Joss Whedon has confirmed the rumor Crave Online reported May 3: he wants to include Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch in his script for his sequel to The Avengers. The mutant twin children of Magneto are Avengers in the comic books, but Fox holds the rights to Marvel's mutant characters, so if they're included in Avengers 2, don't expect much talk of their parentage or the origin of their abilities.

Cannes Review: Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volume 1

“I really love that I saw a rich girl dance with a duck.”

I’ve got to admit, the movie I was most looking forward to at the Cannes Film Festival was the rebel Troma premiere of Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volume 1. Something about seeing a Troma movie in the middle of the most prestigious film festival in the world really gave me a kick. Besides, I’m Franchise Fred! I have to know how the Nuke ‘Em High saga continues.

The Tromaville nuclear power plant is claiming to go organic, but of course they’re just repackaging their chemicals that either turn the nearby high schoolers into mutated Road Warrior characters, or just make them explode into piles of gore. The main students we follow are Chrissy (Asta Paredes), an environmental blogger who puts on a tough front at school, and Lauren (Catherine Corcoran), the new rich girl in school.

There’s something so joyous about totally on-the-nose slapstick satire. Yes, corporations are bad. Yes, they try to pass off harmful stuff as community serving products. And Lloyd Kaufman himself leads the charge of broad hammy gesticulating nonsense as the evil corporate exec. If he weren’t the director, the rest of the cast would probably mimic his performance anyway. I also can’t help laughing when they put fart noises on pretty girls.

Maybe those silly scenes are to disarm you for the really smart jokes they manage to sneak in there too. The line about the dot in .com is brilliant. A joke about foreshadowing takes the piss out of the very dramatic concept. We’ve heard the joke about the token black guy before but it’s cleverly addressed in the context of this film. I love when on screen text breaks the fourth wall. I think the name of Chrissy’s source is a cute riff on Woodward and Bernstein, considering the audience for this movie has probably never even heard of Watergate. There’s a “Yankee Doodle Dandy” joke that’s so literal it took me a few seconds to realize what just happened. Also, Lauren dances with a duck. I don’t know what that means, but I’m going to assume it’s a profound metaphor because I really love that I saw a rich girl dance with a duck.

Watch The New Extended Trailer For ‘Axe Cop’

Fox’s newest animated series is coming this summer.

In two months, Fox is opening up another block of animated programing on Saturday nights with Animation Domination HD.

Foremost among the Adult Swim style series is “Axe Cop,” which is based upon the comic created by Ethan and Malachai Nicolle. The Nicolle brothers debuted the “Axe Cop” web comic back in 2009 when Malachai was five and Ethan was 30. And “Axe Cop” has earned a reputation for being one of the wildest and funniest comics out there.

The newest trailer for “Axe Cop” seems to keep that tradition of comic insanity alive as Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) voices the title character alongside Army Chihuahua, Grey Diamond and Liborg to avenge the friends of Bat Warthog Man.

Mike Judge Lands a New HBO Comedy Series

The “King of The Hill” and “Beavis & Butt-Head” creator’s dark Silicon Valley comedy series gets a greenlight from HBO.

Mike Judge’s most recent stint on television was a revival of his first animated show, “Beavis & Butt-Head” on MTV. However, Judge is about to produce his live action comedy for HBO.

Deadline is reporting that Judge’s untitled dark comedy project has been given a series order by HBO. Judge co-wrote the pilot script with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky and directed the pilot episode; which is set in “ the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.”

Exclusive Interview: Nicole Munoz Sees The World in ‘Defiance’

The first show to blend gaming and television, is more than an FPS or RPG, says Defiance’s teenage star.

If you have watched science fiction series "Defiance" on SyFy in the United States or Showcase in Canada, you've seen some tried and true sci-fi tropes. What you should see, according to Nicole Munoz, is a television show trying to tackle issues of race, family and whom we are allowed to love.

"The script is very intriguing and very detailed and there’s so many twists and turns in the season. I think the show is just captivating," said Munoz, who plays teenager Christie McCawley, daughter of Defiance mining big shot Rafe McCawley (Graham Greene).

The series portrays the events in and around the town of Defiance, where St. Louis used to be, almost two decades after Earth's disastrous first contact with aliens. The plant is razed and humans now have to learn to live with several extraterrestrial races.

Munoz's character Christie is in love with the son of an alien leader at odds with her father.

"She’s very much young. She’s 17 in the show and what you see right now, she’s in love with Alak Tarr, which is a very Romeo and Juliet type thing because it’s not accepted by her parents or his parents. So Christie’s just trying her best to make everyone accept each other and love each other because that is so important to her," explained the 19-year old Vancouver native.

Munoz grew up an actress. Dozens of commercials, guest roles on "Supernatural," "Stargate Atlantis" and other shows, movies like the Fantastic Four and TV movies, all since before kindergarten. So what's it like to grow up on-screen?

Orlando Jones on his Digital Graphic Novel Series “Tainted Love”

The “Sleepy Hollow” star has a graphic-novel inspired action comedy web series that’s turning some heads.

Orlando Jones, MAD TV veteran and star of Fox's upcoming Sleepy Hollow, may have a slightly different definition of what a digital graphic novel is than most of the rest of us do, but there's no doubt that his new Machinima web series Tainted Love is heavily inspired by the comic book style, and he's definitely got his nerd bona fides. Crave Online spoke with the star this week about the inspiration behind this six-episode run that he wrote in preparation for a full-fledged theatrical release. Check out what he had to say, as well as the first three episodes of the series (or the first three issues of the digital graphic novel, if you prefer) below.

ORLANDO JONES: The original plan was that we wanted to make a graphic novel for the 21st century. When we looked at that, we realized that making a graphic novel in the dying print business didn't make a lot of sense. Every other graphic novel that's been released was in print, and that time has sort of passed. If we were to do it today, how would we do it? What would it look like? Who would be the best partner to launch it with? It was just sort of a big idea, and we thought we would just get together and do it and find a partner afterward. We always wanted Machinima, so we were lucky that they embraced it.

As far as the story goes, it was thinking about the idea of tainted love, that everybody loves something they're not supposed to. Everybody's got that love romantically, or it's food, or it's drink – everybody's got something. So it's looking at two characters who have that love. They have that love for each other – maybe they should probably stay apart, but they love each other and they love gunplay, they love being criminals. But just because what they do has no dignity doesn't mean they are not human and don't have their humanity intact. Exploring that idea became the basis of the creation of the series.

Exclusive Preview: Batman Beyond Unlimited #16

Terry McGinnis goes one on one with Shriek, while Max has to match wits with Rebel.

Here we go! It looks like the future Batman has his hands full with the sonic villain Shriek, while Max has to figure a way out from Rebel's thumb in a way only her particular genius can manage. Look out and shout!

Review: Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness

The official graphic novel prequel to “Star Trek: Into Darkness” brings the Klingons into the picture.

After participating in the immense Star Trek: TOS-a-thon recently and getting a heavy dose of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, it's a little difficult to shift gears to plug into the J.J. Abrams version of young, hip, cool, action-man Star Trek. I remember enjoying the new version of Star Trek well enough – especially Karl Urban's channelling of DeForest Kelley, but I always default to Shatner. Obey Your Shatner.

However, it's time to get our new school groove on, and what better way to get back into that new jack swing than with IDW's Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness, the official comic prequel to Star Trek: Into Darkness. Writer Mike Johnson developed the story with one of the film's screenwriters, Roberto Orci, so the 'official' part ain't no joke.

We open here with Spock being plagued with guilt nightmares about the loss of his home planet Vulcan, growing ever distant from his lady love, Lt. Uhura, while Captain James Kirk is all lonely and wants some shore leave. Their Federation duties bring them to the planet Phaedus on a routine scanning mission to check the progress of their civilization, which at last check was comparable to the ancient Roman Empire – and thus, the Prime Directive prevents any kind of contact with them. However, this time around, they get zapped with an energy field that should be far beyond their technology, and the resulting shuttle investigation leads to them being shot down with laser fire. Obviously, things ain't what they should be.

Exclusive Interview: Walter Mirisch on The Great Escape

The producer of some of the greatest films of all time discusses his classic World War II blockbuster, and that awesome motorcycle jump.

If you don't know the name of Walter Mirisch, you definitely know his movies. As a motion picture producer, Walter Mirisch was responsible for dozens of classic motion pictures, including The Pink Panther, The Magnificent Seven, The Apartment, In the Heat of the Night and The Great Escape, the World War II prison break movie that was just released on Blu-ray with a slew of special features. The film, released in 1963, stars Steve McQueen (Bullitt), Sir Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park), James Garner (The Notebook), James Coburn (Affliction), Charles Bronson (Death Wish) and Donald Pleasance (Halloween) as prisoners of war who engineer a mass jailbreak to distract the Nazis away from front. It's a classic film, one of the most referenced in all of popular culture, and features one hell of a motorcycle jump over barbed wire.

We talked to producer Walter Mirisch about the film's enduring legacy, that famous stunt, and why the Great Escape is so much more than just a popcorn movie.

CraveOnline: Thank you for doing this interview. They said Walter Mirisch was doing interviews, and I said, “Oh my god!”

First of all, you can talk about The Great Escape. A great, great movie, everyone loves it, it’s one of the most popular and referenced movies I’ve seen. This was another all-star production that came off the success of The Magnificent Seven. Did you know this was going to be a huge hit? Was this your anticipated blockbuster?

Well, you don’t know. Picturemakers always live in hope. You hope it will please audiences and accomplish the goals you set for it, and the The Great Escape is just one of those pictures that realized most everything that we hoped it would.

Did you have advanced screenings for audiences, to test how the film would be received?

Marvel lands its first live action network TV series in decades.

The pickup of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” has been expected ever since the project was announced. And with The Avengers director, Joss Whedon onboard and Clark Gregg signed to reprise his role as Agent Phil Coulson, it was the easiest call to make.

ABC has officially announced that “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is going forward, although the length of the first season wasn’t specified. The first promo for “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will premiere tomorrow night on ABC during the season finale of “Once Upon A Time.” It’s also likely that “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” will end up on Sundays and be paired with “Once” next season.
This marks the first Marvel live action TV series on a broadcast network since “The Incredible Hulk” ended its run in 1982. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is also the first live action Marvel TV series produced since Disney purchased Marvel in 2009.

Syfy Renews ‘Defiance’ For Season 2

The sci-fi drama will return with new episodes in 2014.

Earlier today, Syfy officially ordered a 13 episode second season of “Defiance” that is expected to premiere in 2014.

Created in conjunction with Trion Worlds, “Defiance” was released concurrently with the Defiance video game in a “transmedia convergence.” Both the game and the TV series take place decades after seven alien races arrived on Earth and attempted to make it their new world. Now humans and aliens live side-by-side in Defiance, the town formerly known as St. Louis that is protected by Lawkeeper Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his adopted alien daughter, Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas)

Fox Orders ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ ‘Almost Human’ & 7 Other New Shows

At least nine new dramas and comedies are on tap for Fox next season.

A week ahead of the network upfronts, Fox has already pulled the trigger on its newest batch of shows. And for genre fans, there’s a lot to be happy about.

On the drama side, Fox ordered the modern day “Sleepy Hollow” series from “Fringe” co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci while the other “Fringe” co-creator J.J. Abrams and former executive producer, J.H. Wyman also landed a new series tentatively titled “Almost Human;” which takes place in the near future as human cops are partnered with life-like androids.

Neil Gaiman’s long-standing Image character comes to the Marvel universe, as does Gaiman himself.

Today, Marvel Comics gave us the first look at their version of Angela, the long-standing Image Comics character created by Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane. At the end of Age of Ultron, Angela will be arriving in the Marvel Universe for the first time, now that Gaiman has the full legal rights to her. Marvel honcho Joe Quesada has now revealed his redesign of the character, as seen above.

First Look: Batman/Superman #1

The definitive story of how The Dark Knight met The Man of Steel is told by Greg Pak and Jae Lee.

Superman has a new movie coming out next month, as well as a new Scott Snyder/Jim Lee book called Superman Unchained. But that's not all – he's also got Greg Pak going back to the start to tell the definitive story of how The Man of Steel met The Dark Knight.

“Our story takes place around the time of Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #1," Pak explained. "So it takes place when both of these guys are very young and very new to the whole superhero thing. We're going to have this fantastic opportunity to see how these very young guys view each other. Imagine finding out for the first time about some guy who runs around in a bat costume fighting crime or some guy with these insane powers doing the same thing. Each hero's reaction to the other is going to surprise folks a little bit, because they're both so new. Their reactions to each other are going to be a lot more dangerous than you're used to thinking about when you think about Batman and Superman.”

“There’s a hugely fun opportunity right now in the New 52 because the way they’ve been set up, particularly in the time frame we’re looking at, and they have no idea about the existence of the other guy,” he added. “They don’t even know about other superheroes. So when they first bump into each other, they immediately assume the other guy is the most dangerous guy on the planet. And you know what? Each guy might be right about that. They’re powerful enough, they’re young enough, and they’re cocky enough that if they make mistakes, they could make huge mistakes. That’s a really great place to plunge into this relationship and see them push each other in really big ways at this really early stage. I think it’s just going to fuel a lot of great character moments, character development, and story.”

Preview: Star Trek #20

How did new-school Sulu and Chekov first meet? Back at their old school, naturally.

You know it, I know it. The second installment in the new-school Star Trek movie series is almost here, and the lack of any of the original cast members this time will make or break it. But before you check into Star Trek Into Darkness with its apparently-important-to-the-plot shots of Alice Eve in her skivvies, you can familiarize yourself with the new origin stories of the crew of the Starship Enterprise with IDW's ongoing Star Trek series, supervised by movie screenwriter Roberto Orci.

Check out this preview of Star Trek #20, due out tomorrow from writer Ryan Parrott and artist Claudia Balboni, which will give us backstory for both Sulu and Chekov from their Starfleet Academy days.

Ender's Game is the latest movie to preview their preview trailer with a teaser trailer. The video is introduced by two of the film's stars: Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield.

Crave's ComingSoon website caught the video as it dropped Friday. (The sorta-full length trailer hits May 7.) Butterfield is Ender Wiggin in the film, trained initially at Battle School by Harrison Ford's Colonel Hyrum Graff to fight alien invaders of Earth.

Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige Talks Phase 2 Flicks Avengers 2, Ant-Man, Guardians

Most Craved: The crystal ball Marvel is using for these movies.

Marvel movies are so big right now (the last six movies before Iron Man 3 have made a combined $4 billion worldwide) that getting an exclusive interview with the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, is quite a feat. So when Crave's SuperHeroHype website scored such a conversation, it was bound to make news.

Feige said he is committed to another Iron Man movie but Tony Stark's next appearance will be in Joss Whedon's sequel to The Avengers. Who will play Stark beyond that isn't clear. Feige says he was sold on doing an Ant Man movie despite some derision after meeting Edgar Wright a decade ago and hearing his take on the character. Vision seems to be a key theme with Feige: he says a comprehensive vision is how they scored Robert Redford for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

And though Iron Man 3 opens this weekend, Feige's attention is out in the future:

BBC America Renews ‘Orphan Black’ For Season 2

“Orphan Black” becomes the second BBC America original program to get another season.

