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16 articles
Review: 'Justice League the Complete Series'
13 hours ago
For those who only knew the Justice League of America as the Super Friends must have been in for a rude awakening when they sat to watch the Justice League animated series with their kids. From 2001 through 2006, the Cartoon Network offered up what has since gone on to be recognized as the greatest comics adaptation of all time.
Super-heroes moving from the printed page to animated film have had a checkered path from Filmation’s 1966 Superman through Ruby-Spears’ 1988 effort with the Man of Steel. In between, there were some highlights such as 1968’s Spider-Man and some really low moments including the 1977 Batman show. The problem is that super-heroes need conflict in which to use their powers and abilities. With every passing year, parents fretted over the amount of violence their children were expose to, coupled with concerns over the kids imitating the exploits in real life and causing themselves harm. »
- Robert Greenberger
The Point Radio: Life on the set of 'Law & Order'
6 November 2009 2:15 PM, PST
Surviving two decades in primetime television is on easy task, especially if you are a drama. NBC's Law And Order has made it's mark in TV history, and the latest cast appreciates that as we sit down to talk about life on (and off) the set with Jeremy Sisto, Anthony Anderson and Alana De La Garza. Plus J.J. Abrams and Micronauts, V hits a home run that the Yankees would be proud of and Rob and Todd team up on Spawn.
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- Mike Raub
Review: 'Two Girls and a Guy' on Blu-ray
6 November 2009 1:07 PM, PST
When an actor or director suddenly breaks out and gets hot, studios scour their vaults to see if there’s a way they can capitalize on this heat. Last year, Robert Downey, Jr. went from a troubled, gifted actor to a Super Star thanks to his performance in Iron Man. This week, 20th Century-Fox hopes to catch a break with the Blu-ray release of Downey’s 1998 film Two Girls and a Guy.
Written and direct by James Toback, the film is virtually a real time three-person stage play on a film. In his self-congratulatory 20 minute conversation on the Extras, Toback talks about how he came to write the film, by beginning to imagine a setting. In this case, that’s the spacious loft apartment which became the set his performances would use. After that, he populated the apartment with his players.
We open with Natasha Gregson Wagner’s Lou and »
- Robert Greenberger
Add ComicMix to Twitter lists and get entered to win a free graphic novel!
6 November 2009 8:41 AM, PST
Perhaps you've heard that Twitter has now added Twitter Lists to its offerings, as an easier way to negotiate your way around. Well, we'd like for you to see us there, so we're throwing in a little extra incentive.
Every person who adds ComicMix to a Twitter List will be entered in a random drawing. The winner will get their choice of:
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born hardcover
or
Ez Street: Limited Baltimore Edition. Only 100 of these were printed.
Just include ComicMix on your Twitter List by November 15th. We'll announce the winner on the 16th.
And don't forget to follow ComicMix or the ComicMix team list! »
- Glenn Hauman
J.J. Abrams takes on the Micronauts
6 November 2009 3:42 AM, PST
J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost, Alias) is reported to be in discussions to produce a feature film based on the Micronauts toy franchise, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Micronauts toy line was created by Takara, later acquired by Tomy, and debuted in 1974 in Japan, where the line is known as Microman. Two years later the Mego Corporation introduced Micronauts to the Us, and released five series of toys through 1980. Palisades Toys acquired the right to reproduce the toys in 2002, and the entire line was recently acquired by Hasbro. Additionally, Marvel Comics, Devil's Due and Image Comics published Micronauts comic books, with several paperback books based on the property published by Byron Preiss Visual Publications.
At one point, they were so tightly integrated with the Marvel Universe that they crossed over with the X-Men and spun out a character that has crossed over with most of the rest of the line, »
- Glenn Hauman
Remember, remember, the fifth of November, and the inspiration for 'V For Vendetta'
5 November 2009 11:54 AM, PST
On this day in 1605, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the English Parliament building, involved in a plot to blow up Parliament itself. The day was later known as "Guy Fawkes Day" and served as an inspiration for Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel, V for Vendetta.
