#SDCC: Marvel gets rights to Miracleman/Marvelman
Just announced at the #cupofjoe panel in San Diego: Marvel Comics has acquired the rights to Miracelman. More details to come…
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
#SDCC: VIZ Media: Shonen Jump, with Toriko, Bakuman, and… Stan Lee?
The room was packed for Viz Media’s Shonen Jump panel, which
took place at 10:30 am in Room 10. The company announced two new series: Mitsutoshi
Shimabukuro’s Toriko, about a “gourmet hunter” of the same name who apparently
tracks down the most dangerous and tasty beasts, which he sells to exclusive
restaurants; meanwhile, the metafictional Bakuman from Death Note creators Tsugumi Ohba
and Takeshi Obata promises to shed light on that most mysterious of arts,
producing manga. Both began running in the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump Weekly
in 2008 and are still ongoing.
However, the star attractions of the panel were Hiroyuki
Takei (Shaman King) and Stan Lee– yes, THAT Stan Lee, not some Japanese guy with the same name– co-creators of Shonen Jump’s new manga,
Ultimo, which is making its English debut in the July issue. The story concerns
two robot boys, one who champions ultimate good (Ultimo) and one representing
ultimate evil (Vice) battle it out in contemporary Tokyo to determine which
force is supreme.
According to Takei, he’s already “vaguely” decided which
robot will win. He based the character design of the robot boys’ creator,
Dunstan, on Stan Lee himself. Apparently, he was quite nervous about showing
sketches of Dunstan to Lee, but Lee claims that he didn’t even see the
resemblance at first.
Lee noted that he’s really having fun working on a project that’s
such a departure from American comics, while Takei spoke about the challenge of
creating a manga that pleases both Japanese and American audiences. The
difference in approach is perhaps exemplified by the two creators’ answers
about what readers should “take away” from the manga. Takei said that Ultimo was
about “good and evil,” while Lee said that it was “all about selling a lot of
copies.”
#SDCC: Marvel: X-Men
The streets have erupted in violence and the safe haven that mutants thought they’d found is in turmoil. The Dark Avengers have put Daken in Wolverine’s place, and there’s an all-out war tearing through space and time with a certain red-haired green-eyed girl at the center of it. In other words, it’s another Wednesday in the life of the X-Men.
X-Men group editor Axel Alonso was joined by panelists include Matt Fraction (Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia), Craig Kyle and Chris Yost (X-Force), Marjorie Liu (Dark Wolverine), Daniel Way (Deadpool), Jason Aaron (Wolverine: Weapon X), and several special guests to share the news about what the future holds for Marvel’s band of merry mutants. Marvel’s got their own liveblog going, and here are the highlights:
- Daniel Acuna joins X-Men: Legacy as the ongoing artist.
- Magneto is back in the upcoming Nation X storyline, presumably in Uncanny X-Men.
- Necrosha is an upcoming crossover between X-Force, New Mutants, and X-Men: Legacy featuring the evil priestess Selene, led into by a one-shot. Starts in October. 16 million mutants promised to return, but it’s not an M-Day fix or reversal. “Suck it, Blackest Night,” quoth UXM scribe Matt Fraction. CBR has more about the crossover here.
- On a note very near and dear to my heart — the cover to New Mutants #6 features Magik hugging someone who looks very much like the long-dead Doug Ramsey. Of course, he looks like a zombie, but we take what is given.
- Daken’s sexuality is brought up, only to be met with a resounding “shrug” from the panelists. “When you see him involved with women and men, it isn’t about sexuality, it is about power and manipulation,” said Marjorie Liu.
- X-Statix mascot Doop will be returning, though no word on how, when, or in what title.
Point your X-browser over here, X-fans, for more X-bloggage.
#SDCC: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with… Dr. Horrible?
This is the worst part about covering SDCC while not actually being there: you can get a pretty good sense of what a panel was like from a liveblog, but there’s just no replacement for seeing a singing, dancing Dark Knight, especially when Neil Patrick Harris is involved.
Diedrich Bader, the voice of Batman, returned to Comic-Con alongside John DiMaggio (Futurama), the voice of Aquaman, and executive producer Sam Register (Teen Titans), producer James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), producer and story editor Michael Jelenic (The Batman) and voice director Andrea Romano (everything DC has animated in the last twenty years), to screen the upcoming “Mayhem of the Music Meister” episode‚ featuring the voice of Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) as the Music Meister, and take questions afterwards. ComicVine gets props for managing to stop watching the spectacle long enough to liveblog. Some highlights from the panel:
- Bat-Mite Masks were distributed to attendees before the panel started.
