Gosh darn that Parker luck!

The L.A. Times has reported that Ol’ Spidey has gotten himself into a little bit of a tangled web — with the LAPD.

What happened? 39-year-old Spider-Man impersonator Christopher Loomis was arrested by police, after calls came in of Spider-Man assaulting someone at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

A cultural landmark known for costumed versions of Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, Superman, and more, it proved to be difficult for the police to find which of four Spideys clocked a bystander in the face. Second one proved to be a charm, and he was arrested for oustanding warrents to the tune of $5,500.

Looks like somebody’s going to be crashing with Aunt May for awhile.

You excited for this weekend’s premiere of the AMC remake of the Prisoner, with James Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellen?

Well, if you’re truly jonesing to jump back to the Village, AMC has something for you — a motion comic preceding the series, written by M. Scott Veach, and art by Mitch Breitweiser.

In a lot of ways, it looks like a ton of work — but boy does it pay off. Using different drawings on a static background as opposed to moving one stationary image, this may very well be one of the better motion comics I’ve seen, and that’s without music and voiceovers.

The first chapter — totally free, mind you — is up on AMC’s web site.

UPDATE: Whew, a little hasty with my trigger finger there — Warren Ellis rightly notes the credits, which I somehow missed. Thanks for the heads-up!

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT - The Thrill-Seekers - Episode 4: “See, What Had Happened Was…”

Welcome back, Blog@teers!

I enjoy posting these strips and seeing how my work has (hopefully) evolved since the first time I drew these strips.  I absolutely hated this strip the first time around, and it almost caused me to hang up my hat only a month into the series.  Whatever I was trying to achieve, I didn’t feel like I was reaching it.  Looking back, I think this episode was fairly solid, and it is one of the most pivotal moments in The Thrill-Seekers (Although there is one bit of dialogue that I would change).

In this episode, I establish early in the story arc’s run, what Alicia Patterson’s ultimate, tragic fate is.  It is this knowledge, and desire for revenge on her behalf, that drives all of Pastor’s actions for the rest of this storyline.

Thanks again for checking in, and I invite you to visit www.WorldOfHurtOnline.com every Wednesday for the latest episodes of The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic!

Also, feel free to weigh in.  I’m eager to hear your opinions, critiques, or suggestions.

Thanks!

- Jay Potts

With yesterday’s news of Dollhouse getting canceled, sci-fi got a little bit lonelier on TV. But Variety has some news that might just change that.

Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury will be adapting six of his short stories for “The Bradbury Chronicles,” to create a six-hour television event.

White Oak’s Merrill Capps, Todd Klick, Cory Travalena and Dale Olson are said to produce the series, but currently the works to be adapted are still up in the air, and there is no network attached.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

Dark Horse has finally released a softcover edition of Brian K. Vaughan’s The Escapists this week. The book, which is based on characters and concepts introduced in Michael Chabon’s New York Times-bestselling novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and serves more as a sequel to that book than a tie-in to Dark Horse’s previous anthology of short comic stories featuring Chabon’s The Escapist character. It’s been available in hardcover since January 2008 and has, according to Vaughan, been an “evergreen” sales item at comic shops and bookstores around the country.

“it’s not connected to an event or a crossover,” Vaughan explained to Blog@Newsarama in a recent interview. Of course, he went on to elaborate, there is one book, the reading of which makes The Escapists better. “You can just pick it up. I guess I always imagined it would be great if we could have just a few of the people who read and loved ‘Kavalier & Clay’ could pick up this book but now I’m talking to people who picked up The Escapists, having never read ‘Kavalier & Clay’, and this book has led them to Michael Chabon’s novel which is definitely that kind of reverse commute that I never imagined happening but that’s very humbling if people picked up that novel because of this book.” Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the new and current Academy Awards. Sure, there are your dramas and your foreign films, but this year, animation is where the action is. Twenty animated films from this lackluster year of film have been chosen and submitted to the Academy for consideration.

