Chantal Thuy Cast as Grace Choi

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As we continue the slow crawl toward Black Lightning, we’ve started to get a trickle of information about the additional superheroes that will pepper the show.  That’s basically just par for the course of CW superhero shows at this point- single hero shows are out the window and everything now will have a rotating cast of supporting heroes.  Now I'm in favor of this practice, it helps keep things interesting and at an appreciably grand level now that single hero stories have become the bread and butter of the Hollywood hit machine.  

In an age of The Avenger and Justice League selling a whole superhero show on 1 masked crime fighter has become kind of passe.   In the case of Black Lightning, the show already had 2 additional superheroes at the starting track in the form of Black Lightning’s daughters Thunder and Lightning.  Now, the show has reached out to add its first additional hero outside of that immediate family unit with Grace Choi, who will be played by Chantal Thuy. 

Zach Levi Cast As Shazam

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I have to say: I don’t think there’s been a bigger curveball production in the superhero game lately than Shazam!  For years I, like most people, figured this was one of those DC movie projects that were on the schedule but probably not going to actually happen, more of an announcement to get something on the board than anything else.  Then, out of nowhere, WB announced David F. Sandberg to direct, which seemed odd given he was known largely for the 2016 horror film Lights Out, the latest in WB’s newfound cash cow of low-budget/high-return horror offerings for the summer season. 

Some thought that perhaps Sandberg’s presence meant Shazam! would have a horror aesthetic, sort of in the vein of James Wan’s Aquaman, but as the interviews rolled in and we crept towards the start of production it seemed like it was going to be light-hearted and funny.  Now, finally, we have a star to attach to the vehicle: Zachary Levi will be playing the titular Shazam in the 2019 film. 

Gareth Evans to Direct Deathstroke

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So, let’s talk about Deathstroke.  Back when it was first reported Deathstroke might have a role in Justice League and would be the villain of The Batman I had a lot of thoughts to share about everyone’s favorite Teen Titans bad guy.  Since then, however, Deathstroke’s role in the DCEU has become a lot more fluid (much like the DCEU itself,) and I think he’s a sore subject worth revisiting.  If you haven’t been keeping up with the news or maybe don’t even know who he is- Deathstroke is a DC Comics villain and mercenary most commonly associated with the Teen Titans and Batman. 

He was a mercenary who adopted a costume and some super soldier powers to try and stay competitive in the superhero world and is most notable for the time he seduced an under-aged sociopath to get her to defeat the Teen Titans for him.  He’s a very popular bad guy who was set to appear first in Justice League before starring as the villain of The Batman as played by Joe Manganiello.  However, after extensive reshoots and re-edits, Deathstroke is gone from Justice League and The Batman has all but completely stalled out in production.  However, there is good news for Deathstroke enthusiasts- Gareth Evans, director of The Raid and The Raid 2, has stepped in to helm a Deathstroke movie. 

New Mutants Trailer Breakdown

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One of the curious things about film success in the 2020s is that “quiet victories” have become more and more prevalent.  That’s more the result of Geek Media spending a lot of time talking up the loud victories than anything else.  For instance, the X-Men franchise is a great example of something quietly successful.  Outwardly the franchise is considered mostly past its prime and running on goodwill and fumes.  

However, a lot of that is simply because the main film series doesn’t draw a lot of interest in the online circles, meanwhile, the spin-off material like Deadpool, Logan, and Legion have been making big waves and spawning imitators left and right.  A lot of that is that Fox seems more willing to experiment on the job with the X-Men peripherals, probably because they assume they aren’t going to be successful anyway so might as well get weird with it.  That certainly seems like the attitude at play with the latest X-Men spin-off flick The New Mutants whose trailer has revealed it to be…a teen horror flick? 

Cover Story - Top 13 Jason Voorhees Covers

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Happy Friday the 13^th everyone, this weird day we’ve all decided is cursed for reasons we can no longer remember.  Seriously, I have no idea why the fearful and unlucky reputation of the number 13 has persisted so long or even where it started but it has stuck around so we might as well indulge it.  This Friday the 13^th I’m celebrating with a dive into the single best argument for why this random day of the year has persisted as a national holiday: Jason Voorhees, star of the Friday the 13^th film series.  

Released in 1980, Friday the 13^th may not have started the ‘80s slasher craze but it did cement it, helping to full launch the horror blockbuster and launching the franchise that would turn “Jason” into psycho-killer shorthand.  Nearly 40 years later Jason has managed to invade every medium- film, television, video games, novels, music, and, naturally, comic books.  There has been a cavalcade of Friday the 13^th comic books over the years both tied to the films and independent of them and today we honor those comics by looking at their best cover artwork, let’s dive in. 

