Comicscape - July 26, 2006

By: KURT AMACKER
Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Here's the obligatory San Diego Comic Con aftermath column. I wasn't able to make it this year for financial reasons, but I can't really ignore the event and the announcements that came out of it. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I can still read about it and then write this week's COMICSCAPE like I was really there. And, I can do it for free, without the airfare, fleabag motel, and 125,000 costumed fanboys to contend with for breathing room. Actually, I really wanted to go, but I couldn't justify it. But, I can still chime in on some of the highlights with my usual acerbic mixture of wit and brilliance. For next week, e-mail me at kurtamacker@yahoo.com or comicscape@cinescape.com to speculate about the coming year in comics. Also, if you went to Comic Con and you want to talk about the event itself, feel free to write, too. If you want to complain about the long lines for food or the horrible body odor on that guy dressed as Lobo, let us know. If Robert Kirkman called you out, let us know. And, before you dive in, I realize this column is pretty incomplete. So much happens at Comic Con, that I couldn't possibly do it justice. In fact, I hated every second of writing it, because it feels like a gossip column ripped out of PEOPLE or something. Thankfully, I didn't write anything like "Item! Angelina Jolie laughed when she heard that Jennifer Aniston cried!" That said, I'd like to thank Newsarama for their very detailed coverage, which provided virtually all of this information.


First, let's make with the movies. Everyone complains that San Diego has become a Hollywood expo, so let's get the obvious out of the way. Both director Zach Snyder and Frank Miller touted the forthcoming 300, adapted from the latter's Dark Horse graphic novel. The comic and the film tell the story of Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartans held off the army of Emperor Xerxes of Persia long enough to prevent the latter from taking ancient Greece. Unfortunately, I've yet to read the comic, but it's supposedly among Miller's best work, as I'm sure someone will tell me in a thoroughly condescending e-mail. Anyway, Snyder directed the surprisingly good DAWN OF THE DEAD remake from 2004, and he's slated to direct WATCHMEN. Though Miller didn't co-direct 300 as he did SIN CITY, his public approval bodes well. It's great to see Hollywood adapting more non-superhero comics.

But, fear not, lovers of spandex. DC announced a batch of direct-to-DVD animated features based on some of its most popular story arcs. At con, the publisher announced three upcoming titles -- SUPERMAN/DOOMSDAY, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, and THE NEW TEEN TITANS: THE JUDAS CONTRACT. The mighty Bruce Timm will oversee the projects. But, rather than fit the movies into continuity with any of the current DC cartoons, they will stand alone as adaptations. The animation will closely resemble the source material, some of the original creative teams will be involved, and the films will all carry a PG-13 rating. Give your kids the Cartoon Network's TEEN TITANS. These movies are for you.

On the live action front, Bryan Singer, as expected, announced his plans to direct the sequel to SUPERMAN RETURNS for 2009. I doubt that shocks anyone, but great news, nonetheless. Guillermo del Toro might direct 2008's DEADMAN film, but that remains undecided. DC also announced DOOM PATROL with God help us Akiva Goldsman producing, but with no release date as of yet. I guess we haven't learned anything from BATMAN AND ROBIN.

In light of its announcement to act as its own production company on several properties, Marvel has begun active development on NICK FURY, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and THOR. SHAUN OF THE DEAD director Edgar Wright will helm ANT-MAN, which he promises to take very seriously. Jon Favreau writer of SWINGERS, director of MADE, and actor of Foggy Nelson in DAREDEVIL -- will direct IRON MAN. Favreau said he wants the film to have the feel of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller more than that of an effects-driven science-fiction film. Louis Leterrier of THE TRANSPORTER fame will direct THE INCREDIBLE HULK, which might be a remake, but sounds more like a very loose sequel to the first film. The film won't re-present the Hulk's origin, but it will bring a markedly different tone than the first film you know, more smashing. Thankfully, it looks like the recent spate of lackluster Marvel films hasn't meant the wane of the comic movie boom. I just hope the next few beat the last few. FANTASTIC FOUR must never happen again. Oh wait, it already is.

