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06/17/16 @ 1:02 am EST
A Writer’s Commentary: David Avallone talks Twilight Zone: The Shadow #3, on sale now from Dynamite. Cover by Francesco Francavilla, interiors by Dave Acosta.  I knew this would be the hard one: nothing is less visual than watching a guy write a novel… but I wanted to see if I could meet that challenge. The cover.I’m relatively new to comics, and this was the first time I asked if I could suggest a cover idea. I would never want to intrude on the artistry of the great Francavilla, but the concept for this one popped into my head and I really wanted to see what Francesco would do with it. Giant hands and giant props feel like a classic pulp cover trope from the thirties, and I love the way it came out. Page one.Narration. One of my very favorite things about this book is the opportunity to write in Rod Serling’s “voice”. Like most geeks my age, I grew up hearing those Twilight Zone narrations again and again, and loving that vivid style. I hope I captured it here. Page two.Eagle-eyed Twilight Zone fans might recognize Art’s boss from a classic episode. Hint: he’s the actor who appeared in the most TZ episodes. Pages two and three.Dave Acosta is the best, as I will say to anyone, whether they ask me or not. In this sequence, the secretary bringing the martini is all him. I love touches like that: they bring the world to life.  Pages four and five.I knew “Art” would have to spend a lot of this issue talking to himself, so why not his “Shadow?” When I was developing this series, I was caught between two very different styles of storytelling. The Shadow has a lot of action and intrigue. Lots of gunplay and fistfights and cars racing down streets. On the other hand, there are a lot of Twilight Zone episodes mostly made up of two guys stuck in a room talking to one another. Serling (and Matheson and Beaumont) were able to make that kind of thing crackle with tension. I make no such claims for my own talent but I wanted to have some of that Twilight-Zone-claustrophobic-one-act-play feeling in this series as well. Page six.One of the touchstones for this issue was David Cronenberg’s hallucinatory film version of NAKED LUNCH. Like Cronenberg, I have always found manual typewriters to be kind of fascinating things… Page seven.…and maybe a little creepy. Pages eight.Another touchstone for this issue is Chuck Jones’ classic “Duck Amuck” cartoon. Daffy runs around on a blank sheet of paper and has some serious issues with his creator. Hopefully this sequence is a little more chilling than hilarious. I think the rest of the book beautifully demonstrates Dave Acosta’s ability to draw anything I throw at him. Page nine.My colorist, Omi Remalante, did a beautiful job creating a look here that could pass for a blank sheet of paper without just being a wash of white. Everyone rose to the challenge on this issue.  Page ten and eleven.Psychodrama! I’m a big fan of silent panels. I love Kent Allard watching his Id and Superego duke it out in front of him. Page twelve.I’ve been doling out my own take on the Shadow’s origins in this series, and here I go against a lot of the prevailing trope previous versions of the Shadow. It’s such a cliché these days to have your white hero go to Tibet and learn mystic arts. Yawn. I have it on a good authority (Walter Gibson) that the Shadow spent a lot of time among an incredibly obscure Guatemalan culture called the Xinca (or Xinka.) Why not learn the mystic arts from them? Far less is known about the Xinca than is known about Tibetan Buddhism. Page thirteen.The Xinca appear in four panels in this comic book. I don’t want to think about the hours I spent researching them to make sure these four panels had some kind of reality to them. Shout out to my Facebook friend Agathe Rigault whose education in pre-Columbian civilizations came to the rescue when I hit a wall. The illustrations here are based on the few photos I could find on the web of the Xinca. I like the poetic names of their gods, and I like that they laugh in Kent Allard’s face for his cornball pitch. Page fourteen.I wasn’t thinking about it when I wrote this page, but Kent Allard here reminds me a little bit of blissed-out Don Draper in the last episode of Mad Men. Page fifteen-eighteen.I was trying to think of a creepy action bit to end this sequence: something that would metaphorically dramatize the whole struggle. Since Kent is stuck on a piece of paper, the giant typewriter bars smacking down at him was a natural thought. As for the word they’re spelling out… and Kent getting tied down for the final blow… that came courtesy of Franz Kafka’s short story “In The Penal Colony”. It seemed apt to echo that here.  Page seventeen/eighteen.I didn’t want to do a story about the Shadow’s first novel without a cameo by Harry Vincent. Good old Harry. Page nineteen.The first draft is often the story you tell your significant other, when they make the mistake of asking “what are you doing?” Note that there’s a one new word on Art’s sheet of paper. Page twenty.And we’re back to the beginning, now. Dave found the propaganda poster in his research, and added the rat. And we end as we began, with my most sincere attempt to channel the voice of a true genius, a great and moral artist, now lost to us but forever remembered… in the Twilight Zone. 05/07/24 @ 11:14 am EST
