlestar Galactica’s Michael Rymer is set to helm the movie adaptation of the Top Cow productions GN, in the wake of the TV version. The eponymous weapon is (of course) supernatural, a ‘one-ring’-style sentient artifact that has afforded great powers to women such as Cleopatra and Joan Of Arc and now falls into the hands of NYPD detective Sara Pezzini. She doesn’t look like any cop I’ve ever seen.

Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam (aka Captain Marvel, 2010)
The Captain Marvel character is awfully close to Superman in capabilities, and the scrambling for ‘dark’ properties for superhero movies could have moved this project even further down the roster. Get Smart director Peter Segal is attached, and in his defence was talking about a ‘darker’ character well before The Dark Knight’s release and box-office supremacy.

Iron Fist (2012)
Popularly thought to only have a chance if Luke Cage does well (the character developed out of that series), Iron Fist is resting in development hell with Ray Park thought to have left behind his association with the role.

Green Lantern (2010)
Ryan Gosling has been hotly tipped to wear the green ring of power in the movie of the DC comics verdant hero. The script is said to be good at the moment, and producer Donald De Line confirmed his enthusiasm for it. The fact that Green Lantern is more a suit than a person (worn by a series of fictional characters) takes the pressure out of casting a franchise in a Doctor Who/James Bond -style.

The Flash (2010)
The film of DC’s lightning-fast sprinter seems to be tying its shoelaces at the moment. Likelihood seems to be that the JLA movie is confusing the issue in a way Batman never needs to worry about, so it could be quite a wait for Wally West to get moving. Dark Knight producer Charles Roven concedes that there has been no progress on the project.

Deadpool (2010)
Contrary to earlier reports, Variety says that the hyper-acid mercenary played by Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine will have to await that film’s box-office fate to know his own. Deadpool is about as post-modern and ironic a superhero as Marvel has to offer, arguably their most Tarantino-resque hero, but he’s a strong flavour that might not attract the requisite investment for a full-budget superhero flick.

Okay, so that was considerably more then a few but trust me there’s a lot more. I’m not sure how legit these postings are but I have my hopes up. Head on over to Den of the Geek for a full list!

Technorati Tags: Movies, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Deadpool, Green Lantern, Sin City, Iron Fist, Superman, Iron Man, Avengers, Captain America, Shazam, Captain Marvel, Namor, Submariner, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Flash, Witchblade, Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh, Ryan Reynolds, Silver Surfer, Thor, Red Sonja, Nick Fury, Wonder Woman, Doctor Strange

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After a very very VERY slow start, Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley’s Trinity seems to finally kicking into gear. The past five issues have mainly been a set-up arc, establishing what Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman each stand for and their relationships with - and how they relate to - each other. We’ve also briefly been introduced to (for lack of a better term) the trinity of evil - Despero, Morgan Le Fay and the mysterious Enigma - who may or may not have a connection to Riddler.

Unfortunately, the splitting of issues between the main story and backup stories means that this opening arc, which should have taken only two issues, took five issues to complete. In this issue, Busiek seems to finally have decided that he’s established what he needs to have established and has set up the heroes to delve into this whole “Trinity” thing, but many people, like Mike Haynes of Panels of Awesome, have already written the series off and dropped it from their pull lists.

I’m glad that Busiek is ready to move on and I somewhat enjoyed this issue, but there was one page that stood out to me as a pretty big flaw and perhaps another symptom of what’s been wrong with the series so far.

While I totally get what Busiek is trying to say and it’s a somewhat valid point, I’m not sure that this was the time or place to make that point. It required pulling us out of the story and making Diana seem (to me) somewhat out of character.

And, really, I suspect that may be exactly the problem with Trinity. Busiek has made story secondary to what he wants to do with the series, and that’s bad writing. I obviously don’t have the skills to do any better, but I know better can be done - I see it every day.

I’m still in it for the long haul, but I may end up being the only one if this series - and Busiek’s writing - doesn’t come together soon.

Technorati Tags: Trinity, DC, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Morgan Le Fay, Despero, Enigma, Mark Bagley, Kurt Busiek

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CBR has an interview with Kurt Busiek about DC’s FINALLY revealed next weekly series, titled Trinity. As the title implies, the series will focus on DC’s holy trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Busiek will be the main writer for the series, with Fabian Nicieza handling partial cowriting and Mark Bagley handling art.

“The most obvious is that it is about Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. But the term ‘trinity’ means more than that there are three of them. Why are they a trinity? What’s important about them being a trinity? The word ‘trinity’ and the concept of ‘the trinity’ are central to the story we are telling. It’s not just a fancy way of saying ‘three guys.’ There is more to it than that.”

Rumors have been circling for months that Jim Starlin’s “Death of the New Gods” mini-series was possibly making way for DC’s holy trinity to make the leap themselves to a god-like status in DCU, but Busiek said drawing a religious parallel to the book’s title may be a bit of a stretch.

