Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2250

ARROW Stars Pick Their Favorite Flashbacks From Set After 100 Episodes

For almost 100 episodes over the course of five seasons, Arrow has given fans a lot of laughs, heartbreak, and overall, entertainment. But as much as we see onscreen during every installment of The CW’s hit superhero series, so much more goes on behind-the-scenes when Arrow films long days and even longer nights up in Vancouver.

From goofing off with fellow cast members to shedding some tears during the filming of iconic characters’ death scenes, we got the cast of Arrow and one of the showrunners to reminisce on their most memorable time on set to celebrate the series hitting the milestone of 100 episodes during the mega four-part DC crossover. Hey, on a show that dedicates so much time to telling a flashback storyline, it was only appropriate for the stars and creator to talk about their own personal flashbacks!

“My most memorable [moment] is certainly the flashback that I shot with Susanna Thompson in season two,” series star Stephen Amell told us. “It was a way back flashback from before the boat went down and it was just the two of us, mother and son, dealing with something. That will always be the most memorable because that was my last scene up until that point with Susanna.”

On that same note, executive producer Marc Guggenheim also chose a moment that included Thompson, as well as other dearly departed cast members Colin O’Donnell and Katie Cassidy.

“It’s so hard to choose and I’m going to get in trouble no matter what I say, but here goes,” Guggenheim shared. “I’ve actually been on the set for Tommy’s, Moira’s and Laurel’s deaths. All three times were really, really difficult and emotional.”

But when pressed to pick just one as his most memorable, Guggenheim had a difficult time. “I would probably have to go with Tommy’s because it was the first and in many ways, the first is always the most memorable,” he said. “We hadn’t yet gotten to the point where we were just killing people every season, but it’s always difficult. But I have to say, being on set for those scenes is always incredibly hard on everybody, but Susanna and Katie and Colin all were so gracious and so professional and such class acts, especially on nights like those. If I had to guess, I would think that Susanna had it the worst because her death scene was outdoors on a really cold, not-so-nice Vancouver night. Everyone was freezing but she had to lie down on wet leaves. And Colin was walking around with this apparatus that faked a piece of rebar going through him. It’s always tough, but those are the most memorable. I can’t pick just one.”

When it came time for Emily Bett Rickards, who plays Felicity Smoak, to choose, she went for the opposite end of the spectrum and picked a moment that always makes her laugh.

“Colton [Haynes] used to sing this song every time he got hungry called ‘Donut Time,'” Rickards said with a laugh. “I still have a video of it. ‘Donut tiiime. It’s donut tiiiiime.’ I still sing it.”

As for Haynes, his favorite moments on set were “just hanging out with everyone.”

“It’s amazing, we’re still all friends and we still talk after the fact,” Haynes said. “But probably my favorite is when people would mess up lines. If I start laughing I can’t stop. It would get to the point where they would have to not have me in the scene.”

For Paul Blackthorne, who plays Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance, the scenes he shared with his onscreen daughter Cassidy, who played Laurel, were his favorite.

“I’ve been really fortunate to work here for four seasons with Katie Cassidy,” Blackthorne said. “I really enjoyed the time we had on set together. And all the scenes we had onscreen together were always my favorite. And then this year, I truly love doing scenes with Willa [Holland, who plays Thea Queen] because I don’t think our characters had ever even spoken to each other in previous seasons. We barely said a word to each other and no we’re having these intense conversations, and I’ve really been enjoying that as well.”

Cast member Madison McLaughlin had a short stint on Arrow back in season four before joining the series full time in season five as new Team Arrow recruit Artemis, and she had a hard time picking just one moment that stood out as the most memorable.

“Everything from when I was here last season to Stephen helping me figure out where to hide my gun to this season,” McLaughlin said. “This is my first real season getting to work with Emily and David [Ramsey] and these people I’ve been watching on this show since season one. We’ve had a lot of really good times both on set and off set. We’re truly a family now. I love that. You don’t get that on a lot of shows so it’s really special to have.”

And new season five cast member Joe Dinicol echoed his fellow new Team Arrow recruit McLaughlin when it came time to pick his most memorable flashback from the set.

“Working with Echo [Kellum] and our little crew of Mister Terrific and Wild Dog [Rick Gonzalez] and Artemis and Oliver and Felicity, the long days in the bunker have been a lot of fun,” Dinicol said. “They’re just such fun people to work with. And also watching them accomplish some of the action stuff is really inspiring and amazing. It looks so incredible on the show. Everything that we see on set is really impressive and then made even better in the final product. That’s not always the case, especially when it comes to special effects or action stuff, that can sometimes be disappointing. On this show, it’s ratcheted up 1,000 times by the time you see it. It’s so impressive.”

