Splash Page ›

Frank Frazetta's death hit Twitter pretty hard last week, but when news broke that former Black Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio passed away last night, writers and artists alike were hit with a second round of shock. In fact, the last 12 hours of tweets in the comics Twitterverse has been totally dominated by personal experiences, appreciation and occasional expressions of indifference from those who never really clicked with Dio's message of dragons, magic and metal.

Click on down past the jump and you'll find out not only who loved Ronnie James Dio and who didn't, but also where the Charles Manson/Ronnie James Dio/IDW connection lies, and who wants to play a round of Dungeons and Dragons in memory of Dio and Frazetta.

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is your Twitter Report for May 17, 2010. Read more...

Tags ben templesmith, cameron stewart, chris ryall, jeff parker, marc bernardin, matt fraction, rob williams, ronnie james dio, steve niles, tony moore, Twitter Report

Now that we've seen comic book biographies of "Twilight" stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, it's only natural that the next alum of the franchise to get the comic treatment is Taylor Lautner, who plays shape-shifter Jacob Black in the big-screen adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's novels.

Arriving on shelves in August from Bluewater Productions, "Fame: Taylor Lautner" promises to chronicle the once-unknown actor's meteoric rise in Hollywood, including his pre-"Twilight" years and upcoming roles. Kimberly Sherman, the author of Bluewater's "Fame: Robert Pattinson" and "Fame: Kristen Stewart" comics, will script the 32-page issue, which will feature interior art by Warren Martineck and covers by JuanMar Studios.

Bluewater has provided Splash Page readers with an exclusive first look at the comic, including two covers and a set of unlettered penciled and colored pages from the issue. Read more...

Tags Fame, fame: taylor lautner, photo, taylor lautner

Let's just say that "X-Men: The Last Stand" director Brett Ratner has a complicated relationship with the comic book community. Though his entry in the mutant series remains the highest grossing film of the franchise ($459 million in worldwide box office sales), you only have to visit the comment section of any story on the director to get a sense of the vitriol often directed his way.

Yes, Ratner may not be universally adored, but he's come out with a full-throated endorsement of the newest director in the "X-Men" community: Matthew Vaughn, who officially signed on to direct "X-Men: First Class" earlier this month.

"I think he's brilliant," Ratner said of the "Kick-Ass" director. "I thought his last movie was fantastic. I'm a fan." Read more...

Tags brett ratner, matthew vaughn, x-men: first class

Director Jon Favreau has added three additional actors to his impressive "Cowboys & Aliens" posse.

Paul Dano, Keith Carradine and Clancy Brown have all signed on to appear in "Cowboys & Aliens," according to Deadline. Dano and Brown are slated to play cowboys while Carradine has reportedly been cast as the town sheriff. The report also states that the film will be shot in 2-D, rather than in 3-D as it was rumored back in January.

Dano has previously appeared in numerous films, including "Where the Wild Things Are" and "There Will Be Blood;" while Carradine's resume spans several decades and includes recent appearances on "Damages" and "Dollhouse." Brown is perhaps best known for his roles as The Kurgan in "Highlander" and Brother Justin Crowe on the cult HBO series, "Carnivale." Read more...

Tags Clancy Brown, cowboys and aliens, keith carradine, paul dano

Earlier this year, Sony announced plans to completely reboot the "Spider-Man" film franchise without director Sam Raimi or star Tobey Maguire.

And while Sony has promised that the new film will be "Peter Parker told differently," one of the screenwriters from the original "Spider-Man" film series will be returning for the wall-crawler's latest outing.

Alvin Sargent has signed on to rewrite the "Spider-Man" reboot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sargent is reportedly working from the previous draft by Jamie Vanderbilt ("Zodiac"), with production planed to begin later this year. Read more...

Tags alvin sargent, spider-man

Episode Title: "Flesh and Stone"

Written By: Steven Moffat

Story: Surrounded by Weeping Angels and trapped on an alien world, The Doctor must come up with a plan to escape the terrifying creatures and save the lives of Amy Pond, River Song, and the soldiers sent to eliminate the Angel that brought them there. It's a race against time to find a way off the planet before the Angels do the same, while also preventing Amy from falling prey to a new danger lurking inside her.

It's the second half of the season's first two-part story! Read more...

Tags doctor who

EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to a brand new weekly column here on Splash Page, folks. Kicking off today and continuing every Friday, we'll review some comics that arrived on shelves recently or will do so down the road. Most weeks we'll have a theme for the reviews, but sometimes it will just be a mix of books we read recently and want to tell you about. As always, you're invited to weigh in with your own thoughts in the comment section or on Twitter.

Hollywood never seems to shy away from recycling an old story with a new spin, so why not comics? With "Robin Hood" hitting theaters this week, the inaugural chapter of Weekend Reading will focus on a trio of comics that similarly provide a fresh take on classic stories.

Read more...

Tags beast, greek street, pride and prejudice and zombies, Weekend Reading

A new episode of "Doctor Who" airs this weekend on BBC America, and that means I'm rolling out another brief segment today from my interview with the series' stars, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

This time around, the new "Doctor Who" duo discuss the dynamic between themselves and the series' executive producer and lead writer, Steven Moffat, and why there's a little bit of magic in every episode this season.

"No, he has the ideas, and we just turn up and say them," said Smith when asked if Moffat occasionally bounces story ideas off his stars.

"Yeah, we just say the words," laughed Gillan. Read more...

Tags doctor who, karen gillan, matt smith, steven moffat, Video

The sincerity of certain tweets in the Twitter Report feed can often be questionable at best, but I'll let you evaluate Jock's details on the new "Judge Dredd" film on your own. I'll tell you who's always sincere, though, and that's Stan Lee. In fact, I personally guarantee you that no one else has tweeted more exuberantly about their upcoming cameo on "Entourage."

In other goings on, Rob Liefeld still calls NBA games like he sees them, and if there's ever a channel that offers live feeds from his Twitter account during the future, you can bet I'll be subscribing. Check out who likes the Celtics, who's unimpressed with LeBron James and who bought an original piece of Scott Pilgrim artwork.

It's all on the record with Andy Diggle's experience playing "Portal" on his Mac in the Twitter Report for May 14, 2010. Read more...

Tags andy diggle, ben templesmith, christopher mintz-plasse, frank tieri, gerard way, jock, phil hester, rob liefeld, stan lee, tony harris, Twitter Report

Back in March, "Kick-Ass" director Matthew Vaughn told MTV News he'd love to adapt Neil Gaiman's celebrated "Sandman" stories as an HBO-style television series. Saying there was "too much to get into an hour and a half [movie]," Vaughn said he'd spoken to the award-winning writer about the possibility of adapting "Sandman" after the pair collaborated on a big-screen adaptation of Gaiman's novel "Stardust."

When I caught up with Gaiman during last month's C2E2 convention in Chicago (where he was speaking in support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund), I asked him about his chat with Vaughn — and whether an HBO-style series was indeed the best format for a "Sandman" adaptation.

"I haven't talked to Matthew for years now, because Matthew's been making 'Kick-Ass,'" said Gaiman. "I haven't really seen Matthew since he vanished off into the realm of 'Kick-Ass,' which was a few years ago." Read more...

Tags c2e2 2010, matthew vaughn, neil gaiman, sandman, Video