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Less than a year ago it was made known that a new adaptation of the ongoing dystopian action comic Judge Dredd was in the works, which I think is fair to say came as a surprise to most everyone. Not that the comic property became a poisoned well to return to after Dredd's first trip to the big screen, the bulky 1995 critical and commercial flop starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider in arguably his most annoying role ever. But you gotta admit it takes cojones to willingly associate millions upon millions of dollars with a title that is most often remembered in jest. Yet comic owner Rebellion and the production company DNA Films exhibited no signs of embarrassment in making the announcement last December that they were bringing the lawgiver back.

Now, thanks to the planet's newest and most reliable source of unimpeachable news, Twitter, we know just why those two British studios are comfortable wrestling Dredd's film credibility away from the lampooning panelists of an I Love the '90s VH1 special. Comic artist Mark "Jock" Simpson laid out the good news quite simply in a tweet, "working through script visuals for JUDGE DREDD movie. Alex Garland writes a great script."

Sure, it's just a tweet, but it's still bellied with information. One, it implies the script is not only great but completed. Two, the film is in active pre-production/pre-visualization, which is farther along that most thought.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

Neil Gaiman, the darling of comic book and fantasy fans everywhere, has been alluding to a short film project he's been working on on Twitter. Apparently, his fans aren't the only ones who can't resist snapping up his every project, because Variety is reporting the British TV channel has already picked up the short film as part of a "12 Days of Christmas" series.

Gaiman, who is very open to fan interaction and uses Twitter both effectively and charmingly, Tweeted in August, "Oh good. I have my star, who was my first (and only) choice. I have a costume designer. We agree about things. This is fun."

The dapper Bill Nighy is the star of Gaiman's short silent film which is "a love story involving two statues and Christmas shoppers." We can, no doubt, expect music from Gaiman's muse and collaborator Amanda Palmer for the soundtrack. it's so cool that he wrote a short silent movie screenplay, got it made, and sold it all in one summer. Such is the power of Neil.

The real question is, when does the rest of the world get to see it? Can we hope that Neil releases the film the same way he released videos of him reading The Graveyard Book to adoring audiences around the world?

So, fan girls and boys, let's hope this holiday season will bring another treat under the tree or Hanukkah bush from the prolific author behind Coraline (the book), American Gods, Stardust (the book), Anansi Boys, and of course, the graphic novel series Sandman. Along with that lump of coal you no doubt deserve.

Comic-Con 2009 is over and done with, and the word of mouth is that it's grown too big for its britches. Whether or not that's the case will be debated up until the Con's contract with the city of San Diego ends in 2012, but based on my view from the floor on both Wednesday's Preview Night and Saturday, the seams have definitely swelled to the bursting point.

Yesterday on KCRW's public radio show The Business, about the film industry, host Kim Masters spoke with American Original founder Jeff Katz about this year's Comic-Con. You can listen to the episode right here, and for people who have never been before, Katz paints a fairly lopsided picture from his point of view of the entire experience.

He calls Friday and Saturday the "biggies," ... this after a record crowd waited outside to get into Thursday's Twilight / New Moon panel starting on Wednesday, which also included James Cameron's Avatar and Disney's Hall H presentation. He also talks about studios clamoring for a piece of the fanboy pie, while looking to do the exact same thing himself.

With movies like Shoot 'Em Up ($39 million dollar budget, $12.8 million dollar gross in the US), Snakes on a Plane (massive internet buildup and then a huge flameout), and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (don't get me started) on his resume, he's positioning himself with his recently announced American Original (which he's self-dubbed a "nerd machine") entertainment company to try and pocket the geek dollar. Does he have his finger on the pulse of thirty-something nerdom, or is he just a wannabe blowhard?

Listen to the show and decide for yourself, while Comic-Con evolves and decides what it wants to be.

One of the most impressive parts of Comic-Con are all of the fans who dress up in costume and walk around the show floor. It's like attending a normal trade show where everyone is dressed up in suits, except in this case the suits are Spider-man and Supergirl outfits. That's some hardcore fandom right there. It takes guts (and in some cases these comic fans have an ample supply of those) to wear spandex and walk around like that in public, and these video interviews are a salute to you.

