Star Wars Celebration (Europe)

For the benefit of Mr. Lucas, the cover of the Star Wars Celebration Europe program was recently revealed (if you click on the link, be prepared to be blown off your chair by hearing the dulcet tones of Sir Alec Guiness).

The cover bears a striking comparison to another familiar image and is therefore cooler and ‘European.’

Featuring celebrity guests from all six films including Prequel Producer Rick McCallum, the convention is more than just a convention… it’s a hell of a lot more expensive than those action figures I sweated over. Hoo-boy.

Check out the cool stuff at the Daily P.O.P. Shop!

Thundercats the movie

In a stunning and unexpected move, Warner Brothers has optioned the toy/cartoon/comic book hit of the 80’s, Thundercats for the big screen.

I’m kidding, of course. With the anticipated ticket sales from the upcoming Michael Bay/Spielberg Transformers film, any 80’s cartoon property is up for grabs. Remember the success of Daredevil? Remember Elektra?… No, huh? Well… history may repeat itself here.

Rumor is that the film will be an origin story, fucusing in the coming-of-age tale of Lion-O (much like the first cartoon).

Relive the 80’s here:

The cartoon origin of Lion-O is one of the oddest in cartoon lore. While his fellow cat people sat in cryogenic suspension capsules, young Lion-O’s was broken. This lead to the ‘man in a boy’s body’ concept for the character.

The producers must have felt that the idea would appeal to kids… but ended up never mentioning  it again to the point where a casual viewer would never guess anything was unusual with Lion-O and instead just assume he was a bit of a putz now and again. This made the character appealing to me since I like the old Beetle Bailey type of character, but imagine my surprise when I finally caught the premiere episode. I felt a little…  uncomfortable.

And in case, like me, you can’t even visualize what a live action version of these cartoon characters would look like, you can check out this:
Home-made live action Thundercats

Check out the cool stuff at the Daily P.O.P. Shop,
including the new ‘Land of 1984′ section!

Harlan Ellison to read at Earth 2 Comics

This is a reminder to readers in Sherman Oaks, California who are getting a chance to listen to Harlan Ellison: Contributer to Star Trek with one of its best episodes the City on the Edge of Forever, the Outer Limits Classic ‘Demon With a Glass Hand,’ amazing short story writer including ‘Repent Harlequin, Said the Tick Tock Man,’ and all around cool guy (he also loves Jack Kirby, wrote Marvel Comics‘ Avengers in the 70’s and totally digs Doctor Who).

I’m jealous.

Earth 2 Comic hosted event:
HARLAN ELLISON READS FOR CHARITY
THURSDAY, JUNE 14 — 7:30 PM

Renowned author, screenwriter, critic and raconteur Harlan Ellison will be performing a rare public reading on Thursday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m., with all proceeds from the event going to the Penny Lane Youth Foundation Library Project!

Tickets are only $20 and can be purchased in the store or online — just click here to order! Tickets are extremely limited, so don’t put off ordering, or else you’ll miss out! Check your calendars and get out your credit cards! This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the masters of the short story in one of his legendary speaking engagements, and remember, it’s all for a good cause!

HARLAN ELLISON was recently characterized by The New York Times Book Review as having “the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker, with a cultural warehouse for a mind.” The Los Angeles Times suggested, “It’s long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title: 20th century Lewis Carroll.” And the Washington Post Book World said simply, “One of the great living American short story writers.”

He has written or edited 75 books; more than 1700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns; two dozen teleplays, for which he received the Writers Guild of America most outstanding teleplay award for solo work an unprecedented four times; and a dozen movies. He won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe award twice, the Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker award six times (including The Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996), the Nebula three times, the Hugo 8½ times, and received the Silver Pen for Journalism from P.E.N. Not to mention The World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, two Audie Awards, the Ray Bradbury Award, and a Grammy nomination for Spoken Word recordings.