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Review: ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’

sorcerers-apprentice1-6000135People have been adapting works of art since time immemorial adjusting the details for the era and culture. There appear to be countless versions of what happens when a sorcerer leaves his apprentice alone to complete his chores. This led to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1797 ballad, which was adapted into a symphonic poem by Paul Dukas in 1890. In the 1940s Walt Disney used both as an inspiration for the most beloved sequence in [[[Fantasia]]], as Mickey Mouse plays the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. These days, with everything from the Disney vaults ripe for reinterpretation, it was inevitable that someone would turn this enchanting sequence into an over-the-top spectacle.

Actor Nicholas Cage is credited with the notion for this retelling of [[[The Sorcerer’s Apprentice]]], which reunites him with director Jon Turteltaub, with Disney hoping for some National treasure magic to be sprinkled over this warmed-up rehash of the familiar. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, one of the summer’s more disappointing offerings, is out on DVD today in the usual assortment of formats and combinations.

In this retelling, written by Matt Lopez and the team of Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal (it amazes me these guys still get work) from a story by Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard and Matt Lopez, the Sorcerer in question is Balthazar Blake, one of Merlin’s three apprentices and the survivor of the horrors at the fall of Camelot. Balthazar and his best friend Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) both loved Veronica Gorloisen (Monica Bellucci), who sacrificed herself to stop Morgana le Fay (Alice Krige) from raising an army of the dead. Veronica absorbed le Fay’s soul and was encased in a nesting doll called the Grimhold. We’re then told that Horvath turned on Balthazar and they fought for centuries while Balthazar stopped the worst of le Fay’s believers, turning each into a nesting doll surrounding the first. Finally, Horvath was contained and Balthazar could proceed with his mission: to find Merlin’s true successor, the Prime Merlinian. He would know of his success when Merlin’s dragon ring responded to the right person.

For a millennium, Balthazar searched the world until fate brought 10 year old Dave Stutler (Jake Cherry) to his Manhattan shop. But 10 year old boys don’t always follow instructions and after being given the ring, which curls around his finger, he accidentally unleashed Horvath, beginning a new battle between former friends in that eternal struggle between good and evil – that is, until both got caught in a Chinese urn for a decade.

Stutler (Jay Baruchel) is now a socially awkward physics student at NYU when both magicians reappear, plunging his life into a new form of hell. Balthazar slowly convinces Dave to accept training and his destiny, but balks when Dave tries to make time for Becky Barnes (Teresa Palmer). (more…)

Warner Premiere Formally Announces ‘All-Star Superman’

  • News
  • November 30, 2010

DC Entertainment’s All-Star Superman was one of the better things to be released by the company during the past decade. It was universally acclaimed and awarded, recently being collected in an Absolute edition. Now, Warner Premiere is tackling Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s 12-part saga as their next animated feature. Here’s the formal press release:BURBANK, CA, (November 29th, 2010) – Grant Morrison’s beloved, Eisner Award-winning vision of Superman’s heroic final days on Earth is brought to exquisite animated life in All-Star Superman, the latest entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies coming February 22, 2011 from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The highly-anticipated, full-length film will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Blu-Ray™ Combo Pack and 2-Disc Special Edition DVD for $24.98 (SRP), as well as single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). The film will also be available On Demand and for Download.

In All-Star Superman, the Man of Steel rescues an ill-fated mission to the Sun (sabotaged by Lex Luthor) and, in the process, is oversaturated by radiation – which accelerates his cell degeneration. Sensing even he will be unable to cheat death, Superman ventures into new realms – finally revealing his secret to Lois, confronting Lex Luthor’s perspective of humanity, and attempting to ensure Earth’s safety before his own impending end with one final, selfless act.

The celebrity-packed voice cast is headed by James Denton (Desperate Housewives) as Superman, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Lois Lane, and Anthony LaPaglia (Without A Trace) as Lex Luthor. The stellar cast includes seven-time Emmy® Award winner Ed Asner (Up) as Perry White, Golden Globe® winner Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) as Ma Kent, Matthew Gray Gubler (Criminal Minds) as Jimmy Olsen and Linda Cardellini (ER) as Nasty. 
Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), Catherine Cavadini (The Powerpuff Girls), Finola Hughes (General Hospital), Alexis Denisof (Angel), Obba Babatunde (That Thing You Do!), Michael Gough (Batman) and John DiMaggio (Futurama) round out the voice cast.

