I’m a big fan of Johua Middleton‘s art. Especially his cover art. In his blog, Josh has noted that he posted a youTube video showing the creation process of a comic cover he worked on from the pencils to the final rendering. This cover is from the DC series Outsiders with the story focusing on Aquaman and Metamorpho. Its interesting to note that he mentions being told that the new Aquaman is actually a teen, so when he showed the editorial staff the final version of the picture, they wanted him to make him look older, which is certainly a challenge for an already finished piece of art. Check out the blog entry for the full background, but here is the video:

Josh has posted a few other very similar and very cool videos on youTube of him sketching. You check his youTube account here.

Slow news days make for great little snippet updates.

Seems the boys over at Project 51 Productions have been brainstorming quite a bit, and have some exciting news. There’s not to be just one animated Castlevania movie – but three! A trilogy of animated movies, all telling the extended take of Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse. While this might not be what some fans had in mind, as I know I can hear some saying “But why can’t they just make separate movies for each game in the series?”, I can only say this – you want it done, or do you want it done right?

It also appears that series head, Koji Igarashi, is also involved in the movie as well. Of course, he was also supposedly ‘involved’ with the Castlevania comic books too, and those only got half-hearted reviews. Again, more news as it develops on that one.

Oh, and just as a smaller note – Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP will now be released in September.

When Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons” achieved the largest digital 3-D opening in history, people witnessed what could become the future of cinema. Joshua Greer, the President and Co-founder of Real D had this to say during a recent interview with IGN,

“…what’s really happening now with the filmmakers that are being turned on to 3-D is we’re seeing a new creative renaissance. And at the end of the day it’s about the story, but even more importantly how you tell the story, and what’s happening with these filmmakers is the way they’re thinking about 3-D now, as opposed to being just a gimmick, but actually as a storytelling device, is really, frankly, going to reinvigorate the experience of cinema again. So 3-D in and of itself, if we do our job right, in the next 10 years it’ll be as ubiquitous as colour or sound. It’s not like anyone goes out now looking for a black and white television. It’s just a natural part of the world.”

The technology is quite interesting, and seems to be well within the reach of any major multiplex. I’m not sure how much I like the idea of having a box full of special, ‘Real D’ glasses from every movie I’ve seen, but if they have come this far in the last 10 years, who knows what the future holds. If Real D can engineer a version of this tech that does not require migraine inducing specs, Viva la Revolution!

I’m still of the mindset that this new medium is going to need a mainstream blockbuster in order to thrive and become a viable format. Attn: Peter Jackson, I believe a re-release of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is in order.

Additional “Real D” enhanced movies:
Lions 3D – Spring 2007
U23D – Fall 2007
Sea Monsters – October 2007
Beowulf – November 2007

For the full feature, click here.

Real D Homepage

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.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Good News: Superman looks like he did in JLU!
Bad News: Superman looks like he did in JLU!

I thought we were getting treated to some switch-up in the art style to go with these direct-to-DVD DC Universe movies. Since these DVDs aren’t part of the old DC animated universe, I woudl’ve liked to see that reflected. Some more comic-like designs would’ve been nice, if it ain’t broke I can’t reasonably expect them to change anything. The one major shocker in this whole thing is a bit of blood on Superman. This was one of those things they NEVER did in the show. Take a look.

Hopefully this will be better than the last few efforts from WB at the DVD market. Brainiac Attacks, The Batman vs The Dracula, and Mystery Of The Batwoman weren’t exactly anything worth writing a blog post to praise.

Whats your favorite home video superhero movie? I felt Batman: Subzero was underrated.

In honor of the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken will dedicate an entire episode toward the film classic.

CNN reports that its got George Lucas involved, as well as Mark Hamill who will reprise his role as Luke Skywalker in the stop motion animated satire. The rest of the voice cast is decidedly un-Star Wars, with Conan O’Brien, Joey Fatone, and Hulk Hogan. Lucasfilm will also provide the authentic sound files for Chewbacca and R2D2.

Source: Lucas, Hamill reunite for ‘Star Wars’ spoof

Well at least they’re being upfront about it.

This is a promotional image that popped up online on Omelete.com for some reason. A new animated series for the X-Men has been in the works for some time, and we’d heard they would “focus” on Wolverine, but I didn’t imagine he’d get top billing like that. Take a look at Xavier in the background. He’s got new legs like Lt Dan.

Where is there room for the other major X-men players? Will there even be any character development for secondary characters? I realize thats a lot to assume from a single image, but they’re the ones who put Wolverine in 400 pt font.

Marvel is producing this themselves, not unlike the Avengers or Iron Man movies they’ve already released. Steve Blum will play Wolverine, no word yet if he’ll use the same voice he always uses in every role he’s ever played.

I got this hot tip on the chellphone this evening from powet faithful Robbie.

Reebok will be releasing 5 new colors for the Reebok Classic this October. These special shoes will be colored like one of the 5 Lion mechs, and each pair will come with the corresponding toy. Blue shoe gets you the blue lion, red gets you the red lion, and so on. Get all 5 pairs and you’ll be able to form Voltron: Defend Of The Universe!

I’ve never in my wildest dreams imagined the Voltron revamp would come from Reebok, but here it is. Five shoes, Five lions. These are apparently destined to tie in with a new 2008 series, which we’ve heard some rumors about.

We’ll have more info on this later, including where these shoes should be for sale and how much they’ll cost. If you had to give your favorite toyline a shoe, what would it be? Leave a comment below.