It’s ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

Blast Magazine has posted an image of the next issue of Game Informer, which has a cover confirming that the post-apocalyptic and/or steampunk-flavored Disney game will in fact be a reality.

If you’re curious about looking at some concept shots of this game click here. Is it Mickey as we’ve never seen him before? if this cover and those images are any indication — heck yeah!

[via Topless Robot]

Surrogates, the new Bruce Willis sci-fi action thriller from Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, is set to hit theaters Sept 25. It is based on the graphic novel written by Robert Venditti, illustrated by Brett Weldele and published by Top Shelf Productions. It all began as a script for a graphic novel that, as Robert Venditti says, has gone far “beyond anything that I ever anticipated happening.” Speak with him and you hear a humble guy who knows what he wants. Here is Robert Venditti talking about Surrogates, comics and Disney/Marvel.

As Venditti describes it, the whole idea of Surrogates even getting published was far from a sure thing. He was working in the mail room at Top Shelf Productions and was hoping that maybe Chris Staros, one of the partners, might be able to help him find a small publisher and then he could have a book he could pass around to editors in hopes of landing more work. “So, to have all of this happen: to actually get it optioned and have it made, which is the huge hurdle you have to clear, and then to have it be the size and scope that it is, you don’t even know what to say.”

Ask him what a surrogate is or what the story is about, and Venditti answers with such enthusiasm you’d think it was the first time he was being asked. “Maybe you want to have a surrogate because you want to summit Mt. Everest but you don’t want to go through the turmoil of actually doing that or maybe you are diabetic and you just want to eat chocolate cake — you can do any of these things with your surrogate and experience it as if you are really doing it but it’s all coming to you secondhand through the machine.”  The story about these surrogates, these android duplicates that do all the things its human owners only wish to do from a distance, takes a turn when they start turning up fried out in the real world. Something or someone is destroying them and that is where detective Harvey Greer steps in, played by Bruce Willis in the movie.

Having Bruce Willis on board is something that Venditti sounds like he’ll never grow tired of talking about. He sets up a scene a few years back, just as the trend of movies based on comics is heating up, and it’s him and his wife sitting at the kitchen table. They look at each other. What if, he asks, just for fun, a movie was made from his book? “Who would we cast in the film? And her and I both thought that Bruce Willis would be the perfect guy to play Greer because he is one of the very few actors that can be convincing in tough action sequences but also convincing in the more personal, emotional scenes like Greer has with his wife in the book, which is a very strong undertone of the book, the effect that surrogate technology has had on their marriage. And there aren’t a lot of guys who can do both and he is one of them. So, we thought he would be perfect and then, six years later, they cast him in that very same role, so it’s all pretty surreal.”

Surrogates can be practical as replacements for humans in dangerous occupations but the real attraction is that they can be the ideal version of their owners. Is this human trait to want to be something other than who you are essentially good or bad? “There is always something about yourself that you wish you could tweak to some extent. I don’t know that that’s a positive or a negative. When I wrote the book, I tried not to make any determinations. I’m trying to just ask questions. Is technology used in this way good or is it bad? It could be good in the sense that it’s what leads us to strive to better ourselves and ultimately make the world better around us. But it could be bad in the sense that it could make us go beyond that and start to lose sight of who we actually are and try to become something that we are not. So, there is no black or white, yes or no, answer to those kinds of questions — it all depends on how they are applied.”

And how are we applying the technology we have today? Where are we headed? “The technology is already so much more near the future than even the story I wrote. I put it about fifty years down the road but it seems like technology is advancing at a much faster rate that it’s going to be here sooner than that.” Venditti recalls a documentary he saw on Wired.com with robotics scientists demonstrating the use of robot arms by wearing a headset you operate with your mind. Then he thinks about things like Second Life and how we’re inching closer and closer to the future in his story with all the activity already in play in a virtual world. And, in this new world, can we hope for a truly level playing field free of prejudice? “I would hope we could reach such a place without having to use technology to get there.” In his story, for instance, the only way people can guarantee advancement is by simply taking on the required identity such as women pretending to be men in order to be airline pilots.

