Damn. Tiny, ICONIC Zelda Rubinstein has passed away.

Though she appeared in several films (like “Sixteen Candles”), she’ll always be a cinematic immortal for her appearance in TOBE HOOPER’s “Poltergeist”. (Yes, Spielberg produced, etc., but Tobe “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Hooper directed it.)

Our own Vaneta Rogers noticed some links flying about on Twitter to possible Green Lantern movie concept art. The site, Omelete, admits that these may not be the real deal, but they ARE interesting.

Here’s the text, brought from Portugese to English by Google Translate:

New concept art of Green Lantern fall network
Were these the designs of Abin Sur, Tomar-Re and Kilowog in the movie?
27/01/2010 Marcelo Hessel

New concept art from Green Lantern, the film’s Green Lantern of DC Comics, fell on the network. They show the designs of lanterns Abin Sur, Tomar-Re and Kilowog - check out the gallery.

The images look professional, but the problem is to check the veracity of the arts. The first appeared in Kilowog site Cosmic Book News, no information about the source. Then came the other forum The Green Lantern Corps. Who published them say they are real and that “may not be the final visual in the film, but certainly were produced just before the start of pre-production.”

In the forum the author of the posts also declined to mention where he got the arts.

Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan), Peter Saarsgard (Hector Hammond) and Blake Lively (Carol Ferris) are already in the cast. Mark Strong is playing Sinestro. Filming begins in March, directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). The premiere is scheduled for June 17, 2011.

While we won’t post the actual photos ourselves, we will point to the links for Kilowog and Abin Sur/Tomar Re. We’ll withold judgment as to the authenticity of the images until we have confirmation, but the characters represented DO track with statements by Campbell last week that confirmed the presence of Kilowog, Tomar Re, and Abin Sur in the script.

Marvel released a new image teasing their “The Heroic Age” event, and it certainly seems that Agents of Atlas mainstay Gorilla-Man might get a shot being one of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Granted, as we reported, Marvel won’t cop to that being the new Avengers line-up for the new Avengers book, but that certainly looks like a possible team.

In fact, making Gorilla-Man an Avenger would tie in nicely with this zeitgeist piece I wrote. Why?

Because Congorilla just joined the JLA! Apparently, something is in the air with talking gorillas on super-teams. I cracked that I could think of several team books that could be improved by the addition of a talking gorilla. Let’s try it out.

Teen Titans: Teen Titans has run the gamut lately from merely bad to shockingly bad. Maybe they just need a talking gorilla? Surely, Gorilla Grodd has a niece or nephew that wants to atone for his uncle’s misdeeds? Gorilla Kid? Kid Gorilla?

The Outsiders: Does Markovia have a national zoo? Maybe Halo returns as pure energy and has to find a host, but the only nearby form is a gorilla? She could change her heroic name to Silverback or something flashy and dispense outsidery justice while marking time for the next inevitable killing-off that she’ll suffer.

X-Men, etc.: All this time, and we haven’t had a gorilla X-Man? Some would argue that Beast fits the bill, but not really. Shouldn’t this be a more likely mutation than wings or optic blasts?

What about you, readers? Any suggestions? I can tell that Blog@ team member Kyle DuVall is in total disagreement. He says that THIS is the decade . . . of the anteater.

Man, that would be a WEIRD direction for Brightest Day.

Once again, the fine folks at Mattel answer five questions from us, and you. So, with an image of the currently shipping DC Universe Classics Wave 11 above, let’s go.

Blog@Newsarama: What’s the process for deciding on the version of the particular representation of a character in the DCUC line? For example, Batman and Nightwing had fairly iconic looks, but Robin was the most recent version of his costume. Is this based on market research, internal debate, etc.?

Mattel: Factors like this, many times, tend to be lead by the Four Horsemen. DC and Warner Brothers will give input into a character line up, but the final decision on exact look tends to fall with the sculptors.

Blog@Newsarama: It seems like most of the big teams in the DCU have gotten some kind of representation in DCUC, including the JLA, the JSA, the Titans, the Doom Patrol, and the Metal Men. What’s the outlook like for the Outsiders and the Legion of Super-Heroes?

Mattel: Both are in the works!

Blog@Newsarama: Previously, you conducted a fan poll that resulted in the inclusion of The Question in the DCUC line. Would you ever consider conducting a fan poll to determine a Collect and Connect figure?

