The Walking Dead does zombies right
At NewsOK’s TV blog, Staticblog’s George Lang shares his take on “The Walking Dead,” the AMC series developed by Frank Darabont based on the Robert Kirkman comic-book series.
Series creator Darabont is known best for directing “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,” two Stephen King stories based largely in some semblance of reality, but his most recent film was an adaptation of King’s “The Mist,” a raging B-movie style monster piece. Working closely from Kirkman’s story, Darabont, who directed the pilot, has fashioned a zombie-infested world in which the survivors must be ingenious enough to fight off the decaying hordes — zombies might not be smart, but they are tenacious. In the second episode, Rick and several other survivors including Glenn (Steven Yuen) and Andrea (Laurie Holden, “The Mist,” “The X-Files”) come up with a method of disguising themselves that might be the most disgusting concept ever presented in zombie fiction.
This brings up the question of the hour: does Darabont pull any television-enforced punches when depicting zombie splatter? The answer is an emphatic no: this is possibly the most gory, visceral series on television. You can put “The Walking Dead” up against George A. Romero’s series beginning with “Night of the Living Dead” onward, Zack Snyder’s remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later” or last year’s “Zombieland” and it’s clear that Darabont’s blood is not watered down. This is tough stuff: treat “The Walking Dead” like the old rule about swimming — wait a decent amount of time after eating.
Check out Lang’s full review at the TV blog, and share your thoughts on tonight’s premiere in the comments!
- Matt Price
The Walking Dead prints offered by The Secret Headquarters
Jordan Crane "The Walking Dead" print
The Secret Headquarters is offering four limited-edition prints to celebrate the premiere of “The Walking Dead,” based on the Image Comic by Robert Kirkman.
The four prints were designed by Jordan Crane and hand-printed by Jordan Rae; each was illustrated by a different accomplished artist (Lisa Hanawalt, Jon Vermilyea, Johnny Ryan and Jordan Crane).
The archival-quality prints measure 23 x 35 inches on acid-free 70lb. paper. Each print is limited to a run of 100 copies and will be signed by both the artist and Kirkman; single prints are $40 and the set of four is $150.
“I’m astounded by the talent involved and couldn’t be happier with how this turned out,” said Robert Kirkman, creator and writer of The Walking Dead, in a news release. “I think people are going to love these prints and I hope it brings people into The Secret Headquarters in droves because it’s a great store.”
The prints are available at The Secret Headquarters (3817 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles / 323.666.2228) or via walkingdeadprints.com.
- Matt Price
Click past the cut for all four images.
Captain America movie first look; Batman 3 title; Superman: Earth One selling out
CAPTAIN AMERICA MOVIE SNEAK PEEK
Entertainment Weekly has shared the first look as Chris Evans in his Captain America garb. Also on the Planet 46/NewsOK Comics Podcast – the first look at Matt Price in his Captain America garb. The aftermath of the OU-Missouri game comes to the podcast as Kyle Roberts celebrates his win and Matt pays off his bet by recording the Halloween edition of the podcast in costume.
NEW SUPERMAN SELLING OUT
The “Twilight”-style Superman featured in “Superman: Earth One” by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis is selling out in comic shops across the country prior to its release in bookstores on Tuesday.
Dan DiDio, senior vice president and executive editor at DC Comics, told the AP “we always knew that we wanted to do a real, contemporary interpretation of Superman.”
NBA “SUPER” STARS
In the NBA preview issue of ESPN the magazine, on sale now, the NBA teams are illustrated by Marvel Comics artists.
ESPN The Magazine has teamed up with Marvel’s artists to produce 30 “variant covers” illustrating each NBA team and its 2010-2011 outlook for the season.
DARK KNIGHT NAME
The Los Angeles Times reports that “The Dark Knight Rises” will be the title of the third Christopher Nolan-directed “Batman” film. He also tells Geoff Boucher that the Riddler won’t be the episode’s villain.
REVIEW FILE: Supergirl Annual #2, Teen Titans #88, Captain America Patriot #3
The Walking Dead coming to TV; weekly comics series planned
Walking Dead Weekly #1
WORD BALLOONS
The hit comic book series “The Walking Dead” comes to AMC on Sunday as a television miniseries.
Starting Sunday, fans can watch county Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) traverse the U.S. after the world is ravaged by a zombie epidemic.
The show will premiere with a 90-minute episode at 9 p.m. Halloween. The show is written and executive-produced by three-time Academy Award nominee Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile”), who also directs the pilot.
Image Comics, publishers of “The Walking Dead,” will give fans a new way to catch up on the comic book series in 2011. The story lines have been collected in trade paperback form, but for fans who prefer the single-issue comic book format, the series will be reprinted as single issues in 2011.
Called “The Walking Dead Weekly,” each week will bring a reprinted issue of the hit series in order of release.
“Keeping a series like this going year after year is all about creating good jumping-on points for new readers,” series creator and writer Robert Kirkman says in a news release. “And what better way to jump on than with the very first issue? Making this series available in single-issue form will make it easier for new fans to jump on board and for old fans to fill in any gaps in their collection.”
“The Walking Dead” was created by Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The first issue was released in 2003. Charlie Adlard has been the artist since issue No. 7. The most recent issue of the series, No. 77, is available now.
Also by Robert Kirkman:
“Haunt”: A priest must work with his recently deceased brother, a government agent, as the supernatural force Haunt. Issues 1-5 are available in a trade paperback; issues 6-10 are available in comic-book format. Kirkman cocreated “Haunt” with Todd McFarlane, the creator of “Spawn.”
