Big Shiny Robot talks with storyboard artist and director Ben Jones about working on the DC cartoons, and moving away from “the Bruce Timm style” for the upcoming Batman: Brave and the Bold:

The thing is, there’s only one Bruce Timm.  If you look at the timeline of when the shows were made, you’ll notice that Bruce is busy on other stuff, either JLU or the DCU videos.  So he’s just not available, to begin with.  You could, I suppose, try to mimic his style for your show, but that’s kind’ve weird for a variety of reasons, especially when he’s sitting just down the hall.  So in the end, you’re generally better off doing your own thing than trying to be a second-rate Bruce Timm.

The interview includes exclusive looks at Plastic Man from Brave and the Bold, and Jones’ designs for Red Tornado.

Virgin Comics and Perspective Studios at Comic-Con today announced a collaboration with writer Grant Morrison called MBX, an animation franchise based on the ancient Indian epic the Mahabharata.

The re-imagining of the epic tale of two families at war is the flagship title of the joint venture between Virgin Comics and Perspective, a producer of digital animation. The two companies plan to develop several MBX animated projects, including a feature film and video games.

The animation for MBX will receive its public unveiling later today at the convention.

The press release can be found after the break.

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Although Wednesday morning began with a flurry of movie options, the big news from Comic-Con International’s “Day 0″ came from comics publishers. And curiously, two of the announcements involved crime fiction.

DC Comics teased next summer’s launch of Vertigo Crime, a “subimprint” devoted to mystery and crime stories. The line, headed by Will Dennis, will debut with titles from 100 Bullets writer Brian Azzarello and Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin. More details are expected today.

Not to be outdone, IDW Publishing opened Preview Night with a press conference announcing that Darwyn Cooke (DC: The New Frontier) will adapt Richard Stark’s first four Parker novels as a series of graphic novels. The first title is expected in late 2009.

Going in a decidedly different direction, BOOM! Studios announced a deal for it to produce a line of comics and graphic novels based on Disney/Pixar and Muppet properties. The first title, a four-issue Incredibles series, will be written by Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid and debut next year. Cooke will provide the cover art.

Other convention-related announcements:

• Wildstorm has acquired the comics rights to Summit Entertainment’s upcoming action-thriller Push. The DC imprint will release a six-issue prequel, by Marc Bernardin, Adam Freeman and Bruno Redondo, with covers by Jock.

• Cartoon Network will produce animated movies based on Phil Hester’s Firebreather and Mike Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass’ The Mice Templar, both from Image. The cable network also is adapting Chuck Dixon’s IDW title The Vanishers as a live-action film.

• Writer Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Criminal) has teamed with White Rock Lake Productions to produce Angel of Death, a live-action series for Crackle.com, Sony Picture Entertainment’s online-video network. The weekly crime/revenge series will debut next year.

• Warner Bros. will release a pair of downloadable Watchmen video games, with more installments possible.

• And that flurry of movie news? Warner Bros. snapped up the rights to Rob Liefeld’s forthcoming Capeshooters, for Bryan Singer to produce. Hancock director Peter Berg will develop Hercules: The Thracian Wars, based on the Radical Publishing miniseries. Jenna Dewan and Luke Goss will star in an adaptation of Top Cow’s The Magdalena. And Summit grabbed Virgin Comics’ one-shot The Leaves.

You can follow our complete Comic-Con coverage here.

IF Magazine reports that producer Erwin Stoff is developing a live-action movie for 20th Century Fox based on the popular space-Western/noir anime series Cowboy Bebop.

“I’m really excited to be working on it, and it’s in the really early stages,” said Stoff, who also produced A Scanner Darkly and Constantine. “We just signed it the other day.”

Fueled by a soundtrack of jazz and early rock, Cowboy Bebop aired for 26 episodes in 1998-1999. The show, set in 2071, followed bounty hunters who traveled aboard a ship called the Bebop. The series spawned a feature film, a manga series and two video games.

How will Cowboy Bebop’s devoted following react to news of the adaptation, and the inevitable speculation (and grumbling) about the casting of Spike Spiegel, Faye Valentine & Co.?

“Flak about choices is meaningless until people see the movie,” Stoff told iF Magazine. “When people see the movie, then criticism has a place in it.”

Cartoon Network announced today that they’re working on animated movies of Phil Hester’s Firebreather and Mike Avon Oeming and Bryan Glass’ Mice Templar, both of which are published by Image. In addition, they’re also adapting Chuck Dixon’s The Vanishers, published by IDW, into a live-action film. No air dates have been announced yet.

