100 Things I Love About TV

It's taken me a while, but I've finally compiled a list a la Siskoid's.



1. Andy Griffith and Don Knotts: Greatest Comedy Team of All Time
2. Falling in love with Elinor Donahue on Father Knows Best (then realizing she’d also dated Andy Taylor).
3. The comfort of watching any family in a ‘60s sitcom (eg Hazel, My Three Sons, etc.)
4. The opening credits to I Dream of Jeannie.
5. Fred Sanford vs. Aunt Esther.
6. Vincent Price’s terrorizing the Brady boys in Hawaii.
7. The “Ring My Bell” skit on The Carol Burnett Show.
8. The Ministry of Silly Walks.
9. The Fonz.
10. Alex P Keaton



11. Bill Cosby’s finally getting the perfect showcase for his comedy in The Cosby Show.
12. Bob Newhart doing anything.
13. Lilith on Cheers.
14. “This is the theme to Garry’s show, the theme to Garry’s show. Garry called me up and asked if I would write his theme song.”
15. David Schwimmer’s complete willingness to make a jackass of himself on Friends. And Ross isn't even my favorite character from that show.
16. “Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie!”
17. “No, Matthew. I can definitively state that I am not Doobie Keebler.”
18. Anthony Clark as Boyd Pritchett in Boston Common.
19. Mr. Frickin’ Bean.
20. “Yo-Yo Ma!” “Boutros Boutros-Ghali!”



21. Lt. Jim Dangle.
22. JD and Turk’s bromance.
23. The Legen - wait for it - dary Barney Stinson.
24. Jim’s pranks on Dwight.
25. Knock knock. “Penny.” Knock knock. “Penny.” Knock knock. “Penny.”
26. Watching the credits of The Love Boat to see who the guest-stars were.
27. Noel Crane’s crush on Felicity Porter.
28. Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.
29. That Sandra Oh makes me cry every time her character does.
30. The design of the submarine in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.



31. Ron Ely’s intelligent Tarzan.
32. That the most faithful adaptation of Tarzan ever was a Filmation cartoon.
33. The world-building in Land of the Lost.
34. “Daniel Boone was a man. He was a biiiiig man!”
35. “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, there was never a leatherneck braver; a Daring Dragoon is he. He’ll halt the bold advance of Napoleon’s attack! There ain’t a French or pirate rogue who don’t…know Jack!”
36. The inventive abandon of Brisco County, Jr.
37. Learning about history from Young Indiana Jones.
38. Adam West’s deadpan.
39. Luke Skywalker as the Joker.
40. The whole DC Timmiverse.



41. The theme to Legion of Super Heroes.
42. The theme to Teen Titans.
43. The General Lee’s jumping creeks and blowing that horn.
44. Boy George’s guest-starring on The A-Team.
45. Adam Ant’s guest-starring on The Equalizer.
46. Noel Crane’s becoming the badass Cool Breeze on The Unit.
47. Jack Bristow’s brutally relentless protection of his daughter in Alias.
48. The DVD cover for Season One of Nikita.
49. The theme to Mission: Impossible.
50. The theme to Hawaii Five-0.



51. Alfred Hitchcock’s opening and closing comments on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
52. The theme to Perry Mason.
53. Robert Ironside’s fighting crime from a wheelchair.
54. The Barnaby Jones announcer. “Tonight’s episode: ‘To Catch a Dead Man’!”
55. Feeling smugly alternative because I liked Jaclyn Smith better than Farrah Fawcett.
56. Columbo’s turning around at the door and saying, “Oh, just one more thing…”
57. How Magnum PI was totally an homage to film noir.
58. Lee Horseley as both Archie Goodwin on Nero Wolfe and the titular Matt Houston.
59. The way Avery Brooks pronounced “Spenser” in Spenser: For Hire.
60. Rick and AJ Simon. But mainly Rick.



61. Shawn Spencer’s love of The Mentalist.
62. Patrick Jane’s smirk.
63. Daphne and Fred’s relationship in Scooby Doo: Mystery, Inc.
64. That Friday the 13th: The Series was way better than the movies it got its name from.
65. Mulder and Scully’s calling each other by their last names.
66. John Astin as Gomez Addams.
67. Just knowing that Dark Shadows existed.
68. Getting arsonphobia from an episode of Ghost Story. I eventually grew out of it, but that’s some powerful TV. I was freaked out by campfires and birthday candles for a couple of years.
69. The very idea that Aaron Spelling did a show based on Vampire: The Masquerade.
70. Sun and Jin. Also Sawyer.



