Comic Con Roundup pt1

So I have a bunch more comic con updates that came in over the weekend. There's really waaay too much to get a handle on, so here are just some of the things that caught my attention. Oh and in case anyone missed it, below my Crappy Camping Adventure post is a quick update no the new JJ Abrams Trek film, alongside the brand new teaser poster for it.

As for news there's tons, but first I wanted to just pay my respects to a great character actor named Mako who died on Saturday. He was a fine actor, over his 40 years in the industry he earned an Oscar nomination for his turn in The Sand Pebbles which I'm assuming is where he met Steve McQueen (who he actually eulogized). He was also known as the founder of America's first Asian-American theater company. And he was in a ton of tv shows and films. You might remember him best as the old wizard in Conan the Barbarian, but to me he will always be the voice of Aku, the Shape-shifting Master of Evil from perhaps the greatest cartoon series ever: Samurai Jack. On Friday he was announced as the voice to Master Splinter in the new Ninja Turtles film, and then early Saturday morning he passed due to esophageal lung cancer. Check out Mako's IMDB page HERE. He will be missed...

Moving onto a bit more upbeat news. There were a number of film announcements at Comic con. One that I haven't mentioned yet is of course Iron Man (WIKI). That's right, its finally coming to the big screen. Jon Favreau is directing, and no stars have been attached yet. Favs has officially said that the villain will be The Mandarin, and that the suit while its design is NOT locked down yet, will be more like a floating arsenal than some incarnations of the character. In fact he likened it to War Machine. The teaser poster for the film which was just revealed is obviously the picture right beside here. A few years ago Tom Cruise was really campaigning for this film, but I hope he doesn't get it. I'd much rather see someone without such a big "Celebrity" personality in the lead. Keep up on the film over at SupeheroHype!

Apparently there is also a new Iron Man cartoon in the works. Like the upcoming Fantastic Four cartoon (starts in Sept) the Iron Man toon will be a complimentary series, and not a direct tie to the film. That's cool I guess.

Speaking of cartoons, the Official website for the new Hellboy animated films is online and man it is totally badass check it HERE. On the site you'll find info on both of the upcoming direct to dvd titles: Sword of Storms, and Blood and Iron. There's an awesome trailer for the first film, as well as wallpaper etc. I am honestly getting very excited by this project.

Next Fantastic Four. Tim Story is working hard, with particular zeal on Dr Doom. Personally I don't care. Doom is great and all, but these comic book films are running into trouble by just trying to keep the same villains for every incarnation. I mean is there a reason every X-Men film had Magneto in it?! I love Ian McKellan, and magneto is a great villain, but WTF. The X-Men have tons of great badguys. Maybe there's not quite as many for the FF, but they've already announced that they're going with Galactus and the Silver Surfer. Galactus EATS PLANETS, do they really think they need another villain??? Anyhow, check out Story's Blog, and you can suggest a subtitle for the film. My vote "Fantastic Four 2: Electric Bugaloo" then tag it with "Who knew that surfers could dance?!" So then the film could be like a disco dance off for the fate of the world. hehe...

Time for me to go eat something... but I'll be back with more later on...