Once again I’m left with a stack of books that are sequels to other books – that’s what comics is about, isn’t it? stories that never end? – and so I shoved three of them together due to some vague shojo similarities. And they are…

Nephilim, Vol. 2
By Anna Hanamaki
Aurora, July 2008, $10.95

The first volume of Nephilim – which I reviewed back in August – looked a lot like an adventure story, with daring escapes, swordfights, chase scenes, and two battling empires. But it had within it the hints of the emotion-drenched shojo romance it was destined to eventually be. By the end of that book, the dashing nobleman Guy had saved the Nephilim Abel (one of a nearly-genocided race of people who all change sex at night, which must make pregnancies interesting) and they’d seemingly shared a “we both love each other” moment before they were rudely separated.

But it’s now a year later, and Abel is searching for Guy, while swanning over the one moment when he said he wanted to be her husband. (She’s a shojo heroine, so she spends a lot of time in a romantic reverie and hardly any time noticing the world in front of her.) The background is still of a world vaguely at war, between two large powerful countries, with the poor Nephilim (what of them are left) stuck in the middle. But that’s really just for added drama: the focus here has shifted decisively to “but does he luuuuuuuve me?!” territory.

Abel does catch back up with Guy, as we knew she would. She eventually learns he has a Tragic Secret (related to a Weakness He Is Too Much Of An Honorable Man To Tell, and which Threatens His Life when he Performs Great Deeds), and, even worse, that he has what looks like another romantic entanglement. (Interestingly – since he seemingly originally was interested in Abel during the day, when she was a boy – the woman he’s canoodling with now has a short, severe haircut and an tough, commanding attitude that some might even call “manly.”) (more…)

Happy Birthday, Rene Magritte.

Britian’s ITV has a showreel for their upcoming season, with new content of interest for fans:

• The first video clips I’ve seen for the remake of The Prisoner, starring James Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) as Number Six and Ian McKellen (X-Men, Lord Of The Rings) as Number Two. You can read more at AMC’s Prisoner production blog, with many entries by Sir Ian himself.
• Law & Order: London, starring Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) in the traditional younger detective role and Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Survivors) in the traditional female DA role. Character names? It’s Law & Order, you know the roles. Although seeing DAs in wigs is a bit weird. At least they kept the "da-dum" sound.
• Clips for season 3 of Primeval.
• A new series called Whitechapel that, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with Warren Ellis. Unless he’s trying to recreate the Jack the Ripper killings for fun and profit. Which, come to think of it, Warren might do.

And for the obligatory comics connection, they keep using the soundtrack for The Dark Knight over clips. You’d think that soundtrack won an Oscar or someth– oops, sorry. Sore subject?

Any hits? Misses? Impending disasters? Leave your comments below.

Ukrainian-born actress Olga Kurylenko addressed being the latest Bond girl in Quantum of Solace when she met with Australian press.

"That’s not what an actor hopes to play", she said, referring to the many women Bond has encountered. "They’ve mostly been dull and just arm-candy."

The 29 year-old actress plays Camille, a woman also on a mission of revenge, much like Bond. Unlike her feminine predecessors, she did not manage to bed the secret agent. "Yeah, I liked [the older ones] but I especially liked Casino Royale", she says. "The Bond girl is also a lot more interesting in that one. That’s what inspired me to go and audition for this one".

Having gotten the part, she then trained for the physical work which pleased her. "It was amazing. It was the first time I’d experienced doing such action stuff", says. "I trained a lot. I trained all the time, all the time – every free moment I had. They brought me in a month before I started shooting and during that month I just trained with the stunt people. They taught me how to fight- just basic fighting with fists and kicking and punching, so not like Asian martial-arts like Michelle Yeoh [in Tomorrow Never Dies]. This was more tough military-style fighting.

"I also had to learn how to skydive – we shot it in a wind tunnel but I still needed to train for a month to know how to do it properly."

