Inhabited Island

First Nightwatch, now this!

I just read about this film on the AMC Sci-Fi Scanner, so now I’m passing on the news to you.

The 1971 satirical science fiction novel ‘Prisoners of Power’ by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky has been adapted into a feature length film, ‘Inhabited Island.’ The movie is breaking film attendance records in Russia and could lead to further adaptations of the rest of the ‘Maxim Trilogy’.

Keep your ears open so you don’t miss a chance to see this movie in the cinema.

Trailer

Heroes spinoff?

Not even a full day after the Heroes season two premiere, a spin-off series by Newton, Mass native and former psychologist turned director Eli Roth and fanboy turned… fanboy Kevin Smith has been announced.

Titled Heroes: Origins, the program will develop a new super hero character each episode. Viewers will be encouraged to vote at the end of each episode to decide which characters get introduced into the regular Heroes program.

The series is expected to be a six episode mini-series.

By clicking onto the official site you can read an original online ‘novel’ and try to win that Nissan Rogue that your daddy never gave you (am I the only one who finds that weird?).

JLA Wedding Special/issue 195-197

As incoming writer Dwayne McDuffie premieres on the Justice League of America after possibly the most overly written and confused issues in the title’s long troubled history (I had to keep a crib sheet for who’s internal monologues were which color), I can’t help but breath a sigh of relief.

The ‘real’ JLA is back. I can feel happy about reading this comic again. Life is a little bit better.

I should explain. My love affair with JLA began with issue 200. It was stuffed in my Christmas stocking as an afterthought. The one time in my life that I got comic books for a gift (from someone other than myself) is still the best. I have since discovered that many kids around my age got the same treatment. For those of you not in the know, issue 200 was a double-sized artist jam featuring the original JLA versus the ‘new’ JLA members. If you don’t own it, go immediately to MileHighComics and buy two copies.

I hunted around that double sized issue for the immediate ten or so comics and stuck with the comic until I realized that Don Heck was not George Perez and I dropped it (sorry, Don, I can see the error in my ways now).

But issue 200 really held a lot of ideas and images that have since become hard-wired into my head as representative of the perfect JLA . Green Arrow, Firestorm, Black Canary and Red Tornado were relatively unknown to my Super Friends kid mind and were therefore fascinating. Also, the stories were heavy on self-contained adventures with a fluctuating cast. It also humanized key characters while leaving others stoic and iconic. While we got a clear idea of Firestorm’s inability to get a date and Ollie getting caught in the shower, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman remained edifice-like in their character.

As I dug into the back issues, I found the JLA/JSA cross-over ‘Targets on Two Worlds.’

This is where it gets interesting.

I had no idea who the JSA were and was kind of intrigued by the multiple Earths thing, but moreso about the nutty villains (Psycho Pirate!) and colorful heroes (Hourman jumped off the page). The story made almost no sense to me, but the action was lots of fun and Perez‘ art was (and still is) stunning.

The story involves the Ultra-Humanite enlisting the aid of villains of two worlds to eliminate key heroes of the JSA and JLA. We see The Flash (Jay Garrick) fighting Rag Doll, The Atom Vs. the Floronic Man, Wonder Woman duking it out against the Cheetah around the Washington Monument, and more. But the image that recently jumped to mind was the fight between Firestorm and Killer Frost… which plays out almost exactly like the one from the new JLA Wedding Special (you really thought I was just going off into my past for no reason?).

As if having one of the key writers of the amazing Justice League cartoon weren’t enough reason to celebrate, he has dropped hints at his influences in his first issue, and he is influenced by one of my favorite eras in the series’ history. A time when readers were not limited to the same seven characters every month and the second stringers ruled (in theory, much like the Keith Giffen Justice League series later on).

Billed as a Bachelor Party meets super hero comics, the issue sets up the upcoming storyline in which a new group of super villains teams up to eliminate the Justice League once and for all. Yes, this is the exact plot of Challenge of the Super Friends and the last season of Justice League Unlimited. We even get a shot of the Legion of Doom headquarters in the swamp. Despite the inherent corniness, the issue works.

The cracks about the ultimate bachelor Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow getting married are genuinely funny.It’s weird to think that getting him married is the first interesting thing that has been done with the Green Arrow since he grew a beard and got cranky.

I got quite a giggle out of the Joker, Luthor and Cheetah perfectly mocking the interminably long sequence from Meltzer’s JLA in which the founding members chose who was in and out in a cave (this went on for three issues, no kidding). The swipe at his predecessor’s inadequacies is masterfully done and never detracts from the comic.

In addition, the fact that the issue McDuffie was referencing also involves a master plot by the Secret Society of Super Villains also does my heart proud. In short, if you are a fan of the cartoon or recall that happy event when there was actually something of worth in your Christmas stocking, it’s time to pick up JLA.