Griz and I are packing up and heading for San Diego Comic-Con tonight!!! Stay tuned for updates on Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Green Lantern, Captain America and Thor movies and much, much more from the floor of the coolest con in the world!

Screenrush.com has reported that not only will there be a third Men in Black movie, but it will be in 3D and stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are both confirmed to return as agents Jay and Kay. MIB2 came out in 2002 and director Barry Sonnenfeld is looking at a 2012 release, making a ten year span between movies. While I haven’t been hearing anyone gagging for another sequel, the general feeling is that the movies were a fun ride. Jones and Smith have a great on-screen buddy chemistry and the rumored additions of Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and Josh Brolin (Jonah Hex, Goonies… yes I will reference Goonies every time I type Josh Brolin!) to the picture will definitely bring both the action and fun that we are used to from the MIB franchise. Tropic Thunder screenwriter Ethan Cohen is currently working on the script and Universal is hoping to start shooting as soon as they can.

I honestly can’t understand why this movie isn’t getting more hype. Sure westerns are kind of out of vogue in Hollywood right now, however Warner Bros. has not only tapped Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men, Goonies) to bring DC’s Jonah Hex to life, but also Megan Fox (Transformers) as his love interest and John Malkovich (really? if you don’t know, leave…) as the villain. Let’s see… A-list talent, a hottish leading lady, a rich character history and cowboys mixed with the supernatural. Here’s the synopsis from the website:

Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a scarred drifter and bounty hunter of last resort, a tough and stoic gunslinger who can track down anyone…and anything. Having survived death, Jonah’s violent history is steeped in myth and legend, and has left him with one foot in the natural world and one on the “other side.” His only human connection is with Leila (Megan Fox), whose life in a brothel has left her with scars of her own. But Jonah’s past is about to catch up with him when the U.S. military makes him an offer he can’t refuse: in exchange for his freedom from the warrants on his head, he must track down and stop the dangerous terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich). But Turnbull, who is gathering an army and preparing to unleash Hell, is also Jonah’s oldest enemy and will stop at nothing until Jonah is dead.

Based on the legendary comic, “Jonah Hex” is an epic adventure thriller about one man’s personal quest for redemption against the vast canvas of the battle between good and evil.

I’m in. It might be because director Jimmy Hayward has only Horton Hears a Who under his belt and really isn’t proven as an action director yet. That said, I saw some of the footage last years during Comic-Con, unfinished mind you, and it looked great. Hey, Warner Bros… have about a teaser trailer or something? I’ll be in line when it opens on June 18. Check out some of the photos below and let me know what you think.

The current “king of all licenses” (IDW Publishing), has acquired the rights to Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons & Dragons Universe. IDW is planning to dive into the world of D&D with both feet, already announcing a comic based on the core world, a Dark Sun based title and a Forgotten Realms series in addition to deluxe reprints of material printed at other companies. Renowned fantasy painter Wayne Reynolds will be supplying covers for the launch of the new series.

The D&D license joins Angel, James Patterson’s Witch & Wizard, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Doctor Who, Star Trek, A-Team, EA’s Army of Two & Dragon Age and the Library of American Comics imprint which reprints classic comics of yester-year. The D&D license has floated from DC to Devil’s Due, the later which was good, but never got a sold following due to the strange pricing set by Devil’s Due. Having already “stolen” the G.I. Joe license from Devil’s Due, IDW looks to once again to flood the comic shops with as many D&D comics they can handle. While I’m no longer reading IDW’s version of G.I. Joe due to them embracing the movie, I thought Devil’s Due’s Real American Hero was a great run. It seems that Hasbro is just trying to consolidate all of their comics under one banner. Here’s hoping they start by adapting some of the novelizations by R. A. Salvatore or Richard Lee Byers and not hire some hack just out of art school. The D&D crowd deserve better comics than they’ve gotten over the years.

