One of the charms of a collection of old comics (like Dark Horse’s upcoming Casper the Friendly Ghost 60^th Anniversary Special hardcover, available on November 18) is the establishing stories. These days, it’s just kind of assumed that you know who most mainstream characters are. Even characters like Magog—whose promotion from Justice Society of America also-ran to titular anti-hero had fans and critics scratching their heads earlier this year—had a pretty healthy amount of development and exposition prior to Magog #1.

The reprinted first story of Casper the Friendly Ghost, however, needs to balance giving us an establishing tale with avoiding an origin story (cherubic children dropping dead to make cute, cherubic ghosts wasn’t really in the Harvey Comics style).

That said, almost immediately in the first story, Casper befriends a Richie Rich-looking prince, who is being sought by a huge and axe-wielding executioner. In the employ of the king’s brother, he has already slain the boy’s father when he enters the story looking to kill Casper’s new friend. It’s a little dark for today’s trauma-conscious kids’ publishing market, even if it does end happily and see citizens in the streets cheering the boy’s ascension to kinghood.

A downside to collectors looking for “a Casper collection” but a boon to Golden Age purists, this book reprints the first and sixth issues of Casper’s original, ongoing comic at Harvey. So, in keeping with what was common in comics at the time, this book is full of other characters printed in Casper’s original title, like the Huey, Dewey and Louie-like mice facing off against a menacing cat in “Herman” and Paddy the Leprechaun, whose villain Gambeen could have been a template for The Smurfs’ Gargamel. Baby Huey, one of the best known Harvey backup characters, also makes an appearance in the collection.

Each of Casper’s early appearances acts as though you’re totally unfamiliar with the character or the concept, giving him a page of three dedicated to an establishing beat that tells the reader why and how he came to be leaving ghosting school in favor of seeking friends among the living.

It’s interesting to see that by the sixth issue of his series, Casper had already become an animation phenomenon (as the cover reads “Paramount Pictures’ famous star” above Casper’s name). It’s a merchandising tie-in worthy of G.I. Joe or Transformers. By then, the whole issue was Casper’s, although they still retained the original format of short, barely-longer-than-strip stories. That’s something that, by and large, Casper’s publishers would continue to do for years—although writer Todd Dezago’s upcoming Casper & the Spectrals miniseries for Ardden Entertainment will actually see the character (along with Wendy and Hot Stuff, a couple of Harvey’s other most popular properties) translated into a format that comic book readers are a little more familiar with.

Dragons, dragons everywhere! The She-Dragon has returned–looking ten different kinds of creepy–and finds herself facing off against a revived Savage Dragon who may be suffering from acute amnesia–or may have Emperor Kurr’s memories restored to him. All the while, there are bad guys trying to use Dragon’s blood to turn some of their B- and C-listers into Dragon-baddie hybrids, and a dark, ominous dragon calling some of the other ones names. (more…)

It’s been a couple of weeks now since The Perhapanauts Halloween Spooktacular #1 hit the stands, and while the Blog@Newsarama already reviewed the book, along with a handful of other Halloween books, just after its release, my regular commentary feature with writer Todd Dezago had to wait while I tracked a copy down. You see, here in the Great White North of Upstate New York, it’s often impossible to find books that are doing well, even if they haven’t technically sold completely out in the rest of the country.

Anyway, enjoy some questions with Todd Dezago. It’s Halloween, and this book (which he implies might become a Perhapanauts yearly thing) is akin to the “Perhapanauts Treehouse of Horror,” with guest artists and at least one story that has such a different tone that while it’s technically in-continuity, it feels very standalone. There’s also, in the spirit of the holiday, a rather ominous little hint that Todd leaves out there for regular readers to ponder…!

Blog@Newsarama: So…Big’s on Facebook? Does the Chief have a problem with that?

Todd Dezago: Big’s got a private account, so I think it’s okay. Also he’s got another one listed under a pseudonym so that he can really surf around. I don’t think they ever worry too much about what Big does anymore–not with Choopie around.

Blog@: What’s his profile picture look like?

TD: The picture on his private account looks just like him. The fake one has a picture that looks a lot like Walter Cronkite.

Blog@: So do you know what the plans are for the next year or so? Should we look forward to another Spooktacular issue, whether or not the next arc is completed by then?

