Back in November at his sublime Everyday is Like Wednesday blog, our own J. Caleb Mozzocco listed (and drew!) some Black Lanterns that he hoped would appear tomorrow. Among his highlights:

Pa Kent

The Red Bee (which is another way to know Caleb did it)

Check out the rest of his gallery when you get the chance. But for right now . . . if YOU had to choose (apart from the obvious ones we know, like Aquaman, etc.), what FIVE DC dead would you want to see rise as Black Lanterns? Go nuts.

Want more Craig Yoe? Then IDW has a nice surprise for you!

The author of Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Schuster will have his own imprint for IDW, called Yoe! Books. The first two books set to be released are The Art of Ditko and The Complete Milt Gross Life Story and Comic Books, both for this fall.

“IDW is committed to expanding our book collections, and continuing to offer readers a wide variety of unique and historical material,” said IDW COO Greg Goldstein in a written statement. “We’re excited to be the home of Craig’s imprint, Yoe! Books, highlighting unknown geniuses and revelatory books on well-known names.”

UPDATE: Variety reports that the Gotham Group has secured the movie rights to Secret Identity. They will produce the film, and are currently scouting for writers.

Top Shelf Productions has announced that it will be releasing three new books in preparation for the film adaptation of the Surrogates, due out September 25th starring Bruce Willis!

According to the publisher, at San Diego Comic Con they will release the following three books:

- The Surrogates, Vol. 2: Flesh and Bone, an all-new prequel to the original graphic novel.

- The Surrogates, Vol. 1, with a brand new cover.

- And The Surrogate’s Owners Manual, a signed and numbered collection of both volumes, limited to 1,000 copies.

In addition, writer Robert Venditti and artist Brett Weldele will be at Top Shelf’s booth for signing!

Yet if you are not able to attend the convention, don’t worry — if you order the books via Top Shelf in the month of July, you will get free media shipping. Click here for more details!

Well, as you probably know, the big news this weekend was the report that Ryan Reynolds broke from a three-way race to assume the mantle and power ring of Hal Jordan. And while the rest of the film is still being shrouded in secrecy, we at Newsarama have decided to put our casting eye to the test, and give our list of who should play the numerous characters in the franchise’s inaugural film.

Considering it’s clear that an origin story will be in the offing here, we’ve based this list on Geoff Johns’ Secret Origins book, which gives a great character-based introduction to the entire Green Lantern mythos. (So sorry, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner fans, no love in this list just yet — perhaps in a follow-up.) While this list is subjective and clearly just for fun, we encourage you to give your thoughts in the comments box below! Good, bad, ugly? Let us hear it, as we cast off for Green Lantern!

Hal Jordan – Ryan Reynolds: Well, this one is easy enough to start with — he’s already been picked! Ryan Reynolds has the sort of All-American look that Bradley Cooper did not, as well as the sort of rugged machismo that Justin Timberlake just hasn’t grown into yet. The only question — whether or not he can keep his sense of humor in check. But with Martin Campbell behind the wheel, I’m confident Reynolds will morph into the hero he’s always known he could be, as the ring-slinging Hal Jordan.

Carol Ferris – Maggie Siff: Say it with me now: “Mr. Jordan, you know I don’t date employees.” Balancing on the fine line between beautiful snob and struggling business owner, Maggie Siff has the class (Mad Men) and the conflict (Sons of Anarchy) to be the one true love of Hal Jordan. Don’t believe me? Check her out here and here.

Sinestro – Hugh Laurie: With his biting wit, his unmatched tactical prowess, and above all his unwavering sense of self-confidence, there are few that could make Sinestro a three-dimensional character better than Hugh Laurie. As the man portraying the titular character House would fully understand, it takes a special kind of man to see his ambitions to the end, regardless of the rules. If Hugh was picked for this role, expect a Heath Ledger-style of rock solid performance.

