Author: Robert Greenberger

Sci-Fi Fan Favorite Summer Glau is Supergirl in ‘Superman/Batman: Apocalypse’

  • News
  • September 29, 2010

Summer Glau knows her audience.

Whether as River Tam in Joss Whedon’s cult classic series and follow-up film, Firefly and Serenity, or as the indestructible android-from-the-future Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Glau has cornered the market on playing attractive, demure young females with the controlled homicidal power to destroy an opposing legion of trained warriors.

So it was only natural that as her first-ever animated voiceover role, Glau would fit neatly into the role of an uber-powered Kryptonian who falls under the spell of one of Superman’s greatest foes. Glau finds the perfect mix of youthful curiosity, teen angst and alien-turned-Earth-girl aggression as the voice of Kara, cousin of Superman (and ultimately destined to become Supergirl) in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies out this week from Warner Home Video.

Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel Superman/Batman: Supergirl by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner and Peter Steigerwald, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation legend Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist). Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is now available as a Blu-ray Combo Pack, Special Edition DVD, On Demand and for Download.

Glau’s career has been populated with frequent visits to the fanboy realm, adding regular roles on The 4400 and Dollhouse to her featured gigs on Firefly/Serenity and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The professionally trained ballerina had a seven-episode run on The Unit, and will appear in the upcoming NBC series, The Cape, as well as in the film. Knights of Badassdom.

Following her recording session, Glau freely discussed a number of subjects – from the acting strengths of the Whedon alumni association to her consistent on-set nerves to a strong desire to land more adult roles. Here’s how that conversation went …

QUESTION: Was it easy to find a way to relate to Kara?

SUMMER GLAU: Kara was a really comfortable fit for me because she’s sort of a girl coming into her own.  A girl becoming a woman and finding out who she is, and so I felt like there were moments when it reminded me of River because she is so powerful, but also young and naïve and a little bit lost. She has this underlying strength that comes from out of nowhere. (more…)

superman-batman-apocalypse-edit1-5986381

Review: ‘Superman/Batman: Apocalypse’

superman-batman-apocalypse-edit1-5986381While the various animated series featuring the DC Universe heroes have had a loose connectivity, the feature films from Warner Premiere have been fiercely independent with variations in look, vocal cast and attitude. That is, until now. In Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, out today from Warner Home Entertainment, we have the first animated feature to immediately pick up on the events of a previous offering, in this case Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Of course, it makes sense since they both are drawn from the Superman/Batman ongoing series and comprise the title’s first two story arcs.

The arc, from Jeph Loeb and the late Michael Turner, introduced Supergirl to New Earth. In [[[Public Enemies]]], President Luthor tried to blame a large kryptonite asteroid en route to Earth on Superman. After the World’s Finest team destroyed the threat and exposed Luthor’s criminal activity, all seemed safe. As the new feature opens, a voiceover recaps those events and sets up a chunk of the shattered rock splashing into Gotham Bay. As [[[Batman]]] investigates, he encounters a naked, confused teen girl who is speaking gibberish. Demonstrating super-powers, she is confused and causing havoc, requiring intervention from the Man of Steel, who comes to realize this is his cousin Kara Zor-El.

The personality differences between the Dark Knight and the Metropolis Marvel have never been better portrayed in a story, which was adapted for the film by Tab Murphy. Batman’s suspicious and cautious while Superman is delighted to find a blood relative after all these years of emotional isolation. How they react to her arrival informs their actions for the remainder of the story. Also, Murphy does a nice job of delineating a teen who has lost her parents and home, finding herself a stranger in a very strange land. She’s young and innocent, striving to find an identity and rebelling when the adults try to dictate her future without consulting her.

(more…)

Fan Favorite Tim Daly returns as Man of Steel in ‘Superman/Batman: Apocalypse’

  • News
  • September 28, 2010

Tim Daly, the fan’s choice as the quintessential voice of the Man of Steel from his days portraying the title character for the landmark Superman: The Animated Series, once again supplies those All-American tones in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. The ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies arrives Tuesday from Warner Home Video.

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse will be available as a Blu-ray Combo Pack, Special Edition DVD, On Demand and for Download.

