The Joss Whedon directed The Avengers film opens next year. All we know is the cast and actors, but now we have a better idea of what the team members will look like, thanks to a promotional poster at the Licensing Expo 2011. Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow we’ve already seen on the big screen and their costumes don’t look much changed. Cap’s duds look modernised as is to be expected, and Hawkeye looks much cooler than he did in his bland Thor cameo. Hulk looks like every other time we’ve seen him. These may very well not be their final looks however.
95 mins. Yes, it’s our longest episode ever, but with good reason. It’s our X-Men special, in which we focus on the films, the cartoons and some forgotten TV appearances. Joined by Mat from popular podcast, Sequelcast we discuss the highs, lows and more of the merry mutants. Also, Jake Busey’s teeth, Paul Hogan and a heap of useless X-Men trivia to impress your friends.
This is good news as this is one of those comics that deserves a wider audience. Official details below.
Variety broke the news this morning that Academy-Award-winning visual effects designer John Dykstra (Star Wars, Spider-Man 2, X-Men: First Class) plans to direct a film based on Tales From the Farm, the award-winning first volume of Jeff Lemire’s much-acclaimed Essex County trilogy!
The film, currently using the working title “Super Zero,” is adapted from Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel by John Carr, and will be produced by Steven Gilder and Alec Chorches as well as Top Shelf Productions. Jeff had this to say: “I’m excited about the news and optimistic that John Dykstra will make an entertaining film that stays true to the heart of Essex County.”
Tales From the Farm is the story of Lester, a 10-year-old boy coping with the death of his parents while isolated on his uncle’s farm, escaping into fantasy games with retired hockey pro Jimmy Lebeuf. The book memorably launched the Essex County trilogy by winning the American Library Association’s prestigious Alex Award (and instantly selling out its first printing). Essex County would go on to win the Doug Wright Award, the Joe Shuster Award, and a top 5 spot (and the People’s Choice Award) on Canada Reads’ Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. Originally published in three parts, it’s now available as a single 512-page volume.
You can meet Jeff in person at his summer convention appearances: he’ll be in the Top Shelf booth at both the Calgary Entertainment Expo (June 17-19) and the San Diego Comic-Con (July 21-24). Hope to see you all there!
See a hefty preview of Essex County here and an interview with Lemire here about his work writing the upcoming Animal Man, and Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE titles for DC’s massive relaunch in September.
With the live action film just days away from its June 19 debut, Warner Bros. have unveiled an unprecedented 8 clips from the film. Most are over a minute long and aren’t heavy on the action. I must say, seeing these clips doesn’t fill me with extreme confidence though. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively really lack chemistry, but I’m happy that he says, “By the power of Greyskull,” in his attempt to state the GL oath (that’s from the He-Man cartoon for those of you who aren’t Gen Xers) and his ring constructs certainly look diverse. In the first clip Reynolds and Likely couldn’t call each other Highball and Sapphire more, though perhaps the latter is a nod to Lively’s Carol Ferris’ transformation into Star Sapphire in a sequel. I must also say that the Earth bound scenes (in what is the reverse of Thor’s film) seem to be the lowlights.
The tie-in videogame is available now. Below is the latest trailer, plus the official description.
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is set in the universe of the film with an original story by award-winning comic book writer Marv Wolfman. Players will take flight across the universe to planets Oa, Zamaron and Biot, and utilize an arsenal of constructs to restore intergalactic order by wielding the ultimate weapon: the Green Lantern Power Ring. Gamers playing the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions will also have the option to join forces with a friend to play as Hal Jordan or Sinestro to battle the Manhunters.
The Nintendo 3DS version of the game is designed specifically to take advantage of the system’s stereoscopic 3D capabilities and deliver multi-plane graphics that delve players further into the Green Lantern universe.
In addition, players on Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 system will be given the option to play in anaglyphic 3D with technology that is compatible with high definition TV sets and visible to players wearing the 3D glasses that will be available for the video game. Fans can also enjoy the game in stereoscopic 3D when playing on any 3D HDTV while wearing active shutter glasses that are compatible with the television.
Also now available is the Green Lantern: Emerald Knights animated anthology film, on BluRay and DVD. This one – I am excited for. See the latest clip below, spotlighting Hal and Arisia in space.
GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS, the 11th film in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies, is AVAILABLE TODAY — JUNE 7, 2011 — from Warner Home Video on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and for Download.
Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, and distributed by Warner Home Video, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights weaves six legendary stories of the Green Lantern Corps’ rich mythology around preparations for an attack by an ancient enemy. As the battle approaches, Hal Jordan (voiced by Castle’s Nathan Fillion) mentors Arisia (Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss) in the history of the Green Lantern Corps, telling tales of Avra (the first Green Lantern) and several of Hal’s comrades – including Kilowog, Abin Sur, Laira and Mogo. In the end, Arisia must rise to the occasion to help Hal, Sinestro and the entire Green Lantern Corps save the universe from the destructive forces of Krona.
After Isaiah Mustafa (the actor from the Old Spice ads) as Luke Cage comes Jevon Kearse as another Marvel superhero – X-Man/ future soldier Bishop and, man, does he look great. You can check out a behind the scenes video right here at photographer Gary Land’s site and thankfully, there’s more to come.
X-Men: First Class is surprisingly good. Sure, there’s some cheesy moments, but the acting is good, as is the action in the final third. Also, like any superhero movie these days, it puts the spotlight on a few little known comics characters, such as Nightcrawler’s Dad, Azazel.
White Queen, played by Mad Men’s January Jones, is another X-Men character to make her debut on the silver screen, although she has appeared on a screen before – the smaller one, as has Banshee, played by Caleb Landry Jones in First Class.
In 1996 a TV movie called Generation X was released, produced by New World Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment. Directed by Jack Sholder (Nightmare on Elm Street 2) and written by Eric Blakeney (21 Jump Street), it was based on the comic series of the same name, which debuted only 2 years earlier. That’s got to be the quickest comics-to-film turnaround ever, not including Kick Ass.
The film is often forgotten in the annals of comic adaptations, and I know why. It’s a low budget attempt, and some characters, such as Chamber and Husk were dismissed from the cast as their powers were too expensive. I do recall being excited to see the film though, as it was around the time my comics habit was forming and the X-Men where were it was at for me at the time. I collected the first 2 or 3 years of the series by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo (the series ended in 2001) and its cast of largely new characters, as well as Jubilee, with new villains made for a great read.
Like in the comic, the film focused on reformed bad girl White Queen, and Irish mutant and former X-Man Banshee as teachers of a new group of powerful students. White Queen/ Emma Frost was played by Finola Hughes who appeared in the Blossom TV series, and went on to voice Superman’s Kryptonian mother in the animated series. Banshee/Sean Cassidy was played by Jeremy Ratchford who also voiced the character in the ’90s toon.
I haven’t watched it in years and it doesn’t even seem to be available anymore, but here’s a taste and a video below.
55 mins. We focus on the hottest topic, the talk of the town, the big news that has superhero comics readers everywhere yakking – the relaunch of the entire line of DC Comics’ superhero line. We attempt to gather all the tidbits released so far and chime in with our opinions. Also, leg warmers, eye patches, and our mutual affection for April O’Neil.
Well, there’s not really much else to talk about in DC’s shadow, apart from a new convention dedicated to He-Man and ThunderCats. Woo hoo!
5:06 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Duncan Jones’ great Source Code film
The visually dazzling and epic Hellboy: The Fury #1, by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo. Preview here.
The classic, detailed and violent Hard Boiled OGN from Frank Miller and Geof Darrow
The mature approach of toys in The Stuff of Legend Book 1 from Th3rd World Studios
15:15 DC Comics’ Relaunch
DC’s whole superhero line is relaunching in September, with new costumes and series for some of the world’s favourite spandex clad characters. There’s not heaps of official info released so far, but we break it down for those new to the…news.
As an added bonus, here’s the George Lucas Strikes Back trailer.
It’s actually not as bad as I thought. Starring Matt (son of famed author J.D) Salinger and based on the star spangled Marvel comics hero, things kick off immediately, with the Nazis taking a young boy from his family, and subjecting him to some kind of experiment involving electricity and an eye mask. Weirdly, all the dialogue is in Italian, without subtitles. From there, things move briskly, but here’s a few highlights.