On the Marvel Comics front (you know, the books with the pictures and word balloons), the House of Ideas reassured everyone that things won't return to normal following CIVIL WAR. I'll believe that in a year or two. They also reiterated to anyone that hasn't paid attention to the hints for the past six months that Spider-Man may realize he's on the wrong side. Whoops, big spoiler there. Brian Michael Bendis and Frank Cho will work on MIGHTY AVENGERS together, to hit the shops late 2006 or early 2007. As opposed to the conspiracy-laden NEW AVENGERS, the new ongoing title will feature a separate team in huge, global action pieces. Color me skeptical, but I don't think the Avengers title we've already got is all that good. I think Bendis does his best work in noir and crime titles, though I've always liked his ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN stuff, too. Frankly, I don't think a second title will accomplish anything other than send us one step closer down the road to another 1990's crash. In slightly more uplifting news, Jeph Loeb and kick-ass Italian artist Simone Bianchi will take the reigns on WOLVERINE for a six-issue arc, beginning with #50. They promise to finally clear up some of the back-story between Wolverine and Sabertooth. I wasn't a huge fan of Loeb's run on SUPERMAN/BATMAN, but I generally like his work and I'm excited about this.

In October of this year, Bendis, Loeb, and J. Michael Straczynski will bring us ULTIMATE POWER. If you haven't heard, the Ultimate Universe will cross over with that of Straczynski's SQUADRON SUPREME. Given the years of "will they or won't they?" speculation about a 616 and Ultimate Universe crossover, it's an interesting choice, but I look forward to it. In continuity, it takes place after Jeph Loeb's upcoming ULTIMATES 3, but before Ed McGuinness's ULTIMATES 4. In less exciting news, Loeb will also write ONSLAUGHT REBORN with redheaded stepchild, Rob Liefeld. Look for that (or don't) this December. Or, you could just pick up the first issue of Warren Ellis's newuniversal instead, which comes out around the same time. In news that probably no one but me cares about, Mark Guggenheim current writer of WOLVERINE -- will pen the new BLADE series, which will feature two stories per issue one in the past and one in the present. I wonder if he'll retain old school Blade's very dated '70s getup. I really hope this works out, because it really hasn't since Marvel cancelled TOMB OF DRACULA. And, in a story-cramming move akin to Warren Ellis's FELL, Robert Kirkman promises that his new ANT-MAN will have a lot of 16-panel pages to pack each issue with story. Given Kirkman's very strong presence in the industry, I may have to pick this one up. Marvel's Masterworks line will go monthly in 2007. I have no idea how they're going to pull that off, but it's good news for anyone that digs Silver Age stuff. Joe Quesada also says that DAREDEVIL: FATHER #6 will hit the shelves shortly, as soon as it's drawn. He also has a four-issue Spider-Man miniseries in the works with Straczynski. Look for all of those sometime in 2009.

In DC news, the publisher announced that Adam Hughes will write and draw ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN for sometime in 2007. I think the All-Star line has a lot of potential, and DC ought to take advantage of the good will earned by ALL-STAR SUPERMAN. Spinning out of BRAVE NEW WORLD, DC seems prepared to push Captain Marvel through the next year with two separate miniseries -- THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM and CAPTAIN MARVELL AND THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL. All of the BRAVE NEW WORLD titles, with the exception of THE ALL NEW ATOM, will ship as limited series, possibly to continue as ongoing ones. I still think DC has kind of overwhelmed readers with its innumerable umbrella story arcs -- COUNTDOWN, then INFINITE CRISIS, then AFTERMATH, and now BRAVE NEW WORLD. I realize that DC doesn't have a gun to anyone's head, but flooding the market never works. But, in a move to decrease confusion, DC has a forthcoming project that will clarify all of the new continuity issues wrought by INFINITE CRISIS. That's probably a good idea.

In Superman news, Geoff Johns and say it with me now Richard Donner will write ACTION COMICS beginning in October. Holy hell, does that rock. If nothing else, it should pique everyone's curiosity. Grant Morrison will write BATMAN with less grit and more humor and humanity. Normally, I would cry foul, but Morrison usually can do whatever he wants. I have spoken. In sadder news, Brad Meltzer will only write 12 issues of the new JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. I really like Meltzer's take on the team in IDENTITY CRISIS, and I'd hoped he would remain on the title longer than that. Still, we can hope. And, SEVEN SOLDIERS #1 the finale to Grant Morrison's epic will come out in October. I've been saving that whole series for months, and now I've got to wait three more before I can write a column about it. I've heard it's great. It won an Eisner. I want to read it, but DC won't let me.

