Big Hero 6 Star Proves He Can Be Robin In DCEU With Concept Video

The actor who voiced Hiro in the Disney animated film Big Hero 6 has made a big push to be considered as Robin for the DCEU by posting a concept fight video.

Ryan Potter (Big Hero 6, Supah Ninjas) has been vocal about wanting to be Robin, specifically Tim Drake the 3rd Robin.  He’s been tweeting and mentioning in interviews about wanting to play Tim Drake in the DCEU for some time but now he’s taking it a step further to prove he has what it takes, at least physically, to don a cape and be Batman‘s sidekick. At the end of the video he address Ben Affleck directly using a quote from Tim Drake in the comics that Batman needs a Robin.

In the DCEU the only Robin that has been confirmed to exist is Jason Todd. His damaged and defiled suit is seen in the Batcave in Batman Vs. Superman. Jason Todd was the second Robin in the comics. If the DCEU sticks to the comic storyline like they have done pretty well so far that could mean that Dick Greyson is out there as Nightwing and Tim Drake is next in line to be Robin. Ryan Potter would definitely fit the bill as Tim Drake so here’s hoping that Ben Affleck and DC take notice.

Chris Pratt Confirms GOTG Will be “The Biggest Spectacle Movie Of All Time”

We just can’t stop with the Guardians of the Galaxy gossip! As we count down the days until 5th May 2017 when we can finally continue our adventure with Star Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and (fan favourite) Groot, the news from planet GOTG just keeps coming. James Gunn has confirmed Vin Diesel will still be voicing Baby Groot; Vin Diesel spilled the beans on his Facebook page that the gang would be appearing in Avengers: Infinity War; and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler called out to James Gunn in a role for the as-yet unconfirmed third film. Chris Pratt is adding to this, by waxing lyrical about GOTG Vol.2 in the Toronto Sun.

“It’s a fabulous script,” the former Parks and Recreation star gushed. “I think it’s going to be — I’m not using hyperbole, here – I think it’s going to be the biggest spectacle movie of all time… I’m fortunate. I’m fortunate in so many ways. I couldn’t count the ways, even if I tried.” This, coming from the man who got to sing a tribute to Pawnee’s hero Lil’ Sebastian, is high praise indeed.

The second instalment of the franchise will focus on Pratt‘s character Peter Quill tracking down his father, Ego, who is a human planet. Sadly, it is unlikely that he will be portrayed in any way similar to Unicron in the 1986 Transformers movie (looking somewhat like real planet-sized human Orson Welles) – as director James Gunn has confirmed he will be taking man-sized form.

Sadly, not an early picture of Ego…

 

Pratt wasn’t giving away any other spoilers that what we already know: Kurt Russell will appear as Star Lord’s father, more awesome music will be used and (hopefully) we’ll be treated to a trailer before Christmas – sorry James, I know this is a sore point! He also neglected to disclose how large Sean Gunn‘s role will be this time around, which (as a Gilmore Girls fan) is the question I really would like answering! Come on Chris, throw me a bone here! He left the interview with a last thought, which is in no way a spoiler, as we all know it will be the case:

“It’s exceptional”

Follow me on Twitter @pixiewose

Alterna’s ‘The Black Hand’ Review

Alterna Comics’ 4-part miniseries The Black Hand is written and created by Erica J. Heflin. This series, in my opinion, is a nice mix of Medieval fantasy and paranormal.

The story revolves around main protagonist Victoria Addair, who after surviving a near death experience as a child now possess a black hand. The hand holds the power to slay undead demons and ghosts . . . Badass right? With this blackened hand, Victoria is drafted into doing the bidding of the Order of Black Hand, a powerful secret organization. Long story short, Addair is basically a prisoner of the order, only allowed to go out on extermination missions of undead baddies. Victoria begins to realize something is up when she is sent to slay the ghost of a child named the Grey Boy. We, the reader, come to realize that it is only with help of Grey Boy she can uncover the truth to save them all from certain death. Whoa!

The Black Hand isn’t your typical fantasy comic. First off, the main character is a hard swearing, sword swinging,  ass kicking female. She’s a bit of an outcast in the order as her colleagues in the Order of the Black Hand want nothing to do with her. They’re under the belief she’s dangerous and irresponsible and likely to get them killed. She’s easily annoyed, strong-minded and anti-social; this makes for some entertaining verbal exchanges with every person she meets. (I loved it) As far as I’m concerned every character in this story is strong and memorable.  The child Victoria is sent to protect, Fadir Rahil is a blunt, honest and irresponsible character. His developing relationship with Victoria is the at the core of the story. The child’s father, Master Rahal, struck me as a deceptive sort of man, with a known  history of keeping secrets, and it’s those secrets that have led to the undead rising from their graves in an effort to take revenge and bring terror to his family.

