|
04/07/16 @ 9:45 am EST
A Writer’s Commentary: Corinna Bechko on Miss Fury #1, on sale today from Dynamite. Interior art is by Jonathan Lau.  Page 1It was important to me that we meet Marla at work, because so much of the story is about her various identities, and what she does for a living is a very important to her. As a writer, I’m always fascinated by that aspect of people’s lives. How you approach your work, and the kind of work you wish you were doing, says a lot about you.I also wanted to make sure and get right into the story, which kicks off with a break-in. Why waste time when you can get to know someone through action instead?I need to take a moment right away to mention Jonathan Lau’s art here, thought. I’m thrilled we got to work together, and I think you get a sense of Marla right from the start here, before she says a word, thanks to the way he handles her movements and expressions. Page 2Enter Miss Fury! Like I said, right into the action. Marla’s life is divided. That’s the most important thing to know about her. And here we get introduced to the second part of her life. Page 3Here we see that the thieves are focusing on something non-traditional. They’re not after money or art, they’re stealing plans. This will be important later, and I really like how Jonathan emphasizes that in the last panel. Page 4A lot more action, as Miss Fury shows these creeps what she’s made of. I’m a big fan of using the environment to tell the story, so we learn a bit about Marla’s workplace through the items that are being smashed. There goes a drafting table, and a stool… Hopefully Marla’s firm has good insurance.  Page 5Meanwhile, the stolen documents are getting away! Hopefully, since we met Marla working late at her office, the reader will already feel like this is personal for her, and that losing these will hurt. Having known the pain of a computer crash eating a ton of hard work, it was easy for me to imagine how hard Marla would try to recapture the plans. Page 6No such luck, though. The thief gets away. I love how Jonathan shows us New York here. The details are wonderful. And I’m especially happy with how the last panel on this page turned out. Miss Fury looks so disheveled as she finally calls the police. Fighting criminals is hard. It wouldn’t leave you looking glamorous. Page 7Back to normal life, where no one knows that Marla Drake is Miss Fury. You can tell from this page that I love old films and have watched a lot of them. The fact that this story is set in the 40s allowed me to finally use my storehouse of period slang.Keep your eye on Clive though. There’s a reason he gets a two-panel entrance. Page 8Here, we finally learn what was stolen, but we still don’t know why. There’s a lot of dialogue on this page compared to any previous page, because this is the first place we get a breather from all the action. This is also setting up the central mystery and most of the key players, so I tried to slow the pace down a bit. Page 9And here we get a bit more background about what Marla’s work really is. We also learn about the stickiness of drafting dots, something that will be important later. And in case you are wondering, yes I did do my research, and I learned that drafting dots were used this early. One of the biggest problems with writing period stories for me is my tendency to fall down research holes and learn many too many useless facts and details beyond what is needed to tell the story.More important than even those dots, we find out that Mr. Corey seems to know more about Marla than she knows about herself… Page 10Which leads into a flashback, so that we can learn something about why Marla leads a double life.We also see a bit of how hard it was to be a woman with a job in the 40s. Many women had careers then, of course, but it was even harder then to work in a male-dominated field than it is now. Casual prejudice was rampant.  Page 11So is it any wonder that Marla has some pent up aggression? I hoped to show with this sequence that she is type of person you could imagine becoming Miss Fury – that her crusading persona didn’t spring out of nothing. Page 12I really like what Jonathan did with this page. It’s just two people sitting at a bar, but he elevated it into a fully realized scene. Page 13And we’re back from the flashback, as Marla has trouble integrating the two sides of her life. Even as she protests that she isn’t Miss Fury, she’s already following up clues that will lead her right back into the fray. Page 14Bonus fact: there really was a Blossom Restaurant on the Bowery. One of my favorite hobbies is reading about the history of NYC, so putting some of that into this book was fun for me. You don’t need to know which parts are historical references to understand the story, of course, but hopefully some of my affection for the city comes across. Extra bonus fact: one of my favorite current places to eat in NYC is also called Blossom. They make a great vegan Caesar salad, something you probably wouldn’t have found in the 40s era Blossom. Page 15It’s the return of the wayward drafting dot! After I did all that drafting dot research, I wasn’t about to not let them be a story point. Page 16And we’re back to action! Just so you know, “Woman of the Year” really was playing at Radio City at this time. That coincidence was just too good to pass up. Page 17But what’s this? Could such a patriotic spectacle really hide a nefarious plot? I figured Marla wouldn’t hesitate to find out. I think that if you decide to become a costumed hero, you are probably the kind of person who pursues a lead doggedly, no matter what. Easily dissuaded people probably don’t become caped crime fighters.  