TD: We hadn’t really planned on making the Halloween Spooktacular an annual tradition, but we received a lot of nice reviews on it and readers seemed to like it, so…

Blog@: What’s the deal with everyone trying to eat Choopie this month? Two of the stories have something trying to chase and eat him!

TD: Chupacabras are, apparently, very tasty! I can’t say from experience though. I’ve eaten lots of things, but never a chupacabra.

Blog@: And at the risk of deteriorating into Seinfeld: What’s the deal with the second story?–they’re worried about Big’s footprints attracting attention even in the mounting snow, but Choopie’s aren’t suspect?

TD: I think by the time they called Choopie in, they were a bit exasperated and needed a new game plan. Also, Choopie’s feet in snowshoes would/could look like a little kids. Big’s snowshoes would need to be about three feet long/wide each!

Blog@: It’s interesting–I don’t know that we’ve seen that kind of weakness in Arisa before, and Hamerskold stepped right up. Was that just him being in his element a little, or is he learning to be more of a team player?

TD: Hammerskold’s motivations for helping out are all about his secret attraction to Arisa. (you DO remember his finding feelings for her when he ‘felt’ her kiss back in the Annual, right?) He’s actually been doing a lot of things that seem out of character because of this. He doesn’t know what to do with it.

Blog@: So–Hembeck is awesome. How’d that happen?

TD: Fred and I are old friends–from away back! I love Fred and loved his work long before I knew him! For years we played volleyball together on a mostly comic guys volleyball night in Woodstock. That guy has a killer serve!

Blog@: Is it bad that I still prefer Craig’s interpretation of the characters?

TD: Well, they are Craig’s characters…Though Craig and I are always so excited whenever somebody–ANYBODY–does their version of the Haps! We love to see new interpretations and styles! And that we are so lucky to have such talented friends helping us out is just awesome!

Blog@: Clearly some of the script was done with Fred in mind–the Fred-pop. But the whole tone was pretty all-ages friendly. Was it all written for him?

TD: All three stories for Fred, you mean? No, they were stories that I’d been dreaming up for a while and just handed them to the artists I felt fit the mood of the story best! And then they bring their own mood and it all falls into place perfectly!

Blog@: When will we see the ‘Haps on iTunes? I see the first two issues of Tellos so far (and the first one’s free, people!), but no ‘Haps yet.

TD: It’s not? Hmmm…I’m sure it’ll be up there soon. It’s s’posed to be. Being that I don’t have an iphone, I really haven’t been following the releases of these apps and downloads. I guess I’d better get one and get on-board, huh?

Blog@: Is there a timeline for this issue? Obviously it happens either before the events of “Triangle” or after the next arc, since the gang’s all here…!

TD: Here’s the thing…Going all the way back to “First Blood,” I’ve tried to have the main stories go by in a continuous stream, each arc picking up the moment that the last one ended. That has turned into a monster now that it constantly biting me in the ass! You ask–and I do too–where do these other stories fit in? If Arisa is lost in limbo somewhere, how is she in the opening to Choopie’s Halloween story? Or the Tatzelwurm story? So here’s the deal–they all happened “before”. Sometime earlier when things were good and everyone was around and no one was dead yet.

Qops.

Blog@: Will we get to see a little more of the boss-man in the next arc? With the bald head and the glasses, he reminds me of Skinner from The X-Files.

TD: The Chief? Oh, yeah, there’s a lot more to the Chief that we haven’t even touched on yet…

Blog@: How many friends has Big got out there in the world? He’s got his Shaman, and Nessie, so far…!

TD: Big has a few notable friends out there in the real world and you’ll see more of them pop up as time goes on. He may not be able to stroll around in public, but the internet affords him a wide range of contact out there in the intellectual world! Stay tuned!

Television and video, you say?

We’ve got it in spades this week.

First of all, online animation series The Gloomers have released their first-ever Halloween special. Starring Scott Spiegel, the writer of Evil Dead II, the Halloween episode is (as the rest of the series, apparently) a razor-edged sendup of old-school Hanna Barbera animation style with a contemporary and slightly twisted sense of humor. I’d never heard of the show until the Halloween special came out, but the new episode is pretty sweet. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this episode and, eventually, I’ll probably work back through the archives now that I’ve seen the kind of absurd humor they have in store.