Heflin’s narrative of the story is pretty quick. That being said. the action was turned up along with the intrigue of the story pretty evenly throughout. I did prefer some the art over others, but all in all, it’s solid. Coming in at 86 pages over 4 issues, The Black Hand is a fun, exciting read with enough of its own strength to stand on its own. I’m certain anyone looking for something off the radar of the “Big 2” (Marvel & DC) in the fantasy realm will be surprisingly pleased with The Black Hand.

As far as I know this collection is only available digitally, but I’m almost positive (ALMOST) you will be able to find back issues at your local comic shop. CHeck it out and let me know what you think in the comments below!

 

 

 

 

 

Interview With Author R.J. Truman

R. J. Truman is the brain-power behind fantasy series The White Light Chronicles. Focusing on Obsidian White, a seventeen year old girl who finds herself on a journey to find her estranged father, and save the world in the process. This unique coming -of-age fantasy story made it’s debut in 2013 with Obsidian White-Shades of Violet and has since grown into a six book long series with the 7th and final book currently in the works.

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First things first – did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

Writing is always something I’ve loved doing, ever since I was younger. So yeah I guess in a way I have always wanted to be a writer.

Writing is a career that most find difficult to pursue and often find themselves deterred from – did you ever face adversity for wanting to become an author? And what did you do in the face of this?

Some people do find it hard to understand, as it’s difficult to make money from it. So I point out that it’s more like a hobby for me, and all hobbies cost money. But most people have been supportive or me, and I have another job that pays the bills.

Where did the idea for The White Light Chronicles come from, and what made you decide it had to be a series?

I got the idea for The WLC years ago after reading The Lord of the Rings, and being a tad obsessed with vampires. I got the crazy idea to find a way to combine elves and vampires into one story. Originally it was just going to be one book. But as time progressed I started to get ideas for other stories, and I decided to try and link all the stories together. I thought it would be fun to try and write a series.

What are your own favourite books or series? And do you have a favourite author?

I wish I had more time to read, I do still love The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien), and I’m not ashamed to admit I liked reading Twilight (Stephanie Meyer). But as for an all-time favourite author, I don’t think I’ve read enough books to be able to say.

Who would you say are your biggest inspirations? Authors, other fictional characters, people in your life?

I get a lot of inspiration from the people around me. I try not to base my characters on actual people I know, but I often use their traits in my characters. I also watch a lot of T.V and that helps to get my imagination working. I try to read as much as I can, but I can’t always find time.

How long does it take you to write your books?

It varies from book to book. I managed to write the first three books very quickly, as I was on maternity leave. And they were the ideas that I originally had years ago, but never got round to writing up.

What is your work and home schedule like when you’re writing?

I don’t really have a schedule, I’m more of a write when I’m in the mood kind of person. So I can go from writing every night in a week, to only writing once a week. All depending on how creative I am feeling.

What would you say is your biggest strength when it comes to writing your books?

Ooh that’s a difficult one, I’m not very good at picking out my strengths. I like writing dialogue, and think I’m quite good at that.

And your weakness? 

My biggest weakness is I’m lazy. I should spend more time on my books, but tend to get distracted a lot. Which isn’t always a good thing especially when it comes to editing them.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

When I’m not writing I am either spending time with my son, working, or building up my POP! Collection.

Have your family or friends read your books? Or are you fairly shy about showing your work to people you know?

I think most of my family members, friends, and even people I work with have read at least one of my books. To start with I was a bit shy about it. Now I want as many people as I know to read them. So I can get feedback on areas I need to work on and develop.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

I do hear quite a lot from my readers, as lots of them follow me on Facebook, and Twitter. Most of them are positive in what they say. And normally say how much they enjoy the books, and about how different they are from other things they have read. Which I like to take as a compliment.

Has anyone ever surprised you with feedback on your work?

My sister actually surprised me by saying she enjoyed the books. She doesn’t normally read fantasy stories, so I took that as a compliment that she liked mine.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

Just how crazy I really am.

 

What do you think makes a good story?

Something that really gets people’s imaginations going. I like to feel as if I’m there in the story, as one of the characters.

Have you ever surprised yourself by where your story is going? For example, authors usually map out a story, then find halfway through their characters have done something entirely different!

This happened to me a few days ago, when I was working on the final book in the series. I had all these ideas I wanted to use, and when I started writing I ended up with something completely different. A whole new bunch of ideas just came to as I was writing. And I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

Once you’ve completed The White Light Chronicles, do you have another series or book ready to go? Or will you be taking a step back from writing for a little while?

Once I’ve finished this series, I’m going to work on putting together a collection of short stories that I have already written. And after that, I have lots of ideas for stories written down all over the place. I would like to expand on some of them, and who knows maybe start my next series of books.

