Of course, Pixar was brought up as a possible use for Marvel properties and Bob Iger said Disney has had internal discussions about such collaborations and that John Lasseter spoke to some Marvel guys about it. Iger said “the group got pretty excited pretty fast” and that “sparks will fly.” Sounds like he wants shareholders to be excited about potential Pixar/Marvel productions. In a vacuum that seems incredibly cool, although it would mean Pixar dedicating a production cycle to a Marvel film instead of an original concept. Plus, which characters are available that you’d actually want to see a Pixar film use? Again, Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc. are booked at other studios and Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, etc. have their own big live-action movies, so what big guns are left? Maybe Pixar could do something with Marvel’s newly acquired Marvelman character. Anyway, if a joint effort ever occurred I’d bet on 2014 being the earliest you’d see it.

Suffice to say, there are a lot of possibilities for Disney to utilize the Marvel characters, at least in the long run.

First up is Bone: Tall Tales, a collection of stories featuring the old favorite characters. Jeff Smith illustrates and shares writing duties with Tom Sniegoski. This is due for release in summer 2010. Following that begins a trilogy written by Tom Sniegoski and illustrated by Jeff Smith. Bone: Quest for the Spark will arrive in three installments in fall 2010, spring 2011 and summer 2011. There was no indication given as to whether this will involve new or returning characters or what the plot is about.

Smith and Sniegoski previously collaborated on the Bone side story “The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, Frontier Hero” which was later collected in Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails. Smith commented that he “always said I would find a way to draw more Bone stories, and now I have,” and that “Tom is great to work with and we’re going to have a lot of fun!”

I’ve yet to read the Rose prequel or stories in Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails but the 1300 page Bone is fantastic and a must-read. It’s a lot like The Lord of the Rings in its drawing of naive weird characters into an epic fantasy adventure of huge consequence. I think I’ll use this as a reminder to catch up on those other stories. I’m certainly psyched for whatever else Smith wants to do with this world.

Buy from Amazon:

• Bone: One Volume Edition
• Rose
• Stupid, Stupid Rat-Tails

• The Losers starts production this week starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jason Patric, Idris Elba and Columbus Short. Sylvain White directs and wrote the adaptation of Andy Diggle’s comics. Story follows a Special Forces team betrayed by their CIA handler which must clear their names and take down their influential handler. The film is due on April 16th, 2010.
• Jonah Hex has already wrapped production. Jimmy Hayward directs a cast of Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon and Michael Fassbender. Brolin stars as as the disfigured Wild West bounty hunter Jonah Hex trying to stop Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich) who’s using voodoo to raise an army of the undead to reclaim the South for the Confederacy. Jonah Hex will be released August 6th, 2010.
• Green Lantern, of course, is in development with Ryan Reynolds starring as Hal Jordan while Martin Campbell will direct from a script by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green. This will be an origin story with Jordan becoming a member of the Green Lantern Corps and leaving Earth for an adventure. The film is set for release on June 17th, 2011.
• A Flash film continues to be developed, with a new story treatment being completed by Geoff Johns. He’ll also produce the film. The full script is being tackled by Dan Mazeau.
• Aquaman is also being developed, with Warner Bros taking story pitches. Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way production company are producing.
• Adam Strange is also on the market for pitches. This comics series is notably similar to Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom universe (which Disney and Andrew Stanton are turning into John Carter of Mars) but with more of a science fiction bend. Basically, Adam Strange is an archeologist transported to a distant planet where he falls in love and defends her people from extraterrestrial enemies.
• Bizarro Superman is being written by the Galaxy Quest writers. I couldn’t even guess at what a movie starring Bizarro would be like.
• Green Arrow origin story.
• Super Max, a Green Arrow film featuring him in a super villain prison after being framed for a crime. This was written by David Goyer and Justin Marks.
• A Constantine sequel remains a possibility.
• Shazam, the Captain Marvel film, continues to be in development with Peter Segal attached to direct.
• Green Lantern: First Flight is the next DC animated film set for release on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28th.
• Following that, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies will arrive on September 29th.
• At last update, two Batman solo movies may follow Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, but nothing’s confirmed there.

