Yearly Archive: 2008

Djimon Hounsou Set for Comics Trilogy?

  • News
  • March 3, 2008

djimon-6614754During a weekend press junket for the upcoming film Never Back Down, actor Djimon Housou told IESB that he’ll be taking a role in a comic book trilogy and referred to it as a dream project. The full article is right here.

Hounsou wouldn’t specify which trilogy, though, so the rumor mill can go ahead and start churning. Here’s what the folks at IESB theorized:

The obvious answer is that Hounsou is talking about staring as The Black Panther in the inevitable Fantastic Four 3. Tim Story mentioned in an IGN article nearly a year ago that Hounsou was his ideal choice for the Wakandan King. If this is the case, it’s actually perfect casting (outside of it being another Story-directed Fantastic Four film).

The other possibility, though, that I’m not entirely willing to shake is that Hounsou might be talking about Tintin.

Hounsou mentions that this is a dream project for him. While Tintin may not be the biggest bit of pop-culture this side of the Atlantic, it’s still extremely popular in Europe — especially in France where Hounsou moved when he was 13. Add in the Spielberg connection and the fact that Tintin‘s being done as a trilogy and I think its speculation with some potential.

Hounsou’s page at IMDB doesn’t have any mention of a project yet, and there aren’t a whole lot of other comic book trilogies on the horizon. Y: The Last Man is supposedly in the works, though Hounsou obviously wouldn’t have a place in that, unless the director decided to be very creative in casting Agent 355.

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Kevin Conroy to Voice Batman in ‘Batman: Gotham Knight’

  • News
  • March 3, 2008

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Kevin Conroy, who provided the voice of Batman in just about every animated series to feature the character in recent years, will now be continuing with the role in Batman: Gotham Knight.

There’s been significant speculation about who will voice the Dark Knight in the upcoming direct-to-video anthology created by some of the most notable names in the worlds of comics and anime. It was originally rumored that Batman Begins‘ Christian Bale would reprise the role — due mainly to the actor’s presence on the IMDB site for the project. Bale’s name has now been removed from IMDB’s cast listing.

There’s been no word on how many of the stories featured in the anthology will use Conroy as Batman’s voice. Conroy’s past Batman credits include Batman; The Animated Series, the voice of Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited and many of the feature-length projects related to each series.

Batman: Gotham Knight is scheduled to hit shelves July 8.

 

(via WF)

 

Black History Month: Calling the Heroes

  • Uncategorized
  • March 3, 2008

luke-cage-1-6366090Wired.com’s blog recently posted this entry on the Online Museum of Black Superheroes, a Web site that compiles a fairly comprehensive list of black superheroes (as well as non-superhero characters).

The museum, which you can find right here, also contains a lengthy collection of articles on black characters in comics. The articles come from a variety of sources (from the Washington Post to Comic Book Resources) and while they don’t represent an end-all-be-all dissertation on black superheroes, they do offer a wealth of interesting discussion.

Simply reading through the character lists (they’re divided by publisher) offers plenty of opportunities for analysis. For instance, you can separate the characters by when they were introduced and look for trends. One thing I noticed was that while there were disproportionately more male characters than female ones, the division didn’t seem to be any more lopsided than the gender divide among white characters.

The site also documents some of the blatant racism evident in comics with characters such as Whitewash Jones (he appeared in the 1940s war comic Young Allies), and the unintentionally offensive, such as Marvel’s creation of Man Ape (he was a Black Panther villain).

Son Of Filling The Big Shoes, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • March 3, 2008

Remember my column last week ? I’m sure you committed every hallowed word to memory. Well, this is a sequel. Fittingly, it’s about Hollywood.

I’m staring at this massive schedule of movies of interest to your average ComicMixer that are due to be released in the next 12 months or so: Iron Man 1, Indiana Jones 4, Incredible Hulk 2-but-1, Get Smart 1, Hellboy 2, The Dark Knight 6-but-2, X-Files 2, The Mummy 3, James Bond 22, Harry Potter 6, The Day The Earth Stood Still 1-but-2, Star Trek 74, Will Eisner’s The Spirit 1, and Green Hornet 1 (serials don’t count). I’m looking forward to about half of them, which is a pretty good average for me. But there’s one that I’m looking to with trepidation.

No, it’s not The Day The Earth Stood Still, the original of which is the Citizen Kane of science-fiction movies. Let them take a shot; I wish ‘em luck. Nor is it Star Trek 74: The Reboot-To-The-Rear. I’d scoff at this attempt but, frankly, after the majority of Trek movies what the hell, maybe it’ll work. It did for James Bond in Casino Royale 3. Nope, I’m trepidatious about Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Make that Frank Miller’s Will Eisner’s The Spirit.

