Yesterday we got a hot new Thor trailer (that I’m still salivating over), today, director Kenneth Branagh talks about working on this highly anticipated film.

Branagh spoke exclusively with Entertainment Weekly about the tone of the film and why humor was so important. “We always felt there was a very strong mine of material in the fish-out-of-water. When you reduce a man who is arrogant by temperament, extremely oppressive and used to having his own way, dressed, um … unusually, you are immediately in a position where you have comic friction,” he said. “This is a guy who continues to live his own reality. In his mind, he’s still prince of the cosmos and he’ll do what he wants. People from Earth getting in his way and asking silly questions is immaterial.”

As to the role females play in mythology and in turn, Thor, Branagh said, “We’re very blessed with talented and beautiful women. We have Kat Dennings, as [Natalie Portman’s] partner in crime, we have Jamie Alexander as [the warrior goddess] Sif, Renne Russo as Thor’s mum.” He continued, “[Thor] is a man who has a Viking, atavistic sense of entitlement. In another life, he’d be suggesting everyone — particularly women — do exactly what he says. When you cast someone like Natalie Portman, the character can’t just be the love interest. She is already an interesting dynamic character in her own right. It helps to have that conflict and interplay.”

Branagh also said that Hemsworth’s brief role as Kirk’s father in J.J. Abrams Star Trek certainly helped in him being chosen to play Thor. “He’s immense, magnificent and massive as a physical being, but there’s a lot going on in those eyes, and a lot conveyed in the atmosphere of the man,” he said.

Branagh expressed that the culture clash aspect of the film is something he thinks audiences will enjoy. “Even in the case of a god, audiences — paradoxically — enjoy recognizing the human traits. In Thor’s case, we are thrilled by his powers, but I think we relate to his emotions. There are some flaws, some foibles, sibling rivalries at work, and romantic entanglements,” he said. “The way into making a god attractive is to find out where his experience connects to a human one.”

The director, who is a skilled actor in his own right, mentioned he might have some sort of cameo in the film but not a visual one.

Who is Adrian Tomine talking to now?: Drawn and Quarterly, the publisher of his Scenes From an Impending Marriage, offers a brief round-up.

I like how “What does Stan Lee think about ____?” is pretty much always worth a blog post: Michael Cavna checks in with one of Spidey’s two dads regarding the new movie Spider-Man costume, and the mechanical vs. organic web-shooter questin.

Ryan Dunlavey’s cover covers are the best cover covers: Dunlavey reimagines Liefeld’s 1991 X-Force #1 at Covered. His previous contribution was adding some more accurate blurbs to the cover of Marvel’s G.I. Joe #1. (Speaking of indie artists and G.I. Joe, when’s IDW gonna go ahead and publish some anthologies giving the property the Bizarro Comics/Strange Tales treatement…?)

I’m not gonna lie, I think this guy looks kind of awesome: At Living Between Wednesdays, Johnathan profiles one of Green Arrow’s not-exactly-The Joker villains.

“I can’t say whether the judges ever took Essex County seriously, but I can say that their criticisms as expressed weren’t very serious”: That’s The Beguiling’s Christopher Butcher talking about Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel being eliminated early in the competition for Canada Reads in this National Post article.  Jeet Heer and Darwyn Cooke also weigh in. Essex County was the first graphic novel ever to appear in the competition.

A full Thor theatrical trailer has just been released and it’s…well, it’s…FREAKING AMAZING!!

Was I right or what? Frost Giants, Destroyer, Asgard, Odin, Loki, Heimdall, the Warriors Three…they really know how do get us excited, don’t they? I think my favorite line is Darcy’s, “You know, for a crazy, homeless person, he’s pretty cut.”

Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, hits theaters May 6th.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but there’s this little event going over at Top Cow now called “Artifacts”. Ring any bells?

