Elsewhere... A CONTEST is inspired!

Five for Friday: Rogues

Last weekend's Five for Friday assignment was to Name Five Members Of A Rogues Gallery NOT Batman's, Dick Tracy's Or Spider-Man's And Don't Identify The Hero. Mine were:

1. The Brass Bishop
2. Deadly Ernest
3. Pink Pearl
4. Dreamqueen
5. The Master of the World

A free, signed copy of Cownt Tales to the first person who correctly identifies whom these villains fight.

What Are You Reading?

A short review of Vernon White's Birdhouse.

Flick Attack!



I watched the direct-to-DVD sequel to 30 Days of Night and here's what I thought.

Food or Comics

In this week's Comics on a Budget column, I mentioned the new Atomic Robo, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, and The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec. Among others.

Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs



This week I looked at the first volume of Black Metal.

Comics News: Infamous Fiends and Timeless Terrors

Polly and the Pirates, Volume 2



I was disappointed when I first learned that Ted Naifeh wouldn't be illustrating the second volume of Polly and the Pirates (due early next year) himself, but I can't stay that way when Robbi Rodriguez' stuff looks so nice. Comic Book Resources has the preview.

Aqua Angst



The Aquaman Shrine has a helpful, aqua-centric review of Brightest Day #0 and... well, it's not so bright.

...this is the perfect moment to scrape off all the sturm und drang that's been dogging Aquaman like so many barnacles over the decades(!), and return the character to the courageous, confident, and almost happy-go-lucky adventurer and protector of the seas that he used to be. I'd hate to see Aquaman be put through all this, brought back to life, only to go right back to being Mr. Mopey again.

Like the Shrine, I understand the need to deal with the Darkness That's Come Before. There are people who've been following the story for a while and want to witness the barnacle-scraping for themselves. Me, I'll be looking forward to when it's all cleaned off.

Colonials, spies (one of them a gorilla), Alpha Flight in Hell, a skull-faced dude, Mulder and Scully go to Barrow, and a man punching skeletons after the break.

Comics News: Prose, Poetry, and Perversion

I've been a baaaad blogger this week. I'm sorry about that.

Sailor Twain, or The Mermaid in the Hudson



Mark Siegel's First Second Books is one of my favorite publishers. The comics they publish have fun, interesting concepts presented by unique, high-quality writers and artists. I don't think I've read a single book by them that I didn't care for, so it's no surprise that I'm also enjoying Siegel's own webcomic. Especially since it's about a riverboat captain and - if the title is to be believed - a mermaid.

The Monster in the Mist and other stories



Golden Age Comic Book Stories has a whole mess of Al Williamson adventure stories, a couple of which (like the one pictured above and another about a submarine crew trying to trace Captain Nemo's voyage) are sea-based.

Pennyfarthing Press' new website



Pennyfarthing doesn't publish a lot of books, but I like the ones they do. Especially the undersea adventures of a mermaid, a kraken, an electric fish, and the daughter of the Loch Ness Monster in The Loch. There's also the pulpy Captain Gravity, the steampunk/superheroey Victorian, and a new adventure series about Middle Eastern mythology called Anne Steelyard. Anyway, they just launched a new website and it's worth browsing around to see what they've got.

Nevermore and other Steve Niles news



Steve Niles recently posted a couple of updates on his message board about some very cool sounding projects. One is Nevermore a comics adaptation of Dennis Paoli's one-man play about Edgar Allan Poe. The book will be illustrated by multiple artists including Bernie Wrightson.

Other projects include Mystery Society (which Steve describes as "a bit more action oriented [than his usual gory stuff] with lots of creatures and unexplained phenomena"), Edge of Doom (with Kelley Jones), and Doc Macabre (with Wrightson again). Also lots of updates on film adaptations of his comics, including Dark Days, which Steve says is in the editing stage.

Elsewhere on the Internets...

Here's the rest of what I've been up to online lately:

Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs



My last column for 2009 was about both volumes of Mouse Guard, but I spent more time on the more recent one, Winter 1152.

