May 07, 2008
'Spirit' an early gift - News for 5/7/08
Lionsgate has moved up the release of "Will Eisner's The Spirit" to Dec. 25 from Jan. 16. This seems to be a vote of confidence for the film, which is Frank Miller's solo directorial debut, as it moves the film squarely into holiday season and even Oscar eligibility. ... CAA has signed on to represent the estate of "Spirit" creator Will Eisner and his extensive catalog of graphic novels. ... Lionsgate has optioned another comics property, this time it's Victor Carungi's "Pencilneck," published by Paper Street Comics.
SUPERHERO MOVIE MANIA: The success of "Iron Man" has resulted in some title changes at Marvel Studios, where Kevin Feige is now president and David Maisel continues as chairman. ... "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh tells IGN he expects to begin shooting the sequel in early 2009.
LIVE COMICS EVENTS: Longtime comics journo and commentator Blair Marnell is back with a new site and project called "Comics on Comics." The main attraction is a video podcast in which three standup comics
and one comicbook creator discuss the comics news of the week a la Bill
Maher's "Real Time" or "Politically Incorrect." The first show will be
recorded tonight at 7 at Meltdown in Hollywood, featuring comics scribe
Brian Lynch (Angel: After the Fall) and comedians Chris Mancini, Ken
Cosby and Pat Evans. The public is invited to attend the free event. ... The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture
in Santa Fe opens what sounds like a fascinating exhibit called "Comic
Art Indigene" on the influence of comics on American Indian artists.
A preview is set for Saturday, with opening day Sunday, May 11. ... A theatrical performance of Alan Moore's epic poem, "The Mirror of Love," is set for June 12 and 14 at the Armory Ballroom in Macon, Ga. Jose Villarrubia, who took the photographs for the Top Shelf book, will be signing at both perfs. ... The BEAT covers the debut of the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York over a trilogy of posts.
SCREENINGS: The Los Angeles Film Festival will be bookended by comic flicks, with "Wanted" opening the fest on June 19 and "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" closing it on June 29. ... Anime fans will want to take note of some upcoming special screening: the live-action version of "Death Note" is set to screen at more than 300 theaters nationwide, including 20 in the L.A. area, on May 20 and 21. The anime film "Bleach: The Movie — Memories of Nobody" will screen in similar fashion on June 11-12. Details, including specific venues and tickets, available at Fathom Events.
SUPERMAN FANS PROTEST: With the huge success of "Iron Man" and the subsequent announcement of release dates for a bunch of Marvel movies through 2011 has a lot of fans wondering how DC Comics and its parent company Warner Bros. have fallen so far behind in the comics movie derby. If Marvel can do "Iron Man," why can't DC/WB do something similar with say, The Flash or Green Lantern? Even with "The Dark Knight," for which everyone seems to have sky-high expectations, fans are down on DC movies. One site, www.savesuperman.com has started a petition and campaign aimed at convincing WB to completely reboot the Superman film franchise rather than proceed with another outing from director Bryan Singer and star Brandon Routh. A separate petition also is pushing "Smallville" star Tom Welling to play the Man of Steel. Taking a cue from the WGA's pencil tactic, fans also are contributing money to a campaign called "Stop the Monkey Business," which will send 6-inch stuffed monkeys to WB execs Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov. Monkeys go out with a sign that includes the sender's choice of a Superman logo or "Welling for Superman."
COMICS PROJECTS: Here's our annual update on Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine, direct
via email from writer and "Lost" exec producer Damon Lindelof: "Marvel
has all the issues through five. I'm completing six by Memorial Day." ... EW continues to be a big venue for promoting comics, with Marvel releasing the first look at new Spider-Man villain Anti-Venom and DC serving up a preview of Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones' Final Crisis, complete with Morrison's original script. ... Danny Simmons (older brother of Run DMC's Rev Run and Def Jam mogul Russell Simmons) has adapted his 2003 novel "Three Days as the Crow Files" into a graphic novel titled "'85," published by Simon & Schuster. Blogger Michael A. Gonzeles reports on the duo's recent signing at Forbidden Planet and some interesting background on the duo and their project here. ... Image Comics says Jason Howard and Robert Kirkman's Astounding Wolf-Man series is going monthly, starting in June. ... The May contenders are up over at Zuda Comics. April's winner is "Melody," by Ilias Kyriazis of Athens, Greece. ... Across the pond, AAM Markosia will debut its new series Lazarus: Immortal Coils at this weekend's Bristol Comic Expo. ... DC Comics is teaming up with children's book publisher Stone Arch to create illustrated chapter books for kids starring Superman and Batman. ... Radical Comics is changing the name of its Steve Niles sci-fi series
from Khrome to City of Dust, after Marc Patten of Destination
Entertainment informed the company he had a series by that name.
CON FUND RAISER: The Hero Initiative's Hulk #1 Project is coming to Emerald City Comic Con this weekend. The project, similar to last year's Ultimate Spider-Man #100 Project, features 100 copies of the recent Hulk #1
comic with special covers featuring original art from some of the
industry's top talents. The books will be auctioned off The first 50 of
100 covers will be on display at the con, where the org also is auctioning lunch with DC exec editor Dan Didio.