“Wednesday” Season 2 is officially in production in Ireland, with Netflix revealing the full cast for the new season of the hit series. Jenna Ortega will of course be returning as Wednesday Addams, while Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Isaac Ordonez, and Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo will all be upped to series regulars for Season 2. Zeta-Jones plays Morticia, while Guzmán plays Gomez and Ordonez plays Pugsley. Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Hunter Doohan, Victor Dorobantu, Moosa Mostafa, and Georgie Farmer will also be returning, as will Fred Armisen and Jamie McShane in guest roles. Noticeably absent from the announcement is Percy Hynes White, who starred in Season 1 as Xavier Thorpe. In 2023, Hynes White decried a “campaign of misinformation” after allegations of sexual assault were made against him on social media. (via Variety) For more on the cast, click here. 05/07/24 @ 11:06 am EST
The third installment in the hit shark thriller franchise 47 Meters Down is launching at the Cannes market. Series creator Johannes Roberts and screenwriter Ernest Riera, who wrote the first two films, have co-written the third installment: 47 Meters Down: The Wreck. Veteran horror director Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) will direct. FilmNation, the sales agent on the franchise’s second installment, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, is returning to launch worldwide sales in Cannes. The story will follow a father who is determined to rebuild his relationship with his daughter as they bond during a scuba diving in beautiful tropical waters while exploring a famous shipwreck. But soon after their descent, their master diver has an accident leaving them alone and unprotected inside the labyrinth of the wreck. As tensions rise and oxygen dwindles, the pair must use their newfound bond to escape the wreck and the relentless barrage of bloodthirsty great white sharks. Production is being lined up for the fall with casting discussions underway. (via Deadline) 05/07/24 @ 11:00 am EST
Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh has found her next major starring vehicle in Blade Runner 2099, Prime Video‘s limited series following up the 2017 movie sequel Blade Runner 2049. Details of Yeoh’s role are under wraps, as is the show’s plot. But it marks the latest expansion of the sci-fi franchise based on Philip K. Dick’s seminal novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which kicked off with Ridley Scott’s classic 1982 film, Blade Runner. Production recently began overseas, following a delay of nearly a year due to the double strikes of 2023. While it originally had been set to shoot in Belfast, the show wound up relocating to Prague following the work stoppage. Jonathan van Tulleken (Shōgun) is directing the first two episodes. (via Deadline) 05/06/24 @ 11:07 pm EST
Vin Diesel is officially returning to the world of Pitch Black and galactic antihero Riddick, the sci-fi action franchise that gave the actor his first major leading role.Riddick: Furya, which was announced in February 2023, is now moving full steam ahead toward an Aug. 26 shoot date, producers announced Monday. Diesel stars and produces the film, which reteams him with David Twohy, the filmmaker who has directed all of the franchise’s previous entries. Furya will film in locales such as Germany, Spain and the U.K.In Furya, which Diesel and Twohy have been developing and teasing since 2014, Riddick finally returns to his home world, a place he barely remembers and one he fears might be left in ruins. But there he finds other Furyans fighting for their existence against a new monster. And some of these Furyans are more like Riddick than he could have ever imagined. (via The Hollywood Reporter) 05/06/24 @ 11:32 pm EST
BOOM! Studios today revealed a first look at PROFANE #1, the premiere issue of a brand new mind-bending murder mystery from comics legend Peter Milligan (Hellblazer, Enigma), veteran artist Raül Fernandez (Detective Comics, Justice League Dark), colorist Giada Marchisio, and letterer Jeff Eckleberry, that treads the precarious razor’s edge between reality and fiction. Coming to comic shops in June 2024. Will Profane is a seasoned private eye, and solving murders in the sunbaked streets of Los Angeles is his daily bread. But something is strange about his latest case. Every clue leads him back to a world-famous crime novelist lying at the center of this mystery–and dangerous truths about Profane’s own life. PROFANE #1 features main cover art by star artist Javier Rodriguez (House of Slaughter) and variant covers by acclaimed illustrators Mike Deodato (Damn Them All) with Jão Canola, and Marguerite Sauvage (Captain Marvel)! PROFANE 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; Grim by Stephanie Phillips and Flaviano; Stuff of Nightmares by R.L. Stine and A.L. Kaplan; Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard; Once Upon a Time at the End of the World by Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Leila del Duca, and Nick Dragotta; Know Your Station by Sarah Gailey and Liana Kangas; A Vicious Circle by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo; The Neighbors by Jude Ellison S. Doyle and Letizia Cadonici; Ghostlore by Cullen Bunn and Leomacs; Sirens of the City by Joanne Starer and Khary Randolph; Coda by Simon Spurrier and Matías Bergara; Rare Flavours by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; Underheist by David and Maria Lapham; and Animal Pound by Tom King and Peter Gross. The imprint also publishes popular licensed properties, including Dune: House Corrino from Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, and Simone Ragazzon; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by Melissa Flores and Simona Di Gianfelice; and The Expanse: Dragon Tooth by Andy Diggle and Rubine. PROFANE #1 will be available in comic shops June 5, 2024. 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. Check out DYNAMIC FORCES' interview with PROFANE writer PETER MILLIGAN by Byron Brewer. https://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/interviews.html?showinterview=IN04222438305           
