Gerard Way is posting Gabriel Bá’s concept art from the third Umbrella Academy series.
Click through for the full size versions.
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A Few Words About (And A Handful Of Pics From) Bryan Lee O’Malley’s ‘Seconds’
IO9 just posted a nice interview with Scott Pilgrim creator, Bryan Lee O’Malley. The subject? O’Malley’s upcoming graphic novel, Seconds. Along with some hints as to the comic’s plot and inspirations, O’Malley also shared some images from the book.
Reprinted below are a few excerpts from the interview and some very cool pics.
Go, Read: My Barry Blumberg Interview At Animation Scoop
Barry Blumberg is the President of the #4 ranked YouTube channel, Smosh, and its animation arm, Shut Up! Cartoons. Since its launch in April of 2012, Shut Up! Cartoons has produced almost two dozen original animated series, garnering over a million devoted YouTube subscribers.
With Shut Up! Cartoons’ wildly popular Oishi High School Battle just starting its second season, I thought it would be the perfect time to bother this inordinately busy man with my inane questions. After all, I was just sitting around watching YouTube. He was overseeing an online animated empire. What WOULDN’T we have to talk about?
Click here to read the interview.
Oh, and if you’re feeling generous, please say something kind in the comments. This is my first interview for Animation Scoop, and I really want to make Jerry Beck think I’m worth all the trouble I’ve caused him thus far.
Can’t Exploit The Comic? Exploit The Creator!
Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio have purchased the rights to Dan Dollar’s screenplay, A Boy And His Tiger. The script is about Calvin And Hobbes creator Bill Watterson’s early career and “his struggle with sudden popularity, coverage, and licensing battles.”
For over twenty years, the “notoriously reclusive” Watterson has been turning down Hollywood’s offers for a big screen adaptation of Calvin and Hobbes. It’s not hard to imagine how he feels about this.
3 Quick Thoughts On Obama’s Mo-Cap Photo-Op
Note: This post has NOTHING to do with the President appearing for a photo-op at DreamWorks because Katzenberg donated millions of dollars to him over the past decade. That’s a post for a much more politically astute website. This post is about Katzenberg’s odd choice of taking the president to his animation studio, then showing him improvised, leotard-clad, performance art.
If you haven’t yet seen the clip in question, please watch it, then continue. If you’ve already watched it once…well, once was more than enough, wasn’t it?
Jack Frost Confesses To Fashion Faux Pas
It’s taken almost a year, but the angsty and eternally adolescent Jack Frost has FINALLY released a statement regarding his former, frolicking, imp-like image:
“IT WAS A PHASE.”
While I don’t believe this will be enough to curb the constant questioning over his 1979 Bowie-esque dalliance with glitter and tights, I’m glad to see he’s finally acknowledged it.
Truth be told, I liked him better that way.
Photos & quote via: chick-with-a-blender
VFX Artists Planning Presidential Protest
Variety reports: VFX Artists to Protest Obama’s DreamWorks Visit
As President Obama visits DreamWorks Animation’s Glendale campus on Tuesday, visual effects artists, frustrated by the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries that offer generous subsidies, are planning a rally outside the DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale.
An effort also is under way to get those attending the speech — largely restricted to studio employees — to wear green shirts in solidarity on the issue and to call the president’s attention to the problem. The green shirts represent a blank greenscreen — the message being “This is your movie without visual effects.”
Bad Dinosaur: Dino’s Delay Leads To Layoffs At Pixar
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Pixar has laid off “an undisclosed number of people at its Emeryville, Calif., headquarters due to the delay of its forthcoming film The Good Dinosaur.”
While no concrete numbers are available yet, the layoffs are rumored to affect less than 5% of the company’s 1,200 employees.
Animation fans may recall that this past summer, The Good Dinosaur‘s original director, Bob Peterson, was removed from the project. A month later, the film was pushed back from its original release date of May 30, 2014, to Nov. 25, 2015. This delay has left Pixar without a movie for 2014.
In related news, Pixar closed its Vancouver studios last month, laying off approximately 80 employees.
We at Skunk send our deepest condolences to those folks who have lost their jobs.
‘Sleeper’ To Awaken In The Arms Of Affleck & Damon
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are producing a film adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ superhero spy comic, Sleeper.
This is GREAT NEWS in my opinion, as Sleeper is my second favorite espionage comic book of all time. (1st place? Steranko’s Nick Fury.)
Sleeper is the tale of Holden Carver (a.k.a. The Conductor) — an angry, anti-social, super-powered secret agent. After being fused with an alien artifact, Carver is imbued with increased strength, heightened healing and the ability to store pain and pass it on to others. The story opens with Carver working DEEP undercover in a James Bond-y criminal organization run by an evil genius named Tao. How deep? Only one man, John Lynch, the director of International Operations, knows that Carver is really one of the good guys. Then Lynch gets killed. This leaves Carver stranded in the middle of his mission, with the good guys believing he’s a bad guy and the bad guys beginning to suspect he may not be who he claims to be. Chaos, bloodshed and S&M ensues.