What is your favorite onscreen moment from the past 99 episodes of Arrow? Tweet me your picks at @SydneyBucksbaum!

The 100th episode of Arrow airs Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. on The CW.

Images: The CW

Bizarre States #112: Bizarre States Classic: Jack The Ripper with Ptolemy Slocum

Jessica and Bowser are away for Thanksgiving so we decided to run an old classic with Ptolemy Slocum who you can now see on HBO’s Westworld!

Special guest, Ptolemy Slocum, goes over the recent Jack the Ripper discovery with Bizarre States and shares some unnerving stories of the unknown.

Originally aired 9/11/14

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Follow @JessicaChobot, @andrewbowser and @Bizarre_States on Twitter! Keep up to date by Liking the Bizarre States Facebook page! Watch Nerdist News!

Image Credit: HBO

How Loud is The Incredible Hulk’s Thundercap?

I like super powers that are clever uses of the clichés. If you had super strength, yes of course you could punch through a wall or lift a bus over your head, but you could also high-five yourself so hard that the concrete beneath your feet would melt. This is why I love the Incredible Hulk‘s famous thunderclap — it’s more interesting than a hard punch and more destructive than you’d think. But just how powerful this clap is depends on what it would really sound like.

In my latest Because Science, I’m putting in a pair of ear plugs and trying to estimate how loud a thunderclap from the Hulk would be based on what we’ve seen in the comics and movies. Step one is defining what loud is, and the most common unit of measurement for that is the decibel. A decibel is a base ten logarithmic unit — a measured value must go up by a factor of ten to go up one decibel — that describes a ratio, in this case how much louder a sound is compared to the threshold for human hearing.

According to the comics, the Hulk’s thunderclap is as loud as a sonic boom or a hurricane, and in some cases is loud enough to be lethal. But just how loud is that, scientifically speaking? Watch my latest episode above to find out!

Check out my last video on whether or not Wolverine’s claws could cut through Superman, subscribe to this playlist to stay current with the show, buy a Because Science shirt, mug, or collectible pin (you know why), and follow me on Twitter or Instagram to give me a suggestion for the next episode!

Watch a Rube Goldberg Machine Make the Best Thanksgiving Meal Ever

Riddle me this, turkey people: what do you get when you combine some vegetables, a raw bird, a very excitable dog, and a big ol’ axe? Just another Tuesday night at Patrick Bateman’s house? What you actually get is one hell of a Rube Goldberg machine that runs using majority dog power (dog horsepower?) that can cook a delicious Thanksgiving meal while simultaneously endangering the lives of your beloved pets.

The contraption shown in the above video was created by YouTuber and professional Rube Goldberg machine-builder Joseph Herscher, and manages to animate a Rube Goldberg machine that cuts vegetables, stuffs turkeys, exercises your dog, and turns your kitchen into a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark all in one fell swoop.

At first, the video, part of Herscher’s “Joseph’s Machines” series, seems like a normal set-up for a little cooking demonstration, but things become a bit odd right around this part:

Herscher proceeds to use his dog to power the axe—quite effectively actually; the Queen of Shitty Robots may now have some analog competition—and then automatically cup-toss the chopped veggies into a big gaping bird hole.

Even though the Rube Goldberg machines that Herscher sets up throughout the making of the meal are quite impressive, the highlight of the video has to be when he stuffs a half pound of butter in between his dog’s butt and the dog’s bed in order to warm it. Which is totally fair, as we know that body heat works for a lot of things, like powering smart watches.

Even though the contraptions seem fairly dangerous for Matthew—Joseph’s dog—he doesn’t seem to be harmed at all, so all’s well that ends well. (Still, nobody should eat that turkey.)

What do you think about this Thankgiving Rube Goldberg machine? Would you ever try to make a meal like this, or are you happy to settle for a leftover-stuffed Moist Maker? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Joseph’s Machines

Home Geekonomics: The Bird’s The Word

Home Geekonomics is a series that features the best in geeky home decor, food, and DIY. Each week will focus on a specific fandom and highlight the best of geek for your home and everyday life.

It’s turkey day and the bird is front and center! The centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner is what everyone looks forward to, and thankfully—with these artistic odes to poultry—the holiday can actually be celebrated year round, if you’re all about that bird.