Second—and even cooler, in my estimation, but with the possibility to go horribly wrong—The Hollywood Reporter has a story that the Britcom Being Human, which revolves around the day-to-day lives of a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire, has been optioned by Syfy for an American treatment. Obviously, there’s a pretty checkered history with American networks trying to adapt British television, with stinkers like Kath & Kim and the abortive Spaced remake (seriously? Will Sasso?), but there’s always NBC’s The Office to consider—and the reality that even just a few mentions on mainstream American television could bring a decent-sized audience to the good, British version of a show whether the original sucks or not.

The Warner Brothers Home Video weekly e-mail newsletter just hit, too, which offers fans a shot at up to 40% off all DC Comics products at the Warner Brothers website. It’s mostly notable because of the nice little piece of accompanying art that came with it, featuring characters like Guy Gardner and the black Firestorm. I recently bought a t-shirt at Wal-Mart that had Kilowog and Mr. Terrific on it; I have to say I’m loving how DC is promoting its not-so-mainstream properties these days. Anyway, the sale might be a good place to pick up that four-movies-in-one-box Batman DVD for eleven bucks or a couple of the recent direct-to-DVD DC movies.

And last but not least, Smallville has been in the news quite a bit this week; after a producer confirmed for fans that they’re hoping to get a tenth season for the “adventures of Superman when he was a boy” show on the CW network, Hawkman Michael Shanks has a great interview on the Huffington Post today, where he discusses the upcoming Geoff Johns-scripted episodes of the show. In it, Shanks mentions that he’ll be the re-incarnated Egyptian Acrcheologist, Carter Hall. He has wings, he has a mace, and yes, he will be using both, flying and doing some damage.

Smallville producers have been hitting the Internet this week, saying that they’re lobbying the network for another season after this one’s over. It first came out of a Michael Ausiello column at EW.com (after all, what doesn’t these days?), but it’s now been confirmed a few other places. Our own Lucas Siegel put the question of whether a tenth season of the show was a good idea to ‘Rama Readers over on Twitter, to mixed responses.

A lot of people only wanted to see more Smallville if it meant Superman would finally actually appear on the show. “Not unless they allow some ‘tights & flights’,” said a reader who goes by pibdgardel on Twitter. User troyrobbins agreed: “Only if he officially becomes Superman - the whole show is a build up to Supes and we need to see the payoff.”

Meanwhile, hyacinthe718 spoke pretty definitively for the fans who aren’t interested in more seasons of the show, saying “please, please let it f*@!@ end!” RockyShields agreed, adding with a sentiment that echoed a lot of other readers that the show should have ended or changed concepts: “The show should have ended after season five. Or renamed it Metropolis.”

This is, of course, just the beginning; Lucas has promised more polls like this, and fans should follow@newsarama and @newsaramablog on Twitter for more to come.

You have to feel a little sorry for the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Since 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, when Superboy was retconned out of existence and the backstory of the Legion invalidated, the team—once one of DC’s hottest sellers—has undergone cycles of abuse and neglect from creators, editors and fans. It had a short, happy life on the Cartoon Network and has had as many false-starts and reboots (and as much chaotic and impossible-to-understand continuity) as anyone this side of Hawkman.

It’s only fair, then, that Crisis on Infinite Earths artist George Pérez should be the one to help bring those reboots under one roof, and hopefully save the franchise from disaster, along with superstar writer Geoff Johns, in last year’s Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, out this week in hardcover from DC Comics.

Given that each of the reboots have their fans, and Geoff Johns joins with most Legion fans as loving the originals instead, the way he’s dealt with these characters—to reintroduce a modernized, tweaked version of the originals as the “central” Legion while acknowledging the new ones as canonical as well; this is a great approach that the return of the Multiverse has allowed for. Yes, your favorite comic happened. Yes, so did mine. They ALL happened. Maybe you won’t be able to read “your” Legion forever, because frankly we need one that more people will enjoy…but at least the door isn’t completely closed to them coming back at some point, or getting a one-shot or something.

I’ll admit that I was never a huge Legion of Super-Heroes fan until fairly recently, but to those who think titles like this one (and Hawkman, Aquaman and Manhunter for that matter) can’t succeed financially or critically, I say “Go away and don’t come back until you’ve done some serious thinking.” The reality of it is, there are no “bad” properties at DC or Marvel. Anything you’ve ever seen come out of a mainstream superhero universe can be made good, profitable, enjoyable, or all three given the right creative mix.