HTTYD 2 Poster Premiers!
DreamWorks has released the new poster for 2014′s How to Train Your Dragon 2. The film’s director, Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch, HTTYD), described his plans for the sequel at this year’s Comic-Con, saying:
We get to start when the first movie left off, which is now Vikings can fly on the backs of dragons and the entire world is open to them for exploration. Hiccup can now push beyond the known world and expand the map in every direction, and inevitably he has to come to some sort of conflict out there where dragons and humans are at war. We get to the idea that an encroaching threat will find its way to Berk.
Somewhere In The City, The Kingpin Smiles
The ugly, accident-prone, fiscally f*cked Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, will close its doors in January, Variety reports.
While the $75 million musical takes in an estimated $1 million per week, the show costs $1.2 million per week to produce. Add in the large legal settlement made to original director, Julie Taymor, as well as the countless payouts to those folks injured during the show’s run, and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is now officially “the most expensive production in Broadway history and a financial wreck for investors.”
Thank heavens Uncle Ben didn’t live to see this.
‘The Wind Rises’ Has A U.S. Trailer
Here it is. The official American trailer for Miyzaki’s final film, The Wind Rises. The film begins its limited release on 2/21/14, going wide on 2/28/14. I can’t wait!
Thanks to Animation Scoop for the, well, ‘scoop.’
Related: This Quote Killed Me (Michael Sporn’s BEAUTIFULLY worded review of The Wind Rises)
Is Arseface Coming To AMC?
Badass Digest is reporting that AMC has ordered a pilot based on the darkly humorous, decidedly adult comic book, Preacher, by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Continue reading
Breaking News: ‘Family Guy’ Creates A Stir Among The Easily Shaken
(Or: I may not be a fan of Family Guy, but I’m even LESS a fan of folks who try and censor Family Guy.)
Here’s the skinny: Some headline-hunting parents group is calling for a bitch-blitz over Family Guy‘s 11/10 episode. The complaint? Well, there’s a lot of ‘em, but basically it boils down to Family Guy being Family Guy — stupid sex gags, tasteless plot points and an endless, exhausting quest for ‘edginess.’
Twelve seasons, and they’re only discovering this NOW?! Continue reading
Chozen Wants To Play Your Ass Like A Sax
(What? I’m paraphrasing.)
From the twisted minds behind Eastbound & Down comes FX’s newest controversy-courting cartoon, Chozen. The show follows gay, white rapper, Chozen (Bobby Moynihan), as he graduates jail and heads back out into society, ready to take over the rap game.
Chozen is written by Eastbound & Down alum Grant Dekernion, and executive produced by Eastbound‘s own David Gordon Green, Jody Hill and Danny McBride. With a pedigree like that, it’s a safe bet that this intentionally offensive, animated insanity will also be smart, subversive and incredibly cringe-worthy.
Chozen premieres January 13.
‘Maleficent’ Trailer Casts A Gullibility Spell Over Fairy Tale Fans
The thorny tangle, horned cowl, winged familiar and ever-looming threat of large needle-like objects…IT’S ALL HERE!
My logical mind tells me not to get my hopes up, silently shouting the words, “Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland” over and over like a mantra-themed meme. But my stupid self, the one that left HUGE factual errors in his first piece published by Animation Scoop? That part of me is getting giddy.
Fearsome Night Fury Captured On Film!
Here they are, the FIRST TWO PHOTOS of the elusive Night Fury!
While rumors persist that a young boy from Berk has not only captured, but TRAINED one of these deadly beasts (YEAH, RIGHT!), these are the only known photographs of one in flight.
The team of dragonologists who captured these miraculous pics believe the fearsome Night Fury will pass over North America in the next few weeks. All signs point to NYC on Thanksgiving morning.
Related: THERE’S GOING TO BE A TOOTHLESS BALLOON FOR THE THANKSGIVING PARADE! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Tumblr’s Top Comics Talk
Nightwing commutes between Blüdhaven and Gotham. Aquaman splits his time between the ocean floor and the Hall of Justice. Me? I spend every other hour toggling back and forth between the wide open plains of the World Wide Web and the dank, darkened confines of Tumblr.
Why?
Cuz while the internet likes to think of itself as erudite and enlightened, Tumblr is unapologetic in its nerdiness and navel-gazing. It’s a lot like a comic book shop in that way. And just like a comic book shop, if you browse around long enough, you’re bound to come across something that — for better or worse — you would have NEVER seen anywhere else.
