I have no idea why I am so resistant to the idea that The Dark Knight Returns might be adapted into an animated movie, a la All-Star Superman. Is it because I thought that the animated version of A-SS replicated the action but missed the heart that made the original so special? Perhaps, but Dark Knight Returns is a shorter work than A-SS and also more weighted towards the action in the first place, so that might not be a problem. Maybe it’s that I can’t imagine DKR not being censored in some way, considering its content and what we’ve seen in the other animated movies… but perhaps I’m just being cynical about that. So why does it seem like such a bad idea?

Maybe it’s because it seems completely unnecessary. Has the world been crying out for this all along and I’ve not been paying attention? I feel the same way about this as I did the movie Watchmen: Isn’t the comic enough? Can’t something just be great as what it is, and the creators of the adaptations come up with something else, even if it’s something featuring the same characters? Unless Frank Miller somehow gets involved with this rumored animated version, I fear disaster (or worse, disasterous boredom) for this plan.

This new commercial for the latest Lego video game offering, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is Lego humor at its best.

As you can see, the tough Clone Trooper showing off his stuff is nothing when faced with real danger. We’ve seen Lego animals relieve themselves in-game but never characters and well, I guess this answers the age-old question about whether or not Troopers have some sort of hatch when the need arises. And apparently, it’s automatic!

The game is available everywhere games are sold on March 22 but you can get a head start by playing the mini-game online. You can’t do much in the way of building but you can unlock images and trailers as well as characters for use in the actual game. And, you can dance.

Roger Hargreaves’ beloved children’s book series Mr. Men is being adapted into an animated feature by Fox.

Almost every kid I knew had one of these (if not more) books lying around the house. You remember, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Nosey, Little Miss Sunshine, etc. Well according to the Hollywood Reporter, producer Shawn Levy is joining Twentieth Century Fox Animation to bring us an animated adaptation of the British author’s works.

Levy, who is best known for directing and producing Night at the Museum and its subsequent sequel, does not have a director or writer attached to the project as of yet.

This isn’t the first time the Mr. Men have been animated, this will actually be the fifth adaptation, although the previous efforts have been for television. The first was produced in 1975 by Flicks Films and broadcast by the BBC, the second, in 1983 and also by Flicks Films, featured the Little Miss characters. In 1995 came Mr. Men and Little Miss which was aired in the US as well as the US. And finally, the Cartoon Network got a hold of the franchise in 2006 and created The Mr. Men Show with Renegade Animation.

Hargreaves wrote 48 Mr. Men books and 42 Little Miss books until his son Adam Hargreaves took over after his death in 1988. Since their inception in 1971, they’ve become a pop-culture phenomena and a standard in children’s books. Throughout the years artists have created their own Mr. Men in an homage to the creator and series. Last year someone even did a huge series of superhero characters in the Mr. and Miss likeness.

Can’t wait for the slightest newness when it comes to DC and Cartoon Network’s “Young Justice”? Well we have some bigtime preview images for you here for tonight’s episode, featuring soon-to-be-movie-star BANE!

Official episode description and many more images after the jump.

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Well, now you have the chance to help.

It wouldn’t be the first time that one of best-selling author and contemporary legend Neil Gaiman’s stories have been turned into a movie. Both “Coraline” and “Mirror Mask” were critically-praised, the former even garnered and Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. However, both of those had big studio backing, independent film-maker Christopher Salmon has a different idea. Utlizing the popular site, Kickstarter, Salmon has pitched the idea to make one of Gaiman’s short stories, “The Price”, into an animated short.

Newsarama recently spoke with Salmon about his artistic talents, the animation process of the short, and what it was like to recieve Neil’s approval.