71. Elizabeth Montgomery’s twinkle.
72. Everything about Lynda Carter.
73. Xena’s battle cry.
74. “Oh, Mighty Isis!”
75. The animal-appliances in The Flintstones.
76. Teen Pebbles.
77. Sid and Marty Krofft’s costumes.
78. Mr. Hooper’s having to constantly correct Big Bird’s pronunciation of his name.
79. “It’s The Muppet Show, everybody! Yaaaaay!”
80. “Of course you realize: this means war.”



81. The sound the Six Million Dollar Man made when he used his powers.
82. The heartbreak of Jamie Sommers’ amnesia.
83. David Banner walking down the road to that piano tune at the end of every episode of The Incredible Hulk.
84. Being introduced to “Land of a Thousand Dances” by Misfits of Science.
85. George Reeves’ Clark Kent. An unconvincing disguise, but a hero in his own right.
86. Teri Hatcher’s Lois Lane.
87. Smallville’s using Remy Zero’s “Save Me” as it’s theme song.
88. Roswell’s using Dido’s “Here With Me” as it’s theme song.
89. Seeing Mystery Science Theatre live at Minneapolis’ Uptown Theater in 1992.
90. The vehicles of Ark II (including the jet pack).



91. “Five hundred years into the future she will enter a world where machines rule the earth. Mankind has been driven underground.”
92. Tom Baker’s running around the universe offering everyone Jelly Babies.
93. The Clone Wars’ heroic rescue of the entire Star Wars franchise.
94. Hawk from Buck Rogers.
95. Original Cylons
96. Kirk’s libido.
97. Picard’s voice.
98. Worf’s scowl.
99. The concept of Star Trek: Enterprise.
100. “Our love for him now ain’t hard to explain. The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne.”

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: 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.

Awesome List: Incredibles comics, Casanova movie, Masterpiece Mystery, Holmes films, Dracula vs. Evil, Wolf Man remake, and more

Incredibles (and other Pixar) comics



Boom! Studios just announced today that they're going to be making comics based on Pixar properties like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. and WALL-E. Most exciting though is that someone finally wised up and decided to do an Incredibles comic. I've been wanting one of those since the movie came out, but have been afraid that if one ever did come out that it wouldn't live up to expectations. With Mark Waid writing it though, I don't think that's going to be a problem.

The art above isn't from the upcoming comic, though how cool would Mignola covers be on an Incredibles comic? Almost as cool as Darwyn Cooke covers, which are what we're actually getting. It's like Christmastime!

Casanova movie

Congratulations to Matt Fraction who's sold the film rights to his truly awesome spy comic.

More on that Indy DVD cover



I didn't really understand what it was when I linked to that cool-looking DVD case before, but fortunately someone left a comment pointing me in the right direction. Here's an in-depth review of it. Apparently it's a $50 Blockbuster item, though I imagine that we'll be able to pick them up a lot cheaper at the end of the summer.

Masterpiece Mystery



I've kind of lost interest in Masterpiece Theater since they finished the Jane Austen marathon. Kind of lost interest in Jane too. Oh, well.

But I'm starting to get interested again thanks to their summer plans for Masterpiece Mystery. Looks like they're getting rid of some detectives I've never heard of and are replacing them with Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Kenneth Branagh as Kurt Wallander. I've never heard of Kurt Wallander, but I love Branagh, so I'm in for that.

Holmes movies



Know what else I'm up for? Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes in that Guy Ritchie version we talked about.

I'm not nearly as excited about Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes (and Will Ferrell as Watson) in a Judd Apatow comedy. It's not that I think humor is an inappropriate approach to Holmes - Without a Clue is awesome - it's just that I'm going to need convincing that this will actually be funny.

I Want to Believe

Here's a cool interview with Chris Carter about the new X-Files movie that only increases my hope that it's going to be really good. He also talks about possible plans (and a date) for a third X-Files film.

The Dracula Horror Series

Christopher Mills turns us on to a series that sounds way cooler than its title suggests.

A wheelchair-bound scientist and his Puerto Rican ex-New York cop assistant travel to Transylvania, where they revive Count Dracula with the intention of using the Lord of Vampires as their agent in a war against evil. They figure to control the Count by surgically placing a mechanical implant into Dracula's chest that, should the fiend defy them, will drive a sliver of wood into his heart. The scientist has an implant of his own – if his heart should stop beating, it will send a signal to activate Dracula's.