Sarcasm aside, one of the great selling points on Artifacts isn’t just the fantastic story (so far) that’s being architectured by Ron Marz, but he’s working on a rotating team of artists. Recently it was announced that Jeremy Haun (Detective Comics, Berserker) will join the rotation, picking up where Whilce Portacio leaves off.

Blog@ spoke briefly with Marz about the artists he’s been working with and the great chemistry between story and art, as well as working with Jeremy Haun.

Blog: Okay, so, first it was Michael Broussard, then Whilce Portacio, and now Jeremy Haun — who approached who about working on Artifacts? You or Jeremy?

RM: Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik was the matchmaker here. When he knew Jeremy was signing an exclusive with Top Cow, Filip called me up and asked what I thought of Jeremy taking the last on the third arc of Artifacts. Took me all of two seconds to say yes, as Jeremy is somebody I’ve been wanting to work with for a while. We actually talked about working together last year, but I don’t think either of us expected it to fall into place this quickly.

Blog@: Some say Whilce Portacio is doing some of his best work in a long time working on Artifacts, what is it about this story you think that elevates these artists to a whole other level?

RM: I certainly agree, I think this is some of Whilce’s strongest stuff ever, but I’m a bit biased obviously. Whoever I’m working with, whatever project I’m working on, a big part of my job is to play to the artists’ strengths and give them something they’re excited about drawing. Comics are a visual medium, so the scripts need to be as visual as possible. Otherwise, what’s the point? I also think you have to mention Joe Weems on inks and Sunny Gho on colors. They’re both bringing their best as well, so they make a great team with Whilce.

Blog@: Who’s on your shortlist of the artists you’d love to have on the final installment of Artifacts? Or do you already have somebody in mind?

RM: My shortlist has one name on it for who should draw issue #13, and that’s who’s drawing it.

Artifacts: Volume 1 is on sale now.

Deadline is reporting that Shane Black is in “final negotiations” to direct Iron Man 3, though there’s no official word yet from Marvel Studios. Black is primarily known as the writer of action films including Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout, but there’s no indication yet if he’ll be working on a screenplay draft as well. (more…)

On the surface, Rob Vollmar and M.P. Mann’s Inanna’s Tears (Archaia) is an engaging period drama, set almost as far back in recorded history as one can go, as the means by which history gets recorded are just being invented in the course of the story. More specifically? The city of Sumer within the Middle East’s fertile crescent, some 5,000 years ago.

The known world seems built around the city, while the city seems built around the temple, and the temple is built around the goddess Inanna. She is represented by her earthly consort, a sort of high priest, who names his own successor at the end of his life.

The last high priest chooses Entika, a young woman, to succeed him as Inanna’s consort and mouthpiece, which stresses her relationship with fellow temple servant Anarin and aspects of city government, while emboldening a wicked leader of the people who live outside the city’s gates.

On the surface, it works quite well.
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Henry Cavill speaks out for the first time since being cast in one of the most iconic roles in the world in this week’s Entertainment Weekly.

EW not only has the scoop, they got Cavill on the cover in a Superman t-shirt.

The feature includes details about the British actors audition process, which included shooting a screen test wearing a replica of Christopher Reeve’s  Superman costume. “If you can put on that suit and pull it off,” said director Zack Snyder, “that’s an awesome achievement.”

Cavill was apparently worried about getting into the suit seeing as how he had just recently shed a good amount of muscle tone for a film he shot with Bruce Willis called The Cold Light Of Day. EW reports Cavill remembering  an assistant helping him get into the iconic costume and thinking,  “Oh, god. They’re going to look at me and go ‘He’s not Superman. Not a chance.’ The actor inside me was going: You’re not ready! You’re not ready!”

As we all know now, his worries were unwarranted. “He walked out, and no one laughed,” said Snyder. “Other actors put that suit on, and it’s a joke, even if they’re great actors. Henry put it on, and he exuded this kind of crazy-calm confidence that just made me go ‘Wow.’ Okay: This was Superman.’”

There’ll be lots more Super-details from Cavill, plus an article on the massive amount of superhero films landing in the next two years, when the issue hits stands tomorrow.

