ComicsAlliance.com

DC Settles Hair-Raising Lawsuit Over Superman Barber

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-25T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Culture

First, DC Comics gets a victory in one Superman-related legal battle, now it's settling another: The publisher has come to an agreement with Supermen Fades-to-Fros, a Florida barbershop that was clearly inspired by the Man of Steel.Not only does the name of Reginal Jones' chain of shops - "the premier barber shop[s] in Orlando," according to its website, with two locations in Eatonville and Winter Park - use the name of the famous DC Comics character, it also uses the familiar Superman logo and S-shield in its publicity and decor. Last year, DC took exception to this and launched legal proceedings against Jones, claiming that his business was infringing on its trademark and should change his company's name and destroy all material that was in any way connected with the Superman trademark.

On Tuesday, however, a Florida federal judge signed off on a settlement between the two parties that ended the lawsuit. Details of the agreement aren't available, but given that the website for Jones' business doesn't make any mention of a name change anytime soon, it's possible that DC's legal team realized just how ridiculous this lawsuit was and may have backed off for fear of bad publicity.

We can only hope that Jones feels emboldened by this experience, and launches a new chain aimed at women called Wonder Women's Power Girl Salon for All The Catwomen and Big Bardas Out There (Poison Ivy).

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

'Dragon Ball Z' Returns to Print In Japan In Fully-Colored Reprint Editions

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-25T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Manga, News

Almost 20 years after the original run wrapped, Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball is returning to print in Japan this year with both a newly colored reprint series and accompanying reference book debuting next month.Three volumes of Toriyama's "Saiyan Saga" will be reissued in color on February 4, with each book containing 248 pages of material, including commentary from Toriyama himself that will reveal previously unknown information about both the series and the world within the series. The series will be continued by the five volume "Frieza Saga," scheduled for April 4, with multiple volumes covering the "Cell Saga" and "Majin Buu Saga" to follow later this year.

According to reports, the entirety of the Dragon Ball Z chapters -- the North American title for the second chunk of Toriyama's series, picking up five years into the original Japanese run -- will eventually be reprinted in full color in print; the earlier episodes of the original series. The "Saiyan Saga" begins with the 195th chapter of the original serialization - will also be colored, but released in a digital-only format.

In addition to the new color editions, February 4 will also see the launch of Dragon Ball Chozenshu, a four-volume reference book to the Dragon Ball universe to be released monthly between February and May. Neither series has been announced for release outside of Japan, although given the international success of Dragon Ball, it's probably only a matter of time.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Lex Luthor Joins The Fray In New 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' Trailer [Video]

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-24T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Gaming

Just how brutal will the fight between the World's Greatest Superheroes get in this Spring's upcoming Injustice: Gods Among Us video game? A new trailer offers some quick glimpses at in-game footage featuring the Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman in action... as well as a chance to see a certain battlesuit-sporting bald scientist get in on the whole thing, as well. Click through to see Lex and friends doing what they do.

The latest trailer, debuted by British site Computer and Video Games, show's off Lex Luthor's playable character combat skills for the first time, as well as giving fans a chance to see Nightwing, Green Arrow, Deathstroke and other familiar faces from the DC Universe get their asses handed to them by one-time allies in the game's dystopian setting. Fans can also hear what a few of their favorite heroes and villains will sound like in the game.

Injustice: Gods Among Us arrives on April 16 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U in the U.S., and April 19 in Europe.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Gene Luen Yang Returns With Ambitious New Project, 'Boxers & Saints'

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-24T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Graphic Novels, First Second, News

Gene Luen Yang -- the award-winning creator of American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile and writer of Dark Horse's Avatar: The Last Airbender comics -- has announced his latest project: Boxers & Saints, an epic pair of graphic novels about the lives of two peasants during the Boxer Rebellion that took place in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Talking to Wired, Yang - who's been working on the project since 2006 - said that the books reflect his interest in and ambivalence about the historical event:

When I looked into the lives of the Chinese saints, I discovered that many of them had died during the Boxer Rebellion, a war that occurred on Chinese soil in the year 1900. Back then, the Chinese government was incredibly weak. Western powers were able to establish concessions - pieces of land that functioned as colonies - all across China. The poor, hungry, illiterate teenagers living in the Chinese countryside felt embarrassed by their nation's weakness, so they came up with this ritual that they believed would give them mystical powers. Armed with these powers, they marched across their homeland into the major cities, killing European missionaries, merchants, soldiers, and Chinese Christians. Because their martial arts reminded the Europeans of boxing, they became known as the Boxers. John Paul II's canonized saints were among the Boxers' victims.

