Category: News

It’s been a good week for J. Michael Straczynski.  First, his Changleing film opened to good notices and box office.  Then he was announced as the writer for the forthcoming remake of Forbidden Planet.  Now, the New York Comic-Con has announced him as its first Guest of Honor. The growing convention will be held at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan the first weekend of February.  Featured guests announced to date include Mark Brooks, Bob Budiansky, Cliff Chiang, Tommy Lee Edwards, Larry Hama, Kris Justice, ComicMix’s Frank McLaughlin, Robert Place Napton, Ivan Reis, Alex Robinson, Christian Slade, Herb Trimpe, Ron Wilson, and Leinil Yu.
 

In keeping up with the comings and goings of DC’s comic book franchises that have plans to segue to the silver screen, here we have put together Warner Bros. more recent plans on making that adaptation for some of our favorite heroes, as well as some other characters and how close we are to seeing them in theaters.

Wonder Woman

In January 2001, producer Joel Silver approached Todd Alcott to write a Wonder Woman screenplay, with Silver Pictures backing the project. Early gossip linked actresses such as Mariah Carey, Sandra Bullock, Rachel Bilson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones to the role of Wonder Woman. Leonard Goldberg, speaking in a May 2001 interview, named Bullock as a strong candidate for the project. Bullock claimed that she was approached for the role, while Lucy Lawless and professional wrestler Chyna both expressed interest. Lawless indicated that she would be more interested if Wonder Woman was portrayed as a "flawed hero." The screenplay then went through various drafts written by Alcott, Jon Cohen, Becky Johnston, and Philip Levens. By August 2003, Levens was replaced by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Birds of Prey).

In March 2005, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures announced that Joss Whedon would write and direct the film adaptation of Wonder Woman. Since Whedon was directing Serenity at the time, and required time to research Wonder Woman’s background, he did not begin the screenplay until late 2005. According to Joel Silver, the script would cover Wonder Woman’s origin and include Steve Trevor: "Trevor crashes on the island and they go back to Man’s World." Silver wanted to film Wonder Woman in Australia once the script was completed. While Whedon stated in May 2005 that he would not cast Wonder Woman until he finished the script, Charisma Carpenter (Angel) and Morena Baccarin (Firefly) expressed interest in the role.

Despite telling people, "It was in an outline, and not in a draft, and they [studio executives] didn’t like it. So I never got to write a draft where I got to work out exactly what I wanted to do." Whedon is known to have actually finished a screenplay that was not met favorably by Warner Bros. or DC.

In February 2007, Whedon departed from the project, citing script differences with the studio. Whedon reiterated: "I never had an actress picked out, or even a consistent front-runner. I didn’t have time to waste on casting when I was so busy air-balling on the script." Whedon stated that with the Wonder Woman project left behind, he would focus on making his film Goners.

A day before Whedon’s departure from Wonder Woman, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures purchased a script written by Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland. Set during World War II, the script impressed executives at Silver Pictures. However, Silver has made clear that he purchased the script because he didn’t want it floating around in the industry; although it has good ideas, he doesn’t wish for the Wonder Woman film to be a period piece. By April 2008, Silver hired Jennison and Strickland to write a new (modern day) script that would not depict Wonder Woman’s origin, but explore Paradise Island’s history.

According to an August 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal, featuring Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov speaking about their DC property films, a Wonder Woman film is among other super-hero films currently in "active development."
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Nate Powell hits upon some pretty heavy subject matter in his latest graphic novel Swallow Me Whole, now out frolm Top Shelf. We’re talking childhood schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, family breakdown, animal telepathy, and misguided love, just to name a few. The Indiana-based cartoonist traverses the familiar territory of teen angst and all the growing pains associated with it in his new work, but without the formulaic melodrama that so often saturates the topic. When he isn’t tackling the troubling madness of adolescence as an author and artist, Powell splits his time operating DIY punk label Harlan Records and works with adults with developmental disabilities.