... 05/06/24 @ 12:54 pm EST
Superman is easily one of the most iconic fictional characters of all time, with the Man of Steel's story being told across comics, movies, television, and so much more. Next year, the DC character is headed back onto the big screen with a new live-action portrayal, as David Corenswet has been cast in the titular role of James Gunn's Superman. With production of the film underway, Gunn today officially unveiled the first full look at Corenswet in costume as Clark Kent AKA Superman on Threads. You can check it out below. Superman is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on July 11, 2025. (via ComicBook.com) 
05/06/24 @ 12:51 pm EST
The English-language adaptation of Momo, one of the best-loved fantasy books by The Neverending Story writer Michael Ende, has set a buzzy cast, with Alexa Goodall (A Gentleman In Moscow) taking the lead role of the young orphan girl Momo. The main cast is completed by Araloyin Oshunremi (Top Boy, Heartstopper), Kim Bodnia (Killing Eve, The Witcher), Claes Bang (The Square), Laura Haddock (The Recruit, Transformers: The Last Knight), Jennifer Amaka Peterson (The Sandhamn Murders), David Shütter (Charlie’s Angels) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock). The story focuses on Momo, a young orphan girl who lives in the ruins of an old Roman amphitheater and becomes friends with everybody in the neighborhood. But, when a powerful international corporation starts stealing everybody’s time, nobody has any time left for her, let alone their friends or families. Momo, together with Master Hora, the custodian of time, are the only ones who can go up against the time thieves before all is lost forever. Momo is currently filming in Croatia and Slovenia. (via Deadline) 
05/05/24 @ 2:17 pm EST
Normally, the first weekend in May is a big one at the box office where we usually get a new Marvel movie to fill the theaters. But with all the delays happening and only one actual Marvel Studios film releasing this year and nothing coming from DC until next year, this weekend was left open for a new franchise to take hold. It didn’t happen. The Ryan Gosling / Emily Blunt lead Fall Guy opened up short of estimates, taking in just $28 million to lead the box office. The total box office for the weekend is only $73 million, down 55% from this time last year when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 opened for $118.4 million. That’s how a summer schedule is supposed to launch. And it’s not like other films did well, the second highest grossing film of the weekend, making $8.1 million, was Star Wars: The Phantom Menace which included $300k from a series of marathon screenings over the weekend to celebrate May the 4th. Though one also has to look at the star power of Ryan Gosling as this is his third highest box office opening yet behind Barbie ($162 million) and Blade Runner 2049 ($32.7 million) and in neither of those films would I consider Gosling the main draw. The overall response to the film has been positive, getting an A- CinemaScore and 90% positive on PostTrak. Maybe word of mouth will help lessen the second week drop for the Fall Guy.  05/05/24 @ 1:55 pm EST
At 93-years-old, William Shatner has told the Canadian Press that he would be willing to return to the Star Trek franchise as long as the storytelling is stellar. While promoting the new documentary, You Can Call Me Bill, the original Captain James T. Kirk said, “It’s an intriguing idea. It’s almost impossible, but it was a great role and so well-written, and if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it.” The last time Shatner wore a Starfleet Uniform was thirty years ago in Star Trek Generations where his character dies. The actor was quick to point out that Otoy, a company he promotes, specializes in de-aging technology and he also suggested a scenario where Kirk could return, saying: “A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it. ‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here.’ There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!” Salt and Pepper for a resurrection? We can see now why Kirk was never a science officer. I can already hear McCoy saying, “I’m a doctor damn it, not a shot-order cook.”  05/05/24 @ 1:19 pm EST
If you’re watching the X-Men ’97 series on Disney+ and noticed a familiar Wall-Crawler in the final moments of the eight episode, that is exactly who fans were speculating it was. Near the end of “ Tolerance is Extinction – Part 1” we get to see various characters reacting to the lights going out, this is caused by Magneto. One of the people reacting is Spider-Man and fans began to wonder if this would be the Spider-Man from Spider-Man: The Animated Series which ran 1994 to 1998 and series showrunner Beau DeMayo confirmed it by saying, “It is indeed that Spider-Man.” While this Spider-Man had no dialogue, it’s not a big surprise as the character has crossed paths with this group of X-Men before. In the second season of the Spider-Man series, Peter Parker needed the X-Men’s help and the voice cast from X-Men: The Animated Series reprised their roles. This, along with images of the Daily Bugle having appeared earlier, sets both series in the same universe.  |