The more I read about the Boxer Rebellion, the more conflicted I felt. Who were the protagonists here? Who was more deserving of our sympathy? The Boxers or their Chinese Christian victims? When the Vatican announced the canonizations, the Chinese government issued a protest. They believed the Catholic Church was honoring women and men who betrayed their own culture. In many ways, the Boxer Rebellion embodies a conflict that some Asian and Asian American Christians struggle with, a conflict between our Eastern cultural heritage and our Western faith The two volume structure is meant to reflect this conflict. In one volume, the Boxers are the protagonists. In the other, the Chinese Christians are.

Although both books have, in Yang's words, "a satisfying beginning, middle, and end so that they could be read separately" and in any order, he said that he "really wanted it to be two separate volumes to reflect its dual nature."

If the books' subject matter sounds somewhat off-putting, you should go and check out the 10 page preview Wired has to accompany the interview; it's some of Yang's cleanest and most attractive artwork to date, and demonstrates the sensitivity and dynamism that he brings to the subject matter. Judging from this, Boxers & Saints looks like one of the must-read books of the year.

Boxers & Saints will be released as a slipcased pair of graphic novels in September.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

NBC Orders TV Pilot Based On Bunn And Hurtt's 'The Sixth Gun'

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-23T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Television, Oni, Indie

What comic will be next to win over mainstream audiences thanks to a television adaptation, a la Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard's The Walking Dead? It just might be The Sixth Gun, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's wonderful supernatural western series, which has just been picked up for a TV pilot produced by one of the men behind ABC's Lost.Former Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse has been developing The Sixth Gun for television since last October, acting as executive producer on the project with screenwriter Ryan Condal, who is handling the script for the pilot. Condal is somewhat familiar with comics released by Sixth Gun publishers Oni Press, having also written a screenplay based on the Portland, Oregon company's Queen & Country series.

Alongside Cuse and Condal, the pilot has Eric Gitter and Andy Bourne as additional executive producers; both are part of Closed on Mondays Entertainment, the production company sibling of Oni. In fact, The Sixth Gun is part of a multi-year deal between Closed on Mondays and Universal Television announced last year (At that time, multiple Oni projects were listed as being in development as TV shows, including Ghost Projekt, Amy Devlin and Bunn and Hurtt's earlier collaboration, The Damned; those shows presumably remain in development at this time).

This isn't the first time that the Sixth Gun has been in contention for television; back in 2011, Oni Press announced that Syfy was developing the series that we once described as "a mix of True Grit and Hellboy." (If you've never actually read the series, you can enjoy the full first issue right here. Be warned; you'll want more immediately.)

The news of The Sixth Gun's pilot pick-up came late yesterday, with NBC adding the project for consideration for the 2013/2014 television season. While the pilot pick-up is great news, it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll all be watching The Sixth Gun every week come this time next year; NBC has ordered seven drama pilots so far this year (and three comedies), far more than it necessarily has time slots for. It remains to be seen whether or not the pilot will eventually make the cut, but here's hoping it does; no-one wants another Locke & Key situation (great pilot ends up abandoned by its network and ends up in limbo), after all.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

When Rob Met Todd: Liefeld Writes, Shares Screenplay About The Founding Of Image Comics

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-23T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, Movies, News

