Tagged: Chris Claremont

MIKE GOLD: John Carter Returns To Earth

I was about 14 years old when Ballantine Books started their reprint series of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars. Being a science fiction fan, a character fiction fan, and fan who’s attracted to anything numbered sequentially, I devoured the series. I re-read the first five books about 12 years ago and I enjoyed them, albeit with a nostalgically jaundiced eye.

I was both amazed and, oddly, not surprised (they’re two different emotions) when my father told me he was a John Carter fan. He started reading them around 1928 – by then, the first book was about 16 years old. Sharing this bond was quite comforting: both John Carter, my father, and I were created in Chicago over a 38 year span.

There have been numerous comics adaptations. The first was for the newspapers and for Dell Comics, created by Burroughs’ son John Coleman Burroughs. Gold Key tried a few issues; despite Jesse Marsh’s art, they were pretty lackluster. Later on, both DC and Marvel got into the John Carter business – sequentially – and those projects attracted an amazing line-up of artists, including Murphy Anderson, Dave Cockrum, Ernie Colón, Larry Hama, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Frank Miller, Walt Simonson, and Mike Vosburg. Whereas the latter Marvel issues were written by Chris Claremont and Peter Gillis, the majority of the DC/Marvel runs (by far) were penned by Marv Wolfman, and that stuff is among my favorite of his. And that says a lot. Later on, Dark Horse did some crossovers with Tarzan, and John Carter even popped up in the waning days of the classic Tarzan newspaper strip. Currently, both Dynamite Comics and Marvel are publishing the character – the latter is tied into the new movie, and the former is tied into a lawsuit.

There had been a great many attempts to bring John Carter to the screen, both large and small. If you dig around, you’ll find the legendary cartoonist Bob Clampett’s test footage and sketches – they were amazing, and I wish he was able to sell the project. I remember going to the International Licensing Show in the early part of this century and seeing a huge display for an upcoming movie adaptation – some stunning artwork, particularly in their mammoth backdrop. Sadly, none of these projects came to be. There was a movie released just a couple years ago starring Antonio Sabàto, Jr. and Traci Lords, but because I’m a nice guy who always maintains a civil tongue, I won’t mention it again.

This Friday, John Carter of Mars finally makes his big-time movie debut. Produced by Disney – not coincidentally the owner of Marvel Comics – if you haven’t seen any of the trailers, commercials or ads for the movie you just might be Stevie Wonder. For many, many reasons, I have set the bar for John Carter pretty high. My dad died six years ago, so I won’t be able to see it with him. But I notice my daughter Adriane is pretty excited about the movie, and I hope to extend the family bond to her this weekend.

By the way, this is John Carter’s 100th anniversary. If you’re planning on sneaking a cake into the theater, please, don’t light the candles.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

 

Preview: “Darkwing Duck” #18 — Like A Fenton From The Ashes!

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  • November 8, 2011

HEAR ME, DUCKBURG! NO LONGER AM I THE WATERFOWL YOU KNEW! I AM FIRE! AND LIFE INCARNATE! NOW AND FOREVER…

…oh, we lose the Disney license after this issue? Maybe not so much on the forever, then.

The DARKWING DUCK/DUCKTALES crossover event twenty years in the making continues right here! Picking up from DUCKTALES #6, this issue marks Part 4 of “Dangerous Currency.” This is it fans — the last Disney single issue from KABOOM! has arrived. It’s the end of an era as we say goodbye to Disney at KABOOM! Don’t miss this landmark final issue from the relationship that put kids comics back on the map!

DARKWING DUCK #18
Written by Ian Brill
Drawn by James Silvani
SC, 24pgs, FC, SRP: $3.99
COVER A: James Silvani
COVER B: Sabrina Alberghetti
Diamond Code: AUG110926

Marvel Movie Round-Up UPDATED

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  • August 8, 2011

As this summer season winds down, Sony is looking three years ahead. According to Deadline, they have already staked out May 2, 2014 for the sequel to 2012’s Amazing Spider-Man. James Vanderbilt, who penned the first script, has already been tapped for the sequel although it’s way too soon to know anything about the content. The first film continues production although footage shown at Comic-Con International wowed skeptical audiences. Additionally, fans were stunned when star Andrew Garfield took the mike, dressed in a store-bought Spidey suit and read from notes about what the character means to him, apparently truly heartfelt words.