Half-man. Half-robot. All good intentions.

For those who haven’t heard about the news, Detroit has had itself a little bit of an android dilemma — namely, a giant Robocop statue being built in the city. Earlier this month, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing shot down the idea of having such a statue built — but every meme has its price, and this week, a Kickstarter campaign successfully raised $50,000 to produce said Robocop statue.

Now, yeah, it’s kind of funny, but you know something? There’s actual people in Detroit who could use that $50,000 for more than just our Internet lulz, you know?

Which is where Ron Marz comes in. He and Gary Whitta had a discussion about the merits of the statue — Marz saying that it’s dumb to pay $50K for a statue when people are hungry, and Whitta saying that whimsy has its place, particularly with the weakened economy.

And lo, a compromise was made — Robocharity! Both Marz and Whitta have donated to Forgotten Harvest, a food pantry in Detroit. Want to join in, and be the hero that Detroit deserves? Donate some funds to Forgotten Harvest here, check out the initiative’s Facebook page, and then start talking it up on Twitter using the hashtag #RoboCharity. Well, what are you waiting for? Show the good people of Detroit that Robocop isn’t just an empty statue — he can inspire greatness out everyone, too!

Written and created by Brian Andersen, art, colors and letters by the talented Celina Hernandez. For more So Super Duper go to:www.sosuperduper.com!

It’s official. We have our live-action Wonder Woman. Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has been chosen to embody Princess Diana in David E. Kelley’s Wonder Woman pilot on NBC.

Twenty-seven year old Palicki, who also starred in Supernatural and the film Legion, stands a lofty 5’11″ tall. The news came just late this evening courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter.

Oddly enough, Palicki had a brush with DC Comics before. She was in an episode of Smallville but was also cast as Siren in the Aquaman television pilot that was never picked up.

In high school, the actress played basketball and ran track so it’s likely she’ll be able to keep up with the physicality of the role. Palicki can be seen next in the remake of Red Dawn with Thor star Chris Hemsworth.

Updated: And here’s an image of Palicki with dark hair from the swiftly cancelled “Lone Star”.

Well, what do you think Newsarama readers?

It’s hardly breaking news anymore that the Spider-Man musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark has had it’s streak of setbacks and upsets ranging from constant delays (again pushed back to debut March 15th) to injuries and drop outs (remember when Alan Cumming was supposed to be Green Goblin?). Now, it’s hit another setback, but something…positive?

According to Deadline, former Sensational Spider-Man scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has been signed to do some re-writes. I’d say since one of the major negatives of the show has been it’s lack of having that authentic Spider-Man voice, I can see why they opted for a re-write.

With Turn Off The Dark being bombarded with mostly disappointed reviews, Bono and The Edge brought in their producer as well to up the oompf factor in the music. But with the production tittering the $65 million dollar mark, and already the punchline for many late night shows and SNL itself, has it already tarnished its image?

What do you think, readers?

Earlier this afternoon, Marvel announced Disney•Pixar Presents, a 96-page magazine featuring comics starring characters from Disney/Pixar films including Toy Story, The Incredibles and Cars. Ross Richie, CEO & publisher of previous Pixar license-holder BOOM! Studios, sent Newsarama official comment on the news:

“The team over at Marvel is some of the best in comics publishing — Dan, Joe, Axel, and Tom are great at what they do, and I’m sure the characters will be in excellent hands.  I certainly love the material they’re collecting from our CARS: RALLY RACE graphic novel.  Landy Walker and Marcio Takara were unable to finish their last arc of THE INCREDIBLES so I hope Marvel’s able to complete the story, I for one would love to read it.  Working with Disney and Pixar was a highlight in my 6 years of BOOM! publishing. Those are some great folks!  Meanwhile, Mickey, Donald and Darkwing fans can look forward to some great stories from BOOM Kids! and all the BOOM Kids! fans need not fret — BOOM Kids! 2.0 is right around the corner.”