Johns and Pérez certainly fit the bill as “the right creative mix.” Even with the insufferable Superboy-Prime as the principal bad guy, and its tenuous connection to the central Final Crisis story, this comic was fantastic. Seeing Pérez finally get to draw the Legion for a long period of time was well-worth the…well, the long period of time…that we had to wait between issues, and Geoff Johns showed again why he’s one of those guys who can be trusted to come in, mix things up and make them better (at least as far as most readers are concerned).

The resulting miniseries was so good, that the predictable twists and turns it took (let’s face it—three of the last four issues ended with “surprises” and only one of them actually surprised anyone) were paced out so well that they left readers gaping at the execution. The final handful of pages featuring Superboy-Prime may feel a little out of place with the rest of the story…but that’s the unfortunately part of what happens when you’re writing for a continuity-heavy universe where you always have to be “setting up the sequel,” as it were. You can’t just have him powerless and relegated to Earth-Prime with disappointed parents. There has to be a little PS to remind readers that, yes, he’ll be in Blackest Night.

Following up this series with Adventure Comics was great (although I still really like Manapul’s interpretation of the Legion, and felt like he was a little wasted on Conner Kent alone), but I hope that there’s a plan in place to make sure that the Johns-less Legion doesn’t fall prey to reader apathy and creative stagnation. The fact that the team is losing Johns and the format of the book is changing at the same time, certainly doesn’t seem too healthy…and DiDio’s reluctance to name the fill-in team (plus his insistence that the book will basically be absorbed into the all-consuming Borg that is the current “Superman on New Krypton” story) is a little frightening as well. The “event” we were promised for the fiftieth anniversary of the Legion ended up coming a little late, and now that we’ve finally seen it I feel like it would be a real shame to watch it all fall apart as the cycle of neglect and abuse picks up steam again.

It’s been a good few weeks to be a fan of Bill Willingham’s storybook send-up Fables. Not only did the series finally get the Deluxe Edition treatment (well, the first ten issues did anyway), but Willingham and frequent series contributor Steve Leialoha put together the first-ever prose novel based in the Fables universe. In so doing, Fables joins a pretty short list of DC properties to be brought to prose without first getting a movie or TV deal.

The story of Fables revolves around a group of mystical, mythical characters living in a small, hidden block on New York’s Upper West Side. The Fables’ name is very descriptive of what they are—they’re characters from old fables, bedtime stories and fairy tales, immortal and living in exile from their homeworlds, which were conquered by a vicious dictator known as The Adversary. By now, regular readers of the monthlies will know that The Adversary is—well, nevermind. I won’t spoil it here. At any rate, the identity has been revealed and the Fables of Fabletown and numerous other earthly encampments have already undertaken to combat The Adversary. But for the purposes of the two books reviewed here, that identity remains shrouded in mystery, the battles unfought and, frankly, even some of the relationships that have driven the series for fifty issues largely undealt-with.

It should be said that any reader who intends to read Fables: The Deluxe Edition Volume 1 as their first introduction to the comics, ought to do so before reading Peter & Max, the novel by Willingham that was released a couple of weeks ago. While the writer explains in the foreward that you don’t have to have read any of the comics to understand the book—and it’s true—the reading of the book first will substantially dull a reader’s enjoyment of Fables: Legends in Exile and Fables: Animal Farm, the two graphic novels that compose the Deluxe Edition hardcover. In the first couple of chapters, which set the stage for Peter Piper’s forthcoming feud with his brother Max (The “Pied Piper”), the endings of both of the first two Fables stories are offhandedly referred to. And it’s probably five pages in before the first major spoiler relating to the ending of “Legends in Exile.”

