Day-um! Another month, another delay on this poor column. I assure you that, along with giving it an honest-to-goodness name, I’ll be working overtime this month to ensure that it arrives on time in the future. I’m once again blaming my newborn for the delays, although that’s not entirely fair since I sent the questions to Erik and Gavin, and received them back, days ago. At any rate, let’s take a look at Savage Dragon #161, and the fallout from last week’s villain massacre at the hands of Emperor Kurr.

DragonQuestions: The kids at school know that she had a thing with Daredevil? How long can it be before the authorities come asking some very unpleasant questions…?

Erik Larsen: No more than the police show up when any other teenage girl has a picture of a guy hanging in her locker. When I was growing up there was a girl obsessed with Christopher Reeve. She had all kinds of pictures of him in her locker–but nobody thought for a second that her affections were being reciprocated. Same deal here. Other kids know she has a crush on the Golden Age Daredevil because Angel’s locker had pictures of the Golden Age Daredevil and she talked to her friends about Golden Age Daredevil. (more…)

From Leonard Nimoy’s tweeter feed: “The makeup folks put ears on my son Adam to surprise me. A precious moment while shooting the original series. LLAP”

Talk about a priceless moment between father and son.

Happy Father’s Day, readers.

In 2009, the DC Bullets dropped both regular season games, and a playoff match-up, to the Wall St. Journal (the 2009 New York Media Softball League champions).  The Bullets turned the tables with a victory over the Journal in May, and they managed to come out on top against this past Thursday, sweeping the 2010 season series against Wall St. Journal with a thrilling, back-and-forth, extra-inning 12-11 triumph, highlighted by the heroism of Allison Dugas’s clutch two-run hit with the Bullets on the brink of defeat.

In one of the sloppiest softball games ever played, both the Bullets and the Journal made plenty of errors, and even the umpiring had more than a couple suspect moments, but it made for exciting softball.  The lead changed hands six times, and the teams ended up playing eight innings to determine the winner.

After a quick and scoreless first by the Journal, CF Neil Hiremath (1-3, 2 R), 3B Mike Lorah (4-5, 3 R), LF Andrew Arnold (4-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, double, HR) and designated hitter LP Vollano (1-2, RBI) singled in sequence to score a run.  LF Jay Kogan’s fielder’s choice added a second run, and Doc Lauren Fries – who played a hell of a game at shortstop filling in for the traveling Adam Schlagman – lined a two-out single to left to cap the three-run frame.  Lauren finished 3-3, with 2 RBI and a base on balls.

Wall St. Journal charged back into the game, tallying five runs in the second, and might’ve gotten more if not for a strong throw and quick tag on a Journal hitter’s failed attempt to stretch a single into a double.  That controversial call went in the Bullet’s favor, but the tables quickly evened when P Joel Press (1-2) was doubled off first base – controversially – on a line drive back to the pitcher, preventing the Bullets from scoring in the second.  Wall St. Journal added a run in the top of the third, putting the Bullets in a 6-3 hole.

Last of the third, Lorah and Arnold singled, co-captain and C/OF Sal Cipriano walked (0-1, R, BB), and CF Vince Letterio (1-2, RBI) cashed in a run with a base hit to left.  One out later, Lauren and 1B Jerry Cerza (1-2, RBI) added RBI singles to tie the game at six.

The Bullets took back the lead in the fourth, when Lorah singled with two outs, and Andrew Arnold demolished a two-run home run to deep center field.  WSJ quickly retied the game with two of their own in the top of the fifth, and the Bullets see-sawed back into the lead in their half-inning, on three successive one-out singles by 3B Adam Staffaroni (1-2, R), Lauren and 2B/0F Brian Cunningham (1-2, RBI).

A three-run sixth, however, gave WSJ a two-run edge.  It might’ve been worse if not for Vince Letterio’s diving, sno-cone catch in center field.  The bottom of the sixth (Bullets) and top of the seventh (Journal) passed scorelessly, and the Bullets went to their last licks facing a two-run deficit.

