Articles by van-jensen
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: 'Spider-Man: Web of Shadows' Trailer
Things get dark for Spidey in video game
The rush of Comic-Con slows to a trickle, with some of the late news including a trailer for the upcoming video game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, which features an invasion of symbiotes and the apparent Venom-ification of Wolverine.
Watch below.
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Comics at Harry N. Abrams
Charles Kochman adds comics imprint
It went a bit overshadowed amid the madness of Comic-Con, but there was some big news out of New York last week as publisher Harry N. Abrams announced the creation of a new comics imprint, headed by Charles Kochman.
Kochman was recently promoted to be executive editor of the publishing company, and he told Publishers Weekly it was a natural fit to take on more comics.
Kochman will direct the new imprint, which will launch with four new titles: The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle; The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death by Todd Hignite, designed by Jordan Crane with an introduction by acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel; Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster by Craig Yoe; and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? by Brian Fies, the creator of the award-winning Web comic/book Mom’s Cancer.
Abrams publisher Steve Tager said launching a new imprint “made sense. We’ve published comics and pop culture titles in the past—we’ve sold half a million copies of the Art of Walt Disney—so Charles is building on a history that Abrams already has. But he brings a passion and experience in the category. He’s brought in more graphic novels and launching an imprint just makes sense in this marketplace.” Tager said the imprint will be able to cross-promote with Abrams’s children’s book line, special markets department and internationally—he noted that Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier’s biography of comics artist Jack Kirby, is a bestseller for Abrams U.K. “We’ve been coming to Comic-con for several years now and our education in the category continues,” said Tager. “And our designers and sales reps all love Charlie’s books; he focuses on the little things and that’s what makes his books special.”
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Who'll Be the Next 'Batman' Villain?
Riddler may have already appeared in 'Dark Knight'
It appears the villains of The Dark Knight, the latest installment in the Batman movie franchise, won't return, as Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent appears to be killed off and Heath Ledger's untimely death makes it impossible for him to return his version of the Joker.
So, the obvious question becomes "who's next?"
One blogger at Doomkopf thinks we may have already seen him:
...actor Joshua Harto plays Mr. Reese in “The Dark Knight,” an employee for Wayne Enterprises who comes to the conclusion that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne. Oh, and, it’s not like I’m spoiling anything; everybody and their dog has seen this movie already. He eventually gets targeted by the Joker before he can share his secret, after which he’s summarily pushed out of the movie after Bruce Wayne saves his life and gives him one hell of an evil eye. It’s either a loose end that never got tied up, or it’s a sign that he’ll be back in future movies.
Now, isn’t that kind of like Edward Nigma’s origin? Ex-employee to Wayne Enterprises, grown bitter, and seeking revenge against his former employer? And, ditching the lame “enigma” joke would be a step in the right direction, though another clue presents itself when you think about it for a second. His name in this movie is Mr. Reese. Mysteries. I’d say I might be on to something.
Mr. Reese... Mysteries. Clever.
However, a viral marketing campaign for Dark Knight might indicate the people behind the film were making much-less subtle hints to the Riddler's whereabouts, as Edward Nashton (an alias of the Riddler) "wrote" a letter to the editor at the Gotham Times Web site.
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
'Watchmen' Atop Amazon Fiction Sales
Apparently everyone's watching the watchmen
From a Wired article about the excessive success of this year's Comic-Con is a little tidbit about the success of comics: Watchmen is now sitting at the top of Amazon's fiction and literature sales list.
DC has been printing up copies like mad to meet the demand, which is of course churned up by the upcoming Zack Snyder film adaptation.
From the article:
Last week's release of the movie's trailer sent sales of a paperback collection of Alan Moore's original Watchmen comics through the roof. The graphic novel now sits at the top of Amazon.com's literature and fiction sales list.
"That's never happened before," said DC's Levitz. "We literally can't print enough…. I don't think we've been able to kill any more trees fast enough."
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: The 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' Trailer
Comic-Con footage up on YouTube... for now
Didn't make it to San Diego for the surprise debut of a rough X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer? Luckily for you, it's now online.
Watch it below and have your say.
Mon Jul 28, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Neil Gaiman Writing 'Batman'
'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?'
DC held out till the very end of Comic-Con to drop its biggest bit of news: Neil Gaiman is returning to the publisher for a two-issue Batman series with artist Andy Kubert.
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? will serve as a transition point between Batman R.I.P. and whatever comes next. Dan DiDio shared a little with Newsarama:
Newsarama: Dan, obviously the title is a reference to Alan Moore’s Superman story, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” Are there parallels between this story and that one?
Dan DiDio: There are a number of parallels to that. There’s a very particular reason why we call it that, and that information will be coming out later on, but with this, we wanted to get someone of that particular stature to tell this story, a story that will really define the years of Batman’s life.
And Gaiman has posted about it on his blog, though he's even less forthcoming:
So I don't have to write lots and lots of emails back to all the journalists:
1) Yes, I am writing a two part Batman story.
