I’ll probably do a longer post at the weekend about Secret Wars, how awesome New Avengers has been, what I think about ‘the end of the Marvel Universe’ and whatnot at the weekend but for now we should revel in how awesome this cover is:
Is Alex Ross the best? I think he might be the best.
“Jane is working on a draft of Fables as we speak,” says Heyman. “Nik Arcel [who’s still attached to direct] did a draft, and now he’s supervising Jane, who’s doing a draft. Hopefully that it’ll come in and we’ll be able to move to the next stage. All these things always take longer than you want. And Fables is not easy, by any means, but I think it’ll be pretty great.”
I’m a big fan of Fables. The difficulty with adapting something so big (see also: Sandman) is that any adaptation can only include so much and that so much may not include what makes it great for me. I’m also not sure about Fables as a film, it’s a series with, what 150 issues? I would do unspeakable things for a Game-of-Thrones-calibre HBO series of this but I’ll settle for a film done well.
(via Empire)
So, they’re really going for it on the casting (as long rumoured):
Here’s the official cast/character list:
Jared Leto – The Joker
Will Smith – Deadshot
Tom Hardy – Rick Flag
Margot Robbie – Harley Quinn
Jai Courtney – Boomerang
Cara Delevingne – Enchantress
Brief aside: Harleen Quinzel is the most ridiculous comic book name ever. That shit is nominative determinism up the wazoo.
Smith’s Deadshot, meanwhile – who Courtney had been rumoured for – is really Floyd Lawton, a hired assassin who claims he never misses. Rick Flag (Hardy) is the son of a legendary military man called upon to lead the squad despite some seriously unstable tendencies. Robbie has taken the role of Harley Quinn, who might be familiar to Batman fans as the Joker’s female sidekick, but who has her own agenda. Courtney, meanwhile, will be Boomerang, whose skill you can probably figure out. Seen as something of a class clown by the others, he’s also been known for racism, though we doubt that will be covered in the film. Finally, there’s Delevigne as Enchantress, a woman who uses her magical gifts for villainous ends.
Not feeling too excited about this, at least not yet, but (as always!) I hope it’s good.
(More at Variety, Hollywood Reporter)
A bit more Rafael Albuquerque:
I meant to post this back at Halloween but it slipped through a crack somewhere. For those that don’t know Albuquerque illustrates American Vampire which is worth a read (I was sold after issue 1).
Bruce is certainly channeling a dose of Skinner Sweet in this cover but for me it’s all about Aquaman – how badass does he look! Remove the hair and you’re not far from dark Abe Sapien. I approve wholeheartedly.
Henceforth there will be three kinds of money: Money got evilly, money got goodly, and money got in a morally neutral manner! Evil money can only be used to buy evil things, good money to buy good things, and neutral money to buy everything else.
SMBC on the money as usual, the last panel will raise a smile, but really it should make you despair at the world we live in.