Check out the complete press release after the jump.

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The last one before I head out to the San Diego Comic-Con … if I get any last-minute additions, though, I’ll post them once I’m on the ground.

A few Blog@ related items …

–I’ve set up an SDCC-specific photo gallery, which you can view here. The only thing in there right now are some images related to SDCC events, but we’ll add pics from the con as the week goes on.

–As a reminder, our Twitter feed can be found here … I’ll be posting updates from the con over there throughout the week.

–If you’re going to the con, I know for sure I’ll be at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party on Thursday night. So stop by and say hi.

Now updates …

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Justice League: The New Frontier, Warner Bros. Animation’s adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s 2003 miniseries, has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (one hour or more).

The nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles. The New Frontier is pitted against the “Blue Harvest” episode of Family Guy and the “Imaginationland” episode of South Park.

The awards will be presented on Sept. 21.

Two new posters have been released for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which opens Aug. 15. The second poster can be seen after the break.

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BET Networks and Marvel Animation will preview The Black Panther animated series July 26 at Comic-Con International.

The television show, which will debut early next year, was announced in April. It will be adapted from the first six issues of the current Black Panther series, written by Reginald Hudlin, BET’s president of entertainment.

“I’m so proud I’ve been able to maintain a successful run of the series over the past three years while keeping my ‘day job’ of programming a network,” Hudlin said in a press release. “But now to have both of my worlds collide, to have a faithful adaptation of my own work as a prime time series on the network — it’s a dream come true. The Black Panther has always been an inspirational character to me, and now I get to share that inspiration with the widest audience he’s ever had.”

The full press release can be read here.

Marvel.com has the trailer up for the upcoming Iron Man animated series that’ll be on Nicktoons next year:

An episode will be shown at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Fans of Invincible soon will be able to follow the adventures of Mark Grayson on iTunes, mobile phones, MTV2 and elsewhere.

The New York Times reports that MTV New Media is partnering with Gain Enterprises to produce the “digital cinematic comics.” That’s right, it’s not traditional animation:

The process starts with digital scans of the actual comic book pages. They are turned into an audio-visual experience through a process called Bomb-xx developed by Gain. In the end, the formerly two-dimensional comic book suddenly pulses with music, while word balloons pop up and fill in as actors recite the dialogue and panels zoom in and out and pivot in all directions. The frenetic energy is not unlike that of an MTV video.

Episodes 1 through 12 will cover the first four issues of the series, launched in 2003 by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker (Ryan Ottley became penciler with Issue 8). The first six installments will be previewed next week at Comic-Con International, and then made more widely available beginning Aug. 22.

You can see a preview of the first episode here.

• Viz Media sends word that Marc Weidenbaum, vice president of original publishing, and Eric Searleman, senior editor, will perform the publisher’s first Comic-Con portfolio reviews from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 27.

• The Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick reveals that production has begun on the show’s fourth season. [Publick's blog]

• Apple profiles Dark Horse Comics, with a focus on the company’s network of 145 Macs. The feature includes a sidebar that details the production process for an issue of Hellboy – from initial discussions between Mike Mignola and editor Scott Allie to lettering to press — and a publisher timeline. [Apple.com]

• Speaking of Hellboy, Mignola talks about his collaboration with Guillermo del Toro on Hellboy II: The Golden Army: “It’s my job to take del Toro’s idea, which nobody else can make heads or tails of unless he’s drawn it in his sketchbook, and decipher it. Even though I don’t speak Spanish, we speak the language of monsters and we have very similar tastes in artists so I can usually understand what he’s going for.” [Underwire]

• The talented artist Kristian Donaldson updates his blog with news that the second edition of the Supermarket trade paperback from IDW will get a new format — 6″ x 9″ — and a new cover (above). Also, he’ll be reteaming with Supermarket writer Brian Wood for Issues 35 and 36 of DMZ, which sport covers by John Paul Leon. [Donaldson's blog]

• I’m enjoying Kyle Latino’s illustrated summaries of the comics he reads each week. [This Week in Comics, via Super Punch]

It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these, so let’s just dive back into it:

• It’s now confirmed that Robert Downey Jr. will star in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. (The actor’s interest in the role initially was reported last month.) The Warner Bros. production is based on a forthcoming comic by producer Lionel Wigram. Ritchie polished the script, written by Anthony Peckham. [Variety]