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to talk about this week. Not that anyone’s called me on it yet, but I usually talk here about stuff that I enjoy and I know that that can give the impression that I like everything, which simply isn’t true. In fact, I just read a book that I didn’t like so much and contemplated talking about it instead, if only for variety’s sake. But is criticizing a mediocre, small-press book really how we want to end the year? As Tim O’Shea reminded me when I expressed my indecision on the subject, there’s a lot of bad material out there. Why spend a whole column focused on that when there’s good stuff that can use a larger audience? Mouse Guard may not exactly be an underground comic, but until it hits #1 on every Best Sellers list in the world, I’m considering it under-read.

The first thing you’re struck with by Mouse Guard is how beautiful it is. I was reading Winter 1152 in public the other day and a woman stopped and asked me what it was. As much as I try not to make assumptions about people from their appearances, I’m guessing that this immaculately-dressed businesswoman doesn’t have a large comics collection at home. But she saw David Petersen’s highly realistic, stunningly detailed, and lushly colored artwork and was attracted by it enough to want to know more.

But Mouse Guard is about more than the pictures and the seasons in the title dictate more than just Petersen’s color palettes. There’s a deep, compelling story at work with human characters – mice though they may be – and powerful themes that reflect the time of year they’re set in.

Read the rest here.

Incidentally, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 topped by my list of favorite comics for the year. You can read the whole list (as well as those of Robot 6's other contributors) here, but I should admit that mine is flawed. I'm embarrassed that I didn't even consider webcomics when I made it, so - as I said in the comments - I'm ticked at myself for not including at least The Abominable Charles Christopher. It's as good as anything else on the list.

The 30 Most Important Comics of the Decade





This was a huge group effort by all the Robot 6ers. I wrote the entries for 30 Days of Night and Flight, Volume 1 in Part One (#s 30-16). I didn't contribute to Part Two (#s 15-1), but you should read that too. A lot of interesting stuff to think about in both sections.

And Now the News: French Girl Reporter vs. Mummies and Pterodactyls

Adèle Blanc-Sec



The poster looks like a thoughtful Merchant-Ivory film, but we're assured that it is, in fact, going to be a kick-ass movie about a mummy-fighting girl reporter battling a pterodactyl that's on the loose in early 1900s-Paris. Undead Backbrain has more details and some scans from the comic it's based on.

If you haven't already... meet your new A-Team



This has already made the rounds, but I'm still catching up from Halloween. The picture both thrills and terrifies me at the same time. In a world that allows Will Ferrell to star in Land of the Lost, there's no way this can be as awesome as it looks like it's going to be. It's got to be some kind of joke. [/Film]

Dark Days Update: Meet Stella



The adaptation of my favorite 30 Days of Night story continues to move along. It's too bad that they couldn't get Melissa George to reprise her role as Stella, but Kiele Sanchez deserves a fair shot. I didn't like her character on Lost any more than anyone else did, but that was all about the writing and nothing to do with her performance. If anything, she actually made we want to get past the ungraceful shoehorning of her character into the established cast.

At any rate, I refuse to have anything but optimistic thoughts about the Dark Days movie. I don't know that it'll be a perfect adaptation, but I'm excited to see what it's like. [AceShowbiz]

Conan Update: Character Descriptions



I won't post any spoilers here, but /Film has casting breakdowns from the Conan movie that's currently in development. They talk about the backgrounds and motivations of various characters in the movie. Unfortunately, none of it's faithful to existing stories, nor does it bring anything new to the sword-and-sorcery genre in general.

Bone Update: A Trilogy?



Jeff Smith says that he's very happy with the progress on Warner Brothers' Bone adaptation so far and that it'll likely be a CGI-animated trilogy of films. That all sounds good to me, though my preference would be for live actors and location-shooting with CGI creatures.

The 31 Monsters of Halloween: Vampires

You never grow old. You never die. It's fun to be a vampire.

