The Visitors Return!

And by visitors I mean the V. Those of you who, like me, grew up in the 80's, should know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Those humanoid aliens who arrived from another planet to help earth, we thought, but who actually looked like lizards and ate humans.

ABC has ordered V: The Series for their 2009-2010 TV lineup. It's a remake of the original 1980's series. Here's a promo trailer that gives a glimpse into the series. It looks intense and dark. If they do it right it could be a great series.




The cast has some more well known actors too: The new series boasts an all-star cast including Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell (aka Juliet), Joel Gretsch (The 4400 / Minority Report / Push), Scott Wolf (Double Dragon / White Squall / Party of Five), Morena Baccarin (Firefly / Serenity / Stargate SG-1) and lan Tudyk (Firefly).

The series is written by Scott Peters, who also wrote The 4400, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Outer Limits and Jericho. He obviously does have a sci-fi writing background and should be able to handle creating a new V series.

As a kid I was a HUGE fan of the show, even forcing my sister to dress up as a V for Halloween one year and creating her costume myself. I'm looking forward to checking this out and I hope it's an awesome series! And who knows, there might just be a comic book for it too, since TV shows like Eureka and Fringe and Battlestar Galactica have comics.

For more details and pictures check out the Sci-Fi Scoop web site.

Heroes Disrespectin'

Heroes is a TV series about super powered individuals--the kind that exist in comics, not in real life. Now they've decided to turn a mainly main-stream retail industry into what the stereo types of old have been - a haven for looser geeks with no cultural sensibilities.

LA comics retailer Brian Hibbs, known in the comics community for his strong opinions, has this to say... http://savagecritic.com/2009/03/turning-it-off-hibbs-is-done-with.html

I didn't see the episode. We stopped watching about 2 episodes into the recent season, back when the TiVo died, so I guess that's one thing I don't have to worry about crossing off of my list.

TiVo Toasted

Craig and I were relatively early adaptors when it came to Direct TV's offering of TiVo. We loved it. We record lots of shows, many of which we have yet to watch.

Lately it's been flaking out. It used to be maybe once per month it would lock up. Then a couple of times a month, and lately it was a couple of times a week. Then in the last week just about every day I'd find it had locked up.

Fixing it just required us to unplug it count to 10 and plug it back in. It would then reboot and in 3 minutes or so it would be working again, no harm no fowl. Sure we'd miss a show here or there that it didn't record because it was locked up, but we still had plenty to watch.

Well today the reboot wouldn't work. I unplugged it and plugged it back in a few times and it never rebooted. The best I got was the sound came in after about 15 minutes, but no picture. We figured this day was coming, but now's not a good time for it. Too close to Christmas and money is tight. Now we're contemplating just giving up on Direct TV and renting DVD's and downloading shows on our PC to watch on the TV.

The new generation of Direct TV TiVo isn't supposed to come down the pike until late 2009. That makes us sad, very very sad. All of our shows we'd recorded--gone. And we didn't get The Office today, which is the highlight of our week.

Damn you old TiVo box **shakes fist in air and wipes tear from cheek**

Election Day

Today is election day here in the united states, and we get to choose a new president today. If you have not yet voted and your area polls are still open, head out and get your vote cast - as long as you've done some research. Don't just vote to vote--make an educated decision.

I think that it doesn't matter who wins, the country is going through a rough time and neither president will be able to bring it around quickly. In addition, with a senate and house controlled by Democrats we can't expect the president to do much that those members don't want done. Plus the country and all of us seem to be so angry and politically divisive that either way people will be angry tomorrow when we have a new president elect.

OK. On to other things...

What do you think of this? (taken from ICv2)

Heroes' Shake-up

Alexander, Loeb Off Show

Published: 11/03/2008 01:09am

In a weekend shake-up, co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb have been removed from the staff of Heroes, according to Variety. The show’s ratings have been sagging this year. The show’s production has also been running over budget, according to the report.




Low ratings and high costs - never good in TV land. Personally I think this season is better than last year's partial season. But the show does seem to have too many story lines running and too much time jumping for most people's taste.


