Ryan Reynolds' Full CGI GREEN LANTERN Uniform

The full CGI uniform for Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern character Hal Jordan has been posted on ComingSoon.net.  Based on the three pictures shown on the site, it's certainly an...um...interesting design.  Actually, it's not that bad, apart from one certain feature...

Yep, instead of a pair of proper badass boots, Hal apparently has just a thin covering of energy over his bare feet.  There doesn't seem to be any gaps between the toes to allow for toe-pinching fights, but here's hoping he doesn't step on any sharp rocks or broken glass...

Michael Shannon Cast as MAN OF STEEL's General Zod

In 2012, Superman will kneel before...Van Alden?

Warner Bros. has officially announced that actor Michael Shannon, perhaps best known as the creepy and seriously disturbed federal agent Nelson Van Alden on HBO's Boardwalk Empire series, will be playing the role of the villainous General Zod in Zack Snyder's upcoming Superman film, now called Man of Steel.  And as you might expect, there was a press release:

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Michael Shannon will star in the role of General Zod in director Zack Snyder’s new Superman film, titled “Man of Steel.”

Snyder stated, “Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role.”

As General Zod, Shannon will go toe-to-toe with Henry Cavill, who plays the new Clark Kent/Superman in the film. The main cast also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathan Kent.

Michael Shannon was honored with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Shannon was most recently seen in the award-winning HBO drama series “Boardwalk Empire,” from executive producer Martin Scorsese. He will next be seen in Sony Pictures Classics’, “Take Shelter,” from director/writer Jeff Nichols.

Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

“Man of Steel” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Shannon is the third actor to play Zod in live-action, after Terence Stamp in the films Superman (1978) and Superman II and Callum Blue on the television series Smallville.  This casting also completely counters statements that Snyder made back in November that General Zod would not appear in his upcoming film.  "The internet has no idea what's going on," remarked Snyder at the time, who said that rumors of General Zod's involvement in the reboot were "just wrong."

So for those of you keeping score at home, that's The Internets - 1, Snyder - 0 so far.

DAMN Good Comic of the Week -- FEAR ITSELF #1

Who knew a comic about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be this good?  Wait...You say it's not about that "fear itself"?  Oh, okay.

Marvel Comics launched the first issue of the Fear Itself event series this week (not counting the Book of the Skull prologue) and so far, this one is showing a considerable amount of promise.  Writer Matt Fraction has finally been given a major Marvel Universe event to play with and as readers of his Invincible Iron Man series already know, he's always at his best with an epic, big-budget movie style storyline.

Working with the real-world notion of increased societal tensions, Fraction shows Sharon Carter and the former and soon-to-be-again Captain America Steve Rogers caught in the middle of protests against a deliberately unidentified building to be constructed at a "sacred site" in Lower Manhattan.  (HInt:  It begins with "m" and ends in "osque")  The protests predictably turn into a full-blown riot, foreshadowing the growing fear and tension throughout the Marvel Universe.

We then cut to Sin, the daughter of the villainous Red Skull, leading an expedition to Fortress Null (Zero) in Antarctica, where a mysterious hammer is being guarded by a group of men isolated from the world since 1942 and kept alive by Nazi superscience.  (See?  Big-budget movie, like I said.)  And just like another familiar hammer by the name of Mjolnir, this hammer grants the one who is worthy to use it the power of a god.

And based on this first issue, it seems the word worthy is a central theme to this entire storyline.  Thor's hammer Mjolnir has the inscription "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."  The hammer Sin finds has another inscription, "And he who shall be worthy will wield the hammer of Skadi."  For some as yet unexplained reason, Thor's father Odin gets extremely pissy at Uatu, the Watcher, telling him "Who are you to judge the All-Father?" and "I shall not be watched and I shall not be judged!"  And most importantly, Skadi's father Thiazzi, the apparent Big Bad in all of this, summons a group of beings called The Worthy in order to make everyone on Earth fear him as he prepares to throw down with Odin.

Sounds sufficiently eventful for an event series, doesn't it?  It also doesn't hurt that Stuart Immonen is handling the artistic duties along with Laura Martin on colors, giving every page the amount of flash and style it deserves.  This first issue covers so much in terms of scope and Immonen makes it all looks so effortless, no matter if the scene has gods fighting with one another or a father and his little boy watching a falling celestial object at night.

