Spectacular Spider-Man to weave his web on Disney XD
Longtime Spider-Man fan Josh Keaton got the role of a lifetime when the actor was selected to voice Peter Parker and his alter ego in “Spectacular Spider-Man.” The series returns for a second season at 6 p.m. Monday on Disney XD.
After playing Spider-Man’s friend Harry Osborn in “Spider-Man” video games, Keaton was excited to get the nod to play Spidey himself.
“I actually auditioned for Harry Osborn, and for Eddie Brock and Venom,” Keaton said in a phone interview. “I’m quite happy I got picked as Spider-Man. I love the other characters, but I mean, it’s Spider-Man!”
As a fan, Keaton appreciates the feel of “Spectacular Spider-Man,” which often harks back to the earliest 
stories by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who created the character.
“Those are the stories that pretty much defined who Spider-Man was going to be,” Keaton said. “Granted, there’s some great stories that came later on, but they were all taken from that source material. They were all a twist that were given to the original story.”
“Spectacular Spider-Man” has been credited for developing the humorous side of the Spider-Man mythos. In the original stories, Spider-Man often taunted his villains with wisecracks as he was defeating them.
“That’s what I really wanted to do my best to bring back to Spidey, was the
wisecracks and the humor,” Keaton said. “I know there’s a trend to get really dark and brooding, and there’s a time and place for that; however, it can’t be forgotten that one of the big things that defines Spidey is his sense of humor.”
Keaton also likes some of Spider-Man’s serious story lines, including the “Master Planner” plot that will be part of Season 2. Could something such as “Kraven’s Last Hunt,” which featured a despondent supervillain capturing Spider-Man, eventually become part of “Spectacular Spider-Man” lore?
“I’m really hopeful that we’ll get five seasons, and after that start doing some direct-to-DVD movies where we’ll explore some of the more mature-themed Spidey stories,” Keaton said.
Another bonus of becoming Spider-Man is to have action figures based on your performances.
“I have all of the toys. I’m actually looking at them right now,” Keaton said. “I have all of the Spider-Man toys from McDonalds, and they’re sitting next to my 12-inch wisecracking Spider-Man talking doll that does this,” Keaton said, and then a doll with his voice said: “Oh, what’s a poor Web-head to do?”
Laughing, Keaton said, “I’m a huge geek. I love this stuff.”
- By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
More than 350 sellouts for Transformers 2
As of 1 p.m. ET today, MovieTickets.com is reporting over 350 sold out performances for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Of those sellouts, 115 are midnight performances. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” accounts for 41 percent of tickets sold at MovieTickets.com this week. “Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen” is directed by Michael Bay, and stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. It opens June 24.
- Matt Price
James Robinson, Mark Bagley named Justice League team
DC Comics announced via its Source Blog today that writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley would be the new creative team on the company’s “Justice League” title. Robinson has recent experience with the Justice League, as his Justice League miniseries “Cry For Justice” is scheduled for July release.
“… it is my intention to make the JLA a book that matters again,” Robinson announced via twitter.
We are longtime fans of the “Starman” writer here at Nerdage central, and plan to quickly add “Justice League of America” to our comic-shop pull lists.
- Matt Price
Olivia Munn joins Iron Man 2 cast
Huge week for G4′s Olivia Munn – first, she’s on the cover of Playboy, then it’s announced she’s joined the Iron Man 2 cast. Pretty good nerd convergence, here: One of geekdom’s favorite personalities nabbing a role in what’s likely to be a huge comic-based hit.
Speculation on the role continues; Munn posted on twitter, “i am not playing a reporter. but that’s all i can say. 
”
Update: USA Today has some more information about Munn’s upcoming role:
“All my scenes (in Iron Man 2) are with Robert Downey and one other actor. I don’t know how much I can say,” she says. “We were (improvising) and it came to me (to say a line) … (Later) Robert said, ‘Can we just stop a second and give Olivia a round of applause. She is rocking it. That made me feel good.”
Munn also appears in the upcoming “Date Night” with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.
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- Olivia Munn as Princess Leia
Captain America 600 goes to second printing
Marvel has announced that the much-hyped Captain America #600 has sold out at the distributor level. (Copies may still be available at retail.) Marvel will go back to press on the book, with a release date of July 15.
Judging from a Thursday sellout report, moving the release date to Monday was a gamble that paid off at least for Marvel. There have been mixed reports at retail, but the book looks to have performed to Marvel’s expectations, anyway. Marvel quotes large New York operations Midtown Comics and Jim Hanley’s Comics in the press release trumpeting the sellout, while the Robot 6 report quotes less excitement from San Francisco stores Isotope and Comic Relief. Could it be an East Coast vs. West Coast thing? My own conversation with Oklahoma stores indicated a reasonable amount of excitement about the news. Overall, I think “Captain America” #600 will be big with the existing Marvel Comics fanbase.