Did you hear, David Tennant is off Dr Who. That makes me oh so very very sad. I really really liked him as the Doctor. One of these days I will have to check out the old, classic show, just to see how it compares to the new one I've so enjoyed. (The comics are great too, by the way) Rich on his LITG at CBR says that Tennant wanted more pay, a movie, and a break in 2011, but BBC wasn't going for it.

Speaking of LITG, Rich said last week that it looks like $3.99 may become the new base price for most Marvel comics in 2009. Is this price too high? In this economy it may be. Barns & Noble and Borders are already feeling an economic pinch. People are already cutting back with the $2.99 price. Can the industry still sell comics at the higher price? I think we can, but in this economy it will be trickier. Or at least sell as many comics. We may see more switches from periodicals to trades. We may see people cutting back more, keeping what they spend about the same but buying fewer titles. We already see more and more comics coming out at that higher price, so there is a chance it could just be a seamless change for many people. Personally I'd like to see the price stay at $2.99, maybe $3.50, and that's that. But look at magazines - many sell for $8 and up! Can writers and artists sustain a career at the $2.99 price - are the publishers able to pay a fair wage for work? Or do we need an increase in the cover price? Will YOU cut back if the price goes up?

True Blood - HBO

I just saw a bit of information on Comic Book Resources about an upcoming HBO TV series called True Blood. It's a vampire drama, if you didn't guess that by the title.

I've enjoyed a vampire story or two in my day. Read the Ann Rice Vampire books, and Dracula of course. I've meant to check out Laurel Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, but the closest I've gotten is the comic book series.

True Blood is based on vampire books by Charlaine Harris, whom I've not heard of before. But accordining to the article they're popular. Have you read any of them? Are they any good? Charlaine's web site is here.

HBO has a page set up just for the show, and it looks like there is a lot of information there: interviews, community, merchandise. There is even a weekly web comic. I couldn't read it very well - for some reason the lettering isn't clear, or else my eyes are too tired from reading overdraft reports.

Sounds like there will be lots of sex on the show - as is typical for HBO. Even more than in the books, according to the CBR interview.

The plot of the show:

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders and government officials around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Local waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), however, knows how it feels to be an outcast. "Cursed" with the ability to listen in on people's thoughts, she's also open-minded about the integration of vampires — particularly when it comes to Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old living up the road. But as Sookie is drawn into a series of mysteries surrounding Bill's arrival in Bon Temps, that tolerance will be put to the test.

The show is being created by Alan Ball, who created the HBO series Six Feet Under. I watched and enjoyed that show, for the most part. But it sure had it's WEIRD moments!

True Blood begins it's run on September 7th - I'll have to check it out. Not sure if it will make the cut, but I'll at least watch an episode or two and see if I like it. How about you? Will you tune in? Is this going to be Buffy for grown-ups? A vampire version of Sopranos? Time will tell.

The Tick Is Indestructable!

Even though the live-action series had only a portion of a season about 8 years ago and the animated series doesn't often appear on TV, The Tick is still a popular comic book and cartoon character.

Just to prove that, Crackle.com will be airing mini-sodes of the original series. Now those that haven't seen the live action sow can now catch them in a shortened format. Newsarama.com has the information on them.

The first mini-sode can be found here (courtesy of the Newsarama.com article).

We have the full DVD series at the store and do play it in-store from time to time. If you shop at Neptune you've probably seen it playing at least once.

Only one thing left to say about it... SPOON!

Off the Grid

Because we are hardly ever home and because cable TV prices are pretty high, Craig and I have discussed getting rid of cable. We discussed it a while back, and mention it from time to time, but so far we have not yet gone off of the cable TV grid.

It seems like such a HUGE step. Even though we'd still have local stations it will feel like we are giving up a LOT of TV.

