X-Men editor to DC

Mike Marts is jumping ship from his job as editor of the X-Men at Marvel Comics to a senior editor position at DC Comics. Marts tells Newsarama that the move is completely amicable and he will be working on DC’s All-Star line of comics, including Adam Hughes’ upcoming All-Star Wonder Woman.

 

Marvel stamps in 2007

The U.S. Postal Service will issue a set of Marvel Comics superhero stamps in 2007. The issue will be similar to this year’s DC Comics set. The set will feature one character image and one comic book cover image for ten Marvel characters: Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, Spider-Woman, Elektra, The Thing and Wolverine. The stamps will be released in time for next year’s Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego, so expect a ceremony just like the one seen at the con this year for the DC set.

Colbert would prefer loss to Wolverine

In presenting at the Emmys on Sunday, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert lamented his loss in the individual perf in a variety or music program to Barry Manilow by referring to fellow nominee Hugh Jackman’s most famous role: “I lost to Barry Manilow. Barry Manilow. I lost to the Copa Cabana. Singing and dancing is not performing. Wolverine I could have lost to, he has claws for hands.” Of course, the real joke is that Colbert ignores the fact that Jackman was nominated for hosting the Tony Awards.

Comic-Con Attendance

Tom Spurgeon talks to Comic-Con Intl. spokesman David Glanzer over at the Comics Reporter about attendance at this year’s show. Glanzer says the final numbers are still being tallied but they had 9,000 exhibitors and 114,000 fans and other attendees, for a rough total of 123,000.
Glanzer explains why the show no longer issues press releases for attendance figures:

“This was done, in part, because different events count their numbers differently and sometimes it really is like comparing apples to oranges. And while attendance figures are obviously an indicator of how many people attended an event, it isn't necessarily the only barometer by which a determination should be made about the success of a show.”

The Moral of the Summer Season

The summer movie season is pretty much over, and the pundits are weighing in about what went right and — more emphatically — what went wrong. The lightning rod in all this is "Superman Returns" and what its failure to live up to the world’s lofty box office expectations means for comicbook pics and the movie business as whole.

“Superman Returns” got mostly positive reviews, but despite hopes for worldwide b.o. in the $400 million to $500 million range, is still inching toward the $200 million mark domestically and has cumed about $350 million worldwide. Given a production budget that WB says is $209 million and others peg as high as $270 million, and $100 million in marketing costs, that’s not so super. WB prexy Alan Horn admits to the L.A. Times that the b.o. was about $100 million short of expectations. Figuring out what went wrong — if anything — is a game being played all over town.

What’s interesting to watch is the way the studio, the film itself and Singer are largely escaping blame. Instead, blame falls on inadequate marketing or overall softness in box office attendance. But at least some of the blame appears to come from WB believing its own press releases. The company made the revival of the Superman and Batman franchises a top priority after watching other studios make big bucks on comicbook movies such as “X-Men” and “Spider-Man.” Those DC icons are thought, quite correctly, to be as near and dear to the hearts of comicbook fans their Marvel counterparts. They also are among the best-known characters in the world, so a big-budget Superman movie seems like a slam dunk on all counts. That quite understandable point of view may have made it easier to justify so expensive and esoteric a movie as “Superman Returns,” even as it defies common sense about what makes the character appealing in the first place. That the same studio managed to get everything so right last year on “Batman Begins” makes it hard to believe that more people aren’t blaming the quality of “Superman Returns” for its disappointing performance.

On the other side of town, “X-Men: The Last Stand” was by almost every measure a success for Marvel and Fox. The pic overcame the loss of Singer, who many saw as essential to the franchise, and turned out a pic that satisfied auds and finished off the trilogy on a high note. The film has grossed $234 million domestically and has a worldwide cume of $441 million, putting it way ahead of “Superman Returns.” Estimating the profitability on the film is just as hard as on “Superman Returns,” though in every instance the margin on “X-Men” between the budget — estimates range from $168 million to $210 million — and the gross is far greater than on any similar numbers for the Man of Steel.