Now, get Venditti to talk about the writer’s craft and his creative journey and you’ll hear him make his way to a life changing discovery. “Through high school, all the way to graduate school, I had the same misconceptions that most people have which is that comics are just children’s literature and not capable of complex ideas and themes — never having read them and it was a completely ignorant stance to take. But a friend of mine was a big comics fan and got me to read an arc of Astro City called ‘Confession’ and it just jumped out at me.” “Confession”, by Kurt Busiek, considered a masterwork in comics comparable to Watchmen, showed Venditti that comics could be more than a plot-driven genre but it could be a character-driven work of literature.  On top of this discovery, Venditti had always harbored a childhood desire to be an animator. “So now, flash forward, and I’m reading these comic books with a literary sensibilty and I realized here’s a medium where I can write the stories and someone else can translate the stories into art and that’s probably as close as I’m ever going to be to that original childhood ambition I had.”

So, there is that wall between academia and commerce that must be overcome. What about another wall, the one that separates fans of mainstream comics from fans of alternative comics? Venditti’s relationship with Top Shelf Productions is a prime example of how these two worlds can mix with excellent results. Surrogates was definitely something new for Top Shelf, known for black and white graphic novels with a more literary style. Surrogates would be their first mainstream full color serialized story. “So, it was a bit of leap for them,” Venditti says, “but I take it as a great source of pride that Top Shelf felt that Surrogates had strong characters and a literary style. I don’t think that a wall should be there. There is a lot of cross-over. I know from working for Top Shelf, among the leading light of their generation of cartoonists, and they all grew up on Marvel and DC and they’ve all got a Spider-Man or a Batman story that they are just dying to tell so I don’t think the wall is as pronounced as maybe some people would think.”

You have to start somewhere and, as Venditti points out, there was a time before the independent comics movement when everyone grew up on Marvel and DC. Only now, can you have readers who have only known indie comics and, for them, it might be easier to cross over to mainstream comics. Whatever the case, Venditti is proud to let you know that Top Shelf has always welcomed all readers. “We do more conventions than anybody in a given year. We have a pretty heavy tour schedule and go to places where we are really the only independent literary style comics publisher in attendance. You know, places like Chicago Comic-Con, MegaCon in Orlando or Dragon*Con in Atlanta, are places where it’s a heavily mainstream audience and we’ve just sort of won people over one at a time. And our fan base, and people that read our books, is very much composed of people that are mainstream comic fans as well.”

The prequel to Surrogates, the graphic novel, recently came out and we can expect a sequel in the future to round out a trilogy. “I’m sort of doing the Star Wars model there where I did the middle first and then the beginning and then I do the end. But since then, I’ve also come up with two additional novels that I would like to do as well so right now, in my head, we’re up to five.”

Also from Top Shelf, there is Venditti’s upcoming Homeland Directive which explores how, in a post 9/11 world, we reconcile public safety with personal privacy. “When the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written, the worst thing you had to worry about was maybe a cannon ball coming through your window. We live in a much scarier world now.”

As for Disney’s acquisition of Marvel, Venditti’s view is framed by the fact he already works for both companies. Of course, Surrogates is a Disney movie. Venditi is also working with Hyperion Books, a division of Disney, where he is working on a graphic novel adaptation of Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. For Marvel, he did a Captain America story for Marvel Comics Presents in April of last year. And, among other upcoming projects, he has an Iron Man One Shot entitled, “Iron Protocol,” that comes out in October. “So I have a foot in both camps. If the acquisition now means that both feet are in one camp, then so much the better.” As for any concerns of change over at Marvel, Venditti doesn’t think there’s reason to worry. “Disney already has other, non-superhero comics publishing divisions, so as long as those continue with their output, I don’t see why Marvel wouldn’t remain primarily a superhero imprint.”