There’s absolutely no slight here against Frank. Of all the folks in comics, he has been one of the most publicly and most aggressively pro-creator rights activists around. His passionate arguments about the Comics Code and about the way Marvel treated Jack Kirby still ring loudly in my inner-ear. In fact, I’m glad to see The Spirit in the hands of a person who knows how to make comics work yet also has a solid background in movies. 

No, I’m afraid of Hollywood. (more…)

ComicMix Broadcast Blog: Dark Tower, Hulk and Hawaii Five-O!

  • News
  • March 2, 2008

Another sure sign of spring – the second big convention of the year, plus another Marvel Midnight Release. Let’s lay out the links:

In case this blew past you, the second story arc of the comic book series adapted from Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, begins now from Marvel Comics. Just like last year, they  will offer a midnight release of Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #1 on the early morning of Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Participating retailers across the country will open at midnight on Tuesday (effectively 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, March 5, 2008) so Stephen King fans can get their hands on the next issue of this historic comic. Watch for a special ComicMix TV report on Wednesday, and to find out if there is a store near you, go here.

Work has begun on the 100 original Hulk covers created for The Hero Initiative and the very first covers received will be on display publicly for the first time at the Orlando MegaCon, taking place March 7-9 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more information on that even, visit www.MegaConvention.com or watch for coverage all weekend on ComicMix.

CBS Interactive is dusting off a selection of its own classics from the CBS Library for distribution across the CBS Audience Network. Full-length episodes of Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver and Melrose Place will be available for free on an ad-supported basis through more than 300 member sites. Got some time to kill? Catch an episode here: www.cbs.com

 

Johnny Knoxville and MTV are bringing Jackass to the digital age with JackAssworld.com. The site, which you can see at www.jackassworld.com, has 24-straight hours of continuously updated video of the latest stupid stunts. Users can view and comment on the video via message board, email or text message.

And how about if we toss in a little hint for the answer to our latest Trivia Question, which could win you a limited edition, Graham Crackers Comics variant?  For full details, catch yesterday’s ComicMix Radio, get your answer to us at podcast [at] comicmix.com, and be back here on Tuesday for the winner, a new question and much more.

ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending Mar. 2, 2008

  • News
  • March 2, 2008

I love March, particularly the way the winds blow in such promise for the year to come.  Spring training, buds on the trees, the hope that we can avoid any more snowstorms, it’s all fraught with positivity.  Even our weekly ComicMix columnists seem to be more enthusiastic than usual (particularly Michael Davis with his Obama-at-SDCC teaser):

Spring forward, fall back into bed now…

Human Giant Blood+, by Ric Meyers

  • News
  • March 2, 2008
 
blood-6632034Eight years ago an anime appeared that has stood, and even reverberated, the test of time. Blood: The Last Vampire was a groundbreaking and engrossing effort that clearly left virtually everyone who saw it wanting more. Clocking in at a breathless, seemingly unfinished, forty-eight minutes (just enough to fill a network TV hour slot), it showcased a pretty, young high school co-ed who swung a mean samurai sword against vampires at a Vietnam-era military base.
 
It was so well done and memorable that the sequel clamor has rung loud and steady to this day. Now, finally, a box set of the first twenty-five episodes of the follow-up television series, cleverly titled Blood+, is ready to slice into U.S. stores. For all those readers who are cringing at the thought of a TV continuation, you obviously don’t know Japanimation. Although there have been a few near misses, generally the small screen adaptations of major action anime have been well inside the strike zone (Ninja Scroll, R.O.D. [Read or Die], and especially Ghost in the Shell have all nimbly survived the transition).
 
Blood+ may head that list, since the skeletal original has been nicely filled out with a backstory and mythology which deepens and broadens the story — aided and abetted by a design and animation style that can’t match the cgi-ness of the original, but more than makes up for it with blood-splatteringly good direction, editing, and an exceptional soundtrack produced by Hans Zimmer. It’s just a shame for me, personally, that the box set was seemingly created to delight the more superficial anime fan and not the movie lover.
 
The big box contains three slim cases for the six discs, an even slimmer twelve page preview of the Dark Horse comic book version of the translated manga, and a black t-shirt (size: L) boasting the series logo. Once the apparel is removed, the rest rattles a bit. Five of the discs contain twenty-five half-hour episodes. The sixth contains something they’re calling “Inside Blood+” – which is interviews with a whole bunch of the original voice actors.
 

(more…)

Today’s Birthday: Mark Evanier

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  • March 2, 2008

Born in 1952, Mark Evanier has been writing professionally since 1969. He apprenticed under Jack Kirby and wrote for Disney, Gold Key, and the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate before moving on to television.

