Another new Doctor Who trailer!
From last night’s press launch trailer in Cardiff. Two weeks and counting in the UK, four weeks and counting in America…
Monthly Archive: March 2010
Human Torch Cast As Captain America?
According to the Hollywood
Reporter, Chris Evans has been offered the lead in The First Avenger: Captain America. Evans is perhaps best known in these circles as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. The Human Torch, in the two Fantastic Four movies.
Evans would be signing for what has been reported to be a nine picture deal: at least two sequels and appearance(s) in The Avengers movie(s) as well as in other Marvel superhero films. Nice steady work for an actor who isn’t afraid to get typecast.
The First Avenger is to be directed by Joe “Wolfman” Johnston; Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, V For Vendetta) has been cast as The Red Skull. The movie is presently set for a July 22, 2011 release, with The Avengers following on May 4, 2012.
There’s probably no chance of a cross-over, as Marvel’s doing a complete reboot on The Fantastic Four movie franchise.
Neither Marvel Films nor Evans’ people have confirmed or denied as of yet this weekend.
ComicMix crew at Lunacon this weekend
ComicMixers Amy Goldschlager, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Kim Kindya, Aaron Rosenberg, and Jen Rosenberg (at least!) will be at Lunacon, taking place this weekend at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, New York.
Come on down and say hi. If you don’t see us at a panel or at halftime during the Masquerade, you’ll find us in the bar…
Doctor Who A Go For Season 32
In an announcement calculated to surprise absolutely no one, Doctor Who executive producer Piers Wenger confirmed the series been renewed for the 2011 season, it’s 31st overall and sixth post-revival. A new now-mandatory Christmas Special will be served up between seasons.
Both Doctor Eleven Matt Smith and Companion Karen Gillan will be returning, as will award-winning overseer Steven Moffat. According to Britain’s ATV Network, filming begins this July.
This announcement comes on the heals of the the BBC’s two-season renewal of The Sarah Jane Adventures, its fourth and fifth seasons. No word yet on the fate of Torchwood, which has been in limbo ever since the Fox Network started considering a United States pick-up of the series.
The 31st/6th season of Doctor Who debuts on the BBC April 3rd and on BBC America April 17th.
Review: ‘Cold Souls’ on DVD
Much has been written about the human soul, what makes it so special and unique. How some souls can be twisted or damaged or how they could be sold to the Devil. It has been the inspiration for poetry, prose, and much philosophical thought. But the very idea that it is too heavy to carry around and therefore could be stored to lighten the burden…well, that’s unusual.
It’s the very premise of the little film Cold Souls
, which was written and directed by Sophie Barthes. The movie opened to fairly positive reviews last year but was largely overlooked despite the strong cast and intriguing premise. A work of sophisticated science fiction, it’s also a dark comedy in some ways. The film was released this month on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Paul Giamatti portrays an actor named Paul Giamatti, who is struggling with his role in a production of [[[Uncle Vanya]]]. Worried about losing his job and feeling terribly burdened by life, he considers storing his soul after reading an article on this new business.
Imagine his surprise to see his soul is small, the size of a chick pea and bright in color compared the more voluminous and grayer souls on display. At first he feels freed but fairly quickly he also recognizes the emptiness in his life. His performance has gotten no better and now he’s lacking in basic emotion such as empathy.
At much the same time, we discover the logical outgrowth of a business that deals with souls. They can be bought and sold legitimately, but also trafficked illegally as seen with a Russian mule operation led by Nina (Dina Korzun), who has smuggled souls imprinted in her until she arrives in America and delivers them to the same firm, run by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn).
Paul is unhappy so Flintstein quietly suggests he tries one of the imported souls. What neither realizes is that to make quota, the Russians are indiscriminately relabeling souls so he wants an artist but gets something else. When he finally decides to get his soul back, he learns it has been shipped to Russia, to Sveta (Katheryn Winnick), a model turned actress who just happens to be married to the head of the smuggling operation. On a trip to Russia to retrieve it, all the threads come together.
This is a terrific subject for a story and by keeping the focus largely on Paul, Barthes allows the audience to understand the daily complications of first having no soul then having the wrong soul. She claims the idea for the film came to her from a dream and there’s an ethereal quality to some of the scenes so she has fully realized her concept.
Giamatti and Korzun are front and center in the story and both give solid, understated performances. Wasted in small roles, given too little to do are Emily Watson as Paul’s wife Claire and Lauren Ambrose as Stephanie, the lab assistant.
The disc comes complete with a short piece on the making of the soul extractor and several deleted scenes, one of which at least gave Watson more to do.
If only there were more movies that explored such engaging ideas without a lot of pyrotechnics, movies that could spark debate and better yet, thought.