Will you be staying along the same tracks of Fantasy stories? Or are you going to dip into new genres for your next books?  

For now at least it looks like I’ll be staying in the fantasy genre. I’ve just got some ideas for a new series of books, so it will be interesting to see where that takes me.

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R. J. Truman’s The White Light Chronicles series is available to purchase on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. You can follow her on her Facebook and Twitter pages for further updates, including ones on her new series!

 

Weekly Bookette #11 New Books Of September 2016

It is time again to look at all the new books released this month. We will be looking at the books we find most interesting, so here goes!

And Then Emily Was Gone Vol 1 Review

And Then Emily Was Gone is one of the weirdest and disturbing comics I have ever had the pleasure to read from publisher Comix Tribe. The story is based on Scottish folklore specifically the tale of Bonnie Shaw a creature who offers to help out parents in stressful situations in exchange Bonnie would take ownership of one of their children.

Emily is gone, and her best friend Fiona seeks the help of famous former police officer, Greg Hellinger. Greg has been seeing grotesque monsters that haunt him and have driven him to a less then glamours lifestyle. Fiona Persuades Greg to help her find Emily and they travel to  Merksay Island, interacting with obscene creatures during their search.

My first impression of Ian Laurie‘s art was that it reminded me of the 90’s cartoon show Aaahh! Real Monsters which I enjoyed as a kid. Ian’s art is different in a good yet twisted way, the imperfections in the characters are showcased very well, and you get the sense of evil, desperation and fear from the appropriate characters. While I’m not generally a fan of this particular art style, it challenged me and it worked well with the story. The art never put me off from the story which is always good and is a testament to the skill of Ian’s art. Very rarely can I read a comic with bad art and a good story, thankfully both sections were executed well.

John Lees writing is mostly dialogue driven which is nice. He takes you on an emotional roller coaster with highs and lows and a few “what the?” moments. There is a nice flow to the story and appropriate endings to each issue leaving you with questions and wanting answers.

As with most horror comics these days there is gore and lots of it. What I really appreciate about And Then Emily Was Gone is that the gore doesn’t feel unnecessary or overused. They hit a nice balance in my opinion. It’s nice to see a comic that stands out from the thousands of other horror comics out there.

If you enjoy horror comics, this will exceed your expectations. If your not a fan of horror I’d still give it a shot it may surprise you (in more ways than one).

9/10

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And Then Emily Was Gone Vol 1 is available for $7.99 USD on Comixology

There is also a free comic from the And Then Emily Was Gone universe by John Lees and Iain Laurie coming out during Halloween Comicfest on October 29th, 2016.

Follow the creative team on Twitter

Writer John Lees:  @johnlees927       Website: John Lees Comics 

Artist Iain Laurie:  @IainLaurie

Colourists Megan Wilson: @MeganEngiNerd

Letterer Colin Bell: @colinbell

Publisher Comix Tribe: @ComixTribe       Website: comixtribe.com

Alan Moore Retires From Comics….Again

Legendary comic book writer Alan Moore announced yesterday at a press conference in London for his new novel Jerusalem that he will be retiring from comic books.

Moore told The Guardian that he has “about 250 pages left of comics left in him.” and added that “those will probably be very enjoyable”  Moore plans on finishing the last book of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and a few other titles that he is currently working on. Once those are complete Moore said he would do the odd comics piece in the future, but he is essentially done with comics.

Moore explained to The Guardian that he felt too comfortable in comics saying  “I think I have done enough for comics. I’ve done all that I can. I think if I were to continue to work in comics, inevitably the ideas would suffer, inevitably you’d start to see me retread old ground and I think both you and I probably deserve something better than that.”

Moore has been a harsh critic of the comic book industry for a long time and is  designated by many as “the grumpy old man of comics.” He has made some valid points about creativity, and the big two but for the most part he has attacked the very industry and medium that gave him a voice and a living. One can argue that he has earned that right with works as great as Watchmen, V for Vendetta, but Moore has expressed publicly his dislike for those books now and especially the movie adaptations (which is entirely understandable).

So while Alan Moore is on the tail end of his comics career again (this isn’t the first time he’s announced it), it seems a little more certain this time with the plan he’s laid out. Moore has not been doing mainstream comics for decades, and now and then is independent work get some buzz, but it’s hit and miss. The majority of comic fans assumed he stopped creating comics long ago. I appreciate what Moore has contributed to comics, but I’m not sure it’s a big loss for the industry.

He will still be writing novels and will tackle film an area he admits he know nothing about and likes the challenge. It will be interesting to see an Alan Moore film that’s for certain.

