By Todd Allen

Joss Whedon started something when he decided to continue Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a comic.  Now DC/Warners is following that lead and continuing Smallville as a comic, with Season 11 set to drop in April or May, depending on which format you want to read it in.

The comic will be written by Bryan Q. Miller, who was part of the Smallville writing staff and ended up as the Executive Story Editor.  He also spent a couple years writing the Batgirl comic.  Miller is as authoritative a Smallville vision as was available and he’s written comics before, so it seems like a good match there.  The art will be by Pere Perez.  Perez was on Batgirl with Miller and has done a few other things, notably some work on the Nightwing and Flamebird Action Comics run a couple years back.

The release schedule has a little bit of a quirk to it.  Weekly digital comic “chapters” starting April 13, 2012 (a Tuesday) and then collected into a print edition starting on May 16.  Offhand, I’d say the digital is there to do two things:

• Trying to find the Smallville fans that are certainly dedicated enough online, but don’t seem to have a presence in the Direct Market.  Cat Staggs is the cover artist for the digital edition and Gary Franks for the print.  Having Franks, much more famous in the DM, for the print comic does speak to different audiences.
• Mimicking the weekly schedule of a TV show.

Buffy started out with huge numbers as a monthly comic and settled into merely very good (for an independent comic) monthly numbers and a lot of trade paperback sales.  It will be interesting to see if Smallville can find similar success.

We also have an answer to an old question.  What will it take to get DC to do a regular Smallville comic?  The show getting cancelled.

Official announcement follows:

Fans of the smash-hit TV series Smallville haven’t had much to cheer about since the show ended its critically acclaimed 10-year run on The CW last May.  That’s all going to change with the upcoming new comic book series from DC Entertainment: SMALLVILLE SEASON 11.  Written by former Smallville show scribe Bryan Q. Miller, the new digital first series will be published digitally on April 13, 2012, with new digital chapters released weekly thereafter.  Additionally, the online chapters will be offered in a print periodical, along with an episode guide to the hit television series, with the first print issue released on May 16.

The new comic book series picks-up where the show left off (with Clark officially now as Superman!) and features other fan-favorite characters including Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Chloe Sullivan-Queen, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and General Lane.  The book features an all-star creative team – in addition to Miller, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 creators include print cover artist Gary Frank (SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN), digital cover artist Cat Staggs and interiors by Pere Perez (BATGIRL).

“Six months after Clark Kent donned the cape and took to the skies to save Earth from Apokolips… enter Season 11!” enthuses Miller.  “New allies abound!  New enemies afoot!  And old friends return where they’re least expected!  Pere and colorist Chris Beckett have done a fantastic job of capturing the look of the show and the players, and Gary and Cat are knocking it out of the park on covers. I couldn’t be more excited to help give seasoned viewers and new readers an all-access pass to Clark’s first year in the cape.”

Ever since they roared onto the scene with inspiring patriotic zeal, tight loincloths and abs that ripple like a field of Athenian barley, the Spartans of 300 have taken hold in the popular imagination. The original movie catapulted both director Zack Snyder and star Gerard Butler into a higher league when it grossed a surprising $456 million worldwide. It also made “comic book movie” an even more popular term among Hollywood studios—300 showed that a film didn’t have to be based on Batman to make a mint—and made Frank Miller a movie icon.

Ever since, there’s been talk of a sequel, with creator Miller on board, and Snyder saying “Wow that would be cool.” But a sequel has already seemed very unlikely because—spoilers!—not too much of the original cast survived to make one. The word “prequel” was frequently invoked—and Miller found that ide to his liking, writing and drawing a comics prequel called XERXES which is due some day from Dark Horse. The exact subject matter remains vague, although Miller has promised that the story will cover a longer span of time and include naval battles, gods, and, hopefully, lots more abs.

