Comic book fans might be split about how much they want to see or even how much they like the latest comic to screen adaptation Wanted starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. But I think most other movie goers won’t have the same questions. I think they’ll just think it’s a great action movie that’s well worth their 10 bucks and 2 hours.

From Marc Silvestri’s MySpace blog:
“For all you comic fans out there who have read and no doubt loved the books, the answer is yes, the movie does veer from the source material. But it does so for all the right reasons because the comic series would be literally impossible to film unfiltered. The “inside gag” of super villains having killed off super heroes had to be jettisoned for the bulk of the audience to accept the core message of the movie. Just explaining that concept would have taken the first hour. The character arc and message that we all “want” a life that matters is intact as is Millar’s twisted comic sensibilities. The books and the movie both offer an outrageous and entertaining answer to the question: “What if I really did get everything I WANTED?” In the hero Wesley’s case it’s a life of less suck and more meaning. Sound relatable? I thought so.”

And as far as rides go…it is a great one. I didn’t read the book as it was being published but I picked up the highly touted trade when it was released and I liked it. Millar and Jones turned in some excellent work as they always do and it was $19.99 well spent. But I have to say…I liked Wanted the movie more and it’ll get my money again when it hits DVD. The action is great with some fantastic and innovative scenes that you barely get a glimpse of in the trailers. James McAvoy does a fantastic job as Wesley before and after his turning into a badass. Morgan Freeman is…well he’s Morgan Freeman what else do I need to say about him? And of course Angelina Jolie is everything you’d expect from her, sexy as hell and a performer that demands your attention when on screen.

So while this might be only half of a comic adaptation in terms of story, this flick is an entire dose of awesome that I highly recommend you check out regardless if you are a fan of the series or not. I really think if you like slick summer action flicks you’ll enjoy what the movie version of Wanted has to offer no matter your thoughts on the book. Did I mention it has Angelina Jolie in it yet?

I remember back in 2000 when Michael was diagnosed with bone cancer, chondrosarcoma, in his right pelvis. I thought how fitting it was that part of this recovery and therapy from surgery was done in a swimming pool since his creator-owned book, Fathom, was about a race of aquatic humanoids.

It always sad to learn about someone passing away. It’s even sadder when that someone is so young. Michael and his contribution to comics will be missed and our hearts go out to his family, friends and the comic book community.

Michael Turner 1971-2008

All seemed well with the world until it was discovered that these fake gold coins were actually Huggles and could be redeemed with the friendly, neighborhood J. Chris Campbell for a hug. ECK-GAD! How awesome is that? So awesome in fact that if those coins were real I bet J. Chris Campbell make a fortune off these along with his inventory of Wide Awake Press comics and goodies.

What’s even better is the fun didn’t end at Heroes Con. Jack Blakeney, one of Tre’s best buddies and a past guest on our show, decided to join in the fun over the Interwebs. “How,” might you ask? The best way to find out is to head on over to J. Chris’ blog post, Playing, and read the comments (read J. Chris’ post too). Just look for Jack’s comment, eighth one from the top, and then find out how you can join in on the fun by reading J. Chris’ 10 simple rules for getting a hug.

Tom goes on to thoroughly discuss many aspects, happenings and people at Heroes Con 2008 and we are humbled to be included in his article. Thanks Tom!

While this isn’t very comic book related (no shock to our regular listeners) we won’t have a non-Heroes Con 2008 audio update until next week and there was some very sad celebrity news this weekend that we would have made time to comment on if we were doing a show this week. (also no surprise to our listeners)

Comedy legend George Carlin died of heart failure hours after visiting the St; John’s Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday at the age of 71. His last performance was the previous weekend in Las Vegas at the Orleans Casino and Hotel. During his career he produced two dozen comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, multiple bestselling books, was a frequent guest on every late night talk show of note, had his own sitcom and appeared in many notable movies. Carlin also won four Grammy Awards and was nominated for five Emmys. He was a pioneer for many comedians for successfully going well beyond the nightclub stage with his talent.

But Carlin was much more than just that to his chosen profession. Along with other comedy icons like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce, he helped to birth new life into a dying and stale artform by showing other performers and their audience what comedy could be. We can and should laugh at anything, everything and everyone. No topics are too taboo, stupid, angry or sad that intelligent people should not be discussing them, learning from them and ultimately laughing from them. If there was a comedy Mount Rushmore, George Carlin would be on it and I really don’t think that statement begins to explain his importance and impact. It was recently announced that Carlin was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, to be presented in November and broadcast on PBS. It is a shame we will not get to hear his acceptance speech.

George Carlin - 1937-2008 - RIP

If you are wondering how Living Between Wednesdays became so popular you’ll find your answers in that interview.

