Writing is Hard: Character Actors

John Rozum has a cool post on "casting" his characters in his head before he writes them. Referring specifically to Adam and Julia Kadmon from Midnight, Mass. he talks about how imagining a specific actor in the role can not only help communicate ideas to comic book artists, but can also help solidify the character in your head as you're writing:

When I got to thinking about Midnight, Mass. again shortly before it finally became a reality I had an epiphany of Julia being Famke Janssen which really brought together all of the loose threads and ideas I had for the series and definitely cemented the character of Julia for me.

I've done this a couple of times and it was very helpful. I need to do it more.

The Return of Xombi

I said something earlier about BPRD's being the best horror comic ever made. I love that series, but there may have been some hyperbole going on in that statement. Certainly BPRD benefits from being so long-running in addition to the rest of its awesomeness. Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Guy Davis have had a lot of time to include tons of fantastic ideas. There are other excellent horror comics that also are strong contenders for my favorite spot, but for various reasons don't have the benefit of the sheer quantity that BPRD's put out. I could name a few Steve Niles books, for instance. And I'd certainly list two John Rozum series: Midnight, Mass. and Xombi.

I've been planning to revisit Xombi for a while now. I just need to dig my Milestone collection out of storage in order to do it and that's a bigger feat than you know. But I'm going to have to get serious about it with the new series returning in February. I've been aching for more Xombi ever since DC first announced it was re-introducing the Milestone characters to its Universe. The news that it's finally coming needs to be celebrated.

Quotes of the Week: Someone Else's Characters

I had a great phone conversation with [Harlan Ellison] while I was writing THE X-FILES comic book series in which he expressed his extreme disappointment in the work I was doing there. Everything he said was right on the money and tied in to the usual restrictions that come with playing with someone else's licensed characters, especially when those characters are on what is currently the hottest tv show on. There's not much you are allowed to do with such a property, and my hands were tied. Again, upon hearing this he was equally as supportive as any other time I've talked to him. I didn't find his dismissal of my work on the X-Files to be a nasty rant, but simply the opinion of someone who was disappointed because they knew I could have been doing so much better. And he was right.
--John Rozum

I like being Politically Correct. If I'm saying something that is offensive, even unintentionally, then I want to be alerted. I don't, as a rule, blame the offended party for being offended. Yes, I know this PC stuff can go too far. But I don't want to get into that with this post. Mainly, I worry about PC just for the sake of staying aware. I like having a clue. I think PC protocols should often be broken, but I want to do it intentionally, with thought and for a particular purpose. I don't, generally speaking, want to be a jackass.
--Richard Beck

Comics News: Grizzly Shark, Dino Boy, Mystery Society, and More

Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark



Sometimes, an idea comes along that's so obvious that you don't know why no one's thought of it before. Other times, you know exactly why no one has. Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark: They Got Mixed Up falls into the latter category, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. [Robot 6]

The Return of Reptil



I've been generally uninterested in the announcements about the new Avengers team members, much less all the various spin-offs like Avengers Academy. Most of the Academy members are new characters or people I've never heard of, but I was delighted to see this promo piece featuring Reptil (the boy with dinosaur powers). I was hoping Marvel would find a place for him.

Nick Mulder and Nora Scully, Firefly comics, and Pedal-Copters after the break.

And Now the News: I refuse to be beaten by a villain named after a pastry (or, the 2000th post)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the 2000th time I've updated this blog. I wouldn't know how to celebrate that if I wanted to, but I figured it needed at least acknowledging.

Hunter's Fortune preview



CBR's got a preview of Boom!'s treasure-hunter comic Hunter's Fortune. There's not much action in the preview, but Caleb Monroe writes some nice dialogue and the art's really sweet. I was hoping this would be good and sure enough, it looks like it will be.

Kerry Callen's Tigra



I've said before that Kerry Callen ought to be writing a Tigra comic. Now he's given us a taste of what that might be like. (Maybe not an accurate taste - he wrote it as a She-Hulk parody for Marvel's humor comic What the--? - but a fun taste nevertheless.)

Midnight, Mass: The TV Series



I think I've also mentioned before that John Rozum is like the king of supernatural adventure comics, right? Part of my evidence for that being his couple of excellent, though poorly-treated-by-Vertigo Midnight, Mass mini-series. So, can you imagine how excited I am about the announcement of a Midnight, Mass TV show? I don't think you can. I'm still trying to get my head around the concept of that much giddiness myself.

