Last month, I ranted a bit about a certain comic of Halo and Sprocket creator Kerry Callen’s that was going around uncredited. Today, Kerry has released something similar on his blog, and I figured I’d post it now before it got lost in the shuffle of forced internet anonymity. It’s a fun and funny alternate take on just what inspired Bruce Wayne to become a costumed hero. There is plenty more funny at Kerry’s blog, so take a look if you’re so inclined.

Roger Ebert posted the poster for this new Woody Allen Romantic Comedy Midnight in Paris and it has been all a buzz on the internet today. I’ve long been a big fan of everything Woody Allen so I got excited when I saw this poster and found out who was all involved. Owen Wilson is always a good fit, add to that Adrien Brody who’s took time off his brodyquest to be in the movie, and Carla Bruni’s film debut. Most people know Bruni for being the wife of the President of France but I know her from her beautiful singing:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dACf2-N32Kg

The basic plot premise is as follows: “A romantic comedy about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.” Most of the filming took place in Paris and it’s set to debut at Cannes this week, so we’ll surely see it here in the US in a couple of months.

I have been loving Allen’s movies for a long time but mostly I like it when he goes towards the more comedic side. Bananas and Deconstructing Harry could both easily make it into my top 20 movies of all time. So I’m very excited for this one. What are your thoughts on this new film?

Last week the news broke that FOX is putting a new Daredevil movie into the pipeline with David Slade at the helm.

A few days after this, Slade took to Twitter to comment on the current news and rumors floating around:

Forgot to look at the internet for a few weeks and its a litany of false (and not so far off) rumours. So without breaking confidentiality, yes Daredevil, we have a great outline for a very strong character driven take on Mr Matt Murdock. It will bare [sic] no relation to the previous Daredevil movie in any way. We are at early planning stages and have not yet discussed any cast.

To me, this doesn’t give us too much information about what’s right or wrong, but it does tells us that FOX is looking to reboot the series as opposed to using the first movie as the origin. As a fan, this may make you cringe thinking that now we have to sit through another DD origin story, but you just never know. On this month’s Big Shiny Podcast (which will hit a little later this week) Kill-tacular-tron and I discuss how The Incredible Hulk handled it’s origin story incredibly well via the opening credits – so perhaps we will get that kind of origin treatment since a previous movie, even though one that will apparently not be related to this new film, already covered the basics of DD’s origins.

Slade also noted that some rumors are incredibly false, and others are “not so far off”. Of course, he’s bound to confidentiality agreements at this point, so we will have to wait and see exactly which rumors prove to be true. “Born Again” anybody? . . .

Alright alright, it seems as though its my turn to divulge the dirty secrets kept in my bag. Much like a High School teenage boy, I carry a back pack most days. In fact, a lot of the stuff I carry in mah bag is strikingly similar to a High School kid. For those curious, my back pack was bought at Vans.

Being the obsessive compulsive nerd I am, I’ve segregated this stuff into 3 sections. Let’s take a tour clock-wise from the top-left corner. A stack of current comics and The Tao of Pooh. As you can imagine, these items cycle out fairly regularly.

To the right of that is my stack of sketchbooks. One large spiral bound from Utrecht, a medium Moleskin as well as two small Moleskin notebooks. Accompanying the sketchbooks are my stack of pens and pencils. Nothing too fancy really because I don’t actually know how to draw.

Now for the gadgets and miscellanious items. My latest card deck is brought to you buy Olivia. The wonderful part of this card deck is that all 52 cards have a different piece of art on them. Most themed decks only fancy up the face cards. Plus, for $6 you can’t beat it.  Below those sexy ladies is my MacBook Pro. It’s the model before the unibody, but she works just fine for my portable needs.

Now for the bottom left quardrant, we’ll do this clock-wise again starting with the a320. Probably one of my favorite gifts from my wife, this little emulator plays NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA and ” target=”_blank”>Neo Geo games. It packs a serious punch, and can even be hooked up to your television. Next up my Canon Powershot charger. I included this because I used the camera to take these photos. Super affordable camera great for lugging around in your bag. To the right of that is my glasses cleaning kit. I mean, smudged glasses? No thanks.

Lightsaber LED flashlight. I don’t think I need to explain that one. Skull candy headphones and a business card carrier. My spare pocket knife, just in case I forget to throw my every day knife in my pocket. And last but not least, a Saint Christopher pendant. Why? Let’s be honest, I need all the help I can get.

Not satisfied with sneaking a peak in my bag? Check out Arse-Bot, Proletaria-tron, Zombietron, and Clobber-Trons bags.

It’s been speculated that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be playing any number of possible roles in the new Batman film from Christopher Nolan, but on Friday Variety finally nailed down the confirmation that the contracts have been signed and they allege that he’ll be playing none other than Alberto Falcone.

This makes sense for a number of reasons.

For one, David Goyer has praised The Long Halloween repeatedly as an inspiration for his work in Nolan’s Batman Universe, even writing a forward to it at one point. Alberto Falcone turned out to be one of the Holiday Killer’s and Jeph Loeb’s use of him was incredible.

Secondly, with everyone saying that this will tie up the trilogy nicely, this brings back an element from Batman Begins. Alberto is the son of Carmine Falcone, who was played by the great Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins. If we believe the reports from guys like Gary Oldman and others who have read the script that this is really the one to tie it all together, this makes perfect sense.