UPDATE:  The Hollywood Reporter says that Marvel has staked out two weekends in 2014 for two unnamed films. Two weeks after the Spider-Man sequel, May will see Marvel To Come #1. The second Marvel movie will open June 27, and since that’s around July 4 we’re willing to bet this will be eventually be called Captain America 2 .

Meanwhile, Naturi Naughton, about to be seen weekly in NBC’s The Playboy Club, has been signed to portray Cecilia Reyes in 20th Century-Fox’s The Wolverine. The sequel, starring Hugh Jackman, is in production for a 2012 release. Directed by James Mangold, the story is largely based on the classic Wolverine miniseries written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller and is set in Japan. Reyes was not a character in that story, introduced decades later.

In the Marvel Film Universe proper, 2013’s Thor 2 may see Brian Kirk in the director’s chair. Kirk, who gained acclaim for his work on HBO’s Game of Thrones, would replace Kenneth Branagh, who bowed out recently.

In a decision seeming out of left field, Twitchfilm reports that Marvel Studios has placed the futuristic Guardians of the Galaxy into active development. First introduced in Marvel Super-Heroes #18, released in 1969, the quartet of freedom fighters from the 27th Century. The team has grown and evolved through the years with more than a few ties to the modern day Marvel Universe. Whether those connections would remain on screen is unknown. It joins Black Panther, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, and Iron Fist in the second tier of characters being readied.

While an early announcement, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is not the first major property to stake out 2014 dates. Already on the schedule are DreamWorks’ Mr. Peabody & Sherman, due out March 21 and their How to Train Your Dragon 2 is expected June 20. In the same THR report, Pixar has claimed Memorial Day weekend for an untilted film as well.

As for Marvel’s rival, DC Entertainment has announced no super-heroics beyond 2013’s Supeman: Man of Steel although The Flash, Green Lantern 2, and Justice League of America were all recently mentioned by Wanrer Bros. President Jeff Robinov as being developed

Come Join Us In THE FORTRESS OF AWESOME!

Come Join Us In THE FORTRESS OF AWESOME!

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  • August 26, 2009

If you are looking for a place to hang out where you can ask your most inner-geek questions and pick up some cool comic trivia as well, then here’s your invite to hit THE FORTRESS OF AWESOME!

Noted comic historian ALAN “Sizzler” KISTLER is your host and on tonite’s premiere show he covers everything from why Chris Claremont’s X-Men Forever is a fun read, to the real reason why Stan Lee created Sgt. Fury And His Howling Commandoes. Plus there are details on how you can win some cool prices by playing “Stump Sizzler”!

You can hear the debut of THE FORTRESS OF AWESOME tonight at 8pm (Eastern Time) or catch encore shows Thursday (8/27) at 1pm, Friday (8/28) at 11pm, Saturday (8/29) at 3pm, Sunday (8/30) at 1pm and Monday (8/31) at 4pm (all times Eastern) – Just click below!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVEFOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys



Interview: Chris Claremont on ‘X-Men Forever’, part 2

Interview: Chris Claremont on ‘X-Men Forever’, part 2

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  • August 24, 2009

This is the second part of a very long interview with Chris Claremont that started on the topic of X-Men Forever and branched into a number of other areas. Part one of the interview is here, and we recommend reading it to get up to speed. Warning: plot points are discussed up to X-Men Forever #5 at least, do not read this interview if you want to be spoiled.

ComicMix: X-Men Forever– this isn’t just you taking your old X-Men script from 1991 and picking up where you left off.

Chris Claremont: No. The point is that I took my concepts from 1991 and sat down and looked at the team and rethought the whole thing.  The difference is that the scripts in 1991 were a whole series of arcs that in more than a few cases had ended up being echoed, if not outright adapted, by subsequent writers.

CM: In the same vein, since your initial run on the X-Men, a lot of your work and your own style has been adapted in other places; for example, your creation of Kitty Pryde has been cited as an inspiration for Joss Whedon on Buffy. Let’s not even get started on what people have been drawing on for Heroes and Lost.  So now that people know your tropes and it’s become mainstream, what’s next? How do you go beyond that now that the rest of the world is catching up with you?