But the industry and journalists are overlooking the film’s success, seemingly because most people admire Singer a lot more than they do “The Last Stand” director Brett Ratner. Articles in The Hollywood Reporter and on the website Hollywood Wiretap write off the “X-Men” franchise as played out, its future cut short by an uncaring studio and second-rate director. This ignores the obvious, which is that while critics generally preferred “Superman Returns,” audiences were much more interested in “X-Men.” And in a summer when the business is worried about its future, it’s surprising that the qualities that led the mutants to b.o. success over the Man of Steel are being so completely overlooked.

Those qualities amazingly enough reflect the differences between the Superman and X-Men franchises in the relative microcosm of the comicbook industry. Marvel has always successfully cast itself as the hip, cool underdog to DC’s classy but old-fashioned and often stodgy heroes. Superman was the first superhero, but the character’s popularity as measured by comicbook sales has been a rollercoaster ride the past 25 years, with deep lulls punctuated by high-profile events such as the “death” of Superman in 1992. X-Men on the other hand grew into its longstanding role as the best expression of Marvel’s underdog, outsider image. Coming back from cancellation in 1970 to consistently dominate comicbook sales the past quarter century, X-Men as a concept has a depth to its appeal and a commercial track record that has far outpaced the Man of Steel in recent times.

So while people seem willing to give Singer a pass on criticism for “Superman Returns,” it may once again be Marvel Studios and its expertise at downplaying and then exceeding expectations that will have the last laugh. Not only is a “Wolverine” spinoff film a near certainty with “Magneto” right behind it, the X-Men franchise is flexible enough to be revived in any number of forms. A new film would only need to keep one or two familiar (and expensive) actors in their roles and then draw upon a cast of relatively cheap newcomers to play any number of the comicbook’s dozens of well-known and time-tested characters. A “Young X-Men” movie has already been mentioned as a possibility a few years down the line with screenwriter Zak Penn a attached to write and direct.

The future for the new Superman franchise is much murkier. Any sequel would have to address the controversial and depressing storyline of Superman unknowingly fathering a child with Lois Lane. It also would need a lot more action than “Returns” had – a problem when any sequel’s success seems tied to reining in costs. Singer’s record on “X2” indicates that he can make a superior sequel and his comment at Comic-Con that he wants to get all “Wrath of Khan” on the pic also is encouraging, referencing another series where the second installment was much better. That doesn’t change the high probability that “Superman Returns” disappointed because it was not what auds wanted to see. It will be interesting to see how well “Spider-Man 3” does next summer and if the excuses being trotted out in defense of “Superman Returns” now will hold any water if the film is successful.

What’s essential to “Superman” flying higher in a sequel is whether WB and Singer can be honest with themselves about the film’s excesses and failures. If they fail to see where the film fell short, the end result will be no different the next time around.

52 Weeks 11-16

Creators: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid, writers; Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett, Todd Nauck, Jack Jadson, Marlo Alquiza, Eddy Barrows, Rob Stull, Dale Eaglesham, Art Thibert, Shawn Moll, Tom Nguyen and Ruy Jose, artists.
DC Comics, color, 32 pages and $2.50 each
So? The plots in 52 are spreading out a bit, with episodes of the various installments expanding to take up more of an individual issue. This has improved the pacing of the series, which is taking its time on a per issue basis even as the issues come at the rapid pace of one a week.
Week 11 is notable for the official introduction of the new Batwoman. You may have heard about her – she’s the lipstick lesbian superhero who was all over the news last month. The scene in which Batwoman first appears is in its own way fun and funny. She shows up to rescue ex-Gotham City detective Renee Montoya and the Question, who run into trouble in their investigation of Intergang’s moves into Gotham. Montoya, who is not over her one-time romance with the woman behind the mask, is especially impressed and practically drools over the new hero: “That’s not Batgirl. That’s – that’s a – that’s a Batwoman. Hot damn.”

