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Have a wonderful holiday everyone! – Gina McIntyre Follow us on Twitter: @LATHeroComplex RECENT AND RELATED PHOTOS: Kermit the Frog, a career The Muppets crash WWE, Leno Disney says ‘Make Mine Marvel’ Donald Duck: A classic quest Pixar is making a dinosaur movie 2012: The year in awesome ‘The Hobbit’ collected: Complete coverage The year in video games: Indie possibilities Muppets director promises ‘anarchic stupidity’ Kermit commanded Jason Segel’s respect

“Greetings, my friends – We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” – Criswell, “Plan 9 From Outer Space” Welcome to the new iteration of Hero Complex. Well, not entirely new, as we’ll continue to bring genre fans the smartest possible stories from the worlds of science fiction, fantasy and horror across all media – film, TV, comic books, video games, literature and the Web. But what is new is me – I am delighted to now be the lead writer and editor of Hero Complex. I thought it appropriate to take a quick minute to introduce myself. I grew up in Indianapolis, and every Friday night, my dad and I would stay up watching late-night monster movies hosted by local ghoul Sammy Terry (and […]

First, a farewell: I started Hero Complex in 2008 because it was a place where I could write and read about entertainment of the fantastic and the new frontiers of spectacle imagination. It turns out that a lot of people out there wanted the same thing out of a website, and this one has been a success by every possible measure. The brand has even stretched into live events, print editions and an online talk show. It’s been a tremendous ride but, after 21 terrific years as a mild-mannered reporter at the great Los Angeles Times, it was time to look for a new challenge. That doesn’t mean Hero Complex is going away. Far from it, the site’s success is the work of a team, not an individual. Gina McIntyre, my editor during the site’s greatest success, is expanding her […]

When animator Dave Filoni was handed the reins of George Lucas’ computer animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” back in 2006, he thought he knew what to expect. Lucas, the creator and mastermind of the entire multibillion-dollar “Star Wars” operation, would give some initial guidance, notes and feedback and quickly fade away, moving on to tend to other aspects of his Lucasfilm empire. After all, it was a cartoon series aimed a kids, airing on Cartoon Network and regarded by many of the franchise’s older hardcore fans as a nice, but hardly essential, extension of the “Star Wars” experience. “As he saw the first footage coming back, and I think he could sense our excitement levels through the whole thing, he got more and more engaged and excited,” Filoni said. “He just kept coming in. He wouldn’t go away. […]

Steps away from the honking traffic jam of humanity crushing into the grand opening of Cars Land on Friday, Disneyland quietly welcomed back one of its icons – the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The Swiss-Alps themed ride was the park’s first roller coaster in 1959 and has been undergoing much-needed minor repairs and refurbishment during the last six months. The most notable alteration is completely cosmetic, and instantly recognizable – the mountain simply looks better, much brighter and sharper. Despite global warming, more snow has fallen over the venerable Matterhorn. It pops, and frankly, is a considerable improvement over its former battered and worn appearance. Extra snowflakes and frost won’t be the only change visible on the peak’s ridges. After a lengthy absence from the park, real mountain climbers return to the 147-foot mountain and will begin scaling the slopes that separate Tomorrowland and Fantasyland (just as the […]

Our “Super” screening on May 19 just got even more, um,  super. James Gunn, the writer and director of the crime-busting, bone-cracking and (at times) heartbreaking film “Super,” will reunite with the 2010 indie project’s star, Rainn Wilson, on stage  at the Hero Complex Film Festival. The pair will share the stage during a Q&A session following the 8:30 p.m. screening of “Super,” which dresses like “The Greatest American Hero” but runs off the road of sanity like a hipster version of “Taxi Driver.” “Super” follows a short-order cook named Frank (Wilson) who is gripped by rage and despair after his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a  manipulative dope merchant (Kevin Bacon). At his most vulnerable moment, a cosmic message arrives and shoves Frank down a  new path – he dons the mask of the Crimson Bolt and swings a wrench at evil. Gunn made […]

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 […]

Ask a fan of “The Hunger Games” to describe the character of Haymitch and they usually start with the words “alcoholic” or “drunk.” That actually presented a challenge to Woody Harrelson, who said he didn’t want to slip into “Barfly” cliches with his portrayal of Haymitch Abernathy in the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of the Suzanne Collins sci-fi novel. “He’s got a drinking problem and he’s got some issues and he’s damaged, but I didn’t want to do it totally like your typical version of an alcoholic in a movie,” Harrelson said Monday. “So I tried to keep him a little put-together. I dressed him up from what you would expect, too. That was one of my things I wanted – to make him, particularly in the Capitol, a bit of a snazzy dresser — or at least a dresser with his own style.” […]

What’s the most anticipated movie of 2012? Well, “The Hobbit” seems poised to become a global happening and there’s already intense fan curiosity about “The Avengers“ and “The Amazing Spider-Man“ but, really, there’s no way any of those upcoming movies can compete with the Gotham City behemoth created by Christopher Nolan and his team. The latest proof: The new trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises” smashed the record for most combined downloads through the iTunes Movie Trailers site and the iTunes Trailers iOS app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The trailer went online at 10 a.m. Monday morning and was viewed more than 12.5 million times in the next 24 hours, breaking the previous record — held by the trailer for Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” — by well over 2 million. If you haven’t seen it already, here it is … and if you have seen it, […]

Every Halloween is a career moment when your name is Alice Cooper. This particular October is especially notable for the veteran rock star — he’s back with a new album, an attraction at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights and a recently completed cameo in Tim Burton’s upcoming “Dark Shadows,” which features the singer as himself in all of his gory glory. “This is my season,” the 63-year-old singer said with a satisfied grin during a recent visit to Los Angeles. “Welcome to the nightmare, all over again.” “Welcome to My Nightmare” was the name of Cooper’s 1975 concept album that delved into the nightmares of a child named Steven. That vintage vinyl moment is echoing now at Universal Studios Hollywood, where this year’s elaborate Halloween attraction includes a “Welcome to My Nightmare” maze with music and imagery from that album and others by Cooper. Halloween Horror Nights runs through Monday […]