Plush turkeys, purse turkeys even pet turkeys all come together in this roundup of turkey items that we all should be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Purse by Rebel Skein

How much stuffing can you stuff in a turkey? Now you can find out for real with this hand-crocheted turkey purse. I would love to roll up to dinner with one of these on my hip, I’d definitely stuff it with leftover pumpkin pie to take home for later.

Rice Krispie Turkey Drumsticks by This Grandma is Fun

The name of this blog doesn’t lie, these three grandmas truly are fun! They come up lots of creative crafts and holiday ideas and these rice krispie drumsticks are a great way to serve up a sweet themed holiday snack. Made of Cocoa Krispies with pretzel rods and mini marshmallows serving as the bone, these would look great at a table setting for a post Thanksgiving dinner treat.

Felt Thanksgiving Dinner by Teela Sprinkles

In my opinion Thanksgiving dinner is the best meal of the year, and while you probably shouldn’t eat it every day at least you can look at all your favorite foods on the regular with this fun felt Thanksgiving dinner set. I mean, who wouldn’t want a handful of mashed potatoes by their side at all times?

Turkey Necklace by Foxy Funk

When you decorate for the holidays, don’t forget your outfit. This holiday dinner necklace is made of laser cut acrylic and cherry wood and “features the imagery of a fresh out of the oven roasted turkey with dressings on a silver platter.” Sometimes you just have to put a bird on it. A cooked one.

Cat Turkey Sweater by Simply Sphynx

Cats dressed as turkeys is the next big thing. Even if it isn’t, you can make it be the next big thing with this cute Thanksgiving turkey outfit. Dress up your fuzziest butterball for the day (if they’re willing) and take a festive holiday photo. Oh and tweet it at us. We love cats, and turkeys, and cat-turkeys.

Images: Rebel Skein, This Grandma Is Fun, Teela Sprinkles, Foxy Funk, Simply Sphynx

This Mariachi Cover of STAR FOX 64 Star Wolf Theme Will Make You Barrel Roll

It’s time again to eat some of those delicious “Member Berries,” and reminisce about one of the greatest aircraft combat games in console history: Star Fox 64. It boasted some of the tightest gameplay of its time, some of the best characters (Slippy, we love you, but please do shut up) and now, thanks to Banjo Guy Ollie and the Mariachi Entertainment System, a kick-ass Mariachi version of Star Wolf’s theme song.

In the game, the Star Wolf theme belongs to Star Wolf, the gang of mercenaries led by Wolf O’Donnell—the guy who “can’t loooooose.” If you need a refresher of the original epic, and spastic, track, it can be found here.

Ollie and MES’s take on the track, which comes via Laughing Squid, is perfect for a weird Breaking Bad cut scene; in other words, classic Mariachi. It’s to be expected that the mariachi version of the track is a little less hyper than the original because of the genre, plus the fact that before they started playing, all of the musicians in the video pounded shots of whiskey as well as something out of a nondescript jug that was hopefully full of tequila (for the sake of being thematic).

Banjo Guy Ollie has covered tons of other video game music on his YouTube channel, including Street Fighter II and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. So if you feel like doing nothing except for playing classic video games in a sombrero and your underwear over the holidays, you may have just found the perfect soundtrack.

What do you think about this mariachi take on the Star Wolf theme? Never give up, trust your instincts, and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Images: Banjo Guy Ollie

Schlock & Awe: SHOGUN ASSASSIN

We talk a lot in our field of interest, which is nowadays dominated by comic book movie adaptations, about how closely some movie or other hews to a particular source material. Simply being faithful isn’t always enough; you have to get the tone, the spirit of the original while still making it distinctly its own. This is why movies like Deadpool succeed and Watchmen doesn’t: they’re both “faithful,” but one doesn’t get the tone at all. Perhaps the most perfect version of this I’ve ever seen are the Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub films, which got turned into the English-dubbed Shogun Assassin.

NSFW Trailer!

In the early 1970s, a manga was published that changed the face of action books in Japan. Unfathomably popular and long-running, writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima unleashed Lone Wolf and Cub, a highly visual story of honor, betrayal, and bloody revenge that remains a touchstone for visual storytelling of its kind. It follows the adventures of a disgraced former “second” to the Shogun in Edo Japan. (The “second” went to various feudal lords, after the Shogun demanded they commit seppuku, and would cut off their heads to relieve the pain of self disemboweling.) After a he’s betrayed by a rival family, and his wife is killed, this samurai and his infant son, Daigoro, go on a quest all across the land to get revenge on anyone involved in the betrayal. However, because of the double-cross, all of Japan believes him to be an enemy of the Shogun and must fight off assassins and ninjas out to kill him. These stories were turned into six films between 1972 and 1974, all starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Itto, the titular Lone Wolf.