After a pop-out, RF Brian Walters (1-2, R) floated a ball just beyond the shortstop’s reach for a base hit, and Lauren worked a walk to put the tying run on first base.  Jerry Cerza pushed one to the right side, grounding out to the first baseman, but moving both runners into scoring position.  That put the entire game on the shoulders of C/RF Allison Dugas.  Working a 2-2 count, down to her last strike, Allison tapped a flare about two feet in front of home plate, and the Journal catcher, attempting to pluck it from the air, touched the ball in fair territory but couldn’t get more than a sliver of leather on the ball.  With Allison hustling down the first base line and the throwing lane partially blocked, the throw went wide and into right field. Brian, who nearly ran into the catcher prior to the errant throw, scored and Lauren, never breaking stride, crossed the plate with the tying run moments later.  Allison’s big hit gave her a 1-1 day, with 2 RBI and a walk.

The Bullets held the line in the eighth, with Joel Press inducing a routine ground ball to short with two runners on base to squelch the threat.  C Katie Kubert (1-2) got the ball rolling for the Bullets in their half, lining a single to center field.  Neil Hiremath’s fielder’s choice erased Katie, and Mike Lorah lined out hard to right field for the second out.  Andrew Arnold, whose earlier home run bomb forced the Journal outfielders to play as deeply as possible, hit a pitch off the end of his bat, sending it arcing into left center field.  The shortstop ran out.  The left and right center fielders ran in.  And Neil did his best Enos Slaughter impression.  In the end, the ball dropped into the Bermuda Triangle out of any WSJ player’s reach, and Neil scored easily to clinch the victory.

With the win, the Bullets’ record stands at 8-1, including a 4-1 mark in the New York Media Softball League.  The Bullets play their next game at 5:30pm on Thursday, June 24, against Abrams books on Field #2 in Central Park’s North Meadow.  Come on out to see the thrills.

Game Notes:

As always, every game against Wall St. Journal is a fun one, and the Bullets always extend their gratitude to the opposition for a blast of a game.  Their left fielder also made a nice diving catch, and they came up with their share of big clutch hits to keep that lead changing as often as it did.

Amid the defensive lapses, we must credit Vince’s diving catch, Lauren’s steady shortstop (including two head’s up tags to nail runners stretching for second) and Adam Staffaroni, who snared four line drives at the hot corner.

Otherwise overlooked in this write-up, OF Pat Brosseau singled as part of a 1-2 day, as did CNap, second baseman Christine Napolitano, who also made a nice play on a pop-up into short center field.  Despite hitless turns at the plate, credit to first baseman Laura Demoreuille for her rock-steady defense and pitcher Larry Ganem for his unflappable ability to limit the damage done by the opposing offense.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Before “superhero” was a household word and before Superman or Batman made their debuts to the world, Americans followed the adventures of a unique crime-fighting duo: the Green Hornet and Kato.

In 1933, Fran Striker created the radio show hero called the Lone Ranger, a masked man who brought justice to the American frontier with his partner Tonto. Later on, it was suggested that Striker make a more modern hero. So in 1936, he recycled the idea and created a new radio series starring newspaper publisher Britt Reid AKA the Green Hornet.

Unlike other masked crime-fighters, the Hornet didn’t advertise that he was an enemy of evil. Instead, he pretended to be a criminal himself. Britt’s valet Kato, an expert martial artist and skilled mechanic, aided the Hornet by donning a mask and acting as his nameless bodyguard, enforcer and driver. As the Green Hornet, Reid would work alongside criminals so he could sabotage their operations from the inside, leaving them easy prey for the police while he and Kato made a getaway in the Black Beauty, a special car with a loud, buzzing engine (the sound of which helped give the Hornet his name). His fugitive status, along with the fact that he sometimes took credit for the crimes of others, earned him a reputation as a clever gangster and got him the trust of several criminals he’d later help put away.

Some time later, Stryker revealed that the Hornet and the Ranger were related. The Lone Ranger was a man called Reid (later named John Reid) who had a nephew named Dan. And the Green Hornet had inherited his newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, from his father Dan Reid. So Britt was the Lone Ranger’s grandnephew. Cool, right?

