Jotham Knight’s Round Table

Wondering where I went? Click the pic to find me

For those of you wondering where the rest of the Comic Con updates went…well I’m doing more writing at The Pull Box and most of it went there.  In fact, much of my upcoming posts will be there. It’s the whole “two-geeks is better than a Grapthatian Snog beast” situation.  You understand.

Here are the updates from Comic-Con 2007 Day 1

** At the Paramount Comic-Con press conference, J.J. Abrams dropped some details on his as-yet-untitled horror/monster flick slated for a 1/18/2007 release. In spite of internet buzz, the movie will not be called “Monstorous.” Abrams said the goal is to produce an American monster movie on-par with Japanese big-rubber-suit classics like Godzilla. Abrams said shooting is all but complete, a new trailer, a poster and more footage are on the way.

** At the just-completed press conference for Indiana Jones IV at this year’s Comic-Con, there were a few surprises. Beamed “from the set” were Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford (in the Indiana Jones costume), Shia LaBoeuf (in a beard), and, for the first time, Ms. Marion Ravenwood herself, Karen Allen. From all accounts, Karen looked surprisingly young and hot as ever. Spielberg promised that the film, which will be released in May, 2008, will be “just for the fans.” For his part, Dr. Jones himself said that it was great to be back in the “dirty, sweaty clothes” of his most popular character. More news as it comes.

** Star Trek XI producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof along with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzmann announced some big news for the film. First, Zachary Quinto, who is most famous for being a student of Carnegie Mellon University and a Pittsburgh native (or Sylar on Heroes, whatever), will be playing Sr. Spock in the film. Quinto appeared on stage and told fans that he would play the character in his own way, but stay respectful to Nimoy’s performance. Then, Leonard Nimoy himself came out to announce that he would also be playing Spock in the new film. Bwah?! Two Spocks! Kirk is still up in the air and the producers are still trying to figure out some way to work Bill Shatner into the film.

** Paramount revealed the one-sheet post for upcoming serial murder/cannibalism movie Sweeney Todd. According to Dark Horizons, the black and white, Con-only poster of Johnny Depp as Todd features “Depp in costume sitting in a large arm chair in a rundown house looking sinister. The one bit of color on the poster is the armchair which is a bright blood red.”Sounds creepy, eh? We’ll post it when we get it.
GOT IT
The movie comes out on December 21st, 2008.

** LOST video game trailer is released. See it HERE

**CBS has announced that they will be releasing the original Star Trek series on HD-DVD with a ton of extras, and calling it Star Trek - The Final Frontier. Though there is yet to be a release date for the Season One package, they have announced a ton of extras for the set. Eyewitness reports from Comic-Con say that the footage is absolutely clean, clear and beautiful. Trekkers will likely soil their Federation jumpsuits over this information.

** DC is hard at work on a graphic novel based on the hit television show Heroes, they announced at Comic-Con today. The novel will be written by famous comic writer Tim Sale, he of the Batman: The Long Halloween classic tome. Sale’s art is also featured on the show in Isaac’s paintings, so the look will be consistent with the visuals on the show. The novel will be released in the fall of this year, to coincide with Season 2 of Heroes, and will be published by DC’s WildStorm label. Look for it in about September.

** Adult film queen Jenna Jameson is going somewhere no one has ever gone before…the world of comics. She won’t be playing herself, however. Nope. She’s going to be a seriously bad ass warrior woman in Shadow Hunter, the comic she’s producing with Virgin Comics. There’s not going to be any sort of sex in the comic, whatsoever. As a matter of fact, according to the press release, Shadow Hunter is “the story of a provocative superheroine who survives a brush with death only to find herself fighting the legions of hell for her very soul.” The press release adds that “while provocative and sexy, [the comic] contains no nudity and is intended for a mainstream audience.” Hmm…mainstream Jenna Jameson. Interesting.

** The producers of Lost gave us an early tidbit when they announced yesterday that Harold Perrineau (Michael) will be returning to the cast for the upcoming Season 4 of the series. For those who might have been hiding under a rock for the past year or so, Michael was last seen taking his son, Walt, in a boat and escaping the island. Since then, all hell has broken loose. It will be interesting to see what Michael’s return will do for the show. Is he marooned on the island with the survivors? Is he part of the future, as was established at the end of the Season 3 finale? Only time will tell. Sadly, or maddeningly, as the case may be, Lost will not return until early 2008.

** Ubisoft made the Heroes videogame official today, announcing the development of a game based on the popular NBC television series. The game will, apparently, be a third-person superhero action game that brings the series characters, locations and story lines to next-generation game consoles and the PC. The untitled game could be in stores as soon as late 2008. According to The Hollywood Reporter: “Instead of highlighting a specific character’s heroic journey, the game will focus on the entire ensemble cast. The game also is expected to play a crucial role in how the show’s writers explore cross-platform storytelling for future seasons.” Reportedly, Ubisoft will most likely hire its own writer for the game script and develop the game at one of its internal studios; the TV series writers will supervise and consult on game design and story.

