Lucy Liu Cast as Dr. Watson in CBS' ELEMENTARY

Well, this should help quiet some of the critics of CBS' upcoming modern-day Sherlock Holmes TV pilot Elementary.

Deadline reports that Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Charlie's Angels actress Lucy Liu has been cast as Dr. Joan Watson, a female version of Dr. John Watson who serves as Holmes' crime-solving partner.  Liu's Watson will be a former surgeon who lost her license after a patient died, while consulting for the New York Police Department.

In addition, more information was revealed about star Jonny Lee Miller's version of Sherlock Holmes. This Holmes will be "an eccentric Brit" who was a former consultant to Scotland Yard until his addiction problems led him to a rehab center in New York City.  Now just out of rehab (for heroin addiction, presumably), this Holmes lives in Brooklyn with Watson as his "sober companion."

Since Elementary's announcement back in September, the pilot has received considerable criticism as a blatant ripoff of the BBC's modern-day Holmes series Sherlock, most notably from co-creator Steven Moffat.  Liu's casting as a female Watson, combined with the take of Holmes being out of rehab and the New York setting, appears to alleviate some of those concerns.

Epic New GAME OF THRONES Season 2 Trailer is Epic

Winter is coming...back.

Late last night (or early this morning, take your pick), HBO's Go app released a brand-new trailer for the second season of Game of Thrones, based on the popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy saga by writer George R.R. Martin.  This new trailer is as epically-epic as you would hope, showcasing numerous characters and settings that continue to populate the television adaptation.

Everything is as it should be...Jon Snow is broody among the snow, Littlefinger and The Spider are as manipulative as ever, Daenerys Targaryen is ready to unleash dragonfire, Stannis Baratheon claims the Iron Throne is his, Robb Stark is taking on his father's responsibilities at a cost, Tyrion Lannister wants to know everything his sister Cersei is doing, and Bran Stark and Hodor see a comet foretelling dragons.

Game of Thrones returns on April 1st.  In the meantime, you can check out the new trailer below, thanks to the Game of Thrones YouTube account...

DAMN Good Comics -- FANTASTIC FOUR #603

Y'know, it's a damn shame so little happens in Fantastic Four these days...Ahem.

Part Four of Jonathan Hickman's epically-epic "Forever" continues the redemption of the title as "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine."  On a cosmic scale not seen since the days of creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Hickman keeps unloading everything he's been building since he took over with issue #570 into a final storyline that FF fans are going to remember well into their old age.

This issue starts off, quietly enough, with world-eater/planet-killer Galactus duking it out in space with a group of Mad Celestials that speak just like Daleks from the TV series Doctor Who.  From there, we learn that the Interdimensional Council of Reeds was constructing a god-killing weapon called Sol's Anvil, which "our" Reed hooks up to four (of course) power bases located on Old Atlantis, The Negative Zone, The Blue Area of the Moon and The Forever City.  This ends up with one of the Invisible Woman's finest moments, as she defiantly defends her unconscious husband from an assault by the Mad Celestials.

And this isn't even the conclusion.

Although the art for this issue isn't by regular artist Steve Epting, Barry Kitson more than ably steps in to give Hickman's script enough visual gravitas.  Scenes of a towering figure like Galactus facing a combined Mad Celestial megabeing at least five times his size look great, especially to see the Big G having his cosmic behind blasted all the way into an impact crater in Africa.  However, it's the Invisible Woman's tearful look of defiance against the Mad Celestials where Kitson is most effective, selling the scene perfectly.

So just one more issue of "Forever" to go.  The adult versions of Franklin and Valeria Richards have jumped all the way from Fantastic Four #582 to get here, so here's hoping crossing all that space and time was worth it.  If next month's issue turns out as well as this one did, it definitely will be.

What's Up With ALCATRAZ's Golden Age Sandman Fan?

The FOX science-fiction prison drama Alcatraz gained another comic book fan last week in the form of Nikki, a medical examiner played by actress Jeananne Goossen.  In the episode "Paxton Petty," the show's resident comic book writer/artist/shop owner Dr. Diego "Doc" Soto encounters Nikki for the first time and learns that the coroner is a fellow geek for the classic DC Comics character Wesley Dodds, a.k.a. the Golden Age Sandman.

After Doc Soto quickly spots Nikki rocking a Golden Age Sandman t-shirt, he awkwardly tells her that he has "every issue of Sandman, mint condition."  Now, the Golden Age Sandman didn't actually have his own comic until the outstanding DC/Vertigo series Sandman Mystery Theatre that debuted in 1993 and lasted for 70 issues.  However, it might be a bit more impressive if Doc Soto owned copies of the characters first appearances in 1939 in New York World's Fair Comics #1 and Adventure Comics (vol.1) #40, all the way through to Adventure Comics (vol.1) #102 from 1945.  Just something to keep in mind there, Alcatraz writers.

Nikki returned in last night's episode "Johnny McKee," sporting a different Golden Age Sandman t-shirt.  (Where does she get these things, anyway?  TeeFury?)  And since IMDb lists that Nikki will also be in the episode "Clarence Montgomery," it seems the character is intended to be someone for Doc Soto to crush on and be geekily awkward around, even if actual romantic involvement never happens.  However, since the shared obscure interest seems a bit coincidental, it's possible to read a bit more into Nikki and imagine that she's secretly working for Emerson Hauser, with the intention of driving a wedge for whatever purpose between Doc Soto and Rebecca Madsen.

But hey, let's just hope for Doc's sake that true Geek Love wins out in the end...

