Leaked Wonder Woman Pilot

WW Pilot

If you want, you can go here watch the pilot for Wonder Woman. It is very obvious why this didn't get picked up. It is a shame that someone who knew Wonder Woman didn't have more input into this.

Deadman TV Series or Where have all the good superhero TV series gone?

So they are working on a Deadman TV series to kind of replace the Smallville market on The CW. The writer and executive producer will be Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. I have never seen the show, but it lasted 7 seasons and had a large following.  At first, I am excited to see this come to television.  There are not enough good superhero TV shows around.  I watched Smallville early on, but didn't really get into it, but in the later seasons they started bringing in other heroes and now I want to see those. Especially the episodes with big name comic book writers like Geoff Johns.

Deadman first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967), and was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino.  His real name is Boston Brand, and when he was murdered his spirit stayed around so he could find his killer. He is basically a ghost that can jump into people's bodies and then control them.  As I joked with someone before, almost like a Quantum Leap style, except he can come and go from a body as often as he likes. 

Part of the problem is that the WB already tried to cash in on the Smallville hype back in the early season with a TV showed called Birds of Prey based on the comic of the same name. Except like most TV series, things get changed too much, and the only thing they kept was that Barbra Gordon used to be Batgirl until she was crippled and then became the tech/hacker hero known as Oracle.  On the other hand you have The Huntress as Helena Kyle, the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, but had superhuman powers which Batman and Catwoman should not have.

My concern comes with the number of bad or at least poor superhero TV shows that have been around lately.  If this continues too much more, no one will give a superhero a chance.  As I see it now, I don't know how this show will make it. The recent Wonder Woman, at first, looked like it had a chance, but
once people started seeing the pilot, those hopes and dreams went out the window.  The character was drastically changed and seemed to just have poor writing.

This past year we had two superhero shows actually make it on air.  NBC's The Cape which was cancelled within about 10 episodes airing, and ABC's No Ordinary Family which has also been cancelled, but made it a whole 20 episode season. Even Summer Glau being on The Cape couldn't save it, but of course her just being on a show doesn't seem to bode well for said show. No Ordinary Family  was OK, and definitely the better out of the two shows, but even it struggled a bit too much to tell a story.  I watched probably about 4 episodes a piece of these two series.

If we jump back a few more years, we had Heroes which had a create first season, and people were excited about watching superheroes again.  Then in the second season is when the writer's strike happened and only had 11 episodes.  Most people weren't even aware this lasted 2 more seasons.  The 4th season wasn't even fully allowed to finish and was rushed to an ending with 19 episodes.

In the beginning of the 90s, we had two big shows, The Flash and Lois and Clark. The Flash only lasted one season, and watching it again, it feels very 80s.  Lois and Clark at least lasted 4 seasons, and actually tied into the comic world when they got married both on the show and in the comics.

The 60s and 70s had a lot of bad shows, but it also brought us some of the most well known superhero shows as well.  Adam West's Batman. Linda Carter's Wonder Woman. Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby's Hulk/Bruce Banner. And my personal favorite, even if it only lasted one season, Green Hornet with Bruce Lee as Kato.

The good shows have been very few and far between.  A big problem, even more lately it seems, is that Hollywood has been trying to change too much from what the comis were based on.  Birds of Prey and the new Wonder Woman are prime examples of this.  Very little is recognizable between the comic and the show, and this will alienate your built in audience that will come because of the comic.

On a tangent note, I will like to mention the Locke & Key pilot.  This is another show that is based on a comic and was up this past summer to get picked up for the upcoming TV season, but like Wonder Woman was not picked up, but unlike Wonder Woman was actually good.  This is not a superhero comic, but a horror comic written by Joe Hill, who is also the son of Steven King and hence the connection to horror writing. It is a pretty good series that I recommend, but here is the trailer for the show.






Are there any other good or bad superhero TV shows anyone remembers well?

Who knew Spider-Man liked to surf?

The interviewer/weather person takes this a bit to seriously. More Spider-Man related questions should have been asked. At least Spider-Man is aware he "isn't being very smart today."

Why Marvel Annoys me?

