Gerard Butler in Watchmen movie... kinda

The rumors have been flying around for months about whether or not the "Marooned" pirate story, which appears as a comic story within the original Watchmen comic, would make it into Zack Snyder's film adaptation.
Well Gerard Butler, (300, Phantom of the Opera), has told Empire magazine that he will definitely be involved in an animated version that is being produced for the film.

"I’m going to do the voice of the captain. They’re going to do it in the style of a Japanese anime and I’m totally stoked."

For the uninitiated, Tales Of The Black Freighter is a pirate genre comic book read by a young boy that hangs out by a Manhattan newsstand ion the Watchmen graphic novel. It tells the tale of a castaway’s mental and physical deterioration and damnation as he tries to intercept a ghost freighter headed for his hometown. The comic panels from this pirate story are intertwined with panels from the main comic’s storyline, and is often accompanied by the “off center” street wisdom of an older news vendor.
Further into the interview, Butler talked a little about the Marooned storyline and how excited he was upon reading the script for the first time.

"The little bits that have been added define it so much more. It’s very dark and there’s just something so descriptive and scary. It’s this descent into madness but explained in such a sane way that you totally feel it yourself. By the end, my heart was pumping!"

The Empire article stated that the animated pirate story would appear on the DVD release of the film and not in the theatrical release, but Zack Snyder has suggested that the story may actually have a chance to set sail into the theatical release in 2009.

Snyder wrote on Watchmencomicmovie.com, "It is my intent right now, and of course all this could change, to create a version of the “Black Freighter” that thread throughout the movie. As I write this, I have already shot the ins and outs of the News Vendor and Bernard… So we’ll try them in the film and then certainly we’ll at least see them on the DVD, but if it works awesome, then it works awesome, and it could end up in the film. I just want to make the best movie I can."

Whether or not it makes it into the theatrical release, it will be interesting to see Snyder’s version of the story, and to hear everybody’s favorite Spartan voice its dramatic lead.
2.28.2008

The "Watchmen" movie is scheduled to open in theatres March 6, 2009. Here is an image of the Dave Gibbons drawn promo poster.

Pugliese Pop Culture Auction

If you've got plenty of cash to spare, you could own Micheal Keaton's Batman suit, Christopher Reeve's Superman suit from Superman I and II or even Indiana Jones' whip used in all his movies. Anthony Pugliese is putting his entire collection of memorabilia up for auction on March 15th and 16th. Other items from his collection include Dean Cain's Superman suit, lots of full costumes (including The Riddler's) and props from the Batman TV series and even the Beatle's outfits.

If you find yourself with a lot of spare cash and see nothing you want, you could go ahead and get the Wicked Witch of the West's hat for me. Feel free--I'd even buy lunch.

To check out all the stuff that's going up for sale, just hit their website: The Pugliese Pop Culture Auction

Robert Crumb Exhibit

Anybody interested in seeing some original art on display by one of the 'fathers' of the underground comics movement, might want to head to Seattle and visit the Frye Art Museum in the next few weeks.

They are having an exhibition of original works of art by Robert Crumb that spans almost his entire career.

On display are sketchbooks from his early childhood, published & un-published pages of comic art from the 60's & 70's, anthology pieces, on up through some of his current works for magazines like the New Yorker.

Robert Crumb is best known for some of his anti-establishment characters during the hippie movement in the late sixties through the early seventies. Most notably among them were Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural (below).

Also on display is a sculpture of Devil Girl, another of Crumb's famous creations.

The exhibit is FREE.

That's right, it'll cost you nothing to see it, and there's even parking across from the museum that you don't have to pay for. What a deal!

(But please do leave a donation in the box as you leave to help keep the museum going)

Be advised, however, that his art is mostly of a very mature nature and is not suitable for younger audiences.

In fact, sensitive viewers might find a lot of his works objectionable.

The exhibit runs until April 27th, so hurry before it's gone.

'Justice League' Movie is Back on Track

Variety is reporting that now that the writers' strike is over, Warner Bros. has put its Justice League project on the fast track in order to add another "tentpole" film to the studio's slim 2009 schedule. Justice League helmer George Miller is currently doing preparation work in Australia and the film's cast, which includes Adam Brody (Flash), the Rapper Common (Green Lantern), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman, see attached pic!), and Arnie Hammer, Jr. (Batman) has been told to keep up their training for the physically-demanding roles. The screenwriters are polishing the script, which is due back at the studio shortly. No date for the start of principal photography has been set yet.

The Justice League project was on the fast track until the studio scuttled the project in mid-January citing script problems and uncertainty about being able to fix them caused by the writers' strike. But with just Zack Snyder's Watchmen (March 6th), McG's Terminator Salvation (May 22nd), and Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are (October 16th) scheduled for 2009, there is obviously a major gap in mid-summer that Warner Bros. would love to fill with Justice League, so don't bet that the studio won't be able to overcome the considerable difficulty of mounting a major special effects-laden superhero film in time for a summer 2009 release.

Grendel / Batman

After being out of print for more than 10 years, Dark Horse Comics will be re-releasing the Grendel / Batman TPB in April.

There were two different times when Grendel met up with Batman.
The first was a two-issue series featuring Hunter Rose (the original Grendel) as he finds himself in Gotham City on business and decides to "play" with the Dark Knight a little.
The second time was when Grendel Prime (a cyborg) came to Gotham to retrieve a mysterious artifact and will stop at nothing to get it.