Our own Elisabeth Rappe is no stranger to dressing up and walking the floor, as she's done it for the last two years. Her account of dressing up as Lara Croft last year and showing off her guns (and pistols, as well) can be read right here. You can also see her interviewing two very lovely Age of Conan costumed girls from Florida right here. Our friend Chris Glenn joined us for interviews on Sunday, and you can watch all of those out after the break. We spoke to everyone from Wonder Woman to Waldo, so be sure and check it out!

Speaking of comics, hey, there's this guy named Alan Moore who's written a few books you might have heard of. I doubt he will ever, ever put in an appearance at Comic-Con. He's notorious for being awesomely grumpy about the movie adaptations of his seminal works, like, say Watchmen. He didn't hold back in an phone interview with the Los Angeles Times last year. One of the more colorful things he said was, "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

The movie did come out to rather mixed reviews, although it's very doubtful Moore noticed or even gave a sh*t. (Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons was onhand at last year's Comic-Con to discuss the movie, however, which you read read more about here, courtesy of Elisabeth Rappe.

Other choice words from the genius behind Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and other comics-turned-films that he equally loathed:

"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying... It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The Watchmen film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."

He also didn't mince words about both the comic book industry and the movie industry.

Cinematical will be hitting Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego again this year, bringing you the sights, highlights, and lowlights of the four-day geek mecca. A mecca that now officially has a schedule. Since cloning machines still haven't been invented, if anyone manages to do that in in the next couple of weeks please let us know. We're going to need to be at multiple locations during multiple simultaneous times.

But, that just about sums up the entirety of Comic-Con: dashing from panel to panel, catching a glimpse of the millions of costumes, stopping by booths, hitting parties, and then repeating. You can check out the full schedule right here (eventually -- it's Thursday and Friday only for now), and we'll be posting some of what's on our Cinematical Must See list as we work our way through the schedule with a highlighter, but here's a couple of standouts for Thursday:

• 11:00-12:30 Disney: 3D Panel- Walt Disney Pictures presents key filmmakers, select cast members and previously unseen footage from its upcoming slate, including Disney's A Christmas Carol, Alice In Wonderland and Tron. Special guests include Robert Zemeckis, Tim Burton, Sean Bailey, Steve Lisberger, and moderator Patton Oswalt. Hall H
• 12:45-2:00 20th Century Fox and James Cameron present Avatar- In this first public screening of footage in 3D from his much-anticipated action/adventure/fantasy, James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and cast members take you to a spectacular new world beyond imagination. Conceived 14 years ago and over four years in the making, Avatar breaks new ground in delivering a fully immersive, emotional story and reinvents the movie-going experience. Hall H

One of the things us genre fans remember most about Michael was his love of sci-fi and fantasy. It oozed out of almost everything he touched, and as visionary filmmakers like James Cameron and George Lucas began making advancements in special effects during the 1980s, Jackson was right there, incorporating his talents into the most memorable music videos of our generation.

Here, SciFi Squad's Mike Moody remembers Jackson's love of sci-fi and comics, and points to some really great content from around the web as all of us come together today to mourn the loss of a pop-culture legend.

Michael Jackson, the king of pop, whose music left an indelible mark on the popular music landscape, died yesterday at the age of 50. It seemed there was little about Jackson's life that didn't make the news or tabloids throughout his long career, with the possible exception of his love of science fiction and comic books.

Jackson was a huge comic book fan, and even considered buying Marvel Comics in the 1990s. MTV Splashpage looks at Jackson's history with comics, and notes that the pop star owned a giant collection of superhero books, costumes and statues that recently went up for auction. Comics Alliance has a rundown on Jackson's 5 greatest moments in comics, including his last public trip to a comic shop and the fate of his Moonwalker comic.

Read more at SciFi Squad

With shooting currently underway, The Incredible Hulk has added another cast member, and another villain. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Tim Blake Nelson has signed on to play Samuel Sterns (aka The Leader); archenemy of the Hulk (Edward Norton). Nelson is a great character actor; he's appeared in a number of films, my favorite performance of his being Delmar from the Coen Bros. O' Brother, Where Art Thou. In the comics Sterns is a menial worker at a chemical research factory (always a bad sign), when an explosion causes the man to be hit with some ever-so-wonderful gamma radiation. From there, his skin turned green and he became this super-intelligent criminal with a giant oversized brain.