Based on the Eisner Award-winning DC Comics series/graphic novel of the same name by Grant Morrison with illustration by Frank Quitely, All-Star Superman is executive produced by animation guru Bruce Timm and directed by Sam Liu (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths) from a script by acclaimed comics writer Dwayne McDuffie (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths). (more…)

SIX GUN WESTERN GOES BI MONTHLY! NEW LOOK, TOO!

  • News
  • November 30, 2010

Taken from the AGE OF ADVENTURE Facebook page

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Six Gun Western has garnered many fans since its release. We’ve recieved multiple emails requesting “More please”. So to that we say: “You got it!” Starting with the next issue in January, Six Gun will go Bi-Monthly! Thats 6 issues per year instead of the current 4. To this end we have gathered a committed posse o…f contributers (writers, artists, and graphic design) Each issue will have even MORE NEW Western fiction, artcles, history, and artwork. Six Gun will be launching its very own Promotional page here on FB as well!

For now heres a look at our new logo… More to come! We’ll be bringing you The BEST Wild West action any fan could want!

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The first of our bi-monthly issues features part 1 of a two part, novel length Josiah Silence story by fan favorite Teel James Glenn. You can learn more about Teel at the Six Gun Western Page!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Six-Gun-Western-Magazine/175227815836196?ref=ts&v=wall

PRO SE PRESENTS MASKED GUN MYSTERY #2 NOW ON SALE!!

  • News
  • November 30, 2010
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Need your Mystery, Crime, and Masked Hero fix all in one spot?? It’s right here in PRO SE PRESENTS MASKED GUN MYSTERY #2! Thrill to high octane Pulp Action on every page! With a stunning Norm Breyfogle cover spotlighting Barry Reese’s THE ROOK, MASKED GUN MYSTERY promises to deliver shots, shouts, and clues aplenty, with cops, flatfoots, and masked men around every corner! Look no further for your pulp fix than PRO SE PRESENTS MASKED GUN MYSTERY #2! Take a shot at it today! Print copies and E-books available!!
https://stores.lulu.com/proseproductions
The lineup for this issue includes-



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SHORTAGES, art by C. William Russette



Pro Se Previews: The Rook, volume 6 – The Scorched God • Barry Reese

The Compassion Play, An Aloha McCoy Story • Ken Janssens
 Clean Up in Aisle Six • Aaron Smith

Shortages • Lee Houston, Jr.

The Scarlet Courtesan of Sovereign City • Derrick Ferguson

Staying Dead, a Tale of Virgil • C. William Russette

The Gray Ghost and the Lighthouse Murders • Bill Craig

IMPRINTS • Joshua Allen

Crime of the Arts Part 2 • Erwin K. Roberts

On The Edge of A Hero, A Tale of The Rapier • Don Thomas

What Is The Fate of Gary Wooten? – V • Fuller Bumpers and John Palmer IV

And the artists are-

Cover-Norm Breyfogle

Interiors-Anthony Castrillo, Dalton Carpenter, Fuller Bumpers,
Craig Gassen, Peter Cooper, and John Palmer IV!
Book Design, Layout, and Additional Graphics by Ali

MGM Editor-Barry Reese

PRO SE PRESENTS MASKED GUN MYSTERY #2
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ON THE EDGE OF A HERO
Art by Craig Gassen

First Wave Solicitations — February 2011

  • News
  • November 30, 2010

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THE SPIRIT: ANGEL SMERTI TP
Written by MARK SHULTZ & DAVID HINE
Art and cover by MORITAT
In this first collection of the new SPIRIT series, an international crime syndicate wants to help Central City’s villain, The Octopus, consolidate control over the underworld. They’ve offered The Octopus the services of one of their finest assassins to take The Spirit’s breath away for good. Collecting THE SPIRIT #1-7.
On sale MARCH 16 • 168 pg, FC, $17.99 US