I have a personal connection to this character. Before I read comic books, back when I didn’t know what an X-Man was or how Spider-Man became a hero, my father and I would watch videos of the 1960s Green Hornet show and would listen to copies of the original radio series. So because of this, and because he’s been making a huge comeback in recent months, I figured we should look over the different ways this character has been portrayed over the decades.

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Magdalena #2
Written by Ron Marz
Pencils by Nelson Blake II
Inks by Sal Regla
Colors by Dave McCaig
Published by Top Cow

“The Church has been sacrificing my ancestors for a thousand years. If you truly think that’s going to change…you’re more gullible than those people taking Communion down there.” — Patience, the Magdalena

Talk about hating your job, huh?

The Magdalena team (or as I call them in my head: Team Mags) are two for two with the second issue of Top Cow’s newest ongoing series, Magdalena. Ron Marz continues the story of Patience, this generation’s Magdalena, as she is trying to find her place and destiny in a world and Church that she’s at constant odds with. Meanwhile the Son of Satan, no, not that one, is planning another demon summoning since Patience just wiped the floor with the one he had sent earlier.

The plot doesn’t advance that much, but what this issue really showcases is Patience’ relationship with Kristoff and the Cardinal. Kristoff wants her to do what is right and her birthright, while the Cardinal sees her as more of subservient and merely a tool similar to one you could buy at a Home Depot should the one you have breaks.  Though, at the end, Patience accepts her mantle but will no longer work for the Church, but rather with them. I’d like to see how long that notion lasts.

Nelson Blake II’s art is good. Great action shots with the demon slaying, great layouts for the more subtle moments, with terrific character design and is on par with Marz’s story. Sal Regla’s ink also add an additional visual layer and topped with Dave McCaig’s exquisite colors just make the whole package that much cooler.

If you don’t know by now, the previous issue started a firestorm of rave reviews and positive nods all around, eventually selling out. Don’t be  left out of some good times and pick this book up.

Well, I’m not sure if they are going to use his helmet in this movie, but it has been confirmed by Heatvision that Michael Fassbender (300, Inglorious Basterds, Jonah Hex) is in negotiations to play Max Eisenhardt/Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto in the upcoming X-Men: First Class.

I like the prospect of an actual German playing the role of Magneto. Now it wouldn’t surprise me if we see more casting calls since I’m sure this movie is in full-blown casting mode. It will definitely be a change of pace in character from Ian McKellan to Fassbender, so will we see a more sinister Magneto? I’m trying to figure out what time frame the movie takes place since Magneto was born in the 1920′s, so will Fassbender play an older man still?

With X-Men: The Last Stand four years behind us, I’m so glad for this movie moving forward and interesting casting choices so far.

So readers, what do you think of this casting idea?

Dungeon: Twilight v.3: The New Centurions
Written by Lewis Trondheim & Joann Sfar
Illustrated by Kerascoet & Obion
Translated by Joe Johnson
Published by NBM

Oh, Dungeon, I’ll never get enough of you.

Two more volumes of the comical French fantasy epic arrived on American shores in a translated edition from NBM recently.  “The New Centurions” finds Herbert the Duck, The Dust King and Marvin the Red battling usurpers in Herbert’s kingdom Craftiwich, and the second narrative, “Revolutions,” has The Dust King and Marvin the Red stranded on an airborne rotating island, trudging ever forward to avoid falling into the enormous lava lake below!

Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, two of the world’s wittiest and creative cartoonists, continue to script.  They stuff each tale chock full of insane twists and wild ideas, including the various ways people survive on a floating, rotating island.  Meanwhile, their dialogue crackles with an uncanny balance of humor and compassion, providing the readers with dozens of amusing moments and still just enough heart to care what happens to the characters.

Though Dungeon is played somewhat tongue in cheek, the writers’ clear affection for fantasy tropes comes through on each page, with jokes accenting the plots rather than undermining it.  Further, the duo’s relentless use of secret passages, wise mentors, betrayers, battles, aerial combat atop giant bats and entertaining animal familiars tap into all the exciting elements that make fantasy appealing while avoiding the hoary clichés of the genre.