CC: Well, theoretically the rule we’re running with is if I’ve done it before, I can’t do it here. One of the rules that Mark and I are using is to try as much as possible not to take a story in directions that people anticipate. We’ll see what happens. Part of it is the nature of the characters themselves. My original impulse was to excise Cyclops from the cast because I wanted to focus on someone else– and he just wouldn’t go! Every time I wrote him out, he’d write himself back in. Some part of my brain refused to accept that perception of the X-Men’s reality; its vision was that Cyclops is a key and essential character. There comes a point, as a writer, when you have to listen to that part of your instinct, to ask “why is is saying this?” And once you find the answer, go with it. I am throwing everything up in the air. There are major changes to the eight characters in the series…

CM: Those being Storm, Rogue, Nightcrawler–

CC: Let me start at the top. Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Beast, Kitty, Gambit, Rogue, Nick Fury, and two others to be named later.

CM: Nick Fury’s a mutant, or just showing up a lot?

CC: Nick Fury’s a member of the cast. He’s the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., but we don’t have a S.H.I.E.L.D. book, so we can use him. His rationale for being there is the X-Men are a critical facet of the world community, just because of the power that mutants represent, and they need a minder. That, plus concerns he’s about to have in terms of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, make it more convenient/essential for him to stay on scene with the X-Men to figure out what’s going on.

CM: Since you mention Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde…

CC: They were in Excalibur, yes; they are coming back to the X-Men.

CM: A lot of people have been asking that very question.

CC: The opening circumstances of the book, as seen in the preview, are that this is taking place subsequent to the memorial service for Magneto, where all the X-Men have gathered. There’s one panel on page four where you see the group shot of whole bunches of mutants out back. That explains what they’re all doing there.

CM: So you’ll have all of the X-Men there, you’ll have X-Force there, you’ll have Excalibur…

CC: Those who wish to honor Magneto. Some of them may decide they’re not coming. Anyway, things start to happen from that point on. Essentially, for issue 1, Charlie temporarily closes the school and sends everybody home. He gathers a core team of X-characters to go out after Fabian Cortez, who killed Magneto, to bring him in, and to turn him over to S.H.I.E.L.D. and end this disaster before it gets any worse. Fury is there, saying this: You’re living in a dream world. Magneto threatened the world, and some of you X-Men helped him–you were mind-controlled, but you helped him. The rest of you X-Men stopped him. What makes you think the world’s going to stand back and accept the fact that you guys are unaffiliated, independent operatives and let you go on from there? You represent far too much power.

(more…)

Happy 70th Birthday, Marvel!

Happy 70th Birthday, Marvel!

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  • August 11, 2009

Marvel Comics, then Timely Comics, first opened its doors for business on August 11th, 1939, making it a septuagenarian as of today.

To celebrate, Marvel’s sponsoring parties at over 500 specialty retailers nationwide, all starting at 9pm local time tonight. As part of the festivities, they’ll have early copies of Brubaker and Epting’s The Marvels Project for sale.

If that’s not enough, seven Barnes and Noble stores across the country will also be having parties, with Marvel creators and special guests galore. My local Barnes and Noble here in New York City is promising signings and Q&A with Joe Quesada, Klaus Janson, Chris Claremont, Greg Pak, and Fred Van Lente, with special guests Iron Man and Spider-Man.

If this kind of thing floats your boat, face front, True Believer, check this link for full details!

Ask Chris Claremont about ‘X-Men Forever’ #1

Ask Chris Claremont about ‘X-Men Forever’ #1

  • News
  • June 11, 2009

While we’re still transcribing the rest of the first massive interview with Chris Claremont, he’s graciously agreed to answer questions about X-Men Forever going forward. So here’s what we’re going to do:

We’re going to collect questions from you from now until Sunday at midnight. Then we’re going to present the best questions to Chris, along with a few of our own. We’ll run the answers on Wednesday.

With X-Men Forever running bi-weekly, this will give you a fix to tide you over between issues. And we may work with Marvel to add some of these questions and answers to trade collections of the book.

Oh, and yes, SPOILERS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS THREAD. If you haven’t read the issue yet, don’t blame us for any spoiled surprises.

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