Page 18We’ve already had a fight and some action in this issue, so I wanted to take this encounter in a different direction so things wouldn’t get repetitive. And so the weapon used against Miss Fury here is exposure, the very thing she least wants to face. Page 19I always try to include scenes about friendship whenever I can, especially friendships between women. This is an important part of life, and one that can get easily overlooked when writing a book that’s about action. Happily, the original Miss Fury had a good friend as well as a cat. To understand Marla as a character I wanted to show her home life, and introduce the two characters that help her keep her equilibrium when she’s not working or fighting crime.Of course, any quiet, dialogue-heavy page had better be doing a couple of things at once, so here we have a couple of new ideas introduced that send Marla back out into the city. Good thing Peri is such a patient cat. Page 20Miss Fury’s back on the job, seeing yet another facet of NYC. We had a bit of downtime, so it’s time to ramp back up to some action… Page 21And some scares… Page 22Until we reveal the twist at the end! Ending on a cliffhanger is always good, but in this case it’s less of a “how will she live through this?” ending and more of a “how is that possible?” ending. Hopefully readers will want to return next month and find out the answer… For more on Miss Fury Vol 2 #1, click here. 04/28/24 @ 3:00 pm EST
Is the future of physical media coming to an end? It used to be that DVD and Blu-Ray sales were the saving grace for some movies and you could walk into various stores and browse by genre in the same way you could for music. But like the music stores of the past, the days of swinging by your local shop and picking up the latest release are fading fast. Last year Netflix announced they were no longer doing the movie-by-mail program, so they wouldn’t be buying any more DVDs and Best Buy announced they were removing their Music/Movie sections as well. Now Target has come out and said they would be doing the same this year. A lot of studios have moved away from creating physical media, the exception being Disney who just made a deal with a third party to create their media and it has led to releases of WandaVision, Loki, Moon Knight, and the Mandalorian with SteeleBook editions. And when you purchase a movie or album digitally, there is always the chance that the hosting service you bought it on goes out of business, you will lose your purchases. While I don’t think there are any clear-cut answers here yet, I think the discussion definitely needs to be had. Physical media may seem antiquated to some, but when you computer crashes, your internet goes out or a company files bankruptcy… physical media may start looking a whole lot better.  04/28/24 @ 2:37 pm EST
The ouroboros created by the success of Marvel Studios is continuing with the latest round of speculation driven by nothing. With Marvel and other superhero films becoming so popular that it led to websites and YouTube channels focused on them and now those places need to keep feeding content to their viewers. So, when Michael B. Jordan reposts the trailer for the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, we get stories of how this means he is going to return as Johnny Storm from the 2015 Fantastic Four film. Jordan did play a version of the Human Torch, but he’s also played Kilmonger in Black Panther so he could return as either character… or he could just be promoting the next movie from Marvel because he feels connected to the studio? This is the same type of thing as James Gunn posting the original Superman logo to social media last week and everyone running around trying to figure out what it means. It could just mean that Gunn had some free time and wanted to post something Superman related. This week he posted the bloodied fist of a Green Lantern as drawn by Dave Johnson. There are now articles trying to figure out what this means. He also posted a picture of his cat and then his two dogs… I’m sure this is supposed to mean we’re getting a Krypto & Streaky movie soon…  04/28/24 @ 2:13 pm EST