Week 12 sees Montoya and the Question follow the trail to Kahndaq, the fictional nation ruled by Black Adam, Captain Marvel’s former nemesis. Black Adam takes the brave and attractive Adrianna and taps that Shazam! magic to turn her into Isis – a goddess character based on the 1970s live-action kiddie show. Adam’s affection for Isis and his protectiveness over his people is sympathetic, even though he slaughters his political opponents once a week at the capital’s soccer stadium.
Week 13 gets into the disturbing Ralph Dibny plot. The murder of his wife, Sue, in Identity Crisis has driven Ralph out of the hero business. But a group that worships the also-dead Superboy is looking to resurrect him and wants to test out its process on Sue. Ralph uncovers this covert plot and then joins it in the hope that it will work. Halfway through the cultish ceremony, it looks like a scam and Ralph and his Justice League pals bust it up only to find at the end that it really was working. Ralph snaps and becomes obsessed with trying again.
Week 14 mixes the John Henry story with the Montoya-Question thread. Henry mourns having driven his daughter to join Lex Luthor, while Montoya and the Question are accused of a massacre in Kahndaq.
Week 15 sees Booster Gold hit rock bottom as his corporate sponsors and changes in history have left his m.o. of using historical records from the future to predict and prevent disasters in the present in tatters. Driven to the edge, Booster finds playing the wreckless hero exacts the ultimate price.
Week 16, out this week, focuses on the wedding of Isis and Black Adam. What works well with the weekly format is that the story is allowed to unfold with a naturalness and with detail that might be lost for getting in the way of a story told monthly.
52 has so far been a huge success for DC. The TV-production model of using a team of writers and rotating artists has kept the book on time and the stories deliver on character and plot. Action has been sparse and the series most feels like the TV skein “24,” which moves quickly but focuses on ideas over spectacle. Budget limits TV in that way, and the approach is not without its appeal in comics. Fans and critics are dissecting the storyline in ways that show the excitement for the series is not flagging. The workmanlike approach may not result in the most spectacular art or stories, but the density and speed at which the story moves more than makes up for it. Grade: A-

Justice League of America #1

Creators: Brad Meltzer, writer; Ed Benes and Sandra Hope, artists
DC Comics, 56 pages, color, $3.99
So? The name of the series is restored to its original form after almost 20 years of Justice League America and JLA, but the excitement is all new. Meltzer delivers a script with the same polish and suspense he brought to the hugely successful Identity Crisis, bringing humanity and personality to the many members of the League that few writers in mainstream comics are capable of delivering. Story uses the big three – Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman – debating which members to invite into a new League. Meanwhile, a number of former Leaguers – secondary or even tertiary level characters in the DCU – deal with problems of their own. The most interesting is the tale of Red Tornado, the odd-looking robot who this time comes back from the dead in a live body that allows him to love his wife, Kathy Sutton, in the way he always wanted to. The story is truly touching – and this is Red Tornado we’re talking about here! Ed Benes turns in the best art of his career, creating a natural look that tells the story and portrays the characters with grace. After the hilarity of the 1987 Justice League (still one of my favorite series of all time) and the bombast and big ideas of Grant Morrison’s 1997 JLA launch, this version reads like a love letter to a greatness and a mood that the League has rarely achieved so well. While it’s not the high-concept triumph of Infinite Crisis or Civil War, this is a satisfying and meaty story that should thrill new and old readers equally. Grade: A

The Surfer Also Rises

A few odds and ends to keep things rolling along:

* Marvel says "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is the official title of the sequel film, due next summer. Obviously, this means Stan Lee's favorite character, Norrin Radd, will finally make it to the big screen. The seriousness with which the Surfer is usually portrayed raises more than a few questions. The first film did well using humor to convey the family relationships between the characters, but had little affinity for the sort of big-scale, cosmic adventure that comes with the Surfer's tale. Will Marvel be able to resist a "whoa, dude" scene between Chris Evans' lovable slacker version of the Human Torch and the herald of Galactus?

* Adam Hughes has signed an exclusive contract with DC, announced along with confirmation he will write and draw the first six issues of the upcoming All-Star Wonder Woman series.

