20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment took advantage of yesterday’s International Star Wars Day to formally announce the details surrounding this September’s Blu-ray debut of the original Star Wars trilogy along with the more recent trilogy. The six films are accompanied by three discs of extras totaling a stellar 40 hours of material – some new, some old.
Here’s the formal release with the details. Begin saving for this event, although let me caution you that the original versions of the trilogy won’t be here. George Lucas has previously indicated the film is in no shape for high definition conversion.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (May 4th, 2011) – Bring home the adventure and share Star Wars™ with your whole family – when Star Wars: The Complete Saga comes to Blu-ray Disc from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment! To be released beginning on September 12 internationally and on September 16 in North America, the nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire Saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favorite Star Wars moments – in gorgeous high definition and with pristine, 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.
The comprehensive collection also features numerous deleted, extended and alternate scenes, new documentaries and a cross-section of the countless Star Wars spoofs that have appeared in pop culture over the past three decades. Marking the first time ever that the full Saga is available in one complete collection, Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray also features a coveted peek into the making of the Saga with vintage documentaries, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, prop and costume turnarounds, retrospectives and more.
Episodes I-III and IV-VI will also be available as distinct Blu-ray Trilogy collections.
Fans will get an exclusive first look at some of the collection’s extensive special features at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International – which marks Lucasfilm’s 35th anniversary as a Comic-Con presence. In 1976, the fledgling film company was looking for innovative, grass-roots ways to promote its underdog release, a film no one expected to succeed – a space opera known (at the time) only as Star Wars. One of the first film companies to reach out directly to core audiences by way of fan conventions, Lucasfilm will return to the venue to showcase the full evolution of the epic story with a special first look at Star Wars: The Complete Saga. (more…)
Closing them on my browser so you can open them on yours…
The image at right is Wind is Warm in Smallville from Riza Tucker. Ain’t it great? Something to think about as we head into the last episodes of [[[Smallville]]].
The voice cast has been revealed for the animated version of Frank Miller’s [[[Batman: Year One]]], which premieres in July at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con. Heat Vision reports that Ben McKenzie (The O.C.) will provide the voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with [[[Breaking Bad]]] star Bryan Cranston portraying Lt. James Gordon. Katee Sackhoff ([[[Battlestar Galactica]]]) is voicing Detective Sarah Essen, and Eliza Dushku ([[[Dollhouse]]]) will voice Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and Alex Rocco (Moe Greene from The Godfather) will be the voice of Carmine Falcone.
Tab Murphy ([[[Superman/Batman:Apocalypse]]]) adapted the script, and Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery ([[[Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths]]]) are directing. Miller’s original novel lends itself nicely to a film adaptation, and large hunks of the story were used in Christopher Nolan’s [[[Batman Begins]]]. Executive producer Bruce Timm points out:
“The source material is surprisingly cinematic; it’s a pretty straight forward literal retelling. [David] Mazzucchelli’s artwork is beautifully composed and we were able to refer to the comic for about 80 percent of the camera setups.”
Miller’s Year One storyline– along with Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which is also being adapted into an animated version– were both pivotal in restoring a dark and gritty style to the Caped Crusader.
To refresh your memory on Miller’s original 1987 four-issue story arc, “Batman: Year One”:
A young Bruce Wayne spent his adolescence and early adulthood traveling the world so he could hone his body and mind into the perfect fighting and investigative machine. But now as he returns to Gotham City, he must find a way to focus his passion and bring justice to his city.
Retracing Batman’s first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante, we watch as he chooses the guise of a giant bat, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham.
Batman: Year One comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on September 27th.
Comic-Con International (Comic-Con), the parent company of WonderCon, has released the much anticipated program schedule for the 25th anniversary event that is to be held Friday through Sunday, April 1-3, at Moscone Center in San Francisco. The well-known convention features every major comic book publisher, as well as major Hollywood movie studios and stars of comics, movies, and television.
