Tagged: X-Men

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ workprint hits Internet a month before release

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ workprint hits Internet a month before release

  • News
  • April 2, 2009

And now, all the stories that we couldn’t run yesterday because people would think it’s another prank. I don’t blame them, I barely believe this one myself.

The statement from 20th Century Fox says it all:

"Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on a website. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts in the past. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film."

The economic impact cannot be underestimated here, both to Fox and to Marvel, which had pegged May as the month to publish alternate Wolverine covers on every single title. We can assume that word-of-mouth attendance on the film’s opening weekend is going to be hurt. Remember that this was probably going to be Fox’s major money maker for the year– now they have to hope that nobody leaks Night At The Museum 2 or the next Ice Age film.

Between this and a bad batch of Slumdog Millionaire DVDs released without the special features advertised on the box, Fox is not having a good week.

Debbie Schlussel takes more shots at comics

Debbie Schlussel takes more shots at comics

  • News
  • March 27, 2009

She’s baaaaaack.

Debbie Schlussel, the woman who claimed you were "probably a moron and a vapid, indecent human being" if you saw Watchmen, now has trained her sights on this Wall Street Journal piece on G. Willow Wilson and her book Air, calling it "ipecac in print". Why? Because Wilson’s a convert to Islam, and Debbie really doesn’t like Muslims. Oh, and according to Debbie, Obama’s a Muslim too. I think she also thinks Obama’s in thrall to his radical Christian preacher, and he’s probably a Marxist. Usually, you can only be one of those things at a time at most, but Debbie doesn’t let things like logic stand in her way.

This quote jumped out at me, though:

I’ve repeatedly written on this site how Marvel and DC–the two major comic book hero publishers–have repeatedly pandered to Muslims of the extremist variety (as if there’s any other kind) in storylines, characters, and even internships at movie studios.

Debbie, Marvel and DC do a lot of pandering, but trust us, it ain’t to Muslims.

Reading through her archives looking at her arguments, you can almost have fun if you do what I do: replace every instance of the word "Muslim" with "Mutant" and pretend you’re reading X-Men. I promise, it makes the reading experience bearable. And comical– you keep waiting for her to announce the Sentinel program to round up all the dirty Muslims. Mutants. Whatever.

Marvel’s 4Q report: Studios and money making

Marvel’s 4Q report: Studios and money making

  • News
  • February 25, 2009

Marvel Entertainment announced today operating results for its 4th-quarter ended December 31, 2008 and record net sales, net income and earnings per share for the full year 2008. For Q4 2008, Marvel reported net sales of $224.3 million and net income of $63.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $109.3 million and net income of $27.6 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, in Q4 2007. "The improvement reflects recognition of $135.5 million in film production segment revenues principally associated with the DVD performance of Marvel’s Iron Man feature film," the company said. For the full year 2008, Marvel reported net sales of $676.2 million and net income of $205.5 million, or $2.61 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $485.8 million and net income of $139.8 million, or $1.70 per diluted share, in 2007. The revenue and net income growth principally reflects the contribution from Marvel Studios which released its first two feature films, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, in the summer of 2008.

Below is an updated look at the Marvel Studios’ product pipeline. The company also announced today that Kenneth Branagh is set to direct Thor (our spies tell us sets are already being built) which Paramount Pictures will distribute worldwide. It will be released domestically on July 16, 2010. Also, Iron Man 2 will begin principal photography in early April.

Marvel Studios Entertainment Pipeline
(According to its 4th quarter earnings report. Scheduled release dates are subject to change)

Self-Produced Feature Film Line-Up

  • Iron Man 2 (Marvel), scheduled for May 7, 2010 release, starts principal photography in April, directed by Jon Favreau, stars Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle
  • Thor (Marvel), scheduled for July 16, 2010 release, directed by Kenneth Branagh
  • The First Avenger: Captain America (Marvel), scheduled for May 6, 2011 release
  • The Avengers (Marvel), scheduled for July 15, 2011 release

Licensed Feature Film Line-Up

  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox), scheduled for May 1, 2009 release

Self-Produced Animated TV Series Line-Up

  • Super Hero Squad (Marvel Animation) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production with Film Roman, scheduled for Q3 2009 release on Cartoon Network
  • The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (Marvel Animation) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production with Film Roman; scheduled for Q3 2011 release

