Movies - Superman 2 needs new writers, and it's not Mark Millar.

So earlier this week it was announced by Warner Bros. that the writers of "Superman Returns" would not be back for the sequel. As you can image fandom as a whole was pretty broken up about it. Oh wait...I'm lying, I think the general consensus is that these 2 douches could go pound on each other and noone would by tickets. I mean really did anyone like "Superman Returns"?

Needless to say, WB is looking for a new writer. Enter comics writer Mark Millar. Mark is one of the better comic book writers to emerge over the last few years. With the exception of Civil War, most of the stuff is great, His titles include, The Authority, The Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men, Wanted, etc... Well on Tuesday, he wrote on his blog that he'd try to throw his hat in the ring to write the Superman sequel... for free. Then a mere 24 hrs later WB put the kibosh on the whole deal. On Wednesday Millar announced that he'll not be writing the next movie. You can read his account HERE.

The reason that WB won't even consider him is that, he's currently an exclusive writer for Marvel, and as WB owns DC, he basically writes for their direct competition. Although Millar was very nice about it on his blog, you can tell this is a big load of BS. First of all the studios hire all sorts of writers, who have written films for other studios, who are also their "competition". Secondly Millar's Marvel contract runs out in 1 year, so by the time this movie would have been released (at least 2 years from now) DC could snag him up and he could be writing books for them.

This is just a spin on WB's part cause I'm sure they have other folks lined up and they want to make a big PR deal out of it. Which is too bad cause I'm sure Millar would have hit one out of the park. Now if WB could just get rid of Byran Singer and re-launch the franchisee everyone would be happy.

Comics - Online comics..to download or not?

As many of you know I download my comic books. If I read the book and like It, I pick up the trade. This way my money supports worth-while material. Most of my friends are on the fence about downloads, as it's waaay illegal. My feeling is why should I pay for something if it's gonna suck. Especially if someone else like advertisers are paying for it already. It's not like comics don't have ads, they do. And not just for other comics, that I would be okay with, but you have to dig though ad-upon-ad for movies, games and deodorant. At least with other things I do pay for blindly, like movies, I only have to sit though a few trailers, of other movies, before I can see if I've wasted my money. Also with movies I get a "trailer" to see if I'm gonna like the movie. Not that a good trailer means a good movie, but do you get that with comics? No, you do not. All you know is if the cover looks good and who's writing and drawing the book. Plus 60% of the time the cover artist is not the artist of the book itself....anyway I could go on and on, but I digress.

The point of all this is that I come across a website today that you can download comics (among other print material, like books) legally. This site is called Wowio.com. CBR did a review of it in their Pipeline column called "MORE COMICS ON-LINE". Basically you sign up, which it kind of a pain cause they ask you a bunch of questions, but after that you're on your way. They don't have any main-stream books as of yet, but they have lots of indies you can check out. They limit you to 3 downloads and day and each downloadable pdf is bookend with an advertisement. Not bad as you're getting it for FREE. You can also set up a que like Net-filcks, so you know what you can download everyday.

I see this as the future of comics, as my friend Chuck says, " the comic companies are going to wake up one day and their lunch is going to be gone". It's really only a matter of time.

I give this site a 3 out of 4 Ass Monkey

Movies - The NEW Star Trek

Well Paramount cast the new Star Trek. What do you think?


How long till Lucas decides to re-make the original trilogy I wonder.

Art - Jose Holder & Dan McDaid

CBR is doing their annual talent search for artists again this year called Comic Book Idol. You can check out this years entries and see who's winning HERE. Out of the 10 they picked I found 2 guys I really liked, Jose Holder & Dan McDaid.

Jose Holder

Jose Holder has a Barry-Winser Smith + Walt Simionson + Larry Stroman thing going on. You can check out his blog HERE.

Dan McDaid

Dan McDaid is a mix of Bruce Tim & Dwayne Cook. You can check out some of his art HERE.

Toys - DC Direct - SHOWCASE PRESENTS SERIES 1

DC Direct is putting out a new series of figures based on their Showcase line.

Four DC characters are presented here as they were portrayed by some of their top artists! This inaugural series includes Superman by Curt Swan, Batgirl by Carmine Infantino, Hawkman by Joe Kubert, and Jonah Hex by Tony DeZuniga. Each figure features multiple points of articulation and a base.

JONAH HEX
HAWKMAN
SUPERMAN
BATGIRL

THE BEST PART IS THAT THE SUPERMAN FIGURE INCLUDES ALTERNATE RED KRYPTONITE HEADS.

That red kryptonite is some messed up shit. I mean look at this:

Art - The War In Iraq: A Soldiers Perspective

I came across this animation today thru an email chain at work. It was created by U.S. Army Specialist Colby Buzzell and details the events of a battle in Iraq. It's pretty cool. The art and storytelling is pretty amazing. I watched it with the sound off at 1st and was surprised how good it was visually. I give it a

4 out of 4 Ass Money

The War In Iraq: A Soldiers Perspective - Watch more free videos

TV - Moonlight

From our friends at TV.com.
Moonlight follows Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin), an immortal vampire and private investigator and his struggle to exist after he was bitten 60 years ago by his vampire bride on their wedding night. It also follows his internal torment as he falls in love with one he should not, one who is mortal named Beth (Sophia Myles), a news reporter, as well as his dealings with the woman who made him a vampire, his sire Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon).

WOW!!! is this bad. I'm mean it's Alias season 3 bad. It's like a 4th grader wrote this crap. It opens with a voice-over exposition of the lead character Private Eye Mick St. John talking about being a 60 year old vampire and how cool it is. I mean really, is this necessary? Really, come on. This whole show is so cliché, it's like a joke but no one is laughing. The story meanders on as Mick St. John (god, I love that name) solves this episodes big "who done it". Along the way we discover some of Mick's back story and it revolves around a little girl he saved back in the 80's. We'll it turns out it's twenty years later and she grew up to be a internet news reporter named Beth and is smoking hot. ( go figure) Mick is of course falling in love with her, but alas she is the forbidden fruit as he saved her as a child and it would be creepy if they "did it"...Or would it?

The show is made for fans of the "Gilmore Girls" and the "Princess Diaries", who as you can imagine are mostly women. The only saving grace is a few of the minor background characters. They have Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars) as Josef Konstantin, a centuries old vampire, and St. John's mentor. He is horribly miss-cast, but fun to see on the screen again. Also Kevin Weisman (Marshall Flinkman from Alias) plays a super small role as Beth's cameraman, although he is not on the cast list for future episodes I hope he shows up again.

I might turn in for episode 02 as I like to give even bad tv a few episodes. Heck as most of you know I stuck with Alias till the bitter end. But for now I give this show

1 of 4 Ass Monkey.