Tagged: Sci-Fi

The Stories That Informed ‘Batman R.I.P.’

  • News
  • November 26, 2008

batman-076-2-1186780“Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot. So my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible …a…a…”
 
As if in answer, a huge image of a Caped Crusader flashed across a movie screen. Across monitors throughout space and time and other dimensions.
 
“It’s an omen!” each man, alien and other-dimensional imp declared. “I shall become a Batman!”
 
One of the attractions of Batman was, it’s often been said, the fact that a kid could actually imagine growing up to be the Caped Crusader. No one was ever going to grow up to be Superman but with an extensive training regimen (and a hefty bank account) …well, anything’s possible. Overlay that with the spirit of mainstreaming and conformity of the 1950s and you end up with a universe where there seemed to be a Batman knock-off on every corner and planet.
 
In 1964, editor Julius Schwartz found his arm twisted into taking over the flagging Batman titles. He immediately ditched the extended Batman family and the increasingly prevalent space alien stories for a more contemporary angle grounded in the real world. And as the years rolled on, Schwartz and company refined their approach and gradually, permanently put the Dark back in their Knight.
 

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Bryan Singer and Warner Premiere to Work Together

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  • November 26, 2008

Warner Premiere is known to ComicMix readers as the source for the cool direct-to-DVD movies featuring the DC heroes but they also produce original fare as well.  This morning, they announced a deal with director Bryan Singer to create a “cyberpunk sci-fi thriller” H+, “which picks up after a terrorist fries the brains of a segment of the population ‘jacking’ into the net”

The series will be written by John Cabrera (Gilmore Girls) and Cosimo De Tommaso, who will also serve as executive producers. They conceived of H+ as a television series but  Warner Premiere’s Head of Digital Content, Lydia Antonini, persuaded them to convert it to a web-based series.

The new series, to debut sometime in mid-2009, will be produced by Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions, the outfit that already gives us House.

Warner Premiere is dipping its toe into live action after working on numerous animated efforts including the recently unveiled Peanuts, a full animated comic web series. They have 20 original web series in development, some of which will go to video, some to the recently relaunched TheWB.com.

Miller & Gough to Rebuild ‘Robotech’

  • News
  • November 17, 2008

Smallville’s fathers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have been signed to adapt Robotech into a live-action feature for Warner Bros. No director, cast or production dates have been released.

The 1980s anime series ran in America courtesy of Harmony Gold USA and was one of the first noteworthy anime series from that era. It was actually the combination of three separate series created by Tatsunoko Prods. In order to satisfy the needs of American television syndication.

As a result, it became a “sprawling sci-fi epic, Robotech takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off an alien invasion, with the fate of the human race ending up in the hands of two young pilots.”

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Akiva Goldsman and Chuck Roven will produce with Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello. Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark) wrote a previous draft before the studio turned it over to the duo that has worked on Smallville and also did early drafts for Iron Man, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Spider-Man 2.
 

Review: ‘I Remember The Future’

i-remember-the-future2-5160581For more than a decade, writer Michael A. Burstein has been publishing tales of speculative fiction in the anthology magazine [[[Analog]]]. Several of these stories have been nominated for various Hugo and Nebula awards, including Best Short Story, Best Novella and Best Novelette. In 1999, his short story “[[[Reality Check]]]” was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. “[[[TeleAbsence]]]” won the 1995 Analytical Laboratory Award for Best Short Story and “[[[Sanctuary]]]” won the 2005 Analytical Laboratory Award for Best Novella.

These works and more have now been collected into one large volume from Apex Publishing entitled I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein. The book will be published on November 1, but you can pre-order at Amazon.com  if you so wish.

The stories collected here cover a wide range of topics and emotions. There’s the murder mystery involving a killer who targets students while they’re online. There’s the deeply emotional tale concerning the dying wish of the last living holocaust survivor. There is the “[[[Broken Symmetry]]]” series, a trilogy of short stories concerning the consequences that occur when a breach opens between two parallel universes and the events that grow out of it.

