YouTube Tuesday: I Am Super Lucky Golden Iron Man Edition
Test animation for an Iron Man anime, the final of which is to be written by Warren Ellis. Below, a similar test animation for the Wolverine anime, also to be written by Ellis, but that doesn’t look nearly as good. [Read the rest of this article]
Comic to Movie: Lost in Adaptation
Not long ago I was quite excited to see the movie adapted from the very good comic book, Wanted. This excitement was spurned by a few non comic readers saying that the movie was great, and so I figured if they thought the movie was awesome then surely it must be a decent movie no matter how it represents the comic. We watched it shortly after it was released on DVD, and what makes its inevitable suckage so much harder to swallow is the fact that the first 15 minutes of the movie are translated amazingly well from page to screen. After these moments passed by however, the movie deviates quite a bit but still manages to hold its weight. Where it really turns up the suck is in the last half, and if you can’t tell already there are going to be some SPOILERS in this post for both the Wanted comic and the “Wanted” movie, but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum.
The comic is written by Mark Millar, and as such is full of cussing, mature content, and some generally awesome observations of everday life. It is drawn by the very talented J.G. Jones who presents extraordinary things in a very realistic fashion, and perhaps the greatest achievement of the comic is the excellent and these days all too rare synergy between writer and artist. It also gets a bonus that it is not a continuing series, but a limited run of six issues, which lately are the only kinds of comics I can bear to read. The premise of Wanted is surprising, it takes place in a semblance of the modern world, except that super villains exist and are a part of a super secret organization of villains that can do whatever the hell they want and get away with it. The idea is that the villains finally decided to all team up and take out the heroes years ago, and have altered the world and history so that super heroes are only remembered as fairy tales and in comic books. It almost borders on creepily plausible, but they don’t pull any punches when it comes to the villain concepts and that keeps the book grounded pretty strongly in the fiction genre. [Read the rest of this article]
When Horror Meets Awesome: CthulhuTech
We’ve always been big fans of Horror roleplaying, which began for me with Call of Cthulhu years ago and moved on more recently into some great homebrew settings that our friend Josh ran for us. I personally love to get inside the character’s head moreso than in other RPGs, and really try to experience and feel the fear that comes along with what’s happening to them, while Dave is more a fan of doing absolutely mean things to his players in Horror RPGs. One thing that I never really expected to see released as an official product is the melding of the Cthulhu mythos with a futuristic-anime style setting, which is exactly what CthulhuTech presents.
The first thing I notice with any product is the artwork, and I have to say that the graphic design and art in CthulhuTech really hits home for the setting. Much of the artwork is rather simple, but extremely evocative of the moods and feelings this kind of game wants the players to experience. I’m already scared out of my wits at the thought of giant alien robots scouring through ruined cities, seeking out the flesh of my would-be hero everyman. These two genres speak to me in similar ways, as my favorite giant-mecha anime is Neon Genesis Evangelion which features normal people thrust into bizarre and otherworld circumstances and that seems to mesh pretty damn well with the concepts underlying the Cthulhu mythos as well. It just has a little more badass sprinkled in, is all!
The second thing I noticed after spending some time with the material is that it’s not just two genres slapped together, a lot of work has gone into developing a rich history and backstory for the horrifying world of the future. If there’s one thing I love in a new RPG resource, it’s lots of history and backstory that can be used or at least inspires ideas for game masters and players alike. [Read the rest of this article]
Equivalent Exchange
icv2 reports that Full Metal Alchemist will be getting a second series. Sequel series that picks up after the movie? Re-done version that sticks closer to the manga (ala Hellsing)? The adventures of the protagonist pair’s alter-egos in our world during the early 30′s? The article doesn’t say, but I’m skeptical that anything will be able to compare to the original. As far as wrapping up every plot thread, it seems like they did a pretty darn good job the first time around.
YouTube Tuesday: Akira Remake Edition
A satirical take on a remade version of the classic movie Akira. With Day the Earth Stood Still starring Keanu Reeves coming out, no crazy remake concept would surprise me nowadays.
Why You Shouldn't Watch Firefly
Many, if not most of you, have already viewed Joss Whedon’s Firefly series and the follow-up film, Serenity. This article is not intended for you; however, let me say that I’m sorry. I now feel your pain, because some supposed “friends” convinced Bart and I to view the series. I had many reservations about it, and many reasons for those, but I finally made the mistake of giving in. No, I write this article for the uninitiated (if there are any of you still left out there). I want to get the warning out, loud and clear, to prevent further hurt – DO NOT WATCH FIREFLY. What follows is a cautionary tale, read at your own risk.
Joss and I have a mixed history. The first exposure I can remember came from seeing fellow nerd’s DVD collections and noticing a large amount of Buffy and Angel. Granted, I never gave either series much chance due to a large prejudice against what I felt was a silly concept, and WB or UPN or whatever network it was on. I was mystified by the devotion that people had for these series, but I never gave it too much thought. [Read the rest of this article]
"TETSUO!" "TITANIC!"
Did not see that one coming…
Leonardo DiCaprio is set to produce a live-action version of anime classic Akira.
Technology may have finally caught up to the point where doing live-action Akira is more feasible than it once was. But how faithful will it be to the original? Who will direct? Will DiCaprio take a role in it? HOW MUCH SHOUTING WILL THERE BE???
These questions will determine if the movie is brought into the new millennium, or if we’ll just get another ridiculous remake.
An Excellent Music Video
I’ll just get it out there right now, I was reading Kanye West’s Blog. Please don’t have any a heartattack yet, but if you haven’t heard his new album Graduation yet you definitely should and then you might understand. The music video here isn’t one of his, though his newest one does have some awesome live-action Akira homages in it, it’s actually a music video for a Louis Vuitton bag (PLEASE stay with me here) done by the very cool Takashi Murakami:
The music and visuals have pretty much mesmerized me, and so I have to watch it every day or so just to satiate some portion of my brain. Here’s a youtube in which you can learn a bit about Murakami and his artwork, etc: [Read the rest of this article]
Launch Veritech Fighters!
With Transformers already out and Voltron being fast-tracked, is that the end of movie remakes of 80′s tv shows about giant robots?
No, of course not: not while Robotech lies untapped. In a few years, we’ll see a Hollywood version of the classic anime turned American tv show turned book series turned RPG (or whatever the hell the order actually was.) As the article states, Tobey Maguire is currently in talks to star, which probably means he’s going to be ace pilot Rick Hunter. My predictions: Minmay will no longer be Asian and be called simply “May” and be a teen starlet played by Jessica Alba. Also starring Ving Rhames as “Protoculture.”
(Thanks to The Main Event for the scoop)
All Glory to the Anime Hypnotoad!
- According to THE BEAT, the artist who posted her work online turning The Simpsons and Futurama into manga-style got herself signed to a deal with the makers of The Simpsons comics… and may get to work on the upcoming Futurama series. Now THAT is an Internet success story.
- Though it comes from the often-not-accurate Ain’t It Cool News, it looks like that the Song of Fire & Ice Books (also known as the Game of Thrones series) is headed to HBO as a series. I love this series, and I think that HBO is one of the few places where it could get the type of treatment it needs, and it’s always good to see the original author onboard. The only worrying thing is HBO’s tendency to cancel shows after 2-3 seasons if it costs too much money. And even HBO might not be able to keep in all the “naughtiness” of the books…
- And by the way, this follows along developments in the Preacher HBO series, based on the excellent long running (and purposely blasphemous) comic series.
- If you’re around your tv tonight and are a comics fan, a highly anticipated episode of Smallville airs tonight featuring the Junior Lifeguard Association… aka the JLA. Former guest stars Cyborg, Impulse, Aquaman, and season-long hero Green Arrow show up for the party. Martian Manhunter, while having made an appearance earlier in the season, isn’t there, and Batman can’t show up due to the always bizarre rights issues. Still, this could be an awesome superhero throwdown episode.
- Love it or hate it, the other show on tv right now that’s getting superheroes attention on TV is going to be around for a while longer: Heroes has been picked up for a second season.
- Finally, in news for us locals, the Winter Fantasy D&D convention has been moved from Indiana to Crystal City, Virginia. This happens to overlap with Katsucon, the big anime convention in nearby DC. The nation’s capital will be overflowing with us nerds that weekend! Maybe we should seize power. No wait, I’m too booked up between Unhallowed pre-release and Anime Music Video awards.
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