Newsarama: Okay, Christopher, tell us a bit about yourself

Christopher Salmon: Where to start? I’m Canadian & grew up in the stunning Okanagan valley in BC.. I’ve always wanted to make movies an spent my youth and, well, pretty much my whole life trying to develop the talents and skill set to do just that taught myself to draw, write, and sculpt (so I could make rubber monster masks and then foam-latex creatures & stop-motion puppets) Took enough piano so I could generate a simplistic John Carpenter-esque score to go along with my cheesy horror films I made in High School TV class, which usually plotted around some cool new special effect I’d figured out, like my own version of the chest-burster scene from Alien so, totally high-class stuff

I thought I might get my break into film through special effects make-up, but I wound up in the video game industry for many years, just from reading stuff (Fangoria, Cinefex) and trying things out. I blew my chest off once trying out a home-made squib (not so funny) my Mom took one look at the blackened mess on my chest and ordered me to surrender my can of re-filling gunpowder on the spot not too bright either … (me, not my Mom — she rocks)

Nrama: So big horror fan, I take it?

Salmon: I love monsters, so yeah, I’ve watched a lot of horror flicks, but the whole blood/torture/dark-evil thing isn’t what draws me … I just dig the monsters, you know?

But I love Sci-Fi, fantasy, anything really mostly, I love movies. That’s what I love about this story of Neil’s; even with the cool monster stuff, the overall feeling is hopeful, positive, and a little melancholy.

Nrama: Out of all of Gaiman’s stories, what drew you to the Price that made you want to make something like this?

Salmon: The theme of redemption. A chance to design some really cool monsters. I like cats too, so really it was win-win-win! Also, I was looking for something on a small scale that I could handle the bulk of the work for. In the animatic, I didn’t feature any of the secondary characters at all (you could see their feet or profile in shadow) … by being able to keep the focus on the Narrator/Neil, The Black Cat, and the monsters, I could manage costs and put the funds towards these central characters. So it was all of these things, but primarily the theme & feeling I got while reading The Price.

Plus, if I can see it immediately in my mind, I know my chances of recreating successfully are very high and once it’s in there, the only way to ever get it out … is to make the film!

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Photo courtesy Gary Miereanu

[The following is a pre-prepared interview provided by Warner Home Video.]

Whether as River Tam in Joss Whedon’s cult classic series and follow-up film, Firefly and Serenity, or as the indestructible android-from-the-future, Cameron, in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Glau has cornered the market on playing attractive, demure young females with the controlled homicidal power to destroy an opposing legion of trained warriors.

So it was only natural that as her first-ever animated voiceover role, Glau would fit neatly into the role of an uber-powered Kryptonian who falls under the spell of one of Superman’s greatest foes. Glau finds the perfect mix of youthful curiosity, teen angst and alien-turned-Earth-girl aggression as the voice of Kara, cousin of Superman (and ultimately destined to become Supergirl) in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, the ninth entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe animated movies.

Based on the DC Comics series/graphic novel “Superman/Batman: Supergirl” by Jeph Loeb, the late Michael Turner & Peter Steigerwald, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is produced by animation legend Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Wonder Woman) from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist).

Glau’s career has been populated with frequent visits to the fanboy realm, adding regular roles on The 4400 and Dollhouse to her featured gigs on Firefly/Serenity and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The professionally trained ballerina had a seven-episode run on The Unit, and will appear in the upcoming NBC series, The Cape, as well as in the film, Knights of Badassdom.

Following her recording session, Glau freely discussed a number of subjects – from the acting strengths of the Whedon alumni association to her consistent on-set nerves to a strong desire to land more adult roles. Interview after the jump.

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Tonight in Los Angeles, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse gets a premiere screening along with a panel discussion from cast and crew, both at the Paley Center — and, yup, Newsarama will be there, covering the panel live.

The panel is set for around 8:20 p.m. local time, so 11:20 for you east coasters. Stay tuned to the front page shortly before then to follow along at home.

Confirmed at this point for the panel: Bruce Timm, Executive Producer; Lauren Montgomery, Director; Tab Murphy, Writer;; Andrea Romano, Casting/Dialogue Director; Susan Eisenberg, voice of Wonder Woman; Rachel Quaintance, voice of Artemis & Lyla.