I never actually finished reading the second story, but the first one (with Hunter Rose) was a superb blend of the World's Greatest Detective trying to follow the trail of a criminal mastermind who leaves no clues.
Unlike Batman's regular rogues gallery, this new threat that has come to Gotham does not follow any pattern or reason to his crime spree and leaves the Dark Knight always one step behind.

I remember reading this a year or two after it came out and just being blown away by the story of these two characters interacting with and against each other.
Hunter Rose and Bruce Wayne meet and share company without either of them having the slightest clue about the other's secret identity.

Dark Horse will be including both stories in one spiffy new trade, so you won't have to search them out individually. (Which is nice, since I've never been able to come across the second issue of the story involving Grendel Prime)

Plus, as an added bonus.... author / artist Matt Wagner will be at Emerald City Comic Con this year, so if you get this be sure to bring it and have it signed!

You don't need to be a fan of Batman or Grendel to like this book, but if you already are and you've never read this story you'll really want to pick this one up when it comes out.

Iron Man Trailer on "Lost"

Marvel has announced that a brand new Iron Man trailer will debut during the new episode of ABC's Lost that airs on Thursday, February 28th. This will be the Shellhead's third trailer as Marvel ramps up the enthusiasm for the release of its first Marvel Studios film on May 2nd, 2008.

Marvel has also released a new poster (above!) that shows all three armored suits from the Iron Man movie -- the original clunky Mark I, the sleek, all-silver Mark II, and the final red and gold Mark III.

Vote for Gen. Zod

If you're like me, you're not really sure who you want to see in the White House after the next Presidential election, but here's somebody us comic fans probably know... General Zod.
Why vote for the lesser evil, when you can have total evil in one easy package?

You can visit his 'official' page here, and see what he has on his agenda for us should we make him the new President.

Thanks to Chris Burnham for bringing this to our attention!

"ECHO" on stands soon

Looking for something a little different in your comic books?
Are spandex superheroes are a bit too "testsoterone-driven" for you?
You just can't get into the "aternative comics scene"?
And Archie comics just don't hold the drama of the human condition for you?

Well, I have a book to recommend to you.... "ECHO".
Written and drawn by Terry Moore, it's a story about a woman who finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and how her life changes after that.

The main character is a young woman named Julie Martin who is in the desert taking photographs when she sees an expolsion in the sky overhead. As debris falls down all around her, little does she know what it was and what kind of impact it will soon have on her life.
Julie unkowing becomes a host for.... ah ah ah! I don't want to give too much away yet!
You can get a 5-page sneak-peek at it here though.

If you never read "Strangers In Paradise" (Terry's first original, creator-owned series) you've been missing out. It won several awards, has been translated in practically every known language and is read world-wide.

His stories are character-driven and he really knows how to give those characters a personality.
Each one is unique and you really find yourself getting involved in the story with them as if they were actual people.
Not to mention, he personally draws and inks each issue so the story he's telling is totally coming from his vision. Not one writer's idea and then interpreted by one artist for a few issues and then somebody else a few issues later.
It's his baby. Start to finish.

Terry is also taking up the writing duties on a couple of Marvel books: "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane" and "Runaways". So you can test drive his writing skills on a major publisher's book if you're not sure about his creator-owned work quite yet.

I can't recommend this book enough.
It's due to be on the stands the first week of March, so be sure to let the guys at the shop know you'd like to check it out.
I think you might really enjoy it.

"The Boys" to film?

Columbia Pictures has acquired the motion picture rights to the comic book series The Boys, created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Described by Ennis as the comic that would "out-Preacher Preacher", The Boys is a no-holds-barred saga of a super-powered CIA squad charged with keeping tabs on society's growing number of superheroes.

Columbia producer Neal H. Moritz loves what he considers The Boys' original take on the superhero genre (superheroes unfortunately have all the flaws that afflict us ordinary mortals and need to be kept in line). The Boys was originally optioned by Kickstart and Kickstart's Jason Netter will produce the film with Moritz.

The Boys was originally published by DC's Wildstorm, but the book's anti-superhero elements were too much for DC and they dropped the series. Soon afterwards, Dynamite Entertainment picked up The Boys and the series has been a bigger hit than ever.

For those of you that haven't picked it up yet, The Boys has two Trade Paperbacks available.

Rules

As this is a community blog, it has been brought to my attention that a few ground rules should be laid down. Personally, I'm not one for a tons of rules, so let's keep this simple...

1. Age Appropriate - Although the majority of our community is made up from a wide range of adults, there are a few young ones out there that belong to our group, and even some of us have kids that participate now and again. So, with this in mind, let's keep this blog at a "Teen +" to a "Parents Strongly Cautioned, Some Material May Not Be Suitable for Children" level of content and conversation at all times. That should do the trick.
2. Content - Since this is a community based around the Comic Stop and our certain brands of genre and pop culture, let's keep the topics to those subjects. That means you should all feel free to post news (or gossip) about comics/movies/tv shows/books, reviews (or links to) of comics/movies/tv shows/books, and whatever else you feel like fits in our community.

I think that should do it for now. If we come up with any more, we will add them to the list...

Welcome!

Let me welcome you all to the new blog for The Comic Stop. Besides being a spot for us to announce events and such for the shop, this blog will also serve as a place for us to post reviews, opinions, news, and much more. Any and all of us here at the Comic Stop will be posting at any given time, so please check back often.

But wait, there's more! As this blog is for all of us, and that includes all of you customers, friends and fans of the Comic Stop, any and all of you are able to post here. Just email me at lynnwood@comicstoponline.com and I will send you an invite to post. Fair warning, though, you have to have a valid Blogger/Google account to log in...

-Brian M