Kerascoet, a husband and wife team, handle the illustrations in the “The New Centurions,” and Obion draws “Revolutions.”  Both chapters keep to the model types established by Trondheim in the earliest Dungeon books, while still evidencing their own personalities.  Kerascoet’s pages make more noticeable use of ink and shadow, as well as displaying occasionally severe camera angles; Obion’s softer lines add a more humorous angle to the second piece.  With its looseness and slightly sloppy detail, readers who prefer hyper-real artwork may not glean to Dungeon, and several action pieces are difficult to pull meaning from, but both art teams stick to precise grids and easy-to-read pacing.  And both chapters feature impressive character designs and plenty of over-the-top action.

Dungeon is a long-running, extremely popular fantasy series in Europe, and one can only hope it’s achieving similar success in the States.  The future of the Dungeon universe continues to unfold in Dungeon: Twilight v.3: The New Centurions, a witty, outrageous all-ages fantasy adventure that truly has appeal for readers of any age bracket.

So apparently, each Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World trailer will be progressively more awesome than the preceding one: Here’s the “International trailer.”

“While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding ‘Reign In Blood’ on my double-necked Stratocaster”: Comic Sans knows what you’ve been saying about it, and Comic Sans doesn’t care, as it explains in this short imagined monologue by Mike Lacher at McSweeny’s (Via The Beat)

Blue Beetle Bailey?: Writing for The Comics Journal, Shaenon Garrity shares some examples from Awesome Finnish Collection of Censored Mort Walker Thumbnails, a 1994 Finnish collection of rough Mort Walker strips full of sex jokes that would never make it into your average daily newspaper.

“In the abstract, one might assume that the first issue of a new series would represent a fresh start…In the Marvel Universe, at least, that assumption would be wrong”: Also at The Comics Journal, Krisitan Williams has a three part series examining a bunch of issues with #1’s on the cover: Secret Avengers #1 and Avengers #1, Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1 and Dazzler #1.

“I have some knowledge, but I’m not a hardcore nerd. Unfortunately, I would like to be, but I just don’t have the knowledge… I do make appearances at Comic-Con and I don’t want to get stoned there”: That’s Hollywood actress and professional pretty lady Megan Fox talking to MTV about her nerd credibility, and how she doesn’t want to give anyone in the comic book world a false impression about how extensive her nerd knowledge is, lest they turn on her. I think it’s safe to say that being stoned at Comic-Con is one of the last things Megan Fox has to worry about.

I hear they’re looking for a new Spider-Man: Stan Lee recently told Hollywood Life that he’d like to see Leonardo DiCaprio play a superhero in a film. But which superhero?! They suggest “Havoc” (Ha ha ha! Like there will ever be a Havok movie!) or Phantom Rider (Ditto…plus, if you did get DiCaprio to play your western superhero, why would you want him to wear a mask that covers his entire face the whole time? I dunno, do you guys have any good suggestions for a Marvel hero DiCaprio could play?

“We always saw the story as a graphic novel, though, because of the cars, the characters and the visually striking Miami setting”: That’s super-popular prose author Janet Evanovich, talking about how her Alex Barnaby books Metro Girl and Motor Mouth were always intended to be graphic novels, but “it just wasn’t the right time.” I hate to call a stranger a liar, but that sounds a bit like a damn lie to me. Anyway, USA Today has an interview with Evanovich about her upcoming Troublemaker graphic novel, which she’s created with her daughter Alex Evanovich and artist Joelle Jones for publisher Dark Horse. Better yet, there’s a preview (And a photo of the Evanovichs…and their gigantic dog). This certainly looks a lot more promising than your typical graphic novel version/adaptation/exploitation of a popular prose author’s work.

“Breck Eisner Drinks Blood of The Innocent”: I got really excited when I saw that headline pop up in my Google News alerts, but it turns out Blood Of The Innocent is just the name of a graphic novel that Eisner is going to adapt into a film and therefore Breck Eisner does not, in fact, literally drink the blod of the innocent…at least, not that we know of yet.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

Harvey Kurtzman’s comics version of the classic insect fable was originally produced in 1960 for Esquire magazine, and almost 50 years later it’s still a remarkably relevant work. Perhaps that should come as nor surprise; 50 years is awfully recent compared to the original fable’s suspected vintage (Heck, the Bible’s Book of Proverbs includes a version of it).

