The Magdalena #1
Written by Ron Marz
Pencils by Nelson Blake II
Inks by Sal Regla
Colors by Dave McCaig
Letters by Troy Peteri
Top Cow
Price: $3.99
Release date: April 21, 2010

Finally Ron Marz, known for his other recent Top Cow work on Witchblade and Broken Trinity, got his wish to work on The Magdalena and wow did he start off great. I really was blown away by this first issue of the new run. It isn’t very easy to please everyone with a first issue, but I think Marz did a great job of mixing in references to the old material as well as inform new readers of what they’re in for. Doing all this while peppering in characterization for all of the main cast shows just how much love Marz has for the series.

Let me start off by telling you what The Magdalena is about. After the death and rise of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, who was said by a few to be his wife, had a daughter. From this daughter started the line of Magdalena, which is the royal bloodline. Each daughter is trained as a warrior to protect the Catholic Church and carries the title of Magdalena, which entitles them to weild the Spear of Destiny — the spear that pierced Jesus in the side — as their weapon against evil [...]

Sunday morning brought an interesting panel at C2E2 2010 with the always entertaining Bill Willingham, writer of Vertigo’s Fables, as well as writer for JSA at DC, and the Angel series for IDW. One of the items talked about at the panel was the re-release of a novel Willingham wrote several years ago that’s been out of print for a while. The novel is titled Down the Mysterly River and will be released by TOR books sometime in the Fall of 2011.

The story is about a character named Max the Wolf who is mistakenly sent to the wrong afterlife because of his name, and then goes on a wild adventure with a bunch of other animals. Willingham remarked that this novel, which was originally released in limited numbers in 2001, is essentially a “proto-Fables story” and that the book is an unofficial Fables tie-in, so I’m willing to bet that fans of the series will be looking forward to this. Unfortunately, Willingham did not give any information about a follow-up to the official Fables novel, Peter & Max, which was released earlier this year, although he did mention that characters from that book would soon be showing up in the Fables comic [...]

Some depressing news for Star Trek fanatics worldwide. In an interview with The Toronto Sun, Leonard Nimoy apparently revealed that he now intends to retire from acting and even from all of those crazy conventions that have been such a huge part of his career.

Nimoy, who was finishing up his last episode as Dr. Bell on the popular J.J. Abrams TV show, Fringe, basically just explains that he’s been doing this longer than most of us have been alive, and it’s time for him to step away and enjoy his life.

In regard to his iconic Spock character, specifically, he doesn’t think there’s anymore for him to do with it now. When talking about Abrams’ new vision of that mythos and Star Trek 2, which is expected some time in 2012, he made it clear that he wanted vacate entirely and leave plenty of space for Zachary Quinto to nourish and grow the character as he will. [...]

We all know about the swarm of movies being made based on toys and board games, including one about the limber Stretch Armstrong starring The Twilight Saga‘s Taylor Lautner (Read: 3D ‘Stretch Armstrong’ Grabs ‘The Twilight Saga’ Star Taylor Lautner; ‘Battleship’ Now Set To Strike On Memorial Day ).

The script for the movie was originally put together by Evan Almighty writer Steve Oedekerk, but now Universal has decided to bring in a new writer to join their equally-new director.

The studio has chosen Rob Letterman to direct their Stretch movie, and has also brought in Nicholas Stoller to rewrite the existing script. Letterman has mostly animated film experience, having directed Shark Tale and Monsters vs. Aliens for DreamWorks, while Stoller has written Fun With Dick and Jane, Yes Man, as well as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, both of which he also directed. The two gentlemen recently collaborated on the upcoming Jack Black flick Gulliver’s Travels, which Stoller wrote and Letterman is directing. [...]

On Friday, Harmonix and MTV games announced a new set of downloadable content for their popular Rock Band video game franchise.

In the upcoming week, a 3-pack of songs from Coheed and Cambria, as well as tracks from Supergrass, The Violent Femmes, and Siouxsie & The Banshees will be available on the XBox 360, Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii consoles.
All tracks are original master recordings.

