Frankie Boyle Slates Iron Man at Kapow!

IGN's Kapow! Comic Con adventures continued with a light-hearted Q&A with Frankie Boyle, hosted by Jimmy Carr, in which they chatted all things Hulk, Iron Man and The Walking Dead.

Frankie Boyle is adding to the long line of Scottish comic book writers with his supervillain ('Earth's antibody') for CLiNT magazine, and he's a self-confessed comic book geek. With the help of his mate Jimmy Carr, Boyle talked us through his influences, what he loves about comic books and why he Iron Man.

"When I was about nine years old I got into this comic book called about this blonde kid who, like everyone in comics, had two roles - he was a footballer and he was a champion sheepdog trialist as a sideline," says Boyle. "The stories were all f*cking horrible - 'Hitler Lives' or 'Limp-Along Leslie'. There was also a comic I read called about a formula one driver who was also a stunt driver, and who wanted to die in each issue 'cause he was disfigured so he would sabotage the races."

Boyle went on to say that ‘80s British comics appealed to him because they were "still slightly outside the mainstream eye - stuff that you would never get now in the TV or movie versions."

Although Frankie didn't get into American comics until his 20s, he developed a passion for Vertigo titles such as , and (a particular favourite of his) from fellow Scotsman Grant Morrison, whom he clearly admires. "I always wanted to do comics, I f*cking love comics. You'd have to write a bad comic for me not to read it. In fact, even if it was sh*t I'd probably still read it."

When asked who his favourite comic book characters are Boyle launched into a story of his childhood in Glasgow: "I once dressed up as The Hulk as a kid, but I used water based paints to make myself green so kept applying layer on layer on layer - I ended up looking like a green scab." On the flipside, he was very passionate about the character he most dislikes in the comic book world: "Iron Man is basically a f*cking arms dealer, he blows people up...I'd fly Iron Man right into the f*cking sun!"

As for what he's currently into he tells us "I'm reading and .I read but it's so f*cking bleak I almost gave up." Clearly passionate about this subject Boyle said that he really believes that "there are so many great comics out there - this could be coming into the best time for comics...we're now at the point where everyone knows all the characters and archetypes, and can put their own twist on it." Let the golden age begin!

Source : http://www.ign.com

Storage 24 Inspired by Gremlins and Spider-Man

Saturday afternoon at Kapow! saw Noel Clarke and Johannes Roberts (director of the impressive and underrated ) on a panel to talk about their latest sci-fi horror flick, .

The film - in which Clarke takes lead actor, writer and producer credits - sees a military cargo plane crash and spew its highly classified contents all over London. With all electricity down, a group of friends are trapped in a storage unit and it soon becomes clear they are not alone, as a terrifying predator is hunting them down.

The panel treated us to exclusive stills of huge explosions and wounded characters scrambling through air vents, as well as an exclusive clip, which gave the first look at the mysterious other-wordly creature tormenting the group. In the clip, Clarke’s character comes face-to-face with the alien – a 7-foot tall, bony monstrosity with bulging yellow eyes and a claw-like drooling mouth. As the alien closes in on a trapped Clarke, a yapping toy dog distracts him and Clarke is able to narrowly escape. The dog, sadly, isn’t so lucky.

For the look of the alien, Clarke was inspired by the Spider-Man villains Venom and Carnage. Unlike other creature features that keep the big nasty mostly off screen, Clarke and Roberts made a point of giving the creature a big personality and wanted him to be fully present as a terrifying being on screen. Roberts revealed that, to the cast, the alien was actually female and called Gertrude – something the Design Department really ran with, as Noel explained: “They made the suit with a huge vagina, and I saw it and was like, ‘That bit has got to go. This film is a 15.”

Talking about the film’s overriding genre, Roberts noted: “It’s very sci-fi. The whole movie is really retro – it almost borrows from and other '80s movies.” Despite these allusions, the panel went on to discuss Clarke’s desire to create something new, something that no one else is currently doing in the British film industry. There are obvious comparisons to 2011’s big-budget British alien horror but although it’s a similar genre, Clarke feels he has done something different with because of the disparity in budget. Clarke is keen to prove he can make entertaining big-spectacle movies to rival even Hollywood’s output of sci fi/horror, and for a fraction of the cost. Or, as Roberts neatly summed it up, “ is a f**k-sight better than .”

