BREAKING! JOSS WHEDON Is Directing AND Writing 'The AVENGERS'

Hollywood's biggest buzz is once again the sound of Marvel.  Joss Whedon,  most-recognized as the creator of the long-running TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer,  will both direct and write The Avengers,  Marvel Studios' fast-tracked superhero team movie that will unite the rest of their upcoming film slate under one celluloid roof.

Rumors and speculation have been circulating for months about who Marvel might select to helm their Avengers,  a film that is unquestionably the studio's coup-de-grace and the all-important culmination of everything Marvel Entertainment has been working towards since 2008 and the release of Jon Favreau's first Iron Man and Louis Leterrier's remake of The Incredible Hulk.  Whedon was identified by IESB.com as a contender on Marvel's 'short list' of directorial picks just two weeks ago, and the story - which coincidentally broke on 01 April - was regarded as joke by many and its circulation was low as a result.

Understandably, then, Whedon's confirmation as The Avengers director, which hit the net late Tuesday and took the comicsblogosphere by storm Wednesday morning, came as a huge surprise to literally everyone. But the news, while shocking,  has been welcomed across the board by critics and fans alike a Christmas present. For legions of fans that span the spectrum from comics to horror to sci-fi, Whedon's a household name:  other than his flagship creation Buffy, Whedon is also the creator - as well as writer and director of many episodes - of Angel, Firefly, and the recently-canceled cult-favorite, Dollhouse. 

But Whedon, who turns 47 in June, has only directed one feature film, Serenity, the  2005 big screen adaptation of his science fiction series, Firefly.  Serenity grossed just $25.5 million at the box office, and if any question exists about Whedon's credentials as The Avengers best choice, it resides here. 

Marvel, however, seems to be anything but worried. In an unprecedented move, one to which even Thor's Kenneth Branagh and Iron Man 2's Jon Favreau cannot attest, the company announced last night that Whedon control of The Avengers won't be limited to directing the film; he'll be writing it, too. 

More accurately, Whedon will be re-writing The Avengers.  Screenwriter Zak Penn delivered the film's initial script, which itself became an event of no minor importance after Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada announced via Twitter that he'd received it on 03 March.   

To what extent Whedon will be tweaking Pen's screenplay is anyone's guess, but nobody's worried.  Confidence in Whedon, noted to possibly be the world's first third-generation television writer, and his writing talent is unilateral. After graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan, Whedon's first writing gigs were on the writing staffs of Roseanne and Parenthood (1990).  His Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode "Hush" was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000 for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, and, though uncredited, Whedon wrote a script for Twister ad the final draft screenplay for Speed.  Most recently, Whedon wrote the screenplay for The Cabin in the Woods, a horror/thriller due early 2011.

Despite his impressive resume, Marvel's decision to go with Whedon likely stems less from his previous accomplishments in either TV or film and more from just one simple fact: Joss Whedon loves comics. He knows comics, he understands superheroes, and he's written his fair share of them Marvel Comics. 

Dabblers following the periodic appearances of abbracadabbling's mysterious Time Traveler will be pleased to see the dude's back on the comicsblog today. We pleaded with him to not interrupt our hot coverage of Joss Whedon's ascendancy to The Avengers director's chair, but after having the same argument twenty-three times in a row, we finally gave in to the disarmingly suave chronal bully.  Of course, we agree that picking up today on the promise he blogged back on 31 March - namely, to tell y'all about Clash of The Titan's director Louis Leterrier future aspirations and bring 'em full circle- really is good timing.   We love good stories, and while assume Leterrier does, too, the tale of his Marvelous tomorrow doesn't have a happy ending.


Since the premiere of his first Marvel movie, The Incredible Hulk,  Leterrier made no secret of his desire to direct The Avengers - and while making the rounds to promote Clash of the Titans, took every opportunity to remind Marvel that he's the guy for the big job.  He also tossed several of his ideas for the film out into the public arena - making Avengers a quadrology, being one - and admitted that, while at the bottom of it,  his name was on Marvel's short list of directorial choices.