Even if you’ve read these works before, this collection offers you new insight into old favorites. Every single story has an afterword by Burstein as he explains what went into it and what may evolve from it in the future. He also discusses changes made in editing, such as when he presents an alternate ending to “Kaddish for the Last Survivor.”

Along with these tales are two brand new stories. There is “[[[Empty Spaces]]]”, a continuation of the aforementioned trilogy, and the titular tale “I Remember the Future”, which gives us a present tense narration from a retired writer who fears that humanity has forgotten how to truly dream.

These stories are all heartfelt and entertaining and each one appeals to a different taste and preference. If you enjoy science fiction, pick it up. If you don’t normally go for sci-fi, hey, still pick this up. These stories are, at their core, about people and the world we all deal with. And who can’t find something to enjoy about that?

Alan “Sizzler” Kistler has been recognized by mainstream media outlets such as the New York Daily News as a comic book historian, and can be seen in the “Special Features” sections of the Adventures of Aquaman and Justice League: New Frontier DVDs. His personal website can be found at: http://KistlerUniverse.com. One of these days he’d love to write for DC, Marvel or Doctor Who.

‘Lost’ Secrets Unearthed

  • News
  • October 25, 2008

lost-1-1766559While the networks are busy slugging out the fall television season with competing series both new and old, the viewers are left without a shepherd to guide them towards true quality programming. In 2009, that shepherd returns, and its name is Lost.

ABC’s award-winning smash-hit Lost has gained an unbelievable following in its four short years. It’s often a show of balance as some mysteries get solved ("What’s in the hatch?") and some never do ("What’s the frickin’ monster?"). Despite some of the rockier terrain that seasons two and three trekked through, fans have stuck through the turbulent times by having faith that their loyalty would be rewarded.

When Lost returns early next year, the shape of that reward will come into sharper focus. Season five marks the penultimate year for the series, as showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse previously inked a deal with ABC to end Lost after six seasons. Since that move, each episode instantly gains a higher sense of importance for both the show’s mythology and its fans’ patience. Nary an hour can be wasted with so many pressing questions to be answered, and with Lost officially on the downhill end of the slope, Lindelof and Cuse promise that the series will shift away from generating mysteries and into "answer mode."

There’s still some months before the new season, but information about the plot, characters and more are slowly find their way onto the internet. We’ve done some digging around and compiled the following list of points regarding what you can expect from Lost in the future. Be warned, however, as there are some spoilers ahead. Proceed with caution…

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Buck Rogers to Visit ‘Sin City’

  • News
  • October 24, 2008

It’s pretty amazing what people accidentally will say on the red carpet at awards shows.  The most recent example happened over the weekend when The Spirit producer Deborah Del Prete referred to her next project with director Frank Miller was an old sci-fi hero.  This virtually confirmed the rumor that began over the summer that Miller would tackle the first SF comic strip character.

When the rumor first surfaced over at IGN, Nu Image/Millennium Films quickly told him “that no deal is set yet for the rights or Miller, and that they are still mulling over director contenders.”

IESB’s Robert Sanchez could not get Del Prete to confirm if she was referring to Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, both of whom have been optioned for film this year.  The site did some additional digging and report, “sources very close to the Miller camp…confirmed the sci-fi hero that Del Prete made a reference to was indeed Buck Rogers.”

Nu Image/Millennium Films has not confirmed the report for IESB but Del Prete insisted Miller will have an announcement shortly.

Buck Rogers was based on a 1928 novella, Armageddon 2419 AD by Philip Francis Nowlan which appeared in Amazing Stories. It quickly spawned a sequel and the stories caught the imagination of John F. Dille, president of the National Newspaper Service syndicate. He brought the feature to the newspapers as a comic strip in 1929, coming to own the property. America’s first SF comic strip, it was written by Nowlan with art by Dick Calkins. Through the years, the strip was graced with terrific art from the likes of Murphy Anderson and George Tuska, until it ended in 1967. The strip was revived in 1979 by artist Gray Morrow and writers Jim Lawrence and Cary Bates lasting until the strip’s ending in 1983.