Talking about his upcoming projects, Clarke revealed that there are plans for a sequel to , currently being called . Both he and Roberts feel that his character and the creature are too good not to be used again. He’s also about to start writing the 4. 3. 2. 1 sequel - entitled 5. 4. 3. 2. 1 - but is refusing to give away any plot details just yet. On top of this he currently has six scripts on the go. His pace of work is impressive - last year he wrote three scripts in 55 days, and was one of them.

So it looks like you’d be mad to miss out on seeing when it hits U.K. cinemas on June 29. We’ll leave you with the same advice that Clarke gave to us when talking about the scariness of the film’s final scene – take a spare pair of pants.

Source : http://www.ign.com

The Amazing Spider-man Looks... Amazing

IGN saw exclusive preview of footage from one of this summer's most anticipated blockbusters, The Amazing Spider-Man, at Kapow Comic-con in London.

Sony Entertainment introduced the sneak peek at the new Spider-Man movie as an exclusive look at 'some of the best 3D' it had ever seen, and they weren't far wrong judging by the four minutes we saw. The action takes pace in sewers, across skylines and is focused heavily around a bridge.

But there is also plenty of humour to back up the action. A cute scene involves Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and Peter Parker's (Andrew Garfield) encounter by the school lockers, set to a Coldplay soundtrack, in which he flirts with her with excruciating shyness. The love interest arc should be convincing as this is from the director that brought us the 'anti-rom-com' 500 Days of Summer - the aptly named Marc Webb. But the best humour comes from Spidey's sheer delight at his new found powers as he takes on a tooled-up thief - "oh no - is that a knife? Please say that isn't a knife!" - pulling some nifty moves with his web-shooters as he 'snots' out webbing, mimes some baseball pitching moves and then adds some cowboy finesse to his arsenal.

Rhys Ifans looks politely menacing as Dr Curt Connors who, when given Parker's scientific formula turns himself into The Lizard: "I created him!" says Peter to a distraught Gwen who pleads with him not to leave her. The Lizard, although big and stocky compared to the lithe Spider-man, can still chase our hero across a ceiling or two.

By all accounts 2012's Spider-man is very promising, and with sharp writing, a hugely talented lead (we'd take Garfield over Maguire any day), top notch 3D, and a convincing romance, this is definitely a summer blockbuster you will want to 'catch'.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/the-amazing-spider-man-looks-amazing

DC: The New 52 - "We're Committed To You, The Fans."

DC’s Dan DiDio took to the stage at Kapow! Comic Con to personally thank the British fans for helping to make The New 52 a success, and to pledge the company’s commitment to producing the best possible comics for the foreseeable future.

“With The New 52, we hope that we’re meeting our obligation to you as creators, because keeping you happy is our job. Without you none of this would be possible,” DC’s co-publisher explained to the packed auditorium, “We wanted to come over personally and thank you, because you represent about 10-15% of our business!”

Scott Snyder, the creative genius behind The New 52’s Batman arc The Court of Owls was also on hand to discuss the upcoming finale to the current run. “The next two issues really are our big finale, the big revelations of the whole series begin to come out, and then issue 11 is our giant climax,” Scott told the fans, “I’m really excited about it, I can’t wait. I’ve never worked this hard ever in my life!”

Snyder also revealed the return of Arcane in his Swamp Thing run, “I wanted to explore the core of Arcane. I wanted the ask the questions ‘Who is he? What makes his scary, and why?’ This story will not just reintroduce Arcane, but it will begin the events that lead to the big crossover I’m working on with Jeff Lemire on with Animal Man.”

Issues 12 of Animal Man and Swamp Thing will share a cover, revealed at the show, with the Arcane story dovetailing into the crossover story that Snyder described as “Incredibly epic.”

Dan DiDio wrapped up the panel with a heartfelt tribute to the hardcore DC fans in attendance, “I just want to talk to you about the commitment that we have to our product [The New 52]. We were at a point where people stopped buying our books. Fans were frustrated about the uncertainty around when their favourite books would be out,” DiDio explained, “When we launched the New 52, we made a huge commitment to delivering the books to you, on time. We’re very happy to say that in the last 12 months, out of 52 books a month, we’ve only shipped two issues one week late."

