|
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. 02/14/26 @ 2:33 pm EST
“You have failed this beach!” Okay, there is probably no way Stephen Amell will say that line in the new Baywatch reboot, but I can’t be the only one who thought about it. Fox announced yesterday that the former Arrow, Heels and Suits LA star would be the lead in the networks bid to recapture the popularity of their lifeguard themed drama from the 90s. Amell will be playing the role of Hobie Buchannon, a role first introduced in the OG series. Hobie’s world turns upside down when Charlie, the daughter he didn’t know he had, shows up ready to put on the red bathing suit and follow in the family business. The show got a straight-to-series 12-episode order back in September, so the network is moving quickly. An interesting note is that Amell is the right age if the network wanted to bring back David Hasselhoff to reprise the role of Hobie’s father Mitch for an episode or two.  02/14/26 @ 2:12 pm EST
You may not have known this, but in 2021 a Zatanna movie was in the works. J.J. Abrams had given the project to Emerald Fennell to script as she was coming off 2020 directorial debut, A Promising Young Woman. So, what happened? According to Fennell, who recently joined the Happy Sad Confused podcast, what she had written was “probably too far away from the genre.” She was very honest about the work, saying: “I think it was demented because I was probably going through it at the time. And the thing is, I think what I can’t help but—and then, I’d just finished A Promising Young Woman, and there was this huge thing in this world I’d never operated in. And again, it was a kind of superhero movie, and I was like, ‘How do I make the version of a superhero movie that I would connect to emotionally?’ Which is sort of the woman in the middle of a nervous breakdown, so it’s a script reflective of a woman in the middle of a nervous breakdown. And in terms of what that means, I suppose it just meant that it was probably too far away from the genre.” For those of you who are not familiar with Zatanna, she was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson in the pages of November 1964’s Hawkman and has been a consistent magical character in the DC Universe ever since, regularly teaming up with Batman, John Constantine and was a member of the Justice League. Fennell went on to describe the script, “It was really dark. I haven’t read it for a really long time, because I found it really difficult. Because, also the thing is, I love JJ [Abrams] so much, and he took a chance offering me to do it, and I really wanted to deliver something amazing for them. And I always felt like I hadn’t quite maybe delivered the thing that they wanted. So, I haven’t read it since, and I wonder if I read it now, I’d be more generous toward myself. But I felt like, I wished I’d been able to deliver the thing they wanted. They were really lovely about it, it’s even just remembering. You’re making me remember scenes, I’m like, ‘Nobody would have made that.'” I have to admit I totally want to read that script now.  ... 02/07/26 @ 11:45 am EST
Don’t expect to see Vincent D’Onofrio show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It seems the rights to the character still precludes him from appearing in a film unless Sony wants him to. Which, yes, Brand New Day is a Sony/Marvel production… but while visiting the Bingworthy podcast, the Kingpin actor responded to the question about the current mayor of the MCU NYC showing up by saying, “No. I think I’ll just wait until they have the rights to my character and they put me in one of those movies, and then I’ll figure it all out.” This makes sense that Marvel can’t just have the character show up in any random film, like The Thunderbolts, without Sony saying okay, but he is available for television appearances. Why Sony has chosen to not let the character show up in a Sony film though seems a little odd, unless the actor is using the rights issue as a cover to keep from telling us that Wilson Fisk will not be the mayor after the events of the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again season two, which is scheduled to release in March and complete well before Brand New Day hits theaters.  01/31/26 @ 2:22 pm EST