Despite his oh-so busy schedule, ComicMix recently had the chance go catch up with Powell before he hits up the Alternative Press Expo this weekend in San Francisco. Here’s what he had to say about his new work, how he hooked up with publisher Top Shelf and what’s next on his plate:

ComicMix: First off, let’s start with some background material. You’ve lived in a number of locales, that’s for sure. Where have your travels taken you and where are you at now? As for comics, do you remember when you first discovered them and what led you to create your own.

Nate Powell: I’m from North Little Rock, Arkansas, and since early 2004 I’ve lived in Bloomington, Indiana. In between I’ve also lived in Montana, Alabama, DC, New York City, Kansas City, Michigan, western Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

As for comics — when I was a toddler in Montana I read a lot of Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and Hulk comics. Apparently I spontaneously began reading out of a Fantastic Four activity book when I was three years old. (more…)

In what he calls an "on record" statement, actor Paul Giamatti announced to Ain’t It Cool News that Ron Perlman will play Elvis in the upcoming Bubba Nosferatu, a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep.

"He’s a great guy," Giamatti says of the actor. "He’s an amazingly great guy and I’ve always loved him as an actor, so when he actually was interested, I couldn’t believe our luck man, like ‘This is f—ing great!’ He’s a really terrific guy."

In the sequel, Giamatti plays "Colonel" Tom Parker, Elvis’s manager. Giamiatti wouldn’t reveal too many specifics, but hints at quite a bit of Nosferatu‘s plot line.

"You know part of the great thing about this is not only are these wonderful genre movies, but [director Don Coscarelli] is actually taking a weird, interesting take on the whole Elvis myth and kind of investigating the whole Elvis myth in a really interesting way," Giamatti describes the film. "So it’s got a lot of stuff about Col. Parker being responsible for a lot of what happened to Elvis and kind of literally making him a vampire in some ways, you know? A kind of a blood sucker… It plays on a lot of things, this movie, in a great way and it’s got Sitting Bull in it and there’s a peyote trip in it that is amazing and it’s just a big leap beyond the other movie. It’s ten times more insane and bizarre and it’s great and hilarious, too. It’s funnier than the other one is even. It still ends up being this great character study of this Elvis guy."

Nosferatu, unfortunately, takes a cue from Iron Man 2 in replacing cast members. In Bubba Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell delivered a memorable turn as an aging Elvis Pressley forced to battle supernatural evils. The actor, however, didn’t want to return for a sequel.

"I’m not sure what his reasons were particularly," Giamatti says. "I think he’s doing a lot of his own stuff now like directing stuff on his own and he just wants to do that, I guess. It was a disappointment and we really tried and then after a while it was like ‘Now we are just going to start pissing the guy off! He’s being totally cool about it, I mean, but I don’t want to piss the guy off.’"

Giamatti first got involved in the project the old fashioned way: fandom.

"I saw Bubba Ho-Tep and it’s one of my favorite movies,’ says Giamatti. "I loved it and then somebody finally showed [Coscarelli] some interview in which I said that and he called me up."

Giamatti, who will help produce the film with his company Touchy Feely Productions, says that Bubba Nosferatu will hopefully begin shooting in Spring of 2009, when Perlman’s schedule opens up.

While we disapprove of AMC’s decision to air their movies with ad breaks, we do admire their original series, Mad Men, and their various online features.  Today, in honor of the holiday, they have launched the Master Monster Hunter Tournament. Readers are being asked to nominate their favorite hunters and the top 16 will be facing off in a voting death match between November 10 and December 12.  Finalists are being named on November 6 so you have a week to give this some deep thought as you munch your Halloween treats.