Time Traveler saw the writing on the wall, but our dude knows not to say a peep lest the time stream become distorted and our reality cease to exist. That'd be a major bummer for all involved, and in this case, even the Traveler's mad time-hopping talents weren't needed to predict the outcome of Leterrier's self-hyped Avengers quest.   It's possible Leterrier was in the game until recently (he's still contracted to direct one more feature for Marvel), but if he was, he forfeited it two weeks ago with the first showing of Titans.  We can only hope that his future endeavors meet with more success, and that Leterrier reads plenty of comic books before he's behind the camera of his next Marvel movie  -- or, for that matter, a Warner Bros./DC Comics movie.  Leterrier is reportedly in talks to direct a film adaptation of the Award-winning comic book series, Y The Last Man.

Feeding his comic geek might be Leterrier's best bet - if not for tomorrow, then for that glorious day after.  Comic books have clearly been the secret of Joss Whedon's success, and the style and substance of his romance with Marvel Comics. 

One of the best examples of that romance, and Marvel's high regard of Joss Whedon, came in mid-February, when the publisher announced their new Astonishing line of comic books, so named after the incredibly successful series Astonishing X-Men that Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday launched in 2004.  Though the dynamic duo helmed the Eisner-award winning comic for two years, Astonishing overshadowed and overtook Uncanny X-Men in less than a year to became the flagship title of the X-Men franchise.  Astonishing's  initial storyline was also used as the premise for X-Men: The Last Stand, the third X-Men feature film, in 2006.

After departing his Astonishing X-Men with the series' twenty-fifth issue, Whedon wrote six issues of the comic Runaways before turning his full comics attention to the launch of his next ongoing Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight  series, published by Portland's Dark Horse Comics.  Marvel Comics, however, didn't fully let their "superstar scribe" go; Whedon returned to Marvel to adapt the initial story-arc from his series for The Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, the first of Marvel's motion comics, which debuted on iTunes last October. Here's the preview:

 More info on Marvel's motion comics can be found [here].

The Avengers is scheduled to hit theaters in summer of 2012, the ten-figure payoff that teams Marvel Studios' franchise superheroes in an Ocean's Eleven-sized all-star cast clad in Spandex. Headlining Whedon's eventual super roster are Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson.) Ed Norton, who played The Hulk in Leterrier's 2008  movie, is also a possibility for the film. 

Whedon's absolutely no stranger to ensemble casting - he astonished with his X-Men and did the same weekly for years with the cast of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.  But making the The Avengers  work - and work well - would be an unbelievable task for any director.  With the stories of three different films culminating in The Avengers, not to mention  the three different yet relatively new superhero celebrities whose respective egos will be vying for screen time,  the newbie Whedon will need to find a way to make a great comic book film while still staying true to the storylines and characters already developed by Favreau and Branagh. 

Placing The Avengers script into Whedon's hands proves Marvel knows what they're doing,  and by playing to his strengths, they've already taken their first, best step to ensure success for the most ambitious and important film the Studio has (or has plans to) produced.

No matter how big a success The Avengers proves to be, that it succeeds is critical- not just   for Marvel, but for the future of superhero cinema. The Avengers marks  a brave, new world for comics coming to the big screen. The film will be a litmus test of the viability of incorporating the demands, strengths, and complexities of comic book continuity into a brand new medium. It won't be an easy fit, but if all goes well, Whedon will  be the author of  Hollywood's next 'gold standard.' And while superheroes may reap the early benefits,  The Avengers might just be the first in a long line of films from any genre to embrace tomorrow's newest model of storytelling.

* * * * *

Check out everything from Joss Whedon on Whedonesque [here]. Avengers movie and related Marvel Comics events can be found [here].  And full episodes of The Astonishing X-Men motion comic are available for download via iTunes, and can be watched free online at Hulu.com [here].

