* Neilalien, the first comicsblogger, has retired after an astonishing eleven years of blogging. I talk a little bit about what this means, and what it means to me personally, over at Robot 6.
* Quentin Tarantino has apparently finished putting together the long-promised Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, which will debut theatrically on March 27th with seven new minutes of O-Ren Ishii anime.
* Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor, Videodrome/Thriller/The Ring make-up effects demigod Rick Baker, and Velvet Goldmine/Reign of Fire star Christian Bale all won Oscars at the Academy Awards last night. That’s three for the good guys.
* Jinkies, get a load of the new Game of Thrones trailer. This looks pretty much exactly how I’d want it to look. I do feel, however, that I should say I found myself a bit concerned today that it could devolve into a bit of a harridan-off between Catelyn and Cersei. Hopefully it won’t, but after The Walking Dead I think people will certainly be paying attention to this sort of thing, and rightfully so. (Via Westeros.)
* Variety notes that the pending TV show is already boosting book sales in a big way. This link was also via Westeros, which has more.
* Speaking of Westeros, HBO’s official Game of Thrones site interviews Westeros co-founder Elio Garcia. What a delightful story of the impact A Song of Ice and Fire fandom has had on his life.
* Very very pretty A Song of Ice and Fire fanart by Kali Ciesemier: Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, and Brienne of Tarth. (Via Westeros yet again.)
* Finally, they’re a bit pricey, but there are now official Game of Thrones t-shirts featuring the emblems and words of various major Houses. Have we reached Peak Nerd? (Via Winter Is Coming.)
* Zack Soto is relaunching his much-missed alt-superhero/fantasy comic The Secret Voice as a weekly webcomic! Very exciting news.
* FX has greenlit a pilot for an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s very good cops-and-capes series Powers. Lots and lots of potential there.
* It’s looking more and more like the upcoming Marvel event Fear Itself will indeed be about giant dudes getting Asgardian warhammers and wrecking shop with them. I fully support this, even given the Tron costume piping.
* Curt Purcell is still working his way through Lost: Here he is on Season Three and Season Four. I have a lot i want to say about all this but I’ll probably wait till he’s finished the series.
* Are these new Cenobite Halloween costumes, designed by Clive Barker himself, the greatest Halloween costumes of all time?
* The Lord of the Rings costume designer Ngila Dickson won’t be working on The Hobbit due to prior commitments. That’s really a shame, and evidence, perhaps, of the potential tolls on talent and experience the films’ endless delays have taken.
* A John Hankiewicz comic I totally missed? Folks, I count on you to prevent things like this from happening.
* Hey, I made Kanye + Comics!
Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, books, Carnival of souls, comics, fantasy, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, horror, links, movies, music, t-shirts, TV
Two Thoughts
1. I’ve said repeatedly on my blog and to anyone I know who will listen, that I just am struggling to get excited for “Fear Itself,” and the idea that the whole comic will be about people fighting over hammers or something to defeat the God of war really makes me lose interest. The only thing keeping me from writing off the whole thing is that Matt Fraction is the writer, and most of the time he turns in dynamite stuff.
2. I’ve been waiting for a full-cut version of Kill Bill since it first came out. I eagerly await it coming out on DVD with a director’s commentary and other goodness hopefully.
What’s wrong with heroes and villains fighting each other over enchanted hammers? Seriously, I want to know why one might object to that premise.
I don’t object so much as I expect a huge event that has ramifications on the Marvel Universe to involve more than people smashing each other with magic hammers. I just like some philosophy or deep thought mixed in with my comics to make me both think and have fun. For example, I’ve been re-reading Warren Ellis’ 12 issue run on Thunderbolts and it continues to amaze me how he mixes action, politics, humor, and thoughts on what heroism is in such an entertaining story. I just worry a big event about people fighting for hammers will lack that. Then again, maybe this will be one of the deepest and most complex comics ever that just so happens to feature hammer-smashing and I’ll have to eat my words. Maybe I just have event-itis after being let down by Secret Invasion and Siege and liking but not loving Civil War.
This reporting on Katee Sackhoff being in the running for the Denna Pilgrim role seems a bit too thin – but the producers can’t be heartbroken about a actress of that calibre being interested. Fingers crossed, yeah?