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With books like Batman and Robin and Captain America spearheading the charge, comic book sales jumped in June, after seeing a worrisome slump in May, where only one book broke the 90,000 copy mark.

According to ICv2, Batman and Robin #1 sold more than 168,000 copies, which is the highest any single issue has managed to achieve since the Obama appearance in January’s Amazing Spider-Man. Trailing behind the all-new Dynamic Duo was Captain America #600, with more than 112,000 copies.

Still, there are some numbers that are a bit more worrying, such as the fact that Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Utopia #1, despite being the #3 book of last month, still didn’t clear the 100,000 copy mark. Perhaps most surprising for me was Detective Comics only hitting #13, with 72,084 copies sold. Yet it’s clear that Utopia, Batman Reborn, and Blackest Night have been holding the Top 25 steadily, with some cameo appearances by Wolverine and two out of three issues of Amazing Spider-Man.

If you’re a fan of writer John Ostrander, then you may want to take a look at this:

Apparently, the writer of the Spectre, the Martian Manhunter, and Deadshot is battling glaucoma, and is undertaking several expensive trips to Boston in order to undergo glaucoma filtration surgery. That said, this is an expensive procedure, and his health insurance has not been able to cover all of the costs.

Glaucoma, for those who aren’t in the know, is a condition where excess fluid or pressure erodes the optic nerve. It can result in blindness, which is a bad condition for someone who needs to see pages.

Because of this, several of Ostrander’s friends have come together to create Comix4Sight.com, asking anyone who is a fan of the writer to donate on his behalf. During the Chicago Comic Con next month, they will hold an auction for John, with any additional proceeds going to the Hero Initiative. If you can’t make it but still want to donate, click the link above for a Paypal option.

[Tip of the hat to Gail Simone for the link]

After our comprehensive month-by-month lists for Dark Reign and Blackest Night, there’s yet another crossover from the Big Two that is raging along the spaceways: Marvel’s War of Kings. With the Inhumans battling Vulcan and the Shiar Empire — and all the cosmic characters in the Marvel U now caught in the middle — you know there’s going to be some fireworks. But how much for the whole set? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!

Remember: These examinations imply no editorial judgment; they are merely a look at the totals as a service to the readership. And, of course, whether you buy all of the tie-ins is up to you and your individual proclivities, and as always, comes with the message from the publisher that you don’t need all the tie-in issues to enjoy the story, though individual readers’ mileage on that statement may vary, of course.

With that being said, even though the War of Kings rages from November 2008 through at least August of 2009, this is a surprisingly tight event, focusing mainly in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova books, as well as some specifically created books such as X-Men: Kingbreaker and War of Kings. After compiling together a list based on issue solicits, overall story arcs based on trade, as well as certain titles being clearly spun off the War of Kings name, we finally have ourselves a list of everything we find to be connected to the story. Being approximately one fifth the size of its sister crossover, Dark Reign, and only a few issues shy of the current announced number for DC’s space opera Blackest Night, here’s a month-by-month tally to help you with your decision on how to best enjoy this smackdown of the spaceways!

November 2008:
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 ($2.99)
Total Price: $2.99, or pretty much any other $2.99 book you can think of.

December 2008:
Guardians of the Galaxy #8 ($2.99)
X-Men: Kingbreaker #1 ($3.99)
Total Price: $9.97, or the price of an XBox 360 game rental plus tax.

January 2009:
Secret Invasion: War of Kings #1 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #9 ($2.99)
X-Men: Kingbreaker #2 ($3.99)
Total Price: $20.97, or the price of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 hardcover book.

February 2009:
Guardians of the Galaxy #10 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Darkhawk #1 ($3.99)
X-Men: Kingbreaker #3 ($3.99)
Total Price: $31.91, or the X-Men Trilogy DVD set, plus tax.

March 2009:
War of Kings #1 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #11 ($2.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #12 ($2.99)
Nova #23 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Darkhawk #2 ($3.99)
X-Men: Kingbreaker #4 ($3.99)
Total Price: $52.85, or a Marvel Universe Winter Soldier bust from Midtown Comics, plus tax.

