Okay, so I just have to lead with this before the break. Over at Kickstarter, you can help a group of indie (mostly online creators who are relatively unknown) comic book creators launch a one-sho
t comic consisting of 13 4-8 page stories based on…Smiths songs.
Wow. Wild idea. It’s like a comic book version of music videos.
Hit the break for news.
THE WALKING DEAD. Episode one, season two will be 90 minutes. The first seven eps of the season will run beginning October 16th, the second run of six eps will begin February 12. There’s also discussion of an unscripted show called “Secret Stash” produced by comic book fan Kevin Smith that will be filmed in his comic book store.
Here’s the Walking Dead trailer:
WARREN ELLIS ON SECRET AVENGERS. I bailed on Secret Avengers after issue #3. It was awful. And I’m a huge Ed Brubaker fan. But the Bru is gone, and Warren Ellis has returned to Marvel to take over the series for one story arc featuring Valkyrie, War Machine, a stupendous John Cassaday cover and interior work by Kev Walker that, frankly, is some of the best he’s ever done. I’m not buying it in loosie, but I damn sure expect to snatch that trade up. It looks hot as hell.
SPIDER ISLAND…DOESN’T SUCK! In these days of Fear Itself and Flashpoint, this may be damning with faint praise, but the Spider Island event is much better than any event I can think of from the past 12-24 months. Way, way, wayyyyy better than Shadowland. I’m actually diggin’ it. And I laughed out loud, twice, at the last issue (particularly when J.J. Jameson learns that 
Peter Parker is one of the Spider Men). Great stuff. It didn’t need all the useless build up just to stretch so it could start with Amazing Spider-Man #666, but all is forgiven now. I haven’t bought any of the tie-ins yet…But the Avengers one is on my pull list. It features Squirrel Girl for Crissake. How could I not pull it?
OTHER UPCOMING MARVEL STUFF WORTH NOTING: Nick Spencer rebooting Ultimate Comics X-Men; Brian Michael Bendis’ Daredevil: End of Days mini; Ultimate Hawkeye by Jonathan Hickman (don’t see how this can suck); and Garth Ennis’ return to Marvel MAX, writing Nick Fury.
NEW GARTH ENNIS BOOK. Dude isn’t busy enough, what with planning to return to MarvelMAX and writing The Boys—one of the most consistently surprising (and hilarious) books on the market? Guess not. He’ll be writing “Stitched” for Avatar Press starting in November 2011. Avatar really only invests in good comics—so this should be another one. Art will be by Mike Wolfer. It’s a war/horror books– American and British commandos stranded in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban and something that looks either like zombies or aliens. Or both. Coooooool. Note: This is the comic that was attached to Ennis’ short film, which debuted at San Diego Comicon this year. So, he’s lookin’ for a buyer, I guess, and the comic may simply be a vehicle to sell a film. Not that there’s (necessarily) anything wrong with that—Mark Millar seems to have produced high quality comics with same end in mind (Kick Ass, Wanted).
RIDDICK 3. Yeah, it ain’t a comic book movie per se, but Pitch Black was a really good sci fi/horror flick—and it’s Vin Diesel’s best work. The sequel sucked. So the third one, which is filming right now in Canada, has to redeem the franchise….
EXPENDABLES 2. Arnold Shwarzenegger and Bruce Willis have agreed to appear in the sequel in meatier roles, and rumor has it Jean-Claude Van Damme will appear as well. Van Damme famously told Stallone to stuff the first movie, predicting it would be a miserable failure. You’d think if anyone could spot failure, it’d be Van Damme…Also possibly in the cast: Chuck Norris, Donnie Yen, John Travolta., and returning castmembers Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, and Terry Crews. Due out August 17, 2012.
THE AVENGERS MOVIE. And we’re back to comic book movies…Joss Whedon confirms that Agent Paulson will not be dying in the film. It’s kind of annoying how much info is leaking from the filming. Let us have some surprises, please. If you dig around, you can find out a lot about the final scene of the movie. I’m not republishing it here.
LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS. Matt “Marvel Architect” Fraction and Kieron “amazing artist” Dwyer’s old and out of print early work “Last of the Independents” is set to be reprinted under the Icon label. It’s a crime story. I never read it, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it—it was one of the things that drew Marvel to hire Fraction.
GREEN RIVER KILLER. Dark Horse released a 240-page true crime OGN by a journalist whose father was a detective who worked the infamous Green River Killer case for 20 years—and eventually captured the killer (who has three names, of course: Gary Leon Ridgway). The content was based on transcripts and real-life evidence produced in the case. It looks amazing—albeit dense and difficult (emotionally) to read.