And Now the News: BOOM! POTATO POTATO!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides



Pirates of the Caribbean 4 has a sub-title and it's the same as the name of Tim Powers' pirate novel. What's more, Powers' book features the Fountain of Youth, the very thing Jack Sparrow was setting off in search of at the end of Pirates 3. Some quick Googling reveals that I'm not the only one who's made this connection. I haven't heard anything from Disney yet about the the movie being an adaptation of Powers' book, but it can't be coincidence.

Lego Pirates Advent Calendar



Nothing says Christmas like pirates, mermaids, and crazy monkeys. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to get into the proper spirit here in the US. I hope Calvin has room for me in the Canadian Cave of Coolness, 'cause I'm willing to defect over this. Jason Copland's Canadian too. Hm...

Empires of the Deep



Robert Hood catches that the title of Mermaid Island has been changed to the more serious and epic-sounding Empires of the Deep. Unfortunately, Catwoman-director Pitof is still directing it, but I'm maintaining my optimism that it could be fun. That's based purely on its huge budget and my blind belief that it should be really, really hard to mess up a movie about merfolk fighting giant sea monsters.

Unexplained Lost



Carlton Cuse and some other Lost bigwigs have begun warning fans that not all of the series' mysteries will be explained by the finale. I'm guessing that that sounds scarier than it actually is unless you're one of those fans who's been meticulously cataloging every hint, clue, and revelation from the very beginning. I'll be very disappointed if there are any huge dangling plot threads, but yeah... we probably shouldn't expect every "i" to be dotted and every "t" to be crossed.

That said, I've been holding off on buying the DVDs until after the show finishes and will be paying very close attention to the reaction of hardcore fans to the series finale. It's one thing to sort of casually enjoy the show as it's unfolding, but if I'm going to watch it all over again as a complete story, I'll want that story to be cohesive and make sense.

Some Jungle Girl Comics



Rulah vs. the Death Image [Comic Book Catacombs]



Zegra the Jungle Empress and the Games of Havoc [Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine]

Knockout



Steven Soderbergh's making a spy movie starring mixed martial artist Gina Carano.

I know you know that we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are.



Allison Reynolds turned up in Psych last season as a serial killer. Now John Bender's signed up for an episode. Three to go.

Dark Days movie update

Steve Niles talks to Shock Till You Drop about the challenges of adapting Dark Days to film. "I'd say there's about as many changes as there were from the first graphic novel to the first movie, but not as drastic." Click the link for some details of what he's talking about.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter update



/Film's got all kinds of concept art and a video that give a real nice idea of what Universal Studios' new Harry Potter theme park's going to be like.

"New" Pooh



/Film also has a round-up of Disney and Pixar animation news including the announcement of a new Winnie the Pooh film that "ape(s) the watercolour style of the books with the white 'page' showing through." It'll also adapt five of AA Milne's stories that haven't been adapted yet.

I wonder if they'll also use the character designs from the original books. That would be really cool. I think they've done everything that can be done with the Disney versions. Time for a reboot.

Project Waldo



Nate Simpson is blogging his way through the production of his graphic novel, Project Waldo. There's some great stuff there for process junkies like me, but there's also some fantastic art if you don't care about the craft-talk. [Robot 6]

No BOOM! POTATO POTATO! for you! (Or me or anyone else for that matter...)

The Rejectionist - written by "a foul-tempered, snack-needing, whiskey-craving, ill-paid assistant at an Important Literary Agency in New York" - is one of my favorite blogs about the publishing industry. It's as funny as it is informative.

But I'm deeply dismayed to hear her say that no one's going to publish a book called BOOM! POTATO POTATO! and the Princess of Papyrion. Because I really want to read that book.

And Now the News: So Many Ways to Take a Life

Here's the rest of the news from last week that (mostly) wasn't about Disney's buying Marvel.