MTV’s Splash Page is reporting that director Peter Segal (Tommy Boy, Get Smart) and his Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing are negotiating to produce a live-action version of the hit anime, Bleach, with Viz Media and Warner Bros. Seems Segal is trying to prove he can do a dark action movie as well as goofy comedies… even though his has no plans to direct Bleach.

Creator, Tite Kubo, began Bleach in Japan in 2001 and it has since become both a hit manga and anime series. Bleach follows fifteen years old Ichigo Kurosaki who accidentally drains the power of a female Soul Reaper (a Japanese personification of death…), Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is trapped in human form and Ichigo becomes a guardian against evil spirits on Earth.

Given the last few live-actions interpretations of anime/manga, this worries me. Dragonball absolutely sucked, Blood+ was okay and DeathNote just didn’t fit well on screen. What do you think? Will this be something big or should Hollywood leave anime alone for a few more years?

X-23 ONE-SHOT – Being an X-Fan, I had some hope for this book. Even with the whole “Women of Marvel” thing they are trying to pull to shell out more money each month (in addition to the Siege/Heroic Age, Second Coming and Hulk crossovers. Just keep bleedin’ us dry Joe…). The Alina Urusov cover was a great draw on the shelf and where there’s X-23, there’s sure to be Wolverine. Should be a can’t miss, but it’s really a don’t bother.

X decides to revisit her past life after the events of Necrosha and travels to New York. And that’s about I far as I could get before I put the book down. The art was so incredibly bad it looked like a self published title. Squished heads and faces, bad perspective shots, poor use of shadows and lighting.

The “mindscape” pages were decent and showed me a glimmer of hope, but the normal shots were just pedestrian. No, strike that. Pedestrian would be an upgrade. Maybe that’s why Marvel keeps running the old “bait ‘n’ switch” on their cover – they know that the interiors are horrible. I’m just wondering why the editor lets the art get to the final stage without putting up a stop sign. Not even an appearance by Jubilation Lee made this worthwhile. Spend the $3.99 on a Brightest Day title instead.

Undercover Fanboy Rating:  

I was recently able to sit down with writer Tom Taylor to talk about his upcoming comic, Star Wars: Invasion – Rescues and some other projects he’s been working on.

UcFb: Star Wars: Invasion – Refugees was a hit with comic fans. Now that the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series has ended, will Invasion become a regular series or just a series of mini-series?

Tom Taylor:  With the amount of story I’d like to tell, I’d like to see it go weekly… or maybe hourly. For now, we will just have to see how Rescues goes. For now, it’s definitely a series of mini-series but if the fans lap it up, and the sales are there, who knows? Of course, you don’t find many people of Colin Wilson’s caliber out there, and I think people are going to be amazed by what he’s producing for Rescues – wait until you see the army on the ‘dead planet’. To ask Colin Wilson to work any faster, when he’s already working at an incredible pace, could hurt the series, and Dark Horse and I are wary about getting a fill-in artist to help out. Colin is just one man, one very impressive man, and there are only so many hours in a day – especially with the amount of time he spends playing computer games.

UcFb: The main character, the Force sensitive Finn Galfridian, is a brand new character created by you for the Invasion comic series. Was it daunting to create a character for Star Wars Universe?

Tom Taylor:  Yes. It’s hard putting your guy in the room with gods. When Finn stood up to Han it was a bigger moment in a lot of ways than when he fought Tsalok. A lot of fans of the NJO (New Jedi Order) didn’t like seeing Han as a miserable guy, who wrongly blamed his own son for the death of his friend, and I was one of them. For a character I created to stand up and basically tell Han to ‘man-up’, was a big moment for Finn and for me writing the series.

Having said that, I’m still not sure why everyone thinks Finn is the ‘main’ character. Kaye has a huge role to play as well… and she wouldn’t think twice about slapping around some gods.

Finn's sister, Kaye, prepares to lead the slave revolt

UcFb: Most Star Wars characters start from humble beginnings like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. Why did you choose to give Finn a royal background? Since a lot of Jedi that have gone to the dark side are from affluent backgrounds, is it a hint to future stories?

