Christian Bale wraps up Batman; Luke Skywalker lunch; Hulk TV plans
Batman 3, aka “The Dark Knight Rises,” has wrapped, and Christian Bale is done. Also: Lunch with a Star Wars legend and Hulk TV news.
LUNCH WITH LUKE
Actor Mark Hammill, who brought Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker to life in the original Star Wars Trilogy, is offering to have lunch in Los Angeles with the highest bidder and a guest to raise funds for The RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, which provides an ongoing base of support to human rights defenders around the world. Valued at $10,000, the exclusive experience is open for bidding from November 29th through December 15th at:
http://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/276455
BAT-FINISHED
The Philippine Daily Inquirer talked with Christian Bale, and he confirmed he was done with Batman. 
“I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I’m taking that cowl off,” he said. “I believe that the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it’s all done. Everything’s finished. It’s me and Chris – that will be the end of that Batman era.”
He also praised co-star Anne “Catwoman” Hathaway.
“I had plenty of scenes with Anne,” he said. “And I was there when we did the screen test for her. The thing that I said to Chris [Nolan] that day was that there were many very accomplished actresses who had read for the role. I’m terrible at auditions, so I’m very impressed when somebody really seems to acquire an ownership of a character without having worked on it or prepared for some amount of time.”
THE INCREDIBLE HULK NEARS
Guillermo del Toro tells io9 that the screenplay is in for the possible upcoming “Hulk” TV show, and the team is waiting for a green light. Del Toro, serving as producer, says he and his team know the essential stories, including “Hulk: Grey,” written by Jeph Loeb, who is involved with the show.
“We know all the iterations of the Hulk pretty good. We’ve read all the essential stories, and we’re then riffing on that. There are so many incarnations and ideas. Jeph Loeb — who did a good run [on Hulk: Grey] — is involved, and I love Peter David’s Hulk. But there’s really no part in that mythos that we don’t know, so we are trying put our own personal spin on it.”
REVIEW FILE: Green Lantern The Animated Series #0, Wolverine #19, Uncanny X-Men #2, X-Men Legacy #259, Archie #627, Flash Gordon Zeitgeist #1.
Comics read in 2011: 1,853. Still to go: 158
(more…)
2,011 in 2011 comic-book reading challenge: week 47 and 48 recap
Batman comics from the 2000s made up the largest chunk of my comic-book reading over the past two weeks, primarily the run of Grant Morrison. I read 122 comics total in the past two weeks of my 2,011 in 2011 comic-book challenge. I am attempting to read 2,011 comic books in the calendar year. With 93 percent of the year over, I’ve read 1,847 comics, or almost 92 percent of the total comics I need to read. I’ve got 164 comics to go. Click past the cut for the full breakdowns of comics read.
Star Wars Legacy, Archie among reading for comic-book challenge
Catching up on a few more comics read recently as I’m trying to reach 2,011 comics read in 2011.
Archie #30 (1948): If Betty can sew a patch onto Archie’s pants, she can take him to the dance. Did people really do things like this in the 1940s?
Betty and Veronica #192 (Dec. 1971) Veronica ditches the gang, who are cleaning up the river in Riverdale, when she has a chance to appear in a fashion shoot.
Star Wars Legacy vol. 2: Shards: This second volume of “Legacy” does a lot to set up the world of the “Star Wars” universe, 125 years after “Return of the Jedi.” Cade Skywalker, Luke’s grandson, is the series’ main character, though he’s less active in this volume than the first. Collects issues 8, 4, 9, 10, 13, 11, and 12 of the series, originally published in 2007.
The Unknown 1-4 and The Unknown Devil Made Flesh 1-4: Two supernatural-style mysteries by writer Mark Waid and artist Minck Oosterveer. Oosterveer sadly died earlier this year.
In “The Unknown,” from Boom! Studios, master detective Catherine Allingham learns she only has months to live. She chooses to use that remaining time examining seemingly unsolvable mysteries with her ex-bouncer apprentice, James Doyle.
Sanctuary #1: Stephen Coughlin’s digital comic from SLG features a sanctuary for animals with a dark mystery behind it — it reminded me somewhat of “Lost.”
Batman: No Man’s Land Vol. 1: Batman must deal with Gotham City after a terrible earthquake leads to the evacuation of most of the city. This volume includes Batman: No Man’s Land #1, Batman #563-564, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #83-84, Detective Comics #730-731 and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #116. While the story is in some ways unbelievable, the storytellers do a good job making this altered Gotham and its residents part of a compelling story of Batman and his allies in a new, difficult circumstance.
- Matt Price
Comics read in 2011: 1,847. Still to go: 164.
Astro City: The Dark Age is a modern classic
Astro City: The Dark Age
Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson look at the 1970s and 1980s through the prism of the superhero world of Astro City, in a 16-part storyline. Four four-issue miniseries (“Astro City: The Dark Age” Books 1-4) follow Charles and Royal Williams as they seek the man who murdered their parents. Their lives are intertwined with that of the Silver Agent, who is traveling through time in an attempt to avert a coming disaster.
Busiek and Anderson are taking apart the grittier comics of the 1970s and 1980s and exploring them from the point of view of characters who are living it. It recreates the feel of reading comics as a younger person in the late 70s and early 1980s, but with a story that works on multiple levels. Any superhero fan should take a look at The Dark Age, which probably suffered from its extended shipping schedule as far as sales. But with two collections containing all 16 issues, there’s no reason not to read this modern classic. Alex Ross remains active with the book as a character designer and cover artist.
Also read recently:
Grifter 2-3 (2011) Nathan Edmondson continues his slow burn in revealing who exactly Cole Cash, aka Grifter, is in this new unified DC Comics universe, but it’s an intriguing read with beautiful art by CAFU.
Planet Terry 1-4 (1985)Lennie Herman and Warren Kremer were the creative team for “Planet Terry” (a pun on “Planetary”), which featured young Terry, sort of a Richie Rich of space, on a quest to find his parents, with the help of his robot, Robota, and a gruff alien, Omnus.
- Matt Price
Comics read in 2011: 1,821 Still to go: 190.
Grant Morrison tweaks status quo, refers to history in “Batman” run
Writer Grant Morrison shifts the status quo of the Batman titles from the get-go in his run on “Batman.” The first collection, “Batman and Son,” collects issues #655-#658 and #663-#666 of the DC series “Batman,” written by Morrison and drawn by Andy Kubert. 8
Kindle Fire demo; Avengers poster; Conan giveaway and Roy Thomas interview
Matt and Kyle take a look at the Kindle Fire’s options for comics; the Avengers release new posters; and Roy Thomas talks about Conan the Barbarian in this week’s comics podcast.
(more…)
Zombie, space adventure featured in comic-book challenge catch-up post
Getting caught up on several comics read this year that never made it into a full blog post.
Living with the Dead 1-3 (2007, Dark Horse): Sort of “The Walking Dead” by way of a comedic buddy movie with a dash of romantic comedy. Worth checking out for zombie or “Zombieland” fans.
Incredible Hulk 601 (2009, Marvel): Greg Pak writes as Banner begins trying to train the Hulk’s son, Skaar.
Warlock 1-4 (2004, Marvel): Greg Pak writes a different version of the Adam Warlock character with a focus on philosophy.
Vision Machine 1-3 (2010, Pak Man Productions): Greg Pak and RB Silva provide a meditation on consumerism and technology in a smart, innovative sci-fi story. You can get the story for free at visionmachine.net.
Amazing Spider-Man #34 (1966, Marvel) Spidey faces Kraven the Hunter in a classic Stan Lee-Steve Ditko story.
Avenging Spider-Man #1 (2011, Marvel) A modern version of Marvel Team Up by Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira. Spidey teams up with the Red Hulk in issue 1.
Archie and Friends Cartoon Life # 1: (2009, Archie) Chuck Clayton teaches a cartooning class.
Scavengers 0: (Triumphant, 1993): After years protecting the Realm, Captain Ximos discovers a dark secret that leads him to become a renegade. This was better than what I had expected from the long-defunct publisher.
Secret Avengers 16, 17 (2011, Marvel): Good superhero espionage-type stories from Warren Ellis.
Doctor Who annual 2010. (2010, IDW) The 4-page Tony Lee teaser is the best story of the bunch, but these are OK for fans of the recent David Tennant-starring series.
- Matt Price
Comics read in 2011: 1,743. Still to go: 268.
2,011 in 2011 comic-book reading challenge: week 45 and 46 recap
Marvel Comics from the 1960s and 1970s made up the majority of my comic-book reading over the past two weeks, led by the “Captain Marvel” series from that era. I read 69 comics total in the past two weeks of my 2,011 in 2011 comic-book challenge. I am attempting to read 2,011 comic books in the calendar year. With almost 89 percent of the year over, I’ve read 1,725 comics, or almost 86 percent of the total comics I need to read. I’ve got 286 comics to go. Click past the cut for the full breakdowns of comics read.
Final Stan Lee, Jack Kirby collaborations found in Essential Fantastic Four vol. 5
“Essential Fantastic Four, Volume 5″ collects issues #84-110 of what was called at the time “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.” Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who had collaborated on the book since issue #1, end their partnership here with issue #102. (Previous Kirby art was reworked for #108.) John Romita Sr. and John Buscema follow the King, but despite their talents, never reach his heights on the series.
These issues are probably the least of the Lee-Kirby FFs — Doom’s a bit out of character in a multi-part story, and there are some apparent plotholes involving the Inhumans. But there’s enough here to make it worth reading, especially for Kirby fans. The best of the lot is probably the four part story in #90-93 in which the Thing becomes a gladiator on an alien world.
Also read:
Amazing Spider-Man #5: One of my favorite comics as a youngster (I had the Marvel Tales reprint) features Doctor Doom challenging Spider-Man.
Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure: Using the original pencils Jack Kirby had turned in, which later were rearranged to partially make issue #108, Marvel released this “lost” Lee-Kirby issue in 2008.
- Matt Price
Comics read in 2011: 1,725. Still to go: 286.
Captain Marvel went through multiple incarnations in 1960s, 1970s series
The 1960s-1970s “Captain Marvel” series was introduced at a time when most of what Marvel launched became a huge hit. But despite being created by Stan Lee, Captain Marvel floundered quite a bit before finding some critical success at the pen of Jim Starlin, who gave the hero “cosmic awareness” and made him the protector of the universe.
