warner bros.
Superman’s old briefs end up in Malaysia — as a male sexual aid
While it seemed DC Comics couldn’t wait to get rid of Superman’s trademark trunks, in Malaysia those underpants are still red-hot.
According to New Straits Times, a suburb of Johor Bahru has been overtaken by fliers advertising “Superman’s Underpants,” billed as a cure for male sexual problems — and the residents have had enough.
“For me this could cause a bad influence among the community,” one retiree tells the newspaper. “Superman fans, especially the men, could be duped into spending thousands of ringgit to buy the product with the assumption that they could gain special powers by wearing them.” He goes on to point out that the product claims to enhance sexual abilities, and has nothing to do with Superman — who we’re pretty sure has that area covered.
- January 30, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Alan Moore, Occupy movement’s unofficial godfather, meets protesters
With so much being reported about Alan Moore’s connections to the Occupy movement — through his endorsement of its ideals, his contribution to Occupy Comics, and protesters’ co-opting of the David Lloyd-designed Guy Fawkes masks — U.K.’s Channel 4 News coaxed the V for Vendetta writer from his home in Northampton to London to meet some of the demonstrators for the first time.
“It’s a bit surprising when some of the characters you thought you made up suddenly seem to escape into ordinary reality,” Moore told some disguised protesters. “I mean, what is it about the mask — is it just useful, or what?”
The report also delves into Frank Miller’s criticism of the Occupy movement, Moore’s displeasure with film adaptations of his works and, yes, the irony that each Guy Fawkes mask that protesters buy puts more money into the coffers of Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates.
- January 12, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Commissioner Gordon can’t shake Batman in SNL short
Emmy nominee Steve Buscemi has played a corrupt politician on Boardwalk Empire, a small-time crook in Fargo, a naive bowler in The Big Lebowski, and an offbeat private investigator on 30 Rock. Now add to that Gotham City police commissioner.
Hosting Saturday Night Live over the weekend, Buscemi starred as James Gordon opposite Andy Samberg’s Batman in a digital short about a lurky Caped Crusader with serious boundary issues. Check out the video, complete with a cameo by Aquaman, below.
- December 5, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘Heroes will rise’ in Diesel’s new DC Comics underwear
As someone who spent a significant portion of his childhood in superhero Underoos, I can appreciate the sentiment behind these new DC Comics-branded boxerbriefs from Diesel and Warner Bros. — even if I can’t envision myself, as an adult (lacking the body of an underwear model), wearing them. Or, y’know, shelling out $34 for the pleasure.
However, if you’re itching to sport the logos of Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash and The Joker above your cotton- and elastane-clad buttcheeks — or to see someone else do the same — then these are for you.
There’s probably a “stocking stuffer” joke to be made — also, “The Fastest Man Alive” — but I’ll do my best to resist. Alas, the folks at Diesel apparently don’t have that level of restraint, as the (let’s hope intentionally) hilarious promo video for the underwear drops the phrases “heroes will rise” and “show ‘em what you’ve got.” You can check it out below.
- December 1, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Warner Bros. lawsuit against Superman attorney can continue
A federal judge has refused to dismiss Warner Bros.’ lawsuit against the attorney representing the heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Variety reports.
The studio filed a 65-page complaint in May 2010 accusing Marc Toberoff, its longtime legal nemesis, of orchestrating “a web of collusive agreements” that led the Siegel family to reject “mutually beneficial” longtime deals with DC Comics and seek to recapture copyright to the Man of Steel. The lawsuit, which hinges on documents stolen from Toberoff’s office and delivered anonymously to Warner Bros., is designed to force him to resign as the lawyer for the Siegels, who in 2008 successfully terminated the original 1938 transfer of copyright for Action Comics #1. The window will open in 2013 for Shuster’s estate to do the same.
Toberoff filed a motion in August 2010 to dismiss the studio’s complaint under California anti-SLAPP laws designed to curb lawsuits intended to intimidate the opposition through delays and legal expense.
However, U.S. District Judge Otis Wright ruled Toberoff had failed to demonstrate that his role as attorney for the Siegel and Shuster heirs is protected under the California statutes. Wright specifically cited a business deal Toberoff struck with the Shuster estate that he characterized as “not an agreement for the provision of legal services, but one concerning the exploitation of Joe Shuster’s creations.” That’s presumably a reference to an arrangement that Warner Bros. charged would give Toberoff and his companies “a controlling financial interest in the families’ collective claims — leaving him as the largest financial stakeholder” in the Man of Steel.
- October 26, 2011 @ 06:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Jim Lee asks fans ‘to have a little patience’ with DC’s Amazon deal
Jim Lee
In the nearly two weeks since Barnes & Noble drew a line in the sand, pulling 100 of DC Comics’ top-selling graphic novels from its shelves to protest the publisher’s exclusive agreement with Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, there’s been little visible change in the tablet wars. That is, unless you count the decision by Books-A-Million to follow the chain’s lead.