“Clearly, Superman is the father, Wonder Woman is son and Batman is the Holy Ghost,” laughed Busiek. “Yes, first we will start with the ‘Song of Solomon’ but it will be the ‘Sound of Solomon Grundy.’

“No, ‘Death of the New Gods’ is one of the series that is leading into ‘Final Crisis.’ ‘Trinity’ is not ‘Final Crisis’ related. It is a relatively self-contained story that follows its own track. It’s part of the DC Universe, but it’s not one thread in the giant plot structure that is a big event. It is its own story. It has a beginning, a middle and an ending. There will be repercussions, yes. It has new characters that are introduced that I sure hope will spin off into their own mini-series or series or things like that, but it’s not leading to ‘Final Crisis 2: This Time It’s Personal.”

So speaketh the Busiek.

To read the entire interview, check out CBR’s article.

Perhaps I should know better after Countdown, but I’m kind of excited about this series. The beginning of Batman and Superman was excellent, the creative team on this series is top-level, and they’re avoiding my main problem with Countdown by making this series self-contained, all very good signs.

Regardless, it appears that we have about four months before we find out if DC’s learned their lesson or this whole weekly concept has run its course.

Technorati Tags: Comics, DC, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Trinity, Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Bagley

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I learned something about myself on this vacation. I can’t just jot down some notes about what I should write a post about and expect to come back a week later and either know what I wanted to say or still have the same enthusiasm for it. I either need to write more detailed notes or make myself sit down and at least write the post out in notepad or word while I’m still feeling it.

Nonetheless, I have these notes and I guess I should at least mention the thoughts, even if I don’t quite have the details of what I was thinking at the time. For no other reason than I feel like it, I’ll give you the verbatim note that I left myself before I say a little about it.

Mighty Avengers 6 - Actually enjoyable! Maybe write a review?

Well, I don’t really have a review in me, so you’re not getting one of those, but this was a pretty good issue. Frank Cho’s art was amazing as always, even if it wasn’t worth waiting months to see. I may have been more impressed if they actually left Sentry’s wife dead, just for the “oh crap” factor, but I understand why they didn’t and I can live with it. I really enjoyed the thought/speech bubbles, they gave a nice contrast between what was being said and what was going on in the character’s heads; the interaction between the Pyms was probably the best use of it in the entire issue, it made me ache for them both, even if Hank is a wifebeating moron. Another nice touch was showing the team member’s logos as they joined the action. A very bad touch was the prologue, having the scene with Spiderwoman showing up with Skrullektra’s body, thus reminding us how very very late this issue was. It was almost enough to drain all the good-will that this issue had built up with me and really should have been left out of the finished product. It served no purpose in furthering the story at this point. No positives, only negative.

But, in the end, the fact that I actually had a moment of liking Tony Stark won me over for this story. That moment of him checking for his penis was excellent, he’s an okay guy when he’s not trying to be the commander of everyone. Actually, any comic that can make me actually like and feel for a group of characters that normally don’t even cause a blip on my radar is a damn good comic. Strong work, Mr. Bendis.

Ghost Rider 18 - I don’t really get it; the plot seems overly convoluted. Why keep changing his origin and make it even more confusing and [expletive deleted] up?

That… pretty much says it all, actually. I’m not sure if I planned on doing an entire review or just wanted to condemn Marvel for making Ghost Rider even more ridiculously hard to follow.

I really don’t understand why they keep messing with his origins - he’s a cool character, has a pretty damn cool backstory, and I don’t really see any point to messing with his origin. Demon harnessed by a good man to fight evil? Cool. Ancient spirit of vengeance connected to a bloodline that possesses the first born of each generation? That’ll work. Angel of Vengeance tricked into thinking he/she/it is a demon? I’m starting to get annoyed here.

I’m starting to think that Ghost Rider has the same problem as Wonder Woman… people will not quit messing with the character. If you “tweak” and manipulate a character’s origins and make everything you think you know about them false right when fans are starting to get a handle on the character, people will lose interest.

Quit…messing…with…the damn….CHARACTERS!

Infinite Horizon - The Odyssey applied towards America’s current war on terror, short blurb, recommend it.

I’d heard some talk about this one and actually had someone shove it into my hands and demand I read it. I’m not sure if I would have picked up on its connection to The Odyssey if I hadn’t known about it beforehand or not, but that’s not really the point. This comic is an excellent read and you don’t need to know anything at all about The Odyssey or any of Homer’s other works in order to enjoy this. The basic premise is that the United States takes this War on Terror to an insane level until we just run out of resources. Troops are stranded in the Middle East, martial law is declared at home. Infinite Horizon focuses on an Army Captain’s fight to get home and his wife’s struggle to keep things together while not knowing what has happened to her husband. Pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

I just picked up my stack of comics for the past two weeks, so there will be more news and reviews soon.

tag: comics, reviews, avengers, ghost rider, infinite horizon, wonder woman, marvel, tony stark, image

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