First, for the past year or so, whenever there has been a big event in a comic, like who will die in the Fantastic Four, or more recently being who the new Ultimate Spider-Man is going to be, they have been sending out information on Tuesday to news organizations so they can spoil it for all of the comic readers before they get to the store on Wednesday.

It is almost has bad if the night before a Harry Potter book came out, Rowling came out and told you what happens.  Except for some reason, in the comic industry, this seems to have been making sales stronger for these issues.   More people going to the comic shop to buy a book that they already know what is going to happen. Ultimately I think it is a ploy to cash in on the "Death of Superman" days, where everyone was rushing to comic shops to have a special collector's item to sell years down the line, but the comic industry is past that time.

Secondly is stuff like has happened in Fear Itself. As with most people, I'm tired of Marvel events. They seem to be happening every six months. This time however they put out a lot of promotional pictures, like ones I posted  before, and end up having nothing to do with the book at all.  The question is why. Why put this out? Why create the image at all? Why get people's hope up that Cyclops will become the new Magneto.

Neither of these two images had anything to do with Fear Itself, and these were the only ones which would have got me to read the book. Glad I stopped with issue one of Blackest Night Marvel Edition. More Fear Itself misinformation from Newsarama

Granted, these are just the two more recent issues, and there are actually a number more, but that is for another day.

The DC New 52

So starting next month in September, actually August 31st, DC will cancel all of their books, and start everything over with new 52 at a new #1. Many new books will be around, but many favorites have been dropped.

In some form or another, I will attempt to read each of the #1, and hopefully give a review of each one.

Here are the ones I'm looking forward too.

 Action Comics.  Supes is back to being a bit younger, talking about his early days in Metropolis as Superman.  Written By Grant Morrison

                                                                  Barbara Gordon has now had some miraculous recovery and is no longer confined to a wheelchair as the hacker based hero, Oracle. Written by Gail Simone

Flash
by Francis Manapul
(was in town for NOLA Comic Con and seemed cool)
                                                          
                   




                                                  




Wonder Woman
by Brain Azzarello

Aquaman
          by Geoff Johns









Demon Knights

                                 Justice League  and Justice League Dark

                            Resurrection Man and Suicide Squad

Hopefully starting next Thursday, I can start reading some of these. Justice League starts Aug 31st.

Mr. Freeze in upcoming Arkham City

I can't help but feel this game will be awesome. At least it better be at this point.

Mr. Freeze voiced by the talented Maurice LaMarche. If you don't know who he is, please check out his wiki. There is a very good chance you have heard him before, like The Brain from Pinky and the Brain, Morbo/Calculon/Kif from Futurama, Jermey Hawke from The Critic, and various GI Joe characters from the 80s. This guy has done EVERYTHING I watched as a kid and plenty of things even today.

Awesome Lantern Corp Art

 Kid Liger over at Deviant Art.

I would love to have a larger version of this and put it up somewhere. Or maybe the original without Black Hand or Boston Brand.

Here is the original:

New Captain America Trailer

This makes the movie look a bit more interesting, BUT the weird CGI midget of Chris Evens Pre-Captain America is a little too weird.

The Costumes of Wonder Woman

For the most part, Wonder Woman has had very little costume changes over the years, but sometime last year she had her first major change, and then this week was announced another look for the upcoming TV series.


This was her first look from when she first appeared in the '40s.

The next costume was pretty close to the original, and the Lynda Carter costume is just a slight meld between the two, even though they are pretty close to begin with. This is the costume that most people recognize, and the one that was used in the animated series.



Now comes the costumes from a change in the series last year.  It is vastly different, and it has been a major controversy for awhile, with what seems like the majority just flat out hating it.  I don't hate it that much, it could be a little better, but nothing anger worthy.

Finally we have the one from the new TV Series that has been announce through at "first look" at an action figure.  It again seems to be a mix of the one that last decades and the newest one.




So far the news on the TV Series has been every where.  People love it, people hate it, as with any change.  What are your feelings on it?


Since the costume change of last year, new organizations have been saying that it was only to get away from the patriotic American look to a more generic one.  Not saying they aren't wrong, they have the same issue with the upcoming Captain America movie.  The title here and most places is Captain America: The First Avenger and in other places it will just be called The First Avenger.