But all of this is speculation from inside information Variety has gotten at this point. They also said about another casting choice:

(photo from Film School Rejects.com)

While Nolan has elected to keep fans in the dark — for now — what is known is that indie sensation Juno Temple is being eyed for a supporting role as a street-smart Gotham girl.

Though there is no word who she is playing, it would make a lot of sense to see her as one of Selina Kyle’s prostitute wards on the East End of Gotham, much like Frank Miller’s “Year One” story, another key inspiration for Nolan and Goyer on this universe.

It doesn’t really matter who they cast in this movie to me, though, I’m damned excited to see it one way or the other. Though adding an actor of Gordon-Levitt’s calibre actually increases my excitement exponentially.

UPDATE: It seems as though there are conflicting reports of this story going around. Entertainment Weekly is reporting an anonymous source close to them says it isn’t true, others saying the exact same thing claim it is true. Fangirls on the internet (myself included) are speculating that he could be Dick Grayson. No one knows for sure.

Welcome to the twentieth issue of Convention Sketches!

We feature a convention sketch here every week. We’ve got a whole pile of our own, but we want to see yours, too. Email us convention sketches you want to show off and let us know what website you’d like credited for it. (bigshinyrobot(at)gmail.com)

This week, Sean Leslie from the Wednesday Warriors podcast sent in this great Batman sketch by Norm Breyfogle.

According to the Huffington Post, we finally have some concrete proof on who Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man will be facing in the upcoming franchise reboot The Amazing Spider-Man. C. Thomas Howell, who has been cast for the movie, spilled the beans on some of the movie’s plot on the Retro Radio podcast. If you want to avoid potential plot spoilers, skip this part, in a nutshell, he revealed the Lizard to be appearing in the movie as one of the villains, though it is unknown if he’s the only villain. Regardless, here’s what Howell had to say:

“There is not a whole lot to talk about. Sony wants us to be hush-hush right now. I play a relatively small role. I play a construction worker who’s son is caught in the middle of a battle between the Lizard and Spider-Man on the Manhattan bridge. Spider-Man helps me get my son back from this perilous situation. There is some payback there at the end of the movie. Spider-man is kind of hurting. I help him when all of the other people won’t. Part of the story is, the nation thinks he might be a bad guy. They don’t know what to think. Because of my experience on the bridge with my kid, I know he is a good guy. I pitch in and help out at the end. That is the best way.”

So there you have it. It seems they’re really going to play up the “Spider-Man: Hero or Menace” angle, which is pretty refreshing to me. In the Raimi movies, that kind of went on the back burner, what with Spidey being New York’s hero and getting the key to the city and all that. As to what the movie Lizard will look like, no news on that front yet, but here’s a concept from DeviantArt member MalottPro to whet your appetite.

Comic Relief is a major UK Based charity that tackles poverty and social injustice, two things on the rise in a world more and more dominated by profit motives. They are raising money for their charity and they’re doing it in perhaps the coolest ways possible.

Steven Moffat and the rest of the team behind Doctor Who have put together two webisodes of the show to tide us over until the premiere of Season 6 next month.

You can pay to download them on iTunes and the money will go directly to Comic Relief, or you can watch them below on Youtube and donate to the Comic Relief charity on your own.

(Thanks to Bleeding Cool for pointing these out.)

Entertainment Weekly, being the juggernaut of pop-culture media that it is, has snagged the first look at Adrianne Palicki in costume as Wonder Woman from the upcoming TV show.

Perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that it looks like Wonder Woman. But by all accounts she’s starring in the She-Hulk TV series and so I’m still wary of the show. According to EW’s take, this is what the show is about:

Along with Palicki, Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) and Cary Elwes (Saw, The Princess Bride) have joined the cast. Hurley’s character runs a pharmaceutical company that is creating a drug that makes people stronger while Elwes plays the CEO of Diana’s company, Themyscira Industries.

And it sounds kind of boring maybe? I don’t know. It sounds like a bad mix between She-Hulk and Mark Millar’s War Heroes. It could be great… maybe… A lot of people have faith in David E. Kelly who was the mastermind behind such hits that would appeal to comic book fans as Ally McBeal and Chicago Hope.

The only thing that this does make me grateful for is the fact that if they turn Wonder Woman into a drama about the corporate world, there’s a chance we could still see them turn the Gotham City Police Department into a procedural cop drama that deals with the occasional super-villain and Bat-sighting. Who wouldn’t want to see Harvey Bullock, Jim Gordon, Crispus Allen, and Renee Montoya on the streets of Gotham on the small screen? That is an untapped gold mine.

In any case, what do you guys think about the costume and the direction this is taking?

There is some possibly sad news for fans of the Scarlet Speedster today. In a short blurb on the DCU Source blog, it is stated that the current Flash series will be ending with May’s issue #12. Considering that this summer’s big DC event revolves around the Flash, it is easy to speculate that coming out of that a new series will spring forth, but right now, speculation is just that. Personally, if DC does launch a new Flash series, I hope that the direction is different enough to justify a new #1 issue. Maybe we’ll have the Wally West Flash return to prominence, or possibly due to the events of Flashpoint, Barry Allen decides to police the multiverse or something. I’d like to see a title called Flash Brigade where Flashes from all over the timeline team together to stop menaces that no one Flash could overcome. At any rate, give us your thoughts and opinions on the matter, especially since the Source blog currently doesn’t allow comments of their own.

Interesting to note (thanks to Major Spoilers for the info), The Flash #13 had already been solicited for mid-May. It is unknown if the series will just resume original numbering after the Flashpoint event, but if so, why say the series is ending?