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Review: Crossing Midnight, Vol. 2

The news of Mike Carey writing a fantasy/horror comic set in Japan sounded too good to be true, and when Crossing Midnight debuted more than a year ago it struggled to live up to that promise.

Carey created a deep and supernatural world to backdrop his story of mystery: Two twins, Toshi and Kai, were born on either side of midnight, leaving each with an otherworldly power and putting them at the mercy of dark forces. But Jim Fern’s stiff art and some uneven storytelling held the series back. When sales weren’t strong, the rumors of a looming cancellation kickstarted.

After the so-so showing of that first arc, I gave up on the series. But, when Vertigo sent over a copy of the second volume (the cover seen at right is from DC’s website, but isn’t the cover on the actual book), Crossing Midnight: A Map of Midnight ($14.99), I realized I just didn’t give the series enough of a chance.

The volume picks up with Toshi, the female twin, struggling as a slave under an apparently evil spirit. She must fly through Japan at night, cutting unpleasant memories from people’s dreams and collecting them for some unrevealed purpose.

Following the archetype of most stories featuring children, Toshi’s impudence puts her and others into danger as she squares off against one of death’s faces. Perhaps because of the more fantastical nature of the content in this volume, Fern’s art loosens and adeptly adapts an ethereal tone. Later, Eric Nguyen takes over on art and, if anything, is an improvement.

Meanwhile, Kai stumbles onto a group of “telephone club” girls — early teens working essentially as prostitutes — and must help save them from an evil spirit that’s on the prowl. While this storyline feels a bit tangential to the larger theme, it is easily the high point for the series. Carey clearly has strong opinions of such clubs (he denounces them in a postscript) and how deplorable it is that they operate uncensored.

It is only then that the book goes farther than dipping a toe into Japanese culture, and Carey unleashes his horror-writing instincts. Sadly, the series seemed to be finding its footing just as the rug was being pulled out from under it. As Carey wrote on his Web site, [[[Crossing Midnight]]] will be wrapped up at issue #19.

Carey wrote that he knew a cancellation might happen, and all the plot threads will be wrapped up in that final issue.

Hercules Goes Green

All but admitting that replacing the Hulk in his own book with Hercules was a mistake, Marvel is trying to rectify the problem by spray-painting Herc green. It’s clearly a rushed and uneven job, as paint seems to be collecting in big drips under his chi–

–beg pardon? This is something about a Skrull invasion?

Geez, they’re just going to say every mistake Marvel made in the last few years was a Skrull, aren’t they?

Coming soon: It wasn’t really a clone of Spider-Man, it was a Skrull pretending to be a clone of Spider-Man. And Harry Osborn? Skrull. Rhodey? Skrull. Crusader? Skrull. All the members of the Skrull Kill Krew? Skrulls.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The copy editor for these promo posters? Also a Skrull. -RM]

 

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First ‘X-Files 2’ Trailer Hits the Net

mulderandscullysmall-7959022If you’re like me, you’re pretty psyched to see the new X-Files movie. I was a big fan of the original TV series and enjoyed the first feature film very much. So, its been with great anticipation that I’ve waited for the new movie, still "officially" known as The Untitled X-Files Sequel (they really need to pick an actual name soon).

There’s been a few bits and pieces surfacing about the film so far. But now, thanks to the folks over at IESB, there’s video of the brand-new trailer shown at this weekends WonderCon. The snow-covered trailer features many of the original X-Files cast including, of course, Mulder and Scully as played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

It also reveals a couple of new additions to the X-Files world, including a long-haired Billy Connolly, who screams "It’s here!" several times during the trailer, and new FBI agent Amanda Peet who tells people to "give him room." Looks cool to me.

One bit of advice about videos like this: if you want to see it, you better hurry. Things of this nature tend to disappear from the Internets as quickly as they appear. Although, this trailer will most-likely pop up on TV soon anyway, so if you miss it now, don’t worry too much. Enjoy.

X-Files 2 hits theaters July 25th.

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New ‘Iron Man’ Trailer to Surface During This Week’s ‘Lost’

ironmanheadshot-4307991If you’re a fan of Iron Man and excited for the upcoming film — and let’s face it, you probably are if you’re reading ComicMix — then here’s some more good news for you besides the other stuff we’ve already mentioned previously.

According to Marvel, during ABC’s episode of Lost this week, they’re going to debut a brand-new, 90-second trailer for Iron Man.

This new trailer is the one director Jon Favreau couldn’t show at WonderCon this past weekend so you have to know it contains some pretty cool stuff. So, fire up your Tivos and get ready for some pulse-pounding, armor-clad action. Mine’s already set.

Lost airs Thursdays at 9 PM Eastern/Pacific and 8 PM Central. Iron Man opens May 2nd.

Nebula Nominations Announced, Plus A Comment

The Science Fiction Writers of America have announced the final ballot for the 2007 Nebula Awards. As a paid-up SFWA member, I’d like to point out two items:

► The movie adaptation of V For Vendetta has been nominated as one of best science-fiction scripts of the year.

► The original comic book on which it’s based is not considered a sufficient work to qualify the authors for membership in SFWA.

In fact, you could combine all of Alan Moore’s comics work — including Watchmen, one of Time‘s 100 Books of the 20th Century — and it wouldn’t be deemed worthwhile. Yet the movie script adapting the work is considered sufficient work to join SFWA.

