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Early Reviews for ‘Dark Knight’

dark_knight_joker-7251506The latest Batman incarnation, The Dark Knight, doesn’t come out for another couple weeks, but the love is already streaming from critics. We’ve also had buzz about a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger and his supposedly terrifying take on the Joker.

Rolling Stone was one of the first out of the gate to lay honors at director Christopher Nolan’s feet, calling the movie “a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up.”

Over at MTV, the sequel was given a 10 out of 10 for “Wow Factor.”

Variety jumps on the batwagon, praising the whole operation: “…this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some.”

The Hollywood Reporter praises Christian Bale: “Bale again brilliantly personifies all the deep traumas and misgivings of Batman’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne. A bit of Hamlet is in this Batman.”

An early review at AICN says, “Just go see it.”

And an Associated Press review says, “Running just over two and a half hours, “The Dark Knight” is a true crime epic. Throughout, the Joker’s bag of tricks is bottomless, twisted to the point of horror-flick sick.”

‘Wolverine’ Movie: Kevin Durand Talks Blob

2319811-4417942Fans of Lost and 3:10 to Yuma know well how good Kevin Durand is at playing one mean prick. And soon we’ll all get to see how he fares at playing a mean, fat prick, as Durand is starring as Blob opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming Wolverine movie.

Durant recently chewed the fat (HA!) with Thunder Bay’s Source newspaper about the film.

“I wasn’t a comic book kid because I was busy playing hockey here in Thunder Bay. That’s all I wanted to do and all I dreamed of really. But when I saw the first (X-Men film), I was just in awe and the second one (X2: X-Men United) just blew me away,” he said.

When he heard the news a new installment was in the works, he was hoping the producers would consider him for a part and luckily for Durand, they already knew his name and called for him to take a look at the part.

And to get the larger than life Blob ready for the cameras, it took six months of costume and special effects preparation.

“I have a feeling people are going to like him,” Durand said.

Wolverine is planned for a fall 2009 release.

‘Hellboy: Wild Hunt’ Preview on MySpace

With Hellboy 2: The Golden Army coming out on Friday, it’s probably no coincidence that Dark Horse just posted a preview of the next Hellboy comics series online.

Head over to MySpace to see the cover (at right) and first six pages to Hellboy: Wild Hunt #1, which is set to debut in December. The series once again pairs Mike Mignola with artist Duncan Fegredo.

Here’s what the story’s about:

When ancient giants begin to rise from their graves across England, Hellboy is invited to join a mysterious group called The Wild Hunt and help bring them down. But the hunt leads to betrayal and death, and Hellboy is forced to face the consequences of his past actions—actions that now threaten the survival of all mankind. "The fading children of the earth" gather in the shadows, awaiting the promised return of the "Queen of Blood" and a chance to shake the trees, crack mountains, and make the daytime world weep for fear."

Education, by Dennis O’Neil

Over the past few years, I’ve come to believe that not everyone gets the same education, even if schools and transcripts are identical. Some folk mentally compartmentalize: church goes here, family here, school stuff here, life in general there. So when they pass tests on what they’ve heard in classrooms, and at the end of a span of time, usually16 years and some august personage hands them a rectangle full of fancy lettering, they’re done with it. No more schooling, and no learning above what’s needed to live comfortably. Schooling in its compartment yonder, not touching this compartment, which is where we live.

That seems particularly true for liberal arts types, and vastly less true for engineers, doctors, dentists – students who go to the universities to acquire skills.

Although it’s been encouraged and enabled by the current “No Child Left Behind” calamity, which seems to be all about passing prefabricated tests and not at all about learning, this just pass the test attitude is not new. My favorite college professor, from whom I took at least six courses, told us that we’d better join the Book of the Month Club; if we didn’t, we’d probably never read another book after graduation. He was admitting that he wasn’t in the business of encouraging curiosity and a love of books and what’s in them. Rather, his task was just to help us grind through the requirements, pick up the sheepskin and…what? Remember to pay taxes. Don’t raise a fuss. Hang the sheepskin in the foyer, where visitors will see it.

The problem, I think, is this: There might be information over in the school compartment that is relevant to the contents of the living compartment. It might supply answers, or at least stimulate thinking.

Left in the ghetto of the school compartment, denied access to other compartments, and it is useless, and it will die. Worse, its lack might cause you to blunder.

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‘Pulp Tales’ to Benefit Josh Medors

1-4539146Boom! Studios just announced that its upcoming Pulp Tales one-shot will benefit artist Josh Medors, who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

The book is set to debut in limited number at San Diego Comic Con later this month before a full retail run (though no date on the public release was given).

Two covers will be available, one by Ben Templesmith for $3.99 and one by Medors for $9.99. The comic features stories by Steve Niles, B. Clay Moore and others.