CHRIS EVANS is THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA...NEW of the BLOG

Unlike all -- and we mean all -- of our fellow comics blogs -- not to mention every Hollywood rumor site and film blog that deigns to venture into the realm of superhero cinema -- your favorite comicsblog - namely, abbracadabbling -- has spared its loyal dabblers from the  embarrassing grist and grind that comes with being a part of the Great Rumor Mill. We expressed our outrage over the way these same supposedly authentic web destinations did everything quite in-authentically when covering the Sony Pictures / Spider-Man 4 debacle, and we weren't about to do the same with Captain America.  

Today, we're ready to throw our far-more honest hat into the ring, as by all reports, actor Chris Evans has not only been cast as the starring lead in The First Avenger: Captain America - - but as of today, according to both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, he's accepted.  Tonight, we explore all The First Avenger -- as NEWS of the BLOG continues!

That Chris Evans has accepted his destiny to play Marvel's oldest superhero property, Captain America, is a decision the actor no doubt did not accept lightly. To be cast as a World War II - era super soldier turned super hero is certainly a part Evans can just a certainly play with physical perfection, but it's a nine-film deal that will see the actor committed to Marvel Studios' movie machine for quite some time. By taking the role, Evans is agreeing to star in a trilogy of Captain America movies, as well as the much-discussed Avengers film and a bevvy of other Marvel films yet to be announced, where he more than likely will find himself portraying Cap in a cameo. That's 9 films, dabblers, and not an easy stunt for any actor to do, or commit to, either. 

That Evans did commit solves two huge problems for Marvel: (a) continuity, or replicating the unity of comic book storytelling on the Silver Screen, which when dealing with Hollywood star power and ego isn't as easy as doing with characters of pencil, ink, and color on a comic book page and (b) the cost associated with making the hope of continuity a reality. With their goal of making the ensemble Avengers movie actually happen, snagging and keeping  (by which we mean, affording) the stars they wanted becomes a tricky situation; Samuel L. Jackson, for whom the reoccurring role of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury was basically modeled on, has apparently bowed out of a similar 9-film contract because Marvel couldn't meet his high price tag.  Glitches like that have made some critics of this comics-to-film model already criticize the process of being potentially unachievable, where actors - and audiences - may view films like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor as merely lead-ins for something bigger and better yet where they won't be the singular star.

Much to his credit, Evans has apparently, on the one hand, over-looked that aspect; the deal he's struck with Marvel offers him below $1 million (per film, we're supposing.)  That's pocket change for someone like Jackson, but we think his decision places Evans into a far-different caliber of actor: a super one.  Moreover, casting Evans in the first place is another affirmation of how the Studio is taking yet another step away from two practices that have been the hallmark of superhero cinema casting: (1) finding big-name, top-dollar stars to fill don the capes and tights (see any of the first four Batman movies or even Marvel's three Spider-Man films) and (2) finding an unknown yet very hunky actor, putting them into the tights, and seeing if they can fly...or, um, act (like Brandon Routh in Superman Returns).  As we all know, even if we may not want to admit it, neither approach worked that well.

The Evans' choice follows the formula of Warner Bros. and Marvel's more recent approach, finding a lesser-known yet proven actor and seeing how they fare as a super hero.  This move took Marvel to great places when they cast Robert Downey, Jr, as their Iron Man, and earned Warner Bros and DC Comics a billion dollars when they did likewise by asking Christian Bale to become Batman.  Evans, however, may be a safer bet than Downey or Bale. Though Marvel's success taking this third and alternative route for casting didn't pay the dividends they'd hoped for either of their Fantastic Four films, those two films did place the words 'Marvel' and 'superhero' onto his more modest by comparison resume. 

A review of the other actors whose names have been filling the columns of news sites and comics blogs for weeks -- each the falsely-prophesied heir to the shield of Captain America  since casting for the part began in late January - helps to clarify Evans' appropriateness for his new part.

On the star-power side, actors who likely had payday demands exceeding their value to the film, were studs like Ryan Phillipe -- who confirmed just last week at Austin's SXSW that he was up for the part yet also responded to questions about such with the same vague 'see the web' references that John Malkovich did last December when denying Spider-Man rumors -- and Phillipe's Stop-Loss co-star, GI JOE franchise leading man and fellow stud, Channing Tatum.  Marvel sought Tatum out themselves, and while the actor is not going to be their Cap, the possibility is there, we believe, for Tatum to find his chiseled chin in some kind of costume beyond the fatigues he'll be wearing as 'Duke' in the GI JOE sequel.

