It was a holiday week in the U.S., but that didn’t mean we were at a loss for comic book and movie news. Here are the week’s top stories:

- The announcement that “Watchmen” will be returning to theaters this month caused a big buzz — enough to make it our top story of the week!

- Samuel L. Jackson told us whether fans can expect to see Nick Fury in action in “Iron Man 2.”

- Percy Carey (a.k.a. MF Grimm) interviewed “Batman & Robin” writer Grant Morrison about a variety of comics-related subjects, and the first clip was a shoo-in for the week’s top stories. Watch it and you’ll know why! Read more…

Anyone following Splash Page on Twitter is already well aware of my fondness for Marvel Comics’ semi-obscure cosmic hero “ROM: Spaceknight.” I regularly post links to various ROM-related images and videos readers find around the ‘Net and send me, and have been known to wax poetic about my favorite moments in ROM’s seven-year run battling the evil Dire Wraiths.

While ROM has made cameos in various television series like “Robot Chicken” and “South Park” over the years, there’s generally been little reason to talk about him here on Splash Page… until now. Justin Aclin, editor of “ToyFare” Magazine recently sent over this early peek at a parody ad in the upcoming issue, and offered me the perfect opportunity to give ROM his due on the site. Read more…

Last week, I rounded up some of recently deceased entertainer Michael Jackson’s connections to the world of comic books in a post that generated quite a bit of buzz around the comics scene. Unfortunately, I left out one particular cameo by the King of Pop that should have come to mind earlier — mainly because it occurs in a comic I own.

As ComicMix points out, issue #16 of DC’s late-’80s, adult-oriented anthology series “Wasteland” featured a story chronicling the downward spiral of a lonely girl named Shari Evenson whose obsession with a familiar-looking “dark prince named Michael” eventually leads her to take her own life. It’s a small cameo, and writer John Ostrander never identifies the “Michael” as Jackson — but it’s pretty clear who the character is meant to represent. Read more…

Now that “300” is coming out with a super-duper, bells-and-whistles “Complete Experience” Blu-Ray disc on the 21st, it’s had me thinking about the first few times I saw the movie. Like many, I went in not knowing what to expect and came out in awe of Zack Snyder’s flick. And, like many, I’m a bit nervous about the news that Snyder, Frank Miller and their team are willing to revisit the Spartans — but hoping I’ll once again be awestruck.

“Frank’s working on something,” revealed producer Mark Canton when I caught up with him recently, telling me that he’s onboard to return for Snyder’s “300” sequel. “That, Zack has said.” Read more…

It might take a while for “Super Max” to come to fruition, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your live-action Green Arrow fix anywhere else — in fact, all it takes is a trip to Clark Kent’s hometown.

Justin Hartley plays Oliver Queen, the budding Green Arrow, on The CW’s “Smallville.” As the show enters its ninth season — rumored by some to be its last — many are wondering how much longer the series can go on for. According to Hartley, speculation on the show’s conclusion is premature at this stage. In fact the actor told Sci Fi Wire that the series could even last up to eight more seasons. Read more…

Okay, let’s face it — I have an unhealthy obsession with the upcoming “Batman: Arkham Asylum” video game. Every new glimpse of the game has impressed the heck out of me and made me more eager for its release date to arrive… but I know I’m not the only one around here feeling that way.

While I’m worried that no game could ever live up to my grand expectations for “Arkham Asylum” at this point, the project’s latest promotional video does little to bring my hopes back down to Earth — in fact, it only seems to inflate them even more. The video features a bunch of new gameplay footage and interviews with the game’s developers, includes some commentary from head writer Paul Dini, who’s made a long career out of scripting Batman’s adventures in both comics and various animated television series (not to mention his role on the creative team for “Lost”).

In fact, I enjoyed the latest promo video so much, I even snagged a few images from it to include in this post. Read more…

While “Star Trek” actor Clifton Collins Jr. confirmed to MTV News last month that he had a meeting with the live-action “Thor” movie team, it now looks like we won’t be seeing him in the much-anticipated Kenneth Branagh film when it hits theaters in May 2011.

“I have nothing to do with that piece,” said Collins in an interview with TheDeadbolt. “Absolutely nothing.” Read more…

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons‘ “Watchmen” wasn’t the best-selling graphic novel in U.S. bookstores last month — marking the first time it’s been knocked out of the top spot since June 2008.

According to pop culture business site ICv2, “Watchmen” dropped to the #2 in the monthly report on bookstore graphic novel sales, replaced by Vol. 27 of Tite Kubo’s “Bleach” manga. As always, sales of manga volumes like “Bleach” and “Naruto” dominated the month’s rankings, but “Watchmen” wasn’t the only comic book collection to factor into the report. Read more…

If you’ve been looking forward to Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s live-action “Green Hornet” movie, it looks like you’ll have to wait a little longer to see the pulp hero’s upcoming return to the big screen. Sony announced today that it’s moving the release date of “Green Hornet” from June 25 to July 9, 2010.

According to Variety, the move was made to allow room for the studio’s Adam Sandler-penned comedy, “Grown Ups,” which will feature Sandler and a long list of other popular comedy actors. While “Grown Ups” is currently the only film scheduled to open June 25, Rogen and “Green Hornet” co-star Stephen Chow will now go up against the animated film “Despicable Me” and the Robert Rodriguez film “Predators.” Read more…

Though she’s not sure when the film will move forward, actress Alexis Bledel has been told that the script for “Sin City 2” is complete and that this one is going to be a prequel, at least as far as her character is concerned.

“Someone told us yesterday that there’s a script,” Bledel’s “Post Grad” co-star Zach Gilford told MTV News during a chat with the pair.

“I don’t know what their source was,” added Alexis, “but they said they read the second script. … Apparently, [I’m] back because it’s a prequel. Because [I’m] supposed to die in the first one. But you don’t see it, so maybe she doesn’t.” Read more…