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'Pineapple Express' Director Explains The Appeal Of 'Battling Boy' Adaptation

Posted 10/11/10 1:01 pm EST by in First Second Books

It's been more than a year since our last update on the "Battling Boy" movie, director David Gordon Green's adaptation of Paul Pope's graphic novel.

When MTV News caught up with Green at New York Comic Con, the "Pineapple Express" filmmaker explained the appeal of taking on an "undiscovered" project like "Battling Boy."

"I'm working right now on an adaptation of a Paul Pope graphic novel called 'Battling Boy,' which to me is fun, because the world hasn't necessarily discovered this character and these environments and these stories," he said. Read More...

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MoCCA 2010: A Swedish Invasion, 'Mercury' Arrives, And Dave Roman Does 'The Last Airbender'

Posted 4/12/10 4:46 pm EST by in Del Rey, First Second Books, Top Shelf

MoCCA 2010One of my favorite conventions every year is the MoCCA Festival here in New York City, which gathers comic creators and publishers from the small-press, indie-oriented and online sides of the industry for a two-day show hosted by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

While last year's show yielded a big scoop on the movie side (Top Shelf told me that Alex Robinson's "Too Cool To Be Forgotten" had been optioned), conversation was firmly focused on comics this time around — though I did get a little info about an upcoming comic tie-in with M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" adaptation.

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'Battling Boy' Screenwriter Calls Working With Paul Pope A 'Fun Process'

Posted 8/26/09 4:52 pm EST by in First Second Books, News

Battling BoyScreenwriter Alex Tse already adapted the graphic novel to end all graphic novels with Zack Snyder's "Watchmen." Tse's next announced comics-related project will be a big-screen version of Paul Pope's unreleased First Second Books story "Battling Boy," and he's eager to see the project through to the theaters. In stark contract to his previous film, where original writer Alan Moore was vocally uninvolved, Tse will be collaborating with Pope, which has him energized.

"It’s been an interesting and fun process to work with Paul Pope," Tse told ScriptPhD.

Tse also has the unique task of bringing a book to life that has yet to be completed by its original author, a detail that he is keenly aware of. Read More...

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MoCCA 2009: 'Mourning Star' Debuts, 'Stuffed' Previews, 'Too Cool' Movie And More...

Posted 6/8/09 5:32 pm EST by in First Second Books, Top Shelf

Mocca 2009It's been two straight weekends of conventions, folks -- and the season's only getting started. This weekend, a crowd of comic creators, publishers and fans arrived in town for the annual MoCCA Festival, and while there wasn't nearly as many movie- and television-related projects to speak of in comparison with Book Expo America, that doesn't mean the two-day event was bereft of pleasant surprises.

By far, the biggest news to come out of the event arrived via a short conversation I had with Top Shelf Productions publisher Chris Staros, who told me that "Synecdoche, New York" producer Anthony Bregman had picked up the adaptation rights to Alex Robinson's graphic novel "Too Cool To Be Forgotten." Much like last weekend's BEA, however, I ended up bringing home a pile of books from MoCCA -- and decided to post a picture of some of the highlights here, along with some notes on both the books and the show itself. Read More...

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'Watchmen' Screenwriter Alex Tse Adapting Paul Pope's 'Battling Boy'

Posted 4/13/09 9:51 am EST by in First Second Books, News

Battling BoyEven if you didn't watch the "Watchmen," some studio executives at Paramount Pictures sure did -- and it looks like they liked what they saw. We're not talking sequels here, but one of the screenwriters behind the R-rated superhero film is getting another crack at big screen comic book cinema.

Alex Tse, co-writer of the "Watchmen" screenplay, has been hired to pen an adaptation of "Battling Boy," based on the as-yet-released graphic novel property from Paul Pope. The film is in development through Paramount Pictures and Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company. Read More...

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Paramount Options Paul Pope's 'Battling Boy'

Posted 11/5/08 9:56 am EST by in First Second Books, News

'Battling Boy'"Battling Boy," an upcoming graphic novel by award-winning comic book artist and fashion designer Paul Pope, has been snatched up by Paramount Pictures for a potential big-screen adaptation. Variety reports that Brad Pitt's production company Plan B is attached to bring the project to theaters.

