Lynda Carter, the Real Wonder Woman Gives Advice to Her Successor

There will never be an actress playing Wonder Woman, even if the character lives on for three hundred years, who isn't compared to Lynda Carter. Lynda Carter quite simply embodied and became the character. It doesn't matter that the 70s ABC/CBS Wonder Woman series vacillated between the original 40s World War II version of the character, and a "new" 70s take. It doesn't matter that the show was hopelessly rooted in the loosely plotted and languidly filmed 70s TV drama style. Lynda was it. She was  Wonder Woman.

Carter may not have started out as a trained actress. But she quickly learned on the job, and by the finish of the (too short) run of The New, Original Wonder Woman or whatever its official title finally became, she'd become an icon. She is the yardstick by which all future super heroines will be measured.

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Wonder of a Woman

Lynda Carter is celebrating Pride with a new CD, a round of tour dates and by sharing a few memories from her Wonder-ful life with us.



Image from source, MetroSource



Interviewing original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter was a childhood dream come true! We found her to be funny, thoughtful and humble as we discussed Pride parades, re-inventing songs and everyone’s favorite star-spangled gal. . .

Read more at: MetroSource

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Green Lantern

This has the potential to be really great, or really bad.  I'm hoping for great. One of DC Comics' most classic heroes and Ryan Reynolds?  It had better not suck.

Captain America Movie: Costume Revealed

I'll see it because I'm a comic book fan (though not a Marvel comics fan), and a Chris Evans fan. And since I have no emotional attachment to Captain America's iconic costume, I don't mind that this one looks different. But will fans?

Source (with more shots and commentary): Bam! Kapow!

Frivolity Break: Iron Baby!

I'm not much for cute baby videos, but this one is better than most!

A Flash Movie Soon?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

Oh, please, oh please. . .! I've said many times in this space that I'm a long-time DC Comics fan, and I'm jealous of Marvel Comics' success on the silver screen.  Sure, the 2000s edition of the Batman franchise is going strong, but Batman was never a personal favorite, and his movies don't much do it for me either. I like my super heroes to have super powers.  And DC has a wealth of powered heroes, with Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Captain Marvel (Shazam!), and The Flash (not to mention lesser-knowns like The Metal Men, Firestorm, and many more).

All of those mentioned have had either cartoons, live-action TV series or movies made about them, and all have had trouble getting to the big screen. Of the list, only Superman managed a recent movie, after many years of false starts and tons of money wasted. And they still ended up with a film--though it impressed me--that didn't please audiences. How a major movie studio like Warner Brothers (which owns DC) could be so stymied by super heroes as source material will always baffle me. There is such a dense mythology to draw from, sometimes up to 70 years of stories.  C'mon, DC, get it together!  I know (or at least hope) you can do it!

[Excerpt]

Flash Movie Soon?

With the buzz over current DC projects like Green Lantern, Batman 3, and the Superman reboot, I know I speak for most of my fellow nerdians when I say I can’t wait to see what’s next. Well, Geoff Johns already told us to expect some news on the movie front here, and thanks to his Tweet, we get a clue as to what the news may be:


The goal is: SOON - but we’ll see! @kidflash3000 when are they going to make a flash movie I’ve been anticipating that for years


SOON!!!!!

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Movies I Can't Wait to See: The First Avenger: Captain America

Classic superhero? Check. Tied in to other superhero movies like Iron Man? Check. Leading up to a big superhero teamup movie, The Avengers? Check. Chris Evans? Check! (and droool.) I may be a DC Comics fan, but I'm so up for this one.

Source: Bam! Kapow!

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Iron Man 2

I may be mainly a DC Comics fan, but Marvel's Iron Man was one of the best super hero movies ever filmed. And yeah, I'm including The Dark Knight. I hope part 2 can live up to the hype. Please, please, please. . .

DC Comics Fans Rejoice: The Flash is a Go!

Image from source, Bam!Kapow!

Many times in this space, I have lamented the fact that while Marvel Comics is going gangbusters in the movies, my favorite DC Comics stars languish in development hell. Good news! Not only is The Green Lantern well underway, The Flash is chugging along too! Now, if Shazam! and Wonder Woman could only move along. Oh, and while I'm very dubious of a Superman reboot, I'm comforted that Marvel is rebooting Spider-Man, which sounds like a train wreck to me.

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Flash Movie Gets Director

IESB has learned exclusively that WB is lining up a director for another high profile DC character; Greg Berlanti is the leading contender to helm "The Flash". The name should ring a bell or two, Berlanti wrote "Green Lantern" with one my favorites Marc Guggenheim and was once attached to direct the film before WB settled on Martin Campbell. From what IESB is hearing WB is very high on Berlanti from his prep on "Green Lantern" and would love him to run with "The Flash". If you remember, two weeks to this day, IESB reported that we would be hearing some news on "The Flash". Here we are delivering on that promise. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Good News for DC Comics Fans

We DC Comics fans have sat by for years, depressed that the Marvel Comics brand has had much more success in movie adaptations. I personally loved Superman Returns (though I'm in the decided minority), and didn't much care for The Dark Knight (again, minority). But no one would dispute the fact that Marvel has had more commercial and critical success with their X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and other spin-offs.