On the Vertigo front, a new FABLES anthology entitled 1,001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL should be out soon, with a prestigious cast of artists contributing, including James Jean, Mark Buckingham, and William Michael Kaluta. We'll finally learn how all the men died in Y: THE LAST MAN #50, and then the series will wrap at #60. If you haven't jumped on the Y train by now, you're probably better off waiting until the series wraps, and then starting with the trades. Still, you clearly have no taste. Vertigo also has a slew of standalone graphic novels and miniseries coming up, including David Lapham's SILVERFISH, Brian K. Vaughan's PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, and Gilbert Hernandez's SLOTH. And, for all of your gloomy Goth girls out there, SANDMAN will get the Absolute edition treatment (oversized, bonus material, very expensive) with the first of four volumes this November. At least DC didn't break it into 11 volumes, like the trade paperbacks. Just kidding, I totally love SANDMAN and almost everything I own is black.

Wildstorm has a really cool looking re-launch of WILDC.A.T.s written by Grant Morrison, with Jim Lee drawing what promises to be a unique vision of the series. This makes me wish I hadn't ignored this series for years. Alan Moore's final work for Wildstorm, THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: THE BLACK DOSSIER, will finally come out in October of this year. The story follows the still-young Mina and Allen Quatermain as they search for the Black Dossier a mysterious tome that relays the history of the League. The early buzz on this one is very strong, but you probably figured that. And, in a move no one saw coming, Wildstorm has acquired the comic rights to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13TH, and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. Freddy Kruger's ongoing series will premiere in October from Chuck Dixon and Kevin West. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmioti will take care of Jason Voorhees in January, but it's unclear whether it's a miniseries or an ongoing. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will write a sequel to the New Line remake of Leatherface's little adventure that should hit the shops around December, in conjunction with the film's prequel.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much news from Dark Horse. Seriously, I'm not trying to give them the shaft, but there weren't any huge announcements. Image fared a little better, with some hype for this week's #0 issue of THE SAVAGE DRAGON, along with a future appearance by some of Mark Millar's WANTED characters. Monster man Steve Niles has moved his tale of cannibal horror, LONG PIG from Boom! to Image. I've been waiting for that one for a while, but you probably figured that. I'm also really damn excited about William Harms's upcoming IMPALER series, featuring my main man, Vlad Dracula. God, I'm such a cliché. But, the highlight of all things Image at Comic Con had to have been Robert Kirkman's throwing down the gauntlet to Todd McFarlane. At the Todd McFarlane Productions panel, Kirkman asked McFarlane why he couldn't create any new comics. When McFarlane didn't answer satisfactorily, Kirkman asked him if he wanted to collaborate on a book. When McFarlane told Kirkman to talk to his editor and thanked him for making money for Image, the latter replied, "Someone has to." As acidic as that sounds, the two shook hands afterwards, so no harm done.

That's it for this week! Send me your e-mails about Con, and feel free to highlight anything I missed.

The Spinner Rack
By Kurt Amacker

I have no idea what happened to Al this week, but some FBI agents came by my place the other day and started asking all these questions about someone named Alberto Marrón. They wouldn't say what he did, but apparently many otters died in the process. I can only assume Al's disappearance is completely unrelated.

DARK HORSE COMICS

MUSEUM OF TERROR VOL 1 TP (MR) $13.95

PATHFINDER TP $19.95

STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #7 $2.99

TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 9 TP $9.95

DC COMICS

52 WEEK #12 $2.50
DC's weekly juggernaut keeps rolling. Last issue we saw Batwoman in action. This has really been pretty good.

ACTION COMICS #841 $2.99

AMERICAN WAY #6 (OF 8) $2.99

ASTRO CITY SAMARITAN SPECIAL $3.99

BATMAN #655 $2.99
Grant Morrison begins his run on Batman. If you have a shred of taste, you'll jump all over this.

BATMAN VAR EDITION #655 $2.99
And, if you have a shred of self-respect, you'll only buy one copy.

BIRDS OF PREY #96 $2.99

BLUE BEETLE #5 $2.99

CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #23 $2.25

CRISIS AFTERMATH THE SPECTRE #3 (OF 3) $2.99

HAWKGIRL #54 $2.99

HELLBLAZER ALL HIS ENGINES SC (MR) $14.99
John Constantine goes to Los Angeles. This was released in conjunction with the oh-so-mediocre CONSTANTINE film, but it's a great read.

JACK OF FABLES #1 (MR) $2.99

JLA CLASSIFIED #25 $2.99
"Wanted: Teammates that won't wipe your mind if you happen to disagree. Serious inquiries only."

