Since this year’s tragic death of comic creator Micheal Turner, many of his projects that were in production were put to rest, but recent news came through that the film adaptation of Turner’s acclaimed series Fathom may have gotten some new juice.

The film has been in production since late 2001, when James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment owned the rights. Things were in limbo for a while, and according to IESB, the film was recently acquired by 20th Century Fox, to be produced under their independent department Fox Atomic. The studio is currently putting the franchise out to several writers that they are hoping would revamp the script for use as a genre vehicle for Megan Fox. Those know Fox from last year’s Transformers, playing opposite Shia Lebouf, and sources say that she has officially signed on to the project as lead character Aspen.

For those unaware, Fathom is about Aspen Matthews, an young amnesiac who is found aboard a cruise ship which arrives 10 years after it was thought to have disappeared. She is adopted by naval officer Captain Matthews and while growing up, develops a unique fascination with the ocean. Aspen’s love for the water only grows, as she excels in swimming and even won the gold for her Olympic swimming team. Aspen later uncovers that she’s not human, but a member of the world of the Blue. She later discovers her great water-based powers and uncovers her whole history.

Fathom was originally published by Top Cow Comics in 1998 and finished the first volume in 2002. It was then taken up by Turner’s own publishing company Aspen and is currently being released with Volume 3 #1 debuting on August 6 of this year. You can also see Megan Fox next in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People out this year and returning as Mikaela Banes in next summer’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. She will also be seen next year in Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body.

For those betting on Knight Rider being the first cancellation of the new season, you lose.  Despite the critical and ratings drubbing the premiere episode received this week, the honor of first to face the axe is Fox’s Do Not Disturb which is now off the schedule.  While not officially canceled, all signs point to the sitcom not coming back.

An additional episode of the somewhat funnier ‘Til Death will round out the schedule until further notice.

I haven’t reviewed books about sex in close to a month, so it must be time again, right? (As always, I’m reviewing what I have on hand, so, if you publish manga and want me to

cover it, contact me at the e-mail address far below.If you don’t publish manga, but want me to review something in particular, just leave a comment with a suggestion. If you don’t publish manga, and have no suggestions…then I think you’re good the way you are.)

Sundome, Vol. 3
By Kazuto Okada
Yen Press, September 2008, $12.99

I liked the first volume of Sundome, but wasn’t entirely comfortable with how focused on leering at teenage girls it was. (I have no problems with teenage boys leering at teenage girls – in any case, they’ll do it no matter what I think – but I don’t think it’s really appropriate for me to do so. And that can bother me, even in fictional form.) The second volume made me even more uneasy, because the “games” that teenage cutie Kurumi played on utterly-gaga-about-her Hideo were getting dangerous and cruel.

Their relationship is still shifting in this third volume; Hideo’s devotion to Kurumi is showing some positive results (he’s gotten stronger from all of his bike riding-cum-sublimation, and Kurumi’s teasing is turning more girlfriend-ish than purely mean), and the more dangerous or kinky moments are part of obvious sex-play between the two. Oh, she’s still insisting that she’ll never have sex with him…but she isn’t acting as if that’s true.

Even given the cultural differences, Sundome is one of the most raw and realistic depictions of adolescent sexuality I’ve ever seen. Sure, it’s exaggerated for fictional effect, with the usual manga shorthand, but these kids are both horny and confused in a way that fiction rarely shows. And, of course, since there’s some moderately explicit sexuality in this book – more that the previous books, I think – it’s rated “M” for adults only, and teenagers are officially not supposed to read it. That’s irony for you: because it’s so true about teenagers, teenagers aren’t supposed to read it.

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