Spectacular Spider-Man makes a move
“The Spectacular Spider-Man” is moving to a new network, but the show’s co-creator says the new episodes will retain the same contemporary but classic feel of the first season.
The animated series “The Spectacular Spider-Man” will move to Disney XD (151 on Cox Digital Cable, 174 on Dish Network, 292 on DirecTV). New episodes will debut on the network in summer 2009.
“The Spectacular Spider-Man” animated series is based on the Marvel Comics superhero “Spider-Man,” and is set during his junior year of high school. Spider-Man was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko in 1962.
Greg Weisman, the supervising producer of the series, talked about Season Two of “Spectacular Spider-Man,” and the inspirations for the series, in a recent phone interview with The Oklahoman.
“When I first got the job, I went back and bought all the big, ‘Essential Spider-Man’ volumes and reread all the Lee-Ditko and Lee-(John) Romita Sr. issues,” Weisman said. “It wasn’t that I hadn’t read them before, but I wanted to have them all fresh in my mind.”
Weisman wanted to take those original tales and make them resonate for a modern audience.
“What we were going to try to do is take 1962 and reboot it in 2008,” Weisman said. “And really try and capture the magic of the character, the thing that had made us fall in love with Spider-Man when we were kids.”
In Season Two, new villains will be introduced from the pages of the comic book, including Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter. And Weisman hopes there’s more to come.
“For a big-time geek like me, this is a dream job,” he said. “I have been working as a professional superhero writer since 1983, when I was a sophomore in college.”
Weisman said he and his team on “Spectacular” want to get to the core of the “Spider-Man” character and do something definitive for this generation.
“I hope we’re doing this for another decade, because I’ve got 10 years worth of stories to tell; there’s just that much material. And I’m loving it.”
– Matthew Price
A version of this story ran in Friday’s The Oklahoman
Actor’s voice has heroic quality
He can’t fly or bend steel with his bare hands, but actor Yuri Lowenthal has an affinity for superheroes.
The actor, who voiced the Prince of Persia in video games and will guest-star on “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” tonight, says one of his most satisfying roles was portraying Superman in the animated series “Legion of Superheroes.”
“As an actor, I audition for jobs every day,” Lowenthal said. “When it gets to be one of ‘those’ jobs, because I’m a huge comic book nerd, and have been since I was a kid … that always really gets me going because that’s my stuff.”
“Legion of Superheroes” features a young Superman who goes to the 31st century to aid a group of young superheroes in their battles with the villains the Fatal Five.
After his first audition, Lowenthal was called back to read for two members of the Legion of Superheroes: Lightning Lad and Brainiac 5. He also was called back to read for the Man of Steel himself.
Upon arriving at the callback, he read the “sides,” or script, for Superman and Brainiac 5 before the producers asked him to stop.
“I was too nervous to say, ‘Hey, what about Lightning Lad?’”
Lowenthal thought he’d blown it but decided to try to forget about it and move on. A few weeks later, he got a call from his agent.
“You’re Superman,” she told Lowenthal.
“I started screaming … and jumping around the apartment,” Lowenthal said.
Much later, the director revealed to Lowenthal that he wasn’t asked to continue because he had the Superman role locked up.
“The reason we sent you home after reading just two of the three characters we called you back for,” Lowenthal recalled the director telling him, “is that we realized that, ‘Here’s our Superman,’ and we didn’t need to have you read anything else.”
Lowenthal also voices the superheroes Iceman in “Wolverine and the X-Men” and Ben 10 in “Ben 10: Alien Force.”
“Hero characters suit me, I think,” Lowenthal said. “I always wanted to be a superhero when I was a kid, and I really haven’t stopped.”
Three DVDs featuring the “Legion of Superheroes” are available, and episodes are available for download online at iTunes and Amazon.com.
– Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Captain Planet returns online
The Mother Nature Network, www.mnn.com, has brought back “Captain Planet and the Planeteers.”
The world’s first eco-superhero is featured in classic online episodes, along with special bonus footage, trivia and photos.
“Captain Planet and the Planeteers” aired from 1990 to 1996 in more than 50 countries and featured voices including Whoopi Goldberg, Sting, Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Ed Asner, James Coburn, Ed Begley, Jr., LeVar Burton, Tim Curry, Dean Stockwell, Helen Hunt and Jeff Goldblum.
