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BBC Video Unveils Palin Box Set, ‘Sarah Jane’, ‘Doctor Who’

  • News
  • September 14, 2008

Coming to stores next month, BBC Video offers a 19-disc Michael Palin Collection – on October 7, 2008.

All of eight of Palin’s fascinating travelogues — Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Himalaya, Sahara, New Europe, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure, and Great Railway Journeys – will be included, the last three new to DVD.  The box set contains 36 hours of content and over seven hours of bonus features, include interviews with Palin, behind-the-scenes featurettes, outtakes, deleted and extended scenes, as well as Polish and Russian subtitles on New Europe. The box set will retail for $249.92.

Michael Palin: Full Circle ($49.98) and Michael Palin: Hemingway Adventure with Great Railway Journeys ($34.98) will also be released individually.

Also being released on October 7 will be The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season. This Doctor Who spin-off provides science fiction adventure for the whole family by melding the same mystique and wonder featured in the contemporary Doctor Who series with fun-filled hilarity. Elisabeth Sladen reprises her role as the investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith — one of the classic Doctor Who‘s most beloved companions. Accompanied by a fresh, young team including 13-year- old next door neighbor Maria Jackson (Yasmin Page, The Mysti Show), Sarah Jane sets out on a whole new round of escapades ranging from discovering mischievous alien plots to helping lost extraterrestrials return home. Boasting six hours of content, this four-disc set features all 10 episodes as well as cast and crew interviews, a Sarah Jane Smith video timeline, behind the scenes footage, and character and alien profiles. The box set will retail for $49.98. (more…)

Review: ‘Gotham Central: Book One’ by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka

  • Uncategorized
  • September 13, 2008

gc-4087050The Gotham police force has been around for pretty much as long as there’s been a [[[Batman]]]. But aside from James Gordon, the cops have always amounted to essentially cannon fodder, either dying at the hands of the rogues or vainly attempting to bring in the Bat during his various stints as a wanted man.

In other words, the cops have always only existed as extras in the blockbuster Batman stories. Writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka flip that equation in [[[Gotham Central]]], starting with the cops — specifically the unit working metahuman cases — and only bringing Batman in as a vague background player, almost a deus ex machina who both enrages and inspires the force.

It’s not especially different from Brian Michael Bendis’ [[[Powers]]], except in how that series exaggerates policing for maximum bombast while Gotham Central more effectively captures the often droll, depressing and cynical atmosphere of a police department (In case you question my bona fides, I worked as a crime reporter for years). Collected now in a nice hardcover, the first volume of the series features two stories, one about the death of a cop and another about the public outing of Detective Renee Montoya.

With well-suited art from Michael Lark that firmly grounds the story, the writers drop readers immediately into a full precinct (it does get a little fuzzy keeping track of who’s who) as one cop is killed by Mr. Freeze. The obvious angle they explore is how mere humans can try to take down a bad guy with so much power, and how they resent Batman for always having to bail them out.

Thankfully the book goes much deeper than that, and Brubaker lends just as much pathos to these detectives as he does to his dealers, robbers and thugs in his series [[[Criminal]]]. None more so than Montoya, who is here developed as one of the most realistic lesbian comic book characters yet seen. In fact, her story, “Half a Life” was justly recognized with several awards. Sadly DC editorial later let that characterization drop in favor of hot-chicks-in-lingerie scenes in 52.

There’s a funny blurb on this book’s cover, saying it’s the “best Batman comic published,” which is both sad and true. One can only wonder if the team of Brubaker and Lark had been handed the Batman duties, instead of going on to bring their brand of realism and slick plotting to [[[Captain America]]].

And we’ll probably never know. But it doesn’t diminish at all what they and Rucka accomplished in Gotham Central.

David Boreanez may Take the Oath

  • News
  • September 13, 2008

Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Michael Green are just about done with a rewrite to their Green Lantern feature film script and told Moviehole they anticipate turning it in this coming week.

One of the things that excited Warner Bros. about the proposed project were the production drawings from former comic book artist Brian Murray.  He based Hal Jordan on actor David Boreanez, known for Angel but also was Jordan’s voice on the New Frointier animated movie released earlier this year.  Carol Ferris was modeled after Sin City’s Carla Gugino.

Boreanez, currently starring on Fox’s Bones, has tested for super-heroes before, first as The Thing in Fantastic Four and later as Superman for Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.

Now word is bubbing that he may be considered for the live-action version as well.

For George Miller’s stalled Justice League film, GL was going to be John Stewart and played by the rapper Common.
 

Get Committed To Arkham Asylum Contest

  • News
  • September 13, 2008

 

Remember the comic miniseries Arkham Asylum: Living Hell where a regular guy gets sent to the madhouse for Batman’s criminally insane enemies?Well, now that could be you. Gamestop is sponsoring a contest where your likeness will be put in the Batman: Arkham Asylum game. You’ll get to co-star with Mark Hammil who was recently announced as reprising his voice acting role as the Joker for the game.

