Spectacular Spider-Man in March

Spectacular Spider-Man finally has a release date - March 1.

It's not new, but here's the trailer if you haven't seen it.

Comic Book Thesaurus

I'm holding onto the phrase comic book, but it seems there are new terms popping up everywhere. I think all of the comic book movies last year were based on graphic novels. And I read a new one yesterday in my wife's Redbook. (Hey - I just can't bring myself to leave my comics laying around in the bathroom.) It talked about how the animated film Persepolis was based on an illustrated autobiography. I hadn't heard that one before. Good grief, what's next? Should we start referring to our comics as "pictorial fiction"?

I'm sticking with comic book.

Not to detract from the fact that Persepolis does indeed look like an interesting, even socially relevant movie.

It got a limited release here in the States yesterday. Who knows if it'll come anywhere near here. Maybe if it gets good Oscar buzz. Here's a trailer if you haven't seen it.

The Reluctant (Super)Hero

I happened to see the trailer for Hancock, Will Smith's new superhero movie, when we went to see National Treasure today. Have you seen the trailer for it? It looks like it could be hilarious...but you never know with these kinds of things.

Check out the trailer below, or visit the site to the right.

Turok is how old?

Shows how much I know.

I've got that cool foil cover of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1 from Valiant floating around in my comics collection. It's not worth anything - you can buy it on eBay right now for about a buck. And I remember playing Turok on my brother's Playstation many moons ago. I always figured it was a cheap comic that was based on the video game. Come to find out, the Valiant comic (1993) came out about four years before the first video game (1997). So I was obviously wrong there.

But now I just found out that Turok's been around since the 50s. How'd I miss that? Spending too much time working and not enough time reading comics, I guess. So, anyway, Turok made his first appearance in 1954 in Gold Key's Four Color Comics #596. He's had several incarnations as well as several video games since then.

What's the point of all this? In February, Genius Products and Classic Media will be releasing Turok: Son of Stone, an animated feature on DVD. Going for about $20, the hour-and-fifteen-minute animated film was supervised by Tad Stone (who is responsible for the Hellboy animated movies - see that blog to the right). It looks interesting, but I'm not sure it'll be worth buying. Here's the trailer.



It looks like it coincides with the release of a new Turok game for Playstation 3 and XBOX 360. This trailer looks a little more interesting.

Watchmen pics, Spirit Blog, Swamp Thing DVDs

In a similar vein to the 300 side-by-side comparisons, here are a few Watchmen pics that compare scenes in the movie to the comics. (Note that it's on Maxim's website, so you may want to wait until you get home from work.)


The Spirit has a production blog (link to the right).


The Swamp Thing series is coming out on DVD (link under Premiers & Releases). I've never seen it, but this is another one of those things I'd be tempted to pick up sight unseen. (On a side note, Amazon finally has Justice League: New Frontier available for pre-order.)

Film Release Updates

Added the new Asterix film, though it doesn't have a US release.

Wanted has been pushed out a few months to the right. I guess I won't have to do a double feature of that and Superhero on March 28.

Punisher: War Zone has a release date of next September.

Thanks to Comics2Film.

November 2007 Previews Pop Culture Crossover

OK, so still don't have the December Previews that came out a couple weeks ago, but I was able to hunt down November's issue outside of Gatlinburg, TN.

Here's a few comics on sale in January, from movies and television. Bones, I finally got around to the comics you've been talking about. Let me know how you like My Name is Bruce.

TV

• Dr. Who #1 (new series, IDW)
  Science fiction buff that I am, I never seemed to get into any of these series. I believe this series is based on the current show running on Sci Fi.
• Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Borg (one-shot, IDW)
  Ah, the ever-popular Borg. IDW's series continues, spotlighting the alien races from Star Trek.
  

Movies

• Evil Dead #1 (4-part mini, Dark Horse)
  This is Bruce Campbell, returned to his roots. This adaptation comes with some additional scenes.
• My Name is Bruce (one-shot, Dark Horse)
  Continuing with the Bruce Campbell theme, this is based on his movie due out sometime in 2007. I think we're awfully close to that date slipping a bit.
• Star Wars: Vector (crossover, Dark Horse)
  Crossover that seems to run through all of the current Star Wars titles. Every episode is listed in Previews, and probably on Dark Horse's site.

Books/Stories

• Simon Bisley's Paradise Lost (graphic novel, Verotik)
  I actually enjoyed the epic poem in high school. This adaptation should be interesting.

Animation

• Crayon Shinchan Vol. 1 (TPB, CMX (DC))
  You know, I've just never caught the bug on animated, foul-mouthed kids. Apparently, this is the manga the Cartoon Network Adult Swim caroon is based on.
• Gumby: Volume 1 (TPB, Wildcard Ink)
  I love stop motion - I really need to get my hands on some of these episodes. Collects issues #1-3.
• Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer #1 (new series, IDW)
  This might be a little before my time, but still, it's something I never really got into. This is based on the cartoon, but watch for the movie adaptation coming soon.
• Voltron Complete Omnibus (Hardcover Collection, Devil's Due)
  It seems to be theme this month, but this is a cartoon from my childhood that I never seemed to watch. This 304-page hardcover collects the entire series - both volumes.

This is the part where you tell me what I missed.

Thanks for the Riddles!

Well, it seems Bones got lucky with that last one. Riddler here again, and this one's a bit tougher, so you cwazy wabbits aren't likely to get it so easily. And since Christmas is approaching, the prize up for grabs is last year's Batman ornament from Hallmark! It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

The director rounded up Buffy, the Scorpion King, and Stifler,
But we're not talking about that Tale.
We're talking about a previous story,
The notorious film.
Brother and Sister play Sister and Brother,
Playing with time and space,
The sparrows are flying again.



Once again, one answer per person! No guessing!

Note: The answers to these riddles will always be something I've mentioned in this blog - not necessarily comic-related.

Attempting to answer assumes agreement to the Riddler's rules.