Just when you thought the comicsphere could rest easy after the past few weeks — the heirs of Jack “King” Kirby have something to say.

The heirs of one of the architects of the House of Ideas have sent 45 notices of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Fox, and Universal, the New York Times has reported.

There’s no word about what characters are involved with this — or if the rights being discussed are for comics, film, television, licensing, or all of the above — but considering Kirby has helped create characters ranging from the (original) X-Men to the Fantastic Four, it could be big. Any change-up would occur around 2014, which would be years after Paramount’s Avengers films, Sony’s Spider-Man 4, or Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel would hit theatres.

On the legal side of things, this is more or less bleeding edge copyright and intellectual property war being waged here. DC has seen similar issues with the Siegel estate’s legal dealings regarding the Superman franchise — and in this case, both the Siegels and the Kirbys have the same lawyer, Marc Toberoff. The phrase “work for hire” will almost certainly come into play here, as the creation of these characters in the early 1960s didn’t typically come with the most ironclad of creator contracts.

But what about that Disney deal? Will this spoil that? Not according to Disney reps, who told the NY Times, “the notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.” Stay tuned to Blog@ and the mothership for more info…

Mattel has released some brand new images for its upcoming DC action figures, including a brand new Wildcat variant:

But wait — there’s more. Green Lantern fans will be happy with a new three-pack JLU figure set, as well as the towering visage of the Anti-Monitor!

It’s a curious irony that Charles Dodgson is an extremely difficult writer to follow, and yet writers and artists of all kinds are constantly attempting to do just that.

Alice in Wonderland adaptations, parodies, reimaginings, homages, allusions and riffs are as common as can be, yet relatively few of them end up being worthwhile. That’s part of what makes Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew’s Wonderland (Disney Press) graphic novel such a joy to read.

As difficult as following Dodgson may be, Kovac and Liew actually had an even more difficult task still. Their Wonderland was originally published as a six-part comic book series from SLG, part of the publisher’s 2005 licensing agreement with Disney (along with Haunted Mansion, Gargoyles and Tron), so not only were they doing a comic based on the original Wonderland books, but they were doing a comic based on a beloved, classic animated adaptation of those beloved, classic books.

That can’t have been an easy balancing act to strike, and yet if the creators were sweating at all during the creation of the work, it sure doesn’t come through in the finished product: They’ve produced a comic book that should amuse rather than insult fans of the original prose books, a comic that continues elements of the Dinsey movie without coming across as a cheap cash-in along the lines of the company’s direct-to-DVD sequels and prequels, and, perhaps most remarkably, a comic book that is recognizably theirs.
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It’s a curious irony that Charles Dodgson is an extremely difficult writer to follow, and yet writers and artists of all kinds are constantly attempting to do just that.

Alice in Wonderland adaptations, parodies, reimaginings, homages, allusions and riffs are as common as can be, yet relatively few of them end up being worthwhile. That’s part of what makes Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew’s Wonderland (Disney Press) graphic novel such a joy to read.

As difficult as following Dodgson may be, Kovac and Liew actually had an even more difficult task. Their Wonderland was originally published as a six-part comic book series from SLG, part of the publisher’s 2005 licensing agreement with Diseny (along with Haunted Mansion, Gargoyles and Tron), so not only were they doing a comic based on the original Wonderland books, but they were doing a comic based on a beloved, classic animated film adaptation of those beloved, classic books.

That can’t have been an easy balancing act to strike, and yet if the creators were sweating at all during the creation of the work, it sure doesn’t come through in the finished product: They’ve produced a comic book that should amuse rather than insult fans of the original prose books, a comic that continues elements of the Dinsey movie without coming across as a cheap cash-in along the lines of the company’s direct-to-DVD sequels and prequels, and, perhaps most remarkably, a comic book that is recognizably theirs.

