Tagged: Wonder Woman

Casting News Notes

  • News
  • September 25, 2007

jessica_biel_ww-6142690Comic fans love to play imaginary casting games.  Now that comic book movies have become big business, the folks with real money have the means to make those games come true.  Here’s the latest casting news, both rumored and factual (at least for now):

  • Jessica Biel to play Wonder Woman in the upcoming Justice League movie?  Variety reports talks are in progress.  At least she won’t have to dye the hair this time.  (Oh no, wait, that was Jessica Alba, wasn’t it?  Sometimes all Jessicas look alike to me…)
  • Sarah Paulson of Studio 60 has joined the cast of the Frank Miller-directed The Spirit.  She will probably not be playing Dolphin Girl.
  • English actor Dominic West is slated to play the villain Jigsaw in The Punisher: War Zone flick.
  • The cast of Repo! The Genetic Opera includes Paris Hilton, Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino and Alexa Vega.  "Set in the not-so-distant future, the production tells the story of an epidemic of organ failures that devastates the planet, killing tens of millions.  As scientists feverishly make plans for a massive organ harvest program, a multi-billion dollar biotech company called GeneCo begins to manufacture salvation — for a price — offering simple payment plans to those lacking the necessary funds to purchase new body parts outright. But all financed organs are subject to default procedures, including repossession at the hand of the notorious organ repo men." And it’s a musical.  My head hurts just thinking about this one.
  • Lastly, Nichelle Nichols gives some advice to Zoe Saldana on playing Uhura in the upcoming Star Trek prequel movie.

As with any casting news, this could all change tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Swamp Thing On Shorts

  • News
  • September 5, 2007

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who are pissed you’re too big for Underoos, you can take comfort in the knowledge that next spring adult sportswear manufacturer Salvage is going to be coming out with a line of clothing that incorporates Superman, Batman and next year’s Dark Knight movie.

No word on Wonder Woman being part of the line. Some will find this to be quite disappointing; personally, I’m holding out for Swamp Thing.

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COMICS REVIEW: Amazons Attack

23630_4_006-8429163At Heroes Con in Charlotte this past June, one convention goer asked DC EIC Dan DiDio what was the point of Amazons Attack. “What’s the point of any comic?” DiDio quipped back, leaving me to believe that the point was in fact simply to separate me from eighteen dollars and eat up ten minutes of my life for each of six months.

It’s been a couple of shaky years in the world of [[[Wonder Woman]]] fandom; turning her into a killer, handing the mantle off to Donna Troy – which you would have missed if you blinked, the “who is Wonder Woman?” plotline which I’m not even sure has started but was touted as ”next” at the end of issue #4, which then begs the mention of the sporatic publication of the book itself mere months into the re-launch of the series.

After all that, “the first major comics event of 2007,” as the house ads touted, should have given us six action packed issues that could not be contained in the regular monthly title. Instead, [[[Amazons Attack]]] was confusing, boring and left me month after month echoing that Charlotte fan’s question.

Why was this a mini-series? This story could have easily been told in the pages of the monthly [[[Wonder Woman]]] book, and then perhaps they wouldn’t have replicated numerous scenes in multiple publications across one month, while leaving questions up in the air because it was so easy to not pick up a tie-in or read them out of order. Was the project ill-conceived or just poorly managed?

The art was amazingly varied from the main AA book to the tie-ins, it was sometimes hard to see where they tied in since there visual cues were often non-existent. Sadly, the art in the main title fell short: there was something lacking in what Pete Woods did that left the characters looking very flat and ill-defined facially.

It only being a few hours since I finished the series, it hasn’t sunk in yet that the whole thing served only one purpose: to set up Jim Starlin’s The Death of the New Gods.

***Spoiler Alert (but I see it as saving you the trouble of reading this mess)**

(more…)

MICHAEL DAVIS: It’s a real mad mad mad world part 1

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

michael-davis100-4885353What is up with heroes today? I just got back from Wizard World Chicago and as I was walking around the con I took notice of the posters, billboards and other comic company signage. What I observed with little exception is the look on the heroes faces… they all looked mad. I mean they looked pissed.

I ask again, what is up with heroes today?

Do all the comic companies have a template for posters? Stop me if you’re seen this: the hero or heroes are standing with a smoke filled background or battlefield usually the background is an orange or red hue. They stand with this look of utter anger. They all look like the first words they would say to you upon meeting you at a funeral is I will kick your ass!

I remember when Superman would… smile. Wow, what a concept a hero who stands for truth, justice and the American way smiling once in a while. I remember when Superman was a role model and he would stand there with his hands on his hips legs firmly planted on the ground looking out at the reader with a HUGE smile on his face.