They succeed, and over the course of the series Dracula is pitted against giant vampire bats, voodoo masters, satanic cults, Elizabeth Bathory(!) and other forces of evil, while constantly scheming to free himself and take his revenge upon the crazy crime fighters.

It's out of print, but you can find copies on Amazon.

IHG Award nominees

The International Horror Guild has announced the nominees for best works of 2007. I always discover at least a couple of good books thanks to this list every year. Nice to see Ben Templesmith's Wormwood nominated for Illustrated Narrative. I've got Shaun Tan's The Arrival sitting in my reading pile too. Need to get to that.

Mike Mignola's cover to his and Christopher Golden's Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire is also very cool.

Wolf Man



Empire has the first still from the upcoming Wolf Man remake and it looks encouraging.

What Looks Good: July at the Movies

July 4

Hancock: My history with Will Smith movies is that I enjoy them for the two hours I'm there and then pretty much forget about them afterwards. I don't expect this one will be any different.

I might've had higher hopes if they hadn't already spoiled his character development in the trailer. I think it would've been a bolder choice to have him stay a butthole the entire movie, but maybe they pull off the change really well.

Kabluey: (Limited release) I expect I'll like this costumed hero a lot more than Hancock. Plus: Teri Garr.

July 11

Hellboy II: The Golden Army: C'mon, it's Hellboy. I'd see it even if it didn't look the most awesomely imaginative fantasy film since Return of the King. Which it totally does.

Journey to the Center of the Earth: Despite my liking both Jules Verne's imagination and Brendan Fraser's screen presence, I'm having a hard time getting excited about this one at all. They've changed two of the main characters into kids ("...making [the Icelandic guide] Hans into Hannah was just an obvious choice," says director Eric Brevig) and seem more focused on playing with the 3D technology than on telling a great story ("...The rest of it [aside from adapting a couple of iconic moments from the book] was me coming up with pieces of business that I thought would just play wonderfully in 3-D as well as 2-D"). This is probably a DVD rental for me.

July 18

The Dark Knight: As much as my brain tells me that this is going to be awesome because the first one was and Christopher Nolan can Do No Wrong, my heart's just not in it. I'm getting a little more excited the more we see of Two-Face, but I'm so tired of the Joker being played as just another psychotic killer. This is absolutely NOT a criticism of Heath Ledger whom I love as an actor and I expect is brilliant with the part he was given, but just once I'd like to see the Joker in the movies hatch a scheme involving an oversized mallet and a giant jack-in-the-box.

Transsiberian: (NY and LA only) The trailer looks uninspired, but I love trains and snow enough that I'm hoping those elements will carry me through even if the plot is lousy. But maybe it won't be. Maybe it's just a lousy trailer.

Space Chimps: Talking apes in a space adventure. What could be nicer?

July 25

Step Brothers: This is such a toss up as to whether or not I'm going to like it. John C. Reilly is great, but I can't usually take much of Will Ferrell. All the ads I've seen for it have made me laugh though, so on the list it goes.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe: This has the potential to be my favorite movie of the summer. I love and miss Mulder and Scully like you wouldn't believe. Unfortunately, it also has the potential to be the biggest disappointment. My hopes for it are way too high.

Adventureblog Theater: Indiana Jones, Doctor Who Smackdown, X-Files 2, and Fringe

Painting Indiana Jones



Via.

Fake Indiana Jones prequel



Doctor Who Karate

Who says the Doctor's not an action hero?



Via.

X-Files 2 trailer



JJ Abrams' Fringe trailer

Seems appropriate right after an X-Files one.

Awesome List Catch-Up: Part Three

Okay. More catching up with Awesome news from Blogarama.

Another Blue Beetle interview

I followed up my interview with the writer of Blue Beetle's all-Spanish issue by breaking the news about the series' new, regular writer: Jack of Fables' Matt Sturges. Hopefully you can't tell it from the interviews, but I've never read an issue of Blue Beetle before now. These conversations have made me want to change that though, so I'll be picking up the Spanish issue this week as well as checking out Matt's run. And I just bought the collection of the first six issues in the series.

There's a new poster for the Incredible Hulk movie



And again, it's got a great Bill Bixby vibe that's making me hungry to see it.

Atlantis Rising

I don't read Platinum Comics because the vibe I get is that they're all movie pitches first and comics second. I'd rather read comics by people who just really want to make comics.

That's not to say that there aren't some nifty movie ideas in their concepts though, so I'm actually curious to see more about the Atlantis Rising movie. I loves me some Atlantis stories.

