Sheri Kaplowitz, a.k.a. Tia Cultir, consultant for Lucasfilm, passed away today after a long battle with complications from multiple strokes.
She often couldn’t talk much about the work she did for Lucasfilm, due to the incredibly comprehensive non-disclosure agreement. I always envisioned her as part of George Lucas’s personal Jedi Council, and for all I know, she was.
Services will be held next Sunday in Boston. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends.
ComicMix’s own Andrew Wheeler has been named a judge for the 2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The five-person panel will select the nominees, who are then voted on by eligible members of the comics industry.
The 2009 judges are:
• Amanda Emmert, owner of Muse Comics & Games in Missoula, Mont., and communications coordinator for ComicsPRO
• Mike Pawuk, teen-services public librarian for the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Parma, Ohio
• John Shableski, a sales manager for Diamond Book Distributors
• Ben Towle, cartoonist, educator and creator of Midnight Sun
• Andrew Wheeler, comics reviewer, blogger and former senior editor of the Science Fiction Book Club
As always, the awards will be presented Saturday evening during Comic-Con International in July.
For years, in television, many hybrid series involving both science fiction and comedy have come and gone. It’s a fine line to juggle the fans of a pretty strict mythos (whichever that may be, they are all pretty strict) to also keeping the show fresh and witty for people who may not be into the science fiction or fantasy element. Reaper happens to be one of those shows that has walked the line successfully for a season and is already planning on doing it again in season 2. We got a chance to grab Ray Wise, who plays the show’s antagonist—the Devil himself—about his role in the show and some things to look forward to.
ComicMix: With the WGA strike hitting Reaper mid season last year, do you think it effected the story of the overall season, much like it did other shows that were effected?
Ray Wise: While it didn’t effect the story, it did however effect the logistics on when we would be able to come back and start shooting. We do know that the network [CW] had some decisions to make as a result of the writers’ strike which lead to coming back for a second season in doubt for a time, but I’m happy to say that we’re currently on episode 9 of a 13 episode pickup. the current plan is to air those news episodes either in January of March of 2009, and once those are on the air, we think we may be able to do some more.
CMix: Speaking of season two, can you give us any kind of hint on what The Devil might be up to this season?
RW: Well we’re going to be more character relationship oriented this season. We plan to delve a little more into each of the characters’ relationships with one another. We plan to find out a little more about the hierarchy of Hell, and even some more appearances from the Nether region will be arriving here on Earth. There will be plenty of conflict, and to sum it all up; all hell is going to break loose!
CMix: There was an interesting relationship in the first season between your Devil and Bret Harrison’s Sam, almost a love/hate relationship. Are we going to continue down that road this season?
After expressing interest in directing everything from the an adaptation of Valiant’s Harbinger to a feature film based on Guitar Hero, director Brett Ratner has finally chosen his next projects.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rater is about to sign a deal to direct a new Conan the Barbarian film. The film will be co-produced by Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate Films. Conan was the subject of two films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s and has been a frequent candidate for additional features ever since but the rights went from studio to studio with no traction. John Milius, who cowrote the first film with Oliver Stone, has had a much admired King Conan script in development for years now.
Fans of Axel Foley can rest assured that the fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop series is still likely to hit the cameras first for Paramount Pictures. Screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted) have been working on a script as the studio tries to get everything lined up to meet the next hole in Eddie Murphy’s schedule.
Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly (Sahara) have written a screenplay that was intriguing enough to get Ratner to commit but now the duo is working on a polish based on Ratner’s notes. The story is inspired by the original Weird Tales stories of Robert E. Howard and none of the pastiches and interpretations that have followed in prose and comic books. It’s said to be a tale that introduces audiences to who Conan is and sets the stage for the inevitable sequels.
Lionsgate intends to release the $85 million film in 2010 the same year Paramount hopes to release BHC 4.
If you’re wondering where Freema Agyeman went after leaving Doctor Who behind, you will be pleased to know she became a Survivor. She was cast in the remake of the Terry Nation Survivors series from the 1970s. The new incarnation will be debuting on the BBC this fall in a six-episode inaugural season. She is joined in the cast by Nikki Amuka–Bird (No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) as Samantha Willis; Max Beesley (Hotel Babylon) as Tom Price; Shaun Dingwall (Doctor Who) as David; Julie Graham (Bonekickers) as Abby Grant; Paterson Joseph (Jekyll) as Greg; Phillip Rhys (24) as Al; Zoë Tapper (The Last Van Helsing) as Anya and newcomer Chahak Patel as 11-year-old Najid.
Agyeman was written out of the third season of Torchwood in a feud between rival production channels.
BBC Drama Productions pursued the remake rights for some time before finally obtaining them in 2007 and handing production over to Adrian Hodges (Primeval). Nation’s original novel is being republished by Orion Publishing, hitting shops this past Thursday. Also, the BBC is releasing the original series on DVD, comprising all 38 episodes, in a 12-disc box set on November 24.