Gordon Levitt playing Alberto Falcone

A while back it was announced that Levitt would play a role in the next Batman movie, but nothing as to who.  Finally, yesterday we get the news of Alberto Falcone, the son of Carmine Falcone who was played by Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins.  I won't go into too much detail so I don't give anything away, but Alberto also plays a larger role in Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory (a follow up to Long Halloween).  If you have read at least  The Long Halloween and you like Batman, you should definitely pick it up and it may reveal some story of the upcoming movie.

EDIT:
So a day after Variety releases a story about him playing Falcone, Entertainment Weekly claims that it is untrue, but not listing who is actually is.  At this point no confirmation except for the fact that he is in the movie. 

Will Eisner's Birthday

Google is celebrating today with this image.

As you some of you may have been able to figure out. Will Eisner is probably my all time favorite comic book writers.  He brought us the first published "Graphic Novel", and got it actually treated like a real book in an age where people believe that comics were only for children.

 These two statues sit on my bookshelf side by side, and they will probably always be that way.  Two my favorite hobbies, comic books and video games, next to each other, but also the definitive icons of the corresponding genres that got me into each of them.  Will Eisner's first volume of Spirit comics, and Zelda, Link's Awakening.  I probably played Zelda and read the first volume of The Spirit within the a year or so of each other.  Both go on nearing 20 years, of still influencing my life.

It brings me plenty of joy to have Google honoring Will Eisner, especially when most people outside of the comic book industry don't know who he is.

Here is Stan Lee interviewing Will Eisner.











On an ending note, here that first comic book published as a whole book and started publishing to accept it as a true medium.  The original printing from 1978 and only 1500 were printed.

Joshua's Comic Journalizations: Fear Itself and Blackest Night, A Saving Grace

Joshua's Comic Journalizations: Fear Itself and Blackest Night, A Saving Grace: "A non-mainstream hero has his mythology expanded upon as an ancient enemy unleashes variants of the hero's signature weapon. No, this is not..."


More information comes out and the more it looks like Fear Itself will be a Blackest Night clone.

Preview for FF #1 - Out March 23rd

Here are the first 3 pages of FF #1 out next month.  I have never been a big Fantastic Four fan, but this isn't the Fantastic Four anymore, its the Future Foundation.  Why the name change since Johnny (Human Torch) was been killed off (for now of course) I got no idea, but they bring in Spidey to make 4.  Hickman continues to write on the new book as well as Epting still on as the artist.

 

 

Full Thor Trailer is Finally Released, and it looks good

I much prefer this trailer to the one that was shown during the Super Bowl. It may actually turn out well. We need more good comic book movies.

DC Universe Online - Review

 

Quick note before I start. I actually started this weeks ago, sometime around 23-25 of January and just got caught up in other things and forgot to finish this.  If you don't feel like reading this, just watch the videos (again if you like DC Comics).

First of all is the monthly fee. $15 a month (or slightly cheaper if you pay in full for 3, 6 or 12 months ahead of time) is not something easily to deal with and its a reason I won't play it for very long.  

I enjoy this game, its fun, has a lot of options to build your character, but I can't fully recommend this game to someone.  If you like the DCU (DC Comics Universe), this game is so much fun.  You get to run missions and talk to some of the classic heroes and villains of the DCU. 

You have movie clips here and there, especially when finishing a story arc, or starting massive missions.  What really does it for this game is the voice acting to go along with all of these scenes and mission text (which are almost all spoken to you).  

Lets start with the big names.  It brings back Kevin Conroy as Batman (the voice of Batman from Batman TAS), and also Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Two big names from the DCU cartoon franchise.  Then you have Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres playing Superman and Wonder Woman respectively. Both are from the great show Firefly by Joss Whedon, but also neither are new two the DCU either as both voiced character on the Justice League cartoon as Hal Jordan and Vixen.  As not to keep going, there is James Marsters (of Buffy fame) playing Lex Luthor, and Wil Wheaton as Robin.  They went all out on the voices for this game, and they do make the game very enjoyable for someone who loves the DC Universe.