- G.I. Robot, Detective Chimp, Vixen, Captain Marvel (plus the Marvel Family), Firestorm, the Metal Men, the Doom Patrol, and Starro are all making appearances in upcoming episodes.
- “Outrageous!” came about as Aquaman’s catchphrase accidentally–John DiMaggio just channels his inner outrageousness.
- “Black Manta, Clock King and Gorilla Grodd appear. There’s Aquaman!
Along with Green Arrow and Black Canary. Why is Black Manta suddenly
singing? Now Aquaman is. They can’t help themselves! Gorilla Grodd
singing and dancing? You HAVE to see this!” – from the liveblog - Twitter user @the_real_winson says that when NPH’s character first appears, the crowd couldn’t stop cheering.
- The episode got a standing ovation!
- During the Q&A afterwards, the child who asked about the Batmobile at last year’s SDCC asked today what Batman’s favorite gadget was–and got an answer in Batman’s voice. It’s the Batarang, by the way.
- Crisis on Infinite Earths, BatB-style? “Only if we get to do it as a musical,” DiMaggio said.
More reactions (and possible spoilers) at ComicVine.
#SDCC: ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ movie coming?
A reliable source just told me: “Warner Premiere has a great many DC graphic novels in production or pre-production with WB Animation, including The Killing Joke. Scheduling through 2018– including Superman projects.”
A few notes:
- Well, it’s not like DC hasn’t made money on Alan Moore projects before.
- One wonders if an animated film would satisfy the Siegel lawsuit requiring a Superman film to be in production by 2011.
- Are they actually planning Superman films after 2013, after DC loses the copyright to the character?
Very interesting. We’ll try to find out more ASAP.
#SDCC: Metalocalypse’s Murderous Multimedia Mayhem
Those of us who would Do Anything for Dethklok will now have
many more opportunities to share the love. (Why, yes, I do have a cartoon crush
on Nathan Explosion. He can “teach me who rock” anytime.) The creators of the
Adult Swim show Metalocalypse are preparing an assault on several platforms.
If you’ve actually bothered to read the Adult Swim bumps
instead of fast-forwarding past them on your DVR, you already know that in
Season 3, episodes of Metalocalypse will double in length to 30 minutes, and
the second Dethklok album is scheduled for this fall.
On Wednesday, Konami announced that they’ll be putting out the downloadable videogame
Metalocalypse: Dethgame, which will be available for Xbox and PlayStation. The soundtrack
will feature tracks from both the old and the new Dethklok albums. Game creators are promising a
thrilling and an exceptionally gory time as the player takes on the role of a
Klokateer, one of the band’s many masked minions. Here’s hoping that they will
be able to fulfill that promise: a very early version of the game is currently
being showcased at San Diego, and one IGN reviewer is already profoundly
unimpressed. Apparently, gameplay now mainly consists of urinating on, brutally beating, and slicing up Dethklok fans. Hey, that may be enough for some people.
Also on Wednesday, the one-shot The Goon vs. Dethklok hit
comic book store shelves. That was quickly followed by Thursday’s
announcement from Dark Horse that a Metalocalypse comic book series is in the
works. The Dark Horse San Diego Comic-Con panel takes place later today, and no doubt more
details will be released at that time.
Review: The Photographer by Guibert, Lefèvre, & Lemercier
The Photographer
By Didier Lefèvre, Emmanuel
Guibert, and Frederic Lemercier
First Second, May 2009, $29.95
Lefèvre was a French photojournalist – he died, unexpectedly
and too young, in 2007 – and this book is an unusual combination of drawn
comics and [[[fumetti]], telling the true
story of part of his life. In 1986, Lefèvre took the first of several trips
into Afghanistan with the group Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF, aka Doctors
Without Borders), to report on the work of the MSF during the Soviet
occupation, particularly on one particular mission to set up a field hospital
in Zaragandara in the Yaftal valley up in the mountains of the north.
Nearly twenty years later, after hearing stories of that
trip many times, Lefèvre’s friend Emmanuel
Guibert, a well-known cartoonist and graphic novelist, turned that trip into
comics form, using Lefèvre’s words and photos.
As this book credits itself, it’s “A story lived, photographed, and told by
Didier Lefèvre, written and drawn by Emmanuel Guibert, laid out and colored by
Frederic Lemercier, and translated from the French by Alexis Siegel.” (I think
that means that Lemercier did the panel breakdowns from Guibert’s script – for
those who obsess about comics workflow – but that’s not completely clear.)
