Marvel’s David Gabriel and Cory Sedlmeier spoke with the Marvel Masterworks fansite about their collected editions plans for 2009, as Marvel kicks off its 70th anniversary plans. The biggest news is that the 20 year old Masterwork program will add softcover editions beginning in January.

Gabriel explained, “They will be issued one per month in the original running order of release. There will be a regular edition and a variant that resembles the marble hardcover variants. The first edition is listed in the January previews, and we’re just putting February together now.” The first Masterwork was Amazing Spider-Man volume one and will retail at $24.99.

These softcovers will be added to the 16 new volumes planned for 2009, which will push Marvel’s Masterworks library to 126 volumes.  DC’s similar Archives library, in comparison, has only a handful of titles planned for 2009 and have reformatted the hardcovers as their Chronicles line.

Sedlmeier added, “As readers know, the softcover Masterworks will be mirroring the release order of the hardcover line begun all the way back in 1987. The approach taken back then was not to restore the original comics’ coloring, but to recolor the books in what was then a modern style. When the program was reignited with new editions in 2004, I felt historical accuracy was something readers valued above a bells-and-whistles reinterpretation.

“That approach is now law, so the softcovers will be seeing restoration to bring any material not restored to match the original comics’ coloring to up the level of quality and historical accuracy readers see in our new hardcovers each and every month.

“A lot has already been accomplished through the Omnibus line and the new printings the Masterworks hardcovers have seen over the course of 2007 and 2008, so there’s a lot less restoration work cut out for us than there would be if we were starting from scratch.”

The trade dress for the Masterworks evolved through the years from the original “marble” look to an interim design from Comicraft until the line was spruced up in 2002.  Currently, the current trade dress is available as the standard format while the marble look is offered as an alternative at a higher price to cover manufacturing costs.  The look of the softcover line will be a modification. (more…)

ICv2 reports that Catalyst Games has submitted a bid for WizKids’ properties, including HeroClix, the Pirates PocketModel Game, Star Wars PocketModel TCG, BattleTech/MechWarrior, and Shadowrun. Yesterday, former employees announced the formation of Piñata Games in the hopes of acquiring HeroClix. 

Catalyst currently has licenses for BattleTech and Shadowrun games which they acquired from WizKids and those games will continue despite WizKids sudden closure.

“Catalyst has demonstrated our ability to manage large and important intellectual properties,” Catalyst majority owner Loren Coleman told the site.  Coleman recently met with Topps execs in New York to discuss the potential acquisition.
 

David S. Cohen at Variety blogged the following:

“To date, other than James Cameron’s Avatar, there have been no announcements of a major franchise installment in live-action 3-D. No 3-D Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Die Hard or Pirates of the Caribbean. We hear from people who’ve worked on live-action 3-D that there’s a learning curve involved, and that a company or studio should make a 3-D movie before diving into the format.

“With that in mind, though, we can’t help but notice that 1) Disney is heavily invested in 3-D, including live-action. 2) Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp are making an animated 3-D movie together, Rango. and 3) Jerry Bruckheimer is making G Force in 3-D.

“Disney, Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Depp… Nobody at Disney is talking, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear a P4 3-D announcement one of these days.”

William Tell is finally getting his due as Justin Chadwick (Bleak House) has signed on to direct Ironbow: The Legend of William Tell. He will work from Jay Wolpert’s (The Count of Monte Cristo) script about the marksman who was forced to shoot an apple from atop his son’s head.

Spyglass will produce the film with no studio or release date announced. Casting is expected to begin shortly.

The Hollywood Reporter offered up a concise recap of the tale: “The William Tell legend centers on a crossbow marksman who, when he would not bow to Austrian rule, was forced to shoot an apple off his son’s head in exchange for freedom. The local overlord who commanded the act noticed that Tell had a second arrow in his quiver, which Tell told him was meant for the overlord if the son was killed. Tell was promptly arrested but eventually escaped and killed the overlord, sparking a rebellion that led to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.”

The story is now considered fiction by historians who can find no authoritative evidence of Tell’s existence.  He has remained an inspiration, his story told and retold from stage to screen. The first film adaptation came from French director Charles Pathé in 1900 while the most recent interpretation was the German-language Tell, in 2007.

With every Hollywood studio trying to capture a little Transformers magic for themselves, most of the 70s and 80s anime series about transforming sentient robots has been optioned for live-action development.  And of course, that means someone’s unhappy and ready to sue.

In a comprehensive report, the Anime News Network dissected the suit between World Events Productions and Toei Animation over Voltron. The film rights are currently being held by New Regency which began pre-production over the summer.

The suit alleges that Toei’s Hyakujuu Ou Golion (King of Beasts Golion) and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV (Mechanized Fleet Dairugger XV) which was licensed to Koplar Communications, an American firm, which combined them into the syndicated Voltron: Defender of the Universe series in 1984. Later, Koplar licensed Dairugger XV and incorporated it into the series for domestic audiences.

As the deal evolved, Toei and Koplar signed numerous agreements and in 1998, when Koplar created the CGI-animated Voltron: the Third Dimension in 1998, Toei filed a lawsuit which was ultimately settled with a new agreement signed in 2000.

When Koplar sold live-action rights to New Regency and The Mark Gordon Company on August 9, 2007, Toei sent a note complaining of not being consulted. Ted Koplar reacted by filing suit against Toei in February.  Part of the complaint states, "Through that investigation, New Regency identified an artist or author, Kazuo Nakamura, who may possess rights that encumber the Golion and/or Voltron properties and that interfere with World Events’ full and lawful enjoyment of the Golion and Voltron properties." Nakamura was a Toei employee who led character design on the properties.

In mid-August, New Regency said they were abandoning the project given the rights issues. The suit now alleges that Toei has cost Koplar “at least one development deal that would have resulted in a live-action motion picture."

As this works its way through the courts, other projects such as Robotech continue to move through the development process.

Arcana Comics’ Gearhead has been option for a feature film by Gale Anne Hurd’s Valhalla Motion Pictures. The graphic novel was created by Dennis Hopeless and Kevin Mellon and originally appeared as a miniseries prior to trade collection.

Variety says the “story revolves around a young woman who leaves the drag strip to team up with a group of rebels to fight the corrupt superheroes who govern the U.S.”

Hurd is no stranger to comic books or science fiction, most recently producing last summer’s Incredible Hulk and next month’s Punisher: War Zone.

Founded in 2004, Arcana began as a studio and has branched into producing comic books, webcomics and related merchandise. They continue to produce creative work for a wide variety of companies including National Hockey League, Disney and THQ.