“This year’s lineup is pretty spectacular,” commented David Glanzer, WonderCon’s Director of Marketing and Public Relations. “Programming is always at the heart of our shows, and I think this year’s slate will prove to be among the most exciting yet.”
Originally thought to be a regional show for Northern California, recently WonderCon has followed her sister event, the San Diego Comic-Con, in becoming a full-fledged national show attracting attendees and media from all over the country.
WonderCon 2011 features a number of the premier stars of the comics world including Jason Aaron, Sergio Aragones, Berkeley Breathed, Tony Daniel, Mark Evanier, Adam Hughes, Robert Kirkman, Hope Larson, Bob Layton, Paul Levitz, Jeremy Love, Francis Manapul, Carla Speed McNeil, Terry Moore, Ryan Ottley, Joe Quesada, Frank Quitely, Amy Reeder, James Robinson, Seth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Len Wein, F. Paul Wison, Judd Winick, and Marv Wolfman.
Hollywood has a major presence at WonderCon this season as well, joining the action with an exclusive peek at Green Lantern with stars Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard; a Cowboys And Aliens discussion with director Jon Favreau; a unique presentation on the movie Immortals featuring Henry Cavill (the newest Superman) and Kellan Lutz; and appearances by V‘s Elizabeth Mitchell, Priest‘s Paul Bettany, Super‘s Rainn Wilson, Human Target‘s Mark Valley, and Breaking In‘s Christian Slater.
The complete WonderCon programming schedule is available at http://www.comic-con.org/wc/wc_prog.php. WonderCon ticketing details and further information regarding the Comic-Con family of conventions can be found at www.comic-con.org.
We’ve found more things to point to in the wake of the passing of Dwayne McDuffie. First, we have the artwork above by James Mason on Dwayne’s passing. And Michael Davis, Dwayne’s co-founder of Milestone Media, presents what may be the last photo of the Milestone creative founders from the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. From left to right: Denys Cowan, Dwayne McDuffie, Michael Davis.
‘Motherfucker’ was part of the way I used to describe Dwayne. The full description was, Dwayne McDuffie is the smartest motherfucker I’ve ever met.
I’m a smart guy, I’ve been to Ivy League schools and I have a PhD. Dwayne could destroy me without breaking a sweat on any subject.
ANY subject.
How in the world can we go on?
I mean it.
A world without that smartass motherfucker is a world I do not want to think about. Denys Cowan told me that there is now a giant, GIANT hole in the industry not to mention the hole in our hearts, which we both mentioned because as badass as we act, we are really pussies.
How do we go on?
My best guess is we go on by honoring Dwayne for what he was, a fantastic writer a great friend and one badass motherfucker.
We’ve got more from behind the scenes at FX Network’s hot animated series, ARCHER, including what’s coming up in this new season and the one thing that even shocked the cast! Plus ready to buy your ComicCon tickets – and did you now there is a variant to FF #587 that no one may ever see?
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Back in the 1980s, as the emphasis switched from characters and editors to creators, it was inevitable that agents would arrive to help the new super-stars cut favorable deals. As a result, its a little surprising it took this long for a marketing agency to arrive to service the “geek culture”. The principals involved are certainly industry-tested and both are well liked. We wish them and their new endeavor well.
NEW YORK, N.Y. (Jan. 3, 2011) – Two veteran New York marketing executives are joining forces to open a new full-service advertising and marketing firm, Bonfire Agency, LLC, specializing in helping brands target highly influential but difficult to engage pop culture consumers. This demo, labeled by some as geek or comic culture, is comprised of incredibly passionate and highly influential fans of everything from comic books, video games and action films to underground music, sci-fi inspired television and cutting edge adult comedy.
“We’re calling them ‘firestarters,’” said Steve Rotterdam, former Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for TimeWarner’s DC Comics and co-founder of Bonfire Agency. “These are hyper-networked consumers that film studios strive to connect with through events like the San Diego Comic-Con because their endorsement of a project, especially in its early stages, can generate serious heat that can propel a film to box office success or green light a second season for a TV series on the bubble.”
