Tagged: Hero

Spielberg Gets Tintin First

News
August 28, 2008

Despite rumors coming from Hergé Studios, The Hollywood Reporter says Steven Spielberg remains set to direct the first of a project trilogy of films featuring Brussels’ Tintin. Hergé had said on Tuesday that Peter Jackson was moving ahead of Spielberg prompting both Jackson and Spielberg camps to deny the fact.

The first film, written by Doctor Who’s Stephen Moffat, remains Spielberg’s next directorial gig according to DreamWorks which is producing the movie along with Jackson. Jackson, set to helm the second installment, remains committed to completing post-production on The Lovely Bones for Paramount before turning his attention to co-writing the two-part adaptation of The Hobbit for director Guillermo del Toro.

The European comic book hero will be brought to life through motion capture CGI, with Thomas Sangster set to play the teen hero opposite Andy Serkis who plays the grizzled Captain Haddock.

Moffat’s script is said to combine elements from The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure, the first two books from Herge, produced in the early 1940s.

New “Conan” Film Fast-Tracked By Lionsgate

News
August 14, 2008

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Lionsgate is so keen on pushing a new Conan film into production that they’ve hired two sets of writers to draft parallel scripts for the film. No director has been attached to the film at this point, but sources close to the project have said that the intent is to reinvent the franchise based on Robert E. Howard’s stories of the famed barbarian.

Currently, Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain are writing one script for the project, while Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Sahara) have been writing another script.

THR reports that Paradox Entertainment president and CEO Fredrik Malmberg, who is producing the Conan film along with Boaz Davidson, Joe Gatta and Avi Lerner of Millennium FilmsMalmberg, recently explained that the project is a "fast-tracked movie" and that "Lionsgate felt the process was enhanced by having a second team come in and do a script."

As for the decision to return to the film franchise that began with 1982’s Arnold Schwarzenegger portrayal of the character:

"Fans expect (these types of movies) to be more true to the source material," Malmberg said. "There’s no reason there couldn’t be a Conan movie every two years. He’s almost like Batman: He’s a dark hero. He’s a hard hero. He has to be badass, but we also have to like him."

(via ICv2)

Onion: ‘Al Gore Places Infant Son in Rocket’

News
August 1, 2008

From the Onion:

EARTH—Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

"I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen," said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. "They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?"

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity’s hubristic folly.

"There is nothing left now but to ensure that my infant son does not meet the same fate as the rest of my doomed race," Gore said. "I will send him to a new planet, where he will, I hope, be raised by simple but kindly country folk and grow up to be a hero and protector to his adopted home."

Read the rest right here.

SDCC: Darren Aronofsky to Direct ‘Robocop’

News
July 27, 2008

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.

NY Times: Have Superhero Movies Peaked?

News
July 27, 2008

There’s an interesting question posed by the New York Times film critic A.O. Scott in a new piece regarding superhero movies.

He surveys the Summer of the Superhero and notes the genre’s success, but then wonders if it might have hit a creative high-water mark. In other words, could the conventions of the superhero limit every superhero film, keeping it from exceeding The Dark Knight?

But to paraphrase something the Joker says to Batman, “The Dark Knight” has rules, and they are the conventions that no movie of this kind can escape. The climax must be a fight with the villain, during which the symbiosis of good guy and bad guy, implicit throughout, must be articulated. The end must point forward to a sequel, and an aura of moral consequence must be sustained even as the killings, explosions and chases multiply. The allegorical stakes in a superhero are raised — it’s not just good guys fighting bad guys, but Righteousness against Evil, Order against Chaos — precisely to authorize a more intense level of violence.

… the disappointment comes from the way the picture spells out lofty, serious themes and then … spells them out again. What kind of hero do we need? Where is the line between justice and vengeance? How much autonomy should we sacrifice in the name of security? Is the taking of innocent life ever justified? These are all fascinating, even urgent questions, but stating them, as nearly every character in “The Dark Knight” does, sooner of later, is not the same as exploring them.

As much as I liked The Dark Knight, I agree with Scott on its limitations, owing mostly to the abundance of "speechifying."

But, personally, I disagree with his main point. Watchmen, if it truly ends up following Alan Moore’s vision, would certainly represent a new creative high for the genre.

What Scott reveals in the piece isn’t the great limitation of superheroes, but rather a limitation in his understanding of what a superhero can be.

SDCC: Radical Making Movie News

News
July 25, 2008

Comics and movies meet at Comic-Con, and this year Radical appears to be the most forward gal at the dance, so to speak.

The relatively new publishing company announced recently that a film version of its Old West action series Caliber is headed to screens with John Woo attached to direct. In balmy San Diego, they’ve announced another three series getting development deals.

The company has also made deals for Hercules: The Thracian Wars and the mecha book Freedom Formula. Blog@ notes:

Radical Publishing is introducing the five-issue series this week at Comic-Con, and will release the first issue in August. …

The comic, created by Edmund Shern, is set in a future in which racing exo-suits have replaced fighter jets. The story centers on Zee, a genetically engineered racer who transforms himself into the hero of a dying city.

SDCC: The Marvel Panel

News
July 25, 2008

No huge news yet from Marvel in San Diego, but they did reveal a few upcoming projects at Thursday’s creator-dominated panel, according to various reports.

CBR’s Andy Khouri was there, and listed off the major news:

[Kevin] Grevioux and [Mat] Broome will be coming out with a new title called "Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel." It’s about a black superhero in the late ’50s and early ’60s, who is the most popular hero in the country — but he wears a mask to hide his skin color. When he is revealed to the public as a black man, President Kennedy calls the Blue Marvel to the Oval Office and implores the hero to stand down so as to not disrupt the ongoing Civil Rights movement. Blue Marvel agrees and forty years later his greatest villain returns, and Blue Marvel is the only one who can stop him. The miniseries begins in November and runs six issues.

