The Week In Geek
DC COMICS LAUNCHES BATMAN INC, BRINGS BACK THE LITTLE YELLOW OVAL
After being “dead” for a little over a year, DC Comics brought back Bruce Wayne this summer in the very on -the-nose titled Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, which has been announced this week will be followed by Batman Inc, a new title that sees writer Grant Morrison and artist Yanick Paquette take the concept of Batman and turn it into a “Global Brand”. Not entirely sure what this means of course, although a good guess would be that there would be “Batmen” all over the world, not just in Gotham, which I’m sure will remain Bruce Wayne’s territory. One thing that is back for sure though is the little yellow oval around the bat symbol, originally introduced in the comics in 1964 and then removed again by DC in 1995. The Batman I grew up with always had that little yellow oval, from the 60’s tv show to the Tim Burton movies to the animated 90’s series. so as far as this fan is concerned it is a welcome comeback, even if it makes zero sense for a dark avenger of the night to have neon yellow in his costume in any capacity.
DISNEY GIVES US A GLIMPSE OF THE GALAXY FAR , FAR AWAY
For 23 years, Star Wars geeks were able to get their chance to play “Luke destroys the Death Star” in the Star Tours attraction at the Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks. Well, after all this time the ride has become pretty damn dated, and recently closed for refurbishment for the next year. Star Tours will be re launched in May 2011 (May the Fourth?) and although little has been revealed about the updated ride, here is what you Star Wars/Disney geeks can expect
What we know so far:
-The ride will be in 3D (seriously, what isn’t these days?)
–Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (apparently the offical title, not Star Tours II or worse, 2.0) will include multiple destinations in the Star Wars galaxy…confirmed are Tatooine and Coruscant, and rumored are The Death Star, Hoth, Bespin, Dagobah, Naboo, Endor and Kashhykk, the Wookie homeworld.
-The time frame for the ride is pre Episode IV: A New Hope, so the original Death Star will be included, but in its half completed state (so it will look like the Death Star from Return of the Jedi, but it is actually the one from the original flick. Got it?)
-Unlike the original Star Tours, which played the same film over and over, each time you ride this new Star Tours you will have a different experience. You could ride it all day and not have the exact same adventure twice, making it a Star Wars geek’s wet dream.
-Live action footage was filmed last year for the ride featuring Boba Fett, who will be said to be chasing your Starspeeder 1000 for some kind of bounty on one of the passengers, presumably. Also included is Admiral Ackbar, who will communicate with your vehicle holographically, probably to inform you that “it’s a trap!” or something. Scenes with Sand People and Jawas were also filmed. C-3PO and R2 will continue to be your hosts, and it is said that Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens will return to voice Captain Rex, or more likely a similar model droid.
The first released video from what will be the line queue was released this week, which includes hints of planets that will be included in the final ride….the joke in regards to Alderaan being voted “safest planet in the galaxy” is a cheap one, but it got a laugh out of me at least.
So according to the rumor mill, Warner Brothers is moving forward on Green Lantern 2 very, very quickly it seems….screenwriters has already been hired to pen the sequel before the first movie has even wrapped. This shows extreme confidence in the franchise of course, but this is not merely to get their trilogy going as soon as possible, but also apparently to keep star Ryan Reynolds from ever making his Deadpool movie for Fox. It seems that Warners doesn not want their new DC Comics hero to play a Marvel hero, despite the fact that he has already played him. Of course, much of this information comes from Deadpool creator Rob Liefield, who is endlessley posting online and reminding everyone that yes, he created the character, and therefore has made at least one Marvel character that seems to have stuck, although for reasons that remain a mystery.
