Astonishing X-Men #51 The wedding of Northstar and Kyle Jinadu will make comic book history this week. The first openly gay X-Man is getting hitched but he’s also a target. Who is the mystery woman behind the recent attack by a new team of Marauders? Northstar’s nightmare of the X-Men out to kill him is coming true. Could the wedding be just a dream too?
Avengers vs X-Men #6 Five of the most powerful X-Men are now possessed by the Phoenix Force. Earth is being radically changed. The Scarlet Witch enters the war but on whose side?
Nightwing #10 Dick Grayson is recovering from the shocking revelation from Night of the Owls when he checks out a double murder in Old Gotham. The evidence points the finger right back at….him? DC introduces a new threat to Batman’s battered ally. Who is Paragon and his Republic of Tomorrow?
Saga #4 An against all odds love story amid a galactic war. Two soldiers from enemy races fell in love, had a child and are now running for their lives. This issue introduces a distant planet where darkest fantasies can come true. Will this the runaway family’s safe haven or hell?
True Blood #2 A new comic book will help satisfy your craving for Sookie, Bill, Eric and all the other sexy scary characters from Bon Temps. Alan Ball, Ann Nocenti (Daredevil, Longshot) and Michael McMillan create a perfect companion to the HBO series.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 courtesy IDW Publishing
Now this is an assimilation you might enjoy! Doctor Who, Amy and Rory are about to meet the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise! Star Trek: The Next Generaton/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 is a new comic book from IDW Publishing. Issue #1 featured an attack on a Federation world by Borg with Cybermen.
io9 has a first look at issue #5. Amy Pond, Deanna Troi and Dr. Beverly Crusher share one cover. The Time Lord and Captain Picard are seen peering out of the Tardis on another.
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 courtesy IDW Publishing
Here’s the official description: The two greatest science-fiction properties of all time cross over for the first time in history, in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/DOCTOR WHO: ASSIMILATION²! Captain Jean-Luc Picard faces one of the most difficult decisions of his life, but the fate of the galaxy may depend on it! Can the Doctor convince him to make the correct choice?
Seattle’s self-proclaimed super villain Rex Velvet is sporting new glamour shots on his Facebook page following his latest shot of mainstream exposure this week. YouTube sensation Velvet was the cover story of the Seattle Weekly.
Here’s a lesson one kid won’t forget. If a superhero comes to your school don’t ask if you can punch him as hard as you can! Superheroes wear heavy costumes that can take a beating for a good reason!
Seattle is the home of costumed crime fighter Phoenix Jones. A local school invited Jones to discuss bullying with the kids. The costumed guest speaker also showed off his uniform – his rubberized, armored, bulletproof uniform.
Denise Weinstein told KOMO NewsRadio. “My child gets up in front of him and (Phoenix) says to him, ‘OK, give me all you got…give me your best punch, but wait, but don’t do it too hard, you might get hurt.’ ”
Noah now has a broken finger, is in a soft cast but with a lesson learned.
“I shouldn’t punch a superhero as hard as I can,” he said.
Enterprise command chair used on Star Trek, 1966-1969 Photo: Erik Skaar
As I descended down into a new exhibition underneath Seattle’s EMP Museum I was giddy with geek anticipation. Icons of Science Fiction features some of the most inspiring artifacts of the sci-fi genre. I felt like Neo. I was a “Chosen One” receiving a sneak peek and chance to meld with the mind who created this new exhibition.
You pass the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. I had to find the glass bearing the photo and name of Ray Bradbury to pay homage. Then prepare to be transported. The curator has designed an entry way that reminds you of an iconic experience in a sci-fi adventure. If you’re a Star Wars fans it would be going to light speed…if the hyper-drive is fixed! If you’re a Star Trek fan you’re going to warp. For the 2001: A Space Odyssey fans it’s going on a trip into void with Dave!
Icons of Science Fiction at EMP Museum, photo by ComicsBlend.com
Fans can marvel at artifacts that have never been shown publicly like Lt. Uhura’s uniform from Star Trek, Yoda’s walking cane from Star Wars, the Kryptonian spaceship from Superman starring Christopher Reeve. You can even see the Captain’s chair James T. Kirk sat in while commanding the Enterprise!
