Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 19, 2011 in Dr. Who
Artist Larry Wentzel has a whole bunch of Peanuts-themed Doctor Who art on his Flickr page, but I think this one is probably my favorite. Wentzel says “I imagine after the 11th Doctor was put in the Pandorica, the villains broke out into a little celebratory dance.” I bet they did, too, or at least I hope they did after seeing this picture. Seriously, these guys are just getting down. I didn’t know Daleks could bend that way, much less play piano. Maybe that one’s a special model. Vince Guardalek?
Michael Sacco is a freelance editor and writer, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 12, 2011 in Television
Genre fans the world over rejoiced when the news broke that HBO had optioned Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for production into a TV series under the direction of Playtone. Now it looks like there’s even more good news — Tom Hanks has officially signed on to the project as executive producer, with Gaiman as head writer and executive producer himself. The six planned seasons are 10-12 episodes each, and the budget ($35-40 million per season) is fairly high, but bear in mind it’s probably going to be a while: HBO is aiming for a 2013 release “at the earliest.” Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 11, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s upcoming relaunch announcements started with the Justice League and now have ended with the revelation that Grant Morrison will be writing the new #1 for Action Comics, the series that Superman originally appeared in 70 or so years ago. Morrison has written some damn good comics in the past — his run on New X-Men is one of the series’ best and he’s also responsible for the almost universally well-received All-Star Superman — so it’s pretty reasonable to assume that he’ll give Supes the re-debut he deserves. The issue is also being touted in its solicitation as the “cornerstone of the new DC universe,” so it may mean far more than just a fresh start for the Man of Steel: it could be what gives everybody else a fresh start, too. Good luck, Grant.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 11, 2011 in Videogames
1996’s Duke Nukem 3D was one of the most 90s video games ever made, a prime example of what was wrong with games in their teenage years. Its misogyny, crude humor, and over-the-top hero guaranteed success with its target audience, though, so it sold (and sold well). The next game in the series, Duke Nukem Forever, was announced in 1997, and suffered from what is likely the most protracted development in gaming history as its studio shuffled between owners, its technology became outdated, and its fanbase grew up. The game eventually became synonymous with “vaporware.” Now, fourteen years later, Gearbox Software has salvaged the wreckage of the game and put the finishing touches on it and released it, officially making Duke Nukem Forever vaporware no longer. So how is it? According to the reviews released so far, pretty much exactly how you’d expect a game delayed for a decade and a half to be — mediocre to awful, depending on the reviewer. After fourteen years waiting for a game, you probably deserve more than what Duke Nukem Forever finally gives you; but then again, if you were really looking forward to Duke Nukem Forever, I’m not sure you deserve anything at all. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 10, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
Yes, the headline only makes sense as a pun if you pronounce “noire” with two syllables instead of its more correct one-weird-syllable method. But listen, it doesn’t matter. You can get LA Noire: The Collected Stories, the tie-in novel to bestselling video game LA Noire, for zero dollars this week. Amazon.com, BN.com, and iTunes are all offering the ebook for nothing and for the portable reading device of your choosing. So get on it, copper! That’s the only way you’ll catch that dame. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 10, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
Legendary “weird fiction” writer H.P. Lovecraft spawned a mythos that continues to thrive well after his death, and its nihilistic, uncaring universe is populated with aliens, extradimensional beings, and regular old earthbound monsters. The funny part about most of these creatures, though, is that few words are usually used to describe how they actually look. That hasn’t stopped artists from trying, though. My first introduction to Lovecraft was my copy of Barlowe’s Guide to Extraterrestrials I got as a kid, wherein the titular Wayne Barlowe drew his closest approximation of what Lovecraft’s Elder Things — the aliens from “At the Mountains of Madness” — looked like. Michael Bukowski continues in Barlowe’s grand tradition by drawing pretty much every one of Lovecraft’s numerous horrors, using creative license to fill in the blanks that Lovecraft’s proclivity for dramatic obfuscation left behind. Read more…
After last year’s teaser, a lot of gamers have been dying to see more of Bioware’s upcoming MMORPG, Stars Wars: The Old Republic. This year, they showed off a bit more by releasing the entire intro cinematic, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s the company’s first MMORPG, and from what little I’ve seen of the gameplay, Bioware might have a product that can really compete with Blizzard’s powerhouse. It seems that I’m not the only one who feels that way either, as Razer has recent announced entire line of Star Wars: The Old Republic gaming peripherals. As Michael mentioned to me, they’re not quite as cool looking as their recent Tron Legacy tie-ins, but I still think they look pretty sharp. While they haven’t announced a solid release date, Bioware states the game should ship sometime later this year.