Black Panther: The Animated Series

I got tired of the Black Panther comic once it got caught up in Civil War and became a second Fantastic Four title, but if the cartoon is anything like the early issues, I'll be all over it.

Three Days in Europe movie

Back when I was actively trying to expand my tastes with some genres I don't typically read, I thought I'd give Three Days in Europe a try thinking it was a Romance comic. It was, but it was also a crime/spy/adventure comic and it was really good. So I'm happy that it's getting made into a movie starring Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Garner.

New Crystal Skull pics

Can be found here. None of them really grabbed me, but there they are.

Another Spirit poster



I like this one. It looks more like a Will Eisner splash page and less like Sin City 2. I'd prefer it not be in black-and-white though.

New X-Files comics

I never used to read X-Files comics when the show was still on even though one of my favorite writers, John Rozum, was writing them. Comics based on currently-being-produced TV shows are always creatively tied by the need to not contradict the show they're based on. That might not be as big a problem now that X-Files is an infrequent movie series though, so I'm likely to give this a shot.

Women of DC poster by Adam Hughes



This was a giveaway at the New York Comic Con. Man, I love Adam Hughes.

From left to right: Catwoman, Oracle, Zatanna, Black Canary, Power Girl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batwoman, Vixen, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.

Supergirl for kids

Fans have been clamoring for a more kid-friendly (or, more specifically, young-girl-friendly) Supergirl comic for a while now. Looks like they're finally getting it.

Marvel Apes



Coming soon to a superhero universe near you. I sort of wish they were all gorillas, but how can you not make the webslinger a spider monkey? Well done, Marvel.

Catching up with the Awesome List

Something's been bugging me since I turned over the Awesome List to Newsarama and that's that I know some of you reading this are interested in those news bits but aren't going to start reading the whole Newsarama blog for them. So rather than just drop the feature here completely, I think I'm going to start doing a recap, not only of the Newsarama Awesome List, but any other items from that blog that especially catch my attention. You'll be getting the items a day later than Newsarama readers will, but you'll be getting them.

For the sake of completeness I'm going to go back to when I stopped doing the feature here, so some of this will be old news until I get caught up.

Pulp-inspired DC superhero covers



Space Devil and Frankenstein

Star Wars mash-up toys; vikings vs. Nazis vs. dinosaurs

Jonah Hex joins the JLA?

Red 5's Afterburn heads to Hollywood. It's a cool comic - at least as far as I can tell so far - but the real exciting part about this news is that it makes an Atomic Robo movie that much more possible.

X-Files 2 has a poster.




American Godzilla '94: The Webcomic.

Madagascar 2; why the Bionic Woman remake failed.

New Lone Ranger movie

Indy TV ad, Tikiware, John Hughes, Paleo-Future, and Calling All Robots

Red 5 Comics in June, Fantasy Classics (featuring Frankenstein), and some nonsense about Mr. T.

That catches us up through the end of March.

The Awesome List: Indy and Buck Rogers comics, Galactica on Letterman, Deathly Hallows movies, X-Files 2, Eurospies, giant lobsters, and more

Indiana Jones Adventures



This is kind of old news, but Dark Horse Comics is gearing up in May for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with lots of Indiana Jones comics, some of them reprints; some of them new. One of the new ones is the first volume of Indiana Jones Adventures, a cartoony kid-friendly digest-sized comic. And if there's anything that Marvel Adventures has taught me, it's that I'm enjoying the kid-friendly comics a lot more than the adult ones lately. I expect this to be twice the fun and excitement that any of the other Indy comics are.

Also coming from Dark Horse in May is a new anthology of prose Hellboy stories: Oddest Jobs.

New Buck Rogers comics

Crap. Dynamite Entertainment has been getting me closer and closer to buying some of their stuff as monthly singles instead of waiting for the trade paperback collections. I think they've finally figured out how to push me over the edge.

Battlestar Galactica cast on Letterman

Phone the neighbors and wake the kids. Or at least set the TiVo. Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas and Lucy Lawless will all be on Letterman to do the Top 10 List this Wednesday night, March 19.

Harry Potter 7 (and 8)



In case you've been in outer space since last Thursday and haven't heard, Warner Brothers is splitting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two movies.

X-Files 2 has wrapped

I cannot freaking wait.

Agent 077

That's not a typo. It's an actual spy series from the '60s that Christopher Mills has the info (and the trailers) on. Looks schnazzy.