At long last, the various Marvel heroes are done with civil wars, secret invasions and sieges.  The gods have left them on their own and everything is about to hit the fan.  So what happens next?

I can't wait to find out.

26 Years of Attending Mid-Ohio-Cons and THIS Happens

All of the sudden, I'm reminded of the song "1985" by the band Bowling for Soup...

Some of my favorite memories are going to the annual Mid-Ohio-Con comics and sci-fi convention, ever since writer/artist John Byrne appeared in 1985 at the Richland County Fairgrounds in Mansfield just before relaunching the post-Crisis Superman for DC Comics.  The con has moved around the state of Ohio and has had different dates throughout the fall, but apart from the few years I lived in Florida in the early '90s, I've always made a point to go no matter what.  I've seen and met a number of legendary comics creators, bought an insane amount of comics and the occasional bootleg video (allegedly), and taken solace in the knowledge that I can spend at least one weekend out of the year doing something that I love.

And now, through another strange, wibbly-wobbly universal anomaly, I'm actually appearing at Mid-Ohio-Con (excuse me, now Mid-Ohio Comic Con) as a guest.  Madness.

So I imagine it will only be slightly, kinda-sorta, absolutely, positively bizarre to be sitting on the other side of the table signing someone's comic instead of asking to have one or two signed signed for me.  I did a Barnes & Noble book signing years ago for my Star Trek: Strange New Worlds short story, "Doctors Three," but dealing with a convention crowd is something else entirely.

If you're interested in checking out the potential trainwreck, you can find more information here at the official site, and be sure to block out October 22 and 23 on your 2011 calendar.  I'll be there at the Greater Columbus Convention Center to sign copies of my Generator Rex stories for DC Comics' Cartoon Network Action Pack and probably go on at length about the TV series Doctor Who to anyone foolish enough to ask me about it.  Hope to see you there!

First Half of DOCTOR WHO Series Six Episode Titles Revealed

By way of their Twitter account @DWMtweets, the folks at Doctor Who Magazine have announced the first seven episode titles for Series Six that launches on April 23rd in both the United Kingdom and the United States:

1.  The Impossible Astronaut by Steven Moffat (Part One of Two)

Four envelopes, numbered 2, 3 and 4, each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue. Who sent them? And who received the missing number one? This strange summons reunites the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret the Doctor's friends must never reveal to him.

Placing his life entirely in their hands, the Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope - just who is Canton Everett Delaware the Third? And what is the relevance of their only other clue: 'Space 1969'? Their quest lands them - quite literally - in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon himself to assist enigmatic former-FBI agent Canton, in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman.

2.  Day of the Moon by Steven Moffat (Part Two of Two)

The Doctor is locked in the perfect prison. Amy, Rory and River Song are being hunted down across America by the FBI. With the help of new friend and FBI-insider, Canton Everett Delaware the Third, our heroes are reunited to share their discoveries, if not their memories. For the world is occupied by an alien force who control humanity through post-hypnotic suggestion and no one can be trusted. Aided by President Nixon and Neil Armstrong's foot, the Doctor must mount a revolution to drive out the enemy and rescue the missing little girl. No-one knows why they took her. Or why they have kidnapped Amy Pond...

3.  The Curse of the Black Spot by Stephen Thompson

4.  The Doctor's Wife by Neil Gaiman

5.  The Rebel Flesh by Matthew Graham (Part One of Two)

6.  The Almost People by Matthew Graham (Part Two of Two)

7.  A Good Man Goes to War by Steven Moffat (Part One of Two)

Series Six will then return sometime in September for the conclusion of "A Good Man Goes to War."  Following episodes will feature stories by returning Doctor Who writers Mark Gatiss, Tom MacRae, Gareth Roberts and the Series Six finale by Steven Moffat.  In addition, episode eleven (written by Toby Whithouse) is reported to be called The God Complex.

GREEN LANTERN WonderCon Footage Brightens Fans' Day

In an apparent response to criticism that the first trailer was too goofy and not enough of a space epic, some new footage that goes completely in the opposite direction debuted this weekend at WonderCon in San Francisco, California.