With more than 400 artists’ downloadable songs available from Rock Band, these new songs definitely round out a wide variety for any fan of music-based games. All single songs are available for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) and the 3-track pack is available for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points) [...]

When it comes to classic titles, people have a zero-tolerance to remakes and reinventions and anything that may taint the integrity of the original.

When it comes to The Wizard of Oz, however, there seems to be a special type of open-mindedness to prospective future titles. Part of this is because the beloved 1939 Judy Garland film was not the first to be adapted from Frank L. Baum‘s timeless story — not even close — and because it’s such a perfectly fantastical playground, eternally ripe for creative minds to reinterpret and re-visualize according to the cinematic times.

There’s a handful of possible Wizard of Oz films currently in various states of development — most of which will likely never see the light of day — and it’s only a matter of time before a couple of them get that big green light to go into production.

Disney is one of the studios trying to get into the party with their own take on the classic story, and if things go the way they seem to be going, it could be a very interesting movie to follow. [...]

I expected an announcement about the return of Matt Fraction’s crazy super-spy epic Casanova to occur during the Image Comics panel on Saturday at C2E2. Fraction has mentioned on his twitter account that he has been working on new scripts for the series, which has not been seen since the end of Volume 2 was released in 2008. Little did I realize that the series had actually moved from Image to Marvel’s creator-owned Icon line and that the announcement would happen during Marvel’s Cup of Joe panel.

Starting in July, readers will be able to catch up with the series, as the first 14 issues will be re-released in full color (the series was originally released in a green/white and blue/white color palette). According to Fraction’s blog, the series will also be repackaged.

The first two volumes will be released in eight single issues. The first issue will contain the original issue as well as a new story drawn by Fabio Moon. From there, each Icon issue will contain two issues that were released by Image, as well as new bonus material, until the eighth issue, which will contain what was originally issue #14, as well as another new story that will lead into Volume 3 [...]

Toy Story #3
Written by Jesse Blaze Snider
Art by Nathan Wilson and Mike DeCarlo
Colors by Mickey Clausen and Eric Cobain
Letters by Deron Bennett
BOOM! Studios
Price: $2.99
Release date: April 14, 2010

Toy Story #3 continues the ongoing series with part four of The Return of Buzz Lightyear. This storyline started with Andy receiving a new Buzz Lightyear toy. When they found out that Andy was going to return the new Buzz Lightyear for a different toy, we see the new Buzz force the old Buzz, or ‘Sally’, into the box so he doesn’t have to return to the shelf of the store. This spurs a rescue mission with the new Buzz and the recently purchased Booster. In the last issue, new Buzz and Sally are in a race to see who should go back to Andy and the new Buzz cheats by releasing a display of bouncing balls to stop Sally from winning the race. In this issue, we see the conclusion of the race and a lot of the backstory of the new Buzz and the end of his adventure.

This new ongoing Toy Story series has been very true to the original source material and fits with the style of both movies. This storyline very much reminds me of the second movie and part of the first where we follow the toys in adventures outside of the house [...]

As Doctor Who fans, we ought to adopt a new mantra that is so universally accepted it can even be printed on currency: “In Moffat We Trust”.

Moffat, as an author of The Empty Child, The Girl in the Fireplace, and Blink episodes. And now, Steven Moffat is the new lead writer and show runner on the fifth season of Doctor Who, starring Matt Smith as the eleventh actor to portray the Time Lord on television.

Still, despite a track record of producing iconic Who episodes, some remain quite skeptical of the new Doctor: He’s quite a bit younger than previous versions. He wears tweed jackets and bow ties. And this is a drastic change, which people generally do not like.

So while I can see why someone might disagree with my logic, I’ll just assume they haven’t seen the debut episode, The Eleventh Hour, which debuted in America on Saturday [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Planet of the Apes 40th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray for only $42.99 (down 67% from the list price of $129.99).

This is the lowest I’ve ever seen this set! (The last time it was 55% off.) This is a huge Blu-ray box set that comes with tons of bonus features.