JSA CLASSIFIED #14 $2.99

KAMIKAZE KAITO JEANNE VOL 4 $9.99

LOVELESS #9 (MR) $2.99

LUCIFER VOL 10 MORNINGSTAR TP (MR) $14.99
If we were in a bar and someone mentioned this book and I was loaded, I'd start singing this one song off of DANZIG 4 called "Son of the Morningstar." Then, you'd probably get embarrassed and leave. That's so typical of you.

NEIL GAIMANS NEVERWHERE #8 (OF 9) (MR) $2.99
"Quoth the Gaimain, 'Neverwhere.'"

NIGHTWING #122 $2.99

SUPERGIRL #8 (RES) $2.99
The cover of this issue is just...uh...amazing. Seriously, check out the focal point. It's rack-tastic.

TEEN TITANS GO #33 $2.25

TEEN TITANS VOL 5 LIFE AND DEATH TP $14.99
I think I can safely recommend this one between your two choices this week.

TENRYU THE DRAGON CYCLE VOL 6 $9.99

TESTAMENT AKEDAH TP (MR) $9.99

WARLORD #6 $2.99

WONDER WOMAN MISSIONS END TP $19.99

IMAGE COMICS

AFTERWORKS VOL 2 GN $24.99

BATTLE POPE COLOR #9 (RES) (MR) $3.50

FEAR AGENT #6 (RES) $2.99

GODLAND #12 $2.99
Where? Utah? Here comes the hate mail.

LOOKING GLASS WARS HATTER M 2ND PTG #1 (OF 4) $3.99

REVVED #1 $2.99

ROCKETO #10 $3.99

SAVAGE DRAGON #0 $1.95
It's amazing how comic publishers defy both physics and philosophy by creating an object that theoretically can't occupy physical space, yet does. Man, I'm having a Keanu-in-THE-MATRIX moment. Whoa.

SHE DRAGON #1 $5.99
Wait until after the honeymoon, Al.

SIDEKICK #2 (OF 5) $3.50

SPAWN #158 $2.95
Didn't that Todd McDonald guy create this or something? Doesn't he run a toy factory now?

MARVEL COMICS

ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #7 $3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #534 CW $2.99

ANNIHILATION RONAN #4 (OF 4) $2.99

AVENGERS & POWER PACK ASSEMBLE #4 (OF 4) $2.99
Cap makes balloons for the kids! Al hides in the bushes and leers!

BLACK PANTHER #18 CW $3.99

BLACK PANTHER TURNER VAR #18 $3.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA #20 $2.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA RED MENACE VOL 1 TP $11.99
That time of the month again.

CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #4 (OF 10) $2.99
You know, this has turned out way better than I expected. Marvel should just keep a pool of other HELLBLAZER alumni to write these big projects.

CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #1 (OF 4) $2.99
All right, so it's not Brian K. Vaughan, but I'm getting it anyway, because RUNAWAYS is just that damn good.

DAREDEVIL #87 $2.99
I know this whole thing with Daredevil and the Punisher setting aside their differences to fight a greater evil has been done to death, but Brubaker's run just rocks so hard that I'm excited about it again.

DEATHS HEAD 3.0 UNNATURAL SELECTION TP $13.99

EXILES #84 $2.99

FANTASTIC FOUR BOOKS OF DOOM PREMIERE HC $19.99

MARVEL MASTERWORKS CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 3 HC VAR ED $54.99
For those that want to give Marvel just a little bit more of their money.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL 3 NEW ED HC $49.99

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT ROBERT KIRKMAN GREG LAND $2.99

NEW AVENGERS #22 CW $2.99
I'm sure "CW" stands for CIVIL WAR, but it'd be better if it said "C-"

NEW EXCALIBUR VOL 1 DEFENDERS OF THE REALM TP $17.99

POWERS #19 (MR) $2.95

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #8 $2.99

STORM #6 (OF 6) $2.99
"Six of six! The number of the Storm!" All right, that was beyond lame. See what happens when Al goes on the run?

ULTIMATE MARVEL FLIP MAGAZINE #15 $4.99

ULTIMATE TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #15 $4.99
Has anyone ever figured out what the hell these things are?

WOLVERINE #44 CW $2.99
Continuing Mark Guggenheim and Humberto Ramos's surprisingly good CIVIL WAR arc about Wolverine going off to kick Nitro's ass.

X-MEN #189 $2.99

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at comicscape@cinescape.com.