After 2008’s billion dollar comic book summer, no one is surprised as Hollywood frantically pounds on the doors of every comic book writer with a filmable property. With the big screen success of his Wanted, Mark Millar’s new book, Kick-Ass is an ultra-violent no-brainer for someone looking to cash in on the trend. The independently financed production will be shooting in London and Toronto this fall with Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski, a teenager inspired to don a costume and fight crime despite the fact that he lives in the real world (our world… no superpowers). Lyndsy Fonseca (who you may recognize as Desperate Housewives’ Dylan Mayfair) has been cast as the longtime object of Dave’s affections, Katie Deauxma who mistakenly thinks Dave is her “gay best friend.” Sweet innocent-looking Chloe Moretz will become the savage, potty mouthed, ninja sword wielding 11 year old vigilante and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a.k.a. McLovin will portray Red Mist, the angry teen son of a mobster who tries to unmask Kick-Ass.

As usual Nick Cage will play a cop. Any theories on why Hollywood keep casting Millar’s heroic blonds with brunettes? First toe-headed Wesley Gibson and now Dave Lizewski too. What’s up with that?

via ComicsContinuum and FirstShowing

2008 has been THE year for Summer comic book movies!

According to figures on boxofficemojo.com, sometime on Friday, the combined box office might of the comic book-inspired The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, eclipsed the $1 billion dollar mark for 2008, standing roughly at $1.01 billion.

I think we can safely say there will be a deluge of silver screen adaptions of more comic book properties from DC, Marvel and even independent publishers in the next few years. Here’s hoping DC can use the momentum from Dark knight and map out a feasible strategy to getting us a blockbuster-level Justice League of America movie in the next 10 years. First we need a well received Superman movie, then Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman movies (with minor cameos for Martian Manhunter and Aquaman in one or two of those movies). Finally, you get the stars of those movies to do the JLA movie and you have a DC equivalent of what Marvel rolled out after Iron Man came out strong.

via Newsarama

Fun action, but I had to drop it down a whole gem due to the lame loom of fate lynchpin the whole plot revolved around.

I can see why there are often two sets of reviews for this film. One for those who read WANTED, the original six issue mini series it was based on, and one for those who didn’t. I’ll try to combine them. Long story short, I liked it as a summer popcorn movie but was severely disappointed in it as a castrated adaption of one of the most original comic concepts I’ve seen in my 24 years of comic reading. The story had balls and the movie cut them off.

I’m not guaranteeing no spoilers, but I’ll try to keep a lid on the big twists.

WANTED is a fast paced summer blockbuster with special effects, stunts, eye popping action and a great cast. Its the story of a 1000 year old league of assassins that choose their targets based on binary codes from a loom. I actually find this LESS plausible than the story of the original… a world where super villains killed all the superheros, made the world forget them and rule unopposed to do what they will… murdering, raping, robbing whoever they want. If you are a member of the Fraternity, the cops can’t and won’t touch you (basically owning the authorities and being in control was one element they SHOULD have kept - and still would have worked with the story as reimagined).

The only elements the film and the series REALLY have in common are… Number 1: the characters: James McAvoy is Wesley Gibson - the beat down loser son of the wold’s greatest hired gun, Angelina Jolie bounces back and forth between creepy killer and vampy vixen as an ultra sexy female assassin - The Fox (in the book lover to both Wesley AND his father - and was hinted to have been a Catwoman” type that was seduced away from a “Batman” type when the Villains won), and Wesley’s apparently now dead but long absent father - the best assassin in the world. Number 2: a few scenarios - Fox and Wesley meet in a drugstore, there is still a twist to Wesley’s fathers death (not the same twist though), there is a rogue element within the Fraternity, and finally this IS still very much the story of Wesley’s journey and evolution as he finds himself. But the journey in the book is the villain’s journey and the journey in the movie is the heroes journey. the big bad of the original story was Mr. Rictus and he is just seen as an early casualty of the internal struggle within The Fraternity.

As I see it, the FUNDAMENTAL changes that were made to this amazing story were made for 2 reasons.

1. Cost must have been a significant factor. It would have been incredibly expensive to create the story as told with its cast of dozens of costumed characters, their amazing powers and high tech sets. The special effects alone would have at least doubled or tripled production costs if not increased it tenfold.

2. Morality. Even though we Americans love our media violence, we like it with consequences. The bad guy has to get it in the end, and if we are supposed to root for the bad guy, he needs to be an anti-hero. As written in the original story, Wesley Gibson’s Evolution into “The Killer” is truly a villain’s journey: Wesley exchanges post coital musings with Fox about how “this being evil all the time crap is starting to feel a little forced” after he slaughtered a Police Station FULL of officers. ALOT more innocents got cut down in the comic. The shoot out in the drugstore when Fox finds him was just her blowing away patrons to prove she wasn’t afraid of security camera or the cops.

Without giving everything away, the ending of the movie definitely shows consequences for most of the characters.

Check out this great interview with Wanted creator Mark Millar. He even explains where his original villains killed the heroes idea came from. when he was a kid, his older brother convinced him that superheroes used to be real, but the villains teamed up and wiped them out. Talk about having a story handed to you.

For those who read the comic… do you think the gay sex that precedes The Killer’s (Wesley’s dad) assassination will make the final cut?

Entertainment Weekly’s suggestions for summer reading…

Before you see Iron Man (out May 2), read Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle by David Michelinie and Bob Layton

I’m really excited to see this. I love the look of the armor and think Robert Downey Jr. is actually inspired casting, and Gwyneth looks great as redhead Pepper Potts!

More Trailers and reading suggestions after the jump…
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