Salt Water Taffy



Oni's got a new comic coming about an "unusual hamlet called Chowder Bay–a small town full of big mysteries, giant adventures, and gargantuan lobsters." There's even an old sea dog fighting a giant lobster right on the cover. I'll be in line right behind Heidi MacDonald for my copy.

DC's Manhunter returns

I was pretty late coming to the Manhunter party. It took a big Wonder Woman story to get me to even take a look and that was after the series already had gone into hiatus. But I read it, loved it, and now I'm as excited as anyone else that it's finally coming back. Anyone interested in strong, three-dimensional, female characters should really give this series a look.

Not Awesome: Cliff Chiang leaving Black Canary

In all fairness, I've enjoyed Judd Winick's writing on Green Arrow and Black Canary about 3000 times more than I expected to. So I'll still be reading the series, even though it makes me very sad that Cliff Chiang will no longer be illustrating it. He'll still be doing covers, which is nice, but his next series will be something for Vertigo.

Mike Norton is replacing Chiang and from what I've seen on his blog, he should do just fine. Still, sad to see Chiang go.

The Awesome List: Monsters, Chun-Li, Pirate's Cove, Neozoic, Strangeways, Torchwood comics, and more

Museums are Cool

When I go to WizardWorld Chicago, I usually stick pretty close to the convention center out in the 'burbs. This year though, I may have to venture into the city.

I've been to the Field Museum before and the dinosaurs are reason enough, not to mention that it was the site of much mauling in the movie version of The Relic, but the Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids exhibit will be there all summer long, so it'll be an especially good time to go. And in addition to the girly creatures in the title? Krakens.

(Thanks to SFScope -- who also reviewed the exhibit when it was in New York -- for the heads up.)

And starring Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li

I don't know how I missed this before.

I stopped caring about Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang a long, long time ago. But casting her as Chun-Li in a new Street Fighter movie? That's the way to get me to go see a new Street Fighter movie.

The Pirate's Cove

Rob Ossian, self-proclaimed Pirate King of The Pirate's Cove, doesn't look as much like a pirate as he seems to think he does, but he runs a mean, extremely useful website full of pirate biographies, music, books, movies, weapons galleries, timelines, historical documents, and nautical info. He's even got a sailing simulator! Very, very cool site.

Thank God for Red 5

Seriously. Atomic Robo and Neozoic are drugs for an illness I didn't even know I had: Lackofawesometosis.

Coming April 30: Neozoic #4

Written by Paul Ens; Art by J. Korim; Colors by Jessie Lam

The walls of Monanti city are smashed, and the lives of millions are trampled beneath the feet of relentless dinosaurs. The Predator Defense League tries to stem the tide. The King finds his family kidnapped. But is Lilli to blame?

When both father and mentor turn their backs on her, the emotional show-down turns deadly.

32 pages, $2.95

Strangeways

Strangeways was one of the casualties of Speakeasy's demise and one of the few titles that didn't immediately find a new home elsewhere. That's not a comment on it's quality though, because I read the first issue and it promised to be one of the best titles Speakeasy produced. It's high-concept (werewolves in the Wild West) is actually outdone by it's execution, at least in the first issue. It's probably the coolest, scariest werewolf story I've ever read.

Rather than shop the mini-series around elsewhere though, creator Matt Maxwell decided to hold onto it until it was done and release it as a complete graphic novel. And guess what's all done and ready to read?

You can check out the first chapter in the link above and find out more about the book here.

Torchwood comics

I gave up on Torchwood not too far into the series. It was bleaker than both Doctor Who from whence it came and The X-Files whom it seemed to try so hard to be. All that darkness needs some humor to offset it and I just wasn't finding it.

That said, it's still pretty cool that Torchwood: The Official Magazine is doing a series of exclusive comic strips based on the show.

Speaking of The X-Files

JJ Abrams' shot at the concept will co-star Denethor from The Lord of the Rings.

Free Giant Monster!

Thanks no doubt to Cloverfield, Boom! released the collected edition of Steve Niles' Giant Monster mini-series this month.

What's better, you can read it for free. You'll still want to buy it because it's cool, but now you can check it out for yourself first.

Gross Pointe Blank with talking bears

I have this love/hate thing going on with webcomics. There are some really awesome ones, but I don't have time to keep up with them. Take North World, for example, which is a fantasy epic set in a world pretty much like our own except for the demons, giant eagles, and other mythical creatures in need of killing. I need to read a book like that.

Fortunately, the good webcomics eventually find their way into print and that's the case with North Wood, the first volume of which will come out in March from Oni.