Looks like the people over at Warner’s Animation have found their Superman, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor for their upcoming “All-Star Superman” movie.  James Denton (Desperate Housewives), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace).  This would be Denton’s and Hendricks’ first foray into animated voice overs, while LaPaglia had worked on Happy Feet and the upcoming Legend of the Guardians. In addition to Denton, Hendicks, and LaPaglia, Ed Asner is Daily Planet editor Perry White, Frances Conroy as Ma Kent with Linda Cardelini, Arnold Vosloo and Matthew Gray Gubler as yet to be named voices.

I am more than enthused about this casting call. While, I might not be the biggest Superman fan on the planet, this just seems stellar, especially for the no-brainer that is Ed Asner for Perry White.

So sound off, readers. What do you think of All-Star Superman‘s cast?

Writer Brian Clevinger announced back in January that Atomic Robo, his Red 5 Comics creation with artist Scott Wegener, was getting an animated short film courtesy of The Fictory, titled Atomic Robo: Last Stop. Now we have the first teaser trailer, and though it’s definitely just “a teaser,” it looks pretty much exactly how you’d hope it to look:

Psyched? It’s scheduled for “late 2010.” Don’t forget that both Clevinger and Wegener have upcoming Marvel projects, both with the word “Avenger” in the title — Clevinger is writing Captain America: The Fighting Avenger, and Wegener’s providing art for Avenger’s: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Adult Swim’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation was scheduled at sort of a weird time – midnight on Thursday going into Friday last night, the exact same time that many hardcore fans would be at theaters watching a midnight screening of a little live-action film called Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Luckily, as things tend to happen in the 21st century, they posted all four glorious minutes of the short, adapting scenes from volume 2 of the Oni graphic novels, on their Web site this morning!

What a week it’s been for Scott Pilgrim fans. (Month, really, if you count from when Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour came out.) It looks amazing, but be warned — after watching this, there’s no way you wouldn’t want to see the entire series adapted in this format, and may never be able to truly rest until that happens. It’s just too cool and perfect. Ah, first-world problems.

News came Wednesday that Paul Dini, one of the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series, was joining Brian Michael Bendis and the Man of Action crew (Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steven Seagle and Duncan Rouleau) on the already impressive Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series creative team.

This afternoon, Marvel confirmed what the exact title for each of them will be on the show, and how the division of labor breaks down. Dini will be “Creative Consultant” and write the pilot; the Man of Action guys are “Supervising Producers,” directing the write staff, generating scripts and editing stories; Bendis, writer of each and every issue of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, will serve as “Consulting Producer,” overseeing the whole thing.

Jeph Loeb, as announced in June, has a supervisory role given his job as head of Marvel TV. Full Marvel press release after the jump.

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UPDATE: MTV Splashpage has confirmed the news, as well as gotten a bit of casting. Geek entertainment veteran Summer Glau, of Firefly and Sarah Connor Chronicles fame, will be voicing Supergirl! Still no official word, however, if the animation will follow Michael Turner’s art as a template.

Well, this is just Jeph Loeb’s day, ain’t it?

This morning, Marvel announced that Jeph Loeb is now Executive Vice President, Head of Television, and will be in charge of bringing more Marvel properties to TV. Now, according to Superman Homepage, who acquired the cover art for the next DCAU project, we learn that another arc of his Superman/Batman run is coming to small screens via DVD.

After Superman/Batman: Public Enemies‘ success, Warner Home Video will be bringing Superman/Batman: Apocalypse to DVD and Blu-Ray on September 28, 2010. An official announcement is expected at Comic-con International: San Diego this July. The cover art shows Darkseid and the “Evil Supergirl” designed by deceased artist Michael Turner. These were the two key characters in the second arc of Jeph Loeb’s run, used to re-introduce Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El to the DCU.

Also of note is the bottom corner of the case… wherein the next short film, Green Arrow, is also announced.

Bruce Timm did just assure viewers that more DC Animated videos were on the way. What do you think of the next feature?

Just in from The Hollywood Reporter, it seems Cartoon Network let early word slip of a coming Green Lantern Animated Series on the network.

Not much was said about the show, other than it is a joint venture between Warner Bros and Turner Networks (CN’s owner). The show is based on the DC Comics character who has a live action movie coming in Spring 2011, and could be on the air soon after the movie, in Fall 2011.