I didn't even have cable TV as a kid. My first exposure to it was in college and occasionally at a friend's house. Then when I moved out of my parent's house and lived on my own I went with just regular TV. But once Craig & and I bought our house we got DirectTV - we HAD to get something because his 60" tv was apparently unable to pick up any of the regular stations with just an antenna. We had Direct TV, then added TiVo... and now to cut back to just getting a basic package with mainly the local channels seems like a big loss.

But, we do know that most of the TV shows we watch eventually come out on DVD and then we can watch them at our leisure. Or at least by the due date. Unless we do something like Netflix where we could keep the DVD as long as we wanted until we watched it all. Plenty of TV shows are available for download too - but we don't want to sit around our 17" computer monitor watching our favorite shows when we could be watching them on our new 52" DLP TV.

So, do we go off the cable grid or not? I'm betting we hang on for a while longer. The fear of going without our favorite shows is just too great for us to pull the plug right now.

Some Link Action

It's been a long day and I don't have opinions to share right now. Instead I'll share some good links.

Battle Pope animated bits via Spike TV. Fun!

The writer's strike may be over soon. If it ends this weekend here's when TV Guide says we'll get new episodes back.

Interesting column on the recent trends in comic book sales.

If you love Indiana Jones then you'll be able to celebrate that love on Valentine's day, when the trailer releases, during Spiderwick Chronicles.

Upper Deck takes a stab at the mini game business, starting with World of Warcraft. If it does half as well as the card game it should be awesome.

Doctor Who Comic Delay

IDW has the license for Doctor Who, and has already put out a couple of issues of the Classic Doctor Who comics. We were expecting the new Doctor Who comics to start in late January, but they did not arrive. The good folks at IDW now report that we can expect to see Doctor Who #1 on February 27th - about a month behind schedule. They also want to assure fans that they fixed this problem, so we should not see delays with the following issues.

If you can't wait, here are a few preview pages from Doctor Who #1 (click to enlarge):

These will be new stories - not anything we've already seen in TV episodes, so they're worth the wait.

Lost / Marvel Update

I now have a list of all of the Marvel comic books that will have the easter eggs from Lost in them! And, I've found some of the eggs that are in comics that have already come out. The list is below, and don't read past the list if you don't want to see some of the eggs I've already found.

Here's the list of all of the comics that are part of this marketing campaign

Amazing Spider-Man #548
Avengers Initiative #9
Cable Deadpool #49
Captain America #34
Captain America Chosen #6
Daredevil #104
Fantastic Four #553
House of M Avengers #4
Incredible Hercules #113
Mighty Avengers #8
New Avengers Annual #2
New X-Men #46
She-Hulk 2 #25
Spider-Man Swing Shift Director's Cut
Spider-Man With Great Power #1
Thunderbolts #118
Ultimate Iron Man 2 #2
Ultimate Spider-Man #118
Ultimate X-Men #90
Uncanny X-Men #494
What If: Spider-Man vs Wolverine
Wolverine Origins #21
World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control #1
World War Hulk Aftersmash Warbound #2
X-Men Emperor Vulcan #5

The eggs are below (click to enlarge). I "spoilered" out the info about where they're from, so highlight under the photo if you want to know where these eggs were discovered.



World War Hulk Aftersmash Damage Control #1, page 12, 3rd panel - Lost Kate picture.












World War Hulk Aftersmash Warbound #2, last page, first panel - "6" in the sand.



She-Hulk 2 #25, page 21, 1st panel - Oceanic backpack.



Amazing Spider-Man #548, page 9, 5th panel (this one is cool! head to the web link on the bumper sticker)



Thunderbolts #118, page 7, second panel - Lost Kate picture.



Incredible Hercules #113, page 13, 3rd panel - the building's name.



Ultimate Iron Man 2 #2, page 9, 1st panel, the name on the desk or pod or whatever that is.

I'm not sure if each issue only has one egg, or multiple eggs, but I know that in Uncanny X-Men #494 (highlight to see spoiler) Gambit's card is a 6 of clubs, and six is supposed to be an egg, plus on the third to last page of that issue at the bottom Cable says..."get LOST out there. Lost or worse." So it is possible that the comics have more eggs than what I've found. The phrase "Find Yourself" is supposed to be one of the eggs, and I've not found it at all yet, so it's possible that I've missed it in one of the issues.

