Tagged: DC

‘Wonder Woman’ Writer Michael Jelenic Talks Animation

  • News
  • January 2, 2009

Writer Michael Jelenic makes the leap from animated television to feature-length films with his script for Wonder Woman, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 films. Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are set to release the all-new film on March 3, 2009, distributed by Warner Home Video. The film will also be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download day and date, March 3, 2009.

Jelenic has crafted a script that offers complementary balances of action and comedy, contemporary society and Greek mythology, and the social pratfalls of both men and women. It is an origin story and a stand-alone adventure, resulting in an entertaining approach to the first-ever Wonder Woman full-length film. Jelenic and renowned comics writer Gail Simone have "story by" credits on the movie.

Jelenic is well-known for his work at Warner Bros. Animation, providing the clever words to series like The Batman, Legion of Super Heroes and the newest Dark Knight animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Jelenic stepped away from his laptop to be both brave and bold in answering a few questions about the thoughts behind the words and story of Wonder Woman, the challenges of pleasing every fan, and the un-coolness of working in the comics realm. (more…)

Welcome to the blogosphere, Mark Waid — hope you survive the experience!*

  • News
  • January 2, 2009

Somehow I forgot to note that Mark Waid, writer extraordinaire and editor in chief of BOOM! Studios, started blogging a month ago over at Kung Fu Monkey while John Rogers takes the break afforded him from Blue Beetle to exec producing Leverage over at TNT, which is a hoot and a half. He’s been talking about the writing process for comics, and how it differs from novels and screenplays, and it’s well worth your time.

However, I have to point out something he wrote in his first post:

Remember, though, I’m new at this form of communication, so be gentle with m–

Ow.

Goddamn it, somebody already threw something.

And John refuses to let me put up the chicken wire.

and then this week:

I worry that I’ve apparently not yet said much worth arguing over. How does anyone post two thousand words about anything on the internet and not get flamed by someone?

Mark obviously is new to blogtopia (yes! Skippy coined that phrase!) and hence is not aware of all internet traditions, but one does not welcome someone to blogging with flames and brickbats. No, we welcome them by finding embarassing items from past jobs and posting them– like this piece from the DC Comics office bulletin board of twenty years ago:

Of course, you have to be careful with sort of thing, because Mark could still have a copy of my Thunderbolt proposal from back then. (I’ve seen his collection. The man saves everything.) So we’ll keep the escalation low. But if anybody has copies of Kits 1 and 2, let me know.

  • Yes, I know I owe Chris Claremont a nickel for the headline. Good thing ah’m invulnerable when ah’m blasting.
twilight-zone-walking-distance1-4166348

Review: ‘Twilight Zone’ Graphic Novels

twilight-zone-walking-distance1-4166348Rod Serling’s [[[Twilight Zone]]] remains one of the brightest spots of television history.  The teleplays were inventive, occasionally funny, often thrilling and always thought-provoking.  In thirty minutes, he managed to tell a story with relatable characters and situations then twist things and entertain you through surprise.

Most attempts to revisit the zone have met with mixed results.  There was the prose magazine that was quite good but the 1980s revival, not so much.  And of course, there was the cursed feature film version which was all right, but not worth losing Vic Morrow for.

The latest people to visit are the students at the Savannah College of Art & Design.  The faculty there has licensed from the estate of famed TV writer Rod Serling the rights to adapt the original scripts.  The school then partnered with Walker & Co. to release eight graphic novels between now and 2009.  The first four are currently out,, adapted by Mark Kneece, who has written for DC Comics and elsewhere.  The art, lettering and coloring are handled by the student body, one team per book.

They wisely led off with “[[[Walking Distance]]]”, the most personal of Serling’s scripts, inspired by growing up in Binghamton, NY. A man mysteriously finds himself transported back to the days of his childhood and he seeks out his younger self to warn him of the perils of being an office drone.  Things happen and lessons are learned.

(more…)

Judge’s Ruling Favors 20th Over Warner on ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • December 26, 2008

Judge Gary Allen Feess handed Warner Bros. a legal lump of coal on Christmas Eve, as he issued a brief ruling indicating 20th-Century Fox has the distribution rights to Watchmen, according to Variety.

His five-page ruling said, “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture.”

Frees, over the fall, urged Warner Bros. and 20th to iron out their differences.  He repeated the suggestion in the document, saying, “The parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review.” Warner is set to release the film on March 6, 2009.

Fox acquired the rights from DC Comics in the 1980s with producer Lawrence Gordon’s production company.  When 20th lost interest, Gordon moved the project to Universal and Paramount Pictures before landing it with Warner, parent company to DC.

Fox contends that Gordon never obtained all rights from them and they have a controlling interest in the highly-anticipated feature based on the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic.

Given the holidays, Freees promised a lengthier explanation prior to the January 20 trial date.  Warner Bros. had no comment on Wednesday.

