Shaun Tan Wins Oscar

Although Aussies Geoffrey Rush and Jackie Weaver didn’t win the expected supporting actors Oscars, Shaun Tan did for Best Animated Short Film for The Lost Thing. Co-directed by Tan, and based on his OGN of the same name, it’s a charming tale of a man befriending a weird creature, and is narrated by Aussie comedian/singer Tim Minchin.

Tan’s wordless OGNs such as The Arrival are beautifully illustrated and powerful tales and it’s great to see him add another prestigious award to his resume.

I first saw The Lost Thing last year when Tan presented most of it during a presentation of his work at a library, and saw the 15 minute finished product at an animation showcase, and it was far superior to the other short films shown with it. Trailer for The Lost Thing is below. Hopefully, now with its highest level of awareness, the DVD will fly off the shelves, as it goes for 60 minutes with all the extras and also features a 48 page book.

February 28, 2011
Categories: Movies, News . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Extra Sequential Podcast #29-Music

66 mins. We make beautiful music together.  We talk about the unique intersection between comics and music and also discuss which of the Friends we resemble, William Shatner singing and True Romance.

LISTEN TO IT BELOW, OR ON ITUNES OR DOWNLOAD IT HERE

2:22 NEWS

BOOM! Studios gets the Peanuts licence, DJ Caruso set to direct Preacher adaptation, Telltale Games brings the world Fables and Walking Dead games, writer Dwayne McDuffie dies

11:50 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING

Captain Wonder 3D

DMZ Volume 9

The Devil’s Trail #1 from Creator’s Edge Press

Burgerforce #4 and 5

26:30 MUSIC AND COMICS

Comics written by musicians such as Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria, Ghost Face Killa. Also comics based on Neil Young’s Greendale album, Alice Cooper, Prince, KISS , The Archies and Aerosmith.

Comic Book Tattoo based on the songs of Tori Amos

Belle and Sebastain anthology

27 from Image Comics

Paul Sizer’s B.P.M about a DJ called Roxy

Com.x’s hopefully upcoming Passions Requiem

Phonogram by Kieron Gillen and Jamie Mckelvie

Poseur Ink’s Side A and Side B

Matt Madden’s work

Mondo Urbano

20th Century Boys

Alan Moore’s work including League of Extraordinary Getlemen

Kid Koala

The Amazing Joy Buzzards

And for the education of your auditory inputs, here are the songs in order as heard throughout this episode.

Tracker – Flurry Part 2 (from the Blankets soundtrack)
Tori Amos – Cornflake Girl
Kid Koala – Nufonia Must Fall pg 165
Alan Moore, Downtown Joe & The Retro Spankees – You Are My Asylum

 

February 27, 2011
Categories: Comics, Music, News, Podcast, Reviews . Tags: . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

New ThunderCats Trailer

Airing sometime in the future on Cartoon Network is the ThunderCats remake, with animation provided by Japan’s Studio4C. Lion-O and co. were always favourites of mine from the stellar days of cartoons in the ’80s, so I hope this new series does them justice.

February 27, 2011
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Let The Ghost In The Exam

Like most fans of foreign films, I watch Hollywood remakes with one eye closed, in order to lessen my inevitable disappointment. I generally watch the US attempts though, as sometimes they get it right (The Office) and sometimes they don’t (the recent The Experiment starring Adrien Brody is overshadowed by the superior German original). Let Me In, based on the 2008 Swedish film and book Let The Right One In, is the best adaptation yet. The original blew me away with its low burn pace and atmosphere and the US version directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) largely keeps the same focus. However, the attacks by Abby and the torment of Owen’s bullies are much more visceral. The friendship between the vampire girl Abby and  Owen (played superbly by Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee respectably) is thankfully intact and keeping it set in the ’80s is also a wise move. It looks more like an arty indie film thanks to its great cinematography and is a great new entry for the resurrected Hammer film studios.

Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer stars Pierce Brosnan as a former Brit Prime Minister and Ewan McGregor as the new ghost writer hired to write his memoirs. Amid accusations of Brosnan’s Adam Lang sanctioning the torture of suspected terrorists, plus the mysterious death of his previous ghost writer all add up to a great drama, and that’s what it is, with touches of a thriller film. There’s no action set pieces and even the car chase is methodical, but it all works well, though the ending is a downer. If you like Alfred Hitchcock’s films, check this one out.

Based on Robert Harris’ novel, it also stars a bald James Belushi, and Kim Cattrall with a convincing English accent, this is a well rounded film with great performances.

Exam is one of those films like Cube, in which a few people go into one place and not all of them come out. Directed by Stuart Hazeldine, and written by him and Simon Garrity it features a few recognisable British actors and is all set in one room. It’s one of those films that is sold on its intriguing central concept and great performances alone. It’d also make a great play.

