Science Museum Oklahoma hosts Space Day
Science Museum Oklahoma will host “Space Day” tomorrow at the museum, with hands-on lunar and space-related activities. “Space Day” lasts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with most activities from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Science Museum Oklahoma is located at 2100 NE 52.
- Matt Price
Congratulations Mark Smith!
Congratulations to Tahlequah’s Mark Smith, who became the WGC Ultimate Gamer in the recent reality-show competition on the SciFi channel.
Smith, 23, won $100,000 and will become a representative of the World Cyber Games.
Smith told The Oklahoman in an interview before the show aired that his laid-back persona helped hide his outstanding gaming skills.
“I will say, I think being the southern boy, people didn’t see me coming, that’s for sure,” Smith said. “I guess they don’t think we have the internet here in Oklahoma yet. But I definitely came ready to play and I think they were very surprised by that.”
- Matt Price
Wolverine nears 300 sellouts
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has sold out close to 300 performances, according to MovieTickets.com.
That sounds pretty good, but “Wolverine” is trailing “Transformers” by 2-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle. “Transformers” is MovieTickets.com’s No. 25 pre-seller of all-time.
“Wolverine” accounts for 73 percent of tickets sold at the site Thursday as of 12 p.m. ET.
- Matt Price
Wolverine Wednesday: Weapon X
The “Weapon X” storyline was serialized in “Marvel Comics Presents” in eight-page installments that were written and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, who became a comics superstar with another barbarian, Conan.
Windsor-Smith is a favorite of mine, and his “Weapon X,” now available as a premiere hardcover from Marvel, is another of the great Wolverine stories.
This series explains how Logan, who would later become Wolverine, ended up with the unbreakable metal adamantium bound to his bones. It’s more than that, as well, it examines the difference between man and animals and a soldier and a weapon. Beautiful art, incredibly violent.
- Matt Price
Megan Fox in Jonah Hex may make your brain melt
Head over to MovieGab to see photos of Megan Fox in costume for the adaptation of DC Comics’ “Jonah Hex.” I’m not sure they wore anything quite that revealing in the Old West, but who are we to complain?
Actress Sonita Henry delivers in Star Trek
Actress Sonita Henry has an early encounter with James T. Kirk in the upcoming “Star Trek” movie, directed by J.J. Abrams. How early? She portrays the doctor who delivers baby Kirk in an action-packed scene.
“It’s a very dramatic scene,” Henry said in a recent interview with The Oklahoman. “Things are blowing up, and there’s a woman in labor … in the middle of a war zone, I guess.”
She said the gravity of being cast for “Star Trek” didn’t sink in immediately.
“As an actor, you’re like, ‘Great! Another job,’” she said. “And then it slowly begins to sink in that this isn’t just another job, this is ‘Star Trek.’ This is huge. This has millions and millions of fans around the world.”
She began filming on “Star Trek” in November 2007.
“We were shooting in the Long Beach power station,” Henry said. “We had loads of extras running around. We had explosions.”
Henry’s character and the doctor’s aide, are pushing the pregnant Winona Kirk (Jennifer Morrison, “House”) along in a wheelchair through the extras and the explosions.
“And I think at that point was when I was like, ‘Oh wow. OK, this is a huge movie,’” Henry said.
Henry hasn’t t seen the film. In fact, she’s not sure what she’ll look like in it.
“They put little dots on my face, and they’re going to … be morphing my features.”
Henry said it was difficult to turn down one request from Abrams.
“They wanted me to shave my eyebrows, which we hadn’t discussed until the first day on set,” she said. “Believe me, it was not an easy thing for me to say no, (but) … you don’t know if your eyebrows are going to grow back.”
Instead of shaving her eyebrows, Henry went through two hours of daily makeup to conceal her eyebrows with latex covers.
“It wasn’t work for me; I just got to sit there and drink coffee and relax,” she said. “But the poor makeup guys, two hours every morning, had to do that.”
Michael Myers in H2 revealed
Photo credit: Marsha LaMarca/Dimension Films
Dimension Films has revealed the first look at Michael Myers from H2 (Halloween 2).
