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As predicted, Iron Man 2 viewers got their first taste of J.J. Abrams’s newest mind-imploding teaser trailer for Super 8. Here’s a look at the teaser poster, which was essentially the quick glimpse of the trailer’s finale (check that out after the jump!).
While some movie-goers are in an outrage over the mass amount left up to the imagination, one ought to expect this from the Cloverfield director by now. If your mind truly needs some appeasement, head on over to the film’s viral site and let us know if you’ve unlocked any appetizing secrets.
Click to continue reading Super 8 Poster Hits Net With Trailer
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| io9
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Forgotten Comics: Iron-Wolf by Howard Chaykin
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics,
The DC comics of the early 1970s were still fairly stodgy, but newcomers like Howard Chaykin, Mike Kaluta, Bernie Wrightson, Walter Simonson and others were starting to shake things up. I’ve made no secret of my love of Howard Chaykin’s work. He’s a creator who continues to challenge the form, push it, break barriers and twist it around while still having interesting things to say. If for some crazy reason, he took over Bazooka Joe, I’d start buying gum by the case.
In 1972, DC published a comic called Weird Worlds that was a Tarzan tie-in title featuring John Carter of Mars and Pellucidar adaptations. By issue #8, they dropped all the Burroughs-related stuff and went with an original, non-DCU character, Iron-Wolf, created by Chaykin. He plotted it, penciled it and inked it, and Denny O’Neil did the script. The beautiful lettering - seriously, it’s awesome - was by Walter Simonson.
The story is action-packed and a good set-up for a series: Lord Iron-Wolf refuses to turn over his planet’s resources to “allies” of the Empress of Empire Galaktika out of fear it will leave his planet open to attack.
Click to continue reading Forgotten Comics: Iron-Wolf by Howard Chaykin
Frank Frazetta died this week. I wish there was a nicer way to say it. I never met him - and if I had I’m sure only fanboy drool would’ve burbled out in place of actual words - but I sure have a lot of his stuff around my office.
If you’re not familiar with Frazetta’s output, then you are missing out on the main influence of fantasy art for the last couple of generations. And seriously, if you’re really not familiar with his work, I’m unfriending you right now.
I bought I lot of books I’m never going to read and am not at all interested in - just because they had a Frazetta cover. I wanted to have that cover and couldn’t care less about the pages behind it. Just a couple of weeks ago, I bought a copy of Night Walk by Bob Shaw (”Sightless, marooned on a prison planet, Sam Tallon faces a desperate odyssey - to save the Universe that had disowned him”). Frazetta’s cover painting showed some guy using a spear to jam a giant spider into some sort of gooey liquid. I’ll stare at that cover again and again, and never read page 1. I’m sure there’s a medical term for my condition.
Click to continue reading Frank Frazetta
Read More | Comics Beat
Deep Thoughts: Iron Man and Twilight
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,
“Hey Cullen! Isabella! Get in the house this instant!”
Did you know that in 2009, according to the folks at Social Security, the most popular names for kids were from vampire fiction? And it’s not Dracula, or Vlad, or Alucard or Vampira. That’s old school thinking. The new popular names are from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, the book-and-movie franchise.
Cullen jumped up 300 spots on the list from the previous year, Jacob is #1 for boys, Isabella (the formalized version of Bella) is #1 for girls and Bella is #58. I think it’s great that the Twilight series of books and movies has spawned an entire generation of children named after the characters. I hope it means that naming your kids Peaches, Apple, Brooklyn and Pilot Inspektor in lockstep with nutty celebrities is on the outs, and the Twilight franchise as name-generator is in.
Click to continue reading Deep Thoughts: Iron Man and Twilight
Steve Gerber and Garko The Man-Frog
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,
I fought the law and the law won. Because I am not the law. And I didn’t really fight them because I was wrong. Recently I was editing a script for an episode of an animated TV show that featured a singing frog. Well, to be more precise, the frog doesn’t sing at all, but his croaks are treated as if they come right out of Pink’s mouth.
For a long time, the frog character didn’t have a name, but when it came time to give him one, I thought it would be funny – and a nod to my old pal Steve Gerber – to have this non-singing amphibian called (you guessed it), Garko. Published by Marvel Comics, the Howard the Duck story that pits the cigar-chomping mallard against Garko The Man-Frog is one of my favorite Gerber (and Howard) stories of all time.
Click to continue reading Steve Gerber and Garko The Man-Frog
Weekend Reading: Iron Man, Modesty Blaise and Honey West
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Reviews, Independent, Marvel Comics,
So did you see Iron Man 2 yet? Did you, huh, did you? Two things amaze me about the Iron Man franchise. One is that Robert Downey, Jr. was born to play Tony Stark. There’s none of the brooding self-importance that comes with other super-hero movies - Iron Man is serious but it’s also fun. The other is that in the right hands - and there are hundreds of right hands on any movie - even a second or third tier super-hero property can be turned into a good movie. If Downey, Jr. was playing Hank Pym in the Ant-Man movie, I’d be there in a minute.