Craig Lopacinski, of Neptune Comics, praised Marvel’s attempt at creating a Monday buzz.
“People all day were excited and upbeat wondering what was in store for them when they read the issue,” Lopacinski said in the release. “A big thank you goes out to you and Marvel for making this possible. I know that thinking out of the box can be challenging in the selling of comic books, and not everyone is on board. However, it is nice to see a publisher try to make a historically slow sales day into a fun, and profitable one for us.”
David Gabriel, Marvel Senior Vice-President of Sales & Circulation, praised retailers for getting on board with the Monday release plan.
“Despite what might have been the largest overprint we’ve ever done for a book, copies sold out well before even the early on sale date,” Gabriel said in a release.
I assume that “largest overprint” means in recent history, in the direct market, as obviously books prior to the direct market system were overprinted much more heavily.
I think you have to call the Monday experiment a success for Marvel; was it a success for stores? It appears that at least some of the stores who participated received a significant boost. While the news of Steve Rogers’ planned return wasn’t earthshaking – and probably hyped the “Reborn” book more than “Captain America” #600 – it did catch quite a bit of attention. I don’t think anybody expected “Captain America” #25 numbers, but a quick sellout and healthy nationwide buzz are positive indicators for Marvel.
- Matt Price
X-Men Forever sells out
Marvel has announced that Chris Claremont’s return to 1990s-style X-Men, “X-Men Forever,” has sold out from the distributor. A second printing, featuring a cover with Jean Grey and Wolverine, is set to release July 15.
Claremont joins artist Tom Grummett for “X-Men Forever,” a series that picks up after Claremont originally left the “X-Men” books in 1991. In “Forever,” Nick Fury’s team is hunting the renegade Fabian Cortez; a romance percolates between Gambit and Rogue, and Jean Grey and Wolverine may have their own secrets to hide.
See what Kyle and Matt had to say about “X-Men Forever” 1 in the following video review:
Will Transformers 2 outperform Star Trek?
Despite opening being several days away, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is already bringing in healthy ticket sales. As of today, the film already represents 45 percent of ticket sales on Fandango.com. According to Fandango, the film is currently outpacing this year’s “Star Trek” movie and 2007′s “Transformers” in advance ticket sales on Fandango at the same point in the sales cycle.
“For nearly two years – since the last Transformers opened – this new movie has been one of the most highly-anticipated films among fans on our site,” said Rick Butler, Chief Operating Officer of Fandango, in a release.
What’s motivating the sales? Perhaps Megan Fox, picked by Fandango users as the sexiest star of the summer. She received 36 percent of the vote. Visit http://summermovies.fandango.com/2009/toplists for the full list, which also includes Jennifer Garner and Rachel McAdams. (McAdams will star in “The Time 
Traveler’s Wife” this summer and the hotly anticipated “Sherlock Holmes” later this year.)
More “Transformers” findings from Fandango, from a survey of nearly 2,000 filmgoers planning to see “Revenge of the Fallen.”
· 88% of respondents said they are fans of director Michael Bay; 66% of them picked Transformers as their favorite Bay film.
· 77% of respondents say they were fans of Transformers when they were kids; 68% of those fans watched the cartoon series, while 61% played with the toys.
· 45% picked Optimus Prime as their favorite Transformer; 21% picked Bumblebee; 4% picked Megatron.
· 62% of respondents are 18-34 years old; 63% are male.
Movie viewers want He-Man
According to the weekly MovieTickets.com poll, movie viewers want to see “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” come to the big screen.
This summer is toy-heavy, with films based on action figure lines G.I. Joe and Transformers. Movietickets.com asked their users which 1980s property they would like to see next.
He-Man led the respondents with 58 percent of the vote. M.A.S.K. (that’s Mobile Armored Strike … Kommand) finished second with 15 percent. Rounding out the top five were She-Ra with 12 percent, Jem with 8 percent, and Dino-Riders with 7 percent. Total votes cast were 4,595.
What, no Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors? How about Pole Position? What 1980s property would you most like to see come to film?
- Matt Price
Is Revenge of the Fallen on pace to beat Transformers?
Will the sequel to “Transformers” outpace the original? According to MovieTickets.com, U.S. ticket sales for “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” are outpacing ticket sales for “Transformers” by almost 3-to-1 at the same point in the sales cycle, eight days prior to release.
Perhaps showing the growing interest in IMAX viewing, IMAX ticket sales at MovieTickets.com for “Revenge of the Fallen” account for nearly half of all ticket sales for the film.
- Matt Price
Olivia Munn’s Playboy cover revealed
In case you missed Olivia Munn’s reveal of her Playboy cover on Attack of the Show, here it is online!
