Category: News

A lot of manga take place in high schools – and that’s natural, since the original audience for most of the popular manga series were Japanese teenagers, and it’s hard to find someone more self-obsessed than a teenager. So ignoring high school would almost mean ignoring manga all together, and I wouldn’t want to do that – but I do try to quarantine the very teenager-y books into their own little cliques (they’re used to that, anyway). It’s time for another one of those, so join me for a look at three new series set in the best and worst time of all of our lives:

Papillon, Vol. 1
By Miwa Ueda
Del Rey, October 2008, $10.95

Papillion builds its foundation upon a plotline much beloved in song, story, and Olson twin movies: there are these two identical twin sisters, and they’re completely different! The viewpoint character is Ageha – and, by the way, does that name sound as frumpy and old-ladyish to the Japanese as it does to me? – who grew up in the countryside, and, because of that, is shy, socially inept, unfashionable, and wears glasses. (The equivalent cliché in an America story would have her be a rough, woodsy, outdoorsy kind of girl, great at riding horses and starting fires, but Japanese heroines apparently must always be pretty and decorative, with slim wrists and no obvious skills.)

Ageha’s twin sister Hana – who grew up in the city, because their parents separated them very young (possibly on a whim; this isn’t explained) – is gorgeous and poised and the most popular girl in the school they both attend.

(Oh, and there’s also a nasty fat girl, who seemingly exists in this story only to be Ageha’s only friend – a very, very bad friend at that – and to show that unattractive people are necessarily cruel, vindictive, and rude.) (more…)

Radical Publishing is a relative newcomer to the comic book industry, but they’re already hard at work converting their graphic novels into films.

Variety reports that the publisher "has secured funding from Singapore and will self-finance" adaptations of their comic book properties.

The company already has an excellent working relationship with Singapore-based art studio Imaginary Friends Studios, who supply illustrations for Radical’s Hercules and Caliber.

Radical has put an impressive amount of effort into turning their properties into film projects. Peter Berg (The Kingdom) is attached to direct Hercules, John Woo (Face/Off) is attached to direct Caliber with Johnny Depp’s production house Infinitum Nihil and Bryan Singer will produce Freedom Formula through his Bad Hat Harry Prods.

Two other projects, Aladdin and City of Dust, are also being looked at for adaptation.

Aladdin offers a fresh twist on the classic tale by incorporating new supernatural elements. Siavish Farahani, who scripted The Shadow for Ghost House Pictures, will write the feature.

City of Dust is a futuristic police drama involving crimes of the imagination. The novel is written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night). Niles will supervise a script from Peter Fedorenko.

Last week, Marvel released a free comic enitlted March on Ultimatum Saga, a basic guide to the history of the Ultimate Marvel Earth and its heroes. Although one or two of the facts reported are in question (as I discussed in my article Where Have All The Editors Gone?), it is an appropriate release when you consider that the Ultimate Marvel titles are supposed to suffer a dramatic change as a result of the crossover Ultimatum.

But in case you missed out on this issue, don’t worry. Marvel has put it up as a digital comic on their website. So if you’re a paid subscriber to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, this issue is just a few clicks away.

Didn’t read the story arc featuring Ultimate Carnage? Missed out on what’s been revealed so far in Ultimate Origins?Curious where the heck Ultimate Nick Fury disappeared to? The answers are all there.

ComicBookResources.com has also posted preview pages of Ultimate Origins #5, which will lead into Ultimatum.

Ultimatum #1, written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David Finch, will be on sale the first week of November. If you missed out on the free comic and don’t feel like paying for the online subscription, here’s a quick rundown of just a couple of the recent major events that you should be aware of.

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The lizards are coming, and we’re not talking about Dr. Curt Connors’ family reunion.

A remake of the 1980s miniseries V is being developed by ABC. The series is written by The 4400 co-creator/executive producer Scott Peters, who will also executive produce V.

"Whenever I mention V to anybody, they still have a lot of good memories about the original movie and series," Peters told Variety. "It’s a science fiction icon and too good to pass up."

The revamped series focuses on "Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who’s got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them — causing tension within the family."

Though taking significant departures from its predecessor, the new V will pay homage to the original series. One example includes the ’80s series’ opening with an army of spaceships hovering over Earth’s major cities, which will carry over to the updated series.

V struggled as a weekly series in the hands of people who thought science fiction gave them license to do whatever they please.  It was canceled despite a cliffhanger ending and ever since, Johnson has talked of reviving the property.