According to press material from the BBC, the series is described this way:
Imagine being the only survivor of a disease that kills every member of your family that kills lovers, strangers, friends, nearly everyone you’ve ever met. You are among the lonely few to live and now you must start over in a strange new world where everything that was once safe and familiar is now strange and dangerous.
Lionsgate has announced the arrival of Hulk Vs. in January. According to a press release, “If Hulk alone weren’t enough, Hulk is now joined by the super-heroes of the next two Marvel tentpole films — Wolverine and Thor in this newest addition to the Marvel Animated Features series.
“These dark and violent showdowns have been seen in various forms throughout Marvel comic book history, and the rematches have continued to thrill comic fans ever since. Now Marvel and Lionsgate have taken the two epic comic book battles and merged them into two heart pounding tales on one DVD release that stays true to its comic book roots. DVD and Blu-ray special features include commentaries, multiple featurettes and a trailer gallery. The Standard Edition DVD features collectible 3D lenticular packaging. On the Blu-ray Disc, the special features are in hi-def.”
The standard DVD will retail for $19.98; the special edition DVD will be $24.98; and the Blu-ray Disc will be priced at $29.99
X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens May 1, 2009 and Thor is scheduled for July 2010.
The BBC reports that the British Cartoon Archive has gone live online. Based at the University of Kent, it has over 120,000 political and social cartoons from over 250 artists from the 18th century through today.
The archive is the result of two years’ work to digitize the University’s Carl Giles collection.
Dr Nicholas Hiley, head of the British Cartoon Archive, told the press, "Whether you are a cartoon fan or an academic interested in using the archive content for teaching and research purposes, the new website provides the widest possible access to the most important collection of British newspaper cartooning.
"The development of the site, catalogue and services over the coming months will extend the use of the resource to a far larger number of academics, specialists and enthusiasts and build a considerable international community around these important works."
Websites like to make lists. Lots of lists. One that caught our eye recently was over at Dark Fantasy which surveyed the top 12 Latino super-heroes.
The site notes that the list is “heavy on Marvel, light on DC and indies, and biased toward the time periods when I happened to be keeping up with comics.” As a result, modern day Latino heroes, especially DC’s current Blue Beetle is conspicuously absent.
“The most disturbing trend is the overwhelming dominance of white or light-skinned Latinos. On the one hand, it’s somewhat refreshing to see recognition that there are white Latinos; too often “Latino” is imagined incorrectly as a racial category rather than a very broadly defined cultural group, which is what it is. But it’s deeply disappointing that comic books, like so many other media, are largely failing to recognize the existence of Latinos who are Black or Brown. The invisibility of Black Latinos—who make up the majority of the population within some Latin American nationalities and countries—perpetuates racism in both the U.S. and Latin America.”
The list, for what it’s worth:
#12 Rictor (X-books)
#11 Isaac Mendez (Heroes)
#10 The White Tiger (Marvel)
#9 Echo (a.k.a. Ronin of The New Avengers)
#8 Kennedy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
#7 Spider-Man 2099 (Marvel)
#6 Victor Mancha (Runaways)
#5 The Question (DC Comics)
#4 Kyle Rayner (DC Comics)
#3 Spy Kids
#2 Araña (Marvel)
#1 Zorro
Who’s missing?
The Sci Fi Channel has announced that Jack Kenny (Book of Daniel) and David Simkins (The Dresden Files) have joined the writing staff of Warehouse 13, a new dramatic series scheduled to run for 11 episodes on the channel in July.
The series begins production this February in Toronto and stars Eddie McClintock (Bones), Joanne Kelly (Jeremiah), Saul Rubinek (Frasier), and CCH Pounder (The Shield). It was conceived by Farscape’s Rockne O’Bannon and the two-hour pilot was written by O’Bannon, Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica) and D. Brent Mote.
The network describes the series this way:
After saving the life of the president, two Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13, a massive top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker, Artie (Rubinek), charges Pete (McClintock) and Myka (Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.
Kenny and Simkins join co-executive producer Dana Baratta (Runaway), supervising producer Drew Greenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), co-producers Matt Federman and Stephen Scaia (Jericho) and staff writers Bob Goodman (The New Batman/Superman Adventures), Tamara Becher (Crash) and Ben Raab and Deric Hughes (The Operator, Afterworld).
In talking with What’s on Stage, actor David Morrissey gave away part of the plot for the Doctor Who Christmas Special.
“I play a character called The Doctor – a man who believes himself to be a Time Lord,” he revealed. “It was great to be on board, because I’m a huge fan of the program and of David Tennant. As for any talk of me taking over as the next Doctor, well, if or when they do choose someone, they would have to totally different to David, which I am!”
He makes his return to the stage in the European premiere of Neil LaBute’s In a Dark Dark House.
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