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.
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.
Last week's Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs was a look at cool adventure comics coming out in August. There's a lot of great stuff, but what I'm most looking forward to is Fantagraphics' English translation of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. Though one of the commenters has read it and lowers my expectations somewhat, I'm still very curious to read the source material behind the upcoming film. (Also in the comments, Kurt Busiek talks about his experience with the toys that inspired Moonstone's clunky-robot series Zeroids).
After the break: some quick reviews, the Teen Titans vs Ebenezer Scrooge Scrounge, and is Cownt Tales a Comic Worth Reading?
Les Aventures Extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec: New Poster
I really love the ad campaign for this movie. The first stuff they released could've been any period piece, but they've gradually and slowly been unveiling the cooler parts. [Undead Backbrain]
/Film has the long and rumored history of this project (George Clooney and Johnny Depp were once speculated to be a possible Ranger and Tonto, respectively) including the recent hiring of a new screenwriter: the guy who adapted Revolutionary Road. He was also supposed to write Disney's Captain Nemo prequel until that project was canceled.
24: The Movie
I gave up on 24 a long time ago. My disbelief-suspension is flexible as all get-out, but the needs of the real-time format required ridiculously padded storylines that I just couldn't buy into. I still love Jack though and I've thought since the second season that the show would be vastly improved by abandoning real-time and just having a traditionally-paced series about his fighting bad guys. Which is why I'm so interested in the possibility of a 24 movie.
Director Joe Johnston's cashed in some of Marvel Studios' goodwill by releasing some silly-sounding details about his vision for the Captain America movie. Most of it's just fine - casting an unknown in the lead role, setting the bulk of the story in WWII Europe, making Red Skull the main villain, etc. - but there's one bit that's pretty terrifying.
After he’s made into this super-soldier, they decide they can’t send him into combat and risk him getting killed. He’s the only one and they can’t make more. So they say, ‘You’re going to be in this USO show’ and they give him a flag suit.
Really. The US government creates the ultimate super-soldier, so instead of putting him into battle they have him doing USO shows? Johnston goes on to say that Cap goes AWOL from the USO in order to fight and "covers up the suit," but then realizes it's a symbol for the troops and allows him to become a leader. He covers up the suit? He can't just take it off?
I realize that I've now become that guy who hates on a movie that he hasn't yet seen, but nothing about this USO idea sounds any damn good. Still, there's a long way to go before the film's made and plenty of time to trash the idea. And who knows? Maybe they can pull off a singing, dancing Captain America better than I think they can.
Kevin Grevioux's Frankenstein movie has been greenlit. Back when it was first announced they were calling it an action story where the modern-day Monster carries guns and fights other famous monsters like vampires, werewolves, mummies, goblins, and ghosts. Grevioux is the creator of Underworld and the director for I, Frankenstein is the same guy who directed Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, so if you like those movies - which I do - this one sounds promising too.
Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec: Second Trailer
No, it probably won't star Val Kilmer. The universe isn't that kind. But Paramount has bought the rights to a script that spices up the life of the old huckleberry. Incidentally, though I know exactly what they're doing (or maybe because I know exactly what they're doing), I'm really tired of hearing people say that their historical adventure movies are "in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean."
Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec trailer
Watch all the way to the end. This is going to be Awesome.
Meet your new Ian Fleming
James McAvoy has been signed to play Ian Fleming in a biopic about the James Bond creator's experiences in British Intelligence during WWII. At one point I'd heard that they were going to fictionalize some events to make them more exciting (in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean, I guess), but I don't know if that's still the plan.
/Film reports that Captain America starts filming this June (which means we should be hearing casting info soon) and Green Lantern has hired an Oscar-winning crew including the cinematographer from Memoirs of a Geisha, the production and costume designers from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the art director from Avatar. I never thought I'd say this, but Green Lantern ought to be one gorgeous movie.
Bone movie won't try to cover entire story
Sounds like the people behind the CGI Bone movie have the right idea. They won't be trying to squeeze the entire epic into one film. According to producer Dan Lin, they're currently trying to figure out how many volumes of the series to try to fit into what they hope will be the first of a series of films. Lin mentions three or four.
Minor spoilers follow if you haven't read the series
Three would end with the Bones still in Barrelhaven, before things really start to turn bad for them there and the story takes a darker turn, so thematically that makes sense. If they included Volume 4, that would end with the Bones having to leave Barrelhaven which seems like a natural breaking point from a geographical standpoint. I guess my preference would be for ending it after Volume 3. Not only did Jeff Smith tend to think of the series in terms of trilogies, but it would also give the filmmakers room to include more stuff from the books.
Lin also reveals the the movie will be made by the folks who did Happy Feet.
Avatar 2
As if there was any doubt, there will be an Avatar sequel. It could explore unseen parts of Pandora (like the oceans or underworld) or it could take us to some of the other moons around that gas giant Pandora's orbiting.
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to 30 Days of Night
and here's what I thought.
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. He was also supposed to write Disney's Captain Nemo prequel until 
meets 
, but I'm hoping it can be more like 
.