What If? This eternal question drives the exploration of ideas behind the genre’s greatest creations. Curator Brooks Peck explains why he built the exhibition based on questions as opposed to by chronological order or sub categories.
“One of the things science fiction does is ask these crazy strange questions. Any science fiction story can be framed as a question. Star Trek is framed as what if we could explore space and the stars. What would happen? What stories would come out of that? Or Men In Black – what if aliens came to this planet? Or Terminator – what if robots took over the world? So the exhibition asks six of these big questions and presents lots of stories, films, tv shows, novels, comics that answers those in different ways. So if you’re not like a hard-core science fiction person…you see the questions and it gets your thinking. Questions like what if we could design our children? It gets you thinking about it and I hope makes it accessible to everybody – science fiction fans and non fans alike.
Neo's coat worn by Keanu Reeves from The Matrix Reloaded, 2003 Photo: Brady Harvey
What If You Were the Chosen One? This section highlights the idea of the savior who inspires change. Paul Muad’Dib was the prophesied messiah of Frank Herbert’s Dune series. You can see the jacket worn by Neo (Keanu Reeves) of The Matrix. I was fascinated and little freaked to see the Anakin Skywalker lifecast from Star Wars: Return of The Jedi. It takes you back to that moment when Luke lifts the Vader mask so Anakin can look on his son with his own eyes. You can see a costume Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) wore on a key Battlestar Galactica episode that reinforced her role as a messiah for the human race.
Krypton spaceship filming miniature used in Superman: The Movie, 1978 Photo: Erik Skaar
What If I Had Superpowers? This section features Alan Moore’s classic Watchmen, Christopher Reeve’s costume from Superman IV and the miniature starship from his first Superman film that carried the young alien from Krypton to Smallville.
Curator Brooks Peck with a weapon from "Men in Black" at Icons of Science Fiction at EMP Museum, photo by ComicsBlend.com
What If We Fought A War With Aliens? From Will Smith’s impossibly huge gun in Men in Black, to the warrior headgear from the original Stargate film to the saucer from Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space – this section is filled with weapons and gear to make you feel “absolute bad asses” like the Colonial Marines in Aliens. In fact you can see the helmet worn by Michael Biehn in the James Cameron sequel!
T-800 skull used in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, 1991 Photo: Brady Harvey
What If We Were Enslaved By Our Machines? Who can forget the Terminator skull once the Ar-NULD visage from burned off? A robot skull from T2: Judgement Day is part of this section. What might be THE artifact of the exhibition is the centerpiece of this section: a Dalek from Doctor Who.
“I think the Dalek is fantastic because…it’s a Dalek, right? And since Doctor Who is created in England it’s rare that objects make it make it over to the United States for us to see much less something this big and heavy and crazy like a Dalek. This Dalek in particular is special because it’s an Imperial Dalek which were the first Daleks we actually saw on camera climbing stairs and levitating,” declares Peck.
Imperial Dalek from the Doctor Who episode "Remembrance of the Daleks" in 1998 Photo: Erik Skaar
This rare artifact is from the Remembrance of the Daleks episode from 1988 and Peck adds they call it “the glam-rock Dalek.”
What If We Could Design Our Own Children? The teddy bear from the Steven Spielberg directed AI, Commander Data’s uniform Star Trek: The Next Generation, the work of local author Octavia Butler highlight this section that asks a question that may be answered in a future that’s closer that we may think.
Icons of Science Fiction at EMP Museum, photo by ComicsBlend.com
EMP Museum always deliver more than just inspiring visuals. This exhibition makes you a Ridley Scott, George Lucas or Steven Spielberg! The Create Your Own Special Effects Shot puts your friend on a green screen while you choose the fantasy backdrop and which iconic characters you want to interact with on-screen. You can fly like a superhero in the sky or run from Imperial Stormtroopers on an alien moon.
There is a space age looking control board that gives you an interactive exploration of sci-fi sources and influences on design and modern art. You can touch your way across the genres.