The winner will have to patient because Batman: Arkham Asylum doesn’t come out until August 2009, but you can hold yourself over with these amazing screenshots seen below and after the jump that were posted for a short time on developer Rocksteady Games’ website.

 

ComicMix Radio: ComicMix Hits Print

  • News
  • September 13, 2008

balt-9266633Now you can get actual, beautiful printed copies of a few of the best comics ComixMix has offered, but these will be true collector’s items.  Details right here, plus:

  • Beau Smith packs cowboys, pirates and Nazis in a new comic
  • Sarah Palin gets an action figure or three
  • Missing a comic? We’ve got the update on what’s late.
     

So why that little plug for the Baltimore Comic-Con?  Hmm…..what could that mean? To find out, just is Press the Button!

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-7749024 or RSS!

 

 

‘Last of the Funnies’ Explores News-less Future

  • Uncategorized
  • September 13, 2008

last-of-the-funnies-front-cover-sample-9315506Last of the Funnies is a new novelette from Mike Cope, a Canadian cartoonist.  The 80-page book has garnered some positive comment with Editor& Publisher noting, “One thing the book wrestles with is the issue of digital copyrights in a virtually paperless world. Cope also pays homage to characters, people, and organizations tied to comics — including The Yellow Kid, Rube Goldberg, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and the National Cartoonists Society.

"The Last of the Funnies concludes with an eight-page illustrated appendix featuring selected reference images from sources such as the NCS, Creators Syndicate, King Features Syndicate, and the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library.”

Daily Cartoonist describes it this way, “After a worldwide energy and economic crisis, newspapers have ceased production and nearly every form of art and entertainment is a digital simulation. In this seemingly impossible (but plausible) future, a crusty old cartoonist named Frost has a great gift to leave Giles, his only child. Frost is the creator of Li’l Nibs – the most celebrated comic strip about four little aliens who crash-landed on Earth during the crisis and aptly announced, ‘Weez Comez in Peez!’

“However, to Giles, the funnies have caused nothing but conflict in his life. He’s grown to resent Frost’s crudely hand-drawn creations. But as the young Virtual Art professor soon learns, things aren’t always as they appear.

“Like a cartoon wizard behind ink-stained curtains, Frost weaves a whimsical tale about the origins of the funnies, web comics, and a terrorizing menace that threatens to kidnap every artist’s childhood dreams!

“Whether Giles believes it or not, the fate of the funnies is in his hands . . .”
 

Smallville, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • September 13, 2008

2-6-6857921The media narrative for the last week has been about “small town values.” According to several speeches made during and after the Republican convention, they are the party of these values, and Democrats are not.

What are these small town values? Among those traits cited are safety (you can leave your door unlocked), church, and concern for your neighbors.

To me, the quintessential small town is Smallville, and Clark Kent is its quintessential citizen. He helped his parents on their farm, and worked in their store. He made friends that lasted for his entire life. And as soon as he learned what he could, he left for the big city.

For Clark, Smallville is a place where he could make his mistakes. He could count on his family. When he felt confident in himself and his abilities, he went to Metropolis, so he could share his gifts with the most people possible.

(more…)

‘Doomsday Protocol’ Housed at Fox

  • News
  • September 13, 2008

The Seven Samurai remains one of the classic storytelling devices invented for movies and has been the template for many films beginning with The Magnificent Seven.  It has now also proven to be the inspiration for Doomsday Protocol, a science fiction thriller.  The original script by Shane Salerno was purchased by 20th Century Fox for development.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “a group of aliens and humans with various abilities who are brought together to save Earth.”

Salerno’s previous writing credits Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Ghost Rider, the remake of Shaft ,and Armageddon.

‘Fear(s) of the Dark’ Coming to America

  • News
  • September 12, 2008

Fear(s) of the Dark, an animated horror film from France, will receive a limited US release in October through December.  The movie screened this past January at the 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam and garnered good reviews.

Coming to America via IFC Films, the movie is an anthology of six intertwined tales about phobias and nightmares from a variety of international creators including Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre Di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire.

The film will run between October and December at mostly independent theaters.  See IFC’s website for additional details.
 

Katee Sackhoff Gains New Series

  • News
  • September 12, 2008

katee-sackhoff-8960338Katee Sackhoff will star in a new series created by Chris Levinson, Lost and Found for NBC according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Battlestar Galactica star had originally been contracted with Universal Studios and NBC to become a regular on The Bionic Woman should that series make it to a second season.  Instead, it was a ratings and writers’ strike casualty, freeing her for other work including a stint on the next season of Nip/Tuck.

Once she completes her work on the BSG telefilm, now shooting in Vancouver, she will go to work on the Dick Wolf production which will cast her as an LAPD detective who is punished for clashes with authority and sent to work on John and Jane Doe cases.

Levinson developed the show for the 2006-07 development season finally received a cast-contingent order from the network last month.  Sackhoff’s casting moves the show to a guaranteed pilot.

 

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