Category: News

DC Changes ‘Green Lantern’ Contents

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 Adds 3 Webcomics

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.

‘Wolverine’ Film Website goes Live

wolverine-logo-588268620th Century-Fox has launched their website for X-Men Origins: Wolverine with the newly released trailer and a countdown clock.  You can sign up for e-mail updates as the promotional machine gears up for the movie’s May 1, 2009 release.
 

‘Priest’ Finds its Director

ScreenGems has announced that Scott Charles Stewart will direct their film adaptation of the manhwa (Korean comic) Priest according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie is being written by Cory Goodman (The Brood) and will adapt the initial storyline of the series which debuted in South Korea in 1998 and continues to today.  Tokyopop has produced 16 volumes for English-language readers. The series was created by Hyung Min-woo, after being inspired by a video game called Blood.

The story is set in a “world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.:

Priest nearly made it before the cameras years earlier with 300’s Gerard Butler in the lead for director Andrew Douglas but it failed to gain a green light.

Stewart is also at work for the studio, making his directorial debut on Legion, a “biblical apocalyptic thriller” that he also wrote.  Prior to that, he worked at Industrial Light & Magic before forming special effects house the Orphanage with former ILM staffers Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart.
 

‘Tron’ Sequel Gains New Cast

olivia-2-4661579Whatever Disney intends to formally call its sequel to Tron, the movie has added Olivia Wilde (House) and Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), joining returning star Jeff Bridges.

The 1982 film was among the earliest to use computer special effects and has a strong fan following.  The sequel was among the top five film searches performed at IMDB in 2008.

The trades refer to the sequel as Tron 2.0, and was written by Lost’s Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, for director Joseph Kosinski, making his helming debut. Steven Lisberger, who directed the original and cowrote its script, will produce with Sean Bailey and Jeff Silver.

Wilde’s character will be ‘worker in the virtual world who tries to help fight Master Control Program, the villainous intelligence protocol that was the nemesis in the original film. Garrett will play a siren in the virtual world.”

The film’s tech look has been in development for a year with footage screened at Comic-Con International, igniting a fresh round of buzz for the film.  Actual production begins in the spring.
 

JJ Abrams Completes ‘Star Trek’ Edits

JJ Abrams spoke briefly with MTV News about Star Trek, allowing us a chance to show off the new banner released today by Paramount Pictures.

The film’s trailer has wowed crowds and Abrams has completed editing the movie, which doesn’t up until May 8, 2009.

He admitted not everything shot will make it into the final cut. “You make a movie, and I think you always find yourself losing things here and there, embellishing things. It’s sort of par for the course. They’ll probably end up as deleted scenes on the DVD.”

Abrams noted that the film is intended for the widest audience possible but there remain nods to the diehard fans who have stuck with the franchise though some very lean times. “I think what you’ll see is there are — both story-wise and performance-wise, visually and aurally — many connections to what is familiar and what has come before. Which for the new fans of Star Trek, the newcomers to the world, will be irrelevant. But for those people who are fans and who hope for or expect certain familiar nods, they will undoubtedly get those,” he said.

He also confirmed that Leonard Nimoy’s Spock will be more than just a mere token appearance. “He’s in the movie, and his role is critical. I always think "cameo" feels like a role that the movie could exist without. This is critical, emotional and also a story element.

When asked to compare his film with the previous Trek films, Abrams spoke about how they pick up from the television series where everyone has been introduced and the crew knows one another. His film, in contrast, takes things back to those very early days.

“But on a much more practical level, Star Trek has never had the opportunity, nor the resources, to be realized in this way,” he said. “Things like the ships and the battles and the planets and the chases and the action sequences … and do them in a way that felt thrilling and terrifying and entertaining in a way that the show and the prior movies simply couldn’t afford to do. I feel we were able to bring to life, in a way we’ve never seen before, what it is to be a member of Starfleet. And that’s kind of cool.”

Universal Options ‘Bakugan Battle Brawlers’

Bakugan Battle Brawlers has been optioned by Universal Studios and Stuber Productions according to The Hollywood Reporter. The anime series currently is shown on Cartoon Network while toys and game come from Spin Master and Sega.

The series is based on a “strategic game that uses metal cards and magnetic, spring-loaded miniature figures that transform from marble-like balls into toy monsters.

