Second Iron Man 2 Trailer

The second official trailer for Iron Man 2 has just hit the web. The film sees Tony Stark pitted against his competitors, his government and a new threat in the form of Ivan Vanko, a mysterious Russian with a vendetta against the Stark family.

The film is directed by Jon Favreau and stars Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson.

Iron Man 2 hits theatres May 7th 2010.

DorkShelf.com One Year Anniversary!

Dork Shelf was conceived in a bar over beer and breakfast nearly one year ago. That’s right, drinking before noon led to what you see now. Inappropriate alcohol-consumption aside, we’ll be marking the actual anniversary of the site based on when the first post happened, which was in fact one year ago today.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my co-founders Jeff and Lucas and all of our contributors for the hard work they’ve put in over the past year. We’ve got something special here, be proud of it guys!

I’d also like to sincerely thank all of our readers, without you guys there would be no Dork Shelf. As always, we appreciate your readership and your comments!

Our second year at DorkShelf.com is going to be even better. Expect new features, new contributors, some events and that long awaited site redesign!

Stay tuned…

Christopher Nolan to Godfather Superman Pre-Production

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that miracle-working director Christoper Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) is set to take a “godfather” role for pre-production work on the upcoming Superman reboot. Talks about bringing the Man of Steel back on the big screen have ramped up recently, with the news about Nolan just coming today. Warner Bros. plans to abandon Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns storyline (which itself was a continuation of the storyline from the original Superman films) and totally reboot the franchise; new actors would be cast.  While there are no tentative plans for Nolan to direct the film, DC has certainly lent some credibility to the new Superman film by putting him in this executive position.

Nolan is at the top of his game coming off The Dark Knight, it’s awesome that he’s involved with the new Superman movie. With Nolan’s brother Jonah and David Goyer allegedly hard at work on the script for The Dark Knight follow-up and Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern already in production it looks like were in for some great stuff from Warner Bros. and DC Comics.  Makes you wonder if DC wants to follow the Marvel formula and start building a cohesive universe for all of their films. Clark Kent is set to appear in the upcoming Green Lantern film, so they may have already planned to have the actor selected as the new Man of Steel debut in that film first.

Via Deadline Hollywood

Podcast 16: Spock is Dead

Will, Jeff, Lucas and Noah sit down to discuss the Oscar nominations, the return of Lost, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online and its effects on social lives, Iron Man’s suit redesign and what people can expect from Iron Man 2.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 16 (44 MB, MP3, 64:54)
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Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “The CN Tower can work it out (Final Fantasy ft. Q-Tip)” by Tor
• 2:26 — Academy Award nominations
• 19:20 — Lost Season 6 Premiere
• 24:49 — Dorky television and franchise cross-pollination
• 28:42 — “Royal Flush (Instrumental)” by Big Boi ft. Andre 3000 & Raekwon
• 29:26 — Mass Effect 2
• 42:31 — Star Trek Online and Martin Luther King Jr.
• 52:43 — Iron Man redesign, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers
• 46:15 — “Cousins” by Vampire Weekend

Discussed:

• Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Star Trek Online
• The Avengers, The Invincible Iron Man, Captain America
• Lost, The Hurt Locker, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Avatar, Star Trek, Iron Man 2

The Losers Trailer

The first trailer for the big screen adaptation of Andy Diggle’s comic book The Losers has hit the web.  The film, like the comic book, centres on a CIA anti-terrorism team who are betrayed by their handler and left for dead. The group of agents decide to take out everyone responsible for selling them out, prime among them, their handler Max.

The film looks like it could be some fun, it has a great cast featuring Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Jason Patric and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. I also really like the fact that they are staying faithful to the source material, which doesn’t often happen when studios adapt lesser known properties like The Losers.

The Losers is due in theatres April 9th 2010.

Interview with Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia creators of God Complex

Image Comics recently began publishing the new creator-owned series God Complex from the creative minds of Michael Avon Oeming (Powers, Team Fortress 2), John Broglia (Zombie Sama!), and Dan Berman (Six, Thor). The comic tells the story of big guy named Paul, an otherwise ordinary man. But Paul is not as ordinary as he’d like people to believe; You see, Paul is actually the Olympian god Apollo. He has grown tired of the antics of his fellow gods, particularly his father Zeus, and is hiding out in New York City.  However, Paul’s attempts to lay low in the Big Apple are futile, the pantheon of gods want Apollo back. Jeff recently had a chance to talk with Michael Avon Oeming and John Broglia about the origins of God Complex, comic convention etiquette and what they keep on their respective dork shelves.