‘Star Trek: A Comics History’ Coming for Spring

  • News
  • December 24, 2008

hermesstartrek-lg-2-4892970Hermes Press recently signed a deal to publish Star Trek: A Comics History, described as “the complete saga of the Star Trek universe in comic books and comic strips.” The March release is being written by Alan J. Porter, best known for his James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007. The 208-page, all color, large format deluxe trade paperback is expected to chronicle the four-color history of Star Trek from the first Gold Key comics to the English newspaper strip, to Marvel and DC’s Star Trek titles and the present-day comic and manga iterations.

Star Trek: A Comics History promises creator interviews, unpublished art work, and a detailed checklist of Star Trek comic publications.  At the TrekkBBS, Porter said, “My intention is to include an index of the various comics by Stardate. At least I’m compiling one as I do the research and writing. I probably won’t have the time to create a full timeline (ouch – sorry about the pun), so if a story spans several time periods it will most likely only be listed by the establishing introductory Stardate. – But this is a work in progress so who knows.”

He also defended the steep $39.99 for a trade paperback, noting that Hermes Press books are “all published on very high quality glossy archival paper and designed to last. They aren’t mass market paperbacks, they are closer to glossy art books – hence the price point.”
 

Alan Horn Briefly Updates DCU FIlms

  • News
  • December 18, 2008

alanhornarri-granitz-14912138-2-8527804Collider managed to briefly speak with Warner Bros. President Alan Horn, who provided a little update eon their DC Universe properties.

First up is the notion that Green Lantern will be the next hero to strut his stuff before the camera.  With a screenplay completed and location scouting occurring in Australia, the film appears to be in active pre-production. Horn said, “Also on the board. On the runway. Hasn’t taken off yet, but we’re close.”

Horn indicated he thought Superman would go into production before another Christopher Nolan Batman. “Probably in the next couple of years,” he said. “We’re very anxious to bring Superman back also.”
 
 As for third installment of Batman, Horn said, “We’ve been talking to Chris Nolan and what we have to do is get him in the right place and have him tell us what he thinks the notion might be for a great story, but Chris did a great job and we’d love to have him come back and do another one.

“The story is everything and we are very respectful of Chris. We have a wonderful relationship with him and we are going to be respectful of his timing and we want to get it right. Also, I think the fans expect that – they want us to make a terrific movie – we have to give them another great movie.”

As for the stalled Justice League film, Horn merely said, “Not yet.”
 

‘Ultimatum’ #1 #1 in November

  • News
  • December 16, 2008

ultimatum1-2-3640885The November numbers are in and ICv2 notes that sales of the top 300 titles fell 11% compared with a year ago.  They note that with DC Comics and Marvel Comics skipping issues of Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, and Justice League of America, there’s little wonder.

Only two titles — Marvel’s Ultimatum #1 and DC’s Batman #681 – cracked the 100,000 unit marks based on numbers provided by Diamond Comics Distributors, the fewest since March.

Marvel had 14 of the top 25 titles, DC 10, and Dark Horse one. 

Looking over the list, it’s interesting to note that beyond events and new titles, several mainline books continue to bring in readers because the content seems to be consistently entertaining month after month as exemplified by Amazing Spider-Man and Captain America being in the Top 10. The most popular creators do seem to translate to best sales making it all the more important for creative team consistency month to month.

Here are ICv2’s estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in November:

114,230           Ultimatum #1
103,151           Batman #681 (RIP)
  90,776           Hulk #8
  88,910           Wolverine #69
  77,773           Uncanny X-Men #504
  76,625           Amazing Spider-Man #577
  75,493           Captain America #44
  74,202           Buffy the Vampire Slayer #19
  72,862           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
  71,355           Justice Society of America #20
  69,522           Batman: Cacophony #1
  68,956           Amazing Spider-Man #576
  66,564           Amazing Spider-Man #578
  64,196           Detective Comics #850 (RIP)
  63,512           X-Men Legacy #218
  61,331           Fantastic Four #561
  58,547           Action Comics #871
  58,279           Dark Tower: Treachery #3
  57,241           X-Force #9
  57,205           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Kingdom #1
  56,931           Final Crisis: Resist #1
  56,224           Avengers / Invaders #6
  55,560           JSA: Kingdom Come Special Magog #1

Geoff Johns Leaves ‘JSA’ After #26

  • News
  • December 10, 2008

jsa-791037-2-2093207Geoff Johns announced his departure from Justice Society of America, after issue #26, at his forum at Comic Bloc.

He wrote:

There will always be a Justice Society of America book in the DC Universe.

I take a lot of pride in that fact because it wasn’t always true.

It’s hard to say this but officially, I will be leaving the title after Justice Society of America #26, which is a single-issue story entitled “Black Adam Ruined my Birthday.” Following the Black Adam arc with Jerry and I, #26 will be my last issue, Dale [Eaglesham]’s last and our fantastic editor Michael Siglain’s last. I think we’re going out on one of my favorite stories to date and I’m glad we are all going out on this together.