Nor is this the first time this has happened. Last year, Batman Begins was up for the same award. X-Men was nominated for 2002. The comics on which they were based? Not worthy as membership credentials.

My written response to this logic would trigger a lot of web-filtering software. My preferred response would be seen as deriviative of the movie.

And folks wonder why SFWA is considered a laughing stock by so many people. Let’s not even get started on the candicacy of Andrew Burt…

(Artwork by John C. Worsley. Take a look at his site, there are some very neat illustrations there.)

‘Justice League’ Movie Heads To Canada

Warner Bros.’ Justice League movie seems to be facing far deadlier villains than the Legion of Doom before it even gets off the ground. A rushed script and casting issues supposedly put the film’s status in jeopardy, but a dispute over filming incentives in Australia may damage things further.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that production on the film may be moving to Canada due to a dispute with the Australian Federal Government. The country’s new film incentive program gives a 40-percent rebate to Australian producers, but there is debate as to whether or not it should apply to movies with budgets exceeding $30 million dollars.

Director George Miller wants to keep the production based at Fox Studios in Australia in order to work with the same team responsible for the Oscar-winning Happy Feet.

"One of the reasons for doing Justice League in this country is the opportunity to bring back all the people we lost on Happy Feet who went overseas," Miller said. "We spent four years developing this talent and the cream of them left because they didn’t have another film to go on to …

"The idea is to say come back, start off on Justice League then move onto Happy Feet 2."

Miller described the film’s current state as "precarious" and said that Warner Bros. is looking overseas for filming locations, with Canada being the likeliest destination.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine production is starting in Australia while the Justice League are leaving it and heading for Wolverine’s home country. Don’t superheroes have any national pride anymore?

 

A World of WonderCon: The Coverage Round-Up

From the stories coming out of WonderCon, it looks like the San Francisco convention is quickly approaching the high profile of its San Diego counterpart, with similar big-name announcements, celebrity appearances and, well, masses of stormtroopers popping up during the show.

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Saturday night’s Iron Man panel featured director Jon Favreau answering questions about the film — and the potential for a sequel — before showing off new footage from the film. SuperHeroHype has a great recap of the panel and footage. SHH also sat down with Favreau for a recorded interview that they’ve made available in downloadable mp3 format.

As for your dose of convention drama, Blog@’s Graeme McMillan ignited a veritable sh*tstorm around the InterWebs when he chose not to report a portion of the Bill Willingham Spotlight due to the creator’s request. Apparently (and this is what I’m gleaning from the online chatter), Willingham revealed some spoiler-esque info regarding Fables and an upcoming Fables-related project and subsequently asked reporters not to report on any of it. McMillan obliged, and was later dragged from his hotel room by an angry mob of comics fans, savagely beaten, then tarred, feathered and dumped in the bay — or the online equivalent, at least.

McMillan’s Blog@ associate J.K. Parkin not only reports on all of this, but also makes sure to get a word-for-word recap of the information that caused all of the ruckus.

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Universal Debuts ‘Wanted’ Clip at WonderCon

In a bid to excite fanboys for the movie adaptation to Mark Millar’s Wanted, Universal Pictures used its panel at WonderCon 2008 to show an extended clip from the film. IGN has a full report on the clip.

The scene shown was that of Fox (Angelina Jolie) saving Wesley (James McAvoy) from an assassin in a convenience store.  While that bit earned praise, the real excitement came from the ensuing car chase that, at one point, has Fox hanging out of the broken windshield of her car and shooting at the pursuing assassin.

It was "a car chase like no other," according to IGN’s report.

The movie follows McAvoy’s character as he learns his father was a legendary assassin and then tries to follow in his blood-spattered footsteps.

Wanted is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, best known for the Russian films Day Watch and Night Watch. It hits theaters on June 27.

Filling The Big Shoes, by Mike Gold

 

After much discussion with friends and the unwashed and bewildered, today I have decided to weigh in (again) on one of the many ongoing and irresolvable debates that have haunted the hallowed halls of comics academia since time immemorial. The question: when the instigator of a series retires from his or her creation, should the series be retired as well?
 
It seems a lot of creators and many fans think it should. To this, I say “ka-ka.”
 
I understand that a creator’s vision is important, and I strongly feel that creator should have the word on continuing the feature. For many creators, such choice was denied to them when they signed their publishing contracts. That was exploitative. Today, well, creators should know better. And many do: there are financial advantages to allowing a continuation of the feature, and there’s the idea that, to quote John Ostrander from the Stuart Gordon play Bloody Bess, “My words… my words shall live forever.” It should be the creator’s call, and there’s nothing wrong with deciding either way. Of course, after you drop dead your estate will likely overrule you, but that’s a matter between the dead you and your living family.
 
Aesthetically… well, that’s another matter. Bitch and moan all you want, but the replacements generally work out pretty well. 
 
If DC retired Batman when Bob Kane left the character 40 years ago, we never would have had the masterworks of Dennis O’Neil, Steve Englehart, Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Frank Miller and a legion of other superlative storytellers. Carl Burgos and Bill Everett were not involved in the Marvel Age resurrections of their Human Torch and Sub-Mariner (respectively), but all those Lee and Kirby stories sure were swell. Spider-Man didn’t truly take off until after Steve Ditko left; John Romita, Gil Kane and many others took Peter Parker to heights previously unimagined by the publisher.
 

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