Jeff: Welcome to DorkShelf.com fellas. Let’s start with a nice easy one. Tell us how God Complex come about?

Michael Avon Oeming: It came out of Six, the comic I did with Dan Berman and Ethen Beavers. We sold it as THEM to Fox TV and they wanted another pitch so I started working on this idea, but after I wrote the outline and some dialogue, it didn’t go anywhere. I’ve been wanting to work with John for awhile now, so one day while talking with Dan about us working together again, I dusted this off and BAM! There you go. The two of them really brought this to life.

John Broglia: All credit for the concept and characters goes to Mike. I’m just along for the ride.

Jeff: The book pulls from various portions of Greek and Roman mythology. What draws you to mythological story elements?

Michael: It was sort of my first comics. Before I was reading comics, I was very into mythology, and for the same reasons I love comics – Dudes beating up monsters, fighting evil and such. Now, as I’ve grown up, I’ve become attracted to the psychological aspect of mythology, all that Joseph Campbell stuff about how mythology is our minds making sense of the world and our lives through story.

John: Everyone who has ever picked up a comic book and enjoyed it should be drawn to mythological stories. Ancient mythology is the cornerstone of the 20th and 21st century superheroes and comic book characters. The superhero genre has been stretched pretty thin unfortunately, so the next logical step seems to be taking those ancient characters and bringing them into our modern world.

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Interview with Gareb Shamus of Wizard Entertainment

Local convention fans have been abuzz since it was announced that Wizard Entertainment had purchased the long running Paradise Toronto Comic Con. Wizard Entertainment is a well known quantity amongst dorks, not only for putting on some of North America’s largest comic conventions, but also publishing the popular Wizard and Toyfare magazines. Originally started in 2003 by Paradise Comics proprieter Pete Dixon, the newly minted Wizard World Toronto Comic Con will be Wizard’s first show outside of the United States. Where the original Paradise show was a comic book focused event, the new Toronto Comic Con will be multi-genre event similar to Wizard’s other conventions.

So what can fans expect from the upcoming Wizard World Toronto Comic Con? Jeff recently had a chance to find out in a conversation he had with Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus. The two discussed the upcoming Toronto Comic Con, the Wizard World brand and how Wizard is adapting to the changing magazine marketplace.

Listen:  
Download: Dork Shelf Interview: Gareb Shamus (18 MB, MP3, 25:50)

Wizard World Toronto Comic Con runs March 26, 27 and 28th 2010 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place in Toronto. Featured guests include Dollhouse’s Eliza Dushku, Battlestar Galactica’s Kandyse Maclure, Iron-Man artist Adi Granov and Wonder Woman writer Gail Simone. Be sure to check out the official Wizard World Toronto Comic Con site for more details and to see the constantly growing line-up of guests.

Green Lantern Casts Sarsgaard, Strong and Lively

Hector Hammond, Carol Ferris aka Star Sapphire and Sinestro

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed this week that actor Peter Sarsgaard is in talks to play Hector Hammond, the super-brained DC Comics villain in the upcoming Green Lantern movie. Hammond is to be the primary antagonist of Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan in the film.

Sarsgaard isn’t the only actor set to join Green Lantern though. Blake Lively, best known for her work on the TV series Gossip Girl, has been cast as Jordan’s main squeeze Carol Ferris. The Ferris character later becomes the villainous Star Sapphire in the comics, but Lively probably won’t have to deal with any of that in the film. However, that’s not the end of the Green Lantern casting news; While promoting his new film Edge of Darkness, director Martin Campbell shot down the rumours that Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, Watchmen) was in talks to play Sinestro. Campbell revealed to MTV that Warner Bros. were in fact in negotiations with British actor Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass) to play Hal Jordan’s mentor-turned-nemesis.

I think Strong is spot on for Sinestro.  Not only does he have the acting chops to make Sinestro work, but at 6′2 he’s also closer to the physically imposing presence the character has taken in more recent incarnations. Who would you prefer to see as Sinestro? Haley or Strong?

The film stars Ryan Reynolds and is set to start shooting in New Orleans this March. Green Lantern is due in theatres July 17th 2011.

Via The Hollywood Reporter and MTV Splash Page

Thought Bubble: Event Fatigue

DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths

The past few years have had comic book fans go through blockbuster after blockbuster event that change things in their respective universes forever. Of course, if I were to detail the big comic book events of the past decade this piece would be about thirty pages long. I’ll forego that and allow you to peruse the various comic book wikis out there. Instead I shall review the pros and cons of the “event” format and offer some suggestions for the publishers and readers going forward.