Note, this sale is today (April 20) for one day only til midnight PST while supplies last, meaning if they run out before the end of the day, that’s it, the sale is up. So, grab this while you can.

This 5-disc Blu-ray set includes all five Planet Of The Apes movies [...]

Hope Larson will be adapting the classic Madeleine L’Engle novel A Wrinkle In Time into a new graphic novel. The title will also eventually become a movie, but for now, this news promises to deliver a beautiful visualization of a world many fans have only known in their own imaginations.

The young author and illustrator shared the news with her fans on her Twitter earlier today, saying “I’m thrilled to announce, at long, long last, that I’m writing and illustrating the graphic novel adaptation of A WRINKLE IN TIME!”

Larson is known for her writing, illustrating, and cartooning talents — usually in the world of graphic novels. The Eisner Award-winner’s titles include Salamander Dream, Gray Horses, Chiggers, and her latest, Mercury.

After making the announcement, Larson touched on it further via her Livejournal account, which you can read below.

I’m thrilled to announce, at long last, that I’m writing and illustrating the graphic novel adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time for Farrar, Straus and Giroux! [...]

During the Jeff Smith spotlight panel at C2E2 this past weekend, one of the questions asked to the creator was what the status on the Bone animated movie was. According to Smith, Warner Bros is working with a company called Animalogic and they have already done a 3D animation test and are continuing to move forward on the project. Animalogic has worked on other 3D films before, notably Happy Feet.

Smith was also asked whether he would prefer a Bone movie to be filmed in 3D or if he would have preferred a more traditional hand drawn 2D style, and while he admitted he would have preferred the 2D style, he understood that no one would front the money unless it was made in the more popular 3D computer-generated style [...]

The twenty-third adventure of the well-dressed and debonair spy known the world over as James Bond has been stopped dead in its tracks.

The movie — known simply as Bond 23 for now — had been moving forward with no apparent issues slowing its progress, even with studio MGM in some financial troubles. In fact, the movie was shaping up to be one of the best installments we’ve seen with Daniel Craig once again returning and Academy Award-winning American Beauty, Road to Perdition, and Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes set to helm the film.

Sadly, it appears that these financial woes have risen up to wreak havoc. In a statement made by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, it has been announced that Bond 23 has been stopped in its tracks, put on hold, and will be kept there indefinitely until things are figured out.

Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on ‘Bond 23′ indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of ‘Bond 23. [...]

28 Days Later #9
Written by Michael Alan Nelson
Art by Leonardo Manco
BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 7, 2010

Let’s jump back into post apocalyptic Britain where we find Selena, Clint, and Derrick taking refuge at the farm we saw them in through 28 Days Later # 7 & 8.

Derrick is on the mend and feeling better, but there is only one problem. His injuries have left a permanent mark on him and he is now a risk to the group and to their safety. This though does not slow them down though; convinced they can continue they prepare to leave about one of the safest places on the entire island. Leaving the farm they continue on their long journey to reach London. But what will this cost them? On top of picking up a new companion to travel with them and hoping that this does not slow them down, they now have more than zombies after them. What do you do when you have the living and the dead hunting you? [...]

Green Zone
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Antoni Corone, Nicoye Banks
Rated R
Release date: March 12, 2010

Green Zone: The Truth Ultimatum

The front between myth and reality evaporates as the search for the truth rages on in Paul Greengrass‘ Iraq War thriller, Green Zone.

In Green Zone, Greengrass has decided to merge his serious political films, such as Bloody Sunday and United 93, with the wildly entertaining Jason Bourne films he has directed: The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. At first, the result is one of supreme imperfection, but I have come to the conclusion that Greengrass has directed the first truly great thriller with the Iraq War as background. I have to remember that this is Greengrass’ version of the truth that he has taken from Brian Helgeland‘s screenplay. Helgeland’s screenplay is adapted from Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s Imperial Life In The Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone. Chandrasekaran is a reporter and editor for The Washington Post. The screenplay is more inspired from his wonderfully insightful book than a straight adaptation.