Daly was the voice behind the world’s ultimate super hero for 52 episodes of Superman: The Animated Series and several animated movies, all the while starring in one primetime television series after another – from eight seasons on Wings to memorable roles on HBO’s The Sopranos and From The Earth To The Moon to his current ABC hit, Private Practice. The Emmy nominated actor made his feature film debut in Barry Levinson’s 1982 classic Diner.

Daly joins forces with Batman voice Kevin Conway to lead a Superman/Batman: Apocalypse cast that boasts two-time Emmy Award winner Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age) as the evil lord Darkseid, sci-fi heroine Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly; Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), and multi-Emmy winner Ed Asner (Up) as Granny Goodness. Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel Superman/Batman: Supergirl by Jeph Loeb, Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation guru Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist).

Amongst the many activities surrounding the film’s upcoming release is “Destination Apocalypse,” an interactive online promotion that allows fans to get even deeper into the mythology of Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.  Fans can access “Destination Apocalypse” and explore the many sections including games, quizzes and information about film. Fans can even send Kryptonian messages to their Facebook friends.  In each section, participants virtually “check in” and earn badges to unlock an exclusive video clip from the movie.  In addition, earning badges for participating in the various activities in each section help to unlock exclusive movie poster downloads.

Daly joined the festivities at the World Premiere of http://DestinationApocalypse.com in Los Angeles on September 21 at The Paley Center for Media. The Metropolis, er, New York City-born actor offered his thoughts on a number of subjects – ranging from the Superman/Batman dynamic and the importance of a great villain to his love of farming – in a playful interview. And here’s what he had to say …

QUESTION: What did you find unique and/or fresh about this latest Superman-Batman vehicle?

TIM DALY: What’s interesting about the relationships in this film is that Superman and Batman are really on the same page. They are united and they only give each other a very modest amount of grief, whereas at other times they’ve been a little more at each other’s throats, and more dubious about the other one’s methods.  And Kara is, perhaps, Superman’s last surviving relative. So he feels very protective of her, and sort of glad to have someone who has had or is about to have a similar experience as he’s had coming to a different planet.  So it’s kind of touching, really. He’s very paternal towards her. He really wants her to do well and to stick around.

It’s nice to see his powers used in connection with something personal. He’s not saving the planet, he’s not saving Metropolis. He’s not saving Lois. He’s saving a blood relative. So it’s that kind of deeply personal feeling. I do enjoy that in the script.

(more…)

Review: ‘Doctor Who The Visual Dictionary’

  • Uncategorized
  • September 25, 2010

Doctor Who The Visual Dictionary

By Neil Corry. Jacqueline Rayner, Andrew Darling, Kerrie Dougherty, David John and Simon Beecroft
144 pages, DK Publishing, $24.99
 
Your first thought is, why on earth are we reviewing this book when it came out last year? The answer is – because this is a brand new edition, incorporating only some of the previous edition’s material and thoroughly revised to incorporate the known exploits of the eleventh Doctor.

The problem with fact books based on ongoing franchises is that almost immediately, the facts are outdated. Wisely, this new volume covers the entirety of the fifth season of the current version of the BBC’s perennial [[[Doctor Who]]] and is being released in that fallow period between the season ending and the Christmas Special.

Interestingly, Matt Smith’s Doctor is merely an insight to the brightly colored Daleks fronting this book, which is in the traditional large DK guidebook side. The Doctor’s equipment, friends, and foes certainly deserve large pages in which to luxuriate in the minutia. And boy is there plenty of detail here. Taking a cue from the [[[ Star Trek]]] tech manuals, the multitude of authors provide pseudo-scientific explanations to how things work. We get a nice double-gatefold examining the TARDIS and now we know what each station does. Yet, the cut-aways for the new Sonic Screwdriver do not give us any idea where the readout display goes.

Visually, the book covers the five seasons beginning with the Christopher Eccleston revival, heavily favoring the current Matt Smith era. The text, however, delves through the years with some information dating back to the earliest days of the Doctor so fans of the entire series will appreciate the acknowledgment of the past.

There, of course, can be quibbles. Some 20 pages are spent on the Daleks in all their colorful glory while the Doctor and his eleven incarnations get a mere six pages. Torchwood is under-represented as is dear old Wilf.

In some cases, we learn more about the alien races here than we ever did on the series, which enriches them to a degree. The photography and layout is visually engaging and clean to comprehend which is greatly appreciated.

