League of Extraordinary Gentlemen III Century #2 1969

Dark Horse

Given that pretty much all of the Spartans died at the Battle of Thermopylae — which was sort of the point — people have been speculating for years about how Frank Miller would wring a sequel out of his hit Dark Horse graphic novel and movie 300. Today, at Comic-Con, the answer came out. The sequel, XERXES, will actually take place at exactly the same time on another battlefield of the same war. 300’s director Zach Snyder revealed he is already working on a film script based on Miller’s upcoming graphic novel.

Meanwhile, Dark Horse released a never-before-seen clip from the in-progress animated movie based on Eric Powell’s THE GOON. The clip, which is several minutes long and contains a complete comedic scene, can be seen here. The movie’s producers are still seeking a studio to support the project.

Image

At the Image panel, it was announced that Marc Guggenheim is starting a new imprint, Collider Entertainment, for comics written by Hollywood scriptwriters without intending them to become movies. For extra novelty value, the projects are supposed to be original, and not repurposed spec scripts as is often the case. The first two comics from this line will be UTOPIAN, written by Guggenheim and his wife Tara Butters, a scriptwriter for REAPER, about a world in which heroes have become obsolete. The second, by Erich and John Hoeber, the screenwriters of the upcoming comics movie RED, is called THE MISSION, and is about a man commanded by possibly divine voices to kill people.

It was also announced that the upcomingWalking Dead television show based on Robert Kirkman’s hit Image comic will feature writing from none other than Kirkman himself.

Top Shelf

A sequel was announced for Jeffrey Brown’s cult classic giant-robots parody, THE INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS. THE INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS TWO will come out from Top Shelf and feature an amnesiac villain and lots of intentionally disposable new characters.

Also, art was revealed for the much anticipated LEAGUES OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN Vol.3: CENTURY #2 1969 from Kevin O’Neill and Alan Moore.

Fantagraphics

Fantagraphics has announced it will be publishing Floyd Gottfredson’s classic Mickey Mouse comic strips in full.

IDW

IDW has announced a new ROCKETEER anthology, featuring comics from big-name creators including Darwyn Cook, Bill Willingham, Kurt Busiek, and Mike Mignola among many, many others.

Kate Fitzsimons writes for Publishers Weekly, Publishers Weekly Comics Week, and her personal comics and geek culture blog geekiferous.com.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I haven’t been into Frank’s work for quite some time, but I’m excited to see what he’ll do with Xerxes. 300 is somewhat politicized as a comic and as a movie I was put off by its monstrous, near orc-like depictions of the Persians, and the tranny overhaul of Xerxes. It didn’t feel much like the comic to me, and as much as Frank’s comics exult in bombast, I expect his Xerxes will be a bit more nuanced.

    I surely hope so, in any case.

  2. I’m most excited about IDW finally convining John Byrne to continue his “Next Men” comic this December!!

  4. I’m excited about Next Men as well. The Legend imprint at Dark Horse might’ve been short lived, but the books that appeared under its aegis – Next Men, Sin City, Concrete, Madman, Usagi Yojimbo, etc. – were among my very favorite comics of the 90s.

    I’ve been waiting a long time in hopes of Next Men’s story concluding and I’m genuinely shocked it’s gonna happen.

  5. What do you mean “pretty much all of the Spartans died at the Battle of Thermopylae”?

    Only 300 Spartans died at Thermopylae. THAT was the point!

    Ever heard of the Peloponnesian War, which happened after The Persian War and Thermopylae?

  7. Am *I* the only one excited about the Eric Powell/ David Fincher “The Goon” movie!?!?

    I can’t wait for this to be released and I predict that “A knife to the eye!” will be the phrase that everyone repeats the summer this movie comes out.

    -Bob