We've had movies about the behind the scenes drama involved in launching social media companies and building baseball teams, so why not one about the real-life tale of seven friends going it alone and launching their own comic book company? At least, that's what Image founder Rob Liefeld believes - and he's even gone so far as to write his own screenplay to prove it.News of Liefeld's screenplay - apparently entitled Icons even though he later tweeted "Technically, the script is called iCON. Small "i" dubble [sic] meaning" - appeared online yesterday when the website Dream Movie Cast not only debuted Liefeld's dream casting for the film (He wants to be played by Star Trek's Chris Pine, and thinks that Christian Bale would make a great Todd McFarlane), but also shared pages from the screenplay itself. Three excerpts were shared, featuring key scenes in the movie - Liefeld's first meeting with Todd McFarlane, a meeting with then-Marvel president Terry Stewart where the creators leave the publisher and, somewhat more surprising, a meeting between Liefeld and Eazy-E (or "Easy-E" in the screenplay) where the NWA rapper tells him "I want's to work with you bro. Make cool comics and have a signing like this one? We can make that happen?"

For all the snark potential inherent in this story - It's Rob Liefeld writing a screenplay about he and his friends changed comics, after all - the excerpted pages are actually not that bad; I have no idea about the verisimilitude of the scenes, and whether or not Todd McFarlane really is as much of an overbearing jerk as he comes off in there, but they definitely make for an entertaining read. Considering Liefeld's increasing status as a forward-thinking comic book impresario and movie concept generator, is it really that impossible that we could one day be watching Icons in the movie theater? Please, someone, make this happen...!

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

'Weekly Shonen Jump' Goes Day-And-Date With Japanese Releases

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-22T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Manga, News

Yesterday saw the launch of Weekly Shonen Jump, the latest incarnation of Viz Media's anthology collecting material from the Japanese title of the same name. The reason for the relaunch is a good one, though: Now the digital magazine will include material released on the same day in the original Japanese version.

Released digitally, Weekly Shonen Jump features the latest installments of Bleach, One Piece, Toriko, Cross Manage, Nisekoi, Naruto and brand new strip One-Punch Man on the same day as the strips' appearance in Japan, with monthly strips Blue Exorcist, Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration and Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal appearing on the Monday following their Japanese release.

Talking to retailer site ICv2 about the shift to simultaneous publication with Japan, Weekly Shonen Jump's editor-in-chief Andy Nakatani said that, for the publisher, "the main objectives are increasing circulation and increasing our subscriber base for it as well as creating a buzz for the whole [Viz Media] line," although he admitted that the effect this may have on piracy and scanslated material is also a factor: "We are trying to provide an alternative for those people who do want it right away," Nakatani said. "The fastest that we can release the material is when it officially releases in Japan. We can't go before that. That's the best that we can do."

Weekly Shonen Jump is available now.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Warren Ellis Teams With Jason Howard For New 'Scatterlands' Comic

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-22T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Webcomics

The more cynical amongst you may have thought, now that Warren Ellis is a New York Times best-selling novelist with the release of his second novel Gun Machine, that he would abandon comics like a used-up kleenex and move onto more lucrative, highbrow creative outlets. The more cynical amongst you would be wrong, in that case, with the writer teasing a new project on his website this weekend.

The tease is just that: An image with a title and the name of Ellis' collaborator on the project (Jason Howard, likely best known for his work with Robert Kirkman on Super Dinosaur and The Astounding Wolf-Man), accompanied by Ellis' two word caption promising "Late February" and a link to Howard's Twitter account. Nothing else.

Given that, as recently as the beginning of this month, Ellis was being nostalgic for his webcomic Freakangels - "I do miss serial storytelling," the writer told Chris Arrant at Robot 6. "Weirdly (because I was exhausted and glad to see the back of the bugger), what I miss most is the FreakAngels mode. Online, weekly, free. It was as close as I've gotten to the 2000AD production style, and also, in my head, to a television series. One that went on weekly for three years, sure. But the term I always used for it was 'free-to-air,' because, in my head, that's what it was all about. Being able to broadcast a comic just after noon every Friday completely free for three years and change. It was a real struggle to do at times, but it was a lot of fun, and felt right" - it's not too much of a leap to consider that Scatterlands will be another series in that format - especially considering that the late February date is too soon to allow for a print release that hasn't been solicited by any publisher yet.

