HOLLYWOOD EATS YOUR BRAINS
A sneak peek behind the creation of Topps’ Hollywood Zombies cards
By Kiel Phegley

Everywhere from cable news to late-night talk shows, commentators, pundits and comedians take an absurd amount of time pointing out how America’s love of celebrity is making the country rot from the inside out. And if that’s the case, then the staff at Topps Cards is going to make the rotting pretty darn funny.

This week, comic and hobby shops across the country will be placing boxes of Hollywood Zombies (the latest offering from the venerable card and collectible company) on the racks next to their cash registers, and considering the high level of popularity the undead carry with Comics readers these days, Topps is hoping that those registers will be going “ka-ching.” Hollywood Zombies takes a particularly apocalyptic view of celebrity controversy magnets like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson by spinning them into zombified forms at the hands of the company’s stable of artists. In order to get the full scoop on the line and how fans can find it, Wizard Universe caught up with Topps’ Creative Services Manager John Williams and nabbed a sneak peek at some of the line’s initial offerings.

WIZARD: When you guys are doing a more specialized, collectible set of cards as opposed to something like baseball cards where there’s a built-in fanbase, who are you making these for?

WILLIAMS: I think we’re trying to hit a whole bunch of different audiences, starting off in the comic book world with the popularity of zombies these days. I think that was one audience we’re trying to tap into. And then I think there’s a general fascination within the general public with celebrity, which is basically all you read about. [Laughs] You turn on your computer, and all you see are news stories about celebrities. So we’re tapping into that, which is a more broad audience. Then there’s the humor audience: people who read MAD Magazine or watch Comedy Central who are just into funny stuff. So it’s a bunch of things. There’s also the big interest in horror. So it’s really a mix of horror and humor and a lot of different people. And we’re not hitting everybody, but hopefully we’ll hit a lot of cross-sections in those groups.

When you are sitting together and coming up with the cards themselves, did you just flip through issues of People and US Weekly saying, “We gotta use this person and this person”?

WILLIAMS: [Laughs] We didn’t have to do too much research because, again, you’re bombarded with this stuff. Somebody does something crazy, and you say, “Let’s put them in the set.” Britney Spears shaves her head? Okay, she’s in!

When it comes to the artists, some of them have worked for the company in the past and some are humor cartoonists tapped just for this. Who are the standouts in your mind?

WILLIAMS: Rich Williams has been great. Herman Mejia, who works for MAD Magazine, has been fantastic. Mark Fredrickson. These are all MAD guys. Drew Friedman, who I’ve worked with in the past and does a lot of work for The New Yorker and The New York Observer and as an illustrator is pretty well known now.

So once the lists of celebrities and artists are together, what’s next in terms of creating the cards? What kinds of choices did you make in terms of having the text on the backs be as funny as the illustrations?

WILLIAMS: Well, a large percentage of the card backs will be tabloid parodies. And when I say “tabloids” I’m being very broad. Rolling Bone might be one of the tabloids reporting on a Snoop Dugg Zombie, for instance. Or Dead People Magazine might be reporting on something going on with Paris Hellton.

How many cards are in the set altogether?

WILLIAMS: There are 72, and despite the magazine parodies, there will be other things like song parodies and things of that nature if it’s appropriate to the person. So we have Martha Skewered, so maybe there’s a recipe on the back of her card.

With the release of these this week in comic shops and hobby stores, is there a co-release of the cards into grocery stores and the like?

WILLIAMS: No, and that’s a big part of the story. This is not going to be released to the mass market at this time. It’s going to be released to the hobby stores and a select few specialty stores. So all the traffic is going to be going to those areas. If all goes as we think it will and we get a lot of press on the series, people who are looking for it will have to go to hobby stores. But they won’t find it in the big stores. Hopefully it will help all of those guys find some new customers they never had before.

We do parody products like Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids, and those are Essentially mass market where the hobby stores don’t go after them too much: “Well, you can get those are Target and Wal-Mart. I don’t want to invest too much in that.” That’s understandable, but that’s not the case with this one.

For you, what would be the standout hook on the series beyond these commerce issues? What creatively makes it stand apart?

WILLIAMS: Well, there’s a few things. I think it’s hilarious, and we were all blown away by the art. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, and there are also the special inserts in the set, which are mug shots. What’s cool about those is that you see the mug shot on the card in four-color, and then you turn the lights out and how they got into jail is revealed in glow-in-the-dark ink. [Laughs] So some of those really famous mug shots will be parodied.

For more information, click here!
Source: wizarduniverse.com

[PREVIEW] NEW BATTLESTAR Galactica #10
Sharon delves deep into her human memories while back aboard the Galactica, the dedicated leader of the subversives is revealed to be not quite as he appears...

WRITTEN BY Greg Pak
ART BY NIGEL RAYNOR
COVER ART BY STEPHEN SEGOVIA, NIGEL RAYNOR, JOE PRADO AND A BSG PHOTO COVER (SHIPPING IN EQUAL RATIO)!

As our first "season" of New Battlestar Galactica Comics races towards its conclusion, Sharon delves deep into her human memories while back aboard the Galactica, the dedicated leader of the subversives is revealed to be not quite as he appears...

Featuring covers from Nigel Raynor, Joe Prado, Stephen Segovia and a New Battlestar Photo Cover!

For more information, click here!
Source: DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

UP CLOSE: Brett Matthews
The ‘Lone Ranger’ writer teases the next arc, brings gore to the Old West and saddles up for a new ‘Serenity’ series with Joss Whedon
By Chris Ward

WIZARD: Is it an uphill battle selling modern audiences on a character like The Lone Ranger? I’ll admit that I was skeptical about your series from Dynamite with Sergio Cariello, Dean White and John Cassaday until I actually read it.

