Eric Diaz | Geekscape

The Walking Dead Finally Finds Their Governor

by Eric DiazFebruary 24, 2012

The role of The Walking Dead’s most notorious villain – known as The Governor- has been rumored to be going from everyone from Tom Savini to John Hawkes from Winter’s Bone to even Danny Trejo. But it looks like once again, a Brit nabbed the part meant for an American. Actor David Morrissey, known best for State Of Play and Dr. Who, got the part over all those other names, and is set to become a series regular in the third season which debuts this October on AMC.

In Robert Kirkman’s original comic book series, The Governor is the leader of a small settlement of survivors, and becomes the main antagonist for Rick Grimes and his group, who have mostly been hanging out on a farm all this season. The addition of the Governor should certainly shake things up for the better.

Is This Little Known Actor Our New Robocop?

by Eric DiazFebruary 24, 2012

The first major casting news in MGM’s remake of Robocop has surfaced from Deadline.com, and it looks like actor Joel Kinnaman is being offered the lead in director Jose Padilha’s reboot of the beloved series. Joel who you say? Well, Joel Kinnaman has been featured in a few high profile projects lately, like AMC’s The Killing and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But he hardly has the recognizability of earlier rumored leads like Michael C. Hall from Dexter. Then again, When Paul Verhoeven’s original Robocop was released back in 1987, star Peter Weller was best known for being in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai….oh, and for pinning an 11 year old Corey Haim against a wall in fit of rage during filming of the movie Firstborn (seriously, he did…Google that shit,) So in casting an relative unknown for the part of Robocop, MGM might be hoping that lighting strikes twices.

Does this man have the jawline for Robocop?

Brian Michael Bendis To Leave The Avengers For The X-Men?

by Eric DiazFebruary 24, 2012

For the past eight years, since the end of Marvel’s original Avengers comic in Avengers Disassembled, the chief architect and writer for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has been Brian Michael Bendis. Late last year, Bendis announced that after this summer’s upcoming Avengers Vs. X-Men mini-series, he would be leaving the Avengers franchise behind. And now Bleeding Cool has the scoop on what he’s doing next: Bendis is jumping ship to the X-Men titles.

This isn’t confirmed yet of course, but Bleeding Cool has a pretty damn good track record with this kind of stuff (they broke Before Watchmen almost a full two years ago.) And there are no details as to what exactly the Bendis lead X-Men books would entail. It was less than a year ago that the Schism storyline happened, resulting in two separate branches of the team, one lead by Wolverine and one led by Cyclops, and both books have barely had any time to enjoy this new status quo. I hope Bendis doesn’t give us “X-Men: Disassembled” or something, because technically we just had that. In any event, We likely won’t see any of these Bendis X-Books till 2013 anyway, as he isn’t leaving the Avengers books till the end of this year. Plenty of time to speculate on whether or not Bendis will reveal that Luke Cage is really a mutant and make him an X-Man.

The Week In Geek: Ghostbusters III With No Bill Murray? Remake And Reboot News Galore, & More

by Eric DiazFebruary 17, 2012

Ghostbusters 3 Moves Forward With No Bill Murray?

That Dan Aykroyd is just not giving up on the notion of a Ghostbusters III, despite the better judgment of everyone else on Earth, including original star Bill Murray. In an interview with Empire Online that appeared this week, Aykroyd stated that if Murray refused to appear as Dr. Peter Venkemen for a proposed third chapter, then they would consider re-casting the role.

I can’t imagine a worse idea than this, but there you go. One other recent rumor, that Bill Murray had shredded the script for part three that Aykroyd has sent him, only to send it back with a note attached that said “no one wants to see fat old men chasing ghosts” is apparently just that- a rumor. According to Aykroyd, “Bill Murray is not capable of such behavior. This is simply something that would not be in his nature. We have a deep, private personal relationship that transcends business. We communicate frequently and his position on the involvement in Ghostbusters 3 has been made clear and I respect that. But Bill has too much positive estimation of my writing skills to shred the work.” I’ll totally bet he wanted to though.

The original Ghostbusters was that lighting in a bottle that you just couldn’t capture twice (I mean, we know…they tried to with part two) It was that perfect storm of script, casting and directing. If they had as hard a time repeating that magic formula once, why try again twenty five years later? I’ll agree with Dan Aykroyd on one particular thing though, there are more cool Ghostbusters stories to tell, but maybe movies is not the way to go here. An animated series, maybe in CGI Clone Wars style, should be the way to go. After all, the 80’s cartoon show was pretty bad ass, imagine what they could do now? Sony could keep the franchise alive and viable this way, they could move more Ghostbusters shirts at Target and not tarnish the original, perfect film. Food for thought Aykroyd.

Guillermo del Toro To Helm Beauty and the Beast

Well, it feels like months since the last time I announced a project that Hellboy/Pan’s Labyrinth director Gullermo del Toro was attached to do. Well, here comes another one: The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that del Toro is directing a new adaptation of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast for Warner Brothers, with Hermione Granger herself Emma Watson as Belle. (or whatever she’ll be called in this one) This appears to be del Toro’s next directing gig after he wraps up work on his currently filming monster movie Pacific Rim.

According to the original story, the deal for this movie has been in the works since last spring when del Toro first began working with producers Denise De Novi and Alison Greenspan on a the project, which was initially an adaptation of the Robin McKinley novel Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of the Beauty and the Beast. It seems the project has evolved since then, and is no longer a straight up adaptation of the book. Aside from this movie, del Toro is directing Trollhunters for Dreamworks, is developing a Haunted Mansion movie at Disney and is still attached to direct both a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a Frankenstein project at Universal. This guy really needs to stop saying “yes” to everything they come at him with.

It Is Official: Michael Bay To Direct Transformers 4

So, you thought you might finally be free of Michael Bay directed Transformers movies, after Bay announced last year that Dark of the Moon would be his final entry in the saga? Yeah…not so fast. Deadline.com broke the news this week that Paramount had finalized the deal for Bay to return to the director’s chair for Transformers 4 in 2014. According to the official announcement, this new Transformers movie would be a “re-imagining” of the series, with an all new cast. I’m not entirely sure how in the hell a director can re-imagine his own damn movie series. How is this not just a sequel with a new cast?

Ninja Turtles Reboot Gets A Director Too

And speaking of Mr. Bay, The long talked about live action reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gained a little bit more traction this week, as Jonathan Liebesman, director of last year’s pretty awful alien invasion flick Battle:Los Angeles (and the upcoming Wrath of the Titans) getting the directing honors. What worries me more than Liebesman is that the production company for this is none other than Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes, a studio known for not having a shred of originality and only remaking classic 80’s horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13^th into glossy, soulless cash grabs. Now that they’ve run out of 80’s slashers from our youth to destroy, they are setting their sights on beloved comic book and cartoon properties.

Although TMNT came out as an indie comic in 1984, I wasn’t really into it as a kid. By the time the whole franchise hit weekday afternoon kiddy appeal and mass popularity, it was 1989/90, and I was too old for that stuff, so I really have no emotional investment in this property like many of you reading this no doubt do. But I honestly feel sorry for those of you who do, because Platinum Dunes is almost sure to piss all over your beloved Turtles. Might as well brace yourselves now kiddies.

MGM Hopes Valley Girl Is The New Grease, Or At Least The New Hairspray

MGM, in an effort to crawl out of their recent bankruptcy, is looking to exploit every last movie in their library for some kind of reboot or sequel. Joining Red Dawn, Carrie and Robocop as the latest of their classic flicks to get the remake treatment will be none other than Valley Girl, the 1983 movie that was the first starring vehicle for a young Nicolas Cage. The original movie is pretty terrible; imagine a shitty version of a John Hughes flick and that’s pretty much Valley Girl in a nutshell. However, it does have an awesome New Wave soundtrack, which still gets some heavy rotation in my itunes library I must say. Leave me alone ok? I’m a child of the 80’s.

