Singer may return to X-Men
Empire Online reports that Bryan Singer has met with Fox about possibly returning to the X-Men franchise.
“I’m still looking to possibly returning to the X-Men franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it,” said Singer. “I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast.”
That indicates that Singer may be more likely to return to an “X-Men 4″ with the original film X-Men versus taking the helm of a reboot or an “X-Men First Class” set in the early days of Xavier’s school.
Click past the cut to vote on whether you think Singer should return to the X-Men.
NewsOK Comics vodcast: Haunt 1, Batman Unseen 1, X-Men vs Agents of Atlas 1
Things get spooky this October week in comics, as Haunt #1 comes out from Image and DC brings forth Batman Unseen #1. Meanwhile, the X-Men face off with the Agents of Atlas in the first part of a two-issue miniseries. Kyle Roberts and Matt Price discuss these comics in this week’s NewsOK Comics podcast.
New Mutants may make way to theaters
According to Slashfilm, the New Mutants of Marvel Comics could make their way to movie theaters in coming years. Lauren Shuler Donner, who’s been involved with the “X-Men” films at Fox from the beginning, said “New Mutants” and “X4″ with the original cast are possible in the future. “X4″ had yet to be officially pitched to the studio, she said, according to the report.
“New Mutants” was a title showcasing teen mutants in training at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The characters were created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, first appearing in Marvel Graphic Novel #4. They continued from there to a series, by Claremont and McLeod. Later artists included Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bret Blevins and Rob Liefeld. The issues drawn by Sienkiewicz, including “The Demon Bear Saga,” were highly regarded and well-remembered. Louise Simonson took over the writing from Claremont in 1987.
- Matt Price
NewsOK Comics Podcast: Adventure Comics 2, Dark Avengers/X-Men Exodus, Muppet Robin Hood 4, Ultimate Comics Avengers 2
The Muppets recreate the Robin Hood legend, Marvel’s Dark Reign continues, and Superboy discovers more about himself in this week’s comics.
NewsOK Comics Podcast: Supergirl 44, X-Men Legacy 227, Wolverine Weapon X 4 and Archie 600
Kyle Roberts and Matt Price discuss how you can’t always judge a comic book by its cover, as they review Supergirl 44, X-Men Legacy 227, Wolverine Weapon X 4 and Archie 600.
Writer Chris Yost dissects Wolverine’s busy animated life
Wolverine’s not going to be out of the limelight anytime soon.
Hugh Jackman announced at the recent Teen Choice Awards that work has begun on a second “Wolverine” film, to be set in Japan.
Meanwhile, Wolverine is also very busy in animation. The second DVD of the animated series “Wolverine and the X-Men” arrived in stores last month, and selected episodes are available to watch online at Marvel.com or to download from iTunes. The series airs on Nicktoons.
An anime version of Wolverine is in development to air in Japan and the U.S. Also on the way is “Super Hero Squad,” which will co-star Wolverine, scheduled to air on the Cartoon Network.
“The great thing about Wolverine is that he can be in ‘Super Hero Squad’ and be for young kids, and he can be in ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ and be like in the middle range, and then he can be in (the direct-to-DVD PG-13 animated film) ‘Hulk Vs. Wolverine,’” said Chris Yost, a writer for “Wolverine and the X-Men.”
“You immediately think, ‘This guy’s got knives on his hands; he’s really inappropriate for children.’ But you know, children respond to it. Children love Wolverine, and there’s a good reason for that. He’s a hero. There’s more to him than just violence.”
In “Wolverine and the X-Men,” Wolverine must take charge of the X-Men after an attack on the X-Mansion scatters the team. “With ‘Wolverine and the X-Men,’ we had an opportunity to show you the X-Men’s world as we know it,” Yost said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. “We know the mansion, we know the Danger Room. … And then immediately the show’s turned on its head by the events of the first episode.”
The attack on the mansion in the first episode is what resets the world from the X-Men we know into a world that shares similarities with the “Days of Future Past” story line from the comic books.
“Everything blows up, and everything is different,” Yost said. “Wolverine’s now in charge, and Scott’s all brooding, and Jean (Grey) and Xavier are gone. It was a very conscious decision to show normal, and then get into what the show is going to be.”
“Wolverine and the X-Men” follows a long, epic journey in Wolverine’s attempts to reunite the team as they deal with mutant prejudice and the threat of Magneto.
“I believe there are things you can do in animation, like with ‘Wolverine and the X-Men,’ the scope and the epic scale of that story, you’re never going to see that in a movie, ever,” he said.
Yost also co-wrote the “Hulk Vs. Wolverine” script with Craig Kyle, and writes the character in the monthly “X-Force” comic book, also with Kyle. Yost said he considers himself lucky to have been able to chronicle Wolverine’s adventures in various media.
“With the DVDs, with the comics, it’s being able to show different sides of this character,” Yost said. “At the end of the day, he’s always a hero.”
- by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
NewsOK Comics Podcast: Captain America 600, Young Allies Special 1, Supergirl 42, X-Men Origins Gambit
Kyle Roberts and Matt Price discuss Captain America #600, Young Allies Special #1, Supergirl #42 and X-Men Origins: Gambit.
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:
Wolverine for casual gamers
THE NEXT LEVEL
Former Oklahoman Paul Benjamin is putting words in Hugh Jackman’s mouth.
Putnam City North graduate Benjamin wrote the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” game for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2. Benjamin, who now lives in Austin, Texas, talked to The Oklahoman about his X-perience recrafting Wolverine’s origin for game players.
