ComicMix Radio: Storm Clouds Build Over Watchmen

According to the media, lawyers are gearing up for a “frenzied fight” over the screen rights to the biggest graphic novel of all time, plus:

• Barack sells out at Image
• It’s now a world without Don LaFontaine
• Robert Englund tells us about the rebirth of V

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!

Transcript

Broadcast, 255, 3, 2, 1. ComicMix.com. Storm clouds gather in Hollywood over Watchmen. ComicMix.com. Hi, it's Mike Raub, and you know it may not be of hurricane proportions,

but there is a battle looming over the rights to the Watchmen movie. We've got the very latest, plus more, with Freddy Krueger. That's all coming up on… September 4th. 2008, ComicMix News.

The legal brew, huh? And the dispute between Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox over the rights to the Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Watchmen graphic novel continues. The New York Times reports they've reviewed some papers that were filed on federal court in Los Angeles at the end of last week, and they say that both sides,

and we're quoting here, have laid plans for a frenzied fight. Cox continues to request an injunction that would prohibit the planned March 6th debut of the Watchmen film. While Warner Brothers continues to maintain there is no legal merit to Fox's lawsuit. It may be the Republicans' week in Minnesota, but it was the Democrats that struck a blow

in the comic shops this week. Eric Larson's Savage Dragon number 137, the one that had a 1 in 5 variant cover, featuring the character's endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for the office of the President of the United States, has sold out. There's a second printing on the way.

That'll be due in stores on September 10th. No word as to whether or not there'll be a cover split on that one as well. And speaking of other sellouts, the first issue of the 5-5 miniseries, Final Crisis, Legion of Three Worlds, is gone from DC and back to press, with a second printing that'll have a recolored version of the art by George Perez

on the front cover. Second printing of Final Crisis, Legion of Three Worlds number 1, is set to arrive in stores on September 24th. You may have caught some mention of this earlier in the weekend on ComicMix, but if you're looking for some real classic cartoons online,

the peer-to-peer HD Quality Online Video Distributor of Views has added something called MyTunes.com, beginning with the MyTunes Cartoon Classics section. You can download the Views player to watch them. That isn't a problem at all, and I think you'll be agreed that the quality is amazing. There's a great selection of stuff, including some of the early flasher Popeyes

and Betty Boops, and a lot more to come at MyTunes.com. For a little more up-to-date animation, you can get an early look at Disney's new animated movie musical that's on the way, The Princess and the Frog, originally entitled, by the way, The Frog Princess. And then you can head over to the website where you'll find a teaser trailer

for the picture, which is slated for release on Christmas Day in 2009. It's the team that brought you The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules from the Disney Organization, and it features music and lyrics by Randy Newman and a voice cast that includes Keith David, John Goodman, and Bruno Campos. You can see that for the website heads at Disney.go.com.

I don't seem to recall anything in the fairy tale about kissing on the lips. One of the most familiar voices of this serenity generation has been still. Don LaFontaine, arguably the king of the Hollywood trailer voiceovers, died Monday following complications from an ongoing illness. In his career, Don recorded more than 5,000 movie trailers

and 350,000 commercials, programs, and other presentations. In this, or in any world, he will be missed. Throughout history, man has marveled at the vast complexity of the universe. Without a single unified voice, humanity has been left searching for answers to the unknown. Now, one man has the power to change that, and to spread his voice across the earth

for all of mankind to hear. One man. Me. Comic Man's Radio! Robert Englund has made a career of horror films, mostly because he loves the genre. As the premier bad guy of the 80s and 90s, England set the mark for villains

with his portrayal of Freddy Krueger in movies and on TV. And as both a participant and a major fan, Robert has some definite ideas on where he'd like to see horror films creep along into in the near future. But I'd also like to see some period stuff, and I'd like to see, I think there's probably, you know, we keep doing all the things that can kill us.

Scissors, telephones, you know, cars, but, you know, and technology, blah, blah, blah. I think we need to get back to humanity and just get away from the idea of just serial killer. But I think that, you know, I think there's still some interesting villains out there. Now, Robert's willing to take chances with his own work, too. You know, I'm doing this movie, I'm directing this movie in Italy next year,

and it's based on a Russian-Ukrainian short story by Nikolai Gogol. But, you know, there's a fallen angel in it. It's called the Vayu, the Vy. It's just part of Russian folklore. But then I remember, like, the Divok, this old Yiddish theater play about this monster. I think, you know, there's a lot of stuff in folklore, in Indian folklore,

and in Viking folklore, and Icelandic folklore and stuff. It could be exploited. Or even going back into just, like, before we were America, we were, you know, like New Amsterdam was what New York was. And all of that kind of Dutch folklore and folktales and monsters and things, you know. Like, even the Brothers Grimm done the way they were meant to be, as cautionary dark tales.

