Miraclo Miles

Avengers! A few new pics This is the week the new Previews comes out, and in the mix is apparently an ad for the Avengers Heroclix expansion. Someone was nice enough to make some quick scans (I'll see if I can come up with better ones later) so I thought I'd toss them up. Above we see the Black Panther in what appears to be his original costume, even perched atop a small Panther totem. Next to him is Taskmaster, back in what appears to be his original costume. The base is complete, too, so that we can see he's both an uncommon (the green background to the set logo) and a member of the Minions of Doom, so he keeps the wildcard TA that helped make the Xplosion versions so fittingly versatile. Below is a shot, even a little blurrier, of the Iron Spider-Man on the left, the Black Panther on the right, and the Red Skull in the middle. This shot of the Skull is from his moment of triump, when he had control of the Cosmic Cube (it's in his right hand and difficult to dis...

Runoff To the Movies? Having just gotten a promotional email out of the blue this past Friday from Tom Manning concerning the long-awaited release of Runoff Chapter 3, a 176 pg trade, I was surprised to find another one this morning. Runoff is a creator-owned, self-published comics series by Tom Manning, which I'd written about here just over three years ago - but had actually written something more substantive about it two years earlier . Manning has confirmed that director Guillermo Del Toro ( Hellboy , Pan's Labyrinth , The Devil's Backbone ) and he are in talks to bring Runoff to the screen . Here's the latest from Tom: I am extremely happy to finally announce that Guillero Del Toro (writer and director of Pan's Labyrinth) and I are in talks to do a Runoff feature film together! The project currently includes Guillermo and myself, as well as the producer Lloyd Levin (United 93, Boogie Nights, and the upcoming Watchmen movie) and Nick Nunziata (Meg, Grizzly...

Power The above bit of video Crypt Leak sent my way, so I thought I'd pass it along. It's a nicely-done presentation. I do hope that more of the people whose national loyalties have been played so as to get them to dismiss any claims against administration policies - any administration's policies - as unpatriotic are managing to see through the manipulation, lies and abuse of their trust. Meanwhile, however quixotic, I am heartened by some attempts - such as one by Dennis Kucinich in seeking to file papers of impeachment against Dick Cheney - to try to bring some of the players into a cleansing light. (Thanks to Tammy for pointing that one out.) Oh, here's one I recommended back when it was first broadcast, but which has since won a Peabody Award: Habeas Schmabeas . If you believed Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld or any of their various talking heads when they told you that Guantanamo is filled with "evildoers" who were "picked up on the battlefield,...

Life In the Country I was up fairly early for a Saturday -- a sunny, pleasant Saturday -- but hours slow in getting moving on more than some email and laundry. Still, Nick and I finally did get out to catch the first showing of the day of Hot Fuzz at a local Regal. Being a Yank I know Simon Pegg and Nick Frost almost entirely from one of my favorite movies of the past several years, Shaun of the Dead . Oh, I've seen them pop up individually in various tv shows and movies, but when I think of them together it's in Shaun ... and now that's expanded to Hot Fuzz . Unlike Shaun , where they play friends since childhood, in Fuzz - as one would expect of what is in part a British parody of U.S. cop/buddy films - they start out as strangers. Now, I don't want to emphasize the parody angle, because Hot Fuzz is too smart for that, telling its own story in its own way and avoiding most of the clichéd abrasiveness and conflict that would be so predictably inevitable in a Hollyw...

Darren & Tammy are tying the not, and while I was most graciously invited it didn't turn out to be something I could swing. The past week alone saw a sudden expense for over $1800 (the gremlins can smell when a refund is coming, and they'll likely be back to devour the rest of it soon) and, as ever, there's been too much that whether I like it or not I must care about in the workplace. I've known Tammy for the past few years, and Darren for well over fifteen, harking back to when he came into Legends . In both instances it's mainly been via correspondence, though phone calls have been part of each relationship, too. They have a great journey ahead of them, one that I hope will continue to be as bright and positive for both of them as most of the past couple years have been -- at least in terms of brightening each other's days even when so much else goes awry. Knowing there's someone whose highest priority is your happiness is possibly the gre...

Coming up for air! Oh, so much time rushing past. Having hit the weekend I'm hopeful I'll get back to visiting some blogs, leaving some comments and posting more here.

Among the things I've missed mentioning is the first figure we've seen in detail from late June's Avengers set: The Mandarin ! He's the clix brick mail-away figure, and the first Marvel figure to have the "white" power slots. (Those will have a black box around them on the printed dials to distinguish them from plain, un-powered clicks.) Seth's using them to good effect here, allowing the options of a man wearing 10 rings each with its own power to shine through. Yes, there's still the Heroclix limitation of not allowing him to use two of the powers at once -- something the character has done in comics -- but we're closer to a good representation of the character with these options than we were. To clarify, on each of the white clicks in his Speed slot he has the option of using Energy Explosion, Incapacitate or Mind Control. During the white clicks in his Attack slot he has the considerable options of Barrier, Force Blast, Quake, Smoke Cloud...