It’s always difficult to predict when “Doctor Who” will return to BBC America. But one thing is certain: “Orphan Black” will be back in 2014.

BBC America has officially renewed “Orphan Black” for its second season of ten episodes, which is slated to premiere next year as a part of the network’s “Supernatural Saturday” block. “Orphan Black” stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, a young woman who discovers that there are multiple clones of herself and that she may also be a clone. The series was co-created by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett.

Watch a Deleted Scene From ‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ Season 1 Episode 3

Giuiliano confides in da Vinci about what he gave up under torture.

Last month, STARZ began life without “Spartacus” after its epic three season run. However, “Da Vinci’s Demons” has proven to be popular right out of the gate and STARZ has already renewed the series for a second season.

Created by David S. Goyer, “Da Vinci’s Demons” follows the adventures of young Leonardo da Vinci (Tom Riley) in a fictionalized time in his life when his genius earned him enemies and only a few true allies.

STARZ has passed along a deleted scene from last Friday’s third episode of “Da Vinci’s Demons” in which Giuliano Medici (Tom Bateman) discloses to da Vinci the torture he was forced to endure and what info he reluctantly gave up. There is some NSFW language in the clip, so consider yourself warned…

Dougray Scott on ‘Hemlock Grove’

The star of Netflix’s original monster series talks about his character and working with multiple directors on the show.

“Hemlock Grove” is now available for viewing the entire 13 episode season on Netflix. The horror series tells a tale of monsters and murder in the town of Hemlock Grove.

Dougray Scott plays Norman Godfrey, a central figure in the investigation of a murder and the unraveling of secrets within the town. We sat with Scott after the Netflix presentation to the Television Critics Association, where only mysterious clips were showcased at the time.

You can read this interview before you watch the series on Netflix Instant, or check in with Scott while you’re midway through binge watching “Hemlock Grove.”

CraveOnline: Are Norman and Olivia a team, or are they out to get each other?

Dougray Scott: I think we’re very much linked. Our relationship is very complicated and it started a long time ago. I think Norman can be manipulative as well, but in terms of what her manipulations are, he’s not really connected with that. They have a very complicated relationship, Olivia and Norman.

He wants his cake and eat it. He wants everything. The tragedy of his story is that he starts off thinking that everything can carry on as it is, the world he’s created. Of course he realizes that things have to change. He’s been living a lie for 15 years. He finds that he just can’t carry on in that respect.

He always threatens to leave his wife and marry Olivia, but that never quite happens until the end of the series, things begin to change. He wants to be happy and he finds he’s constantly fighting against this dysfunctional world he lives in. All he ever wants is happiness but at the same time, he’s very comfortable living in this world of unpredictability and turmoil.

It’s something that a lot of people are very accustomed to. They say they want happiness, they want calmness and peace within their lives, but actually they’re addicted to some sort of dysfunction within their world and it’s very hard for them to break away from that and I think Norman’s one of those characters.

His connection is that he obviously knows those characters. There’s his nephew and his daughter is involved with Bill [Skarsgard] and Landon [Liboiron]’s character. So his involvement with them is through his daughter really, and also through Olivia and Bill’s character as well, so he becomes involved with them. But that story, that plot line between the kids and my plot line with Famke is somewhat separate until the end and it all comes together.

Preview: X-Men #1

Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel set up their own corner of X-land, spotlighting the women of the atom.

The Brian Wood version of X-Men has stood pretty well apart from the standard goings-on in the 616, and now that the NOW has been cooking with gas for months now, it seems the new version of his X-world is finally getting around to joining that train – although it'll still likely be its own, self-contained entity.

Here's the synopsis blurb for the new X-Men #1, which will sport Olivier Coipel on art duties.

"Storm, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey, Rogue & Psylocke redefine what it means to be a Child of the Atom in X-Men #1, kicking off the all-new ongoing series by the blockbuster creative team of writer Brian Wood (Ultimate Comics X-Men) and artist Oliver Coipel (Avengers VS. X-Men)! An old enemy shows up at the X-Men’s door, seeking asylum from an ancient evil come back to Earth. Meanwhile, Jubilee has come home, and she’s brought with her an orphaned baby who might hold the key to the Earth’s survival…or its destruction! With an imminent alien invasion and an eons-spanning war between brother and sister around the corner, Storm steps up and puts together a team to protect the child and stop a new threat that could destroy all life in the Marvel Universe!"

Check out these preview pages from X-Men #1, due out next month. Also, you should read Wood's Dark Horse book, The Massive. It is good.

Preview: King Conan – The Hour of the Dragon

Robert E. Howard’s only Conan novel gets the graphic adaptation from fan-favorite creators.

King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon is the only Conan novel from his creator, Robert E. Howard. It's now been adapted into a novel of the graphic variety by Timothy Truman, Tomas Giorello and Jose Villarrubia, a team of creators that Conan fans tend to enjoy.

Check out this preview for King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon, featuring a grizzled and still combative monarch regaling a young scholar with tales from his legendary life.

Preview: Daredevil #26

The Man Without Fear has an evil twin of sorts with Ikari, but he also consults Iron Man for help with Foggy Nelson.

A new villain by the name of Ikari (Japanese for "fury" so'z ya knowz) is making life difficult for Daredevil, since he has all of Matt Murdock's power while still retaining his sight. He's tied into the experiments to replicate the accident that gave Matt his abilities in the first place, but he has yet to figure out the true culprits. Meanwhile, in light of Foggy Nelson's recent cancer diagnosis, Matt's turning to Iron Man for help.

Check out this Chris Samnee preview art for Daredevil #26, by writer Mark Waid, due out next month

Cheech and Chong explain how Ice Age influenced their new animated movie and how close Robert Altman came to directing Up in Smoke.

It's been nearly 30 years since the last official "Cheech & Chong" movie, featuring the comedy stylings of Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong, who parlayed their personae as affable stoners into a series of classic comedies like Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams, and Still Smokin between 1978 and 1974. Although the duo went their separate ways, they've reunited here and there for episodes of "Nash Bridges" and "South Park" and their 2008-2009 reunion tour.

Now they're back on screen in their first full-fledged comedy in decades, Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie, which brings them to life in cartoon form, acting out some of the classic routines from their Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, and we got to talk to them about their storied careers because sometimes – just sometimes – things aren't tough all over.

CraveOnline: It’s been a long time since a proper “Cheech and Chong” movie. How did this come about?

Tommy Chong: Well, it’s an animated movie, and we’ve animated our old record bits, and we’re very pleased with it. The color came out really good, and in focus…

Tommy Chong: It was friends of my son’s, the Chambers brothers. They approached us with the idea, actually four years ago. They put it all together, and they brought it to completion.

Was there ever any talk about original content together for this, or was it always to highlight your favorite bits?

Tommy Chong: The original content was the way we put it together into a movie. What we did, we strung all the bits together with the help of this little character called “Les Morpion,” or “Buster the Body Crab.” We kind of copied Ice Age, the way they used the little squirrel. We used a little body crab.

Cheech Marin: There’s an original soundtrack that comes with the movie too. We recorded that. So all-new tunes in the soundtrack.

Tony Curran on ‘Defiance’

We talk to the alien gangster of “Defiance” about hot tubbing with Jaime Murray and the human sides of the show’s otherworldly characters.

My theory on Hollywood is that everyone who plays bad guys are actually the nicest people in real life, and it’s “America’s Sweethearts” that you have to watch out for.

Tony Curran continued to prove my theory when I met him during the Television Critics Association Press Tour. On Syfy’s “Defiance,” Curran plays Datak Tarr, the leader of the Castithan race who wields considerable influence within the town while controlling its criminal underworld as well.

Unlike Datak Tarr, Curran was completely personable as he spoke with me at length about his detailed inspirations for the character.

CraveOnline: You’re one of the few actors who gets to be in both the game and the show. Does that mean Datak goes to San Francisco in the game?

Tony Curran: At the moment I don’t think I’m in the game right now, but I think I will be joining the game this year, so yeah. I look forward. I’ve done motion capture before. I did Tintin recently with Spielberg and so on, but it’ll be fun to play the same character in a game as well as being in a show. It’s going to be quite compelling, going from both worlds I would imagine.

That makes sense that you haven’t done the game yet because they couldn’t have you do both at the same time. So now you’ve shot the show and you can be available for the game.

Julie [Benz] has been doing a bit more. Grant [Bowler] and Stephanie [Leonidas] have obviously been doing quite a lot of it, but it does take up a lot of time. So I think they’ll just start with the more main characters first and then they’re going to start integrating everybody else in. The televisual aspect obviously takes some time, but not as long as the video game does and the world, putting that together. We’re all looking forward to being part of both.

Most definitely, yeah. I think it’s going to be quite a popular term at Comic-Con this year, definitely. I say it all the time. It’s much better than saying other things as well, other vernaculars I guess. Shtako. There’s a few other good swear words as well in Castithan.

‘True Blood’ Season 6 Preview Scene: Jason Threatens Nora

Jason demands information from Eric’s sister and someone is conspicuous by their absence…

Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) has never been the smartest or the sharpest character on “True Blood.” And there have been times when Jason has been downright unstable.

But in the fifth season finale, “True Blood” left Jason in a pretty dark place as he began hallucinating vampire hating visions of his dead parents and he even rejected his lover, Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) because he now hates all vampires.

In a deleted scene from the finale, Jason’s visions continued and he mentioned Warlow — the ancient vampire to whom Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) was sold centuries before her birth — before Nora (Lucy Griffiths) overheard him and seemed to know who and what Warlow was.

For the first behind-the-scenes promo from the new season of “True Blood,” Jason angrily confronts Nora about Warlow’s whereabouts. And Jason’s hold on sanity seems tenuous at best…

Preview: Geoff Johns’ Swan Song in Green Lantern #20

“The Wrath of the First Lantern” story comes to a close, as does Johns’ near-decade run with the GLs.

After almost a decade of writing Green Lantern stories, bringing Hal Jordan back to life and introducing all the various spectrum Lanterns, Geoff Johns is wrapping it all up with Green Lantern #20, releasing on May 22. It'll be a 66-page issue with 55 pages of Doug Mahnke art and appearances by Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Cully Hamner, Aaron Kuder, Jerry Ordway and others.

It will be conclusion to the "Wrath of the First Lantern" epic, which disguised itself initially as the "Rise of the Third Army" and has become something totally different. Instead of the Guardians of the Universe foisting a Borg army on the universe to remove free will, we're now dealing with the opposite – an emotional vampire thriving entirely on free will, bad choices and regret, but one powerful enough to remake the universe.

"I'm extremely grateful for being able to conclude our run on Green Lantern with this monster of an issue," Johns said. "I'm moving on feeling very proud of what my creative collaborators and I have done over the years with the Green Lantern universe. Thanks to all the readers out there who've been with us for this adventure. I can't wait until #20 is in your hands — the last several pages in particular."

DC has told us that the final four story pages will make our heads explode. I… don't see why that's a selling point. I like my head undetonated. At least they didn't misuse literally, though!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #21: Eastman’s Back

TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman takes on the penciling duties and gives us a visual feast.

After battling The Foot Clan, mutated vicious amphibians and Krang’s army in another dimension, what’s the best way for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to start their next story arc? How about with original artist Kevin Eastman stepping up to the penciling table. TMNT #21 doesn’t really hatch the next story until the end, but that doesn’t matter – it’s so awesome to view Kevin Eastman’s art that the plot is irrelevant. Perhaps that was the point, to have an easy issue so readers could feast mainly on the pencils.

Issue #21 begins with our four heroes taking care of their normal patrol. Something is wrong in their city, a foul wind blows through it, bringing petty crime and an uneasy feeling. Suddenly, the Turtles are attacked by a small, masked, ninja. This masked warrior knows them, and he knows of Splinter, the Turtles' master. Threatening to kill him, the masked ninja takes on all four brothers, making quick work of them.

Preview: Daredevil #26

The Man Without Fear has an evil twin of sorts with Ikari, but he also consults Iron Man for help with Foggy Nelson.

Check out this Chris Samnee preview art for Daredevil #26, by writer Mark Waid, due out next month.

Ultra Magnus is dying. Rewind is dead. And the Autobots have no one to blame but themselves.

The last issue of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, the best TF series of all time, was a chaotic symphony of destruction and madness, as the supremely powerful Phase-6 Decepticon Overlord rampaged through The Lost Light, crushing everything and everyone he saw. Pipes, smashed. Rewind, sacrificed. Ultra Magnus, circling the drain. The monster was stopped, but at great cost. Now comes the aftermath. The questions. The misery. The Autobots who were kept in the dark about Overlord's presence have to wonder where the hell this came from, while the secret science team who experimented on him have a lot to answer for – and given Chromedome's close, personal connection to Rewind, who gave his life to save the ship, the guilt he feels must make him inconsolable.

Will we really lose Ultra Magnus, the Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, one of Rodimus' closest advisors and original movie star? The prognosis looks grim, as you can see below.

Check out this preview for tomorrow's Transformers: MTMTE #16, from James Roberts and Agustin Padilla.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Details: No Rooker or Batista?

Most Craved: New details from the director of Guardians of the Galaxy.

James Gunn won't talk about who is — or is not — in the movie he's directing, Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians is the one movie of Marvel's coming Phase 2 slate of films that earns the Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the others."

It's a film about a team of completely non-human aliens, including a talking raccoon named Rocket and a sentient tree named Groot, who are forced together and save the galaxy from some celestial menace. No Earth. No Iron Man. Gunn spoke with Crave's ComicBookMovie website about what's rumors and what's real about Guardians.

New Weird Science Movie

Most Craved: Another 80′s classic film remade?

Apparently Hollywood is taking a swing at one of the last sacred cows: remaking John Hughes movies. This time Universal wants a fresh take on the 1985 classic Weird Science.

Weird Science tells the tale of two high school outsiders, Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith, who create the perfect woman, Kelly LeBrock, Frankenstein-style with their computers.

Joel Silver, who produced the original, is also set to produce a remake which Crave's Collider website reported will be an edgier, R-rated version of the lighthearted look at misogyny, sex and hormonal teenaged boys. The man who wrote Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the 21 Jump Street remake will write Weird Science for a new generation.

Review: Oblivion

“Oblivion is cold and distractingly familiar.”

I’ve had a hard time writing a proper review of Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion. I’ve actually started to consider just cutting and pasting reviews of other, better sci-fi films from other, better critics in a logical order and just calling it a day, covering my ass under the pretense of “intentional homage.” Why not? That’s just what Oblivion does.