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The things that spin out of phone and IM conversations between Troy and I would likely shock and disgust most of you most of the time. In this particular instance, though, we were fondly looking back on a gem of a series of shorts produced by Walt Disney Pictures called I’m No Fool. They were basically instructional videos narrated by Jiminy Cricket to tell kids how not to be completely stupid. Here’s “I’m No Fool With Fire” for your enjoyment:

Likely surprising very few, the Narnia film franchise, or at least the next one, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has found a new home after being dropped by Disney last month. Variety Reports that Fox will distribute and co-finance the film under their “Fox 2000″ division. Walden Media, the owners of the license, already had a working relationship with 20th Century Fox through the shared and appropriately named Fox Walden label. Nothing is in stone yet as far as script and the ever important money question go, but the studios hope to start filming this summer for a 2010 holiday season release. Prince Caspian finished as the #10 grosser at the Box Office last year, and Dawn Treader has a lot of the magic and fantastic aspects missing from the second book/film, which the studios hope will drive higher earnings.

The principal cast, including Ben Barnes as Caspian, Skandar Keynes as Edmund, and Georgie Henley as Lucy are all signed on to return, and casting for the other roles has already moved forward.

[Via]

McG, the director of Charlie’s Angels and the upcoming Terminator: Salvation, has been snagged by Disney to helm 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo.

The film will explore the character of Captain Nemo, as he creates the undersea vessel known as the Nautilius prior to the events of the classic 1954 movie.

Disney hopes McG will start production this year. The director will receive $8 million as well as 7% gross.

[Via Variety.]

For the fantasy fans out there, C.S. Lewis’s magnum opus has hit some major problems.

The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Disney has declined “for logistical and budgetary reasons” to jump onboard for a third Narnia film.

Considering the initial plan was for Disney to back a trilogy, this is quite unusual — but considering “Prince Caspian” only hit $141 million domestically versus the $292 million of “Lion,” Disney may simply used this as ballast to tighten their belts in the growing media recession.

An interesting question now is where the series will go next. Considering the influx of children’s book adaptations, including Harry Potter, Despereaux, and the Golden Compass, co-producer Walden Media may have a number of backers to petition. The frontrunner at this point is Fox, who already co-produces films with Walden under the Fox Walden banner.

The third film set to be produced by Walden Media would be “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” According to reps, the film would retain all four main characters from the first films, and was slated to open May 2010.

Hey all!

I’m surprised I haven’t heard more buzz about Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland that will be hitting theaters in 2010.

While there are no pics of Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter present in the above-linked thread, we do get to see several candid “first look” shots of Mia Wasikowska as a rather pale (and borderline gothic-looking) Alice.

Tim Burton casting a pale and borderline gothic version of Alice?

Really?

What were the chances of that?!?

[Via infdaily.]

• Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch blog shares the Dr. Manhattan character banner from the Watchmen movie.

• In his weekly Q&A column on MySpace, Joe Quesada spends the entire column answering fan questions, as his regualr partner in crime, Jim McLauchlin, just had a new baby. Congrats to the McLauchlin family and their new son, Logan.

• Johanna Draper Carlson shares the process she went through in judging the Isotope Award For Excellence in Mini-Comics, and lists five other contenders she liked.

• SLG shares progress on the creation of their new retail store.

• This list of 50 facts about Barack Obama says the U.S.’s new president is a fan of Conan the Barbarian and Spider-Man.

• Early Star Wars storyboards. Via.

• 14 movies have been submitted for the Oscar’s best animated feature category, including Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda and the unreleased Bolt.

• Season premiere updates … Lost returns Jan. 21, and 24 returns Jan. 11.

Over on her blog, comics creator Jill Thompson shares some pages she created about five years ago for a proposed Nightmare Before Christmas comic for Dark Horse that neevr saw the light of day. Too bad; I enjoy her stuff, and she’s the perfect choice for a project like this.