Heck, I remember when Bat-Man would smile from time to time. I saw a poster at the DC booth with Wonder Woman looking out at the viewer with that “mad look.” From what she looked like on that poster I am now sure that even comic book characters suffer from PMS.

Hey, I’m sure that there are posters and characters out there that smile or project a more positive attitude. I just don’t see them. Now Marvel and DC know their audience but there seems to me to be an effort out there to make everybody “hard,” as the rappers say. This look is not new to the comic world. In fact it’s ripped off completely from Hip-Hop.

When’s the last time anybody ever saw a rapper smile on an album cover? The “Hard” look is everywhere. Look at high fashion models and that stupid look… football players… baseball players… heck, now opera singers stare out from their posters looking like Biggie Smalls.

As I said before Marvel and DC know their audience and they are the market leaders, so this is what the public must want.

But (as you knew there would be) … (more…)

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

  • News
  • August 11, 2007

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin, and the cotton is high.  Or so I’m told.  Living in a major metropolitan area in the twenty-first century, I have to take such things on faith.

This summer, the fun times for someone like me are largely political.  The presidential election is over a year away.  The first primaries are six months away.  Nothing is going to be decided any time soon, so I can pretend it will all turn out for the best. 

I spent the summer I was 15 going “clean for Gene,” campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, who was running against Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform.  Four years later, I ran as an alternate delegate for George McGovern. Four years ago, I nearly got arrested outside the Republican convention up the street from here.  Presidential campaigns are fun!

Which is not to say they couldn’t be much more fun.  The problem is that presidential candidates tend to be politicians.  They spend all their time hustling campaign funds, writing policy, and meeting the public.  They go on the Sunday morning news shows and show how serious they are.  They go on Oprah or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to show they’re regular folks who can take a joke.

They don’t save the world from alien invasions.  They don’t even fight crime.

Presidential campaigns would be a lot more fun if, instead of Republicans versus Democrats, it was Marvel versus DC.   For example debates between:

 

Captain America and Superman on immigration reform.

Luke Cage and John (Green Lantern) Stewart on affirmative action.

Thor and Wonder Woman about the separation of Church and State.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne on the inheritance tax.

Storm and Aquaman on global warming.

The Punisher and Batman on prison reform.

Professor X and Green Arrow on family values.

The Avengers and the Justice League on national security.

(more…)

MICHAEL DAVIS: Con Man

  • News
  • July 13, 2007

michael-davis100-6319230When I first moved into my new home it seemed like every single day for a month I received a sales call from a mortgage company. They always asked for a Mr. Fong. When the calls first started I told them politely that I was not Mr. Fong and asked to be put on the Do Not Call list.

The calls kept coming and for a while I was still polite. I mean, I know how these things work. Mr. Fong had my phone number before me and the mortgage companies computer keeps calling the number. What that means is that every time I asked to be taken off the list, who ever I’m talking to simply hangs up the phone without honoring my request.

Fast forward to a few weeks of getting these calls. Now I’m pissed. So the calls went from this:

THEM: Hello, can I speak to Mr. Fong?

ME: There is no one here by that name, please take me off your call list.

To this:

THEM: Hello, can I speak to Mr. Fong?

ME: There is no damn Fong here! Do I sound Asian??? Stop calling me!!

I realized that this company was full of a bunch of idiots who simply don’t care to listen to you. So I devised another tactic. This is the way I handled the next call:

THEM: Hello, can I speak to Mr. Fong?

ME: (With Enthusiasm!) Speaking!

THEM: Mr. Fong, we see you qualify for a reduced mortgage!

ME: (With more enthusiasm!) WOW! GREAT!

THEM: We would like to send someone out to talk to you. When would be a good time?

ME: (With crazy enthusiasm!) NOW!

THEM: We can send somebody out tomorrow. Is this your current address?

I told them no, the address was wrong then I then gave them a fake address in the HOOD!

The next day at around 4 PM I got another call.

THEM: Hello, can I speak to Mr. Fong?

ME: Yes?

THEM: Mr. Fong. Hi. We must have taken down the wrong address. Can we double-check it?

ME: Why do you say that?

THEM: Well sir, the address you gave us is liquor store.

ME: I assumed you must like being drunk because you keep calling me.

THEM: I don’t understand.

ME: I have told you guys a million (bad word) times I was not Mr. (bad word) Fong!

THEM: Who are you?

ME: None of your (bad word, bad word, REALLY bad word) business.

With that, I hung up. I have not gotten any calls since then, so I guess it worked. What does this have to do with this weeks rant? Nothing! I just love that those idiots wasted their time as they have been wasting mine. And maybe this will help others who find themselves in this predicament.