Tom Taylor:  I really wanted the family to have an ownership of the world they’d lost. I wanted to give them even more of a reason to fight against what was happening. However, ‘royalty’ isn’t that big a deal for the Galfridians. Their main feeling of loss over their planet comes from the loss of the ideals represented by Artorias. Artorias existed as a place of peace, a place where the problems of the wider galaxy could be ignored and a safe haven for those who rejected petty wars and slavery. The Galfridians desperately want to see these ideals survive the Yuuzhan Vong.   

UcFb: Can we plan to see Finn and the ramifications of your stories reflected in new Star Wars novels or another Star Wars comic like Legacy?

Tom Taylor:  Ooh, I hope so. John Ostrander… ? Are you reading this?

UcFb: The Yuuzhan Vong War has been extensively covered in the Star Wars novels, but hasn’t been shown very heavily in the comics. Are you finding it hard to work within the existing stories or does having the framework make it easier?

Tom Taylor:  A bit of both. Colin and I are having a great time creating the look and feel of the Vong tech. The NJO series does obviously prevent us from overusing some of the established characters, and yes, some things are set in stone. However, we have our own characters and the Invasion affected the entire galaxy, not just a handful of people. Readers of the NJO who are familiar with the books think they already know how the war ended, they think they already know what the biggest threats were but, I’m here to tell you, maybe they don’t.  

UcFb: Even though the Vong society has been covered in the novels as previously stated, are you going to show us more or their culture and how will Finn’s act of sparing Vong Commander Tsalok factor into the story?

Tom Taylor:  Ah, Tsalok. You great, big, loveable killing machine. Tsalok’s story really starts to unfold in Rescues and some others will be joining him. Through his story, we will definitely be showing more of Yuuzhan Vong culture. Finn’s sparing of Tsalok will definitely have ramifications. It had immediate ramifications as seen in Issue 3 of Refugees. Too often, in storytelling, we see the sparing of the enemy who then becomes an ally. I wanted to show in one bloody panel that the Yuuzhan Vong are different. Humane actions don’t change their beliefs. They’re not interested in mercy. They have old people to kill.   

UcFb: Being able to write for such beloved characters must be both exciting and scary at the same time – especially with a brand like Star Wars that ensures what you write fits into their continuity. Which established character is the most fun to write?

Tom Taylor:  Luke is just a dream to write as he was one of my absolute heroes growing up. Strangely enough, Han was the easiest to write. His voice and his mannerisms are just burned into my brain, and I didn’t realize this until it came to put him on the page. The most fun though, is a toss up between Yoda in Luke Skywalker and the Dragonsnakes (“poking you with a stick I am”) and, of course, Vader. He just… when he… Hmmm, I can’t tell you this yet. Will of Darth Vader – blowing things up – unleashing the Force – coming soon.

Star Wars Invasion's Luke and Mara share a moment of peace

UcFb: How did you get your start in comics?

Tom Taylor: It was 1949 and I was on an architectural dig in Egypt. I remember I’d just been running from a giant rolling boulder (damn booby-traps) when suddenly, this Mummy leapt out (well, shuffled out) and stabbed me in the head with a copy of Action Comics #1. Something… strange happened to my brain and from then on I was destined to work in comics. Sixty years later (and thirty years after I was born) Colin Wilson and I collaborated on a comic called ‘The Example’, which was adapted from my award-winning play of the same name, and published by Gestalt Publishing. I’ve never looked back… except to regret not holding on to that copy of Action Comics #1 when that crazy, babbling doctor with the horns removed it from my skull.   

UcFb: Other than the Star Wars Invasion and the Star Wars: Adventures – Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes graphic novel, are there any other Tom Taylor scripted projects we can be on the lookout for?

Tom Taylor: Yes. Yes, there are other Tom Taylor scripted projects you can be on the lookout for.