Artist Lou Romano shares a bunch of early development artwork from the Disney/Pixar film The Incredibles. I wonder if the image posted above, which Romano calls a “gag drawing,” hints at a possible, darker future for the shape-changing Jack-Jack …

Via Super Punch

This post over at Jim Hill Media is of interest for a few reasons; first, to box office watchers who like to see how the major studios squirm when their summer blockbusters underperform, especially when compared to mega-hits like The Dark Knight. Hill takes a look at Disney’s summer, specifically Prince Caspian and Wall-E, both of which pale in comparison to the performance of the new Batman flick (Then again, what didn’t? At least they didn’t release the X-Files sequel or Speed Racer). Maybe I’m a little jaded after watching too much Entourage, but I imagine behind closed doors quotes like “sucked the air out of the room” probably have a different meaning.

Second, it’s a reminder that studios react to what’s hot by trying to do more of the same. Hill says that Disney’s response to this summer is to look at doing its own comic book-y movies, whether they be new properties like Time Jumper developed with Stan Lee, or adaptations of comics from their upcoming Kingdom Comics division. Which, if you’ll recall, is looking at revitalizing some of Disney’s older live-action movie properties in graphic novel format.

And third, the post is a reminder that once upon a time, Disney employed Jack Kirby to draw a newspaper strip based on their snoozefest of a film, The Black Hole, in the late 1970s. Some of the strips were collected last fall in one of Disney’s checkout aisle digests, in an issue that also featured Art Baltazar and Matt Feazell (a quick search on eBay turns up nothing, alas). Hill ends his piece by saying comic fans would probably rather see all those Kirby strips collected than a new Black Hole graphic novel by Kingdom Comics, and I’d say he’d be right.

The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the copyright issues surrounding the cartoon Steamboat Willie and Mickey Mouse, in particular recent allegations of an “imprecision” in copyright claims dating back to the character’s first appearance:

Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney’s long-held copyright, though a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as “frivolous.”

So does this mean I can finally publish my Steamboat Willie II: Electric Bugaloo comic? Not so fast, says one legal expert:

No one expects Disney, which declined interview requests, to surrender Mickey without an all-out legal brawl. And the cost of what has been an academic exercise would soar if moved into a federal courtroom.

“Law and equity might line up on the side of forfeiture,” said Michael J. Madison, associate dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. But “Disney has enough ammunition on its side to dissuade all but the most well-financed competitor, or any but the most committed public-interest advocates, from challenging Mickey.”

Also keep in mind that there’s a difference between copyright and trademark … Jeff Trexler talked a little bit about the differences between the two when discussing the Siegel/Superman case here. You can read the government’s definitions of both, as well as patents, here.

Via.

This is an actual exhibit.

– Stan Sakai shares the character designs for Usagi Yojimbo and Gen from the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Setting my TiVo to “stun” …

– Willy Harold Vassaux is creating an Olympic comic. And will our search hits skyrocket if I mention “superhero” Michael Phelps?

– Brigid Alverson and her fellow contributors at Good Comics for Kids discuss Robot Dreams making Oprah’s Reading List for Kids.

– Film.com analyzes the most rabid fanbases — movies fanbases, that is, like Trekkies, Twilighters and Potterheads. They say Harry Potter fans are the most rabid, even more so than Whedon fans, who I would have picked for the top spot.

– “Because I want to set you free.”

– I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong.

– The New Yorker blog interviews Comics Curmudgeon Josh Fruhlinger.

– Tom Spurgeon talks to Abandoned Cars author Tim Lane.

Compiled by JK and Chris.

According to the Daily Mail, maids, bellhops, cooks and dishwashers from all three Disney-owned hotels in Anaheim staged a protest outside the happiest place in the world, with 32 of them being arrested. The protesters — some of whom were dressed as Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Peter Pan and other Disney characters — staged the demonstration over pay, health care costs and other issues related to ongoing negotiations between their union and Disney. They’ve been working without a contract since February.

Historian/Uncle Scrooge writer Geoffrey Blum will be at Comic Relief in Berkeley Aug. 23. The complete press release can be found after the jump.

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