Author: Robert Greenberger

Drawn to be Wild discussed the changing image of women comic characters on the BBC’s Radio 4.

BBC News previewed the piece by providing a look at how females have changed through the years in animation, comic strips and comic books, both in the UK and America. They first begin with Betty Boop, the reining queen of animated vamps up to Jessica Rabbit.

Boop, popularized in a series of cartoon shorts from the Fleischer Brothers Studios, “was the first character in animation history to fully represent a sexual woman. She regularly wore short dresses, high heels and a garter belt and was an object of affection for many men.”

“Frequently topping the polls as the greatest female cartoon character and celebrating her 20th anniversary this year is Jessica Rabbit, the animated femme fatale of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, who risks all to help her man. Rabbit was about as sexy as a cartoon character could be, but a look at some of her predecessors and their trademark devices shows that every creation had their own unique appeal.” (more…)

Rob Zombie has, not surprisingly, signed on direct a sequel to his remake of John Carpenter’s Halloween. He and Dimension Films have stressed this will not be a remake of Halloween 2. 

Production is gearing up so H2 can be shot starting in March and readied for release in October according to Variety.

“The new film picks up right as the first remake ended, following the aftermath of Michael Myers’ murderous rampage through the eyes of the sister he hunted,” said the trade.

Zombie initially told the studio that he wasn’t interested in coming back, despite the remake’s $60 million haul last year.

"I was so burned out. (But) I took a long break, made a record and I got excited again," Zombie said. "Now, we’ll be hauling ass, and that’s the problem making a movie called Halloween‘ If you come out Nov. 1 or after, nobody cares. If it was called anything else, I’d be fine."

Zombie is also at work on other films incluiding the animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, based upon his comic book series, The Adventures of El Superbeasto. He’s also directing the live action Rob Zombie’s Tyrannosaurus Rex for Dimension.

The fictional online lifestyle is becoming fodder for a new film to be written by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) for director Gore Verbinksi (Pirates of the Caribbean).  Universal Studios acquired rights to a Wall Street Journal article from 2007 reporting on the problems one married couple had when the husband became addicted to his fantasy life according to Variety.

Alexandra Alter’s article featured the 53 year-old diabetic chain smoker who spent as many as 20 hours a day living through his Second Life avatar who was buff in appearance. The man’s wife attended support group meetings for those with spouses addicted to the online life and their marriage nearly dissolved.

The fantasy worlds have been the subject of documentaries, including Second Skin, but this is the first dramatic movie to touch on the subject.  It’s part of Verbinski’s recently signed first look deal with Universal.  He’s also shooting Bioshock, based on the video game plus producing The Host, a remake of the Korean thriller.

Charlaine Harris Charlaine Harris writes more than just novels featuring Sookie Stackhouse.  In fact, she just signed to writer the fourth Harper Connelly novel for Editor Ginjer Buchanan at Berkley Prime Crime, for publication in fall 2009.

Not only that, but she’s teaming with Toni Kelner to edit Death’s Excellent Vacation, a cross-genre anthology. Stories will play mix and match with the science fiction, fantasy, mystery and paranormal genres, with each story revolving around death and a holiday. Such blended anthologies have occurred before and may become a new trend. Buchanan will produce this for the Ace imprint, due out in spring 2010.

Dead and Gone, the eighth Stackhouse book, will be out in May 2009.

Speaking of vampires, the mother-daughter team of P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast’ have signed to write three more books in their House of Night series, plus an illustrated companion with award-winning artist Kim Doner, for Jennifer Weis at St. Martin’s Press.

As more and more people time shift their viewing habits, watching hit and cult shows at times of their choosing, Nielsen Co. has released their year end top 10 list of shows that gained the most audience as a result of DVR viewing using live + 7 day numbers. There’s little surprise that the SF genre dominated the list which included Heroes, Lost, and Fringe in addition to popular fare such as Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, and The Mentalist.

According to the list of cable series that benefitted, Battlestar Galactica topped the list, followed by Burn Notice, reruns of Heroes, Sanctuary, and Eureka.

Similarly, over in the UK, the BBC marks the first anniversary of the launch of its iPlayer catch-up TV service. According to the Guardian, Doctor Who was the show that had the most use followed by Top Gear. Genre series Merlin, coming to the US via NBC in 2009, ranked fifth.

DC Comics has announced that the contents for Green Lantern #37 and #38 have been altered. GL #37 will now be a part of the January Faces of Evil event in a story written by Geoff Johns, with art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert and a cover by Shane Davis and John Dell. According to DC, the story is a “prelude to The Blackest Night with ‘Rage of the Red Lanterns" part 3.’ Hal Jordan continues his journey into the deepest depths of Ysmault, unlocking the strange secrets behind Atrocitus’s crimson power and witnessing a bizarre prophecy all his own." The issue is due on sale January 21.

February will bring GL #38 which will feature a new Origins and Omens backup story. In this issue, written by Geoff Johns with art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert and a cover by Shane Davis and Sandra Hope, “the War of Light ignites as the first bizarre battle with the Red Lanterns comes to a blood-fueled conclusion. But what unexpected fate has befallen Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lanterns, and what new Green Lantern law is unveiled?” The issue is due on sale February 4.
 

Uclick has announced three more webcomics coming to their mobile store via Apple’s iTunes app store. We the Robots by Christ Harding, Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer, and Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney were all signed by Universal press Syndicate.

We the Robots has been a part of UPS’ Go Comics site since 2007 with Pibgorn being added this year.

Uclick CEO Douglas Edwards said in a release, “On the near horizon we’ll be offering many more well-known web-based creators in the App Store,” Edwards said. “If I told you any more than that, I’d be ruining the surprise. But I can tell you that we’ve made a firm commitment to bring the best in webcomics to the iPhone and iPod Touch, because we believe this device offers a fantastic comics-reading experience. As comics fans ourselves, we want the medium to be well-represented on these devices, and that means delivering more of the comics people love in the best on-device experience.”

Each episode costs $.99.