This time, MGM is looking to remake the movie as a musical, using all the great 80’s music, maybe hoping to be for today what Grease was to kids in the late 70’s. Although Grease had original music, and Valley Girl looks to be cover versions of classics from the likes of the Go-Go’s and the Cars. The director for this is an relative unknown named Clay Weiner (best name ever, btw) who directed a few commercials and a Nickelodeon movie. Despite name director’s wanting the job, Weiner’s demo presentation for Valley Girl was apparently so awesome, with choreographed 80’s mash-ups, it won the studio over and he got the gig. MGM is looking to fast track this one, so expect it to be out next year, the 30^th anniversary of the original film.

Personally, I think MGM should have taken this thing to Broadway instead. Clearly this movie is going to be targeted at today’s teen audience, and their knowledge of anything pre-2000 is questionable to say the least. At least the Broadway audience is the right age demographic for something like this, not to mention most “jukebox musicals” do really well, as there is nothing people love more than familiarity. And besides, this makes more sense than a Back to the Future musical, and that is said to be happening. Why not Valley Girl?

The Week In Geek: Star Trek May Return To TV, American Horror Story, Plus Vampires & Slayers

by Eric DiazFebruary 10, 2012

Bryans Singer and Fuller To Bring Back Star Trek To TV?

I’ve mentioned in this column before a few times in recent weeks how writer/producers Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer are working on a Munsters reboot for NBC, now re-titled Mockingbird Lane. But these two might have more than just the Munsters in mind for television, and in fact are hoping to possibly collaborate on a new television incarnation of Star Trek in the near future.

Both Singer and Fuller are huge Trekkers; Singer even has a cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis as a random helmsman, and before producing cult series Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me, Fuller got his start as a young staff writer on Voyager and Deep Space Nine. In late 2005, after Star Trek:Enterprise was cancelled, ending an eighteen year run of non stop Trek on television, Singer had his longtime friend and fellow writer/director Robert Meyer Burnett come up with a detailed pitch for Paramount for a new Trek show called Star Trek: Federation. Federation was set in the year 3000 to a vastly changed and declining United Federation of Planets. Singer and Burnett’s proposal took into account how television storytelling had changed since the glory days of The Next Generation, something that Enterprise ultimately failed at. When Paramount decided to let the franchise rest on television for a while and reboot the series on the big screen instead with JJ Abrams’ film, Singer dropped pursuing his pitch. However, it’s been seven years since all that…could Singer and new colleague Fuller be reviving this idea?

My personal opinion is that while Singer and Burnett’s pitch for Federation is exactly what the franchise needs for television…now is probably not the time to do it. The movie franchise was only recently re-launched, and the first sequel does not arrive till next year. I say Let JJ Abrams and crew wrap their new Trek trilogy, and then maybe in say, 2016 (the 50^th Anniversary of Star Trek) they could bring back the series to television and people would welcome it back with open arms after such a long absence. The world of television is in major flux right now anyway, with the cost of shows growing and the viewership shrinking, and Netflix and the like becoming a new venue for showcasing new television series. Waiting a bit longer allows for the dust to settle in the television world AND whets the appetite for more television Star Trek among the general public.

Jessica Lange Returns To American Horror Story

Something else I mentioned in this column a few weeks back was the news that FX’s new hit series American Horror Story would effectively reboot every season, with a new haunted location and a new cast of characters and actors each time. But series producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have made at least one concession about returning former cast members, as Jessica Lange is confirmed as returning for the second season.

Jessica Lange was easily the show’s most valuable player, as her acting elevated the show’s sometimes cheestastic and over the top craziness to something resembling really good Grand Guignol theater. American Horror Story also got Lange a much deserved Golden Globe recently, and it would be foolish of the producers not to capitalize on Lange’s talent and buzz for as long as possible. Not much else is known yet about season two of the show, which isn’t set to debut until October. But FX released one promo image for the second season this week, which seemingly suggests not a haunted house, but a haunted hospital instead. I guess we’ll all find out just what location is haunted, as well as what other cast members will be returning, when the show comes back in the Fall.

Anne Rice’s Lestat Might Return To The Big Screen

For the last few years, as the vampire trend has spread through Hollywood like wildfire (or herpes) there has been one very noticeable omission: The Vampire Lestat, and all the other undead denizens of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series of novels. But it looks like that might change very soon, as Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment has bought the rights to Anne Rice’s fourth Vampire novel The Tale of the Body Thief. Author Anne Rice announced the news on her Facebook page this week that Imagine has acquired the rights to Body Thief, and hired writer Lee Patterson, who wrote a well-regarded screenplay titled Snatched, to write the script. Producing with Imagine are Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the writer-producers behind Fringe, Star Trek and Transformers. Say what you will about this particular writing duo, but just about everything they work on eventually gets greenlit.

While it might seems strange to effectively reboot a film series using book number four in the cycle, Tale of the Body Thief is more or less a stand alone story that only really references characters and events from the first novel Interview with the Vampire, which was already successfully made into a movie. In the novel, Lestat is killing serial killers in Miami (kind of like a vampiric version of the television series Dexter) and grows bored of existence and tries to end his life, only to find that he can’t actually die. When approached by a mortal psychic who claims he can switch bodies for a brief time and Lestat can gain his mortality back, Lestat jumps at the chance, even when the titular body thief makes off with his powerful body and he has to track him down and get it back.

Unlike the two previous installments in the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned, which both have a huge cast of characters and move around in time a lot, Body Thief is a pretty linearly straight forward story that would be far easier to make into a two hour movie than the previous two books in the series. I still maintain that the first three books of the series would make for a great cable series though. Please, someone in Hollywood get on that soon.

Buffy Makes A Controversial Choice, Gets Headlines In The Process

And while we are on the subject of vampires, arguably the most famous vampire slayer of all time, Buffy Summers, made media headlines this week for probably the most unlikeliest of reasons. SPOILERS for Buffy from here on out folks- In Joss Whedon’s current comic book continuation of the series for Dark Horse Comics (Season 9 to be precise) Buffy has found out she is pregnant. In this past week’s issue, Buffy mulls over her options about what to do with her pregnancy, and ultimately decides to get an abortion. It isn’t a decision Buffy comes to lightly, and it is handled extremely well by writer Andrew Chambliss and series creator Whedon.

Of course, just because Buffy is planning on getting an abortion doesn’t mean she’ll be successful at it though. The character of Buffy seems convinced the father is any number of men she could have had sex with (but conveniently doesn’t remember) back in a raging house warming party in issue #1 of Season 9. However (again-SPOILERS) I would be genuinely shocked if the father of the baby is anyone other than long time vampire love Angel, whom Buffy had sex with at the end of Season 8 while both characters were in this mystical God-like state (don’t ask) Yes, those events were supposed to take place a good six months prior to the where the comic storylines take place now, but who is to say how long mystical pregnancies are supposed to last? And do you really think Joss Whedon would have the father of Buffy’s baby be some new character the readers have little emotional investment in, or have the father be none other than Buffy’s greatest lover/enemy?

Of course, if this really does end up being just “A very special episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where she gets an abortion and just has to deal with the consequences in a real life kinda way, then the father just might be a nobody. BUT…if indeed the baby can’t be aborted somehow and she is forced to have it, then I stick to my theory that the father is none other than Angel. If I’m right, then you heard it here first fellow geeks.

