This guy’s going to be Superman? Really? I feel as if asking repeatedly might some how result in a different answer, yet I’m more than aware that I need to just come to terms with the idea. It’s not that Henry Cavill is a bad actor — his work on Showtime’s The Tudors is evidence enough — but I can’t help but feel he simply doesn’t look the part. Perhaps it’s simply that I had been sold on Brandon Routh, whose visage so closely resembled that of a young Christopher Reeve. Reeve, of course, set the standard for what we’ve come to expect from the Man of Steel.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 31, 2011 in Comic Books
Are you ready for this one? Weekly Shonen Jump No. 9 which just came out this week includes a build-it-yourself paper cut out One Piece pirate ship! I have to same I’m quite jealous of the high quality of Japanese comic magazine, when was the last time you found anything in an American comic book like a fold out poster, stickers or even a toy? Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 31, 2011 in Comic Books, Tech
Kondansha’s Morning 2 Manga magazine will be released in a digital version for both the iPhone/iPad and Android devices. What’s shown in the illustration is just a mock up, but what’s interesting to me is that this looks to be a larger part of the book industry flocking to mobile. Of course my hopes are that Kondansha will start to directly sell translated manga to the American market directly in this way, but that may take some time. In the meantime you can download the app here (which is in Japanese).
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jan 29, 2011 in Comic Books
Axe Cop is a webcomic collaboration between artist Ethan Nicholle and his brother Malachai. The twist here is that Malachai is 6 years old. Axe Cop is….well, an axe-wielding cop who chops heads off of dinosaurs, fights aliens, teams up with Flute Cop, and other bizarre situations only a little kid could dream up. It’s glorious. The comic just celebrated its first anniversary, so it’s only fitting that director Peter Muehlenberg release his live-action Axe Cop fan film today. It’s short, but it pretty much nails the Axe Cop aesthetic. “I’ll chop your head off!”Read more…
It remains to be seen as whether the advance US screening of GANTZ was a large enough success to warrant future engagements of that nature, but after being forced to sit through one of the worst dubs I’ve seen in recent history, I can completely understand if any of you may hesitate to attend one. I’m not really sure the decision to premiere the film in English was entirely the fault of any one party, or if in fact Viz Pictures, Goodman Media, or NCM Fathom were responsible for forcing the hands of the others, but there may be something each of you can do about it.
This new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan short — I can only hope they’ll be turning this into a full-length film — looks spectacular. A striking brunette, no doubt Apirl O’Niel, sits alone in her apartment having recently photographed members of what appears to be the foot clan. After tracking her down, they attempt to assualt her when she’s saved by Raphael. Read more…
Karl Urban’s new Judge Dredd film (spartanly titled “Dredd”) is filming in South Africa even at this very moment. Some set photos have inevitably started to appear, including the titular Judge in full judicial kit riding the Lawmaster, his souped-up motorcycle. Reasonably-sized, yet ostentatious and ominous. A perfect for He Who Is The Law. All in all, I’m hopeful that the new film will be a little more faithful to the source material than the Stallone vehicle from the 90s. Less Batman and Robin, more Mad Max. Read more…
I really want to like X-Men: First Class, but past news about the film had me worried that it would meet even my lowest expectations. A badly-photoshopped and unauthorized pic of the film’s cast in their X-Men uniforms had me even more concerned. It appears that Fox agreed, releasing three new promotional stills showing the cast in their ’60s duds in response. It didn’t really strike me until the seeing the image above just how well-suited Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are to play Magneto and Xavier, respectively. And yes, that’s January Jones in the catsuit as Emma Frost. As to how the movie will actually turn out, who knows? They’re still filming, which hardly bodes well for a movie that’s supposed to come out in June, but Matthew Vaughn is a good director, so I have faith. At least the film got me to utter one phrase I once thought impossible — “and Azazel is in this movie.” Read more…
Following the success of their earlier bishoujo figures, Kotobukiya went ahead and expanded their bishoujo line to include figures from both the Marvel and DC universes. The figures, modeled after designs by popular artist Shunya Yamashita, have been selling out at various comic conventions over the past few years. This year, they’ve announced two brand new bishoujo figures. From the DC universe, they’ve brought us Supergirl, and for Marvel they’re introducing the Invisible Woman, Susan Richards. I have quite the collection going, but if they keep releasing these, I’ll never be able to keep up. The figures retail for around $65 each, and will likely be available by the time New York Toy Fair rolls around later this year. No word on if either will have a con exclusive.
I was pretty iffy on Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot, but recent photos from the set have started to thaw my frigid heart. Emma Stone is Gwen Stacy incarnate, and Andrew Garfield looks quite good as Peter Parker. But as Spider-Man? We had no idea until today, when Sony sent out a promotional still of Garfield in his battle-scarred Spidey getup. And hey, it looks pretty good. Some tantalizing tidbits: are those mechanical web-shooters I see on his wrists? Do those claw marks on the chest scream “Lizard” to anyone else? And how did they convince the Harlem Globetrotters to give them enough blue and red basketballs to construct the costume? Read more…
I Am Legend teased it. Fringe teased it. Once upon a time, it seemed like Warner Bros. really wanted to make it. But if you were looking forward to a Batman/Superman team-up movie, you’re in for a disappointment. WB producer Charles Roven stated in an interview recently that there are currently no plans to move forward with a Marvel-style shared film universe for DC Comics properties. With Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy ending with The Dark Knight Rises and the Harry Potter franchise ending this year, though, the money has to come from somewhere, so it’s possible that the possibility will be reexamined at some point. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 3, 2011 in Comic Books
I was quite pleased to discover that DC Comics will be releasing a hardcover collection of Sugar and Spike which will go on sale at the end of August this year. Typically one associates DC with superheroes but this series of comic books which ran from 1956 until 1971 was a kid focused humor book — and in many ways reminiscent of the series Rugrats. Read more…
Marvel’s been dropping cameos of their lesser-known heroes into their movies ever since they took charge of their film universe. Anyone who saw Iron Man or its sequel caught glimpses of heroes like Nick Fury or gear belonging to Thor or Captain America; it’s all part of an effort to unify the film universe and make it easy to introduce new characters. It appears that 2011’s Thor will be no exception to this rule — rumor has it that one of the stars of the upcoming Avengers movie will be making a cameo. And that Avenger is none other than Hawkeye! It’s just a rumor, for now, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense than the other recent rumor that Demi Lovato snagged an Avengers role. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 28, 2010 in Comic Books
This is the upcoming cover of Batman: Europa #3 which will be released in March 2011 by DC Comics. What blew me away about the cover painting by Spanish artist Diego Latorre isn’t just the high quality of his craftsmanship — but the fact that building Batman out of Eiffel Towers is a brilliant editorial touch. Now I won’t say if this is the best Batman cover I’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly up there.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 27, 2010 in Comic Books
I think one of the more interesting comic book series I’ve been following has been The Wizard of Oz which is illustrated by Skottie Young. This is the cover for the Oz Primer which will be released in March, 2011 by Marvel Comics. I really love how Skottie has liberated his artwork from the 1936 MGM film and reinvented the characters to make them his own.
Back when David Lynch released his film version of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi classic Dune, Marvel Comics adapted it in comic form. It was penned by Ralph Macchio (no, not that Ralph Macchio) and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz. And it was pretty cool! You can see for yourself by checking out Joe Bloke’s scanned edition of the whole darn thing, sprawling Arrakian vistas and gaping sandworm maws included. At least until it inevitably gets taken down, anyway. Read more…
I hate to admit this as a long time anime fanboy, but the computer animators from Taiwan are doing some very timely funny work on a shoestring budget! Their latest epic is a recreation of the Spiderman disaster on Broadway — and the best thing about this clip is that it includes an appearance by Bono. The last time I’ve seen an animated show react this fast to events in the news is when South park was at the high point of their game. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 19, 2010 in Comic Books
Just in time for the holidays, Noir Jewelry has released a line of accessories based on DC Comics properties. A lot of it is what you’d expect, like gleefully gaudy Wonder Woman and Supergirl stuff, but there are a few genuinely cool items in there, like the Gotham City ring, shown above. And all I’m saying is that there is an uncomfortably high number of Catwoman claws in that collection. Grievous bodily harm: the gift that keeps on giving. Read more…
Photos of Superman’s nauseatingly bad costume for Superman Lives, Tim Burton’s aborted take on the Man of Steel, surfaced a few months ago. We knew it was bad, but it turns out it’s even worse than we thought. There was video taken of the suit in action, and … it defies words. It’s some kind of Tron-style Electric Superman Laser Floyd light show. If I didn’t know for certain that it was supposed to be a Superman costume, I would never have guessed. What were they thinking? Thank goodness someone had the wherewithal to nip this one in the bud. Read more…
I got a real kick out of the new line of Superhero Snapsuits which are aimed at fanboys and fangurls in training. The series includes Wonder Woman (shown above), Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman and of course Superman. What nice about this line is that it comes in several different sizes from six to twenty for months so you can keep up with your superkid! Read more…
Marvel’s been doing a pretty good job of tying their shared-universe films (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc) together, and it looks like they won’t stop trying after The Avengers is released. MTV’s Splash Page spoke with Jon Favreau, who said that the third installment of the Iron Man film franchise will continue the story threads started in the Avengers movie. It’s good that they’ve decided to let the superheroes lead separate lives, so to speak, while also letting them get together for coffee and Cosmic Cubes every now and then. Read more…
We’ve had a rough, unfinished teaser for the upcoming Thor film making the rounds online for a few months now, but now we’ve got a crisp, glorious, official trailer on which to feast our eyes. The trailer’s got pretty much everything you need — Natalie Portman for the fellas, shirtless (and built) Chris Hemsworth for the ladies, a beautiful Asgard for Jack Kirby fans. Heck, there’s even some action in there. It certainly looks great, and we finally get a taste of the Kirby cosmic mythos that could bring the Marvel films up to that next level of awesome. Let’s hope the film itself hits as hard as Mjolnir does in the trailer. Read more…
Who watches the Empire? Aside from making for an incredible t-shirt, this design by artist Jonah Block draws a rather apt comparison between the Watchmen and the Galactic Empire. At first I didn’t really see how you could compare the Empire who, though acting at the behest of an evil sith lord, ruled through fear and the gritty and morally-questionable superheroes of Alan Moore’s world. However, the more I think about it, the more I get it. People who trust or fear the empire do so at the expense of personal responsibility and freedom, ignoring or living with their plight out of a false sense of security — much like the every day citizens of Moore’s reality. It’s a neat statement, and one I’m not really sure the artist may have intended, but it works for me. If you’re a fan of Star Wars or Watchmen and love the design too, you’ll be happy to know that TeeFury currently has a t-shirt available for the next 24 hours, so hurry up and order one while you still have the chance.
The film that would have been Spider-Man 4 has officially started shooting this week. I know some of you have mixed feelings about the prospect of rebooting the Spider-Man franchise, especially after three wildly successful outings featuring a cast we’ve grown familiar with. However, after the latest film failed to impress critics and fans alike, it probably came as no surprise when Sony decided to drop the proverbial axe. The director, Sam Raimi, had already left the project citing an inability to complete the film on schedule for May of 2011, but rather than simply replacing him, they figured it’d be easier to start from square one. Personally, I don’t mind rebooting the series but I’m starting to wonder if rebooting in general has become a little too prevalent in recent years.