At any rate, the Deluxe Edition format is one that I’ve really liked so far with James Robinson’s Starman, and while Fables doesn’t have the same visual strength (Starman almost feels like it demands a larger format), it’s nice to see certain of the “big” moments in the series in widescreen and I suspect that as the Deluxe Edition Fables collections progress, characters like the North Wind and moments like the Battle of Fabletown will be well-served by the oversized pages. It’s frankly shocking that it’s taken this long to get Willingham’s bestselling title on board, but DC’s trade strategy, particularly as it relates to Vertigo titles, is a little ineffable. I mean—reprinting and renumbering the Transmetropolitan trade paperbacks instead of giving the best-selling first pair of graphic novels an oversized hardcover treatment? Come on. That said, if you haven’t read Fables yet, the Deluxe Edition is the way to go. It’s not that much more costly than just getting the paperbacks, and this book is, I guarantee it, a keeper.

Peter & Max is an odd animal; taking characters who have had little or no interaction with the main characters of the Fables ongoing comic was probably a better choice than singling someone out for attention, and the Pipers certainly had a remarkably interesting backstory crafted for them by Mr. Willingham—but as the chapters toggled back and forth between flashback and “current day” stories of Peter and Max, I couldn’t help but feel like things were happening in the wrong place. I wanted to see a story set in the Fables universe, and instead was treated to a lot of backstory about the Homelands while Peter drove around Germany for 150 pages. The wide-eyed, energetic young man who struggles to survive in the Homelands seemed to have lost his will to live by the time the story began—and while it was later explained how he got to be that way, it didn’t feel like enough was in place to make him feel like the same guy for most of the reading.

The second half of the book—both the part set in the present and the past—was much better than the first, which is great for those of us who hung on but leaves me wondering how many potential new fans Willingham lost in the first half of the book. The ending was brilliant, because it was one that I saw coming on page 40 or so, and then completely forgot that I’d seen coming until after it had happened. It’s exactly what I want in a climax—something natural, organic and even maybe a little predictable that takes you by surprise and pantses your expectations.

Echo: Desert Run, released last week, is the third volume in what I still can’t help myself calling “Terry Moore’s new series after Strangers in Paradise.” Echo has been going on for a couple of years now and has created a pretty big footprint on the comics industry itself—but Strangers in Paradise is the kind of thing you can’t escape.
At any rate, Julie Martin’s adventures with her crazy power suit of “alloy” finally start to make a little sense in this third volume. Up until now, it’s been about characters—a group of disparate individuals tossed into a crappy situation together with no real explanation for the situation, but a lot of hints. In that way, it felt a lot like life. This volume, which comes with a lot of narrative satisfaction, is a lot less like life and a lot more like storytelling. The crazy, nameless homeless guy who’s been killing people from day (read: issue) one gets a name and a very unexpected agenda via a mental link with Julie, while huge chunks of the book are given to HeNRI’s people to explain the purpose of their organization, the suit and their internal conflict.
Meanwhile, it’s setting the stage for a lot of great character moments in the next few months of the monthly series or the next trade. Ivy’s family drama and a few clues as to what might be hidden away in Julie’s secret box set the stage for what’s next to come with them—and the addition of Pam, Julie’s sister, to their merry band of travelers (as opposed to being in the lunatic asylum where she spent the first ten issues or so) is a welcome one. Having had Dillon and Julie together, alone, on the road for so long it seemed like only a matter of time before he’d be making out with her—and given that she’s wearing bits of his last girlfriend’s exploded DNA on her breasts that’s just a little too much for me. The minute he noticed how hot Ivy was, I felt like the whole book was a lot less predetermined.
Moore’s art remains some of the strongest in the business, with expressive, often comical faces that give a real sense of humanity to the characters beneath. Echo, of course, has given him a little more opportunity to play at the extremes that most other comic creators call home lately, with things like a character being introduced, developed, hinted as a major player and then almost immediately (and graphically) blown up.
Julie’s next volume should take her into the belly of the beast, and the much-shorter shelf life Terry Moore has in store for Echo than he did for Strangers in Paradise should ensure that things start getting very crazy, dangerous and action-movie loud sooner rather than later.

A little late on this one. Actress Aubrey Plaza (also known as one of the very few good things in NBC’s Parks & Recreation) talked to MakingOf.com about comics adaptation Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, its star Michael Cera and Director of Photography Bill Pope, who not only worked on the Spider-Man movies but more importantly was the DP on Zero Effect, my personal favorite movie of all time.