Expect more information as the launch date approaches.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Francesco Francavilla Hits The 'Hawkeye' Target In April

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-18T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel

Less than a year old, Marvel's new Hawkeye series has already become known for the top-level artistic talent it offers on a regular basis, from David Aja's smart and stylish covers and interior work through guest art by the likes of Javier Pulido, Steve Lieber and Jesse Hamm. Now, another modern master is signing up for a stint on the book, with the great Francesco Francavilla joining the series for two issues.

Francavilla, known for his work on DC's Detective Comics and Swamp Thing and currently wowing readers with his creator-owned Black Beetle at Dark Horse, returns to Marvel for the first time since his stint on Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive in April to illustrate the tenth issue of the hit series.

"On Hawkeye, we've been blessed with not only one of the biggest writers in comics with Matt Fraction, but also some of the best artists like David Aja, Javier Pulido and now Francesco Francavilla," said the book's editor Stephen Wacker in a statement accompanying Marvel's announcement of Francavilla's addition to the team. "Though he's only on the series for issues #10 and #12, Francesco is going to leave his mark on Clint with some of the most beautiful art you'll see all year!"

Hawkeye #10 is released in April, boasting this amazing cover by Francavilla:

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

'RED 2' Trailer Offers Crazy Malkovich, Deadly Mirren And Everything Else You Want [Video]

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-18T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Movies

The Retired, Extremely Dangerous agents and assassins of the world are back for another absurd action comedy this summer, as the first trailer for RED 2 -- the sequel to the surprise hit movie based on Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's 2003 comic -- hits the Internet. Click through to see the carnage for yourself.As the trailer shows, RED 2 re-teams Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren and the wonderful scene-chewing presence that is John Malkovich against some very familiar faces, including Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins. Just think of it as The Expendables for actors who went to RADA. And, of course, the guy who was in Die Hard.

RED 2 is set to arrive in theaters on August 1.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Oh God: Rob Liefeld's 'Godyssey' Optioned For A Movie

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Movies, News

He may have seemingly burned bridges at both Marvel and DC in recent years, but there's no reason to feel sorry for Rob Liefeld just yet. Not only are his creator-owned titles undergoing new critical appraisal thanks to last year's Image relaunch, but now he has a new project in development for the big screen. Is the world really ready for a Godyssey movie?

Variety reported earlier this week that producers Todd Garner and Brooklyn Weaver have signed up the movie rights to Liefeld's 1996 one-shot (Originally a spin-off from Liefeld's Avengelyene and Glory titles), with plans to develop the idea into a fully-fledged stand-alone movie. Both producers already had relationships with the comic book creator thanks to other projects; Garner had tried to buy Liefeld's 2003 sci-fi comedy pitch Planet Terry (Unrelated to the Marvel comic of the same name), while Weaver is currently attached to the in-development movie incarnation of the creator's Bloodstrike character.

If you're despairing about what this means for the future of modern culture, it's worth remembering that deals like this don't necessarily translate into finished movies (For instance, it's nine years later and we still haven't seen that Planet Terry movie yet). For those who remember Godyssey and also value cinema as a medium, this is a fact to desperately cling to; for everyone else, here's a taste of what you missed:

Yes, that really is Jesus fighting Zeus. The reason why? Oh, only that Zeus couldn't accept that humanity had "outgrown" him when they came to accept Jehovah as their one true God, and so he had decided to seek revenge against Jehovah and all those who stood with him. Obviously, Jesus being Jesus, the only way to deal with the situation was a fight. After all, we all saw where that whole "turn the other cheek" thing got him...

I hope you can all understand why the concept of a Godyssey movie seems somewhat terrifying now.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Drawn & Quarterly Announces Next Sarah Glidden Graphic Novel, 'Rolling Blackouts'

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-17T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Indie, Art Comix

Good news for fans of comics journalism: Indie publisher Drawn & Quarterly has announced that Sarah Glidden, the cartoonist behind 2011's stunning How To Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, will continue her travels -- and, more importantly for readers, her travelogues -- with a new book, Rolling Blackouts, due late next year.

Glidden's new book will see the cartoonist travel through the Middle East, exploring the fall-out from the Iraq War not only on the region, but also on two childhood friends - One an anti-war journalist accompanying Glidden, the other a marine who fought in the conflict - looking at the interplay between the political, social and personal implications of war.

