A total of $53,455 has been raised by the Siegel and Shuster Society’s fund raising efforts after just two weeks. The $50,000 goal for exterior repairs to Jerry Siegel’s’ boyhood home was exceeded after week two’s auction haul of $18,996. Two more weeks of auction will proceed while t-shirt sales will continue. Once the auction ends, work will begin on both the exterior and interior of the home.
Marvel’s Digital Comics will begin original material for the first time, with two strips based on this year’s movies, Iron Man and Incredible Hulk. In fact, the content will be based on the film versions not the comic book continuities so as to appeal to a wider audience. The stories will run weekly, with new installments showing up on Wednesday, the traditional “new comic day”.
Iron Man: Fast Friends, starting tomorrow, is said to focus on the relationship between Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes. It’s written by Paul Tobin, with art by Ronan Cliquet and covers by Dave Bullock.
Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files, launching October 8, will feature Nick Fury investigating Bruce Banner. It’s written by Frank Tieri, with art by Salva Espin and covers by Steve Lieber.
Both strips are timed to the impending DVD releases of the films with Iron Man due September 30 and Incredible Hulk due out October 21.
Between Friends, an internationally syndicated comic strip, will tackle a spousal abuse storyline between now and November. The strip, conceived in 1994 by Canadian cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy, is carried in 140 papers via King Features Syndicate.
The strip, according to its website, is a contemporary comic strip that celebrates the essence and angst of three forty-something women friends. Maeve, Susan, and Kimberly have evolved with time, ala For Better or For Worse, with Susan and Kimberly now parents.
The mostly humorous strip is veering into serious territory for a change because "a friend of mine was involved in this type of situation when she was in her early 20s," the cartoonist told Editor & Publisher. Bell-Lundy. "She confided in me years later…." Bell-Lundy did field research, visiting women’s shelters to gain insight before embarking on the story.
Bluewater Productions has added William Shatner to their growing line of celebrity endorsed comic books. Following in the footsteps of Ray Harryhausen, Vincent Price and Roger Corman, Shatner will have comics based on his novels including Man O’ War and Quest for Tomorrow. These will be published as miniseries, continuing the stories with talent yet to be announced.
His TekWar, written with Ron Goulart and an unnamed fourth title round out the commitment between the actor and the publisher. TekWar will also be a continuation. All four are scheduled to come out in the first quarter of 2009, available in comic shops as the hoopla surrounding the reboot of Star Trek edges towards its May 8 release.
The TekWar universe was adapted previously by Marvel Comics in the early 1990s and ran for 24 issues, written solely by Goulart. Darren G. Davis, president of Bluewater, has promised the ongoing series will be more faithful to the source material which ran in nine novels. It was also adapted as four telefilms and a one-season syndicated series starring Greg Evigan.
Bluewater’s publisher Darren Davis said in a release, “Mr. Shatner is a savvy businessman and a creative mastermind. We’re honored to be partnering with him and are confident our efforts will create comic books both his fans and ours will embrace.”
“With all of these comics, I have final approval," Shatner told the Los Angeles Times. "This is not a licensing arrangement; this will be me involved very directly throughout the process. They are going to do adaptations of my ideas and also sequels; they will be in the stores in March of 2009. I loved comics as a kid. I used to sit under the sheets with a flashlight and read Superman when I was six in Montreal and now, with the comics as they are today, it’s thrilling, really.”
Of the old Gold Key comic adaptations of Star Trek, Shatner enthused, "Oh, they were great. They always made me look so skinny."
This is how a rumor starts. A star visits a studio and is spotted leaving, carrying something that might be indicative of something new. In this case, someone spotted Eva Longoria visiting the offices of Marvel Studios and was seen walking out with a stack of comics. Suddenly, the spies at Film School Rejects has concluded she had a preliminary meeting to discuss her participation as Janet Van Dyne, a.k.a. the Wasp, in the planned 2011 Avengers film.
Could they be right? Sure. Could she have been paying a social call about any number of things? More than likely.
Is this newsworthy? You decide.
Of course, it does give us an excuse to run a picture of her in a wasp-like outfit.
