Hey, That's My Cape! - Gail Simone's Talking, But Not About Wonder Woman

It was a pretty normal Tuesday afternoon. I was goofing around on Twitter while I should have been writing (sucks having all of your bosses on Twitter by the way) when all of a sudden the news hit. Wonder Woman, the Amazon Princess, was being reinvented from top to bottom.

And then the internet exploded. But don’t worry, there haven’t been any casualties. Not yet anyway, though my first thought after seeing and hearing about the drastic change was, “I wonder what the hell (outgoing Wonder Woman writer) Gail Simone thinks about this?”

Everything BUT Wonder Woman it seems. Check out what she IS talking about in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama.

DoubleDCoverage #65

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

What will Power Girl do without Gray, Palmiotti and Conner? Get some bling apparently. What’s Green Arrow doing in his new star forest? Absolutely nothing. Reviews/recaps for Power Girl #13 and Green Arrow #1 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

DoubleDCoverage is going on hiatus leading up to San Diego Comic-Con so get your fill now! Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #65.

Matt Smith might just be the coolest person alive.

Or if not, he damn well feels like it now. The current season of Doctor Who still has a few episodes to go here in the United States but the season finale aired this past weekend in the United Kingdom. What else did Matt Smith do this weekend? Oh yeah, he got on stage with electronic dance duo Orbital to close their set at the 40th annual Glastonbury Festival by playing the Doctor Who theme song for a crowd of thousands. And trust me when I say, he makes this look good.

I was saddened to learn the DW crew would not be making the journey to San Diego Comic Con this year but Smith and Karen Gillan did an extensive U.S. media blitz before the start of the season so it's not that big a surprise. However, BBC America will be holding a special screening of the two-part finale Thursday night at the show.
Anyway, this video pretty much speaks for itself so I'll leave you to it. Enjoy!

Who's ready for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance?

For my 30th birthday (which is still a few years away thankfully), I plan on having an 80s prom. I'm going to roll up in one of these. It's not too much, is it?

Yup. That's a DeLorean limousine. I'm speechless.

In case you didn't know, there's a club in Ohio that really likes DeLoreans. They call themselves the DeLorean Club of Ohio. (beat) That's the source of this amazing photo. Formed in 1997, "membership is open to anyone who has any interest in the DeLorean marque regardless of physical Ohio state boundaries. Current membership is roughly 60 individuals."

Even though the limo isn't Back to the Future-fied it's still very, very cool. I may need it to be pimped out before the prom though. Time circuits, OUTATIME license plate, the flux capacitor and of course in these environmentally conscious days, a garbage fueled fusion generator. I may need to get someone to attach a mechanism that leaves flaming tire tracks in our wake. And possibly the illusion of hover technology, like two sets of tires so one can fold out.

I've thought about this too much, haven't I?

DoubleDCoverage #64

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

Mysterious characters appear in Brightest Day and Harley Quinn takes on the world for her Puddin’. Reviews/recaps for Brightest Day #4 and The Joker’s Asylum: Harley Quinn are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #64.

Hey, That's My Cape! - Buy these Archaia comics!

I’m incredibly happy there are more non-superhero titles out there than you can possibly count. It really gives me hope for the future of comics as a medium because it means there’s something out there for everyone - the war buff, the Jane Austen lover and yes, even the Doozer fans.

That brings me to one of my favorite places to get my non-superhero fix - Archaia Comics. They’re specifically known for staying away from capes (unless they’re worn by adorable little mice) and their recent solicits for September have me very excited.

See which titles are on my list in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama!

BREAKING: Bruce Timm sets the record straight on the future of DCU Animated

There was some concern recently about the future of DC Universe animated properties due to their DVD sale success. Well it seems Warner Bros. and Bruce Timm feel so strongly about possible misinformation they've decided to set the record straight.

In an interview released this morning by Warner, this is exactly what Timm had to say on the matter:

QUESTION: There’s been a lot of internet banter regarding the discontinuation of the DCU series based on quotes attributed to an interview in Calgary with you. True or false?

BRUCE TIMM: Kinda false. First of all, it wasn't an actual one-on-one interview -- quotes were taken out of context from longer answers I gave on a panel at the Expo. Bottom line: the DCU films are definitely continuing. We've got projects lined up for the next two years at the very least – lots of films in different stages of development and production. I know there are a lot of rumors circulating about future films. Some are true, some are not. I'll tell you this much – anyone at our DCU/Batman: Under the Red Hood panel at Comic-Con will walk away with a very clear picture of the direction we're taking the DCU animated movies in the coming year.

