Posts Tagged ‘comics’

Or at least he is in this amazing fan-made movie trailer that's sweeping across the interwebs. Hollywood? There's not a lot coming out this summer that looks as interesting as this does. Might want to do something about that…

Well, relatively cheap. Way cheaper than you'll find on eBay, certainly.

258 Authentic is having a blowout sale and selling Serenity comics signed by Adam Baldwin, Ron Glass and Morena Baccarin. I've bought several of these from him before, they're just as promised with a certificate of authenticity included. This is an excellent price for an autograph alone, and you get the comic as well! (Read it carefully)

I'm expanding my pimping from Serenity to other interests, so this is Adam Baldwin from Chuck, Alan Tudyk from Dollhouse, and Morena Baccain from V. Ahem.

Thanks to whedonesque for the heads up.

TFAW.com has added another great deal for Whedon fans: the Whedonverse Grab Bag.

We've got a bunch of great Whedon-inspired back issue comic books from publishers like Dark Horse and IDW, and now you can bring 'em home. We've put together 10 different Whedon comics for each bundle–that's only $.50 apiece!

When ordering Grab Bag comics we cannot take requests for specific titles or series. Besides, half the fun is the mystery of what you're going to get! Some of these comics may be warehouse finds, and may have minor dings, scratches, etc.

Want to get a friend hooked on your favorite Whedon-based comics? Or maybe you just like grab bags…

Just head here for more details.

You may not recognize Len Wein's name, but you may recognize some of the things he's done. He co-created Swamp Thing, Wolverine and some other X-Men like Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. He was the editor on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons'
epic story Watchmen. He wrote for just about every major character in mainstream comics: Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc. And he lost his house.

OK, you might not know that last part, but it's true. On April 6 he lost his home, belongings and beloved dog to a house fire. Now friends and admirers are working to help him rebuild his comic collection. Not the ones he owned, but the ones he worked on. And you can help.

Go to the Len Wein Project and check out the latest list of needed comics to see if you have any you can provide. Then e-mail comix4len@povonline.com to let them know, and you'll get instructions on what to do next.

Len has provided many of us with many happy memories over the years. Let's give a few back.

The fanosphere is aghast with the news from the Wall Street Journal today that Warner Bros. is considering a reboot of the Superman franchise, possibly one that sort of ignores "Superman Returns." And I'm OK with that, since I also sort of ignore "Superman Returns."

But the kryptonite in the woodpile is this quote from Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov:

Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

Oh, for…

This is so obvious I am amazed it needs to be said. "The Dark Knight" did not succeed because it was dark. It succeeded because of several things, all of which can be boiled down to "make a movie that is true to the character." And Batman, done properly, is dark. Superman is not.

The superhero movies that work are the ones that speak to the fans' love of what makes the character great. The massively successful Spider-Man movies were true to his character. Except, of course, for the third one, when he went… um, dark.  The massively successful Iron Man movie did not try to make him gritty, it made him Iron Man.

WB, pay attention to someone who knows (i.e. the moviegoer). Get a director who loves the character and will fight to protect the core of him or her. Make sure that director has no driving urge to "say something" with the character unless that something makes sense (Singer's outcast neuroses worked great with X-Men, not so well wth Supes). Then back that director to the hilt.

Or just hire Jon Peters to do it and write off superhero movies entirely. Maybe something with a giant spider.

OK, this kinda came out of the blue… This month's "Dark Horse Presents" over at MySpace has an 8-page stand-alone Serenity story in it called "Serenity: The Other Half," with art by WIll Conrad. It's written by Jim Krueger, the man who (according to Joss) will be writing the Book miniseries coming out next.

ComicMix talked to Joss at Comic-Con – did anyone not talk to Joss at Comic-Con? Did the man ever sleep? – and he revealed a bit more about the upcoming Serenity comic:

COMICMIX: With The Shepherd's Tale, why is Shepherd Book the first character from Firefly to get a solo story?

JOSS WHEDON: I've done a breakdown of the story. I think Jim Krueger is going to write the actual script. The biggest mystery of what we never got to tell is Shepherd's backstory. Everybody knew there was something more than just being Shepherd in there. And poor Ron [Glass] came to me during the strike and said, "I'm going to another convention. You've got to give me something." It's been a number of years and they always ask [about Shepherd]. I said, "You know what, it has been long enough and this isn't something I'm going to save for the sequel that may never happen, so we'll make a comic book out of it."

Because it's an interesting story, really. It's the single most-asked question: "What's up with Book?" And now we're going to answer that.

The interview has more about the current best-selling Buffy and Angel comics, so go check it out.

Disney hass announced that their new imprint, Kingdom Comics, will revamp existing Disney products in the hopes of bringing them to new readers. The happy folks at RevolutionSF helpfully compiled a list of suggestions, and damn if I wouldn't read every one of these…

Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Neil Gaiman, writer / Bernie Wrightson, artist

It is 1940, and war has come to the sleepy village of Pepperinge Eye!

Ms. Eglentine Price, an apprentice witch still learning the mystic forces, assisted by Prof. Emelius Browne, a flim-flam man and three orphan East-End gutter snipes, must seek out and discover the secret to Substitutiary Locomotion to combat Hitler's Third Reich.

From the smoggy streets of London, to the mythical island nation of Namboombu within the Realm of Dream, they travel to find the fabled Star of Astaroth, the only force able to combat Heinrich Himmler and his supernatural army of Ubermenschen, marching on England behind the Spear of Destiny.

With the words Trecuna mecoides antrecorum satis dei, war will begin, greater even than the war engulfing Europe; a war which threatens to unravel the very fabric of our world.

Includes "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" by Grant Morrison and Ted McKeever, "Freaky Friday" by Terry Moore, the hilariously newly violent "The Apple Dumpling Gang" by Joe Lansdale and Tim Truman, and more.

Dark Horse Comics is really cool. They are unbelievably cool. They are, in fact, so unbelievably cool that they've joined forces with the California Browncoats to make a variant Serenity comic to sell at the San Diego Comic-Con, just to benefit Kids Need to Read.

Which is pretty cool, you gotta admit.

The California Browncoats will be selling the comics at SDCC. It will be a variant edition of "Serenity: Better Days #1" with the Will Conrad wraparound cover art they used for their special DH 100 version, only this will display Will's pencils instead. 32 pages, all the stuff from the first one, but with a cardstock cover for extra specialness. Only 5,000 will ever be available and they'll be $10 each, a good portion of which goes to Kids Need to Read, the children's literacy program founded by Nathan Fillion and author PJ Haarsma.

These will only be available at Comic-Con 2008, but even if you can't go the California Browncoats are there for you. Specifically, on eBay, where on all five days of the con they'll be selling copies of the DH-California Browncoats SDCC edition of Serenity. Again, all proceeds will go to Kids Need to Read. Bookmark their eBay page and be ready (I'll give you a heads up when it gets close).

Major thanks to Dark Horse and to the Cali Browncoats sponsors Gabriel Stempinski, Margaret Weis Productions, Creation Entertainment, Poplollies.com, The Powers Team – Marsia and Eugene, Dwight Bragdon, Done The Impossible , SaveHiatus.com and Quantum Mechanix, who helped make this possible.

This is a great collectible and a great cause (funny how so many Whedon-based projects combine the two). Check out the California Browncoats site for more details.

TFAW has Dark Horse's latest Serenity items available for preorder at 20% off retail:

Serenity: Better Days trade paperback, just $7.96 (retail $9.95). Ships Oct. 29.

Serenity laser-etched lucite ornament, just $13.59 (retail $16.99). Ships Oct. 8.

You're gonna get 'em anyway, why not save a few credits?