dark horse comics Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Don't you just love when you hear about Hollywood options before ComicCon, so that you can pick them up at the con as a tasty treat for the ride home? Somehow I've missed catching Fear Agent, but I can sense a new addiction coming on, and just in time for the movie adaptation.

THR's Risky Biz Blog reports that Universal is in the early stages of developing Rick Remender's series Fear Agent. If you're like me, and never got to pick it up, the official site has a 23-page preview of Volume 1 up. The star of the series is one Heath Houston, a Texan who is one of the last "fear agents," a fancier way of saying "alien hunter." He's one of the last guys out there fighting the good fight to save planet Earth, but unfortunately he chooses to do it under the influence of whiskey. Yay for bitter, alcholic heroes! He reads like a cross between Bruce Campbell, Wolverine, and John McClane and could be a nice, beefy part for any actor worth his machismo. (I believe there were a few of those passed over for The Green Lantern -- maybe they could give this space cop a try?)

It's currently open to writers, but the studio may buy up a spec owned by producer Jonathan Shestack, and bring him on to help oversee the project. So far, of all the Universal / Dark Horse pair-ups, this one looks the most exciting, and a snarky antidote to Star Trek.

When getting your comic series optioned for the big screen, it always helps if you're already somebody -- like Gerard Way, who you know better as the lead singer for My Chemical Romance. According to Variety, his Dark Horse series The Umbrella Academy is getting the big-screen treatment, courtesy of Universal Pictures. It will be the first film produced under that three-year production pact the studio made with Dark Horse Comics.

Mark Bomback, the pen behind Race to Witch Mountain, has been hired to write the screenplay. The series follows seven young superheroes who were chosen for their unique abilities by Sir Reginald Hargreeves -- who also happens to be an alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur. They're a rather troubled bunch and disband, but then reunite after Hargreeves' death to (what else?) save the world.

The series was something of a lifelong dream for Way, who was once a struggling artist and animator, and he published the series at Dark Horse hoping that his fan following would help boost sales and awareness of the industry. I don't know if it's done that, but it seems to have been fairly popular in its run.

If you're curious, Comic Book Resources has a preview of the first issue up, and there are some additional pages up at Forbidden Planet. It's a little too Goth and conscious quirky for my tastes, but hey -- maybe it'll play better on the screen than it does on the page. Lining up a solid director would help, too. We'll see.

David Gordon Green became an indie darling with contemplative films like George Washington and All the Real Girls, then proved his diversity in 2008 by directing another quiet drama, Snow Angels, as well as the raucous stoner adventure Pineapple Express. People have gone from asking "What can Green do?" to "What can't Green do?," and we're about to get some more data to help us find an answer. Next up: a horror thriller based on a comic book miniseries.

It's called Freaks of the Heartland, and it's a six-part story published in 2004 by Dark Horse Comics (Portland represent!) about a boy in a small town who must protect his younger brother from people who view him as a monster. There's a good chance the townsfolk are right about the monster thing, however, and it apparently applies to some other local children, too. It's not what I first thought of when I saw the title Freaks of the Heartland (this was), but it sounds pretty cool.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overture Films has hired Green to direct, with a screenplay adaptation by Peter Sattler and Geoff Davey, both of whom, like Green, are alumni of the North Carolina School of the Arts. The comic was written by Steve Niles (who also wrote 30 Days of Night), and he will be executive producer. Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson and Green will produce.

But hey! What about the fantasy comedy, Your Highness, that Green was supposed to make with his buddy Danny McBride? Is that still happening? That's a good question, and the answer is I dunno. I can't find any updates on that project since the original announcement in May. If Mr. Green is reading this and would like to contact me to clear things up, and also to listen to me gush about how brilliant I think he is, he is welcome to do so.

According to TheGoon.com, Eric Powell's endlessly inventive series has just been optioned by David Fincher, who plans to turn it into a CGI movie. (Is this the first movie to be announced via its character's official domain instead of the trades? I'm sure it isn't, but I find it awesome and worth mentioning nonetheless.)

The Goon is a everything-but-the-kitchen-sink (and probably that too) comic that draws comparisons to (and appearances by) Hellboy. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read it, though I don't seem to be alone in that. The series follows the deformed brawler of the title, who claims to be the enforcer for a mobster named Labrazio. The Goon and his sidekick, Franky, are frequently trading punches with all manner of otherworldly creatures, from zombie armies to aliens -- and from what I'm looking at on Dark Horse, it never gets boring. And it's hilarious. Check out the preview of issue #8, and tell me I'm wrong. (There's lots of Goon previews up on Dark Horse's page, spend the holiday weekend checking them out! I'm going to. Fireworks are overrated.)

While CGI would be the best way to capture the top-notch art, I can't help but wish this was in live action. I would love nothing more than to see a real live Goon beat down some lame vampires, or get omens interpreted by a psychic seal. But already, this is gearing up to be one of the best comic adaptations this side of The Dark Knight -- a top notch director in Fincher, and hilarious source material.

[via CHUD]

Hot Topic shoppers are going to go crazy! The Hollywood Reporter announced that little Emily Strange is heading for the big screen. Mike Richardson, head of Dark Horse Entertainment, will produce under the comic book's movie shingle. No distributor yet, though Universal has that first look deal with them.