Of course, it might also come down to the fact that this is a Kurtzman comic we’re talking about, and the late, great cartoonist’s work boasts a vitality and originality that makes it always seem fresh and new. (When I first encountered his work, it was his covers to the earliest issues of Mad that were reprinted in various price catalogs and histories of comics, and I remember being quite shocked to learn that those drawings were done before my parents were born, but looked just as fresh as the previous Saturday’s Saturday morning cartoons).

Kurtzman’s The Grasshopper and The Ant is a 37-page story, with each page consisting of a single large drawing, the edges of the page making each page its own de facto panel, with the lovely hand-lettering in dialogue balloons sometimes breaking the single image into several moments, by virtue of the time it takes to read all the words. (We probably shouldn’t get into this now, but Kurtzman does some pretty amazing stuff in these pages when it comes to manipulating time through the interaction of the words and pictures…it’s particularly amazing given the perfect uniformity of the pages and panels; given the format, each page should “last” as long as every other one, but that’s not the case. Shit, this is a comic not just to read, but to study).

You probably know the basic story. There’s a grasshopper and an ant. The former wants to sing and dance and play all year around, while the latter works gathering food; when winter comes along, the grasshopper has nothing to eat and either starves or is saved by the ant so he can survive to learn his lesson.

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Warner Brothers has once again put together a battery of classic animation and released it all over a very short period of time. In the last month or so, they’ve released the Peanuts 1970s Collection Volume 2, Tom & Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. All of these DVDs are chock full of old material, repackaged in a way that they can be “previously unreleased.”

Only the Tom & Jerry collection is truly indispensable if you’re trying to put together your kid’s library. It’s the disc you’d want to have if you didn’t care all that much about the cat-and-mouse game that Tom & Jerry have been putting on for something like fifty years, as it’s the old classic shorts as opposed to the newer ones–and it’s a 2-disc, 30-episode compilation of shorts that contains almost all of the specials you would have watched and loved as a kid with a bare minimum of extra, random crap. With a premise as redundant as Tom & Jerry’s, and with quality being so scattershot over the years, having a package like this is really nice because it allows you to enjoy the best of their stuff all in one place, as opposed to carrying around four volumes of “Tom & Jerry’s Greatest Chases,” which are pretty much the same material except that they feel obliged to leave a mediocre one–usually one of the newer episodes–on those discs to fill them out so that these 30 can stretch to four volumes.

13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is a Vincent Price-starring, Scrappy-Doo-featuring, 13-episode take on Pandora’s Box as Mystery, Inc. investigates a mysterious chest into which 13 escaped ghosts must be returned. Price is his usual devilish self, and the series isn’t as bad as I expected after a friend remembered it by name simply on the strength of its awfulness–but you can see why the material has been out of mainstream circulation for a while. Let’s face it: Anything with Scrappy is probably not worth buying, but this one could definitely be worth renting at your neighborhood video store.

Lastly we’ve got the newest in a long line of Peanuts collections to come out this year; it is, after all, the 60th anniversary of the first appearance of Charles Schulz’s characters in comic strip form. Warner has been celebrating by reissuing everything that isn’t nailed down, althoguh they still haven’t gotten quite as far as most of the late ’70s, early ’80s specials that I liked so much as a kid. One of them is here, though, in the form of “What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown,” a story in which Snoopy eats a large, bad dinner and proceeds to have a nightmare in which he’s forced to compete in the Iditarod, challenge huge, snarling huskies for scraps of food and generally live every dog’s nightmare.

I had forgotten completely about this story until I saw it on this collection and now I can’t get it out of my head; it was pretty upsetting for me even as a small child to see Snoopy being abused and, later, turning into a mean dog. I look at it by today’s standards and realize that the soft, cushy entertainment we demand for our children means it would never in a million years get made anymore. While these collections are deteriorating in overall quality, making them maybe too much of a good thing, I’m still hoping that by year’s end, we’ll see a decent-quality reissue of Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home. Now, those would really mess with my memories.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Action Figure Insider announced  that Mezco Toyz has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, on behalf of DC Comics, to create Mez-Itz, Mezco’s signature designer vinyl brand. The arrangement gives Mezco Toyz full to the DC Universe’s heroes and villains including  Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and many more.