In an interview the other day, Nathan Fillion told the story of how he found out that he was going to be playing Guy Garner / Green Lantern in the upcoming Superman movie. The problem is that he made a slight error in his story, and it has led to a lot of online controversy. In the interview he said he ran into James Gunn at the premiere of Suicide Squad and was told there. Gunn took to social media to correct the statement, saying that it took place at the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 premiere instead. This made Zak Snyder fans come out and claim that Fillion’s story proves that Gunn had been lying about Henry Cavill and that now he was just trying to cover it up with his post. Supposedly the lie came about when Gunn said that he had no interest in taking over the DCU until Peter Safran came on board to do the “exec stuff” and could leave Gunn to do the creative stuff. Gunn stated he was confused and not sure who is supposed to have lied, he also made it clear that his Superman pitch was always geared for a new Superman from the beginning so it doesn’t really matter at which event Fillion found out, Gunn was never lined up to make a Cavill lead film.  04/27/24 @ 11:36 am EST
Being in Los Angeles in the late 90s gave you access to a local radio station, KROQ and their morning show Kevin & Bean. While the show was on for just shy of thirty years, it is notable for a couple of the people who made their name there before moving on. Impressionist and frequent Kevin Smith collaborator Ralph Garman was on the show from 1999 to 2017 and Matt “Money” Smith was on from 1999 to 2006 before going to work at ESPN. But the two biggest names were Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel was “Jimmy the Sports Guy” from 1994 to 1999 before leaving with Carolla to start The Man Show before creating Win Ben Stein’s Money and eventually getting his own late-night variety show on ABC. Comedian Carolla was on the show from 1995 to 1997 as a character named Mr. Birchum, a woodshop teacher who would call in to give messages to his students. That character is coming back in a new animated series for the Daily Wire. And joining Carolla will be a voice cast that includes: Megyn Kelly, Brett Cooper, Roseanne Barr, Danny Trejo, Rob Riggle, Patrick Warburton, Tyler Fischer, Alonzo Bodden, Kyle Dunnigan and Jay Mohr. It was recently announced that Sage Steele would be replacing Candace Owens who recently left the news platform. The show is set to premiere on May 12 on the DailyWire+.  04/27/24 @ 11:12 am EST
New on Netflix is the Dead Boy Detectives, based on the comics from The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman. It follows a pair of ghosts who instead of crossing over into the afterlife, decide to stay and help other phantoms with their problems. In the comics, the boys exist in the same world as Morpheus and the other characters from The Sandman, which is the plan here as well, but because of timing the producers needed to tweak a few things. Showrunner Steve Yockey said: “We knew we wanted to hang on to the boys’ backstory as much as we could. We obviously couldn’t do the full “Season of Mists” backstory, because they have not done that on The Sandman yet. And we were trying to exist within The Sandman universe without stepping on any toes. So we had to slightly tweak their backstories. We held on to the friendship as the core thing, and obviously the detective agency. And then Crystal, to a certain extent, has the same backstory from the comics. Everybody else is either a new creation or a new version of something that was in the comic books. We did a lot of reappropriating and moving things around. So it will feel familiar to readers of the comic book, but also hopefully surprise them in good ways.” But they did keep how the ghosts work directly from the comics. “The rules about how ghosts operate are laid out like in a two-page spread in the comic book, where it’s like, ‘Here are the ghost rules.’ So we took that and we ran with it. Then we did everything in our power to just work that internal logic pretty rigorously. But these rules are the rules.” As for the theme of the series, Yockey gave what might be the best elevator pitch line ever, “I’ve said from the beginning that we were trying to make The Hardy Boys on acid.”  ... 04/27/24 @ 10:44 am EST
Recently we reported that Robert Downey Jr. has shown interest in returning to the role of Tony Stark / Iron Man in the future. The problem is that Iron Man sacrificed himself at the end of Avengers: Endgame, something that the directors of the movie mentioned when asked about RDJ’s comments. Anthony Russo told GamesRadar, “I don’t know how they would do it. I don’t know what the road to that would be.” Joe Russo added, “I mean, we closed that book, so it would be up to them to figure out how to reopen it.” And previously Kevin Feige had said, “We are going to keep that moment and not touch that moment again. We all worked very hard for many years to get to that, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way.” So, that’s the end of that, right? Probably not as anyone who reads comics know that a character death only lasts until the sales start to drop and if the MCU continues to have a few underperforming films, I would expect the writers would come up with a way for RDJ to suit up again.  04/26/24 @ 9:41 pm EST
Sony has pushed its reboot of Karate Kid from December 13 this year to May 30, 2025. This has created a bit of a backward domino effect but won’t rob the year of theatrical releases. Backfilling Karate Kid‘s spot is Sony/Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter, which goes from August 30, the Labor Day weekend frame, to December 13. The Aaron Taylor-Johnson movie will have Imax and PLF screens. Kraven the Hunter will be the only R-rated movie during the holidays, directed by J.C. Chandor, it will go up that frame against Warner Bros’ animated Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim. The plus here on Karate Kid‘s move: The movie will now follow the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai, which was delayed due to the strike. The summer date will see 50% K-12 out on its opening day with great family-film spacing. Warner Bros has the weekend reserved for an untitled movie. Through five movies, the Karate Kid cinema franchise counts north of $620 million worldwide. (via Deadline) 04/26/24 @ 9:35 pm EST
The two most talked-about comic book icons of the year are co-starring in their latest team-up-series—DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE: WWIII. Brought to you by two of the characters’ most legendary creators, writer Joe Kelly and artist Adam Kubert, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE: WWIII is a three-issue epic that’s a must-have for fans and a perfect entry point for newcomers to Wade and Logan’s comic book adventures. The debut issue hits stands next week, and to celebrate this highly-anticipated launch, comic shops will receive a special surprise DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE: WWIII variant cover! The Promo Surprise Variant Cover is an all-new take on acclaimed artist Gabriele Dell’Otto’s regular variant cover that features Wolverine in his beloved brown costume. WADE WILSON AND LOGAN AT THE ENDS OF THE EARTH - AND EACH OTHER'S THROATS! The most intensely mismatched team-up in comics and pop culture - the best there is and the merc with the mouth - undergoes a radical change in this three-part, globe-spanning saga for the ages! The mysterious Delta believes in change. Change is good. But as he sets his sights on Deadpool, and Wolverine is caught up in the plot, is the third time really the charm, or the curse? Get ready for WWIII to erupt on the scene with the wildest duo in comics! The DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE: WWIII Promo Surprise Variant Cover is the latest complimentary cover delivered from Marvel to show appreciation for retailers and build excitement for readers. Check out Dell’Otto’s variant cover below and inquire with your local comic shop regarding availability.  04/26/24 @ 8:46 am EST
James Bond alum Pierce Brosnan is returning to his espionage roots. The actor is attached to star in A Spy’s Guide to Survival from director Simon Barry, the creator behind Netflix series Warrior Nun. Uri Singer’s Passage Pictures is producing the project that centers around a reclusive, retired spy who is brought out of hiding by his enigmatic new neighbor, digging up both of their secrets in the process. Barry will also write the film based on a story by him and his father, Derek Barry. The project will mark Simon Barry’s feature directing debut. “As a longtime Pierce Brosnan fan, I’m extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside someone I admire for their craft, character and humanity,” said Simon Barry. (via The Hollywood Reporter) 04/26/24 @ 8:35 am EST
This June, chaos reignites when Steve Orlando’s SCARLET WITCH run returns! Teaming up with X-Men Red’s Jacopo Camagni, Orlando’s SCARLET WITCH will continue to push the limits of what Wanda’s magic is capable of as she becomes the Marvel Universe’s prime defender against deadly mystical threats—new and old! Among them will be LORE, Wanda’s demonic counterpart from 1994’s Scarlet Witch limited series. Complete with a wicked new look from Russell Dauterman, fans can check out Lore on both the cover of August’s SCARLET WITCH #3 and Dauterman’s original design sheet. In addition, Dauterman will join Camagni as an interior artist on SCARLET WITCH #3 to bring Wanda and Lore’s epic battle to life. LORE RETURNS! Scarlet Witch’s fight to reach the land of the living puts her face-to-face with her necromantic multiversal counterpart! Lore won’t stop until her death at Wanda’s hands is avenged – but another one of Wanda’s nemeses may hold the key to her survival! "Redesigning Lore was a huge treat!” Dauterman said. “Lore is an evil Wanda variant, so I wanted to contrast the design I did for our Scarlet Witch, which was meant to be magical, vibrant, and super-heroic, by going dark and sinister, with a goth, undead vibe. I’m incredible excited to also be drawing some interiors in the issue where these two Wandas face off!" Lore, who destroyed her own world before trying to conquer the multiverse, represents Wanda’s worst fear—a version of herself that’s gone mad with power! Will Scarlet Witch need her own inner darkness in order to defeat her? Preorder SCARLET WITCH #1 at your local comic shop today! 
|