Basically, 8 people (4 men and 4 women) all enter a sparse room for a job application and told that only one of them will get the dream job. They are given a few basic instructions and then must spend the next 80 minutes looking at the bare paper before them to figure out the one answer. However, the question is just as mysterious. With great dialogue and excitement that is bigger than the only room, it’s rather mesmerising.

February 26, 2011
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Who Is Jake Ellis? #2 Review

Now at Broken Frontier is my review of this great new spy thriller with a twist series from Nathan Edmondsn and Tonci Zonjic. There’s also a creator commentary with Edmondson at MTV Geek.

February 25, 2011
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Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Trailer

Arriving just before the live action film in June is this animated anthology, featuring a look at 6 different ring bearers. Of course, Hal Jordan is in there, but curiously Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart aren’t, which is strange, considering most people know the former from the JLU cartoon, and he’ll be appearing in the live action film. It still looks good though, and seems to be adopting the same look across all 6 stories.

February 25, 2011
Categories: Cartoons, Movies, New To Comics?, News . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Reed Promo 2

This second teaser from Image features actors Clint Eastwood, James Stewart and John Wayne amongst a bunch of real life Wild West figures, and one fictional character. We know now that it’s a fun, all-ages series that’ll be announced soon.

February 25, 2011
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Reed Promo Image

Teaser images are becoming increasingly popular in the comics biz these days. They offer mystery, and get people talking. Both The Big Two (Marvel and DC) and smaller publishers use them. Now the idea is getting ridiculous, as this teaser from Image proves, but I guess that’s the idea. All we know is the name of the animal art – “Reed Promo.” Very mysterious. Expect more like it.

February 24, 2011
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X-Men: First To Last Preview

It’s the old vs the new in this text-free preview.

Your First Look at X-MEN: FIRST TO LAST!

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at X-Men: First To Last, as acclaimed writer Christopher Yost returns to the X-Men with fan favorite artists Paco Medina and Dalibor Talijic. Starting in X-Men Giant-Size #1 and continuing in June’s X-Men #12, discover the staggering consequences when Xavier’s first class arrives in the future to tackle their greatest foe yet! The next shocking X-Men arc starts right here and, when it’s all over; a major new figure will tower over the team’s past and their undecided future.

“X-Men Giant Size has massive ramifications for two – count ‘em, two – generations of X-Men.  That’s right, the original X-Men are back,” said Marvel Editor In Chief, Axel Alonso. “Is the X-Universe big enough for both teams?”

Can the X-Men of yesterday and today tackle their greatest enemy that neither can remember? The Evolutionaries are coming and their rampage through the Marvel Universe will reverberate through the lives of all X-Men past and present, first and last. The mind-bending saga that will rewrite the history books on mutantkind begins this May, in X-Men Giant-Size #1!

Plus, no X-Men fan can miss the all-new X-Force Archangel action figure, available exclusively at Marvel.com. One of the most popular members of the red-hot Uncanny X-Force team, this is the only way for you to get the first figure of Archangel in his all-new, all-deadly uniform. Please visit www.marvel.com/archangel for more details.

X-MEN GIANT-SIZE #1

X-MEN GIANT-SIZE #1 MEDINA VARIANT

Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST

Penciled by PACO MEDINA & DALIBOR TALIJIC

Cover by ED McGUINNESS

Variant Cover by PACO MEDINA

Rated T+ …$4.99

ON-SALE IN MAY!

 

February 23, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, New To Comics? . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Dwayne McDuffie Dies

This is really sad. Writer Dwayne McDuffie has died.  I know him, as most did, as creator of Static Shock (which became a cartoon), and his continual work promoting non-white characters in teams like JLA. Apart from his comics work, which included co-founding Milestone Media, he also worked on animated series (Justice League Unlimited, Ben 10) and films (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and the just released All-Star Superman).

His run on JLA and the DC animated films is great and his desire to continually promote diversity within the ranks of superhero titles will hopefully be continued by others.

McDuffie passed away due to complications from a recent surgical procedure. Fond remembrances of the writer can be read here, here and here.

February 23, 2011
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Dark Horse and Archaia FCBD Previews

FCBD (that’s Free Comic Book Day) occurs on the first Saturday of May each year. It’s a great initiative to get newbies to sample the awesomeness of today’s sequential art. Hopefully your LCS is participating. The first 2 publishers to promote their offerings for this year are Dark Horse and Archaia.

First up, the Horse, and this note from editor Scott Allie.

I really pushed to get our horror books in front of people for Free Comic Book Day. While there’s epic changes afoot in Hellboy, we also have big upcoming plans for Mignola’s Baltimore, and the FCBD story is a great intro to that. Niles and Criminal Macabre were away for a while, so we wanted to make this a strong comeback year. Steve’s showing you everything fun about the series in eight pages—monsters, mayhem, humor, and drug abuse. We’ll follow it up with the crossover with Eric Powell’s The Goon, and then another Cal oneshot this summer. We’re taking the character down a few pegs and starting his story fresh, so FCBD is really a perfect place to start. Free. All the new stuff is drawn by Chris Mitten, with amazing painted covers by Fiona Staples. We wanted to give the character a clean start with a really solid new team, so readers don’t have to have read everything that came before. But if you want to … there’s two omnibuses coming later this year, collecting everything that came before.