Back in the ‘80s, the first time he had an ongoing series, Booster Gold—DC’s hero from the 25th Century—was canceled at his 25th issue.
Granted, this week’s Booster Gold #25 was technically the 27th issue of the comic’s relaunch (counting #0 and #1,000,000, both of which came out during the comic’s first year in print while it was being written by superstar Geoff Johns and film executive Jeff Katz), but it’s still a boon for fans and creators; I’ve always thought of #25 as being a kind of landmark issue. If you make it there and aren’t canceled, then your odds of long-term survival are decent.
Rip Hunter discovered who was working with the Black Beetle this issue, and Skeets found some new information that will eventually lead him to realize who the Black Beetle himself is. All the while, Booster was fighting Damien, having tea with Alfred and discussing the DC Universe’s greatest secret with the new Batman. All in all, a pretty typical month for our time-jumping hero.
But not for the Gold Exchange, where we’ve got Eddie Argos, the singer from Art Brut, to kick off our monthly Q&A session with Dan Jurgens. In recognition of Booster Gold reaching #25—the same number at which the series was canceled last time around—Eddie went back in time to the period just after the Millennium crossover had rocked the DC Universe and dug out a question from Booster Gold (Volume 1) #25 for us. Dig it, and check out Art Brut Vs. Satan, the most recent record from the group, which features a song called “DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshakes,” which Argos told me “was originally called ‘Boosterrific!’ and was inspired by Geoff Johns’ and Jeff Katz’s work on Booster Gold.” (more…)

Variety is reporting that Rashida Jones, formerly of The Office and currently starring on NBC’s Parks and Recreation, has sold the rights to her upcoming Oni Press miniseries Frenemy of the State to Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment.

Based on the story of a young, wealthy heiress who works covertly for the CIA and is constantly, according to Jones, in over her head as “this girl who is so conscious of social standing and wearing the right shoes, suddenly becoming responsible for these dangerous, life-threatening missions.”

Sounds like something that might pair well with another bit of news that came across my desk last night: Entertainment Weekly’s Brian Ausiello is reporting that NBC’s fish-out-of-water spy-comedy Chuck, which had suffered from mediocre ratings and was picked up for just 13 episodes of a third season and scheduled to begin airing again in March, may be moved up substantially following a number of disappointing premieres for the Peacock, and the bizarre cancellation of Southland before the second season even started.

Chuck, which has regular nods to comics (particularly those by Brian K. Vaughn, with a Y: The Last Man poster and supercomputer blueprints hidden inside of a copy of Ex Machina last season), was also adapted into a six-issue miniseries in 2008 by WildStorm. Frenemy of the State will be published sometime in 2010 from Oni Press.

Thanks to The Rev. OJ Flow for putting me onto Brian Ausiello’s Entertainment Weekly story that indicates “a male series regular on a one-hour drama — a onetime ratings powerhouse — learned that he was out of a job only after reading his character’s death scene in the script!”

According to Ausiello, his source was speaking on condition of total anonymity–so much so that he couldn’t actually name the series about which the information was being leaked. There were a series of scathing critiques of the show’s producers, though, and a few quotes from insiders about how the blindsided actor was hurt by the showrunners’ unwillingness to discuss it with him first.

While Ausiello wouldn’t confirm or deny it (and promises more hints in the coming week), E! News is reporting that Heroes will be losing a male lead–one of the original cast members–in the coming weeks. Put two and two together (along with the fact that most observers would agree the producers of Heroes haven’t known what they were doing for the last two and a half seasons) and that seems pretty damning. The question, then, is which character is likely to get the ax? I’m thinking HIro–all season, he’s been living on the edge, with his anonymous condition killing him. I, like most viewers, just figured they’d find a way around it–but in a show that steals most of its plots from ’70s Marvel books, would it be surprising to see a Death of Captain Marvel-type story where having powers doesn’t save him? Going against that, though, is the idea that if they’re actually writing him OUT of the show, Hiro would be the hardest to do it with–he could return at any time, given the nature of time-travel.

The most likely seems to be Nathan Petrelli, especially since he’s effectively dead now anyway after this week’s episode, but that seems like it would be pretty unsurprising. Peter would be an enormous shock, so he almost seems like the most likely candidate here–but the whole first part of the season has revolved around him so it seems like they’d be pretty hard-pressed to REALLY get rid of the guy. Ando and Suresh may ironically be safe because of the fact that they’ve been so sidelined this year. Noah Bennett is always a hair’s breadth away from getting killed, being the only one without powers.