The New York Times has a great article about Ruby Spears/Sid & Marty Krofft productions’ plan to develop some long-lost Jack Kirby concepts. Kirby apparently created scores of new characters while working as an artist for Ruby-Spears animation in the 1980′s, and the art on display in the piece is supposedly only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

The article showcases some wonderful, and very 1980′s, character concepts from the king of comics, including what appears to be a superteam of stage magicians, a female, super-villain-fighting Indiana Jones archetype, and a wonderfully off-the-chain, purely Kirby team called “The Gargoids”.

Apparently, there are crates of old Kirby stuff archived by Ruby-Spears, and whether or not Kirby’s legendary status is enough to propel these inventive, but decidedly idiosyncratic creations into the mainstream, is up in the air. At the very least, this stuff could make a kick-as coffee table book.

The fabulous blog for all things Hayao Miyazki, the Ghibli Blog, has found a new treasure: a rare 1989 manga by  director Miyazaki called The Age of the Flying Boat.

This short manga served as the inspiration and precursor for the film Porco Rosso, and was only made available once in English — until now.

Read the full manga over at Ghibli Blog. link

There’s an interesting paradox at the heart of the new Planet Hulk animated film. “Planet Hulk” the comic book arc was conceived as a diverting detour from the Hulk’s status quo, not to mention a lead in to a cros-over mega-event. In the comics, with hundreds of issues of prototypical Jekyll and hyde Hulk stories weighing writers and readers down, a riff like the Maximus-meets-John Carter vibe of “Planet Hulk” worked as a novel break, a bit of variety to spice up Hulky’s pulpy life. With “Planet Hulk” fans got a few months of something different knowing fully well that eventually the character would return to something close to his Jekyll/Hyde status quo. (more…)

If they ever assembled a Justice League: North Pole, the founding members would be pretty obvious. There’s Rudolph and Charlie Brown, Ebenezer scrooge, and Frosty would be on the roster, the Grinch… but the superpower of warm fuzzy holiday sentiment isn’t limited to just the big guns. There’s a whole universe of audiovisual Christmas cheer out there waiting to be found. Pick your favorite TV show or cartoon, and there’s probably a very special Christmas episode for you to enjoy. Even Pac-Man had a Christmas special for crying out loud. The Grinch and Frosty will always be at the top of the holiday heap, but there are still a lot of lesser known Christmas specials that have more to offer than simple kitsch value. Consider these suggestions as a sort of JLA North Pole reserve. The Captain Marvel to Rudolph’s Superman, the Guy Gardner to Charlie Brown’s green lantern. (more…)

Warner Home Video spoke with rising anime director, Toshiyuki Kanno, about “The Babysitter” episode within Halo Legends. This is an all-new anthology of seven stories that expands the universe of Halo, one of the world’s most popular video games. Halo Legends will be available on February 16, 2010 on DVD and Blu-Ray as well as On Demand and Digital Download.

Kanno provided insight into the production of “The Babysitter” in this following interview with Warner Home Video:

Question: How does Halo lend itself to anime/animation?

Kanno: Halo is a property filled with so many exciting characters and detailed story settings with a very vast/huge background and I believe that the property has a lot of room to create episodes. Thus, I think that various ways in anime development can suit the property in whatever style the creators employ.

Question: What was the inspiration for your artistic vision in your episode of Halo Legends?

Kanno: What inspired me the most are the “ruins of an unconfirmed space alien.” Of course, we had a premise that the ruins are Forerunners, and Microsoft/343 Industries provided us with a good deal of leeway to create new elements. We have tried to incorporate a Japanese taste as much as possible to the buildings, costumes and other visual things to try to add greater depth and expand the Halo realm.

Question: Were there any particular images within the Halo realm that helped shape or drive your creative vision?

Kanno: We found inspiration in all of the art books provided by Microsoft, especially the beauty of the nature shown in the image boards as well as in the game itself. I tried to incorporate a similar beauty in my episode. In addition, the costume and the weapons of various characters such as the Brutes, Elites and Prophet provided me with inspirations in creating the characteristics of this episode.