But against all odds, a sequel has emerged, which, last we heard, was called 300: BATTLE OF ARTEMISIA because XERXES sounds too darned weird. (Every time we hear the title, all we can think of is the controversial life of painter Artemisia Gentileschi.) And it’s inching a teeny bit closer to reality with the very first casting whisper: Sullivan Stapleton is reported to be in talks to star. Noam Murro is set to direct from a script by Kurt Johnstad and Snyder.

Stapleton is currently seen in the TV show Strike Back, and he hails from Australia which is good, because men from Australia are thought to be manly, like Spartans.

But will he be able to provide the razor-sharp ridged abdominals that every 300 movie requires?

Verdict: Potential but he’ll need a lot of time in the gym to get in Spartan shape!

Chris Hardwick’s role as nerd frontman to the world continues unabated as he’s just signed a deal to appear at more ReedPop events, including C2E2 and NYCC. The “Talking Dead” host will appear at several events at both shows, and Nerdist Industries will participate in another White Space B2B think tank event such as was held at the 2011 New York Comic Con.

ReedPOP, creators and organizers of the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), as well as other major events in the popular culture world, and Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and pop culture content, have today announced a continuation and formalization of a relationship that successfully began at NYCC in 2011 with the launch of the exclusive WHITE SPACE B2B conference.  This new alliance provides for a wide range of strategic and cross-promotional activities that include Nerdist interviews with ReedPOP guests and a prominent role for Chris Hardwick, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nerdist Industries, at ReedPOP shows.  Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead as well as Nerdist specials for BBC America, founded Nerdist in 2008 and has nurtured its growth into a multimedia name now spanning blogs, a podcast, television, web-video, live-events and print.  Chris will be a leading personality at NYCC, C2E2 and other ReedPOP events.  
 
Nerdist Industries will have a presence on the floor of ReedPOP shows and will be significantly featured in several panels at these same events.   Hardwick hosted The Avengers and The Walking Dead panels at NYCC in 2011, and he will emcee similar marquee content in 2012.  In addition, Nerdist and ReedPOP will continue to work together to create another WHITE SPACE B2B conference this year as well as develop several live-events, tapings and podcasts at various ReedPOP shows.     
 
“As another nerd leading a group of nerds creating nerd-centric events, I could not be more excited to welcome Chris Hardwick and Nerdist Industries to join forces with ReedPOP,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP.  “Our goal is to deliver great shows for our fans, but we also want to communicate the excitement, innovation and essential inner nerdiness of the pop culture spectrum to the world at large.  This partnership with Nerdist Industries is a win-win, providing both like-minded organizations solid ways to amplify what we do through collaborating on new opportunities for our fans, our customers and ourselves.  We’re both forces in the pop culture world, and we’re eager to see what amazing things we can accomplish together.  I look forward to working with Chris and everyone at Nerdist Industries to make this a great continuing relationship.” 

”I am THRILLED to be working with ReedPOP in an official capacity. I attended C2E2 last year, and, while still a young event, I was amazed at how well-organized and fan-friendly it was. Between C2E2, New York Comic Con and ReedPOP’s other events, this partnership makes all the sense in the world for Nerdist Industries. I know this because were we to not be in business with ReedPOP, I’d still be attending these events as a fan,” Hardwick said.
 
As noted, Hardwick’s first appearance on behalf of the joint promotional relationship with ReedPOP will be at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) which will take place April 13 – 15, 2012 in the North Building of McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL.   He is scheduled to appear as emcee for special events on Friday, April 13, and he will also be available for a public autographing session.  Specific details of his participation at the show will be posted in the near future on the C2E2 website.  Hardwick will then present a live podcast from Chicago’s Vic Theatre on Friday night.  Other guests who will be participating in C2E2 include Anthony Daniels, David Finch, Josh Gates, Adam Hughes and Joe Kubert.  Many more guest announcements will be made in the coming weeks.  For further information about these guests as well as purchasing tickets, please visit www.C2E2.com.  For more on Nerdist Industries, visit www.Nerdist.com.