Cars: Rally Race was published in collected edition form by BOOM! in May of last year, and originally appeared in print as Cars #0-3 in early 2010. Though Marvel did not explicitly state that they were reprinting BOOM! material in their press release, the statement disclosed that the magazine would be “a mix of brand new stories, classic adventures,” and the creative team and concept mentioned by the publisher match that of Cars: Rally Race. Newsarama’s Vaneta Rogers interviewed writer Alan Porter in an article published in January 2010.

Richie’s allusion to “Mickey, Donald and Darkwing” appears to confirm that, for the time being, BOOM!’s non-Pixar Disney licenses — which include currently ongoing titles Mickey Mouse and Friends, Donald Duck and Friends and Darkwing Duck — are unaffected by today’s news.

BOOM!’s Disney/Pixar licensed comics launched in 2008, and announced the acquisition of the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck license in June 2009. Disney announced their acquisition of Marvel in late August 2009. Despite that, BOOM!’s licensed Disney comics remained largely unaffected until the cancellation of previously solicited Pixar titles last month. The first Disney product published by Marvel following the acquisition was Tron: The Betrayal, a limited series that debuted in October and tied-in to last December’s Tron: Legacy feature film.

First, let’s get a few things clear. I like Len Wein and have enjoyed many of his stories over the years. I’ve enjoyed many DC Comics titles over the years and continue to do so. And I have been a fan of several retcons that have, in my opinion, made a character stronger or simplified some confusing, contradictory storylines. I’m not some guy who trolls the internet or comic book stores with the deliberate intent of finding things to complain about. Frankly, I just don’t have that kind of time.

But sometimes there’s something in a comic that bugs me. Usually, venting to a friend for a minute and a half and moving on takes care of this. But when it becomes a consistent problem on multiple levels and seems inexplicable to me… Well, here we are. I’m talking about the limited series DC Universe Legacies. This series was billed as an overview of the history of DC’s superheroes, starting with the Golden Age of comics that gave us the Crimson Avenger, the Sandman and eventually the Justice Society of America. For new readers, it would be an easy who’s who to the DC Universe and would get them to stop worrying that they couldn’t understand certain crossovers without knowing their history. And for old readers who occasionally got confused, this would put things in context and clarify a few points.

Great idea. I was very excited, as I’m always looking for great things to recommend to new readers. But what was advertised is not what I got. Instead, each issue has becoming increasingly riddled with errors, contradictions, and way-too-long recaps of very famous stories that are readily available in trade and didn’t really need extensive recapping. I understand spending a few pages recapping the Crisis on Infinite Earths story because that was an epic tale that spanned all of DC Comics and events in it have been re-written a few times. But in issue #7 alone, we have 9 pages dedicated to recreating scenes from Death of Superman. 9 whole pages when we only have about 22 pages for the main story and then a few pages for the back-up stories. And are we being shown new scenes during these recaps? Things to explain questions fans might have had at the time? No. It’s literally just the same stuff from the original story, with only the presence of our narrator added so he can be a witness.

Why spend so many pages just re-drawing scenes from a story that gained national attention when it came out and that can be found as a trade in most comic book stores? I understand that you want to get readers interested in what happened to Superman, but just give us a page or two look into the story at most and then add a footnote saying: “If you want to see these events in more detail, read DEATH OF SUPERMAN tpb.”

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I kinda want to know who commissioned this and why, exactly, but I’m kind of afraid to know: Colleen Coover shows off a commission of three great things that go…weird together.

“The Punisher lives on the same world where Conan fought Kulan Gath during the Hyborian Age and a talking duck named Howard roams the streets of Cleveland”: Tim O’Neil talks a bit about the construction of DC and Marvel’s shared-universe settings, paying special attention to how they came to be, how such efforts can’t be forced and the strange cosmology/theology/physics of the respective universes.

