Tuesday, March 4, 2003
HELLBOY MOVIE FILMING
Filming has begun in Prague on Revolution Studios' Hellboy, a supernatural action adventure film based on the Dark Horse Comics hero, it was announced Tuesday by Revolution Studios Partner Todd Garner.
The film, which stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, John Hurt and Jeffrey Tambor, is scheduled for a summer 2004 release by Columbia Pictures.
Hellboy, which is written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is being produced for Revolution Studios by Lawrence Gordon, Dark Horse Comics' Mike Richardson and Lloyd Levin. Patrick Palmer is serving as executive producer and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola is serving as associate producer.
Six-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker is creating the special makeup effects for the film.
Here's how the studio describes the film:
"Born in the flames of hell, and brought to our world in a pagan ritual, the fierce red hero, Hellboy (Perlman), was saved by his friend and mentor, the benevolent Dr. Broom (Hurt). Raised in Broom's Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy joins the likes of the Mer-Man Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman (Blair), the woman he loves who can psychically control fire, and Myers, the FBI agent who is his rival for Liz's affections. Together, our heroes must come to terms with fantastic powers that prove to be both a blessing and a curse. In the process they discover that their abilities serve to benefit mankind but may also keep them forever isolated from the society that only they can protect."
|
|
|
"Hellboy has an amazing following and we are thrilled to be bringing it to the screen for the first time," said Revolution Studios' Garner. "Guillermo has wanted to make this film for a long time, and we are confident his vision will remain true to the dark and sophisticated tone that fans have come to expect."
Tambor will portrays FBI agent Tom Manning. Rounding out the cast are Karel Roden, who plays Grigori Rasputin; Victoria Smurfit, who plays Ilsa, Rupert Evans, who plays FBI Agent Myers; and Doug Jones, who plays Abe Sapien.
For comments from Perlman, del Toro and Mignola from last summer's Comic-Con International in San Diego, CLICK HERE.
DAREDEVIL ROUNDUP
Ben Affleck, who starred in the Daredevil movie, said that he's all for reprising the role in a sequel.
"Yeah, it will have to be something cool and exciting," Affleck said during an interview airing on Cinemax. "And a story that is really good."
A Daredevil movie costume was among the items auctioned by ACTOR at MegaCon in Orlando, Fla., drawing many curious onlookers. Affleck said he had some hesitations about wearing a costume and how it would be received.
"That's where something like Spider-Man really helped us," Affleck said. "It helped expose the audience, acclimate them to a universe where people do wear brightly color costumes and that's not completely outrageous."
In other Daredevil news:
* Affleck will be a presenter at the Academy Awards.
* Marvel Comics has announced Marvel Must Haves: Daredevil, which collects the first three chapters for "Lowlife" from Daredevil #41-43.
"Response to the 25-cent Daredevil #41 has been tremendous, with people checking the issue out because of the attention generated by the movie and the USA Today review, and then discovering the work of writer Brian Bendis and artist Alex Maleev," said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
"Issue-in, issue-out, Daredevil is one of the best comic books on the stands of any genre. Marvel Must Haves; Daredevil was created to give new readers just catching on to that fact an opportunity to continue with the story started in issue #41, and with the series as it heads to its next big story arc, 'Hardcore.'"
"I'm so excited about this collection because ever since we announced Matt Murdock would be outted as Daredevil by the tabloids, people kept waiting for the trick finish or easy way out," Bendis said. "What these issues illustrate is that we have no intention of doing anything like that, so I'm thrilled that people are looking for them and want to continuing following the story."
The 80-page book will go on sale on March 19 and will cost $3.99.
MARVEL, FOX SETTLE OVER MUTANT X
Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises announced Monday that they have amicably resolved their differences concerning the syndicated television series Mutant X.
The terms of the settlement are confidential, but, according to a joint press release, they "are designed to put the lawsuit behind and expand the relationship between Fox and Marvel."
Fox's Marvel movies include the recently released Daredevil and the upcoming X-Men sequel.
In April 2001, Fox had filed suit against Marvel, syndicator Tribune Entertainment, and producer/international distributor Fireworks Entertainment, alleging that Mutant X violated Fox's exclusive rights to Marvel's X-Men character group.
POWERS #30 GROWS
Image Comics announced today that Powers #30, the conclusion to the "Sellouts" story line, is being expanded from 32 pages to 40.
Powers creators Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming have keep the price at $2.95 for the issue.
The "Sellouts" storyline began in issue #25, and the decision to increase the length of the story was a spontaneous one. Bendis explained that as the issue neared completion, he and Oeming realized they could craft a much more emotional ending to the story and one that would have long-lasting ramifications for their superhero crime drama, but that it couldn't be done in a standard 22-page story. The expanded story will run 38 pages, and the issue will be rounded out by a shorter version of Bendis' letter column.
"These things happen," Bendis said. "The story just got too damn big for the allotted page count. I've been pulling this crap since Goldfish; its final issue went from 48 to 92 pages. When people read Powers #30, they'll see why we needed the pages, and it was very important to us that the reader not pay for it. We really are changing the status quo of Powers and we needed the space to do it right. Let's hear it for Image for not blinking an eye when I pulled this crap on them!"