• David Fincher’s planned remake of Heavy Metal has hit a wall at Paramount Pictures, where new production executives feel the content is too risque for mainstream audiences. So Fincher, Blur Studio and Heavy Metal magazine publisher Kevin Eastman are shopping for a new home. [Hollywood Insider]

• Don’t be surprised if one of the longest lines at Comic-Con is for the July 24 Summit Pictures panel. That’s because it will feature the cast of Twilight, the big-screen adaptation of the wildly popular YA novels by Stephenie Meyer. (Frankly, I’m shocked we haven’t seen an announcement of Twilight graphic novels, OEL manga or otherwise.) The movie’s promotional push starts with the cover of Entertainment Weekly (above) and then kicks into high gear in San Diego. “… Twilight is one of the movies sure to pop at the biggest marketing launch platform I can think of right now,” writes Variety’s Anne Thompson. “Is there one bigger? Cannes is one thing. Sundance and Toronto another. But the impact of Comic-Con on the movie-marketplace is huge.” [Thompson on Hollywood]

• Hellboy II director Guillermo del Toro talks about 14 influences that shaped his style, including the Wein-Wrightson Swamp Thing and Jack Kirby’s The Demon. [EW.com]

• Hellboy is the only franchise in recent memory to jump from one movie studio to another. [The Hollywood Reporter]

– The Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye blog is hosting one of those “Which hero is better?” tournaments you’ve probably seen on message boards. Not that there’s anything wrong with pondering if Iron Man is better than Elektra or if Thor can beat Buffy, mind you; I’ve done it many times. But I’m looking forward more to the New York Times’ “Who should be in the JLA?” quiz or the Wall Street Journal’s “Which super heroine is hottest?” poll.

– Can Swamp Thing fill the Martian Manhunter’s shoes in the JLA?

– “Make some comic books like you fucking mean it.”

– Calvin Reid profiles Keith Knight.

– Grant Morrison has updated his Web site.

– Here’s some good news: IDW is going to reprint Bill Messner-Loebs’ Journey.

– Yet another New Yorker caption contest cartoon is being accused of plagiarism.

– Viz has acquired four new manga.

– Mike Sterling collects stories about the fates of the Peanuts characters.

Compiled by JK and Chris

Among the bevy of animated projects Marvel pushed last month at the Licensing International Expo apparently was this one: two direct-to-DVD short movies called Hulk Vs. Thor and Hulk Vs. Wolverine.

Although the titles are self-explanatory, the press release from Marvel and Lionsgate provide a few details:

Hulk Vs. Thor – It’s gods versus monsters in this epic 45 minute movie! Never have we explored the explosive power of the Hulk like we have in this new film, every major character from the Marvel Thor universe is thrust into battle with this Green Goliath as he brings a new Ragnarok down upon the realm of gods.

Hulk Vs. Wolverine - This dark, violent, smash and slash story was first told in issue 181 of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and the rematches have continued to thrill comic fans ever since. Now Marvel and Lionsgate takes the best of those famous comic book battles and merges them into one heart pounding 33-minute story.

I’m guessing “slash story” doesn’t hold the same meaning to Marvel and Lionsgate that it does to most everyone else …

Although the two features won’t be released until January, they’ll receive their world premiere at Comic-Con International on July 24.

(Via Topless Robot)

TVGuide.com has a promotional image and more details on the upcoming Wonder Woman direct-to-DVD animated film. The Batman Gotham Knight DVD, which comes out today, will include a preview of the film.

Artist Cat Staggs pays tribute to Patrick Demarchelier’s famous photograph of Janet Jackson with the cover of her 2008 sketchbook, prominently featuring Dr. Girlfriend from The Venture Bros. (Or is that Dr. Mrs. The Monarch?)

We’ve seen that 1993 Rolling Stone cover parodied before, of course, but Staggs’ illustration makes me laugh every time I see The Monarch’s crown and eyebrows peeking out from behind Dr. Girlfriend’s head.

Staggs is taking preorders for the sketchbook through July 18, and I believe will have it for sale at Comic-Con.

iTunes is now carrying episodes of several of DC’s past cartoons, including Batman: The Animated Series, Super Friends, Batman Beyond and even Aquaman. Click here to check them out in iTunes.

It doesn’t look like they have all of Batman: The Animated Series or Superman: The Animated Series quite yet … I never saw the end of the Superman series, for instance, and would like to download it. But hopefully they’ll get them eventually.