Licensed Animated TV Series Line-Up

  • Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes (Moonscoop SAS – France), 26 thirty-minute episodes airing internationally and on Marvel.com and Marvelkids.com
  • Spectacular Spider-Man (Culver Studios – U.S.) Will air on Disney XD in the U.S. beginning in March and currently airing on various networks internationally
  • Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Animation / First Serve Toonz – India), 52 thirty-minute episodes. Episodes 1-26 are currently airing on Nicktoons in the U.S. and are on air internationally, Episodes 27-52 are currently in pre-production
  • Black Panther (Marvel Animation / BET) 8 thirty-minute episodes in production, scheduled for Q2 2009 release on BET
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Marvel Animation / Method Films – France) 26 thirty-minute episodes in production, scheduled for Q2 2009 release in the U.S. on Nicktoons and various networks internationally

Licensed Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects

  • Thor: Son of Asgard (Lionsgate), scheduled for September 2009 release

Licensed Broadway Stage Project

  • Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark, the Musical, Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge (Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jeremiah Harris) Slated for a February 18, 2010 opening

Interview: Fred Van Lente

  • News
  • February 23, 2009

Fred Van Lente may have one of the strangest resumes in modern comics.

After all, not many writers can give their first claim to fame as writing an award-winning non-fiction comic book series both satirizing and paying tribute to the greatest thinkers in human history; yet that’s his name alongside artist Ryan Dunlavey’s on the cover of Action Philosophers, which won the Xeric Grant in 2004.

Since then, he’s gone on to write what seems like an endless stream of series and miniseries for Marvel: Marvel Adventures Iron Man, Marvel Adventures Spider-man, Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, Amazing Fantasy, Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11, Wolverine: First Class, and more besides.

These days, his most steady gig is co-writing (with Greg Pak) Marvel’s Incredible Hercules, a fan favorite series and critical darling that’s been praised for mixing mythology with good old Marvel superheroics. He’s also writing the X-Men Noir miniseries, a mystery story set in the heyday of prohibition.

And, just to make sure his resume keeps getting stranger, the third issue of Comic Book Comics, his second collaboration with Ryan Dunlavey, just hit the stands recently. As the title suggests, it’s a comic book that chronicles the history of comic books.

Fred took a few minutes out his schedule to talk to us about how he wound up writing for Marvel, how not to kill Jocasta, and how not to get sued when infringing on copyright.

ComicMix: How does the writer of a black-and-white independent series about the great thinkers wind up writing all-ages superhero stories for the Marvel Adventures line?

Fred Van Lente: Well, believe it or not, my working for Marvel and me doing Action Philosophers happened simultaneously. What happened was, for two completely different career paths converged. I was doing Action Philosophers on and off with Ryan [Dunlavey] more or less for fun until we got the Xeric Grant, and I did a color independent comic with a great artist by the name of Steve Ellis, who’s now better known for having co-created the series High Moon over at Zuda. We did a super-crime mob series called The Silencers for Moonstone, and that brought me to the attention of Mark Paniccia over at Marvel. Mark invited me over to pitch for an anthology series called Amazing Fantasy. They ran a poll on Marvel.com for which characters to revamp, and they chose Scorpion. By a bizarre coincidence, Action Philosophers #1 and Amazing Fantasy #7, which premiered the new Scorpion, came out on the same day.

CMix: Really?

FVL: Yeah! And in most stores, because they were both “A” titles, they were racked next to each other. So after ten years of trying to break into the business and not really getting much traction, I not only had two comics come out on the same day, I had them sit next to each. And to add irony to irony, I had broken my ankle. So I was laid up and on painkillers, so I was unable to go to the store and see this magnificence for myself.

CMix: That’s kind of sad.

FVL: Well, my friend sent me cell phone pictures.

CMix: Gotcha. So, my next question is, how does the writer of all-ages Marvel superhero stories wind up co-writing Incredible Hercules, one of the most critically beloved mainstream titles right now?

(more…)

Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow for Iron Man 2?

Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow for Iron Man 2?

