With the Green Lantern live action movie so far away (it has a current release date of December 10, 2010), the only news at this point is casting rumors. In the meantime, DC Universe has moved up the release of Green Lantern: First Flight to July 21, 2009. Green Lantern: First Flight is the fifth straight to DVD animation movie by DC Universe.
On October 8, IDW Publishing will release comic book biographies of Barack Obama and John McCain. The comic books can be preordered at presidentialcomics.com. The cover art for both books is done by J. Scott Campbell. Apparently, you’ll also be able to purchase the comic books for your mobile devices through Uclick; including your iPhone.
Midway confirmed the final cast of characters for their new fall game; Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. Some of the major players were already announced, but this finalizes the round up. Mortal Kombat: Baraka, Jax, Kano, Kitana, Liu Kang, Raiden, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Sonya and Sub-Zero. DC Universe: Batman, Captain Marvel, Catwoman, Darkseid, Deathstroke, Flash, Green Lantern, Joker, Lex Luthor, Superman and Wonder Woman. I have to admit I haven’t been gaming much lately, but I’m a sucker for games based on comic book characters.
The Watchman court date has been set for January 6. This is earlier than either side was planning on. No change yet announced to the Watchman release date of March 6. Judge Gary Allen Feess indicated the case was too complicated to provide Fox with a preliminary injunction. So, we’ll have to wait at least a few more months to find out how all this will affect the release.
This has been brewing for a while, but I ignored it until it hit the New York Times. 20th Century Fox filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers back in February claiming they still own the rights to Watchmen. Basically, this means the release date for Watchmen could be pushed back while the two companies fight it out. With all the hype surrounding this movie it amazes me that 20th Century Fox didn’t intervene long ago. The fact that they didn’t step forward earlier is part of Warner Brothers defense argument.
I just love that Google announced it’s new browser, Chrome, with a 38 page comic book. The comic book is drawn by Scott McCloud. McCloud is probably best known as the creator of Zot!, a manga influenced 1980s comic book series based on a teenage hero from an alternate Earth.
I’ve seen some criticism about the Google comic book, calling too childish for such an announcement. Personally, I think it was an cleaver way to catch even more attention regarding the upcoming release. After all, the open source browser has been all over the web today. Chrome is based on WebKit, the same open source engine as Safari, but I’ll hold off on my opinion of the browser itself until I can download a beta version.
iVerse Media officially announced their upcoming iPhone/iTouch comic book reader, available later this year. According to their press release; iPhone/iPod Touch owners will have the opportunity to download digital comics from established industry professionals and studios, as well as new and rising comic book stars through iVerse Media.
Now, digital comics are nothing new. You’ve been able to buy digital comics on disc for years. Online sites promoting them have been around almost as long. Marvel Entertainment even rolled out a digital comic book subscription service last year with a Flash based reader. Early this year they introduced a Facebook application to promote the service.
And why not, with many comic books available via BitTorrent the comic book industry is facing a similar situation to what the music industry went through. It’s not just the $2.99 price tag, more and more people prefer the online experience.
So what makes iVerse Media’s announcement interesting? First that they plan to have comic books available directly on iTunes. Second, they plan to have comics tailor made specifically for iPhone and/or iTouch distribution. The only competition that I’m aware of is the Clickwheel Comic Reader, which is for iPods and not the new touch devices.
If this catches on it certainly could change the comic book industry. Print comics would be designed to immediately be transferred to the iPhone and/or iTouch. Gone would be the panoramic panels covering multiple pages. Each comic would be a more about the intimacy of the touch device screen and the resulting transitions.
More likely what will happen is an explosion of independent comic book creations, along the lines of the various podcasts that exist. Ranging in quality from mind blowing visual stories to utter crap. Hopefully a side effect of this will be more interest and development of digital comics as a whole.
If you’re looking for an animated version of Watchmen, don’t bother with iTunes Watchmen Motion Comic. If you’re interested in an audio comic book, you might find it interesting. The artwork is directly from the comic book with some interesting depth enhancements & very minor animation. The animation, because of utilizing the original artwork, is very stiff.
Even taking it purely as an audio comic book, I found the one voice for all characters — since after all a comic is mostly dialog — a little disorienting. At times the transitions might leave you a little confused too. With a comic book you get to pause and take in the artist’s work, with the motion comic you have to pause the movie. If you’ve enjoyed digital comics this takes an interesting new twist. Personally I think a motion comic can be great idle entertainment on your iPod or iPhone, but would prefer a straightforward digital comic book on my desktop machine.
New Watchmen movie posters were revealed last week at Comic-Con. The posters clearly mimic the original comic book covers from the 1986-1987 series. Like the comics, the movie takes place in an “alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society.”
Comic Book Resources has an article on it.