Mattel: It’s a possibility, but right now the plan is to stick with a slot in the 6” scale for the fan’s choice. A lot of times the Collect and Connect figure has a greater connection to other characters in a wave, so it is a bit harder to coordinate this with a fan’s choice.

Blog@Newsarama: What’s the status on vehicles or playsets for the 3 3/4″ line?

Mattel: Several fan websites have run polls asking about interest in vehicles but they found that less than 100 people vote in each. Until we see a greater interest from the fan base, it’s hard to justify the necessary design and development but that’s not to say that we wouldn’t love to have to them if enough fans are interested.

Blog@Newsarama: The Public Enemies wave built off of one the DC Universe DVD releases. Was that a one-time experiement, or will you continue to do waves that tie in with the DVDs?

Mattel: While it’s something that we might do for future DVD releases, it will require further discussion.

Comments? Thoughts? Questions for the next round? Hit it all below!

[Image via Entertainment Earth]

January brings department store re-sets, and among the new assortments rockin’ the planograms is DC Universe Classics Wave 11 (the “Kilowog” wave). There are seven base figures in the wave (John Stewart, Katma Tui, Shark, Cyborg Superman in Sinestro Corps outfit, The Question, Deadman and Steppenwolf), two variants (Steppenwolf in his green outfit; a clear deadman), and three “All-Star” figures that round out the shipping case (Batman, Superman, The Flash). These are already popping up at Wal-Marts in the midwest; I caught Wave 11 in one fell swoop, and will be revisiting them with a review soon.

One of the interesting things here is that while online sources like Entertainment Earth have been making DCUC assortments available for pre-order and, well, order, for a while, this is the first time that Mattel’s site, MattyCollector.com, has offered a full DCUC assortment for order. It remains to be seen what kind of impact that situation might have on store sales, as many fans are sure to opt for the convenience of the online order.

I’ll be straight about it: I wouldn’t have bought these at Wal-Mart had they been available at Matty or EE when I went to place my order. Both were temporarily out of stock, which is just bad timing on my part. Had I not seen the full Wave 11 at once, I likely would have waited for the online grouping to just be available again.

So, gang, what’s your preferred purchase method on DCUC? You up for Wave 11? Let’s hear it.

[Image via Entertainment Earth]

According to Entertainment Weekly, Robert Downey Jr. has opted out of “Cowboys & Aliens” in order to make the sequel to the currently-running hit, “Sherlock Holmes”. You may recall that “Cowboys & Aliens” is based on the 2006 graphic novel from Platinum Studios. Platinum has had a string of movie related announcements in recent months, but this seems like a significant bump in the road. Also of note is the fact that the director attached to “Cowboys” was Downey’s “Iron Man” director, Jon Favreau.

The EW piece noted that while the Holmes sequel isn’t officially greenlit, a script is in progress and a June start is being sought. That’s the crunch with “Cowboys”, as it also looks to begin shooting in June.

Trailers for graphic novels may be quite the rage, but Lefler’s got quite the pedigree for it. Check out the PR below and learn about Seven Extraordinary Things.

Los Angeles, California, January 11th, 2010. Filmmaker Doug Lefler has created a website to offer his original graphic novel SEVEN EXTRAORDINARY THINGS for free. To celebrate the launch a newly completed trailer has been posted, edited by Todd Busch, with music by Mark McKenzie and narration by Seth Harrington.

How much would you sacrifice for art? This is the question that haunts Greg Drucker McTeer, the eighteen year old protagonist of SEVEN EXTRAORDINARY THINGS. At art school, Greg will do anything to escape mediocrity, including becoming the secret benefactor to Nina, a gifted dancer who is his inspiration. When Greg learns Nina is willing to die for her art, his own conviction is tested to the limit. This 136 page story about Greg’s struggles to live up to a list of life goals he wrote as a child has been repurposed for easy reading on the computer screen. New panels of the story are added to the site daily.

Doug Lefler is a director whose feature film, THE LAST LEGION, starring Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley and Aishwaria Rai, was released 2007. He attended California Institute of the Arts in the late seventies, during the first two years the Disney Character Animation program was in existence. Among his classmates were Tim Burton, John Lassiter, Brad Bird and many other talented individuals. Although not autobiographical, SEVEN EXTRAORDINARY THINGS was inspired by his own experiences and those of his fellow students.