MATTHEWS: The good news is that selling isn’t my job, because yeah, I think it’s a little bit of a tough sell to the general public. I think there’s a really great fanatical fanbase, but more than anything, the way I approached it was as a clean slate. You’ve got your loyal, hardcore fans, and on a lot of levels this book isn’t going to appeal to them as much—even though I took a lot of pains to try and keep it pretty close to the origin. So the challenge is, “How do you go about it?” and I think we took the “less safe” route. You could have just done classic Lone Ranger or tried for something more, and obviously that’s the road we’re going down.

Yeah, it’s pretty damn gritty in some parts.

It’s a very uncompromising book. We were hoping people would find the book because it has merit, not just because it’s The Lone Ranger. That said, The Lone Ranger’s a name everybody recognizes, even if they don’t know why. So I took it from a place where it was like, “Everybody knows the name, so where does it come from and who is this person?” Because he’s been out of circulation for a while, most of our readership is coming to this thing fresh. So it’s entry level for them but, at the same time, rewarding for people who have loved this guy for a long time.

I enjoyed how you took some of the cheesy Lone Ranger clichés—like “Hi-yo, Silver, away!” and Tonto’s “How, Kemosabe”—and made them fresh, endearing and organic.

For the full interview, click here!
Source: wizarduniverse.com

[PREVIEW] Raise the Dead #3
In issue #3 our dwindling band of survivors has headed out of the city and straight towards a research facility where they hope to take shelter from the growing undead tide.

WRITTEN BY LEAH MOORE AND JOHN REPPION
ART BY HUGO PETRUS
COVERS BY "DYNAMITE" ZOMBIE ARTISTS - Arthur Suydam (75%) AND Sean Phillips (25%)!

In issue #3 our dwindling band of survivors has headed out of the city and straight towards a research facility where they hope to take shelter from the growing undead tide. But what - and who -- they will find there is just another horrific chapter in their desperate bid for survival!

Raise the Dead will also feature two covers from two Zombie experts -Arthur (Marvel Zombies, Marvel Zombies VS. THE Army of Darkness) Suydam AND Sean (Marvel Zombies) Phillips!

For more information, click here!
Source: DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

‘BOYS’ TOWN
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson hit Manhattan to kick back and sign a few copies of ‘The Boys’ #7
By Brian Warmoth

Champagne spilled over onto the signing table twice at Jim Hanley’s Universe on Friday night. The New York City comic book shop played host to the sendoff of one series and the rebirth of another as the last slices of Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise cake were distributed and the SiP issues on the rack behind his table were replaced with copies of The Boys #7 in preparation for writer Garth Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, the latter of whom flew from his California home to sign and sketch for fans at Jim Hanley’s and Midtown Comics on Saturday.

The mood was light and raucous for both creators and the two-hour line of fans who threaded the store’s aisles to chat with the creative team, who began their second story arc of the series from DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT last week and released their first story arc in trade. Both relished the chance to kick back for the weekend. The shop stocked some champagne and cake for Moore, and kept a plugged bottle on the shelf to break out for Ennis and Robertson.

“Normally I’m at home alone in my room with all my tools,” said Robertson, who figured it was his first weekend free of work in about a year.

“You’re alone with all your tools,” Ennis responded, starting into Robertson with a none-too-tongue-in-cheek joke. The pair bounced jokes around throughout the signing and discussed the series’ switch from DC Comics to Dynamite with fans. Ennis momentarily tipped his hat to the large polar bear on his T-shirt as well, explaining the history of the 2000 A.D. character Shako, which he credits for much of the over-the-top violence in Comics.

Robertson cashed in his free afternoon at Ennis’ home earlier that day, plucking some DVDs off the writer’s shelf. “He’s always turning me on to things that I probably wouldn’t have found without him,” Robertson remarked, listing their afternoon lineup.

“I can’t remember the last time I got to sit around and watch three DVDs in a row,” he laughed.

“We watched ‘Dead Man’s Shoes,’” the artist began, glancing toward Ennis for some help remembering. “Garth said it’s the movie that ‘The Punisher’ should have been. ‘Spartan’ with Val Kilmer, who I think would make an excellent Butcher if the time ever came—and Clive Owen says no. Then we watched ‘Below,’ which was directed by David Twohy, who did ‘Pitch Black,’ and also written by my friend Darren Aronofsky.”

Ennis poured back a cup of coffee toward the end of the evening, but both he and Robertson kept up with the gauntlet of enthusiastic readers, who towed stacks of Boys, Preacher and Space Beaver copies ready for new signatures. One reader even nabbed a googly-eyed doodle by Ennis—but don’t go looking for Ennis to be doing any illustrative work anytime soon.

For more information, click here!
Source: wizarduniverse.com

Thundercats, Ho!

Warner Bros. is looking to bring Lion-O and the other Thundercats to the big screen in a live action feature.

The script for the movie was written by Paul Sopocy and is said to be “an origin story expanding on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats,” according to Variety .

Before putting the movie in production, Warner Bros. already owned the rights to the Thundercats animated series. The characters also appeared in various comic book volumes, released by Marvel and DC. Their most recent comic incarnation came to a close in 2003 at Wildstorm.

Seems like the hype surrounding Transformers has led to an 80s cartoon revival in Hollywood—the Thundercats announcement comes hot on the heels of the He-Man report less than two weeks ago. If developments in Hollywood turn out the same way they did in Comics around the start of this decade, Voltron and G.I. Joe can’t be far behind…

For more information, click here!
Source: brokenfrontier.com