There, Evanier worked on such series as The Nancy Walker Show, The McLean Stevenson Show, and Welcome Back, Kotter. Next he worked for Hanna-Barbera on several series, including Scooby Doo, Plastic Man, and Thundarr the Barbarian. Evanier returned to comic books as well, writing and later editing Blackhawk, working with Sergio Aragonés on Groo the Wanderer, and co-creating The DNAgents and its spin-off, Crossfire.

His most recent project is Kirby: King of Comics, a biography of his first mentor, Jack Kirby. Happy birthday, Mark!

Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’ Goes Online

  • News
  • March 2, 2008

Earlier this month, I told you how Neil Gaiman asked readers to choose which of his novels publisher HarperCollins would post online, at no cost to readers. The decision to post a full novel online is part of a larger effort by the publisher to test the waters of online distribution

Gaiman announced American Gods a few weeks ago as the title chosen by fans in a fairly one-sided poll, and offered some thoughts about the selection.

I don’t think I would have put up American Gods as a first choice for free book myself — mostly because a) it’s really long and b) it divides people. As far as I can tell, for every five people who read it, one loves it utterly, two or three like it to varying degrees, and one hates it, cannot see the point to it and needs convincing that it’s a novel at all. (Quite often the last person really likes some of the other books I’ve written, if they ever pick up anything else by me ever again.) But that’s the fun of democracy, and American Gods has won more awards than any other single thing I’ve written.

This week, the novel went online in its entirety, presented within a beta-version "Browse Inside" reader on the HarperCollins website. While the presentation looks manageable at first glance, the trial run isn’t without its share of quirks.

Loading time is significant at the start, and fast readers will probably be discouraged by the delay as each new page is loaded into the reader. The pages are displayed as images of the actual novel’s pages, instead of text documents, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to magnify the images for easier reading. Readers also need to read the entire novel on the HarperCollins site, as there isn’t any downloadable version available.

BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow had this to say about HarperCollins’ grand experiment which, I believe, sums up my own impressions of both the project and concerns about its future implications:

Unfortunately, the "security" has also undermined the experiment’s value as a tool for getting better intelligence about the market. This isn’t going to cost Neil any sales, but it’s also not going to buy him any. We take our books home and read them in a thousand ways, in whatever posture, room, and conditions we care to. No one chains our books to our desks and shows us a single page at a time. This experiment simulates a situation that’s completely divorced from the reality of reading for pleasure. As an experiment, this will prove nothing about ebooks either way.

 

Still More Modern Art, by Michael H. Price

  • News
  • March 2, 2008

lever-3If any one outcropping of the cultural skyline of Fort Worth, Texas, can be said to state a case for a Bold New Millennium, it is the 2002 landmark address of the Modern Art Museum, designed by the architect Tadao Ando as a sculptural statement in itself. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is at once the oldest such museum in Texas – chartered in 1892 – and handily the newest in aspect. I spend a great deal of time there for both workaday and leisurely purposes: The Modern’s art-film theatre is descended from an imports-and-independents movie program that I developed during 1996–2002 at one of the downtown movie houses, and my jazz trio performs at the Modern as a matter of routine. Full disclosure, and all that.

 
As befits a monumental sculpture of architectural pedigree, the building that houses the Modern of Fort Worth has fared particularly well as a showcase for internal exhibitions of sculpture. The exhibit of the moment is called Martin Puryear, newly opened for a run through May 18.
 
The retrospective survey of works by a celebrated American artist features nearly 50 sculptures in an arc reaching from Martin Puryear’s first solo museum show in 1977 to the present day. 
 
Working primarily in wood, Puryear, 67, has maintained a commitment to manual skills and traditional building methods. His forms derive from everyday objects, both natural and man-made, including tools, vessels and furniture. His sculptures are rich with psychological and intellectual references, examining issues of identity, culture and history. Key influences can be traced to his studies, his work and his travels through Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. 
 
Chief curator Michael Auping explains: “Puryear’s work has a way of sneaking up on us perceptually, and it is partially through his surfaces that we are drawn in, invited to inspect his wooden objects more closely, as one would a more intimate construction, through the subtlety of inflection that he … imparts to the surface.”
 
Puryear’s most striking forced-perspective work, Ladder for Booker T. Washington (1996), is part of the permanent collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth – and as such, an ideal element of familiar leverage into the greater range of the exhibition. This towering object was inspired by homemade ladders that Puryear had noticed in the French countryside while working at Alexander Calder’s studio on an invitational grant.
 

(more…)

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