Good news is that Batman and Joker (see above) will make their debut at San Diego Comic Con this year, with an exclusive two-pack of 6 inch Mez-Itz is based on their classic comic appearance.

Now, I’m a huge Mighty Muggs fan, but they don’t seem to be around like they used to (especially with their Toys R Us exclusive deal), so these satisfy my needs for cool ornaments. I can only imagine the design of say Blue Beetle, Zatanna, Green Arrow, and such.

Who would you like to see made into one of these toys, readers?

Let’s ride.

Heatvision has reported that Academy Award winner Nic Cage is in early talks to reprise his role as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Plot details are still shrouded in secret, and it’s not clear if either Eva Mendes or Sam Elliot will return. There was a debate on whether or not the sequel would even star Cage at one point, and concentrate the feature on the second Ghost Rider, Dan Ketch.

Despite the lukewarm reviews and so-so reception from comic fans, it grossed over $230 million, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor are in negotiations for directing the hellcycle for a ride this time around with Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Michael De Luca and Steven Paul as producers and David Goyer and Mark Steven Johnson as executive producers.

So what can we look forward to see in Rider 2? Do you go the X-Men route and use the same villain again? Or perhaps something new, or perhaps something bold like an original creation? Seeing how the directing duo also wrote this Summer’s Jonah Hex major motion picture, I guess we’ll have to just wait and see.

Hey readers, check out this preview for Oni’s new Polly and the Pirates volume written by creator Ted Naifeh, but this time around drawn by Robbi Rodriguez (Hazed and Tek Jansen).  Those used to Naifeh’s style will notice an incredible difference as Rodriguez comes across as more “Saturday morning cartoon” style and more whimsical. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since “Polly” is an adventure series and I can’t wait to get a hold of it.   (more…)

The Night Owls
Written & Illustrated by Peter & Bobby Timony
Published by DC/Zuda

Zuda Comics, the web initiative from DC Comics, has published a number of different projects, almost none of which I’ve actually read.  I will have to make a better effort, because if Zuda’s other webcomics are anywhere near the quality of The Night Owls, I’m seriously missing out.

The Night Owls, by twin brothers Peter and Bobby Timony, chronicles the adventures of the titular supernatural investigators: their leader, the brainy professor Ernest Baxter, the emancipated and tough-as-nails assistant Mindy Markus, and the perpetually hungry gargoyle Roscoe.  A comic adventure, emphasizing the comedy aspect, the Night Owls protect 1920s New York City from foes like the face-stealing Mr. You and mystically empowered mobsters like Gaspipe Louie.

The Timonys move comfortably between single-strip jokes and longer storylines, but even the longest storyline is accented by daily gags.  Younger readers will appreciate the gastric antics of Roscoe, and older readers will enjoy how the brothers unspool the romantic tension between Ernie and Mindy.  In addition, the continuity of the strip builds clearly and easily, generating history and meaning without heavy-handed or forced relationships.

Open and clean, the artwork is handled by Bobby Timony.  Timony works within the strip format very effectively, breaking each strip down into basic six or eight-panel grids, keeping the angles very still to keep the focus on the characters, and even moving confidently from greytoned artwork to full-color pages when the Night Owls travel to a fantasy dimension.  Also, the strong character designs stick with the reader.

It’s genuinely funny, very well drawn, and chock full of endearing characters you can’t help but root for.  I’ve been on a winning streak of all-ages adventurism lately, and The Night Owls fits in comfortably alongside winners such as City of Spies, Sfar & Trondheim’s Dungeon and John Stanley’s work.  It’s a delightful, purely enjoyable romp.