DC To Launch Smallville Season 11 In Comic Book Form

Taking a cue from Dark Horse Comics’ previously mentioned continuation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series, DC Comics is looking to continue the long running (ten frickin’ seasons) television series Smallville with a comic book version of Season 11. The Smallville television series ended with the Tom Welling version of Clark Kent finally wearing the cape and tights of Superman, making some longtime rabid fans of the series really happy. Seriously, just watch this one fan watch the Smallville series finale around the five minute mark-I’ve never had an orgasm this intense.

Although previously rumored to be a series of prose novels, DC Comics have officially announced a “Smallville Season 11” comic book series this past week, which will be published digitally beginning April 13 with a new issue every week. The series will also be collected in print beginning in May. Series scribe will be Bryan Q. Miller, a former writer and story editor from the TV series, as well as former writer of the Stephanie Brown version of Batgirl which ended last year before the big DC reboot. The current plan is to pick up some six months from where the show left off, with Clark finally embracing his role as a public super hero. As part of the press release, Miller said “I couldn’t be more excited to help give seasoned viewers and new readers an all-access pass to Clark’s first year in the cape.”

Smallville is certainly the most popular version of Superman in the media since the Christopher Reeve version, so continuing that version of the character seems like a no-brainer to me. My question is-which of the new DC 52 Earths is “Earth-Smallville?” And will Supes ever wear the red shorts or not? Because ya know, I find that I kinda miss those.

The Week In Geek: Before Watchmen Becomes Official, Russell Crowe as Noah? Evil Dead Remake & More

by Eric DiazFebruary 3, 2012

“Before Watchmen” Officially Announced By DC

The big geek news of the week, easily dwarfing everything else, is the official announcement from DC Entertainment that the long rumored prequels to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s seminal Watchmen would be coming this year, now officially titled Before Watchmen. To say this is a controversial movie on the part of DC is a massive understatement. The original graphic novel, originally serialized in twelve parts, is regarded as THE greatest work of comic book fiction by many, even some twenty five years after it was concluded. Author Alan Moore has long wanted no part in any continuation of his seminal work, and even had his name taken off the 2009 movie adaptation. In speaking to the New York Times, Moore had this to say about Before Watchmen: “It is completely shameless. I don’t want money. What I want is for this not to happen.”

The collection of writers and artists on Before Watchmen is of the highest caliber, each tackling a different mini series based on one of the characters from the original. The announced line up of series and creators is as follows:

RORSCHACH (4 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: Lee Bermejo

MINUTEMEN (6 issues) – Writer/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

COMEDIAN (6 issues) – Writer: Brian Azzarello. Artist: J.G. Jones

DR. MANHATTAN (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Adam Hughes

NITE OWL (4 issues) – Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artists: Andy and Joe Kubert

OZYMANDIAS (6 issues) – Writer: Len Wein. Artist: Jae Lee

SILK SPECTRE (4 issues) – Writer: Darwyn Cooke. Artist: Amanda Conner

Also included in each mini series will be a back-up series, The Curse of the Crimson Corsair, by comics writing legend Len Wein, and art by original series colorist John Higgins–the only creative person from the original project involved in any way with this new one. I’m pretty sure some or most of these mini series will be decent, hell…maybe even great. But that’s not the point—the point is that the original author sees Watchmen as a completed project, and just to satisfy the all mighty dollar, DC has chosen to ignore his wishes. I can’t blame any of the participants for being involved in this new project; comics don’t pay that great and if this is successful, they are all in for a great deal of money. I’d say yes if I were them too.

And yes…I also realize Alan Moore is being a bit of a hypocrite on this one, calling out DC for mining his work. Considering that Moore has spent the last decade of his career mining the works of famous 19^th century authors, both with his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Lost Girls books, it is the pot calling the kettle black a bit. Nevertheless, those authors of those original works are long dead, and can’t give and opinion one way or the other; Moore is alive and has expressed his desire that they leave his work alone. Considering that Watchmen has sold more than two million copies and made a small fortune for DC, you’d think simply out of respect, DC EIC Dan Didio wouldn’t do this. When Paul Levitz was EIC of DC, he stopped any and all attempts at continuing Watchmen for 20+ years…and not out of any love for Alan Moore mind you, as those two had plenty of bad blood between them; it was simply out of respect for the man who created their single most acclaimed graphic novel.

Since this project was announced, the other argument I’ve heard the most on the pro Before Watchmen side is that plenty of stories have been made over the decades for Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the like, well beyond the original creator’s intentions. But ALL those creators knew they were creating characters for ongoing serialized magazines, while Watchmen was a complete work with a proper beginning, middle and end. It was not meant to go on forever. While I agree that the world of Watchmen certainly is ripe for continuation, if the original creator doesn’t want it done, then it shouldn’t even be a question.

Russell Crowe To Captain A Much Bigger Boat Than In Master & Commander

Darren Aronofsky’s next film, a big budget spectacle made out of the Biblical story of Noah and the flood, has started to take a little bit more shape this week. According to Deadline.com, Aronofsky wants not only Russell Crowe as the titular Noah, but also Liam Neeson for another as yet unspecified part, although rumor has it that he will play some kind of villain (is there really a villain in the story of the Great Flood? I mean, aside from, ya know… God?) A few actors have been rumored for the part of Noah since this project was first announced, including both Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender, but both of those actors were booked for the next year or more solid. Noah is said to be going before the cameras by the summer of this year for a 2013 debut. Between this and Steven Spielberg’s Moses flick, it looks to be all about the Old Testament on the big screen next year. How long before Mel Gibson gets in on this?

Evil Dead Remake Gains One, Loses One

The Evil Dead remake lost one cast member this past week, and gained another one. Actress Lily Collins (star of the upcoming Mirror Mirror and daughter of pop star Phil Collins) who was all set for the part of the female lead, had to drop out due to those pesky “scheduling conflicts.” Which probably really meant that she thought the movie was going to suck, and got a better part she could take instead. But while the production lost their female lead, they gained the part of the male lead in newcomer Shiloh Fernandez. The pretty boy actor was in last year’s Red Riding Hood, but before you fanboys get up have a coronary, he won’t be playing the part of Ash—the role Bruce Campbell made famous in the original films won’t even be in this remake.

Back to the Future….The Musical?

Lots of people, myself included, love to groan and moan about the fact that Hollywood is remake crazy lately. And while that’s true, there is really no place like Broadway when it comes to pushing product that is based on something else. Right now, nine out ten of the top grossing Broadway musicals are revivals of older shows , or musicals based off pre-existing material like Wicked and The Lion King. So..why not a Back to the Future musical? Writer and director Robert Zemeckis is in talks to bring his iconic 1985 film to Broadway. Zemeckis is in early discussion with co-writer Bob Gale and the film’s composer, Alan Silvestri, to adapt the film for stage. Despite all the negative reviews, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark has been packing them in, so Broadway is no doubt eager for another spectacle musical based off a much beloved property. And you know what? I’d MUCH rather have a musical of Back to the Future than a Part IV or a remake. If this show saves us from either of those, then more power to ‘em I say.

Colin Firth To Star In West Memphis 3 Biopic

The sad, strange saga of the Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley – three teenagers from West Memphis Arkansas who have been labeled by the media as the “West Memphis Three”, has been a minor obsession of mine since I first rented a documentary film called Paradise Lost on VHS way back in 1996. Watching the film, I was outraged that such a gross miscarriage of justice could be carried out and three innocent boys could be sentenced to death for a crime they clearly did not commit. The crime in question was the brutal 1993 murders of three little boys the local community labeled as “Satanic Ritual,” mostly due to Echol’s love of horror and heavy metal music, and not based on much else. Paradise Lost was followed by two sequels, and just this year Peter Jackson produced another documentary on the subject called West of Memphis. Thanks to the efforts of Jackson and others in the entertainment biz who fought their case, last August the WM3 were finally freed from prison, although they had to give a false admission of guilt to do so. I know, it doesn’t make a lick of sense to me either. But the admission of guilt prevents the WM3 from suing the state of Arkansas for every penny it has for taking eighteen years of their lives from them.

