Tagged: DC

Piñata may Open HeroClix

  • News
  • November 18, 2008

HeroClix may live on yet. WizKids’ Brand Manager Jake Theis and Director of Brand Management and Marketing Justin Ziran are forming Piñata Games with the intent of acquiring the HeroClix Collectible Miniatures Game. To raise funds for the new effort, they have turned to the rapidly expanding Save HeroClix movements.

The game first arrived in May 2002 with a set of characters from the Marvel Universe and was rapidly followed in September by DC heroes.  Since then, most major comic book publishers have had some or all of their characters become players in the game.  Rare variants and exclusive figures fueled collectors’ imaginations.
 

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

  • News
  • November 16, 2008

nycc09-logo-ff-7082884Two more notable comic book celebrities will be joining the festivities at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year as Guests of Honor. Affording thousands of fans the opportunity to meet them in person, Geoff Johns, who is well-known as a comic book writer of a number of DC Comics characters, including Superman, Green  Lantern and the Flash as well as for his work as a screenwriter; and superstar artist Jim Lee, known for his acclaimed artistic runs on titles including BATMAN, ALL STAR BATMAN and WILDCATS, will be attending NYCC to help launch the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing game, DC Universe Online (DCUO), produced by Sony Online Entertainment for PLAYSTATION 3 in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 

Both Johns and Lee will be signing autographs and they will conduct a large DC Universe Online event on Saturday, February 7, 2009.  New York Comic Con will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.  

“Having both Jim Lee and Geoff Johns at our show is a great ‘get’ under any circumstance, but it’s especially cool to have them here to as part of DC Universe Online,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Con Manager for NYCC. “They will do a fabulous job entertaining our fans and I know that they will attract huge crowds, not only for autographs but also for their demonstration.  I am enormously grateful to them for participating in New York Comic Con and we’re pleased to have them as Guests of Honor.” 

“Jim and Geoff represent two of the top talents in comics, so it only makes sense that they’d transfer those skills to the gaming world,” said Dan DiDio, SVP and Executive Editor for DC Comics. “It’s a perfect fit to have them named Guests of Honor at New York Comic Con.”

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‘Pushing Daisies’ May Conclude as a Comic Book

  • News
  • November 14, 2008

pushing-daisies-9828111TV Week is reporting what everyone has expected: ABC will not be ordering additional episodes of Pushing Daisies which looks to be buried after December. “Under one scenario making the rounds, ABC might find a way to extend the options on the Daisies cast and crew for several months so that the show could be revived next season. But such a plan would be costly,” the site wrote.

Production on the thirteenth and likely final episode for the second season wrapped Thursday. "If it’s our last episode," Fuller said, "it’s something we can all be proud of."

As a result, there will be just 22 episodes between the strike-shortened first season and the sophomore year.

Creator Bryan Fuller though, told the SRO crowd at the Paley Center for Media on Tuesday that he envisions continuing the story in comic books.

"The idea would be to finish out the season’s story arcs in comic books to satisfy the fans and ourselves, to finish up the stories we’d love to tell," he said. Given that the series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, WildStorm is the most likely home for the show.. The DC Comics imprint already has comics based on the CW’s Supernatural, NBC’s Chuck and Fox’s Fringe.

"That would clear the slate for a movie," Fuller also said. He added that a series soundtrack CD will be out on December 9. Kristin Chenoweth’s duet with Ellen Greene on "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is likely to be included.

Fuller has been heavily rumored as returning to the troubled Heroes should Daisies be trimmed. Nothing further has been announced.

Colan: Visions of a Man without Fear Opens in San Francisco

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

Gene Colan’s artistic career will receive the retrospective treatment as San Francisco’s Cartoon Art Museum presents Colan: Visions of a Man without Fear, opening November 15 and running through March 15, 2009.

On December 4, there will be a special opening reception with Gene and Adrienne Colan in attendance.

The exhibition will include over 40 examples from Colan’s long creative career, from his one and only story illustrated for legendary publisher EC Comics in 1952, through his career-defining work for Marvel Comics from the 1960s and 1970s on titles as diverse as Iron Man, Tomb of Dracula and Howard The Duck, to his notable run on DC Comics’ Batman in the 1980s, to his more recent efforts, including illustrations commissioned by his fans and his beautiful pencil artwork on titles such as Michael Chabon’s The Escapist, published by Dark Horse Comics.

Guest Curator Glen David Gold, author of the novel, Carter Beats the Devil, put the museum show together.  An exhibition catalog featuring high-quality reproductions of Colan’s artwork and essays from many of his most notable collaborators, including writers Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart, will be available at the Cartoon Art Museum prior to the exhibition’s opening reception on December 4.

For those unfamiliar with Gene “The Dean”, he was born in New York in 1926 and studied at the Art Students League of New York under illustrator Frank Riley and surrealistic Japanese painter Kuniashi. After a stint in the army, Colan’s official career in comics began in 1944 at Fiction House and Timely.