DC has the best known properties in the comics world, but their TV and movie adaptations have been rather lackluster by comparison to Marvel. Not only that, the DC characters that have fans itching for big screen treatments keep getting scuttled or postponed. Shazam! The Flash. Green Lantern. The Justice League of America. Wonder Woman. Firestorm. The Metal Men. We keep getting tantalizing promises, and nothing seems to come of them. That may be about to change.

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Warner Bros. Creates DC Entertainment!

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Disney Buys Marvel Comics

DC Comics, always my favorite, has been owned by Warner Brothers for years and years. This hasn't really hurt the comics aspect as far as I know. And it allowed them to use their characters across Warner's other properties. But I believe it hurt them in the live-action movies and television realm. Many, many proposed theatrical adaptations, such as Superman and Batman (together), Wonder Woman and The Justice League have languished for years. Superman Returns was in development hell forever, and was dubbed a failure mostly because of the up-front cost of all the false starts.

Now, Marvel Comics, home of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men will have to deal with the plusses and minuses of being owned by a giant media company. And it comes at a time when Marvel has been doing quite well with their adaptations, though fans have dissed many of them. From my point of view, since Disney already has extensive experience turning established characters into huge event movies, it's probably a good thing. But I really don't care, I'm a DC guy. Heh.

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Disney to Acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion!

A huge announcement this morning - Disney is going to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion!

Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

DC Comics to Join Marvel With Full Movie Slate?

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

I got a little too excited when I first read the headline for the article excerpted below. For years (and several times here on the blog) I have lamented that the movie treatments for DC Comics heroes have been sparse. Sure, Batman gets lots of box office love, and Superman didn't do badly at all, despite what you've heard. But several of the big DC projects have been stuck in development hell, much to the consternation of this ageing comic book fan.

But the article below doesn't cheer me too much. Several of the projects are titles I was never a fan of, and others (like The Flash and Shazam!) are as nebulous as ever. What baffles me is that DC's movie studio is frakkin' Warner Brothers. Why is it so difficult to take these established characters with thousands of pages, and several decades worth of stories, and put them into decent movies? The Marvel Comics-based Iron Man was a smash, and that is one of the least believable (and not relatively well known) heroes they could have picked! I hope these movies come to pass, and are successful, to stop Warner from being so timid.

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Watch Out Marvel! DC Is Coming!

DC Comics’ movie adaptations are a force to be reckoned with…

If you thought the Marvel movie lineup for the next 4 years was impressive, wait’ll you get a load of DC.

Scheduled for release are:
The Losers, which begins filming this week in Puerto Rico;
Jonah Hex, which recently wrapped;
Green Lantern, which now stars Ryan Reynolds;
Red, starring Bruce Willis (and recently added Morgan Freeman). . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

Still Waiting for the Green Lantern Movie!

I wrote a piece about one of the Movies I Can't Wait to See, DC Comics' Green Lantern many months ago. I'm still waiting. While Marvel Comics brings hit after hit (and not a few clunkers) to the screen, DC hasn't been so successful. Maybe corporate parent Warner Brothers has too many cooks in the kitchen or something.

A fan has taken it upon himself to make his own "coming soon" trailer for a Green Lantern movie, and I've got to say it's pretty impressive. This version would star Firefly's Nathan Fillion. I recognize several of the clips used here from Star Trek to Superman Returns. But this is a pretty amazing job! It has me sold on the idea.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

I'm a comic book fan from way back, but I was always a DC aficionado. Marvel Comics were barely on my radar, except for the odd Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk. And that was mostly because they had TV shows on when I was a kid.

But, I'll make an exception for Wolverine. The X-Men movies were a ton of fun (well, not as much in Part 3), and I didn't need to know the whole back story to enjoy them. And hey, Hugh Jackman, am I right? Here's the trailer. It looks good.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

Movies I Can't Wait to See: Watchmen

The Watchmen comic book hit some time immediately after my love affair with comic books hit a waning period, so I missed it. But, as a comic fan, I have of course heard of it, and have always been intrigued. It was apparently a series that simultaneously paid homage to and skewered comic book conventions at the same time.

I was knowledgeable about the series enough to be perturbed by the "happy face" T-shirts with bullet holes and blood that were a hit at the time. Even I knew that the Watchmen image was a happy face with blood splashed on it--not bleeding itself.

In any event, I'm excited about the movie version. After many false starts, it looks like the comic has gotten its due in a movie adaptation. Check it out. . .

Watchmen Trailer http://teaser-trailer.com