Not that there’s nothing to recommend about Oblivion. As he proved with his first feature film, TR0N: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski has a remarkable eye for geometric production design, epic scales and negative spaces. He’s like the bastard child of John Toll and Victor Vasarely. It’s a pleasure to watch the imagery of Oblivion on the big screen, and I suppose I’m glad I did. If I could write Oblivion off as a painting I’d call it a classic and let that be that, but unfortunately there‘s a screenplay here as well, and that screenplay is cobbled from so many familiar sci-fi classics that every single plot point is clearly visible from a mile away. Or rather, since films move through time rather than physical space: they are predictable at least half an hour before they happen.

‘Zombieland’ & 13 Other Pilots Go Live At Amazon

Amazon’s push into original online programming begins as viewers decide which shows go forward.

Now, Amazon has officially released the pilot episodes of “Zombieland” and 13 other pilots which can be viewed for free. Of the eight comedy pilots, “Zombieland” is the most prominent, as it serves as a sequel to the film with the further adventures of Columbus (Tyler Ross), Wichita (Maiara Walsh), Tallahassee (Kirk Ward) and Little Rock (Izabela Vidovic).

Comedy veteran Jeffrey Tambor is starring in “The Onion Presents: The News,” while John Goodman is toplining “Alpha House,” a political comedy from Doonesbury creator, Garry Trudeau. There are also five children’s programs among the Amazon pilots.

Viewer response to the pilots will determine which shows get a series order. Presumably the original series would then be made exclusive to Amazon Prime members as Amazon attempts to position itself as a direct rival to Netflix.

Stephanie Leonidas on ‘Defiance’

We speak with the alien outlaw of Syfy’s new drama and find out what she can’t see and what she can say in Irathian.

Tonight, Syfy is launching a multi-media venture with “Defiance." The series stars Grant Bowler as Nolan, an outlaw who settles in the town of Defiance along with his adopted alien daughter, Irisa as portrayed by Stephanie Leonidas. Concurrently, there is also a “Defiance” video game on all major platforms that allows players to encounter characters from the show.

At the Television Critics Association press tour, we met with Leonidas, who gives a striking performance on the show. Leonidas’ character Irisa is an Irathient whose unique appearance includes a substantial brow, altered nose and red hair. Irisa doesn’t get along with many in the “Defiance” pilot, which could be because she’s an alien or just because she’s a loner. But Leonidas was lovely to speak with in person.

Stephanie Leonidas: In a way, yes. I could see that. I’ve never been asked that question, so that’s quite possible in some ways. She’s very quiet and slowly comes out of her shell through the series, but she’s also in a place she doesn’t recognize and she’s growing up around people that she doesn’t feel comfortable around. That’s also part of the fact that she’s a different species to Nolan who’s this human who she’s traveling with. Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I guess to some degree, maybe.

Of course I’m basing that on only one episode’s worth of behavior that I’ve seen.

Yeah, a lot of her behavior remains. Irisa will never be a chatty alien girl. She’s always going to be somebody that is very internal, but she knows how to speak her mind.

How do you fathom that, playing a different race? You must get to transform into a lot of different things as an actor, but a different species?

Pretty extraordinary. As hard as prosthetics sometimes can be and as early as my calls are in the morning, I wouldn’t feel like I was Irisa until every part of that was complete. So yeah, you really do transform.

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe #1: One More Try

Keith Giffen takes a stab at jumpstarting the series that stumbled a bit out of the gate.

DC tried recently to launch a new Masters of the Universe series, but some creative churn seemed to derail it. Now, we've got a new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #1 from writer Keith Giffen and artist Pop Mhan, that doesn't discount whatever came before, which started with Skeletor triumphant and everyone having to fight to overthrow his rulership, but maybe it should have. Wherever it's going, though, it's somewhere for grown-ups.

We open with Duncan, aka Man-At-Arms, and Prince Adam preparing for the funeral services of The Sorceress, who apparently died to defeat Skeletor or some such. They seem remarkably bantery for such an somber occasion, especially with the apparently recent revelation that The Sorceress was the mother of Duncan's child Teela. For her part, Teela seems to be exceedingly surly, apparently unhappy with the fact that her hair is now red for some reason (like punch you in the gut if you mock it surly, like her red hair is accidental or something), and she seems to be openly calling for a genocide against all magic users. Why she's this surly, we have no idea, although it may be some relation to her discovering the identity of her deadbeat mother. Apparently, nobody's all that broken up about the death of The Sorceress – and the fact that her real name was apparently Teela Na only pisses off her daughter even more. For some reason that's not entirely clear.

Preview: Cable and X-Force #8

Cable’s team has just freed an interstellar war criminal, and now they’re on the run. Again.

Cable and X-Force has been pretty cool so far, although it's been nothing but trouble for the team of Cable, Domino, Colossus, Dr. Nemesis, Forge and Boom-Boom. Seeing as how they've just sprung an interstellar war criminal from S.W.O.R.D. lockdown, who immediately captured his team, things are going to get hairier as they head out into outer space. Seems that's the place to be these days.

Check out this Salvador Larocca preview art from Cable and X-Force #8, written by Dennis Hopeless. :

Preview: Transformers: Robots In Disguise #16

Devastator is running wild over the burning Cybertron civilization, and Megatron can’t be stopped. Can he?

Things are looking bleak for the fledgling Cybertronian post-war society. Megatron has returned, revealed he's been playing everybody all along, and he's laying waste to everything in his path – and he's got a lot of help, because the titantic gestalt Devastator just ripped the Autobots' giant Superion in half. What makes it worse is that one of the Autobots, namely Prowl, has been somehow forced to become a part of that unholy union of Constructicons that's gone insane. What can the Autobots and their allies do to stem this tide of destruction?

Find out when you see this preview for Transformers: Robots in Disguise #16, from writer John Barber and artist Andrew Griffith.

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Morris Chestnut may have just let the cat out of the bag… so to speak. In a recent tweet to his followers, the star of The Call heavily implied that he'll be playing The Black Panther in the near future.

"It's time to get familiar with the Black Panther character!" he wrote, and then promptly deleted, from his account at @Morris_Chestnut (via Coming Soon). He also reportedly added, "Not final #BlackPanther may be in #avengers2 first. RT @jamaal91604133: @Morris_Chestnut Can't wait to see this movie. #BlackPanther" but that tweet also appears to have been taken down.

The Black Panther was the first black superhero in American comics, first appearing in The Fanastic Four #52 way back in 1966. The superhero, real name T'Challa, is the ruler of the African nation of Wakanda, a technologically advanced civilization with an enormous repository of Vibranium. He's been a member of The Avengers on and off in the comic book series, and has long been rumored to have a feature film in development, dating back to 1992, when Wesley Snipes first expressed interest in the project. Snipes went on instead to play the Marvel Comics hero Blade in a 1998 film that helped jumpstart the modern superhero movie zeitgeist.

Free Film School #94: Viva Elvis!

Professor Witney Seibold analyzes the huge (and dubious) film output of The King.

It's time, my children, for another installment of CraveOnline's awesome and award-winning series, Free Film School, hosted by me, your humble professor, Witney Seibold. Today's topic? Elvis.

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on the 8^th of January in 1935, and famously faked his own death in 1977 in order to live out of the limelight. He currently resides in a somewhat modest and secluded home somewhere in Michigan, sharing his space with Kurt Cobain, The Notorious B.I.G. and, oddly, George Hamilton. A lot of Faygo is consumed in that home. I have been to this mansion, although I couldn't divulge its location if I wanted to; one can only be led there by a special team of trained sled dogs, and you are forced to wear a blindfold.

Elvis Presley is, of course, perhaps the single most famous figure in all rock 'n' roll history. Some rock critics may cite Chuck Berry as being more influential, or The Beatles as being more creative and expansive, and many fans even point to dozens of bad and/or forgettable songs in his vast repertoire. But in terms of sheer, overpowering fame wattage, Elvis was the figurehead of the rock form. No music collection of any stripe is complete without at least some Elvis Presley in it, and no music fan is complete without performing in-shower renditions of “Hound Dog” or “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” While something of a hayseed (however smart the man was, Presley was not famous for his intellect), and notoriously addicted to various substances over the course of his life, it's tempting to dismiss The King as something moribund and campy, the aged and expired result of blue-collar obsession with the past. His late-career Las Vegas shows and on-stage karate demonstrations didn't really help him dissolve his campier aspects, either. Elvis, however, is no mere relic. Elvis lives on, literally and figuratively. With every rock star that is considered even remotely sexy by any yearning teenage fan, Elvis lives on. With every pelvic thrust performed by any rock star on any stage anywhere, Elvis lives on. Elvis made rock sexy, and he gave rock a voice. Don't insult the man. He's old now.

For the purposes of the Free Film School, however, we are going to look at Elvis Presley, the film star, and I will give a brief run-down on the feature films that he acted in, from 1956 until 1969. Elvis, it should be noted, was a famously prolific film performer in addition to being a musician. In his life, he acted in 31 narrative feature films, which is more than any other musician. By contrast, The Beatles were only featured in five during their careers. Even musicians who turned to acting aren't as prolific as Elvis was. Madonna has only starred in about 20 features film. Cher, even less. David Bowie hasn't beaten Elvis yet. Some onetime singers threaten Elvis' record, but many of them have given up on their singing (Justin Timberlake and Ice Cube may beat Elvis yet). Elvis not only acted in 31 movies, but managed to keep his musical career going simultaneously.

Jamie Foxx & Bryan Fuller Land Projects At Syfy

Foxx will write and direct a horror anthology series while Fuller gets a pilot order for “High Moon.”

Earlier today, word leaked out about Syfy’s miniseries plans ahead of its upfront presentation. And now several other projects have come to light.

According to Deadline, Django Unchained star Jamie Foxx will write, produce and direct a new five part horror anthology series for Syfay that will debut this year. In a brief statement, Foxx hinted that he may also act in the currently untitled project: “This is a project that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I’m so happy to see it come to life. Get ready to lose it when some special friends and I bring the scares this October, and who knows… maybe I’ll make a guest appearance or two along the way!”

“High Moon” takes place in the future when Earth’s mining colonies on the moon discover a new form of life living there; which throws humanity into chaos as various factions seek to control and exploit it.

Syfy also revealed a number of sci-fi series that are currently in development at the network:

‘Ringworld’ & ‘Childhood’s End’ Come To Syfy

Two classic sci-fi novels by Larry Niven and Arthur C. Clarke are in development at Syfy as four hour miniseries.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Syfy is developing Larry Niven’s “Ringworld” and Arthur C. Clarke’s “Childhood’s End” as four hour event miniseries. “Ringworld” tells the story of a group of interstellar explorers who discover an immense alien created habitat that holds the secrets of ancient civilizations, advanced technology and a possible way to save the Earth from destruction. Michael Perry (“The River”) is slated to adapt “Ringworld;” which is a co-production of MGM Television and Universal Cable Productions.

Michael DeLuca (The Social Network) is attached to executive produce “Childhood’s End,” which finds humanity peacefully invaded by aliens who bring about a utopia on Earth while preparing the world for its cosmic destiny.

Preview: Uncanny Avengers #8

Thor’s past mistakes return to haunt him as the Apocalypse Twins gain control of his old Celestial-slayer weapon.

In this week's Uncanny Avengers, we saw the impetuous young Thor defy Odin's decree in order to fashion a weapon out of his axe Jarnbjorn that wa capable of piercing the Celestial-fueled armor of Apocalypse in olden tymes, all thanks to Kang's manipulations. Odin warned that Thor had no idea what he'd wrought, and soon, the Thunder God will find out that it's "Ragnarok NOW," once The Apocalypse Twins wield that axe to assassinate a Celestial.

Check out this preview of Uncanny Avengers #8, from writer Rick Remender, artist Daniel Acuña and a cool Sunfire cover from John Cassaday.

Exclusive Preview: Catwoman #19

Catwoman is in the Justice League of America, but it really doesn’t seem to be going well.

It seems crazy, but Catwoman is now a member of the Justice League of America. However, things don't seem to be going all that well, if Crave Online's exclusive preview of Catwoman #19 is any indication. It looks like her teammates are beating her up and throwing her into Arkham Asylum. Has she gone nuts, or is this a well-crafted cover story? Find out below.

Check out these pages from Catwoman #19, due out next week from Ann Nocenti and Rafa Sandoval. The story is called "Slam." Dare we hope for Slam Bradley to show up?

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“The Company You Keep is Robert Redford’s The Expendables.”

The Company You Keep is Robert Redford’s The Expendables. It’s sort of a greatest hits from his classic movies starring all his contemporaries, and a few of the new generation to hit all four quadrants. It starts out kind of fun too, but gets really plodding and way too message-y.

Former Weather Underground member Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) gets apprehended after 30 years in hiding from crimes committed during the radical group’s political activism. Albany Sun Times reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) gets on the story and uncovers that Jim Grant (Robert Redford) was really Weather Underground member Nick Sloan. So Nick goes on the run before the FBI can get him too and Ben tries to get the full story about the Weather Underground members in hiding.

The Nick storyline is totally Three Days of the Condor. Nick uses tactical handoffs to send messages and gathers intel to elude the FBI. Along the way he encounter’s a host of legendary actors: Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Richard Jenkins, Julie Christie. The old school spy thriller leg of the movie is actually the fun part, until it gets preachy, which I’ll get to.

Exclusive Interview: Fede Alvarez on Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2

Fede Alvarez wants the the Evil Dead crossover movie to “unite the two sagas together in one last epic film.”

While I was working the press rooms at WonderCon, I did not have a chance to see the panels presented to the audience. So I was not aware that the presenters for Evil Dead were already discussing plans to merge Fede Alvarez’s re-imagined world with the Army of Darkness/Bruce Campbell world. Still, I hope you’ll find that my one-on-one grilling of Alvarez clarified some important details about the two series. Of particular interest, Alvarez knows better than to call his sequel Evil Dead II, and while Campbell may disagree, Alvarez definitively feels his film takes place in the same world as Raimi’s trilogy. I took out specific spoilers for Evil Dead but I did ask about the easter egg after the credits, which you won’t want to know about yet but will definitely have questions about afterwards.

CraveOnline: Let me tell you my experience with your film and get your take on it. For about half the film, I was noticing this comes from the original, this is a twist on what happens in the original. But you wore me down the way things keep coming and coming. Is that what you were going for?

Fede Alvarez: Yeah. As a storyteller, when you’re writing a movie and when you’re directing, you want to keep people entertained. That’s the whole point, right? It has to be entertaining. A lot of people ask me, “Is the main goal to be scary or shocking?” It’s not. The main goal is to give you an entertaining story. It doesn’t matter the amount of gore, the amount of shocks that you can have in a movie, if the movie’s not entertaining, if the story’s not entertaining. Usually when things keep happening and happening and happening, it keeps you hooked. There’s a drama in the story that will keep you hooked and you invested in Mia. By the time things start happening, you want her to succeed with whatever she’s doing, right? It was really important to have a story that moved forward all the time. There’s something happening every five minutes, right?