Kurylenko was also seen this fall in Max Payne and expects to find a career in American films. "They know me in France – they’ve known me since 2004 when I did The Ring Finger — but America doesn’t me. Hitman was my first English-speaking part, and my second was Bond — I only did 3 days work on Max Payne, in the middle of filming Bond, so that doesn’t really count. Hitman did get me an American agent and it did open doors to an extent but this one more so, because it’s just so big!"
 

Once upon a time, these would have been faznines produced using Xerox machines or newfangled offset presses.  But, today, Alter Ego, Back Issue, Write Now!, Draw! and the Jack Kirby Collector are all legitimate magaines from TwoMorrows. The company has expanded to include books such as their Modern Masters series along with their welcome Companion books exploring facets of DC Comics history.  We sat with founder with John Morrow to see what was new.

ComicMix: Did you ever imagine this being a fulltime gig?
 
John Morrow: Initially, no; furthest thing from my mind. Back in 1994, my wife and I were in the early stages of building our graphic design business, and had just gotten over those first few years where you’re killing yourself pulling all-nighters to service your clients. Just as things slowed down to a reasonable level, Jack Kirby died. I’d been out of comics for several years, but I felt compelled to produce a (albeit fairly slick) fanzine about Kirby, just to re-experience what drew me to his work originally. This led to lots more all-nighters getting the Jack Kirby Collector off the ground, but I envisioned it lasting no more than maybe six or seven issues, having some fun, then calling it a day.
 
CMix: What has surprised you the most about running TwoMorrows?
 
JM: Other than the fact that we’ve been at it for 15 years, it’d have to be the staying power of Kirby’s work and influence. I was really naïve to have ever thought Jack’s hold on the industry would wane over time; if anything, it’s probably as strong now as it ever was, with all the reissues of his work, and revamps of his characters. I don’t think I could still be doing an ongoing magazine about anyone else in comics, 50-plus issues and 15 years later. (more…)

On tonight’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the dreaded Jar Jar Binks makes a return appearance. In “Bombad Jedi”, Jar Jar Binks and C-3PO team up to save Padme Amidala from the evil Viceroy Nute Gunray, which is made more complicated when the Separatists assume that the Gungan is a Jedi.

You have been warned.

"So there are two stories, so basically, I don’t know what I’m supposed to give away, but obviously the world is sort of in peril," actress Amanda Peet  (Studio 60) told a gaggle of reporters yesterday about 2012. The original science fiction drama from Roland Emmerich’s has been in production this fall for Sony.

"Well, we’re in peril, obviously!" she said. "And some people know that we’re in peril, and some people don’t. Like some people in the government. So there are a few different stories. And I’m with a family that doesn’t know. So we’re in a survival story, basically. … I’m a civilian."

Given that the Mayan calendar predicted that the world will end on December 21, 2012, Emmerich launched his story, which was first announced in May. Sony anticipates a July 10, 2009 release for the feature which also stars John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Thomas McCarthy.

She addressed the blue screen acting process given the apocalypse taking the form for floods, volcanic eruptions and typhoons. "You watch playback, and you realize that you look like you’re on a Saturday Night Live skit, and you have to take it down a little bit. Or, luckily if John Cusack is around … he sets the level. Tom McCarthy and I always make jokes, because we’re not used to dealing with this kind of thing. And John is like an old pro. So whenever John was there, it was much better. … When John was there, we’d be like, ‘Oh, s–t, we’ve totally been overplaying this. … Are we in a silent movie, from a different era?’"

When asked point blank of Harrison Ford thought there would be a fifth film featuring Indiana Jones, the actor told MTV, “I don’t know. If we come up with a good idea…”

And who would come up with the idea? George Lucas, who has conceived most of the previous stories, is charged with coming up with the next idea. “That’s the process,” he said. “With some general input he goes off and searches for the MacGuffin and then stumbles into a story. And at some point we have a chance to take a look at and give some input.”

Given that Jones has married Marion Ravenwood and is getting to know his adult son Mutt, it would suggest new areas to explore. With luck, something fresh will suggest itself improving on this year’s installment.