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Matthew Fox and Rose McGowan Sign onto Comics Films

  • Uncategorized
  • July 2, 2008

Not a lot happening in the comics world today as everyone finishes recuperating from Wizard World Chicago, but the comics movies news continues to snap, crackle and pop as a couple more big stars are apparently signing onto comics properties.

First, All Headline News is reporting that Rose McGowan has signed on for the lead role in a Red Sonja film. The former Mrs. Marilyn Manson will apparently need a new dye job to play the "red-haired she-devil with a sword." That and some chain mail panties.

Millenium Films and Nu Images announce that the 34-year-old actress will be starring in the new film about the mythical comic book protagonist produced by fiancé Robert Rodriguez and directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. Studio executive Avi Lerner said, "This is an amazing property and film for our company. Working with the talented Robert Rodriguez, having Rose McGowan as Red Sonja and Douglas Aarniokoski directing is a fantastic combination. We could not be happier." Red Sonja will be seen seeking vengeance against those who killed her family in the film. They are scheduled to start filming in October.

Next up, Matthew Fox seems to be leap-frogging off the relative success of based-on-a-comic-about-a-hit-man-film Wanted. Slash Film has the story that the star of Lost and Speed Racer has signed on to star in Billy Smoke, which is based on a comic that hasn’t even come out yet.

Story centers on an elite hit man who’s nearly killed during a botched job and realizes that his only way to find redemption is to rid the world of all assassins. More promising is that Billy Smoke was sparked from the brain of writer B. Clay Moore, the co-creator of Image’s excellent ongoing series Hawaiian Dick (yes, recommended). Also kicking ass is Oni Press, which has adaptations like Scott Pilgrim with Michael Cera, The Last Call and Moore’s own Hollywood spy spoof Leading Man, in the movie oven, and will publish Smoke next year.

You may remember the recent story here at ComicMix about another not-yet-released comic book from Oni Press that was already being optioned, The Return of King Doug. As always, I’m glad to see comics people doing well, but you have to start feeling a little anxious when cash is flowing willy nilly. Look how things worked out for the housing market.

Comic Foundry #3 Out Next Week

  • Uncategorized
  • July 2, 2008

The third issue of Comic Foundry, the well-received new magazine covering the comics lifestyle, is due out next week, editor Tim Leong posted on the mag’s Website.

That’s a Thursday (July 10) because, as always, those damn holidays delay comic books for a day. Here’s what’s on tap for the issue:

Blair Butler! Dash Shaw! JG Jones! Scott McCloud! Dean Haspiel! Keith Knight! Olivia Munn! Paul Pope! Mike Mignola! Mark Millar! Brian Wood! Fred Van Lente! Penny Arcade! Todd Klein!

Also, I’m pretty sure there will be two or three little items from yours truly, if all goes according to plan. I wrote a retrospective and a couple of (I hope) funny lists, so keep your eyes peeled.

Me aside, it’s a fun magazine — sort of the anti-Wizard — and is worth checking out. After all, it ran a feature on the best superhero underwear.

At right is the non-final cover, featuring Blair Butler of G4 TV.

ComicMix Radio: Lots of New Comics and a New Place to Put Them!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This episode of ComicMix Radio was initially scheduled to go live yesterday, but was delayed due to some technical issues. When you listen to the broadcast, please close your eyes and pretend it is Tuesday for maximum effect. -RM]

Back from Wizard World we have a few more bits o’ news to share plus our weekly run down of new comics and DVDs. Then we unveil a new way to clean up those piles of comics you have all over the place.

And where does Vampire Hunter D fit in? Press the button and you’ll see!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6134037 or RSS!

 

The Weakly Haul, by Elayne Riggs

Apologies to Van Jensen (now with correct surname spelling!) for sort-of swiping his title, but as I’m pretty weak after hauling my body back and forth this past few workdays, I thought it appropriate.

First off, it must be said, I love my new job. My primary boss is amusing, intelligent and nice, my coworkers are terrific and friendly, the salary is good and the benefits outstanding. In a few months my health insurance premiums will drop by hundreds of dollars as I transition from my old job’s bennies to the new one’s, and the PTO (Paid Time Off) allotment is more than generous. Between my job and Rob’s current and future assignments, we might even be able to afford to visit England again next year, and perhaps some more out-of-town conventions. I miss going to Heroes Con! (Heck, Mid-Ohio is even a possibility this year; I dare to dream!) So all is more than copacetic in the Riggs Residence now. Right?

