Considering the amount of massive blockbusters that have disappointed the fans this year, it is safe to say that all of your expectations will be met going into this movie. [[[The Dark Knight]]] delivers on so many levels that it becomes hard to critique it, and all that’s left is pure childlike enjoyment for approximately two hours.
Those of you who are unaware of the plot for the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins
[SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK]
On the Cheap Ass Gamer E3 podcast, Robert “Shipwreck” Goode found out some great news from a PR rep for DC Universe Online, the highly anticipated comic book based MMO role-playing game. The game will be demonstrated at San Diego Comic-Con and the public can play it!
He also got some hands-on time with DCUO and reported it departs from the usual point-and-click play of MMOs like World of Warcraft. Playing more like a traditional PlayStation 3 game, he described it as an "action MMO."
Over at Massively.com, a gaming website devoted to all things MMO, they talked with the developer dynamic duo of SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely and DCOU Creative Director Chris Cao.
Some of the highlights from that article include:
We may finally have the next Mary Jane’s exposed thong statue. Apparently some people are getting bent out of shape about the new Black Canary Barbie, which you can see at right.
The Sun, a paper in the UK, ran a story under the header "S&M Barbie is lashed by the public."
Makers Mattel say Black Canary Barbie, out in September, is based on a DC comic superhero of the same name.
But religious group Christian Voice said: “Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far.
A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it’s filth.”
Let’s just go ahead and put the brakes on the outrage train right there. This is one group of people who know nothing of the context of the character and are offering a kneejerk opinion.
Someone please send Christian Voice a copy of All Star Batman and Robin so they can see what actual filth is.
Alan Moore talks movies over at Entertainment Weekly, and — surprise, surprise — he remains not so thrilled about the adaptations of his work.
Here’s a particularly good exchange on his falling-out with DC:
Has Warner Bros. tried to contact you about Watchmen?
No, they’ve all been told not to. They get the message…. I don’t want anyone who works for DC comic books to contact me ever again, or I’ll change my number…. And I only started to get upset when I found out they [DC Comics] were trying to rob me of a couple thousand pounds. It was over the Watchmen merchandising back in the ’80s, and they kind of eventually said, Oh, yeah, I suppose you do deserve this money. But by that time the damage was done. The only reason I ended up working for them again, during the ABC period from ’99-’04, [was because] I had already signed the contracts. [Editor’s note: DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz responds: ”We’ve had our disagreements with Alan over the years, but we remain great fans of his talent and would be happy to work with him in the future if he’s ever inclined.”]
It’s a massive interview, five pages, and covers an array of other topics as well film properties. Here’s some background on his upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, which will be published next year by Top Shelf:
The first book surrounds the coronation of King George, which was also the time The Threepenny Opera was set, a comet was passing overhead, and there was a general feeling of dread in the air. We’re also focusing on the occult fictions written around the time…[like] Aleister Crowley’s [1917] book, Moonchild, where the protagonists are attempting to create a magically produced child that is going to usher in a new era. [Protagonist] Mina and her associates are trying to stop this from happening. The second book [revolves around] that sort of peculiar 1960s melding of pop-star psychedelic lifestyles, fashionable interest in occultism, and to some degree, at least in London, crime. We’ve got it all centered around a big rock concert at Hyde Park. Running all the way through this is the continuing threat of the production of a magical child who, by this time, we are fairly certain, is the Antichrist. That second book ends very badly. And they’re not having a lot of luck. The third part is set in 2008 when, basically, the League is in pieces — barely exists anymore — and this turns out to be the time at which the Antichrist project finally pays off, and this magical child finally manifests in quite a terrifying form.
While keeping a running tally of all the events of note at this year’s Comic-Con International is a job best left to the professionals, I can’t help but draw attention to one event that caught my eye — mainly because of its outstanding promotional art.
Check out the poster for Saturday evening’s PopCandy Meetup, painted by USA Today illustrator Keith Simmons, and based on the original art from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman:
I’ll certainly be there with one or more other members of the ComicMix crew, so if you’re interested in dropping by, here are all of the details. Be sure to RSVP ahead of time, as PopCandy’s Whitney Matheson has promised one-of-a-kind giveaways to everyone who does so.
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.
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, 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.
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?
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.”
The entire comic is available as a pdf at the Tulsa World newspaper’s Web site.
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.
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