I think at the beginning it takes its time because that was the nature of the story. It had to take some time to introduce the characters and believe this is a grounded story and realistic, which really empowers the fear later on when you set it up in such a realistic tone. Then when someone’s throwing up in someone’s face, you feel it’s out of the movie, right? It feels like what’s going on? Because in the first half, nothing that outrageous is happening, so that was the whole trick, having a realistic set up with a good story and things keep happening, happening, happening. Then suddenly you unleash the Evil Dead universe on them.

Exclusive Interview: Bruce Campbell on Evil Dead & Burn Notice

Bruce Campbell explains the post-credits easter egg on the Evil Dead remake and teases the final story arc of Burn Notice.

Well, we’re going to have to get into spoiler territory with Bruce Campbell. Believe us, once you see the Evil Dead remake (in theaters Friday), there are some questions you’d want to ask, but questions you wouldn’t want to have going into the movie. However, at their WonderCon panel, the Evil Dead filmmakers already announced their hopes to merge Fede Alvarez’s remake with the Ash universe, so you might already want to know more. We got a one on one with Campbell, who produced Alvarez’s remake, and got some good tidbits about the upcoming Crimewave Blu-ray as well.

SPOILER WARNING for those who don't want the post-credits scene from the Evil Dead remake ruined. Seriously, Spoiler Warning.

CraveOnline: I understand it was important to you that there be no Ash character in this Evil Dead. Is that true?

Bruce Campbell: I wasn’t that adamant. We just wanted to make sure Sam [Raimi] was happy with the idea in general of doing a remake, because it was our little baby. It’s the thing that got us all into the film business so we’re going to be pretty careful with it. So we were glad when Fede Alvarez pitched an idea to Sam that did not have the Ash character. We’re like, “Yeah, that, we’re interested in” because it meant that we were saving it just for us. We didn’t want to share the character with anybody.

Make whatever you’d like. Fans want a cameo. Anyone who stays to the end of the credits, we give ‘em a little somethin’ somethin’.

It means absolutely nothing. It means everything and nothing. It’s Paul McCartney crossing Abbey Road barefoot. That’s what it means.

Did you ever think you’d still be in the Evil Dead world 30 years later?

I never thought I’d be in the film business 30 years later. So no, no, you never think about that. We didn’t even think we’d finish the movie at the time, let alone get people their money back, let alone have it be successful, let alone having it stay around for as long as it has. So no, you can never plan that. The stuff that you think is going to happen like that doesn’t. The stuff that you don’t think about, that’s the stuff that takes hold.

Bitsie Tulloch & Claire Coffee on ‘Grimm’ Season 2

The ladies of “Grimm” talk about making out with each other and the gross Wesen coming up later this season.

When I saw Bitsie Tulloch and Claire Coffee sitting down at the Television Critics Association party for NBC, they looked so comfortable I couldn’t ask them to stand up. So I kneeled down between them and interviewed them for as long as my knees could hold up.

It was fun to party with the “Grimm” girls and talk about magic and creatures. On the show, Tulloch plays Juliette Silverton, Nick's girlfriend while Coffee portrays Adalind Schade, a Hexenbiest with dubious intentions.

CraveOnline: A lot of people are asking if Adalind will get her powers back. I’m wondering is she still a lawyer?

Claire Coffee: That’s a really good question. She is because when she was working for Eric, it was under the guise of doing legal duty, so I think she’s a lawyer for passport and legitimacy purposes. But I don’t know how many cases she’s busting wide open these days.

Coffee: There’s a lot of cool stuff. James Frain who plays Eric is coming back, so more royal activity.

Do you still have monster makeup to deal with or is that gone with the powers?

Coffee: No, all gone. I never had to do the makeup. It was all CGI but no, the only evils I have now are human based.

Tulloch: I’ve been saying, drunkenly, everybody’s like, “Oh, I love the love triangle.” I was like, if I had my druthers, I’d make out with everyone on the show including the women.

Netflix Finally Sets a Date For ‘Arrested Development’ Season 4

The Bluth family’s reunion gets an extra episode as the long awaited revival inches closer to launch.

Back in December, rumors leaked out about an early May debut for “Arrested Development” Season 4 on Netflix. However, Netflix quickly shot down the rumors while tacitly admitting that the fourth season had been expanded from ten episodes to fourteen.

Earlier today, Netflix announced that “Arrested Development” Season 4 will premiere on Sunday, May 26 with all 15 episodes available simultaneously, as apparently an additional episode was added to the order.

BBC Announces ‘Doctor Who’ 50th Anniversary Special Villains

An old enemy of the Doctor makes their return, as Joanna Page joins the special as well.

On Monday, BBC posted a photo of Tennant and Smith (as seen at the top of this post) side-by-side at the first table read of the anniversary script. BBC also confirmed that Joanna Page (“Gavin & Stacey”) will be in the anniversary special alongside veteran actor John Hurt.

Preview: The Victories #1

Michael Avon Oeming’s twisted superhero team returns next month in a new ongoing.

Michael Avon Oeming's The Victories miniseries was an interesting, if fucked up kinda look at a different sort of superhero team. Now, they're coming back in a new ongoing series, and Dark Horse isn't trying to hide its dark, twisted nature. Hell, they're plugging this preview by branding it as "Super Fucked Up." When the company itself is dropping f-bombs to describe things, you kinda have to take a look, don't you?

Another New Look For ‘Superior Spider-Man’

In Dan Slott’s ‘guilty pleasure’ issue, Ock-Spidey storms Shadowland to eliminate the Kingpin.

Marvel has slated July as "Superior Spider-Month," and that's when Superior Spider-Man #14, the issue Dan Slott described as his "favorite guilty pleasure" hits the stands.

"Issue #14 is, I think out of the entire run, my favorite guilty pleasure book," he told me last weekend at Wondercon. You could not wipe the grin off my face the whole time I was writing #14. I was chortling. Lots of things 'splode! Things are just blowing up, and there's death and destruction and mayhem. I was fiendishly having fun and laughing. Oh, it's going to kill me if they don't make toys. There's stuff in #14 where I want the toy. I want the toy!"

Exclusive Interview: Amanda Conner

One of the best artists working today talks Before Watchmen, Captain Brooklyn and enjoying filth.

I've made no secret of my gushing love for Amanda Conner art, because it leaps off the page and gets right into your feel-meats. In retrospect, the previous sentence makes it sound lurid. That's not what I mean (well, not entirely). It's just got such a life to it that you can feel exactly what her characters are feeling, and it destroys any cynicism you may have about comics. She's done some excellent work – you have to check out her Power Girl and Painkiller Jane written by her husband Jimmy Palmiotti and, most recently, Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre with the inimitable Darwyn Cooke. As high-minded an artistic project as that was, however, you may also remember her for Garth Ennis' down-and-dirty hooker-turned-superhero story The Pro and thus look forward to the upcoming Captain Brooklyn, with Palmiotti and Frank Tieri.

The point here is that I got to sit down with Ms. Conner for an interview at Wondercon this weekend, and she couldn't have been nicer about my pathetic fawning. We talked about her influences, her upcoming projects, her predilection for filthy stuff, her post-mortem on Before Watchmen, Darwyn Cooke's burnout and the unlikely connection between Hilary Knight's Eloise and The Pro. Check it out, won't you?

CRAVE ONLINE: First, let me just say I'm a ridiculous fan of your work. It's amazing.

There's something about your style that I'm curious about – it's so emotive that it pours off the page and sucks you right in. How did you develop this – I know there's an Archie influence, but what else is there to it?

I did grow up on Archie Comics. That's what my mom would get me when I was sick with the flu and home from school, and she was like 'I don't want her watching TV for the next twelve hours, so let's make her read.' But I think a really big influence was watching a lot of Chuck Jones.

Chuck Jones, baby. It helps that both of my parents are artists, and my dad actually used to watch a lot of Chuck Jones with me, because he's a big Chuck Jones fan.

Also, there's an artist – you probably don't remember this, because you're a boy – but Eloise?

Okay. The guy who drew Eloise was named Hilary Knight, and he was so good with body language, and he has a really, really simple line style. It's very simple, but the emotions and attitudes that he gets across are just great.

And that's so much of what I love about your work. We kind of just fall in love with everybody you draw. Even someone like The Pro.

Exclusive Interview: Scott Snyder & Jim Lee of ‘Superman Unchained’

DC’s biggest names talk to Crave Online about building up Metropolis in the new Superman book.

At DC Comics these days, you will not find two bigger names than Batman scribe Scott Snyder and industry legend Jim Lee. The two of them are teaming up to forge a new path for the Man of Steel in a series entitled Superman Unchained, which will join Scott Lobdell's Superman and Creators-To-Be-Determined's Action Comics as ongoing books about The Man of Tomorrow.

At Wondercon over the weekend, Lee and "Friend of The Book Report" Snyder sat down with me to chat about their upcoming effort. Check out Crave Online's exclusive interview right here, wherein Snyder compares Lee to Stephen King, and Lee tells us about where Metropolis is actually geographically located.

CRAVE ONLINE: Jim, you seem to me to be the standard bearer of comic book art. When people think of comic books, I think their minds picture Jim Lee art instinctively.

As one of the higher-ups at DC, dealing with this day in and day out, do you still get awestruck when working on a character like Superman, or does it just feel like work to you?

JIM LEE: I'll say, honestly, it's less the character and it's more who I get to work with. So, in this instance, working with Scott, his passion for the character and the discussions we've had about it and the themes that he's developing in the story, it makes me look at the character differently. I just want to do something that matches the level of artistry and craftsmanship that he's bringing to the story. That's the kind of thing that motivates and inspires me moreso than the fans' reaction – I want them to react favorably, of course, but I really am working towards my collaborator. That's what keeps me in the game and keeps me motivated.

SCOTT SNYDER: The way it works is that we talk story before I write the script, and I say 'what do you think? This is what it's going to be about, this is what this issue is really focused on,' and then I write the script. Sometimes along the way, we'll talk and I'll say 'oh, I have an idea for this,' and then a page will come in from Jim that will give me idea on how I could better change something towards the end of the issue. I love working that way, where I feel like his art constantly inspires a better story from me. I have a better way of telling the end of this issue because I saw something awesome in the page that he sent that gave me an idea for an emotional twist I could do. So I try to keep really, really present in that way, where I get pages from him – how many times have I said to you already 'I have a new idea for this scene down the line.' Visually, I see it, and I'm like 'god, that's so awesome, I would love to tell a new scene that plays on that theme.' The process has been constant inspiration. With Jim, I could write the phone book and it would look amazing, period. At the end of the day, his passion for doing a good job on it and how much thought goes into each page – it's like when I was working with Stephen King on American Vampire. The guy writes like a hungry young writer. Jim, on this book, is like somebody with all this fire, page to page, and that makes me up my game on every page. It's been a real joy. It's a dream come true for me.

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After the success of Zombieland, you’d think we’d have seen a lot of Reese and Wernick movies by now. Hollywood being Hollywood, things take a long time. They wrote a script for Deadpool which is no sure thing, and a Zombieland sequel became a TV series. Even their current film, the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation took an extra nine months to come out after a 3D conversion. This weekend we sat with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to finally talk about the long-awaited G.I. Joe sequel and all their upcoming projects, which include Micronauts and Cowboy Ninja Viking as well.

CraveOnline: Isn’t this what G.I. Joe should have been all along? Get The Rock and Bruce Willis to play G.I. Joe, not some young guys.

Paul Wernick: True. It’s true. Great, great actors playing iconic roles and iconic actors themselves. It’s kind of a perfect fit.

Rhett Reese: Someone called The Rock franchise Viagra. I forget who called him that but it’s a pretty funny word because he has that ability now to come into a franchise and breathe life into it so I think it was a great choice.

Were you writing the script for established action guys to play Roadblock and Colton?

Rhett Reese: Not originally. We wrote it for the character of Duke originally and then found that Channing was only going to have a more limited role so we had to back off that draft. The Rock and Bruce came a little bit later into the script process but once they did, it was a true blessing because they’re so easy to write for. They come with so many iconic qualities and to write to their voice was really, really wonderful. Knowing they were going to be in it before we wrote the lines was a big help.

Paul Wernick: It was funny because when Dwayne got cast, we really didn’t rework the script very much at all for him because he was so Roadblock when he came, it wasn’t a major retooling. It’s as if we had written the role for him. He’s so perfect for it.

How would the Duke draft have worked? Would he have fulfilled what Roadblock does in the movie?

Rhett Reese: Kind of a combination. It would be interesting to go back and look at it, it’s been so long. It was kind of a combination of what Flint has and what Roadblock has now would be the best way to describe that draft.

Paul Wernick: Roadbloack was in the script. It was Duke, Roadblock and Flint.

Rhett Reese: And it was Lady Jaye, wasn’t it? Because Flint was a Duke replacement.

Paul Wernick: I thought Flint moved into the Duke spot. I don’t know, we’d have to go back.

Rhett Reese: It’s so confusing. We’ve been through so many drafts of it. It’s really embarrassing. I have no idea, depending on which draft you got. Basically Duke was the protagonist, then Flint became the protagonist and then Roadblock became the protagonist. So there were three major drafts with three different protagonists.

China’s Iron Man 3 Will Be Different Than America’s

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing will make a cameo appearance exclusive to her native country.

China is an increasingly driving force in the global economy, and with worldwide box office grosses more important than ever nowadays, it only made sense that American studios would begin catering to the nation with the largest population on the planet. The re-editing of Red Dawn was a disappointment on many levels, but Marvel Studios is taking a more proactive, and less controversial approach to the lucrative foreign market. Their upcoming release, Iron Man 3, will feature exclusive content in China that won't be seen in other countries.

Marvel Studios announced today that the Chinese release of Iron Man 3 will include a special appearance by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (Flash Point), who is credited as playing the wife of a character named "Dr. Wu," rumored to be the counterpart of the Marvel Comics character Chen Lu, aka "The Radioactive Man." As near as we know, Dr. Wu will appear in both the American and Chinese versions of Iron Man 3, although that's merely speculation. Dr. Wu is also played by a prominent Chinese actor, Xueqi Wang, who replaced Andy Lau in the cast of the film after Lau departed the production after the birth of his son.

The Test of Time #5: G.I. Joe: The Movie

Is the 1987 animated toy commercial G.I. Joe: The Movie still the best film based on the hit franchise? The Test of Time thinks so.

G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)

Starring: Don Johnson, Burgess Meredith, Chris Latta, Michael Bell, Richard Gautier, Jennifer Darling, Sgt. Slaughter

What Is It: A motion picture tie-in to the popular 1980s television series "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero," that was intended for theatrical release but ended up going straight-to-video, with a cameo appearance by famous pro wrestler Sgt. Slaughter.

What Critics Said: Since G.I. Joe: The Movie went straight-to-video, and since the internet hadn't been invented yet, critics pretty much ignored this film altogether.

What Audiences Said: Little kids mostly dug G.I. Joe: The Movie, which unlike Transformers: The Movie didn't kill off one of its most beloved characters (although that was originally the plan). In the years that followed, the film held a minor place in the 1980s nostalgia canon, but is mostly remembered as a toy line cash-in with a quirky pro-wrestling connection. Only hardcore G.I. Joe fans seem to remember it very fondly, and even their enthusiasm tends to come across as muted.