I’m going to give you a rough review of X-Men: First Class, but before I do that I’m going to give you the highlights:
1. It’s better than it looks.
2. That’s mostly not due to special effects.
3. Michael Fassbender completely works as Erik.
4. January Jones completely works as Emma Frost…as written in this film.
5. Xavier is kind of a dick Read more…
Nerds love the Muppets, nerds love Firefly; it was only a matter of time before someone took those two great tastes and made them taste great together. Artist James Hance is creating an entire series of Muppet-fied Firefly images (with some Fraggles to round out the cast) on his website, with proceeds from his upcoming prints to be donated to the Can’t Stop the Serenity charity. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 4, 2011 in Comic Books
Webcomicker Kate Beaton is known for her hilarious takes on historical figures, but she’s no stranger to superheroes either. She’s done riffs on Superman and Wonder Woman before, and she even did a Spider-Man piece for Marvel’s 2010 Strange Talesanthology (wherein Kraven needed a prom date). This time, she’s imagined what would happen if Peter Parker was bitten by a slightly different spider: specifically, the bothersome brown recluse.
Sony, after fighting a prolonged battle with hackers and leaving users of the PlayStation Network without access for 44 days, finally flipped the “on” switch on all of its online services yesterday. Unfortunately for Sony (and its customers), it looks like their security war is hardly over. The Sony Pictures website was hacked by a simple SQL injection, with a million usernames and passwords stolen. Worse, the information was apparently stored plaintext — that is, completely unencrypted. The hackers who perpetrated the attack, who call themselves “LulzSec,” say that the lack of security on Sony customers’ personal information was shameful and that they were asking for an attack. At this point, it’s difficult to feel bad for Sony anymore, though I definitely do feel bad for the tens of thousands of people who had their information posted online by the hackers.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 3, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s impending relaunch of 52 monthlies — a significant portion of their comic line — may be the ballsiest move yet made in comics, or it may be nothing more than a publicity stunt. It’s hard to say until we’ve seen the products of the relaunch. But to show that they mean business, DC announced a handful of the creative teams working on the new titles. Wonder Woman’s new team looks pretty interesting, with 100 Bullets‘ Brian Azzarello writing and Cliff Chiang on art duty, but then you have some stuff that looks considerably less compelling. Like, say, Firestorm, which looks … let’s just say “a little silly.” DC hasn’t revealed all of the teams quite yet, so we haven’t heard about heavy hitters like Batman or Superman, but maybe they’re saving the best for last. Maybe a Morrison Superman run? Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jun 3, 2011 in Television
Well, not the real one, given that he’s dead and all, but SyFy’s upcoming kinda-sorta-superhero team dramadoes star James Strathairn, who made a splash playing Murrow in Goodnight and Good Luck. Strathairn was easily my favorite part of that movie, and it’s admittedly a little surprising that SyFy managed to nab someone of his caliber to headline their show. If you don’t like good films or TV (which incidentally makes you SyFy’s target audience), then you’ll probably recognize Bones‘ Mr. Nigel-Murray himself, Ryan Cartwright, in the show’s cast. Check out the first promo art for Alphas right up there.
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 29, 2011 in Comic Books
Yes, it looks like Deadpool’s efforts to break the fourth wall actually succeeded in destroying the damn thing altogether — he’s now patrolling the streets of Wanatchee, WA. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite the real Deadpool (Wade Wilson is a little more muscular, I think), but a mystery man is using Deadpool’s outfit and name and going around helping those in need. You can even email him if you have a situation that you think would merit the help of a psychopathic mercenary. Whether or not this particular Deadpool is mentally ill still remains to be seen, though, admittedly, when you’re dealing with Deadpool, sanity is relative. Read more…
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a scifi staple, and its unique look continues to be an inspiration for other genre works. But it’s just a movie, made by real people, which is easy to forget. Periodically we’ll get some behind-the-scenes footage or photos that help us put film production into perspective, though, like these Blade Runner set Polaroids from actress Sean Young, who played Rachel in the film. If you want to see Harrison Ford making googly eyes at a camera, or just want to see Sean looking particularly glamorous, her collection is definitely worth a look. Read more…
Peter Jackson’s in-production film adaptation of The Hobbit has a largely new cast, including Martin Freeman as a young Bilbo Baggins, but given the film’s nature as a prequel to the events of Lord of the Rings, there’s also a cadre of returning characters. And that means a cadre of returning actors, too! According to Peter Jackson’s Facebook page, you can now count on Orlando Bloom to return as Legolas, the fan-favorite elf from the original trilogy. Bloom joins Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, and Elijah Wood in reprising his role. Read more…
There were several reasons to worry about the latest entry into the X-Men film franchise, X-Men: First Class. You could worry about the film being fast-tracked and barely having its filming done in time for release. You could worry about it being set in a time period removed from our own. You could, especially, worry about it being the latest entry into the X-Men film franchise. But it looks like Marvel made a wise choice in director Brian Vaughn (Kick Ass) — early reviews are overwhelmingly positive, stating the film’s script and stars do a great job in reviving the series and shedding new light on familiar characters. It even gets a favorable James Bond comparison in Michael Fassbender’s Magneto. Sounds good to me. We’ll know for sure as more reviews come out in the next few days, in time for First Class’ June 3rd release. Read more…
Uncharted is easily one of this generation’s most “cinematic” video game series, so it only makes sense that Hollywood would be jumping to adapt it to the big screen. Director David O. Russell has been attached to the project for a while now, and made waves with fans months ago by communicating his intentions to cast Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake and make the film about “a family of art thieves.” It was announced today that Russell left the project due to “creative differences” — differences I can only assume were “people wanted the Uncharted movie to actually be based on Uncharted.” There hasn’t yet been any word on a new director. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 22, 2011 in Cinema, Star Wars
Graphic designer Barn Bocock took iconic brand logos and gave them a Star Wars twist. You can see some of his handiwork above, with inspired edits to the Nike and Puma logos. There are other great pieces on his page, and t-shirts and stickers are (of course) available should you wish to adorn yourself or your property in pop culture versions of already-ubiquitous corporate propaganda. That’s some pretty Dark Side stuff, I think. A Jedi knows not crass commercialism. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 22, 2011 in Cinema, Star Wars
Star Tours, the venerable Star Wars attraction at Disneyland, recently underwent a big renovation to bring it up to speed for the 21st century. So how does it stack up to the original? “Light years better,” says the L.A. Times. Not only was the ride updated to feature hi-def 3D , but it also has a total of 54 possible storylines, so you’ll likely never have the same ride twice. The physical hardware (the seats, for example) apparently wasn’t updated as much as the visual stuff, but the Times admits it’s a minor quibble amidst the admittedly awesome rest of the ride. You can ride the brand-new Star Tours on June 3rd. Read more…
You may recall The Dark Knight’s long, involved alternate-reality game, which had followers doing everything from decoding messages hidden in street addresses to taking pictures of themselves in clown makeup to attending fake Harvey Dent campaign events. Even though the film’s release is over a full year away, the marketing campaign for the third film in the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, is heating up. Literally. Today, Warner Bros. released a sound clip on the DKR website that, when viewed in a sound editing program, contained the phrase “#thefirerises”. Posting on Twitter with that in your message would add your icon to the page, which eventually filled up, revealing the above photo of Tom Hardy as Bane (click for a high-res version). If that sounds complicated, well, it is! And it’s only going to get more complicated from here. Also, Bane looks pretty imposing, doesn’t he? Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 20, 2011 in Animation
Loyal Venture Bros. fans need not fear — not only is the show returning for another season, but we get a special 15-minute, er, special this July! From the Ladle to the Grave: The Story of Shallow Gravy, which details the rise and fall of the titular band started by Hank, Dermot, and H.E.L.P.e.R., will premiere July 24th on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. 15 minutes isn’t a lot, but hopefully it’s enough to tide you over until the new season. Go Team Venture! Er, Shallow Gravy, rather. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 20, 2011 in Comic Books
Colorist Moose Baumann, responsible for making some of Marvel’s and DC’s most popular heroes leap off the page, is encountering some financial difficulties. His wife incurred some staggering medical bills during her cancer treatments and it’s been an uphill to keep those bills paid on top of normal expenses (you know, like a mortgage). The couple is in danger of losing their home, and Baumann has resorted to selling high-quality prints of his work to make some emergency money. If you’d like to help Moose and his wife out, you can buy one of his prints by emailing him directly at moosebaumann@mediacombb.net. Prints aside, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a few bucks tossed his way via PayPal either, which is hooked up to that email address. Good luck, Moose! Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 15, 2011 in Television
NBC may have passed on picking up the much-maligned Wonder Woman pilot, but that doesn’t mean that they’re done with genre TV for 2011-12. In fact, they picked up two pilots — the first is called Grimm, and it’s about a cop who finds out supernatural creatures are real and has to protect the city from them. The second, Awake, may be of special interest to Harry Potter film fans, as Lucius Malfoy portrayer Jason Isaacs is playing the lead. The plot? Isaac’s character is a cop (yes, again) who lives in two worlds after an automobile accident: one where his wife survived, and one where his son survived. It’s pretty high-concept and Isaacs is a great actor, so with any luck the show will survive.