ComicMix Six: Vampires That Don’t Suck (Human Blood)
Vampires are everywhere these days. But long before we had Team Edward
Count Duckula – Spinning off from the popular Danger Mouse series created in the U.K., came a vampire with who’d rather toast with a tomato than nibble on a neck. In the series, Igor whilst incanting the resurrection spell of his deceased master, was accidentaly provided ketchup in place of the ceremonial blood. Thus Count Duckula was born! Far more concerned with fame, fortune, and feasting on fennel, fava beans and fresh fiddlehead ferns, Count Duckula was known more for his fondness of broccoli sandwiches than being a creature of the night. And hey, even if he decided to switch menus? Fat chance! The poor duck didn’t even have fangs.
Angel & Spike – Joss Whedon took his video store lump of coal, and coaxed it into a diamond of a TV series. He did so first by fleshing out Buffy to be more than just “Pert. Wholesome. Way Lethal”. Better than that though, he introduced a pair of tragic vamps. Smokey-eyed, bleach-blond Spike and always-afflicted sorrow-souled Angel were both introduced into the Buffy show but eventually outgrew their roles there and turned into breakout anti-heros with a new show, and multiple comics. And what of their diet de-jour? Well, Spike (in the fourth season of the series) was implanted with a chip rendering his bloody biting habit incapacitated. And Angel? Well, cursed with a soul, he’s the vampire forced to pay the world back for the sins he committed earlier in life. Sure both these babe-magnets had their anti-hero appeal, but in the end, Angel ended up solving mysteries with some chick with a thing for bones, and Spike was revealed to be a rather poor version of Brainiac.
Blade – We could get into the comic backstory here… how the brainchild of Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan in the early 70’s was Eric Brooks. Brooks’ mother was ravaged by vampire Deacon Frost during his birth, thus granting him a swatch of vampiric powers. Of course, this rambles on, as most comic backstories do… But allow us to switch to the recent movie-marvel-verse version we’re all a bit more familiar with. Similar to his comic counterpart, Blade’s mother was attacked by a vampire prior to his birth, and due to it, was imbued with all the vampires powers, and none of their weaknesses; Save for the worst one around, the lust for human blood. But Wesley Snipe’s Blade is a tragic hero, choosing to exist off a concocted “formula” made by his mentor (Stick, aka the dude who opened for Johnny Cash back in the day…) rather than suck the blood from humans. The pros? Well, Blade looks super cool in his trench-coat as he lays waste to vampires ranging from the prissy Steven Dorff to the steroidal Triple H, all while having that “Gritty Hero with the Heart of Gold™” look abouts him. The cons? Well, three decent movies down, and Blade hasn’t really found his audience in the funny books just yet. Sucks, don’t it?
Joe Sarno, Pioneer Fan and Retailer, Passes
Forgive me if this one gets a little personal. My very long-time
friend, comics store pioneer Joe Sarno, died today from a fall that followed a
severe, long-standing illness.
A long-time science fiction fan dating back to the 1950s,
Joe started The Fantasy Collectors of Chicago in 1969, a comics-oriented pop
culture club. It was an outgrowth of the weekend gatherings he held in the
basement of his Albany Park home, which turned into a marketplace for fans to
trade and sell comics. As a teen-aged fan I was first exposed to a great many
(then) hard-to-find classics in Joe’s basement: Justice Society, Caniff’s Terry
and the Pirates, EC Comics, The Spirit. As Joe also featured related popular
culture ephemera such as movie serials, old teevee shows, old time radio and
the like, just going to his place provided a valuable education.
In 1971, Joe opened his basement to the public, becoming one
of the nation’s first dedicated comic book stores. Slightly more than a year
later, he took his basement store out to the neighborhood, opening The
Nostalgia Shop at Lawrence near Pulaski, next door to Emil’s Meat Shop. For
comics fans, it was a joy to behold. He attracted quite a number of customers
who were notorious, or would go on to assume some notoriety on their own:
Hilary Barta, Max Allan Collins, Don Glut, Jim Harmon, Walter Koenig, John
Ostrander, Alex Ross, Chuck Schaden, Mark Silvestri, Gene Siskel, Terry
Zwigoff… to name-drop but a very few.
Over time, The Nostalgia Shop evolved into Comic Kingdom and
it changed and added locations until March 1, 2003, when age, health and a
diminishing market encouraged Joe to move his operation to the Internet.
Joe’s boundless sense of wonder and enthusiasm for the
medium was quite infectious. He loved to turn people onto stuff he enjoyed and
was always willing to listen to recommendations. He took his friendships deeply
– long after I moved to the New York area, Joe would open his store to accommodate
my schedule (and that of fellow-Chicagofan George Hagenauer, who moved to
Madison and would join me and my wife Linda), where we’d pluck goodies from his
shelves and then share lunch at the corner greasy spoon. I treasure those days.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Joe was also a
co-founder of the original Chicago Comicon, joining people including Larry
Charet, Jim Engel, Chuck Fiala, Ron Massengil, George Hagenauer and myself in
producing what quickly became one of the preeminent comic book conventions in
the nation. Long since sold to Wizard World, Joe made one of his last public
appearances at the 2009 show.
Joe Sarno is survived by his wife Joan and his children
Laura, Jamie, and Adrienne.