Let me know if/where you find any!

Update 2/1/08 - This site has a BUNCH of the eggs pictured.

Marvel is Lost

Well, Lost is in Marvel is the better way to put it.

Press release:
Now fans can discover elements from the hit series Lost in Marvel Comics. ABC marketing has strategically placed images and references from the show in various comic books, including Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hercules, Thunderbolts and Wolverine Origins on sale now.

Examples of Lost references include a Lost poster, the number 6, and the slogan "Find Yourself" in the latest editions of numerous Marvel comics throughout the month. Expect more Lost placements to pop up in comic books on stands January 23 and January 30.

The first new episode of Lost is next Thursday, Jan 31st.

This viral marketing is great stuff. I love the idea that there will be Lost easter eggs in Marvel comics! I'm going to have to look through some of these comics and see what I can find. If you find any, let me know. Maybe I can compile a list of where these can be found.

Heroes Action Figures

If you saw this month's Toy Fare you know that Mezco is making the Heroes TV show action figures.

For now, they're scheduled to ship June 3, 2008 with a suggested retail price of $17 (which is a little bit high for an action figure, in my opinion). I also don't like Mezco's figures as much as Neca, so I wish Neca would have gotten the license instead. Mezco's figures seem to have slightly over sized heads for the bodies and the faces aren't quite as good as those I've seen from Neca. Still, I think it will be cool to have Heroes figures. It's a popular show and the graphic novel did very, very well for us, so I have high hopes for the toys. And as the show continues on there will be lots of characters - so lots of toys.

Comic Book Pop Culture Updates

Just a few updates on comic book related pop culture news.

According to Sci-Fi Wire, Terminator 4 is planned, and they're calling it Terminator Salvation: The Future. But "governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will definitely not be in the movie or any of the contemplated sequels in what is expected to be a new trilogy of films. " The man behind the Bat mask, Christian Bale, is officially cast, and rumor has it he'll be taking the roll of John Connor. And don't forget about the Sarah Connor Chronicles series, set to start this coming Sunday on your local FOX station.


Coming this March to Kids WB on CW is The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series. According to comicbookmovie.com: The series takes place during 16-year-old Parker’s junior year of high school. After spending the summer before honing his skills as Spider-Man, Parker will have to face the challenges of concealing his secret identity while facing off against powerful super-villains like Green Goblin and Venom. You can click here to see some sneak previews of the series.


Speaking of animation, you are already familiar with Marvel's direct-to-DVD animated movies from 2007. This year the first announcement for Marvel is New Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. The animation style looks to be made for a younger crowd (pictured) than the movies from last year. It will be directed by Gary Hartle and written by Christopher Yost.

DC only has the Superman D2DVD movie to their line-up so far, but the Justice League: New Frontier will be out very soon. Their next film is going to be Batman: Gotham Knights. For now it looks like the movie will be a filler between Batman Begin and Batman the Dark Knight.

Both films are scheduled to release in July. More information here.


And finally, according to superheroflix.com, Universal Studios no longer has the Marvel license. It expired at the end of 2007. What this means: No more Marvel characters, rides or merchandise at the park.

Oh, I can't forget - check out this week's issue of Sequential Tart. We've got a great bit on web comics. And I review 3 great comics that came out this week in the Reviews section.

Some Quick Links

The Golden Globe nominations here. I haven't seen most of those movies. Are they even out yet? I don't think I've even heard of most of the movies nominated for Best Picture. It looks like Damages, the FX series, is up for a number of awards, which I think it deserves. It is also the only show I've seen off of the Best TV Series list. No Heroes, no Lost, who made this list?

Confessions of a Superhero movie is coming out in January. What is it? According to Vern from Ain't it Cool News: It's a documentary about those people who dress up as cartoon characters on Hollywood Boulevard, pose for pictures with tourists and then guilt them into giving them tips. Sounds like it could be fun. Not sure I'd spend the money to buy it though.