Maybe it’s because I was raised Jewish, I don’t seem to be able to function without kvetching about something. And that something is, as I suspected it would be, my commute. (more…)

Cover for James Bond GN and ‘Quantum of Solace’ Trailer Debut

silverfin_graphic_novel_full_wm-8121647Fans of the James Bond franchise have a lot to look forward to this fall, as the first ever Bond graphic novel, Silverfin, will be coming out and, of course, Daniel Craig returns as Bond in The Quantum of Solace.

On the graphic novel front, Bond site Commander Bond has some previews of the art and the cover, seen at right. There’s also a little information on the story, right here.

Puffin Books have released the official blurb for the forthcoming graphic novel adaptation of Charlie Higson’s SilverFin. Adapted from Higson’s debut Young James Bond adventure by artist Kev Walker and featuring more than 300 full color illustrations, the SilverFin graphic novel is slated for release on 2 October 2008 in the UK.

The blurb follows: It’s James Bond’s first day at Eton, and already he’s met his first enemy. This is the start of an adventure that will take him from the school playing fields to the remote shores of Loch Silverfin and a terrifying discovery that threatens to unleash a new breed of warfare.

Meanwhile, the Bond central site, 007, has the trailer for Quantum of Solace. It looks like another more cerebral Bond film, hewing a bit closer to the novels.

There’s also a reference that can’t help but conjure up the Bourne films, as Bond apparently goes rogue and M calls out: “Find Bond!”

‘300’ Sequel in the Works. Wha?

Those who got red in the face over the historical discrepancies of Frank Miller’s 300 and the massively successful film adaptation might have more to grumble about, as reports are airing that a sequel is in the works.

You might be thinking that almost all the 300 Spartans died at the graphic novel and film’s conclusion, and that such a lack of protagonists would be a major obstacle for a sequel. Apparently not, writes Cinema Blend.

This morning Variety is confirming news that probably won’t surprise anyone. 300, the graphic novel adaptation that cost virtually nothing to make but grossed over $200 million last spring, is getting a sequel. Well, probably. Legendary Pictures, which is also developing The Watchmen, is interested in the graphic novel Frank Miller is currently working on, which may be a prequel or some kind of spinoff.

300 director Zack Snyder, as he said to Collider.com last week, will probably be as much a part of it as Miller is. That is, if the graphic novel is any good, Snyder will be on board. It almost seems beside the point for a 300 sequel to exist, given how many parodies have cropped up since the movie became such an unexpected success. And, of course, there’s the issue of revisiting the same characters, given that — SPOILER ALERT — most of them died at the end of the first film.

At the very least, it can’t be worse than Meet the Spartans… Right?

prince-of-persia-7562889

Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel’

prince-of-persia-7562889Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel
By Jordan Mechner, A.B. Sina, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland
First Second, September 2008, $18.95

The first [[[Prince of Persia]]] game was a 2-D platformer almost twenty years ago, and the next big thing with the name Prince of Persia on it will be a major Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie next summer. In between have been a number of games, with a number of different protagonists and plotlines. (And I’ve played exactly none of them, as far as I can remember – just to make that clear.) This year, in between the games and the movie, First Second is publishing a graphic novel loosely based on the series – or at least the title. It’ll be in stores in September.

This graphic novel is credited as “created” by Mechner (seemingly because he invented the original game, and maybe still owns a piece of it), written by Sina, and with art by Pham and Puvilland. And, as far as I can tell, the story here has nothing specific to do with any of the previous incarnations of Prince of Persia. (If I’m wrong, please correct me in comments.)

In this graphic novel, you actually get two stories for the price of one – they’re told intermingled, though, which can make it difficult to remember which story a particular panel belongs to, or which characters belong to which stories. (Evil, nasty overlords being depressingly common in stories like this, for example.) I did read Prince of Persia in bound galley form, though – without color – so it’s quite possible that the palette of the two stories are different enough to make that distinction clear in the final book.