These twenty films cover all aspects of animation, going from a couple of chipmunks in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, to a lonely old man who somehow gets his house completely tied to balloons, allowing it to go Up!. Thanks to the twenty films being submitted, you might look out for the entire category during the Oscar race to up the ante to 5 instead of the measly 3 choices it used to have. By rules created by the Academy, if a certain category of film has more than 16 choices submitted, there could be 5 nominated for that golden statue; if it’s less than that, you’re stuck with 3 nominations.

Now, the Academy has many choices to mull over. Depending on how it all goes, we might end up seeing a ragdoll living in a post-apocalyptic world with a number as a name stomping out the competition, while a “Bah Humbug” echoes from the back of the Kodak Theatre. Stay tuned to see what happens.

Here’s the list, check to see if your favorites made the cut:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin — Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary & Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. Aliens
Planet 51
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
A Town Called Panic
Up

Nominations will be announced on February 2nd.

According to Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, Fox has informed showrunner Joss Whedon that it will not order any additional episodes of his cult-favorite show Dollhouse. Ausiello says that, though the show has been benched for November sweeps, the remainder of its thirteen second-season episodes will be “burned off” in December, two at a time on Friday nights, so fans can take a little solace in knowing that it won’t just abruptly end, like many recent cancellations have, or be concluded in six or eight months, a la last year’s Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies cancellations.

Whedon’s last well-liked but prematurely canceled show, Firefly, has spawned a handful of comic book spinoffs, a critically-acclaimed and reasonably successful feature film (Serenity), and (most recently) the best moment of the 2009-2010 TV season, when the character made a bizarre cameo on ABC’s Castle. So who knows what’s in store next for this one.

When it comes to the Justice Society, Smallville fans will be getting two for the price of one!

Michael Ausiello reports that the Geoff Johns-penned episodes — initially scheduled to air apart as “Society” and “Legends” — are now being packaged together as a two-hour bonanza.

The CW special — which will have Hawkman, Stargirl, Dr. Fate, and Amanda Waller — will be hitting the CW on January 29. Stay tuned to Blog@ for more Smallville news to come!

UPDATE: Ausiello has some additional Smallville spoilers up, noting that there will be an episode entirely at Comic Con. Also, starting at around 3:01 in this video, there’s a spoilerific scene of Clark and Lois that will definitely be a talker…

It hasn’t been a great week in terms of comics and cartoons in the public sphere. Here’s just a couple of the stories that have really popped out at me:

- Tom Richmond reports on his blog about his politicial caricature app for the iPhone, which had a really great twist to it — it had contact information for all 540 senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. Which Apple promptly deep-sixed. No, it’s not like he’s out drawing Bill Clinton in his underwear, or George Bush pulling an NPH in the backwoods of Texas — he pretty much just drew (tame) caricatures.

From the man himself:

This is truly ridiculous. These caricatures aren’t mean or very exaggerated. They are simple, fun cartoon likenesses of the politicians and the purpose of the app is a informational database. There is no editorial commentary involved at all.

This is the very reason that Apple as a company should be taken to task over its ludicrous and inconsistent app approval policies. Clearly this app does not “ridicule public figures” and is violating nothing, but Apple has decided the world must be protected from the insidious subversiveness this would force upon the public and the brutal, heinous ridicule that my cruel, cruel caricatures would subject these politicians to.

- Meanwhile, the Sioux Falls, SD school board voted to remove Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from its libraries. The problem? “There were two or three of the snapshots where the scenes were a little more edgy, if you will,” said Ann Smith, the district’s library services coordinator, to the Argus Leader.

What frustrates me about this sort of thing is that (in my humblest of opinions), kids need to be challenged in their readings. This is how we’re going to have not just educated comic readers, but educated people, period. Are swear words and references to sex uncouth? Possibly. Is it going to warp children’s minds forever if they hear about it? I doubt it — even if parents don’t care enough to engage their children over what they are reading. “It seemed that the book was more of an adult’s reflection on their middle school experience,” said one of the school committee members. Ya think?

Don’t worry, it’s not a dark ultraviolent future, or a visually overwrought film with the Red Triangle Gang.