First Look at the Justice League Heroclix Expansion I was just made aware of the first ad for August's Justice League expansion , the first of the DC sets to come out under the new set and booster designs. Apologies for the size of the images, but that's what was available. The characters shown on the boosters from left to right are: Superman & Flash (can't tell which Flash it is meant to be because we can't see the costume around the waist), Aquaman & the Connor Hawke version of Green Arrow , Deadman & Lobo , and Batman & Robin in their current costumes. Also noted is that the clix brick mail-away figure for that set will be the Phantom Stranger . As with Deadman, I presume we'll be seeing new powers at play thanks to the character cards. With both Legacy and Icons officially retired a month or so before this set launches, and given the coming of Starro theme to the set-promoting tournament - not to mention that several necks are likely on ...

Ex-Senator to close Cancer Gap in 2008 Race? Okay, I apologize for the crass headline. It was just sincerely the first thing that came to mind as I read of the diagnosis for what could be the 11th GOP presidential candidate for 2008, Fred Thompson , and couldn't help but think of John Edwards ' recent press conference concerning his wife's dire diagnosis. Honestly, until this notice I hadn't heard Thomspon was considering a run for the office - indeed, I clicked on the story because I had no idea who Fred Thompson was - so it's difficult for me to not take this as publicity rather than simply news. It's unfortunately too easy to hear the voices of campaign strategists deliberating on how to craft the latest medical updates. Obviously, for each campaign the news would have to be different in order to be most effective. Thompson's advisors would likely want to walk a tightrope between courageous struggle and being cured, but they'd have to emphasize ...

Protecting Mankind From the Bumps In the Night This will be a fairly quick post as I have much to do yet tonight, but I wanted to at least note that Tammy & Darren sent me a birthday present a little early: The BPRD Action Pack . It's a very cool set of seven clix, six bystanders, two Feats and a swamp map, all of which are welcome additions. I want to write it up in a little detail, but I'm a couple days away from that sort of open time, so this "thanks" post will have to do for now. (Come to think of it, I also want to do the same for the Predators set that Grant sent me a short time ago, also as an early birthday present.)

So, did Gary wait until he was sure the film made money? (Okay, so that's likely a rude header...) Someone passed along to me that Gary Friedrich is suing Marvel & Sony over copyright infringement for Ghost Rider , a property he claims reverted to his ownership in 2001. The papers were filed April 4th. Here's the full text of the story as Yahoo News was carrying it today (in case it becomes unavailable via the above link): "Ghost Rider" creator sues over copyright By Leslie Simmons Tue Apr 10, 5:49 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter, ESQ.) - The creator of Ghost Rider has sued Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures Entertainment and several entities over what he claims is an unauthorized "joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize" his copyrights to the comic book character. ADVERTISEMENT Gary Friedrich and his company filed the 61-page complaint April 4 in federal court in Illinois claiming 21 violations based on the production and m...

Stupid Fun Finding it coming out on Good Friday -- oddly enough a company holiday -- Nick and I caught the first showing of The Grindhouse at a local AMC Friday morning. The $5 matinee tickets and still having hours of daylight ahead are both good reasons for hitting the early shows. At roughly three hours and eleven minutes it was well into the afternoon when we emerged into the sunlight again. If you're unfamiliar with The Grindhouse, it's an attempt to recreate a 1970's, B-movie, exploitation film experience. Pandering to the baser elements, it's not an experience to be analyzed aside from, perhaps, its cultural elements -- and I'm not even going to go that far. Both films are set in the present, so there's not an attempt to create these as "lost" movies. If you've seen Kill Bill then you'll be set up for the female empowerment angle that ultimately comes through in both of the movies in this double feature -- the contagion horror of Plan...

In the Center of Easter Weekend A frequently intense work week last week left me a tad crispy by Thursday. Friday we caught the first local showing for The Grindhouse , which I may get to make some comments about later today. Today, otherwise, I have some Easter prep to do do, including more housework, finally getting a haircut, and completing some Legends items. Before most of that , though, as it's the day before my wife's birthday and since tomorrow we'll be out visiting, today we're headed out to a birthday lunch at her favorite local restaurant, a spot she hasn't been in months. So... off with me, then.

The Last Dessert Crypt Leak shot me a link to a seasonal piece about the furor over an artist's depiction of a naked, crucified Christ rendered in roughly 200 lbs of dark chocolate . (Well, he's in a cruciform position, and the artist intended to suspend him above a chalk rendering of the cross. The accompanying note posed the question of when they say "anatomically correct," do they mean for a 2000 year old Jew or for a Chocolate Savior? Lacking the appropriate frames of reference, I leave it to other interested parties to answer that question. In a follow-up story later in the same day, the hotel that was originally going to host this Holy Week exhibit withdrew itself as a venue. Where this will end up remains unknown to me, but someone may have a shock coming Easter morning... This is one of those stories where I'm not strongly in either side's camp, being uninterested in the event or non-event as it were. The objectors appear to have been primarily tri...