I still have high hopes that Batgirl will get her own movie but we already know (due to the back of Under the Red Hood's packaging) that the next DCU animated feature will be a Superman/Batman story. Other than that, my interest is certainly piqued now as to what they're planning to announce in San Diego.

Under the Red Hood hits stores July 27th.

Everyone's doing it.

You should too.

No, I'm not trying to get you to use drugs, I'm trying to tell you about the awesome awesomeness that is making yourself into a Scott Pilgrim avatar!

Scott Pilgrim vs the World hits theaters August 13th but the avatars started spreading like wildfire on Twitter. Join in on the fun by making your own! Feel free to post the links to yours here so we can all see. :)

Batman Fan Film 'City of Scars' Leaves It's Mark

The Joker has escaped from Arkham Asylum and kidnapped a young boy and his parents. Batman immediately goes to work on the case leaving no stone unturned, questioning fellow inmates and informants on the street. Will Batman find the family in time or will the boy wind up an orphan like Batman himself?

Sounds like the beginnings of a great plot for the next Christopher Nolan Batman film, right? Actually, it’s the premise of a new fan-film released over the weekend called “City of Scars.”

Head on over to MTV Splash Page where I tell you more about it!

Melissa Rosenberg On Breaking Up 'Breaking Dawn' And Writing 'Wonder Woman'

Happy Friday everyone! Don't run off in fear of Twilight news, I have some of my own first. You probably already know I recently started writing for MTV Splash Page, well today I've made my first appearance on MTV Movies Blog!

The hardcover version of Stephenie Meyer’s fourth Twilight installment, Breaking Dawn, clocks in at a whopping 756 pages. So when the official announcement came earlier this week that the film adaptation would be split in two no one was really all that surprised.

Fans want to know when the cliffhanger will occur in Part One and Melissa Rosenberg, screenwriter for the Twilight films, knows where she wants it to happen. She also knows where she'd like to go next in her career, namely take on some strong female characters. And who's the epitome of that? Wonder Woman of course!

Head on over to MTV Movies Blog and read all about what she had to say!

Spider-Man called, he wants his tree-house back.

If you were Spider-Man, you wouldn't create your tree-house out of wood. Of course not! You'd use your webbing. Well what if, while casually "bird watching" in the direction of Mary Jane's house, you spotted something like this in a yard across the street...

You might be freaking out to yourself right now that Spider-Man is, in fact, real but you'd be wrong. What you're looking at is massive amounts of packing tape. One hundred pounds to be precise. And yes, it will support your weight.

This outrageous creation comes from Viennese/Croatian design collective Numen/For Use and it's not one of a kind. "The installations, which look like the work of horrifyingly large arachnids, grew in scale and scope as the year progressed, first deployed inside a small Croatian gallery, then an abandoned attic during October’s Vienna Design Week," says FastCompany.com. Another installation was just shown during DMY Berlin's International Design Fair last week.

The idea for the webby design was actually based on a dance performance concept but we'll pretend we didn't hear that. If you feel like channeling your inner Peter Parker, the group is creating another tape installation in Frankfurt, Germany this September. And I wasn't kidding about it being able to support your weight, you're actually able to climb inside it. Just leave the binoculars at home.

DoubleDCoverage #63

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

Catman won’t be expecting any gifts this Father’s Day I can tell you that. Come to think of it, neither will Deathstroke. Reviews/recaps for Secret Six #22 and Titans #24 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #63.

Hey, That's My Cape! - Would You Be My Super-Daddy?

Some people grow up with horrendous fathers. Some grow up with no father at all. Fortunately enough, the stork left me on the porch of a pretty good one. Sure, he didn’t let me stay out all night (I am his only daughter after all) but he did let me cook up all sorts of peculiar concoctions in his old restaurant and test them out on his customers. How awesome is that? Well, not for the customers.

Considering Father’s Day is just around the corner, I thought I’d try and work my dad into the column somehow but there’s just one problem. He’s not into comic books or superheroes at all. Hmm. I thought about highlighting some of the great dads in comic history but I’m sure lots of people will be doing the same thing this week.

However, I couldn’t resist imagining what it would be like if I had a superhero for a dad. For better or for worse.

Check out who ran through my mind in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama!

Getting Graphic.ly

Did you get your geek girl fill yesterday? No? Good, because today you're getting even more. Join me tonight as I guest on the Graphic.ly live chat at 9 p.m. EST!

