Work Starts on ‘Wanted’ Sequel

News
July 18, 2008

Word from Variety is that a sequel to the Wanted film is already under development, with producer Marc Platt and director Timur Bekmambetov at work on the property.

And word is he has another couple comics properties in the works. From Variety:

Proceeding at quicker pace is "Wanted 2," though Platt acknowledged that the creative team is still working on the challenge of continuing the story after most of the principal characters — including Angelina Jolie — ended the original in no position for an encore. But the film was designed as a potential franchise, Langley said, and it is still performing strongly after grossing $192.6 million worldwide. The intention is to get James McAvoy back into gunslinging mode. ...

That duo also is teamed with Bekmambetov on a Universal adaptation of the Christian Gossett sci-fi graphic novel "The Red Star," which has a script draft by Matthew Sand.

Platt, who just received a contract extension from Universal Pictures, also is reported to be attached to the Scott Pilgrim movie.

Manga Friday: High School!

News
July 18, 2008

Ah, high school! The greatest time of our lives, right? The time when we all were either on the student council or locked in a life-or-death struggle with the evil student council, when we harnessed powerful robots to save the world, and when the most attractive member of whatever gender we fancied suddenly fell into our laps.

What? High school wasn’t like that for you? You should have been smart enough to go to a manga high school…

kujibiki-unbalance-9708949 Kujibiki Unbalance, Vol. 1
Story by Kio Shimoku; Art by Koume Keito
Del Rey Manga, July 2008, $10.95

It would be very unfair of me to pick on Kujibiki Unbalance for being silly, since it’s whole purpose is to be silly: it’s the fictional manga series beloved by the main characters of another manga series, Genshiken. As such, it was designed to be full of clichés and way over the top. But being less than serious doesn’t keep Kujibiki from being a lot of fun.

Chihiro is the nebbishy hero – he’s had bad luck his entire life, and is otherwise the epitome of the plucky but downtrodden shonen shlub. That all changed when he was chosen in a lottery to attend the ultra-prestigious and powerful Rikkyoin High School…and then learned that everything at Rikkyoin is determined by lottery.

He’s quickly chosen as student council president, with his long-time platonic best friend (and source of a whole lot of panty shots) Tokino as his VP. The secretary is a cold, bossy, super-genius named Renko, who’s been at Rikkyoin since kindergarten and is always accompanied her her home-made super-robot slave Kaoruko. And the treasurer – well, that’s what the first story is about: finding the treasurer so that the whole new council can go present themselves to the outgoing council.

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‘Watchmen’ Trailer Really Online

Uncategorized
July 18, 2008

watchmenewcover-7224176 After yesterday’s rush of the possibly accidental early release of the first Watchmen trailer — followed by a flurry of pirated trailers — we finally have two official ways to legally watch the trailer. Whew.

As our own Rick Marshall told you yesterday, Empire Online has the video on its Web site, which you can view right here.

Additionally, the Apple movie trailer site has the same video, and for me it was loading quite a bit faster this morning than Empire’s version.

You can also check out some stills from the trailer right here at ComicMix.

Meanwhile, over at Slashfilm there’s a bevy of Watchmen news, including insights from director Zack Snyder about the trailer. One cool note is how he had to digitally change a gun to a walkie-talkie, an homage to E.T.

They also have the cover to the Watchmen Entertainment Weekly, which you can see above.

What did you think of the trailer?

A Page from Okla. Pol’s Offensive Comic

News
July 18, 2008

Earlier today I told you about the Oklahoma County commissioner who was mailing out a pretty offensive comic book to voters in a last-ditch effort to keep his job amid scandal.

Today I bring you a page from his endeavor, which says the commissioner’s challengers are in league with homosexuals and Satan, among others. This also might be the first time anyone anywhere has used the phrase "liberal good ol’ boy."

rinehart-gay-7033524

The entire comic is available as a pdf at the Tulsa World newspaper’s Web site.