In the announcement from the publisher, D&Q's Creative Director and Acquiring Editor Tom Devlin praised Glidden for her "exciting approach to comics journalism," saying that there's "an honest simplicity in Sarah's approach that makes you trust her -- it draws you in," and adding that "she crafts subtle and rich stories by asking questions but not demanding answers. She brings you along on her search. You learn with her."

Talking to Comics Alliance in 2010, Glidden herself emphasized this approach, saying ""I just hope [How to to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less] will show [readers] that they're not the only ones who are not sure, and that just because the loudest voices around you seem to be so certain and you might not be so certain, that it just means that they're the loudest; it doesn't mean that they're right. Before I came to terms with this idea that it's okay to be questioning, I thought that I had to pick a side to be certain, and now i realize that if I ever think that I'm certain again, then its probably a bad sign. So i hope that people read it and be okay with being in the gray area, and not just about Israel but about anything. I also hope that they can see it as a way of how a person can struggle with anything like that, and I think that that idea of going from certainty to uncertainty and then becoming okay with that idea can be universal, can be a struggle that anyone can go through, whether they're Jewish or Israeli or not."

On her blog yesterday, Glidden responded to the news by calling Drawn & Quarterly "the publisher I didn't even dare dream of working with when I started making comics, so I couldn't be more excited to work with them," and sharing a page of the work-in-progress:

Rolling Blackouts is scheduled for release in the fall of 2014.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Paul Pope's 21st Century Superhero Epic 'Battling Boy' Finally Scheduled For October Release

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-16T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Image, News

Not a dream, not a hoax - Paul Pope's imaginary story Battling Boy has been scheduled for release by First Second Books three years after everyone had initially expected it, finally giving comics fans a chance to see the character that comics savant Pope describes as "the Superman we need for today."

In an interview to accompany a ten-page preview of the first volume in the two-book series at Entertainment Weekly, Pope explained the genesis of the much-anticipated series: While working with movie director Stephen Daldry, movie producer Scott Rudin and novelist Michael Chabon on a movie adaptation of Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay that ended up stalling, Pope - whose 1990s serial One Trick Rip-Off is re-released in a new edition with over 150 pages of additional material today from Image Comics - started pondering the nature of superheroes and mythology in such a way that ideas started sparking. "I began thinking: What is the Superman we need for today?'" he tells EW, responding to his own question with "I thought, 'I think kids would love to see a kid who kills monsters.'"

Thus, Battling Boy -- the story of the son of a war god, fighting to save the city of Arcopolis from, yes, monsters -- was born. Or... conceived, at least. The birth was a particularly drawn out one, as Battling Boy was almost immediately sold as a movie, which slowed down development of the book, something that the creator now terms "maybe... a Faustian mistake." "It was this terrible conundrum," he says of the dual development process. "The film can't get made until the book is done, but the book can't get done until I get off the film to finish it." With the movie going on temporary hiatus (It's apparently back on now), Pope had a chance to "superglue my ass to a chair and finish the book," as he puts it, and the result is a glorious mix of mythology, pop culture and superheroes as only Pope could construct it. "It just doesn't feel like anyone has dipped the cup into the well and drawn a new hero for the 21st century," Pope ventured. "That was my goal."

Come October 8, we'll get to see whether he succeeded.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Boom! Officially Announces A 'Regular Show' Ongoing By K.C. Green And Allison Strejlav

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-16T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Indie, Animation

Following on from its uber-successful Adventure Time line, Boom! Studios has announced plans to bring another Cartoon Network series to comics with the upcoming debut of a Regular Show ongoing written by K.C. Green (Gunshow), with art by Allison Strejlav.

Based on the cartoon created by JG Quintel about Mordecai the blue jay and Rigby the raccoon, two friends who work as groundskeepers in a park (even if actually doing their jobs is one of the furthest things from their minds), the new series is set to debut in April, with a Free Comic Book day story coming in May (as spotted by CA last month).

