Tag: Jim Lee

This weekend at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books we unveiled the poster for the 2012 Hero Complex Film Festival and the artist is none other than Jim Lee, one of the most celebrated creators in comics and the co-publisher of DC Entertainment. The image evokes Southern California on the move but also has the otherworldly aura of a cosmic messenger enroute to New Genesis — is she coming from the Vega system or Venice Beach? We like to think of her as digital delivery, the muse for the modern filmmakers as Tinseltown relocates to The Grid. Lee’s majestic sci-fi approach is the newest variation on a theme that began two years ago when Darywn Cooke designed our 2010 poster with a memorably spare representation of elemental power. A year later, Mike Mignola liked the basic motiff — a powerful lone figure holding aloft a giant ...

Fans hungry for talk of zombies and mutants can get their fill at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC, where writer Robert Kirkman will talk about his work for “The Walking Dead,” “Invincible,” “Ultimate X-Men” and his new project, “Super Dinosaur,” which he has described as “a Pixar movie on paper.” The question-and-answer session with Kirkman, hosted by Hero Complex writer Geoff Boucher, will be held in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center at 10:30 a.m. on April 21. Here are a few other events Hero Complex readers may want to check out at the festival, which runs April 21-22: • “With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story”: The documentary will screen at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. April 22 in the School for Cinematic Arts’ Ray Stark Theater. • “Graphic Novel: Drawing Outside the Lines”: ...

The landmark legacy of “Watchmen” and the intriguing future of  “Before Watchmen” will be center stage at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, with an on-stage Q&A featuring DC Entertainment co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio as well as a rare big-screen presentation of the director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s 2009 film “Watchmen.” “Watchmen” was the 12-issue series (1986-1987) by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons that arguably redefined the ambitions and literary stature of the American comic book. DC is returning to that universe with the ”Before Watchmen” project, which will launch a series of separate, multi-issue prequels – a bold move considering that Moore has publicly criticized the concept and will not be participating. Hero Complex lead writer Geoff Boucher will moderate the discussion with Lee and DiDio. The discussion is set for 1 p.m. on April 21 in USC’s ...

Jean Giraud, the artist best known as Moebius, died last weekend in France but leaves behind a rich, singular legacy with his comics, his paintings and his work in film on projects such as “Alien” and “Tron.” To learn more about the contours of his legacy, we talked to filmmakers Zack Snyder and Steven Lisberger as well as Jim Lee, the most celebrated comic book artist of the last 20 years. Zack Snyder, director of “Man of Steel” and “300″ I was first exposed to Moebius when I was a freshman in high school and in the pages of Heavy Metal magazine; for me it was all the things I needed to see at that point in my evolution. It was sexy and wholly original and intense and the images were about storytelling. It was super-influential on me. There was cinematic quality in the ...

DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio was at a comic-book store in New Jersey when he noticed something alarming. Over the course of an hour, only two customers came in. And, this was a Saturday — the busiest day of the week for most retailers. “The walk-in, casual fans have gotten away from us,” DiDio observed. “We are down to just the die-hard buyers.” Comic-book stores have become increasingly barren, with sales dropping consistently over the last three years and down an additional 7% so far in 2011. Theories abound as to why. Some blame convoluted story lines, while others point to cynical publicity stunts like killing key characters only to bring them back a few months later. But the main culprit more likely lies beyond the page: Today’s youth is far more interested in spending its leisure hours in the ...

The 2011 Hero Complex Film Festival is in the books and what a weekend it was. Robert Downey Jr. shocked the crowd for a surprise “Iron Man” reunion; Jon Favreau made jaws drop with 10 minutes of footage from “Cowboys & Aliens” ; Warren Beatty stretched a Q&A to nearly two hours and declared his need to “vomit” a “Dick Tracy” remake/sequel; “Superman” director Richard Donner wowed the crowd with sparkling stories about the classic film and the late, great Christopher Reeve;  Marvel won the audience over with the world premiere of a new “Captain America: The First Avenger” trailer and the coolest giveaway of the year;  ”Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” director Nicholas Meyer confessed a painful regret about the late Gene Roddenberry,  while the new “Trek” creative team looked to the Federation’s future on the big screen; comics superstars Geoff Johns and ...

DC Comics has been making headlines for weeks, but on Saturday, three of the top creative forces finally stepped into the spotlight to discuss the seismic changes planned for the oldest and most iconic comics universe. The Justice League, the superhero team at the very center of the DC Comics universe, will get an all-new origin story, beginning Aug. 31 in “Justice League” issue No. 1, according to artist Jim Lee and writer Geoff Johns, the celebrated creators who will be working in tandem for the first time. Johns and Lee said the story will be set five years in the past, as will the new Superman tale, which will launch with “Action Comics” issue No. 1 in September. “Action Comics” writer Grant Morrison sent a special video message to Saturday night’s audience at the Hero Complex Film Festival at ...

Seventy-three years ago this month, a strange new vision arrived in American pop culture, a brawny figure in blue with a flowing red cape and the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The character of Superman has flown on into film, television, video games and every imaginable corner of entertainment, but he’s always remained tethered to his first home – Action Comics has been published every month since June 1938 and, in April, became the only American comic book title to reach a 900th issue. But, in a move that is either audacious or desperate — or a bit of both – DC Comics is making a break, at least in numbering, from the grand old series. In September, celebrated Scottish writer Grant Morrison and rising artist Ralph “Rags” Morales will start the series over with Action Comics No. 1, ...

The 2011 Hero Complex Film Festival is underway. Here’s a rundown of the day-by-day schedule. There will also be trivia, prizes and some very interesting surprises throughout the four-day program. THURSDAY DICK TRACY: Fourteen-time Oscar nominee Warren Beatty – the very definition of the Hollywood hyphenate as world-famous leading man, an acclaimed director and an elite producer — will be the opening-night guest for the 2011 Hero Complex Film Festival to celebrate his 1990 hit “Dick Tracy“ and talk about the film future of a square-jawed character who is celebrating his 80th anniversary as an iconic crime fighter in American pop culture. Beatty directed  “Dick Tracy,” which was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three. He also starred as the title character, leading a stellar cast that included Al Pacino, Madonna, Dustin Hoffman,  Glenne Headly, Charlie Korsmo, Mandy Patinkin, Dick Van Dyke, William Forsythe, Kathy Bates, Charles Durning, James ...

DC Comics is going back to the starting point in September, renumbering its entire lineup of DC Universe titles with No. 1 and retooling nearly all of its major characters, including Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. At the same time, the company, which has been publishing comics for 76 years, also said it would start selling digital copies of its printed ongoing superhero titles through apps and a website the same day they’re released in comic shops, a move dubbed by the industry as day-and-date sales. That will affect the company’s superhero titles. That means DC is joining a movement already embraced by Archie Comics, which began same-day digital and print sales in April, along with other smaller publishers. DC’s rival, Marvel Comics, has not yet implemented such a move but has routinely held more market share every year since ...