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Captain Swing #1Yo-ho-ho. If you love your pirates and you’re a little bit burned out by Johnny Depp and the many, many Pirates of the Caribbean, you might be looking for something a little different in the “pirate” category. If you can expand your definition to include Bow Street Runners, flintlocks, and “flying things that aren’t supposed to fly?” then February 2010 has something for you. It’s the start of a new four-issue mini-series by Warren Ellis (Supergod; No Hero) and Raulo Caceres (Gravel; Crecy) from Avatar called Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island.

Described as “an electrical romance of a pirate utopia thwarted,” Captain Swing is set in London, 1830. That would be the Warren Ellis London of 1830 in which copper Charlie Gravel starts seeing things, including the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack. I love the Bow Street Runners. They figure prominently in the mystery novels of Bruce Alexander (Blind Justice) and Richard Falkirk (Blackstone), and I’m curious to see what this new incarnation will be like.

This is an Avatar book, so expect some cover variants and a retailer incentive, but best of all, it’s a new Ellis mini-series and I’m looking forward to it.

[Artwork: One of the covers to Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island, © Warren Ellis]

Read More | Avatar Press

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Even though he has a musical history, it’s quite easy to forget with all of the memorable novels and comic books Alan Moore has written. Well, now we’ve got a video to help us not forget!

At a launch party for his latest fanzine, Dodgem Logic, Moore jumped on stage with a band featured on the CD accompanying the magazine, the Retro Spankees. Moore was quick with his literary style in the intro to one of the songs: “This next number, it’s about caring… about people. It’s about caring about people so that you want to… protect them. It’s about caring about people so that you want to protect them by unleashing a storm of malefic evil presences from the pit of Hell against anybody who is distressing you. This is to everybody—it’s called ‘Jonny Fortunate.’”

Check out another performance after the break!

Click to continue reading VIDEO: Alan Moore Rocks Out With Retro Spankees

Read More | Bleeding Cool

Jeff Bridges as Obidiah Stane in Iron Man

“They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, ‘You got any ideas?’ Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on… So I said, ‘Oh, what we’re doing here, we’re making a $200 million student film. We’re all just f—-in’ around! We’re playin’. Oh, great!’ That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.’ And it turned out great!”

- Actor Jeff Bridges, who portrayed Obidiah Stane/War Monger, on filming the initial Iron Man movie.

(Make sure to check out other notable quotes.)

Read More | MTV

Ryan ReynoldsAlthough filming isn’t scheduled until next year, Green Lantern actor Ryan Reynolds threw fans some tidbits regarding the movie.

“It is [an origin story] to a certain degree, but it’s not a labored origin story, where the movie [truly] begins in the third act. The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins,” Reynolds explained.

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine actor also stated that it is similar to last year’s blockbuster Marvel hit, Iron Man:

“I think you walk away from this first film, and the moments that you remember and the moments that mean so much to you, not unlike Iron Man, are the moments where the guy’s not in the suit… That to me is the tough thing to get right. And that’s something that they did get right [in Iron Man]. You see why this guy’s in the suit, and that’s what’s interesting to me. Not that he is in the suit, but why.”

While the guy is rather protean—he kicks ass in films like Blade Trinity and then makes the girls drool in chick flicks like The Proposal—I’m not sure if he’s right for Hal Jordan. That could be, however, the huge Firefly/Nathan Fillion fan talking, though…

Read More | MTV

Haunt #3A five-page preview of Image’s new series Haunt is out, and we’ve got it here!

Upon leaving off Haunt #2 with a largely unexpected scene on the last page, this preview (seen after the jump) starts at #3’s opening.

Haunt focuses on Daniel Kilgore, a priest whose dead brother Kurt—whom he loathed when he was alive—decides to haunt him instead of moving on to the other side. In a very Venom and Spawn-like fashion, Kurt’s essence fuses with Daniel’s to create a near-perfect assassin and therefore enables Kurt to pick up the pieces needed to solve his murder.

The initial panels of the third issue left me more frustrated at Daniel’s impulsive actions, which seem to illustrate a common personality trait between the two brothers. Then we’re introduced to a very busty and scantily-clad woman (because those are the best kind) who is completely bonkers yet strangely able to either sense or see Daniel. In what I hope is better explained in the rest of the issue or series, the woman says, “Haunt,” to Daniel, as if this Kilgore experience is an ordinary occurrence and that’s how you’ll find it in the dictionary.

Haunt #3, by Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane, hits your comic book store this Wednesday, December 2nd.