Pro: Events are cash cows for the publishers. If the publishers do well then the readers do well… isn’t that how capitalism works? Plus they get to sell tie-in merchandise, action figures, clothing and what we’re all really after: jewelry. Am I right?

Con: Price. Publishers can charge more for event books, since they are pitched as “must read” comics.

Pro: Dream Teams. You get to see a popular writer/artist work together on a dream project.

Con: Nightmare Teams. If the event book features an artist or writer who you don’t like, then you’re out of luck. The even may also involve characters you have no interest in as a result. If you do not like the direction they are going with the title or the universe you may be stuck. Slogging through bad stories just for some kind of resolution is not fun.

Pro: Holy Shit Moments. Events are usually pretty traumatic in the scope of things.  This “holy shit moment” can be an incredibly powerful incident that can change the entire dynamic of the story and even the universe.

Con: Holy Shit moments falling flat. Big moments meant to have impact and gravitas end up being pointless or just plain offensive. For instance the Blob eating the Wasp in Marvel’s Ultimatum; Totally unnecessary. Shock for the sake of shock which can ruin a good story.

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Spider-Man 4 Canned; Reboot Planned

In what comes as surprising, but not totally unexpected news Deadline Hollywood has confirmed that Sony has scrapped Spider-Man 4. For months the film has been plagued by script problems, production delays and a May 2011 release date which was starting to look increasingly unrealistic. Sources report that director Sam Raimi told Sony Pictures that he could not “go forward creatively” with such a rushed production schedule. With Raimi’s departure Sony decided that they would rather scrap Spider-Man 4, replace Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and start fresh.

So how does Sony plan to revive the franchise? By putting Peter Parker in high school naturally. That’s how you make things young and fresh, right? From the sounds of the press release Sony’s new Spider-Man film can be likened to Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man line in which the hero was literally a 15 year old high school kid. No director or actors are currently attached. Though Anton Yelchin and Michael Cera (Jesus Christ, WHY!?) have already been mentioned as potential replacements. The Spider-Man reboot is set for a 2012 release date.

This is probably a good thing for both the Spider-Man franchise and Sam Raimi. Spider-Man 3 was awful; the studio interfered too much and Raimi lost creative control, the result was a bloated, mess of a movie. Spider-Man 4 seemed to be heading in the same direction: too many villains (Black Cat, The Vulture and The Vulturess(!?) too much going on and too many story threads needing resolution. A fresh start with a younger Peter Parker (Maguire will be 36 in June) will be a good thing. Plus now Raimi is free to work on other projects like his new Evil Dead movie… and the World of Warcraft film. On second thought, maybe Sony should reconsider Raimi and spare us all what is sure to be an awful, awful Warcraft film.

Kick-Ass Trailer

The full theatrical trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass has punched and kicked its way online. Kick-Ass, based on the ongoing comic book series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., centres on an outcast teenager who decides to become a costumed vigilante. He quickly discovers he isn’t the only mask avenger in town.

I like this trailer a lot more than that obnoxious Red Band trailer for the character Hit-Girl that was released a few weeks back. To be fair though it did illustrate that the film would be as violent and brutal as the comic book. The movie was shot in Toronto, so it’s nice to see that some fleeting glimpses of Hogtown have made it into the trailer.

Kick-Ass stars Nicholas Cage, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Aaron Johnson and is due in theatres April 16th, 2010.

Via Yahoo Movies

Podcast 15: New Word Unlocked

Will, Lucas, and Chris talk about what they’re looking forward to in 2010, mostly video games.

Download: Dork Shelf Podcast 15 (32 MB, MP3, 46:52)
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Listen:  

Programme:

• 0:00 — “Casio Bossa Nova” by Holy Fuck
• 2:30 — Comics and Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire
• 9:00 — BioShock 2, Deus Ex 3, and ten-year titles
• 19:40 — Mass Effect, continuing game stories and characters
• 29:30 — “Go Shoppin’” by Bran Van 3000
• 33:00 — Melville and his narcissists
• 37:30 — Clash of Heroes and Dark Messiah
• 46:15 — “Boxcutter Emporium Pt. 2″ by Sixtoo

Discussed:

• BioShock 2, Deus Ex 3, Mass Effect 2, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
• Scott Pilgrim, Transmetropolitan, A Song of Ice and Fire
• Game of Thrones, Avatar, Jean-Pierre Melville