An abridged four-minute version has made its way onto the Internets, showcasing more of the characters Sinestro, Tomar-Re and Abin Sur and providing a better look at the Green Lantern Corps and the planet Oa.  It starts with Sinestro (obviously before he goes rogue and leaves the Corps) descending from the sky to warn the Corps of "an unprecedented danger, an enemy powerful to destroy entire civilizations."  We then see Abin Sur battling for his life and fleeing in an escape pod bound for Earth, where he will pass on his ring to his successor, Hal Jordan as played by Ryan Reynolds.

After receiving the ring, Jordan goes home and attempts to recite the Green Lantern oath, which starts off as a combination of a courtroom testimony oath and the American Pledge of Allegiance.  The Lantern uploads the correct oath directly into Jordan's brain, sending him rocketing across the universe to the planet Oa, home of the Guardians of the Universe and their agents, the Green Lantern Corps.  Jordan arrives wearing his new CGI Green Lantern uniform and meets Tomar-Re, wonderfully voiced by actor Geoffrey Rush.

Cutting back to Sinestro rallying the troops--errrrr, Lanterns with a chant of "WE ARE THE CORPS!", we then head back to Earth to see Peter Sarsgaard's character Hector Hammond being altered and gaining the worst case of fivehead ever.  Jordan recites the Green Lantern oath once again, this time over footage of Parallax, the big alien beastie threatening Earth.

Some intial reactions on Twitter are already calling this film Men in Black meets Iron Man and I can't say that I disagree with them.  Here's the footage so you can decide for yourself...

The Eighth Doctor TV Return Speculation Respeculates

"Respeculates"?  Honestly, is that even a word...?

Well, by now, any Whovian worth their weight in jelly babies or Jammie Dodgers has seen at least one of the latest trailers for the upcoming Series Six of Doctor Who.  The BBC trailer released on March 30th included this very interesting shot around the 0:37 mark that featured what appears to be the Doctor's companions Rory and Amy taking cover from a mysterious sphere of energy inside the TARDIS...just not their Doctor's TARDIS.  No, it looks to be the previous coral "desktop theme" utilized during the Ninth and Tenth Doctor eras, which is making fans wonder if there will be some timey-wimey appearance by a past Doctor in Series Six.

One of the major Doctor Who information sites, Kasterborous, has taken this speculation a bit further by throwing out the suggestion that it might be the Eighth Doctor, as played by actor Paul McGann, who could turn up in the coral TARDIS console room.  They mention the new Eighth Doctor costume that McGann debuted at a New Zealand convention last October, which was reported to be for "promotional purposes" for future Eighth Doctor audio adventures from Big Finish Productions.  The same new costume that was approved by the BBC and even had a new Sonic Screwdriver designed by WETA Workshop.

Kasterborous, quite understandably, finds all this a bit curious, moreso in light of the apparent return of the previous TARDIS console room in Series Six.  (Gee, I wonder who else could have been suspicious about this costume...say, back in October when it debuted.)  They speculate that since the Ninth Doctor first appeared in the episode "Rose" along with the coral desktop theme and no Eighth-to-Ninth Doctor regeneration sequence has been filmed since McGann last appeared in the 1996 TV movie, it's possible that the Eighth Doctor could've also used the coral desktop theme late in his incarnation.

I'd also like to add that all of this is very interesting timing, considering the latest season of Eighth Doctor audio adventures just ended in the story "To the Death" written by Dalek vocal artist Nicholas Briggs.  This was a particularly brutal tale for the Eighth Doctor, who (Shhh...Spoilers!) suffered greatly from actions by his longtime enemies the Daleks and the second incarnation of The Monk, now played by actor Graeme Garden.  The lives of his companions Lucie Miller and Tamsin Drew, and his great-grandson, Alex Campbell, were all lost at various points throughout the story.  As he said goodbye to his granddaughter Susan following the events, the Doctor was extremely bitter and angry at what had transpired and when Susan asked where he was going, the Doctor replied "To the edge...and maybe beyond" before stepping into the TARDIS and dematerializing.  Inside, the Doctor listened to a recording made by Lucie over and over before darkly muttering the words "One day, I shall go back...Yes, one day...."

Now, this could simply be the setup for the next season of Big Finish audio adventures, but what if...what if...the Eighth Doctor actually goes back to another medium entirely?

Cue the Doctor Who cliffhanger theme music.  Ooooooooweeeeeeeeooooooooooooo....