We see Steve Rogers, with a limp at home, with his family, one of whom looks suspiciously like Howard Stark from Iron Man. Steve signs up for Project Rebirth and after some close ups of his expanding calf muscle and bolts of electricity, he emerges , looking just the same, but without a limp. During this transformation, we see our first fanboy cameo in army man Bill Mumy (Lost in Space, Babylon 5).
The Nazi Red Skull is not a Nazi. He’s an Italian, and has the bad accent to prove it. We later learn that he’s also responsible for the deaths of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr and is the head of a worldwide crime cartel.
Cap jumps in a plane and we see the usual army attire over his Cap costume, making him look pretty cool, and kinda like the version seen years later in The Ultimates comics.
After a brief battle between Red Skull and his “American brother” Captain America, the former is tied to a missile and lands in the Arctic. Cue lots of spinning newspapers as the decades pass and a frozen Cap is revived, and quickly runs off. Real heroes don’t get pins and needles!
And he keeps on running, even from Ned Beatty who knows who he is. Fanboy cameo no.2 – Beatty was in Superman: The Movie and Superman II. He avoids some biker thugs, led by the Skull’s daughter, looks astonished at a bikini clad babe on the beach and finds the house of his WWII sweetheart Bernice and her daughter Sharon both played by the same actress, with a blonde wig and old age prosthetics as required. Just like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future II!
The Red Skull, now without the red, has had plastic surgery and looks like Punisher villain Jigsaw. He also kidnaps the American President, played by (fanboy cameo no. 3) Ronny Cox, who was bad guy Dick Jones in Robocop.
Steve and Sharon travel to Italy to discover the Skull’s true identity. He never wears the Cap uniform during these scenes, but does wear loafers, uses a bicycle as a getaway vehicle and drives a Mini.
Steve pust on his battered Cap costume again, says, “Gee whiz,” does a few flips and saves the day. The actual rubber suit isn’t too bad, and was perhaps the first to feature fake abs. There’s some shield slinging, a punching President and victory for freedom.
Skull has a few good lines, such as, “Let us see if your heart is bigger then my hate,” and “We are both tragedies. Now I’ll send our tortured souls to rest.” They don’t save him from becoming a dummy and falling off a cliff though. It ends with an unnecessary voiceover about the President and a comic picture of Cap behind the credits.
If you’re a jaded fanboy, you can start watching the film here before you see July’s Chris Evans starrer. At least that doesn’t have rubber ears on the costume.
Green Lantern opens next month. Awesome. Here’s the latest trailer for the DC Comics starring movie. This one is narrated by Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean) in his role as Tomar-Re. It seems a tad odd to hear his Aussie accent and I don’t know if this handy exposition will appear in the film, or if it’s just for the benefit of GL newbies watching the trailer. Seeing as Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is new to the GL mythos in the film too, I’d imagine at least some of the narration will appear in the finished film though.
Supanova Pop Culture Convention in Perth and Sydney in June. Get your tix now.
Batman villain Bane as played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises is revealed. Well, some of him anyway.
EDDIE DEIGHTON AND ANDI EWINGTON INTERVIEW 9: 35
Our first ever interview via the wonders of Skype. English creators Eddie Deighton (co-publisher of Com.x and co-writer of BlueSpear) and Andi Ewington (co-writer of BlueSpear and writer of 45-whcih we talked about here) talk to us about the 45 spinoff one-shot BlueSpear, which comes out in July.
The chaps talk about the business behind publishing Original Graphic Novels rather than monthly issues, what they look for in a story pitch, how they find new talent, advice for new writers and publishers, and a lot of laughs.
Also mentioned are subjects as diverse as our lack of sporting knowledge, amusing convention tales, the classic Marvels, I Kill Giants, Kingdom Come, and creator Bryan Talbot.
Actor Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice, The Other Guys) played Batman in the revolutionary 1989 film and its sequel, both with director Tim Burton. Now, in a much linked to I’m sure, chat with Hero Complex, he’s opened up about the current Batman films (he saw most of The Dark Knight) and his past in the costume. It’s an interesting chat, with Keaton opening up about the loneliness in England during filming, using Bruce Wayne as the key to the role, dropping his voice as Batman and a deleted scene that had him going from Bruce to Bats. It makes good sense actually.