Brooks Peck and his team have collected from across genres and scored some amazing artifacts. I was curious to know what was the hardest artifact in the exhibit to procure?
“There was one on my wish list that I couldn’t secure so that would probably be the hardest. We have on display one of Darth Vader’s light sabres from Episodes Five and Six. We wanted to compliment that with an Anakin Skywalker light sabre from the prequel. They’re very rare to find out and about…but we found a collector in England who had one and we had a plan. One of our curators was going to England anyway and was going to bring it back. Turns out though it was a fighting sabre used to film a combat scenes so it had this long carbon fiber plate so we thought we’d just transport this little handle but actually it was this four-foot long thing that couldn’t come apart so we couldn’t bring it from England. So we wanted to show that. Maybe someday but not now.”
“Maybe someday” is what we often think after seeing a sci-fi film or reading a novel. The search the search for what’s possible, what’s in our future drives science fiction and fantasy fans. Like machine gaining sentience or an alien life form this exhibition is designed to evolve and grow. I am thrilled to be here for the birth of Icons of Science Fiction. Geek Tested…and approved for all.
Stay tuned for more posts: What does a Sci Fi Museum curator think of Prometheus, Doctor Who and why did certain comic books make the cut while others didn’t?
Mads Mikkelsen has been cast as Hannibal Lecter in NBC’s Hannibal television series according to TVLine. The Danish actor played Le Chiffre in Daniel Craig’s first James Bond movie Casino Royale and is reportedly in talk to play a villain in Thor 2.
Hugh Dancy plays FBI agent Will Graham (William Petersen in Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Edward Norton in Red Dragon.) Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies)created the series. No word on a premiere date yet.
No word on if Mikkelsen is locked or what role he will play in Thor 2.
The Walking Dead #100 courtesy Image/Skybound Comics
Image/Skybound Comics has an all-star lineup of creators for The Walking Dead #100. Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane, Charlie Adlard and Ryan Ottley are among the artists creating seven covers to celebrate the July milestone of Robert Kirkman’s series.
Ryan Ottley (the artist on Kirkman’s Invincible series) created this wraparound variant cover. This reveal is an exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Heat Vision first look.
Private Detective and Secret Agent Derrick Storm may be dead on the ABC series Castle but the creation of writer Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion) lives on in Marvel comics. Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm was an original graphic novel and adaptation of the first Derrick Storm adventure by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Brian Michael Bendis.
DeConnick and Bendis bring Derrick back this October with Richard Castle’s Storm Season an original graphic novel. I asked DeConnick about this project at Emerald City Comicon last March and she told me she was just working on it before coming down to the booth.
Comic Book Resources posted a new interview with DeConnick about reteaming with Bendis and what Castle fans can expect from the new story.
“I learn so much from Brian professionally, it’s a real privilege for me. Also, he gets really, really uncomfortable when people say nice things about him — like toe-fist uncomfortable — so as his dear friend, I feel obliged to go on at some length not only about his talent and generosity, but also about what an incredible father and family man he is and how his lovely bald head is shaped just so that it reflects the light and shines like the work of a intern who just found the lens flare button in Photoshop.
Also, I wish he would he would wear a bike helmet. That part is real.
As for how it feels to return to do “Storm Season” — it’s awesome. I am super-proud of this book and this team and incredibly grateful to both Brian and to Andrew Marlowe [creator and show runner of “Castle“] for the opportunity.
This new project is reader friendly for Castle television fans or anyone to jump in.
“Entirely. If you read “Deadly Storm,” I expect you’ll have more fun as you’ll catch a few Easter Eggs and you’ll have more context for a few of the references, but if you didn’t read “Deadly Storm” — even if for some insane reason you don’t watch “Castle” (Why? Why would you not watch “Castle?” You know it stars Nathan Fillion, don’t you?) you won’t be at sea. No prior knowledge is required.”
Emanuela Lupacchino (X-Factor) is the artist on this new graphic novel.
Back to costumed heroics – DeConnick’s new Captain Marvel series debuts in June.
