You know “Watchmen” is going to be dark. Now it looks like its tandem DVD-release pirate story may be even darker. Last year, the New York Times reported that Warner Bros. would be releasing two of the “Watchmen” graphic novel’s stories-within-the-story as their own DVD feature. Today, it looks the pirate comic within the comic, “Tales of the Black Freighter,” may have earned an R rating from the MPAA, according to RopeofSilicon.com.

Warner Bros. has been breaking out loads of extra “Watchmen” content ahead of the film’s March 6 release date, which may be dangling by a thread. And anyone who’s been watching the trailers knows director Zack Snyder fully intends to flesh out original writer Alan Moore’s bleak portrait on superheroes. Read more…

Believe it or not, after 30 years Ralph Hinkley and the cast of “The Greatest American Hero” are finally flying away on a wing and a prayer to the world of comics and animation.

As this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, Splash Page landed an exclusive interview with the cast of the 80’s superhero action/comedy to discuss the upcoming comic series and animated webisodes. Published by “GAH” star William Katt’s Catastrophic Comics (in a partnership with Arcana Studios), the upcoming comics will revamp the series about a reluctant superhero who’s given superpowers via a mysterious costume. Read more…

How do you boil four days of interviews, panels, and screenings into two minutes and fifty four seconds? Well, you don’t but clicking on the below will give you a taste of all the beautiful mayhem that was Comic-Con 2008. Check out the “Watchmen” owl ship with Zack Snyder, watch McG and the cast of “Terminator Salvation” take center stage, and see Robert Pattinson take it all in. Until next year!

It’s one of the most closely-guarded secrets in Hollywood, and one that the hundreds of thousands of attendees at Comic-Con would probably kill to uncover … what, exactly, is Michael Bay’s plan for his bombastic follow-up “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?”

Now, thanks to the team at IDW Publishing, we’re a little bit closer to finding out. The company has announced a five-part prequel miniseries entitled “Transformers: Destiny” that’s set to bridge the gap between the 2007 blockbuster and its Summer ‘09 sequel. And if it’s any indication, “Transformers 2” is going to be one interesting ride.

“[We're going to] expand on the ‘Reign of Starscream’ story that we’re doing and tie everything in to what this next movie is going to be,” explained writer Chris Mowry, who partners on the book with artist Alex Milne. “The next movie starts out with just tons of action and there’s obviously going to be a lot of questions, so we’re hoping to answer some of those beforehand.” Read more…

You know it didn’t just end with Dr. Horrible taking his place in the Evil League of Evil — Joss Whedon is dreaming up more, much more for his supervillain, and first and foremost, it’s going to be in comics.

“We’d love to do more Dr. Horrible in any form,” he said, “because that’s a very rich universe, and it’s a comic book universe very specifically.”

That’s because Dr. Horrible deconstructs superhero stereotypes — the villain is the nice guy, the hero is a jerk, and the girl they want to save they end up destroying with their actions. That’s just for starters. The first of the comics, “Be Like Me,” was an eight-page webcomic written by Joss’ brother Zack from the point of view of Dr. Horrible’s arch-nemesis Captain Hammer, and revealed the hero as the corporate tool Horrible always says he is. It’ll be included in the bound volume of the My Space Dark Horse Presents collection. Read more…

Excited by the trailer for “Watchmen”? It’s probably because you thought Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel might have been — how did they put it? — “unfilmable.” Several thought the work too dense, too self-referential, too much about comics. But with the little we’ve seen so far, that seems to be proven otherwise. So what else could Hollywood be wrong about? For starters:

Alan Moore’s “Lost Girls” — It’s a wild tale, even by Moore’s standards. Alice from “Alice in Wonderland,” Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz” and Wendy from “Peter Pan” meet up and realize that their stories are actually metaphors for sexual awakening, and go for some girl-on-girl action while they’re at it. Very erotic. Or, as Moore prefers to think of it, very pornographic. Either go for an unrated version like “The Dreamers” and be true to the text — or keep the sex less explicit.

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This was my first San Diego Comic-Con and to be perfectly honest I was mentally spent by the first afternoon (I think my brain officially stopped working when I witnessed Stan Lee walking in on a Hugh Jackman interview). If you weren’t with us in person we hope you were checking in with us throughout the four days right here. If not, no worries. We forgive and forget. And to show you how much we care, let’s run through some of what you can (and must!) check-out from Comic-Con ‘08!

– We showed you Paris Hilton writhing around in a horror opera from the guys that did “Saw”!

– We talked “Twilight” music with Stephenie Meyer herself(!) and director Catherine Hardwicke.

– Rose McGowan IS “Red Sonja” and we debuted the first poster.

– We learned that Keanu Reeves won’t be stretching his muscles as Plastic Man anytime soon.

– Gerard Way revealed his latest comic book plans.
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One of the coolest parts of Comic-Con is checking out the amazing and intricate costumes many of the fans come adorned in, especially on Saturday for the big official Masquerade event. Thousands of folks line up to check out the participants walk the runway, strutting off their homemade “Transformers” and Supergirl costumes. Click here to view the gallery of some of our favorite outfits, or on the photo below.

Having just been made a partner in Image Comics, writer Robert Kirkman is riding high. So it’s probably no better time than now for MTV to partner with Kirkman to launch a series of animated webisodes for his fan-favorite superhero comic, “Invincible.” The book follows a teen who inherits his father’s powers and takes up the mantle of saving Earth by fighting a plethora of villains. Watch Kirkman describe the book and his new MTV venture in the interview below, and then click here to watch the “Invincible” comics.

Must be tough, being John Connor — what with all those Terminators always trying to kill you, your mother, your friends. But it’s even tougher to be someone outside of John Connor’s immediate circle come Judgment Day.

Thanks to the upcoming prequel comic to “Terminator Salvation” from IDW Publishing, we’ll get a glimpse of what life is like for the rest of the world once the machines take over — and before John Connor is the leader of the resistance — starting with the first issue, due in January.

“One of the toughest things with stories involving time travel,” said writer Dara Naraghi, “is that no matter what you do, there’s always some sort of paradox.”

Naraghi hopes to avoid those paradoxes when he fleshes out a different part of the post-Judgment Day world. “I get to play in my own sandbox, with a lot of new characters who won’t be in the movie,” Naraghi said. “There’s a lot of breathing room.” Read more…