2) Yes, Andy Kubert will be drawing it.
3) Yes, it will be two oversized issues.
4) No, I don't plan to say anything else about it until it's all written and drawn.
(I just called my Visa card to fix something, and found myself being asked if I was the Neil Gaiman. I said yes, I was. "So," said the Visa person, "Are you going to be writing an episode of Dr Who?")
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Marvel's 'Next Avengers' Preview
First look at kid-friendly cartoon
DC's not alone in its efforts to branch into direct-to-DVD animation, and Marvel showed off a preview of its next project at Comic-Con.
That would be Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Mark Millar Returning to Marvel's Ultimate Universe
After 'Ultimatum,' new secretive series to debut
Things have been pretty slow lately in Marvel's Ultimate Universe, but big changes are in the works with the event Ultimatum on the horizon.
After the dust clears on that -- whatever it is -- writer Mark Millar has announced he's returning to the Ultimate Universe, though it's likely not to write The Ultimates, the series he made famous through two "seasons."
CBR talked to Millar about the project, though he couldn't reveal much:
The United States will serve as the primary setting for Millar's new Ultimate title. "I think anything set outside of America everybody always hates [Laughs]," the writer said. "And I say this as someone from outside of America. Even I feel slightly depressed when I see something set in Europe. So it's going to be very America centric. Like most adventure stories it will move around the world at times but I like the top ten list too much to set something outside of America."
America may be the primary setting of his new title ,but Millar plans to use the series to expand the Ultimate Universe by introducing many new characters and concepts. "Part of the fun is building up our own Marvel Universe, because if you think about it, Marvel has had almost 50 years to create a world. But if you add up all the 'Ultimate' comics, like Spider-Man and Fantastic Four and the various mini-series, you don't have 300 issues. So, there is an untapped world and I think that's a lot of fun to play with. Like in 'The Ultimates,' I created a European team and you've been given glimpses of what's going on in Russia. There's still a lot we haven't tapped into, like China. So I'd never focus an entire story on that type of thing but it's fun to bring that stuff into it."
Marvel also held an Ultimate panel, which you can read about right here.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: DC's Animation Panel
'Wonder Woman' cartoon details discussed
An area DC Comics has been pushing hard is animated adaptions of the company's comic book properties, including last year's Justice League: The New Frontier, which earned an Emmy nomination.
At a Comic-Con panel, DC publisher Paul Levitz and others discussed upcoming animated projects, including Wonder Woman. Newsarama has a wrap up:
Noveck says “Wonder Woman” is not an adaptation of a specific comic, like “Justice League: The New Frontier.” Instead, it features an original story by “Wonder Woman” comics writer Gail Simone and Michael Jelenic, with the screenplay by Jelenic. That approach was decided on because the character can be a tricky one to get right, Levitz says.
Voice director Andrea Romano says they like to use a lot of name actors for these projects and joked that fans can often tell what she’s watching on TV and in the movies by who she casts. She says, for example, she liked very much the film “Waitress,” which played a role in her casting Keri Russell as Wonder Woman. Russell was right for the part because she can convey both strength and the vulnerability the character needs as she adjusts to living in the world of men.
Other cast members include fellow panelist Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor, Alfred Molina as Ares, Rosario Dawson as Artemis, Virginia Madsen as Hippolyta and Oliver Platt as Hades. Romano says Platt had to record his lines in New York and couldn’t be filmed in the booth because of the distance — which turned to be a good thing when his starched shirt made so much noise he ended up having to work shirtless.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Review: This Week in Trinity - Part 8
Your weekly dose of DC's big three
As Comic-Con starts to lull into submission (begin your hype for '09!), I finally get a chance to sit down with the latest issue of DC's weekly Trinity and ask myself again why I ever agreed to do weekly reviews.
Yes, the series is still so much better than Countdown that it's useless comparing the two, but after last week's big explanations of some of the major mysteries, issue eight has no tension among much weirdness.
We start off with Morgaine Le Fey, Enigma and Despero all hanging out on the largest moon of Itatoq (funny, I'm vacationing there this winter). Because they're villains, a fight ensues, but after some "We're all so evil" dialogue the three agree to form their own evil threesome.
At their disposal is the Cosmic Egg, which confused me, since last issue seemed to imply the JLA had the egg (and the villain inside it) stashed somewhere safe. Apparently they stashed it on the largest moon of Itatoq (miles and miles of sandy beaches!).
After that are scenes of the heroes going about their lives, still filling the generic roles prescribed to them by the universe (aka Kurt Busiek). Bruce is sleuthing, Clark is fighting robots and Diana is... shopping. Ahem.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Darren Aronofsky to Direct 'Robocop'
Action franchise to get the reboot
The long-rumored reboot of Robocop at the hands of director Darren Aronofsky was made official this week, Variety is reporting.
The previous trilogy is going to get a reboot, and apparently the idea is to take the mecha-lawman story and make it more noir-influenced. Personally, I was hoping for an Old Western.