  • News
  • February 16, 2009

Man, this is getting vicious. First, Emily Blunt was announced as being cast as super-spy Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, in Iron Man 2. Then Eliza Dushku announced that she was interested in the part. Now we’re hearing rumors that Scarlett Johansson is in discussions for the role, according to Entertainment Weekly by way of Cynopsis, because Blunt has a commitment to Fox for its feature Gulliver’s Travels, which would conflict with shooting.

All this, after replacing Terence Howard from the first film with Don Cheadle. I mean, sheesh.

At least it’s nice to hear that husband Ryan Reynolds is letting her read his comic book collection. Reynolds will be playing Deadpool in this May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Wolverine and the X-Men go Manga

Wolverine and the X-Men go Manga

  • News
  • February 11, 2009

At New York Comic Con this weekend, Del Rey Manga announced the latest information on their two new manga-style retellings of Marvel Comics properties, Wolverine and The X-Men.

Both books will be all-new stories with original art — consider them a "radical re-mix" of the well-known comics characters.

Wolverine: Prodigal Son, with story by Antony Johnston and art by Wilson Tortosa, takes a shonen manga approach. It’s an American characater with a Japanese spin, and according to Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh, to add to the international flavor, the author is British and the artist is Filipino. Due out at the beginning of April, this book will be extremely different from Marvel’s version, and does not require any prior knowlege of the Marvel continuity. 

X-Men: Misfits, with story by Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier and art by Anzu, is also a complete re-imagining of the X-Men universe and characters, mixing shojo conventions with elements of the classic X-Men story. It focuses on Kitty Pryde as the protagonist, telling the story entirely from her perspective. In this version, Kitty is invited to attend an illustrious academy as the first girl at an all-boys’ school. Release is scheduled for May 26.

Roman’s previous works have included comics Jax Epoch and Agnes Quill, and Telgemeier worked on the Baby Sitters’ Club comics for Scholastic.

According to Roman, the student body is a collection of bishonens who represent different subcultures. Cylclops is depicted as a "emo rocker." Nightcrawler is a goth. Angel is a "preppy pretty boy." Their looks are also inspired by real-life celebrities such as Justin Timberlake (Angel) and Zac Efron (Pyro). You’ll even encounter a Tim-Gunn inspired Magneto. "We had to distance ourselves from the characters as they were," said Roman, and consider "who were these characters to us, and who else they could relate to."

(more…)

ComicMix Quick Picks – February 10, 2009

ComicMix Quick Picks – February 10, 2009

A collection of news items that have come in over the last few days while we’ve been recovering from NYCC.

  • KC Carlson is also recovering, but from a mini-stroke instead of con crud. Get well soon, big guy.
  • Brett Ratner directing Youngblood, according to Variety. So if you love what he did with X-Men 3… and Rob Liefeld continues one heck of a lucky streak.
  • Denys Cowan alerted me to the existence of a Black Panther trailer for the BET series this summer, but for some reason Marvel didn’t make it embeddable. Because, I presume, they don’t want to let people share and promote it. Way to go, Marvel. Go follow the link.
  • Rich Johnston for the win:
    Daniel Dae Kim, better known as Jin off of “Lost”, also attending the New York Comic Convention this weekend, in his capacity of being in “Lost,” “24,” “Enterprise,” “Angel,” “Hulk,” “Crusade” and all that. But he also wanted to walk around the show, buy comics, meet creators etc, without getting mobbed. So someone found him a “V For Vendetta” mask, letting Daniel walk around untouched for hours.
    As I start looking through all my photos…
  • And finally, Spider-Man cake wrecks. (Hat tip: Lisa Sullivan.)

Anything else we missed? Consider this an open thread.

X-Men Forever: What was the Marvel Universe like in 1991?

X-Men Forever: What was the Marvel Universe like in 1991?

  • News
  • February 8, 2009

In light of the annoucement of X-Men Forever and Chris Claremont‘s intention to continue exactly where X-Men #3 left off in 1991, we thought it would be a good idea to remind ourselves what the state of the Marvel Universe was in 1991– before Stamford, the Super-Hero Registration Act, and Skrulls. Here’s all you need to know:

 

X-MEN:

Charles Xavier is adjusting to having lost the use of his legs again recently. The X-Men have recently reformed into two teams, with Cyclops leading the blue strike force and Storm leading the gold strike force. Gambit has just joined and is still a mystery to the others.