Today the folks across the pond remember, remember the fifth of November in honor of a sense of independence and a shaking of fists at British authority. While we reserve fireworks for summery July 4th, today is their excuse to blow things up and set things on fire. Really, every country should follow some such tradition of blowing things up in good spirits, but in light of recent world politics, let's not go there.
Or if we do, let's wear an awesome mask while we're at it.
Neil Gaiman, an ex-pat Brit, »
- Glenn Hauman
Review: 'Zorro' The Complete First and Second Seasons
5 November 2009 11:46 AM, PST
Walt Disney had a gift, an ability to take someone else’s property and recraft it for a modern audience. Just about every time he touched a fairy tale or legend, he struck paydirt. Look what he did with Grimm’s fairy tales or A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Largely overlooked these days is the incredibly popular 1950s television series based on Johnston McCulley’s pulp hero, Zorro.
The black and white series, starring Guy Williams, ran a mere two seasons but spawned over 500 licensed merchandise items in addition to enjoying a long syndicated run in the 1960s and again after the birth of the Disney Channel. Back in the ‘50s, the season ran 39 weeks and a half-hour show actually had 25 minutes of story so there was plenty of material to recycle.
Fortunately, Walt Disney Home Entertainment noted the enduring appeal of the character and has this week released »
- Robert Greenberger
Crazy Sexy Geeks: Celebrity Wonder Woman Debate!
5 November 2009 10:10 AM, PST
Super hero costumes are often criticized by fans and non-fans alike. In particular, the female costumes can sometimes seem a bit too revealing or impractical. Even Wonder Woman is occasionally given guff and there are those who say that if they ever made a new movie with her, her swimsuit-like battle armor would have to go.
So we of Crazy Sexy Geeks: The Series decided to ask people: Should Wonder Woman wear pants? Are the shorts or skirt too impractical?
Join us as we discuss and debate this issue with every day comic fans, professional artist Gene Ha (Top Ten, Global Frequency), fashion consultant Tim Gunn, actress Miracle Laurie (Dollhouse), actress/writer Emma Caulfield (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Contropussy.com), digital painter Alayna Lemmer, and the American Gladiators known as Phoenix and Venom. That's tons of pretty girls talking about the ultimate female super hero! What Are You Waiting For? »
- Alan Kistler
Happy 20th anniversary, Wallace and Gromit!
4 November 2009 7:33 PM, PST
Tweny years ago today, two clay figures went on a grand day out to get some cheese, so of course they went to the moon to get some. Since then, Aardman Animation's Wallace and Gromit have become two of the most recognizable faces of modern British culture.
The pair have starred in a number of 30-minute films since, including The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave and A Matter of Loaf and Death, and one feature-length film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. And today, in England at least, they made a Google doodle to mark the occasion.
As for me, I'm off to have some cheese and cracking good toast to celebrate. »
- Glenn Hauman
Rights to 'Terminator' franchise up for auction, and Joss Whedon starts the bidding
4 November 2009 1:01 PM, PST
Nikki Finke points to a piece by Financial Times' Matthew Garrahan which tells us the Terminator franchise is going to be auctioned off this month. All the big studios, with Sony leading the way, as well as Summit Entertainment and Media Rights Capital, are interested in bidding. The rights auction is for new Terminator films, TV programs, comics and any other spin-offs that build on the popularity of the franchise. The sale is being conducted by Fti Capital Advisors for Halcyon which bought the Terminator rights two years ago for $25 million from Mario Kassar. Halcyon recently filed for Chapter 11 after a dispute with Pacificor, a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund that lent Halcyon the sum to buy the Terminator rights.
And who's the opening bidder? Why, none other than Joss Whedon:
I have heard through the 'grapevine' that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to »
- Glenn Hauman
Review: 'Say Anything...' on Blu-ray
4 November 2009 6:41 AM, PST
You never know when something will come along and click with the pop culture zeitgeist. A line, a performance, even a single image, can leap off the page or screen and become emblematic for an era. The sight of John Cusack, holding a boom box over his head, trying to woo back Iona Skye, has become one of those moments now indelibly used to visualize the 1980s.