“They’re evangelists for everything ‘awesome,’” said co-founder Ed Catto, former Senior Vice President at Reed Exhibitions and a specialist in uniting brands with pop culture icons. “They’re the first in line and the first to pass judgment as to whether something is authentic or not – and because of their intense, passionate engagement, they’ll go to incredible extremes to let others know exactly what they think.”
“These are the guys that, in 2009, made Paranormal Activity a surprise hit and sank Brüno,” added Rotterdam.
Industry figures indicate that this core group spends $400 million annually on comics, graphic novels, toys and other pop culture collectibles. “But the degree to which they influence movies, television, gaming, music, fashion, even food, is immeasurable,” noted Rotterdam.
And you thought nerdy fans complained about comic book movie casting– this one might become the all time champion.
DeathAndTaxesMag.com points us to the story that the Council of Conservative Citizens (flagged as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and no, we aren’t linking directly to them) are calling for a boycott of Marvel’s Thor movie due to the casting of Idris Elba in the role of Heimdall, in direct opposition to their White Nationalist beliefs.
Mr. Elba, as you can see from the photo, is about as non-Aryan as you can get.
Oh, hell, let me quote them so you don’t have to visit:
Norse mythology gets a multi-cultural remake in the upcoming movie
titled “Thor,” by Marvel studios. It’s not enough that Marvel attacks
conservative values and promotes the left-wing, now mythological Gods
must be re-invented with black skin.
It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have
nothing that is unique to themselves. An upcoming movie, based on the
comic book Thor, will give Norse mythology an insulting multi-cultural
make-over. One of the Gods will be played by Hip Hop DJ Idris Elba.
And of course, there’s now a “Boycott Thor” website. And no, we aren’t linking to that either, although we will quote them too:
Marvel has a history of advocating for the left-wing. In early 2010 they
even used their Captain America comic to attack the TEA Party movement.
Marvel front man Stan “Lee” Lieber personally funds left-wing political
candidates. Now Marvel has inserted left-wing social engineering into
European mythology, casting a black man to play a Norse deity.
Stan Lieber? Oh yeah, Stan “The Jew” Lee.
Me, I’m happy. Laughing at the Westboro Baptist Church at San Diego Comic-Con was getting boring. I love that a so-called Christian group is getting so upset about the depiction of Norse gods. And I can’t wait to hear what their reaction will be when they find out about Denzel Washington playing Jefferson Davis in 2012.
Many writers and creators have been inspired by Wold Newton in many ways. John Allen Small has carried that inspiration one step further, composing a piece of Wold Newton inspired music!! Follow or paste the link below to hear Small’s “Carriage Ride at Wold Newton”!
I was born in 1963 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and grew up in the Bradley-Kankakee-Bourbonnais area of Illinois (about an hour south of Chicago); Bradley was my dad’s home town and we moved there after he was discharged from the Air Force when I was a baby. I graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in 1981, over the next few years I worked a number of odd jobs and lived for brief periods of time in Texas and Athens, Greece, before coming home in the summer of 1985. I married my high school sweetheart Melissa in April of 1986, then finally started going to college full time the following year to obtain my journalism degree. I graduated from Olivet Nazarene University in May of 1991; our first son Joshua was born in June of that year, and in July we moved to Tishomingo where I took the job as reporter and columnist at the Johnston County Capital-Democrat, where I still work today as News Editor and still write a weekly column. Our younger son William was born here in 1996.