The Test of Time:

Ever since Clark Gable took his shirt off in It Happened One Night, revealing that the movie star didn’t wear an undershirt underneath, and nearly killing sales of undershirts overnight, movies have had a pretty close relationship with commercialism. But it wasn’t until the success of Star Wars in 1977 – a film that was, and as a franchise still probably is, the most merchandised movie of all time – that movies and TV shows started becoming all but indistinguishable from toy commercials. Granted, on some level every movie and TV show is at least trying to sell you itself, but by the 1980s it seemed like many were just being made to move plastic figurines out of warehouses, not to tell a meaningful story.

Ten Nostalgia Cartoons That Should Be Movies

CraveOnline picks the best 80s and 90s cartoons that deserve a movie of their own.

I've been feeling a little nostalgic these days. Remember Ecto Cooler? Remember Gak? These were, sadly enough, defining cultural milestones in the life of many people in America, and while we've all grown up, we still look back fondly on an era of crass commercial sell-out cartoons that existed almost exclusively to sell us toys. Incidentally, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is in theaters now. It's better than the last G.I. Joe live-action movie. That's not saying much.

The beautiful thing about nostalgia, from a capitalist perspective, is that the kids who grew up loving 1980s and 1990s cartoons have by now grown up and started having toy-mongering kids of their own. Or, if they haven't "grown up," they're still buying toys and cartoons exclusively for themselves. That's why movies like Transformers and G.I. Joe are such big blockbusters. Kids want to see them, and parents aren't going to say no, because they want to see them as well. They're arguably not as good as the original series - G.I. Joe: The Movie is still marginally better than any of the live-action installments – but the potential for good stories is still there, and the series themselves have a built-in appeal that makes studios more like to take chances on making them. The odds of a big budget movie about little blue people fighting Hank Azaria will get made increase exponentially if you call it The Smurfs.

But Hollywood seems to have gotten pretty stagnant with ideas for nostalgia cartoons to turn into big budget blockbuster movies. The obvious ones, like G.I. Joe and Transformers, have already been taken. There's a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie in development right now. But the 1980s and 1990s were rife with cartoon series that not only have the potential to make money, but also have a lot of potential to make a good movie. In the interest of feeding the movie industry with good ideas for a change, CraveOnline has put together a list of Ten Nostalgia Cartoons That Should Be Movies. Some of these shows were hits, some of them were bombs, but they all have the potential to entertain new generations if done right.

M.A.S.K.

“M.A.S.K.” is one of many 1980s cartoon series that are better remembered for their toys than the actual TV show itself, but man, those toys were cool. The acronym “M.A.S.K.” stood for “Mobile Armored Strike Kommand,” complete with a sigh-worthy misappropriation of the letter “K,” so perhaps it’s not meant to be adapted into a very serious movie. The heroic agents of M.A.S.K. use high-tech vehicles that transform into other vehicles – motorcycles that turn into helicopters, for example – to fight off an enemy organization called V.E.N.O.M., which of course stands for “Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem.”

Okay, “M.A.S.K.” would need a lot of massaging to be taken even remotely seriously nowadays, but there’s a lot of potential here for an action-packed thrillride (with endless merchandising opportunities, naturally) with a story that’s certainly no worse than G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. With a little luck, it might even be as fun as Battleship. And with a lot of luck, it might even make more money than Battleship.

Netflix Orders Sci-fi Series From The Wachowskis & J. Michael Straczynski

“Sense8” will debut on Netflix in 2014.

Back in October, word broke that J. Michael Straczynski and the Wachowski siblings were reteaming for a new sci-fi TV series called “Sense8.” At the time, the exact premise was unannounced, but the Wachowskis were said to have written three spec episodes of “Sense8” before taking the show out to the various networks.

However, “Sense8” will be skipping TV entirely. Netflix has announced that it has ordered “Sense8” to series with a ten episode order. The story is currently described only as “a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted;” which the Wachowskis said came from “a late-night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us, and out of that paradox ‘Sense8’ was born.”

Straczynski is best known as the creator of “Babylon 5,” in addition to writing the Thor movie and comic book series, as well as Changeling, “The Twilight Zone” revival in the ‘80s and “Jeremiah.” Andy and Lana Wachowski’s seminal work was The Matrix trilogy and more recently, Cloud Atlas. Straczynski i and the Wachowskis previously collaborated on Ninja Assassin.

Review: Time Warp #1

This cool Vertigo anthology book boasts work from Gail Simone, Simon Spurrier, Jeff Lemire, Damon Lindelof and more.

Time Warp #1 is a pretty cool anthology book from Vertigo, and it features nine short stories about the general notion of time travel from a lot of talented, interesting creators. It's an entertaining read with a lot to talk about, so let's make with the rundown.

"R.I.P." is written by Damon Lindelof with art from Jeff Lemire, and one supposes Vertigo has free rein to borrow DC characters from time to time, as it's a Rip Hunter story about a pseudo-paradox where future versions of himself keep traveling back to the dinosaur age to prevent his younger self from getting eaten by one. Hunter's alternate selves are amusingly cussy and short with him, and Lemire does a good rough and tumble job with the artwork.

"It's Full of Demons" by Tom King and Tom Fowler opens with a weird orange fiery-looking spaceman showing up in 1901 to shoot a young child through the head while he was innocently playing, leaving his sister with traumatic confusion, believing a demon killed her brother, Addie. She gets locked up and goes through hell, descending into madness while the world which unfolds around her is a much more peaceful and progressive history than we know in our reality. Very well paced and plotted, even though the initial obfuscation isn't quite enough to make the final reveal unguessable.

Preview: Avengers: Endless Wartime

Warren Ellis and Mike McKone are relaunching Marvel’s original graphic novel line with a big story.

Marvel has recruited some A-list talent to help them relaunch their original graphic novel line. Warren Ellis and Mike McKone are teaming up to bring us Avengers: Endless Wartime, due out this October.

Here's the synopsis blurb of what Marvel is calling "a movie-length epic," showing us that the goal is to give stand-alone stories to movie fans who don't know where to start with the comics:

"An abomination, long thought buried, has resurfaced in a war-torn land- but now it wears an American flag. Faced with another nightmare reborn, Captain America will not stand for yet more death at the hands of a ghost from his past. Haunted by his greatest shame, Thor must renew the hunt for a familiar beast. Side by side with the great Super Heroes the world has seen, united to end the threats no one of them could face alone, the Avengers will stare down the greatest threat the team has ever faced. But is even their combined might enough to overcome a force of pure evil?"

Check out these preview pages from Avengers: Endless Wartime. It's Warren Ellis, for pete's sake. You're gonna want to read this.

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When Marvel Studios does casting, they aim high. Case in point: Robert Redford is now reportedly in talks to co-star in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, from directors Anthony & Joe Russo. He'd join Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Anthony Mackie in "a senior leadership role" at SHIELD, the secret organization at the heart of the Marvel Universe, according to Deadline.

Elliott Gould has a new movie coming out. In Dorman In Love, he plays the title character (Sara Rue)’s father, a widower who complains a lot and even says politically incorrect things like The F Word with a Yiddish twist. When Dorfman housesits a downtown L.A. loft, it opens her world, even though her father resists change. We got the chance to talk with Gould by phone and go back over his storied career in cinema classics. He was very open about everything. He even told us what he was wearing!

Elliott Gould: The Long Goodbye. We made Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in L.A. We made MASH in L.A. And I’m sure I did quite a few others in L.A. but the idea of L.A. having such a role as it does in Dorfman In Love is an extra added asset.

I’m surprised to hear all those classics were filmed in town because most productions leave.

Yes, and I was going to ask have you explored those areas of downtown L.A. yourself?

I get lost. If I have to walk around the block, if I turn two corners I’m lost. The answer is yes, I have done several projects here. I enjoy exploring it and it’s a very interesting location.

You might be surprised one of my favorite movies is The Big Hit. Was that filmed in L.A.?

How do indie filmmakers like the makers of Dorman reach you if they want you for a part? Are you pretty accessible?

Yeah, if you want me, you can find me. Anybody can. I belong to the union. I’m a unionist and I am who I am, so I’m findable. How they found me is that Len Hill, who’s the producer of the film, owns the properties that we worked at, especially where the loft was. He and I had met over union business, union politics so he got in touch with me through an agent and also directly. Then I came in for a meeting. I read the script and then I came in to meet Wendy [Kout] who wrote it as well as Brad Leong who directed it. We then embarked to get to precisely where we are.

As far as geek culture is concerned, Peter Jackson can pretty much name his price to handle any project he wants. Well the man who redefined The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for generations to come says he will gladly direct a franchise he's loved since childhood: "Doctor Who."

Last month at the Gallifrey One “Doctor Who” convention in Los Angeles, CraveOnline and Girl on Geek caught up with Sylvester McCoy, who is better known as the Seventh Doctor from “Doctor Who.” But McCoy also had a supporting role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as the wizard, Radagast the Brown.

In our interview with McCoy, he spoke about the growth of Gallifrey One, the continuing influence of his Doctor on the current incarnation of the series, his joy about becoming a lego action figure, his thoughts on the 50th anniversary and his strangest fan encounter!

Manu Bennett’s time as Crixus may be winding down on “Spartacus,” but he’ll be hanging around on “Arrow” next season.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bennett has been promoted to a series regular for “Arrow” Season 2. Bennett joined “Arrow” earlier this season as Slade Wilson, the alter-ego of Deathstroke in DC Comics.

Unlike his comic book counterpart, the Slade Wilson on “Arrow” is an ally and mentor for Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) during his time trapped on an island in the flashback sequences. Having Bennett on board for the entire second season may open the door to bringing Wilson’s character into the present day storylines as an adversary for Arrow. Deathstroke would also make an ideal choice for the new “big bad” of “Arrow” Season 2.

Well, the big secret from Age of Ultron's hush-hush ending has been spoiled, so Marvel decided to announce their big coup to the world. Neil Gaiman will be returning to the House of Ideas, and the unexpected new entry into the Marvel Universe will be none other than Angela, the longstanding Spawn character whose legal rights Gaiman won from Todd McFarlane… and which he's apparently turned around and sold to Marvel.

MORE: http://www.craveonline.com/comics/articles/465773-neil-gaiman-will-bring-angela-to-marvel-comics

Review: Constantine #1

Vertigo’s “Hellblazer” is gone, and John Constantine headlines in the DCU proper, and it just doesn’t work.

DC Comics almost got one by me. Constantine #1, the reboot of a character that did not need rebooting, nearly became one of the more embarrassing moments of my writing career. Why? Well, being a long time fan of writer Jeff Lemire, I came within a hairs breath of publishing a review that skewered the beloved writer of Sweet Tooth, Animal Man and now Green Arrow. Simply put, Constantine #1 is absolutely terrible. A bastardization of the character and something I wouldn’t line the bottom of a bird cage with. Just as I was unleashing my fury, I noticed two names in the writer’s column.

The second writer is Ray Fawkes, a man whose writing I have come to loathe from Batgirl. Suddenly, all of Constantine’s problems began to make sense. True, there is no confirmation of my suspicions, but I’d be willing to bet Lemire wrote the story and Fawkes mutilated…er…..wrote the script. Constantine #1 has something to do with our hero hunting a compass that shows the whereabouts of all magical properties in the world. There’s a demon crew after it and somehow a guy named Chris gets involved because his head is one fire, or something like that.

As I said, I have no proof Fawkes penned the script outside of the fact that it has identical problems with Batgirl. Constantine #1 is a convoluted mess that is nearly impossible to follow. Think about that, mull over the lack of ability it takes to make a twenty two page comic book hard to follow. The problem? Much like in Batgirl, Constantine is bloated with unnecessary exposition. A character who was never one for words drones on and on endlessly about nothing. Wrapped within these long speeches might be a nugget of information we can use to thread together a plot, but those nuggets are hard to find.

MORE: http://www.craveonline.com/comics/reviews/465475-review-constnatine-1

Preview: Doctor Who: Prisoner of Time #3

A mysterious villain has been targeting the Doctor’s companions, and The 3rd Doctor is up next.

We've seen The 1st Doctor and The 2nd Doctor in action, facing the threat of a mysterious villain who is targeting our hero through his companions. This wek, The 3rd Doctor gets his turn to catch on to this threat who is capable of existing outside of time, to harrass him in all of his different incarnations.

Check out this preview of Doctor Who: Prisoner of Time #3, from writers Scott and David Tiption and artist Mike Collins.

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Two million dollars raised in less than 12 hours…under nearly any circumstances, that's a pretty stunning call to action.

And now that fans of the late, great CW series Veronica Mars independently funded a new movie project reviving the teen sleuth earlier this week via an amazing Kickstarter campaign, the revolutionary impact of that has most of the web — not to mention the creators of some similarly beloved, but cancelled TV series — thinking.

Marvel's rabid fanbase routinely push any of the studio's movie casting news to the top of the online "trending" heap — and that was no different following the announcement of actor/MMA fighter/former WWE champion Dave Bautista as alien powerhouse Drax the Destroyer in the upcoming sci-fi/superhero epic.

Paperman Threesome (Parody)

If it wins an award there's probably a porn paradoy out there, so why not a heart warming black and white animated short porn parody?! Next time you make a paper airplane, just remember, you're totally touching it, running your fingers along it's lengths… how dare you!

Behind the Curtain: Joe Roth on Oz the Great and Powerful

The producer reveals what wasn’t allowed in Oz the Great and Powerful, and why he won’t remake Young Guns.

You know Joe Roth, even if you don't know his name. The founder of Revolution Studios, and former chairman of 20th Century Fox and Disney, has produced a broad swath of movies in his nearly forty year career, including Young Guns, Major League, Nightbreed and The Jerky Boys. Lately, he's been producing a series of fantasy films that put a new spin on classic fairy tales. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman, and now Oz the Great and Powerful, a new film from Sam Raimi that stars James Franco as a stage magician and shyster who travels to Oz and becomes "the man behind the curtain."

We sat down with Joe Roth to discuss the development of the film, why he's making so many fantasy movies lately, why he won't remake Young Guns, and his upcoming low budget drama, Heaven is for Real.

CraveOnline: You’ve done a couple of different films that take fantasy tales and repurpose them, recontextualize them…

Four of them, with Maleficent coming out. Do you feel like you could have done a straightforward Wizard of Oz movie, or is this the best way to go right now?

No. No, you can’t… I mean, this is my own personal opinion. You can’t remake a classic. You can remake a movie that had a very good idea, but somehow wasn’t executed as best it [could be]. The Wizard of Oz? You’re not going to remake The Wizard of Oz. So once I heard the idea, “Who is that guy behind the curtain, and how did he get there?” That seemed like a great way in to do a prequel to the story.

George Lucas Confirms Cast of Star Wars: Episode VII

The director lets it slip that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher will join Harrison Ford in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII.