“The show’s story line revolves around creatures called Bakugan and the young human battle brawlers who wield them. The creatures have such names as Pyrus Drago, Haos Tigrerra, Ventus Skyress, Subterra Gorem and Darkus Hydranoid that inform their character and power; they are involved in a battle in a parallel dimension called Vestroia that spills into ours.”

A total of 51 episodes were produced by TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec and debuted in Japan last year. The English-language version has been handled by Nelvana which has produced 52 episodes.

Universal is currently seeking a writer for what they perceive to be a hot property that will translate well around the world.
 

ComicMix Radio: We Hit 300!

We celebrate our Big 300th Broadcast with another run through the comics and DVD Buy Me lists, and then some news on the future of ComicMix Radio , plus:

  • Peter David explains how to add Fallen Angel trades to your gift list
  • William Katt on just what to expect in this week’s Greatest American Hero #1
  • Mark Henke promises more Golden Age Men of Mystery from AC Comics

After all of that, we bring ComicMix Radio to a close for a final time, but before you get too choked up we unveil our plans for a new piece of audio goodness that you will get to sample even before the holidays. We’ll tell you about The Point and how you should watch ComicMix for the first broadcast in just a few days!

Meanwhile, one for time – just Press the Button!

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And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6894769 or RSS!

 

‘Ultimatum’ #1 #1 in November

ultimatum1-2-3640885The November numbers are in and ICv2 notes that sales of the top 300 titles fell 11% compared with a year ago.  They note that with DC Comics and Marvel Comics skipping issues of Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, and Justice League of America, there’s little wonder.

Only two titles — Marvel’s Ultimatum #1 and DC’s Batman #681 – cracked the 100,000 unit marks based on numbers provided by Diamond Comics Distributors, the fewest since March.

Marvel had 14 of the top 25 titles, DC 10, and Dark Horse one. 

Looking over the list, it’s interesting to note that beyond events and new titles, several mainline books continue to bring in readers because the content seems to be consistently entertaining month after month as exemplified by Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America being in the Top 10. The most popular creators do seem to translate to best sales making it all the more important for creative team consistency month to month.

Here are ICv2’s estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in November:

114,230           Ultimatum #1
103,151           Batman #681 (RIP)
  90,776           Hulk #8
  88,910           Wolverine #69
  77,773           Uncanny X-Men #504
  76,625           Amazing Spider-Man #577
  75,493           Captain America #44
  74,202           Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19
  72,862           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
  71,355           Justice Society of America #20
  69,522           Batman: Cacophony #1
  68,956           Amazing Spider-Man #576
  66,564           Amazing Spider-Man #578
  64,196           Detective Comics #850 (RIP)
  63,512           X-Men Legacy #218
  61,331           Fantastic Four #561
  58,547           Action Comics #871
  58,279           Dark Tower: Treachery #3
  57,241           X-Force #9
  57,205           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Kingdom #1
  56,931           Final Crisis: Resist #1
  56,224           Avengers / Invaders #6
  55,560           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Magog #1

First ‘GI Joe’ One-Sheets Released

Following the pattern now employed by studios pushing ensemble films to geeks, Paramount Pictures has released the first four one-sheets for next August’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

The pictures seen here spotlight, running clockwise Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Channing Tatum as Duke, and Sienna Miller as Baroness.

Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy), it was written by Stuart Beattie and set a decade from today and is an origin story for the formation of Cobra and GI Joe’s response to the global threat.

The sprawling cast of good guys and bad guys includes:

G.I. Joe

Channing Tatum as First Sergeant Conrad S. Hauser / Duke
Dennis Quaid as General Clayton M. Abernathy / Hawk
Rachel Nichols as Shana M. O’Hara / Scarlett:
Ray Park as Snake-Eyes
Marlon Wayans as Wallace A. Weems / Ripcord
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Lamont A. Morris / Heavy Duty
Saïd Taghmaoui as Alvin R. Kibbey / Breaker
Karolína Kurková as Courtney A. Kreiger / Cover Girl

Cobra

Christopher Eccleston as James McCullen Destro XXIV
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander:
Sienna Miller as Baroness Anastasia DeCobray / The Baroness
Lee Byung-hun as Storm Shadow
Arnold Vosloo as Zartan

Cameos

Larry Hama
Kevin J. O’Connor
Brendan Fraser