Once again I'll be joined by the lovely Kristin Rielly from the Geek Girls Network plus Caroline Pruett from Fantastic Fangirls and Ali Colluccio from Murmur. Our topic for the evening will be "Women in Comics." We're planning to discuss the following:

• Recommendations/What not to Recommend
• Female versions of already established heroes
• Female Solos/Ongoing titles
• Female Writers/Artists
• And yes, possibly even Women in Refrigerators

If you'd like to listen in, head to the Graphic.ly Ustream where you can ask questions of the guests or debate topics with us. You can also do that through Skype. Just add GettingGraphic.ly to your contacts!

In case you didn't know...

...Geek Girls are taking over San Diego Comic-Con this year. Prepare yourself.

My pal Kristin, editor of Geek Girls Network, has announced some exciting news. She'll be moderating a panel at SDCC called, "Geek Girls Exist." It was inspired by our friend Geek Girl Diva's post about people thinking we're like unicorns...or something.

Anyway, according to Kristin the focus of the panel is, "to promote 'geek girls' in a positive manner and dispel the rumors that females only attend cons because their boyfriends dragged them or because they just want to dress in a Slave Leia costume. The panel consists of women who represent different aspects of the geek culture and who have embraced their geekiness in their personal and/or professional lives."

Who is on this panel you ask? Well, we've got Morgan Romine (founder of The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (author of You Can Draw Star Wars), Mariane Call (geek inspired musician), Sarah Kuhn (author of One Con Glory), Veronica Belmont (host of Qore and Tekzilla), Kiala Kazebee (writer for io9 and GeekWeek) and...yours truly. Yup, I'm going to be on TWO panels at SDCC.

But oh wait. We're not stopping there. Kristin, Geek Girl Diva and myself are hosting a huge "Geek Girls and Friends" tweet-up at the con as well! And you don't even have to be on Twitter to attend. Join us for the biggest Geek Tweet-Up event of all time on Friday, July 23rd from 8pm-11pm at Jolt ‘N Joes (Gaslamp location) in San Diego! You can RSVP on our Facebook event page. It's going to be a room full of geeks getting to chill out, be themselves and just have a blast.

So let's just say, if I wasn't excited for SDCC before (Which I was. A lot.) I am now. And don't worry if you aren't attending the con this year, there will be plenty of tweets from me throughout the night plus a whole recap here (with pictures) sometime after the fact. :)

Superhero Watercolors That Won't Wash Away

Not a lot of comic book artists use watercolor to bring their illustrations to life, mostly because it's a more subtle medium that takes a lot of practice and even more time to dry. But seriously, only Ben Templesmith and Dustin Nguyen come to my mind when I think of them. Here are a few other fabulous artists using watercolors to make a splash.

Wow. Can I look like that? Michael Dooney, aka Doonboy on deviantART says, "The Byrne/Claremont X-Men will always be MY X-Men."

ScottyShoemaker on deviantART does a great job of making the Main Man look like a little child but still totally badass.

One of my favorite artists, Christopher Uminga, takes on Marvels loudmouth Deadpool in his trademark way. Chris will be appearing at Wizard World Philadelphia this weekend. If you're heading there tell him The Nerdy Bird sent ya and pick up one of his amazing prints. (Here's his deviantart page as well.)

We can thank Thony Silas for this gorgeous view of Wonder Girl. Known as taguiar on deviantART, you can see he's got a talent for drawing beautiful women.

What a solomn Spidey and Hulk we've got here. What could they be so sad about? That Jill doesn't read their comics perhaps? Maybe. This one's done by Julia Bax, an artist from Brazil who should be a star any day now. Her deviant art page told me she entered into DC's Zuda competition recently with a title called, Mr. Trildok Sings the Blues.

Charles Holbert, aka KidNotorious on deviantART, has been collaborating on a comic called The Unique Tales but it's his superhero/villain work that lured me in. I mean, how awesome is this Batman Rogues piece? He's got a great sampling of all kinds of characters on his page so go check them out. Especially Weapon X.

Judd Winick talks Batman: Under the Red Hood!

Comic writer Judd Winick has evolved his Red Hood storyline from 2005 into the next DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. Animation DVD release. As you can see from these brand new images, Batman: Under the Red Hood won't be pulling any punches. Or crowbars.

Winick, along with artist Pablo Raimondi, have coincided their DC Comics mini-series, Red Hood: The Lost Days, around the film's release on July 27. (The first issue hit stores last week and I gave it 5 stars.) But, as I mentioned, Under the Red Hood is based on Winick's Batman story from the comics five years ago. "I had to take two years of story and boil it down to 75 minutes of film, and that’s a challenge and liberating at the same time," he said. "It forces one to cut out all the fat and get to the heart of it."

Speaking of cutting out hearts, this is a PG-13 feature but how did Winick convince Bruce Timm and Warner Bros. to go with such a violent story? He talked them through the first five minutes of the film. "I’m on my head set, going through this scene, talking about Batman barreling down the street of Sarajevo, the Joker beating Robin to death. I’m banging my hands on the desk, yelling as loud as I can, and by the time I said 'Fade to black, cue to opening credits,' it was just dead quiet on the other end of the line. I said, 'Is everybody still there?' And they said, 'Yeah, that was awesome.' Done. Sold."

Winick also said the success of the recent live-action Batman films gave him the idea for a darker animated feature. "I’d say Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was sort of the catalyst. After seeing that film, it got my juices going thinking that we could do something like that with a Red Hood arc," he said.

Under the Red Hood features the voice talents of Bruce Greenwood, Neil Patrick Harris and Jensen Ackels and Winick couldn't be happier with how they took on the roles but it was John DiMaggio's Joker who he thought had the toughest job. "There’s only been a handful of people who have created Joker – Mark Hamill set the standard for animation, then you’ve got Jack (Nicholson) and Heath Ledger. But John (DiMaggio) has such versatility, he could go anywhere with it, and he made it totally his own," he said, "He’s wonderfully scary and really gets the job done."

This was the comic scribe's first foray into film writing but seems to have caught the bug. "One of the fun parts of writing for film is that it allows you the freedom for your characters to just shut up and fight. We can’t do that in comics – there always has to be some banter or internal monologue," said Winick.

So, could we see more DC animated work from him in the future? As long as the DVD does well, all signs point to yes. "I’d like to do an entire feature with Bruce Greenwood as Batman and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing," he said.

Green Lantern 2 and Flash films are a go!

A good sign or counting your chickens before they hatch? Whatever you want to call it, three writers have officially been handed Green Lantern 2 and the Flash. That was fast.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. "has hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, all of whom worked on the Lantern screenplay, to write a treatment for the second installment. The trio has also been tapped to pen the treatment for the silver-screen incarnation of The Flash."

Sounds great, right? That means the studio liked their work so much on Green Lantern that they're confident in them doing even more. But there's a catch. According to the report, after the treatments are written, the trio will only be given one of the two films to write into a screenplay.

If the Green Lantern writing trio secures the sequel instead of Flash, could Johns end up the writer instead? Most likely not considering his hands-on approach with just about every aspect of DC Entertainment except the actual writing of the films. However, as THR points out, The Flash film will take inspiration from Johns’ recent work and will feature the Barry Allen incarnation of the character."

The DCE team of Diane Nelson, Dan DiDio, Jim Lee and Johns thought the Flash was the next logical hero to bring to the movies "with new Batman and Superman films in the writing stages and Lantern filming," reported THR. What's your take?

Green Lantern hits theaters June 11, 2011.

Hey, That's My Cape! - Glee? I thought it was COMIC-Con!

My head hurts. Why? I just looked at the preliminary list of television shows making an appearance at this year’s Comic-Con International: San Diego (CCI). You know, that show all about comics, sci-fi and video games? There are over ten titles that have nothing to do with any of those things.

We all know it’s been an issue for a while now. “Why is Hollywood invading my convention?!” But this year seems especially bad.

Show’s like Sons of Anarchy, White Collar and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia are all going to be making some sort of an appearance at CCI. Even Fox’s musical comedy-drama Glee is going to be there. I know fans of that show call themselves Gleeks but come on, this is getting ridiculous.

Read more of my thoughts in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama.

DoubleDCoverage #62

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

Tim Drake can breath easy now that he’s not the only one who knows Bruce is alive (I’m still waiting for a HUGE “I told you so.”) Plus, Terry McGinnis crashes into the DCU in a big way. Reviews/recaps for Red Robin #13 and Superman/Batman Annual #4 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #62.

New Torchwood To Debut In U.S., John Barrowman Will Return

Torchwood is set to debut in the US! Starz Entertainment has acquired the rights to debut the next 10-episode installment of the hit show — and yes, Captain Jack Harkness is on board. (You can't hear it, but I'm whistling suggestively right now.)

Previous reports had the Fox network interested in picking up the show, but they passed just two months ago. And honestly, that's the best news the show could have gotten in my opinion. Check out the details in my latest at MTV Splash Page!

So, it's like the lottery?

Who knew all you have to do to be a member of the Green Lantern Corps was, well, be around? At least that's what the new Warner Bros. Consumer Products promotional art would lead us to believe. From /Film, this is the first official logo to be seen for the Green Lantern live-action film.

While this may look very much like a teaser poster for the June 2011 film it's actually something created for parties interesting in the licensing involved with the film. And you can guarantee there's going to be a lot of that. But the licensing isn't limited to Green Lantern.

Mattel is getting what an official press release calls, "unprecedented access to the complete breadth and scope of the DC Comics vault of characters." They'll be continuing lines based on Batman: The Brave and the Bold and DC Super Friends and are working on something involving Young Justice as well.

If you thought DC's Green Lantern toys/action figures were lacking before, you'll probably be drooling soon.“The Green Lantern film has an incredibly wide merchandise appeal,” said Donald De Line, producer of the movie. “The potential is there for amazing toys and merchandise because Green Lantern’s ring can create anything the imagination can conjure. From space stations and vehicles to alien action figures, the possibilities are just endless.” The press release said the new lines would be for both children and adult fans and that a film specific line called "Movie Masters" would be released along with Green Lantern in 2011.

Superhero Style

I may have been in the pages of Elle Magazine once but that doesn't mean I know anything about fashion. French clothing retailer Colette does though. They've teamed with several designers and DC for some very interesting superhero duds you may or may not want but couldn't buy anyway because they cost a fortune.

The limited designs are being featured in Colette's window in Paris to celebrate DC's 75th anniversary. For about $250 you can pick up these Flash suede ballerina shoes designed by Repetto. Next to the mile-high Catwoman boots (with whiskered toes!) by Roger Vivier, these are my favorite. Though the boots are the priciest item of the bunch at a whopping $2,400.

If you can afford to spend a little cash and want to be the coolest kid on the block you'll purchase the Thierry Lasry Plastic Man Swarovski crystal sunglasses for $490. "I was always a fan of comics," said Lasry, "Plastic man with his sunglasses is my favorite."

And if you're really a fan of the bling, might I suggest leather gloves encrusted with stones inspired by...wait for it...Green Lantern. "The great powers of Green Lantern are transformed thanks to the emerald of these gloves...In super power of elegance and seduction!" said their designer, Karl Lagerfeld. Six hundred dollars is a small price to pay for saving the universe in style I guess.

No one, and I mean no one is going to look at you twice wearing this Joker bow-tie by Alexis Mabille. It's scary as hell but only $170. Actually no, that's scary too.

On the cheap/simple side are Batman and Superman caps by New Era for $45 and designers My Face have created several comic book cover t-shirts and tank tops for $60 a pop. It appears they come in color or black and white versions. Both pretty cool, both waaaay too much to pay for a t-shirt. I guess this is why I shop at Target.

Thundercats? Oh!

Snnnnarf! The ThunderCats are making a comeback!

People have been trying for years to get Hollywood to make a live-action ThunderCats movie, even going so far as to create an impressive fan-made trailer showing how great it could be. Well now they've answered, in their own way. MTV Splash Page announced Warner Bros. Animation is producing a brand new ThunderCats animated television show for the Cartoon Network set to premiere in 2011.

Calling it "a sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes," the studio offered some hints about what the new "Thundercats" series will involve, including "the grand origin story of Prince Lion-O’s ascension to the throne – and of those who would thwart his destiny at any cost."

Expect the new ThunderCats to have an entirely different look than the original because Warner Bros. is pairing with Studio4°C, a Japanese animation studio known for The Animatrix and Gotham Knights.

Sam Register, one of three executive producers on the project, told The Hollywood Reporter, "In addition to being Warner Bros. Animation's first anime series, ThunderCats marks our most ambitious foray yet into fantasy. The realism and dynamic visual style we've achieved are sure to thrill viewers, and the cool weapons, vehicles and technology should help the show appeal to a diverse audience."

Personally, I think it's a much better idea than attempting a live-action film which could just come out completely bizarre and wrong. ThunderCats was one of my top animated series from the 80s and although I'm not a big anime fan, I'm really looking forward to what they do with it.

I sense a Cheetara cosplay in my future.

Hey, That's My Cape! - Does Marvel Need A "Big Three?"

DC’s Trinity are certainly their most easily recognizable icons outside our little book club but who are Marvel’s “Big Three” and do they really need one?

I dive into that very topic in this week's Hey, That's My Cape! at Newsarama. Head on over there to read my thoughts and join the discussion!

DoubleDCoverage #61

I'm back with this week's installment of DoubleDCoverage at the Girls Entertainment Network!

What will Power Girl be like without her pair of…writers? What will Superman be like without 100,000 Kryptonians? Reviews/recaps for Power Girl #12 and Superman: War of the Supermen #4 are ahead. Also, check out my star ratings for my other pulls from last week!

Click here to check out DoubleDCoverage #61.