April 2009:
War of Kings #2 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #13 ($2.99)
Nova #24 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Ascension #1 ($3.99)
Total Price: $66.81, or about the price of pre-ordering Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 at Gamestop.

May 2009:
War of Kings #3 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #14 ($2.99)
Nova #25 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Ascension #2 ($3.99)
Total Price: $80.77, or 5 months of World of Warcraft, plus one bottle of “gamer fuel” each month.

June 2009:
War of Kings #4 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #15 ($2.99)
Nova #26 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Ascension #3 ($3.99)
War of Kings: Savage World of Skaar #1 ($3.99)
Total Price: $98.72, or almost the price of a silver membership to the Hero Initiative.

July 2009:
War of Kings #5 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #16 ($2.99)
Mighty Avengers #27 ($2.99)
Nova #27 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Ascension #4 ($3.99)
War of Kings: Warriors #1 ($3.99)
Total Price: $119.66, or almost the price of two weekend passes to the New York Comic Con.

August 2009:
War of Kings #6 ($3.99)
Guardians of the Galaxy #17 ($2.99)
Mighty Avengers #28 ($2.99)
Nova #28 ($2.99)
War of Kings: Warriors #2 ($3.99)
Total Price: $136.61, or the penciled version of Page #13 of Villains United by Dale Eaglesham, according to TheArtistsChoice.com, plus taxes.

TOTAL ISSUES: 39
TOTAL PRICE: $136.61

It is, in fact, Harry Potter week. I’ve been geeking out about the posters that speed by on the side of buses, the cast lined up with wands raised (why does that sound so dirty?) for weeks, so will I even find the time to read comics this week?

Well, in a week when Air, DMZ, Young Liars AND Scalped are on deck, I’m pretty sure I’ll find the time. Because I am a Preacher obsessive, I really want the new hardcover, but I should save my meager funds for books I haven’t read yet. And so, as usual, I ask you: what do you think I should be reading?

“Comic book artists invented some of pop culture’s most indestructible heroes. But when it comes to protecting themselves, these writers and illustrators turned out to be as vulnerable to personal setbacks…as Superman is to Kryptonite”: Saturday’s Los Angeles Times had a nice profile of The Hero Initiative and the important work they do. President Jim McLaughlin is quoted, as are creators William Messner-Loebs, Gene Colan and Ralph Reese. If the article moves you to donate, here’s the Hero Initiative’s site.

I never stopped to consider the theological implications of Johnny Hart’s B.C. before: The late Hart’s strip was about stone age cave men, right? And it was entitled B.C., which stands for “Before Christ.” Yet the cavemen were Christian, and crosses would fairly regularly appear in the strip. How could there be Christians before Christ?! This is blowing my mind—why have I never thought about this before? It blows my mind that this has not blown my mind before now! Anyway, here’s a nice little feature story on Hart and I Did It His Way, a collection of the more religious-themed strips of the popular and occasionally controversial strip.

“Generally, when you talk about a comic auteur’s ‘issues,’ you’re talking page count, not whether he has his head screwed on straight”: Burl Burlingame discusses the work of Fletcher Hanks, whose entire body of work has now been published thanks to Fantagraphics’ You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation!, in this piece for the Honolulu Star Bulletin.  By the way, Fantagraphics now has You Shall Die in stock, and if you order it from them directly, you can get a neat-o looking mini-comic. More info here.

Do you find yourself sleeping too well at night?: Why not check out some of the disturbing images at Thomas Ott’s new website? That oughta give you some bad dreams.