The Terragoth Chronicles

The story description sounds generic and flowery, but from what I can see of the art, The Terragoth Chronicles should at least be pretty to look at. Unfortunately, most of the art is tiny and I couldn't find any story pages on the site so I can't judge how well it'll be executed, but yeah... pretty.

The Awesome List: Cloverfield manga, cool statues, JJ Abrams' X-Files, Jericho, and more

Last night wasn't just about the bad movies. I also saw The Orphanage and Cloverfield, so I'll get reviews of them up as soon as I can. But first, I want to make sure I'm as caught up on news as I can be, so...

Speaking of Cloverfield

Following the clues in the online marketing campaign, fans have uncovered an online manga that may or may not tell the origin of the monster. Unfortunately, it's untranslated from Japanese right now.

Lost Season Four cast photo



(Thanks, Grant!)

Some very cool stuff coming out from Dark Horse in April

Like this:






The Amazon Bubble

Siskoid has a great observation about why Gail Simone's Wonder Woman is so good and what it has to do with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction's take on Iron Fist.

And speaking of Wonder Woman, I have comments about the new issue of Playboy with Tiffany Fallon as Wonder Woman, but they got to be too long for this post, so I'll do them up as a separate deal.

Fringe

Sounds like JJ Abrams' take on The X-Files. I'm in.

Jericho tease

This article on the new, partial season of Jericho is mostly a repeat of what we already know: it's a seven-episode season and they've filmed two endings to air depending on whether or not there'll be a Season Three. But there's also a new bit of tease about what Seasons Two (and Three, should there be one) will focus on.

Movie and TV Stuff

Okay, I've got a lot of catching up to do today, so some of this is old.

Writers' Strike

I don't have a lot to say about the strike except that I support the writers, naturally. I'm getting most of my info about it from Mark Evanier, and though I'm concerned about some of my favorite shows -- especially this final season of Scrubs -- I'm totally into what the WGA is trying to achieve.

Superheroes

A while back I wondered if The Rock was going to play Captain Marvel or Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam! movie. It's Black Adam.

Spies

I agree with Jeff Parker. It's not fair that Britain gets James Bond stamps and we get Yoda.

Paramount is making a movie based on Matz and Luc Jacamon’s The Killer, which is unbelievably exciting to me.

Horror

Sweeny Todd trailer.

An Underworld prequel is coming together, but it doesn't have Kate Beckinsale in it, so do I care? Surprisingly, yes. Beckinsale's my main attraction to the other two movies, but Rhona Mitra has the right look to play a similar character. Does she have the acting ability though? Someone who watched/watches The Practice, Boston Legal, or Nip/Tuck will have to tell me.

Tony and Ridley Scott are adapting Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" into a modern-day, psychological thriller.

The second X-Files movie has a release date, assuming it's not affected by the strike: July 25 of next year.

I hate these kinds of articles. In talking about his role in the upcoming Wolf Man remake, Anthony Hopkins dismisses the original as "pretty corny." Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but there's a trend of actors trying to validate their current work by disrespecting what it's based on, whether that's the original version or the genre it's associated with or whatever. Josh Hartnett made some statements early on in the 30 Days of Night publicity campaign trying to downplay the horror aspects of the movie. Maybe I'm out of touch or just like corn or something, but of all the Universal monster movies, I think The Wolf Man holds up particularly well. The themes are strong, the performances are strong, and that's the best damn werewolf makeup ever.

I watched the original Cat People not too long ago and absolutely loved it. I'm buying it, in fact. I considered writing a review of it, but Will Pfeifer has done it for me. (Incidentally, he wrote a lot of horror movie reviews last month, which gives me some serious reading to do. Adding his blog to my reading list too.)

Science Fiction

Some stuff about Pixar's John Carter of Mars movie, including that it's the first of a planned trilogy.

Links du Jour: Moneypenny RIP, Lost news, and Star Wars galore

Let's catch up on some movie/TV news, shall we? And for old times sake, I'll divide the links by genre.

Adventure

The Young Indiana Jones DVDs are almost here!

Spies

Miss Moneypenny passed away. Of all the late items in today's post, I feel worst about not mentioning this one earlier. Christopher Mills has a nice obituary.

Mystery

Since the new TV season started without Lost, the show's producers want to make sure we don't forget that it's coming back in January. So they're already talking about what's going to happen in Season 4. I don't know that I'd call what they're dishing "spoilers," but there are some nices teases that I'll send you to the link to read.