Talking to CBR, Green said that He hoped to "do stories giving us more background of certain characters, like Muscle Man or Eileen and Margaret. Rigby and Mordecai are fun everymen -- just fun slackers to bounce weird happenings off of -- but there's more there to have fun with," but admitted that "it's still early and only some seeds of ideas are floating around in my head."

You can see an early piece of cover art by Adventure Time comic veteran Chris Houghton, plus a sketch by Green, below.

Green's sketch

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

DC Launches 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' Digital Comic And Video Game Special Editions

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-15T15:45:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Gaming, Digital Comics

Launching today, DC Comics' new Injustice: Gods Among Us digital comic sets the stage for the upcoming video game of the same name that pits the heroes of the DC Universe against each other for -- of course -- the future of humanity. To coincide with the digital comic's launch, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Interactive have revealed details of a special edition of the game, to be released in April.The special edition is called Injustice: Gods Among Us Battle Edition, and will be available "in limited quantities" at Gamestop and EB Games stores in the U.S. and Canada on April 16, according to the announcement. In addition to the game disc and exclusive "fight stick" (Apparently, that's a "lightweight controller that boasts a non-skid foam underside, a lockout feature for the Start, Select and Guide buttons [and] adjustable illumination for the buttons and the joystick"), the $149.99 package also features the following:

o. Exclusive DC Collectibles statue featuring iconic characters Batman and Wonder Woman, the Fortress of Solitude, and the Last Son of Krypton's escape ship
o. Special Collector's Edition of the Injustice: Gods Among Us comic book
o. Digital download of DC Universe animated film Justice League: Doom
o. Three exclusive skins based on Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman from DC COMICS - THE NEW 52

The Collector's Edition, will come with a different mix of extras and be sold for $99.99 at currently unspecified "various retailers throughout North America for the Xbox 360 and PS3."

Available for Xbox 360, PS3 and the Nintendo Wii U, Injustice: Gods Among Us comes from Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm and features familiar DCU faces like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Arrow, Nightwing, The Joker and Harley Quinn in a story that takes place "in a world where the lines between good and evil are blurred."

Tying in with the game, Tom Taylor and Jheremy Raapack are launching a new comic set five years prior to the game to explain how those lines got so blurred in the first place. With new installments released every Tuesday starting today (and a print edition collecting three chapters every month, launching January 30), Taylor described the series to IGN as "brutal and nasty... In fact, I'd like to apologize here and now to my own kids for what daddy did to the superheroes." In particular, fans might want to be worried about the Man of Steel, as Taylor said that the character "has always been my dream in comics. With Injustice, that dream has become a reality... and that reality has become a nightmare."

The first issue is already available for $0.99 via the DC Comics App on iOS, Android, iBookstore, Nook Store and Kindle Store.

Playstation 3

Xbox 360

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Scott Gimple To Take Over as 'Walking Dead' Showrunner

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-15T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Television, News

AMC's The Walking Dead has a new showrunner - the show's third in four seasons - and this one has some previous experience in bringing horror comics to the screen. Unfortunately, said experience consists of the movie Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Scott Gimple.Gimple was named as the popular series' new showrunner yesterday by the Hollywood Reporter. He replaces Glen Mazzara, who is leaving the series at the end of the current season due to what has been described as "a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward," according to a statement by AMC last week. Mazzara himself replaced the show's original showrunner, Frank Darabont, who was similarly ousted following creative differences in the middle of the second season, suggesting that perhaps Walking Dead showrunners have a shelf-life of a season-and-a-half at best.

The writer has actually been with the show since the second season, working with Mazzara as his second-in-command. In addition to being responsible for the screenplay of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, he's also worked on ABC's FlashForward and NBC's short-lived Life, as well as scripting Marvel Comics' current mini-series Punisher: Nightmare. He'll take over the lead role at Walking Dead for the series' fourth season, which begins production later this year.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Belize Fugitive John McAfee Moves to Portland, OR for Comics

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-14T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Culture