Now for this weeks rant. No! It’s not a rant. This is a total love fest for the San Diego ComicCon International! Sorry Vinnie Bartilucci, you will have to wait until next week to find issues to debate. This week my friend it’s all about the LOVE! (more…)

DC toy license goes to Mattel

mattel_logo2-3076756dc2005logo-2094568Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded Mattel, Inc., the master toy license for the complete DC Comics Universe of characters and properties.  In addition to the rights to existing DC Comics characters/animation/movies, the multi-year pact provides Mattel with the rights to produce toys based on future DC Universe film and animation projects that are developed and produced during the term of the agreement.  Mattel will support the DC Universe characters across all of its key brands including Hot Wheels, Radica, Fisher-Price, Tyco and Mattel Games. 

The financial terms of the deal were not released, and there’s no word how this will impact the DC Direct brand.

Me, I’m waiting for the Wonder Woman merchandise to start showing up in American Girl stores.

The Secrets Behind The Comics debuts!

Just in time to butter up good ol’ Mom, the Big ComicMix Weekend Broadcast is here – and the debut of our Secrets Behind The Comics feature – we take a look at the guy in charge of making Catwoman and Wonder Woman look their best, plus news on how you can write your own ending to your favorite TV show, where you could soon find some great classic TV and how to survive Life Without Heroes, plus a trip back to when Spawn was red hot on the comic shelves.

Press The Button. Mom said it was OK!

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ROBERT GREENBERGER: On continuity

bobgreenberger100-8996530I like continuity. Always have, always will. It enriches serialized fiction as found in pulp magazines, comic books, movies and television.  In an ideal world, things would be consistent from the beginning of any new creation, but it rarely is.

Johnston McCulley altered his own reality after one Zorro novel because he decided more people saw the Douglas Fairbanks silent film than read his book and anyone coming to the second book should recognize elements.

Gene Roddenberry was building his worldview for Star Trek so details such as the name of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets evolved over the course of the first season. Unlike many of its peers, it actually had more episode to episode continuity than the majority of prime time in the 1960s.

In comic books, after 60+ years of publishing, even I recognize that it’s impossible for a singular continuity to exist for long-running characters from Captain America to Superman. What editors need to strive for, today, is consistency so the reader isn’t left scratching his head week after week.

During my tenure at Marvel, I pointed out to the editorial team that three different titles released the same week gave Henry Peter Gyrich three different jobs. That serves no one well and meant no one was paying attention at a company that prided itself on its shared universe.

More recently, DC Comics released, a week apart, a Nightwing Annual and an Outsiders Annual. Both were solid stories that wrapped up some long-standing threads and filled in gaps left by the time between Infinite Crisis’s conclusion and the “One Year Later” re-set. Read separately, they were fine, but read against the largest context of the DC Universe they massively contradicted one another.

At the conclusion of Infinite Crisis, Nightwing was completely zapped and left for dead. In his own annual, we’re told he was in a coma for three weeks and then so badly banged up he needed additional time to recover and retrain his body.  Finally, when he was deemed ready, he left Gotham City with Batman and Robin for what we know to be six months of bonding. And from there, he returned in time to meet the new Batwoman in the pages of 52.

A week later, though, we get the Outsiders Annual where Nightwing is running around with his teammates to break Black Lightning out of Iron Heights prison and once that’s done, he goes with the team for an underground mission that lasts the better part of a year.

OK, so what is the reader to accept as the actual sequence of events? He cannot be in two places at once, yet these annuals ask us to believe exactly that. (more…)

Infinite Crisis goes audio

  • News
  • April 23, 2007

Doctor Who fans have been getting all-new full-cast audio adventures for years. Recently, Dark Shadows has been invited into the club. And now, GraphicAudio has signed DC Comics up for the ride.

Purveyors of full cast audio adaptations of such well-known action paperback series as Stony Man, The Destroyer and The Executioner, the Graphic Audio corporation will be releasing DC’s Infinite Crisis miniseries in two box sets, each containing six hours of programming. The first will be released in May, the second in June. They describe the plot thusly:

"Superman, the Man of Steel. Wonder Woman, Amazon Princess. Batman, the Dark Knight. Together, they are the greatest super heroes of all. But they have turned away from each other in Earth”s hour of greatest need. As space is ripped apart, super-villains unite, and four mysterious strangers threaten reality itself. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman must put aside their differences to save the world, but even the combined might of all Earth”s heroes might not be enough to stop the coming crisis…"

Actually, the CD sets are an adaptation of Greg Cox’s novelization of Infinite Crisis, buy why quibble. I’m a fan of such original audio shows, and I’m looking forward to reviewing the series. GraphicAudio CDs are widely available at truck stops and Interstate rest areas, and through the manufacturer.

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