Kate Beaton’s chuckleworthy take on the Amazing Amazon is back, on Hark! A Vagrant!

If you liked Wondy’s explanation of why cleavage is important in a crimefighting sense in Kate’s earlier doodles, you should check this new strip out. The second-to-last panel alone is worth the click.

As we showed you a few months ago, sometimes four Turtles aren’t enough. But are you ready to see the Turtles of the 21st century go face-to-face with their 1980s animated counterparts? Well, check this trailer from 4KidsTv out:

Looks pretty cool, right? Except for around 0:10-0:12 — what the heck is Shredder about to do to Krang? That looks pretty… wrong. But they make up for it at the end, in what looks to be a cameo by the original Eastman and Laird, Daredevil/Ronin-influenced Ninja Turtles…

The animated made-for-TV movie will be released on November 21st.

Speaking of cats, it’s looking like Felicia Hardy is going to be stealing one of her biggest catches: some scenes in the upcoming Spider-Man 4.

Mania reports that Rachel McAdams, from the Notebook and Wedding Crashers, has been in talks with the producers for the role. Additionally, the producers are apparently casting for a male villain — which, unless Sam Raimi tries the three-villain route again, would seem to nix the Lizard as the villain.

But the thing I’m particularly interested about is what will that do with the love triangle? I know for months Kirsten Dunst was mum about whether or not she would return: that said, her character was such an important part of the first three films — really, one of Peter’s main motivators — that I’d be curious to see how Felicia overturns that. What say you, Rama readers?

It’s not too often a cat thief can give back to the community. So when she does, you better listen up!

Alex Ross, artist for Kingdom Come, Marvels, and other fine books, has drawn a penciled and inked portrait of Catwoman herself, with the proceeds being donated to charity for Saved Whiskers Rescue Organization, a group dedicated to rescuing and caring for abused, abandoned, and homeless cats.

“Animal rescue is one of my favorite causes. Saved Whiskers does great work to save the lives of animals in need,” Ross said in a written statement. “Doing this painting for them was also a great excuse for me to illustrate a version of a character I love.”

The bids end on Friday — so if you’re interested, click here and start checking it out!

Should Guillermo del Toro act, or just stick to directing? 

Well, while on the set of The Hobbit, he is not only the director but he has also cast himself in the movie as well.  Granted, it is only as one of the many extras.  But honestly, why not?  His plan for now is to be covered in numerous amounts of make-up and whatever else it takes to become a “scary anonymous monster lurking in the background with other scary anonymous monsters,” this according to an interview on German TV.

For those of you who are the die-hard Lord of the Rings trilogy fans, don’t fear.  del Toro posted on http://www.theonering.net stating that Andy Serkis(Gollum), Hugo Weaving (Elrond) and Ian McKellen (Gandalf) will all be returning for The Hobbit , which is scheduled to be released, hopefully, in December of 2011.

Just don’t forget to look for del Toro in the background!

League of Extraordinarily Unprofessional Librarians: Amy Wilson of the Lexington Herald-Leader provides more context into the story of a pair of public library employees losing their jobs for refusing to check out The League of Extraordinary Gentleman: The Black Dossier to a patron as per their employer’s policy. I feel even less sympathy for Sharon Cook then I did before, given that it seems not to have been a case of misunderstanding or disagreeing with the policy. Apparently she thought the book unsuitable for patrons, and thus checked it out herself and kept it checked out indefinitely in the hopes of preventing anyone else from ever reading it. Whatever you do, don’t read the comments section attached to the Herald-Leader story; it will only cost you brain cells. If you must read a comments section on the issue, check out the lively one attached to The Beat’s link to the article.

“Solve the case of the missing couch first. Nobody likes it when detectives case-hop mid issue”: Tucker Stone notes a weird art mistake in the otherwise pretty good Stumptown #1. I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even notice the disappearing furniture when I read the issue. I’d make a terrible detective.

