Joe Johnston to Direct ‘Captain America’
Joe Johnston will be directing First Avenger: Captain America for Marvel Studios. The director has signed a deal according to The Hollywood Reporter for the film which will open May 6, 2011 setting up the final pieces prior to that July’s Avengers film.
There is no casting as yet nor is there a screenwriter.
Johnston made his name as a special effects designer for George Lucas on the original Star Wars films prior to shifting to directing and his credits include genre fare such as the underrated The Rocketeer and next year’s Wolfman film with Benicio del Toro. Johnston met with Marvel Studio execs two years ago and hit it off so this is the culmination of that relationship.
Kevin Feige told the trade, "This is a guy who designed the vehicles for Star Wars, who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for Raiders of the Lost Ark. From Rocketeer to October Sky to The Wolfman, you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one."
Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created the star-spangled avenger for Timely Comics in 1941 and produced ten issues prior to leaving for DC Comics. The character, though, endured and became one of the three major stars of the comics line through the 1940s. He was briefly revived in the 1950s but lay dormant until Stan Lee created the Marvel Universe. For the fourth issue of the Avengers, he and Kirby told of how Captain America had been preserved in a state of suspended animation, trapped in a block of ice until the Sub-Mariner unwittingly tossed the chunk into the sea where the warmer waters melted the block. The Avengers found him and he returned to active duty. He has been a staple of Marvel Comics ever since.
Feige had previously indicated the film will be set during World War II and film students already saw a glimpse of the frozen form in an arctic sequence shot as an alternative opening for this summer’s Incredible Hulk. We also saw Captain America’s fabled shield in Tony Stark’s lab in Iron Man and again, director Jon Favreau indicated Howard Stark had something to do with the shield as will be revealed in forthcoming films.
Captain America had been adapted twice before. Once in two terrible telefilms for CBS and the aborted Captain America feature film from 1990 that never made it to theaters. Matt Salinger portrayed the hero and was pitted against his immortal enemy the Red Skull, who was an Italian terrorist, not a a Nazi.
Marvel has provided ComicMix with preview pages from the forthcoming [[[Wolverine: Flies to a Spider]]]. Novelist turned comic writer Gregg Hurwitz (Punisher) is paired with newcomer Jerome Opena (Fear Agents) and cover artist Tim Bradstreet for the oneshot due in stores December 12.
NBM reminds readers what the First Time was like, in an erotic hardcover anthology that will feature the works of Dave McKean. The collection of ten tales comes from writer Sybilline, a French woman with decidedly spicy ideas. The art is handled by a variety of talents including McKean, Cyril Pedrosa (Three Shadows), and Olivier Vatine (Aquablue). 
Yesterday, we began a conversation with About Comics’ Nat Gertler, looking back over 10 years of existence. Today, we’ll examine his best known project 24 Hour Comics Day as well as About’s future plans.
ComicMix’s own 
For years, in television, many hybrid series involving both science fiction and comedy have come and gone. It’s a fine line to juggle the fans of a pretty strict mythos (whichever that may be, they are all pretty strict) to also keeping the show fresh and witty for people who may not be into the science fiction or fantasy element. Reaper happens to be one of those shows that has walked the line successfully for a season and is already planning on doing it again in season 2. We got a chance to grab Ray Wise, who plays the show’s antagonist—the Devil himself—about his role in the show and some things to look forward to.
After expressing interest in directing everything from the an adaptation of Valiant’s Harbinger to a feature film based on Guitar Hero, director Brett Ratner has finally chosen his next projects.
If you’re wondering where Freema Agyeman went after leaving Doctor Who behind, you will be pleased to know she became a Survivor. She was cast in the remake of the Terry Nation Survivors series from the 1970s. The new incarnation will be debuting on the BBC this fall in a six-episode inaugural season. She is joined in the cast by Nikki Amuka–Bird (No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) as Samantha Willis; Max Beesley (Hotel Babylon) as Tom Price; Shaun Dingwall (Doctor Who) as David; Julie Graham (Bonekickers) as Abby Grant; Paterson Joseph (Jekyll) as Greg; Phillip Rhys (24) as Al; Zoë Tapper (The Last Van Helsing) as Anya and newcomer Chahak Patel as 11-year-old Najid. 
Lionsgate has announced the arrival of Hulk Vs. in January. According to a press release, “If Hulk alone weren’t enough, Hulk is now joined by the super-heroes of the next two Marvel tentpole films — Wolverine and Thor in this newest addition to the Marvel Animated Features series.