** Blade Runner is arguably the greatest, and most influential sci-fi movie of our time. The brooding, fatalistic vision of the future laid out by Philip K. Dick presented through the dark yet realistic vision of Ridley Scott became a motion picture event that changed everything we knew about cinematic portrayal of near-future science fiction. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, The Pull Box is a fan. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of it’s release, Blade Runner will recieve the royal treatment. On December 18th the film will be released in 2, 4, and 5 disc DVD sets, as well as HD-DVD and Bluray versions of the 5 disc set, containing a brand new three-and-a-half-hour documentary called Dangerous Days, 45 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes recovered from deep storage, featurettes about script development, conceptual design, trailers, tv spots, and a piece about how the film led to the development of the cyberpunk scene. Scott stated that he has been working on this version of the film since 2000, and after almost 7 years of research and restoration, this is the definitive director’s cut of Blade Runner. Period.

** Eddie Izzard is going to replace Jeremy Piven as the voice of Schadenfreude in the upcoming Igor, about a competition for evil scientists. The animated film will also star John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Jennifer Coolidge, Arsenio Hall, Jay Leno, Molly Shannon, and Sean Hayes. The addition of Izzard makes this one of the coolest and most eclectic animated casts of all time. We can’t help but wonder if this recasting has anything to do with the just-materialized feud between fomer best friends Piven and Cusack, who is apparently none to supportive of Piven’s success on HBO’s Entourage. We’re thinking that it might be, and hoping for a fistfight.

** Looks like the Watchmen have been cast. Warner Brothers announced that Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Goode have been cast in the upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore’s series of graphic novels. Crudup will play Dr. Manhattan, Wilson is Night Owl, and Goode will be Ozymandias. Snyder is planning on using the green screen technique he used to make 300, which will cut costs and give the film a ton of style

Hi-ho everyone!
I hope some of you have been reading by buddy Eric’s comic news blog The Pull Box. I’ve also starting doing some comic reviews there myself. Check out my coverage of World War Hulk #1 and check back often for weekly reviews and convention coverage.

When Eric and I got back from Novi, we stepped right into the end-of-the-school year craziness. We worked out tails off to post the con coverage that we did, but some things had to wait until time became for available. I’m sorry to the people that had to wait for reviews, but it could not be helped.

So here is my review of ELLIUM: RISE OF THE FALLEN by Jason Moser, Matt Krizan, and Scott Licina of Asylum Ink. This is a graphic novel that they produced into a frame motion DVD (I think that is what it’s called). Basically, it works like a Hollywood story board film. We see the still frame artwork panned over in various ways, sometimes layered with other art, and there is an original score playing as you read the word balloons that pop up. The DVD itself contains four stories and some extras

The summery on the back cover reads:
“Prepare to enter a futuristic world of espionage secret societies and the occult. Where the true powers behind puppet governments are secrete factions, each vying for control of humanity with only the members of ELLIYUM to stand in there way!”

The secrete organization story is very well played here. The reader/watcher never really gets the whole story on who or what ELLIUM is. This made me want to get more of the story, which is whole point, right? The plots of the stories range from the realistic (Diamond Mine) to the fantastic (Blood Read Snow), but all have the X-Files feel with a horror edge. Now I’m not a fan or horror, but this book succeeds in not letting the “horror feel” overpower a good story.

I found the artwork to be a cleaner lined version of Ben Templesmith’s work in 30 Days of Night. It added to the story without be distracting and succeeds in creating the perfect setting for the story.

Check these guys out here and talk to your local comic shop about getting their stuff in.

Story: B

Art: B

Overall: B

Here’s a little clip of the 501st on parade.

Here is the second of our “Who Wants to be a Superhero” set. I got to talk with Matthew Atherton aka Feedback, the season one winner, and what he’s up too. Turns out that Atherton makes appearances at Con as part of his charity work for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Learning Through Listening foundations. Being a Special Education teacher by day, I was very pumped to talk with Matthew about his work.
Thanks for being a hero Feedback!

Here is an extremely kind and funny guy. After the interview cut, I asked Chris what he was working on. He’s trying to pitch a show to Scifi that would entail Major Victory hosting superhero movies. Think Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, but with superheroes. I dig the concept! There’s enough superhero and superheroish stuff films there for Major Victory for be on the air for awhile. Plus, there’s the void left by Mystery Science Theater 3000 that I think Chris could fill. He’s a funny guy whose body of work shows talent. Show him some love at MajorVictory.net or chriswatters.com/.

Here’s the interview.

The video interview I’ve been working on first is with the great David Petersen. You can look at my first Motorciy post for my entire David Petersen/Mouse Guard love where the video is also posted. But, if you’re just here for the video….here it is.

Nigel is another one of those Comic Con mainstays for me. I see him at every year at the two Cons I visit annually, but I’ve never really talked to him. Truth is the first time I saw him was, I think, Wizard World 1999 and they (Nigel and his pirate cohort) were giving me the hard sell. After that, I just kinda kept on walking every time I saw their table because I hate the hard sell. Nigel, if you are reading this, sorry man. This time I stopped at his table and I was blown away by his art. Just looking at his prints of logos from DC heroes makes me want to see the re-birth of the Elseworld titles and get a pirate JLA adventure. It also struck me as some great tattoo ideas! Nigel Sade has a unique style that I have never seen duplicated and would love to see his art hanging in studio somewhere. If I ever with the lottery and can afford to hire an artist to make huge mantelpieces for my Wayne Manor sized fireplace, I’m giving Nigel a call. However, since I’m the kinda guy who doesn’t with the lottery (the universe doesn’t let people who actually need the money win the lottery) I’ll settle for saving up to get a nice print and may-be a tattoo design.

Dear Readers, please take a look at Nigel Sade’s website because not only is it great art, but they guy is pretty damn funny too.

Nigel the Pirate is cool, and I was a schmuck. There, I said it.