"You want the books on the shelves when you expect them, and we understand that. We took our fans for granted before, but that’s something we’ll never do again. We’re committed to our product, our books, and to you, the fans."

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/dc-the-new-52-were-committed-to-you-the-fans

Batman: Arkham City Bags Stan Lee Award

Batman: Arkham City was crowned the Best Game at this year's Stan Lee Awards, which took place today at Kapow Comic-con in London. X-Men: First Class also walked away with the award for Best Superhero or Sci-Fi film.

The awards were picked by a panel of expert judges including IGN's very own Rich George, with DC picking up the publisher of the year gong, Scott Snyder was named best writer and Sara Pichelli took home artist of the year.

And IGN favourite Game of Thrones was victorious in the TV category.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

Best Writer: Scott Snyder

Best Artist: Sara Pichelli

Best Superhero or Sci-Fi Movie: X-Men First Class

Best Game or Toy: Arkham City

Best TV Show: Game of Thrones

Best Publisher: DC

Best Comic Hero: Batman

Best Newcomer: Sara Pichelli

Best Trade: Walking Dead

Best On-Going Series: Detective Comics

Best Limited Series: Dark Angel Saga

Man of Year: Scott Snyder

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/batman-arkham-city-bags-stan-lee-award

Momentum Shows Off Lawless and More at Kapow!

Indie distributor Momentum shared a wealth of clips from upcoming films at Kapow! today.

Rick McCallum, George Lucas' long-time collaborator, took to the stage with actor David Oyelowo and director Gareth Evans to highlight what moviegoers have to look forward to.

The showcase kicked off with Red Tails, which MacCullum produced and Oyelowo starred in alongside big names including Cuba Gooding Junior, Elijah Kelley and Ne-Yo.  The film, due out June 6th in Europe and already on release in America, follows the first African American fighter squadron in the Second World War, and is packed with tense dogfights.

MacCullum said of the pilots, “they were the rockstars of their time.  It was incredible stuff that these kids had to go through – and they were kids, only 18 and 19.”

Western crime film Lawless was shown next, which stars Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce. Set during the prohibition in Virginia, three brothers get on the wrong side of the wrong guys and there’s action that invokes Al Capone style mobs, with Guy Pearce in particular set to make a terrifying impression.

For horror aficionados, The House at the End of the Street is out at the end of September and looks distressingly gritty.  Jennifer Lawrence is in the film, alongside a terrifying little girl who wouldn’t look out of place in The Ring, judging by the footage.  In a similar vein, Red Lights sees Robert de Niro play a very dangerous psychic using his powers on victims Cillian Murphy and Sigourney Weaver.

We weren’t shown any footage for the last two films, but the information we got was exciting nevertheless.  First we heard about Seven Psychopaths, the new film from the creators of In Bruges.  Due out in September, Colin Farrell will be appearing as the long suffering best mate of a man who steals the dog belonging to a crime lord, with capers ensuing.

Momentum then told us about Ender’s Game, the highly awaited film adaptation of the novel of the same name.  Due out in October 2013, it’s a dark sci-fi film starring Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Ben Kingsley and Hailee Steinfeld where humans are locked in battle with alien insectoids for the Earth.

To wrap up, we were shown a climactic fight scene from The Raid which released yesterday, while director Gareth Evans answered questions.  If you want to know more about that, check out our coverage from earlier in the day.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/momentum-shows-off-lawless-and-more-at-kapow

Gareth Evans Talks The Raid Remake

The Raid director Gareth Evans discussed the future of the franchise at Kapow In London today. During the Momentum Showcase at the Comic Convention, the Welsh director explained his involvement in the American remake, as well as the upcoming sequel.

 

He said the remake would incorporate some changes as the original was, “a movie in a foreign language with a star nobody knew and a director nobody knew.”  It won’t be anything too drastic though, as Evans is on board as executive producer and the Indonesian star of the first film, Iko Uwais, will be choreographing the action.

