Author: Chris Ullrich

Sunday, Day Two at Wizard World in LA and this time around its the Screenwriter’s panel. Moderator Rickey Purdin introduced a distinguished group of successful screenwriters including Mark Verheiden, Carl Ellsworth, John Cox and Zak Penn. With the intros finished, Purdin launched into a short video montage featuring clips from some of the projects the members of the panel had written.

Some of these clips included scenes from The Mask, X-Men 2, Disturbia, Smallville, Red Eye and Battlestar Galactica. Following the clips, Purdin started in on the questions for the panel.

First up, how each of the writers got their various starts in the "business."

Cox started it off saying that, infortunately, he didn’t have a “sexy story" to tell. Instead, like many others, he went to film school with the intention of being a director. However, he soon found out that directing was “too much like working for a living" and decided to switch to screenwriting.

“My story is pretty sexy,” joked Penn. “I was a stripper for a couple of years. It’s a weird job. It was in a female strip club and I was the only guy there, and I stood out.”

"No, I’m joking. Obviously," he continued. "Actually, I got really lucky and wrote Last Action Hero pretty much right out of college and then sold it pretty fast. So that was it for me." (more…)

Day Two at Wizard World LA and this time around it’s the X-Men Panel, hosted by Marvel Marketing Honcho Jim McCann. Featured on the panel are X-Force co-writers and "life partners" Chris Yost and Craig Kyle, as well as Matt Fraction, Marvel editor Aubrey Sitterson and X-Factor writer Peter David. Young X-Men writer Marc Guggenheim ran a bit late but managed to phone in and confirm, via speakerphone, that he would be arriving shortly.

And so, with introductions over, McCann went right into the announcements and the slideshow.

The first slide showed three of the "Divided We Stand" titles which include X-Force, Cable and X-Men Legacy. Seeing the slide, McCann jokingly referred to Cable as "Two men, two natural arms, and a baby."

Sitterson then chimed in and talked about X-Men: Legacy, saying "There is a nostalgic aspect to it, but it’s also a story picking up directly from ‘Messiah Complex.’" He continued: "X-Men Legacy picks up what’s going on with Professor X after he takes a bullet to the brain. We’re checking in with these giants of the Marvel mutant universe. Gambit will be among those that show up in the series."

Next, McCann let the audience know about the current story arc of Uncanny X-Men — particularly why everyone seems to be heading for San Francisco. "The San Francisco stuff is not just for fun, this is definitely leading up to something," he said. ‘It all makes sense what Brubaker is doing."  (more…)

Day one at Wizard World LA and we’re in the Mike Wieringo room for the DC Nation Panel featuring DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio, VP of Sales Bob Wayne and writer Adam Beechen.

Getting right to it, DiDio introduced the other members of the panel and then, as is his style at events like these, launched right into the Q&A, taking question from the eager fans in attendance.

First question out of the gate was about the "New Gods" and their story. Specifically, the fan wanted to know about their deaths.

To answer, DiDio explained that the stories originally created by Jack Kirby during his DC period were great but subsequently some of the later writers were trying to hard to honor his creations and execute what they thought Kirby would want.

Consequently, according to DiDio, "the Fourth World and the DCU never really fit together harmoniously."

"And now you’re killing the New Gods off?" another fan chimed in.

"Yes, but they’ll get better," DiDio answered. "Death of the New Gods is about closure to that story."

Pushing further on the Fourth World questions, another fan asked about Batman’s potential involvement, citing rumors on the Internet to that effect.

"You can’t react to rumors," answered DiDio. "They’re often misinterpretations of information or personal agendas. The rumor involving Batman is a silly idea." (more…)

Previously, I brought you the first pic and an interview about the upcoming direct-to-DVD sequel to one of the cult-favorite films of the ’80s: The Lost Boys. And now over at MTV, they’ve released the exclusive new trailer for the sequel, known as Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, for your viewing pleasure.

And as if that wasn’t enough, along with the trailer they’ve also got an interview with Edgar Frog himself, Corey Feldman, where he discusses, among other things, the new film’s story, its characters and how the sequel fits in with the original timeline. He also talks about how his character has evolved since the first film and how important it was for the sequel to stay true to the original and not disappoint hardcore fans.

Finally, he reveals that Corey Haim is, in fact, in the new movie and talks a bit about their strained relationship. The trailer itself features what you would expect from a movie like this: action, motorcycles, attractive young people in danger, blood, gore and vampires, vampires, vampires. Surprisingly, after watching it a couple times, the movie doesn’t seem as cheesy as I thought it would. In fact, it looks pretty good.

Lost Boys 2: The Tribe hits DVD store shelves in July.