Meandering Aquaman

The Stonechat Museum - a Hawkman blog - picked up a quote I missed from Dan Didio about the difficulty of finding a spot for Aquaman in the current DCU:

Where is Aquaman: Rebirth? It’s hard for us to do a Rebirth because Rebirths stand for something to us. It’s a particular character returning who had the lead mantle of that character, and him being re-established in the world. Aquaman has never been removed from the role, with the exception of maybe what we did with the One Year Later. It’s a different sensibility going on there.

The other thing with Aquaman is he never got the level of traction the other characters did. He never broke free. Most people’s references to Aquaman really are the cartoon series from the 1960s and Super Friends. We look at Aquaman a lot of times and say "What is the iconic interpretation?" When we do that, you have 15 different answers because the problem with Aquaman ... is that every time he was rebooted, the origin was moved a little bit to the right, moved a little to the left, moved around half way and then it came back three quarters. He never really had a clear change and his story just meandered along. Our goal following Blackest Night, if there is an Aquaman, would be to make sure to get clear what the iconic interpretation is and present it in the best light possible.

I don't have any real concern that DC's going to leave Aquaman dead at the end of Blackest Night, but what this does sound like is that there are no definite plans for him yet. They're still feeling their way around, trying to get to that "iconic interpretation." Which is strange, since Didio says what the iconic interpretation is right there in his comments: the '60s and '70s cartoons. Maybe those are what I should be checking out instead of old issues of Justice League.

Doris Danger: Giant Monster Adventures



It's like they're making this stuff just for me now.

The Three-D Musketeers

Paul WS Anderson is adapting The Three Musketeers in 3D. I have a hard time getting as upset about this as /Film does. Anderson's not a brilliant director or anything, but he's no Uwe Boll either. I've very much enjoyed the Resident Evil movies and it's not like there aren't a zillion, other, good Musketeers movies to fall back on if this one blows.

And really? I don't get what /Film is complaining about other than some justifiable concern that Anderson may not make a very good movie. He wants to make a Musketeers film that's "rich in eye-popping action, romance and adventure?" Good! That's exactly what a Musketeers film should be. And it's kind of putting words in his mouth to say that he wants to make a "non-period period film" when all that he really said was that he didn't want the "corsets and feathered hats" to be the focus. I don't want them to be the focus either. The Three Musketeers shouldn't be The Duchess.

Gripe all you want that Anderson's making another movie. I do that about Michael Bay all the time. Just don't pretend that he's ruining some sacred franchise by doing a new version of it with some cool technology.

Untitled Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz Spy Movie

Double O Section has new information about the cool-sounding spy movie formerly known as Wichita. Like most people, I've been skimming over Wichita news because of the non-descript title and missing that it's about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her blind date turns out to be a super spy and takes her on a violent, worldwide journey to protect a powerful MacGuffin.

Fantastic Four movie reboot

I think it's interesting that on the very day the Disney/Marvel deal was announced Fox let everyone know that they're starting from scratch and making a completely new Fantastic Four movie. All they have so far is a new screenwriter with a shaky resumé, but - as much as I'll miss Chris Evans - I welcome the attempt. Please please please let them get it right this time.

Half-Minute Horrors



How scared can you get in 30 seconds? Lemony Snicket, James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, R.L. Stine, and others want to help you find out.

Dark Days direct-to-DVD movie has a director



That's good news. The bad news is that Melissa George isn't returning as Stella. Not that no one else can play the role, but it would've been nice to see her back if only for continuity's sake. Hopefully they'll find someone who (with a new Eben) can stick around for a while and make future sequels like Return to Barrow and Eben and Stella.

Still, Dark Days is my favorite of the 30 Days of Night books and I'm looking forward to seeing how this comes out. Especially since Steve Niles has a co-writing credit on the screenplay. The director (and other writer) is Ben Ketai, who's been involved with the 30 Days of Night web shorts.

Rambo V: The Savage Hunt

This story on the proposed next film in the Rambo series sounds like it's trying very hard not to say the word "werewolf," but I totally hope that's what it's about.

Trick 'r Treat review



I've been hoping that Trick 'r Treat is as cool as that poster makes it look. According to /Film, it is.