(more…)

‘Hancock’ Reviews Not Looking Too Good

A friend happened to catch an advance screening of Hancock recently and sent over some thoughts. I’ve been looking forward to Will Smith’s latest big summer movie, but my friend, Laura, came away none too impressed.

Here’s what she had to say:

It was disappointing. During the first half hour I had some high hopes, since the movie seemed to be bringing up all these interesting themes about what it means to be extraordinary, and have that extraordinariness isolate you from everyone else. Not to mention all these Ayn Randian ideas about how the un-extraordinary people (the looters, I guess) act as though they have a complete right over the talents of the extraordinary — they take it for granted and make bitchy demands of it, even though it doesn’t belong to them.

But then the latter half of the movie pretty much crapped all over its own promising beginnings, and ended up bringing up all this random shit that didn’t really get worked out. I was annoyed, and wouldn’t recommend seeing it.

Knowing almost nothing about the movie ahead of time, I think I let my expectations balloon up during that first 45 minutes or so — so if you go in not expecting more than a mindless fun ride, you might not be so disappointed. But even with adjusted expectations, I’d be surprised if anyone walked out of the theater all enraptured with it.

In case you think Laura might just be a Debbie Downer, the hate is coming for Hancock from plenty of others too. My favorite headlines so far: ‘Hancock’ a Super Zero and ‘Hancock’ is a Super Mess.

We’ll see if this leads to a spate of "Leave the comic book movies to comic book people" stories.

WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

Writer and comics authority John Jackson Miller probably has one of the most enviable jobs in comics today. Starting off in the early ’90s as editor of Comics Retailer magazine, Miller went on to edit various other publications including Scrye and the Comics Buyer’s Guide. Later, stints on Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man led to his working for Dark Horse comics.

Once at Dark Horse, Miller helped re-launch the company’s Star Wars comics with his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Recently, he also wrote the comic book adaptation of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film and launched his own webcomic called Sword & Sarcasm. I caught up with Miller at Wizard World Chicago to discuss Star Wars comics, webcomics and the first time he ever saw Star Wars.

COMICMIX: John, thanks for your time. Having a good show?

JOHN JACKSON MILLER: Yes, a wonderful Chicago con as always.

CMix: So, tell me about why you’re here?

JJM: Well, I’m here to sign and talk about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, our ongoing series now at issue 30 and still going strong. It’s a big year for us because we had the "Vector" crossover. We’ve also had some major events with Zayne Carrick, our figitive Jedi who’s finally getting his taste of justice with a big showdown about to come up.

Those big events will take us through issue 33 at least. It should be pretty interesting what happens.

It may not be the big showdown that people expect because we also want to make sure we keep people guessing a bit and not always do what people might be expecting. We don’t want readers to get too comfortable with what’s going on and we want to keep it interesting.

CMix: Excellent. You also involved with Wizards of the Coast on some projects as well, right?

JJM: Yes. They are coming out with a series of minatures for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic board game. I helped design some of those characters because several of them are from the comic. I was also a co-author of the Campaign Guide for the game as well, which contains information from all the comics and the two videogames.

(more…)

‘Batman: Gotham Knight’ Review

As we await the gourmet meal that The Dark Knight promises to be, a worthwhile hors d’ouevre to truly whet your appetite is Batman: Gotham Knight — a DC Universe Animated Original Movie DVD arriving in stores July 8th.

As director Christopher Nolan prepared his audacious sequel to Batman Begins, someone got the great idea to unleash the crew who brought you the direct-to-DVD Animatrix (arguably superior to the Matrix sequels themselves) on the caped crusader. The result starts intriguing, than grows to become involving, then engrossing, and finally inspired and inspiring.

Three renowned anime studios (Madhouse, Production LG, and Studio 4°C) were given six short scripts – by comic and film scripters Brian Azzarello & Greg Rucka, Alan Burnett, Jordan Goldberg, David S. Goyer, and Josh Olson – and carte blanche (within budgetary reason). They assigned anime directors Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, and Shojiro Nishimi one tale each, then sat back and savored.

The result is an eye- and mind-full. Although the cover copy says the stories are interlocking, they are actually held together by the power of Batman’s personality, psychology, and myth – making them a perfect set-up for the live action movie which appears ten days later. More accurately, the animated thrillers are cumulative – starting with character revelations and finally exploding into full-blown mini-action movies. (more…)

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