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Music Superstar to play Wonder Woman?
According to this (http://www.newsarama.com/film/110809-Beyonce-WW.html) post on the Newsarama Web Site it appears that singer and actress Beyonce wants to take the lead role in the upcoming Wonder Woman movie. The author of the article, Matt Brady, seems to be kind of lukewarm on the idea and I must say that I am totally against this.
Beyonce is a singer first. She started her career in Destiny's Child and then went on to have a great solo-career. It was in 2001 when she had the lead role in the TV Movie Carmen: a Hip Hopera, and then the only major roles she's had in movies in theaters are as Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember and as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls. Could Beyonce's star power be enough to get a Wonder Woman movie off the ground after being stuck in development hell for so long? I don't know; although the United States has elected its first black President I don't think that comics fans are ready to see one of the major characters in the DC Universe as a black woman.
Let's look at the track record for Marvel Comics' having a black actor replace a major character in their movies. The Ben Affleck vehicle, Daredevil, had the Kingpin character played by Michael Clarke Duncan. The Kingpin in every Marvel comic I have seen him in from the 1980's and 1990's has been a large white man. I recall the uproar on the Internet that happened when it was found that Mr. Duncan would be playing the Kingpin. I have not seen the Daredevil movie so I cannot judge his role, but this is what shot them in the foot for that movie. In the movies Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008) had brief cameos of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Now this I can understand, because in some of the information that was released before the release of those two movies, it was mentioned that the universe those movies were in were a mix of regular continuity and the Ultimate's Universe. In the Ultimate's Universe Nick Fury is drawn as a black man that bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Jackson. That's a 66/34 split in the movies, but the explanation really helped justify Mr. Jackson's use in the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies.
Gone for Good?
According to this link (http://www.newsarama.com/games/081110-WizkidsClosed.html) the Wizkids brand that was bought by Topps, the sports card company, a few years ago has apparently been shuttered by Topps as of November 10th. There's a post on the third page of the comments at the link above that makes me think that maybe things are not as bad as we think. Many years ago when HeroClix came out, I played the game along with my older brother. Since about the Clobberin' Time expansion I had grown away from that because of things happening in my life and I recently decided to pick up the game again. I was happy with the choices that Topps made: instead of three figures of various power and experience level for each figure in a set, they decided to make one figure in whatever experience level they felt was right. With the new minis, they also included small cards that described the powers that each figure had on whatever click you were on. It helped players like me who were just getting back into the game recall what powers were what colors and helped describe what the white boxes did.
I really wanted to try to see what kind of teams I could build and how I would do at a tournament, but now unless I can find one at the local comic book stores in town, it won't be happening. They are keeping up the approved play program through the end of December 2008, so I might get my chance. I'm no cut throat player like some people I know on the Internet, but I want to try and make a showing for someone that was close to me, and died earlier this year.
Cancelled?
In Newsarama's bi-weekly Q&A with Dan DiDio on their web site (http://www.newsarama.com/comics/110812-Didio2.html) he let slip out that the comic Blue Beetle is being cancelled as of issue 36. This came as a shock to many a comic book fan because Blue Beetle is highly praised by many comic book reviewers on the Internet. I have never read the series myself, but at least he'll live on in the Teen Titans comic until things get better. This, along with the cancellation of Manhunter, Nightwing, Robin, Birds of Prey and Legion of Superheroes, means that either the economy is really heading south or that those comics just did not sell as well as the head honchos at DC wanted.
Something to do at Conventions
(http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15791) This is a link to an article I found earlier this year on the Comic Book Resources web site about something you can do if you have the time and resources at the various conventions you might attend through the months of this coming up year. I read the article and wanted to give it a shot this year, but with things the way they are I never got around to doing it. I have already decided on one of my New Years Resolutions for 2009 is to try to get a sketchbook going with seven sketches.
I always wondered what the people were doing who were carrying around these big spiral notebooks of blank, unlined, paper at the conventions. I eventually figured it out and decided to do one for myself. Like all fans of things comic book I am very shy and sometimes star struck around famous comic book writers and artists, as well as actors or actresses of television shows that I like. See my report of Star Wars Fan Days II for more about that. I have a few from the Collector Times' own Joe Singleton, but I don't have anything from the likes of a major artist like Jim Lee.
Now all I have to do is pick a theme. I would probably pick one theme of DC characters and pick up another book for Marvel characters. Or maybe do a third with only GI Joe characters. Those sketches that I have from Joe, they are of GI Joe characters who I let him pick out who to draw.
HeroClix Reformed?
According to this article on the ICV2 web site (http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13768.html), some of the minds behind the HeroClix game are trying to start a grass roots effort to get a new company together to start releasing HeroClix again. I'm all for this, but couldn't they pick a better name? They chose the name Piņata Games for their new company and to me that seems like a rather silly name. Maybe they could have chosen a better name like HeroClix Games, but in the article, they seem to give a good reason for their naming their company what they did.
I think they have a good idea, but in an economy where most banks are reluctant to even give out car loans to people with the most pristine credit, they are going to have a hard time getting funding.
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