“Cupid’s Nib”: If you were too busy doing romantic stuff with your loved one or crying on the shoulder of your Cuddle Buddy Batman about how very, very lonely you are (his shoulders are so soft and comforting…)  to go hunting for comics and cartoons on Monday, Michael Cavna collected ten of ‘em for your persual.

“Look in the DSM IV, but you won’t find an entry for what ails me: Manga ADHD”: Katherine Dacey discusses her difficulty in following and completing long-running manga series. It’s an interesting phenomenon. I know I’ve got the first volume or four of a good dozen or so manga series in my office that I’ve started but never finished, usually on account of the fact that I missed a few volumes and then feel too far behind to catch up. Some series are intimidating by how long they are already (One Piece and Inu-Yasha, for example), some series you like go on so long that you find yourself wishing they would hurry up and end (Ranma 1/2, for me), and others you find yourself sort of disappointed in when they actually do end (Death Note‘s a good example). There are probably similarities to superhero comics, many of which do go on forever, although with manga it’s the same creators telling the same ongoing story, so there aren’t the natural starting and stopping points you see in say, Spider-Man or Batman comics.

This is a place I never expected to see Doonesbury: Political fact-checking site PolitiFact fact-checks last Sunday’s installment of the strip, in which a character talks gun violence with a space alien.

As opposed to the Canadian cartoonist and designer: Mick Martin reviews Thor Vs. Seth, The Serpent God.

“The concept was simple, and there lay its success and downfall”: Jon Gorga takes a quick look back at Marvel’s “Year of the Woman” promotoin, and some of the publishing efforts. It’s a difficult thing to assess, so difficult in fact that I think it ends up just kind of being there, neither good nor bad. Like, it’s nice that they decided to do it, but on the other hand the fact that they have to do it underscores a problem that should be fixed not celebrated, but back on the first hand, not doing it would prolong the problem. I get dizzy thinking too hard about it, honestly. I think trying to promote female creators and female characters under the same initiative probably confused the matter, as every time there was a female character-specific one-shot by all-male creators, it couldn’t help but raise the question of why aren’t women making that particular new comic. Some good comics came out of it anyway, and I’m pretty sure there are more ladies working for Marvel now, including ones who were heavily involved with some of these books in 2010, then were working for Marvel in 2009, so that’s cool.

Once a week I sift through the millions of Etsy listings to find the best in geek chic for Blog@ readers. Last week I showcased some sweet geek hats to keep you warm this brisk winter, today I’m shifting gears to something specific – Dungeons & Dragons. I got to discussing it this past weekend with some geek gal pals and it reminded me how much I miss playing. So, without further ado, here are some nifty D&D related products I found on Etsy.

As if you didn’t have enough reason to be scared of what your d20 might do, user Geeklore created this vicious Chomp’d20. For $55 you can squeeze the back of the d20/Chain Chompie amalgamation and eat whichever player is annoying you the most. Or some potato chips.

If you live and breathe Dungeons & Dragons, I’m thinking you might need these RPG Dice Wall Decals to decorate your abode. User seanhexed created six decals, approximately eight-inches in diameter each. Yours for $29.50.

Sometimes you need a place to put…stuff. In game it’s very handy to have a bag of holding, which can hold anything from your lunch to your party’s halfling rogue. Well in real life you can have your very own Die of Holding. $120 from user SmartPencilDesigns, the die is a handcrafted leather d20 and measures a decent eight-inches. No guarantees on being able to hold anything larger than it’s size though. Shucks.

For the little gamer-to-be in your household, I highly suggest this set of My First Gaming Dice for $30. User geekyandcheeky has created fantastic soft replicas of the usual gaming dice, safer when thrown and I’d assume digestible if accidentally swallowed.

And finally, for the distinguished gaming party, how about a Gamer Ready Tea Set? User OlBlueHairsOddities includes a dice bag tray, d8 teapot and six d6 cups with the set for $60.