* "Snakes on a Plane" star Samuel L. Jackson is a well-known comicbook fan and he proves it in the musicvideo to Cobra Starship's soundtrack tune "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)." The track, available online in the trailers section of the official "Snakes" site, shows Jackson reading the most recent volume of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets in an airplane waiting area.

* And actor James McAvoy has been announced as the star of "Wanted," a feature film based on Mark Millar and J.G. Jones' comicbook about a slacker who learnes he's heir to his father's supervillain role. McAvoy played Mr. Tumnus in last year's "The Chronicles of Narnia." Timur Bekmambetov, writer and director of Russian horror pic "Night Watch," is set to direct.

July sales and Civil War cease-fire

Things are looking good in the direct sales arena — especially if you happen to be Marvel or DC.

With sales estimates out for July, ICV2.com sums up the month this way:

Graphic novel sales in comic stores picked up the pace in July, with 25% growth vs. the same month in 2005. Comic sales were up 18%, bringing over-all sales in the category to a 19% increase over the previous year.

Major events from Marvel and DC continue to be the darlings of the direct market, with Marvel's Civil War #3, featuring the return of Thor, topping the chart with the number crunchers at ICV2.com estimating 290,000 copies ordered.

Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America #0, a prequel to the series' official relaunch next week, was No. 2, with about 162,000 copies ordered. Fourteen titles cracked the 100,000 mark, including all four issues of DC's weekly comic event, 52. Issue 11 of 52 showed a massive spike, due to it being the first appearance of the much-hyped new lesbian Batwoman. You've got to scroll down to #70 on the chart to find the first comic not published by Marvel or DC, this time it's Witchblade #100, from the Top Cow arm of Image Comics with orders of just under 34,000 — not bad for a book with a $4.99 cover price.

But in what could be a major problem for retailers, Marvel announced that it is bumping the schedule on Civil War and its tie-in books back a month to allow the creative team to catch up. The next issue of Civil War will now come out Sept. 20, and Civil War #5 is now set for Nov. 15. Many tie-in books also have been rescheduled, at least partially to ensure the overall story unfolds in a way that doesn't spoil any of the surprises. While fans are likely to be reasonably used to this by now, it's a problem for retailers who will have far less of Marvel's top product to sell in the next few months. How this will affect interest in Civil War overall remains to be seen, but I'm sure plenty of store owners are going to be unhappy about having to wait an extra month between issues of CW.

Moving on to the graphic novel category, DC took six of the top ten slots for July including the top spot for Fables, Vol. 7: Arabian Nights & Days. Marvel was in a virtual dead heat with its Halo graphic novel, with orders for both books topping 10,000 copies.

Marvel and DC together account for 74 percent of the dollar share and 80 percent of the unit share in the direct market.

Free Comic Book Day 2007 set

The annual Free Comic Book Day promotion has staked out May 5, 2007, for its next event, claiming the Saturday after the opening of "Spider-Man 3" to take advantage of the awareness the massive marketing campaign for that film will generate.

Sequel to "Returns"?

Missed Pam McClintock's very good article in weekly Variety about whether WB and Bryan Singer will agree to a deal for a sequel to "Superman Returns."

There's lots of questions to mull over in this equation and lots of Monday-morning quarterbacking. Was it the story? The marketing? Is the character too old-fashioned? Or is everything all right despite all of this?

It's unlikely that WB will drop the franchise after one pic. The revival of the Superman and Batman franchises has long been a top priority of the studio precisely because of the types of ancilliary revenues that a superhero blockbuster can bring in. So the only question remains is will Bryan Singer return to direct and what, if any, conditions will the studio be able to demand?

Singer himself wants to return, as he told fans at Comic-Con last month. An avid fan of Star Trek as well as the original Superman films, he made fans very happy by saying he wants to get "all Wrath of Khan" in a sequel. And perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt, as "X2" was a much cooler film that the first "X-Men."

The difference between the "X-Men" films and "Superman Returns" though is that "X-Men" started off a total underdog, with a relatively small budget of about $75 million and few people certain the film could work at all. "Superman Returns" had none of those disadvantages and while Singer and Co. were saying back in 2000 that the budget on "X-Men" was an advantage because it gave them the ability to raise the stakes in the sequel, that scenario won't play out with "Superman."