Lost is being moved from it's regular Wednesday to... well we don't know that yet, but I guess they're supposed to announce it early next week. Of course the question is, what year? With the writer's strike and an upcoming actor's strike next summer I'm not sure when we might actually get new episodes of Lost.
UPDATE - Lost is moving to Thursday and the new season is scheduled to start January 31st.

Journeyman is over - for now. NBC has not officially declared it canceled, but they haven't ordered any additional episodes either. Fans are rallying - save Journeyman here.

I already blogged about the Justice League New Frontier DVD that's coming out in February. Now there's even better news. DC is letting Darwin Cooke and some friends do another New Frontier story: Justice League: The New Frontier Special, a 48-page (no ads) collection of stories from Cooke, J, Bone and David Bullock, including “New Frontier: The Lost Chapter” which shows the massive battle between Superman and Batman. Other characters getting the spotlight include Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Sgt. Rock and others. Newsarama has an interview with Cooke which includes more details.

Batman: The Dark Knight has an official movie web site, but there isn't much there yet. But check back soon! Rumor has it that the movie trailer will be there very soon. If you can't wait, there's a trailer playing before "I Am Legend" this weekend, and some kind of special version if you see "I Am Legend" on Imax screenes.

TV Zone 222 - AWESOME Dr. Who Cover

This month's TV Zone features a Doctor Who story and the cover shows the 5th and 10th doctors. They're together for a Children's Charity special, viewable here.

I just HAD to post this because, well look in the new Doctor's pocket - a cute bear with a bandanna over his eye. Awwwww..... so cute!

This is the first issue of TV Zone we brought in-store for sale, and it looks like this one was a good choice. Hopefully people will buy it. There were also two Doctor Who magazines in today - the Special that they do every quarter I think, and the regular monthly magazine. If you're a Doctor Who fan this is a good week for reading material! Oh, and we got some "Doctor Who in Your Pocket" key chains that have six different voice bits from the show.

Personally the magazines are all I've got right now - no new Torchwood for about a month, no new Doctor Who, no new Battlestar Galactica. Just when I realized I was a sci-fi fan they took it all away. I still have to find a way to get the new Doctor Who series on DVD - I can't afford them but want them soooo badly.

The Simpsons - Husbands and Knives

Did you see last night's episode of The Simpsons? While most of it was about Homer having extensive plastic surgery done to prevent Marge from leaving him, there was also a bit of comic book fun in it too.

If you did not see it, here are a couple of clips:





Richard Keller also gives a fun look at the episode on TV Squad.

The one comment Craig & I made about the show after it ended from a comic book store owner's perspective was about the old vs new comic stores. The unhappy customers from The Dungeon quickly fled to become customers at the new and better comic book store. That just isn't the way it seems to work. Yes, a few people will leave the store they don't like right away, but so many comic book store customers remain loyal to their current store, even if they don't like that store, for reasons that I never quite understood. If I do not like a store, I do not shop there, easy as that. But for comic book buyers it seems like old habits die hard, even if they do not feel like they are being well served anymore.

Posting Anyway

Yeah, I know that in my last post I said I was off and wouldn't post, but I'm doing it anyway. Craig's playing Halo and I'm doing laundry, so while the clothes go 'round I decided to type a bit.

We saw Beowulf in 3-D today. WOW! I would recommend it to anyone. I thought the quality and detail of the experience was amazing. Personally, now that I've seen it in 3-D, I'd say that watching it on a regular screen is a waste of money. If you have a theater in your area playing it in 3-D and you are deciding if you want to see it, I recommend checking it out. This is the next generation in movie viewing technology.

I found some promo posters on-line for Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Notice that the woman playing Sarah is the same actor that played Queen Gorgon in 300 (Lena Heady). You might also notice the robot looking gal - yes, she played River in Serenity and Firefly. (Summer Glau). The show is scheduled to begin on Fox on January 13th. I'm not sure how long it will last because 1. Fox doesn't give shows much more than a few episodes to succeed before they shut it down and 2. Writer's strike and then actor's strike - I don't know how many episodes they filmed already. But, it does sound like an interesting premise and I will be checking it out when it premieres.