In just two minutes, this summer’s Amazing Spider-Man has gone from an afterthought to the Batman/Avengers slugfest to a “Hey that looks great!’ Even if it is one of those “I just saw the whole movie!” trailers, it certainly conveys all the elements of a successful superhero movie: a wise-cracking hero, a winsome love interest, a villain with a transatlantic accent, and an authority figure determined to take our hero down—in this case Denis Leary as Gwen Stacy’s policeman dad, George.

It’s nice to see that Peter Parker has recovered from that whole Facebook thing—Andrew Garfield’s Spidey is much more the loosy-goosy webslinger of the ’80s on—with a little bit of torment thrown in, of course.

Our only quibble—the word “begins” at the end. Spider-Man, the movie franchise, is already in full throttle. While many have questioned the need for a reboot this soon, the trailer makes it look like an entertaining film, even if it isn’t quite necessary from anything but a studio viewpoint.

Of late we’ve been much focused on the economics of creating comics as a career, and the challenges of such an undertaking. Animation is often viewed as the “money spout” for comics types—more competition, more exposure, more money. But an investigation by animation writer Amid Amidi reveals a disquieting story about East Coast animators getting paid much less than their West Coast analogs, even when employed by two branches of the same company, Titmouse Animation. In fact, in the NY office, animators are being paid $400 a week to work on Disney’s Motorcity cartoon. In LA, a similar job for the same company pays a union-scale $1,055 a week.

Amidi talks to lots of people and gets lots of explanations—and we haven’t even begun to wade through more than 300 comments—but it’s an unwelcome downward trend from 10 years ago, when animation was getting established in New York:

The question remains, however, about why there is a nearly $700 weekly gap between starting wages for Los Angeles and New York artists working on the same show. New York has the highest cost of living in the United States (Los Angeles, by comparison, is ranked ninth), yet the studio’s starting salary for workers in New York is only $20,800. That figure ranks below New York’s average starting wages for unskilled laborers like doormen ($25,680) and sanitation workers ($27,842).

It is a fact of life that New York animation artists will make less than unionized workers in Los Angeles. However, wages haven’t always been this low. Speaking with New York animation veterans, Cartoon Brew learned that a fresh out-of-school starting salary for an animation artist in 2001 at Nickelodeon was $900 and included health insurance and 401k. In 2006, a starting salary out-of-school on a cable TV series at an independent production company was $800.

Yikes. We can confirm that in NYC $20K a year will barely pay for a closet-sized berth on the Upper East Side and a few cans of cat food. Apparently, animation wages are similarly low in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, other animation centers.

Granted, this would be a lordly sum for an indie cartoonist.

PS: Commenters, please, no value judgement on why doormen should make more than animators. We’re talking the economics of one industry, not trying to prove who’s best.

To the donation button, Batgirl: WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines is a documentary by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and Kelcey Edwards that examines the evolution of Wonder Woman and other kick-ass heroines, with a look at “how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society’s anxieties about women’s liberation.”

The film was already funded on Kickstarter but it’s been selected for the SXSW Film Festival, (the only comics-themed movie to make the cut) and it needs a little bit more polishing in post to get to the finish line.

The description sounds fascinating; among those interviewed: Gloria Steinem. Shelby Knox, Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, and punk rock star Kathleen Hanna. The evolving perception of what’s allowable in female heroism and the history of Wonder Woman alone should make for a very thoughtful film. With the rise of geek girl fandom, it couldn’t be more timely.

Or as Damon Lindelof tweeted,

Voltron has life insurance? I cry foul, MetLife.

Is this the best toon team-up since Roger Rabbit?

The video shows every cartoon character from Charlie Brown to Jabberjaw joining together to celebrate the Affordable Care Act, MetLife’s commitment to affordable insurance. It is questionable whether everyone in the spot would currently be insurable, however, due to some preexisting conditions. Fat Albert is at risk for Type 2 diabetes due to his weight and unhealthy lifestyle, for instance. He-Man’s dangerous deeds would lead to sky-high premiums as defending the universe from evil-doers can be a very hazardous profession. Casper the Friendly Ghost is already dead, so presumably would be uninsurable on that basis.

