Boo!

Have a great one, folks!

And congratulate me: today marks seven years of matrimonial bliss. Still can't believe Brandi's hung around this long...

Offline!

I don't know how I'll stand it, but I'm going to be away from my computer from Thursday afternoon through sometime Tuesday.

My wife's going on vacation, and for some reason, she wants me along, so I'll be spending the next few days up in the northern woods. I'll be taking a laptop with me so I can work, but I won't have internet access.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

TUROK!

I'm not really sure who's behind this. The logo at the beginning of the trailer indicates The Weinstein Company (Genius Products), while the IMDB credits Starz Media, the people behind Hellboy Animated. Well, in either case, it looks like another of my favorite comics characters will soon be coming to DVD in animated form:



Fortunately, this looks to be based on the original Dell/Gold Key comics rather than the videogame or or the late 90's Acclaim Comics reimagining... and that's a very good thing.

Happy Bela(ted) Birthday

This past weekend marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of silver scream legend Bela Lugosi.

Born October 20, 1882, as Béla Blasko in Lugoj, Romania, the handsome actor gained screen immortality as Dracula in the 1931 Universal film of the same name. Although his career had more than its share of peaks and valleys (or, perhaps more accurately, "peaks and chasms"), Lugosi's filmography is an embarrasment of riches for the dedicated horror movie fan.

Regardless of the quality of the production, Lugosi nearly always delivered a memorable performance, and, in potboilers like Bowery at Midnight, The Invisible Ghost, Voodoo Man, Scared to Death, or Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster, it is usually only Lugosi's presence that makes them watchable at all.

With Halloween around the corner, it's the perfect time to pay tribute to the legendary actor by watching one or more of his remarkable performances. May I humbly suggest White Zombie (1932), The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Return of the Vampire (1944), or Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)?

Happy birthday, Bela!

Jesus Walks Into A Bar...

...only this particular ginmill is Munden's Bar, located in the pandimensional city of Cynosure, operated by Gordon Munden and owned by John Gaunt, the mercenary better known as Grimjack.

Back when Grimjack had his own title, in those oh-so-hazy Eighties, Munden's Bar was the regular back-up feature, written by GJ creator John Ostrander (usually, although there were others, including Del Close, Kim Yale, Mike Baron, Max Collins, etc.) with art by a wide variety of talented cartoonists. Some stories were action-oriented, some were straight comedy, some were surprisingly moving.

Well, Munden's has returned, along with Grimjack, as part of the line-up at ComicMix, and so far, they've been really good. Today's is drawn by my pal and collaborator Joe Staton, and it's my favorite of the new strips so far.

Check it out.

The New Crew Review

Well, the main cast of J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie have finally been cast.

Chris Pine, whom I've never actually seen in anything, will be playing a young James Tiberius Kirk. (CORRECTION: I have seen Pine in something, I just didn't realize it. He played one of the psychotic "Tremor Brothers" in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces. I liked the movie, but there were so many characters fighting for screen time that Pine didn't make much of a specific impression.)

Zachary Quinto, who plays the villainous Sylar on Heroes, will be Spock.

Karl Urban, who played multiple roles on Xena and Hercules, portrayed Eomer in Lord of the Rings, and starred in Pathfinder, will be playing a rather hunkier than traditional Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Simon Pegg, the brilliant star of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz will be Montgomery Scott.

John Cho, of Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, will be playing Hikaru Sulu. (UPDATE: Just saw Cho on last night's Ugly Betty. Seems like a good choice.)

Russian-born Anton Yelchin will be a very young Pavel Chekov.

And finally, the lovely Zoe Saldana will be playing Uhura.

The cast also includes Leonard Nimoy and Munich/Hulk's Eric Bana as somebody called "Nero."

For the most part, I'm pleased with the casting. It skews young, but that's Hollywood these days, and if they intend for this to launch a new series of features – and they do – it's probably a good idea to get a young, healthy cast who can grow into their roles over a number of films.

I particularly like the casting of Quinto and Pegg, though muscular kiwi Urban seems an odd choice for McCoy. Still, I've seen him play a couple of different roles on Xena (including both Julius Caesar and Cupid!), so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Yet Another DVD Column Posted!

Yep, a brand new (and almost on-time) DVD Late Show column has just been posted at Quick Stop Entertainment.

This installment covers a variety of cult films and genre titles, featuring a review of the long awaited and eagerly anticipated director's cut of Stuart Gordon's From Beyond, as well as looks at Food of the Gods, Irwin Allen's The Lost World, The Beach Girls, Black Roses, Roger Corman's The Intruder (with William Shatner), Transformers, the first season of Jericho, Max Allan Collins' Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Knocked Up and a couple more.

Why not swing over to QSE and check it out?

"Britain's Last Line of Defense"

I'm a bit late in acknowledging the passing of Lois Maxwell, the Canadian actress best known for her charming portrayal of Miss Moneypenny, secretary to "M," James Bond's superior and head of the British Secret Service in the long-running 007 series, but I wanted to make note of it here, as she was such an integral part of the success of my favorite film franchise.

She played the role in 14 movies, from 1962's Dr. No to 1985's A View To A Kill, shamelessly flirting with 007 – in the shape of Sean Connery, George Lazenby or Roger Moore – as the intrepid agent passed through her office to and from briefings with the boss.

Maxwell passed away on September 29th, in Australia. She was 80 years old.

The attractive actress was a familiar guest star on British television, with appearances on The Saint, The Persuaders (both with Roger Moore), and UFO, among many others. She also had memorable roles in both Robert Wise's classic, The Haunting, and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita.

Reportedly, she risked Sean Connery's wrath by appearing in the Italian spy spoof Operation Kid Brother, playing a thinly-disguised Moneypenny to Sean's brother Neil Connery... but then, a paycheck is a paycheck, right?

Rest in Peace, Miss Moneypenny.

Grimjack's back – and ComicMix has 'im!

There's a new online comics "portal" that just made it's debut: ComicMix.

What's different about this one? Well, it's got a new Grimjack graphic novel by John Ostrander and Tim Truman, to start. Grimjack's my favorite comic of all time, so anyone who brings me new GJ is already way ahead on points, in my scorebook.

They also have EZ Street, a new project from Robert Tinnel (The Black Forest) and Mark Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster), The Adventures of Simone & Ajax, from my good pal Andrew Pepoy, new Munden's Bar stories, and, apparently, Mike Grell's Jon Sable!

New comics every day, in 6-7 page chunks. Free. How cool is that?

According to their PR, these projects will appear online for free first, and then be collected in print volumes. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Check 'em out!