Will Singer accept some kind of limit on budget and schedule or give up some control on the film to the studio to get this done? That's a hard question to ask, given Singer's reputation as a demanding director who likes to be in control as much as possible. And where will the story go, given that there is no way to not deal with the controversial issue of Superman's child.

And should Singer and the studio not come to terms, who could step in and replace him? A new director would have a hard path to forge with fans, who would remember the camp that Richard Lester brought to the character when he replaced Richard Donner on Superman II and III many years ago. And let's not even bring up the possibly more relevent case of Joel Schumacher replacing Tim Burton on the Batman film series. Schumacher is perhaps unfairly reviled among fans for his films since a listen to the commentary tracks on "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin" makes clear that he was a hired hand brought in to make the exact films the studio wanted — full of feel-good heroic poses and toyetic possibilities.

All things considered, Singer deserves and likely will get another shot at "Superman."

Wizard Woes

Wizard World watchers are speculating on the direction of the company's shows after a pair of high-profile employees were fired last week.

Stewart Morales, director of strategic planning and marketing, and Gabe Fieramosco, manager of business development were let go Friday. Wizard told Newsarama the moves were unrelated to recent Chicago convention. That convention, which Wizard says drew a record crowd of 58,000, has been criticized by retailers and exhibitors as being down in terms of traffic and sales. Fans and general observers, too, seem unhappy with the shows' repetitive programming, and no one seems to like the fact that the show comes so quickly on the heels of the massive San Diego show.

Wizard shows are different from shows like San Diego, Wonder Con and the New York Comic-Con, in that they focus very heavily on the die-hard mainstream comics fan, i.e., those interested mostly in Marvel or DC superhero comics. That's all well and good; there's certainly demand for some of that. But casual fans are drawn to the depth of content found at those other shows. Wizard shows have long been light on programming, preferring to focus on being retailer friendly and fans who want to buy collectibles and seek autographs.

Again, that's fine and it matches the approach that has worked so well for Wizard magazine for so long. But it's likely nowhere near enough for Wizard to do what it was poised to do a few years ago in becoming a force in the convention biz that could rival the biggest shows. Whether Wizard has the depth to develop this kind of content has yet to be seen, but considering the track record of the company's publications, becoming that kind of show may just be beyond the company's ability to achieve.

That doesn't mean that Wizard World shows can't be successful, but they may need to learn to be happy filling a smaller niche and bringing shows to places where not all the fans can make it to San Diego or New York and still want to spend a few days at a con buying a few cool comics or toys and meet the Wizard lineup of guests such as Kevin Smith. But a show like that, for all its charms, isn't going to be able to challenge the established shows the way it was thought it could just a year or so ago.

Avengers Assemble on Film?

Is a film starring Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers, possible?

Marvel said last week it’s in the works, with Zak Penn set to write the script. Penn has done a ton of work for the studio, contributing to "X2," "Elektra," "X-Men: The Last Stand," the upcoming "The Incredible Hulk" and a rumored next-generation "X-Men" pic that he would write and direct a few years down the line.

With Marvel now financing and producing its own pics, a big movies like this is possible. In the past, the rights to most of the characters who make up superhero supergroups like the Avengers had been optioned by various studios or producers for solo pics, making it impossible to assemble them all in a single film. But now … it’s possible. It won’t happen any time soon, but it is possible.

Marvel also said last week that it will pay a 10 percent distribution fee to Paramount or anyone else who distributes any of the company’s self-financed pics.

Stan first Guest of Honor for NYCC '07

There are a number of fine fall comicbook conventions on the calendar, but with WWC and CCI over and done with, the next huge show on the calendar is the New York Comic-Con, which just announced Stan Lee as its first guest of honor for its second annual show.
Lee also will be part of a exhibit set to open at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art that same weekend. Last year, the museum opened a retrospective on the work of Todd McFarlane in conjunction with the the con. Details on the exhibit have yet to be announced.
The convention will be held Feb. 23-25 at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan.