Finally, a Star Wars: Episode VII story from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. George Lucas may have washed his hands of the Star Wars franchise, but he still knows what Disney is doing with it, and the creator of the world's most popular sci-fi franchise admitted in an interview that the original cast of the original trilogy is planning to return for Star Wars: Episode VII, even though he's supposed to be keeping his damned mouth shut about it.

Syfy Orders Ronald D. Moore’s ‘Helix’ To Series

The “Battlestar Galactica” executive producer returns to Syfy, but is there another project by Moore waiting in the wings?

For the last few months, it’s been heavily rumored that Syfy was close to giving a greenlight for Ronald D. Moore’s dark thriller, “Helix” even before a pilot was filmed. And today, the network made it official.

In a brief announcement (via Deadline), Syfy confirmed that “Helix” is getting a rare straight-to-series order for 13 episodes. The premise for “Helix” centers upon a group of scientists “investigating a possible disease outbreak at an Arctic research facility who find themselves trying to protect the world from annihilation.”

Syfy President of Original Content, Mark Stern welcomed Moore back to the network in a quick statement: “With its well-drawn characters, taut drama, and incredible production team, we couldn’t be more excited to see this intense thrill-ride of a series come to life,”

Moore was one of the key executive producers behind the 2004 reboot of “Battlestar Galactica” on Syfy, as well as the spinoff series, “Caprica.” Prior to that, Moore had memorable stints on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Carnivàle.”

‘Walking Dead’ Creator Robert Kirkman Developing Exorcism Drama

Kirkman partners with Fox International Channels to bring his upcoming comic book series to television.

“The Walking Dead” isn’t just a success story of the current TV season. It is THE success story and the show has continued to bring in blockbuster ratings while leaving broadcast networks behind in its wake.

For “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman, this has already led to further opportunities in TV. Last year, Kirkman and AMC reached a deal to develop Kirkman’s “Thief of Thieves” comic book series for television. And now, Kirkman has a third TV project in development before the comic series upon which it is based has even been released.

Via Deadline, Kirkman and Fox International Channels have announced that they are developing Kirkman’s currently untitled exorcism based comic book series for televison. What this means is that the project doesn’t currently have a home on a U.S. network, but FIC handles the international distribution of “The Walking Dead;” which will allow the potential series to line up deals around the world.

The project follows Kyle Barnes, a man who has been haunted by a possession for years. When the story picks up in the present, Kyle “embarks on a spiritual journey to find answers but what he uncovers could mean the end of life on Earth.”

Jon Stewart Takes “Daily Show” Hiatus to Direct a Movie

John Oliver will replace Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” this summer, when Stewart will direct a serious drama based on the life of one of his guests.

Acclaimed comedian, TV host and Fox News antagonist Jon Stewart is stepping away from his award-winning series "The Daily Show" to make a movie. Alas, it is not the sequel to Death to Smoochy. Stewart is parlaying his popularity and respectability into a dramatic motion picture production called Rosewater, which Stewart has written and will direct this summer. Rosewater will force Stewart to take a 12-week hiatus from "The Daily Show" this summer. "Daily Show" co-star John Oliver will take over hosting duties for eight of those weeks according to Deadline.

Rosewater is an adaptation of the non-fiction book Then They Came For Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival, written by BBC journalist Maziar Bahari (with Aimee Molloy), who appeared on "The Daily Show" multiple times between 2009 and 2011. Rosewater will tell the story of how Bahari traveled to Iran to cover the 2009 presidential elections and wound up spending 118 days in prison, brutally interrogated by a man who, according to Bahari, smelled like rosewater. An early appearance by Bahari on "The Daily Show" was actually used against him in prison.

Rosewater is clearly a passion project for Stewart, who will be making his directorial and motion picture screenwriting debut on the film. Stewart's career in films was a recurring joke when he hosted the Academy Awards in both 2006 and 2008. Stewart had small parts in such critically pummeled motion pictures as Big Daddy, Doogal and The Faculty, the latter of which was actually pretty danged good. It's unusual for a popular comedian to make a serious drama his directorial debut, but Stewart has over the last decade raised his visibility as a serious political pundit when he wasn't mocking Fox News… and often when he was.

‘Astro City’ Returns as Part of DC Comics

Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson bring their critically-acclaimed homage comics to DC proper.

In the days of WildStorm Comics, Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (with Alex Ross on covers) fashioned Astro City as an homage to superhero comics, but with a focus shifted away from most of the big action and onto what life is really like for the man on the street in a world full of capes and codenames. It won all sorts of critical acclaim and created some very compelling characters, such as Steeljack (the metal Robert Mitchum-looking ex-con), Samaritan (the Superman allegory who actually tries to fix every problem on Earth) and the Silver Agent (the tragic Captain America figure who shamed a nation out of the death penalty). However, Astro City ended back in 2010 with the closing of WildStorm and its assimilation into DC Comics.

Now, however, the Homage Comics are following the WildStorm characters into the DC fold. Astro City is coming back this June under the DC Entertainment umbrella as an ongoing monthly open-ended series, and it will still be creator-owned. Rest assured, though, these characters are not mixing into the DCU proper.

Review: Age of Ultron #1

Brian Michael Bendis and Bryan Hitch throw the Marvel Universe into brutal chaos for this big event book.

You have to give it to Brian Michael Bendis. He starts off Age Of Ultron with a swift kick to our comic book loving balls (it’s a metaphor, so girls are included). This first of a ten-issue series doesn’t ease us into a story – it throws us into the deep end, all the while screaming "sink or swim!" This is about as unpleasant a first issue as I’ve read in many years. I don’t say that negatively, I say it with great admiration that Bendis would go right for the jugular.

Age Of Ultron #1 opens with a decimated New York City. Blown to all hell and back, the once great metropolis looks like Poland post-Nazi invasion. Burnt out buildings, few signs of life, crime running rampant, the city’s only real light is that of a huge ship hovering just overhead. Running through this apocalyptic hell is Hawkeye, a beaten up version of the handsome hero. He’s also deadly, shooting criminals in the throat and eyes as he makes his way through an abandoned building filled with super criminals and standard street scum.

Hawkeye pushes through these criminals like a man possessed. Why? Well, in the basement of this hole is a captured Spider-Man, stripped of most of his costume and beaten savagely. Hawkeye slaughters his opponents, rescues Spider-Man and then steps into the street, where Ultron robots swoop down from the ship. Releasing sound that rattles humans at a molecular level, the Ultrons demand the humans to surrender.

Preview: Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #14

The mighty “Phase-Six” Decepticon Overlord emerges to threaten everything good anywhere.

In the best Transformers series ever, which is the James Roberts/Alex Milne book called Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, we've been following the story of the Lost Light, a spacecraft on a voyage to seek out the fabled Knights of Cybertron to try to bring about a new golden age. But much like many quests, the true tale is not about the destination, but about the journey.

After last issue's yukfest, this month's installment will finally bring to bear the dark secret that's been hidden in the bowels of the ship – the sociopathically sadistic Decepticon Phase-Sixer Overlord. "Phase Six" essentially means they are the most powerful and most feared of the entire Decepticon army, so much so that Overlord was obsessed with pitting his might against Megatron himself, and when Megs was thought dead, allt he life went out of his spark, and he's been presumed dead.

But he ain't. He's in the ship. And Chromedome is prying around inside his head. This can't end well.

Preview: Ame-Comi Girls #1

DC’s comic book based on toys based on comic books goes print-first!

Okay, so Ame-Comi Girls is a series from Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, writers of All-Star Western and all the Freedom Fighters miniseries like Phantom Lady & Doll Man, The Human Bomb and The Ray. It's… well, I'll let the official DC Comics machine explain this one.

"The splashy, fun, action packed digital-first series featuring alternate versions of your favorite DC heroines based on the popular line of Japanese anime and manga influenced figures from DC Collectibles, is now a new print monthly ongoing series!"

So it's a comic book based on toys based on comic books. And everybody in it seems to be a lady. So there you go. If you dig the manga-influenced art style of Eduardo Francisco, you're good to go. For me, I can't look at this title without getting "Volcano Girls" by Veruca Salt stuck in my head for some reason.

Review: All-Star Western #17 – A Plague Upon Gotham

Vandal Savage brings a cholera epidemic to 19th century Gotham City, and Jonah Hex still won’t leave town.

Every once in a while, it's good to check in with All-Star Western, where Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are quietly churning out quality western yarns set in Gotham City of the 19th century. J&J also handled the Jonah Hex series before the New 52, which had the ornery, disfigured bounty hunter in his natural element, the actual Old West. Now, while it does feel like a bit of a stretch to keep him tethered to Gotham City, a place he despises, working with Amadeus Arkham, a fussbudget doctor that annoys him, it still makes for some compelling historical fiction.

Case in point, All-Star Western #17, which mixes a tragic tale of human barbarism in the face of a cholera outbreak with classic comic book supervillainy. It's not often that a book set this far in the past gets to make use of characters you've heard of, but there is that one immortal bastard named Vandal Savage who can show up anywhere at any time. Much to Gotham's chagrin, he's chosen this time to show up with intent to spread disease.

Much of this series has been ass-kicking and name-taking blended with the truly twisted sort of malevolence that seems to constantly bubble up in Gotham, a trait apparently bred into the city's history from the outset. This issue is darker and heavier, as the outbreak has its roots in a destitute, shady district of the city that soon became known as Death's Doorstep, and the infected were herded into that area and quarantined away from the healthy. This is not unlike the basic premise of the Batman: Arkham City video game, except in this case, we're trading out the criminally insane for the fatally plagued. Oh, and Our Man Arkham is actually appalled by this.

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How a George Lucas Lookalike Crushed the Dreams of a Kid in a C-3PO Suit

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TALKS ABOUT BLOOD AND CHROME AND THE FUTURE OF BSG

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Exclusive: Bryan Singer Talks X-Men, Superman Sequels

Today we got a chance to speak with Bryan Singer by phone about his new movie, Jack the Giant Slayer. We’ll bring you the full interview next week, and we waited until the end to ask about his next film. However, his next film is X-Men: Days of Future Past. A lot of X-Men fans are still smarting that he didn’t get to direct X-Men: The Last Stand, and that the ultimate director of that film, Brett Ratner, made some choices with which fans perhaps disagree. Perhaps I am also being diplomatic.

We’re two films removed from the close of the X-Men trilogy Singer began, but the plot of Days of Future Past involves combining the generations of X-Men: First Class and Singer’s present day trilogy. So could this be a chance to not only do the X-Men 3 Singer would have wanted to do, but to fix things?

“Yes,” Singer said. “That’s the answer to your question. And a lot more because this combines the stories and the casts of both X-Men: First Class and my original X-Men films, so I get to do a little bit of that kind of fun stuff, but I also get to do a lot more. It’s a very epic story. It takes place in multiple times and a crazy, crazy cast.”

Matthew Vaughn established his own distinct X-Men world in First Class, a gritty reality of the ‘60s, yet with the classic yellow X-Men suits Singer famously ditched for the black. However, Singer has remained involved with the franchise so it’s not weird playing in Vaughn’s world.

“It would be [weird] if I didn’t write the story for X-Men: First Class. I wrote the story to that movie and I produced it and I was instrumental in the casting, in design and involved in the post-production, so I was part of that movie. I initiated that movie and originated it so in that way, and worked with Matthew and I was the one who actually hired Matthew so in a way I feel like I’m not completely entering someone else’s franchise. I’m entering one that he executed wonderfully, but one that I was also part of.”

Mark Pellegrino Hunts ‘The Tomorrow People’

Last month, the CW ordered a pilot for “The Tomorrow People,” reviving the cult British TV series from 1973. Three of the main characters have since been cast, but now they have a very familiar villain to deal with.

Deadline is reporting that Mark Pellegrino has joined “The Tomorrow People” as Dr. Jedikiah Price; who is described as “an evolutionary biologist committed to containing the threat posed by the Tomorrow People, whom he believes to be a grave danger to the human race.”

The initial premise for “The Tomorrow People” is very similar to the X-Men as they both consist of young people from around the world who develop superpowers as part of the next stage of human evolution. However, the original incarnation of “The Tomorrow People” added more sci-fi elements that distinguished it from its comic book predecessor.

Nicole Beharie Takes The Lead In ‘Sleepy Hollow’

According to Deadline, Nicole Beharie has joined the cast of Fox’s modern day “Sleepy Hollow” pilot; which is not to be confused with the CW’s modern day “Sleepy Hollow” pilot.

Beharie will play Detective Abbie Archer, a woman who witnesses a mysterious and brutal murder right before she leaves the FBI academy. And the only person who backs her account of what happened is Ichabod Crane himself. “Sleepy Hollow” will focus on Archer and Crane as they investigate bizarre crimes in Sleepy Hollow as the town struggles to survive on the frontline of the war between good and evil.

Rockne S. O’Bannon on 'Cult'

When The CW presented a panel on “Cult” to the Television Critics Association, they were faced with a lot of questions about the show’s logic.

“Cult” is about a reporter investigating a show on the CW called “Cult;” which is about a cult, and its cult of followers who are involved with missing people in real life. Simple! We got some one on one time with “Cult” creator Rockne S. O’Bannon to delve into this unique concept.

Rockne S. O’Bannon: Then you watch it and we have 13 hours to better explain it all, but yeah.

CraveOnline: Are you essentially producing two shows, “Cult” and “Cult?”

Rockne S. O’Bannon: Yeah, in a way, it’s interesting. It ultimately homogenizes down to one big production, but keeping them both straight, especially early on, has been kind of a fun challenge for everybody because obviously there are dangerous followers in what we refer to as the inside show, the Billy Grimm/Kelly show.

And then the Matt Davis/Jessica Lucas side we call the outside show, there’s also people that are dangerous. There’ll be times in production, they’re going to put some of the dangerous minions from one into the other and it’s like no, no, you can’t do that. You can’t cross-pollinate like that. From a production standpoint, there’s been a fun challenge to keep the two separate in nature that the two worlds are different, because part of the fun of the show is creating those kind of crossover points.

For example, the pilot, for me the iconic orange car, the Valiant that you see in the show and then you also see it out in the real world, that crossover starts to blur and then from the production side, it blurred for them too.

CraveOnline: When there are scenes on the set of “Cult,” do you have two setups? The cameras, lights and cranes within the show, and another set of cameras, lights and cranes shooting that?

Kirk Ward Is The New Tallahassee In ‘Zombieland’

Deadline is reporting that Kirk Ward has landed the part of Tallahassee; which was originated in the 2009 Zombieland feature film by Woody Harrelson.

And according to Deadline, Ward was actually the actor that Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick originally had in mind for Tallahassee when “Zombieland” was first developed for television before eventually becoming a movie.

Second Look Preview: Nova #2

We got a black-and-white preview a couple weeks back, and now we've got a few full-color treats to look at from the second installment. We're getting the history of Sam Alexander, his drunken father's glory stories from the old Nova Corps days, and the arrival of Rocket Raccoon and Gamora from the Guardians of the Galaxy to induct Sam into the ways of intergalactic adventure. As you can see here, Sam doesn't react well to a talking raccoon with a giant gun.