On a more serious note, this is a great opportunity to link to Colleen Doran’s great roundup of tips on how freelancers can get insurance. If Colleen weren’t such a great artist I could totally see her doing the entrepreneur thing and doing nothing but going around telling people how to be more productive.

PS: If you like the ad on Facebook, you get to “meet the cast” and learn more about all the characters in the spot.

And here’s the complete getting the gang together AVENGERS trailer.

Straight from the Super Bowl, the extended version of the John Carter spot.

Move over, Finn. Jack Krak is on his way.

Over at the Cartoon Hangover blog, this image of James Kochalka’s Superf***ckers has appeared with the headline “Too Wild For T.V.” If you’ve read the debauched adventures of Kochalka’s NSFW teen superheroes—imagine Beavis and Butthead without the intelligence and restraint—you know that any such cartoon WOULD be too wild for T.V. Frederator Studios, which runs the blog and produced such cartoon classics as Adventure Time and The Fairly Odd Parents, has had Superf***ers in development for a while now—and now it’s going to be seen as part of the massive new influx of programming on YouTube. Kochalka has already written 8 of the 12 episodes.

SUPERF***ERS the comic is published by Top Shelf. Kchalka produced four “issues” in the square picture book format which was then collected into a trade.
Two thoughts: #1 as streaming TV becomes the norm, having a series on YouTube isn’t going to mean anything much different than appearing on TV

and

#2 this IS going to be wild. Here’s a theme song Kochalka already wrote:

By Todd Allen

Last night, I had occasion to take in a preview of Daniel Radcliffe’s first adult film vehicle (no, I’m not counting “My Boy Jack” towards that).  ”The Lady in Black” is adapted (somewhat creatively, I gather) from the 1983 Susan Hill novel by director James Watkins and screenwriter Jane Goodman (who Beat readers will likely remember from Kick Ass, X-Men: First Class and Stardust).  No more wizards and spells for Radcliffe as he finds himself in over his head dealing with a vengeful spirit.

While this is a horror movie, at it’s heart, The Woman in Black is a date movie.  This is a carefully constructed and highly manipulative film.  You have all sorts of female demographic appeals strewn about the film: poor, sad widowed Daniel Radcliffe — struggling to look after his son.  Lots of children in danger.  A Gothic old haunted house that’s cut off every day when the road to it floods.  Lifetime Movie Network, take me away!

Except, for all that demographic targeting, this is actually a really scary movie.  Watkins uses every manipulative trick in the book to make you jump.  Music setting the creepy mood?  Check.  Sudden noise out of nowhere?  Double check.  Cut to something suddenly appearing?  Triple check.  Watkins is incredibly effective playing the usual suspense games.  You _are_ going to jump several times during this movie.  You’ll know that something’s about to happen.  You (about half the time) have an approximate idea what’s going to happen.  And you still jump.  That there is skill.

The plot, in very broad strokes is that lawyer Radcliffe, still not handling the loss of his wife very well and half an inch from losing his job, is sent out to settle the affairs of a country estate whose owner has recently died.  Nobody in the town wants him there.  The local solicitor tries to send him home.  And there’s something in that isolated old estate.  Something malevolent that doesn’t like children.

In terms of cast, this is the Daniel Radcliffe show.  There is no co-star.  Ciarán Hinds probably has the most screen time, aside from Radcliffe and does well enough as a skeptic whose fallen victim to the occult happening and doesn’t really want to admit it.  No, this is about Radcliffe slowly realizing that there’s a reason all the locals are afraid of that old estate and anyone who goes there.  Radcliffe pulls it off well enough.