As always, bear in mind, since Etsy is a craft website and not a commercial, mass-market dealer, items are almost always one-of-a-kind or in very limited availability. When you see something you like, buy it. It may not be there the next time you surf round. (Yes, it’s a very dangerous site for your wallet.) Also, since most items are created individually, many sellers are willing to customize something specifically to suit your needs. Just ask!

It’s been all the rage in Hollywood for the last few years, but 3D hasn’t really made its way back to comics in a big way since the shoot-everything-in-3D trend got going at the major movie studios. Well, it looks like Image Comics is going to fill the void, with their Captain Wonder 3D special. It’s a $5, 48-page one-shot from Brian Haberlin and Philip Tan, which includes “special” 3D glasses and promises “The Most Advanced 3D Ever In Print.” Preview here.

Amazing Spider-Man #654.1: Dan Slott and Paulo Siqueira present a weirdly-numbered, but good-jumping-on point for the Spider-Man series.

Detective Comics Classics: This is a random little 50-page, $6 compilation of Batman comics from the late sixties and mid-seventies. Included are stories from TEC #377, #384, and #385, as well Batman Family #1.That means work from Gil Kane, Mike Grell, Murphy Anderson, Gardner Fox, Elliot S. Maggin, Frank Springer and others. Apparently this was put together to sell with a  boxed set of toys, but is now being made available sans toys.

Finder: Voice: Carla Speed McNeil’s acclaimed science fiction series gets an original 210-page, $20 graphic novel. Dark Horse plans a Finder Library collection to follow. Preview here.

Hawkeye: Blind Spot #1: Marvel has apparently decided to go the series-of-miniseries route with Hawkeye comics after the cancellation of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, as writer Jim McCann follows that and Widowmaker up with a new four-issue mini.

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Update: And now we know another one — a Point One issue of Alpha Flight, coming in May, co-written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Ben Oliver.

Original Story: A second wave of “Point One” issues are coming from Marvel Comics, as confirmed with the publisher today. Among the May solicitations released today was Daken: Dark Wolverine #9.1, which was not part of the original crop of new reader-friendly Point One issues announced by Marvel in late October.

In a conference call in early November, Marvel acknowledged the possibility of more Point One issues, with Senior Vice-President Sales & Circulation David Gabriel saying, “If these go over well, and the retailers are happy with them, and if it works, we might do another wave of these.” More information on which titles will be involved, beyond Daken, should be coming soon.

Solicitation information and full cover for Daken: Dark Wolverine #9.1 after the jump.

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Written and created by Brian Andersen, art, colors and letters by the talented Celina Hernandez. For more So Super Duper go to:www.sosuperduper.com!

Writer Christos Gage (Avengers Academy) and artist Juan Bobillo (She-Hulk) are joining Astonishing X-Men starting with May’s issue #38, Marvel Comics announced Monday afternoon.

Gage and Bobillo will be rotating issues with the previously announced Astonishing X-Men team of writer Daniel Way and artist Jason Pearson, who start their run on the book in February. The two storylines will focus on different memebrs of the team, with Way’s featuring Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost and Armor; and Gage’s arc starring Storm, Colossus, Kitty Pryde and Beast, who left the X-Men last year and joined the Secret Avengers.

In Marvel’s official statement, X-Men senior editor Nick Lowe notes that for the first time, Astonishing X-Men will be “happening in the current X-Continuity.” In the past, events in Astonishing X-Men, though canon, did not tie-in closely with other Marvel titles.

Marvel’s full press release — and a full look at the cover for Astonishing X-Men #38 — follows after the jump.

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When in doubt, throw an adjective in there: The 2012 Marc Webb-directed Spider-Man film will be titled The Amazing Spider-Man, per a Columbia Pictures announcement seen at Deadline and various other sources, and the studio also revealed the first official mask-and-all shot of Andrew Garfield in the Spidey costume. This, of course, follows in the grand reboot tradition of 2008′s The Incredible Hulk by inserting an adjective found in the title of a classic Marvel comic series. The 3D film’s shooting now and scheduled for July 3, 2012, and the full picture if after the jump.

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