“At least I know after another few days, this hunger will go away and the pre-death euphoria will set in”: Kevin Cannon was interviewed by KFAI radio about his new graphic novel, Far Arden (which I reviewed here this weekend), and you can hear the results here. Additionally, the station apparently “performs” a couple of panels of the book, and Cannon gives the very good news that he’s already planning a sequel. Huzzah! (Via Top Shelf’s Hey Bartender! blog)

“I’m a man- man- man- man- man- maneater/ Still you’re surprised –prised –prised when I eat ya!”: Artist Julie Morstad, whose work was featured in Drawn and Quarterly’s Milk Teeth, did a video for Caleb-approved musician Neko Case, and you can see the beautiful, beautiful results here.  (Via Drawn and Quarterly)

DC and Warners may have won the latest bout in the ongoing Superman trials, but that doesn’t mean they plan to jump into action on a new Superman movie just yet. In a Variety report on Warners’ upcoming “tentpole” flicks for the next two years, the Man of Steel is notably missing. Alan Horn, head of the studio, even publicly stated that there won’t be another Superman until 2012 at the earliest.

The recently cast Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds, is the only confirmed big budget DC title, due to hit theaters in sector 2814 on June 17, 2011. Warners “hopes” the willful hero will be joined in theaters that year by Director Chris Nolan’s third Batman film, the follow up to last year’s record setting Dark Knight, but Nolan has yet to even publicly decide the general direction, story, or villains for the surefire hit, whenever it does come.

As for what will be hopefully filling seats until the Kryptonian hero flies onto the big screen again, there are no shortage of potential box office smashers from the venerable hit maker, though they are at a slightly slower pace than previous years, due to the recent Writer’s Guild strike and the slowing economy. Three Harry Potter films, starting with this Wednesday’s Half-Blood Prince, are on their way, joined by two Hobbit movies, Sherlock Holmes, and Clash of the Titans.

Comic book movies have been big business for Hollywood for years now, and the trend won’t be stopping anytime soon. At this rate, even Forbush Man will be optioned for a trilogy. (Hey, he was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, y’know.) Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher is in development (again), and since we’ve already talked about who should be cast in that film adaptation, why not do a little fantasy casting for Ennis’s current project (with the always awesome as hell Darick Robertson), The Boys?

Billy Butcher: Clive Owen

When you want a tough, rugged, charming, British leading man capable of kicking ass and taking names, who do you go to? The name at the top of my list is Golden Globe-winner and Oscar-nominee Clive Owen, who showed his action star chops in movies like Sin City and Shoot ‘Em Up, and has the charisma and good looks to play the smooth-talking leader of the Boys. (Just ask your girlfriend.)

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So as print media and especially print newspapers are dying, DC comics decides to put out a print comic that mimics newspaper funny pages. Is this brilliant, or ridiculous?

In this case, it’s brilliant. The comics are high kitsch, pure throwbacks to the heyday of newspaper comics. Highlights for me include the hilarious double entendre-a-line Metamorpho scripted by Neil Gaiman, Superman with Lee Bermejo’s utterly stunning art, and Ben Caldwell’s hallucinatory Wonder Woman. Really, though, there’s not a miss in here–and this is coming from a girl who is lukewarm at best on superheroes and has little to no healthy nostalgia for the days of yore.

But the media theorist in me wants to take this a step further. Wednesday Comics seems like an epitaph for newspapers in general and newspaper comics in particular, a tribute especially pulled together for a dying medium. The very fact that DC puts out something like this, on newsprint, is as loud a signal as any I’ve seen that we probably won’t be seeing comics in newspapers much longer. If we still had a vibrant newspaper culture, no one would find it deliciously different to buy comics printed this way.

I regret the death of the broadsheet print newspaper as a cultural artifact more than I do as a personal choice–I’ve never liked getting ink on my fingers and have never really been able to read a paper cover to cover. By the time I started jonesing for news, we already had the 24-hour news cycle and the Internet. But like most people, I remember reading the funny pages as a kid (Garfield was always my favorite).

