Author: Robert Greenberger

Conan the Barbarian was such a major figure in the heyday of the pulp magazines, that he made an indelible impression on readers. When Lancer Books took over the mass market paperback publishing for the Cimmerian in the 1960s, the Frank Frazetta cover images were so powerful, you had to notice. Since then, different generations have their own impression of how Robert E. Howard’s character and world should look. After Frazetta came Barry Smith and John Buscema and after them came Arnold Schwarzenegger and then…not much. The syndicated Conan featuring Ralf Möller barely made a ripple and as the rights went from owner to owner, he faded a bit from memory. Even the wonderful Dark Horse Comics adaptations have not quite made the stir the original comics did nor have the paperback originals from Tor and others had that same spark.

As a result, there was a lot riding on Lionsgate’s revival of the character and, sad to say, they failed at their task. Conan the Barbarian, which came out in August, was poorly marketed and came up short in the writing, production design, acting and directing, resulting in a worldwide box office of anemic proportions. Now, the movie is coming out this week as a Blu-ray combo pack and we get a chance to consider what went wrong.

(more…)

I missed the Voltron craze when the series first debuted in the United States but we here at ComicMix certainly recognize it remains a well-loved series. As a result, the following announcement should be welcome news.

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – July 19, 2011 –Infracells are up, mega thrusters are go and the legendary robot hero is ready to make his resurgence in Voltron: Defender of the Universe, scheduled for release in October on Xbox LIVE^® Arcade and PlayStation^®Network.

In this brand-new take on the classic Voltron animated adventure, players will find themselves teaming up to battle the evil forces of King Zarkon across the varied landscapes of Planet Arus. Interwoven with clips from the original animated television series, the new game from THQ (NASDAQ:THQI) promises a re-mastered adventure in stunning high-definition.

Voltron fans can finally relive some of the most defining moments from the classic series, or even introduce a new generation of young Space Explorers, as they command any of the individual Lions or even team up to form Voltron and wield his epic blazing sword.

Galactic peacekeepers may choose to play either online in seamless 1- to 5-player co-op or offline in 1- or 2-player co-op. Players will select a Lion based on a number of strengths, resistances and elemental attacks that they use to battle fierce Robeasts and a number of other familiar adversaries.

“We really wanted to create a game that’s exciting, true to the original series and challenging to play,” said Peter Armstrong, executive producer. “All of us here are big fans of classic Voltron, and we’re really proud of what we have created.”

Voltron: Defender of the Universe will be available on Xbox LIVE Arcade (800 Microsoft Points) and PlayStation Network ($9.99).

In August, I raved a bit about Griff the Invisible, a charming independent film about man who dreams of being a superhero. The movie opened and closed without much attention, which is shame because it dared to think big on a tiny budget. Fortunately, though, the film is coming out this week on DVD and is well worth your attention.

This Australian film was written and directed by Leon Ford, who did some commentary on camera with the 50^th Anniversary DC Universe poster seen over his shoulder, a testament to his affection for the super-hero. His movie had plenty of heart, anchored by a dynamite performance by Ryan Kwanten.

Fantasy and reality is approached by Griff, a lonely salaryman and Melody (Maeve Dermody), a scientist challenging the laws of physics. They make an unlikely, but thoroughly charming couple of misfits, falling in love.

Shot on 16mm for atmosphere, the film transfers nicely to Blu-ray but lacks the sharpness of the bigger budgeted behemoth super-hero films that also came out this year. Same with the audio so overall, it’s fine on disc and watching it on a home screen makes it feel more intimate and touching than on a Cineplex screen. In some ways, this is better at home than anywhere else.

The disc comes with only a handful of extras, all a little perfunctory such as the commentary form Ford, Producer, Nicole O’Donohue, and actor Patrick Brammall. Ford is also the focus of director diary videos which are too short to be worth seeing. He touches on his thoughts before, during, and after production but never really says anything. There are also several pieces under the umbrella title Anatomy of a Scene — Opening Sequence (3:16), the All-In-One Shot (2:16), and the Anyhoo (2:00) — but is shot and edited in such a way that there’s little to be learned. There’s also the 4:08 making of featurette that again is too short to be worthwhile. Brammall also hosts a 1:24 set tour that shows you only brief sections and again leaves you wanting something with substance. The best part of the extras are the 7:36 of deleted scenes, none of which were vital to the story but did flesh out the story and characters.

Imagine the BBC fifteen years ago, before the current explosion of science fiction and fantasy fare. It was a dowdy set of channels, working on the cheap, and not being necessarily accommodating to the needs of its shows. Instead, they often said we have a hole for X, please take your concept and make it fit.

While their schedules were not entirely devoid of genre fare, it came few and far between with offerings like [[[Neverwhere]]], which aired on BBC Two and was written by Neil Gaiman, in the flush of his success in America with Sandman. He met with producer Lenny Henry during England’s annual Comic Relief event and they began talking about a story. Lenny imagined a society below London and that was enough of a spark to get Gaiman going.

He conjured up a fully realized fantasy world and used the character of Richard Mayhew, a thoroughly typical citizen, who does a good deed and is rewarded with being plunged into this realm. The story of Neverwhere has been told and retold, first as a BBC miniseries, complete with 1996 novelization by Gaiman, and then, years later, a comic book adaptation from Vertigo. There’s been a steady stream of talk of a film version but it remains trapped in a realm of its own called Development Hell.

The BBC at the time treated it like any of its other broadcasts, giving the fantasy a budget fit for a situation comedy and then insisting it be produced in thirty-minute installments coupled with the even odder demand that it be shot on video not film. The result was an unsatisfactory event that has left Gaiman and fans demanding a Redo.

Instead, the BBC is releasing a fifteenth anniversary DVD edition of the miniseries on Tuesday. They had a Region 2 edition around for some time now but this is a first official release in the States. (more…)