Over at the website for publisher First Second Books, Pope described the still-in-production "Battling Boy" as "the story of a god or a super hero—it is left unspecified—who comes down from the top of a mountain (or rather, from inside a cloud/UFO contraption/contrivance from above a mountain top) at this father's behest, in order to rid a giant city from it's plague of monsters. Hercules had his labors, Batman has his Gotham, Battling Boy has his Monstropolis." Read More...

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Creator Jordan Mechner Explains The 'Prince Of Persia' Universe, And Where The New Graphic Novel Sits

Posted 10/1/08 2:34 pm EST by in First Second Books, News

'Prince of Persia'Anyone with any sort of geek-cred knows "Prince of Persia" as the successful video game franchise, but fans of the series know that there's much, much more to the story than an Arabian Prince who can magically stop time. And if you don't know about the game property that's soon to be a Jerry Bruckheimer-helmed major motion picture (and you can check out more info on that here), then "Prince of Persia" creator Jordan Mechner is gonna set you straight. And if he can't, then the recently-released original graphic novel certainly will.

According to Mechner, the "Prince of Persia" original graphic novel (published by First Second Books) will tie together the various incarnations and storylines of the franchise -- something that even the creator admits wasn't an easy task.

"When we started the book, there was the question which Prince [should we follow]," recalled Mechner, citing the different versions of "Prince of Persia -- from the original video game and its multiple sequels, as well as the upcoming film to which he wrote the screenplay. Read More...

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'Colbert Report' Writer Glenn Eichler Explains His Mysterious Graphic Novel 'Stuffed'

Posted 9/24/08 11:41 am EST by in First Second Books, News

'Stuffed'The other day, comic illustrator Nick Bertozzi ("The Salon") slyly leaked a few pages of "Stuffed," his comics collaboration with "Colbert Report" writer, Glenn Eichler, on his LiveJournal. Here's what we saw: a chubby, middle-aged, long-haired, bearded dude falling out of bed; and later, said slacker explaining how he drilled a hole in his own head to free his mind, man. Is this the Lebowski sequel we've all been waiting for!?

Not exactly. But as we learned from recent Emmy recipient Eichler (who previously worked on MTV's "Beavis & Butthead" and "Daria"), his graphic novel -- like that seminal movie -- is indeed imbued with dark comedy, cerebral subtext, and a lingering sense of existential unease. Read More...

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'Colbert Report' Writer/Producer Glenn Eichler Teams With Illustrator Nick Bertozzi For New OGN

Posted 9/17/08 11:03 am EST by in First Second Books, News

'Stuffed'Over on his LiveJournal, acclaimed independent comic artist Nick Bertozzi ("American Splendor," "The Salon") has announced that he will be teaming up with writer Glenn Eichler on an all-new original graphic novel titled "Stuffed" (published by First Second Books). While comic fans may not be familiar with the Eichler, if you've ever caught an episode of Comedy Central's award-winning "Colbert Report," than you've definitely seen his work as a writer and producer for the show. He also served as executive producer of MTV's cult-favorite animated comedy, "Daria."

While Bertozzi's kept details about "Stuffed" close to his vest on the blog post -- only going so far as cryptically saying, "It’s about a certain kind of sexual practice racism" -- he did post two pages from the book for fans to check out. The artist also noted that, as has become standard operating procedure with these types of collaborations, he's never actually met Eichler yet. The book is set to hit stores in late 2009.

Check out one of the pages after the jump -- you'll have to head over to Bertozzi's LiveJournal to see the other one, though! Read More...

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Cover Artist

Splash Page welcomes Ed Tadem to our cover artist family (our custom-designed theme up top). Currently working on the forthcoming "Avengers" animated series, Tadem's work can also be seen in the "Jackie Karma" issues of Image's "'76," and in "Pop Gun, Volume 1." Ed Tadem can be found online at EdTadem.com.
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