Barack, Bloodsuckers, Battlestar Galactica (kinda)
The Weekly Geek / Claude Weaver III
Trade News | January 14, 2009 | Comments (17)
Well it seems the big story in geek stories this week is that President-Elect Obama will be featured in issue #583 of Amazing Spider-Man, fist-bumping the web-slinger.
When we heard that President-Elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics’ Marvel Universe,” says Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. “Historic moments such as this one can be reflected in our comics because the Marvel Universe is set in the real world. A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.”
I don’t know about you, but if Obama declares “One More Day” a huge mistake that must be addressed, he has already validated his presidency. What war?
In other news, Kevin Reilly, president of entertainment at Fox (and possibly the most hated man in television behind Ben Silverman) recently expressed his thoughts on Fox’s handling of its sci-fi shows, especially the decision to put struggling sophomore “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and newcomer “Dollhouse” in the most infamous slot in television, the Friday night primetime graveyard:
Reilly acknowledges that “Terminator” and “Dollhouse” have a curse to break on Friday nights, the slot that killed shows such as “Firefly” and “Freakylinks.” ‘Well, that’s been the case for a lot of shows, but there’ve also been a lot of shows that were kind of buried there for a reason,’ Reilly said. ‘I think these are two worthy shows, so we’ll see what happens.’
Reilly also talked about “Virtuality,” a new show from Peter Berg (Hancock), Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor (“Battlestar Galactica”). The show, whose pilot is being retooled, is about the crew of an interstellar ship who spend time in a virtual reality program for fun, until a flaw is found in the system. Basically, it is nearly every other episode of “Star Trek: TNG”. But the best part about this is this quote from Reilly:
It could air as is, and there’s a certain segment of the audience that would flip over it, but it is, I think, right now a little bit too dense.
Oh, Fox. It is like you want us to hate you.
Because the man has the ability to slow time or something, Guillermo del Toro, on top of all his movie plans, has released some info on his latest venture: a series of vampire novels. And as you can expect from the mind behind Pan’s Labyrinth, he isn’t going to be pulling any sunlight sparkle bullshit:
I wanted to find a place to create a vampiric epic that takes you all the way to the modern day, to find out when the vampires started — going beyond Mesopotamian myth, going beyond all of that. Not the attractive, Brad Pitt-esque, decadent lovers that have sex. I wanted to make them like an alternate species and an alternate spiritual creature to man, and the idea is that the series will flesh out that re-invented vampiric myth — respectful of the lore, but taking you through the ages.
But del Toro isn’t the only person falling for the bloodsuckers. Park Chen Wook, helmer of the legendary Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengenace, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance), is working on his latest flick Thirst. Kang So Hung (The Host) stars as Father Sang-Hyun, a priest that volunteers to take an experimental vaccine for a new epidemic. After he recovers from his infection, he is considered a miracle. But the vaccine ends up failing and kills him, only for him to come back as a vampire. The film is on track to be released in South Korea in April, but no trailers or announcements yet on a North American release.
Guess who’s coming to iTunes? Monty Python, bitches! All 45 episodes and 5 of their films and now available for download, as well as an exclusive documentary Why I Love Monty Python, featuring interviews with Judd Apatow, Paul Rudd, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Also on iTunes, if you are a D&D geek, a Penny Arcade fan, or both, and you still haven’t checked it out, sign up for the PA podcast of their Fourth Edition game. Now with more Wil Wheaton!
Today’s trailer is Give ‘em Hell, Malone, from director Russ Mulcahy (Highlander, Resident Evil: Extinction). Thomas Jane (Punisher, Stander) stars as Malone, a man with information on a mysterious new player in the crime world, who is trying to protect said gangster from crime boss, Ving Rhames.
This week’s recommended comic is Vertigo’s The Losers, written by Andy Diggle and drawn by Jock, the concept artist on the new Judge Dredd movie. The comic is like “The A-Team” meets “24,” where a special-forces team seeks revenge on the CIA handler who tried to kill them. Even the computer guy managed to not be completely useless or annoying, which is usually all I ask for in these kinds of ensemble books. Soon to be a motion picture from Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard, Castlevania fer chrissakes) and Dark Castle Entertainment (after Tim Story and Warner Bros. walked away), please read it before any film depiction ruins it for you.
To make up for my omission of a comic recommendation last week, I also want to mention The Couriers by Brian Wood and Rob G. It is the story of two friends, Moustafa and Special. Moustafa is an average guy who is constantly bumming free food off his loving girlfriend, Olive. Special is a rough and tumble girl from the rough side of the tracks. They live and love in NYC while trying to better themselves. Oh wait, that is not right. They are urban mercenaries (codenamed “couriers”) that mostly move very dangerous product to shady individuals. But, as Jason Statham will attest to, nothing good ever comes from transporting a live girl. A shitload of people die, a helicopter gets blown up ,and the two heroes end up taking on a rogue Chinese Army brigade. Fun is had by all. Make sure you get the other books in the series: Coucous Express, Dirtbike Manifesto and The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker as well.
Claude Weaver III, aka Vermillion, is going back to school, where he gets no respect, not respect at all, I tells ya. And not even a Triple Lindy is gonna change it. He can be comforted on his blog, Vermillion’s Brain Receptacle.
Comments
Posted by: courtney 2 at January 14, 2009 9:31 AM
"Coucous Express"? Not "couscous"?
Just checking...