Veteran actor and host Trey Farley (Bend it Like Beckham) will host Sci Fi Chanel’s latest reality show, Chase.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Chase will be an hour-long show following contestants playing laser tag against one another for prizes. Each week will pit contestants against one another in landmarks around Los Angeles.
The channel has ordered six episodes and the series will debut November 11 in the 10 p.m. slot.
"I actually like where [the writers have] taken the whole storyline this year for everybody, including Elle," Kristin Bell told Sci Fi Wire about her participation Heroes season three.
Her character, the electrically-charged psycho Elle Bishop, will be seen in some 13 episodes this season. Her connections to the other characters will be explored showing she is more than just the daughter of Robert Bishop (Stephen Tobolowsky), one of the earlier generation of powered people.
"They’re showing more of her human side," Bell told the site. "She’s this vaguely barbaric, unfeeling, antisocial adaptive killer who’s coy. However, she’s had some tough decisions to make [over the years, and the writers are] giving her more depth. There are flashback scenes showing that she’s intricately woven into people’s lives before you met her. She met a lot of [the characters] before she was introduced on the show."
Season three, entitled, Villains, kicks off one week from tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC.
Kung Fu Panda was a critical and box office surprise hit when it opened in late June. Now, it is surprising people again as Paramount Home Video has announced that the November 9 DVD release will come bundled with an original tale. The Sunday release comes two days ahead of the traditional street date for books, CDs and DVDs.
The double pack of Kung Fu Panda and Secrets of the Furious Five will retail for under $25 according to Hollywood Reporter. The single disc version of the feature film is expected to retail for under $20 in a standard edition. A Blu-ray version is also anticipated for the same date.
The new story, will explore the established characters’ backgrounds with Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman lending their voices once more as Po and Master Shifu respectively.
The DreamWorks Animation film grossed $213.8 million during the summer, making it a hugely profitable CG-animated hit.
Framelight Prods. Has opened its doors for business and has promised to take edgy and innovative graphic novels and turn them into exciting feature films for Fanboys of all ages. They also happen to be fairly obscure properties.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the company is fronted by producer Jeffrey Erb and entrepreneur Robert Robinson Jr. They have financing to produce up to eight films over the next five years with budgets ranging from $20 to $80 million.
Their first announced projects include the obscure Dr. Deth with Kip and Muffy which ran in the color incarnation of Marvel’s Bizarre Adventures. The short series was written by Larry Hama, better known for his work on Bucky O’Hare and G.I. Joe, and artist Bob Camp. The violent series was noteworthy given the innocent appearing artwork akin to Peanuts belying the horrible events being depicted.
They have also optioned Deadworld, originally published by Caliber Press, later Image Comics, and now available through Desperado. Created by Gary Reed, the zombie series was a forerunner for the genre that continues to this day.
Sins of the Fallen and a version of 1001 Arabian Nights were also optioned from Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco’s Zenescope Entertainment. The former posits that the vilest criminals throughout history were fallen angels with an agenda.
"We don’t want to traditionally option a title; we want to partner with the creator on every aspect of the production," Robinson, founder of communications companies Xportical, B2BCast and Supply Marketing, told the trade.
"We weren’t the only producers wanting to make movies based on these creators’ babies, but we were the only ones inviting them in as co-producers," said Erb.
The new studio is constructing offices at Norristown Studios, a 300,000-square-foot studio and soundstage facility being built in Pennsylvania.
Many people complaint that some serialized shows are tough to follow given their serialized nature. Complex ones, such as Alias or Lost, certainly have shed viewers who miss even one episode and get confused when they tune back in. These days, DVD box sets help a lot but not everyone likes to buy or even rent these.
For those people, today is an important one as both G4 and Sci Fi Channel begin rerunning Lost from the pilot episode going forward.
Sci Fi Channel will air the two-hour pilot and the next two episodes tonight beginning tonight at 7 p.m. Every Monday night the channel turns over all four hours of prime time to the series so you can get caught up in time for the new season’s debut on ABC sometime in January. The minisite also provides context and clues.
G4, on the other hand, will be offering one episode per night, beginning tonight at 9 p.m. but will offer them in their patented 2.0 format, with interactive elements plus on screen data such as facts, character profiles and creators’ commentary and polls, games, and chat functionality available online.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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