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05/05/22 @ 2:23 pm EST
 DF Interview: Zack Kaplan unleashes a sci-fi techno thriller about grad students who put mind control into an app, in ‘Mindset’By Byron BrewerWhen an introverted tech geek accidentally discovers mind control, he and his friends do something unexpected – they put the science into an app to help users break their technology addiction. But as their Mindset app achieves a dangerous cult following, lies, conspiracies, and murder come to light. Are they helping people or controlling them? From Vault Comics comes Mindset by writer Zack Kaplan and artist John Pearson. The storyline pulled me in immediately, so I paid another visit to friend and scribe Zack Kaplan to chat up this new series. Byron Brewer: Zack, before we begin talking about Mindset, how does it feel to be doing your very FIRST comic for Vault? Zack Kaplan: Vault Comics has impressed me ever since I first met Adrian and Damian and the whole clan at SDCC 2016, which was both my first professional con and theirs. I instantly became an avid Vault reader as they put out one amazing book after the next. Vault has a real special slate of comics, and I’ve been talking with them for years about wanting to do something together, but this was finally the moment when the algorithms synced up. And I think it’s really a perfect match and well worth the wait, especially with the exciting creative team of John Pearson and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Byron: As you have said, I do not believe this mag could be more timely. Starting not that many years ago, the situation has grown by leaps and bounds: our own dependency on technology. We even make jokes about it, but it’s true now more than ever. Talk a little as you can about how this is addressed through Mindset? Zack Kaplan: Let me just check my phone first. Yes, the devices are controlling us, but we’re totally okay with it, because we know it’s happening. This seems to be the new phase of humanity response to danger: as long as we know it’s there, it’s okay. What an odd sociological phase! But in fact, the technology is changing who we are and the way we interact with each other, and Mindset explores all of that. How we’ve become obsessed with our own online relevance, how we cannot define ourselves without social media and how we are okay manipulating others for influence. I think that’s what makes it resonant so much, because modern technology is mind control. I can say it’s a sci-fi idea, but it’s actually happening now. How many likes did that answer get? Byron: Haha!… Give readers a kind of overview of the book, or at least this first arc. Zack Kaplan: In 140 characters or less, right? Mindset is a sci-fi techno thriller about a group of grad students who accidentally discover mind control and try to do something good with it by putting it in a meditation app, which goes viral to a billion-user following and results in a twisted power struggle, murder and mayhem, and a dangerous question amongst the group – just who is controlling who? It’s really everything you’d want in a dark thriller about mind control, from a riveting character drama, a modern romance story and a lot of twists and turns. I would just say strap in and get ready! Byron: Introduce us to your protagonists. Zack Kaplan: Ben Sharp is really meant to be all of us who grew up in the shadow of social media, and watched as technology slowly boiled our lives. He kind of started life as a child with this idealism and optimism, but then found his dreams falling flat and his direction in life floundering. It’s juxtaposed with seeing others achieve success without substance through a social media lens, and so really, it’s looking at how technology makes us feel about each other and ourselves. And what do those feelings push us to do? Ben teams up with his two geeky friends Kushal and Josiah, as well as an enigmatic student named Eitan Moses and together they launch their mind control app: Mindset. It’s a very tight knit crew that has some major soul searching to do as they navigate the world of tech start-ups and their rags to riches success story. I’m also excited for readers to meet our love interest, Atlanta Hanna, who is this really strong, authentic vivacious young woman surviving in the world of elite Silicon Valley phonies. Lastly, there’s a VC named Winfield, a billionaire with some secrets, but I’ll leave it there. Byron: The chaos catalyst in Mindset is the discovery of mind control and its placement into an app, ironically designed to help users break their tech addictions. But is there any behind-the-scenes corporation or boogeymen? Or are the featured geek squad their own worst enemies? Zack Kaplan: The story really has a lot of layers to it, and a lot of things are viewed through a very subjective lens. John, Hassan and I really set out to explore a narrative that allowed the readers to dive deeper, to perhaps go back and read it again, and have a thought-provoking experience with the series. I say all of this because I don’t think that anything in the series is black or white, boogeymen or villains. The antagonist is technology and society and the question is how can you use mind control and technological influence in a positive way, or is it destined to lead to manipulative outcomes? My hope is that readers will come for the thriller, stay for the character drama and sleep with the themes. Byron: Elephant in the room: Zack, talk about enslavement (like us all) to today’s tech. Was there any one instance (I can relate several about myself) of tech addiction for you that led to this comic? Zack Kaplan: I don’t think so. There are so many micro experiences, and I think the short-term picture is confusing. Obviously, social media is very talked about right now, and which platforms might be most conducive to the truth or for comfort amongst peers. But take a step back from which platform we’re on. Ten years ago, you could describe yourself as a professional or creative, without the question “Where can people find you?” Now, we must define ourselves by our platforms and the historical record of our posts. I think one thing we explore in Mindset is our predilection to scroll and our need to return to our phones. I try not to check my phone in the morning or right before bed, but it’s a struggle. How many of you go to sleep without your devices? Who do you say good night to last? What is driving that behavior? Byron: Talk about working with Eisner-winning artist John Pearson. Zack Kaplan: He might deserve to win again. His work in this book is that good. I think I had read series like Department of Truth and Blue in Green, and I wanted to play with this level of diversity and duality in comics. I was drawn to John’s work in Blue in Green, and reached out with this idea, and we both had an appetite to really do something in an elevated way that used the themes of mind control and technology’s influence on us. And Hassan on letters and Adrian Wassel on editorial and Tim Daniel on design, we all approached the story to ask how can we identify the emotionality of a moment and really enhance that. John and I especially put together a collaborative approach to the scripts and layouts, going back and forth at both stages to make sure our visions aligned. John is using a digital painting style with texture and a mix of realism and surrealism to really give readers a breath-taking experience. There’s a lot of motifs going throughout the book and levels as to how characters are seen and experienced. Hassan and Tim deserve recognition for some amazing lettering and design as well. I’m very proud of the art work in this series, and I think readers are in for something special. Byron: Zack, you are currently on a roll with your comics series! What else current or coming in the near future of your projects can you tell readers about? Zack Kaplan: I’ll be announcing another series soon which will be my fourth series for the year, and I’m already deep into a lot of exciting things for 2023. It’s crazy that we’re already doing stuff for next year, but you know how comics is. But if readers want to stay in the loop on Mindset and on all my new series, they can find the social media me at @zackkaps and the real me at my newsletter Zack Kaplan’s Technobabble on Substack or my website www.zackkaps.com Dynamic Forces would like to thank Zack Kaplan for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Mindset #1 from Vault Comics is slated to be on sale June 29th! For more news and up-to-date announcements, join us here at Dynamic Forces, www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/, “LIKE” us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dynamicforcesinc, and follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/dynamicforces. 05/04/25 @ 11:04 am EST
This article has spoilers for the Thunderbolts* movie, so be warned… When the original cast of the Thunderbolts were announced, fans were surprised to see the main characters were Bucky Barnes, US Agent, Yelena Belova, Ghost, Red Guardian and Taskmaster. Most of these characters we in supporting roles in other people’s movies and now they were getting the spotlight. The one that stood out to a lot of people was Taskmaster played by Olga Kurylenko, who had been introduced in the Black Widow movie and was the payoff to something Loki had said all the way back to the first Avengers film. Fans had a mixed reaction to the gender-swapped villain, taking it very far away from the popular comic version. When teasers and trailers started coming out for the film, people noticed that Taskmaster didn’t seem to appear that much in the footage, giving the idea that maybe she was long for the film. Then Marvel spoiled the twist when they announced the cast of Avengers: Doomsday and it included every member of the Thunderbolts except for Kurylenko. And while director Jack Schreier has said the idea of killing off a character early on was to make the audience believe anything might happen… the majority of them went in waiting for it to happen and knowing the rest of the cast will survive. This doesn’t seem to have hurt ticket sales or fan reaction to the film, and now Marvel could take the technology that created the first Taskmaster and use it to create a new one that is closer to what the fans of the comics wanted.  05/04/25 @ 10:31 am EST