 Jim Lee and Geoff Johns from DC Comics helped with most of the stories for the missions. So you know that they are well done.  I have enjoyed most of the mission stories the first time around, but I started playing a Hero and a Villain, and each one had "reverse" missions of the other.  At one point Batman tells you to go help Robin take down Harley Quinn, and when you get to the end, Harley has Robin handcuffed and you have to fight her, and as a Villain its the reverse, the Joker sends you in and Robin is handcuffing Harley at the end.  So if you are playing both sides concurrently it can get a bit repetitive.

Now for the gameplay. This is where I think this game hurts.  Its fun, but its simple, it is based on simple left and right clicks of the mouse and a few hits of the row keys to activate some powers.  It acts more like an action game than a RPG which is kind of disappointing to me.  Left Mouse Button is more a close attack and Right Mouse Button a range attack, and this game uses the clicks between left and right and clicks and holds of the button to preform combos.

Another flaw to me is the communication in the game and trying to find teammates. For one a team can only consist of 5 remembers which seems a little small, but that really doesn't matter.  Its is the typing communication that suffers. As the mouse has become and integral part of the game and added that the game feels like a port from the PS3, the communication is more encourage to be through a microphone with a headset.  You don't always want to listen to other people (at least I don't) and sometimes I just prefer to type. Where you can in this game, its just made as easily as it could be, as easy as it is in other games.

The end game stuff seems like a lot of fun as well. The max level is only 30, and if just a few weeks if you played enough you could get there easily.  Lots of battles against duos and groups that you really just can't handle solo.  Most of the bosses are so difficult that beating them solo is rough.

Overall I like the game, but as I said before, right now there are too many weird things in the game that I'm not sure will keep me playing, so I can't recommend it for others.


Finally on to the movies posted.  The top is the opening to the game and the that was released.  The second is come out last week (so it is good I slacked on this a bit), and it kind of a follow up to that one and in that movies timeline as well.

Jim Lee - the Fastest Hands in Comics

Jim Lee (@jimlee00) Posted this on youtube a few weeks ago

This is a very sped up clip of me messing around on my iPad. Original video was 20 mins in length; it usually takes me about 60-80 mins to get one of these pieces done using @sketchbookpro. I prefer using my finger to a stylus of any sort--makes it more fun. I honestly have to say this piece was not going in the direction I wanted so I stopped and got back to real work : ) but you get a general sense of how I layer on colors and work positive and negative shapes back and forth to get edges...like in painting.

He is one of my current favorite artists out there right now and is currently the Co-publisher along with Dan DiDio at DC Comics.  To the left is some of his more iconic poses for the two Bats and Supes, and used for a number of images and statues. 

Shot of New Spidey

So the new picture of Spider-Man in a full suit was released today.  For some reason it reminds me of 2099 with a little bit of Ultimate's look thrown in.  Either way, it looks good, still waiting for another shot, but it seems like they are doing a more Ultimates line with the new movie and making him younger.

X-Men First Class Trailer Finally Released

X-Men First Class Trailer




It looks alright so far. What do you think?

Trailers for "Cowboys & Aliens" and "Transformers" Instead

Cowboys and Aliens



Transformers: Dark of the Moon (that seems like a terrible name)

Transformers 'Dark of The Moon' Super Bowl Trailer (720p) from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Thor and Captain American Trailers

EDIT: So Yahoo has already taken down or moved the vidoes in less than 12 hours. When I get a chance tonight I will find them again.

Both of these aired during the Super Bowl, in case you missed them or want to watch them again.

Cap

I liked the trailer, he talked a little bit at one point and I got a little worried he is going to sound too much like the "surfer dude" like Johnny Storm, but other than that, it was good.


Thor

This trailer tells me nothing. It really is nothing but flash -> action -> flash -> action. There is a hammer and he picks it up.

Wonder Woman coming to NBC....Hopefully or Unfortunately

David E. Kelly (of Doogie Howser fame and numerous courtroom dramas) wants to reboot the Wonder Woman TV Series.  He has been the writer on a lot of TV shows, more than you realize, but what seems to be a majority are courtroom dramas like The Practice, Ally McBeal, and LA Law, and a couple of movies thrown in like Lake Placid and Mystery Alaska.