In 1989 writer/artist John Byrne was working on the West Coast Avengers title for Marvel and decided to have some fun. Since there was both an east and west coast version of the team, he decided to make a third one, in the middle of the country, and keeping with the body of water theme to the names… we got the Great Lakes Avengers. The team was made up of five founding members: Mr. Immortal, Flat Man, Big Bertha, Dinah Soar and Doorman and while the team has probably had more cease-and-desist lawsuits filed against them than real battles, they have been around for years now and have popped up a lot. The interesting thing though is that two of these members have now made appearances in the MCU. And not just blink-and-you-missed-it moments. Both Mr. Immortal and Doorman have had at least half, if not a full episode of a series dedicated to them. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, David Pasquesi plays Craig Hollis aka Mr. Immortal who has his immortal ability and uses it to get out a marriages, which he has a lot of. When pressured by his own attorneys, he leapt out of a high-rise window and plummeted to the street below, slamming into the roof of a car, only to pop right back up and walk away. It doesn’t end well for him though as he is forced to pay off all of his exes. Then we get to meet DeMarr Davis aka the Doorman in the new Wonder Man series. Byron Bowers plays the man with the ability to use his body as a door in and out of the dark dimension. While he is a mutant in the comics, in the MCU he gets his abilities by touching toxic waste from Roxxon, similar to how Cloak & Dagger got their powers. DeMarr becomes a cautionary tale about chasing fortune and fame in Hollywood that may have cost the life of beloved actor Josh Gad. It also made the industry enact a law banning superpowered people from working in show business. This is a major plot point in the series. With two of the five characters both located in Southern California, could we end up getting the rest of the team at some point and them relocating for a fresh start? Sounds like the perfect idea for one of those Marvel Spotlight one-hour specials.  ... 01/18/26 @ 2:23 pm EST
Fans are eager to see the upcoming Lanterns series on HBO and besides a still shot and a few seconds of footage, very little about the series is known at this point. We got our first comments about it from series star Kyle Chandler who will be playing one of the most well-known Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan. Chandler was being interviewed on the Today Show for his new film The RIP with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. During the interview he was asked about Lanterns and said, “I’ve never had as much fun shooting something as I did that. The people from the top to the bottom. I can’t say enough about Chris Mundy, and the producers, the DC folks. It was an excellent experience. I expect the show to be as good as the experience I had. Aaron Pierre, who I worked with, he and I had a great time.” The series is slated to be released later this year and comes from Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King. Joining Chandler and Pierre in the cast are Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner and then Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Jason Ritter, Poorna Jagannathan, and Paul Ben-Victor. There will be eight episodes and it is said to be mostly an Earth-based mystery set in the heartland of America with a True Detective vibe.  01/17/26 @ 12:41 pm EST
Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. has stirred plenty of speculation across Hollywood, but one message from the streamer’s leadership has been unusually clear: the theatrical experience isn’t going anywhere. In fact, if the sale closes, Netflix says it will strengthen Warner Bros.’ traditional theatrical model rather than shrink it. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co‑CEO, has repeatedly emphasized that Warner Bros. films will continue to enjoy a 45‑day exclusive theatrical window—a stance that directly counters fears that Netflix would rush major releases to streaming. Sarandos described Warner Bros.’ theatrical distribution as a “phenomenal” engine that generates billions in revenue, insisting Netflix has no intention of putting that at risk. This commitment marks a notable shift in tone for Netflix, which historically prioritized streaming-first strategies. But after reviewing Warner Bros.’ financials, Sarandos acknowledged that the economics of theatrical releases are stronger than Netflix had previously modeled. He framed the 45‑day window not as a compromise but as a competitive strategy: Netflix wants to “win opening weekend” and “win box office,” embracing the same metrics that drive traditional studios. Industry observers have taken notice. While some feared the acquisition would accelerate the decline of theatrical exclusivity, Netflix’s public stance suggests a more balanced future—one where streaming power and box office ambition coexist. For now, at least, moviegoers can expect Warner Bros. films to keep lighting up big screens for a full month and a half before landing on Netflix’s platform.  01/17/26 @ 12:20 pm EST