Nominations to date:

• Van Helsing (Peter Cushing)
• Riddick
• Seth Gecko, From Dusk Till Dawn
• Blade (Wesley Snipes), Blade, Blade II, and Blade: Trinity
• Jay & Slient Bob (Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith), Dogma
• Ashley (Bruce Campbell), Evil Dead
• Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Alien, Aliens and Alien 3
• Jack Crow (James Woods), Vampire$
• Hellboy (Ron Perlman)
• Alice, Resident Evil
• Dr. Alan Grant from Jurassic Parks 1 and 3
• Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) and Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowell), Fright Night
• Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), Reign of Fire
• Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
• The Winchester brothers, Supernatural
• Casper Van Dien, Starship Troopers
• The Ghostbusters
• Jamie Lloyd, Halloween sequels
• Harry Potter
• Shaun and Ed, Shaun of the Dead
• Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), Wizard of Oz
• Beowulf
• Laura Croft (Angelina Jolie)
• Godzilla
• The Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton)
• Chris McCormick (David Arquette), Eight Legged Freaks
• Jack Burton (Kurt Russell), Big Trouble In Little China
• Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), The X-Files
• Lloyd Gallagher (Kyle McLauchlan), The Hidden
• Doctor Who
• John Constantine (Keanu Reaves)
• River Tam (Summer Glau), Serenity
• Ronon Dex, Stargate Atlantis
• Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Torchwood
• Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Pirates of the Caribbean

Relative newcomer David Lindsay-Abaire is stealing James Vanderbilt’s webshooters and hitting the New York skyline with Spider-Man 4.

The Hollywood Reporter states that Lindsay-Abaire, traditionally a novelist and playwright, is writing the fourth installment of the Spider-Man franchise for Columbia Pictures. Spider-Man 4 will once again feature Sam Raimi as director and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst is expected to return, though no officiall announcements have been made, apart from her impromptu "I’m in!" during an MTV News interview.

THR notes that Lindsay-Abire has little screenwriting experience. He wrote the scripts for Robots and Inkheart, and is working on an adaptation of his novel Rabbit Hole. The writer’s work tends to focus on "outsiders in search of clarity," which makes him like-minded with Peter Parker. It’s a sign that the studio wants to take Spider-Man in a more character-centric outing, "something that critics said got lost in the third installment" according to THR‘s report.

Previously, all signs had pointed to scribe James Vanderbilt putting the pen to Spidey’s script. The writer had allegedly scripted a two-part Spider-Man epic that would’ve led to the fourth and fifth installments being shot back-to-back. In THR‘s report, it’s noted that Vanderbilt "previously wrote a draft of Spider-Man 4," so whether or not his draft is being used as a template for Lindsay-Abaire or is being scrapped entirely remains a mystery.

Even when Vanderbilt was on board, plot details remained quite sketchy. Most fans assumed that actor Dylan Baker would finally get his chance to play The Lizard in the newest installment, but director Raimi isn’t quite as sure.

"[Dylan Baker’s] a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told," Raimi told MTV News. "I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet."

Whether or not he was playing coy remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that whatever little we knew before about this movie, we probably know even less now. Isn’t Hollywood fun?

Just one book this week, but what a book! How could I mention anything else in the same breath as…

Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan
Compiled, edited and Designed by Chip Kidd
Photography by Geoff Spear
From the Collection of Saul Ferris
Translated by Anne Ishii
Pantheon, October 2008, $29.95 paperback/$60 hardcover

Bat-Manga! is an amazing, bizarre object, the book equivalent of hearing the result of a very long, cross-cultural game of Telephone. You see, the Japanese magazine Shonen King licensed the rights to create new, original Japanese Batman comics in 1966, when the then-new TV show was broadcast in Japan. Those comics ran for about a year, but were never reprinted in Japan, and have never been published in the US in any form before now.

It’s a book with much to admire, wonder at, and complain about. Well, let me get the first of those out of the way first:

Chip Kidd is a fine designer, but I have to admit that it annoys me that he gets top billing on a book made up entirely of someone else’s comics. What’s worse is that the creator of those comics – Jiro Kuwata, who wrote and drew all of the works reprinted in this book, based very, very loosely on concepts and characters from the American Batman comics of the time – isn’t credited officially at all. His name comes up in the introduction, and there is an interview with him in the front matter, but the official credits for Bat-Manga! – reproduced above – don’t mention him at all. We’ve really hit the triumph of design over substance when a book designer, photographer, and collector are billed above – instead of, to be blunt – the person who actually created the stories.

So: Bat-Manga! doesn’t say that it’s a book by Jiro Kuwata, but it is. Those other folks just helped bring it to an American audience. (more…)