Of course, a third Batman film remains contingent on a script and possibly even Christopher Nolan’s involvement. The Superman franchise is currently going nowhere, and DC similarly hasn’t figured out what to do with Wonder Woman. Anything Justice League related is also completely dead in the water at this time.

They’re a fun read, and did I mention it’s free?

TMNT Collected Book Volume One

So I was talking about my desire for Mirage to release some trade paperbacks of the original run of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debut series and as soon as I posted those words, I’m told that it was announced two months ago. Oops, my bad.

Anyway, to kick things off we’re getting a collection that includes the first eleven issues plus the “four micro-series,” which I presume are the one-shots for each of the Turtles. That’s fifteen issues, 544 pages for $29.95 retail come July 14th. It’s seriously crazy how excited I am to get my hands on this. I hope it sells well and they keep going through the entire run. According to the official TMNT site, this book will be called TMNT Collected Book Volume One.

TMNT: Future Tense

On top of that, they’re collecting two arcs from the Archie run that involved the Future Turtles. That’ll be “The Future Shark Trilogy” and “Dreamland,” issues #42-44 and #62-66, respectively. Apparently the Future Turtles will be featured in an upcoming mini-series called “Forever War” so they’re reprinting these. I recall enjoying those arcs quite a bit as a kid. This book, TMNT: Future Tense, will retail on July 28th for $19.95. I’m crossing my fingers that sales for this one are strong too, and we get more Archie collections.

These are still a couple months out, but damn I’m happy. Thanks Mirage!

You can see the entire schedule of upcoming Mirage TMNT releases here.

Laika by Nick Abadzis

Laika is the [true yet fictionalized] story of the first living being, from Earth at least, to enter orbit as part of the USSR’s Sputnik II mission. This 200 page comic follows the dog, initially called Kudryavka (“curly tail”) and later renamed Laika (“barker”), from birth in a common Soviet household to death as a propaganda tool after just a few hours in orbit. The story’s not solely told from the dog’s point of view however. The bulk of the comic is centered around the space program’s animal trainer, Comrade Dubrovsky, and to a lesser extent Dr. Oleg Gazenko, her superior, and their emotional reactions and relationships to caring for the program’s dogs while being aware that they could die during missions. Laika though, was sent with Sputnik II and without any method of return, prompting the biggest questions within the comic. In many respects, Nick Abadzis’ Laika is about destiny, or at least perceived destinies. While she was fated to die in flight, it was the chief designer’s idea and Kruschev’s approval that made it so.

At points the comic gives the chief designer, Sergei Pavlovich, attention, as one of terribly few sent to the gulags to be given a reprieve, he finds himself constantly striving for greatness at any cost. If it’s not forward momentum, it might as well be freezing to death outside his former prison. And while his motto is “I am a man of destiny,” his life is shown to be at the mercy of people far more powerful. Whether it was being sent to the gulag in the first place without trial or reason, or to having to cut corners in order to please Kruschev’s timetables, control of his life was often an illusion; an illusion perhaps masked by his repeated and defiant declarations of being “a man of destiny.” Laika, of course, is the most tragic victim of this false destiny, having no say in her suicide mission to space. She can only place her trust in those closest to her, from the abusive boy who initially owned her, to Dubrovsky and Gazenko, forced to send her to die upon being the dog specifically chosen by Pavlovich. This unconditional trust is shown to haunt most of those involved. A quote of deep regret from the real-life Gazenko provides the comic’s closing epitaph.

The work makes good use of the comic format’s strengths, from many free-flowing dream sequences to color choices like the blood red of the rocket that inevitably sends Laika to her death. It’s hard not to reach that splash page and feel anything but dread. There’s also something special about Laika being remembered and brought to life, albeit in frozen images, with so much love 50 years later for simply being a beautiful dog during extraordinary times, especially in contrast to her objectified use as a jab at Western powers. I have no memories of pets for this tale to draw on for emotional weight, but it’s safe to say Laika is touching and wonderfully illustrated.