I’ve just been announced as the writer of a four issue arc of The Authority but I am happy to say that they seem very happy with me and I am no longer just a fill-in writer; I’m actually the writer for the rest of the arc. It’s a little strange actually, I’ve been asked to write about an alien ship full of refugees controlled by a woman connected to the ship. Does this seem familiar? Still, at least I’m experienced in it.

Writing The Authority is just incredible. It’s been one of my favorite books since before there was an Authority (back when Warren Ellis was laying the groundwork in the Stormwatch days) and I’m staggered and honored to be on the book that Warren Ellis and Brian Hitch made so famous.

I’ve also scripted (and absolutely love) another Star Wars: Adventures story, The Will of Darth Vader – which is due out in August. It was one of those rare scripts that just flowed in every moment of writing it and I’d love to revisit the characters from this book one day.  

I have my Graphic Novel Brief Cases due to be published soonish – a series of stories linked together by briefcases and illustrated by some great talent (Colin has a story in there).

I am working on a new creator-owned series with Skye Ogden, spinning out of our one-shot Rombies – A Roman Zombies story – Friends, Romans, lend me your brains. The dead will walk again… in sandals!

And, I have another creator-owned series called The Deep, about a multicultural family of underwater explorers who live in a submarine, coming from Gestalt Publishing soon.

Actually, as I write this, another Star Wars related project may be rearing its head, featuring a great character I’ve never written before…

UcFb: Since you’ve already attained one fanboy goal in writing for Star Wars – which other comic character would you like to write?

Tom Taylor: I’ve already attained another fanboy goal with The Authority and I hope I get to play in the Wildstorm universe for a long time. I love comics, so there isn’t much I wouldn’t like to do. As well as more Star Wars work, there are piles of Dark Horse franchises that I’d like to sink my teeth into. I also have a large list of Marvel characters I’d leap to write. I’m a huge fan of the DC universe characters. They were the easiest to get my hands on as a kid in Australia and I grew up reading them all, so any one of them would be incredible.

But the ultimate goal, without a doubt, is Superman. And I will get there. A few months back, me, Colin, Nicola Scott, Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark and Craig Court (a writer you will all know soon) went out for dinner and drinks… again and again and again (it was a long weekend). At the last drinks, we got to chatting Superman (as you do in that company) and, while the two of us sat on a bench in a hotel lobby, Nicola promised she’d illustrate my Superman (I will hold you to that, Nicola!).

UcFb: With all of the upcoming comic book related movies coming out in the next two years, which ones are you most looking forward to?

Tom Taylor: I’m really looking forward to Iron Man 2, the first one was just kick-ass and Robert Downey Jr. hasn’t really put a foot wrong since Kiss-Kiss Bang-Bang. Really, I’m looking forward to seeing all of Marvel’s films. There have been missteps, sure, but they’ve generally tried to stay faithful to the ‘fun’ aspect of comic book characters. I’m tentatively excited to hear Christopher Nolan has been put in charge of Superman, I’ve dug almost all of his work since Memento, but I’ll wait before getting too thrilled. I really hope that DC step up and create some brilliance for all of us as they have all of my most beloved comic book characters. I’ve loved the Scott Pilgrim books and I hope Edgar Wright and Michael Cera can capture that magic. Colin Wilson’s excitement for The Losers has been infectious (he illustrated a few issues of the series) and, speaking of Colin, his French comic series ‘Headshot’ was recently optioned by Warner Brothers. In fact, that’s probably the film I’m most excited for. Colin and Dave Gibbons have been friends since they were both working on Rogue Trooper back in the day at 2000 AD. I’m naturally competitive, so I’m hoping Colin’s film can kick Watchmen’s ass

UcFb: Thanks again, Tom.

Tom Taylor: You’re welcome. Any time. Thanks for all the support.

For more on Tom, go to his website, www.TomTaylorMade.com and for more on the Star Wars Universe, check out www.StarWars.com and www.DarkHorseComics.com.