Oeming added: "This is exactly the kind of thing that only an indie book can do. Marvel and DC could never add pages and keep the cost down. I love doing a creator-owned book."
Powers #30 is scheduled to arrive in stores on April 9.
ZEN TACKLES TERRORISM
Zen writer/creator Steve Stern told The Continuum that the first five-issue story arc of the relaunched title with deal with the subject of terrorism.
"We're far from playing the nostalgia card," said Stern, who created Zen in 1987 with artist Dan Cote. "Zen was relevant back in the day, and he's going to be relevant now, bounty-hunting both alien and human terrorists."
The new series is simply called Zen.
"In the new series, Zen and fellow bounty-hunter NiraX will uncover a terror conspiracy of galactic proportions," Stern said.
"We're all living in an interconnected world, with a heightened awareness of the threats to our very way of life. Superhero comics are a uniquely American artform that can address these issues while still entertaining us."
TOO MUCH HOPELESS SAVAGES!
Too Much Hopeless Savages!, debuting in June from Oni Press, reunites the Eisner-nominated creative team of Jen Van Meter and Christine Norrie.
In the mini-series, the entire family is taking a trip to Hong Kong.
"Ground Zero was very much based around the family home," Van Meter said. "Though the comics have been about showing the Hopeless-Savages as a normal, loving family, we shouldn't forget that the initial concept was they are a very special family that just happens to form a cohesive unit. As we saw in the first series, all of the children are involved in various exceptional endeavors. That includes Arsenal."
The initial impetus for Arsenal's trip is a karate match in Hong Kong, rematching her against a brutal rival from her days of early competition. She is accompanied by her boyfriend Claude and his brother Henry, who happens to be the boyfriend of Arsenal's brother Twitch. Claude and Henry are going to be introducing their significant others to their grandmother for the very first time -- and that includes the question of how she'll react to Henry bringing a boy home.
"I am looking at balancing a lot in this story line," Van Meter said. "The title is both a play on how much is going on and a riff on the Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much. As if the fight and the themes of love and acceptance weren't enough, I am throwing in a bit of international intrigue with Arsenal unwittingly coming into possession of something that both the British Secret Service and the bad guys want back. And on top of that, the rest of the family come along after them to escape pressures that are making their homelife a bit rough. It all comes together in one explosive traffic jam of action. Trust me."
"I've missed drawing this book," Norrie said. "Originally, after Cheat, I was going to do a longer romance project, but I wanted to tackle something more familiar and a lot less serious. Jen told me what she was thinking for this arc, and I knew I had to draw it. I love China, I love Hong Kong. I want to depict scenes as beautiful as in Shanghai Triad, and I want to draw action that would make the Hong Kong masters proud."
Joining Van Meter and Norrie is newcomer Ross Campbell.
"We're continuing our tradition of giving new artists a shot on Hopeless Savages," Rich said. "I think our track record with Christine and Bryan O' Malley is pretty impressive, and Ross is the perfect guy to pick up the baton. In fact, we had originally considered not doing flashbacks this time around, but his art seemed so well-suited for a young Arsenal, we decided we had to give him a place to lay down some ink."
Campbell is a student of Skinwalker cover artist Durwin Talon from the Savannah College of Art.
Too Much Hopeless Savages! is a four-issue mini-series, with the first issue shipping on June 4. It will be 32 black-and-white pages and will cost $2.99. Color covers will be by Norrie, who will also contribute a short Kung-Fu Space Girls back-up story to the debut issue.
ALEX ROSS COVERS ANTHRAX
Alex Ross has provided the cover art for Anthrax's new release, "We've Come for You All," which reaches record stores on May 6.
"No one has ever gotten him to do an album cover before," Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante said. "Our webmaster suggested him and we e-mailed his agent. He has some of our records and we were thrilled when he said yes.
"I worked with him on the cover concept and it just grew. We're now actually thinking about doing a comic book based on this artwork, and our T-shirts will feature it too."
"Alex has been my favorite artist for the last six or seven years, so to work with him on our artwork was such a huge thing for me," said guitarist Scott Ian.
Anthrax will begin a European tour in March and a U.S. tour in May with Motorhead.
FIRST LOOK: DEMONWARS: TRIAL BY FIRE #4
DemonWars: Trial By Fire #4 will arrive in stores on Wednesday from CrossGen Comics. The issue has a story by R.A. Salvatore and Scott Ciencin and is scripted by Ciencin, with art by Ron Wagner and colors by Caesar Rodriguez.
Here's how CrossGen describes the issue:
Captured by a vengeance-driven pack of frost giants, a small group of humans await their fate in the sprawling magical ice fortress of the demon-wolf Managarm. It seems their only chance for survival is banding together, but they are tasked by betrayal, murder and shocking revelations. Will the frost giants sacrifice an innocent and give Managarm power to level the world of humankind? Or will salvation come in an unlikely, small, but savage and unpredictable package: Grave Mungo, the redcap dwarf army of one.
DemonWars: Trial By Fire #4 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.95.
|
|
|
BRIEFLY
Copyright © 2003, The Comics Continuum