Superhero comics carry that same kind of reassuring nostalgia for most of their audience. People grow up with Superman–life might change, fall apart, but there will always be Superman. The characters chosen for Wednesday Comics are those same classic characters, and the writers and artists are some of the biggest names in the business. The message of the whole project seems to be: Newspapers might be dead, kids, but Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman? They aren’t going to leave you.

It’s a well-done project, though, and the pure joy and love for the medium shines through and tosses some residual afterglow onto the newsprinted page. It won’t slow the shift to digital media, but it will certainly be an artifact worth keeping.

Low Moon, the latest release of one-named  Norweigian  cartoonist Jason from Fantagraphics, is a hard book to review, as the previous sentence probably tells readers all they need to know about it.

Jason is one of the relatively few working artists that even a jaded, cynical, complain-first critic like me will happily declare a true master cartoonist, without reservation. Jason is—how to put this?—good. Really, really, really good. Good enough that even the very worst of his work that I’ve seen, a handful of the early pieces he’s done, collected in Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories, are fascinating in light of what he would come to do after those works, and how they signal and reflect his future work.

So, Low Moon? It’s Jason. It’s new. It’s obviously really, really good, you know?

(Can I get away with a three-paragraph review? Or does that look too lazy? It does? Alright, alright; more after the jump then).

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Okay, so the comic isn’t really called that–but with the advent of a Manhunter second feature in the first issue of Batman: Streets of Gotham, and with Gotham being such a force in the way the title is being handled by Marc Andreyko and company, it seemed fair to just reclassify the Manhunter stories in this book as Manhunter: Streets of Gotham, and thereby give myself a new numbering to work within.

Certainly Andreyko and Jeanty are a boon to this book. While the main, Batman-centric feature at the front of the issue is much darker than, say, Grant Morrison’s fairly jovial new Batman & Robin ongoing, Kate’s adventure returns substantially more to its character-driven, less super-heroic roots and in so doing diverges from the most recent “relaunch” which started at #31 and ended with the series’ final issue eight months later. Of course, the last pair of Manhunter issues were set in the future, echoing Alan Moore’s classic “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” story and the end of the pre-Crisis era for Superman. A return to form, then, was a pretty obvious move for Andreyko and DC, who arguably had noplace more “super” for Kate to go.

Andreyko joined Blog@Newsarama for a discussion of the issue on the week of its release; apologies for a number of technical issues that led to the delay of the interview’s release. (more…)

Kevin Cannon is one half of Big Time Attic, the art studio that’s worked with writer Jim Ottaviani on some of his best science-fueled comics, T-Minus: The Race to the Moon, Stuff of Life and, my personal favorite, Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards.

If the production of those books can be considered analogous to the work of a rock band, then Cannon’s Far Arden (Top Shelf) is his solo side project. Sure, he might have been a perfect drummer, keeping the beat while half obscured by his bass drum in the background, while Ottaviani and fellow artist Zander Cannon dominated the stage, but it turns out Kevin  Cannon can write, sing and play guitar just as well as his bandmates. And man, can he shred.

The story of Far Arden is a wild one, but there’s a structure to the wildness, so all of the seemingly random happenstances and coincidences, the betrayals, reversals and unlikely alliances, the big reveals and zany plot points ultimately make a sort of sense. Parts of Far Arden might seem completely, hilariously insane, but never just for insanity’s sake—Cannon’s gags all serve his story.

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Attention SF-area GL fans: Blackest Night mastermind Geoff Johns will be signing at Isotope Comics on Saturday, July 18 from 4-6 p.m., followed by what Isotope’s James Sime is promising will be “the party of the year”:

The Isotope’s master bartender Kirsten Baldock, who made world-wide booze-swilling news earlier this year with her Watchmen Inspired Cocktails , will be serving up a rainbow variety of toe-curling Blackest Night Cocktails straight from her secret mixographical laboratory crafted just for this event.

That’s the flier for the event above. You can get more info here, and if you’d like to get an idea of what kind of drinks Baldock might come up with, you can see her Watchmen cocktail concotions here.

