Elsewhere... it was a very busy week at Robot 6

Six awesome Wildstorm titles



After news that WildStorm is shutting down this December, the Robot 6 gang reminisced about our favorite of their books. I talked about League of Extraordinary Gentleman and touched briefly on the rest of Alan Moore's America's Best Comics line.

History's Kid Heroes



In last weekend's What Are You Reading? I gave a short review of Graphic Universe's series on the adventures of real, historical children.

Food or Comics?



I can say that I love the Food or Comics? feature without bragging, because I don't typically contribute to it. Until this week, anyway. A couple of the regulars couldn't contribute this time, so I filled in. It was fun, so hopefully I'll get to do it again.

If you're unfamiliar with the feature, we talk about the week's new comics from a budget perspective. What would you buy with only $15? What would you get if you had another $15 on top of that? And what would you splurge for if you had a sudden windfall?

Beasts of Burden



And finally, I reviewed Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson's awesome Beasts of Burden collection about a group of lovable pets who exorcise haunted doghouses, fight witches (or their cats anyway), run from zombie roadkill, and battle giant frogs.

Art Show: Death's Stagecoach

Pirates



By Todd Lockwood [Illustrateurs]

Amphibian



By Mathieu Reynès.

Sheena and Snowbird



By Katie Cook. [Tons of other Marvel heroes in that link]

Jurassic Park



Artist Unknown [Illustrateurs]

Dinosaurigami



By Petr Stuchlý. [Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs]

Knighthood, a ghost-cowboy, a warrior-goddesses, and the greatest team-up of all time after the break

Awesome List: Tons of Indy stuff, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Bourne 4, and more

Shia LaBeouf: Awesome or Not?



I was wondering the other day about who today's Hollywood superstars are. With Tom Cruise all out of favor, who are the Harrison Fords and Bruce Willises of modern times? Russell Crowe maybe? Brad Pitt. Angelina Jolie.

I was also trying to figure out who the new action stars are. Who are today's Schwarzeneggers and Stallones? Jason Statham, obviously. Maybe Matt Damon. And seeing stuff about Eagle Eye is making me wonder if Shia LaBeouf isn't on his way to becoming the next blockbuster king. Part of me is rebelling against that idea, but I don't know why. He was awesome in Crystal Skull.

It makes me wonder though. What's the general consensus on Shia? Do we love him or are we tired of him already? And if I'm missing any other modern superstar actors or action stars, let me know that too.

Indy pocket watches

Speaking of Indiana Jones, I think I've found my new timepiece. I love that airplane logo.

And here it is on a hat


Getting one of these too.

Indiana Jones vs. Gallagher

Staying on the subject of Indy, wouldn't you like to play a game where he has to fight watermelon-smashing comedian Gallagher? The correct answer is: No, you really wouldn't. Turns out, it's a lot more fun to think about than it is to actually play.

Japanese Indy fan



I don't know why I think a young, Japanese girl reading an Indiana Jones book is so cool, but I totally do.

Indy fonts

Wrapping up our Indiana Jones links: I bet the last thing you thought you'd see today was a scholarly look at the fonts on the travel maps in the Indiana Jones movies, wasn't it?

The Amazing Telectroscope



Did you know there's a secret tunnel running deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean that miraculously allows people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa? Kung Fu Rodeo took some pictures of it.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century

No word on whether it will include secret tunnels running below the Atlantic, but Alan Moore has some details about the next League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series starting at the end of the year from Top Shelf.

It’s as if we feel freed from the conventions of boys’ adventure comics, and so it’s a lot more atmospheric, it builds to a tremendously bloody climax, it’s a slow build. We’re thrilled with it. It’s got some songs in it, it’s a musical.

I think I'm going to miss the boys' adventure angle, but we'll see. Moore also says it's going to be a three issue volume with each issue being 72 pages.

More Matt Damon Bourne



IESB interviews Frank Marshall and Tom Crowley and gets some skinny on the fourth Bourne movie (which was apparently announced months ago). Bourne's going to South America and they're shooting for a 2010 release.

Knight Rider GPS

With KITT's voice (the St. Elsewhere KITT; not the Val Kilmer one).

The Awesome List: Dr. Syn, Eleventh Hour, Sheena stickers, Coraline movie, Atomic Robo, and Kill All Monsters!

Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow



I've mentioned before how much I love scarecrows. I also love The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (No, not the movie version. Gag.) And I love dark, masked antiheroes with big guns. And I'm quite a big fan of adventure stories set in the 18th century.

So, when Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill started talking about a 1780's version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I saw that it included a dark, masked antihero in its ranks, I was curious to learn more. Imagine my excitement when I learned that though you can't really tell it in O'Neill's drawings, Dr. Syn is actually dressed like a scarecrow.

Now imagine how I feel that Disney is finally releasing their classic Dr. Syn TV series on DVD. I don't know if it's any good, but I aim to find out.

Eleventh Hour

Know who else I love? Rufus Sewell. Ever since Cold Comfort Farm and Dark City.

And now he's going to be in a TV show about a "special science advisor" to the government who saves the world from mad scientists every week with the help of a "feisty female bodyguard." It's like they're making TV just for me now.

Sheena stickers

I've experienced mixed results from Devil's Due's comics output, but man if I'm not excited about their new line of comics-related merchandise. I'm gettin' some of those Sheena stickers.