Although their names mean little now that the hoopla and speculation have come to an end, we don't want to be remiss in getting to the other side of the equation we tossed your way earlier -- the 'unknown yet very hunky actor' side of superhero casting.  John Krasinski, star of The Office, did four readings and two screen tests for the part; Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Wilson Bethel (The Young and The Restless), Garrett Hedlund, and John Krasinski, an early favorite to play Cap, were also among the candidates for First Avenger.

Of course, none of them will have that chance.  Chris Evans quickly moved to the front of the audition line, and as of today, has safely assured his part in the history of superhero cinema. Not that he hadn't already done so.  Even before coming to Captain America, Evans has tucked plenty of 'comic books on the Big Screen' experience beneath his belt, whether he's wearing a shirt or not. Aside from his twice-playing on-screen hot-head and hottie Johnny Storm, the Fantastic Four's Human Torch, Evans also starred in the superhero-like Push and did voice-over for the 2007 remake of TMNT.

And those films speak only of his past; Evans' will be seen on screens twice this year as two more comic book adaptation movies make their way into theaters. abbracadabbling will have a full-on report of the first of those films, Warner Bros' The Losers, on the blog this week.  In The Losers, a DC Comics / Vertigo Comics story of ex-CIA operatives out to clear their names by wreaking havoc on the insiders who sullied them, Evans plays Jensen, one of the titular gang, and will be joined by other fan favorite actors including Star Trek and Avatar's Zoe Saldana and Watchmen's Jeffrey Dean Morgan.   Interestingly, Evans now is billed second, following Saldana, for The Losers on the Internet Movie Database. Prior to today's Captain America announcement, Evans found himself billed (if memory serves us correctly) as fifth -- maybe sixth.

On the slightly-distant heels of The Losers which opens nationwide on 23 April, Evans next comics movie is Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, a Hollywood remake of more alternative comic book fare, but one with a significant fan-following nonetheless.  As Lucas Lee in Pilgrim, Evans will be playing against the main character as one of his new girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends.  More to come on Pilgrim, too, but as the movie won't be here until 13 August 2010, we figure we've got some time.

And by the time we get around to our reviews and reports of all-things Pilgrim (or maybe not, who's to say, really?) and especially by the day it debuts on the big screen, Chris Evans will be hard at work on Captain America.  With filming set to begin shortly, questions like who's the bad guy? and what's the film going to be about? are burning questions in many dabblers minds, even with all the good news we've brought you tonight. 

So Dabblers, take heart; you'll be stoked to know that we've got all those answers -- and so much more Captain America info -- to bring your way.  But you'll have to  stick around the comicsblog all this week to find out.  As for this evening, we've just got one thing left to say: Congratulations, Christopher Evans. You're going to make one hell of a Captain America.  

The First Avenger: Captain America is set to debut on 22 July 2011.

...7 HOTTEST Comics Properties! ...CASTING LIGHT on BLACKEST NIGHT... The SUNDAY FUNNIES ....NEWS of the BLOG

Dabblers, it's raining outside -- but the heat's turned all the way up at the Springfield Home Office! abbracadabbling's NEWS of the BLOG returns after a two month to-the-day hiatus sporting not just a complete makeover (sorta) but with our new reoccurring Special Report, Top 7 HOT.  Feel the burn!

With help from our friends at icv2.com, we turn our short attention spans this afternoon to the Top 7 Hottest Properties of the Comics Realm. Kind of interesting that only one of our Top 7 represents a direct comic book property -- DC Comics' Blackest Night, the Green Lantern -related crossover event that expanded the character's mythology exponentially and gave fans a storyline where their favorite DC heroes would be fighting legions on zombies -- for months! But most importantly, writer Geoff Johns addressed - and, for DC Comics, at least - offered a solution for one of super hero comics' most dogged complaints: the rationale for how characters return from the dead.   