If anything is missing, is some sort of timeline, establishing the various eras and worlds visited by the Doctors, which probably deserves a book of its own. This is a fine collection to flip through and cherish until the next edition rolls out. You have to love the Doctor to fully appreciate this treasure trove of information but most of us here at ComicMix fall into that category. Be sure to tell Santa you want this.

Review: ‘Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics’

Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics
By N.C. Christopher Couch
Abrams ComicArts; 224 pages, $35

The early days of comic books was a vast frontier as the rules were being written and the flourished so rapidly that the demand for talent was voracious. As a result, just about anyone, of any age, who could hold a brush or tell a story was given a chance to work. The more successful ones built up a client base and then brought in others to assist, paralleling the development of comic strips.

When young Bob Kane added the costumed feature Batman to his list of properties produced for Detective Comics, Inc, he found himself in need of help. He had already been working with writer Bill Finger to take his shapeless ideas and turn them into witty adventures. But, Batman meant Kane also needed artistic help and a chance meeting led to 17 year old Jerry Robinson beginning an artistic career that begins today.

Robinson is one of the last of his generation and remains a vital talent, curating museum shows and encouraging the next generation of talent. His story is known in bits and pieces but for the first time, his wide-ranging artistic career is covered in the aptly named [[[Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics]]].

Written by N.C. Christopher Couch, a former [[[Manga]]] editor and professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst, the book begins with a young Robinson learning to draw on his own while his family fell from the middle class during the Great Depression. It was while Robinson was on a brief vacation in the Poconos that Robinson met Kane and a friendship developed.

Quickly, Robinson was immersed in Kane and Finger’s world, brainstorming stories and characters whenever they were together. Robinson realized he was going to learn by doing and absorbed everything he could with Finger proving a knowledgeable tutor about all manner of fine arts, especially foreign films.

As organized, Couch’s work divides Robinson’s career into thematic chapters but you never really fit all the pieces together. While we know Batman had already debuted in [[[Detective Comics]]] # 27, on sale in the spring of 1939, and can intuit that by the time Robinson began working for Kane it was September, just in time for Finger to create Robin and add him to the feature but we’re never told which issue first featured Robinson’s work. Not long after, though, DC must have commissioned the [[[Batman]]] quarterly title which led to Robinson’s greatest contribution to comic books: creating the Joker. But Couch doesn’t lay it all out for us in a linear manner, so there are jumps and overlaps in Robinson’s career that would have benefitted from a better chronology or timeline as an appendix.

(more…)

300-1-9841117

Win a Digital Download for ‘300’

  • Uncategorized
  • September 22, 2010

300-1-9841117“We are Spartans!”

Join your voice once more as Zack Snyder’s wonderful 300 invades iTunes with as a digital download with Extras starting today!  Relive the action on your iPad, iPhone, etc…plus see behind the scenes footage and interviews with lead actor Gerard Butler and Snyder.

The Warner Bros. movie is now available for purchase at iTunes.

ComicMix readers, though, can win a a free digital download from our friends at Warner Digital. All you need to do is tell us before Thursday at 11:59 p.m. what you would have done in a similar situation. We’ll judge the answers and select one lucky winner.

<object width=”640″ height=”385″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2SuvsYp6zvU?fs=1&hl=en_US”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/2SuvsYp6zvU?fs=1&hl=en_US” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”640″ height=”385″></embed></object>

glee-season-11-4779684

Review: ‘Glee the Complete First Season’

[[[glee-season-11-4779684Glee]]] is frothy, delightful television that is as prone to being over-the-top as it is to be emotionally powerful. That it can successfully veer from one extreme to the other is one of the more impressive aspects of the Fox series, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. The show burst into the public consciousness with the clever airing of the pilot in the waning days of the 2008-2009 season and got people excited with something fresh and seemingly original (at least for prime time; no doubt Fox saw its potential after Disney’s success with [[[High School Musical]]].

When the show arrived last fall, it proved it was able to blend soap opera, music, and dance with an oddball assortment of characters with several vying for breakout status before Jane Lynch’s Sue Sylvester captured pop culture’s heart. The plight of the misfits that find themselves forming a glee club at Ohio’s William McKinley High School is the overarching theme as the team grows from a sextet to a full squad and prepares for sectionals and then regionals. As a result, we see them working on numerous pieces and with the show’s ratings climb, they stuffed in even more musical numbers which has neatly resulted in several soundtrack CDs already available.