With Tim Roth (what is it with the Tims?) already signed on to play Emil Blonsky (The Abomination), it looks The Incredible Hulk could be heading in the direction of most comic-related films as of late -- mainly in that the flick will include two villains, instead of just one. Either that, or Sterns will not make his transformation until late in the film setting up a sequel. Folks haven't been too keen on the multiple villain angle, but if it's done well I have no problem with multiple baddies. It keeps the pace fast, and the characters constantly on their toes. But in the case of the Hulk, two villains might be two too much. Keep in mind he'll also be running from the United States Army and General "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt), not to mention he'll have to find time to woo Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) in his spare time. Louis Leterrier (The Transporter) will direct Hulk this time, so I imagine we'll be seeing a slew of off-the-wall stunt action. If he tones down a little bit of what he did in Transporter, I think we'll be okay. Oh, and Zak Penn wrote the script. Look for more Hulk stuff this weekend from ComicCon, and the movie is set to arrive in theaters on June 13, 2008.

Now there's a casting tidbit I bet you never expected. Back in March, we told you how Columbia Pictures had optioned the rights to turn The Green Hornet into a big-screen adventure, after both Universal (with Ron Underwood directing) and Miramax (with Kevin Smith directing) couldn't muster up the guts to put out the film themselves. Immediately casting rumors swirled round the water cooler, with names like Jake Gyllenhaal, George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg coming up more than once. However, The LA Times claim Seth Rogen (yes, Seth "Knocked Up" Rogen!) "has entered a deal to write and likely star" in The Green Hornet.

I'm sorry ... but Seth Rogen? How do you go from George Clooney or Jake Gyllenhaal to Seth Rogen? That just seems ... weird. Regardless, that's what's being reported, and with Rogen writing, does that mean we should expect a real comedic Apatow-style take on the classic crime-fighter? The Green Hornet originally began as a radio show in the 1930s, and has since taken on a number of forms -- from comic books to television shows, the character has been around for almost 80 years now. Essentially, the story revolves around a guy named Brit Reid (blood relative of The Lone Ranger); a newspaper publisher by day and a masked hero at night (with help from his sidekick/bodyguard, Kato). He sort of reminds me of Dick Tracy with a mask. The LA Times claims that Rogen's deal was confirmed by "a number of sources inside and outside the studio," so it all seems pretty legit. Seth Rogen as The Green Hornet? I don't see it; what about you? And if Rogen stars, does that mean someone like Jack Black will play Kato? Ouch. As of now, it looks like Columbia will release the film at some point in 2009.

Although Zak Penn has said that he won't start writing an Avengers script anytime soon, that might be changing. According to AICN, Marvel is taking the first step toward integrating the superhero universe on the big screen by potentially laying down the foundation for an Avengers movie during next summer's Iron Man. That's right, apparently Nick Fury will be introduced as a character in the film, and he'll be played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Are you drooling yet? While it's still in the rumor stages, all signs point to this being a reality -- in fact, on Fury's Wikipedia page, it already mentions the fact that Sam Jackson is playing the character in the upcoming Iron Man film. So there's two sources, both with the same information -- and AICN claims Jackson is shooting his scenes this week.

Also on the Wikipedia page (and this is something I did not know), it says that the Ultimate Nick Fury was modeled after Samuel L. Jackson, with the actor's permission. So it would totally make sense for Jackson to be interested in the role. Additionally, Iron Man is one of the Marvel-related films that is being developed from scratch by Marvel Enterprises (and not some random studio), which means it's more likely that they'll not only take chances, but also give the die hard fans want they want. We're not sure if Fury's involvement here means there won't be an entire Nick Fury movie at some point, or if the character will only appear once before showing up in an Avengers movie. Jackson is cool and all, but the dude is not getting any younger -- so I imagine an Avengers flick would have to happen within the next five years.

Seeing as it looks like they're going with the Ultimate version of Fury, they'll most likely use the storyline of him being a Gulf War veteran and spy. I'm not sure how they'll work in a meeting between Fury and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), but at some point Fury becomes the General of S.H.I.E.L.D. and leader of The Ultimates, or Avengers. Will all that be set up in Iron Man? Will they officially announce Jackson's participation at the upcoming San Diego ComicCon? Guess we'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, what do you think about all this?