One Lost thing that I want to mention though is that Fisher Stevens is joining the cast this season. He's not the kind of actor where I want to track down everything he's done, but I'm always fascinated by his performances and I'm looking forward to his being on the show. He was in one of my all-time favorite episodes of Friends too. "Remember, Monica. It's just a cookie. It's not love."

Just in case Jericho gets cancelled again after this season, they've come up with an alternate ending to tie everything up. I love those guys. Here's hoping they won't have to use the alternate.

Horror

A local puppet studio is premiering their new show Transylvania TV on our CW affiliate at midnight tonight. Sponsored by my comic shop. Definitely TiVoing this one.

Fantasy

One of my favorite cult TV shows that never caught on was Cupid starring Jeremy Piven. Looks like it may get a second life, but without Piven in it, I'm really not interested.

Science Fiction

According to David Duchovny, X-Files 2 starts filming in December.

The Terminator franchise is getting a reboot with a new trilogy of movies in the works. No thanks. Without Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton -- heck, without just Linda Hamilton -- I don't care. Plus, it's already a confusing story. Why make it more complicated?

Did you hear about the Star Wars fans who made a (nearly) functional X-Wing rocket? How about the ones who thought a Y-Wing would work better?

Cartoonist James Baker has a huge set of Star Wars links for you to check out. I'll leave them for you to explore, but among them are possible sources of inspiration for Wookiees and Imperial Walkers, speculation about R2 and Chewie's roles in the two trilogies, and theorizing over whether or not Luke and Leia ever hooked up.

Jesse James poster, Dean Koontz Frankenstein comic, and JLA without Bale

Kill All Monsters!-Related

The Giant Monsters Attack! blog has a profile of a new comic called Sleeping Giant. The creator describes it as "Princess Mononoke, Godzilla and Donnie Darko all mixed into one with a comedic twist." Sounds good to me.

A lovely, giant, mechanical octopus shooting lasers from some of its eyes graces the cover of the next issue of Clarkesworld Magazine.

Dust to Dust-Related

The Assassination of Jesse James has an official, new poster that you can see illustrating this post.

War

It was only a matter of time before someone decided to do a live action G.I. Joe movie. I've got slightly more interest in that as I did in a Transformers flick, if only because I think it could be done well as a relatively straightforward combat movie or political thriller. But Stephen Sommers is directing it, so that's probably not what we'll get. (Also interesting in that link is news that G.I. Joe's owner Hasbro is also interested in "possible movies based on such properties as the board games Monopoly and Battleship." I can't imagine a world in which a Monopoly movie would be good, but I may be jonesing hard enough for a big-budget combat movie that I'd go see one about Battleship.)

Horror

There's going to be a comic series based on Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. That makes me very happy in theory. As long as it's executed well.

The X-Files movie script is done and David Duchovny has read it. But he ain't talkin'.

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers has announced the winners of the first annual Scribe Awards. Particularly cool to me is that Jeff Mariotte & Steve Niles have won the "Best Novel - Original" category for 30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead.

Fantasy

This isn't completely fantasy, but I've just discovered the existance of a cool blog called Strange Maps that is exactly what its title suggests. Some of the maps are of real places (only made out of, say, clothing on a bed), but most of them are of fantastic places or places that might-have-been. You could easily waste a day exploring the archives.

Science Fiction

Two artist pals of mine, Katie Cook and Grant Gould have created some Star Wars book covers for all your back-to-school, book-covering needs. I'm not even going back to school, but I'm still trying to figure out what books I can cover in these. My son starts Kindergarten this year though. Hmm.

Wonder Woman

I haven't talked much about the JLA movie here because most of what's out there about it is just rumor. Like that it's being fast-tracked and that it might be all CGI/motion-capture like Polar Express and Beowulf instead of live-action. But here's word straight from the bat's mouth that puts to rest popular speculation over whether it'll star the likes of Christian Bale and Brandon Routh as its main heroes. According to Bale, it won't.

Comic Book Resources readers are offering suggestions of things they'd like to see in Gail Simone's upcoming Wonder Woman run. Top suggestions are the return of Ferdinand the Minotaur, the return of Steve Trevor, and the inclusion of more romance in the book (with Martian Manhunter and any sort of lesbian relationship being specific suggestions).

Hulk

I'd write a detailed post exploring my fondness for the Hulk the same way I did with Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Rogue, but really my Hulk-love can be explained in two words: Hulk smash. It doesn't go much deeper than that, although I do also love the quiet, simple moments when Hulk tries to fit in with other superheroes. This one in particular made me chuckle loudly in my cube (the lengthy set up to the moment-in-question is informative, but you don't need to read it to appreciate the gag at the bottom of the post).