Paul Benjamin
“The Wii/Playstation 2 version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine blends story elements from the Wolverine movie and the Xbox360/Playstation 3/PC version of the game with a dash of story elements unique to the Wii/PS2 version,” Benjamin said. “I don’t want to give away too much, but essentially, you play Wolverine’s origin as he loses his girl, goes after Sabretooth/Victor Creed for revenge, and gets his bones laced with the indestructible metal ‘adamantium.’”
Characters in the game include Wolverine, Sabretooth, Silver Fox, Deadpool, Blob, Wraith, Gambit and General Stryker. Because the Wii edition was aimed at more casual gamers, the amount of bloodshed in the game is less than what will be found in the “Uncaged” edition for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and personal computer, Benjamin said.
“Though both versions shared cinematics and followed similar storylines, many other elements of the game were taken in different directions,” Benjamin said. “Where the Uncaged Edition on the other consoles embraces the extreme violence of the Wolverine character, the Wii/PS2 version adopts a feel that is more in line with Wolverine from the three X-Men movies. There’s still plenty of fighting, but there’s almost no actual bloodshed portrayed in the combat.”
The Wii combat also took the specific advantages of the Wii controller into consideration.
“You use the Wii controller in a very kinetic fashion to throw doors open, for example, and to lunge across the room at an opponent in a way that is unique to the Wii,” Benjamin said. “Because this version was developed separately with these considerations in mind, many of the story details end up being different as well.”
Writing for a video game involves writing a lot of different dialogue for a lot of events that could transpire, depending on how the game is played out. While it’s complex, Benjamin, who also writes for Marvel Comics, says it’s very rewarding.
“You have to try to cover all bases,” Benjamin said. “Ultimately, the fun of writing for games is seeing how the gameplay designers apply your words to the game. The coolest part of writing for this game was hearing Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber delivering my dialogue as Wolverine versus Sabretooth.”
By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Paul Benjamin talks writing X-Men Origins Wolverine for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2
X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the Nintendo Wii
Writer Paul Benjamin, a Putnam City North graduate who now lives in Austin, Texas, is a writer of comic books and video games. He was able to merge knowledge from both worlds recently, as the writer of the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii version of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” Benjamin recently talked to The Oklahoman about the experience. Look for more from Benjamin in Friday’s Weekend LOOK section of The Oklahoman.
Matt Price: What kind of research did you have to do to write the game?
Paul Benjamin: Yeah, this is the worst part of my job. I had to read A LOT of comics. When people hear that I write comics and video games, they generally assume that I just sit around reading comics and playing video games all day. Mostly that’s not true, but when starting a new project I do have to do some initial research. I am, of course, very familiar with Wolverine, but before I got started on the game I had to make sure I really had his voice down. I read some of Marc Guggenheim’s Wolverine comics because all of the Wii/PS2 in-game movies (aka Cinematics) came from the version of the game that Marc had written. I also spent time with classic Wolverine comics, like the first Wolverine mini-series, his early X-Men appearances and Origin, the tale of Wolverine as a boy that is the basis of the beginning of the film. I also got to read a synopsis of 
the movie, though there wasn’t enough time for me to fly out to Los Angeles to read the actual script. It’s not unusual for film scripts to be held so tightly under wraps that you have to go to the studio to read it to prevent leaks.
MP: What types of changes have to be made when creating the Wii/PS2 version of a game?
PB: This can vary greatly depending on the project. In this case, the Wii/PS2 version was being developed by a different studio from the Xbox 360/PS3/PC version. Though both versions shared cinematics and followed similar storylines, many other elements of the game were taken in different directions. For example, because the Wii tends to be owned by more casual gamers and has a large family following, the Wii version is much more family-friendly. Where the Uncaged Edition on the other consoles embraces the extreme violence of the Wolverine character, the Wii/PS2 version adopts a feel that is more in line with Wolverine from the three X-Men movies. There’s still plenty of fighting, but there’s almost no actual bloodshed portrayed in the combat.
Also, the Wii team took the unique motion sensitive Wii controls into account when making the game. You 
use the Wii controller in a very kinetic fashion to throw doors open, for example, and to lunge across the room at an opponent in a way that is unique to the Wii. Because this version was developed separately with these considerations in mind, many of the story details end up being different as well. The game has to be fun first and foremost, so the story was tweaked and revised to fit the gameplay involved. Overall things are the same, but one console’s version may have more levels set in one location than on another console, creating differences in where the story goes and how much we see of one character or another.
MP: What’s a typical day of writing for a video game project entail?
PB: Writing video games is a very different exercise from writing for other mediums. For example, when I 
write a comic book or graphic novel, I’m creating a narrative that goes from beginning to end. When writing a video game based on a movie (and on another video game), much of the story is predetermined. In addition, the gameplay drives the story to a great extent. Some days I spent all my time writing contextual action sequences. Those are situations where a series of events happens and you press certain buttons to change the course of the action. For example, Sabretooth might be trying to throw Wolverine off a truck and a series of button presses will either allow Wolverine to toss Sabretooth overboard or result in Logan going under the wheels. It’s my job to write dialogue for both scenarios. Ideally, voice over is recorded for several different versions of the scenario in case the designers end up using the same set up more than once.
On other days, I spent all my time just writing lines of dialogue for various characters. For example, I might write ten different lines that a specific group of bad guys will say when they engage Wolverine, ten 
more for when Wolverine hits them, etc. This is a real challenge because you’re writing these lines in a vacuum. You never know how they will be applied. Those enemies could end up cut from the game entirely or they could end up being used far more than originally expected because they are fun to fight. You have to try to cover all bases. Ultimately, the fun of writing for games is seeing how the gameplay designers apply your words to the game. The coolest part of writing for this game was hearing Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber delivering my dialogue as Wolverine versus Sabretooth. That’s something you can’t get from writing comics!