Everything you need to know about Love and Rockets



The Hernandez Bros.' Love and Rockets is one of those series that everyone says is a fantastic Must Read, but that I've never figured out how to get into. For years, the un-numbered, collected volumes prevented me from knowing where to begin.

No excuses anymore. Chris Mautner has started a new Robot 6 column called Comics College that's intended to "(examine) the body of work of a particular cartoonist or cartoonists of note in the hopes of giving newcomers and the generally uninitiated an entry point." As Chris continues, "There are a number of notable creators who have had lengthy careers in comics and figuring out where to start when reading their ouevre can be tricky." That's so true, and what's especially cool is that he started with the series that's been most tricky for me personally. And I didn't even have to ask.

Thanks, Chris! I can't wait for future installments.

And Now the News: Thor's willingness to share

Here's what went on this week in adventure news.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 update



Filming on Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is planned to start early next year so that the movie can be released in 2011. They're hoping that it'll be the first of another trilogy.

Also - and I've lost the link to this, unfortunately - word is that they're going to tone it way down from the first trilogy. They can't get bigger than those movies, so they're making a conscious decision to go smaller. They've even gone so far as to call it a "reboot" (man, Hollywood loves and overuses that word) even though it'll still star Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader update



Shooting has begun on Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which should be the best Narnia movie yet based on story and subject matter alone. Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, and Liam Neeson are all back as Lucy, Edmund, Caspian, and Aslan respectively. Not sure if Eddie Izzard is still the voice of Reepicheep, but it looks like Will Poulter from Son of Rambow is still playing nasty cousin Eustace as once announced. Guess we'll find out soon enough though. It's still scheduled to come out next year.

Undersea heroes profiled



The Aquaman Shrine just finished a cool and informative Undersea Heroes Week looking at Namor, Undersea Agent, Shark-Man, and Pirana. He's already got a nice list going (including Marrina! Yay!) for another week at some point, so I'll be impatiently waiting for that.

Kong: King of Skull Island update



Apparently, the movie based on Joe DeVito's illustrated prequel/sequel novel Kong: King of Skull Island is now going to be produced by Spirit Pictures instead of Fantastic Films International as previously announced. And it's being planned as CGI motion-capture animation.

Night Mary movie



Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer's Night Mary mini-series is being made into a movie. That's cool because it's a great, spooky story (sort of like Dreamscape, only scary), but I've got a personal - though tangential - relationship to this news. My medieveal vampire short story "Completely Cold" was published in the back matter of Night Mary #3.

Hangman preview



DC has a preview of their re-introduction to the Hangman character. This is written by J. Michael Straczynski, but I'm excited about it because it presumably sets the stage for the John Rozum stories that will follow. Also, that logo kicks twelves kinds of bootie.

Wolf Man update



Though Universal denies that it has anything to do with their confidence in the movie or the troubles they've had in making it, they've moved the Wolf Man remake from this November back to next February.

Wolves of Odin webcomic launches



The sequel to Grant Gould's Vikings vs. Werewolves graphic novel has begun. For free.

World War Robot movie



Jerry Bruckheimer has bought the rights to IDW's World War Robot series. I still need to read those stories.

Spacecaptain Blood



I wish this was actual concept art from Warner Brothers' planned Captain Blood in Space movie, but it's not. It is of course from Captain Harlock, a series that I'm long overdue in watching.

But back to Captain Blood: There will be those who complain that this is a bad idea and will cite Disney's Treasure Planet as evidence. I don't know what those people are talking about. It may not be an original idea, but space pirates are never a bad idea and Treasure Planet was much more entertaining than people give it credit for.

Adventurenews: Number One Super Guy

Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters



I took a pass on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, because zombies are boring. Sea monsters, on the other hand, are totally cool. And lets face it, Jane Austen always could've used more pirates and giant, rampaging, mutant lobsters.

The Flock



Giant Monsters Attack has the scoop on Warner Brothers' development of a movie about modern-day descendents of prehistoric terror birds. Incidentally, I've long thought that "terror bird" is the coolest pairing of words in the English language.

John Rozum's Hangman



There aren't a lot of details in this interview with John Rozum about his upcoming revival of the old Hangman character for DC, but I have to link to it because I'm just so excited that Rozum's writing a supernatural hero comic again. If you've read Xombi and/or Midnight, Mass, you know what I mean.

Hong Kong Phooey movie



I know two things about this movie.

1) It will not be very good.

2) Unless it has Will Farrell in it, I will be there opening night.

My first lunchbox was a Hong Kong Phooey one. Big fan here.