Thanks to my parents – both avid readers themselves – I learned to read at an earlier age than most of the kids I went to school with. Dad introduced me to his Edgar Rice Burroughs collection when I was in the third grade, and by the time I finished the fourth grade I’d read his entire collection. I was introduced to the character of Doc Savage shortly before my 12th birthday, and that led directly into my discovery of Phil Farmer when I found a copy of “Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life” shortly after my 12th birthday. Over the years I picked up all of Phil’s books I could get my hands on, and because of my love of the ERB and Doc books was especially enamored of the Wold Newton concepts. I think it was back in the late 1990s when I first became aware of Win Eckert’s WNU website and struck up a friendship with Win, which in turn led to my being invited to join his New Wold Newton Meteorics Society and having one of my essays included in Win’s book “Myths For The Modern Age.” My participation in that project enabled me to take part in a discussion of the book at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con, and to take part in the FarmerCon events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
I also sneaked in a few WNU references in my own collection of Western short stories, “Days Gone By: Legends And Tales Of Sipokni West,” which was first published in 2007 and can still be ordered through Amazon.com. I’ve also had several WNU and ERB-related essays and articles published at such websites as ERB-Zine, and contributed an essay about Doc Savage that was published in the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con program. I’ve also written and published articles and essays focusing on other aspects of pop culture, ranging from comic books and movies to music, and at some point plan to work on a book with the working title “An Opinionated Fan’s Guide To Science Fiction Cinema.”
On December 13, 1795, at 3:00 p.m., a meteorite came plunging to the earth, landing near the English village of Wold Newton. The impact site became part of the local folklore in the countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Pieces of the Wold Cottage Meteorite(1) are held at the London Natural History Museum, and in 1799, Edward Topham built a brick monument to commemorate the event:
On this Spot, Dec. 13th 1795
fell from the Atmosphere
AN EXTRAORDINARY STONE
In Breadth 28 inches
In Length 30 inches
and
Whose Weight was 56 Pounds
THIS COLUMN
In Memory of it
was erected by
EDWARD TOPHAM
1799
History also records that several people observed the object in the sky. “Topham’s shepherd was within 150 yards of the impact and a farmhand named John Shipley was so near that he was forcibly struck by mud and earth as the falling meteorite burrowed into the ground.” (Wold Cottage, < http://fernlea.tripod.com/woldcottage.html>). A contemporaneous account observes that:
Several persons at Wold Cottage, in Yorkshire, Dec. 13, 1795, heard various noises in the air, like pistols, or distant guns at sea, felt two distinct concussions of the earth, and heard a hissing noise passing through the air; and a labouring man plainly saw (as we are told) that something was so passing, and beheld a stone, as it seemed at last, (about 10 yards, or 30 feet, distant from the ground), descending, and striking into the ground, which flew up all about him, and, in falling, sparks of fire seemed to fly from it. Afterwards he went to the place, in common with others who had witnessed part of the phaenomenon, and dug the stone up from the place where it was buried about 21 inches deep. It smelled, as is said, very strongly of sulphur when it was dug up, and was even warm, and smoked. It was said to be 30 inches in length, and 28 ½ in breadth, and it weighed 56lb. (“Remarks concerning Stones said to have fallen from the Clouds, Both in these Days and in ancient Times” by Edward King, Esq. F.R.S. and F.A.S, The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1796, p. 845.)What many historians fail to adequately record is the presence of eighteen other persons in the immediate vicinity at the time of the Wold Newton meteor strike. We know about these eighteen people through the extraordinary and singular work of one historian. This historian, in fact, has engaged in a rather in-depth treatment of the subject in two scholarly biographical tomes. However, and despite the fact that this historian’s biographies are often appropriately shelved in the Biography section of libraries, his revelations are generally regarded as “fictional.”
The historian to whom I refer, of course, is Philip José Farmer, and the biographies of which I speak are Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. In the course of his researches into the life of Lord Greystoke, Farmer extensively traced the Jungle Lord’s ancestry, and came to discover that the Ape-Man was closely related to several other august historical personages. The nexus of this relationship was the Wold Cottage meteor strike in 1795.
As Farmer uncovered, seven couples and their coachmen “were riding in two coaches past Wold Newton, Yorkshire…. A meteorite struck only twenty yards from the two coaches…. The bright light and heat and thunderous roar of the meteorite blinded and terrorized the passengers, coachmen, and horses…. They never guessed, being ignorant of ionization, that the fallen star had affected them and their unborn.” (Tarzan Alive, Addendum 2, pp. 247-248.)