And that brings us to producer Robert Houston, who wanted to bring the films to North America, with an English dub track. However, since the six original Japanese films are based on a property that weren’t particularly well known over here, he edited together the first two films, using 12 minutes of the first—Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance—and the majority of the second—Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx. And, since this was 1980, he had composer Mark Lindsay create a whole new, electro score for the movie, and added some creepy narration from a slightly older Daigoro. It’s this opening narration that made its way into Quentin Tarantino‘s Kill Bill vol. 2 and rapper GZA‘s album Liquid Swords.

I’m impossibly creeped out by this beginning. That little kid’s voice coupled with the music just gives me the willies for some reason. The visuals you can’t see include a lot of the elements from the first film, including the inciting incident of Ogami’s wife being murdered and him being framed. Later, in one of the series’ most iconic moments, before fully committing to his quest to become a “demon,” Ogami places a sword and a toy ball in front of the baby Daigoro and asks him to choose. If the boy goes over to the ball, Ogami will kill him and let him be with his mother, but if he chooses the sword, the boy will live but be raised in a world of violence and bloodshed. Luckily for us—and for the iconic imagery of a hardened swordsman pushing around a baby cart—Daigoro goes to the sword, and it creates the “greatest partnership in the history of mass slaughter.”

The first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies—written by Koike himself and directed by the great samurai film director Kenji Misumi—feel very episodic, not unlike watching issues of the manga up on the screen…which was the point. The movies were much more about action, heavy gore, and set pieces than any cohesive story. But Houston had to change things around for a single film to be palatable in America, and the method was surprisingly simple: in the original story, Ogami is betrayed by a rival clan, and his dogged search for the members of this clan, and for the leader of it, carries through the whole series. But in Shogun Assassin, the dubbing makes it clear that the Shogun himself is behind the betrayal, and that everyone Ogami kills along the way is a direct representative of the Shogun, who now lives in fear of his former decapitator. Smart, clean, concise.

What has made Shogun Assassin so infamous over the years has been the excessive violence, most of which comes from Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx. The inventiveness in the methods of dispatching the enemies are increasingly ingenious: Ogami uses his sword, but has also decked out Daigoro’s baby cart to be full of hidden, detachable weapons, like a quarterstaff with spring-loaded blades on either side, blades on the wheels that Daigoro himself can unsheathe to cut down enemies at the ankles, and a barrage of throwing knives and daggers. And each of the deaths in the film is as bloody as can be, often with literal geysers of red liquid exploding from a body after it’s swiped, stabbed, or cut. Arterial blood spray of this kind was not new—Akira Kurosawa used it first in his 1962 film, Sanjuro—but it becomes a literal art form in this movie, acting like a bright red exclamation mark on another gorgeously choreographed fight sequence.

Which brings me back to my initial conceit: that Shogun Assassin/Lone Wolf and Cub is the perfect translation from comic to screen. These movies are visual poetry. There are shots directly lifted from panels in the original manga, but there’s also a balletic fluidity in the action, in the camera movement, the editing, and in Wakayama’s graceful and powerful swordsmanship. The slightly portly actor was not what Ogami looked like in the manga, but he sold Koike on playing the part through his sheer prowess in katana-wielding, and his determination that he was right for the role. It’s that kind of spirit that Ogami has as a character, which only helped to heighten the performance. He’s stern-faced and impossibly stoic, until he strikes like a snake.

The ultimate success of Shogun Assassin comes not from what was changed by Robert Houston for an American release, but how much remained the same. Once the story got going, he let the original’s distinctive visuals and in-your-face gore do the talking. While the Lone Wolf and Cub movies should be seen by samurai movie fans everywhere, Shogun Assassin is a worthy remix.

Image: Toho

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

Let’s go from iron sword to Iron Fist!

MST3K Volume XXXVII is One of the Funniest Yet

It’s astonishing to me that XXXVII (37!?!?!) volumes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 have been released on DVD via Shout! Factory’s four-episodes-per-set scheme, and that’s still not all the episodes that exist. A great many have been released, of course, and several have come out in single-edition sets (and some now-out-of-print sets are getting re-released), but it seems like we should be almost out of episodes, let alone four of the funniest in one box set. This round of DVDs is a good mix of genres and, as per usual, contains some great special features both about the show and the movies themselves. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

The set is an even split between Comedy Central episodes and Syfy Channel episodes, one Joel episode and three Mike episodes. I’m a kid of the Syfy era, so those two especially feel like warm hugs, but all four had me rolling in the aisles like I hadn’t in a good long while…s. Rhyme.