The DCU is expanding with the casting of one of the universe’s biggest bads… Darkseid. While this seems to go against something co-studio head James Gunn has said previously about staying away from the cosmic threat, but this casting isn’t for Man of Tomorrow, but rather the upcoming Mister. Miracle animated series and you can’t really tell the story of Scott Free with mentioning his adopted daddy. Writer Tom King was on the Word Balloon podcast when he talked about the series that he is showrunning and said that they had cast Darkseid and Orion along with Mr. Miracle and Big Barda. If you’re not familiar with these characters, they are all part of the Fourth World Saga created by comic legend Jack Kirby during his short stint with DC Comics. It tells the story of two warring factions, the New Gods and the planet Apokolips and a deal that was made in an attempt for peace. The leaders of the factions, High Father and Darkseid, would exchange children… this sent Scott Free to be raised on the oppressive planet while Orion was sent to the peaceful New Genesis. Scott would become and escape artist, finding a way off of Apokolips with the female warrior, Barda, and eventually come to Earth. Exactly what part of that history the series will focus on is unclear, but we do know that Darkseid and the others will be involved. Gunn also confirmed on social media that the series will be cannon to the DCU that includes the recent Superman movie, the Peacemaker series and the animated Creature Commandos. This means that whoever is voicing these characters in the series would also play them in live action in the future and King has said that the Mister Miracle series will have big ramifications on the DCU as a whole. No word on when the series will debut, but with the casting already made, we can expect an announcement in the near future.  ... 01/10/26 @ 11:52 am EST
Takashi Yamazaki’s follow-up to the 2023 Godzilla Minus One is set to hit North American theaters on November 6th, 2026, three days after its premier in Japan. The Academy Award winning film took in $11.4 million in the US on its opening weekend and $57 million total during its domestic box office run. Godzilla Minus Zero is the second film in the franchise from Gkids since taking Toho acquired the company in 2024. David Jesteadt, president of Gkids, said in a statement: “Gkids is proud to bring Godzilla Minus Zero to North American audiences, following the incredible global reception of Godzilla Minus One. This next chapter is sure to become another defining moment for the most colossal monster ever to dominate the screen. It is only fitting that this bold, new Godzilla event be experienced in its fullest theatrical glory, and we’re honored that Toho has entrusted us to carry this legacy forward.” 
01/10/26 @ 11:38 am EST
As we get closer to the start of production on Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part 2, the cast starts to take shape with the second MCU veteran being added to the cast. We heard of Scarlet Johansson’s casting earlier in December and now multiple sources are saying Sebastian Stan has come on board as well, with the Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision report claiming that the actor who plays Bucky Barnes will now take on the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. This lines up with the rumors that Johansson would be playing Gilda Dent and that the story may be following the Long Halloween, a popular comic arch by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. While the story does focus on the Dents, many of the other characters in the story have already appeared in The Batman and The Penguin and have already been eliminated. Plus, the setting of the sequel is said to be set around a week after The Penguin series ended, just before Christmas. How ever the characters are used, if Stan is in the film, it then puts the fate of his MCU character in question as The Batman Part 2 will be filming around the same time as Avengers: Secret Wars. While the casting of both Stan and Johansson have not been made official, neither have they been denied by Reeves, James Gunn or DC Studios.  01/03/26 @ 1:19 pm EST
Deadline is reporting that Mike Flanagan is working on a new adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Flanagan said his plan is to adapt the beloved franchise into a five-season series that would then be capped off by two stand-alone movies. The acclaimed horror director recently told Empire Magazine, “We’ve got a lot of scripts done for it. It’s the first priority.” He also made it clear that he doesn’t want the 2017 Idris Elba/ Matthew McConaughey film to be the final word on the property. That adaptation has a 16% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Though Flanagan and Intrepid Pictures have a deal with Amazon, the rights to the Dark Tower were specifically carved out of their arrangement and could end up with another studio, but Amazon is also a possibility. Flanagan is known for his work on films like Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep and the Life of Chuck as well as series like The Fall of the House of Ushers, The Midnight Club and Midnight Mass. He also came up with the initial story and script for the upcoming Clayface movie that was so strong that James Gunn and Peter Safran has to greenlight a body horror film starring a B-level Batman villain as the third film released in their new DCU.  |