The disconnect between life inside and outside of the Green Zone is shown in the film; this is one of the major themes of Chandrasekaran’s book. With luck, more people will seek out the book after watching the film [...]

Heavy Rain
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platforms: Playstation 3
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB: M
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Because the mystery is what makes a large portion of the story enjoyable, I will try and keep spoilers from the main portion of the game to a minimum.

The highly anticipated Heavy Rain has finally arrived. After being touted as a revolutionary step forward in video gaming and spending years in development, the finished product does not disappoint.

The story revolves around four main characters and the investigation into a series of murders in a unspecified neighborhood (though contextual clues imply the setting is near Philadelphia). Over the span of three years, 8 boys disappeared, only to be found several days later, drowned in rain water, with an orchid and an origami figure near their bodies. With no real leads to go on, the police are nowhere near catching the “Origami Killer.”

A majority of the time, especially early on, the player controls Ethan Mars (Pascal Langdale), an average man whose happy married life falls apart after the accidental death of one of his two sons (taking place two years prior to the events of main game). Divorced and having a hard time connecting to his living son, Shaun, Mars suffers from blackouts and depression, made worse when Shaun disappears and is feared to be the next victim of the Origami Killer [...]

Dark Horse Comics and Exclusive Media Group’s Hammer Films have just announced a partnership in which they will create a series of co-branded original graphic novels and comic books. Their first collaboration is going to be inspired by Hammer Films’ upcoming suspense thriller Let Me In.

Let Me In is a horrid tale about a young boy named Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is viciously bullied by his classmates and neglected by his divorcing parents. Owen spends most of his days plotting revenge on his middle school tormentors and his evenings spying on the other inhabitants of his apartment complex. When Abby (played by Chloe Moretz aka HIT-GIRL from Kick-Ass), a new neighbor, moves in next to Owen he finds himself with a strange new friend. But the young girl has a terrible secret that will forever change Owen’s life.

The new American remake of the film is based on my favorite vampire film of 2008, the widely acclaimed Tomas Alfredson-directed Swedish film Lat den ratte komma in (Let the Right One In), produced by Hammer Films, and written and directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) [...]

“There is a great one sleeping that will hear… The Calling”

Yesterday, BOOM! Studios released a teaser image for a series coming out July 2010 that simply contained the words “IA! IA! CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

Today at the C2E2, the comic book publisher revealed the name of the upcoming series — The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles — along with some details.

The on-going HP Lovecraft-inspired comic, which will be written by Michael Alan Nelson (Fall Of Cthulhu, 28 Days Later) and Johanna Stokes (Death Valley, Savage Brothers), is a supernatural horror series with a modern spin on the Cthulhu mythos. Sean Phillips (Marvel Zombies) and Federico Piatti will provide the covers, while Christopher Possenti is doing the interior art. 


The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles will join BOOM!’s previous Lovecraftian titles Cthulhu Tales and Fall Of Cthulhu.

See below for the official synopsis, as well as the covers for The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles #1 [...]

Marvel is producing four different anime series based on original superhero properties, according to the company, who made the announcement at their C2E2 Animation panel this weekend.

Each of the four series will have 12 episodes. Only two series were announced by name: one based on Iron Man and the other on X-Men/Wolverine, according to Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada.

Quesada also stated that the shows were being produced for a Japanese audience — not just anime-style superheroes for America, and promises more details will be announced soon [...]

A new animated Ultimate Spider-Man series and the previously announced animated Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes series will air on the Disney XD television channel, according to Marvel, who made the announcement this weekend at the Marvel Animation Panel at the 2010 C2E2.

“It’s nice to be a part of Disney,” said Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada in reference to the first fruits of labor witnessed since his company was acquired by the Walt Disney Company in August 2009. [Read: Disney To Acquire Marvel Entertainment For $4 Billion]

The two new animated shows are just the first in what will likely be many more projects set to debut on the Disney XD network, which according to Quesada, was just one of the major benefits of the Disney deal [...]