You can see an extra page from both both Criminal Macabre and Baltimore at Dark Horses’s blog.

And now – Archaia. With writer Brian Holguin (Spawn) and artist Alex Sheikman (Robotika) on the ’80s film based The Dark Crystal story and a peek at the just announced sequel to Return of the Dapper Men, this will be another one to pick up. Covers for the flipbook below.

MOUSE GUARD/THE DARK CRYSTAL Free Comic Book Day Flipbook

Retail Price: Free

Page Count: 32 pages

Format: saddle bound, 8” x 8”, full color

Release Date: May 7, 2011

(W) David Petersen and Brian Holguin

(A) David Petersen and Alex Sheikman

(Cov) The Dark Crystal – Brian Froud; Mouse Guard – David Petersen

Archaia presents two, amazing, all-new stories in one fantastic flipbook—David Petersen’s Eisner Award-winning MOUSE GUARD and Jim Henson’s beloved THE DARK CRYSTAL share the spotlight on Free Comic Book day! On one side of the book, a brand-new tale of the fan-favorite MOUSE GUARD, elite warrior mice tasked with protecting common mice from predators, the elements and other dangers. It’s the perfect introduction to MOUSE GUARD for new fans, and a rewarding treat for existing ones! On the other side of the book, Archaia Entertainment is proud to present an exclusive prelude to its forthcoming series of THE DARK CRYSTAL graphic novels, featuring covers, art direction and concepts by Brian Froud, conceptual designer of the original film! This prelude begins the epic creation story of the world of Thra, and explores the origins of the world of THE DARK CRYSTAL!

As a bonus, the issue will also contain a sneak peek of Jim McCann and Janet Lee’s TIME OF THE DAPPER MEN, a sequel to the critically acclaimed RETURN OF THE DAPPER MEN, coming this fall. Additionally, fans of Jim Henson will also get an advance look at TALE OF SAND, an original graphic novel coming in September based on a never-before-seen screenplay written by Henson and Jerry Juhl!

February 22, 2011
Categories: Comic Art, New To Comics? . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Booming Peanuts

With two simple images released today, rising indie publishers BOOM! Studios have announced that their BOOM! Kids line is now called Kaboom!, and that the first series under that banner is a biggie – Charlie Brown and co. Whether Peanuts will be reprints or what, we don’t know as yet. Great scoop though.

February 22, 2011
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Jim Lee Doesn’t Wear Socks

He also draws a mean Batman, as we all know. Below is a video posted by the artist and DC Co-Publisher himself sketching with his fingers on his iPad.

The man himself says:

This is a very sped up clip of me messing around on my iPad. Original video was 20 mins in length; it usually takes me about 60-80 mins to get one of these pieces done using @sketchbookpro. I prefer using my finger to a stylus of any sort–makes it more fun. I honestly have to say this piece was not going in the direction I wanted so I stopped and got back to real work : ) but you get a general sense of how I layer on colors and work positive and negative shapes back and forth to get edges…like in painting.

February 21, 2011
Categories: Comic Art . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Attention Wiki Editors

Sometimes curiosity will get the better of me and I’ll wonder, “whatever happened to (insert name here)?”. Usually it’s to see what some wrestling star from the ’80s is up to these days, or someone whose comics or films I liked (or didn’t) to see if they’re still making art.

I ran across Dan Harris’ wikipedia entry only to discover a glaring entry that needs deleting, or at least editing. Harris wrote the screenplay for the second X-Men film, as well as Superman Returns with Michael Dougherty and director Bryan Singer. It says this:

Also with Dougherty and Singer, Fuchs, Harris wrote a year’s worth of the Ultimate X-Men comic books for Marvel Comics and the Superman Returns prequel comic books for DC Comics.

Nope. They were scheduled too and plans were in the works with Marvel in 2004, but as is to be expected with film makers who try and write comics – it didn’t work out thanks to conflicting schedules, although Kevin Smith has certainly redeemed himself as of late. Harris’ imdb listing makes the same error, as does Dougherty’s, however it does mention the truth that all 3 men wrote four prequel one-shots for Superman Returns for DC in 2006.

It’s also worth noting that Harris and Dougherty have only made one film each since then. Hmmm.

At least the wiki entry for Ultimate X-Men gets the facts right:

Film director Bryan Singer, who directed X-Men and X2: X-Men United, was scheduled to write 12 issues of Ultimate X-Men with Brian K. Vaughan and X2scripters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris[1] but was unable to commit due to working on the Superman Returns film.[citation needed]

There you go. That’s about as close to detective work as I’m going to get.

February 20, 2011
Categories: Movies . Tags: , . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

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