Both sides appear to have dug in, with Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million insisting that books be available in all formats to all customers — specifically, their customers and their e-reader — and DC and parent company Warner Bros. insisting they’re misunderstood, and more than a little disappointed.
There are hints, however, that behind the scenes things may be a bit less … concrete.
Although there’s been some indication that DC’s exclusive arrangement with Amazon will last just four months, meaning graphic novels like Watchmen, Fables, Y: The Last Man and The Sandman could be available digitally for other platforms by mid-March, the publisher has yet to say so, much to the frustration of some fans (and, I would imagine, certain retailers).
In its overview of the dispute, The New York Times notes the DC website trumpets the books are available “exclusively to Amazon’s newly announced Kindle Fire,” period. No qualifiers. But comments for DC Co-Publisher Jim Lee lend credence to reports that the Amazon exclusivity is for a limited time.
Although he cited a nondisclosure agreement with the online retail giant, Lee still told the newspaper that, “Just because we’re starting with Amazon, this is not the be-all and end-all of our digital strategy and distribution.”
And to DC readers frustrated by the deal? “We say to our fans, have a little patience.”
- October 19, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
What’s the mystery DC Comics video game coming next year?
In a Los Angeles Times profile pegged to today’s launch of Batman: Arkham City, Warner Bros. Interactive President Martin Tremblay drops an enticing crumb: In addition to a new Lord of the Rings video game and a sequel to LEGO Batman, next year the studio will release an adaptation of a DC Comics superhero he wouldn’t name.
That Warner Bros. is looking to develop more DC properties for its rapidly expanding games division is no secret — a new studio in Montreal is being set up specifically for that task. But what could this mysterious title be?
Kotaku notes that while a Superman game may be the obvious guess, given the release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel in June 2013, it hardly requires a veil of secrecy. After all, movie tie-ins are par for the course.
- October 18, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Stan Lee’s Guardian Project target of lawsuit
Stan Lee
Legal | Stan Lee’s Guardian Project, introduced last year at New York Comic Con, has sparked a lawsuit from a Hollywood manager who claims he was cut out of the venture, which transformed National Hockey League mascots into superheroes.
In the lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Adam Asherson contends the project, now co-owned by NBC Universal, dates back to 2003, when he was introduced to the idea by fellow manager Anthony Chargin and Chargin’s client Jake Shapiro. Asherson, who had a relationship with Lee, says he suggested the legendary comics writer would be the “perfect” partner for the endeavor. They pitched Lee on the project, called Defenders, which focused on the National Football League, with plans to expand to Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the NHL. For unspecified reasons, the NFL deal never came together. However, six years later The Guardian Project emerged with the involvement of Chargin, Shapiro and Lee — but without Asherson.
Asherson claims Guardian Media Entertainment, SLG Entertainment, Chargin and Shapiro have breach an oral joint-venture agreement, committed promissory estoppel and fraud, and breach fiduciary duties by leaving him out of the NHL agreement. [Hollywood, Esq.]
- September 30, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Evangelicals weigh in on Superman’s underpants
RIP
There are a lot of places where I’d expect commentary about Superman’s costume changes for the New 52 and the Man of Steel movie. A blog for evangelical Christian leadership wasn’t one of them.
What I love about it is that it’s not a moralistic rail against pop culture a la the Jeff Lamb/Action Comics kerfuffle, but a fannish lament much like the ones we’ve seen on most comics and movie blogs. Pastor and author Skye Jethani calls it a “blasphemy against my childhood hero,” but the tone of his article is actually pretty thoughtful and balanced. In the end he decides to judge Man of Steel on its storytelling rather than Superman’s Underoos.
He also, appropriately for his blog, pulls some leadership lessons from the missing trunks: the power of symbolism, generational differences, compromise, and how much influence leaders (religious, political, or Warner Bros.) actually have. The piece is a fascinating and unexpectedly comfortable blending of religion and pop culture.
- September 26, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Michael May
Anonymous turns V for Vendetta’s Guy Fawkes mask into a bestseller
Anonymous protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks (photo by Vincent Diamante)
Infamous for its protests against the Church of Scientology and website attacks on Sony, Visa and, most recently, Bay Area Rapid Transit, the loose-knit hacker group Anonymous is perhaps best known for a single image that’s become a symbol of its anarchic movement: The V for Vendetta-inspired Guy Fawkes mask worn by its members in public protests.
However, as The New York Times notes this morning, each of those masks purchased by the largely anti-government, anti-corporation activists puts money in the coffers of Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. The parent company of DC Comics, which published the Alan Moore-David Lloyd miniseries in the United States, and Warner Bros., which released the film adaptation in 2006, owns the rights to the image, and receives a licensing fee for each mask sold.
And there are a lot sold, thanks largely to the Anonymous movement. Rubie’s Costumes, the New York company that produces the masks, sells more than 100,000 a year; by comparison, it sells only about 5,000 of each of its other masks.
But it wasn’t until recently that Rubie’s knew why Guy Fawkes was a bestseller. “We just thought people liked the V for Vendetta movie,” Rubie’s executive Howard Beige tells the newspaper. “Then one morning I saw a picture of these protesters wearing the mask in an online news article. I quickly showed my sales manager.”