In the last two decades, DC has killed off and then returned to the living every one of its major characters: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and per current comics happenings,  the Batman -- sorta.  (Marvel Comics hasn't fared any better, having recently returned Captain America to the land of the living after making real-world headlines with their killing of the 1940's superhero a year and a half ago.)  While the soap opera style deaths of popular heroes can still make for a dramatic (and well-selling) story, their eventual and foregone resurrections become less and less meaningful as time goes on.  Though we'd argue that the killing of Big Name heroes has been more story-centered than ever before, the deaths of characters like Superman and Green Lantern in the past have been the result of their creators reaching creative dead ends. (For Marvel champions like the Avengers' Ant Man, death has been one of the character's morbid ongoing jokes.)

But with Johns' Blackest Night, which plays out its events throughout DC's line of comics, death has been given meaning, and explanations for heroic returns have become integral to story. That's the crucial element here, and Blackest Night's most important characteristic.  Both demise and resurrection of heroes have been imbued with new meaning, and  just as cleverly, the outcome of the blackest night in the DC Universe will also give new opportunity to DC's still-dead characters to once again return to new adventures.  Beyond that, DC will be immediately following up this smash event with a sequel, Brightest Day.  Taking that into account, as well as the cross-merchandising from Blackest Night that has given rise to best-selling action figures, tee-shirts, trade paperbacks and more, all figure in to the rationale for why Blackest Night is our Number One Hottest Property. 

Two collectible card games and three films - including the comics-related Iron Man 2 - make it into the Top 7 Hottest, the most recently released being director Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland from Disney Studios.  The film starring Johnny Depp has earned over $266 million in its three weeks of release, and has beaten records set by Avatar earlier this year. Burton, meanwhile, has already lined up his next two projects -- for one, he'll be teaming up with Timur Bekmambetov, his co-conspirator on the film 9, to produce a film adaptation of author Seth Grahame-Smith's newest book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  (The writer's other historically-set zombie novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is already on its way to the Big Screen.)  For the other, Burton will direct a stop-motion animated film based on Charles Addams' original ghoulish cartoon drawings of The Addams Family.   The 3-D movie will come from Illumination Entertainment and Universal Studios, and will bear no connection to former Addams Family movies, the TV show, or the soon to be opening Broadway musical. [via]

We're beginning to understand just how much it really takes to make it into the  Top 7 Hottest, and we hope you are, too.  We also think that's why there's a certain man smiling a big yellow happy-face smile. Did you know who he was when we blogged him yesterday? He's none other than comics writer Alan Moore, father of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and so many other medium-altering works.

While Moore's published comics since the 1986 release of Watchmen, it's Watchmen that redefined what modern comics can be and now, in 2010, what they are. Moore's contribution was to broaden comics' scope, their reach, depth, content, and maturity -- in other words, what is possible in comics, to a great, great extent. Moore's The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, an entire treatise on magic, its history, and how to employ it (plus a whole lot more), will be published as a 320-Page Super-Deluxe Hardcover by Top Shelf Comics in 2013. (Read all about it HERE.) But it's Watchmen's magical effect - and no coming Magic book -- that still puts Alan Moore among the Top 7 Hottest.

NEWS of the BLOG will continue with Breaking News...next!

Sunday Funnies is back on the comicsblog!! Sure, it's looking a little different in a re-vamped Special Feature format.  But with Funnies have joined NEWS of the BLOG, it's time to embrace change, dabblers.  (What can we say? Corporate takeovers can be a hostile bitch.) We're short but sweet and stayin' that way. This week, we're all about hilarity   straight outta the Top 7 Hottest. Have fun, and stick around for the answer to last week's Funnies' Green Lantern challenge!

Full Frontal

[via]

Off Color

[via]

Light Politics

[via]

Where's Green Lantern?

Answering the question Ryan Dunlavey posed to us last week should be easy for the savvy dabbler (as we like to say): 'Green Lantern' is everywhere -- and every one.  Hal Jordan, a 'Green Lantern', can be found on center stage (as we'd expect), but as Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi have shown in their respective Green Lantern titles, there are many 'ring-slingers,' and all of them important.  Until next time, viva El Dabbler!