Buck Rogers has appeared in comic books (with stunning Frank Frazetta art), serials (with Buster Crabbe), a four-times-a-week radio serial from 1932 through 1947; a 1950 half-hour television series and the 1979 NBC series (the horrible adaptation with Gil Gerard).

The Dille Trust under Flint Dille has repeatedly attempted to revive the character for modern audiences through Role Playing games, comics and media. All the attempts have yet to capture the fancy of today’s audiences.

‘Star Trek: Countdown’ Begins in January

  • News
  • October 21, 2008

IDW has released details about the prequel comic book miniseries leading into next May’s Star Trek reboot. Entitled Star Trek: Countdown, it will focus on Nero, the villainous Romulan played by Eric Bana and said to be seen at the film’s beginning set in Trek’s present before the time travel elements kick in and we see the familiar crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise unite for the first time.

The miniseries will be written by Mike Johnson (Superman/Batman) and Tim Jones from a story crafted by Trek director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.  Art will come from Italian draftsman David Messina who has previously drawn for IDW’s Trek line.

Countdown launches in January and will run for four monthly issues with the trade collection already announced for April 29, just a week prior to the May 2 release of the feature film.

“[Star Trek: Countdown] is about how you connect the Next Generation era to our continuity, inspired by when we last saw Mr. Spock in ‘Unification’,” Orci told TrekMovie.com.

“I can assure you that we all (IDW and Bad Robot) are at work in order to be faithful to the spirit of Star Trek!” Messina enthusiastically posted at the site. “…and believe me, you can’t imagine how huge and picky is our ‘pre-production’ work for this book! Mike and Tim are great Star Trek fans, while even if I’m not a Trek’s guy, I’m a really great lover of Sci-Fi… I really hope that you’ll like our book, we are at work on it with great passion.”

ComicMix Radio: Pixar And The Muppets Go BOOM!

  • News
  • October 4, 2008

Imagine an inter-company "Crisis" style crossover that included The Muppets, The Incredibles, Farscape and even some of the cast of Cthulhu. Ok, farfetched, but all these titles from one company are not. We have the latest from Boom! Studios, plus:

  • Four big sellouts and now variants coming from Marvel
  • Who has the Best Death in sci-fi films and TV?
  • An opera based on the last days of Walt Disney

All presented in living color – just Press the Button!

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-9412179 or RSS!

 

 

Review: ‘Flash Gordon’ #1

Full disclosure: I had edited a [[[Flash Gordon]]] comics series at one point in my life. It was the third greatest nightmare in my professional life. Not the part about working with the talented and understanding Dan Jurgens; Dan’s a class act and a fine storyteller. No, working with King Features Syndicate was akin to Sisyphus’s task, except the big rock was a huge boulder of shit and pushing it up that mountain happened in the dead of the hottest summer in the innermost circle of hell. And I’ve lightened up on this over the years, too. And so, on with the show.

There may be no greater icon in comic strip history than Flash Gordon. Sorry, [[[Buck Rogers]]]. You came first but Flash had better art and story, and a much, much better villain. Creator/artist Alex Raymond is generally regarded as the greatest craftsman in the field; so great, in fact, that after Dave Sim recovered from producing 300 consecutive issues of [[[Cerebus]]], he started up on a series called [[[Glamourpuss]]] that, oddly, is all about Raymond’s work.

Flash was the subject of what is also generally regarding as the three greatest movie serials ever made due, in no small part, to the performance of actor Charles Middleton as Ming The Merciless. And he had all the other media tie-ins: a radio series starring Gale Gordon (yep; Lucille Ball’s foil), a teevee series staring future Doc Savage model Steve Holland and a teevee series on Sci-Fi last year that was completely unwatchable, various animated series, a movie feature and another one in pre-production and numerous comic books by people including Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, and Wally Wood, and licensed items. When Raymond went off to war, he was replaced by a series of artists nearly equal to him in talent: Austin Briggs, Mac Raboy (my favorite), and Dan Barry.

