Author: Kai Connolly

Maximum Ride To Movies And Manga

Maximum Ride To Movies And Manga

  • News
  • August 12, 2008

Look for the adventures of Max, Angel, Fang, Iggy and the rest of the flock to hit the big screen in 2010 as Columbia Pictures acquires the rights to James Patterson wildy successful young adult series, Maximum Ride. Steering the transition is producer Avi Arad, no stranger to the genre coming off Marvel films such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man.

The Maximum Ride stories are spun-off from characters from two of James Patterson’s successful his adult novels, When the Wind Blows and The Lakehouse. These human/avian hybrids, which have been genetically engineered are all close to their teens, and not too dissimilar from the basic elements that are the core of the original X-Men. There are currently four Maximum Ride titles in print: The Angel Experiment, School’s Out Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports and The Final Warning. Book Five, Waterwings, is scheduled to hit shelves in March 2009.

Starting next year, there will also be a series of Maximum Ride graphic novels in manga form from Yen Press. A 22 page preview was released earlier this year on Free Comic Book Day.

When ComicMix met James Patterson in 2007, we asked him how long he planned for the series to last, Patterson told us that he would "keep going (with series) until (the characters) don’t have anything else to do." Patterson is also strongly involved in efforts to get children reading; you can see his latest efforts here.

 

 

MegaCon ’08: Adrian Pasdar Talks ‘Heroes’

MegaCon ’08: Adrian Pasdar Talks ‘Heroes’

  • News
  • March 10, 2008

If MegaCon 2008 is any indication, anime fans are also huge Heroes fan. I was front and center among the 600-person crowd at Saturday’s Adrian Pasdar Q&A, thanks to ComicMix friend Jimmy Palmiotti, who moderated the discussion with the Heroes actor.

When asked, "If you could take anyone’s powers on the show what would it be?" Pasdar smiled and said that very question has been brought up many times among the cast and they all came up with the same answer: If you want invisibility as a power, then you’re a pervert. 

Pasdar said he’s very happy with only having the ability to fly, especially since his favorite comic character is the Silver Surfer. However, he wouldn’t mind having invisibility, too. According to Pasdar, his son asked him once how he can be a crime fighter with only the ability to fly, explaining, "What happens when you get to where you are going, and you don’t have a gun or a badge?" The question later turned up in the show as part of a conversation between Pasdar’s character, Nathan Petrelli, and his brother, Peter.

Pasdar added that his "dark side" would’ve enjoyed the role of series villain Sylar, though.

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ComicMix at MegaCon ’08

ComicMix at MegaCon ’08

  • News
  • March 9, 2008

Anyone who thought that MegaCon was a small secondary gathering of Florida area comics and fantasy/anime fans could not have been more mistaken.  I was one of about 30,000 people at the Orange County Convention Center (that figure does not include artists, writers and exhibitors).

To give you an idea of what the scene was like, there was even a huge line of people still waiting to get in an hour before the show closed Friday night.

Friday, I was lucky enough to get in early with the exhibitor crowd thanks to ComicMix friend and top-notch retailer Jamie Graham of Chicago’s Graham Gracker Comics and was able to get in on the pre-show activity.  Anime played a HUGE part in MegaCon this year, with not only hundreds of fans dressed as their favorite characters, but displays of everything from DVDs to popular Japanese snacks — including the unoffical treat of anime fans, Pocky. There was even someone who dressed as the snack.

Comics played their part in MegaCon as well, with appearances that ranged from creators such as Darwyn Cooke, Dick Giordano, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, David Finch and Mark Waid to some of the most innovative and revolutionary indie and webcomic publishers in the scene.

Pop culture was represented by guests that spanned over four decades, ranging from John Provost (Timmy from Lassie) to Adrian Pasdar (Nick Petrelli from Heroes).

There’s a small photo gallery after the jump, and we have an interview with Heroes star Pasdar hitting ComicMix this week.

Oh, and special thanks to new MegaCon owner Beth Widera!

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Deborah Pratt’s New Quest

Deborah Pratt’s New Quest

Cadet Kai reporting in from Splicer Facility on Atlantia in the Vision Quest World.  My main trait is camouflage and have an aura for passion.

That sounds a wee bit like a personal ad, but it’s my character on Deborah Pratt’s (of Quantum Leap fame) newest endeavor TheVisionQuest.com.  The Emmy-nominated writer and voice of Ziggy for the hit sci-fi series Quantum Leap, Pratt has created a major new multi-platform science fiction series. An actress with starring roles in popular TV series such as Airwolf and Magnum PI, Pratt brought a new creation to life: The Vision Quest – Book One: The Age of Light. The book will be released on August 1st.

