The patron comic book of Monday Mix-Up has always been The Brave And The Bold, a comic book that delighted in mashing up weird combinations of characters, usually Batman with characters that made almost no sense to combine with, like Deadman, Kamandi, Jonah Hex, Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, Lois Lane, Scalphunter, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Unknown Soldier, the Guardians of the Universe, the Joker, R’as al Ghul, and the House of Mystery. This tradition has been carried on in the TV series [[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]], which has included many of those combinations and added Space Ghost to boot.
But for some, those combinations just aren’t going far enough. For those, we present The Brave And The Bold: The Lost Issues. Now you can find the missing team-ups with Batman and Jack Bauer, Iron Man 2020, Spider-Man 2099, Harvey Birdman, Groo, Galactus, Dirty Harry, Darth Vader, and Adam West.
Not to be outdone, if you delve into the archives you can also find all the missing Marvel Two-In-One issues where the Thing meets Young Justice, Vampirella, Wallace & Gromit, Tintin, the Warlord, Snoopy, the Spirit, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Walking Dead, and Thing #2 and Thing #1.
Looking for something new to watch this summer – catch up on Cartoon Network‘s BATMAN:BRAVE & BOLD. We’ve got The Caped Crusader himself, Diedrich Bader, to talk about his later take on the darker knight. Plus no less than THREE comics get movie deals this week!
To support The Dark Knight, Warner Premiere offered up Batman: Gotham Knight, a collection of stories from various animators that were dark and largely uninteresting. It’s gratifying to see that they have learned from this rare misfire and have offered up a companion to this month’s The Green Lantern feature film with Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, on sale Tuesday. There are five stories, largely culled from the comic books, with a sixth tale connecting everything together. Essentially, Krona, the fallen Guardian, has come back from banishment as an enormous, angry form, having coalesced within a star. Summoning Shadow Demons from the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward, Krona threatens the Guardians and their world of Oa.
The entire Green Lantern Corps has been summoned to deal with this cosmic danger but they pause to stand in line to take their turn recharging their rings. While waiting patiently to save all of reality, Hal Jordan (Nathan Fillion) spins tales for his latest recruit, the young, idealistic Arisia (Elisabeth Moss). On the one hand, Krona is a big menace and the climactic scenes are incredibly strong and powerful. There’s a scope to his rising from within the sun that is what animation and comics is all about. That sense of scope, though, is missing from the frame in that in the comics, the central Power Battery was large enough that scores of the Corps could float before it and recharge en masse. Watching them stand in a queue is absurd.
The frame and five stories along with the characterization and visualization of the Corps and Guardians are cherry-picked and modified from the fifty years comics featuring the second incarnation of the Green Lantern. It’s nice to see that several people with comic book roots, including GL editor Eddie Berganza, got a shot at penning some of these stories. About the oddest juxtaposition of realities is seeing Sinestro (Jason Isaacs) still a member of the corps in good standing. Why he’s here is clearly a nod to his role in the live-action film, done so as not to confuse viewers.
We’re told the story of “The First Lantern” (written by Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim) which tells us a variant version of how the Corps was formed. It’s still a solid story showing how anyone can become a hero and show others the way to act. There are mammoth space battles and lots of ring-slinging but why the planet is under attack and the motives of the attackers are never even questioned, let alone explored. (more…)
One moment, he’s the uber-tattooed punk rock front man for [[[Black Flag]]] or [[[The Rollins Band]]]; the next, he’s stealing the spotlight as one of the memorable cast of [[[Sons of Anarchy]]]; and while that’s airing, he’s ranting live for hours to sold out crowds as one of the most popular spoken-word artists of our day, easily translating that mad-as-hell attitude and undying curiosity into his thought-provoking KCRW talk show. His quarter century of globe-trotting has recently added National Geographic to his resume, the latter-day Renaissance man now filming documentaries for the renowned publication.
Intelligent? Beyond your dreams. Intense? Absolutely. Restless? Without a doubt. But does Henry Rollins ever pause long enough to be playful? Animation fans know it all too well.
When he isn’t perusing the Sudan, performing in Prague or recording for public radio, Rollins takes to another of his true passions: voiceovers for animated projects.
Rollins’ latest animated incarnation is in the guise of Kilowog for the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Produced byWarner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights will be distributed by Warner Home Video on Blu-Ray™, DVD, On Demand and for Download June 7, 2011.
Rollins voices one of the most beloved characters in the entire universe of Green Lanterns – Kilowog, the hardcore drill sergeant-style trainer of Green Lantern recruits. Written by Peter J. Tomasi (based on “New Blood” by Tomasi & Chris Samnee) and directed by Lauren Montgomery, the “Kilowog” segment of the film depicts the gruff character’s initial days as a young recruit under the abusive tutelage of Deegan, an equally gruff character who shows Kilowog the true “tough love” principles of training. As the segment play out, Kilowog must assume an integral leadership role within the ranks.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is far from Rollins’ first venture down the animated path. For Warner Bros. alone, Rollins has recorded over the years for Batman Beyond, Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. And then there’s his more recent forays into voiceovers for series like Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and the primetime series American Dad!
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 mentors new recruit Arisia 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.
Rollins is joined in the voicecast of the intergalactic animated film by Nathan Fillion (Castle), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Jason Isaacs (the Harry Potter films), Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), Kelly Hu (The Vampire Diaries), Wade Williams (Prison Break), professional wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper and Radio Hall of Fame commentator/talk show host Michael Jackson.
No stranger to the spoken word, Rollins spent some significant time after his initial recording session chatting about his character, his love of great literature, Too Much Coffee Man, his need to travel the Earth, and much, much more. Read on…
QUESTION: How did you approach the character of Kilowog for this story?
HENRY ROLLINS: For me, Kilowog is a man who’s pure of heart. He’s a warrior. He’s a soldier. And he loves his rookies. Deegan is the guy who broke him in – in boot camp – and kind of brought him into command position. So Kilowog came up through the ranks by being brave and by being a take-charge leader. In the Kilowog segment, you see that he had a grasp of the leadership idea from the get-go. He’s with other recruits and he immediately takes the leadership position. So I think he’s a good guy, but he always knew he was gonna be running things.
Another April Fool’s Day has come and gone, leaving in its wake a trail of confusion as comics news sites posted fake news article after fake news article in an attempt to hoax their audiences into believing things that couldn’t possibly be true.
All the same, now that we’ve had a day or two to process, there have been six recent happenings in the comics world that stood out as so weird, so unlikely, that we were completely floored when they turned out to be true. But don’t take our word for it, take a look below.
Stan Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger are teaming up for The Governator, a comic and TV show detailing the adventures of the ex-Governor of California, ex-King of Aquilonia as he teams up with a precocious pre-teen hacker to fight crime. This is a thing that’s going to happen. Not a joke. We couldn’t believe it either. You’d think after Peter Paul and the Clintons Stan would stay clear of politicians.
The patron comic book of Monday Mix-Up has always been The Brave And The Bold, a comic book that delighted in mashing up weird combinations of characters, usually Batman with characters that made almost no sense to combine with, like Deadman, Kamandi, Jonah Hex, Sgt. Rock, Adam Strange, Lois Lane, Scalphunter, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Unknown Soldier, the Guardians of the Universe, the Joker, R’as al Ghul, and the House of Mystery. This tradition has been carried on in the TV series [[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]], which has included many of those combinations and added Space Ghost to boot.