So every page of [[[The Photographer]]] is a comics page, with captions, panels, borders
and word balloons. But many of those pictures are not Guibert’s drawings, but Lefèvre’s photos – used as panels (wordless; the
captions and balloons never overlie the photography) or in strips of film to
convey time passing or just the atmosphere of a scene. It’s a style that
quickly fades into the background, but it gives The Photographer the power of a documentary – we see these people’s
real faces, and the real landscape they inhabit, as well as Guibert’s versions
of them.
#SDCC: Overheard at San Diego Comic-Con, Day 1
The catch-all for all the off the cuff comments and interesting comments we’ve been hearing in the halls, following on Facebook, and tracking on Twitter.
Fernando Borrego: Only at comic con: bill nye gets a bigger ovation than nick cage
Chris Gore: Saw a guy at Comic Con wearing an NFL cap & called him Faggot! Revenge for the 10,000,000 times I was called FAG in high school. Win!
Bonnie Burton at the i09 panel: Pirates are the new vampire zombies!
BrianTruitt: Biggest irony of #sdcc: the one place you don’t have to stand in line is the bathroom.
paplikaplik: That lady’s trying to fit 200 lbs of Wonder Woman into a 90 lb costume.
mordantkitten: Damned if I haven’t found a way to sleep in line. Hee!
germainlussier: never seen hall h this full or full of females. its like a boy band concert.
ACED Magazine: Zoe Saldana has a
girlcrush on Megan Fox-but doesn’t know why casting decisions are made
by 65-yr-old men who want to see 25 year old girls rather than by looking to input from the younger generation who might want to see something different.
Paul Kupperberg “is 3000 miles away from Artists Alley and thinks the view from here is just fine.”
Geoff Johns, on the Green Lantern live-action movie : “I think the Green Lantern mythology has the potential to be one of
the biggest franchises in the world, superhero or otherwise. It’s as
epic as Star Wars and as deep as Lord of the Rings.
I think it could rival every other superhero out there if explored,
supported and executed right. … I think the success of films like Iron Man and The Dark Knight has shown us that good comics films can rule the screen. … I have immensely high hopes for Green Lantern.”
And finally, a tweet from Mark Evanier: “I’m at the con. Where the hell is everyone? The place is empty.”
(Thanks to Kim Kindya, Jenifer Rosenberg, Martha Thomases, and everybody else sending in their favorites. Photo by cranberries.)
#SDCC: ‘Avatar’s James Cameron as Charles Foster Kane
Yes, it’s a “homage” to Orson Welles. From the Avatar panel. (Hat tip: SpoilerTV.)
#SDCC: Is McLovin ready to ‘Kick-Ass’?
Who kicks more ass? McLovin’, or the Red Mist?
“There’s a reason why [Nicolas] Cage ain’t here…” So said Christopher Mintz-Plasse, co-star of Mark Millar’s comic-to-screen adaptation of Kick-Ass, brought to us at the San Diego Comic-Con in that room of rooms… Hall D! Director Matthew Vaughn presented alongside special guest Mark Millar, the aforementioned Mr. Mintz-Plasse (formerly McLovin’ of Superbad Fame…), as well as John Romita Jr., the comic book artist who brings Kick-Ass to life every month(ish) via Marvel’s ICON line.
Showing off Avid-fresh clips to a rabid audience, Vaughn was ensuring a final product that would bring a genuine adaptation that followed the comic to the letter, or in this case… the panels. “We are a genuine comic book adaptation with comic book authors involved
in the production of the movie… It’s really important to me that fans
of the comic like the film. I’ll be more upset if fans of the comic
hate the movie than anybody else.” Vaughn told MTV’s Splash Page blog prior to the screening.
And what a screening it was. Scenes including Nicholas Cage’s Big Daddy shooting his little girl, Chloe Moretz, begarbed in a bulletproof vest. A Paris Hilton joke warmed the crowd. And what of the titular hero? Aaron Johnson plays ‘Dave’, who in clips presented at the con, showed off the straight from panel to screen costume (no leather upgrades ala X-men here.), as well as comic-worthy violence. Tasers to a thug’s forehead? Check. Hit-Girl slicing and dicing bad guys enough to shame Beatrix Kiddo? Check. And McLovin’ as the hot-rodding Red Mist? Double check. The fans in attendance ate it up? How much? They demanded a reshowing of the trailer, and they got it.
But this begs to be asked… obviously Vaughn knew what to say and show the rabid comic fans in attendance, but Millar isn’t squeaky clean when it comes to his adaptations on film… lest we forget the curved bullets of amazing aptitude in Wanted: Not Quite the Comic circa 2008.
Look for ‘Kick-Ass’ at the tail end (sorry) of this year.