The first book in a trilogy, The Vision Quest tells of an Earth set 130 years into the future as experienced through the adventures of hero Cole "Lazer" Lazerman and his friends.  I could tell you more about this fantastic journey, but you would be missing out the experiencing it yourself, so log onto TheVisionQuest.com, read the book and look for other formats of Deborah’s new world that will covered in multiple platforms including games for Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox, on-line webisodes, short animated features and a the complete trilogy in feature films. 

You can see a picture of Deborah and hear the first of Mike Raub’s three-part interview withher on the Big ComicMix Broadcast. In addition to discussing Vision Quest, Pratt "reveals" what’s next for Quantum Leap.

Celebs and ComicMix at Book Expo

Celebs and ComicMix at Book Expo

Our Big ComicMix Broadcast crew joined us at Book Expo this weekend, recording all kinds of interviews and news segments for our podcasts. We’ll let ’em tell you – and show you – all about it in their own words:

It was a dark and stormy night…wait..no..I’m not Snoopy, just ComicMix Kai giving a quick update with some photos from our incredible experience at this weekend’s Book Expo America held at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC.

I had an AWESOME time, this was every book lover’s dream to be among fabulous authors and publishers, not to mention stepping on people that you LEAST expect to.  It’s time for a trip to the chiropractor from lugging around no less than four count ’em four bags of full of BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!

Actually, I REALLY did step on someone.  I was being a good girl and doing my job of setting up and coordinating interviews, in this case with "Cousin" Brucie Marrow’s publicist and I stepped back and practically crushed the woman standing behind me.  I apologized profusely and the woman said in a German accent (clue here) "that’s ok, don’t worry."  I couldn’t believe my eyes – it was none other than famed "sex-pert" Dr. Ruth.  Apologizing again and babbling on about how I’m a huge fan, the good doctor took a picture with me.

OK, now back to the rest of the show, which by the way, CANNOT be covered in a mere article or two – which is why ComicMix has been running various articles all weekend.  Photo highlights include LL Cool J promoting his new Platinum Workout book (interview in action with the Big Broadcast’s Mellifluous Mike Raub), the aforementioned "Cousin" Brucie Morrow,  the very beautiful Deborah Pratt (and Mike Raub, a big fan from her Quantum Leap days) talking about her newest venture The Vision Quest,

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Star Wars gets Chicken

Star Wars gets Chicken

  • News
  • April 25, 2007

In a few weeks… in a galaxy not so far away!

The force is with Seth Green and Matthew Senriech, the creators of the stop action animation parody show Robot Chicken.  They are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars (30 years??) with a special Robot Chicken episode that will feature the voices of the galactic creator, Mr. George Lucas as himself and the one and only one-armed, Darth’s son, Leia’s brother, x-wing fighter pilot, Yoda-taught Jedi played by Mark Hamill. Hamill is no stranger to the Robot Chicken voice team.

Listen carefully and you will be able to pick out other celebrity voices that I won’t tell you. Here’s a clue: Late Night with Scrubs at the ER with a Hero-ic Ape dancing with the stars. Bye Bye Bye

It’s too early to set your TiVo for this one.  The episode will air on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block at 10:00 pm on Sunday, June 17.

Short attention-span Heroes

Short attention-span Heroes

  • News
  • April 17, 2007

The Addiction:  Heroes, NBC Mondays

The Cure:  Monday, April 23

The Quick Fix:  The first 2 minutes of Monday’s episode available at fanpop.com/spots/heroes/videos/24692

The doctor (no no not that Doctor) has spoken!

Hello Heroes Fans, yes it’s true I checked myself … the first two minutes of next week’s highly anticipated return of Heroes is available online for your viewing pleasure.  In case you haven’t been watching the Peacock network’s other shows and have missed the commercial featuring the Cheerleader, Peter, Hiro and the next young person that is going to "Save the World"  – set your TiVo for NBC all day and all night until you find it. There is a 60 second promo with  all the Heroes gang and the featuring the newest hook,  Nickelbacks’ new release "If Everyone Cared."

Six days and counting!

“What We Call the News”

“What We Call the News”

  • News
  • March 29, 2007

The Spiridellis Brothers are at it again. Gregg and Evan Spiridillis,, the creaters of Jibjab.com had their latest satiricial cartoon "What We Call the News" shown on The Tonight Show last night (for all the insomniacs or recovering insomniacs such as myself that are just get ting started at 11:30 Eastern). 

Done in the style made famous by South Park’s Terence-and Phillip show (you know what I mean, the heads split open from the mouth up), and sung to the Battle Hymn of the Republic paradies the evolution of the ole’ time 6:00 pm television news anchors to our current world of cable news and Fox-style "reporting." Fans of the ongoing sitcom Rosie and the Donald (and even pet lovers) will appreciate the clip of the poor innocent cat.

In you aren’t sure of the clever words sung by the singing heads, they are shown ticker-style at the bottom of the screen.

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