Now while you’re saving your money for the Iron Man 2 DVD, here are a few fun things to occupy your eyes and mouse.
Brian Hibbs: I know why people, myself included, like to talk to artists and writers because it’s all so cool, but I think more interviews could be conducted with retailers since they are the comic book business. Retailer Brian Hibbs is a very smart guy - I may not always agree with him but he carries a good argument with him and he knows his business. Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter gets to the heart of the matter with a lengthy but hugely worthwhile interview.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Iron Man, Modesty Blaise and Honey West
Walking Dead Artist Lends Talents to Romero
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Movies, Image Comics,
The Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman may be lending his concentration to filming the television version of the hit comic book series, but artist Charlie Adlard is lending his talents to a great source of their inspiration: George Romero.
In a promotional poster for Romero’s latest film, Survival of the Dead, fans of the Image series should be quick to notice Adlard’s familiar artwork. That’s a whole lotta zombie goodness right there.
Check out the film when it hits theaters on May 28!
Read More | MTV
Q&A: Jim Beard, Batman & Gotham City 14 Miles
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews, Television, DC Comics,
If you’re a fan of the 1960s Batman TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward, then you already know what that phrase means. It’s the sign you see denoting the distance from the Batcave to Gotham City. Wayne Manor was way out in the 1960s suburbs! Gotham City 14 Miles is much more than that, however. It’s also the title of a new book edited by Jim Beard whose full title is Gotham City 14 Miles: 14 Essays On Why The 1960s Batman TV Series Matters. Essayists include Beard, comics historians Peter Sanderson and Robert Greenberger, and a host of people whose names are being revealed one at a time.
The book will be published by the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization a “non-profit devoted solely to the study and promotion of the artistic and literary medium alternately known as comics, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, manga, sequential art, and sequart.”
Beard says Gotham City 14 Miles is the first book on the old Batman TV series in over 10 years, and I say it’s about time. The book will examine the 1966-68 TV series and “quantify its worth and weight in current pop culture. It also intends to shoot down many of the cliches, falsehoods and outright misinformation about the show and illuminate its strengths and, yes, its weaknesses.”
Click to continue reading Q&A: Jim Beard, Batman & Gotham City 14 Miles
Olivia Munn Thrilled by Downey Praise
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Interviews, Movies, Marvel Comics,
Olivia Munn could only enjoy her role in Iron Man 2 when Robert Downey Jr. complimented her.
The 29-year-old actress - who plays the socialite-turned-superhero Janet Van Dyne in the action movie - couldn’t get excited about the part until she met her famous co-star who helped her to relax.
“I should take a deep breath and go, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ But I’m afraid to take any of it for granted. When I was with Robert Downey Jr. on set he was just so complimentary. I let myself be happy then.”
The brunette beauty - who is best known for being the face of the US cable network G4 - also confessed she is so scared of failure in Hollywood she tries not to get too carried away by any successes she has. Speaking of her reaction to getting the part in Iron Man 2, she told FHM, “Jon Favreau, the director, had talked to me a bit about it. He said he’d love me to be in the movie. I get excited about things, but I don’t freak out because I get afraid. I feel like if I put my head up I’ll get hit by a bucket and it will be all gone, so I get to the point where when something good happens, I take it and I keep moving because it could all go in a minute.”
Free Comic Book Day: John Stanley, Jim Shooter And The Last Airbender
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
It’s here! Saturday, May 1 is Free Comic Book Day! My favorite day of the year! Okay, not really my favorite day of the year, but any day you can get some free comics has to feel like an extra birthday, right? A lot of publishers are producing some great stuff to pick up, but here are the six that I’m most looking forward to:
Library of American Comics #0 (IDW)
Eisner Award-winning Editor Dean Mullaney is an old friend who does great archival work over at IDW. If he published Milton Caniff’s old shopping lists I wouldn’t be able to hit Amazon’s “add to shopping cart” button fast enough. This special preview comic has 32 pages of excerpts from upcoming collections of Archie by Bob Montana, Secret Agent Corrigan by Al Williamson, Blondie by Chic Young, The Complete Bloom County Library by Berkeley Breathed, Rip Kirby by Alex Raymond, Polly and Her Pals by Cliff Sterrett, Dick Tracy by Chester Gould, and Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. This looks like a great introduction into some good old stuff.
Toy Story (Boom! Kids)
I’m biased here because I have kids and they love Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear. With Toy Story 3 popping up this summer, BOOM Kids! is ready to hand out some all-new adventures by Jesse Blaze Snider and Nathan Watson. I’m in because I already get the regular comics and their other Pixar stuff, so I’m a little OCD about this.
Click to continue reading Free Comic Book Day: John Stanley, Jim Shooter And The Last Airbender
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