Dark Knight Rises: BATMOBILE CONCEPT ART.....?

 

This picture claims be concept work for the new Batmobile. Personally it looks too Burton-esque I still think the finished vehicle will be more of a suped up Lambo'  or some such. Let me know what you think.

Click here for a better look.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down on the corner

The FUTURE......

by Kev Harper.

All time favorite Album covers (RIP Poly Styrene)

 Just heard the sad news that Poly Styrene lead singer with X-Ray Spex has passed away and it got me thinking of the cover to GERM FREE ADOLESCENT. Thanks to my older brother, along with Blondie's Parallel Lines it's one of the first records I can remember. A cracking design and a cracking band.

INDIANA JONES and the MISSED OPPORTUNITY

 After just watching the travesty that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls I'm torn between two emotions, on the one hand utter contempt for the money garbing actions of aging film makers who once made the type of movies fit for the iconic characters that featured in them and on the other the missed opportunity that is issue 19 of the STAR WARS TALES comic book series.

When it was first reported that a 4th Indy flick was being made after the mugging that was the Star Wars prequels I immediately knew that it would turn out to be a solid gold downer (a 20 year gap and an over the hill leading man should have been enough of an indication to let sleeping dogs lie) but when it was announced that the story would have a 'Sci-Fi' element to it a flash of excitement struck me, could it be that this 'new' picture could be an adaptation (or at the very least contain elements) of one of the strips that featured in Star Wars Tales issue 19 namely INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN by W. Haden Blackman & Sean Murphy.
Star Wars Tales was a comic published by Dark Horse Comics (1999-2005) and in the style of Marvels 'WHAT IF?' books took the Star Wars universe and  presented it in ways that where completely different to the films. The strip ''Into the Great Unknown'' tells the story of how Han Solo and Chewbacca come out of hyperspace and crash land the Millennium Falcon onto a strange planet.

 Han is killed by the natives and Chewie survives hidden in the planets forests. The twist comes when it is revealed that the planet is Earth ,Chewie has become the basis for the legend of Bigfoot and Han's decomposed remains are found by Indiana Jones. 

The idea of seeing this scenario on screen would have been a proper 'thank you' and 'acknowledgment' to the fans of these flicks in a way the 'Crystal Skulls' and I happily predict the planned 5th installment could and can never be. 
Here's an article

Comics censorship in Britain: The story of the Gorbals Vampire.

In 1950's America it took a quack psychologist and a right wing presidential hopeful to demonize comic books and bring about the heavy handed censorship that blighted the medium for decades to come. However In Britain it needed something a little more interesting, namely a mob of armed juvenile monster hunting Glaswegians and the urban myth of the Gorbals Vampire.

This is an extract from a report done by the BBC on the history of the story;

"Hundreds of children aged from four to 14, some of them armed with knives and sharpened sticks, were patrolling inside the historic graveyard.

They were, they told the bemused constable, hunting a 7ft tall vampire with iron teeth who had already kidnapped and eaten two local boys." 

"The blame was quickly laid at the door of American comic books with chilling titles such as Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror, whose graphic images of terrifying monsters were becoming increasingly popular among Scottish youngsters."

"The government responded to the clamour by introducing the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 which, for the first time, specifically banned the sale of magazines and comics portraying "incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature" to minors"

Here's an article. 

RUN-DMC - Run's House

GREEN LANTERN IMAGES...

"New"(they're just lifted straight out of the trailers)images from the Green Lantern flick have been released and I'm still not into it especially with the Gatlin' gun toting Hal Jordan. And I know his ring makes anything he can imagine and as a human it's only natural that in a fight he'd imagine a gun but it feels more like it was done primarily to make a cool toy accessory but c'est la vie.

Here's an article.

1981 SUPERMAN DOCUMENTARY

 This is a documentary about Superman that was made by the BBC in 1981as part of their Arena program.
It's a great documentary particularly the interviews with Siegel and Shuster. enjoy.

BATMAN: YEAR ONE the animated movie

Here are the first images released from the new BATMAN: Year One animated flick based on the Frank Miller  and David Mazzucchelli comics. There are also rumors that The DARK KNIGHT RETURNS will also be getting the animated treatment, can-you-DIG-IT!

Here's an article.

Hunter S. Thompson: The Crazy Never Die

Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

GREEN LATERN COSTUME: Are toes the new nipples

The toes on these full length shots of the Green Lantern's CGI costume make me think of the nipples on the Bat suits from the Joel Schumacher Bat flicks. The net is a buzz with people back tracking on initial opinions of this picture with the release of the extended trailer but I'm sticking to my glass half full guns.



Also is it just me or does Sinestro sound like he's being played by Duane Benzie. (one for the Spaced fans)

1950's COMIC BOOK HYSTERIA.