I mean, you know, if you really did it right, the witch and Hansel and Gretel, those kids are starving. They're hallucinating. They hallucinate the housemen. And what that witch is really could be… I mean, I don't want to say Hansel and Gretel, per se, but there's some dark stuff out there that we could, you know, bring back in for perhaps a franchise. Maybe, you know, throw a couple up on the wall and see what sticks, you know.

Revisit the Brothers Grimm. While Robert will not be Freddy Krueger in the recently announced remake of Nightmare on Elm Street, there is talk of a revival of another of his more famous roles. The beloved 80s miniseries V. I just got the book from Kenny and I e-mail with Kenneth Johnson all the time.

Originally, because of the heat that Steven Spielberg attracted me to Taken, which I loved. I saw all 10 hours of Taken and I have friends in it. I thought it was great. And the girl who did my makeup for Freddy vs. Jason did the effects makeup on Taken. I love the Taken. And that is what they borrowed a little bit from V on that. So I, they, NBC thought, well, hell, we own V. Let's do V again.

And they were going to do V 20 years later, the old cast. Reunion, you know, they're all older, post-apocalyptic. I think they decided to juice it up and do V with a hot young cast, a hot young sexy cast. Do the original series. If that catches on, then they go back to us. But I mean, maybe we'll come back for cameos. I don't know.

But it's still in development at NBC. ComicMix Radio. ComicMix timeline. September 4th. 1986.

Right around this time, some interesting chances taking place on the comic shelves, especially from D.C. Remember titles like Angel Love. It was up to number five this week. We got the Green Lantern Corps annual number two. Remember the revival of Jonah Hex as Hex.

That was up to issue number 16. We got the tail end of the Justice League of America just about done at number 257. We got that bad number 402 and Watchmen came in and we were ready for it up to the fourth issue and what was going to be the best book we'd read in this for a number of weeks from D.C. From Marvel, we got Fantastic Four number 297 this week. New Universe was riding high and Nightmass number two and Psi Force number two.

We got New Mutants number 46 and the first issue of Strike Force Moratory. 1986. In the news, former astronaut James Irwin had his quest for Noah's Ark halted by authorities in Turkey. Director John Landis and four crew members from the Twilight Zone remake were on trial in the depths of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors and a federal grand jury focused their intention on a heavy contributor to the Ronald Reagan political campaign. In the movies, you could shiver to Jeff Goldblum in the fly.

Rodney Dangerfield was in Back to School. Farrah Fawcett was on the screen in Extremities. Rob Lowe along with Demi Moore were in About Last Night and there was nothing in common with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason. Top check flick, top date film of the week went to this one. Tom Cruise and company in Top Gun.

TV Tonight, the Cosby Show was on. There was Family Ties, the Colby's, Ripley's Believe It or Not and one of those interesting mid 80s detective shows, this one starring the great actor Jack Warden. Hello. Harrison, I need your help. Dad, you keep forgetting.

I'm a lawyer. You're the detective. Oh, come on, son. All I need is a ride. What could possibly happen?

Remember Crazy Like a Fox? On the radio, a pioneering music group that managed to bring the genre of hip hop music into the view of the mainstream. And believe me, the mainstream took notice when Run-DMC teamed up with Aerosmith for a revival of one of that band's greatest hits. Here's Walk This Way. Talk this way.

Walk this way. Talk this way. We're just getting a ComicMix. When the weekend rolls around, we're going to be rolling in with a visit from Joss Whedon. This time we're going to talk comics.

Coming off the roar of the internet and the success of Doctor Horrible, what's the latest in the four-color world for the man who brought us Buffy? You might find some interesting things, especially if you're a Serenity fan. You don't have to miss any of it. You can subscribe to us easily on iTunes as well. At ComicMix, more free comics this week, new episodes of White Viper, Hammer Of The Gods, and a Mundan's Bar you might have missed last week.

Check it out. Features of Frankenstein mobs nearby the incredible Mark Weavely. And there's lots in the archives to look at, too, and best of all, it's all free. News and commentary, too, on ComicMix will alert you at any time of the day or night on Facebook, Twitter, or Myspace. Talk to you in a couple of days.

Bye!