Random Video: ‘Dark Knight’ Deleted Scene

News
July 18, 2008

Funny or Die is joining in on the Dark Knight madness, posting the below "deleted scene" from the film. It’s pretty funny stuff, and discerning viewers will catch that the two stars both appeared in the first season of Flight of the Conchords.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Okla. Politician Mails Harsh Comic to Voters

News
July 18, 2008

Here’s some bizarre comics news for you: an Oklahoma County commissioner is trying to keep his office amid allegations of financial wrongdoing, and his latest effort is to mail out a comic book to voters.

That comic book, according to this article in the Oklahoman newspaper, alleges that Commissioner Brent Rinehart is being pushed out of office by good ol’ boys, homosexuals and the ruler of hell.

The 16-page comic book makes fun of homosexuals and criticizes Rinehart’s political opponents. It features a man and woman admiring Rinehart’s often-controversial political career.

Other prominent characters are an angel, who supports Rinehart, and Satan, who supports Rinehart’s critics.

"It’s more or less a story of my experiences of the last four years of being the county commissioner of District 2,” Rinehart said.

Interesting stuff, sure, but the real kicker is this brilliant quote:

"This is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen,” said Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma. "I’ve never seen a comic book with the phrase ‘anal sodomy’ in it before. That was a new one for me.”

The newspaper didn’t offer any images of the comic, so I have nothing to post. Anyone out there who finds a copy and sends it to me (van [dot] jensen [at] comicmix [dot] com) will be my best friend for life.

Fae Desmond Saves The World, by Michael Davis

News
July 18, 2008

galactus-and-fae2-5851719 Europe was gone.

England put up a gallant fight but was no match for his power. France did not put up much of a fight. The closest they came to a confrontation was a giant banner that said “Please Don’t Eat Us.” The Middle East was a wasteland. Most of the United States was destroyed but still fighting.

Fighting…Galactus! Galactus the world eater!

July 23, 2008, all the superheroes were dead or dying. Marvel’s best, DC’s finest and the greatest of Dark Horse and Image. All dead. When Galactus first appeared decades ago Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic of the famed Fantastic Four, had figured out a way to stop Galactus from destroying Earth. It was the first time Galactus had ever been stopped.

When Richards first heard Galactus’ ship was over Europe before the rampage, he and the Fantastic Four flew the Fantasticar out to confront him. Mr. Fantastic would calmly approach him secure in the knowledge that Galactus would keep his word not to destroy the earth. Reed Richards was so sure of that word that when they had first met he had handed over the only weapon that could destroy Galactus, The Ultimate Nullifier.

He handed it over to… Galactus. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, one of the smartest men in the world… freakin’ idiot.

The Human Torch flew beside the jet vehicle as always making wisecracks the entire way. The entire trip was filled with laughter and in fact the foursome had decided to take a few days in Europe after they saw what Galactus was up to.

“Most likely he just wants me to find him a world to eat that tastes like chicken.” Richards joked.

When they approached Galactus Richards said “Why are you here, old friend?” Galactus standing over 200 feet tall stared down at Richards in the hovering Fantasticar. “I am not your friend,” The booming voice of Galactus responded.

“Why are you upset with me?” Richards said, now starting to worry.

“Look, Richards this is the deal, I’m here to eat your world.”

The Invisible Woman turned to The Thing, “That does not sound like Galactus!” “You’re right, Susie!” The Thing said and then yelled at Galactus. “Hey big man, why are you going back on your word?”

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Interview: Greg Weisman Talks ‘Gargoyles’

News
July 17, 2008

When I was younger, there was a Disney cartoon that my friends and I loved and which impressed our parents with its maturity and layered story-telling. The series was called Gargoyles, and it told the story of a clan of warrior creatures from 10th Century Scotland who are brought to modern-day New York City via magical manipulation. Led by the noble gargoyle Goliath, the creatures find themselves to be strangers in a strange land, forced to hide while trying to find their new place in the 20th century. Soon enough, they wind up becoming superheroes, protecting the same humans who either fear them or don’t believe they exist.