Rumored bits of the Justice League movie are leaking onto the 'net. Also rumored that the formal cast announcement might be made at Wizard World Texas. Who, you're saying, WHO! Well, here they are: Superman: Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights); The Flash: Adam Brody (The O.C.); Green Lantern: Common (Smokin' Aces). It was rumored that Teresa Palmer (Wolf Creek)was going to be Wonder Woman, but they say that now it looks like she'll be Talia al Ghul instead.



J.J. Abrams "Cloverfield" movie now has images available on-line, courtesy of Blackbook. I hear they were showing a trailer before Beowulf, but it must be the regular, not 3-D version.



A former Marvel editor, Andy Schmidt, is starting his own company where he will help future comic book creators. He is not only offering classes on writing and art, but also on networking, run a business, etc. Interesting! Read more about it on Newsarama here, or just check out his web site. Personally, I think this is a great idea and probably a much-needed service.

OK. That's it. I've gotta go see if my laundry is dry.

How Many Episodes Left?

With no sign of the WGA strike ending, it is time to begin the mourning of the loss of new TV. Last night was the last new The Office, which made us sad. We were so sad that we couldn't bare to delete it from our TiVo, even after we'd watched it. Only 3 episodes left of Heroes too - and just when it was starting to pick up.

To see how many episodes are left of your favorite shows, click here for Entertainment Weekly's countdown.

It is my weekend away from the store, and any free computer time I have will be spent writing up my Sequential Tart feature on the Heroes hard cover, so the blog will probably be quiet. But on Monday expect some pictures from Sunday's Waukesha Christmas Parade - we've got a Star Wars float with real Star Wars characters and everything.

Writer's Strike & Your TV

Wondering what is going to happen to your favorite TV shows if the WGA strike goes on for a while? Well Scott has the answers here. Check it out if you are wondering. I thought there was some good and some bad news on there. Like only 10 eps of Battlestar Galactica and maybe little to no Lost is bad, but no problems with Doctor Who and a new and workable ending to Heroes are good news.

It will be interesting to see how long this strike goes and how many TV writers FINALLY finish the comic books they started years ago (can you say, Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk)

Smallville is Visited by a Canary

Black Canary that is. Yep, we'll get a Black Canary story in an upcoming Smallville story. And yes, it will also involve Green Arrow.

According to Superherofix.com:

The episode, titled "Siren" also marks the return of Justin Hartley in his role as Oliver Queen/The Green Arrow. In DC Comics, the two vigilantes have a long and complex romantic history. However, when they first encounter on Smallville, they will be opponents. "When we meet her, she's a vigilante working for Lex Luthor," Gough says. The Justice League "has been keeping their eyes on Lex and trying to thwart him at every turn." Fed up, Lex "will say to Black Canary, if you can bring me the head of the Green Arrow, I'll make it very much worth your while."

Staying true to the comics, Smallville's Canary is a martial-arts expert who has a super-powered sonic scream, her "canary cry." Gough also confirms that she will be wearing the fishnet stockings that have become the character's trademark costume piece.

When asked if a romance would blossom between Green Arrow and Black Canary, Gough answered "It's the very beginning of their relationship. At the end of the episode you clearly see that they have some sparks." Undoubtedly, this will further complicate the relationship between Oliver Queen and Lois Lane (Erica Durance).

Hmmm... sounds interesting.

Wondering who will play the super songbird, Dianh? Alaina Huffman (aka Kalanj). You might know her from her recent roll as Maureen from Painkiller Jane. I think she looks too old/mature to fit into a cast of young adults, but we'll see. She probably is the same age, but I don't know that for sure.

Based on the episode list on Kryptonsite.com, we won't see this until after the show returns from it's long winter's nap.

-- jeeze, this is like my third TV show post in a row. And I call it a comic book blog - I'd better get something about comics on here pretty soon!