Paul McGann Sings Backup for His Companion at Gallifrey One 23

"These backup singer's shoes...They fit perfectly!  Yesssss...."

Last night at the Gallifrey One's Network 23 convention held at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport hotel, the stars of the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie reunited for a stage performance from actress Daphne Ashbrook, who played the Eighth Doctor's companion Dr. Grace Holloway.  Singing "I Don't Need No Doctor" from her 2010 album Grace Notes, Ashbrook was backed up by three male singers (well, sort of singers) including her TV movie co-stars Eighth Doctor actor Paul McGann and Yee Jee Tso, who played Chang Lee.  Charlie Ross, a Scottish comedian who voiced the role of Lest in the Eighth Doctor audio adventure Memory Lane for Big Finish Productions, rounded out the rather rhythmless backup trio.

Oh, and look...Daphne Ashbrook even has a downloadable MP3 of "I Don't Need No Doctor" for you to buy here on Amazon...

You can check out a video of the performance below, thanks to the kindness of YouTube user Davendea...

Bargain Hunting for Digital Comics

Okay, you've managed to get yourself one of those wacky iPad things or some other sexy tablet device and you're interested in checking out some of these digital comics you've been reading about.  And let's say for the sake of argument that some of the prices for new books, especially the $3.99 ones, seem a bit insane to you considering there's no tangible paper to justify the switch from traditional comic books for the same price.

Well, there are a few ways around that if you have a little patience and you're willing to bargain hunt...

Wait one month or so for the price to drop -- Most publishers will drop the price of new releases after one month.  DC Comics, for example, drops the price of their $2.99 books down to $1.99 and their $3.99 books down to $2.99.  IDW, meanwhile, will drop their $3.99 books down to $1.99 after the first month, which is an even better deal.  Unfortunately, the main exception here is Marvel, who seems frustratingly locked into the notion that new $3.99 titles such as Avenging Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men need to remain at $3.99 even after five months or longer.  Granted, this helps brick-and-mortar comic shops stay competitive, but doesn't exactly make Marvel competitive with other publishers on the digital front.  You could be doing a lot better with this, Marvel.

Look for the free comics -- Sadly, free digital comics aren't as prevalent as they used to be on iPad apps, but there was a time (okay, just last year) when all the major publishers were posting free digital comics for you to enjoy on their respective apps and ComiXology on a consistent, weekly basis.  Well, the last free comic DC posted was End of Nations #0 on November 18, 2011 (three months ago to the day) and it's just been "Sneak Peek" promotional previews ever since.  Dark Horse currently has 33 free comics available, but it seems like 85% of them have been there for over two months or longer, so there's a serious staleness factor there.  Surprisingly, the big winner for free comics is Marvel, who regularly posts two or three new free comics every Tuesday night.  Some of the offerings are even as recent as last summer, others from ten years ago or older, some are top books, others obscure gems, you name it.  Yeah, they also throw in some promotional stuff, but some of it can be exclusive prologue stories to upcoming events like the Avengers movie.  Other publishers should really follow Marvel's lead on this particular front.

Wait for special sales -- This is the big one for bargain hunters.  Every week or so, ComiXology and/or a certain publisher will offer a weekend or holiday discount sale focusing on a particular character, team, title or theme.  Most of these discounts offer titles for just $0.99, the price most of us are willing to pay for comics we already own and love again in this newer digital format.  DC Comics has been embracing these sale promotions more and more with things like their excellent "101 Sales" that offer 101 classic and recent titles of Superman, Batman, The Flash, whatever the theme is that month, for just $0.99 each.  Marvel is right behind as well, but they choose to concentrate on Mondays and Fridays for their $0.99 sales.  Dark Horse and IDW will have a similar sale every so often, as will Image and Dynamite, but nowhere near the frequency or scale as DC or Marvel.  Regardless of the publisher, though, these special sales are great ways to build a considerable digital comics collection and get runs of titles like JLA or Astonishing X-Men for far less than you spent buying them in paper.

So all in all, the bargains are there if you keep looking for them on a regular basis and aren't focused solely on just a few specific titles.  They're also a good excuse to try something new, as I did with Image's Morning Glories or IDW's Star Trek ongoing series, so go ahead and see what's out there.  You might like what you find.

Green Arrow TV Pilot Casts Black Canary (Sort of)

Okay, she's not Black Canary now...but maybe someday?

Casting for Arrow, the CW pilot based on DC Comics' superhero Green Arrow, continues with the addition of Supernatural and Gossip Girl actress Katie Cassidy.  According to Deadline, Cassidy has been cast as Laurel, the show's female lead who is a young legal clinic attorney that has a romantic past with Oliver Queen.

The casting description found on The TV Addict describes the character as "28 years old, smart sexy, Laurel is a legal aid attorney determined to use her life as a one-woman war against the 1% following the death of her younger sister Sara.  A sister, who as luck would have it, just so happened to have died aboard Oliver’s yacht."

As fans of Green Arrow know, the character has had a long-running on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Dinah Laurel Lance, a.k.a. the superheroine Black Canary.  Cassidy will be the third actress to star as a live-action version of the character for the CW/WB, after Rachel Skarsten appeared as "Dinah Redmond" on the short-lived 2002 series based on DC's Birds of Prey, and Alaina Huffman portrayed the character in a recurring role on the Superman-based series Smallville.

The addition of Cassidy to the Arrow cast follows on news that Stephen Amell will be Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and actress Susanna Thompson will be playing Oliver's mother Moira Queen.