With the recent passing of Pope Francis, the Vatican will begin the election of a new pope starting on May 7th. This is process is a little more known now by the general public because of films like the Oscar-nominated film Conclave that starred Ralph Fiennes. The actual conclave is a process where 135 Cardinals from around the globe are all locked into Sistine Chapel to deliberate and vote on who will become the next head of the Catholic Church. Writer Robert Harris who penned the novel that the recent film was based on talked about the process that will take place behind doors, liking it to the popular TV series The Traitors. On the series hosted by Alan Cummings, a group is secretly split into ‘faithfuls’ and ‘traitors’ with the everyone voting during a round table to eliminate a player who they hope is a traitor. Harris explained to the BBC: “[It’s] the nearest analogy I can come to. Suddenly everyone swings to one person – you can’t see why, particularly, but it happens. And in a funny way, a similar dynamic does operate in a conclave, which is why often it produces a surprise.” The idea of conclave started after it took the College of Cardinals nearly three years (1268-1271) to elect Pope Gregory X. He decreed the “locked in” policy for choosing a new pope. Harris said of his research into the process, “To lock the door and say you’re not going to come out until you’ve come up with a result concentrates the mind – and if you look back, the popes have been pretty good. I didn’t come away from researching the novel thinking this is a terrible idea [and that] I must write a novel to expose how awful it is. In a way, the novel shows a conclave working.”  ... 05/04/25 @ 9:57 am EST
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, believes that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has become too overwhelming for audiences. All of the interconnected movies and TV shows have made it difficult for casual viewers to keep up. He reportedly told colleagues that watching all the new content was starting to feel more like “homework” than entertainment. Part of this is from a previous push for more content to boost streaming subscriptions back when Bob Chapek was in charge of Disney. Feige is now leading an overhaul to simplify the MCU, focusing on fewer TV shows and more stand-alone stories that don’t require extensive knowledge of past films. Starting in 2026, Marvel plans to release only about three movies and two TV shows per year, scaling back its output to improve quality and accessibility.  05/03/25 @ 12:03 pm EST
Warner Bros appears to be taking a very big risk on rebooting a beloved franchise that now has some other issues attached to it as well. The Harry Potter franchise was a major hit for the film studio with eleven major motion pictures and becoming one of the top earning I.P.s in the world. Fans watched as the Wizarding World expanded and stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint grew into iconic roles. Now the studio wants fans to come back for the same story, but this time told as a longer form television series with a new cast… and you never know how fans of a cherished series might respond. And then there is the other issue, the once hailed author of the series, J.K. Rowlings, has become extremely polarizing with her outspoken, anti-trans public statements. She has quickly alienated a large portion of her fanbase which could also affect the potential audience for the reboot. This was addressed by HBO CEO Casey Bloys while a guest on The Town with Matthew Belloi podcast. Bloys spoke about doing business with Rowlings, “The decision to be in business with J.K. Rowling is not new for us. We’ve been in business for 25 years. We already have a show on HBO from her called C.B. Strike that we do with the BBC. It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them. Harry Potter is not secretly being infused with anything. If you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.” Bloys appears to be trying to distance the studio from the author’s political views while continuing to work with her as an executive producer on the new series.  05/03/25 @ 11:40 am EST
CBS has canceled The Equalizer after five seasons. The final episode of Season 5, airing on May 4, will now serve as the series finale. The decision comes as CBS reshuffles its programming lineup, canceling several shows, including FBI: International, FBI: Most Wanted, and S.W.A.T.. The Equalizer franchise is a long-running vigilante action thriller series that spans television and film. It all started with the original Equalizer TV show, which aired from 1985 to 1989 and starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former intelligence agent who helps people in danger. The franchise was later rebooted into a trilogy of films starring Denzel Washington, beginning with The Equalizer (2014), followed by The Equalizer 2 (2018), and The Equalizer 3 (2023). These movies reimagined McCall as a retired Marine and DIA officer who takes justice into his own hands. In 2021, CBS launched a new TV reboot starring Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, a former CIA operative who aids people in need. Latifah responded to the news by thanking fans and teasing that she’ll be “back kicking ass in something new real soon”.  05/03/25 @ 11:30 am EST
While filming for Avengers: Doomsday has begun, the cast assembled recently in order to see another group of heroes make their debut… the Thunderbolts*. Robert Downey Jr. took to social media to post pictures of himself along with fellow Doomsday cast members Chris Hemsworth, Channing Tatum, Simu Liu, Paul Rudd, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby, Winston Duke and Anthony Mackie as they took break from filming to watch the latest MCU opus that hit theaters this weekend. There were no surprises in the photo as all of the actors had been announced for the upcoming Avengers film, but it is a pretty unique group that we haven’t seen share the screen together before. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in May 2026.  05/02/25 @ 6:25 pm EST