– Matt Price
New Batman show offers team-up fun
WORD BALLOONS
The kid-friendly Cartoon Network series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” is based on the comic book of the same name that teamed Batman up with other DC Comics characters. In the most recent episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat,” the Atom and Aquaman must miniaturize themselves to save Batman from a disease.
The TV-G rated series has the goofy charm of the 1960s “Batman,” and has introduced more than a dozen DC Comics characters in its first nine episodes. The original Batman team-up “Brave and Bold” comics are available in three black-and-white “Showcase” editions from DC. The first comic book based on the “Brave and the Bold” cartoon was released this week.
If you or a youngster are enjoying “Brave and Bold,” here’s more information about some of the included characters, and comic-book collections to seek out for further reading.
(more…)
X-Men’s Wolverine to have big 2009
WORD BALLOONS
Wolverine, the clawed Canadian who is the most recognizable member of the X-Men, is at the forefront of “Wolverine and the X-Men,” an animated series premiering at 7 tonight on Nicktoons.
It’s part of a big year for the mutant, who will appear in a live-action film, an animated series, a direct-to-DVD film and scores of comic books in 2009.
“Wolverine and the X-Men” features Wolverine re-forming the X-Men a year after a mysterious explosion destroyed the Xavier Institute and broke up the X-Men. With Professor X and Jean Grey missing, it’s up to Wolverine to get the X-Men back together to prevent a nightmarish future. Included in this “X-Men” roster are Cyclops, Storm, the White Queen, Beast, Rogue and Nightcrawler.
Wolverine will make his big-screen debut as a solo star in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” with Hugh Jackman reprising his role from the “X-Men” films. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is scheduled to debut May 1.
And Wolverine comes to DVD on Tuesday, as part of the “Hulk Vs.” DVD. Hulk fights Thor and Wolverine in separate portions of the direct-to-DVD feature. Co-writer Christopher Yost said at Comic-Con International in San Diego that the creative team was given a lot of leeway in developing “Hulk Vs. Wolverine.”
“The only thing was, Hulk had to be in it and Wolverine had to be in it,” Yost said. “We really had a chance to delve into the two characters, like Wolverine’s entire past and rogues’ gallery. We tried to bring the comic book to life. Everything the fans like about the comic books, the action and the edge, we tried to put it in there. You’ll see a lot of things directly from the comic books.”
And of course, Marvel Comics has big plans for Wolverine in the comic books in 2009, including a Free Comic Book Day release, an omnibus edition of nearly 1,000 pages; new editions of “Origin” and Barry Windsor-Smith’s “Weapon X,” and a new ongoing series written by Jason Aaron (“Ghost Rider”).
Aaron’s series, “Wolverine: Weapon X” launches in April. The art is by former “Captain America” artist Ron Garney. Aaron said he hoped his Wolverine series would appeal both to fans and neophytes.
“This is a Wolverine series for people who’ve never read the character’s adventures, who don’t know anything about his long and complicated history,” Aaron told Comic Book Resources. “But hopefully it’s something that will also appeal to hardcore fans who want to see Logan in less of a superhero setting.”
– by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Toys, cartoonists honored at Action Figure Museum
PAULS VALLEY – Oklahoma cartoonists and famous toy lines were among the honorees Saturday as the Toy and Action Figure Museum, 111 S. Chickasaw, celebrated its third anniversary.
Joining the museum’s action figure Hall of Fame were two action-figure lines that took the 1980s by storm: Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
Masters of the Universe were supremely muscled characters who lived on the planet Eternia. The star of this line was He-Man, who gained his strength when he held aloft his magic sword and repeated the phrase “by the power of Grayskull.”
“G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” was a 1980s update of the classic Joe action figure, which had been a 12-inch figure. “A Real American Hero” was in the 3 and ¾-inch size and introduced G.I. Joe, a special missions force for the U.S. military, who defended freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. Rather than just one “G.I. Joe,” the brand now introduced a line full of characters, developed by comics and animation writer Larry Hama, including the ninja Snake-Eyes, leader Duke and counter-intelligence specialist Scarlett.
Introduced into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection Hall of Fame were four cartoonists – and it came as a surprise to one of them. Museum curator Kevin Stark, creator of the comic strip and comic book “Geezer,” was named to the Hall of Fame. “Geezer” ran for seven years in the Pauls Valley Daily Democrat, and further comic books are in development.
Also honored:
Russell Myers, the creator of “Broom Hilda,” who was raised and attended college in Tulsa.
George Storm, who created adventure strips “Phil Hardy” in 1925 and “Bobby Thatcher” in 1927. He co-created The Hangman for MLJ and drew Bugs Bunny for Dell. He died in 1976.
Terry Tidwell, who was born and raised in Claremore. He worked on “The Green Hornet” and “Conan.” Tidwell, who was in attendance at the ceremony, also co-created the Tulsa-based hero “The Twilight Avenger.”
– Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Cartoonist Jim Lange: An appreciation
I hope you’ll see a major writeup about this in The Oklahoman tomorrow, but I wanted to share my take on one of the great Oklahoma cartoonists.
I saw the end of an era today. Jim Lange, editorial cartoonist since 1950 at The Oklahoman, turned in his final cartoon.
I’ve just returned from his retirement party, where Lange, still funny 58 years into his OPUBCO career, had the crowd rolling, and drew a standing ovation.
Lange was one of the inauguaral honorees of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection in 2005, and is a member of the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame.
Comic-book writer and historian Michael Vance wrote of Lange, accurately: ”Lange’s minimalist style also features a master’s instinct on what is visually needed and not needed to make his point with each incredibly smooth and visually attractive line.”
Lange drew more than 17,000 cartoons over his career. As mentioned at Lange’s retirement, some of his frequent “victims” were his biggest fans, often calling Lange at the paper after a cartoon ran to see if they could acquire a copy, or the original drawing.
You can see the 2007 and 2008 cartoons of Jim Lange at the Voices page on NewsOK.com.
– Matt Price
“New Frontier” cast talks to Newsarama
Newsarama talks to David Boreanaz, Kyle MacLachlan, Brooke Shields and Jeremy Sisto about their roles in the animated “Justice League: The New Frontier.”
Executive producer Bruce Timm talks about the rationale in choosing MacLachlan for Superman:
“Kyle MacLachlan is the perfect example – he sounds exactly like what you’d think a ‘50s era Superman would sound like,” said executive producer Bruce Timm. “He’s very righteous and good, but still very natural. We didn’t want the sound of Superman in 2008, and Kyle gave such a great, stylized performance in capturing that mid-50s feel.”
MacLachlan had long been in the running for the George Reeves role in the film that ended up being ”Hollywoodland,” and I thought he brought a perfect 1950s Superman inflection to this role.
Scroll down at Supermantv.net to see a MacLachlan as George Reeves, as compared to Ben Affleck as Reeves and Reeves himself. MacLachlan looks the part, and I say that as someone who thought Affleck nailed the role in the finished film.
– Matt Price
“Legion of Super-Heroes” preview
Linked via the Comic Reel, Kids’ WB has posted a new “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” video, featuring the team taking on Imperiex.
- Matt Price
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
Many of you in your 30s will remember the TV show “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends,” which featured Spidey teaming up with Firestar and Iceman in an animated Saturday morning cartoon.
Sean McKeever revisited the Amazing Friends in an issue of Spider-Man Family not too long ago, and now writer Brian Michael Bendis is doing the same in “Ultimate Spider-Man.”
Bendis said this idea has been building for a while in an interview at Marvel.com:
Marvel.com: Spidey and some of his pals are coming to town. Is “Amazing Friends” something that you have wanted to do for a while?
Brian Michael Bendis: Absolutely. Literally, when it became clear that [ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN] was gonna do [well], and it was going to be an ongoing and I wasn’t going to get fired, [I made my] wish list of stuff [I would] love to do. I wrote down “Amazing Friends” and I looked at the idea, and I was like, “How do you get Iceman in the book?”
Keep in mind that ULTIMATE X-MEN hadn’t even started yet, so how do you make it organic and not just a goofball team up? But if Kitty [Pryde] joins the book on an ongoing basis, that gets Iceman into the book organically. It’s been building since like the second year, so yeah, I’ve been waiting a long time to get this done.
—
The team-up takes place in “Ultimate Spider-Man” No. 118, slated for a Feb. 6 release.
Meanwhile, to revisit the original cartoon, visit Spider-Friends.com, or check out the intro on YouTube (complete with den that transforms into crazy Batcave-like lair with supercomputers).
– Matt Price
