Comics

VH1 is bringing back Behind the Music. This seems like it should be a good idea, but then I got to thinking: what bands from the last decade would they do? And would any of them be interesting? I can’t imagine any scenario where I’d want to watch a Nickleback epidode of Behind the Music…

The SciFi Channel changing its name to Syfy. Must be Klingon for “watched by dorks who speak Klingon”. I’m not sure I understand this move. Geeks are notorious for resisting change. And you have to think SciFi’s core audience is geeks. So why change the name? Smells like desperation to me.

More bad news for geeks: Darth Vader has cancer. David Prowse, the man in the Darth Vader costume, is battling prostate cancer.

Here’s a little something to keep our geeky friends going though: The International Society of Supervillains.

Jim Carrey’s new prison comedy is too gay for American audiences. This is a change from most of his recent movies, which weren’t funny enough for any audience…

Now THAT’S a proper way to pay tribute to a pig: Take bacon, sausage links, ham, and ground sausage, form it into the shape of a pig, add some chili peppers for a ears and a tail, and worship at a porcine shrine.

Jason Segal’s script for The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time is apparently shaping up nicely.

The first poster for Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is out, and it’s good. Really good. Click the picture to see the full thing. The wild thing itself looks particularly good. The first trailer should be out shortly, and I’m hoping it will build on the test footage that leaked out last year. The movie is currently set to hit theaters October 16th.

Finally, in light of all the controversy about the male full-frontal nudity in Watchmen, check out this fake NES game starring Watchmen‘s Dr Manhattan and his big blue schlong:

<-- This is really, really wrong. But I laughed.

You've probably been asking yourself this question for years: How would Frank Miller interpret Charlie Brown?

Like Tetris? Wonder what it would be like to play it in HD? Here you go. Be warned: it’s quite possibly the most irritating/boring game ever constructed.

I just don’t have the balls to walk into a McDonalds and order a McGangBang. No, I’m not making it up.

There’s gotta be a reaaaallly good story behind this. I mean, how do you even go about getting the lion in the sidecar?

Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” was the number 1 song in the US when I was born. This saddens me deeply.

There was a cat fight at America’s Next Top Model. If they end up putting this in the show I might actually consider watching it. Well, probably not. But it’s still cool.

The economy’s demise has affected everyone. That seems to include supervillain Lex Luther. Here’s his video pitch to get some government bailout money. Funny how everything seems to be one guy’s fault…

Luthor’s played by Mad Men star John Hamm. If you haven’t seen Mad Men yet, what the hell are you doing? It’s a fantastic show. Go rent it. Or download it.

Watchmen is hailed by many critics as the greatest achievement in the the comic book medium. It has garnered praise not only from within the comic book community, but from traditional literary critics. Since its release in 1986 critics and fans have claimed it is unfilmable. It’s too big, has too much back story, and has too many characters. Numerous writers and directors have taken a crack at getting a film adaptation off the ground, but none came close to fruition until Zack Snyder took the reins. Snyder, the polarizing director behind 300 and a remake of Dawn of the Dead, committed himself to making a film that was entertaining and groundbreaking, yet as close to the source material as possible. But as word of Snyder’s involvement spread to Watchmen fans, questions started to crop up. His previous works features eye-popping, groundbreaking visuals, but some felt they came up short on meaning and depth. Would Snyder be able to match his visual flair with the kind of top-notch storytelling required to do Alan Moore’s story justice? Or would he create the cinematic equivalent of a vapid sorority girl: great to look at but boring after an hour?
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The cast of Seinfeld is reuniting for a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm! This is doubly cool because I didn’t even know Curb Your Enthusiasm was coming back for another season. I can’t wait!

Kevin Smith is set to direct a new movie he didn’t write, starring Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan. Don’t worry though; it’s still about dicks.

Jimmy Kimmel’s security guard Guillermo has the lead role in X-Men Origins: Wolberine. Funny stuff.

The state song of Oklahoma is by The Flaming Lips. The state passed a resolution making the Tusla natives’ “Do You Realize?” the official state rock song, though they let the Rogers & Hammerstein song “Oklahoma” stay the overall state song. “Do You Realize?” is a good song, but I can only assume the state hasn’t gotten a pre-release copy of Bishop Allen’s Grrr…, because there’s a song on there that would be perfect. Anyway, here’s the Flaming Lips song, in case you’re not familiar with it:

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The Beatles edition of Rock Band is coming September 9th. You can get it with instruments inspired by what The Fab Four played, or just get the game. No word on the track list yet, but come on, it’s The Beatles, you know it will be good.

Finally, Watchmen is finally out, and I will find a way to go see it tomorrow. Until then, amuse yourself by watching what Watchmen would have looked like as a Saturday morning cartoon:

We’ve seen an awful lot of X-Men Origins: Wolverine already. We’ve gotten a leaked promo from ComicCon. We’ve gotten a teaser trailer. We’ve gotten a full trailer. We’ve gotten three one-minute promos. With all of this footage it would be easy to get burnt out before the movie even hits theaters. Or to feel like we’ve already seen all the good parts. Fortunately I don’t feel that way at all. In fact I was pretty psyched to see that one last full trailer came out today. Check it out below, then we’ll discuss:

The first half doesn’t have much new material, but the second half more than makes up for it. Overall it looks pretty damn solid. Makes me want May 1st to get here ASAP.

In addition to the trailer, USAToday has a gallery of some character images and bios. It’s got some good looks at Wolvie’s counterparts and enemies.

With the legal battles out of the way, and the release date for Watchmen approaching, the marketing push is entering stretch run. They’ve released a government-issued educational movie about the dangers of masked vigilantes. And of course about the benefits of The Keene Act, the governments plan to rid the country of said masked vigilantes. It also gives anyone who hasn’t read the graphic novel a bit of an insight into the history of vigilantes in the story’s alternate history. Check it out:

Watchmen is set to hit theaters 03/06/09.

We got to see a trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine a while back. Now we get a poster. A very simple poster. Simple, but kind of badass. A little like Wolvie himself if you think about it. He’s not flashy. Just tough. The poster even boils down his character to the basics: claws and mean. And, in a clever visual, his claws even make a “W”.

Click the small version over there on the left to see a big shiny version. And remember, it’s only a couple months before we find out if Wolvie can hold his own in a full movie, or if he’s best suited to team movies. I’m betting he can take care of himself.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine kicks off the summer movie season when it hits theaters May 1st.

via Super Hero Hype

Looks like Fox finally came to their senses and decided to settle. They’re going to get a chunk of cash up front and a piece of all the money the movie make. And Warner Bros. gets to keep their 3/6/09 release date. The real winner? Movie fans. w00t!

The sixth issue of the Final Crisis comic mini-series came out today. Normally I wouldn’t cover that, since I haven’t regularly read comic books in almost 20 years. But this issue was special. This was the issue where DC Comics did the unthinkable: they killed Batman. In the midst of a giant spike in the character’s popularity, through Christopher Nolan’s massively successful Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, they decided to kill one of the most iconic characters in American culture. Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else?

I know what you’re probably thinking: “Comic book storylines are like soap operas. Characters die and come back all the time.” True. That does happen. The writers leave some small, usually unbelievable loophole, and use that to resurrect the character. They did it to Superman in the 90s. They did it to The Flash. So they’ll probably do it with Batman, right? Eh, maybe not.
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