At first, this show popped up and people were excited, and then a week later it was said that NBC had dropped it just that quickly, and out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, they said it was going to be given a chance.  This show hasn't even started and it already has some strange stuff going on. Unfortunately, this got worse when someone got a hold of the pilot script.

1. Some how Wonder Woman will have 3 identities (2 besides WW). Diana Themyscira who runs Themyscira Industry's and another as Diana Prince. Apparently people know that Diana Themyscira is WW.

2. There is no Invisible Jet, but that is probably for the best. That should be forgotten really.

3. Steve Trevor is a government agent who at some point (years ago it seems) crash landed on Themyscira. Fell in love with Diana and brought her back to New York, but now they are not together (but will apparently "pine after" him). 

4.  Themyscira is like the "Lost" Island in that no one can get back, and when she left she is no longer immortal.

5. The script apparently calls for her to sing along with girly pop songs on the radio.

6. She just "waves her hands and the bracelets just magically deflect the bullets", not that she deflects bullets with the bracelets.

Most of this sounds like a dumbing down of Wonder Woman, making her more of a passive character than the aggressive character she should be.  None of this is set in stone, nothing has been filmed yet. Since it is still early many things can change, but even as this was part of the script that helped get the show started doesn't sound good.  Time will tell of course. But until then, it doesn't look good.

Wizard World New Orleans - the first big Comic Con of New Orleans

I hope everyone made it out to Wizard World last weekend. It really did turn into a great show.  Wizard was able to bring in a number of big names like Adam West Billy Dee Williams, and Ernie Hudson from the Hollywood side of things, and then people like Phil Jimenez, Rob Liefeld, Mike Grell, and Micheal Golden from the comic industry.  Hopefully Wizard World comes back next year in and even bigger event, but for the first one it has already been the biggest comic con to come into the city.

It started off on Friday at Media Underground Comics in Metairie, LA where Phil Jimenez came in for an hour or so to do a pre-show signing and giving away a number of free comics and art by him.  He talked to everyone and joking around a bit.  For midday on a Friday, it was a good start to the con with about 30-40 people showing up.

The next morning, I got up earlier than planned, so just went ahead and drove down to the Convention Center.  I got there shortly after 9:30 and see someone walking up dressed as Marty McFly, and lo and behold its my friend Stephen ready to go find the DeLorean as soon as we get in.  By that time the line has to be around 100 or so deep and there is a still a line behind us still forming. 

Once 10am hit, the line flowed very smoothly into the hall, and after a first step through, and walking by Ernie Hudson in his Ghostbuster's uniform, we quickly found the DeLorean, and the people working the booth loved that Stephen was dressed up. I loved that this thing was in working condition and even the buttons to set the date you wanted to go to worked great.








Stephen got the full Back to the Future treatment of them showing how everything worked, he even got a video of them setting his birthday as the date.  This was one of the highlights of the show.

After that it was time to just walk around and take in the show. Running into other friends and just taking in everything else.  All of the costumes (which were actually fewer than expected) were great. The first one here to the right are a couple of friends dressed at Joker and Harley Quinn.

One of the panels that I was really looking forward too was the Chew/Sweets Panel on Saturday with Rob Guillory and Kody Chamberlain (pictured Chamberlain right and Guillory left).  They talked and took questions, and one of my favorites was Guillory talking about the origin of the term "Graphic Novel". It started with Will Eisner trying to get the first book solely based in comic art published, and he knew that the publishers would not accept it if he used the words "comic book", and thus the term graphic novel was born. In case you were wondering that book is "Contract with God" which on a side note, I have an original copy.

 Another favorite thing of the show for me was the 2 kid Batman's fight against each other when their Robin father's were standing around talking. We were just sitting around, and all of a sudden a bat fight broke out.

There are just 2 shots of the crowd and 

 My friend Rhea and her brother Mage (real Mage not listed).















Finally a Saints K-9 from Doctor Who and another friend Damon dressed as bone claw Wolverine.