COMICS TECH: Dennis Budd and Joe Caramagna have signed a deal for Platinum Studios to create mobile phone content based on their indy comic "Model Operandi." ... Hands-On Mobile is creating the phone content, including games, for Marvel's "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk." ... Archaia Studios Press has begun releasing its series Artesia on free download service Wowio. The publisher plans to put more of its books on the site, which has a nice selection of free comics to read.
May 7, 2008 at 01:00 PM by Tom McLean in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
www.savesuperman.com is a neat little website and pleasing to the eye but has such a small membership compared with other sites such; as www.superherohype.com or www.bluetights.com where most members are drooling at the thought of a Superman Returns sequel.
Posted by: The Showoff at May 8, 2008 5:01:41 PM
The last thing we need is another Singer Superman movie. I'm all for a reboot and forgeting that first over budgeted hunk of wasted film ever existed.
Posted by: David at May 8, 2008 6:47:28 PM
The Save Superman site has only been up maybe a month. How many years has the SHP or BT been going?
And aren't those sites more for the hardcore comic book/fanboy types, NOT representative of the broader, larger audience that any studio should be looking for?
Posted by: Chevyfella at May 8, 2008 6:53:48 PM
I have no idea of the breakdown on that bluetights site, but to say those at superherohype are "drooling at the thought of a SR sequel" is a flat out lie. Peek into the forums and you'll find the fans split right down the middle. For half the fans, that "drooling" is more truthfully "frothing in rage and revulsion at the thought of a SR sequel."
Visit superherohype and see for yourself.
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=277627&page=7
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?s=067066a8e8d60066b557648dd6931e23&t=295600&page=19
Posted by: reality check at May 8, 2008 7:46:06 PM
Most members "drooling at the thought of a SR sequel" at SuperheroHype and BlueTight? Um, not that I've seen. Some, sure, but most? No. Not even close. But then again, most people have an agenda with such opinions, or so I've been told...
Posted by: Pat at May 8, 2008 8:00:49 PM
Here is Superherohype's latest news on a possible SR sequel. Scroll through the eight pages of comment. Half despise the thought of a SR sequel.
http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=7139&offset=0
There is tremendous tension within the fan community over a possible SR sequel versus a reboot. Surfing practically every fanboard on the net and you'll see this division repeated over and over again. This puts Warners in a bad spot, because there is no unity or overwhelming majority to tell them which way to go. Warners is stuck in the middle, unable to move on a sequel without fan revolt and unable to reboot without some fan disappointment.
Warners best bet is to wait until a unifying consensus emerges, however long that takes. This explains why Warners keeps stalling and stalling. It could be months or years before a consensus emerges, but financially, Warners has no choice. These divisions eat away at the box office of any Supes movie.
And that's the unpalatable truth neither side wants to hear.
Posted by: reality check at May 8, 2008 8:39:10 PM
The WB should just go with the fans who want a reboot. Those who want a sequel will love whatever you give them as evident with them wanting a sequel to SR.
Posted by: Blaiyan at May 9, 2008 1:19:50 AM
Well in regards to Bluetights I would say much more pro-SR than Superherohype, which has a larger group of fans that are Anti-SR. So not all fans are drooling over a sequel, it is surely not universal.
In regards to Savesuperman, if SHH and Bluetights are known for so called "fanboys" there is no way Savesuperman is a consensus for the broader audience. The site is trying to "save superman" with a script from one of the site's owners and petitioning Welling for Superman. There is nothing wrong with that, it's definately a nice site, but it is what it is.
Posted by: Dr. Loomis at May 9, 2008 4:10:14 AM
This may be long, but meaningful....
I've never understood the meaning of "fanboys". Is it die hard fans of a specific character? If so, I would consider our efforts at SaveSuperman.com more of a reflection of "fanboys" than general audiences. I also find it rather interesting that some people have yet to grasp the concept of what we are trying to do.
There are those who Hollywood preys on which will accept whatever film is released containing a character they adore. They are simply happy to have something to watch. But in my opinion, as well as the opinions of many others apparently, those are fans of film. Not fans of the character. Those who have joined SaveSuperman.com, and those who approached me to assist in developing a script, are devoted to the character of Superman and the ideals he stands for. They feel cheated by Bryan Singer's version after waiting so many years to see this hero on the big screen again. Those people had no voice, but were desperately trying to be heard in forums and chatrooms across the net. I simply answered their calls.
Yes, as you mentioned I now have a personal stake in these efforts. However, my wife's blog, and subsequently SaveSuperman.com, had been active long before I was asked for my contributions to the script being written.
So, Dr Loomis, if you were or are under the assumption that the website was created solely to further my personal career as a writer, let me clarify things for you. My wife began speaking out against Bryan Singer before Superman Returns was even released and eventually started a blog. The blog became too hard to moderate so she built SaveSuperman.com and I assist every way I can. Then, my opinions and ideas were noticed by a writer after I had done a review of his reboot treatment and he approached me to add to his vision. There are now four people collaborating on a reboot script and the storyboards are being done at the same time. But make no mistake about it, we are doing it for the fans. Not for ourselves. Fans deserve better than what Hollywood likes to just throw at them.
Marvel has proven that comic films can be made that are true to the source material yet be enjoyed by the wider audience. WB just needs to suck it up and follow their lead.
For those of you who have vistited SaveSuperman.com, I thank you. And if you are in support of a reboot, I promise to do my absolute best to make that happen.
Posted by: Archangel at May 10, 2008 12:26:24 AM
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