 

 

 

First Avengers: Infinity War Set Photo Released Shows Josh Brolin As Thanos

So the Production of The Avengers: Infinity War is not set to start until November but The Russo Brothers are already busy getting Pre-Production under way. They have shown this by way of a on set photo to show there rehearsal time with Josh Brolin in his role as The Mad Titan Thanos.

There is not much to see from this picture for those of you who were hoping for any kind of big reveal. The image shows Brolin in a Purple motion capture suit likely allowing the actor to get into character for the role.

The last time we saw Thanos was in the credits cut scene after The Avengers: Age Of Ultron where he removed the Infinity Gauntlet minus the infinity stones whilst clearly annoyed that another one had slipped out of his grasp and says “Fine. I’ll do it myself”

The battle with Thanos has been a long time coming after he attacked New York via the way of Loki and a Chitauri army. It will be interesting to see if he tells The Avengers that it was him who orchestrated the whole thing and as we know when the team are angered it can go either of two ways.

We know that Thanos does not currently have any of the Infinity Stones to place on his gauntlet so he still has plenty of work to do to obtain them all and it will be interesting to see how he manages this and how much chaos and destruction is caused to do this as they are all over the galaxy. We will have to wait some time to see how he manages to do this as we still have Doctor Strange, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther movies to come first before this movie is released on May 4th 2018.

As always for all your Mad Titan needs stick with @Deadpool_1984 only at skatronixxx.com

 

Book Review: “Saga: Volume Six” by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan

Saga is the incredible graphic novel series, narrated by Hazel as she recounts the story of her parents, their escape, and the war that constantly threatens their life. It’s the sci-fi fantasy opera that most might not even realise just how much they’ve needed until they pick it up.

Volume 6 follows a dramatic time jump to Hazel at kindergarten age, and how she must hide who she is whilst being educated inside a prison. Meanwhile, her parents have reunited with a determination to find their daughter, and are willing to work with whoever they need to get there.

Staples and Vaughan have always remained consistent with Saga, with stunning artwork, imaginative species and a thrilling, gripping story.

The themes always remain consistent in Saga; the shockwaves of war, even years after a war seems to have ended, war prisoners, racism, sexism, homophobia, PTSD, drug addiction – the list is seemingly endless, but in a story focussed on war, most of this is a given and a reality. Some are even a reality without the war. What also remains consistent however is the way that the writers present these issues. They are always tackled and presented starkly and tactfully, with nothing but respect. Saga always portrays the ugly side of these issues, presenting realistic and at times harrowing stories, added by the stunning and oft times shocking visuals.

What also remains consistent is the artwork. As usual, it’s visually stunning, with creatures of such fantastic imagination. I’ve never read a comic like it, with such interesting, clear and dynamic panels. It’s so utterly creative and genius, and I never find fault.

The characters are also endlessly wonderful – developing realistically and emotionally around their situations, watching them grow and interact has been nothing short of constantly interesting. I’m never bored by these characters, very easy to grow emotionally attached to all of them, even the side characters who only appear briefly. Hazel remains the honest and witty narrator of the story, aiding the wonderful visuals with clipped, sarcastic comments. She really is the perfect, if unexpected narrator of this tale, especially when she wasn’t present for much of the goings-on.

Overall, Saga: Volume Six continues to carry the story beautifully. Staples and Vaughan re-introduce us to so many characters, and continue to move this epic story forward. Plus, with the amazing, terrifying and somehow hilarious cliffhanger they’ve left us on, it’s very clear this story has a long way to go.

Upcoming Booster Gold Film May Not Connect With Current DCEU Films

The mastermind behind the current slate of popular superhero shows on The CW, mega producer Greg Berlanti, is working on a Booster Gold film. The only catch is that it seems the film wont be connected in any way to the current DC movie universe that started with Man of Steel.

Speaking with Vulture on the his experience working with comic book properties in both TV and movies he talked about a future project involving Booster Gold and where it falls in the DCEU:

“As of right now we have no connective tissue to those worlds,” referring to the current DC movies (Batman Vs. Superman, Suicide Squad) “It’d be a separate thing.”

The film has only secured a writer, Zack Stenz who wrote an episode for The Flash, and Berlanti is attached to it as a producer although he did express his desire to direct. It would be a strange move for DC to exclude Booster Gold from the DCEU. It would demonstrate a lack of confidence in the world building they have done so far. Greg Berlanti has done some excellent work on his TV shows so he should definitely be able to leave his mark in the DCEU. There was also a Booster Gold easter egg in Man of Steel. Even though Zack Snyder dismissed it as just something that would be cool to put in just for the sake of it there is no reason they can’t just run with it as well.

With the film being in the early stages of production things could change and Booster Gold could be making his way to the DCEU in the end. For now lets just thank our lucky stars they’re even working on a Booster Gold film.