I have mixed feeling about this film.  Yes, I jumped a few times, but I resented that it felt like I was being led around by my nose while jumping.  It felt a little on the cheesy side at times.  I’m not the natural market for children in danger movies and some of that emotional manipulation didn’t do it for me.  I also did not at all care for the ending, half of which you see coming and half of which… Lifetime Movie Network.  I’m torn between giving it a rental or a theater nod for horror lovers.

On the other hand, if you need a date movie — if you need a movie that’s creepy as all get out, will make your date jump and will make your date cling to you — yeah, this is a REALLY good movie to take your date to for that.

AMC, History Channel, Spike—every TV network that ever wanted to do a “Comic Book Idol” TV show—here is the comic book life captured in its most primal and dramatic: people arguing about cover design in front of overstuffed bookcases and furnishings mingled from antiques and plastic storage boxes from Target. Yes, this is the life.

Or more accurately a documentary about the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, the already near-legendary academy where scribblers enter and come out comickers two years later. The film is directed by documentarians Josh Melrod and Tara Wray, who previously made Manhattan, Kansas, and was funded on Kickstarter.

The clip features an array of comics superstars including Chris Ware, Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman, Françoise Mouly, Scott McCloud, Jason Lutes, and James Sturm but we’re putting money on our own Jen Vaughn as the breakout star. We’re also intrigued by the big fellow in the suspenders who appears in all the CCS videos—he is legend.

Word on the street is that the documentary will debut at SXSW—and then find a place in our hearts for all time.

More info at the website and Facebook.

¶ Oh yeah, Tyrion, Daenerys, Jon Snow—all your favorites who are still alive are coming back April 1.

¶ THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’sTom Hardy admits that wearing the Bane mask is not fun, but he’s okay with that:

Speaking at the premiere of his latest film, This Means War, Tom said: “Bane’s mask is tight, actually. I got used to it, but you get used to anything really, in time.”

…”I didn’t get into a dark place at all. A lot of dark characters are easy to have distance from, it’s something I feel comfortable with, I suppose.”

Comfortable enough to speak clearly? We’ll see.

¶ Aw. Make-up master/actor Tom Savini is campaigning to play arch-villain The Governor of The Walking Dead, partly because he looks just like the character.

John Hawkes (below)was pretty awesome in WINTER’S BONE; he would also be a good Governor.

¶ Albert Torres has been tapped to write the BEN 10 movie. Torres previously wrote HENRY POOLE IS HERE, about a guy who goes to a house to die, so it’s all….connected.

¶ The movie version of Alex Robinson’sTOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN has writers: Rocky Russo and Jeremy Sosenko (MOVIE 43). The movie is at Red Crown Prods. and Likely Story—the latter you will recall, is actually a partner of publisher Top Shelf, with a first-look deal—this is the first fruit of that alliance. The story concerns a man who transports back to his 15-year-old self.

Can’t wait to see what happens after that last traumatic scene of season 1.0 when Rick shoots Sophia and the rest of the zombies in the barn? The first three minutes of The Walking Dead’s February 12th premiere have just been put online and we’ll give you three guesses what happens:

1) Sophia comes back to life and hugs her mom.

2) Everyone sits down to tea and a hearty lunch.

3) Misery, axes to heads, scowling, stomping.

A sequel to the well-received X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has been greenlit with Matthew Vaughn once again to direct, Deadline reports. Simon Kinberg has written a script and Bryan Singer will produce. Everyone expects Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy to reprise their roles as Magneto and Professor X, but no one has officially been signed yet. And given Fassbender’s recent roles, maybe we’ll get to see little Magneto, too.

Still, Vaughn’s coming on board is good news. Although flawed—it was more a collection of character story arcs than an overall driving narrative—and anachronistic—the miniskirt wasn’t invented until 1964, no matter how cute Jennifer Lawrence looked in one—X-MEN FIRST CLASS was easily the brainiest superhero movie of recent vintage, and Vaughn has generally elicited some of the best acting from his young talented casts in both XMFC and KICK-ASS. So more Matthew Vaughn—yay!