That sounds reasonable: Peter Bagge’s latest strip for Reason is entitled “Will Everyone Please Stop Freaking Out Over Ayn Rand?!?” It’ s a timely piece, given the American Right’s recent re-embrace of Rand, and a few recent new books about her. (Via Flog!)

“One in 10 Adult Book Buyers Read Comic Books, Simba Study Reveals”: But does that mean that comic books are really popular, or that books are pretty unpopular?

I thought print was dead, why do I keep finding newspaper stories on the Internet?: I got to the third paragraph of this story— “Libraries promote love of reading with graphic novels” from New Jersey’s The Daily Journal—before I was consumed with rage. Here’s the paragraph:

Graphic novels and similar genres like manga, a popular Japanese style of graphic novel that often involves science fiction or fantasy themes, and animé, also heavily Japanese, share a method. They tell stories within the context of cartoon drawings.

I couldn’t bring myself to finish the story.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Hans Rickheit’s “The Squirrel Machine,” published by Fantagraphics Books, is a beautiful 179 page hard cover graphic novel. It is an appropriate book to start out this new column since it sets the tone for the type of offbeat work that attracts me and I hope will interest you. The story involves two brothers who desire to build wondrous things but are destined to create monstrous gadgets made from animals.

Rickheit’s world of self-published works, notably the series, “Chrome Fetus Comics,” and the graphic novel, “Chloe,” follow the internal logic of dreams and do well by it. In “The Squirrel Machine,” a magical reality confronting a mundane reality leads to a lot of very real bumps and bruises. Edmund, for instance, may rely on a pair of goggles to filter out the world but does not fully realize how odd he looks to all the other schoolchildren, especially the bullies. It’s the turn of the last century, and while amazing technological advancements lie ahead, Edmund and his brother, William, are doomed to be grotesquely out of step.

The things that seem the most curious and promising may ultimately be the things best left alone. That is a line of reasoning Edmund and William refuse to follow. They are dreamers but do not know they are guided by nightmares. The Squirrel Machine, whatever it is, has its own needs and is certainly not going to tell these boys what’s good for them. Much is left to mystery in this book. We can let Rickheit’s exquisite drawings, with their ornate detail and patterning, speak for themselves. Down to separate panels, the art provides little gems of its own storytelling as in a notable scene of two lovers covered in snails.

“The Squirrel Machine” defies easy categorization, but I’d venture to say, “steampunk surrealism.” This is for mature readers as well as discriminating ones. And it’s also for those who love a good coming-of-age story. Edmund woos the local beauty by the most unconventional of means. William falls madly in love with the Pig Lady. Each will take a turn that will twist the fate of the other. The mundane won’t accept them and yet the magical is no more reliable. Very romantic and strange at the same time, like any good coming-of-age tale. Primarily, this is adult, dark and disturbing work provided to you in healthy doses.

You can purchase “The Squirrel Machine” from Fantagraphics Books and make sure to check out the marvelous Squirrel Machine site. You can find Comics Grinder here every Wednesday. And for further observations, you can always go to the Comics Grinder site.

I cannot express my joy for this trailer enough.

I know it’s a few months away, but my mouth is already watering. Though, I wish they had used a more dramatic instrumental score rather than this heavy metal one, but beggars can’t be choosers and it still fits the film.

Plus, you can’t beat percussion scorpions. I know a lot of people are already comparing this to 300, and I don’t think that’s fair at all.

I haven’t seen any images of Bubo, the clockwork owl that Athena has Hephaestus make for Perseus, nor do I see him in this trailer. I can assume he will be missing from the story, which is fine, because it then gives a chance for a younger generation to check out the original.

Man, I just love how the kept the original Ray Harryhausen look for Medusa. I just can’t wait! It is scheduled for release on March 26, 2010.

What do you readers think?

You ready for a first look at the film adaptation of Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass? I’ll bet you are! So check it out early:

Kick-Ass

Trailer Park | MySpace Video

Good stuff all around, courtesy of Trailer Addict and Lionsgate, who put the trailer up for all to see once it was somehow leaked to the Internet.