Marvel has strong Q2

Marvel may have reported a second-quarter profit of $16.3 million, down 37 percent from the same quarter last year, but that number earned raves for being much higher than expected.
Overall revenue was down from $88 million to $84 million, mostly due a decline in licensing and in sales of Spider-Man merch.
Publishing was a real bright spot, with sales up 21 percent due to strong book sales to bookstores and comics shops, as well as the success of the current “Civil War” storyline.
ICV2 has some details on Marvel’s efforts to expand comicbook sales beyond specialty shops, saying that a test to sell comics in Walgreens drug stores was unsuccessful due to a demographics mismatch, while sales in 7-11 stores are fine.
This was the first report since Avi Arad announced he was stepping aside as head of Marvel Studios. The studio division, now run by Michael Helfant and Kevin Feige, reports the studio is negotiating with Merril Lynch to add “Iron Man” and a sequel to “Hulk” to the company’s slate of self-financed movies.
News brought a bump in stock price, which Monday was up 7 percent to $19.36.

Wizard World Chicago '06 is a wrap

Wizard World Chicago was held this past weekend in Rosemont, Ill. Many hardy people trekked to the Midwest to check out the show, the nation’s second largest, less than two weeks after the wrap of Comic-Con Intl.
Marvel and DC tend to hang on until Chicago to announce their plans for the upcoming year to avoid getting lost in the vast amount of media coverage at San Diego. Aside from the usual sneak peaks, there were a few announcements of interest, all very well-covered by the revamped Wizard Universe site:

* Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner are working on a six-issue “Ultimate Wolverine” series for Marvel.
* Loeb also is reteaming with his longtime collaborator Rob Liefeld for a series called “Onslaught Reborn,” celebrating the 10th anniversary of Marvel’s “Onslaught” crossover and the “Heroes Reborn” project that sprang out of it.
* Brian Wood of “DMZ” fame will be writing a second series for Vertigo, this one a Viking comic called “Northlanders.”
* Writers Ed (“Uncanny X-Men”) Brubaker and Matt (“Casanova”) Fraction are writing a new “Iron Fist” series for Marvel.

A few events of note included the auctioning off of the artwork from Superman/Batman #26 to benefit the Sam Loeb Scholarship Fund set up in honor of Jeph Loeb’s son, a budding comicbook writer who died last year from cancer. The auction raised more than $72,000 for the fund.
And the 13th annual Wizard Fan Awards were handed out. If the Eisner Awards are the Oscars of comics, these are the People’s Choice Awards of comics. The winners are in the jump.

Favorite Publisher: Marvel Comics
Favorite Ongoing Series: Astonishing X-Men (Marvel Comics)
Favorite One-Shot: Countdown To Infinite Crisis (DC Comics)
Favorite Miniseries: Villains United (DC Comics)"
Comics’ Greatest Moment: “No More Mutants” ( House Of M #7)
Favorite Writer: Geoff Johns (Flash, Green Lantern: Rebirth )
Favorite Penciler: John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men, Planetary)
Favorite Inker: Scott Williams (All Star Batman & Robin
Favorite Painter: Alex Ross (Justice)
Favorite Colorist: Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men)
Favorite Letterer: Chris Eliopoulous (Ultimates 2)
Favorite Editor: Axel Alonso (Amazing Spider-Man)
Favorite Breakout Talent: Allan Heinberg (Young Avengers)
Favorite Cover Artist: James Jean (Fables)
Favorite Male Hero: Captain America (Marvel Comics
Favorite Female Hero: Kitty Pryde (Marvel Comics)
Favorite Villain: Winter Soldier (Marvel Comics)
Favorite Supporting Character: Jessica Jones (The Pulse)
Favorite Comic Merchandise: Batman B&W Mike Mignola Statue (DC Direct)
Favorite Action Figure Line: Marvel Legends (Toy Biz)
Favorite Comic Movie Project: “Batman Begins” (Warner Bros.)
Favorite Television Show: “Lost” (ABC)
Favorite DVD Release: “Batman Begins” (Warner Home Video)
Favorite Video Game: X-Men Legends II (Activision)

"Hellboy" to U

It’s taken a couple of years, but the “Hellboy” sequel is back on track at Universal. Pic had previously been produced by Revolution and distributed through their deal at Columbia/Sony. With Revolution’s dissolution, however, pic was homeless. Studio has set it for an April start date and a summer 2008 release, with Guillermo del Toro writing and directing and stars Ron Perlman and Selma Blair set to reprise their roles.