I’d love to see it be Sylar–no offense to Zachary Quinto, but the character really has been pretty redundant. I think that’s virtually impossible from a practical sense, though, becuase unless they can come up with another villain who can actually instill some kind of interest in the viewers, Sylar’s here to stay.

What say you, ‘Rama readers?

So, kids, it’s that time of the year! We’ve got incriminating pictures of this writer, adorable pictures of Troy’s kids, and a solicitation for your comics or pop-culture Halloween costumes going out!

That’s right - we here at Blog@Newsarama want to see what you’ve got going on for Halloween this year. Who are you going as? And if it’s someone we might like to see, send a link along so folks can see your picture.

For our part? Well, the 2006, 2007 and 2008 winners of Project Rooftop’s Flights and Tights contest are at their respective links there. The picture to the left is of Kyle and Connor, Troy Brownfield’s sons, who are Batman and Robin, respectively. This year, I’m going to be Barney Stinson, Neil Patrick Harris’ character from the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (because my Savior 28 costume is taking way too long to be counted on) and below the jump I’ll share a montage of (mostly humiliating) comics-and-pop-culture costumes I’ve worn over the years.

(more…)

There are some people for whom “the movie made money” is some twisted counter-argument to “the movie was awful.” Let me be clear that as far as I’m concerned, the two are not mutually exclusive, but apparently Brett Ratner thinks so.

In an interview this week at Starpulse, Ratner (director of X-Men: The Last Stand) attempts to rebut critics of his terrible, terrible film on the grounds that it made buckets of money. “Mine outgrossed the other two by far. Mine was the one that made the most narrative sense,” he told the interviewer, all the while pointing out that comic book fans who hated the movie from the outset and complain about it to this day were the ones lined up outside of cinemas on opening weekend.

It may be a fair point–and he makes a fair and hilarious point about fans who complained he had killed Professor X (”He died in five different comic books!” Ratner says)–but this is what I have to say about the next cinematic travesty that comes down the pipes: Don’t go see it.

If you have people like this, who are going not only to bastardize the source material but who are then going to rationalize that by saying, “hey, look, it made money,” what you have to do it STOP GIVING THEM MONEY. When something comes along that will CLEARLY suck (and it was clear from the trailer that X-Men: The Last Stand would), just don’t go see the stupid thing. I know there’s a certain school of thought that “other, better comic book movies won’t get made if we don’t support the big-budget travesties like this one,” but isn’t it better to have fewer, better films than more, shabbier ones?

Berkeley Breathed, the supremely talented cartoonist behind Opus and the recently-collected Bloom County comic strips, talked to CNN this week about the genesis of his new children’s book Flawed Dogs, which he actually pegs more as a prepubescent reader than really “children’s.”

Breathed told the news organization that the book was inspired, in part, by the dog abuse by Michael Vick and how some of those dogs were able to be saved by a nonprofit; he also dishes on why angry comics are not, typically speaking, good comics as far as political cartoonists are concerned and how that relates to the end of Opus.

My favorite part of the interview, though? As part of running down his own skills, Breathed pointed out that “If ‘Peanuts’ had been drawn with the artistry of ‘Pogo’ and a Disney animator, it wouldn’t have worked.”

Check it out here.

With tomorrow’s release of Booster Gold #25 from DC Comics, the current relaunch does something that the title’s first incarnation in the 1980s could not at that point in its numbering: continue.

After the end of Dan Jurgens’ first Booster Gold series in the ‘80s, Michael Jon Carter—the man who traveled from the 25th Century to establish himself as a superhero-with-benefits in our time—became a part of the Justice League International, one of the most respected and most derided teams of all time (both inside and outside of comics). The long and winding road that brought Booster back to his own ongoing just over two years ago included costume and power changes, a relationship with fellow Justice Leaguer Ted “Blue Beetle” Kord that would define both characters and finally a major change in his role—from “guy with a power suit who shills toothpaste between crises” to “Apprentice to the Time Master.”