There’s a reason why Flash Gordon attracted such top-rank talent. Sadly, that’s also the same reason why Flash Gordon is an icon and no longer active in our contemporary entertainment: nostalgia. Flash Gordon was a product of his times, a wondrous visionary made irrelevant by real-life heroes such as Laika the dog, the first living being to orbit the Earth, and Yuri Gagaran, the first human being to orbit the Earth. Only Yuri returned alive, but I digress.

Science fiction was rocked to its core. It took talent like Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, and Gene Roddenberry to re-purpose the genre, to focus more on the social aspects of the genre and extend those concepts out into the future. If you’re going to make Flash Gordon work in the 21st century – or the last four decades of the 20th, for that matter, you’ve got to distill the concept down to its essence and rebuild according to the mentality of our time.

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The Theory of Webcomics: What are Webcomics?

  • News
  • September 14, 2008

Help me Wikipedia, you’re my only hope! What are webcomics?

Oh, okay. They’re comics published on the web. That was easy. What else have we got? Over 18,000 exist, few are self-sustaining, blah blah blah, some are like newspaper comics and some are like graphic novels, yadda yadda yadda, sometimes use sprites, pixels, photos or 3D Poser art. Some are funny, some are not; and they cover a wide variety of genres.

But really, what are webcomics? “Webcomics” is the collective name we’ve given to sequential art that appears online. Scott Kurtz’s PvP is a webcomic, as is Scott McCloud’s Zot!, but so are the reprints available from Marvel Digital Comics and the online For Better or for Worse strips. Same name, wildly different products: Kinda like comparing a 1940s Superman story with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman or Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor. They’re all “comics”, but the similarity stops there.

We’re going to need a little more granularity: Typically, one will use the phrase “webcomics” to refer to creator-owned properties published originally and/or primarily online. Reprinted newspaper strips would still fall under “newspaper comics”, and reprinted superhero material would still be “print comics” or “comic books”. So our narrowed “webcomics” would include DC’s Zuda Comics, but not Marvel Digital or FBoFW. This is still hazy for cases like Diesel Sweeties, which started on the web, and published both on the web and in syndicated papers simultaneously (with different content) for a time; but it will do.

And that’s the definition I’m typically using and tend to focus on when I talk about webcomics. When I talk about how webcomics make money, I’m thinking about how Kurtz or McCloud would make money, not how Marvel would monetize their website. When I talk about “the most popular webcomics,” I don’t mean Dilbert. The collection of comics that are creator-owned, published online, usually maintained by one or two authors and typically full of geeky content are a community and a genre all their own, and deserve the same singular attention that we give to, say, sci-fi novels.

These are the comics that you find on Keenspot [link: http://www.keenspot.com/], Zuda, Blank Label, Dumbrella, Modern Tales, and similar collectives. These are the comics that get their start on Comic Genesis [link: http://www.comicgenesis.com/], Drunk Duck, or Webcomics Nation.

And yes, these are the comics that obey Sturgeon’s Law much more so than any others—after all, the barriers to entry are very low; anyone with a computer and a bunch of free time can create one. (I myself had a short-lived sprite comic, now gone from the web and never to be seen again.) This means they’re often drawn and written by hobbyists with limited time, no editors, and the occasional limited grasp of spelling and/or grammar. Which is, of course, the other reason I like to talk about them: There are some fantastic gems of comics to be found, if you know where to look.

I’m  going to be picking apart how these comics exist as an art form and what makes them different; discuss how they make money, why some do so much better than others, and which ones you really should be reading. Though be warned: The only thing that sucks up more of your free time that creating a webcomic is reading them.
 

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