There was a thing that never got in that was really interesting. I went to Tim and said that we should see if we could do a scene that showed the transition and Tim was really great about these things so we tried. I wanted to see and to show that transition when he goes from Bruce Wayne to Batman, the time when he’s about to don the suit and go out and wreak some havoc. That’s not a casual thing, obviously, it’s not putting on a jacket to go out for the evening. So what is that transition like? So there was a thing we did early on that showed him going into a sort of trance and it justified this shift in him. So we did that scene and it never made it into the film but I think helped me in a way. It was part of the way he became this other thing and even if you didn’t see it, it was part of the character and the way we created him. Tim was always open to that. Jack and Kim come to him, too, chipping in with ideas and it was a really creative environment.
The CGI Tintin, based on Belgian creator Herge’s classic series, has 2 posters and a trailer, all of which are effectively secretive and moody. Coming at us in December from Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, this looks pretty cool really.
Finally, here’s a new clip from the animated Green Lantern: Emerald Knights film, starring Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly) as he tells Arisia about the first Green Lantern. The film is released on June 7. Below the clip are 3 images from the film and a new poster for the live action film showing off Abin Sur.
As the ’60s set X-Men prequel nears its June 3rd release, this week has seen four character specific trailers. After seeing these, I’m a lot more confident about the quality of the film. Check out Beast, Mystique, Banshee and Havok below.
67 mins. In honour of the awesome annual tradition of Free Comic Book Day around the world, we discuss some of our faves – what you should definitely pick up and what you should avoid. Also, our usual rambling shenanigans.
FCBD is on Saturday May 8. Yay! We read a whole bunch of the many free comics on offer this year and give a rundown of what we like and don’t like this year.
SOME PRETTY GOOD FREEBIES
Bongo Comics’ Bongo Free-For-All, featuring a few The Simpsons stories, including cool ones by Evan Dorkin and Sergio Aragones
Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Star Wars: The Clone Wars flip book
Ape Entertainment’s Richie Rich/ Kung-Fu Panda flip book. This ain’t your daddy’s Richie Rich!
Bluewater’s The Misadventures of Adam West (the actor who played Batman in the ‘60s TV series)
FREEBIES THAT ARE OK, BUT NOT AWESOME
2000AD. The classic U.K magazine style format with a bunch of sci-fi stories inside, including a great Judge Dredd tale
Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man is good for fans who may have been away from the web slinger for a while and want to know what he’s up to these days
DC Comics’ Green Lantern Special Edition. Same as above, except for Green Lantern AKA Hal Jordan
OUR TOP PICKS (GET THESE IF YOU SEE THEM!)
Fantagraphics’ Walt Disney Mickey Mouse. A dog walking a dog. Yes, that’s right. Floyd Gotfredson’s rascally Mickey.
Archaia’s Mouse Guard/ Dark Crystal flip book, with mature fantasy stories and also Season of the Dapper Men and A Tale of Sand by the legendary Jim Henson
Marvel’s Captain America/ Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers! A fun, time travelling adventure featuring the two cinematic superheroes in ye olde Camelot
Super Dinosaur Origin Special from Image. Another fun adventure for kids and adults with a kid, his heroic T-Rex, a secret base and evil mutant dinosaurs
Jake the Dreaming from Radical. An illustrated novel, not a comic. Like most Radical books, it looks superb. For fans of Narnia and Harry Potter
Red 5 bring us the always amusing Atomic Robo at the National Science Fair. Also previews of ’50s heroine Moon Girl, and Foster Broussard: Demons of the Gold Rush
Elric: The Balance Lost #1 from BOOM! Studios. Michael Moorcock’s pale swordsman returns to comic. I liked it much more than Mladen though
CHECK OUT PREVIEWS OF ALL THESE FREEBIES AND MORE, RIGHT HERE AND THE EXCELLENT ROMBIES IS NOW ONLINE FOR FREE FROM GESTALT COMICS. YAY!
Marvel’s Iconic Super Hero The Mighty Thor Joins Marvel Entertainment Executives to Ring
The Closing Bell® at the NYSE to Celebrate Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios’ Highly-Anticipated Film Event Thor
On Monday, May 2, Marvel Entertainment, LLC will summon the power of its iconic Super Hero Thor to join the Company’s President of Print, Animation and Digital Dan Buckley and Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso to ring the NYSE Closing Bell in celebration of the theatrical release of Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios’ latest highly-anticipated film Thor, in theatres nationwide on May 6.
comicbookjesus 