When the show took an extended hiatus, Fox Home Entertainment released Glee, Volume One: Road to Sectionals to tide fans over. Now, in time for the premiere of season two this evening, Glee; The Complete First Season is out in both standard DVD and Blu-ray sets.

The show revels in its absurdity and doesn’t once try to make us think any of these characters are real or that the high school is really a place for learning. After all, we never see the kids in any academic class nor is homework ever a factor. Apparently, few of them need jobs or when they do can take them without breaking a sweat. We know there’s a faculty because we see them in the lounge where some of the more embarrassing adult shenanigans get discussed.

Where the series fell down was properly making us care for the dilemma Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) faced with his ditzy, desperate, deceptive wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig). Her fake pregnancy sub-plot was totally wasting time for other stories and her expulsion from the marriage seemed pre-ordained and yet, she remains attached to the show like a barnacle that won’t go away.

(more…)

avengers-emh-7204087

‘The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ has an October 20 Debut

  • Uncategorized
  • September 21, 2010

avengers-emh-7204087The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!, an all-new animated series featuring the best of the best in the Marvel Universe, premieres Wednesday, October 20 (8:30 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD. Produced by Marvel Animation, the series stars the world’s greatest heroes — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Ant-Man/Giant Man and Wasp — who form the Avengers, a team assembled when the powers of a single hero are not enough to save the world. Thsi essentially mirrors the line up as seen in the first 15 issues of the comic, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby and Don Heck.

Beginning Wednesday, Disney XD, DisneyXD.com/Avengers, Marvel.com, MarvelKids.com and Disney XD Mobile will roll out 20 micro-episodes introducing the team’s core members. Each five-and-half-minute episode focuses on the back story, allies and nemeses of the heroes before the Avengers were formed.

In the two-part series premiere, “The Breakout,” Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp have defeated some of the most dangerous super-villains on the planet. But when the super-villain prison system mysteriously shuts down, chaos is unleashed on the world. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes must now band together as the Avengers to protect the planet from the threats that no single super-hero could face alone. Their first task is to try and stop Graviton, a being whose power dwarfs anything ever seen. He’s after Nick Fury, but will destroy the world to get to him. Individually the heroes have no chance, but together they can make a difference.

The complete multiplatform rollout is:

Wednesday, September 22

Disney XD will air a special sneak peek of the first micro-series episode, “Iron Man is Born!,” at 8:30 p.m., ET/PT directly following premiere of the network’s newest series, “Pair of Kings.”

DisneyXD.com/Avengers, Marvel.com, MarvelKids.com and Disney XD Mobile will unveil a new micro-episode every day, for 20 days, leading up to the micro-episodes’ premiere on Disney XD. DisneyXD.com/Avengers will also feature a gallery of each of the Avengers and offer inside information about Kang, Loki and the rest of the “most wanted” Marvel Super Villains.

Tuesday, October 5  

Select micro-episodes will be made available as a free preview on iTunes.

Monday, October 11

Disney XD will roll out all 20 micro-episodes during “Avengers Week” from Monday, October 11 to Friday, October 15, with four micro-episodes stacked each night at 8:30 p.m., ET/PT.

The complete micro-series becomes available on Disney XD on Demand on AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Cox.

Wednesday, October 20

The highly anticipated series premiere of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! airs with two back-to-back episodes from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m., ET/PT. The series also launches on DisneyXD.com/Avengers, Marvel.com and Marvelkids.com.

Thursday, October 21

Full episodes launch on iTunes, Xbox Live, Sony Playstation and Disney XD Mobile VOD.

Monday, October 25

The series becomes available on Disney XD on Demand on AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Cox.

1000149528brdlef1-7176949

Review: ‘The Big Bang Theory the Complete Third Season’

1000149528brdlef1-7176949By the beginning of its third season, CBS’s [[[The Big Bang Theory]]] had crossed over from well-reviewed sitcom for geeks to a ratings blockbuster. The characters remained oblivious to this elevation in esteem while their performers and creators didn’t let the success get to their heads. Instead, the season’s 22 episodes remained sharp and funny, delving deeper into the characters, revealing back stories, and expanding on the work place dilemmas.