Do You Know This Smiling Man?

Do you know who this is? Do you? DO YOU? Most pop-cultured people today have heard his name, but far fewer have ever seen him in the flesh.  Sure, he's a recluse. But he's also a freaky genius -- and he's still one of today's Hottest Properties.  Discover who -- and just how hot -- he is ... when NEWS OF THE BLOG continues on abbracadabbling!

Hot Off The Press! Our 'Daily Dabbler' Is Back with NEWS OF THE BLOG

NEWS of the BLOG: HEROES Huge Audience...We Get Heroic 4 HAITI ...Jackson Out of AVENGERS...And MORE!!

Yo, dabblers, we are back! And what better way to get back to the grind of comics blogging than with... NEWS OF THE BLOG! This would be a great opportunity to launch into 'The Week In Review,' but the comics industry can't be summarized so simply -- you know that. Instead, we'll seize the moment and throw out this question: Did you know that today's National Frustrated Writer's Day? Yeah, we were surprised, too. (We thought it was in April.) But calendars don't lie, and neither do we. Two-thirds of the Home Office staff is already at the pub, while the rest of us -- and me, your Dabbler -- are here once again to hold down the fort.  If you're a frustrated writer of any kind, today's your day -- and abbracadabbling salutes you. Have fun, and drive safe. 

Here's another question (because it seems like we're full of 'em this morning): Is NBC's Heroes going to be cancelled or what? We're rooting for the show - don't get us wrong.  The show still has a good eight or nine episodes left in the season, though cast and crew have already wrapped production for the year.  Now, Springfield has a direct line to Hollywood (it's a little known secret here) and from those sources, we've heard that our Heroes are feeling pretty upbeat about their possible predicament. Mainly because  the season ends again on yet another cliff-hanger -- which means, of course, they think they'll be back like a sinister Sylar.  We'd hate to be the one's to tell them quite a few shows before them have seen season-ending cliffhangers...then went right off that cliff after them.  It's called denial, guys. Wear parachutes.

Then again, in the wake of NBC's clash with Conan O'Brien, anything's possible. Shaking up their late night TV has put a gap in the Peacock's schedule -- and we think the wise move would be to gym-it for a stronger Heroes rather than go for the unknown.   Heroes has had a lot of buzz this year: all eleventh-hour improvements then nothing but cancellation chat since Episode One. Entertainment Weekly even quoted one source as saying, “Everyone is expecting this to be the last season. The cast, the crew, everyone.”  Reasonable fears, given the show's pulling in just over six million viewers a week (down from the 14 million it had back in 2005), but hey, that's about three times what Leno had before they, uh, cancelled him.  

However, despite what those numbers suggest, Heroes story does have more to it. Both Heroes and the CW's Smallville were blasted for their early poor ratings last Fall, but both shows were rescued from almost certain comicide* at that point when the DVR data finally rolled in. It seems that the comic book crowd isn't necessarily sitting on the sofa when their favorite shows come on -- but that doesn't mean they're not watching them.  In fact, Heroes may have a larger viewing audience than anyone suspects, because this audience can't be measured directly. 

For the second time in a row, Heroes has topped the list of the year's most-pirated television shows.  According to Torrentfreak, Heroes was downloaded 6.58 million times in 2009, which if you've been paying attention is a larger number than the show's weekly ratings.  In our modern world of 52-inch LCD's, it might be difficult to image that not everybody tunes in to television, even if they have a set. We've known several tech-heads with all the nice toys who get all their TV kicks from Torrents, and considering digital is the way we're headed, it'd be foolish of NBC to overlook its pirating peeps.  Don't be the music industry, NBC, and blame poor physical sales (or weekly ratings shares) on actual Nielsen ninnies. Just as more pirates buy more digital music than the average music junkie, your Heroes' bread is buttered by digital demographics.

