The continuing woes of the Spider-Man musical after it’s mixed debut performance, the death of director Irvin Kershner, Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons working together on a secret project.
6:44 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
I’ll Give It My All…Tomorrow by Shunji Aono, Secret Origin doco on the history of DC Comics, early vertigo one-shot Mercy, new all-ages series Marineman by Ian Churchill, Batwoman #0 by J.H Williams III (otherwise knwon as J.H Williams the 3rd), Flesk Publications’ new collection of Xenozoic tales by Mark Schultz and Arnie’s first film Hercules in New York.
38:20 THEME – DEFINITIONS
We attempt to define the difference in terminology between comics and graphic novels. Mladen and I have different thoughts on just what term should be used for what type of sequential art. Is it related to format? Theme? Who knows? We do, or so we think. Let the lively debate begin!
Because WE demanded it! Two podcast episodes in one week! Actually, we’re just changing the day on which we record our show, so we can have more time to properly digest new comics.
49 mins. After our sweet sixteenth episode, comes our sour seventeenth episode. It’s not that sour really, but we do run the gamut of topics as usual. Apart from comics, films and manga news and reviews, we also discuss Mladen’s dodgy pronunciation of “news,” the Back to the Future game and unfunny Ricky Gervais films.
Pretty boy actor Matthew Goode as a possible Clark Kent/CGI Superman, the Locke and Key TV series based on the hugely popular horror comic, San Diego Comic-Con online registration crashes again and the film based on Daniel Clowes’ Wilson.
11:40 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Manga Ooku by Viz Media set in feudal Japan, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Star Trek II and III, El Borbah by Charles Burns, the fun, time travelling Rift Raiders OGN, Dynamite’s relaunch of Vampirella and Firebreather Vol.3 #1 from Image Comics.
Something that will make my podcast cohort Mladen happy is the recent news that Daniel Clowes’ indie comic Wilson is set for the big screen, as reported by Deadline. Clowes has had his stories Ghost World and Art School Confidential previously adapted into films, and will be writing the screenplay for the Wilson film with director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt) attached as director. Seems like a great fit.
Go here to publisher Drawn and Quarterly’s site for a preview of the darkly humorous 80 pager about a lonely man’s quest for attachment and connection, and to get 30% off the purchase price in celebration of its cinematic journey.
You may have seen the ads for the upcoming Firebreather cartoon film based on the Image comics series, in some of this week’s new comics. Well, below is all the info you need to know.
DOUBLE DOSE OF FIREBREATHER
First issue of new FIREBREATHER miniseries gets variant cover from Cartoon Network movie
The FIREBREATHER movie debuts on Cartoon Network on November 24, 2010, and FIREBREATHER VOL. 3: HOLMGANG #1 is getting both a variant cover and an early release on the same day to celebrate!
Advance reviews for the movie version of the critically acclaimed Image Comics series have been stellar, and HOLMGANG #1 is a great place for new fans to jump onto the series. The variant cover features exclusive artwork from the TV movie and will be in stores November 24 alongside the regular cover.
Teenager Duncan Rosenblatt has a human mother and a giant, city-stomping, kaiju father. He also has all the worries of a normal high schooler, from bullies to girls to fitting in. Written by Phil Hester and drawn by Andy Kuhn, FIREBREATHER VOL. 3: HOLMGANG picks up where FIREBREATHER VOL. 2 left off: Duncan deals with not only losing his father but with keeping his father’s death a secret, even from his mother. But Duncan’s mysterious extended family may not let him keep that secret — or his life — much longer.
“We are super excited to have the first issue of our new Firebreather mini-series hit stores the same day the animated film debuts on Cartoon Network,” says Kuhn. “The film’s director Peter Chung really knocked it out of the park, and the Cartoon Network variant cover is a great looking piece of art that really gives you a vibe of what to expect in the movie. Please watch it, you won’t be disappointed, AND buy the comic, because it’s insanely awesome!
Hester adds, “I’m excited that people will get a glimpse of the gorgeous treatment Peter Chung and company have worked up for Duncan on this alternate cover. The 24th is a chance for fans new and old to get a double dose of classic and animated Firebreather. The best of both worlds!”
FIREBREATHER VOL. 3: HOLMGANG #1 (of 4) (OCT100443), a 32-page full-color comic book for $3.99, will be in stores November 24, 2010, with a cover by series artist Andy Kuhn and a variant cover featuring artwork from the Cartoon Network television movie. Catch up on Duncan’s adventures with FIREBREATHER VOL. 1: GROWING PAINS ($14.99, APR090360) and FIREBREATHER VOL. 2: ALL THE BEST HEROES ARE ORPHANS ($16.99, AUG082239), available now. Finally, don’t miss the FIREBREATHER movie, premiering on Cartoon Network on November 24, 2010!
I like all the Alien films, even Alien 3, and hope to work my way through all 60 hours of bonus content on the Blu-Ray Alien Anthology at some point. The good news is that if you’re a fan of the franchise, and its best entry and, if you’re in metro Western Australia, you can catch James Cameron’s great sequel on the big screen once more at Event Cinemas in Innaloo on December 8.
And it’s here, more than a few months before the film debuts mid-2011. If you go and see the latest Harry Potter film, you’ll also see the brand new trailer for the Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds as test pilot Hal Jordan, Blake Lively as love interest Carol Ferris, Peter Sarsgaard as huge-headed Hector Hammond and Mark Strong as Sinestro. It’s directed by Casino Royale’s Martin Campbell and is an origin film for the classic ring wielder. With a script from comics scribes Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green, and overseeing from DC’s golden boy Geoff Johns I had high hopes for this film. Then we all saw the very uninspiring glowing green costume on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. That thankfully seems to have changed since then.
The trailer seems a little too comedic and not as serious as the GL comics are (and they are serious in the way that only good superhero comics can get away with). However, the talent behind and before the camera is impressive and maybe this trailer, seeing as its the first official one, is just testing the water and going for the broadest strokes possible. With Kilowog, Tomar-Re and the GL’s planet/base Oa, it appears to be faithful to the page though.
77 mins. A whole bunch of stuff as usual including a first look at next year’s Tintin movie, our thoughts on the documentary focused on Scottish writer Grant Morrison involving his magic and drug use, some new all ages comics and more.
The sale of the hugely popular San Diego Comic-Con tickets go live on Nov 22 for July 2011, writer JMS is off monthly comics to focus on the sequel to Superman: Earth One, the new DC Comics digital store, Spider-Man’s death, just released pics from the Tintin film, the success of the Walking Dead TV series, Batman Live World Arena Tour, a classic Fran Drescher and Robin Williams film and I also mistakenly credit Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense instead of Freddie Highmore as the voice of Astro Boy. Phew, that’s a lot of news!
25:0 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING/WATCHING
The Nikita film, (in which I make one more film error and get Tcheky Karyo and Jurgen Prochnow and U-571 and Das Boot mixed up!), Russian flying car film Black Lightning, the new Predators, the latest season of Dexter.
And for comics we yak about the wild Mesmo Delivery from Rafael Grampa, the new Atomic Robo series, 676 Apparitions of Killoffer, Toy Story: Tales from the Toy Chest #2 from BOOM! Studios, Vertigo’s series The Unwritten, Image’s Halcyon #1.
And yes, I mix up the title of another film!
56:30 FEATURE REVIEW
The new doco Talking With Gods on writer Grant Morrison of JLA, We3, The Invisibles and more fame.
1:10:45 WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Our Valued Customers – real things said by geeks and crazies in a comic book shop.
I used to watch Entertainment Tonight years ago, back when it was actually about new film and TV shows. Then it became all gossip focused and dull. However, they have redeemed themselves with this scoop. Yep, the first footage of the new Green Lantern film, showing Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, a costume more in keeping with the comics version, and a Kilowog cameo. Oh yeah. The film, directed by Casino Royale’s Martin Campbell opens on June 17, 2011.
Now available are two great features from DC Comics and Warner Bros. One is the collection of the awesome short animated films DC have been putting with their main films lately, including a new one, and the other is the Secret Origin doco on the history of DC Comics. Info, pics and 2 clips from Superman/Shazam! below.
SUPERMAN/SHAZAM! THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM ANCHORS DC SHOWCASE
Original Shorts COLLECTION
THE SPECTRE, JONAH HEX, GREEN ARROW INCLUDED ON BLU-RAY, DVD TODAY FROM warner home video
Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video have expanded the realm of superhero storytelling beyond the popular DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies with the introduction of the DC Showcase, a series of animated shorts featuring characters from the celebrated DC Comics vault. On November 9, 2010, Warner Home Video will distribute the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, the first quartet of animated adventures featuring the never-before-seen Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam, as a Special Edition Blu-Ray™ for $29.99 (SRP) and single disc DVD for $19.98 (SRP). The DC Showcase will also be available OnDemand and for Download.
DC Showcase animated shorts initially appeared as special bonus content on the 2010 slate of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The 10- to 12-minute films include The Spectre, Jonah Hex and Green Arrow. All three titles will be presented in extended formats along with the first-ever release of Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam.
In Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam, Clark Kent’s latest interview subject is street kid Billy Batson. What Clark doesn’t know is that Billy is more than a feisty kid with a lot of heart – he has been chosen by an ancient wizard to represent the good of man as the World’s Mightiest Mortal just by invoking the name of the wizard, “Shazam!” Billy’s powers come none-too-soon, as he also discovers he’s being pursued by a centuries’ old, murderous villain, Black Adam – a foe so powerful, even Superman can’t stop him alone. The all-star cast of Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam is led by Jerry O’Connell (Crossing Jordan) as Captain Marvel, George Newbern reprising his Justice League role as Superman, Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) as Black Adam and two-time Emmy Award® winner James Garner (8 Simple Rules) as The Wizard.