So has Warner Bros. and NBC and at one point a revamp courtesy of  J. Michael Straczynski got as far as the script stage.  Then, in 2004, Johnson pitched a remake but NBC asked for a new sequel, set 20 years later, and was given a green light to develop the concept. He finished the four-hour miniseries script for V the Second Generation in 2006 and NBC stalled approving it.

Johnson, to push his case, turned the screenplay into his first prose novel which Tor published in February 2008. All along, he kept hoping NBC would give him the go signal but it never came. Instead, rumblings were that the peacock network was getting cold feet while ABC was expressing interest.

In April, Johnson said, "… since I own the motion picture rights to V, we’re in the process to do a remake of the original mini-series first as a theatrical feature, which I’m so jazzed about because it will give me an opportunity to really realize it and execute it in a way that was impossible to do back then. Then that will lead to the obvious sequel, because it is a franchise, and then we’ll get into The Second Generation and I’m hoping we’ll be able to do two movies, because there’s certainly enough material in the novel to warrant two separate sequels. That’s my goal at this point and that’s what we’re in the process of doing. I just literally came from a meeting, 15-20 minutes ago with a fellow in Beverly Hills who really says that we’re gonna do it."

As recently as Thursday, his website was discounting word the property was headed for ABC and out of his creative control entirely.

Warner Bros. TV is producing the project. Former Warner Bros.’ video game division leader and current HDFilms employee Jace Hall will translate V to other platforms aside from television, including gaming. Previously, the series had been adapted into a series of original novels and an 18-issue comic book from DC Comics. The miniseries and single season of the original were released on DVD in 2004.

Starting Friday, ComicMix will publish the complete Ballad of Frankie and Vampi, starring Frankenstein Mobster and Vampirella.  Written and drawn by Mark Wheatley (EZ Street, Hammer of the Gods), the series originally ran in 2003 on several sites, including SundayFunnies.com, gemstonepub.com and Vampirella.com.  The original series was edited by Maureen McTigue. 

ComicMix presentation will include exclusive, never-before seen art.

A blog about Frankie and Vampi can be found at FEARnet.

The Frankenstein Mobster used to be Terry Todd, a crusading cop for whom the law was at least a compulsion, if not more. Life as a good cop in a bad town wasn’t easy, but death is apparently even harder. Now he’s been revived in a patchwork body, and he finds himself sharing his own skull with three unscrupulous mobsters. Obviously, this is one Made Man you don’t want to mess with.

Here are excerpts from an interview between the two characters.

Vampi: I understand there’s another woman in your life. Who’s Terri Todd?

Frankie: Terri? I don’t like talking about her, Vampi. But I don’t mind tellin’ you that she is a damn fine cop! And I’m not sayin’ ‘just for a woman’ neither!  She’s the youngest to ever make detective grade on the Monstros City force. And that’s sayin’ somethin’.  She’s smart, pretty and pitches a mean softball to boot.

Frankie: So, why the hell are you in Monstros City?

Vampi: Since my last visit I just can’t get this place out of my mind.
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Client newspapers of Newspaper Enterprise Association will be treated to a special 16-strip, The Search for Santa.  According to Daily Cartoonist, the strip is effectively a spin-off from Luann by Greg Evans.

NEA has been producing annual Christmas strips for their papers since 1937 and this year’s is a reprise to one Evans created previously.  Told from the point of view of Puddles, Luann’s dog, it triers to resolve the eternal question of why St. Nick does bring gifts to dogs.

 “The nagging question leads Puddles on a long journey, during which he finally finds Santa – and the spirit of the season,” Evans said.

Papers will carry the strip from December 8 through Christmas Day.
 

Update: Variety is now confirming that Josh Brolin is in talks for Jonah Hex.

Just yesterday we reported that several films are gearing up for production starts between spring and summer of 2009. One of those films is Warner Bros.’s adaptation of Jonah Hex, DC Comics’ resident western gunslinger. Though actor Thomas Jane put himself through make-up testing to prove himself right for the role, it looks like the studio has its eye on a different actor — someone who’s no stranger to the Country.

Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere reports that "the deal is sealed for Josh Brolin to star in Jonah Hex." The film will be directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Game). Although representatives from the Brolin camp say that the actor isn’t attached, Wells is confident that the actor is locked in.

"A voice is telling me to consider the word of a friend who tells me the deal was locked down last night," Wells says.

According to Wells, the movie will be "some kind of sci-fi western with CG up the wazoo. There’s nothing sci-fi-ish about the Hex comic book that’s explained on the Wikipedia page, but there’s always the creative option." (more…)