Tagged: fan

Marvel Zombies: The Movie?

Audiences love superhero movies. They also love zombie movies. What if… What if Marvel Studios decided to greenlight Marvel Zombies: The Movie?

Sadly, this is not reality. But Ojala Productions created a fan made, not-for-profit trailer for the popular comic book that gives us a peak and what could be. Similar to Batman: Dead End, the famous internet short where the Dark Knight squared off against Joker, an Alien and a Predator, Marvel Zombies was filmed  as a calling card to show studios Ojala Productions’ capabilities.

Click here to see the trailer. Warning: graphic portrayals of violence and gore

 

‘King of the Hill’ Parodies ‘Invincible’ Comic

King of the Hill, the Emmy award-winning animated television series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, gave a sly wink to comic books on their Sunday, March 16 episode "Behind Closed Doors."

The soft-satirical parody of Texas middle America found housewife Peggy Hill questioning her family’s unity. When entering son Bobby’s room, she finds him reading "Unvincible," a comic that bears a striking similarity to Image’s Invincible by Robert Kirman and Cory Walker.

This is not big, breaking news but ComicMix thinks it’s pretty cool that instead of taking the easy mainstream route of spoofing Superman or Spider-Man, the show wore its comic book fan pride by choosing one of the great indie superheroes.

‘Smallville’ Comic Contest to Determine Plot, Comic-Con VIP

Years ago, DC let fans determine whether Batman sidekick Jason Todd met his end at the hands of the Joker via phone-in voting. Fans of Smallville, the television series that follows Clark Kent before he was Superman, now have a chance to play a similar (albeit far less morbid) role in determining the direction of a superhero-themed story.

Twice a week, fans will be able to vote on how Smallville: Visions, a DC-produced digital comic scripted by Stephan Nilson with art by Andie Tong, will evolve. At the end of the voting period, the pages will become (virtual) reality for readers.

Along with determining the outcome of the story, fans can also participate in the Stride Gum contest that goes with the promotion. All participants in Smallville story development will be entered for a chance to win a "VIP Weekend" at this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego. They’ll also receive a year’s supply of Stride gum — which could come in handy amid the funk of the convention floor.

 

 

Being A Sport, by Mike Gold

You might not have realized it, but this is the time of year when more Americans engage in more illegal activity than just about any other. Nope; it’s not drunk driving or tax cheating, it’s March Madness… and the crime is called gambling.

Studies suggest March Madness is the high school student’s portal to gambling. On-the-job productivity plummets. An estimated $2.4 billion dollars will be put on the line against the law, some of it with organized crime – which wouldn’t be the case if it were legal, unless you are like me and you consider bankers to be their own strain of organized crime.

I’ll admit, I don’t get it. I don’t have the gambling gene (or maybe I’m just too cheap), and I’m at best a second-tier sports fan. I follow hockey and I follow the Iditarod because being a hockey fan isn’t as weird as it used to be. I follow the Chicago Cubs because as a native northside Chicagoan I am compelled to do so. Much like Yankee fans, we believe that there’s some issue of “sports” involved with the team. And that’s pretty much it. My lifetime contribution to sports-related at-risk financial endeavors is zilch.

But I am a comics fan and a student of our culture. So I wonder, with all this interest in sports and all this money changing hands, why hasn’t there been a successful sports-themed comic book series?

(more…)

Updates on ‘Thor’ and ‘Ant Man’ Films

march10ant-4805093Empire Online has the latest news on two Marvel movies currently in development, Ant Man and Thor, straight from the mouths of the directors behind the projects.

Ant Man is being written and directed by Edgar Wright, the English director responsible for Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. In regards to the pint-sized hero’s big screen adaptation, Wright said:

“It’s written and we’re doing a second draft of it,” said Wright. “It’s going to be less overtly comedic than anything else I’ve ever done. It’s more of a full-on action adventure sci-fi film but with a comedic element – in the same spirit of a lot of escapist fare like that. It’s certainly not a superhero spoof or pastiche and it certainly isn’t a sort of ‘Honey I Shrunk The Kids’ endeavor at all.”

Wright was mum on the subject of casting and whether or not the Ant Man in the film will be Scott Lang or fan favorite Hank Pym.

While Ant Man is chugging right along, the god of thunder seems to be stuck in neutral. The film adaptation of Thor, scheduled to be directed by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake), is currently in a holding pattern until the parties involved decide on the future of the project.. The Odinson hath been forsaken.