Now Hollywood is producing a fictionalized version of the case called The Devil’s Knot, directed by acclaimed Canadian director Atom Egoyan. Oscar winner Colin Firth has just signed on to star as Ron Lax, the private investigator whose detective work helped get the WM3 released from prison last year. The judge freed the men based in large part on evidence that Lax found. On top of that, Lax found DNA evidence that linked the stepfather of one of the murdered boys to material that was used to bind one of the victims. According to the producers, the movie “is not about how they got out of prison, It’s about how they got in.” The film will be told through Lax’s eyes as well as through the eyes of Pam Hobbs, whose son, Steven Branch, was one of the victims. Ultimately, Lax found DNA evidence linking Hobbs’ husband Terry to the crime scene. Terry Hobbs remains free, but If this movie helps put his ass behind bars, then it will have done its job as far as I’m concerned.

The Week In Geek: DC To Give The Robins A Series, Fantastic 4 & The Crow Reboot News, Drive 2 & More

by Eric DiazJanuary 29, 2012

One thing DC Comics never seems to tire of is publishing Batman universe titles. Among the “New 52” relaunch, there are currently eleven Gotham centric books, with a twelfth book to be added in May when Grant Morrison’s Batman Inc. returns. Actually, the upcoming Worlds’ Finest book featuring the Huntress can also be counted as a “Bat book” so that makes thirteen. But wait, what’s that? So…maybe it will be fourteen now?? *sigh* Who can keep up?

Bleeding Cool is reporting this week the Jeff Lemire, critically acclaimed writer for DC’s Animal Man, is being looked at to write The Robins, a series focusing on the four different heroes to hold the mantle of Batman’s sidekick. Right now the official Robin is Damian Wayne, Bruce’s petulant brat of a son by way of Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Talia. Apparently the series would focus on his tense relationships with the orginal Robin, current Nightwing and former replacement Batman Dick Grayson, his immediate predecessor in the role Tim Drake (currently going by Red Robin) and “sidekick gone bad,” the formerly dead Jason Todd. No official announcement has been made, but expect to be hearing something official on this one soon. Like I said, neither DC comics nor DC fanboys seemingly ever get tired of stories revolving around Gotham vigilantes, so if Lemire doesn’t do this soon, someone will.

Elfquest Movie Cancelled Yet Again

On the other side of the comics spectrum, legendary indie comic series Elfquest has been in some form of almost happening as a movie or television property for something like twenty five years now, and pre-production is seemingly always halted at the last minute. The last studio to get the rights were Warner Brothers for a big screen adaptation in 2008, and now they have officially announced that the project has been put in turnaround yet again. Richard and Wendy Pini’s Elfquest was originally a very successful long running fantasy series, running from 1978-1984, and then from 1987-2003 in the form of various sequels and spin-offs. Along with books like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Elfquest began an indie comics revolution over a decade before Image Comics even started. But while Ninja Turtles and others went on to great fame and many media adaptations, Elfquest always stalled out for some reason, despite how marketable the premise is. The original run of the title had a very definitive beginning, middle and end, and would make for a great series of movies, and yet all attempts at bringing this series to life have crumbled.

I was a great fan of the original run of Elfquest, having discovered the original stories when Marvel Comics began reprinting them way back in 1985. In my opinion, they would make for a great cable television series, and am kind of shocked that in light of the success of Game of Thrones, no one has considered this yet. Warner Brothers now say that they don’t want to compete with their own two part Hobbit films, but they’ve known those were coming since well before 2008. One has to wonder if the creators of the series, Wendy and Richard Pini, are just plain difficult to deal with, thus ending all media interpretations before they’ve started. I can’t really think of another reason such a successful series hasn’t made the transition yet to other media. I certainly think it is long overdue.

Spielberg Gets All Old Testament On Our Asses

It seems ever since 1993 or so, Steven Spielberg has been getting in touch with his whole Jewish-ness in a huge way. First there was his Holocaust movie (Schindler’s List-duh) then his whole “Israelis are Bad Asses” movie (Munich) and now he is about to get as in touch with his Jewish heritage as one can get—the Old Testament. Warner Brothers is looking to lock down Spielberg for “Gods and Kings”, said to be a “gritty” take on the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments. While the idea of another filmmaker’s “gritty” take of the Bible would make me cringe in normal circumstances (need I remind anyone of Passion of the Christ mania?) I’m sure Spielberg will knock this outta the park if given the chance. One thing this movie won’t be in is in 3D; Spielberg has gone on record as saying he won’t ever shoot a live action film on anything but standard film, and to shoot in 3D requires digital cameras. Add to that that he has said he’ll never post convert a movie to 3D, so we can at least count our blessings in that regard. Gods and Kings is said to start shooting in 2013, after Spielberg finishes his latest geek centric sci-fi movie Robopocalypse.

Fantastic Four and The Crow Reboots May Have Their Directors

We’ve known for about two years that Twentieth Century Fox was planning on rebooting the Fantastic Four movie franchise, but in that time there has been almost no news regarding who the creative personnel behind the camera are going to be. But reports recently have Josh Trank, the director of the upcoming found footage super powers movie Chronicle, as Fox’s first choice to direct the reboot. So far he has only that one movie to his name, and since no one has really seen it, no one really knows if this is a good move or not on Fox’s part. Fox has to make a Fantastic Four movie within a certain amount of time, or the rights will revert back to Marvel (the same holds true for X-Men and Daredevil) The current rumor making the rounds is that like X-Men: First Class, the FF reboot will be set in the same early 60’s era that the comic book series was born in, and in fact might share a “movie-verse” with the new X-Men: First Class series much like Marvel Studios is doing with their Avengers movies. Of course, whether or not this rumor is true or just fanboy wishful thinking remains to be seen, but this time I hope the overly imaginative fanboys are on to something here. Because that would be all kinds of cool if it were true.

….and speaking of reboots, that reboot that absolutely nobody wants -along with that rumored Buffy reboot – The Crow now has a new director as well in the form of Spanish filmmaker F. Javier Gutierrez, with screenwriter Jesse Wigutow getting the writing honors. Gutierrez has directed one full length movie so far, the Spanish end of the world film Before the Fall, but this would be first American movie, and certainly his first big budget movie. While I think that The Crow is a uniquely “of its time” movie, I suppose the wave of 90’s nostalgia that has hit might actually give this movie an actual shot at not only getting made, but maybe making some bank as well. The first casting rumor that hit last year was that Bradley Cooper was asked to play undead rocker Eric Draven, which sounds a lot like that Kevin Smith story where producer Jon Peters once wanted Sean Penn to play Superman– it is so wrong headed a choice that it almost has to be true that some suit thought it was a good idea. Scary fact: When the Crow remake actually hits, it will be twenty years since the original was made. Yes, you are that old…and so am I.

Drive Sequel Forthcoming?

And finally, this one is heavy in the “Maybe” file, but it seems that indie hit and critical darling Drive might be getting a sequel. The original novel is getting one for sure, as author John Sallis’ Driven is hitting book stores and Amazon in April. The official synopsis for Driven goes like this: “Six years later – Phoenix. Out of nowhere someone wants Driver dead. Who? Why? Big mistake…” When asked this past week if he would consider making a movie out of Driven, director Nicolas Winding Refn said “Well I think that… hmm. Let me just say that I haven’t made up my mind yet. Stranger things have happened…” If Refn comes back, no doubt Gosling would as well. Sure sounds like at least a “maybe” to me. Hopefully we might be seeing that sweet Scorpion jacket and those tight ass jeans again before too long.