Check out these pages from Nova #2, including a variant cover from J. Scott Campbell.

The Shadow: Year One #1 - Golden Age Style

The Golden Age of comics always has its place, even in the modern era. Dynamite Entertainment is one of the companies that is continuously whetting our appetite for heroes of the past. One of their biggest assets is Matt Wagner, a writer and artist who has a real knack for writing Golden Age material without making it seem dated. Wagner has brought to life the old Sandman, as well as Green Hornet and Zorro. This month, he delves into The Shadow with the first issue of Year One.

Wagner brings in elements mainly from the radio series. For instance, he uses the age-old alter ego of Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man about town, instead of the old print name of Kent Allard, an aviator who fakes his own death. This story is set between when Cranston first develops his psychic ability and when he decides on the look and name of The Shadow. We first see Cranston in a small South American village, where he pretends to be a legendary spirit of vengeance in order to take out a drug czar. Cranston returns to America at the cusp of the Great Depression. Prohibition is in full swing. Criminals run rampant. It’s a time that calls out for The Shadow.

I won’t lie; The Shadow: Year One #1 is a slow roll. Wagner paces this story very deliberately and there’s little to no action. The plot centers on three elements. The first is Cranston’s return to America and his quest for justice. The second is a crime lord named Guisepppe “Joe” Massaretti, who is quickly rising to power (this is also how we meet Shadow love interest Margo Lane). The final element is a snoopy reporter, looking to bust open the secret life of Lamont Cranston. Wagner painstakingly sets up these three intersecting tales, not letting The Shadow to be seen until the last page. It’s very much a Golden Age pacing, which might not sit well with all readers

Han Solo Will Return in Star Wars: Episode VII?

Months ago, shortly after the announcement that Disney was buying Star Wars and would release Episode VII in 2015, reports came that the original cast of the film was excited about the new films, and that Harrison Ford in particular was interested in reprising the role of Han Solo. Well, Disney was apparently listening, because we're now hearing reports that Han Solo will be returning in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII.

The report comes from El Mayimbe of Latino Review, who actually broke the story on Fox News Latino during an interview. El Mayimbe has a solid track record of reporting early scoops, although many of them go unconfirmed by filmmakers and studios until the film itself is in production, or sometimes even in theaters. Track record or no track record, until an official confirmation comes from Disney, Abrams or Ford himself, we recommend treating this as a rumor, but...

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures is a teen fantasy romance movie, clearly intended to capitalize on the vast, gaping void left in the wake of tweeners’ dearly departed Twilight franchise. It makes up a whole bunch of new rules about an old timey horror monster – this time it’s witches – and devotes most of its running time to love conquering all in high school, where in reality love is perhaps more doomed than any other location on Earth. It has a huge, sprawling cast of respected actors, Oscar winners and nominees alike, spouting giggleworthy dialogue about the fate of the world, the curse of young womanhood and, just for the hell of it, Google.

MGM Remaking The Incredible Shrinking Man

If you haven't seen The Incredible Shrinking Man, you owe it to yourself to fix that. Equal parts action, horror, adventure, visual effects spectacle and existential nightmare, the original film by director Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon) still holds up today as one of the greatest science-fiction films of the 1950s. In the decades that followed, advancements in CGI have made many of its original special effects advancements seem quaint, but the story remains as powerful as ever. That's probably why MGM has decided to remake it.

Hollywood Reporter has announced that a new cinematic version of The Incredible Shrinking Man is in the works, written by Richard Matheson (who also penned the novel) and his son, Richard Matheson Jr. MGM has picked up the rights to the property from Universal, who had been planning a comedy remake starring Eddie Murphy. Those plans have been completely scrapped in favor of a new, serious take on the story - about a man who slowly shrinks to microscopic size, becoming an international sensation in the process and straining his relationship with his wife - that would mark the elder Matheson's first screenwriting work in 20 years. Richard Matheson's novels and short stories have previously been adapted, often by Matheson himself, into films ranging from I Am Legend to Real Steel to What Dreams May Come. He has also written multiple classic episodes of the original "Twilight Zone" television series.

New Toronto-Shot "Hannibal" Series Premieres In April

A new series on NBC called "Hannibal" just wrapped up shooting in Toronto and will debut on April 4th, it was recently announced.

Creator and executive producer Bryan Fuller made the announcement Thursday via social media, tweeting: "#Hannibal Requests the Honor of your Presence for Dinner" (Global News).

The show is based on characters that were created by Thomas Harris. Starring Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter as well as Hugh Dancy ("The Big C"), Caroline Dhavernas ("Off The Map"), Lara Jean Chorostecki ("Copper"), and Canadian-born actor Scott Thompson ("Wingin' It"), will profile the eerie title character as the well-known psychiatrist (played by everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Brian Cox) sympathizes with serial killers and explores his relationship with a young FBI criminal profiler. Thirteen episodes of the series were shot in all, wrapping up in Toronto this week.

‘Doctor Who’ 50th Anniversary Special Will Be In 3D

For years, the “Doctor Who” creative team have hinted that something special is in store for the 50th anniversary. And earlier today, BBC finally revealed some its plans to celebrate the occasion.

Through BBC News, it was announced that the “Doctor Who” 50th Anniversary Special will be broadcast in 3D.

In a brief statement, “Doctor Who” executive producer and showrunner, Steven Moffat said ‘It’s about time. Technology has finally caught up with ‘Doctor Who’ and your television is now bigger on the inside. A whole new dimension of adventure for the Doctor to explore.”

Over at Bleeding Cool, a separate report suggests that the 50th Anniversary Special may also be shown in movie theaters, but that information was not included in BBC’s official announcement. And any possible movie theater showings may limited to the U.K. market.

Frank Spotnitz & Ridley Scott Bring ‘The Man in The High Castle’ To Syfy

Imagine a world where the Nazis and the Axis powers won World War II. Philip K. Dick was among the first to conceive that idea in his 1962 novel, “The Man In The High Castle.” Now the first adaptation of that story is heading to television.

Syfy has reportedly reached a deal to adapt “The Man In The High Castle” with Ridley Scott on board as an executive producer and “The X-Files” veteran, Frank Spotnitz attached to write the four hour miniseries.

In the world envisioned within “The Man in The High Castle,” Franklin Roosevelt was assassinated years before World War II; which eventually weakened the United States when it was forced to defend itself against both Germany and Japan. When the novel begins, Germany and Japan have already conquered America and divided it between themselves as they stage a Cold War against each other.

“‘The Man in The High Castle’ is one of Dick’s most imaginative and captivating works and certainly one of my favorites,” wrote Scott in a brief statement. “I am pleased to team up with the singular Frank Spotnitz and Syfy, Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd and FremantleMedia International to bring this epic to audiences who will find this story as intriguing and riveting as we do.”

The New Ghostbusters #1: Second Stringers

Erik Burnham's and Dan Schoening's Ghostbusters series for IDW has been some good and breezy entertainment, and now they're stunting up a story that allows them to drop a new #1 issue on us. While slowly cultivating an unlikely supporting cast - including Kylie Griffin, the manager of an occult bookstore and Jonni-On-The-Spot for emergency Tobin's Spirit Guide consultations, and Melanie Ortiz, a federal agent who somehow took a liking to Peter Venkman during the recent cross-country ghost-busting road trip - Burnham has put erstwhile bookkeeper Janine Melnitz in charge of the mismatched squad as a replacement team.

Why? Because the original four have been abducted by ghosts and brought into some mysterious netherworld. But New York City remains in need of paranormal elimination services. Thus, out of duty, Janine steps up, and we've got lady Ghostbusters now. Trouble is, they're not licensed operators of the equipment, and that lets their perennial adversary Walter Peck step in and strongarm them into becoming an arm of his government regulatory agency. That's gonna be bad news when the boys who like their independence get back.

Secret Avengers #1: The New SHIELD

Secret Avengers #1 is an interesting little title. It’s filled with action and adventure. It has SHIELD, Hawkeye and Black Widow. It starts with an interesting premise and even introduces Nick Fury’s African American son as the new Nick Fury. This way, we get a bald, black Nick Fury in the normal world and not just the Ultimates books. This will help alleviate confusion for those (none) people who didn’t read comics before (absolute zero) but will now because of the movies (nobody at all).

With all this good energy coursing through Secret Avengers #1, it’s completely unsuccessful. I’m going to assume that Marvel has some master plan behind making SHIELD suddenly a bunch of dicks (more on that later) and turning New Nick Fury into the evil seed-spouting tip of this new SHIELD dick. Not having access to Marvel’s secret inner lair, I’m left scratching my head and thinking writer Nick Spencer rolled the dice on being “edgy” and lost.

To try and maintain interest, Secret Avengers #1 is split into multiple time jumps. Our story opens in the present where Hawkeye has been shot in the stomach and captured by some long-haired bad guy with something etched into his head. He wants to know why Hawkeye is here, but Hawkeye has no idea. After much torture, Black Widow shows up. Secret Avengers jumps back ten hours where Hawkeye and Black Widow are meeting with Agent Coulson about becoming part of the Secret Avengers. Turns out if the two join, they’ll be subjected to a new type of memory implant that will erase the mission from their minds completely once the objective is achieved or they are captured.

Preview: Constantine #1

There was some hubbub about the cancellation of Vertigo's longest-running series Hellblazer, the book which allowed John Constantine to be explored in all of his R-rated nefariously dickish glory. Now that he's being toned down a bit to lead his own standard DC New 52 book Constantine, we'll see just how much we've lost in the translation. Too much? Just enough?

Well, you can get your first taste here. Check out this preview of Constantine #1, from Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes and Renato Guedes.

Uncanny X-Men #1: Oh, So That's What You're Doing

Brian Michael Bendis is a talented writer, as evidenced by his work on Daredevil: End of Days at the moment. His glaring weakness, however, has always been his lack of regard for continuity, although certainly there are those who consider that a ballsy strength. With his relaunch of Uncanny X-Men cementing his takeover of the X-books, he's establishing a new status quo for Cyclops and his team of revolutionaries that seems to bear little relation to what the fall-out of Avengers vs. X-Men led us to believe it would be.

As I recall, the events of AvX had the five Phoenix Force mutants essentially taking over America and reformatting it into some kind of mutant utopia. Sure, there may have been those who liked some of what he was offering, but by and large, people don't respond well to mutant despots in the Marvel Universe. Hate and fear and all that. However, in Uncanny X-Men #1, Bendis informs us that the actual result of AvX is that only the superhero community actually hates Cyclops, and the people love him - particularly all the mutants they've been rescuing. So Cyclops is a revolutionary hero to the people. Apparently, normal people have no idea why Cyclops was in prison, and thus they view Infamous Terrorist Magneto breaking him out as justified. I could see if just mutants loved Cyclops, but Bendis makes it sound as if the general public is along for that ride, too.

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The Series Project: Die Hard (Part 1)

As regular readers of The Series Project can attest, I have a set of frequently-unabided rules that I try to follow when it comes to selecting what series I will cover. When I first conceived of the idea, I decided to limit my selection of long-running film series to any sequence of films that totaled five or more. True, I have written about one three-film series (that'd be Basket Case) and one four-film series (that'd be 3 Ninjas, which I still think someone owes me for), but I typically like to stick to five. I did this for two reasons.

One was that I felt a film series was really in the thick of things by the time it got to part V; by the fifth film, we'll have strayed so far from the original premise, that we might have to contend with something new, adding an odd epic element to an otherwise interesting film series. The second reason was to avoid the spate of fraudulent Part IVs that had sprung up a few years ago. Like a film series was content with three parts, but decided to tack on a fourth chapter years after the fact in what always felt like a cynical cash-grab. Think of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Think of Rambo. Think of Die Hard. Closed at three, re-opened under new management at four.

Of course, Die Hard, in a twist I never could have expected, bucked my expectations by stretching into a fifth. There are even rumors of a sixth in the mill. This means it's ripe for the Series Project plucking, and it's high time I turn my critical eye on another deserving series that will be, next week, opening its fifth and final (?) chapter.

Let me explain my relationship with Die Hard. The first Die Hard film came out in 1988, just weeks before my tenth birthday. It was a huge hit, and even though they were young, all of my peers managed to see it. I think cable TV might have a lot to do with that. Die Hard was praised endlessly by my friends as the most awesomest film ever (right next to Predator), fulla 'splosions an' fights an' blood an' swears, and the really cool scene were the bad guy falls off a tall building.

In the Nosebleeds: Jeff White & Victoria Alonso on The Avengers

ILM visual effects supervisor Jeff White and his team are nominated for an Oscar for their work on The Avengers. He came down to L.A. from ILM’s office in San Francisco, along with producer Victoria Alonso, to talk about the Oscar nominated shots in the biggest movie of the year. We geeked out over Hulk smashing and Thanos, and tried to get some Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 news out of the duo as well.

Jeff White: I think we’ll sit down below somewhere. I’ve never been in the down below section.

Jeff White: Yeah, but you sort of learn the strategy of how to walk the red carpet as slowly as you possibly can, see as many celebrities as you possibly can.

Victoria Alonso: Or, it depends how cold it is. If it’s cold you’re walking in, because you’ll see them there too.

Victoria Alonso: I don’t supervise them but I supervise the 11 companies that work on the movie. Jeff can tell you more of the in house. I can tell you, if you’re not present and you’re not there every day, I think it’s a problem but I think there are some movies that get done that way. We’re quite involved.

Jeff White: We talked very regularly through the process, at least three times a week, sometimes more.

Victoria Alonso: Yeah, at the end of the movie it’s like every day, sometimes a couple of times, three times a day. You’re turning it up, but you guys have a good process.

Jeff White: It is. That is one nice thing about being at ILM. They have so many years of knowing the process and how it needs to go. I don’t know exactly how big our crew was over the whole thing but it’s a really interesting thing now. There’s work done in San Francisco, some of it was done in Singapore, trying to manage on multiple time zones all the different artists. Our process is probably very much like what you guys have there at Marvel where every morning we look at the latest versions of the shots, give feedback, show them to these guys, get feedback, incorporate that in the end march towards the finish. The part that I always enjoy though is you give the artist a shot and they bring their own sensibility to that and sometimes they really surprise you with where they take the shot and just make it incredible in a couple of days in a way that you hadn’t even thought to tell them to do. To me, that’s definitely one of the most enjoyable parts of it.

J.J. Abrams in Talks for Half-Life and Portal Movies

That's what we expect half the directors in Hollywood are saying today, after Abrams and Gabe Newell, the Managing Director of Valve, announced that they're working together on potential video games and, more importantly to the CraveOnline Film Channel, potential movie adaptations of Half-Life and Portal, two of the most popular, critically acclaimed video games ever made. Abrams and Newell took the stage at the DICE Summit and uttered the following (via Polygon):

Quoth the Abrams: "There's an idea we have for a game that we'd like to work with Valve on."

Quoth the Newell: "We're super excited about that, and we also want to talk about making movies, either a Portal movie or a Half-Life movie... What we are actually doing here, we are recapitulating a series of conversations going on. We reached the point that we decided to do more than talk."