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‘Wonder Woman’ Movie Rumors

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

wonder-woman-perez-1-6938899Some Wonder Woman news popped up over the weekend.  First, there was Beyonce Knowles telling Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times that she’d love to portray the Amazon Princess.

"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?" she said.

She has appeared in Austin Powers in Goldmember, Dreamgirls, and Cadillac Records in addition to her pop music career.  Knowles indicated she has personally expressed her interest to both the studio and representatives at DC Comics.

The shapely and fit performer was ready for the revealing and tight tradition outfit as first designed by artist Harry G. Peters.  "I would definitely have to keep it right for that costume. The way that Lynda Carter wore it, she was sooo fine. She was amazing. I saw her costume at the Met. Her waist was unbelievable. It was pretty crazy, actually, her proportions. But I love Wonder Woman and it’d be a dream come true to be that character. It sure would be handy to have that lasso. To make everybody tell the truth? I need that. It would come in very handy."

The 27 year old also noted, "When you think about the psychology of the heroes in the films these days, they are still a lot of work, of course, and emotional. But there’s also an action element that I would enjoy."

IESB is reporting rumors that Warner Bros. may be circling back to McG to direct the long-stalled movie.  The man is currently in post-production on Terminator Salvation and was scheduled to direct the Superman reboot before walking off the project prior to Bryan Singer’s involvement. He was also interested in The Losers which went to Tim Story before the studio reassigned it to Sylvain White.

“Let me be very clear about this, I don’t know if he has been signed on or if his is just one of the names being circulated by the studio or if in fact it’s McG himself lobbying for the gig. Could be any of the three,” the site wrote.

“I double checked with a few other industry insiders and after a few phone calls they confirmed of hearing his name circling Wonder Woman as well.”
 

‘Watchmen’ Tops 3Q Sales Charts

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

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reports that graphic novels tied to feature film release saw a massive increase in third quarter sales.

“Sales of the Watchmen graphic novel exploded after the trailer hit theaters and it will clearly be the number one graphic novel of 2008, but a number of Batman-related graphic novels including The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns also showed huge increases in sales, while Mark Millar’s Wanted graphic novel published by Top Cow clearly benefited from having a hit movie adaptation,” the site noted.

As the summer features arrive on DVD for the holidays, additional trade sales are anticipated.  Marvel cannily released additional Iron Man product when the related DVD came out September 29.

Manga did not suffer according to the site’s analysis, saying “Viz Media’s shojo series Vampire Knight, the top Manga series to debut in 2007 gained strength in 2008 and Viz Media also has one of the best new series of 2008, Rosario & Vampire, but with the maturing of the Manga market, the number of new releases slated for 2009 is declining, though the quality of those new series appears to be going up.”

Top Superhero Properties–Q3 08

1 Watchmen, DC
2 Batman, DC
3 Spider-Man, Marvel
4 Wanted, Top Cow
5 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, DC/Wildstorm
6 Iron Man, Marvel
7 Marvel Zombies, Marvel
8 Hulk, Marvel9 Superman, DC
10 Green Lantern DC

Top Genre Properties–Q3 08

1 Star Wars, Dark Horse

2 Y: The Last Man, DC/Vertigo
3 Indiana Jones, Dark Horse
4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Horse
5 Dark Tower, Marvel
6 Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Marvel
7 The Walking Dead, Image
8 Fables, DC/Vertigo
9 Sandman, DC/Vertigo
10 Angel, IDW

DC Comics’ Texas Tidbits

  • News
  • November 10, 2008

legion-of-3-worlds1-1503689WizardWorld Texas wrapped up yesterday and here are highlights from the various DC Comics panels:

Legion of 3 Worlds: Senior Story Editor Ian Sattler says the miniseries is essential in setting up events to play out across the DCU in the next three years.

Final Crisis: Matt Sturges and Freddie Williams will produce Final Crisis: Run, the last miniseries tie-in to their mega-event.  Said to feature a super-villain as the focal point, Sattler promised at least three cool moments per issue.

At several panels, the comprehensibility of Final Crisis itself was debated between panelists and the audience.  Clearly, Grant Morrison’s storytelling was daunting compared with most comics but the editorial team assured the fans that it will pay off with the final issue.

DC’s VP-Sales Bob Wayne aid the plans to collect the mini and its related tie-ins has yet to be settled.

Green Arrow will be the pivotal hero for 2009, according to Sattler.  Editor Liz Gehrlein countered she thought it would be Brainiac. Expect to see a prominent return of Lobo and maybe even the much-teased Aquaman reboot.

J. Michael Straczynski will have a second DC title, as yet unannounced, in addition to The Brave and the Bold.

Sales: When Newsarama asked about the economic downturn affecting comic book sales, Sattler replied “…It motivates us to turn out the best stories we possibly can.” A snarky audience member asked, “Does that mean you haven’t previously been trying?” Sattler replied, “It motivates us to try even more…”

Michael Jelenic is ‘The Brave & The Bold’

  • News
  • November 8, 2008

Batman’s next animated incarnation will take on the form of Batman: The Brave and the Bold debuting on the Cartoon Network wnext Friday night.   This is based the DC Comics titles that evovled into a team-up title between super-heroes and ultimately featured Batman as its co-host from issues #73 though its cancellation with issue #200 in 1983. The animated series targets a younger demographic than the most recent animated incarnation. 