DOC SAVAGE #11dsav_cv11-2144738

Written by IVAN BRANDON & BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art by NIC KLEIN
Cover by J.G. JONES
Doc Savage’s adventure in the war-torn Zone races toward its unbelievable finish, as the secrets of the Two Who Are One – and Ronan McKenna’s disappearance five years ago – are revealed! But Doc’s discoveries may have set in motion a terrible fate for the Zone’s innocent inhabitants!
On sale FEBRUARY 9 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

spirit_cvr-11_solicits-4743238THE SPIRIT #11
Written by DAVID HINE
Art by MORITAT
Cover by LADRÖNN
Has the Octopus gone soft? New York godfather Shonder Zeev thinks so, and he intends to cut in on Central City’s action and dismantle the truce the Octopus has with Commissioner Dolan – by sending an unlikely assassin to end Dolan himself!
On sale FEBRUARY 16 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

The Point Radio: Celebrate With THE WALKING DEAD

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No one is more surprised (or pleased) at the success of THE WALKING DEAD than the cast of the series. They share their thoughts with us including how they avoid the internet “reviews”, plus the cast of HUMAN TARGET talk about how the show is drifting farther from its comic roots.

And be sure to stay on The Point via badgeitunes61x15dark55-3234651, RSS, MyPodcast.Comor Podbean!

Follow us now on facebook55-9824297 and twitter55-2244805!

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday at 9pm and even the Editor-In-Chief of COMICMIX, Mike Gold, with his daily WEIRD SCENES and two full hours of insanity every Sunday (7pm ET) with WEIRD SOUNDS!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys.

MOONSTONE MONDAY-MOONSTONE AND SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE!

  • News
  • November 29, 2010

THE QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE SWINGS BACK INTO ACTION…FROM MOONSTONE!!

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Moonstone Entertainment, Inc.(http://www.moonstonebooks.com/), known for producing top of the line prose and comic fiction based on licensed properties, recently revealed several new properties it had acquired rights for, including the penultimate icon that launched the “Jungle Girl” genre, SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE!

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Originally created by the Eisner-Iger Ltd. Shop, Sheena debuted in the late 1930s in a British magazine.  Since that auspicious start, this sultry siren has swung her way through comics, pulp, television, and film. Sheena stands out as more than just another scantily clad jungle heroine.  Time and again, it has been proven that she is unique, original, and truly QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE! Now Moonstone is ready to bring her jungle heroics fighting and clawing into the 21st Century!

According to Joe Gentile, CEO of Moonstone, “Sheena starts in April with a bargain priced #0 issue.  We will follow that with an ongoing series!”  Gentile confirmed that Sheena would be a part of major events taking place in Moonstone Comics in early 2011!!!

Stay tuned to ALL PULP for all the SHEENA news you can handle and more upcoming announcements on other MOONSTONE properties!

MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION!!! THE CONCLUSION OF THE SPIDER: CITY OF THE MELTING DEAD!

  • News
  • November 29, 2010
 Moonstone Books and ALL PULP are proud to present the final chapter of MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION!!!!
Let ALL PULP know what you think of MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION on the Comments Page!!!
Want more Moonstone??? http://www.moonstonebooks.com/ !   And stay tuned at the end of this week’s chapter for a link to purchase the collection this story is featured in!
THIS WEEK ON MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION-
CITY OF THE MELTING DEAD
A STORY OF THE SPIDER
BY MARTIN POWELL
featured in THE SPIDER: CHRONICLES
from Moonstone Books
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PART FOUR
 
 