From the article:
Darren Aronofsky has signed on to direct and David Self is penning a new installment about the hero whose tagline is "part man, part machine and all cop."
"RoboCop," which is being fast-tracked for a 2010 release, becomes the first potential tentpole to come together since Mary Parent took the reins of MGM in March. Aronofsky's involvement has been one of the worst kept secrets, with rumors rampant in the blogosphere that "The Fountain" helmer was eyeing the project.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: IDW and 'Ghostbusters'
Keith Champagne ain't afraid of no ghost
Going into Comic-Con, we all knew IDW would be talking about their plans with the recently acquired G.I. Joe franchise. But another '80s reboot came as a little more of a surprise.
In October, the publisher will trot out a four-issue Ghostbusters miniseries, by writer Keith Champagne and artist Dustin Nguyen. Newsarama caught up with Champagne in San Diego, who had an interesting take on the property:
Is Ghostbusters a successful franchise? It's definitely generated a lot of revenue in different formats so I guess one could consider it successful in a bottom line kind of way, but creatively, I think it's been hit or miss. Granted, I'm not the target audience for the cartoon stuff so maybe I'm wrong.I think the greatness of the first movie has more or less born the weight of the entire franchise over the years. None of the other iterations has seemed to come close although I'm hearing that the upcoming video game is really good, basically a third movie in itself. And hey, there's no shame in shooting for the stars and falling a little short. Let's face it: guys like Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis and Bill Murray firing on all cyclinders, that's a tough act to follow for us mere mortals.
Also, no Slimer, which is sure to please some and annoy others.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: A Retailer Revolt?
Some say they aren't coming back as Hollywood dominates
There's been plenty of talk about how Comic-Con isn't really about comic books anymore, with the influx of marketing about upcoming movies and TV shows (a few of which are at least based on comics).
That discussion typically revolves around how the movie booths and panels draw more attention than the ones dedicated to comics, but there's another angle to the story.
Comic-Con began all those years ago as a smaller affair, dedicated to readers and retailers, and the star of the show was boxes and boxes of comics. Now? With the con's huge growth, retailers are unhappy with their marginalized role, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
They complain about rising fees for exhibit hall booths. “We are being priced out of existence,” said Richard Muchin of Tomorrow's Treasures, a Long Island, N.Y., dealer.
They complain about the cost of traveling to, and staying in, San Diego. “It's too expensive to be here,” said Lee Hester, owner of Lee's Comics in San Mateo.
Most of all, they complain that they've been shoved aside by the Hollywood studios, whose enormous displays dominate the exhibition hall. “If we're that important,” asked Jamie Graham, who runs nine comic shops in the Chicago area, “why aren't we in the middle of the room, where more people can see us?”
Hester and Al Stoltz, of Maryland's Basement Comics, said they will not return to the Con next year. Rozanski, one of the biggest vendors here with 25,000 books, said he may join them. “There's actually a movement afoot to pull all the comic-book dealers out of Comic-Con and move to a separate venue,” he said.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Vertigo and WildStorm News
DC imprints look ahead
Vertigo and WildStorm -- both imprints of DC Comics -- talked about their respective futures at a couple of Comic-Con panels.
While Vertigo (led by editors Karen Berger and Will Dennis and a ton of creators) talked about an array of new projects and the Vertigo Crime imprint, WildStorm had just a little bit of news on already existing properties.
Newsarama has an exhaustive roundup of the Vertigo panel, including some insight into Vertigo Crime:
New Vertigo Crime books that are coming out include Dark Entries, a new book by writer Ian Rankin with Werther Dell'edera artist. Rankin is best known as the writer of the Rebus novels, on which the BBC show is based. "It's using the character of Constantine from Hellblazer," Dennis said. The story follows what happens when John Constantine is called in to investigate what went wrong on a reality television show.
Filthy Rich is a new Vertigo Crime book by writer Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos, an artist from Spain. "Basically, it's a story of a big man who makes even bigger mistakes through his life," Azzarello explained. "He is hired to be a clandestine bodyguard for a wealthy automobile heiress."
Filthy Rich takes place in the early '60s so it has that "upbeat vibe," he said. "It's all about the celebrity culture of wealth and why people find that fascinating."
Meanwhile, CBR kept tabs on the WildStorm panel.
Sun Jul 27, 2008 — by Van Jensen
SDCC: Jeph Loeb Presents 'Heroes' Panel
Stars talk 'The Second Coming'
The NBC show Heroes went from fan-favorite to afterthought very quickly during last year's strike-impaired season two. The cast and producer Jeph Loeb set about rebuilding momentum with an energetic panel at Comic-Con.
From the L.A. Times comes word that a full episode was shown and it did the trick:
Tim Kring came in with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He held aloft a DVD, the DVD for the premiere of season three's villains-themed offerings.
Then we got to see "The Second Coming."
It's a great episode, and it should draw back those who've dropped off. It may even bring in new viewers. And if not, maybe you'll want to watch simply because, as the guy in my row said, "Hayden is hotter than ever!"
If you're inclined, there are some spoilers in the link.