The Week In Geek: Star Wars Underworld, DC’s New 52 Round 2, Dragon Tattoo Sequels & More

by Eric DiazJanuary 13, 2012

Star Wars Live Action Series Gets A Title, But Don’t Hold Your Breath To See It Anytime Soon

The Star Wars live action television series has been talked about and rumored about ever since it was announced by George Lucas around the time that Revenge of the Sith was released in 2005. Well, almost seven years later there is STILL no show anywhere on the air, but we now know two things now—the working title, Star Wars: Underworld, and the fact that this show is still several years away from even beginning production. The reasons? Money, plain and simple.

When Entertainment Weekly asked if the series was still three to four years away, Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum (while doing the rounds promoting Lucasfilm’s Red Tails movie) said “probably even longer.Because I think we don’t have the technology yet to be able to do it for the level of money that it would have to be done. Plus, the world of television is imploding. No one knows whether you should make a network show or a cable show. I’m really excited about it though, and I hope George does do it. I really do.” Over fifty scripts for the series have already been written, and are sitting on a shelf waiting for the cost of effects to go down.

As to just what the premise of the show will be about, McCallum confirmed years of online rumors by admitting it was about the rise of the intergalactic crime world at the same time the Empire begins to take control of the galaxy, in the twenty odd years between Episodes III and IV. As Entertainment Weekly so keenly pointed out this week, a number of last minute cancellations for Expanded Universe (comics, games, novels) projects have made many fans raise their eyebrows about just who and what will be involved with the series. For example, George Lucas ordered that popular Jedi rogue character Quinlan Vos survive the Star Wars: Republic comics series; author A.C. Crispin’s proposed young Princess Leia novel series was canceled abruptly, as was a young Boba Fett novel. Could all three characters factor into the series in someway? It seems so, as Lucas is saving these characters’ stories for something, and they’d all fit into the timeline this show is set in. Jedi Quinlan Vos has long been rumored to be saved by Lucas for something bigger, he even gets a name drop in Revenge of the Sith. Will he be a Jedi hiding from the Empire among the scum and villainy that is fighting the newborn regime? That alone makes for an awesome premise for a show.

My personal opinion is that this series will debut in 2017, the 40^th Anniversary of the original Star Wars. By that time, The Clone Wars animated series should be long done, and all the original films will have been released in 3D. Also by that time the cost of doing a Star Wars series should have gone down considerably. Let’s see if ol’ George is even around by then to produce a Star Wars series.

DC Comics’ New 52 Wave 2 Announced For May

Well, one of things I said I was looking forward to the most for 2012 in my year end list has been announced already, and we’re only two weeks into the new year! In a press release this week, DC announced the first six titles of Wave 2 of the New 52, and there were some shoe-ins as well as some surprises to be found.

Starting in May, we’ll get the return of Batman Incorporated, written by returning Bat writer Grant Morrison, with art by Chris Burnham. This will begin the conclusion of Morrison’s Batman epic he started back in 2007 when he started on the old Batman book. Then we have Earth-2, written by James Robinson with art by the fabulous Nicola Scott. The official logline for this one is “The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.” The second Earth-2 related title is World’s Finest, written by former DC President Paul Levitz, with art by George Perez and Kevin Maguire. The description for this one is as follows- “Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2.” Dial H will be The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, and will be a new spin on the classic Dial H for Hero comics from the 60’s that featured one teenager turning into a different super hero every time he dialed the words H-E-R-O on his magic dial thingy. Then there’s G.I. Combat, from former Green Arrow writer J.T. Krul and artist Ariel Olivetti, and finally The Ravagers, from 90’s Spider-Man Writer Howard Mackie and artist Ian Churchill. Spinning off from Teen Titans and Superboy, this series will be about four superpowered teens on the run and fighting against the organization that wants to turn them into villains. The six new series will replace Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific , O.M.A.C. and Static Shock, all of which will conclude with their eighth issues in April.The cancellation of these titles is no real shock as they were among the lowest selling of the New 52. (Although I’d be surprised to see GI Combat do significantly better than Men of War for example) Also sad is that two of the books with African American leads are getting the ax…but sadly, sales were just not there for those books. At least DC tried.

Most surprising and pleasing (for me anyway) is the announcement of the new World’s Finest series featuring Power Girl and Huntress; I always liked the original version of the Huntress, who was Helena Wayne the daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman. She was ret-conned out of existence in the 1985 mini series Crisis on Infinite Earths and replaced with Helena Bertinelli, the vigilante daughter of a mob boss. Nothing against the Bertinelli version of Huntress, but there is something just conceptually cooler about the bad ass offspring of Batman and Catwoman to me. And of course the return of Grant Morrison on Batman and James Robinson to the JSA is enough to make me do the fanboy squeal.

Sony Moving Forward On Dragon Tattoo Sequels

Despite supposedly “underperforming” this past Christmas, at least according to some pundits, Sony is still going forward with plans to finish off Steig Larson’s Millenium Trilogy, of which The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was merely the first book. The other two books in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest were already made into films in the author’s native Sweden.

Dragon Tattoo is poised to make north of $100 million dollars at the domestic box office, which is really, really good for an R-rated adult drama with very dark themes and controversial subject matter. I find it hard to believe Sony thought this movie was going to bring in $200 million like it was a family style blockbuster. The age of Fatal Attraction and Silence of the Lambs, adult R rated fare that made blockbuster style money, are long over. More adults than ever choose to wait for cable or Netflix instead of seeing movies with annoying teenagers texting on their phones in the theater. The fact that Dragon Tattoo made as much as it has is a small achievement really.

Now what Sony has to do is find a way to make these movies more cheaply; Dragon Tattoo cost a reported $90 million, an absurd amount for a movie that has no special effects and is (more or less) a small intimate thriller. David Fincher is well known for his astronomical budgets; his brilliant movie Zodiac for example cost a fairly outrageous $65 million a few years back, for what was also just a crime thriller. If Sony gets almost anyone else to direct the next two films, they’ll almost certainly be made for a lot less than what Fincher would have delivered them for. David Fincher is said to already be moving on to making 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney, where he can spend like crazy. But at least there it makes sense.

Universal Studios Turns 100, Restores Classics

This year, Universal Studios turns a century old, and to celebrate they announced this week they are meticulously restoring thirteen of their most classic films for preservation, and in most cases, for upcoming Blu ray releases as well. The thirteen titles chosen from the Universal library for restoration are All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula (both English and Spanish versions) Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, Buck Privates, The Birds, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Sting, Jaws, Schindler’s List, Out of Africa, and Pillow Talk. In addition, Universal unveiled their new logo for the 100th Anniversary this week as well.

As a film geek/Blu-ray enthusiast I’m thrilled beyond belief that at least one studio out there is really putting an effort into restoring their libraries of classic films for public consumption. The early 1930’s Universal Monster films have needed heavy restoration for decades, and the thought of a Universal Monsters Blu ray box set coming for Halloween makes me wish it was October already. Also so relieved to finally own some of the long awaited Spielberg classics in High-def as well, as it looks like I’ll be replacing my old standard definition DVD’s of Jaws and E.T. sooner rather than later. Hopefully Raiders of the Lost Ark won’t be far behind, as Paramount Studios also turns 100 this year, and is expecting to be making their own announcements regarding their vast library of films soon, including the Indiana Jones movies.