Click to continue reading Preview: Haunt #3

Read More | Comic Book Resources

Supergod #1Avatar publisher William Christensen deserves all the kudos he can collect, even the signed, alternate cover, limited edition, convention special kudos. He started out as a fan, became a secondary (or tertiary) sub-distributor with a sharp eye on market trends, and expanded that into a publishing company where talent like Warren Ellis, Jaime Delano, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis and Alan Moore can find a non-Marvel, non-DC home for their more outrageously adult work.

Ellis has made Avatar Press a second-home for himself, regularly turning out original, thoughtful, violent and/or quirky material that I find far more interesting and satisfying than his work for the corporatists. That he and other creators come to Avatar and stick around also speaks highly of Christensen’s ability to not just attract but keep talent.

Now Ellis - with artist Garrie Gastonny - has a new 5-issue mini-series called Supergod. Whatever it is that Ellis is drinking, let me be the latest to say, “I need me a couple of pints of that, yes, please.”

In England, Simon Reddin is relaying “an oral history of how we all died” before he loses power and spends the remainder of his life “in the bloody stone age.” In the events leading up to to that, it’s revealed that London, you see, had its own super-hero, as did India, Somalia and Iran, and the US, and who knows what other country dabbled in the creation of their own Big Daddy Protector And Savior.

Click to continue reading Supergod #1: Warren Ellis & Garrie Gastonny


SupermanDespite the fact that JJ freaking Abrams is practically handing himself on a plate to Warner Bros. for the next Superman movie, the film giant is putting the Man of Steel on hold.

Sources are saying that the studio has halted any production with the character because of a legal dispute concerning co-creator Jerry Siegel’s heirs. Well, there’s also the fact that Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns didn’t fare as well at the box office as the execs were hoping.

With everyone and their mother (Kevin Smith, the Wachowski brothers, Mark Millar, and McG are all rumored to have thrown their hats into the ring) vying for the coveted script and directing positions, it’s considerably understandable as to why Warner Bros. needs some time to process what they’ll do with the franchise.

I say that while still feeling impatient at the same time—solve the legal problems (as if they don’t have enough money) and pick someone already! Well, as long as it isn’t McG; I fear seeing anyone from The O.C. or Charlie’s Angels casted as Lois.

Read More | io9

Michael Cera and Anna Kendrick star in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

“You should start emotionally preparing yourself now. It’s so good, people are not going to know what hit them. I have a small role in so I’m allowed to gush. It’s so cool. I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s an energy and a style that I’ve just never seen before and I think it’s going to make the fastest movie you’ve seen look like a Merchant Ivory film. There, I said it.”

- Actress Anna Kendrick on her reaction to the film adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim film. I wonder if Kendrick and Jason Schwartzman meant to have the same response.

(Make sure to check out other notable quotes.)

Read More | Collider

Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex

We’ve seen Megan Fox fit into a fairly small corset for Jonah Hex; now we’ve got a better look at Josh Brolin getting into the title character’s shoes (and hat).

Deformity? Check. Bad-ass hat? Check. Scary? Check.

Click to continue reading Sneak Peek: Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex

Read More | Rope of Silicon

OzI’ve got to hand it to Eisner-award winner Eric Shanower. He’s taken the mythology of L. Frank Baum, the creator/writer of The Wizard of Oz books, and turned it into a nice niche business for himself. And he does it with such loving care, that you’d think he was somehow related.

Shanower’s off to see the Wizard again in his newest project, an 8-issue Limited Series from Marvel Comics (yup, that Marvel) called The Marvelous Land of Oz. Billed as “a sequel to The Wizard of Oz” and “being an account of the further adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman” the series starts off with Tippetarius, a young boy who lives “in the country of the Gillikins, which is at the North of the land of Oz.”

Sorceress Mombi has been caring for the young, seemingly abandoned Tip, but she’s hardly a candidate for Mother Of The Year. Grumpy, cantankerous, and demanding, she treats Tip more like a servant, and she’s clearly had enough of having a child underfoot. When she takes off to buy some potions, Tip carves a pumpkin and sticks it on a wooden body to scare Mombi when she returns. But she’s too clever and uses one of her potions to bring Jack Pumpkinhead to life. He’ll be a better servant than Tip, most certainly, and she won’t need to be bothered by the boy anymore. She makes plans to use another potion to turn Tip into a marble statue for her garden. Tip believes it’s a good time to hit the road, and he takes Jack Pumpkinhead along with him – and off they go towards Oz where the Scarecrow rules the Emerald City.

Click to continue reading The Marvelous Land of Oz: Eric Shanower & Scottie Young

Read More | Eric Shanower on Amazon

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