As seen in The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Third Season, now out from Warner Home Video, the major arc of the year was Penny and Leonard’s relationship, with her making efforts to understand his working world while he tried to socially adjust to her world. And when they broke up, the repercussions are keenly felt among the others – Sheldon, Raj, and Howard. The show nicely builds up the Sheldon/Penny relationship, which hit a dramatic point halfway through the second season and the chemistry between Kaley Cuoco and Emmy-winning Jim Parsons makes their scenes sheer delights. Penny’s romantic entanglement with Leonard also altered the roommate dynamic with Sheldon, which played out nicely throughout the season.

The four guys remain geeks that ComicMix fans recognize, for better or worse. As a result, episodes such as “The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary” and “The Wheaton Recurrence” with guest nemesis Wil Wheaton and “The Precious Fragmentation” are particularly enjoyable. But, the show begins to bring in stunt casting gimmicks such as “The Excelsior Acquisition” and the legendary Stan Lee, which is fine once a season, but can easily devolve if not kept in check. And as the third season begins, mastermind Chuck Lorre will be overseeing not only this gem, but [[[Two and a Half Men]]] and the newcomer, [[[Mike and Molly]]], so if the show jumps the shark, it could be this season.

(more…)

avengers-guide1-9804420

Review: ‘Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide’

Avengers: The Ultimate Character Guide

by Alan Cowsill
208 pages, DK Publishing, $16.99

avengers-guide1-9804420It’s a new Age of Heroes in the Marvel Universe but as always, the clarion call for champions is answered by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. With the hoopla surrounding the Marvel Studios’ announcements regarding the 2012 live-action [[[Avengers]]] movie, the timing is perfect for this book from DK Publishing.

Unfortunately, the book itself is already dated because they made little effort to make certain the status quo matched what was being published in the comic books. This is, of course, an exceedingly tricky proposition but thankfully, both Marvel and DC have recently hit demarcation points where you could say the information contained in these books are concurrent. (I managed to make next month’s [[[The Essential Superman Encyclopedia]]] information reflected the end of the [[[New Krypton]]] story so it can be done.) Reading through Alan Cowsill’s text, it is largely set during he events of Siege although some information is from the subsequent Age of Heroes so its inconsistent and confusing.

A book like this, especially from DK, prides itself on clarity of information and yet organizations and events are referred to and there’s no context or explanation provided, so it’s one thing to tell readers someone belonged to the Initiative, but what was the Initiative? The book also lacks any source material so you don’t have the usual listing of first appearances which is a major factual omission. Even more grievous is that for a book called Avengers, not once is there anything about the team. I was interested to see the line-up by line-up examinations along with explanations for the West Coast and New incarnations of the team.

Instead, this book features just over 200 heores and villains with information blocks, pointless power rankings, and lots of pop-ups with additional details. Visually, the material is mostly showing us the current incarnations of the character with smaller images culled from throughout Marvel history. This, though, may be the first time a book of this nature lacks substantial images culled from the first Marvel Age so Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and John Romita are severely underrepresented. Heck, titans like John Buscema, John Romita, Jr., John Byrne, and many others are also missing in action.

Over two dozen of the entries are out of date given the end of the Siege storyline. Perhaps the most inaccurate page is the one for Ant Man which gives us the deceased Scott Lang and never mentions the current Eric O’Grady, while the callout image of Hank Pym shows him as Giant Man.

There are some other serious gaffes such as giving us Clint Barton pages, one for Hawkeye and one for Ronin, which was superfluous. Similarly, Hank Pym gets pages as both Wasp II and Giant Man. The [[[Captain America]]] page is Steve Rogers with no page for Bucky as either the Winter Solider or Captain America II. In much the same way, the Black Panther page is all about T’Challa despite his sister being the current Panther (even in comics coming out this fall) but she gets merely a brief mention.

Characters who recently died such as[[[ Hercules]]], [[[Black Bolt]]], and [[[the Sentry]]] are said to be hale and hardy and while Jessica Jones’ page tells us she and Luke Cage had a child, Luke’s page neglects that detail as does the Invisible Woman entry neglect to mention Franklin and Valeria.

Books like these are great to thumb through and make a handy reference work but this one volume is a wee bit too all over the place to be anything more than a pretty picture book.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks