Wonder Woman, part of DC’s fledgling film universe, was set for a 2017 release. Not only would it have been the first female superhero movie, but it would have had a female director, Michelle MacLaren. Now I wouldn’t say the movie is in trouble, but MacLaren just left the project due to creative differences. This happens all the time in Hollywood, and it could be for a variety of reasons, from clashing with executives over franchise continuity (see: Edgar Wright and Ant-Man) to disagreeing over creative vision (perhaps with producer Zack Snyder, who is establishing Wonder Woman in Batman v. Superman). There’s no word on whether this will delay the movie, but regardless, it still has a good chance of beating Captain Marvel, due out in 2018. Read more…
One of the reasons many comic fans have been hoping for a female-led superhero movie (at least one in the modern mold) is that it would offer a different perspective and outlook than the many male-led superhero movies that have come before, to give more variety to the stories told. One way to improve the chances of Wonder Woman expressing that is to hire a female director, and Warner Brothers seems to have made a great choice. Michelle MacLaren, known for directing episodes of such great TV series as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead, has signed on to develop and direct the film. (Charles Roven, Zack Snyder, and Deborah Snyder will produce.) I feel that Snyder is one of the weakest links DC keeps using, so hopefully with MacLaren directing, we’ll get something better than Man of Steel. Read more…
Warner Bros., despite all their struggles getting a Wonder Woman film made, seem to finally be on track. The biggest news we heard is that they were specifically looking for a female director to tackle the film, to embrace the origins and message of Wonder Woman. I thought that was a great idea, and it looks like Warner may have found their director: Michelle MacLaren. MacLaren is most famous for her work directing episodes of Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. I think it’s a great choice and a perfect way for MacLaren to jump into feature film directing. Her TV work has been great, so I can’t wait to see how this turns out. Let’s hope those talks don’t fall through! Read more…
Last we had heard, Gal Gadot has been picked to play Wonder Woman in the upcoming sequel to Man of Steel, but now it’s confirmed that she’ll be sticking around in the DC movie universe a bit longer. She has signed on for a standalone Wonder Woman film and an eventual Justice League movie. I’m interested to see how this second Superman film turns out, now that Wonder Woman and Batman are creeping in on his turf. I also think Gadot is a great choice for the part, and people who complain that she’s “too skinny” and “not buff enough” need to take a chill pill. You’ve seen the change Christian Bale went through for the Batman trilogy, right? I bet she’s started an impressive regiment already. Read more…
I feel a little bit for Man of Steel‘s Superman. Henry Cavill did an good job working under Zack Snyder’s weak filmmaking, and we all assumed he’d get to be at the heart of whatever WB was doing to eventually lead into a Justice League movie. But it seems they’re not taking the Marvel path of several origin films, as his next film is Batman vs. Superman (or one of many other poor names for a movie). Now he’ll have even less of the spotlight, as it’s now confirmed that Wonder Woman will be in the movie. WB just announced that Gal Gadot will play the famous female superhero in her first time on the big screen. Read more…
Remember how we heard tale of a Wonder Woman show on the CW a while back? Running under the title Amazon, they were struggling to get the show made, and well, it seems they’re still trying. Currently they’re hunting for their lead actress and the listing mentions that the story is a “fish-out-of-water” tale featuring Diana as a warrior who arrives in the modern world in awe of the skyscrapers, cars, and technology. Will the CW finally get this show made? I highly doubt it given the troubles they’ve had so far, but perhaps their desire to replicate Smallville’s success will overcome the difficulties.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 24, 2011 in Comic Books
DC’s “New 52” initiative, which rebooted/relaunched 52 ongoing comic series starting this month, is a great opportunity to challenge or completely destroy conventions that have been present in Big Two comics for a long time. As someone who’s purchased nearly half of said 52 books, I’ve actually been really pleased with the ones I picked up, but I’ve been choosy about which I purchase. I have a confession, though — I love female superheroes, so I bought every book that had one in it. Laura Hudson of Comics Alliance wrote a great piece about the unfortunate depictions of DC mainstay ladies Catwoman and Starfire (in Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws, respectively). Basically, Catwoman is offensively bad cheesecake — it looks and reads like fanfiction, with Selina walking around with half her bra showing and ending the book with a two-page spread of Selina riding Batman on a rooftop — and Starfire in Outlaws is some twisted male vision of what a “sexually liberated female” would be (read: a sex doll). It’s disheartening to see books coming out with content like that, because the relaunch was such a great opportunity to build some bridges with female readers rather than burn them down. But I’m here to tell you that the rest of the ladies in the new DCU don’t have it as bad. In fact, most of them seem to be doing pretty well for themselves. This week, I came home with Birds of Prey, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman, all of which star female characters, and I walked away really pleasantly surprised. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jul 29, 2011 in Comic Books
This is a secondhand story to this photo I can’t really verify, but I thought the implications were too adorable not to share. Wandering a comic-book convention, a young boy gets separated from his dad in the crowd. Scared, he goes to the two people who could definitely help him out: the Flash and Wonder Woman. Sure, the photo seems conveniently snapped, but if it’s true, it really does speak to the feeling of good will behind most conventions. As a commenter on the image said, “99% of the people in costume at conventions like this are the nicest, most considerate people you’ll ever meet.” Because, after all, if you can’t trust the Justice League, who can you trust? Read more…
It would appear that NBC’s Wonder Woman has had an official wardrobe change. Apparently, enough people complained about the bright blue vinyl to make a difference. In addition to ditching the shiny pants in favor of a darker spandex, it looks as though they’ve decided to do away with her glossy red lipstick, and blue high-heels as well. While the changes are arguably for the best, I can’t help but feel the costume still seems a bit off. Perhaps I’m just not used to seeing Wonder Woman in anything but shorts. Maybe it’ll grow on me. Read more…
Yes, this Wonder Woman TV show thing is really happening. It’s happening so hard that Entertainment Weekly was able to release the above sneak peek at Adrienne Palicki in full Wonder Woman kit. I’m not really sure how I feel about it — Palicki is certainly lovely and statuesque, but something about the costume just seems off. Maybe it’s a little too shiny. Maybe it’s the fact that seeing an actress in the costume means the show, whose script failed to impress, is actually getting made, which is possibly the most distressing fact of all. Read more…
Various outlets are reporting that Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has been cast as Diana Prince in NBC’s upcoming Wonder Woman television series. The joint venture between writer David E. Kelley and Jeffrey Reiner had a bumpy start, but after being passed on by a number of networks, NBC finally came to the rescue. Unfortunately, like rival network Fox, NBC is often quick to pull the plug if a show doesn’t hit the ground running. We’ll just have to hope that Palicki has the skills to match her striking looks — after all, anyone can dye their hair black, but handling that Lasso of Truth? Well, that remains to be seen.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 6, 2011 in Comic Books
Well, ComicsAlliance hit the jackpot here — sometimes you just find something so ridiculous it makes Electric Superman look like a good idea. A reader sent them concept art for an unreleased 1985 superhero action figure line from Kenner, only these aren’t just any action figures. These are grim, bizarre “anti-hero” versions of five beloved DC Comics heroes. Well, four beloved heroes and Firestorm, anyway. Each has a “Road Warrior” version, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; Batman’s Road Warrior outfit, for example, is straight out of Mad Max, with a helmet that looks suspiciously like Humungus’, and knives for ears. The other variations are “futuristic” and “robot” versions, which can get downright bizarre when you’re dealing with someone like Cyborg, who is already half-robot to begin with. Wonder Woman probably gets the worst treatment of the bunch. 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…
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…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 25, 2010 in Comic Books
Comic books have been around for quite a while now — so long, in fact, that it’s hard to remember just when certain characters debuted. Letters of Note uncovered this 1941 sketch of Wonder Woman’s original design by artist Harry G. Peter, replete with notes from William and Peter Moulton Marston. “I slapped these two out in a hurry,” Peter writes. The design’s main motif — the golden eagle on her chest — was eventually scrapped in the following months before her heroic debut in favor of the famous golden Ws for which we know her best. Iteration is expected, though — when you’re inventing the first real superheroes, like these men did, you don’t have any others to base your creations on! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 26, 2009 in Comic Books
Happy Thanksgiving from Fanboy.com! To celebrate we’ve put together a gallery of turkey themed comic books for your entertainment. The one thing you’ll notice is that most of the holiday humor is aimed at younger comic book readers — an audience that both Marvel and DC are rediscovering once again. Shown above is the cover from Superboy #36 which was published in 1954 — the pencils are by Curt Swan and the inks are by Stan Kaye. Read more…
Editor’s Introduction: Journalist Amber Love shared with us these touching photos of Wonder Woman Day which took place this past weekend. The event took place in both Portland and New Jersey — these photos are from the Jersey event which was hosted at Comic Fusion. To me the folks in these photos are the real superheroes — fans and pros like yourselves coming together to pitch in for a good cause. By the way in these photos you’ll see several shots of Joe Sinnott — the man is a living legend of comics, if you don’t know him do yourself a huge favor and check out his bio and you’ll be amazed at his life story. Read more…
For the fourth year in a row Portland, Oregon will celebrate Wonder Woman Day and use the day to raise funds for three local domestic violence prevention-intervention agencies. The popularity of the day has inspired Stacy Korn, co-owner of Comic Fusion in New Jersey to do an east coast event by having local artists do sketches for charity. I have to say that I love the idea of taking Wonder Woman who is an icon of strength and equality — and using her to raise awareness for a good cause: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 3, 2009 in Comic Books
ForaTV has a great show out on Comic Book Heroines: Sex, Violence and Objectification which features Supergirls author Mike Madrid. What i find amazing about this segment is that he explores how during the 90s adult entertainment merged with mainstream media and then crept into comic books.