A Bit of Random TV News Bites

And lastly, two new potential television projects were announced this week that should be of interest to geek viewers, should they ever see the light of day that is. The first one is DC Comics’ Green Arrow for the CW network; Green Arrow of course is no stranger to that particular network, as the character (played by Justin Hartley) was a regular on Smallville for the last several seasons. It seems this version won’t be a spin off of Smallville however, instead the producers are opting to start the concept from scratch.

The series is being put together by Green Lantern movie co-writers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim and Fringe and Vampire Diaries alum Andrew Kreisberg, who also wrote the recent Green Arrow/Black Canary comic book series. Although the names behind Green Lantern movie should give you pause, having read Berlanti and Guggenheim’s original draft of Green Lantern, I don’t put the blame on those guys. One source said the show would focus on “Team Arrow”—does that mean we’ll see Black Canary and Aresenal on the show? Time will tell.

Also announced to possibly become a series is a serialized take on none other than Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Deadline reports that the NBC network is teaming up with producers Tony Krantz and Colin Callender for a Dracula series set for both the U.S. and international market. The project has a “script-to-series” commitment, which means that it won’t go through a pilot stage but straight to series if the NBC suits like the script. Dracula will be set in the 1890s, it is described as “Dangerous Liaisons meets The Tudors— a big, sweeping international soap opera that is young, sexy and supernatural” Personally, I have a hard time seeing this flying on NBC; genre shows just don’t succeed on any of the big four networks almost ever. But then again, NBC owns Sy-Fy Channel, so maybe the show will end up there? Who knows, hopefully this is more than just chasing after the Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries audience, but that is probably all it is. All I know is I desperately want a tv series on cable based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and instead I’m getting Dracula..again. I guess that’s the power of being a public domain property.

The Week In Geek: Carrie Remake Signs A Director, Trek 2 Villain Finally Cast + Kanye & The Jetsons?

by Eric DiazJanuary 6, 2012

Carrie Remake Gets A Director

The remake of Stephen King’s classic novel Carrie that I mentioned a few months back has started to pick up steam for MGM and Screen Gems, which is probably not a good thing if you ask me. According to Deadline, it now looks like director Kimberly Pierce, who most famously made the movie Boys Don’t Cry over a decade ago now, is the person who landed the job. Even though Boys created a big debut splash for Pierce, not to mention getting an Oscar for lead actress Hilary Swank, after that Pierce more or less vanished from movie making. She directed an episode of The L Word, and then returned to features for the 2008 flick Stop Loss…. and that pretty much covers it. I wish Pierce the best of luck, because she’s gonna need it. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie turned in the performances of their lives with the original version, and topping those is gonna be tough to say the very least. They attempted to with a TV movie a decade or so back, and that failed to inspire anyone.

It will be interesting to see how this story works for modern kids; certainly the bullying angle hasn’t changed much since 1976 when the original movie debuted, that’s for damn sure. Even though I imagine 90% of the target audience of teens and twenty somethings for this new movie have never seen the original, much like Psycho, everyone knows what the climax of the movie is…it is part of our cultural consciousness now. It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the original or not. With the surprise essentially ruined by years of pop culture parodies and references, what will they change to make this version stand out? Maybe a version with an alternate ending, where Carrie just has a great time at the Prom, and runs off with her prom date Tommy Ross and leaves her crazy ass mother to rot? Oddly enough, every year or two when I pop in my DVD of Carrie, I think to myself “It would be nice if one day I turn this movie on, and Carrie just has a damn happy ending. Just this one time.” If Pierce gives us THAT twist…then I might become an advocate of this movie.

Trek 2 FINALLY Gets Its Villain

Well, the villain for Star Trek 2 has been cast finally, and it turns out it isn’t anyone who had been rumored before. Benedict Cumberpatch, best known for playing the title character in the BBC series Sherlock, has nabbed the part once thought to be Benecio del Toro’s, and then rumored to go to a few other actors after he turned it down for money reasons. Although who the villain is going to be is still under wraps, the casting of pasty white, skinny and Anglo Cumberpatch indicates that it will not be Khan (although I guess stranger things have happened) Cumberpatch is having quite the year; aside from starring as Sherlock Holmes, he is the voice/motion capture artist for Smaug the dragon in The Hobbit, and was also in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Tinkor, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

In another indication that JJ Abrams and the producers of Trek are avid BBC watchers -aside from casting Spaced star Simon Pegg for the first movie of course- is the news that another part for Trek 2 has been filled by Dr.Who alum Noel Clarke. So far, there is no name given for the role, but Variety reports that Clarke will be playing “a family man with a wife and young daughter.“ Which really tells us nothing. Still, nice to see more than one person of color in the original Trek cast for a change. Filming should begin soon for the new Trek, so if expect an avalanche of Trek news and rumors for the rest of 2012. Fair warning for the New Year.

Kanye And Jetsons: Two Words You’d Never Thought You’d See Together In A Sentence

Welcome to the first WTF news item of 2012. MTV ran a piece this week that Kanye West was being tapped as “creative director” for the upcoming Jetsons movie that absolutely no one wants (remember The Flintstones movie? That’s why no one wants a Jetsons movie) I’m not sure what a “creative director” for a movie is; I mean, a movie has a producer and a director and an art director…is art direction the job Kanye is going for here? I just don’t remember ever hearing the title “creative director” for a movie before.

Jetsons producer Denise Di Novi had this to say when quizzed by MTV about the Jetsons/Kanye connection this week: “Kanye’s always been a Jetsons fan, I think because he’s so into design and he loves the design aspects, So we had a fun brainstorming conversation….We heard that he knew we were working on the Jetsons. He reached out and said he’s a huge Jetsons fan. There are a lot of Jetsons fanatics out there, especially people that are into either futuristic science or design. He was interested in creatively brainstorming what we were doing with the movie and what ideas he might have. It was a really friendly, preliminary conversation.” Who knows if anything will ever come of this, The Jetsons has been in some form of development for almost twenty years at this point, and then someone always realizes that it is a terrible idea and pulls the plug. STILL…the part of me that loves a good cinematic train wreck involving high profile pop stars kind of hopes this gets made. It’s the part of me that paid to see Burlesque.

Killer Klowns To Get Evil Dead II Style Requel

If you’re a film geek who frequented Mom n’ Pop video stores in the 90’s, or watched cheesy movies on USA Up All Night with Rhonda back in the day, chances are you have a soft spot for cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space. After years and years of rumors, it seems that finally creators Charles, Edward and Stephen Chiodo, often referred to simply as “the Chiodo Brothers”, are said to be working on a ‘requel,’ in other words, part remake of the original film and part sequel. (think Evil Dead II) Grant Cramer, who starred as Mike Tobacco in the original movie, is set to return to “be the mentor to the two new young leads that have to try save the world from the Klowns when they return.” Right now, the Chiodo Brothers are looking to get the proper funding for this one, but all signs are pointing to this one finally happening this time. Too bad Up All Night isn’t around anymore.

The Week In Geek: Top Ten Pop Culture Events I’m Most Excited About For 2012

by Eric DiazDecember 31, 2011

While everyone else is waxing nostalgic over 2011, Here at The Week In Geek I’m gonna jump the gun and look ahead at the things I’m most excited about in pop culture for the upcoming year. Now this is my personal list, so before you leave comments flaming me over not including product X, Y or Z….remember, this is MY list not yours. Go make your own about shit you’re excited about. Now let’s get started…..

#10: The Return of My Super Gay Reality Shows

You can keep your Kardashians and your Teen Moms America; In January 2012 I have both Project Runway: All Stars (Go Team Mondo!) and season four of RuPaul’s Drag Race to look forward to. Add to that the return of classic BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in all new episodes next moth, and January is easily the gayest month of television of all time. Well, at least for me. I’m gonna start making the mimosas right now.