Fleeing Belize after being named as a "person of interest" in a murder investigation, then deported from Guatermala after entering the country illegally - faking two heart attacks along the way in an attempt to slow down his deportation - where next for the increasingly-strange tech maven John McAfee? Portland, Oregon, of course - and it's all because of a comic book. Insert your own "Put a jailbird on it" joke at your leisure.The bizarre exploits of the man behind McAfee anti-virus software (Something that he himself doesn't use, by the way; he thinks that it's "too annoying") have kept people in something resembling spellbound disbelief since the 67-year-old was named in connection with the murder of Gregory Faull, one of his neighbors, in November. Denying any involvement, and claiming that he was afraid that the police would kill him if given the chance, McAfee left the country and went into hiding, showing up weeks later in Guatermala, where he was arrested for sneaking into the country. Afraid that he would be deported to Belize, he reportedly faked heart attacks to give his lawyer time to mount a defense against deportation, resulting instead in his deportation to the United States, where he again disappeared in mid-December, staying underground... until now.

McAfee's new base of operations was revealed last week when he appeared in local strip club Mary's Club posing for photographs to accompany an article for the Sunday Times. His reason for moving to the city is to continue to work with Chad Essley, a local artist who is illustrating a graphic novel based on McAfee's life, written by McAfee himself.

Talking to local alternative paper the Willamette Week, McAfee says that he's planning on buying a home in the city and staying for the next year and a half or so until the graphic novel is finished (Essley told Wired in November that the book was three-quarters done already). Whether or not he changes his mind is anyone's guess, but we can only hope that he decides to show up for April's Stumptown Comics Fest.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Marvel Launches Women-Only 'X-Men' in April

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-14T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Marvel, News

Marvel Comics has announced a new X-Men title launching in April that spotlights the female members of the team. Yes, finally, a book dedicated to some of the many X-Women who have won fan hearts for years! The X-Women who have dominated the franchise since the Chris Claremont days! Obviously, then, this book celebrating X-Women is called X-Men.The gender-confused name doesn't bother writer Brian Wood, who told USA Today, "I feel like as far as the X-Men go, the women are the X-Men. Cyclops and Wolverine are big names, but taken as a whole, the women kind of rule the franchise. If you look at the entire world as a whole, it's the females that really dominate and are the most interesting and cool to look at. When you have a great artist drawing them, they look so amazing and always have."

The great artist in this case is Olivier Coipel, whose amazing cover for the first issue reveals the line-up for the book's opening arc: Storm, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey, Psylocke and Jubilee. Yes, Jubilee, most recently seen as a vampire as a result of Marvel's failed attempt to cross superheroics and the Twilight demographic in "Curse of The Mutants" and related storylines; not only is she a surprise addition to the team, she also happens to be the book's central character (Wood admits, though, "I don't want to make it the 'Jubilee and friends book.' They're all A-list characters - I've got to make them all shine").

Wood says that he's taking inspiration for the new series from two classic X-Men runs: Chris Claremont's mammoth run from the 1970s through the 1990s and Grant Morrison's New X-Men series from the early 2000s. That latter run, Wood says, is his "personal template for how you do what I'm doing now," as well as the starting point for another character in the book: Sublime, the sentient bacteria that caused such trouble for Xavier and the team during Morrison's issues.

"If I can make the reader feel the way I felt about [Morrison's run], where you're just like, 'Ah, this is just right, this is the X-Men,'" Wood said, "that's the kind of vibe I'm going for."

X-Men #1 is released in April.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

DC Launching New 'Masters of The Universe' Monthly Series In April

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-11T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: DC, Toys

After testing the waters with digital releases, one-shots and a mini-series, DC Entertainment has announced that it's ready to move to Eternia full-time starting in Spring, as Keith Giffen and Pop Mhan use the Power of Grayskull to launch an all-new Masters of The Universe monthly series.The new series follows on from a series of digital comics featuring the work of such creators as Geoff Johns, Kyle Higgins, Mike Costa and Jeff Parker that DC has been releasing since June last year, as well as a print mini by James Robinson, Giffen and Philip Tan that launched in July. This new series could even be considered a homecoming of sorts for He-Man and friends with the publisher, considering that the Mattel characters' first comic book appearances (outside of the mini-comics packaged with the action figures themselves) came in 1982's DC Comics Presents #47, in a story that teamed He-Man and Superman against Skeletor, memorably titled "From Eternia -- With Death!"