Bruce Timm (Superman Doomsday) is executive producer and Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League,Avatar: The Last Airbender) is director of the first series of DC Showcase titles. Michael Jelenic (Wonder Woman) wrote the 22-minute script.
Other shorts included on the DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection:
The Spectre – A detective story with an ethereal twist featuring an otherworldly character. The short is written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), and the voice cast includes Gary Cole (Entourage) and Alyssa Milano (Charmed).
Jonah Hex – The tough-as-nails bounty hunter always gets his man – until someone else gets to him first – in this case a murderous madam who wants to steal more than just his bounty from Jonah Hex. Based on a story from the award-winning Jonah Hex comic series, and scripted by world-renowned author Joe Lansdale. The voice cast is led by Thomas Jane (Hung), Linda Hamilton (The Terminator), Michelle Trachtenberg (Mercy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Michael Rooker (Days of Thunder).
Green Arrow – At the Star City International Airport to pick up his girlfriend, Oliver Queen is forced into action as Green Arrow to protect the 10-year-old Princess of Vlatava from his old nemesis Merlyn the Magnificent and the League of Assassins. Greg Weisman (Young Justice) pens this action-packed tale, which features the voices of Neal McDonough (Desperate Housewives) as the title character and Malcolm McDowell (Entourage) as his foe.
DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection 1-Disc Special Edition DVD features more than 1 hour of exciting extra content, including:
Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection Blu-Ray™ features more than 2 1/2 hours of exciting extra content, including:
Four animation shorts (est. 62 min)
Commentaries by renowned writers Steve Niles, Joe Lansdale, Greg Weisman and Michael Jelenic
Four additional bonus TV series episodes handpicked by Bruce Timm
We’re joined again by Gianni from retailer Quality Comics, and the 3 of us yak on about a bunch of films and comics as well as evil transvestites, Lois Lane with a Tommy Gun and more.
The new Thunder Cats cartoon, upcoming films including Mission Impossible 4, and the 3D Spider-Man and Tron: Legacy, Legendary Pictures launches Legendary Comics and the return of webcomic The Perry Bible Fellowship.
12:00 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING/WATCHING
Classic Van Damme, classic Arnie and classic Belushi, horror prequel Paranormal Activity 2 and the film everyone’s talking about, The Social Network.
As for comics, we review Abattoir #1 from Radical Publishing, Kick Ass 2 #1, the Viking era of Northlanders Volume 4, British comics magazine Clint, X’ed Out from Charles Burns, the whimsical Return of the Dapper Men, the great Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s and the long awaited Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale.
51:30 TRADE/SWAP
We all moan about the updated Man of Steel as seen in graphic novel Superman: Earth One from DC Comics.
70: 00 WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
The very cool movie/music remixes of Perth’s own Pogo.
From the director of 300, Watchmen, and the new Superman attempt (oh, please make it awesome!) comes Sucker Punch. Zack Snyder’s film opens March next year and stars a bunch of girls in an insane asylum using their fanatsy worlds to escape and, of course, it looks rather dazzling.
We briefly discussed the New Zealand actor’s upcoming portrayal of Britain’s best hero in our last podcast. Now, in this week’s Empire magazine (the Aussie version) Karl Urban talks about it too. It seems he’s been a fan of Judge Dredd since he was 15 when his pizza parlour boss introduced him to 2000AD’s best known character.
The 38 year old, like most of us, wasn’t impressed by Sylvester Stallone’s 1995 attempt at the hero, stating, “Dredd’s supposed to represent the faceless system of the law, so it’s imperative that his identity remains a mystery,” and that the new film will be gritty and urban. “Darkness is inherent in Alex Garland’s script. There are no gold codpieces here,” he says and that he’d, “better have an emotive chin.” So far it’s looking good, with an action man who loves the character (and will keep the helmet on!) and is produced and written by Alex Garland, writer of The Beach and Sunshine.
If you can’t wait till whenever the film comes out, check out updates on this awesome looking fan film, Judge Minty.
Batman 3 has a title and who won’t be the villain, world wide flashmobs to promote the just premiered Walking Dead TV series, The Essex County trilogy from Jeff Lemire wins Canada’s respect, the wild costumes from the thankfully-never-made Superman film involving Tim Burton and Nicolas Cage and Chris Evans’ buff physique and Captain America film costume.
19:00 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING/WATCHING
The unnecessary Nightmare on Elm Street remake, Let The One Right In, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the short Medal of Honor game, the entertaining My Best Friend Is A Wookiee memoir, a Judge Dredd special from 1994, Spider-Man vs Vampires and the latest issue from Dark Horse’s Creepy series.
37:35 POTENTIAL PREVIEWS PURCHASES
We scan the pages of the new catalogue showing a whole bunch of January releasing goodies.
The more I see of this film, the more I like what I see. Tron: Legacy is the sequel to the 1982 classic, and is directed by Joseph Kosinski. Below is a clip from the December 17-releasing film, a music video from Daft Punk and the awesome latest poster.
comicbookjesus 