Inglourious Wizerds



"That’s why every sonofabitch we find wearin’ a Death Eater mask, they’re gonna die."

It gets said often, but still not enough: Chris Sims is a genius.

No more Harryhausen comics



Ray Harryhausen and Bluewater Comics have parted ways, each saying that they're the party who made the decision to leave. The only disappointing part of that news is Harryhausen's statement that there are "no plans to move the properties to another publisher," because frankly the world needs Harryhausen comics. We just need some with a professional level of art that Bluewater hasn't been providing.

Of course, "no plans" doesn't mean that Harryhausen wouldn't consider other offers; just that there aren't any attractive ones on the table right this second. Hopefully someone will step up and make some comics worthy of the man's imagination. Of course, I'd rather have no Harryhausen comics than deal with the frustration of constantly seeing ones on the shelves that I have to pass up because they're awful.

Steampunk Art at Oxford



Brother Calvin's turned up a steampunk art exhibit at Oxford University. Reason #5,695 that I need to visit Britain.

The Awesome List: Hitchcock mashups, 30 Days of Night contest, T-Rex vs. Kitty, Lolthulhu, Reptisaurus, weekly Wonder Woman, and more

I know what I'm buying at the grocery store tonight.



Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue featuring reshoots of Hitchcock movies with modern stars.

Curious about Spiderwick again

My interest in The Spiderwick Chronicles was slipping, but Neil Gaiman and family give it a thumbs up and that's a high recommendation even when the review is simply, "I really enjoyed (it)."

30 Days of Night movie contest

Win a buttload of stuff related to the 30 Days of Night movie.

From the "I Wish I'd Thought of That" Dept.

T-Rex vs. Kitty! And don't bet too quickly on the dinosaur.

Lolthulhu



UR Soul. I Has It.

Obedience

Bookgasm's on a roll lately with adding stuff to my Wish List. The latest is Will Lavender's Obedience, a thriller about a college professor who challenges students to unravel clues in order to save a girl who may or may not be hypothetical.

Indy trailer update

Someone commented here that the Indy trailer "will be broadcast Feb. 14 on Good Morning America, sometime between 8-9 am. It will then be available online at the official site." The press release is also up at IndianaJones.com again (if it ever went away).

Jericho cast appearance update

Got an email with the following update about the cast members who'll be appearing at the Los Angeles Comicbook and Science Fiction Convention this Sunday:

"Appearing on the CBS-TV Jericho panel at 2:00 P.M. will be stars Esai Morales (joining the series in season two as Major Beck), Kenneth Mitchell (Eric Green), Brad Beyer (Stanley Richmond), Alicia Coppola (Mimi Clark), Jonathan E. Steinberg (Co-Creator of Jericho), Executive Producer Carol Barbee, Co-Executive Producers Karim Zreik and Dan Shotz. At 1:00 P.M. there will be a advance screening of the next week's episode of Jericho."

So, no Skeet, but not a bad lineup at all. Especially with Stanley and Mimi. I love those kids.

Reptisaurus

Someone's making a movie out of an old Charlton comic about a giant monster. It doesn't sound very good.

Of course I'm going to see it.

Weekly Wonder Woman comic

Not really, but almost. DC's announced that their next attempt at a weekly comic will be called Trinity and will feature Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman.

This one bodes well for me, I think. I enjoyed 52, but would've liked it more if it had featured more heavily characters I already cared about. Countdown should've had a leg up on 52 in that regard by co-starring Mary Marvel, but as everyone has pointed out, it's too tied into 600 other series to be enjoyable on its own. I've taken to skimming through issues at the store and only buying them if there seems to be development in the Mary Marvel plot.

Trinity promises to fix both of those things by a) featuring Wonder Woman, and b) not being tied to other events in the DC Universe.

Artist of the Day: Art Grafunkel

I'm proud to call Art a pal.

From his blog: 30 Days of Night.



And a personal piece he did for the moderators of Steve Niles' message board:



I may have shared that last one before, but it's worth looking at again. Can you pick me out in the crowd? Huh? Can you?