#9.The Book of Mormon Comes to Los Angeles

I’ve been wanting to see Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s musical send up of the LDS church The Book of Mormon since it was first announced, but a trip to New York is a bit pricey for one show….or even three for that matter. But come 2012, The Book of Mormon is hitting the Pantages theater in Los Angeles from September 5th to November 25th in a special limited run, and I can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on a pair of tickets.

#8. Avengers VS. X-Men

Yeah, I know everyone and their uncle says they are over the big comic book crossovers that the Big Two comic publishers put out every year come summer time, but you know what? I’m totally down for this one. Avengers Vs. X-Men will be will debut in March and run through September. A newly repowered/redeemed Scarlet Witch after years of editorial abuse? The Return of Phoenix to the X-Men mythos? The simple fun of super heroes beating up other super heroes? Sign me up.

#7. AIR’s Soundtrack to Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon)

One of my favorite musicians of all time, the French electronic duo AIR, were given the great honor by the French film preservation society last year of recording a new soundtrack to Georges Méliès classic Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon), the iconic movie from the turn of the last century (recently celebrated in the film Hugo.) The score is only 14 minutes in length to match the running time of the movie, but then that project grew into a full on new album inspired by Méliès, set to debut in February. The last time AIR recorded a soundtrack to a film was for Sofia Coppola’s film The Virgin Suicides, and that was when they were a relatively new group. I can only imagine what they could come up with now.

#6. Anne Rice’s The Wolf Gift

In 2003, my all time favorite author Anne Rice stopped writing about vampires and witches and ghosts, and devoted her writing exclusively to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, producing several Christian themed books. Some were about the life of Jeebus himself, and some were about Angels, but all with an obviously Christian bent. While I respected Mrs. Rice’s decision, let’s just say I checked out of reading any of those. But after a very public falling out with Christianity last year (on Facebook, no less) Anne Rice returns to supernatural fiction with her first werewolf novel The Wolf Gift. Welcome back to the dark side Anne…I’ve been keeping it warm for ya. Jesus who?

#5. The Return of Madonna

Her Madgesty hasn’t released an album since 2008’s Hard Candy, and also hasn’t been on the road since 2009. In the meantime, a certain Lady GaGa has usurped her place in the pop culture lexicon. Well, 2012 is the year Madge officially strikes back, first by playing to the biggest (and most heterosexual) audience of her career when she plays the Super Bowl half time show, and then by releasing her new single/album/world tour/new fragrance. Time to remind all those bitches who is the true Queen. Oh, she also has a movie coming out in 2012, her directorial debut W.E, but even I know better than to care about that one.

#4. Grant Morrisson’s Multiversity

This has been talked about for years now it seems, ever since the end of DC’s 52 mini series but it seems certain that this is finally hitting comic book store shelves in 2012. Writer Grant Morrisson’s upcoming eight part mini series from DC is set to fully explore DC’s new Multiverse, giving us glimpses into the various worlds in detail. The best part of this is that rumored to spin off from this mini is a series of ongoing regular books set on various Earths, like an Earth-2 Justice Society book, and even an “Earth 90’s” JLA book with Wally West as the Flash, etc. When Grant Morrisson’s imagination runs wild, good things usually come of it….ok, except for maybe Final Crisis. Nobody’s perfect.

#3. The Long Awaited Return of Mad Men

When it returns in early 2012, Mad Men will have been off the air for a whopping 18 months. It’s gotta be the longest wait between seasons for a television series ever. So many questions have plagued us loyal fans all these long months, like how long will Don Draper’s new trophy wife/sex-cretary last? Will Sterling/Cooper/Draper/Pryce survive the upcoming Summer of Love? Will Betty Draper finally die? *sigh* Here’s hoping. Mad Men Season four will debut on AMC in March.

#2: The Second Batch of DC’s New 52

Some were great, some were terrible, but one thing is certain: DC’s “New 52” reboot had everyone talking. Wave 2 is set to debut in 2012 (probably set to replace books like Voodoo and Men of War that no one is reading) and I’m curious as Hell as to what they’ll be. Some are rumored to be set on various parallel Earths, and some are rumored to be more horror oriented. My fanboy curiosity is at level ten right now. I can’t wait to see what DC has in store to top 2011.

#1: Movies, Movies Movies

Will 2012 be the apex of the geek friendly cinema revolution that began in 2000/2001 with the launch of the Marvel movies and Lord of the Rings? In 2012 we’ve got The Hobbit, Alien prequel Prometheus, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and new Quentin Tarantino flick, Pixar’s Brave, and the Joss Whedon written Cabin in the Woods. Oh, and The Dark Knight Rises. And that’s just the biggest ones I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe if the world does end next year, it’ll go out on a high cinematic note. Well, at least for us geeks.

Welcome to the New York Comic Con edition of the Week In Geek. Lots of comics news coming out of New York this past weekend, almost all mostly from Marvel, but with a smidge of DC news thrown in there for ya. And maybe even a bit of news about Marvel Studios’ post Avengers plans too. But first, the biggest announcements from the actual comics side of Marvel….

Dexter Comes To Comics

One of the more surprising announcements Marvel made at NY Comic Con was the acquisition of the Dexter license, to be launched as a new series in 2012. But before you get too excited over this bit of news, this will be a series set in the universe of the Dexter novels, not the popular Showtime television series about America’s most lovable serial killer. In fact, the author of the original novels, Jeff Lindsay will be writing the comics himself.

While the book source of HBO’s True Blood, Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries, has almost as big a following as the show, it is my understanding that the Dexter novels just plain suck in comparison to the television series, and after the first season the show pretty much went in their own direction leaving the novel’s continuity aside. It will be interesting to see if fans respond to a Dexter Morgan who bears no resemblance to actor Michael C. Hall. As a huge fan of the television series, I’d be interested in a comic series set in the show’s continuity, but am not too sure about reading this one. The real question is will most fans see this as anything but discount aisle Dexter?

The Phoenix Returns in 2012

Marvel has been teasing that “It’s Coming” for a good week or two since before New York Comic Con, and now we know what “It” is- – In 2012, the Phoenix force returns in a series brought to you from what seems to be at least half the stable of Marvel A List creators; upcoming Wolverine and the X-Men writer Jason Aaron, as well as writers Brian Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, along with superstar artists Olivier Coipel, Adam Kubert, and John Romita Jr. *phew* Whether this is just the return of Phoenix entity, or the return of Jean Grey herself (who has been dead since 2004) remains to be seen. In fact, no other information was given outside of creative personnel attached to the project. All we know is there is a project…whether it is a mini, ongoing or one shot is a mystery still. Personally, I hope the rumors of Cyclops having an affair with Storm turn out to be true, and a returned Jean walks in on her ex husband boning her married best friend. ‘Cause that would be HAWT. Look, you all can read comics for the battles and powers and shit, but this is what I want in my comics. Don’t judge me.

Avengers, Avengers, & More Avengers

Didn’t think Avengers, New Avengers, Avengers Academy and Secret Avengers were enough Avenger titles coming from Marvel? Well, you’re in for a treat then, because in an effort to tie in with the upcoming movie version of the Marvel team, Brian Bendis will soon be adding yet another ongoing Avengers comics to his plate with Avengers Assemble, reuniting him once more with his former Ultimate Spider-Man partner Mark Bagley. The team will consist almost entirely of the movie line-up: Cap, Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, sporting a costume that looks a Hell of a lot like his movie gear. But strangely…no sign of Thor in the promotional image released by Marvel at Comic Con. However, he WAS originally there, as seen in the sketch below. Avengers Assemble is set to debut in March of next year.

Marvel Studios Avengers Movie Panel… And Avengers Phase 2?