More info please visit http://www.sevenextraordinarythings.com

Though the projects were announced by DC last month, it was confirmed in the DC Nation pages of Wednesday’s DC Comics releases that the new “Who’s Who” series arrives this May. The series, an update of the extremely popular ’80s accounting of the characters, teams and locations of the DCU, will be 18 issues and include upwards of 1000 characters. Bob Greenberger, who worked on the original series, has returned to DC to help steer the new version.

Also, the column discussed “DC Legacies”, a series that is a spirtual cousin to “History of the DC Universe”. This one will show the history of the DCU through the eyes of five generations of families touched by the events of the super-hero universe. Expect superstar artists, like a particular father-son combination named Kubert, to be involved.

The announcement regarding Grant Morrison’s “The Return of Bruce Wayne” promises plenty of action as Bruce Wayne fights his way through time. One wonders if Morrison might not have drawn at least a tiny bit of inspiration, if not from Elseworlds past, then perhaps from the mid-’90s “Legends of Batman” toy line from Kenner.

Viking Batman?

Pirate Batman, you say?

How about these guys?

Might this one fight witches?

Too bad he skipped Gladiator Batman . . .

“My name is Bruce Anthony Wayne. Son to murdered parents. Father to countless orphans. Member of the Justice League of America and loyal servant of the Lady Justice. And I will have my vengeance, in this event, or the next.”

Hasbro just released a number of new product images and lists for forthcoming assortments. We’ll provide a peek at some offerings from the Marvel Univerise 3-3/4″ line, as well as a look at a Super Hero Squad pack that’s sure to be a hit in these parts.

And now, an update for your checklist . . .

G.I. Joe:

· Rip Attack – Grey
· Rip Attack - Red

Marvel Universe

· Black Widow
· Bucky
· Captain America
· Luke Cage
· Thor

Spider-Man

· Arctic Attack Spider-Man
· Mass Attack Doc Ock
· Power Charge Rhino
· Power Punch Spider-Man
· Super-Charged Glider Spider-Man
· Stealth Ninja Spider-Man
· Web Blast Spider-Man
· Web Shield Spider-Man

Super Hero Squad

· Captain America & Motorcycle
· Iron Man & MODOK
· Wolverine & Spiral

Star Wars:

· Comic Packs IG97 & Rom Mohc
· Comic Packs Plourr Ilo & Dllr Nep
· Comic Packs Storm Commando & General Weir

Transformers:

· Alliance Bumblebee
· Armorhide
· Autobot Wheelie
· Barricade and Decepticon Frenzy
· Bluesteel Sideswipe
· Dirge
· Soundwave
· Tuner Mudflap

One year ago today, my team and I assumed the posting duties for Blog@Newsarama. There might have been some doubt from some quarters, but any real investigation into our traffic would indicate that we’ve been doing just fine all along. I’m quite proud of the group, and I think that they do a great job. On this one-year anniversary, I just wanted to take time to say, “Thanks, guys. Don’t forget that I really appreciate you all.”

Regular readers, please offer a round of applause for the gang, wouldn’t you? Oh, and before I forget . . . Caleb is waaaaay too nice to be Lee Marvin, but I’ll take John Cassavetes anyway, since you never know when someone might shoot you in the back.

Thanks for reading. We’re far from finished.

Last month, we sat down with some of the icons of comics to discuss how they felt about how they were represented in Halloween costumes. This month, with Thanksgiving fast approaching, we thought that we’d risk humorless tweets and reach out to ask what our heroes find themselves thankful for this year. We begin with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, as they gather at the Infinite Mansion. It turns out that after some tinkering with a leftover device of Kang’s, they were able to round-up Avengers past and present. We begin with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Hank Pym, and the Hulk.

NRAMA: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us. Cap, Hulk . . . nice to see you again.

Captain America: You too, young man.

Hulk: Hi, Blog Guy.

Iron Man: Which one of you is asking the questions?

NRAMA: Excuse me?

Thor: Pardon friend Iron Man. The Armored Avenger hath been in his cups all morning.

Iron Man: That’s a lie! I started last night. Nothing says Thanksgiving like Wild Turkey!

Wasp: Oh boy.

(more…)

There’s a new regular feature at Blog@, and it’s literally all about the fans. Fan Fandom will highlight particularly great-looking or well-written fan sites from across the span of comics (and one degree out, as we like to say). It’s a truth of this medium that it owes its lifeblood to the readers. After all, they’re the ones that turn out in droves for conventions, films, and even the comic shops. Fandom itself is nothing new, unless you’ve already forgotten the late, great Jerry Bails or Forrest J. Ackerman. However, as fansites have gotten more sophisticated and intricate over the last decade, it’s high time that we give some a little recognition.

