The image above comes from a few weeks back, when Terrence Howard (playing Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes in the movie) came by Edwards Air Force Base in California for some training. Recently, when Howard made a return trip to the base, this time he brought everyone back with him, and director Jon Favreau set up camp to do three days of filming.

The article from Edwards AFB’s actual website talks a bit about locations they used, shares some quotes from Favreau, and even has some personal quotes from the members of the Air Force:

At Edwards AFB, Mr. Stark and his sidekick, Lt. Col. Jim Rhodes, brought their comic book characters to life against a bustling backdrop of high-tech aircraft, a dry lakebed that’s a secondary landing strip for the space shuttle, and stretches of desert to be depicted in the movie as Afghanistan.

“I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but my friends who got involved with it had a great time, so I didn’t want to miss out on this one,” he said.

The article continues with a few more quotes from various members of the Air Force who enjoyed their time working on the film, including one man who just wants his son to be able see him in a movie, another who actually did get to work on the Transformers movie, and even one guy who was just happy his Porsche got put in the film.

The Superman: Doomsday DVD arrives this fall, on September 18th, but the website for the movie has just launched! Alright, I admit, that’s not really news in itself, but what IS news is that there’s a pretty telling, very interesting behind-the-scenes trailer that runs as soon as you enter. You can visit the site here and see the trailer in full. If you want a quick look at some some screencaps and analysis of what was said, then read on after the jump.
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Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, the world gets its first look at the ketchup-and-mustard flavored suit Robert Downey Jr. will be wearing in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. The suit was designed by Oscar-winning special effects man Stan Winston, who has quite an impressive resume to his name, spanning from Edward Scissorhands to Predator to Galaxy Quest to Terminator 2 … and the list goes on and on.

Favreau had made a cryptic comment on myspace yesterday, saying, “Check out this weeks EW. You might want to check their website as well.” And clearly, this is the payoff. I only wish they had a bigger image to share than the one showing on the left.

As for the suit itself, it definitely looks, for lack of a better word, right. I can’t say I’m surprised; they did such a glorious job on the grey suit that I expected them to knock this one out of the park as well. As cool (and comics-accurate) as the suit might look though, it turns out (not too surprisingly) that it’s a bit of a chore to wear. “Robert was very bullish on wearing the suit whenever possible,” said Favreau. “Now I don’t know if he’s such a fan of that idea.” Oh, you crazy Hollywood people, not wanting to walk around in giant, heavy, sweaty mech-suits.

New Avengers/Transformers #1 may come out in July, but the first glimpse of the interiors has just been made available for your viewing pleasure – just click on the thumbnail on your left. It’s the pencilwork for page 19 (of the 32-page book), as drawn by Tyler Kirkham.

I realize it’s not much, but at least we’re getting an idea of what the interiors will look like. And hey, we even get to see a glimpse of the two groups standing face to face. More or less. I kind of hope this isn’t the first meeting though – otherwise, what are the first 18 pages being spent on? I guess if that’s mostly Doctor Doom and Decepticons running around together, I could live with that. Personally, I’m loving that Doom is the Marvel equivalent to ALL of the Decepticons. That’s a lot of sneaky bastardliness to fit in one human being.

As previously announced, the book goes on sale Thursday July 5th (not on Wednesday the 4th as it’s a little local holiday) and will cost $2.99.

Hellboy: Darkness Calls #1 (of 6)
written (and covers) by Mike Mignola, art by Duncan Fegredo

No, I didn’t forget that World War Hulk kicks off this week. The prologue book hitting shelves tomorrow is written by Peter David and will be drawn by John Romita Jr. Those two are always awesome, and just in case you need proof, just check the image on the right. Now, I’m confident the decision of whether or not you’ll be buying this thing has already been made, so let’s get back to Hellboy.
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David Goyer, known more for writing movies like Batman Begins and the Blade trinity, will be flexing his directing muscles when he goes to work on the upcoming Magneto movie. There’s not a lot of concrete details about the film, but ICv2.com tells us, “The story will focus on the early life of Magneto with his parents in Aushwitz, and hunting down Nazi war criminals after the war.”

Don’t let Goyer’s presence make you think this movie is a guaranteed winner though – the only completed movies we’ve seen from writer Shelden Turner are 2005’s The Longest Yard (starring Adam Sandler) and 2006’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I remain optimistic, but very, very, very wary.

Catwoman #66
written by Will Pfeifer, drawn by David Lopez

It’s a bit of a slow week, so this time around, instead of whoring this space out for the Next Big Event (it’s Amazons Attack, if you must know), I’m going to push this book because the previous issue, according to the Invincible Super-Blog, contained “killer robots, explosions, time travel, and a heroine who smack-talks the cornerstone of the DC Universe just because she isn’t in any mood to deal with him at the moment.”

The book’s been reviewing extremely well, and what art I’ve seen looks gorgeous (I’m not just talking about Selina Kyle), and a cursory glance at the solicitations tells me that this book should be accessible to a newcomer. So instead of digging deeper into the event-driven mess that the comics landscape has become, live a little, and try out a good book that seems to be accessible to newcomers – something of a rarity in the world of comics.

The Snow Patrol music video for “Signal Fire,” featuring a grade school rendition of Spider-Man. It’s AWESOME. And I like the song.