“Dick…are you all right?” Nita lightly touched his arm, startled by the coiling sinews tensing beneath his coat.
Wentworth paled a moment, then gave her a quiet reassuring smile. “We’ve just become privy to an essential clue that the official police have missed,” his voice was pitched with excitement. “I knew…or, rather, the Spider was very well acquainted with the late Bill Henry. The enemy has finally committed a fatal error.”
The Spider tightened his web around the throat of underworld. The darkened tenement hideouts were made blacker still by the invasion of his long, twisted shadow. None could escape him. No one could deny him. Small-time hoods and back alley predators literally wept in terror before the merciless onslaught of the Master of Men.
Nita, Jackson, and Ram Singh would remain vigilant, prepared for future catastrophes should Wentworth fail to return. This time the threat was different, far-reaching and devastating in its aimless goal of terror. He couldn’t put them at risk. Not until the Spider gave his all, alone.
The trail itself had been elementary.
The deceased William Patrick Henry provided the light to show the way. Before falling upon such wicked days, “Bourbon Bill”, was a first class crime reporter and an excellent covert contact to the underworld. The Spider had often gleaned invaluable information from the hard-drinking journalist that had ended the career of many a criminal mastermind.
Wentworth further knew that Bourbon Bill hadn’t staggered more than ten blocks from his low-rent flophouse in over three years. Just a few weeks prior, the black-balled newsman had raised a stink over witnessing the kidnapping of the imminent scientist Doctor Emerick Berg. His former editors had merely laughed, assured of a pathetic ruse by the rummy to reclaim a byline.
It suddenly all made a kind of grotesque sense. The still-missing Dr. Berg’s area of expertise had been the advanced application of electromagnetism. Wentworth had read many of the scientist’s monographs, and they were brilliant.
Berg himself was once originally from the same neighborhood, which had since decayed into the bowery. Bourbon Bill, sober or not, could well have seen him there, perhaps he’d even observed his abduction. No one had seen Berg after that. Someone must be holding him, somewhere within those ten blocks, forcing the scientist into building some kind of terrible weapon. Berg might even be dead already, his temporary value fulfilled.
Lastly, there was something that even Commissioner Kirkpatrick had failed to notice. On that scrap of typing paper there had been a faint thumb print. Vague as it was, Wentworth immediately detected the faint scent of scorched skin coming from the paper. Once a man encountered the stench of burnt human flesh, as Wentworth had in many haunting circumstances, it was impossible to ever forget it.
If only someone had taken Henry’s claims about the scientist seriously, but just the week before he’d made a fuss over seeing sea serpents under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Even Wentworth hadn’t listened, then…but now the Spider had no choice. One by one, using methods the official police force could not dare, the Spider got what he demanded. The petty thugs and gutter gangsters eagerly, sometimes literally, spilled their guts to the snarling masked man-monster. Finally, he learned of dim rumors of a reclusive megalomaniac called the Crucible, a fearsomely fitting name. Then, he got a location.
Justice was closing in.
The Spider’s web was inescapable.
　
The dwarf waited. It was all he could do.
Rain splashing on the high windows of the abandoned warehouse diffused the street lights, streaking shadows like a barred cage across the floor. It was a prison, all right. But, being the dwarf beside the giant, he had truly never known anything else.
A corroded window latch gave way, falling almost noiselessly to the filthy floor. The dwarf smiled faintly as the Spider masterfully infested the chamber, gliding wraithlike down a silken rope with a heavy automatic in the other hand. Had the dwarf not been expecting him, doubtlessly the entrance of the slouched black figure would have been virtually invisible among the shadows.
The dwarf shuddered as the Spider’s piercing eyes regarded him with bitter hatred. Another gun had appeared in the other hand, thumbs cocked hammers, barrels unerringly aimed at the little man and at the still, silent monstrosity heaped beside him.
“The Crucible is dead,” the little man breathed. “I murdered him two days ago.”
Wentworth’s quick eyes detected a blood-crusted claw hammer laying some distance from the victim and his confessed killer. He also observed the smashed remains of a weird cannon-like machine composed of coiling copper wires, shattered vacuum tubes, and fitted with a machinegun tripod.
“You found us sooner than I expected,” the dwarf continued. “The Spider deserves his formidable reputation.”
Awe saturated the diminutive voice, although, strangely, there was no hint of fear.
Wentworth advanced, his savage fangs gritted.  “Who are you?” he furiously hissed.
The dwarf glanced sympathetically to the giant mass beside him. “Just two brothers, cruelly used by this world,” he sighed with a sob. “I did love him, you know, even through all his torment and torture. He was all I had.”
Wentworth took in the strange sight of the withered dwarf protectively clumped next to the grey festering corpse of the giant. At last, he saw everything clearly and his rage diminished.
The Crucible had been an ogre, indeed, with the arms of a gorilla and the chest of a buffalo. Most of the brutish skull had been smashed into pulp. The little man breathed with a shuddering effort. He, too, Wentworth observed, was dying. It was inevitable. The reek of decay hung heavy in the air.
“ The whole scheme was his…the kidnapping…the machine … the murders…” the dwarf confessed, wracked with emotion. “My brother had a cruel, peculiar genius for such things. He was…what the world had made of him.”
Guns slid soundlessly back into concealed holsters, and Wentworth knelt at the dwarf ’s side.
“Yet, you had the courage to stop him,” it was Wentworth’s soft voice, not the Spider’s ugly rasp, which now issued from the fanged lips.
Tears streamed down the little man’s doll-like cheeks. “He was going to…aim that damnable machine at the whole skyline. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Maybe I finally went mad, too. No one…will ever understand.”
Wentworth clasped the small trembling hand held out to him. The mottled greyish flesh felt more dead than alive.
“I think I do,” his tone was comforting.
The dwarf attempted a smile, though his weakness prevented it. Wentworth could hear the rattle in the little man’s lungs. He was fading fast.
“P-please…” the small, tormented eyes implored. “…please don’t let them find us like this…don’t…don’t let them…”
Wentworth nodded, and the little man was gone.
Kerosene and a lighted match fulfilled the final wish of the Crucible’s last victim. No one would stare at them. No one would gawk. No awful exhibition. No one would ever know.
Wentworth watched mournfully as the flames consumed the secrets of the giant and the dwarf. The brothers passed from the world as they’d been born into it, together…as Siamese twins fused at the spine, bound forever in their prison of flesh and blood.
Their life-long internal conflict was over. Wentworth envied them.
The Spider could never rest.
END OF CITY OF THE MELTING DEAD!
NEXT TIME ON MOONSTONE CLIFFHANGER FICTION-
MEET THE SEDUCTIVE, ELUSIVE DOMINO LADY
as written by Ron Fortier!!