Boom editor in chief Mark Waid had this to say:

“Comics are tricky when it comes to real issues like cancer,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid. “This is an industry that deals with men and women who are larger than life, who by all rights could cure cancer in an afternoon. But those heroes can’t do that, even in a world of limitless possibility – they are powerless because we are. Using PULP TALES to raise money for Josh Medors proves just how powerful comics and their fans can be in the face of adversity, and the important thing here is showing Josh and his family how true that is.”

Zune Arts: Looks Great, Doesn’t Work

Zune Arts, the creative wing of Microsoft’s Zune team, has debuted its Lost Ones comic, which is available free online and will later be available in printed form.

I went over to Zune’s Web site to check it out, and it’s quite a fancy operation, but there’s one major problem: You can’t actually read the comic.

Sure, you can pull it up and see the pages (it’s written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Gary Panter and others). But you can’t read them. They’re too small.

And maybe this was just my computer or me being the resident luddite, but when I used the zoom function it made the pages so blurry it was even more impossible to read. Call me crazy, but I think the days of everyone reading comics on their cell phone is not just around the corner.

Oh, and if you’re curious why there’s no art with this story, it’s because that function of Zune’s site also wasn’t working. At least they have fancy videos about making the comic…

ComicMix TV: Selma Blair and the ‘Hellboy II’ Interview

  • Uncategorized
  • July 7, 2008

Selma Blair returns to the Hellboy franchise as Liz Sherman, this time a little with a little less angst, and a little more sass. See what Selma has to say about her favorite comics growing up, coming back to the character, and her experience on the set of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, in theaters this Friday, July 11.

 

 

Audio: Webcomics Panel at Heroes Con ’08

The good folks over at The Dollar Bin recently posted a recording of the Webcomics Roundtable from this year’s Heroes Con. The panel features webcomic creators Nicholas Gurewitch of Perry Bible Fellowship (the subject of this April interview), David Malki of Wondermark, Julia Wertz of The Fart Party, Chris Harding of We the Robots and Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots discussing a variety of webcomics-related topics. The chat was moderated by The Comics Reporter himself, Tom Spurgeon.

It’s a great listen for anyone interested in various facets of the webcomic scene, including the pros and cons of instant reader reaction and the economics of making webcomics a full-time gig. Many thanks to the Dollar Bin crew for making it available.

 

(via Fleen)

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Jo Chen’s Comic Art Cover for ‘Fable II’

fable2-3d-7190247Microsoft recently dropped some details for Fable II, one of their big games for holiday 2008. Pre-order bonus games, collectible figurines, making-of discs, yadda yadda yadda… But what’s cool for fans of Jo Chen’s amazing comic cover art (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Runaways) is that she did the box art for Fable II. (A larger version of the image is posted after the jump.)

Of course, this isn’t totally surprising since she received considerable acclaim for doing the cover art for the original Fable.

So what I want to know is, why haven’t game makers discovered the likes of Alex Ross, Adam Hughes, and J.G. Jones for videogame covers? Instead, they seem content to stick with dreck made by art students with access to Photoshop. sigh (more…)

Review: ‘The Spectacular Spider-Man’ Animated Series

Seriously, folks — [[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]] animated television series on the “Kids WB” network is one of the best superhero adaptations I’ve ever seen (and trust me, I’ve watched more than anyone will probably consider reasonable). It’s fun, it’s smart, it’s mature, it’s witty and every episode leaves me wanting more.

Supervising Producer and Story Editor Greg Weisman brings the same level of intelligence to the program that made his acclaimed Gargoyles cartoon series so succesful. Teamed up with him in developing the series for television is Producer and Supervising Director Victor Cook, whose resume includes working on the Hellboy animated film Blood and Iron, Darkwing Duck and producing the animated series based on the popular [[[Lilo and Stitch]]] animated feature film. Together, they have brought us a series that is updated for the modern-day audience but is completely faithful to the spirit and atmosphere of the first several years of [[[The Amazing Spider-Man]]] comics.

How does it compare to Sam Raimi’s interpretation of [[[Spider-Man]]] as someone who whines, mopes and cries a little more often than I’m comfortable with? Forget him. This animated incarnation of Peter Parker is a true New York teenager, cracking jokes on instinct — even when it’s not necessarily the wisest move.

spectacular-spider-man-vulture1-1945102

For example, let’s talk about a brief scene from the first episode. The high-flying villain known as the Vulture grabs businessman Norman Osborn and tosses him to his death from a great height. Spider-Man shows up, catches Osborn in mid-air and remarks, “You guys play hot potato hardcore!” The Vulture screams that the skies belong to him, forcing Spider-Man to concede, “He may be right. I only rent.”

Now that’s the kind of dialogue and Bugs Bunny-like attitude I wish I’d seen out of Tobey Maguire.

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