My first experience with Booster Gold as a reader was actually years after the first series was canceled. During the Doomsday! story in the Superman titles, Booster was the guy who ended up giving the titular villain his name, before the craggy creature killed Superman and put Ted Kord into a coma. In the months that followed that story (my first as a regular DC reader, having grown up as a Marvel kid), I came to really care about Booster and Beetle as the powerless Booster (whose costume had also been mangled by Doomsday), who were the most human members of the League. In the months that followed the fight, Booster sat vigil at his best friend’s hospital bedside and turned the story of the Justice League’s collapse under Doomsday into something decidedly human. It was only later that I moved backward, finding both the Justice League International comics by Giffen and DeMatteis that made Booster Gold a household name to DC readers and the original comics, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens—writer of the Justice League America and Superman books I’d loved so much in the previous year. And then I became a fan.

I wondered how some other creators, friends and fans felt about Booster Gold turning 25 again, and asked them to drop me a line—a sentence, a paragraph, whatever—to communicate it. Here’s what I got: (more…)

With the release today of Savage Dragon #153, the monstrous, Dragonlike character called Virus has made its way to Malcolm and Angel’s house, and conflicts raged between him and the Dragon Kids; between Overlord and rogue elements of the Vicious Circle; and between Malcolm and just about everybody he met. Erik Larsen sat down with us to provide some color commentary on the issue.

Blog@Newsarama: You know, it’s funny–that exoskeletal costume basically has NOTHING unnecessary on it–except the eyelash/antennae. Are they just for show or do they have a function?

Erik Larsen: It’s a balance thing–like with a cat and its whiskers. Helps her keep her balance scaling walls and jumping from rooftop to rooftop (and yes–I did just make that up. Pretty impressive, eh?).

Blog@: I know we’ve talked a little bit about Malcolm being confused about how he feels for Angel–is it possible that hormones are playing a role in some of what we’re seeing here? Even if you can put his denial of Dragon’s death up to “faith in his old man,” it seems like the beating and trash-talking of a basically defenseless villain is something worth noting…!

EL: She’s hardly defenseless– but I was trying to show Malcolm’s desperation and growing anxiousness and panic. He’s running out of options and he’s in a bad way. (more…)

A joke made by Ryan Reynolds in last week’s Saturday Night Live monologue–that they were going to start shooting Green Lantern soon, “…so look for that in spring 2053.” There was immediately some speculation as to exactly what he meant by that (and it really sounded more snarky than necessary when he opened with “…because there’s nothing kids love more than lanterns.”), which to me was made even odder by the fact that Sunday morning he was doing blog interviews where he was talking about his excitement over the shoot, which he claims is still on track for February.

While technically he isn’t contradicting himself here (since in the SNL monologue he said that the GL flick would start shooting soon), I can’t help but wonder if someone at Warner Brothers/DC Entertainment put him out there to do spin control when he pooched some of his earliest public comments about what promises to be a major film both for Warner Brothers and for Reynolds’ career. Win, lose or draw, Green Lantern will be a huge, big-budget affair and it’ll probably go down as one of the great successes or failures of the superhero genre.

Reynolds also gave an interview this weekend that described the film as a “space epic,” revealing some minor details about the movie (such as the fact that Kilowog and Sinestro will be involved and that about a third of the movie is set on Oa) and by his presence seeming to confirm the report’s claim that the film is on track for a June 17, 2011, release date.

Over at the Vertigo blog, fans who post their favorite Fables character and why have a shot (right now a little over 50/50, since only 18 people have entered) to win a free copy of the forthcoming Fables original prose novel, Peter & Max. Written by Fables creator Bill Willingham and featuring spot illustrations by Steve Leialoha, the book will be released on October 15, but readers have until October 9 to post and win.

Ten winners will be chosen randomly (so you don’t have to be a writer of Grimm Brothers caliber to have a shot) and notified on October 13 on the Vertigo blog, or else entrants can contact Vertigo by e-mail after that date to get a full list of winners.

There’s something vaguely insulting about CBS’s The Big Bang Theory.

I think it comes primarily from the fact that, these days, it’s accepted lore that The Big Bang Theory is actually “on our side,” as it were. The conventional wisdom, as espoused by show writer and former computer programmer Bill Prady, is that the comic book- and science-fiction-loving main characters aren’t actually being lampooned but lionized. The notion that—even though the characters are stereotypical, one-dimensional and not at all human—we’re supposed to be happy with their portrayal because, after all, it’s a modicum better than The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy, seems a little absurd.
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