The eighteen present were(2):
Coach Passengers-14 • John Clayton, 3rd Duke of Greystoke, and his wife, Alicia Rutherford – Tarzan • Sir Percy Blakeney, and his (second) wife, Alice Clarke Raffles – The Scarlet Pimpernel • Fitzwilliam Darcy, and his wife, Elizabeth Bennett – Pride and Prejudice • George Edward Rutherford (the 11th Baron Tennington), and his wife, Elizabeth Cavendish – The Lost World • Honoré Delagardie, and his wife, Philippa Drummond – Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond • Dr. Siger Holmes, and his wife, Violet Clarke – Sherlock Holmes • Sir Hugh Drummond and his wife, Lady Georgia Dewhurst – Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond
Coachmen-4 • Louis Lupin – Arsène Lupin • Albert Lecoq – Monsieur Lecoq • Albert Blake – Sexton Blake • 1 unidentified by Farmer
The meteor’s ionized radiation caused a genetic mutation in those present, endowing many of their descendants with extremely high intelligence and strength. As Farmer stated, the meteor strike was “the single cause of this nova of genetic splendor, this outburst of great detectives, scientists, and explorers of exotic worlds, this last efflorescence of true heroes in an otherwise degenerate age.”(3) (Tarzan Alive, Addendum 2, pp.230-231.)
In addition to Tarzan and Doc Savage, Farmer concluded that influential people whose lives were chronicled in popular literature were part of the “Wold Newton Family,” including Solomon Kane (a pre-meteor strike ancestor); Captain Blood (a pre-meteor strike ancestor); The Scarlet Pimpernel (present at meteor strike); Harry Flashman; Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty (aka Captain Nemo); Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveler; Allan Quatermain; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Arsène Lupin; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; Travis McGee; and many more.
In the time since Mr. Farmer conducted his groundbreaking genealogical research, many researchers have followed in his footsteps. In future columns we will present more ruminations on Mr. Farmer’s landmark research, as well as delve into the continuing investigations of those whom he inspired.
Additional Sources: Coogan, Dr. Peter M., Win Scott Eckert, and Chuck Loridans. “Literary Archaeology and Parascholarship,” Comics Arts Conference, San Diego Comic-Con International, July 22, 2004.
UK & Ireland Meteorite Page, < http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/bookman/meteorites/C18.HTM>
(1) The meteorite is named after The Wold Cottage, the house owned by Edward Topham, who was a poet, playwright, landowner, and local magistrate. Apparently Magistrate Topham was instrumental in the Wold Cottage meteorite’s role in promoting worldwide acceptance of the fact that some stones are not of this Earth. The Wold Cottage is still privately owned, and is currently the site of a micro-brewery where one can procure the local brew, Falling Stone Bitter.
(2) It has since been revealed, by researchers inspired by Farmer’s original discoveries, that there were several more persons present that fateful day, not named by Farmer. I will restrict myself herein to Farmer’s original findings, and will address those of later researchers in future columns.
(3) Of course, not all the Wold Newton Family members were heroes. Some turned the genetic advantages with which they had been blessed toward decidedly nefarious pursuits
20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment took advantage of yesterday’s International Star Wars Day to formally announce the details surrounding this September’s Blu-ray debut of the original Star Wars trilogy along with the more recent trilogy. The six films are accompanied by three discs of extras totaling a stellar 40 hours of material – some new, some old.
, 
Back in the 1980s, as the emphasis switched from characters and editors to creators, it was inevitable that agents would arrive to help the new super-stars cut favorable deals. As a result, its a little surprising it took this long for a marketing agency to arrive to service the “geek culture”. The principals involved are certainly industry-tested and both are well liked. We wish them and their new endeavor well.
And you thought nerdy fans complained about comic book movie casting– this one might become the all time champion.