Also quoth the Abrams: "It's as real as anything in Hollywood ever gets, which is that we are really talking to Valve, we are going to be bringing on a writer, we have a lot of very interesting ideas."

While we don't know yet whether Abrams would direct these feature films or just produce them, or even if they'll get off the ground at all, it's the first big step Valve has made into the world of feature filmmaking. To gamers, Valve is not unlike Pixar in that every damned thing they do comes out awesome, with memorable characters and groundbreaking storytelling and game mechanics. Half-Life is arguably their flagship franchise, and tells the story of Gordon Freeman, a scientist drawn into an alien-invasion conflict when his laboratory accidentally opens a portal to another dimension. Portal is about Chell, a woman trapped in a science lab which has been overtaken by an artificial intelligence named GLaDOS, a passive-aggressive personality that wants to test a new "portal gun" - capable of creating instantaneous doorways between separate locations in space - and also kill her test subject just because.

New ‘Orphan Black’ Trailer

When “Doctor Who” returns to BBC America next month, there will be a new companion... series.

As part of BBC America’s “Supernatural Saturday” lineup, “Doctor Who” will be joined by “Orphan Black,” a new original series starring Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, an opportunistic grifter who happens upon the suicide of a woman who looks remarkably like her.

But while Sarah begins cleaning out the woman’s bank account and assuming her life, she gets another unpleasant surprise: there are several duplicates of herself running around and even Sarah isn’t sure which one is the genuine article... if any of them are.

A newly released trailer for “Orphan Black” offers the best glimpse of the series to date, as we see Sarah in action as the truth slowly begins to emerge.

H. Jon Benjamin on ‘Archer’ Season 4

One of the joys of being an entertainment journalist is meeting the people who play your favorite characters in person. When it’s an animated show, just hearing their voice is like being in the presence of a fictional character.

The distinct voice of H. Jon Benjamin greeted the press in an “Archer” conference call earlier this week. As he answered questions about the show’s current season, and a few about “Bob’s Burgers,” there was no mistaking the voice of Sterling Archer and Bob Belcher.

Q: How did the idea of the worlds of Bob Belcher and Sterling Archer colliding come about, and what was it like filming that?

H. Jon Benjamin: It basically came about from Adam Reed the creator of the show had the idea to do it. Apparently he was a fan of “Bob’s Burgers” and mine. So he came up with the idea to do it and he asked me to ask Loren Bouchard, the creator of “Bob’s Burgers” so I was like the middle man.

But it went really smoothly. I think it was right around the 15-20 second phone call. Then they turned it over to hundreds of thousands of lawyers and they hammered out a deal. So yeah, it all came from Adam wanting to open the season like that, which was really well done, I thought.

H. Jon Benjamin: Well, a lot of people complain how I don’t do anything different for either, and f*** them. No, it was funny to do. I did notice finally that Archer’s a little bit different, when I had to do him as Bob, but it got very convoluted. Some real subtlety there.

Joel McHale Addresses Chevy Chase’s ‘Community’ Exit

During the third season of “Community,” Chevy Chase and series creator, Dan Harmon publicly feuded over various issues; which may have helped hasten Harmon’s unwilling departure from the show. And from most accounts, Chase’s tenure during the fourth season was also tumultuous before Chase left the series for good.

On the Howard Stern show (via TVLine), “Community” star, Joel McHale was asked about Chase’s abrupt exit. And McHale bluntly stated that Chase “didn’t want to be there.” According to McHale, even his attempts to reason with Chase were met with hostility.

“When I would try [to talk to Chase], he would just try to fight me,” explained McHale. “He physically wanted to fight me.”

In a widely reported incident, Chase used the N-word on the set while arguing with the producers; which upset his co-stars and the crew. When asked about that, McHale was forthcoming about what happened.

“He was protesting his character’s racism,” recalled McHale. “He didn’t like the way that Pierce was going... He had also said in the past that Richard Pryor said it was okay for [Chase] to call him that. He literally used that.”

You shouldn’t be throwing that [word] around on the set,” continued McHale. “[After] he said it, I said, ‘We are now at DEFCON 1.’”

First Look: Age of Ultron #7 & Uncanny Avengers #8AU

So we don't know exactly what Brian Michael Bendis is bringing to bear with his Age of Ultron book, which looks entirely like an alternate reality story that he insists it isn't. More likely it'll be something akin to the big "Rotworld" arc in Swamp Thing and Animal Man, where everything is dire, miserable and doomed, but at the end, someone gets to go back in time and put right what once went wrong, Quantum Leap-style.

In the meantime, we get images like this, that let us, well, marvel at wacky, dark changes that our heroes may go through.

DC Announces 'The Green Team' and 'The Movement'

There have been mutterings of a new Gail Simone project for quite some time, and now we know what it is - she'll be writing The Movement with artist Freddie Williams II, which tackles the theme of the Occupy Wall Street efforts of the 99%.

“The Movement is an idea I've had for some time,” Simone said. “It's a book about power -- who owns it, who uses it, who suffers from its abuse. As we increasingly move to an age where information is currency, you get these situations where a single viral video can cost a previously unassailable corporation billions, or can upset the power balance of entire governments. And because the sources of that information are so dispersed and nameless, it's nearly impossible to shut it all down.”

Hand in hand with that will be The Green Team, a book from writers Art Baltazar & Franco Aureliani (Tiny Titans, Young Justice) and artist Ig Guara that examines life for the super-rich in the DCU, and just what that means.

“The real question is: Can money buy you anything in the DC universe? Would it make you powerful? Can it make you a hero? Can money make you…Super?” Baltazar teased.

Fearless Defenders #1: Undead Threats

Marvel doesn't have a lot of female heroes who are household names - as evidenced by there being only one in the Avengers movie. They would like to change that, though, and we'd all like to see it happen, too. So here comes The Fearless Defenders #1, which teams up Misty Knight, the women in charge of the recent Heroes for Hire series, and Valkyrie, who took center stage in a book called Fear Itself: The Fearless, which was one of the few good things associated with that lamentable event.

Writer Cullen Bunn had a hand in crafting the latter series, and he's keeping his Valkyrie mojo going with this first issue of what's slated to be an all- (or at least predominantly) female book, although judging by what's here at the moment, he doesn't plan to make a big deal out of that hook. There are just a lot of cool female characters and it seems he's planning to showcase them.

We open with Valkyrie enjoying a rainfall which soon turns to bloodfall. A bad omen if ever there was one. Cut to Misty fighting jerks on a boat during a storm over some funky old artifacts that a Ms. LeFay is trying to make off with. Nobody good is ever named Ms. LeFay, and although the classic Avengers villain Morgan Le Fay doesn't tend to be the type to employ high end mercs and helicopter goons, this could be a new day. Misty beats them down, but not before they make off with their primary acquisition. The secondary relics are brought back to a Dr. Annabelle Riggs, whose examination of an Asgardian sculpture leads to setting off a deadsong that starts bringing undead Nordic jerks to life to attack everybody. That's when Valkyrie swoops in to help fight them off, back to back with Misty Knight.

Superior Spider-Man #3: The Reformation Begins

With all the icky potentially-rapey stuff put to bed with the baloney-bopping last issue, it seems we may be able to move on with a body-switching hijinks story in Superior Spider-Man #3 instead of fretting about just how skeevy a supervillain will get while inhabiting the body of a superhero. That helps make this issue the best so far of this controversial experiment, because we can see the true reformation of Otto Octavius beginning as he squares off against the Vulture.

It's not all wacky, of course, as this is still a much darker tale than Dan Slott usually spun in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, but opening with a web-splurt in the face of the Batman mythos kicks us off with comedy. It seems Mayor J. Jonah Jameson has commissioned a spider-signal to try and get the more cooperative Superior Spider-Man to be at his beck and call. Of course, Otto immediately destroys it, claiming it's "a giant beacon in the sky, announcing to all my enemies where they can find me. Only an idiot would put that into effect." However, with some cunning reverse psychology, he gets JJJ eating out of his hand, and full access and approval to work with the NYPD - something at which the ghostly astral form of the real Peter Parker still present in the mind-meld marvels.

The mayor sets him on the case of tracking down the Vulture, who messed with Mary Jane last issue, and who, as we see in flashbacks, was one of the few people in Otto's old life as Dr. Octopus that he could have a real and almost friendly conversation with, given that Adrian Toomes was also a fairly brilliant scientist in his own right. Peter sees this in flashbacks as well, because he's still figuring out how this mind-sharing thing works (as are we). Unfortnately, Peter abandons the surface thoughts to start digging around in Otto's mind to see if there's anything he can use to aid his plight, leaving Otto to go about hunting the Vulture, with a potentially murderous intent.

New 'Doctor Who' Animatic Scene Reveals Fate of The Ponds & Brian Williams

A few weeks ago, the story of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvil) came to an end as both of them were trapped in the past by the Weeping Angels and forced to live out their lives without ever seeing the Doctor (Matt Smith) again.

Among “Doctor Who” fans, “The Angels Take Manhattan” was pretty well received. However, several observers openly wondered about Rory’s dad, Brian Williams (Mark Williams); who encouraged the couple to keep traveling with the Doctor. Would he never learn the fate of his son or his daughter-in-law?

Apparently, this plot thread was not forgotten by the producers of “Doctor Who,” as Chris Chibnall wrote a scene that wrapped up Brian’s story that also offered up a glimpse at Amy and Rory’s life in the past. Unfortunately, the scene was never filmed.

However, BBC has released an animatic of the scene under the title “Doctor Who: P.S.;” with Darvil providing Rory’s voice-over as he says goodbye to his father for the last time. It’s a genuinely moving piece of writing and it should have been filmed and released.

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Joss Whedon: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver ARE in Avengers 2

Most Craved: More reveals about the second Avengers movie.

Cannes Review: Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Volume 1

“I really love that I saw a rich girl dance with a duck.”

Watch The New Extended Trailer For ‘Axe Cop’

Fox’s newest animated series is coming this summer.

Mike Judge Lands a New HBO Comedy Series

The “King of The Hill” and “Beavis & Butt-Head” creator’s dark Silicon Valley comedy series gets a greenlight from HBO.

Exclusive Interview: Nicole Munoz Sees The World in ‘Defiance’

The first show to blend gaming and television, is more than an FPS or RPG, says Defiance’s teenage star.

Orlando Jones on his Digital Graphic Novel Series “Tainted Love”

The “Sleepy Hollow” star has a graphic-novel inspired action comedy web series that’s turning some heads.

Exclusive Preview: Batman Beyond Unlimited #16

Terry McGinnis goes one on one with Shriek, while Max has to match wits with Rebel.

Review: Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness

The official graphic novel prequel to “Star Trek: Into Darkness” brings the Klingons into the picture.

Exclusive Interview: Walter Mirisch on The Great Escape

The producer of some of the greatest films of all time discusses his classic World War II blockbuster, and that awesome motorcycle jump.

Marvel lands its first live action network TV series in decades.

Syfy Renews ‘Defiance’ For Season 2

The sci-fi drama will return with new episodes in 2014.

Fox Orders ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ ‘Almost Human’ & 7 Other New Shows

At least nine new dramas and comedies are on tap for Fox next season.

Neil Gaiman’s long-standing Image character comes to the Marvel universe, as does Gaiman himself.

First Look: Batman/Superman #1

The definitive story of how The Dark Knight met The Man of Steel is told by Greg Pak and Jae Lee.

Preview: Star Trek #20

How did new-school Sulu and Chekov first meet? Back at their old school, naturally.

Marvel Studios Head Kevin Feige Talks Phase 2 Flicks Avengers 2, Ant-Man, Guardians

Most Craved: The crystal ball Marvel is using for these movies.

BBC America Renews ‘Orphan Black’ For Season 2

“Orphan Black” becomes the second BBC America original program to get another season.

Watch a Deleted Scene From ‘Da Vinci’s Demons’ Season 1 Episode 3

Giuiliano confides in da Vinci about what he gave up under torture.

Dougray Scott on ‘Hemlock Grove’

The star of Netflix’s original monster series talks about his character and working with multiple directors on the show.

Preview: X-Men #1

Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel set up their own corner of X-land, spotlighting the women of the atom.

Preview: King Conan – The Hour of the Dragon

Robert E. Howard’s only Conan novel gets the graphic adaptation from fan-favorite creators.

Preview: Daredevil #26

The Man Without Fear has an evil twin of sorts with Ikari, but he also consults Iron Man for help with Foggy Nelson.

Tony Curran on ‘Defiance’

We talk to the alien gangster of “Defiance” about hot tubbing with Jaime Murray and the human sides of the show’s otherworldly characters.

‘True Blood’ Season 6 Preview Scene: Jason Threatens Nora

Jason demands information from Eric’s sister and someone is conspicuous by their absence…

Preview: Geoff Johns’ Swan Song in Green Lantern #20

“The Wrath of the First Lantern” story comes to a close, as does Johns’ near-decade run with the GLs.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #21: Eastman’s Back

TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman takes on the penciling duties and gives us a visual feast.

Preview: Daredevil #26

The Man Without Fear has an evil twin of sorts with Ikari, but he also consults Iron Man for help with Foggy Nelson.

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Details: No Rooker or Batista?

Most Craved: New details from the director of Guardians of the Galaxy.

New Weird Science Movie

Most Craved: Another 80′s classic film remade?

Review: Oblivion

“Oblivion is cold and distractingly familiar.”

‘Zombieland’ & 13 Other Pilots Go Live At Amazon

Amazon’s push into original online programming begins as viewers decide which shows go forward.

Stephanie Leonidas on ‘Defiance’

We speak with the alien outlaw of Syfy’s new drama and find out what she can’t see and what she can say in Irathian.

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe #1: One More Try

Keith Giffen takes a stab at jumpstarting the series that stumbled a bit out of the gate.

Preview: Cable and X-Force #8

Cable’s team has just freed an interstellar war criminal, and now they’re on the run. Again.

Preview: Transformers: Robots In Disguise #16

Devastator is running wild over the burning Cybertron civilization, and Megatron can’t be stopped. Can he?

Free Film School #94: Viva Elvis!

Professor Witney Seibold analyzes the huge (and dubious) film output of The King.

Jamie Foxx & Bryan Fuller Land Projects At Syfy

Foxx will write and direct a horror anthology series while Fuller gets a pilot order for “High Moon.”

‘Ringworld’ & ‘Childhood’s End’ Come To Syfy

Two classic sci-fi novels by Larry Niven and Arthur C. Clarke are in development at Syfy as four hour miniseries.

Preview: Uncanny Avengers #8

Thor’s past mistakes return to haunt him as the Apocalypse Twins gain control of his old Celestial-slayer weapon.

Exclusive Preview: Catwoman #19

Catwoman is in the Justice League of America, but it really doesn’t seem to be going well.

“The Company You Keep is Robert Redford’s The Expendables.”

Exclusive Interview: Fede Alvarez on Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2