Each episode will introduce Batman to a partner and a villain from the DC universe.   Fans of Frank Miller’s comic book Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movie franchise should take note that this particular series focuses on the more jubilant and innocent aspects of the iconic character.   The color palette seems to be brighter than the animated series of the mid nineties, and viewers can expect a throwback to the golden and silver age DC Comics.  

After speaking with Story Editor Michael Jelenic, it became clear that this series was a throwback to an older more simple time for comics and super-heroes.  Jelenic  said that the dark, brooding Batman had become the norm, and by creating this series they were doing something different that the hardcore comic heads and kids could all enjoy together.  

“Previous incarnations of Batman were serious.  This was an opportunity to go into a new series, and see how Batman interacts with different characters from the DC Universe.”  These different characters all come from the extensive DC mythos, and many of these characters have never appeared in cartoon form before.  Animated versions of the rarely seen Blue Beetle and Red Tornado will make their small screen debut with Brave and the Bold.  When asked if this new take on the Batman will affect die hard fans of Frank Miller’s Batman or Christopher Nolan’s movie version, Jelenic responded by saying, “You will always have people that think you got it wrong.  Anytime you deal with icons you run that risk, but if the series doesn’t talk down to the viewer, then you can get it right.” 
 

CW Drops Plans for ‘Graysons’

  • News
  • November 7, 2008

flying-graysons-3630334Fans can breathe easier now.

The CW has dropped its plans for The Graysons, which would have dramatically altered the character of Dick Grayson in stories set before he became Robin the Boy Wonder.  According to Variety, Warner Bros. Pictures president Jeff Robinov rethought the premise and decided it didn’t fit in the company’s overall plans for its DC Comics super-heroes.

With Smallville likely in its eighth and final season, the CW network was seeking a replacement series and settled on Dick Grayson.  The reimagined premise, announced on October 1, saw him growing to his mid-teens and still performing with his parents, the renowned trapeze act, the Flying Graysons. Rather than call him Dick, he was also renamed “DJ”, all of which set off alarms throughout comic book fandom.

"Warner Bros. TV never had 100% clearance," one executive told the trade.

Robinov had told The Wall Street Journal back in August that the studio wanted to create a more cohesive plan for the DCU, largely after it faltered to keep up with Marvel which this year introduced connected elements between its Iron Man and Incredible Hulk films. Among those decisions was halting the Justice League film and possibly rebooting Superman, going with a darker approach.

Christopher Nolan, talking about directions he might go with a third film in his Batman franchise, dismissed adding Robin at any time but word had it that he never gave his blessing to the CW series. The idea that having Batman in theaters and Robin on television was considered by some executives to be a mistake.  They also thought Smallville might have had something to do with Superman Returns’ poor box office.  Clearly, none of them saw the film.

The Graysons, as a result, did not fit with the plan at all.

"The studio has opted not to go forward with the development of The Graysons at this time as the concept doesn’t fit the current strategy for the Batman franchise," the studio said in a statement. "Warner Bros. Television is currently working on several replacement options for the CW."
 

Neil Gaiman NYC reading 11/8 to benefit CBLDF

  • News
  • November 7, 2008

So I was waiting for a subway yesterday after visiting my local comics store, and I heard a voice behind me say "Glenn!"

I turned around and didn’t see anybody. Then I looked down. Lo and behold, there was Jill Friedman, fundraising director for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

"Glenn, let me ask you, as a member of the press, how come you aren’t covering the Neil Gaiman benefit in town this weekend?" I kinda answered a bit non-commitally. Jill got that determined/slightly crazed look in her eye that suggested that if I didn’t write up a piece about cousin Neil, I would be beaten around the head with a stapler.

So here you are, Jill. Please don’t hurt me…

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Veteran voice actor Tom Wayland and others, will read from some of the most politically charged excerpts of THE SANDMAN written by New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of THE SANDMAN.

Presented by the CBLDF and Vertigo, Neil Gaiman will be on hand to host this dramatic reading which will be held at the Helen Mills Theater in New York City on Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available for a $50 donation to the CBLDF. Only 100 tickets are available to this special reading event. Reserve your tickets now!

THE SANDMAN is a series that is often hailed as one of the finest achievements in graphic storytelling and which Norman Mailer famously praised as, "a comic strip for intellectuals." This very special evening will bring two of the series most beloved stories to life with a multimedia presentation that marries comics and live theater.

About the stories being performed:

Three Septembers & A January, originally published in THE SANDMAN #31 / Trade #6

The story of Joshua Abraham Norton the first, last and only Emperor of the United States of America that incorporates an explanation for his strange career centering on a challenge between Morpheus and Despair.

The Golden Boy, originally published in THE SANDMAN #51-56 / Trade #8

A revival of a 1970s DC character named Prez, it’s the story of the US’s first teenage president that considers how we view our leaders—while they’re in office… and once they’re gone.

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