We abbracadabblers spent a good part of the week in the Present Magic Comics Shop -- our eBay  store where we sell all sorts of comics and action figure goodness.  As you know, your favorite comicsblog has joined the Heroes 4 Haiti effort to raise money through online auctions for the victims of the Haitian earthquake on January 12th.   We now have FOUR  (4) active auctions in support of the cause -- our latest being another great set of Spider-Man limited series, including Spider-Man: The Final Adventure and Spider-Man: The Lost Years, the latter by fan favorites, writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist- extraordinaire John Romita, Jr. The auction's for a total of eight (8) Spider-Man comics, and you can find them on eBay HERE.   For the list of our first three auctions, go HERE.

You might think we've been too busy with our charitable work (which we have) to even think about  being among the Comic Blog Elite. Nothing could be farther from the truth, though, and we hope that many of you had a chance to check out the Elite's website to see what the fuss is. If you haven't (shame, shame on you, dabbler), don't fret -- Matt Bergin, the CBE's E-I-C, is now posting a weekly CBE feature on Pop Culture Shock, which will introduce you to everything you've ever wanted to know about the comics blogosphere and its member blogs.  But Matt's first blog HERE covers more than just an intro; he's got mini-reviews of several sites (he'll get to us eventually) and he posts the Top 10 Comics Blogs of the week, too. We're not on that privileged list yet -- but with your help and back-links, we will be. 

Samuel L. Jackson, however, may not be making The Avengers' list, though.  Jackson's an actor so ubiquitous that we'd expect to find him hiding in our own home movies, so when The Hollywood Reporter told us last year that he'd reportedly signed a long-term deal with Marvel Studios to play 'Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.', in nine upcoming films we weren't surprised. 

The reverse is true of the latest news, in Jackson's own words:  "There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it.  There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal'."    The 'it' in question isn't just one thing; Jackson's referring to those guest-starring roles he's been slated to play in Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, and finally, The Avengers.   Marvel's movies -- which are narratively ambitious and set a new standard for superhero cinema, bringing it more in-line with comic book storytelling -- find their origins rooted not in Marvel's primary 'universe,' but in it's modernized 'Ultimate Universe', which presents different, twenty-first century versions of its characters. Creators Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch used Jackson himself as the model for Ultimate Fury, which took the traditional white, grizzled, aging commando with salt-and-pepper hair Nick Fury character (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960's) and re-imagined him as a younger, bald African American ass-kicker. 

Jackson wasn't playing when this news broke last week, and he seemed clearly dissatisfied with Marvel and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau.  The Los Angeles Times article that broke the story does mention that Jackson may be trying to stir the fanboys to pressure Marvel and with the hopes of a bigger paycheck, as clearly many an actor before him have done. But the issue involved does highlight just one of the  potential 

problems Marvel's ambition will encounter -- the cost of bringing the two distinct art forms of film and comics ever closer.  As the Times points out, Marvel will have to weigh each film's budget with the calculating eye of pro-sports franchises who want marquee players but have to fit them under a team salary cap.  

The Times doesn't so clearly or directly mention the assumption that underlies most of their article: the belief that comics and films are different sides of the same coin. With comics today becoming movie properties in record numbers - and many of them being created with an eye on cinematic adaptation from the get-go -- the view that comics are little more than storyboards or, at best, underdeveloped movies, has become quite popular.  We think that there's nothing wrong -- in fact, there's a lot exciting -- about having one's favorite reads and longtime super friends find their way to the silver screen -- the best stories and characters are ones that are able to find life across artistic media.  But comics are unique, and much about them is not translatable to film -- and that, dear dabblers, is a good thing.   From Jackson's problems, it looks like recurring minor characters aren't translatable, either -- if they're played by actors with big names and even bigger tax returns.  Considering comic book lovers acceptance of big screen treatments in the first place, Jackson's model for Nick Fury in the comics is a truth that can be left on the pages of Ultimate Marvel. He's trivia, it's cute, and there are other actors in Hollywood who'd be happy to shave if the role of Nick Fury knocked on their trailer door. * * * * * *  *Comicide - the act of killing a comic book, or a comic book related property.

THIS MAN SHOULD BE SMILING: NEWS OF THE BLOG!