Author: Josh Wigler

Every month, Zuda Comics, the online imprint of DC Comics, holds a competition featuring 10 different webcomics. The winner is selected based on a combination of factors including amount of votes, how often it’s been “favorited” and its overall user rating. The winning comic receives a contract to continue the series for 52 more pages on Zuda’s Web site.

For October’s competition, the Zuda editorial staff is punching out and handing the reins over to Peter and Robert Timony, creators of the Zuda comic Night Owls. In the spirit of Halloween, this month’s competitors are loaded with terrifying creatures, tantalizing mysteries and eerie landscapes. While every book doesn’t chime in on the holiday-inspired horror, each one has unique qualities that make for a month of fierce competition.

We’ve got the breakdown on all 10 of October’s Zuda books. Find out what’s good and what’s not so good, then go to Zuda to read and vote for your favorite book!

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Warner Bros. is quietly setting up The Odyssey with Brad Pitt’s Plan B producing and George Miller (Mad Max) attached to direct. The hope is that Brad Pitt will also star as Odysseus, who embarks on his long journey home from the Trojan War after declining to become a god.

WB previously released Troy, which was essentially a retelling of Homer’s The Illiad. While The Odyssey would continue the translation of Homer’s poems to the big screen, there’s a big difference between the two versions: Warner Bros. wants to put Odysseus in space.

Variety reports: "[The WB’s] intention is to transfer the tale [of The Odyssey] to a futuristic setting in outer space."

The announcement of a science fiction twist on The Odyssey comes shortly after Ridley Scott’s recently announced The Forever War. Scott describes that flick, which is based on the Joe Haldeman novel of the same name, as "a science-fiction epic, a bit of The Odyssey by way of Blade Runner." Forever War is being set up by Fox 2000, a rival company of the WB’s.

Brad Pitt will next be seen in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a reverse aging epic with much rumored Oscar buzz. George Miller is currently most known for Justice League Mortal, the controversial adaptation of the beloved DC Comics property. It’s still unclear as to whether the film is being made, as several executives and journalists call the project "dead in the water," but others attached to the film, such as would-be Batman Armie Hammer, continue to speak as though the movie is still on track. Personally, a George Miller directed sci-fi version of The Odyssey sounds a lot better than his proposed Justice League film.

Latino Review states that Grayskull, the reimagining of the He-Man property, is dead in the water over at Warner Bros.

According to the Web site, the WB had a short list of directors they’d be comfortable handing the film to, including Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) and Bryan Singer (Superman Returns). Both directors and others passed on the property, despite some "up and coming directors that were gung ho on the script, but the studio wasn’t feeling them."

Additionally, the film’s biggest champion, Navid McIIhargey, left Silver Pictures, the company developing Grayskull, to become a Senior Vice President at New Regency. As a child, McIIhargey grew up with the He-Man character and was doing work "day to day to get He-Man over the mountain and get the movie made." As such, without a strong advocate, Grayskull never stood a chance.

The site also reports that Mattel, the company that holds the rights to He-Man action figures and related merchandise, is "infurated at Warner, [and] they want the property back to take it elsewhere." The toy company is understandably frustrated as Paramount continues to pump out films for 80’s darlings Transformers and G.I. Joe, allowing Hasbro to reign supreme as the ruler of the action figure market.

Grayskull is a script from Justin Marks, who also penned the upcoming Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and Hack/Slash. Latino Review wrote a rave review of the He-Man script, calling it another potential "Lord of the Rings combining both mythology and science fiction." Other Web sites, such as Ain’t it Cool News, disagree completely with Latino Review’s praise.

In the He-Man universe, Castle Grayskull is a fortress on the planet Eternia. The castle is a high priority target for Skeletor and his cronies who believe the secrets locked within would lead the way to become Masters of the Universe.

Brett Ratner has unsheathed his cinematic broadsword to impale the tender teat of the much beloved barbarian, Conan.