Giant Monster links, Jesse James movie, and Happy Perry Mason Day!

Kill All Monsters! Related

Seeing as how I'm writing a comic about giant monsters and giant robots, I figured it would be good to add a category specifically about those things.

I didn't know that comics artist Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing, Tyrant) has a blog, but he does. And I found it because he's talking about giant monsters. And pretty darn thoroughly too.

Really nice gallery of giant monsters (and some robots too). Thanks to SF Signal for the link.

Another giant monster comic is going to beat Kill All Monsters! to stores and I'm way looking forward to reading it. Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman are doing Monster Attack Network coming out this week from Ait/PlanetLar. My Newsarama cohort Graeme McMillan has the review and my Newsarama boss JK Parkin has the interview with Marc (and some art).

You've probably heard about the Iraqi badgers by now, but the Guerilla News Network has the best take on it with this headline: Giant badgers terrorise Iraqi port city. The article's just as entertaining.

Here's pretty much everything you can hope to know at present about JJ Abrams' alleged giant monster movie.

If you're planning a trip to Japan (or live there already), be sure to check out the giant robot ride in Fujiyoshida.

Dust to Dust Related

And as long as I'm posting links about one project, why not about the other? You did know there's a Jesse James movie in the works, right? There's some concern that it's not being promoted very well and that maybe it's too long, but it stars Brad Pitt, so I suspect it'll do all right.

Adventure

The first volume of the Young Indiana Jones DVDs comes out October 13th.

I agree with Digital Femme that Adam Warren needs a Shang Chi comic. Actually, I just need one (in addition to Heroes for Hire), but I think Adam Warren would do a very nice job at making one for me.

Mystery

This may not really be Mystery, but I don't know where else to put it. Joe Mathlete's got another chapter up of his faux thriller, The Grone Protocol. This paragraph had me laughing so hard that I couldn't frickin' breathe: "Barry Peterson walked through the lobby like he was holding a pickle between his buttcheeks that he would have to eat if it fell on the floor. He was wearing a shirt, pants, and shoes, just like his favorite actor Ray Romano, who often wore shirt, pants, and shoes on his television program. Standing just over six feet tall with blue eyes, wavy blonde hair, and one of those chins that looks like a butt, he was a very handsome specimen of a man. According to a lot of ladies and stuff, I mean... I don't really, y'know, notice stuff like that about dudes. Anyway, chicks seem to dig him."

Today is the birthday of Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason. He would have been 118.

Horror

The X-Files movie has a script. Almost.

Steve Niles is writing a mini-series for the Sci Fi Channel. It's about "a space-shuttle pilot who becomes trapped on a newly discovered planet. After teaching the locals to use weapons and defend themselves, he becomes the leader of the planet and must eventually choose between his native society and his adopted one when a group of humans arrive to rescue him 10 years later."

Fantasy

A friend sent me a link to this contest where you can win the first three volumes of Sean Williams' The Books of the Cataclysm. I've already entered.

The link to the Spiderwick trailer is longer than the last Harry Potter novel, so I'll send you instead to Geek Monthly's link to the link.

Superheroes

Kalinara does some thinking about Wonder Woman and wonders (pun intended) if writing her as a female Prince Charles might not be a bad idea.

Link du Jour: The X-Files 2, Superman loves Black Canary, and the death of the Honeynut Cheerios Bee

Adventure

• There are only two things I miss about not watching 24 anymore. One is seeing Jack Bauer kick bootie every week. The other is Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe. When I was watching the show, she was one of my favorite characters on TV. Which is to say that I'm pretty excited that she's on the cover on the next current issue of Geek Monthly. It's weird seeing her all sexied up in the pictorial (previewed on GM's website) -- 'cause that's not what she's about for me -- but dang if she isn't pretty.
• One of my new, favorite blog's is Every Day is Like Wednesday. This post on how Superman totally has the hots for Black Canary is a perfect example of why.

Fantasy

• Scholastic has revealed the cover art for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• The Internet is buzzing that it looks like Disney may back down on their refusal to release Song of the South on DVD. Mark Evanier has the best prediction of how this is probably going to play out.

Science Fiction

• Looks like the second X-Files movie is on it's way.

Comics

• I've always thought that someone should make a cartoon in which all the breakfast cereal characters crossed-over with each other. Breakfast of the Gods is the next best thing.