“You’re in good hands—the amazing hands of Simon and Kirby, the first rock stars of comic books”: Andrew A. Smith really liked Titan Books’ recent collection The Best of Simon and Kirby.

“Man blames child-porn possession on computer, video games and comic books”: Now there’s a headline I wish didn’t exist.

The average price of a comic book is now $3.46: According to The Comics Chronicles, that is. In this analysis of Diamond’s June numbers, $3.46 was the average price of all comics ordered, while the average price of the top-sellers was $3.50. Of the top 300, 138 are $2.99 while 116 are $3.99. I’m kind of surprised there are that many $3.99 books in the top 300, but I suppose I shouldn’t be; in most markets, you would think the product that offers the same value for less money would be outselling the hell out of that with a much higher price, but then, the direct market isn’t most markets (And it’s perhaps worth noting that some of those $3.99 books, like DC’s back-up-having books and Marvel’s reprints–in-the-back books are longer than 22-pages anyway, so the value is the same as a $2.99-for-22 pages). Anyway, go there and read their analysis, as it is more cogent than anything I can come up with, which basically just amounts to, “Why, I remember when comics were only $1.50!” It’s also worth noting that Batman and Robin #1 was apparently the highest seller in June, which is interesting (to me) in that just the previous night I had read in Marc-Oliver Frisch’s monthly sales analysis that Grant Morrison’s Seaguy sold pretty badly. Like, much, much worse than I would expect anything by Grant Morrison to sell anywhere (Warlord, Solomon Grundy and some other Vertigo series all out-sold Seaguy’s second issue). I guess that while Morrison is a huge draw in the direct market, he’s a much, much bigger draw when he’s writing Batman than when he’s writing Seaguy. Okay, I guess that’s not that surprising, but the fact that freaking Vigilante buried Seaguy still strikes me as slightly insane.

How much are you paying for your Batman comics, per square foot?: In discussing Wednesday Comics #1 here Wednesday night, I tried to summon the power of math to explain that the book was actually a better value than cheaper comics with smaller pages, given the number of panels per page in Wednesday Comics, and how long it takes to read some of those giant pages. Comics blogger extraordinaire Kevin Church shares another  mathematical proof of the book’s value. In other Wednesday Comics news, Jog writes a typically insightful review here, and—one more and then I’m done, I swear—the Source blog has some charming pictures of people reading Wednesday Comics here.

With Batman dead—ahem, that is, with the OTHER Batman dead, you know, the new one, the one who wasn’t dead already, not that the old one is ACTUALLY dead but nobody knows that and…anyway, with Batman dead—Booster Gold was charged this month with the unenviable task of traveling back in time and facing off against Slade “Terminator” Wilson, stepping into the pages of Teen Titans #2 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

With Rip, Supernova and Goldstar out of the action at this point, it’s Booster and Skeets, on their own against The Black Beetle and his mysterious, time-mastering benefactor who, like (the bad) Supernova and Rex Hunter before him, hides in the literal shadows and cultivates an air of menace.

As usual, writer/artist Dan Jurgens joined us for a little creator commentary on the issue. (more…)

Directed and Written by: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Joon-ho Bong

Tokyo! is out on DVD and may I suggest it as a weekend rental or for the next chance you get.

Tokyo! is not only a thought-provoking showcase of three films by three talented directors but it has a very cool comics connection: Gabrielle Bell collaborates with Michel Gondry to bring one of her comics in Cecil and Jordan in New York to the screen in the first film, “Interior Design.” She also provides some charming opening credits artwork.

You don’t have to be familiar with Gabrielle Bell’s work to enjoy the first film but it does add to it. Just imagine a quirky creative New Yorker bringing you in close to what it can feel like struggling to just stay afloat in the sink or swim big city. If you know Gabrielle’s work, then all the better since the DVD special features have a couple of segments with her and Gondry discussing how tricky it was to take a New York sensibility and place it in Tokyo. Of course, some things are universal and that is made clear in this film. While site specific, there is an interplay between the general and the specific. These stories could occur just about anywhere on our fragile global village.