To purchase THE SPIDER: CHRONICLES anthology containing this story and more, go to http://moonstonebooks.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=414 today!!
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Review: ‘Superf*ckers’

[[[Superf*ckers]]]
By James Kochalka
Top Shelf Productions, 144 pages, $14.95

superf-ckers-lg-3363487Reading the reviews about previous editions of James Kochalka’s Superf*ckers I was thinking this was going to be an amazing satire of the super-hero genre, poking fun at teams from the Justice Society of America to the Thunderbolts.  Over the years, Kochalka had been doling out one issue at a time, starting with Superf*ckers #271 in 2005 and released a fourth issue in 2007. Top Shelf has collected the four issues with the previously unpublished [[[Jack Krak #1]]] in a new collection released earlier this year.

I don’t get the praise. Not at all. Kochalka’s robbery figurework is good for his childrens’ books and other independent works but when it comes to super-powered, hyper-sexualized characters, it feels entirely wrong.

Over the course of the collection, these spoiled, nasty would-be heroes act like whiny, horny, spiteful high school students. None seem to be using their powers for the public good, but instead, to outperform each other in the hopes of gaining acceptance in the club. They are a uniformly unlikeable bunch and the satirical elements are so broadly played they’re more slapstick than witty commentary on modern comic book tropes.

Kochalka cuts between combinations of heroes one-upping each other, excreting with abandon and he paces these various threads nicely enough. He crams each page with plenty of panels and action, brightly coloring everything in what must have been a painstaking manner.

Amazingly, at the outset, Kochalka thought this might be an all-ages title but as he got further into this, he couldn’t prevent his annoying heroes from cussing so it has remained a book aimed at older readers. “And it makes the action more dramatic,” he told Comic Book Resources. Not at all. The cursing and invective permeates every pages as do the acts that should never be attempted at home.

I remain baffled why anyone things this is a laugh-out loud must-read series. In the same interview he said, “On the surface it’s fun and breezy romp, but underneath it’s a layered satire of American society, the comic book scene, power and pathos and the human condition.” That might have been his intent but the execution fails to measure up.

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