Bevy of Brewings

click here for a look at the Fantisticar that will be showing up in the FF sequel, Fantistic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer . . . nice.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Garth Ennis' and Steve Dillon's Preacher has been picked up by HBO as a series to be written, directed and co-produced by Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil) and Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink) - not a huge fan of Johnson's previous work, but I have confidence in the HBO track record for shows and production values. I always thought Watchmen would work best in such a format, and think this is the best avenue for Preacher - we'll see.

Finally, I have to give props out to Matt Faction this week. The writer has tipped the scales for great comics work in the last two weeks with three of the best books I have read in the last couple of months. First, Faction and Gabriel Ba's Casanova continues to play havoc with the comics medium and the Nick Fury/James Bond superspy genre. Awesome, and at a $1.99 cover price it ranks at No. 1 for value, tied with Ellis's Fell.

Then, Faction hits with the brand new ongoing from Marvel, Punisher War Journal (Vol. 2) - a book that manages to be funny, disturbing, action-packed and the best Civil War tie-in so far all at the same time. So different from the MAX title Marvel produces with Ennis writing the Punisher, but equally as chilling and dead-on in its approach to Frank Castle. Always one of my favorite characters, it was actually the original War Journal (with art by Jim Lee) series and its first few issues that turned me into a Punisher addict.

And last, but by far least, Faction, with co-writer Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Uncanny X-Men, Criminal) and artist David Aja, bring back part of the 70s best dynamic duo, Iron Fist in The Immortal Iron Fist No.1. This comic literally kicked my ass yesterday. Definitely Wednesday's best release (and that's in the same week that Loeb and Darwyn Cooke's Batman/Spirit one shot came out!)

Do yourself a favor and get to your LCS asap for some truly kick-ass comics.

Just Can't Resist It . . .

Shat-tastic!

Dark Constantine

two announcements went out over the wire today:

the sequel to Batman Begins, simply title The Dark Knight, hits theatres on July 18th, 2008. Boo-yah!!

and, Lauren Shuler Donner has confirmed that there will be a sequel to Constantine again starring Keanu Reeves. While I know there were a ton of complaints from purists, mainly that John wasn't English in the movie, overall, I thought it was well done, with an engaging story and one of the better performances of Reeves' career. I own it and look forward to the sequel.

finally, a bonus: The Punisher comes out in a special edition DVD tomorrow. Has its faults, but Tom Jane is simply deadon as Frank Castle. At least, rent it.

Holy Moly

If this doesn't get you excited, you must be built like Metallo with a Kryptonite heart.

Check it out - this ad has been running in DC comics and this version premiered on the back cover of the latest issue of Action Comics which was the first issue of Richard Donner's run as co-writer/plotter with Geoff Johns. The screen saver I made a few posts back is from the second cover of the run, and should be on stands at your LCS now.

Comics-to-film

Few quick hits:

-New Spidey 3 trailer up at ifilm.com

-Donner's cut of Superman 2 out on 11/28

-Watchman news from Zach Snyder all over the place (try Comicbookresources.com first)

-DC's 52 hit the halfway point last week and just keeps getting better. Weekly comics, man, that rocks.

-Jonah Hex #13 ranks as my comic of the month - finally, the first part of the bounty hunter's origin story - I have been waiting since I was sixteen for this!