- August 29, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Dark Knight Rises may or may not involve economic crisis, S&M
Leave it to Next Media Animation, the Taiwanese studio last seen on Robot 6 explaining the history of the danger-fraught Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, to view the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises through a fractured prism that makes Grant Morrison’s wildest of storylines seem humdrum by comparison. Judging from this video, the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s movie trilogy has something to do with the bankruptcy of Wayne Enterprises, rising food prices at Wal-Mart, a lovesick Batman, and the return of Halle Berry as a whip-cracking Catwoman.
(via io9.com)
- July 26, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC Comics wins ManofSteel.com domain-name dispute
An arbitrator on Tuesday ordered the ManofSteel.com domain name transferred to DC Comics, leaving little doubt where the website for Warner Bros.’ upcoming Superman movie will reside.
Fusible reports that a panelist for the National Arbitration Forum agreed with DC’s argument that the domain name is identical to the company’s trademarks “Man of Steel,” registered in 1999, and “The Man of Steel,” registered in 1987. He also found that ManofSteel.com was registered and used in bad faith, and was “neither a bona fide offering of goods or services nor a legitimate noncommercial or fair use.”
Coni c/o LBR Enterprises, which was believed to have registered the domain in October 2001, failed to respond to DC’s June 22 complaint.
The Zack Snyder-directed Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, is set to open in December 2012. Fusible notes that TheManofSteel.com, which isn’t owned by Warner Bros. or DC, is for sale by its current owner for $300.
- July 20, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Justice League among Warner Bros.’ official Comic-Con bag designs
Justice League
Warner Bros. has unveiled the 10 designs for the official Comic-Con International bags, which this year include promotional art for DC Comics’ relaunched Justice League, Cartoon Network’s Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Batman: Arkham City.
More than 130,000 of the oversized bags, described by Entertainment Weekly as the San Diego convention’s “ubiquitous accessory,” will be available to those attending the July 20-24 event. This year, for the first time, the 24-inch by 28-inch bags convert into backpacks. Other designs include The Big Bang Theory, Fringe, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Looney Tunes Show, ThunderCats and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7.
Check out the designs for Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Batman: Arkham City after the break, and visit TheWB.com to see the rest.
- July 12, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Four-minute preview reveals Batman Live to be a trippy fever dream
While the pre-overhaul Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark seemed somewhat avant garde, maybe even surreal, with its eight-legged spider goddess, Swiss knife-inspired villainess and DayGlo Goblin, the upcoming Batman Live struck me as pretty straightforward: For all of its bullet-time effects, the first trailer for the arena tour looked like someone had simply translated Batman: Hush into a live-action production.
But then today England’s Liverpool Echo released a four-minute sneak peek of the show, and “straightforward” went right out the window. The sequence, bathed in black light, is somehow both languid and manic, with Batman confronted first by a gigantic head of Joker, and then by his minions — who form the teeth of the demonic maw before dropping down and rolling onto the stage. The scene turns even more disturbing as the henchmen form into some kind of psychedelic majorette troupe that’s seen too many performances of Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk. All the while, Dick Grayson is being held captive in … a big hamster ball.
Watch the trailer after the break (you won’t be sorry). Batman Live opens July 19 in England, and then finds its way to North America in August 2012. After seeing this delirium-inducing preview, all I can say is it can’t get here soon enough.
- July 5, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Check out DC Entertainment’s swanky new headquarters
The Pointe, the new home of DC Entertainment
DC Entertainment’s new Burbank, Calif., headquarters isn’t quite Titans Tower, but it’ll do.
The Hollywood Reporter tracks down the building that, beginning in mid-August, will house the company’s film and television, digital, administrative and consumer-products operations: The Pointe, a new 14-story office tower at 2900 W. Alameda Ave., nestled beside Disney/ABC, and less than a mile from Warner Bros. Studios.
DC has a 10-year lease on the entire second floor, 35,000 square feet of space “valued at roughly $16 million.” Landlord Worthe Real Estate Group advertises a “lobby crafted from the finest building materials; sleek and sophisticated, modern patterned glass with rich, imported Italian marble and travertine, walnut ceiling, and unique waved wood wall system.” The building also boasts “10 foot floor-to-ceiling vision glass for panoramic view of city and mountains,” and “over three acres of picturesque plaza with mature shade trees, walkways and benches.” There’s also a health club and restaurant on the first floor.
Warner Bros. has set up DC with temporary offices at 3400 Riverside Drive, where some have been working since last year, presumably following the announcement in late September of the massive corporate restructuring that leaves the publishing division in New York City while consolidating the rest of the companies operations on the West Coast. WildStorm’s offices in La Jolla, Calif., as well as the imprint itself, were shuttered as part of the reorganization.
Although DC wouldn’t say how many employees will work out of the new space once construction is complete, it’s known that DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson will have an office there and at the Warner Bros. lot.
- June 24, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose