Fox unleashes legal challenge to Watchmen movie

20th Century Fox is moving ahead in applying for a legal injunction to block the release of Zack Snyder's hotly anticipated movie adaptation of Watchmen, scheduled to hit screens next March. Fox originally acquired the screen rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal graphic novel in 1986, and while the property has since moved on to Warner Bros (by way of Universal and Paramount) Fox alleges producer Lawrence Gordon has never paid a buy-out clause for entering into a deal with a third party as specified in a 1991 lawsuit, and hence Warners has not legally acquired Fox's remaining rights.

When first filed in February the move was thought to be a bid for a compensation settlement or a share of Watchmen's box office gross, but Variety reports Fox's legal team is determined to prevent the film being released altogether -- quoting an unnamed source that '[when] you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover'. Fox spent around $US1 million developing Watchmen between 1986 and 1990 and had not subsequently taken legal action during the film's protracted development at several other studios, including a Paramount production helmed by Paul Greengrass that was cancelled in 2005 over budget concerns.

Cruise, Raimi set up Sleeper movie

Tom Cruise is attached to star in a Warner Bros movie adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' cult Wildstorm series Sleeper, to be produced by Sam Raimi. Massively acclaimed during its 2003-05 run, the noir-inspired series is centered on a US intelligence operative who goes deep undercover in a superpowered crime organisation headed by former WildCATs member Tao, only to be left out in the cold and trapped in a life of crime when an assassination attempt puts his handler into a coma. No screenwriter is yet secured for the project.

 

Vaughn to helm Kick-Ass movie

British director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake) will bring Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's surprise hit series Kick-Ass to the big screen, pushing ahead as an independent feature after Sony Pictures and other studios passed on the project due to the high level of violence coupled with the young age of its protagonists. Child actor Chloe Moretz has been cast and Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse is in negotiations for key supporting roles, with production scheduled to begin later in the year.

 

Batman: Arkham Asylum game unveiled

Video game publisher Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment have announced Batman: Arkham Asylum, a third-person action title slated for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows during 2009. Developed by Rocksteady Studios and scripted by Paul Dini, current writer of Detective Comics and an Emmy award winner for his work on Batman: The Animated Series, the game sees the Dark Knight tasked with transporting the Joker to Arkham Asylum only be lured into a trap set by the denizens of Gotham's infamous institution for the criminally insane.

 

Brendan McCarthy lines up Spidey/Dr Strange mini

Acclaimed but frequently controversial British artist Brendan McCarthy has revealed via his blog that he is working on a three-issue Spider-Man/Doctor Strange limited series for Marvel, slated for early next year.

Clickwheel releases iPhone comics reader

Online portable media portal Clickwheel has unveiled a free comics reading application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, offering mobile access to the publisher's library of free and pay content including current and classic issues of seminal UK science fiction weekly 2000AD. Clickwheel's Tim Demeter has confirmed plans for a future version to support other digital comics downloaded by the user -- legally or otherwise -- in the popular CBR/CBZ format.

San Diego Comic-Con highlights

Marvel

Mark Millar will return to the Ultimate universe with a forthcoming 24-part maxiseries following Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum event. Frank Cho will illustrate Loeb's second season of the Ultimates, replacing the previously announced Ed McGuinness, with covers by Marko Djurdjevic.

Marvel's recent cosmic projects such as Annihilation and Guardians of the Galaxy lead into a forthcoming War of Kings crossover event penned by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, centered on a space war between the Shi'ar and the Inhumans.

The recently resurrected Ilyana 'Magik' Rasputin takes the spotlight in Ex Infernus, a five-issue sequel to 1980s crossover event Inferno debuting in December from writer C.B. Cebulski with covers by David Finch.

Also kicking off in December is a new War Machine ongoing from Greg Pak and Leonardo Manco, replacing Iron Man: Director of SHIELD following the end of Secret Invasion, while Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon return to their Marvel Knights incarnation of the Punisher in six-issue weekly series Punisher: War Zone.

Andy Diggle and Roberto De La Torre are the new ongoing creative team of Thunderbolts, starting with November's issue #126.

Jeff Parker's pulp-inspired Agents of Atlas return in early 2009 with their own ongoing series. Also in the retro vein, Kevin Grevioux's six-issue Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel concerns a 1960s-era African American superhero who wears a mask to disguise his skin colour, only to become caught up in the civil rights movement when his identity is exposed.

Marvel continues its forays into new media with N, a 'motion comics' adaptation by Marc Guggenheim and Alex Maleev of a Stephen King short story from forthcoming collection Just After Sunset. The series of 25 two-minute episodes will be distributed online and via US mobile phone networks.

DC

Neil Gaiman takes on the Dark Knight with January's 'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?', a two-issue crossover between Batman and Detective Comics featuring art by Gaiman's 1602 collaborator Andy Kubert. Veteran Batman writer/editor Denny O'Neill will also contribute a story post-Batman RIP.

The acclaimed Green Lantern: Rebirth pairing of writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver will reintroduce the recently resurrected Barry Allen in The Flash: Rebirth, a five-part miniseries debuting in January.

Also returning is Mike Grell's cult Warlord, with a new ongoing series penned by Grell slated for early 2009.

DC has acquired the rights to 1940s-era Archie Comics superheroes such as the Shield and the Comet, which will make their debut in J. Michael Straczynki's forthcoming run on The Brave and the Bold. Also moving to the DCU are the characters of 1990s publisher Milestone, with Static set to the join the Teen Titans.

Vertigo is set to launch a new line of 'Vertigo Crime' hardcover black and white graphic novels, with initial offerings including Dark Entries by acclaimed crime novelist Ian Rankin, starring John Constantine, and Filthy Rich by Brian Azzarello with Spanish artist Victor Santos. Other forthcoming projects from the mature readers imprint include a revamp of classic DC property Haunted Tank from writer Frank Maraffino and UK artist Henry Flint, and ten-part limited series Day Tripper from Casanova artists Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba.

Kevin Smith returns to DC with Batman: Cacophony, a three-part limited series pencilled by Walt Flanagan (IDW's Karny) and featuring Onomatopoeia, a villain introduced during Smith's run on Green Arrow.

Andrew Kreisberg, a staff writer on television series Eli Stone, takes the reigns on Green Arrow/Black Canary with December's issue #15.

Miscellaneous

Eisner-winning creator Darwyn Cooke will adapt the first four books in Donald Westlake's acclaimed 'Parker' crime series as black and white graphic novels for IDW, beginning in late 2009 with The Hunter (the basis for 1967 cinema classic Point Blank).

New Image partner Robert Kirkman will pen an ambitious six-part crossover series Image United featuring the characters and art of Image founders Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio and Jim Valentino. In a unique move each artist will rotate on layouts and individually pencil their own characters (Whilce Portacio will supply a new creation, with his Wetworks now owned by Wildstorm).

Devil's Due has inked a deal with European publisher Humanoids to translate and repackage its graphic novels for the English-speaking market, including a number of books featuring recognisable US creators, with plans to serialise in issue format before collection into trade paperback. The line kicks off in November with Fabien Nury and John Cassaday's I Am Legion, with future titles to include Redhand by Kurt Busiek and Mario Alberti, Songes by Denis-Pierre Filippi and Terry Dodson, and Olympus by Geoff Johns, Kris Grimminger and Butch Guice.

Acclaimed writer Ed Brubaker will make his live-action scripting debut with Angel of Death, a grindhouse-style serial starring stuntwoman turned actress Zoe Bell (Death Proof) to be produced by Sony's online video network Crackle.com.

With Dark Horse set to release a definitive hardcover collection of cult 1980s series Mister X in October, creator Dean Motter plans to reboot the property with four-part miniseries Mister X: Condemned early next year. Motter will for the first time both write and illustrate the series.

Forthcoming Transformers projects from IDW include Transformers: Destiny, a five-part prequel to next year's second Transformers movie, and two new limited series from fan-favourite writer Simon Furman: Maximum Dinobots, with art by Nick Roche, and the new definitive origin of the Transformers in Transformers: The 13.

Comics veteran Larry Hama is formally confirmed as the writer of IDW's forthcoming GI Joe monthly title with artist Robert Atkins, which will reboot the series continuity.

Cult science fiction television series Farscape is set to return in a new comics series debuting in November from Boom Studios, featuring stories by Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon. The rising star publisher will also produce a new line of comics based on Disney and Pixar movies and television series, kicking off with a Muppet Show title penned by Boom editor in chief Mark Waid and an Incredibles miniseries with covers by Darwyn Cooke.

Eisners

Recently concluded Vertigo series Y the Last Man had a good year at the 2008 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, taking out Best Continuing Series and earning Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan Jr the award for Best Penciller/Inker Team. Dark Horse's acclaimed 'season 8' of cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer was named Best New Series, while The Umbrella Academy (also at Dark Horse) trumped strong competition including Marvel's Dark Tower to score Best Limited Series. Surprisingly, the only award for a mainstream Marvel or DC project was Best Single Issue for Justice League of America #11, by Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha.

Critically lauded scribe Ed Brubaker took out Best Writer for a second year, indie auteur Chris Ware was Best Writer/Artist, and Eric Powell scored a double of Best Writer/Artist: Humour and Best Painter or Multimedia Artist for his work on The Goon. Inductees into the Hall of Fame included Arnold Drake, Len Wein and Barry Windsor-Smith.

 

Kirkman new Image partner

Robert Kirkman has been made a partner at Image Comics, giving the Walking Dead and Invincible writer a corporate stake in the publisher and influence over its future projects and direction. The move sees the Kentucky-born writer wrap up his tenure at Marvel, which included the surprise hit Marvel Zombies and a spell on Ultimate X-Men, as he concentrates on new creator-owned series at Image including the forthcoming Haunt with artist and Image founder Todd McFarlane. Kirkman is the first new partner at Image since the company's formation in 1992, when seven star artists including McFarlane, Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri split from Marvel and DC to establish the independent creator-oriented publisher.

Dark Knight shatters box office records

The Dark Knight has built on a massive publicity campaign and almost universally positive press to set a string of box office records, taking a massive $155.3m in its US opening weekend to surpass the previous $151.1m record haul achieved by last year's Spider-Man 3. The followup to 2005's Batman Begins, which enjoyed a relatively modest opening, The Dark Knight had previously outgrossed Spidey 3 to set a new record for best Friday opening and also eclipsed Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's 2005 record for midnight screenings.

Watchmen trailer online

Ahead of its big-screen premiere in front of US screenings of The Dark Knight this weekend, Apple has posted the first trailer for Zack Snyder's (300, Dawn of the Dead) highly anticipated movie adaptation of seminal graphic novel Watchmen, set for release next March.

DC Universe Online premieres at E3

This year's E3 video games expo in Los Angeles featured the first official look at the DC Universe Online massive multiplayer game, in development for the PlayStation 3 and PC for release some time in 2009. Creative director Jim Lee introduced a trailer featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern fighting villains including Lex Luthor, the Joker, Sinestro, Bane, Hush and Bizarro. While details are being kept largely under wraps, Lee confirmed the game will allow players to create their own superpowered characters and team up with either the heroes or villains of the DCU on missions and scenarios such as a breakout from Arkham Asylum.

 

Exterminators set for small screen; Bekmambetov to film The Red Star?

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop that US network Showtime and Dexter executive producer Sara Colleton have inked a deal for cult Vertigo series The Exterminators, centred on an ex-con's attempt to rebuild his life with a new job at a dysfunctional pest extermination company. Originally developed by series writer Simon Oliver as a TV pitch, The Exterminators concludes this month with issue #30.

Ain't It Cool News is carrying a report that visionary Russian director Timur Bekmambetov has lined up a big-screen version of Christian Gossett's acclaimed comics series The Red Star as his next project. Former advertising filmmaker Bekmambetov attracted considerable attention with his visually spectacular Night Watch and recently made a successful move to Hollywood with the hit Wanted, based on the controversial Top Cow series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones.

Lieber, Goodwin get the Finger

Veteran scribe Larry Lieber and the late Archie Goodwin have been selected as this year's recipients of the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, named in honour of the Batman co-creator and to be presented at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Lieber started as an artist under older brother Stan Lee at Marvel (then Timely) comics in the 1950s before going on to script a variety of monster comics and the first stories of Iron Man and Thor, while Goodwin is remembered as a prolific writer and influential editor for Marvel, DC and a number of other publishers, including a spell as editor in chief of Marvel during the late 1970s.

Miller plans 300 follow-up

Variety claims comics legend Frank Miller is writing a follow-up graphic novel to his hit Battle of Thermopylae epic 300, with a big-screen version already in development at Legendary Pictures and Zack Snyder, who helmed the successful adaptation of 300 and the forthcoming Watchmen movie, intended to direct.

Writers and Artists Unite
@ the Grace Emily September 6th

Prospective writers and artists, professional scribes and illustrators, curious comic buffs and those up for a great chat or just a relaxing time are all more than welcome to get down to the Grace Emily Hotel, 232 Waymouth St Adelaide on Saturday the 6th of September from 2pm for the usual monthly gathering of awesome talent!

Yes, the Grace plays host to everyone creatively minded on a sunny Saturday afternoon; kitted out with some snacks and PFC-funded happy hours, how can you possibly go wrong?