“Invincible”: A teen has inherited his father’s superpowers. Collected in 13 trade paperback volumes (so far). Issue No. 75 is scheduled for release Wednesday.
“Astounding Wolf-Man”: A man mauled and left for dead becomes a superheroic werewolf. The final issue of this series is scheduled for release Wednesday.
“Guarding the Globe”: This miniseries spinning off from “Invincible” features the superheroes of Earth. Two issues have been released.
- By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
My take on the Charlie Chaplin time traveler
First, if you haven’t seen it yet, watch this video, which purports to show a possible time traveler in the extras of a 1928 Charlie Chaplin film. Then, click past the 
cut for my explanation of what I think it is.
- Matt Price
Chris Evans as Captain America on the cover of Entertainment Weekly
Chris Evans as Captain America
Entertainment Weekly has shared the first look as Chris Evans in his Captain America garb.
Evans said he declined the role three times before deciding to suit up as the star-spangled Avenger:
“I was just scared,” he told EW. “I realized my whole decision making process was fear based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear.’”
He has signed a six-picture deal to portray Cap in Marvel films.
“I can’t believe was almost too chicken to play Captain America,” he said.
“Captain America: The First Avenger” is set during 1942 during World War II. The film is set to be released on July 22nd, 2011.
More images from EW online at Superhero Hype.
- Matt Price
Superman for the “Twilight” generation?
Superman: Earth One
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The big “S” is still on his chest, but the new Superman coming to the shelves of book stores next week is not exactly the chipper and bright-eyed optimist of lore.
Instead, the kid from Krypton featured in “Superman: Earth One” that was released to comic book shops Wednesday and due in other book stores on Tuesday, sports a hoodie, a brooding brow and fashion sense that would not put him out of place in hipster lairs from Brooklyn to Seattle.
And that, said Dan DiDio, senior vice president and executive editor at DC Comics is just what the company was aiming for when it asked J. Michael Straczynski, himself a noted comic book writer who currently helms the company’s flagship monthly “Superman” title.
“We always knew that we wanted to do a real, contemporary interpretation of Superman,” he told The Associated Press. “And what we did is we reached out to Joe Straczynski — Joe is probably one of the biggest Superman fans out there.”
DiDio said DC augured the retelling as a way to reach out to buyers not just in comic book stores but in other book stores, too — fans of books and series like “Twilight” or Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy of crime novels.
“In this particular case what we did is we looked at the format,” he said, adding that DC has been “showing great strides in really strong improvement in sales in the book store market place, and what we wanted to do was to create an original graphic novel featuring our most prominent character that we felt captured a contemporary tone and really was built with the bookstore market in mind.”
The graphic novel was illustrated by Shane Davis. And while it features the jet-black hair — sans curly lock atop the forehead — and piercing stare that Clark Kent/Superman has had since his creation in the 1930s, Davis’ art reflects a more modern bent with narrow pants and ties and the ubiquitous hoodie.
The work draws upon the Superman mythology but recreates it for a contemporary audience with a 20-year-old Clark Kent who’s unsure how to use his super-strength, super-smarts and just plain super abilities as he makes his way through a grittier, more realistic Metropolis trying to find not just a job but meaning and purpose.
DiDio and DC are pleased with the transformation, noting that demand for the work has been so great that the book has already gone back to the press for a wider run.
“When we were building this book we had a lot of things in mind. We were looking at what fiction was popular at the time … and since we are in the periodical business, and we want to be in the bookstore business, what better continuing character should be in that market but Superman?” he asked.
“But we needed to make him hip, moody and sexy in order to really appeal to who are really wanting to read novels with our characters,” DiDio added.
Given the predicted demand, DC is already planning a similar treatment for Batman, which will be written by Geoff Johns, a writer who was named DC Comics’ chief creative officer in February.
“And we’re already looking … at future volumes of ‘Superman: Earth One,” DiDio said.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1″ leading Movietickets.com sales
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1"
Movietickets.com reports that “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 1” is leading today’s ticket sales at MovieTickets.com, accounting for 57 percent of all ticket sales. While plenty of tickets remain available, 190 showings have already sold out.
The film opens Nov. 19. It adapts the first part of the final book in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series.
- Matt Price
Oklahoma City Thunder and other NBA teams get Marvel Comics makeover
In the NBA preview issue of ESPN the magazine, on sale now, the NBA teams are illustrated by Marvel Comics artists.
ESPN The Magazine has teamed up with Marvel’s artists to produce 30 “variant covers” illustrating each NBA team and its 2010-2011 outlook for the season. The Thunder, perhaps unsurprisingly, are tied in with Thor, the God of Thunder in Marvel Comics. The Thunder’s image features Kevin Durant and Thor, with the headline “Perfect Storm.” Durant also appears on the cover of the magazine, holding the hammer of Thor. He’s joined by LeBron James, with Captain America’s shield, and Kobe Bryant, with Iron Man’s gauntlet.
Click past the cut for the full lineup of covers, and ESPN the Magazine’s season predictions.
- Matt Price
“The Dark Knight Rises” to be third Batman film, which won’t feature Riddler
The Los Angeles Times reports that “The Dark Knight Rises” will be the title of the third Christopher Nolan-directed “Batman” film.
Nolan tells Geoff Boucher that the Riddler won’t be the villain of the piece. Nolan has previously eliminated Mr. Freeze from consideration.
Boucher asked Nolan if Warner Bros. would allow him to make a Batman film without a signature villain from the comic books. Nolan declined to specifically answer, but did agree to eliminate the Riddler from contention.
Who do you think will be the villain of “The Dark Knight Rises”? Share your thoughts in the comments!
- Matt Price