 

Josh Howard Previews ‘Dead@17 Compendium’

deadat17-comp1-4184715

Josh Howard, the "comic book and pin-up artist" behind Viper Comics’ Dead@17, The Lost Books of Eve and Clubbing (from DC’s MINX imprint) has posted a preview of the upcoming Dead@17 Compendium on his website.

While his work has trended more towards the T&A over time, I’ve always been a fan of his storytelling ability as much as his art. In fact, during my time with the-company-that-shall-remain-nameless, I even convinced him to write a great little column about life in the independent comics scene. Howard showed a real knack for the written word that, to be quite honest, impressed the heck out of me. While his old column seems to have been "disappeared" due to a recent redesign, it’s good to see that he’s been keeping busy.

There doesn’t seem to be any release date set for the Dead@17 Compendium, but Howard has indicated the collection will feature a mixture of touched-up and brand-new art — as well as an abundance of near-naked girls beating the snot out of zombies, demons and each other.

 

On This Day: Rick Burchett

Comic book artist Rick Burchett was born in 1952. He originally worked in advertising in St. Louis, Missouri but was always a comic book fan. In the early 1980s he switched to comics professionally and worked for several smaller comic book publishers before joining DC.

His first DC title was Blackhawk, but that was quickly followed by Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and others. Burchett has won two Eisner Awards, for his art on The Batman and Robin Adventures and Batman: The Gotham Adventure.

His most recent work has been on Marvel’s She-Hulk.

 

How The Internet Has Changed Comics Production, Part XLII

Time was, you wouldn’t know how your freelancers were doing on their art assignments until you got either a package in the mail or a panicked phone call explaining why they were late.

Now, you can just follow their LiveJournal page. Here’s Joanna Estep:

Today I finished pencils on my run of Munden’s Bar, for ComicMix.

Okay, okay, so I may have announced this uh, last year on the ComicMix panel at Mid-Ohio Con… but let’s forget about that and pretend I’m announcing it here for the first time.

Anyway, short primer: Munden’s Bar is this inter-dimensional bar type place, where all sorts of characters from across time/space/fandom-of-your-choosing can stop in and have a drinky-poo. Various writers and artists drop by and make comics about it, too.

For example, if you’re a fan of Gaiman’s Sandman, you could read MUNDEN’S BAR: INSOMNIAC, written by John Ostrander and drawn by my friend/idol Marc Hempel. (See how I namedrop and wallow in bragging rights? Do you see?)

Point being, I’m in good company.

So, yes, there will be more Munden’s Bar stories real soon now. And not just from Joanna and Martha — but we’re not going to spoil the surprises for you.

Feel better, Joanna. If there’s any story that needs to hit a deadline, it should be this one — a story titled "Crimson Tide" should never be late.

Alternate ‘I Am Legend’ Movie Ending Leaked Online

Say what you will about the film I am Legend. You’re either a huge fan of the Richard Matheson novella and you hated the movie or you love Will Smith and he can do no wrong — or maybe, like me, you’re somewhere in the middle. I’ve always loved the Matheson story and I also liked the movie. Well, at least until the third act and the ending, which didn’t work for me at all.

Well, once again, thanks to the power of the Internets (via SlashFilm), we can now experience an alternative ending for the film not shown in theaters. This ending, certainly a more upbeat one, was most-likely shown during its original test screenings before release. It probably didin’t test well with audiences, for whatever reason, so the ending shown in theaters was used instead.

If you haven’t seen the film already, you might not want to watch this as it will certainly contain spoilers. If you have seen the movie and were let down by the third act as I was, then this ending might be the one you were hoping for all along.

Either way, enjoy.

UPDATE: It looks like this one is being taken down faster than anyone can post it. We’ll try to find a more stable version of the video, but in the meantime I’ve provided a quick synopsis of what was in the video in the comments thread for this article. – RM

UPDATE: Looks like some enterprising person has posted the ending here. Get it while its hot.

New ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Still Released

fed29wolverine-4865338Wolverine is the best there is at what he does – looking grizzled and menacing as he pops his claws in a posed publicity still.

IGN has gotten their hands on another shot of Hugh Jackman in his Wolverine duds from the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine prequel movie. Click on the link to see the Wolvie in all his full-sized splendor.

The shot tells us little about the movie other than the fact that Wolverine has been a fan of leather jackets for a very long time. He also looks pretty pissed off at the guy snapping the picture. Perhaps Wolverine was unhappy with his choice of lens.