Tanner Buchanan, Garrett Wareing and Quvenzhané Wallis have been tapped to star in a supernatural horror thriller “Hide and Don’t Speak,” with “The Beast Within” helmer Alexander J. Farrell directing. Range Media, which produced “Longlegs” and “The Monkey,” is shepherding the feature with Mister Smith introducing to buyers in Cannes. In “Hide and Don’t Speak,” six teenagers “play a terrifying viral Japanese game in which the players summon a vengeful spirit for a deadly round of hide-and-seek,” the synopsis reads. Currently in pre-production with production planned for later this year, “Hide and Don’t Speak” has a script from Farrell and Greer Ellison, and is loosely based on the real-life viral internet game hitori kakurenbo. (via Variety) 05/02/25 @ 6:08 pm EST
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock have reteamed to star in an untitled romantic thriller film in development at Amazon MGM Studios. Noah Oppenheim is writing the script, plot details of which are being kept under wraps. The film reunites Reeves, Bullock, and producer Mark Gordon following their work together on the 1994 hit film, Speed. Gordon and Oppenheim brought the idea for the film to Reeves and Bullock who went on to develop the film with them. Bullock will produce via Fortis Films, as will costar Reeves in addition to Gordon and Bibby Dunn via The Mark Gordon Company, and Noah Oppenheim and Sarah Bremner via Prologue Entertainment. (via Deadline) 05/02/25 @ 6:02 pm EST
BOOM! Studios, in collaboration with leading games, IP and toy company Hasbro, today revealed an exciting first look at VR TROOPERS #1; spinning out of Power Rangers Prime comes a brand-new story from returning team of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers veterans, writer Mairghread Scott and artist Sebastián Piriz, the exciting first chapter in the new six-issue series VR TROOPERS! Coming this Summer from BOOM! Studios–the ONLY place to get new, official POWER RANGERS comics.
The VR Troopers are the most elite of the Eltarian empire’s human heroes on Earth, but what secrets are the Eltarian’s keeping? When VR Ryan tracks down a rogue Skug, he’ll come face-to-face with a foe who will change his understanding of VR—and himself—forever! VR TROOPERS #1 features a main cover by acclaimed artist Taurin Clarke (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), with variants by James Stokoe (Godzilla), Christian Ward (Invisible Kingdom), Dan Panosian (The Last Boy), Goñi Montes (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Jorge Corona (Transformers), and series artist Sebastián Piriz! VR TROOPERS is the newest release from BOOM! Studios’ eponymous imprint, home to critically acclaimed original series, including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell’Edera; bestselling horror anthology Hello Darkness; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; Ghostlore by Cullen Bunn and Leomacs; Rare Flavours by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; Underheist by David and Maria Lapham; Animal Pound by Tom King and Peter Gross; Minor Arcana by Jeff Lemire; Vicarious by Ryan Parrott and Eleonora Carlini; The Creeping Below by Brian Azzarello and Vanesa Del Rey; Bronze Faces by Shobo, Shof, and Alexandre Tefenkgi; In Bloom by Michael W. Conrad and John J. Pearson; and When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee by Gus Moreno and Jakub Rebelka. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Corrino from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Simone Ragazzoni; Power Rangers Prime by Melissa Flores and Michael YG; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle, Rubine, and Francesco Pisa. VR TROOPERS #1 will be available in comic shops on June 25, 2025. It is available for pre-order at your local comic shop. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including Kindle, iBooks, and Google Play.                
... 05/02/25 @ 5:55 pm EST
Thunderbolts* stormed to $11.5 million in Thursday previews in a promising start for Marvel’s ensemble superhero film. The star-studded movie, led by Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, kicks off the summer box office in what’s become a tradition for Kevin Feige‘s studio with only a few exceptions. The movie is winning over critics and audiences alike; as of Friday morning, Thunderbolts* boasted a 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the third-highest score for a title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a tie with Spider-Man: Far From Home and behind Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (98 percent) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (97 percent). It’s still early, of course, and scores can change by one or two points as the weekend wears on. And on PostTrak exit polls, audiences are giving it a rave 4.5 out 5 stars. The unexpected spring bloom currently underway at the box office — led by Ryan Coogler’s sleeper sensation Sinners — proves that people want the communal experience of watching a film together. Thunderbolts* is a pivotal moment for Marvel as it kicks off a new hoped-for franchise. Directed by Jake Schreier, the film brings together a band of dysfunctional outsiders — and lesser-known comic book characters — who discover their potential to be heroes when working together. (via The Hollywood Reporter) |