Comics Q&A: Free Comic Book Day
Comics Q&A: What is Free Comic Book Day? Kyle Roberts and Matt Price answer questions about Free Comic Book Day, which is Saturday, May 2.
“Wolverine” continues strong advance sales
As of 11 a.m. Central time today, MovieTickets.com reports the following ticket info for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Ticket sales doubled from Saturday, April 25, to Sunday, April 26. Ticket sales then doubled again from Sunday, April 26, to Monday, April 27.
- Matt Price
Writer Antony Johnston brings manga flair to Wolverine
MARVEL, X-Men, all related characters: TM & © 2009 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. www.marvel.com. All rights reserved.
Writer Antony Johnston has handled everything from romantic comedy to the apocalypse, and in between, as an in-demand comic-book writer. This month, he takes a new spin on Wolverine, creating Del Rey’s manga version of the character in “Wolverine: Prodigal Son.” Drawing the series is Filipino artist Wilson Tortosa, best known for his work on Top Cow’s “Battle of the Planets.” Johnston talked to The Oklahoman about his take on the mutant hero.
Matt Price: Your Wolverine takes an “all-new, all-different” spin from the classic Wolverine character. How did you decide what to keep, and what to jettison, from the regular Marvel Comics Wolverine character?
Antony Johnston: I started with the aim of removing as much baggage from the existing character as I could; to strip him down to his essentials, without removing the things that make him who he is. So the costume, him being a superhero, the X-Men, his rogues’ gallery… all those were dropped. That left us with the core essence of the character – his personality, his claws, his healing factor, and of course his crazy hairdo.
It’s important to realize that this isn’t about taking Wolverine, the superhero, and shoehorning him into a story where he doesn’t fit. This is about taking Logan, the man, and building him into a manga hero. That was the biggest influence on those decisions, and I was pretty ruthless about it.
MP: Tell me about your artist on the series.
AJ: His name’s Wilson Tortosa, a Filipino, and he’s best known in American comics for drawing the “Battle Of The Planets” book from Top Cow a few years back. I hadn’t worked with Wilson before, but as soon as I saw his first few pages of “Wolverine” layouts I knew he was perfect for the book. His pages are very kinetic, and he also has a good sense of storytelling dynamics for when the art needs to be more contemplative. I especially like how you can clearly see that manga has been a big influence on his work, but he’s not aping anyone. He has his own unique style.
MP: What was harder: writing a book that would appeal to Wolverine fans, or writing a book that would appeal to manga readers?
AJ: We didn’t really think of this book as trying to appeal to existing Wolverine fans at all. There are a few references, little nods, that sort of thing, for those fans to recognize and raise a smile. But our main concern was writing for manga readers. Yes, it was challenging at times, because we knew we’d have an uphill struggle to convince them that actually, they really do want to read a book about Wolverine! But it’s a good challenge, and one I relished.
MP: What is the long-term plan for “Wolverine: Prodigal Son”? Is it ongoing, or is there a definitive ending in mind?
AJ: The original agreement with Marvel was for two volumes. But everyone hopes they’ll succeed, so we can go on to do more and make it a longer series. I’m certainly keeping my fingers crossed, I’d love to keep the series going. I’ve even left a few small threads dangling that we can return to…
MP: What influenced you in creating your Wolverine?
AJ: A combination of things. Obviously there’s the original Marvel version of the character. Without that, you don’t have Wolverine at all. But in bringing him over to this story, and “rebuilding” him into a manga hero, the main influences were manga both old and new – from “Lone Wolf & Cub” to “Naruto” – and modern boy’s YA adventure fiction, such as the “Alex Rider” and “Cherub” series. That may sound like chalk and cheese, but it was important to me that “our” Wolverine was firmly contemporary.
MP: Why do you think the Wolverine character has been so enduring, and so popular?
AJ: I think he taps into something that we all appreciate in our heroes. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, he doesn’t trust easily, he questions authority and he’s self-sufficient. But once you earn his respect, you know he’ll stick by you till the bitter end. Sure, he’s got the claws and he can kick your ass, but I really think his personality is the biggest draw, because we all feel the world could use more people like that. Everyone hopes that when it all comes down, they’d be brave enough to take a stand. With Wolverine, we don’t have to hope.
