Friday News

Lots of interesting tidbits to catch up on!

First of all, my hero, Kevin Smith is returning to comics!

Smith is finally doing his take on the world's favourite hero right now, Batman. Smith's 3-issue mini-series is called Batman: Cacophony, and issue one will be out this fall. This mini-series will see Batman doing battle with Onomatopoeia, a supervillain that Smith created when he wrote Green Arrow a few years back.

Smith has been laying low in the comic book world for a while. He got a bad reputation after the three-year gap between issues 3 and 4 of his Spider-Man mini-series, Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do. So when Smith made the announcement about Batman at the San Diego Comic Con, and the crowd rolled their eyes, Smith gladly announced that he's already written all three issues, and that it's been turned over to the artists, and that if issues are late now, it'll be the artist's fault.

Speaking of Smith, have you heard the controversy about his latest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno? Yeah...it got stuck with an NC-17 rating.

The film is pretty much done...it's in the editing process now. Smith submitted it for a rating, and it came back NC-17. Smith re-edited it, re-submitted it, and it came back NC-17. Smith refuses to do any more re-edits, so the film is now going through the formal appeal process to try to get the rating reduced to R.

And speaking of the San Diego Comic Con, Disney made a surprise announcement that really shocked a lot of people. Late yesterday afternoon, Disney showed the first trailer for a project that's been rumored to be in production of a long time, and it looks like it's finally going ahead. That movie?

Tron 2

Disney is still being very secretive about the project. The only information that could be dug up so far is that it's being directed by Joe Kosinski, a computer animator who directed commercials for Gears of War and Halo 3.

Oh, and one last thing I wish to report on.

Because of the popularity of the Robot Chicken Star Wars special, it's been announced that they're doing a second one!

Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II is due out this fall. Among the new celebrity guest voices are Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams, and one of the funniest guys on the planet who just can't get a lasting TV show, Andy Richter. Returning celebrity guest voices include Jar Jar Binks himself, Ahmed Best, the creator of Family Guy himself, Seth McFarlane, and the future king of late night television, Conan O'Brien.