With Hellboy behind him and the upcoming Hellboy 2 on the way, director Guillermo Del Toro is mulling over another comics-related project that could be one of his next films — that is if he doesn’t take on The Hobbit or At the Mountain of Madness first. According to Empire News, he is seriously considering bringing the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange, to the big screen.

Not only is Del Toro’s interest potentially great news for Dr. Strange fans, but there’s more: Del Toro has also been talking to one of the comics world’s most successful creators about taking on the film’s writing duties. Who, you may wonder? None other than Neil Gaiman. According to Del Toro:

"I talked with Neil Gaiman [about writing it]. I said, that’s an interesting character because you can definitely make him more in the pulpy occult detective/magician mould and formula than was done in the Weird Tales, for example…the idea of a character that really dabbles in the occult in a way that’s not X-Filey, where the supernatural is taken for granted. That’s interesting…But I wouldn’t use the suit!"

So, that’s a Dr. Strange movie directed by Gueilerrmo Del Toro and written by Neil Gaiman? Is it just me or does that sound like a pretty fantastic collaboration that could yield a teriffic film?

What started as a little thing to chronicle the writing of American Gods has grown and grown to the point of– well, something really big and blog-like. And dressed in black. And a turban. And some such.

So here’s to you, old man. And one of these days, we’re going to run that interview of you from way back when– but we just might save it for the 20th anniversary of the interview. Which, scarily enough, is only a year away.

Now if we could only find a way to rescue your old topic on GEnie…

According to SuperheroHype, the execs at Lionsgate Films are quite enamored with Frank Miller’s work as writer and director of "The Spirit," the big-screen adaptation of Will Eisner’s collected Spirit tales.

They’re so pleased with Miller’s work that they’ve already agreed to a pair of sequels to the film, even though it won’t hit theaters until Jan. 19, 2009.

SuperheroHype provides some details on the film’s plot:

"The Spirit" tells the visceral, action-packed story of a man (Gabriel Macht) who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) — who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face — has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront… all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader.

Time was when the whole family would gather in the living room once a week to fight over the Sunday newspaper. People would settle for their second favorite sections, but only one could start with the most popular: the Sunday funnies. Back in those days, there were no more than three strips to a page — often two, and sometimes only one. Principle among these full-page delights was Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant.

Seventy years later Val is still with us, often criminally reduced to one-fifth of a page. Prince Valiant is in the hands of only its third artist, a worthy successor to Foster and John Cullen Murphy named Gary Gianni.

Known to comics fans for his work on such iconic characters as The Shadow, Tarzan and Conan, Gianni illustrates Mark Schultz’s scripts – Schultz himself is no slouch as an artist. All that is preamble.

This June, Flesk Publications is releasing Gary Gianni: The Prince Valiant Page, a 112 page hardcover study of Gianni’s work on the feature, lavishly illustrated with black and white art shot from the originals as well as three color gatefolds. The hardcover edition is limited to 1,000 copies; there’s also a ultra-cool deluxe hardcover that features one of Gianni’s pencil preliminaries – in other words, original art. A trade a paperback edition will be released eventually. Prices on all this have yet to be announced.

Oh, yeah. The introduction was written by Mike Mignola. Turns out Gary did some Hellboy, too!

Mice Templar is on a lot of people’s favorite comics lists and the buzz is non-stop, all for a little comic about mice with swords. Surprisingly enough, the story behind the comic is fascinating as well and ComicMix Radio brings on co-creator Bryan J.L. Glass to share how he – and Michael Oeming – got it all on paper.

 Or subscribe to our podcasts via or RSS!