I’ve been writing JSA nearly my entire career. The book has steadily gained new and old fans and, with the re-launch two years ago, fixed itself as one of the staples of the DC Universe. Since then we’ve remained one of the top monthly books at DC alongside Justice League of America and Batman. A book starring characters like Jay Garrick, Stargirl, Mr. Terrific and Citizen Steel. Heroes that, I think, most people had written off. But not all of them did.

We got Dr. Mid-Nite from the talented Matt Wagner. And the new Mr. Terrific first appeared in The Spectre under the pen of one of my favorite writers John Ostrander. I brought in Stargirl, who will always be a character I write in one form or another – no matter if I’m on JSA or not. And, above all, I think James Robinson’s run on Starman opened the door for the JSA on a different level.

How’d I get involved in this? Peter Tomasi and David Goyer.

I was asked by them to come on and co-write JSA back in 1999 right when I got into comics. James had left the book after issue #2. David wrote #3 himself and I came in and wrote #4 with him, but without a credit. I got a special thanks to, but that was enough for me. David then wrote #5 and I came on officially with #6, which featured Black Adam way back when. Over the next two years, I worked with David on the book steadily until he left with #25 and returned later through #51.

The JSA to me represents everything good about life, work and superheroes. In life, generations past, present and future all provide different viewpoints. There can be something magical when it’s past from grandfather to father to son or from mother to daughter or son to grandfather. There’s nothing more important than family – and family means a lot more than just blood relatives. That’s what my very first book, Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E., was about and that’s what JSA, and life, is about.

So why am I leaving?

I have more stories to tell, and the characters are endless, but that’s also true for the DC Universe. I’m ready to move on to some other challenges like returning to The Flash and Superman: Secret Origin. And I am also obsessed with making sure that Green Lantern, Blackest Night and everything around it is the absolute best it can possibly be. …and that’s only part of 2009. There are some new projects on the horizon.

I have to thank Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Parasin, Alex Ross, Steve Sadowski, Leonard Kirk, Don Kramer, Jerry Ordway, Michael Bair, Alex Sinclair, Jon Kalisz, Michael Siglain, Steve Wacker, Harvey Richards, Eddie Berganza, Adam Schlagman, Peter Tomasi, David Goyer, James Robinson, Carlos Pacheco and the creators that inspired me – Paul Levitz, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman.

And although he’s never read the book, Roy Thomas. He held the torch for a long time and did a wonderful job. I wish we could’ve done a project together.

I’m sure I’ll return to the Justice Society in some form or another some day, but for now I’m passing them off a new creative team – one who is already working on the book (job’s taken, sorry guys – and it’s someone who’s never worked with these characters before). I really look forward to reading it.

Thanks for all your support and I’ll see you all soon!

‘Wonder Woman’ to Screen at NYCC

  • News
  • December 10, 2008

trevor-tree-2-4499611Animator Bruce Timm has been named a Guest of Honor at the New York Comic-Con in February.

In making the announcement, the convention also said the latest animated feature, Wonder Woman, will be premiered at the con. at 8:30 p.m. on February 6 in the IGN Theater. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Timm and members of the film’s cast and crew.

The DVD, OnDemand, Pay-Per-View, and download are all scheduled for a March 3 release.

Other DC properties with films in development include Batman, Superman, Justice League, Green Lantern and The Flash. The release did not name The Teen Titans project confirming the rumors that it is no longer an active feature.
 

‘Star Trek’ Beams Down from Comics to Apple Products

  • News
  • December 9, 2008

The Original Crew of the Starship Enterprise is roaring to the iPhone and iPod touch from IDW Publishing and iVerse Media.  Available immediately, Star Trek Archives: The Best of Peter David #1 is the first issue of the ongoing digital comics series that reprints some of the best comics from Star Trek’s illustrious history. Peter David is one of the most popular and respected Star Trek writers, known for his mingling of humor and popular culture.
 
“We’re very excited that some of IDW’s Star Trek titles will now available for readers to download from itunes through the App Store. It’s a great way for fans to experience some of the best work in comics,” IDW’s Ted Adams said in a release.

This issue reprints Star Trek #13 (originally published by DC Comics) – "The Return of the Worthy: Part One" by cowriters Bill Mumy and Peter David, illustrated by Gordon Pucell and Arne Starr, and edited by yours truly.  The story stars the Original Series cast, and is set between the 5th and 6th Star Trek feature film, with some familair overtones.

"Star Trek Archives allows us to bring the universe of Star Trek to the iPhone and iPod touch for the first time", said Michael Murphey, owner of iVerse Media. "Through this series we can publish stories throughout the history of Trek, from TOS to TNG and beyond.  Being Trekkies ourselves, we couldn’t be more excited about that."

Star Trek Archives #1 is available now in the iTunes App Store for 99 cents.
 

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