A special tribute to Joe will be held at the Chicago Comic
& Entertainment Expo (a.k.a. C2E2) http://www.c2e2.com/ in McCormick Place on Saturday, April 17
from 12:15 PM to 1:15 PM. Panelists will include JJ Sedelmaier, George Breo,
Larry Charet, Jim Engel, Ron Masengill, Jim Wisniewski and myself. The event
will be held in room E352.
Tim Burton To Tackle Charles Addams?
It was a long, long running series of one-panel cartoons. It was an iconic teevee series. It was subject of two pretty decent movies. It was almost a DC Comic by Mike Baron and Bill Wray. It is the subject of a Broadway play that opened last week to mediocre reviews. And now it looks like The Addams Family will be a Tim Burton movie.
But with a twist. This adaptation will be based upon Charles Addams’s misanthropic cartoons in the New Yorker magazine and not in the spirit of the teevee series. Woo-Hoo!
According to Deadline Hollywood, it isn’t a done deal and Burton and his pal Johnny Depp are preparing their version of Dark Shadows. One wouldn’t want Burton to get typecast, right?
Either way, Universal Studios paid for the rights and it’s possible the movie might actually get made. If it winds up being a Burton-less adaptation of the musical I wouldn’t be surprised, although neither Nathan Lane nor Bebe Neuwirth are known as big box office. No matter what, as long as they get the theme song in, I’ll be happy.
Diamond Distributing Promotes IDW
Diamond Comic Distributors just promoted our friends at IDW to “Premier” status. Essentially, that means IDW’s titles – which include the ComicMix line as well as Transformers, Doctor Who, Angel, Star Trek and a great many others – will now appear in the highly valued front portion of the monthly Diamond catalog. This is a much desired position, and marks the first time a publisher has joined this elite group (Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, and DC) since the whole Premier thing started almost 15 years ago. There are various programs that make it more convenient for retailers to order IDW’s books that will be implemented later in the year.
Diamond has been IDW’s exclusive distributor to both the comic book stores and “traditional” book stores suck as Barnes and Noble. This relationship, of course, will not change.
“We are very pleased to have completed this groundbreaking agreement with Diamond,” said Ted Adams, CEO of IDW Publishing. “By combining Diamond’s leadership in distribution with IDW’s ten-plus years in developing, creating and marketing comic books and graphic novels, we have created an ideal relationship for each of our companies. The comic book medium is trending upward in all parts of consumer awareness and we are proud to be a partner with Diamond for the future.”
Our congratulations to our friends at both companies.
The Four Questions with Adam-Troy Castro
As sophists worldwide are aware, HaRav, HaGoan, HaWriter Adam-Troy Castro’s “Dear Magneto” essay is currently challenging more than 3000 years of Talmudic wisdom on the subject of homo-superior-phobia. Consequently, we stood in line, knee-deep in rain and runoff, for nearly sixteen hours along with hundreds of the revered Talmudist’s loyal chassidim, just waiting for a brucha from the tzadik… and once we’d gained an audience, we, in our unmitigated chutzpah, dared post these four kashas to the scholarly sage in the spirit of the coming festival of the Passover.
Why is Magneto different from all other super villains?
Unlike the vast majority of super-villains (among them Graviton, who “can crack the planet in two and still can’t get laid”), Magneto has character; he’s been wronged, he has a case, he’s pursued his ideals to their logical extreme and, like a tragic Shakespearean villain, it has brought him nothing but personal tragedy. He has lost his friends (Xavier), his wife (Magda), the love of his children (Wanda and Pietro), the respect of the people who could have become his community (the X-Men) and his potential (which, it’s clear, was limitless; a man with his smarts could have changed the world for the better). Magneto is a guy who made all the wrong decisions for all the right reasons, and my “open letter” can be seen as an attempt at an intervention.
How does a serious science-fiction writer read comics—sitting or reclining?
Eating.
Your X-essay is getting lots of attention–and rightly so. Is it read best when dipping or not dipping?
It must be read, footnotes and all, at one sitting for the full effect.
Which Jewish comic character would you like to write and would Doc Samson eat matzoh, or is that too high in carbs?
Benjamin J. Grimm. Or that other famous Jew, Kal-El. (Actually, I always suspected the ’70s Oliver Queen of being Jewish; he had the attitude.) I don’t know if Doc Samson eats matzoh or not, but I’m sure as hell happy that Bruce Banner doesn’t. The last thing we need is the Hulk, constipated.
Rashi notes that HaRav Adam-Troy Castro (the Hugo-, Nebula- and Stoker-nominated author who has also penned four Spider-Man novels) is also responsible for the Andrea Cort novels, EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD and THE THIRD CLAW OF GOD; and the upcoming illustrated books Z IS FOR ZOMBIE and V IS FOR VAMPIRE, both with Johnny Atomic. There’s some secret projects that he’s working on, too, but that would be telling.
For more Semitic ado about nothing, visit EVERYONE’S WRONG AND I’M RIGHT (the blog of author Clifford Meth) at thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com.