Although the series lasted only two seasons (followed by the short-lived Goliath Chronicles series, which is considered apocryphal), its fan base remains extremely loyal — so much so, in fact, that a convention for Gargoyles fans, called the Gathering of the Gargoyles, has been held each year for more than a decade now. In recent years, we’ve seen much of the television series finally released on DVD, and Slave Labor Graphics has begun publishing an ongoing Gargoyles comic book series and spin-off miniseries, Bad Guys, headed up by series creator Greg Weisman and picking up where season 2 left off.

I spoke with Weisman (who also serves as story editor for the new Spectacular Spider-Man animated series) during the most recent Gathering of the Gargoyles event, and we chatted about the clan of winged Scottish warriors that he created so long ago and what the future holds for them.

COMICMIX: So, we’re at the 12th annual Gathering of the Gargoyles convention. You have the new comic book series from SLG and the Bad Guys spin-off coming out now. You’re even talking about future spin-offs. All of this says there’s a decent fan base. So what’s happening that we still only have the first 26 episodes of season 2 on DVD?

GREG WEISMAN: Well, there’s a lot of turnover at Buena Vista Home Entertainment. You’ll have people there who are interested in the project and then you’ll have new people come in who aren’t so much. The ugly truth of it is that Season One sold very well, and the Season Two, Vol. 1 DVD did not sell so well. Even if, ultimately, it sold as well as the first season, we sort of lost Disney’s attention. So we need to get their attention all over again, and the best way to do that is by making sure that we continue to sell the DVDs that exist, show them that the comics are selling well. Gargoyles is SLG’s best-selling comic.

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Review: New ‘Fables’ & ‘Jack of Fables’ Volumes

Reviews
July 17, 2008

[[[Fables]]] is one of the big successes of the current version of the Vertigo line, where every book has a Hollywood-style high concept: all males on Earth are killed – except one!; New York’s mayor can talk to machines!; Refugee fairytales live in the modern world! And, in another Hollywood-esque twist, Fables even has a spin-off of its own, like Diff’rent Strokes begat The Facts of Life.

Last month, both the parent and spin-off series had new collections, with titles that implied a connection. So let’s look at the two of those books together:

Fables, Vol. 10: The Good Prince
By Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and others
DC Comics, June 2008, $17.99

Fables, as you might know, is a series in which all of the folkloric and fairy-tale characters that you’ve ever heard of are real, and originally lived in an array of alternate worlds. But “the Adversary” – whose identity was revealed a few volumes ago – led huge goblin armies to conquer nearly all of those worlds, sending a few (but mostly very well-known) Fables to our world, to live in secrecy in an enclave in New York City.

More recently, the cold war with the Adversary is beginning to heat up, with Fabletown’s leadership striking alliances with the “Cloud Kingdoms” (you know, where the beanstalk led?) and with the as-yet-unconquered world of the [[[Arabian Knights]]]. (There’s also an unsubtle parallel between Fabletown and Israel that Willingham is a bit too fond of.) As we hit this tenth volume, we know that the Adversary is building for a major attack three years from now, and the characters of Fables learn that quickly as well.

The last storyline, [[[Sons of Empire]]], served to ratchet up tension, but [[[The Good Prince]]] goes the other way; Flycatcher – Prince Ambrose, the Frog Prince – has finally regained his memory, and is grieving over the loss of his family centuries before. But Red Riding Hood goads him out of his misery, and he rushes off to get fighting lessons from Boy Blue.

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Watchmen Movie Trailer Image Gallery

News
July 17, 2008

When the Watchmen movie trailer hit the ‘Tubes today, word traveled pretty quickly. Of course, so did the orders to take it down on various sites, making it difficult for some fans to find out what all the fuss was about. To that end, here’s a collection of screenshots from various scenes that appeared during the trailer, so you can talk amongst yourselves about this first glimpse at the much-anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel.

Here are a few images to whet your appetite, presented in order of their appearance in the trailer, but be sure to view the full gallery after the jump:

watchmen1-00-4077418

watchmen2-00-3398114

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