 This is a section of Ron Mann's classic documentary COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL that deals with the hysteria that was aimed at comics in the 1950's and led to the now defunct Comics Code Authority. It features interviews with the legendary Bill Gaines Jr (his father is credited with inventing the modern American  comic book) and the writer Al Feldstein (who's work in comics is up there with the likes of Jack Kirby) who made EC Comics the biggest comic book publisher of there day (out selling DC and pre-dating Marvel) and the focal point for the moral outrage that was whipped up by Dr. Fredric Wertham and his now infamous book Seduction of the Innocent. As a side note the images of the Nazi style book burnings that took place in America at the time on one hand make me sad (for the obvious reasons) but at the same time I can't help but smile at the irony of these right wing fools burning what would have become millions of dollars worth of collectible comic books.

Superman; MAN of STEEL casting.

 The casting for Zack Snyder's MAN of STEEL is shaping up nicely and with the recent announcement that General Zod  (Michael Shannon) will be the villain it's defo' ticking all the right boxes. A while back I put down how my perfect Superman flick would play out (click here) so far so good but I'm not holding my breath.

		Amy Adams ... Lois Lane  Henry Cavill ... Clark Kent / Superman Diane Lane ... Martha Kent Kevin Costner ... Jonathan Kent
		Michael Shannon...General Zod

Squeeze: Tempted

Tex Avery's RED HOT RIDING HOOD.

 The word genius doesn't go far enough to describe this. The perfect cartoon, enjoy.

SCHEME COMIX on deviantART

Click here to have a look at Scheme Comix page over at deviantART and it would be great  to hear what you think.

New THOR clip featuring HAWKEYE.....apparently.

This is the latest clip to be release from the THOR flick and I quote "Gives us our first glimpse of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye". If you blink you'll miss it although even if you don't blink you'll probably still miss it.

More Thor Videos

Neal Adams and Frank Miller Q&A

This is a talk given at a comic convention with Neal Adams and Frank Miller. The title of the post on You-Tube says it's 'Neal Adams interviews Frank Miller' but it's really Neil Adams talking about the business of comics (Miller really only gets involved in part 4) which personally I could listen to all day and never get tired of, enjoy.

Polyphonic spree - Sgt peppers Lonely hearts club band

the VADER PROJECT customized helmets...

Click here to see more customized helmets from the Vader Project exhibition .CAN YOU DIG IT!

TOP 5 COMICS you've probably never heard of.

Here are some of my personal favorites that can easily be found in any bargain bin but when compared to some of the titles clogging up the shelves at your local comic retailers are criminally overlooked.

5. HEART BREAKERS; by Paul Guinan (artist) and Anina Bennett (writer)
Cloned bad asses where anything can happen.

4. STRIKE-FORCE MORITURI:by Brent Anderson (artist) and Peter B.Gillis (writer)
Published by Marvel the story centers around a team of super-powered humans who have been created to defend the Earth after it has been invaded by aliens the twist is that their powers only last a year then they die.

3. WARHEADS: by various writers and artists most notably Gary Erskine (artist) Nick Vince & John Freeman (writers). Published by MARVEL UK the Warheads are a group of soldiers employed by the Mys-Tech organization to steal weapons and technology from other dimensions.
 

2. HIGH ROADS: by Leinil Francis Yu (artist) and Scott Lobdell (writer)
Published as part of the IMAGE COMICS Cliffhanger imprint. Set during WWII the story is a rip roaring tale in the style of the old Saturday morning matinee shows.

1. DRAGONS CLAWS: by Geoff Senior (artist) and Simon Furman (writer)
Published by MARVEL UK it's a mixture of the Running Man and Mad Max it lasted only 10 issues but deserved a lot more a true hidden classic.

Neil Gaiman talks about writing DOCTOR WHO.....

 It's stuff like this that puts Doctor Who above most T.V. Sci-Fi. Can-you-DIG IT!

THOR CAMEO

It has been announced that Jeremy Renner will cameo as Hawkeye in the Thor flick in a build up to a more prominent role in the Avengers.

Here's an article

TOP 5 CARTOONS BASED ON FILMS

 In the 80's and 90's cartoon adaptations of popular movies where 10 a penny but as bad as most of the were (and 9/10 were awful) I always found something strangely appealing about them.

5. Highlander.


4. Police Academy.


3. The Real Ghostbusters.



2. Back to the Future.


1. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures.

NEW GREEN LANTERN FOOTAGE.

Here is some new footage of the Green Lantern flick and I can't stop thinking that it  looks like Batman & Robin crossed with that Lost in Space movie.

Doctor Who new series trailers.

 Here are the trailers for the new series of  Doctor Who and I can not wait.







And this has a few theories and spoilers (?), this isn't my vid but let me know what you think.....