 

While fans may be sad not to see him at the helm for the remake, he said he felt it was important that he stood back.  He explained, “I’m not remaking it myself.  My approach is to be hands off; in order for them to do the job properly they need to be given freedom.”

 

The good news is that this leaves Evans free to focus on getting the Indonesian sequel underway.  When The Raid was still in script form, Evans was primarily focused on another project called Berandal.  After seeing how well people responded to The Raid, he decided that with a small rewrite (“about 15 per cent”) Berandal could serve as a sequel.

 

He’s now planning a full trilogy and shared today that *SPOILER* Mad Dog will be reappearing in the next film, though we’re not sure in what capacity.  With filming due to start January 2013, he said he felt hopeful about releasing by “the tail end of next year.”

 

Finally, with the American remake underway, Evans was asked how he’s coping with the influx of Hollywood offers.  He said that he hasn’t received any, putting this down to the level of violence in his films.  He teased, “I make violent movies, so I don’t quite fit the Hollywood mould… yet.  But at the moment I can make smaller films that allow me to do what I want.”

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/gareth-evans-talks-the-raid-remake

Kapow! DC: All Access Before Watchmen Panel

A panel of DC executives admitted they are suffering from anxiety in the run up to the launch of Before Watchmen at a DC All Access panel at Kapow! Comic Con in London today.

“To say we’re excited would be an understatement,” admitted Senior VP of Sales at DC Entertainment Bob Wayne, “But, to say we’re nervous would also be an understatement! I think we can let the product speak for itself, and hopefully everybody will enjoy what we’ve got.”

“We went to a lot of trouble to assemble the talent, to make sure we had the right people working on it,” explained Dan DiDidio co-publisher of DC, “Honestly, I can say this for every one of the creatives involved, that they’re doing some of the best work of their careers. They know how important this project is, and they know how much scrutiny it’s going to come under.”

They revealed several variant covers at the panel at the London Business Design Centre including an awesome S&M inspired Ozymandias cover, and a psychedelic Josh Middleton variant for Silk Spectre, the Before Watchmen arc that both DiDio and Wayne were very enthusiastic about.  “Silk Spectre is my personal favourite,” said Dan, “Darwyn Cooke is working with Amanda Conner on this one, and he really wanted to capture the spirit of Silk Spectre in a specific period of time. Darwyn wrote the basic plot and Amanda ran with it from there.”

“This is one of the quietest of the stories, but also one of the most heartfelt. It’s a coming of age story, with Silk Spectre discovering herself, and separating herself from her mother.”

The Rorschach series is fittingly being described as “the most violent series” of Before Watchmen with Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo recreating Time Square of the 1970s for the very first issue of the arc. “It’s pretty intense,” stressed DiDio, “as someone who lived in New York in that era, it’s as gritty as I remember.”

The panel went on to discuss the Curse of the Corsair, the pirate-themed companion piece that will preface each issue of the book run, promising 34 different cliff-hangers for each issue. “It captures the style and tone and the shifts in nature of the stories that are taking part in the main features. We hope it recreates that same feel that Tales of the Black Freighter did in conjuction with the original Watchmen.” said Wayne. “It’s a swashbuckling adventure that just gets darker and darker as the series goes on,” added DiDio.

The panel were keen to deflect questions about Alan Moore's much-publicised negativity towards the project at the start of the Q&A session, but were candid when it came to discussing how much freedom they had given all the creatives when it came to crafting a new backstory for the series.

“When we sat down with all the writers, everyone was very beholding to the source material. They all had a copy of Watchmen in front of them that was operating as their ‘bible’ for the creative process,” DiDio said, “But, the first thing we said everybody should be able to be their own story-teller. Everybody has a lot of freedom in how they approach the material, how the writing is, how the drawing will look, and they all approached it very differently.”

Editor Will Dennis reiterated, “We always said from very early on, we want to let these guys do what they do best. You don’t hire these guys to do what they do so well and make them do something else.”

You’ll be able to find out how successful they’ve been in bringing the classic Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons series back to life when the first issue drops in June. Be sure to check out our first impressions of Before Watchmen here.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/19/kapow-dc-all-access-before-watchmen-panel