The first issue of Giffen and Mhan's series appears devoid of Superman cameos, sadly, although MTV Geek's report does promise that it will see the return of She-Ra. Admittedly, it's a She-Ra who appears to have switched sides and gained a new name -- Despera -- in the process, which I'm not so onboard with. Sounds like someone isn't worthy of the Sword of Protection just yet...

Masters of The Universe #1 is released this April.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

'Powers' TV Show Not Dead, Charlie Huston Writing New Pilot

Graeme McMillan — 2013-01-11T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Television, Icon, Culture

The road from comic book to television has been both long and public for Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's super-powered crime series Powers, which has been in development for cable network FX for almost four years now. Despite a failed pilot, however, that road thankfully remains ongoing, with the network's president once again affirming his faith in the concept and the likelihood that it will one day make it to air.A pilot - scripted by former writer for AMC's The Walking Dead, Charles Eglee - for the show was actually shot in 2011, but it didn't make the cut for network executives, who ordered reshoots and a reworking of the series as a result. The network also ordered additional scripts, to get an idea of what the show would be like after that problematic first episode, and according to FX president John Landgraf, it was those additional scripts that led to the beginning of the next incarnation of the show. Talking to IGN at the Television Critics Association press tour, Landgraf explained,

[W]e had a pilot plus three scripts, and we decided between the pilot and the scripts that it wasn't quite the series that we needed it to be. When I say we, by the way, Brian Bendis is involved in every phase of this conversation and discussion. But one of the scripts was written by this guy named Charlie Huston, and he was a novelist. Both I and Brian and others thought, "Wow, there is actually something in the tone of this." So Charlie was approached, I think by Brian, and said, "Look, would you be interested in taking on Powers?" And Charlie said, "Well, I've never actually adapted anything before in my life. I have only written novels and stuff of my own, but Powers is my favorite graphic novel, and yes!"

So what ended up happening was we reconstituted the whole thing around Charlie as the creator, with Brian. Charlie went up to Seattle, and they sat down and they talked, and read through all the books, and they came back with a new vision, basically. Essentially, a new pilot to begin with, which is a new, different story than the pilot that we shot. So that pilot is officially gone and dead, and the actors are all gone, but we're developing a whole new pilot from scratch.

An established crime novelist (and creator of both the Henry Thompson and Joe Pitt series), Huston may be better known to comic book fans as the writer for recent Marvel titles Moon Knight and Wolverine: The Best There Is. That cross-genre background may be exactly what makes him the man to bring the right stuff to the new Powers TV pilot, with Landgraf telling IGN that what the network is looking for from the show is definitely not a faithful adaptation of the comic, nor a weekly version of Marvel's superhero movies:

What it's always come down to for me is I know the underlying material is absolutely great. I know Brian has a vision, and Michael [Avon Oeming], but I feel like there have been so many great adaptations of graphic novels done that we have to add something. I would argue that what [Robert] Kirkman and his collaborators have done at Walking Dead has brought something to the table that didn't exist before and that movies weren't doing. I feel like we have to bring something to the table that doesn't exist. Television adaptations of graphic novels, for the most part, have been the pretty good food you'll take when really good food isn't available, you know what I mean? For me, I'm not going to take second fiddle to Marvel or anybody. I'm not going to be able to make a $200 million negative, and I think that Marvel has done a great job at what they do, and they've created a template that really works, so I'm not going to imitate that. I want to make something else with Brian and Charlie and others that's just as good but different, and trades on the particular strengths that television has in terms of what it can do. And if we can get Powers to that level, I'll make another pilot, and I'll put it on the air. But I'm not going to put anything less than an absolutely great version of Powers on the air. That's like remaking a great film into a good film, and I don't want to do that.

Given the history of the development of the show, it's a testament to the strength of the source material that FX has stuck with it for so long, and remains convinced that it can be made to work eventually despite all of the bumps in the road to date. If and when the show ever makes it to the air, fans definitely won't be able to say that the network didn't give it the support it deserved.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments