Walking Dead lawsuit — Robert Kirkman sued
Tony Moore, the original artist of “The Walking Dead,” has filed a lawsuit against the writer, Robert Kirkman. The two were behind what’s one of the biggest comic-book success stories of the past decade, but now find themselves on opposite sides of this lawsuit, THR reports.
Moore drew the first six issues of “The Walking Dead” before leaving and being replaced by Charlie Adlard.
Moore claims he’s owed money from “The Walking Dead.” Kirkman’s attorney says the suit is frivolous. The Beat has the court documents posted and more information is in the link.
“The Walking Dead” TV series on AMC, based on the comics, is currently one of cable’s top-rated series.
- Matt Price
Smallville season 11 comic-book continuation announced
The world of the TV series “Smallville” will continue in a comic-book series from DC Comics, it was announced today.
The series, which focused on the adventures of a young Clark Kent as he learned how to deal with his origins and amazing powers, ended after 10 seasons. It starred Tom Welling as Clark Kent. At series’ end, Kent had donned a Superman costume and become the familiar Man of Steel. That story will now be picked up in a new comic-book series.
According to DC Comics’ Source blog, the series will be written by former Smallville show scribe Bryan Q. Miller. The series will hit digital first, with an April 13 release, with new chapters weekly.
The online chapters will be offered in a print periodical, along with an episode guide to TV series. The first print issue is set for a May 16 release.
“Six months after Clark Kent donned the cape and took to the skies to save Earth from Apokolips… enter Season 11!” Miller told the Source. “New allies abound! New enemies afoot! And old friends return where they’re least expected! Pere and colorist Chris Beckett have done a fantastic job of capturing the look of the show and the players, and Gary and Cat are knocking it out of the park on covers. I couldn’t be more excited to help give seasoned viewers and new readers an all-access pass to Clark’s first year in the cape.”
- Matt Price
Tuesday TV quote challenge #9
“Dr. Reid, this is not Bring Your Problems to Work Day. This is just Work Day.”
Identify who said the above quote in what show in the comments!
Erica Durance as Wonder Woman on “Harry’s Law”
Erica Durance dons a Wonder Woman costume — in fact, the costume that was used for the Adrianne Palicki pilot — in an upcoming episode of “Harry’s Law.” Durance played Lois Lane on “Smallville,” and in one episode donned “Amazon Princess” garb.
She’s even closer to Wonder Woman in the “Harry’s Law” episode, where she plays a psychologically damaged woman who retreats into a Wonder Woman persona.
She tells TV Guide it was “a little daunting.”
“I’m really very respectful of the people that love this character,” she said. “I do take it very seriously. As a side note, just to be light about it, any woman wearing tight pants is not super excited the first time she puts them on. [Laughs] I wasn’t exactly, you know, tight pants- or underwear-ready.”
She said, in fact, she was happier to wear the long pants of Wonder Woman than the more traditional short-shorts.
“I’m very grateful for the pants,” she told TV Guide. “I know that people were very excited about the underwear and seeing them. To be quite frank, I don’t know if I could’ve done the underwear justice at this point in time and it might have been more upsetting for people to see me in them than to not, so I think the pants are a safe bet for me.”
Durance’s episode of “Harry’s Law” airs Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. Central on NBC.
- Matt Price
Click past the cut for another photo of Erica Durance in the Wonder Woman outfit from “Harry’s Law,” and her “Amazon Princess” costume from “Smallville.”
Van Williams-Bruce Lee TV series inspired 1960s “Green Hornet” comics from Gold Key
Green Hornet (Gold Key) 1-3
Created to tie in with the 1966-1967 TV show, these three “Green Hornet” issues feature Britt Reid and his valet Kato, who pretend to be criminals in order to fight crime. District Attorney Frank Scanlon and secretary “Casey” Case are in on Britt Reid’s secret. Mike Axford, a police beat reporter working for Reid’s newspaper, is constantly after the Green Hornet, but he falls into humorous mishaps that prevent any true discovery. Van Williams and Bruce Lee are featured on the covers, with photos from the show also appearing in the interior covers. The stories are roughly comparable to the TV show of the time, and are relatively enjoyable, if dated stylistically.
Other comics recently read:
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…)
“Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series” Blu-ray review
Matt Smith and Steven Moffat each settle in more comfortably in their second seasons on “Doctor Who,” the science fictional BBC production about a time-traveling benevolent alien. He traverses time and space in the TARDIS, a ship that’s bigger on the inside than the outside, and that looks from the outside like a 1950s police call box.
Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) are the Doctor’s main companions for this series. He also frequently crosses paths with River Song (Alex Kingston), who has a connection to all of the principals, and whose meetings with the Doctor occur in jumbled chronological order.
Moffat took over as executive producer from the much-acclaimed Russell T. Davies. His main push seems to have been giving the seasons more of an arc, which is in full effect this season. The Doctor, played by Smith, is faced with his upcoming death in the season’s first episode, and while the season has its detours, clues and movements key to the overall arc are seen throughout.
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…)
DVD review: Captain America/Captain America II: Death Too Soon
Long-suffering “Captain America” fans finally got an A-list, top-notch film version of their favorite character when “Captain America: The First Avenger” came out earlier this year. But some disappointed Redbox patrons may instead find they’ve rented the TV movies “Captain America” and “Captain America II: Death Too Soon,” both originally shown on TV in 1979, and now out on DVD.
The movie takes a ton of liberties from the comics story. Reb Brown stars in both TV films as Steve Rogers. Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman) wants Steve to take the FLAG formula, a sort of “super-steroid” that was developed by Rogers’ late father. Because his father experimented using his own DNA, the formula is only likely to work on someone in his family. Rogers refuses, but when he’s nearly killed investigating the death of a friend, Mills decides to use the FLAG formula on him without his permission, giving him peak human strength and other abilities. Unfortunately, all this origin means it’s over an hour into the film before Steve gets into Captain America gear, and when he does, he looks more like Evel Knievel than Captain America. His motorcycle, judging by the screen time it gets, is also a very important part of the film.
The first film must have been successful enough, despite making not too much sense, as most of the cast returned later that year for “Death Too Soon.” Connie Selleca (“The Greatest American Hero”) replaced Heather Menzies (“Piranha”) as Dr. Wendy Day.
The terrorist Miguel (Christopher Lee, slumming it) has stolen a rapid aging formula that he will use on a major American city if his demands are not met. (Thus causing — “Death Too Soon.”)
Steve tracks Miguel down to a small town, where he falls in love with a local woman, tussles with local roughnecks, and eventually tracks down the bad guys. Compared to the first film, this one’s semi-watchable, and Lee chews up the scenery with vigor. Hungarian-born Heidi Fleiss ex-boyfriend Ivan Nagy directs, and Captain America’s costume is closer to something that looks like the comics’ Captain America. It’s still pretty much a mess, but, prior to this year, “Death too Soon” was arguably the live-action Captain America to watch.
The Shout Factory Double Feature of “Captain America” and “Captain America II” has no special features to speak of, unfortunately. I’d love to have heard commentary from the directors or star about how these films were made.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Charisma Carpenter Q&A at Austin Comic Con
Charisma Carpenter (AP)
Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), Mercedes McNab (Harmony) and James Charles Leary (Clem) will discuss their days on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” at 1 p.m. today at Austin Comic Con, 500 E Cesar Chavez in Austin.
This “Buffyfest Q&A” will be held in room A.
- Matt Price