Live-action Blue Beetle (might) look like this: Yesterday Geoff Johns took to The Source to talk about some multimedia stuff he’s pretty excited about, and shared some still images from a screen test of what a live-action Blue Beetle transformation sequence might look like.  Blue Beetle’s an unusual character to consider for a live-action TV show in that, on the one hand, he has a really large and interesting supporting cast, which seems tailor-made for an ensemble drama but, on the other hand, he doesn’t really have any of his own villains at all (unless you count The Reach, who are most just evil Blue Beetles), so there doesn’t seem to be the sort of endless conflict potential of more popular heroes. Of course, I never would have thought a show about Clark Kent never becoming Superboy could have lasted a decade, so what do I know? Johns also talks a bit more about the new Aqualad and the Green Lantern movie. I’m pretty excited to learn more about the new Aqualad—particularly why on earth anyone would want to be called Aqualad.

Well it’s no Iron Man 2 or Scott Pilgrim…: Sook-Yin Lee (who played Sofia, the lady who couldn’t orgasm, in 2006′s Shortbus) has written and directed a new movie. It’s called The Year of the Carnivore, and it’s a romantic comedy about a girl who has a crush on a guy who thinks she’s bad in bed. To rectify that, she goes looking for more experience. Its comics connection? Chester Brown drew the movie poster.

Let’s make a list of comics characters with tattoos: I was excited to see a link to this post on Let’s Go Ayo! on The Beat. The subject matter? The fact that Darryl Ayo can count on one hand the number of comics characters with tattoos. I was just talking about tattooed DC superheroes on my blog the other day, prompted by the fact that the new Aqualad appears to have a tattoo, and it appears to be yet another lame tattoo, like those of Roy Harper (aka Red Arrow, aka Arsenal, aka Speedy I) and Grace. A commenter pointed out that Wolverine’s son Daken has some pretty terrible tattoos too, and another pointed out that Jack “Starman” Knight had some pretty cool tattoos. And there are two villains called The Tattooed Man. And I just read an X-Men graphic novel with a villain who had mutant tattoo powers (Uncanny X-Men: Lovelorn). Oh! Grunge from Gen 13 had a big tattoo on his chest, didn’t he? Hmm…anyone have any others they can offer?

“As a character, the dark superhero is becoming a little less interesting by the movie; a dark superhero movie increasingly turns on what you do with that character as opposed to the novelty of the premise itself”: Writing for the LA Times, Steven Zeitchik picks up on rumors that Robert Rodriguez is maybe under consideration to maybe direct the Deadpool movie, and then dissects it. You may have heard this rumor somewhere already. Like in the preceding post.

A bunch of superhero movie tidbits, complete with goofy art: Slashfilm.com has some kinda sorta intersting business regarding superhero movies in various levels of production, including how badly Jennifer Love Hewitt would like to play Wonder Woman and that Brian Michael Bendis was offerred scripting duties on a Venom movie.

Chocolate, meet peanut butter.

Slash Film reports that Terror Planet and Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez has been offered the director’s chair for the Wolverine: Origins spin-off, Deadpool, in his own feature film. Now it’s not confirmed that he will take it, but it is becoming clearer and clearer he’s making Fox Studios his new home.

Now that Green Lantern’s sequel has already been green lit (pun intended), it’s difficult to see Ryan Reynolds wield Wilson’s gun and blades again or anytime soon.

Rodriguez’s style would fit perfectly with Deadpool’s antics and violence, but it’s hard to see something like this be anything but R-rated.

I guess we can do nothing now but to let the speculation begin.

Over at Venture Bros.’ co-creator Jackson Publick’s livejournal, he had a message about “geeking out for a good cause”.

Our overseas studio recently sent us some of the original layout and animation drawings from the production of the fourth season of The Venture Bros., and our kind-hearted animatic editor, Thomas Bayne, immediately got the bright idea to sell/auction some of them off to raise money for the Gulf Coast. He also managed to dig up some of the great Stephen DeStefano’s storyboard and design originals from previous seasons, and a few pieces of original art from the in-house production of The Venture Bros. pilot…just to spice things up.

This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of the show and help out a great and urgent cause–because all proceeds go to charity. So, if you love The Venture Bros., have some money to spare, and you hate when pelicans have oil all over them, please click on the image above and go place your bids! Also, be sure to keep checking back, because we keep finding more stuff.

We Love You,

JP

Talk about a really good auction, for a damn good cause. Now I should note the fact that the auction is not JUST VB stuff. There’s some Looney Tunes and Drawn Together art as well.

Check out all the listings right here.