An animation "Renaissance"

There were plenty of gems to be found by scouring the floor of this year’s Comic-Con Intl., but few as striking as what was on display at a nondescript booth set up by Miramax to promote its upcoming release of “Renaissance.”

“Renaissance” is a French-produced sci-fi thriller told in stark black-and-white imagery brought to life by a mixture of motion capture and animation. The resulting movie looks more like a graphic novel than any film animated or not to date — including “Sin City.”

The film, which won the best picture prize at this year’s Annecy Intl. Film Festival, had its origins in a visual concept developed as far back as the mid-1990s by Marc Miance.

On hand at Comic-Con to promote the movie, which opens in the U.S. on Sept. 22, Miance says the project began with a test film called “Project BW” that showed at the Imagina festival in 1998. The film attracted the attention of Christian Volckman and Aton Soumache, who had a film called “Maaz” in the fest that was hand-painted computer animation over footage of real actors, and the three teamed up to make a feature.

Miance was the technical wizard, and formed Attitude Studios in France to handle the animation and motion capture work on the film.

The story evolved as a futuristic film noir, densely plotted and evoking the style of everything from European graphic novels to “Blade Runner.”

“Our main influences come from the film noir from the ’30s and the ’40s in the U.S.,” Miance says. “But we wanted to do it in a very futuristic way, so it takes the character clichés of film noir — like the cop, the kidnapped girl and so on — and puts that into a futuristic context.”

Visually, Miance says there were many influences, from American comics such as Frank Miller’s “Sin City,” and older French comics to Japanese animation.

The film was shot in a warehouse in Luxembourg using unique motion capture technology that captured more than just body movements.

Capturing accurate eye movements has been difficult for motion capture. Even when those movements are animated later, many attempts have failed to be convincing and audiences have often found motion capture characters to look creepy or dead expressions.

Miance says they solved this problem by developing a new technology they have patented.

“It’s glasses that we put on the actor, just glasses that record information of the eye movement,” he says. “The emotion, which is in the eye of the character in ‘Renaissance,’ comes directly from the actor. We are able to grab it.”

The production relied on the motion capture actors, rarely altering them in the animation phase. That helped focus the film on the story and characters, which play out against a detailed backdrop of a futuristic Paris.

In bringing the film to English audiences, Miance says they were able to show actors what the film was going to look like and got established stars to sign on such as Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Ian Holm and Jonathan Pryce.

“The actors got very excited about doing this kind of strange performance,” Miance says.

Miance says Attitude’s already at work on three more films, though viewers should expect none of them to look alike. “What we are very excited about is every movie is unique.”