Here we are, 20 years later, and the moment has been repeated endlessly in real life and parodied throughout movies and television. Now, we can relive that moment in the 20th anniversary edition of Say Anything …, released this week by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Written and directed by the wonderfully gifted Cameron Crowe, the movie avoided all the clichés inherent in the romance and teen comedy films of the decade. Instead, he found fresh characters in Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court and avoided »
- Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Malice'
3 November 2009 8:07 AM, PST
Malice
By Chris Wooding, illustrated by Dan Chernett
Scholastic Press, $14.99, 380 pages
What if you could transport yourself to another world by following an incantation found in a comic book? Well, you might find the world a frightening and terrible place, just as children find in the new novel Malice.
Chris Wooding, an accomplished young adult author, begins a new series this month with Malice, which mixes prose with comic book pages interspersed. Basically, children around the world have been reading this comic book, Malice, a cult title with each issue a seemingly disjointed series of eerie vignettes. What no one realizes is that if the children following the directions, they vanish and are transported to this other land. In the real world, they go missing and the few that return, have no recollection of where they have been but have been deeply affected by the experience.
Wooding’s novel focuses »
- Robert Greenberger
Only 1,000 Comic Books?
2 November 2009 12:55 PM, PST
1,000 Comic Books You Must Read
By Tony Isabella
Krause Publications, 272 pages. $29.99 retail.
I want to publicly thank Tony Isabella for taking on a task that is as courageous as it is, well, thankless. It’s hard to imagine a more difficult and a more controversial chore than recommending only 1000 comic books you must read.
This shows you how clever Tony is. First of all, he recruited over 130 people to make suggestions, including me as well as a good chunk of the state of Ohio – past and present (Harlan Ellison and Maggie Thompson are and will always be honorary Ohioans). Second, instead of arranging them numerically, an act that would guarantee his assassination at the 2010 Mid-Ohio Con (although this would make for a good panel), he arranged everything by decade. Brilliant.
This book is, above and beyond everything else, great fun. There are hundreds of books you’d expect, and even more that you might not. »
- Mike Gold
Happy 25th Anniversary, ComicMix comics!
2 November 2009 12:51 PM, PST
Twenty-five months ago today, ComicMix debuted our first new comics online, the return of GrimJack in the tale of the Manx Cat, a series that is now available in print from our friends at Idw. It was followed within the first week by Ez Street, Black Ice, Munden's Bar, The Adventures of Simone & Ajax, and Fishhead.
*Okay, we've been so crazy busy around here that we completely skated past our two year anniversary at the beginning of last month. But now we get to have a 25th anniversary!**
**Look, if X-Factor can have a 50th anniversary issue this month and a 200th anniversary issue next month, we can have a 25th anniversary today. So there. »
- Glenn Hauman
The Point Radio: Joel Gretsch On 'V'
2 November 2009 10:55 AM, PST
His road has led from Taken and The 4400, now Joel Gretsch is a part of the cast of ABC's V remake. Joel shares what appealed to him about yet another science fiction based role, plus Elizabeth Mitchell gives us the scoop on parts of the original series that will be included in the new version. Meanwhile, Michael Jackson's concert film gives an almost 10% boost to the box office and Family Guy finally nails a sponsor.
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And be sure to stay on The Point via , RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!
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Don't forget that you can now enjoy The Point 24 hours a Day - 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net.
Click Here To Listen Live For »
- Mike Raub
Review: 'Ruby-Spears Superman' on DVD
2 November 2009 8:44 AM, PST
Superman did not do well as an animated series despite three different studios attempting to tell his stories. Filmation debuted as a competitor to Hanna-Barbera with the 1966 Superman series then H-b told their stories in Super Friends. It seemed they didn’t fully know how to challenge someone with the amazing powers.
By the late 1980s, Ruby-Spears was a well established company, best known for their Thundarr the Barbarian. In 1988, it was their turn to try their hand with the Man of Steel and tomorrow, Warner Home Video releases Ruby-Spears Superman , a two-disc set collecting the thirteen episodes from the one season series.
This series came out just two years after Superman had been revamped from top to bottom by John Byrne and Marv Wolfman in the pages of Superman, Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics. Most of the changes from the comics are not reflected here, the exception being »
- Robert Greenberger
16 articles