While we are on the subject of the movie Avengers, the big panel of NY Comic Con was of course The Avengers movie panel, which featured Chris Evans, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, and Clark Gregg as well as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. (Joss Whedon, RDJ, Chris Hemsworth, and Scarlet Johansson sat this one out) A clip was shown of Black Widow recruiting Banner into the Avengers fold, as well as one of a conversation between Tony Stark and Loki.

But I suppose the real news coming out of Comic Con is that 2013’s Iron Man 3 is stage one of what will eventually lead into an eventual Avengers 2. This what Feige had to say in terms of phase two of Marvel’s Avengers initiative:

“We’ve already announced Iron Man 3 and Thor 2; both of those will be spread out within 2013,” explained Feige. “We haven’t announced yet the 2014 movies, but we are working on a draft of Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and some of these other ones we’ve been talking about for a while. Ant-Man I’m hoping we can get off the ground sometime soon. If these first group of films – “phase one” of this Avengers saga starting with Iron Man and ending with Avengers – has an overarching theme, which it does. As people sort of watch all the movies together and then watch The Avengers movie, they’ll see this big picture we’ve been building towards… we have started working on the bones and structure and threading for a phase two. It does start with Iron Man 3 and if it all works – which we hope it does – culminates in another Avengers film.”

In short…the Marvel Cinematic universe ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.

There wasn’t a lot of DC Comics news at NY Comic Con oddly enough (A Geoff Johns scripted/Gary Frank illustrated Shazam! series is coming as a back up in Justice League next year, but that’s pretty much it as far as major surprises) but therewas a hint dropped by DC animated movies producer Bruce Timm as to an upcoming possible animated film….it seems Blackest Night could be coming sometime soon….

Ok, that’s a wrap on NY Comic Con…on to Hollywood news for the week….

Matt Reeves To Direct The Twilight Zone For Warner Brothers

Though various names had been bandied about in recent weeks, including Christopher Nolan (yeah right) Michael Bay (huh?? Really?) and Alfonso Cuaron, it looks like the directing gig for Warner Brother’s upcoming Twilight Zone movie is Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. Not much is known about the movie, except that it will not be an adaptation of any episodes, or be an anthology movie like the 1983 movie was. In other words, it will be an all new story aping the name Twilight Zone, and have nothing to do with Rod Serling’s classic television series. While I’m all for big budget original material on the big screen, why even call this The Twilight Zone then? *Sigh* In any case, Matt Reeves’ remake of Let the Right One In was shockingly good, but no one saw it, so I imagine he must come cheap right now for Warner Brothers. At least he’s cheap and talented.

Hey, Remember Micronauts? No?? Well, They’re Getting A Movie Anyway.

Before Transformers were everyone’s little robot toys of choice, there were The Micronauts. These robots weren’t from outer space like the the Autobots though, they were from inner space. Which is actually kinda gross when you think about it. Anyway, much like Transformers in the 80’s, both toy lines originated in Japan, then were brought to North America and re-branded to greater success by an American toy company. Both lines had long running Marvel Comics series as well. But Micronauts only lasted as a toy line from 1976-1980, when the Mego Toy Company cancelled the still popular line. It should be noted that prior to the early 80’s, the American government had a strict ban on kid’s programming being nothing but glorified commercials for toys. This ban that was lifted during the Reagan years, allowing for my childhood to be filled with 30 minute toy ads pretending to be stories, a trend which continues today. Had Micronauts had the advantage of a cartoon, it might have had the longevity of Transformers. Or at least Go-Bots.

In any case, with the popularity of the Transformers movies, current Micronauts rights holder Hasbro and Paramount are looking to launch this property to the big screen as well. And in my humble opinion, they are putting them in better hands than Transformers ever was with Michael Bay; it looks like Micronauts are getting not only JJ Abrams as their producer, but now have Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the writers behind Zombieland, working on the script. These two also wrote a much loved script for Deadpool, one that if Fox has any brains they will actually make one day. And unlike Transformers, this property doesn’t have nearly the same fervent following, meaning Wernick and Rheese can pretty much do whatever they want with it, and maybe only piss off a couple of angry guys in their 40’s who run a Micronauts fan site. On the negative flip side of that, almost no one under forty even remembers this property, so this one will rely on the name brand of JJ Abrams more than the name brand of the toys.

Bryan Singer’s Battlestar Gets Some Traction

It appears that director Bryan Singer’s long gestating big screen version of Battlestar Galactica may be finally coming closer to fruition. It was announced on Deadline.com that Singer has hired screenwriter John Orloff to write the script for a Battlestar reboot for Universal. I like Singer’s work a lot, but this really seems like a stupid ass idea. BSG was JUST rebooted not even a decade ago, and only ended last year. In fact, a new prequel series called Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is set to debut next year on the SyFy Channel. So what… Universal is going to have two competing Battlestar continuities at the same time?? *ugh* I have a migraine now. Look, say what you will about the last few seasons of Battlestar (yes, I’m looking at you Jonathan London…and I’m not saying I don’t agree btw) but the first couple seasons of BSG are as good as it gets…why re-do the whole destruction of Caprica/exodus of the 12 colonies story again so soon? Jesus, wait at least a decade or so. Next thing ya know, they’ll be introducing a concept and rebooting it at the same time.

Akira Finally Gets The Greenlight

After more stops and starts than thought humanly possible, it looks like Warner Brothers decided to shit and not get off the pot (to use vulgar slang) and finally commit to producing the live action adaptation of manga/anime classic Akira for producer Leonardo Dicaprio. The studio finally made it all official with a greenlight for a $90 million dollar budget and a spring 2012 start date this week. Jaume Collett-Serra (Unknown) is directing, and Warner’s press release even has a synopsis for the Steve Kloves (Harry Potter) written script:

“Set in New Manhattan, the cyberpunk sci-fi epic follows the leader of a biker gang who must save his friend, discovered with potentially destructive psychokintetic abilities from government medical experiments.”

Ok, so aside from “New Manhattan” replacing “Neo Tokyo,” this sounds about right, doesn’t it? Well, ok besides that there is also the sad fact that with this being set in America now and not Japan this means this will be another ethnic white-wash like the live action version of The Last Airbender was (at least in the leads…I imagine the title character of Akira will still be Asian, ’cause I don’t know a lot of white folk with that name) Now for the really bad news: One of the two lead roles, either Tetsuo or Kaneda, is being offered to Garrett Hedlund, star of TRON: Legacy. God only knows why. Look, I liked TRON…it was pretty and had an awesome score. And as far as I’m concerned, Hedlund is sex on a stick; when I die and go to Heaven I hope I get ten identical copies of him to do with as I please. But the guy can’t act his way out of a grocery bag. Are there really NO actors in Hollywood who are sexy and appealing and can also act?? Is Hollywood really this desperate for good leading men? Color me worried for this one.

Zombieland Might Be Coming To TV

Looks like plans for a Zombieland sequel are currently cancelled in favor of a television series instead. The script for Zombieland was originally conceived of a pilot for television after all, so this transition doesn’t seem so ill fitting. And with the success of The Walking Dead, we all knew another zombie show was coming sooner or later. This version is being produced by Fox, but I have a hunch that this is being targeted more towards FX than the actual Fox Network. I can’t image in the broadcast television censors would allow for that much gore, even in this day and age.

One thing is sure: If this show goes through, they NEED Woody Harrelson as Twinkie loving zombie killer Tallahassee. Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg have their movie stardom on the ascend right now, so there is no chance they will reprise their roles, but Zombieland was Harrelson’s comeback after a string of flops, and I could see him doing a series again for television, especially if its on cable. You can re-cast the others, but Harrelson owns Tallahassee. I imagine we will be hearing more about this project sooner rather than later, maybe even in time for the 2012-13 season.