“Interior Design” is about a young couple, Hiroko (Ayako Fujitani) and Akira (Ryo Kase), finding their way in the big city. They start by crashing at a friend’s tiny apartment but they quickly wear out their welcome. Akira is promptly established to the viewer as a shallow opportunist. But it is Hiroko who can’t catch a break from anyone. Just as she spots a menial job tailor-made for her, Akira snatches it up. Having left herself in charge of all the drab details while Akira pursues being an artist, she finds herself quite literally fading away.

Ironically, Akira is capable of artful observation when he least expects it. On a walk, and avoiding a serious discussion, Akira talks about how all the buildings refuse to touch each other and how ghosts reside within the gaps. Hiroko, who should know better, is impatient with Akira’s poetic musings. And she’s very dismayed with herself. In a moment of clarity, Akira tells her she must find the one thing she excels at and do it better than anyone else. In a fantastical way, worthy of Kafka, that is exactly what Hiroko does.

“Merde!” the second film, is more than just the story of the latest viral video sensation. It certainly keeps getting darker and deeper than you can digest in a video clip. The opening scene blasts off like a rocket and, in itself, is a must-see: a manhole cover pops off and out jumps a filthy little man with wild red hair, a marble white eye, pointy beard, and a tight-fitting green outfit. He proceeds to slam his way through anyone and everyone down a busy sidewalk, grabbing flowers about to be delivered, snatching a crutch from a man in midstep, and licking the armpit of a young woman for good measure. The rampage is caught on video, off the cell phone from the licked young woman and a star is born.

Director Leos Carax attempts to create a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Godzilla and succeeds. The actor Denis Lavant is so out there as the “creature from the sewers” that he is The Other’s Other and brings up still unsettled issues for Japan and Otherness. It is only with the assistance of a prominent French attorney, wonderfully played by Jean-Francois Balmer, who suspiciously looks a little too much like the creature, that finally an articulate voice is given to insanity. In time, everyone will think they know the creature and have an opinion about him.

No one really knows anyone else in these three films. That disconnection leads to some highly unusual developments. In the last film, “Shaking Tokyo,” directed by Joon-ho Bong, the main character is a hikikomori, or shut-in, played by Teruyuki Kagawa, and so appears to have given up right from the start. He is quite content with his life of quiet routine although he realizes something is missing. It is not until an earthquake, and all the coming together that follows, that he clumsily crosses paths with a beautiful young woman who was just about to deliver to him a pizza when she’s bonked on the head during the quake. When she comes to, she is mesmerized by all the neatly stacked toilet tissue rolls, not to mention the temple created by empty pizza boxes. It moves her to go over and correct the placement of one of the boxes. A match has been made. More will transpire, as love is not so easy. It is a warm and delightful story of one man rebelling against the disconnection within him and around him. A wonderful way to conclude this study in alienation.

Variety just sent out the breaking news that actor Ryan Reynolds last seen in Wolverine: Origins as Deadpool will play the title roll in the upcoming Green Lantern feature film.   Reynolds beat out “The Hangover” star Bradley Cooper, singer Justin Timberlake and Jared Leto.

You can read the full story here.

Looking for a collectible that’s leagues away from everything else? Look no further!

eFX has announced that it will preview a 4-foot collectible of the Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s underwater vessel from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, at the San Diego Comic Con!

“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is truly one of the all-time classic adventure movies, and was a milestone for the Disney creative team,” said Bryan Ono, president of eFX Inc, in a written statement. “The Nautilus is a Disney icon, and our artisans and engineers have been working overtime to develop this extraordinary re-creation.”

While there is currently no word on release dates for this behemoth, eFX says there will be more information at SDCC, as well as the D23 Expo in September.