The first candidate? Gotham Knights Online. GKO distinguishes itself in a number of ways. It’s visually appealing, it covers a variety of Batman-related material, and it has a podcast that’s landed guest appearances by the likes of Greg Rucka and Mike Marts. In addition to discussing and reviewing new issues of the comics, a premium is also placed on covering “Batman: The Brave and The Bold” and items like the forthcoming “Batman: Reborn” figures from DC Direct.

Bob Tilley, Cory Lewellen, and Gary Allegra have done a solid job in getting this one together. One of my favorite pieces has been an interview with the composers for “B:TB&TB”, complete with clips that complement the conversation. So hey, do some fellow fans a solid and drop by. And don’t be afraid to post some of your other favorite, let me emphasize this, FAN sites below; they may very well pop up in a future Fan Fandom.

The Huffington Post ran a humorous feature today on some of the best “Yahoo! Answers” of all time. One hits close to home, with the question, “Can a Jedi Lightsaber cut through Superman?”. The answer, which I may eventually need for my kids, can be found here.

Other great questions and answers include “What causes floods in California?” (Answer: Water.) and “Did Twilight offend any real vampires?” And actually, I feel sorry for the lady that has the son with the “secret girlfriend”; I hope she doesn’t have a heart condition.

Let us pause and honor one of the greatest shows for children in television history. Of course, it also introduced one of the greatest super-heroes of all time . . .

This blog post has been brought to you by the letters M and F and the number 1.

As noted at Comics Alliance and elsewhere, Scott Kurtz is not someone that you invite to an event lightly. We did a little digging, and were able to find a few other responses that Mr. Kurtz has written to invitations over the years.

From: Maddy Palmer
To: Scott Kurtz

Dear Mr. Kurts,

I hope you are well. I like your comic. I am celebrating my fifth grade graduation this weekend. Since you are my favorite webcomic guy, I would like to invite you to come. I have one extra ticket since my parents are divorced and Daddy is in Haiti with his secretary. The event will be at Abraham Lincoln Elementary in Urbana, Illinois. Can you come? I love PvP.

Thank you,
Maddy

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Doom Patrol #4 hit this week from DC. In this Blackest Night crossover, dead members of the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol (from the “Showcase” issues in the ’70s and the pre-Morrison ongoing of the ’80s) rise and attack the original members. However, one significant change has been noted. Josh Clay, aka Tempest, has always been a “blaster”. That is, his power set involved the ability to shoot energy blasts, and the ability to fly derived from said blasts.

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Check out freshly-minted Jaroo, a Hulu-esque site that’s carrying some beloved, and some extremely obscure, animated programs. One of the most popular on the list is surely “Inspector Gadget”, though I’m sure many fondly recall “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors”, “Captain N”, or “Super Mario Bros.” They get serious points from me for including “Pole Position”, the bizarre supercar/spy show based on the extremely limited racing game of yore.

In a rather diabolical turn, there is no embedding available. However, I will link you right to the anime “The Wonder Wizard of Oz” series here.

With the new V kicking off tonight on ABC, it’s worth taking a look at the original. The first V mini-series aired in 1983; the two-parter did big ratings, and was followed by V: The Final Battle. Apparently, there was wasn’t much finality, as that mini segued into a regular series. It was short-lived, but for a while, there was nothing quite like it on American TV.

Here’s a look at the intro to the first regular series episode, which picks up literally seconds after the conclusion of “Final Battle”. And, in the interest of fairness, I decided to skip showing THE BIG MOMENT to avoid potential spoilers for unsuspecting viewers of the new version.

He’s a hard man to find. And occasionally, a harder man to talk to. He’s the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight Detective, the owner of the Hammers of Justice . . . he . . . is . . . BATMAN. And he’s the last interview that we have in our series of iconic heroes commenting on the costumes based on their images. This time, we had to expand out a bit, as Batman’s partners and rogues gallery has inspired a fair field of costuming. We met atop a wind-swept rooftop in Gotham, pictures in hand, to find out what The Batman thinks.

NRAMA: Thanks again for meeting.

Batman: Keep it short. Crime is impatient, and justice doesn’t like to wait.

NRAMA: Wouldn’t that make them both impatient?

Batman: . . .

NRAMA: Nevermind. How about we start with your enemies?

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