Starting Friday, ComicMix will publish the complete Ballad of Frankie and Vampi, starring Frankenstein Mobster and Vampirella.  Written and drawn by Mark Wheatley (EZ Street, Hammer of the Gods), the series originally ran in 2003 on several sites, including SundayFunnies.com, gemstonepub.com and Vampirella.com.  The original series was edited by Maureen McTigue. 

ComicMix presentation will include exclusive, never-before seen art.

A blog about Frankie and Vampi can be found at FEARnet.

The Frankenstein Mobster used to be Terry Todd, a crusading cop for whom the law was at least a compulsion, if not more. Life as a good cop in a bad town wasn’t easy, but death is apparently even harder. Now he’s been revived in a patchwork body, and he finds himself sharing his own skull with three unscrupulous mobsters. Obviously, this is one Made Man you don’t want to mess with.

Here are excerpts from an interview between the two characters.

Vampi: I understand there’s another woman in your life. Who’s Terri Todd?

Frankie: Terri? I don’t like talking about her, Vampi. But I don’t mind tellin’ you that she is a damn fine cop! And I’m not sayin’ ‘just for a woman’ neither!  She’s the youngest to ever make detective grade on the Monstros City force. And that’s sayin’ somethin’.  She’s smart, pretty and pitches a mean softball to boot.

Frankie: So, why the hell are you in Monstros City?

Vampi: Since my last visit I just can’t get this place out of my mind.
(more…)

Client newspapers of Newspaper Enterprise Association will be treated to a special 16-strip, The Search for Santa.  According to Daily Cartoonist, the strip is effectively a spin-off from Luann by Greg Evans.

NEA has been producing annual Christmas strips for their papers since 1937 and this year’s is a reprise to one Evans created previously.  Told from the point of view of Puddles, Luann’s dog, it triers to resolve the eternal question of why St. Nick does bring gifts to dogs.

 “The nagging question leads Puddles on a long journey, during which he finally finds Santa – and the spirit of the season,” Evans said.

Papers will carry the strip from December 8 through Christmas Day.
 

Update: Variety is now confirming that Josh Brolin is in talks for Jonah Hex.

Just yesterday we reported that several films are gearing up for production starts between spring and summer of 2009. One of those films is Warner Bros.’s adaptation of Jonah Hex, DC Comics’ resident western gunslinger. Though actor Thomas Jane put himself through make-up testing to prove himself right for the role, it looks like the studio has its eye on a different actor — someone who’s no stranger to the Country.

Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere reports that "the deal is sealed for Josh Brolin to star in Jonah Hex." The film will be directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Game). Although representatives from the Brolin camp say that the actor isn’t attached, Wells is confident that the actor is locked in.

"A voice is telling me to consider the word of a friend who tells me the deal was locked down last night," Wells says.

According to Wells, the movie will be "some kind of sci-fi western with CG up the wazoo. There’s nothing sci-fi-ish about the Hex comic book that’s explained on the Wikipedia page, but there’s always the creative option." (more…)

The Sci Fi Channel and RHI Entertainment are teaming up for their fourth multipicture deal in the past 12 months. This new deal includes basic cable rights for the U.S. premiers of five new horror and thriller projects. Three of these telefilms will begin shooting in Romania soon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, these films are:

Sand Serpents, starring Gedrick, follows American combat soldiers in the Afghan desert who battle the Taliban and a horde of giant carnivorous serpents.

Alien Western is set in an Old West town in the 1890s where monstrous buglike machines from another world attack.

Carney, based on the Jersey Devil legend, where a fiendish carnival side-show attraction escapes and terrorizes a Depression-era Mid-Atlantic town.

Also included in the deal are Ricky Schroder’s Hellhounds and the Eric Balfour-starring Rise of the Gargoyle. Fun fact: Schroder and Balfour were co-stars on the sixth and most recently televised season of 24.

RHI produced a third of all Sci Fi’s movies in the last season, according to RHI’s Robert Halmi Jr.

"What sets our product apart is that we spend more money so that we can get better cast and have better production values onscreen," Halmi Jr. clarifies.

RHI, who also produced Sci Fi’s record-breaking Tin Man limited series, will distribute the telefilms in key territories across the globe.

Sci Fi Channel has many telefilms in the pipeline, including the Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, directed by Edward James Olmos, and a reimagining of Children of the Corn, starring Battlestar vet Kandyse McClure and Heroes‘ David Anders.

Those couple of issues out so far haven’t even scratched the surface of what lies ahead for Marvel’s adaption of The Stand. Artist Mike Perkins tells us what’s ahead, plus:

• DC and Warner add more Motion Comics to the mix
• Two new World Of Warcraft cards that will blow you away
• Kevin Spacey Says He  Be Luthor

   

Stop laughing at that and Press the Button!

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We’ve talked about Midway’s upcoming Mortal Kombat Versus DC Universe fighting game plenty. Consider it a done deal that we want to play Green Lantern fighting Sub-Zero. So the only question that remains is to get the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version.

Not so fast.  A Kollector’s Edition has been announced. For an extra $10 you get a removable Alex Ross alternate cover, making of videos, and a 16-page comic book.

“But wait. There’s more,” as the cheesy infomercial announcers say. Pre-order at Gamestop and get a lithograph of The Joker finishing off Scorpion in the Batcave.

“We’re not done yet!” Another wrinkle in the mix is that the PS3 version will have a neat exclusive for comic book fans: a digital version of the Kollector’s Edition comic book viewable on your game system.

Mortal Kombat Versus DC Universe is scheduled to ship for release on November 10th.