CLOAK & DAGGER #1 – I’ve lost track of how many times that Marvel has tried to launch this series. Folding them into the X-Men was a great idea… especially given the fact that that can play well with others, great power sets and the whole “we’re tired of living on the streets” thing. But, are they mutants or not? In the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, Cloak & Dagger were billed (along with Spidey) as “non-mutants.” In their history, that designation has gone back and forth to the whims of whoever is writing. Seems to be the case once again. After kicking the butts of the Young X-men leftovers, Dagger is told by Dr. Nemesis that she and Cloak are in no way mutants. Just “altered-humans” like Spidey (genetically modified and likely to have mutant babies…). Dagger is upset because she was starting to feel at home on Utopia and Cloak has been spending all of his free time away from her and the X-Men, visiting his old neighborhood – and his old girlfriend. She quickly gets Cloak involved in anti-powers brainwashing group that begins processing Cloak to believe that using his power is evil. When he doesn’t show back up on Utopia after a few days, Dagger tries to get some help from the X-Men; but is basically told that it’s not “mutant business.” Packing her things, Dagger flies to Boston to look for Cloak. She manages to save Cloak before he’s completely brainwashed and a small contingent of X-folks show up to help. Cloak and Dagger decide not to return to Utopia and return to their life on the streets and relying on each other rather than Osborn or the X-Men.

Artist Mark Brooks has found his stride with Cloak & Dagger

Writer Stuart Moore (Wolverine: Noir) seems to have a good feel for the duo and taking them back to their roots. I still wish that they had stayed on Utopia on one of the X-teams, but the characters need to have the space to grow. The real star of this series is going to be artist Mark Brooks. Having honed his skills on various Marvel titles like Dark Reign: Young Avengers; Brooks’ appears to have found his muse while drawing Cloak & Dagger. The art looks amazing. Cloak hasn’t looked this good since Darick Robertson drew him in New Warriors. And I haven’t seen Dagger this beautiful since the Mike Mignola and Brett Blevins era. Crisp, clean, rich backgrounds and a “locked-in” art style make this one of my favorite issues in the past month. Here’s hoping that Cloak & Dagger keeps going for awhile just so I can look forward to Mark Brooks’ incredible art.

Undercover Fanboy Rating:  

Cloak sneaks home to Boston

Rating System: 0 to 1.5 stars = save your money unless you are just mindlessly collecting the title. 2 to 3.5 = worth a shot if you are up to trying something new or wanting to get back into a title. 4 to 5 = a must buy for any comic reader.

X-FORCE #25 – Thank God the Nechrosha storyline is over. The longer this story went on, the more I could tell that Craig Kyle and Chris Yost had this thrown on them from Marvel High Command. Sure Blackest Night made some money for DC, but that doesn’t mean you have to pump out a crappy story to weakly compete. Does anybody else remember when comic panels had backgrounds drawn into them? I thought Rob Liefeld was bad, but Clayton Crain is the new master of the no background style. Stick to covers. Half the time, we can’t even tell who’s who without the dialogue.

Can you tell who anyone is?

Warpath has to re-kill his brother Thunderbird and then kills Selene with a magic knife (no, really. magic knife.). When all is said and done, any mutant resurrected by Selene that wasn’t re-killed is still out there… good or bad; Warpath, Wolfsbane, Elixir and X-23 have all quit X-Force (well, Logan won’t let X-23 back on the team…) – that leaves Archangel, Vanisher, Domino and Wolverine to make up the team.

Marvel must be trying to save money by not using color...

This issue leads directly into the much hyped and looked forward to, Second Coming. I hope that if the creative team doesn’t change after the Second Coming crossover, this title dies. I’m tired of being disappointed every time I pick up a new issue. And I’m usually a fan on anything with an “X” in the title…

Undercover Fanboy Rating:  

Rating System: 0 to 1.5 stars = save your money unless you are just mindlessly collecting the title. 2 to 3.5 = worth a shot if you are up to trying something new or wanting to get back into a title. 4 to 5 = a must buy for any comic reader.

Another hilarious video from the guys over at CollegeHumor.com. How about making this a download guys? Daddy powers activate!