Ain’t It Cool News reports that "it appears to be official that Brett Ratner is directing [Conan]." According to the Web site, the film’s scribe Howard McCain (Outlander) "had some big plans for how to structure the film," drawing inspirations from the original Robert Howard stories rather than the John Milius directed Conan the Barbarian.

"I could tell the material was in the right hands," says AICN’s Moriarty of McCain after the two met earlier this year. But with the news of Ratner’s involvement, Moriarty describes his excitement level as falling "through the floor."

"Oh, Brett… why do you want to hurt me? Why do you want to make this movie?" writes Moriarty. "Please, please, please tell me it’s because you have a genuine passion for the material and not just because it’s a start date and a financing package that’s ready to go. Please tell me that you really care about the character and its history, and not that it’s just ‘Hey, I recognize that name.’"

Ratner is also attached to direct God of War, Playboy, Hong Kong Phooey, Beverly Hills Cop, Guitar Hero, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Captain Planet and a remake of X-Men: The Last Stand. Okay, those last three are fake, but let’s get serious for a moment. Brett Ratner directing God of War? Okay, fine. The property hasn’t been around long enough to be seriously offensive. Playboy, Guitar Hero? Screw it, go bananas, video games and sexy women sound right up your alley.

But Conan? Good freaking gravy. It’s bad enough that Ratner’s poised to spread his film feces all over Axel Foley’s face, now we have to watch the director hack away at what should be a truly incredible movie. Honestly, how does Ratner have all this time to ruin our childhood memories? He’s attached to direct six different movies right now. For reemphasis, let’s quote the late Heath Ledger’s Joker: "Six!"

Clearly Ratner has perfected cloning technology. The world will soon be swarming with millions of his Rat-creatures, sucking out man brains like so much fruit punch and repopulating the human race with his genetically mutated army.

Either that, or Ratner’s a Highlander and has been consuming other Highlanders’ powers for centuries, in which case all we need to do is collectively chop off his head. With the unified rage of the fan community, that might not be so hard to pull off.

Feel free to commiserate and plan your battle strategies in the comments field below.

Bones McCoy might not be a magician, but someone at Paramount is casting a spell over the internet as the studio unveils several new photos from the upcoming Star Trek reboot. The photos were divvied out by the company to different Web sites, and are also featured in the recent issue of Entertainment Weekly. The magazine has an exclusive cover depicting James Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto), the stars of the upcoming film.

This is the second time this year that Paramount has deliberately distributed production stills online for their movies. Earlier this year, Paramount assigned different character portraits from G.I. Joe to carefully chosen Web sites, including IGN and Latino Review.

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Even super-heroes need to take a little R&R every now and again. The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis and Malin Akerman are joining Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman and Vince Vaughn for Couples Retreat. The Universal backed comedy is directed by Peter Billingsley and scripted byFavreau.

The story centers on "four couples who go to a tropical island resort, with one couple working on their marriage and the others sucked into the resort’s couples therapy." Bell is playing Bateman’s wife, Davis is playing Favreau’s and Akerman is Vaughn’s. Faizon Love will be the fourth male lead, though no female counterpart has been announced.

Nearly every person attached to Couples Retreat has some sort of past or current involvement in a superhero franchise. Kristen Bell recently starred in NBC’s Heroes and is expected to continue on a recurring basis. Malin Akerman plays the Silk Spectre in Watchmen. Jon Favreau directed and starred in Iron Man and its upcoming sequel, as well as played Foggy Nelson in Daredevil. Jason Bateman was recently seen in Hancock. Faizon Love was briefly featured in 1993’s Meteor Man. Kristin Davis recently appeared in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D. Even director Billingsley had a bit role in Iron Man.

Vince Vaughn is the only one left on the super-hero sidelines. While he’s starred in some geek friendly projects such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the actor lacks a super-hero franchise to call his own, which begs the question: what super-hero project should Vaughn get involved in, if any, and who should he play? Give us your suggestions!