Panel Vision - No Man's Land

As you probably know Puerto Rico recently suffered devastation at the hands of Hurricane Maria.  It’s a natural disaster of incalculable scale made infinitely worse by the federal government's point-blank refusal to help Puerto Rico in the manner that would befit our so-called leaders.  If you’re at all able to give please consider donating to organizations like United for Puerto Rico, Americares, Convoy of Hope, Direct Relief, Catholic Relief Services, International Medical Corps, or Unicef.  The people of Puerto Rico are in desperate need of help and it’s painfully clear that it’s going to have to come from us because those in power are too cruel or incompetent to take action. 

This idea of being abandoned by our own government has been a running theme in 2017, especially with the way the natural world seems to be coming apart at the seams.  More and more, the organizations we once trusted with our basic safety and day-to-day concerns have turned on us with, at worst, a predatory maliciousness and at best a blind idiocy.  

In that power vacuum citizens have had to rely on one another to fight the battles we can’t as individuals, be that in the form of mass demonstrations and call-in over healthcare or the civilian fleet that went to Houston after Hurricane Harvey.  This blend of federal abandonment with the greater need for joint community action seemed fairly familiar to me because it’s also the core of my favorite Batman comic of all time- No Man’s Land. 

Panel Vision - The Hacker Files

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It seems these days that cyber-warfare and computer hacking have become newly popular plotlines.  A lot of that is just a reflection of the real world- as the amount of data we generate in the virtual space grows in concordance with our reliance on outdated security systems we’re going to keep seeing things like the Equifax data breach, the Russian cyber attacks on the US election, and major state secret leaks like those made by Chelsea Manning.  It’s only natural that parallels to these events have formed in the narratives of shows like Homeland, Berlin Station, and most pertinently Mr. Robot. 

However, this is hardly the first time hacking has come to grip the public imagination- that was in the ‘90s.  Stuff like The Net and Hackers were capitalizing on the public’s fascination with cyber shenanigans at the very dawn of the information super-highway.  A lot of these ‘90s offerings are pretty cheesy and dated in hindsight, much like the ‘90s flirtation with early VR, there is, however, one exception- 1992’s The Hacker Files.

Filmland - A Musical History of Star Wars

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So, Star Wars is in the news again as we barrel towards The Last Jedi- the middle film of the new trilogy.  Given that Star Wars is suddenly a trending topic worth capitalizing on I thought I’d take on one of the strangest corners of the Star Wars universe: the musical history of Star Wars.  I’m not talking about the film soundtracks, though there is a soundtrack on this list but we’ll get there.  

I’m instead talking about the way Star Wars has come up in geeky and popular music throughout the past 40 years since its inception.  The truth of the matter is that Star Wars is THE multi-media nerd juggernaut and always has been, eclipsing all others in its field and that includes spreading into the world of hit songs, nerd rap, parody music, and viral musical phenomena.   I’m sure we’ll see more of this as the new trilogy continues on but for now let’s dig into the bizarre musical history of Star Wars.

The Last Jedi gets 2nd Trailer

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One of the curious things about liking Star Wars at this moment is that sometimes I think my distance from the franchise helps me enjoy it more.  I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m not really a huge Star Wars fan- I don’t dislike the franchise and enjoy some of it very much but I just don’t have the same relationship with it that I do with Star Trek or superheroes.  That being said, I think the fact Star Wars was always just another collection of films to me has made me less inclined to feel anything has been lost in the Disney handover. 

More and more I feel like I’m seeing folks angry at the loss of some mercurial inner spark to the Star Wars films that they feel only the original trilogy maintained.  Which seems a damn shame to me because The Last Jedi is quickly gearing up to be the best looking Star Wars film yet, with an ambitious new trailer striking an incredible balance of tone and content that continues to redefine expectations for this film.

Justice League Trailer & News Update

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There’s no more beleaguered a film coming out this year than WB’s long-suffering Justice League film.  The production on this movie has been such a complete mess it’s like something out of a soap opera.  There’s been talk of a bloated production, constant re-edits after test screenings, executive panic and that’s not even touching on stuff we know like Joss Whedon coming in to relieve Zack Snyder after the tragic loss of his daughter.  

Hell, even that particular revelation couldn’t go by without its OWN revelation as Whedon entered a very public scandal of his own in the latter half of the year.  Mark my words, there will be large volumes written about how Justice League came to be.  I say all this now because of the fact that this latest trailer feels like something different yet also quite familiar feels intrinsically tied to the recent avalanche of lurid coverage.  In short, I think Justice League is finally finding itself in the editing and post-production and I actually think it looks…pretty good.