Question: Why were you the right person to direct/design/write this episode?

Kanno: The original script describing a story relating to the relationship between Spartans and ODST was provided by Mr. Frank O’Connor. I discussed with Ms. Tanaka, the producer of the episode, that we needed to brush up the story to make it more understandable and impressive, and proposed the new scrip to Microsoft. I believe that the script has become better suited to animation.

We had a very strong design and animation team. I was in charge of character designs and focused on creating designs to easily express emotions of each of them. I employed Mr. Hayashi and Mr. Suzuki to design mechas, such as those involving the Spartan, ODSTs and Covenant. They have been very good in creating mechas that are simple but very cool designs.

Mr. Sasaki was in charge of background designs, and his ideas helped realize a very distinguished world of “The Babysitter” – giving our anime sensibility, but retaining the Halo taste. He has created an origina UNSC spaceship and the design seemed to please the Microsoft staff.

Both Ms. Miyuki, who was in charge of coloring, and Mr. Watanabe, who headed the CGI as well as the screen plan, focused on keeping a balance throughout the entire episode. I believe that they contributed a lot in accomplishing a profound screenplay.

Question: What did you set out to accomplish in this episode, and why do you think you achieved or exceeded your goals?

Kanno: The most distinguished characteristic of this episode is that this is the only episode in Halo Legends where ODST characters appear. During the production of this episode, a new Halo game, “Halo 3: ODST,” featuring ODST characters, was released – and our episode has some common characters with the game. Thus, we felt an intense pressure to make the episode very enjoyable to the newcomers to the Halo world and, more over, to ensure that the episode would not betray the trust of the game fans.

I, myself, was quite a newcomer to Halo at the beginning of this project, and it was a very hard process to understand the vast realm of Halo and to create new things out of it. Consequently, I have found out that the episode has become very exciting and much better than I had originally expected. I believe that this result comes from the efforts of each and every member of our production staffs. This was a very collaborative effort.

Question: How important was having Halo gaming experience to bringing the world to life in anime?

Kanno: I am not at all good at playing video games, and I have not played that much. But my staff played a great deal, and both myself and my staff spent a lot of time viewing the long-playing movie many times to ensure we understood the Halo realm as well as the details of its settings.

Question: Are there any hidden images or behind-the-scenes “Easter eggs” – special little things you included for the devout Halo fans – that appear within your episode?

Kanno: It was simply tough enough for me to understand the Halo universe during such a short period of time, so I did not have time or room to created such “hidden images” etc. However, I strongly believe that every viewer will feel the enthusiasm of all our creative staffs in the episode.

They come from the shadows, striking silently…leaving behind only b-movies, Halloween costumes and tongue-in-cheek internet memes in their wake. They are the Ninja and as Ninja Assassin lurks in the mutiplex shadows, you might say the ninja is back…but some of us know they were always there. You just didn’t see them….y’know because they’re ninjas. Here’s a list of a few a noteworthy ninjas that might have stalked under your pop-culture radar. (more…)

With DC putting in Manhunter, the Question, Blue Beetle, and the Metal Men in their comics as second features, it’s cool to see other DC Entertainment properties following suit.

According to a release sent from Warner Home Video, in the upcoming DVD Crisis of Two Earths, the main animated feature will be joined by a second animated short, starring the Spectre. Gary Cole from Entourage and Alyssa Milano from Charmed will be voice acting, while the short itself was written by 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles.

In a lot of ways, this looks like a smart idea. With the episodic structure of comics, there’s a lot of trivia and continuity and reimaginings that bog down characters for new readers. For film and cartoons, however, there’s a clean slate and a wide distribution platform — in other words, you have to distill the character to what makes them work, and cast to the wind much of the idiosyncrasies inherent to a character such as, say, a third-level legacy character such as the Spectre. Adding what’s essentially an intro-level course on the Spectre — for free, no less — is a great move for DC, as it helps diversify their stable of heroes, and helps bring in fans of Jim Corrigan. Every comic is someone’s first — why can’t that be the same for cartoons?