420 – The Human Duplicators

From arguably the funniest Joel season of the bunch, producing such megahits as Teenagers from Space, a trio of Italian Hercules pictures, and the immortal Manos: the Hands of Fate, The Human Duplicators finds an alien—played by future Bond villain Richard Kiel—taking over a professor’s mansion-basement laboratory, and makes android clones to infiltrate the government. Joel and the bots sing songs about being duplicated.

This disc has the least amount of extras, but it does contain the wraparound host segments from the MST3K Hour, which was when Comedy Central had an hour to kill so it would show half the episode’s movie stuff at a time. These are hosted by Michael J. Nelson playing a criminally insane version of A&E host Jack Perkins. Incredibly weird and hilarious.

705 – Escape 2000

The penultimate Comedy Central episode—the shortened season 7—found everybody working at the top of their game with some of the funniest riffs I’ve heard. The movie, an Italian Escape from New York ripoff, was actually titled Escape from the Bronx (since it was a sequel to 1999: The Bronx Warriors) but for some reason was re-titled for the version the TV show could obtain. Anyway, it’s got some amazing sequences featuring a loud gang member Mike and the bots call Toblerone, a woman who they think is a devil-possessed vampire, and about a million jokes about telling people to “leave the Bronx.” The mads segments have Dr. Forrester trying to put his mother, Pearl, in a home…but actually he just traps her in a child’s toy house.

The extras for the three Mike episodes are essentially the same, so I’ll list them once: each of these has an introduction/retrospect on the episode by Mary Jo Pehl, a writer on the show and the actress who portrayed Pearl Forrester. She’s got a lot of fun memories about working on each of the episodes. Also included on each is featurette on the making of the movie in question, talking to experts, critics, or people actually involved in the production. These are all great, as extras producer, Ballyhoo Pictures, always does an A+ job.

817 – The Horror of Party Beach

The first Syfy Channel year saw 22 episodes and, in addition to having Pearl be the main mad scientist, the departure of Trace Beaulieu the season prior meant Crow had to change voices, to writer/Brain Guy performer Bill Corbett. During this first year, Syfy mandated that there had to be some kind of narrative arc to the host segments, so it saw Mike and the Satellite of Love being chased through time by Pearl, beginning the season in a Planet of the Apes-like world, then going on to a world made up of ghostly Observers who carry their brains in a pan, and eventually—as in this episode—landing in Ancient Rome. These are pretty funny, and it’s around this time that the complete Mads team of Pearl, Brain Guy, and Professor Bobo (Kevin Murphy) really began to gel.

The movie itself is a weird little anomaly from the early-’60s; it’s half beach party, teeny-boppers-on-the-beach dance movie, and half radioactive chemicals creating a hideous fish beast movie. To say nothing of the monsters looking like their mouths are overflowing with hot dogs, the best stuff in the episode involves riffs about the teen surf rockers and the biker gang evidently headed by Johnny Mathis.

819 – Invasion of the Neptune Men

Finally, we have the episode just one removed from Party Beach, Invasion of the Neptune Men. This was a Japanese film by Toei Studios aimed at kids, which saw a seemingly normal guy—a friend of young children everywhere—become a superhero named Space Chief who, in his awesome custom car, must destroy the eponymous Neptune Men. When it was shipped to the U.S., the distributors cut out some stuff, but then had to add back in stock footage to fill the TV time slot. So the result makes little sense, though it is cool to see future action star, Sonny Chiba, assaying the friendly Space Chief.

This was a thing Toei did a fair amount of; the episode before Party Beach was another such production, with almost the same plot but different characters, called Prince of Space.

All of these episodes are a delight and, you guessed it, I highly recommend adding this to your nigh-overflowing collection of MST3K episodes.

Images: Best Brains/Shout! Factory

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!

For more MSTie goodness, watch my interview with the new cast!

Love, Alexi #45: Robert Schwartzman

Robert Schwartzman (Rooney, Dreamland) and Alexi talk relationships, music, family, & his directorial debut Dreamland.

Follow @alexiwasser on instagram/facebook/snapchat, check out imboycrazy.com and send emails for Alexi to read on air: DearLoveAlexi@gmail.com!

Marvel Pays Homage to the Past with Retro Painted Variant Covers

Welcome comics fangirls and fanboys to your Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend edition of Comics Relief! Lots of news going into the holiday for you comics fans, and to start things off, we have news on a bit of a blast from the past from Marvel coming next year. Read on for all the details!

Painter Joe Jusko Pays Homage to the Past with New Covers

Back in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, a staple of Marvel Comics was the corner box on the left hand corner of each comic, with a classic image of that particular title’s character or characters. That disappeared in the ’90s sometime, but now Marvel is doing a tribute to those images with a series of variant covers by famed painter Joe Jusko, who many Marvel fans will remember as the artist who painted several series of Marvel collector’s trading cards back in the day.

Throughout the month of February, over twenty Marvel series will feature Jusko’s reinterpretations of the classic artwork that appeared on the covers of most of Marvel’s comics for over three decades. Jusko will pay homage to the work of many of the greatest artists to work in Marvel comics, like Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Steve Ditko and many others. You can see 8 of the 20 images by Joe Jusko in this series by clicking on the following link: [CBR]

Grant Morrison Blends the Bible with Conan the Barbarian in Savage Sword of Jesus (Yes, Really)

Only Grant Morrison, the writer of Klaus and Animal Man, could pull something like this off. Morrison is bringing a brand new comic series titled Savage Sword of Jesus Christ to Heavy Metal, the magazine where he is currently the editor-in-chief. In an interview, Morrison revealed that, “It just seemed too much of a gift, especially in light of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal imagery, to combine this notion of Conan the Barbarian and Jesus Christ.”

The artists for Savage Sword of Jesus Christ are the Molen Brothers, who are known for their work on The Aftermath, which is described as “an Absurdist comic book and art project consisting of science-fiction stories and artwork set in a retro-apocalyptic future.” Savage Sword of Jesus Christ goes on sale December 28. [Vulture]

Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal is Now a BOOM! Studios Book

Jim Henson’s classic film The Dark Crystal was supposed to get a sequel back in the day, but Henson’s untimely death in 1990 stopped that plan in its tracks. Now the film is finally getting a continuation—in the pages of comics, at least. Archaia—an imprint of BOOM! Studios—together with The Jim Henson Company have announced The Power of the Dark Crystal, a new comic book series that serves as a sequel to the beloved 1982 film.

The new comic is based on the screenplay by David Odell, Annette Odell, and Craig Pearce that was written for a planned feature film. This will be a 12-issue monthly limited series, and is going to be adapted by writer Simon Spurrier and illustrated by artists Kelly and Nichole Matthews. The first issue of The Power of the Dark Crystal debuts on February 15, 2017. You can see the cover image for issue #1 above. [Hollywood Reporter]

The Inhumans line Get Major Expansion with Three New Titles

As a result of the upcoming Inhumans vs. X-Men series, several new titles featuring the Inhumans are coming next year to Marvel, the publisher announced this week. First up is Royals, which is obviously about the Inhuman Royal Family, as they head out into space. In this series—by writer Al Ewing and former Teen Titans artist Jonboy Meyers—the Inhumans return to space to seek out the remains of the Kree Empire and discover the truth about Terrigenesis.

Also coming is Black Bolt, the first solo series for the Inhuman King. Written by The Crescent Moon Kingdoms novelist Saladin Ahmed, with art by Christian Ward, Black Bolt finds King Blackagar Boltagon (that’s his full name folks) incarcerated in the galaxy’s most dangerous prison.

Finally, Secret Warriors returns, from writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Javier Garron. The new series will feature Inhuman Daisy Johnson, also known as Quake, as well as her fellow Inhumans Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Inferno, and the Royal Karnak. Other non-Inhuman characters will be featured in the book as well. All three titles are scheduled for Spring 2017. [Newsarama]

More Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern Covers Revealed

Last week we revealed that DC Comics and BOOM! Studios were teaming up for an epic Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern crossover, and now we have a series of amazing variant covers for the first issue.  Variant covers for the six issue min-series include a movie poster homage cover by Steve Morris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a Silver Age-themed cover by Paul Rivoche (Batman ‘66), a foil-stamped cover by Felipe Massafera (Wonder Woman), and a vintage action figure cover by David Ryan Robinson (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). You can see them all in our gallery below: [Newsarama]

Images: Marvel Comics / BOOM! Studios / DC Comics / Heavy Metal Magazine