Here are a few of the better bits I happened upon this week.
Marvel Is Making Sequels To Their Sequels & Spin-Offs Of Their Spin-Offs
In a move that will surely shock millions, Marvel has boldly decided to move forward on a few more comic book adaptations.
Pediatric!
A pediatric pain scale, starring Finn!
From Pendelton Ward’s website:
When nursing student Janell suggested how kids in her pediatric ward might better respond to Finn’s face on the traditional “Wong-Baker Facial Grimace Scale,” Adventure Time character designer Matt Forsythe drew up these Finns, from “no pain” to “worst pain possible,” for her.
How sweet is this?
Animation Economics
TAG blog reports:
“When Disney was a tiny, struggling little studio at the bottom of the Depression, the company had artists test gratis. [...] Now that Diz Co. is a huge, multi-national conglomerate, the conglom has artists test gratis.”
Yikes. Pretty crappy.
But on the bright side, this is the ONE area where The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has managed to uphold the credo, ‘What would Walt do?’
2nd Trailer For Michel Gondry’s Noam Chomsky Doc Is A Trippy Delight
I’m pretty excited to see Michel Gondry’s animated Noam Chomsky documentary, Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy? While I know very little about Chomsky, Michel Gondry is the director of TWO of my favorite films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party). Not only that, but his music video collection, Director’s Series, Vol. 3 - The Work of Director Michel Gondry, is a Whitman’s Sampler of amazing animation — lo-budget and big budget, hand drawn and CG, stop-motion and puppetry, cutout and claymation.
To think that Gondry is about to release a FULL LENGTH FEATURE CARTOON delights me to no end!
‘The Good Dinosaur’ Poster Is A Fake!
Jeffery Katzenberg Loves Rihanna(The Brand, If Not The Person)
Jeffery Katzenberg hopes that adding pop star Rihanna to DreamWorks’ upcoming animated films will be a mutually beneficial business move — but only if SHE STOPS ACTING LIKE RIHANNA!
New ‘Frozen’ Trailer Is The Best Yet!
This new Frozen trailer is GREAT. Instead of all the easy (and kinda cringe-worthy) snowman gags that dragged down the previous teasers, this trailer focuses on the STORY. Not only that, it finally tells us something about the Ice Queen herself, Elsa. While Anna looks like a nice, sweet, blandly inoffensive character, I’ve yet to see anything that makes her unique. But Elsa? In this trailer? She’s captured my imagination. She’s the accidental villain. The misunderstood mutant. A wounded soul. The victim of a ‘gift’ she cannot control, one that forces her to flee her kingdom, her family, EVERYTHING.
Beware The Batman: Bumped?
When DC branded their cartoon line, ‘DC Nation,’ they did so because it rhymed with ‘animation.’ What they forgot wuz, it ALSO rhymes with ‘cancelation’ — a problem that is plaguing their current crop of cartoons.
Comic Book News, In Brief
Dan Slott (author of my all-time favorite She-Hulk book) and Mike Allred (artist of one of my all-time favorite X-books, X-Statix) and are teaming up for a new Silver Surfer series. (You guessed it: One of my all-time favorite comic book characters!)
While this sounds an awful lot like Marvel is tapping my REM sleep, robbing me of my dream comics, I’m not planning on pressing any charges just yet. So long as the series ends up being as all-caps AMAZING as it oughta be, we’re cool. But if it starts slipping into guest writers and fill-in artists before the first TPB is complete, I’m calling on the combined powers of Freddy Krueger, Morpheus and Li’l Nemo of Slumberland to take back what’s rightfully mine.
I’ve Got Good News, Charlie Brown!
Peanuts fans have reason to rejoice! Not only is there a new series of animated shorts on the way, there’s a GIGANTIC book of Schulz’ original artwork in the pipeline, as well.
Comic Book News, In Brief
Bridesmaids and Freaks & Geeks mastermind, Paul Feig, had a humorous pitch for a Wonder Woman movie. It involved Batman and Superman acting slightly sexist and, well, that was pretty much all Warner Bros. needed to hear before passing. Via.
Amy Poehler Shares A Li’l Inside Info On ‘Inside Out’
On a recent episode of the podcast, Comedy Bang Bang, Amy Poehler (Parks & Rec, U.C.B.) spoke to host Scott Auckerman (a.k.a. The Choctaw), about her work on the upcoming Pixar flick, Inside Out.
Posted below are a few of the highlights:
New Henson Bio Dissects The Fist Inside The Frog
Faulty logic makes filling out one’s daily blog posts sooo much easier.
Here’s today’s:
Cartoons are animation, and puppeteering is animation. Therefore, puppeteering is cartoons.
Which means…
I GET TO TALK ABOUT THE NEW JIM HENSON BIOGRAPHY!
YAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaay!