Emily the Strange was created by skateboarder Rob Reger in the early '90s. Originally, she was just a character on a sticker handed out for free at concerts, skateboard shops and record stores to promote Reger's company, Cosmic Debris. She took on a life of her own, appearing on everything from t-shirts to notebooks, often accompanied by four cats. Dark Horse gave her a four-issue run. What was in those issues, I do not know -- perhaps a reader can tell us.

Says Reger of his creation: "In their life, everybody has, especially in the teenage years, looked to find themselves and felt like they don't fit in. Emily represents that person, but in a positive light. She prefers to be different and to look at things in her own way. She's a great role model for people to think for themselves." He also calls her an "alluring" little girl which I will try to take in a positive way.

Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment have struck a three year production and distribution deal. Universal now has creative access to Dark Horse's entire stable (pardon the pun) of characters and properties, as well as anything the company aquires in the hopes of turning it into a film. In return, Dark Horse gains a permanent studio home for all future properties, and the option to distribute their own films through Universal.

Dark Horse has been responsible for publishing some of the cooler comics in the past few years -- but their movie output has been less than stellar. For every Hellboy, there's been a Son of the Mask and Alien vs Predator. Maybe a partnership with Universal will change that.

So many Dark Horse properties are in creative limbo now that I am really curious to see what's going to happen to them. Can Universal buy back the rights to Sin City so the sequel can be made? Lone Wolf and Cub? I know I am going to be wrong on who owns what, it's one of those days where Google is providing nothing in the way of reliable information -- and Dark Horse Entertainment only lists Hellboy II as their upcoming project, which is no help. Feel free to refresh my memory.

At any rate, I wonder if it means we'll see Frank Miller directing Martha Washington one of these days. I don't think that's been optioned yet.

[via Superhero Hype]

The cover for the comic adaptation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been released online, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics. You can click on the image above or check after the jump for the full-sized version, which, I must warn you, might carry spoilers. I personally don't see what the spoilers could be, but it's always best to be safe and give a warning just in case. I've been spending the past 15 minutes trying to figure out what that thing is behind Indiana Jones. Is it a backpack? Some sort of rock structure? A creature? What do you think? Anyway, here's the non-spoilerish plot synopsis that came along with this cover art:

The most anticipated movie event of the summer comes to comics in this adaptation of the fourth Indiana Jones film! The intrepid Doctor Henry Jones Jr. is back in his biggest adventure yet! This time, the world-renowned archaeologist finds himself caught in a series of events that all point to a discovery unlike any other. But will his rivals in pursuit of this priceless treasure seize his quarry from right under his nose? Not if he, and a few unexpected companions, have anything to say about it! The thrill and the humor, the action and the romance, the hat and the whip--everything you love about Indy is here! This is a tale sure to please longtime fans as well as foster a whole generation of new ones!

The publication date is May 22, 2008, the comic runs 96 pages, and it will sell for $12.95.

Thanks to adaptations like Sin City, 300 and the upcoming Hellboy sequel, Dark Horse Comics should be doing well with its back catalog sales. More publications will be adding extra funds to the company's bank account, too, as Dark Horse has just made a deal with Hyde Park Entertainment to bring other titles to the big screen. None of these new films will be as big as those previously mentioned -- they were produced and distributed by the big studios Dimension, Warner Bros. and Universal, respectively. Instead the deal specifies they will be medium-budget indies. The first adaptation announced is The Blackburne Covenant, which will be based on Fabian Nicieza's and Stefano Raffaele's graphic novel about a horror-fantasy novelist who has coincidentally and accidentally written a book about real events. Of course, the conspirators involved with the events are not happy about the exposure, and so they set out to kill the novelist.

It has been a long time since I read any Dark Horse titles, so I'm not sure what other films could come out of this deal, but I'm guessing that my favorite, Boris the Bear, will not be one of them. Could a modest-budget cover the costs of a Concrete film? And could Dark Horse make a live-action version of one of the Manga titles it licenses, preferably Gunsmith Cats? As for other titles, it seems there are already Rex Mundi and ArchEnemies movies in the works. I wonder what else would work as an independent film. Looking at Dark Horses' current best sellers, I've picked out the following two titles that sound like they'd make for good, cheaply produced features: City of Others, which features a hitman caught in the middle of a war between vampires and zombies; and The Secret, which is described as a coming-of-age mystery. Of course, I don't know if these comics are actually any good. Are there any Dark Horse fans out there with any better ideas?

It's not too often you hear news of a lawsuit over a property that's in the public domain, but here we go: Pendragon Pictures, the folks who put together this movie version of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is filing suit against Dark Horse Comics. The moviemakers claim that the comicmakers have cribbed a whole lot of visuals from their flick, and they've even gone so far as to set up this website to illustrate their arguments.

So what do you think: Is it a simple coincidence borne from the fact that both works are based on a common source? Or did the Dark Horse artists actually sit down and copy from Tim Hines' overwhelmingly "faithful" Wells adaptation? Either way it's good press for the Pendragon flick, a film which I'll not share my opinion of at this time ...