Comics – Page 37 – Ghost in the Machine

Squashed like a bug.

What the? I haven’t been keeping up with comics very well for the past decade or so, but I do have a fanboy’s protective fondness for my own Golden Age, which dates to the mid-to-late ’80’s…right around John Romita Jr. on X-Men, John Byrne’s FF and Alpha Flight, Squadron Supreme, and Secret Wars on the Marvel side and to the heyday of the Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Alan Moore on Swamp Thing on the DC end. So it is with some dismay that I received the news from my brother yesterday that, in a fit of Chris Claremont-like revisionism, the new, best-selling, and apparently very dark Countdown to Infinite Crisis (another one?), DC’s follow-up to last year’s gritty Identity Crisis, not only turned relatively congenial corporate shark and JLI head Maxwell Lord (of the classic Giffen-DeMatteis-Maguire run) into an long-simmering evil genius, they had him off the Blue Beetle!

What’s that about? For one, they’re screwing with my childhood here, and that’s not cool. For another, they took out a character with a 60-year history (although admittedly we’re talking about two different Beetles, Dan Garret and Ted Kord.) I mean, they could’ve waxed Booster Gold (who apparently doesn’t fare very well in this issue either) and nobody would’ve batted an eye. Or, if they really wanted to up the body count, DC could have set pretty much all of Justice League Detroit and Batman’s Outsiders on fire, and it’d have been no harm, no foul. But the Blue Beetle? That’s just not kosher. Grr…when the “culture-of-life” protestors come-a-knockin’ in force, DC, you’ll know who sent ’em.

Trials of a Comedian.

Uh-oh. It’s mostly fanboy speculation at the moment…still, word from the AICN crew is Paramount may be getting squeamish about The Watchmen. That’s too bad — the recent interviews with Paul Greengrass suggested this project was in sound hands.

Rogues’ Gallery.

In Marvel film news, the Fantastic Four trailer from ShoWest makes it online (nope, still not feeling it), and there’s more talk of the villains for X3 and Spidey 3: Dark Phoenix and (as I guessed…booyah) The Sandman respectively.

Spider in a Bottle.

Sideways sidekick Thomas Haden Church is cast as one of the villains in the next Spidey, although they haven’t announced which one yet. My guess is The Sandman.

Fanboy Cornucopia.

Thanks to ShoWest and otherwise, there’s been quite a bit of fanboy news to come down the pike in the past few days…

In the casting department, Parker Posey joined the legion of Superman as “Kitty Koslowski,” one of Lex Luthor’s minions. Hopefully, it’s a better villainess turn than in Blade: Trinity.

Not to be outdone by the son of Krypton, a spiffy new Batman Begins poster premieres online.

Rounding out the DC trifecta, Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon is signed to write and direct Wonder Woman.

On the Marvel end, AICN uncovers the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters’ new additions for X3…this time around will include Beast, Gambit, and a female Angel.

In the midst of the press junket for Woody Allen’s Melinda & Melinda, Chloe Sevigny inadvertently lets on that the Black Cat will likely complicate Peter Parker’s life in the next Spiderman.

Looking for direction (and cash flow) in the upcoming post-prequel era, George Lucas announces he’ll be re-releasing the OT in Cameron-style 3-D.

Ang Lee prepares to go back to the well with a prequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (I’ll take it over another Hulk.)

Among the recent new trailers is our first look at Michael Bay’s The Island, with Ewan MacGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, and Michael Clarke Duncan. I generally can’t stand Michael Bay films, but it is sci-fi and the cast isn’t bad.

The new Hitchhiker’s Guide site goes live, which includes this splendid shot of Arthur and Marvin enjoying (as much possible, given the terrible pain in all his diodes down his left side) an intergalactic sunset.

Finally, the very Independence Day-ish full trailer for War of the Worlds is out-and-about, which involves a lot of Tom Cruise running, Dakota Fanning crying, and random things detonating. Is Spielberg trying to out-Bay Bay?

Everybody’s a Comedian.

“It’s interesting the kind of issues that first raise their head, really. How do you deliver the Citizen Kane of comic books to screen? That is basically the problem. It’s a bit intimidating to be honest.” Director Paul Greengrass talks with CHUD on preproduction of — and transformations to — The Watchmen. Update: Here’s Parts 2 and 3.

Have your cake and eat it too.

Big doings for the cast and crew of Layer Cake, a Guy Ritchie-like London crime film coming out this summer. Its director, Matthew Vaughn, will take Bryan Singer’s place in the X3 director’s chair, and its star, Daniel Craig, is apparently on the short list for the new Bond (along with Nip/Tuck‘s Julian McMahon.) Of those two, I’d go with Craig.

Category: Comics