Coraline



Neil Gaiman's posted a teaser trailer for his next movie: a 3D adaptation of Coraline.

Atomic Robo

I've already told you how to get your hands on free Atomic Robo in May. What I didn't tell you is that that's just the beginning of new Atomic Robo adventures. According to the press release I got:

"Red 5 Comics is pleased to announce that starting this fall, Atomic Robo will return as a continuing series, with (co-creators Brian) Clevinger and (Scott) Wegener on-board for over twenty issues of Robo exploits over the next three years.

"'We couldn't be happier to be able to share more of Robo's adventures,' said Clevinger. 'I can promise more explosions and more punching, but the two are probably unrelated. Punching things until they explode is just bad strategy, even for a robot.'

"On the success of Robo, Wegener waxed, 'It was Mark Twain who said, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." The first time I drew Robo in a pair of cargo pants and muddy combat boots it was instant BFFs. Thank God other people seem to like the idea too.'"

Kill All Monsters! gets it wrong

In Kill All Monsters!, Jason Copland and I have humanity building giant robots and mecha suits to fight giant monsters. Robotics expert Daniel Wilson explains why that's a bad idea. I hope he doesn't mind my stealing homaging some of his suggestions, because burrowing, explosives-laden suicide robots are exactly what the comics industry needs.

Artist of the Day: Sillof

By now, everyone's seen Sillof's steampunk customizations of the Justice League of America, but check out his site for more cool figures like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Venture Brothers, and some fantastic Star Wars customs like the Re-Visioned series that combines the movies' sci-fi elements with medieval fantasy, Westerns, and samurai movies.

Links du Jour: Gorey movie, sharks and wolfmen, and ninjas aren't Chinese

Adventure

• I've been avoiding talking about the rumors around David Goyer's Green Arrow/supervillains-in-prison pitch, because I don't like speculating on rumors. But Variety has picked up the story now and is apparently reporting it as a done deal between Goyer and Warner Brothers. Not that Variety's never been wrong before. Anyway, I don't get the title Super Max. After Green Arrow's successful appearances on Smallville, why not just call it Green Arrow? Or would Hollywood automatically want to force in an origin story if it was named after the hero?
• At first glance, Moonstone's new superhero book CLASH sounded a bit familiar for my tastes. I don't want to read yet another book where the superheroes think they know what's best for the world and begin imposing their will on it. But, looking closer, CLASH has got a cool twist on the idea: humanity rebels. I'd like to see what they do with that.

Horror

• Coming to the Ultrascreen on Thursday, April 19th: Ghostbusters.
• Walden Media and the Jim Henson Company are planning a live-action movie adaptation of Edward Gorey's The Doubtful Guest. As a Gorey fan, I'm very curious to see how this turns out. (Though I agree with whoever it was who said that the story's not long enough for a feature movie and we're likely to see a lot of Grinch/Cat in the Hat-ish padding.)
• Oh, man! Check out Guy Davis' Night of the Living Dead drawings for TCM Underground! *swoon*

Science Fiction

• I like Marvel's Killraven character thanks to fond childhood memories of this comic. If you don't know him, he lives in a post-War of the Worlds Earth where the Martians took over the planet and enslaved humanity. Killraven decided to fight back. Not groundbreaking stuff by any stretch, but fun enough for a nine-year-old. Anyway, I'm reminded of it because apparently Rob Kirkman and Rob Liefeld are reviving the character for a project next year. As much as I like Liefeld as a person (and I really do), I'm not a fan of his artwork and this will be no exception. So I guess it's a good thing that he's working on a character I just kinda have nice memories of and not one I'm still attached to like Alpha Flight or Shang Chi.
• As long as I'm linking to Rich Johnston and talking about Shang Chi, read further down in Rich's column for an entry called "Blast from the Past File" about how Jim Shooter almost had Doug Moench turn Shang Chi into a ninja until Moench explained, "Mr. Shooter, perhaps you're not aware. Ninjas are Japanese; kung-fu is Chinese."
• According to The Hollywood Reporter, progress has been made on the Sci Fi Channel's Flash Gordon series. Eric Johnson (who played Lana's boyfriend Whitney in the first season of Smallville) will play Flash. They're still looking for people to play Dale, Dr. Zarkov, and the rest.

Other Comics

• Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, Making Comics) will be at Dream Haven Books here in Minneapolis tonight at 7:30. It's part of his 50-state tour of the US.
• Top Shelf has announced their 2008 releases including the third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the long-awaited (by me) trade paperback collection of Kagan McLeod's Infinite Kung Fu. Wormwood sounds pretty interesting too, and so do the new graphic novels by Brian Wood (DMZ, Local) and Alex Robinson (Box Office Poison).

Writing is Hard

• Evil Editor has a great quote about the difference between literary and genre fiction: "Literary doesn't mean it's literature; it just means it's boring. My advice: add some sharks and a wolfman, and call it commercial fiction."

Stuff Nobody Cares About But Me

• According to the Disney blog, Epcot is tweaking its Mexico pavilion by having it feature Donald Duck, Panchito, and Jose Carioca (aka the Three Caballeros). The Mexico pavilion's always been one of my favorite of the Epcot countries to visit (I really need to eat in that amazingly atmospheric restaurant one of these trips), but that doesn't mean I think it's perfect just the way it is. A little Caballero action added to it might be cool.