Uncanny X-Men #475-476 and X-Men #188-189

Creators: Ed Brubaker, writer, Billy Tan and Danny Miki, artists (Uncanny); Mike Carey, writer, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend and Jaime Mendoza, artists (X-Men)
Marvel, 32 pages, color and $2.99 each
So? The pecking order in the X-books these days has the excellent Whedon-Cassaday title, Astonishing X-Men, atop the pack, with these two series next in line. The new creative teams brought on with these issues is quite solid and produced a quartet of issues that are as good as the X-Men has been in a while.
Brubaker picks up where he left off with the Deadly Genesis series: The long-lost third Summers brother, Vulcan, is on his way to Shi’ar space on a mission of revenge. So Xavier, who’s lost his powers (and his students’ trust) but can walk again, assembles a team to stop him. This is going to be a 12-issue arc and is promising for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it will be self-contained for its run. X-Men have always been misfits, but Brubaker makes interesting a team of mutants that for the most part can best be described as fringe characters. Among them are Havok, Polaris, Warpath, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler and Darwin. There’s some nice character stuff, expecially with the long-missing Warpath and the criminally mistreated duo of Havok and Polaris. Xavier also has some nice moments as he struggles with his new condition and the consequences of one too many of his deceptions being uncovered by his students. Tan contributes sleek art that fits well with the outer-space setting and gives each character a distinctive style.
Mike Carey, a veteran of the Vertigo line, comes to mutant town in X-Men with the always excellent art of Chris Bachalo to back him up. This is so far the more compelling story for its mystery and more complex character interactions. Rogue comes to the fore in this series and finally takes a strong leadership role as the head of a strike team that handles the unexpected. The unexpected comes in the form of a mystery group of mutants who annihilate a section of an Arizona-Mexico border town and the arrival of Sabretooth at the mansion and the apparent resurrection of Northstar. Carey keeps some nice tension here and the result, along with Uncanny, is a pair of nice looking and entertaining X-Men books that have distinct personalities and storylines that stand apart from each other and from the high-profile stuff in Astonishing. There is, as always with X-Men, a lot of backstory and complicated character relations. New readers are given no introduction of any sorts. Those of us who do know these characters can jump in and get right into the stories.
None of this is terribly Earth-shaking stuff; there’s no revelation of discovery that this is the future of comics. But that these books are both entertaining and stand on their own is enough for X-Men fans hungry to find their next fix. Grade: Uncanny, B-; X-Men, B+

Hate Annual #6

Creator: Peter Bagge
Fantagraphics Books, 36 pages, color and black-and-white, $4.95
So? The former poster-child for 1990s slackerdom, Buddy Bradley, has grown a bit and lost some of his edge. In the most recent annual (where Bagge has been slowly adding to Buddy’s story), a ghost from the past returns to haunt Buddy and his dysfunctional pals. Hate fans may be pleased to see Buddy return in any form, but this new tale lacks the gut-bursting insanity and insight into the absurdities of life as a young slacker that made the original series such a success. The issue is rounded out with a bunch of Bagge’s other recent works, including a run of his “The Adventures of Bat-Boy” comic strip from Weekly World News. The last story in the book is the best and worth reading, unless you’ve already read it in The Matrix Comics, Vol. 2. Bagge is at his best when he’s dropping fewer pop culture names and digging into the neuroses of his fictional cast. Grade: C

Ledger to play Joker

WB has made it official that Heath Ledger has signed on to play the Joker in the next Batman film, to be titled simply "The Dark Knight." Christopher Nolan will direct, as he did on "Batman Begins." Nolan and Batman Begins co-writer David Goyer will write the screen story, with Nolan's brother Jonah Nolan writing the screenplay. Christian Bale will return as Batman with production set to start next winter with a likely release in summer 2008.

Ledger of course is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in last year's "Brokeback Mountain." And the "I wish I could quit you, Batman" jokes have already begun. i'm actually surprised there isn't a fan trailer already up, especially after last summer's "Brokeback Mutant" trailer cut from a few scenes of "X-Men: The Last Stand."

The more pertinent question is how well Ledger will fit the role and how easily fans will accept this casting choice. Ledger succeeds Jack Nicholson, who played the role with goofy menace in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman"; Cesar Romero, who camped it up on the 1960s Adam West TV show; and Mark Hamill's juicy voice perf on the 1990s animated series. Ledger proved his serious acting chops on "Brokeback," but the Joker will be the complete opposite of the stoic cowboy Ennis Del Mar. Fans are unlikely to get to excited about this choice, but they also will give Nolan and Ledger a lot of leeway based on how good "Batman Begins" was.

The next question comes from the title. "The Dark Knight" evokes Frank Miller's classic graphic novel. Ledger's casting indicates a major role for Joker, something that Miller's story did not have. And surely if the intent were to adapt that story, WB would have said so as Miller is doing well in Hollywood these days and adapting that story would guarantee a strong fan reaction.