Grek Pak will write "War Machine," a new ongoing series illustrated by Leonardo Manco. The title will replace the outgoing "Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD." "You will soon see the humanity of Jim Rhodes and War Machine. The book will be HARD. CORE. Around the world, tyrants and madmen are committing the worst atrocities imaginable. Jim Rhodes is going to take on the responsibility of taking them on upon his giant rocket-equipped shoulders." The book begins in December.

Garth Ennis return to the Punisher with the weekly "Punisher- War Zone" miniseries. It’s six issues and begins in December. It takes place in Ennis & Dillon’s Marvel Knights run on "Punisher."

David Mack will adapt Philip K. Dick’s "Electric Ant" for Marvel, with Paul Pope providing cover artwork.

Newsarama offered pretty similar coverage of the panel (and coverage of the X-Men panel), and had this note about a possible big cosmic event:

A fan complimented the cosmic books – Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy – and asked if they’re going to intermingle with the rest of the Marvel Universe. McCann said there were "really big plans" for Marvel’s outer space characters (and not just the ones in the aforementioned two titles), and said more will be revealed at the Secret Invasion panel Saturday.

SLG Editor: Enough Women in Refrigerators

News
July 14, 2008

For all the discussion about the role of women in comics — as creators and characters — apparently more needs to be said, at least judging from the submissions that come in to publisher Slave Labor Graphics.

SLG editor Jennifer de Guzman goes off in a new journal entry, deriding the material she’s seeing cross her desk.

Indie and alt comics are still much-dominated by male creators, and in these men’s minds, women serve as plot devices that aid in a male development’s character. The women are damaged and victimized and usually odd — like that hot, fucked-up chick in Fight Club, brah! — and I’m tired of them. Just in this month, only a week old now, I have seen women who have been lured into porn, women who are hookers who teach young men lessons about life, women who were raped by stepfathers, women who are bi-polar and suicidal, women who are naive and long-suffering girlfriends of scumbags, and women who seem pretty cool and normal and then get kidnapped in order for the male protagonists to have something to do by saving her. Women who are never the protagonist.

Guys, STOP IT. The cumulative effect of these crazy/victimized/damaged women submissions — almost every other envelope I’ve opened — has got me wanting to punch someone. And you know where that will lead me: In trouble with the law, I’ll slip into the underbelly of society, start a nasty meth habit, turn to prostitution and then have to be saved by the man who has always loved me. Don’t let it happen to me. You can be a hero.

(via Journalista)

Crossing the Line, by John Ostrander

News
June 5, 2008

I’ve been in this comics business for umpty-bum years now. Its not that I’m ashamed of the number; I just keep forgetting it. Ah, the joys of aging! It’s more than a quarter century since I started as a full-time writer; I know that. I’ve been a comic fan even longer. I’ve watched the occasional villain become… well, if not a hero, then something like one. Magneto, over in X-Men Land, for example. He’s gone from being the arch-enemy to our merry mutants to metamorphosing into an ally, to sometimes becoming their leader, and then back. Batman periodically gets darker until it’s hard to tell him apart from his foes.

Occasionally, this happens in real life.

Today, June 5, 2008, Ian Paisley steps down as First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Brief background, in case you don’t know: Northern Ireland is not a part of the Republic Of Ireland. It’s a constituent county of the United Kingdom and comprises the six counties that chose to remain a part of the U.K. when the Government of Ireland Act in 1920 created Home Rule in Ireland, formerly directly ruled by England. The Republic of Ireland, the South, with its capital of Dublin is (nominally, at least) largely Roman Catholic. Northern Ireland is largely Protestant but with a large Roman Catholic minority. In general, the Protestants regard themselves as English (they’re considered “Unionists”) while the Roman Catholics consider themselves Irish although, in fact, a citizen of Northern Ireland born before 2004 could claim citizenship in either or both the U.K. and Ireland.

(more…)

The Real Hero, by Dennis O’Neil

News
May 13, 2008

Deju vu all over again? Why, sure.

About 19 years ago, I was being pulled into the summer movie/blockbuster season anticipating two of the myriad entertainments soon to be playing at a theater near me. One was Tim Burton’s second Batman flick, with Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny Devito as a particularly nasty Penguin. Oh, and Michael Keaton in his final appearance as the Caped Crusader. (Back then, although he was not a barrel of laughs, he may have been just an eensy-bitsy too cheerful to qualify as a Dark Knight.) Batman was soaking up most of my professional life – I was editing the comic books – and I was writing a comics version of the screenplay, and so I had a distant, tenuous but real interest in the movie. And anyone who’s ever been involved with a Major Motion Picture knows that there is an excitement to such projects that ripples outward to touch even us at their distant edges. (Which may be why working in movies seems to be, for many, so addictive.) In sum: yeah, I was awaiting the Batman flick with more than idle curiosity.

But what I was really waiting for was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Batman was my job; Indy was my hero. I may have been associating him with an earlier hero, Mr. Paladin, who was the central character in a once-popular, 30-minute TV western called Have Gun, Will Travel. What No-First-Name Paladin and Indiana Jones had in common, besides impressive looks and charisma, and the ability to look good riding a horse, a powerful sense of right and wrong, and great prowess in combat with either fists or weapons, was this: They were smart. More – they were readers! And more – they were even intellectuals!