During the gold strike force’s latest mission, they investigated the recent death of the Hellions and have recruited the time-traveling Bishop. At this time, Bishop is still unaware who the “X-traitor” will turn out to be. Much of the world still thinks the X-Men are dead and it’s possible they are still invisible to technology (due to a spell cast by Roma).

During their latest mission, the blue strike force met the newly formed Acolytes and witnessed the apparent death of Magneto (at the hands of his Acolyte Cortez) on Asteroid M, which has just been destroyed.

X-FORCE:

Cable is still leading this team, which has only recently formed, and at this point in time all we know about the white-haired mutant is that he and Stryfe are identical to each other and that he apparently did some military missions in ‘Nam where he met Chord of the New Warriors. He also has an unclear history with Wolverine. G.W. Bridge of SHIELD is investigating Cable since he believes that Cable is also running Stryfe’s organization the Mutant Liberation Front.

As of yet, there has  been no revelations about Cannonball being an “Ex-Ternal” and there has been no revelation that Domino is actually Copycat while the real Domino is a captive of Mr. Tolliver.

X-FACTOR:

X-Factor has just replaced “Freedom Force” as the government’s mutant counter-terrorist team. Havok is in charge and is very green as a leader, still concerned about living up to his brother’s example. Wolfsbane cannot really turn to human form at this point, stuck between her half-lupine form and full lupine form.

EXCALIBUR:

The London based team still includes Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde in its ranks. At this point, half the team’s adventures seem to involve parallel realities and alternate timelines. Lockheed the Dragon has recently been revealed to be a sentient member of a telepathic race (though only we readers know that) and is recovering from injuries. At this point in time, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde have not seen their X-Men teammates since the events of the team’s apparent death.

WOLVERINE:

Wolverine is still wearing the brown and tan uniform. In his own series, as 1991 closes, Wolverine has only just discovered the Weapon X facility and realized that some of his memories are false implants based loosely on real memories. He also now has the first inkling that he and Sabretooth are not related but perhaps used to work together for some kind of government unit. He has not yet learned about Team X, the group he was part of with John Wraith and Maverick.

AND NOW, THE REST OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE…

(more…)

Chris Claremont returns to write X-Men, forever

Chris Claremont returns to write X-Men, forever

  • News
  • February 6, 2009

The Cubs win the World Series. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston get back together. Chris Claremont writes the X-Men again. One of those things, at last, has happened.

Chris Claremont, the writer of the X-Men for 16 years, from Uncanny X-Men #94 to X-Men #3, is returning to the characters that he made famous. Starting in May, Chris Claremont will be writing X-Men Forever, a new bi-weekly series that literally continues from where he left off. No really– right where he left off. X-Men Forever will create a fork in Marvel continuity, continuing the series the way he wanted. Artwork will be by Tom Grummett. The series will premiere in May, with preview issues in March and April.

Chris is also working on an original X-Men graphic novel with artwork by Milo Manera.

ComicMix will be running an in-depth interview with Chris Claremont shortly, which will explain where’s he’s going with it. In the meantime, leave your comments and questions for Chris here.

Welcome back to the X-Men, Chris– hope you survive the experience!

Whatever happened to Bill Jemas?

  • News
  • February 2, 2009

He’s gone from presenting his take on Spider-Man, the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel Universe to, well, his take on the creation of the universe, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first written.

His goal is to write an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the Hebrew text than are widely used English translations like the famed King James Version. He already has completed the first chapter, available online and in his book "Genesis Rejuvenated."

By presenting alternative English definitions for Hebrew words to those chosen by KJV translators in 1611, he hopes that his internet-accessible "Freeware Bible," as he calls his translation, will show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect.

He acknowledges that this would be a gargantuan task even for a team of learned Bible scholars, let alone a man like himself without any formal theological training. And he knows that news of his endeavor will baffle comic-book fans who associate him more with Spider-Man and Wolverine than with Adam and Eve.

You can find the book at freewarebible.com. The illustration of Spider-Man’s Greatest Bible Stories was just too tempting to pass up. Sorry.

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