Our buddy J Chris from Wide Awake Press is doing a countdown of sorts to Heroes Con next week as he is posting blogs this week and next detailing what he believes are the biggest and best reasons for attending Heroes not just this year but every year. (not to spoil anything but I am pretty sure sitting next to us at the con this year is number 1)

If you are looking to get pumped up for the event, if you need no pumping up, or even if you will not be able to attend this year, check out his blog for a fun look at Heroes from a creator who is also long time attendee.

http://jchriscampbell.com/

One Day.

All due to that damn paying job.

The wait is totally worth it though.

Actually, I don’t know how great it will be because I haven’t listened to it yet.

But I do remember it being rather heated.

I think at one point I actually punch Devin in the eye.

Maybe that was a scenario I played in my head afterwards.

In the mean time go to http://forums.thedollarbin.net to pass the time!!!

Months ago the Dollar Bin guys decided to get together and record their own commentary to a comic book movie. Up first was Electra, but after much debate and last minute vetoes we would like to present to you the first ever Dollar Bin Comic Book Theater commentary to Punisher (The newer one).

This commentary is meant to be played along with the movie. If you want to delve in without it, well good luck. This is completely raw and uncut. Also, be prepared to make some adjustments about halfway through fore the DVD player of Tre skips a little. Its all in good fun.

Even a diehard Yankee fan like myself has to admit…that’s pretty cool.

So as far as Ben Templesmith’s published stuff goes I’ve pretty much read Fell and 30 Days of Night. However I have been watching this guy for the last few weeks on Twitter and he is one active MoFo. Recently he had an incident with a bus and this was sent him straight to the top in my book. He is the most entertaining person I’ve ever read short… post… blog… enties..(?) from. Anyway, I’ve owned Singularity7, written by and with art by Templesmith for a few months now and it has moved way up my list. Ben Templemith is the Bomb!

*Image not by Templesmith, but jacked from his site anyway:

TEAM BEHIND “DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA” TO APPEAR AT HEROESCON

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting Join Guest List of Fan-Favorite Comics Show

Continuing a string of high-profile announcements leading up to this summer’s Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC, show organizers have confirmed that the team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting will appear at HeroesCon 08, taking place June 20-22.  Writer Brubaker and artist Epting were behind the recent “Death of Captain America” storyline, in which the iconic superhero was killed by a sniper’s bullet.  The event was widely covered by news outlets including The New York Times, MSNBC, and NPR, among others.  The pair joins a large guest list filled with other high-profile creators, including Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction, former Mad Magazine editor Al Feldstein, and Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Making his first appearance at HeroesCon, Ed Brubaker is the Eisner Award-winning writer behind Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil, and Captain America, as well as his own crime series, Criminal.  Returning guest Steve Epting, who lives in South Carolina, drew The Avengers for years before becoming the artist on the super-popular Captain America series.  “It’s writers and artists like Ed and Steve who are behind the recent critical acclaim for comics,” says HeroesCon owner Shelton Drum.  “We’re incredibly excited to be hosting them this summer.”

Other high-profile comics creators attending the show are Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction, who also collaborated with Brubaker on Iron Fist and the upcoming Uncanny X-Men; and Daredevil artist and fellow Brubaker collaborator Michael Lark.  Also returning to HeroesCon this year is Greg Rucka, who co-created the multiple Eisner Award-winning Gotham Central series with Brubaker, and wrote the two Whiteout graphic novels, the first of which has been adapted into a Kate Beckinsale-starring movie set for 2008 release.  

A Charlotte tradition since 1982, HeroesCon has quietly become one of the most popular comic book conventions in the nation, annually drawing over 10,000 fans to uptown Charlotte.  With a guest list already over 300 artists, writers, and comics industry professionals, this year’s HeroesCon seems poised to exceed all the organizers’ expectations.  Says owner Shelton Drum, “It’s humbling, the amount of support we receive from the comics community.  It proves that there’s still a place for a fun comics convention that you can bring your whole family to.”

Heroes Convention 2008 is an annual comics convention founded in 1982 by Shelton Drum, who also owns and operates the Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find comics shop in Charlotte, NC.  For more information refer to www.heroesonline.com.

 http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/Fund_Raising_to_Help_David_Pirkola__Comics_Retailer

This week we were supposed to cover the release of the animated dvd New Frontier and the comic from Darwyn Cooke that inspired it. But after lamenting the loss of Jeff Healey, sharing our love for Playboy, swaping nightlife stories and more we ran out of time faster than we ran out of topics. However we did find the time to also discuss the latest issues of Kick Ass, Teen Titans, Criminal, The Authority Prime, RASL and much more on this edition of The Dollar Bin.

DARWYN COOKE MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE AT HEROES CONVENTION 2008

Joins Diverse Guest List of Famously “Comics First” Convention

Darwyn Cooke, the multiple Eisner Award winning creator behind the hit “DC: The New Frontier” and recent revamp of Will Eisner’s “The Spirit”, has just confirmed to attend his first ever Heroes Convention as a guest. He joins one of the largest and most diverse guest lists on the comics convention circuit, and will no doubt be a central part of one of the biggest HeroesCon’s ever, scheduled for June 20-22, 2008 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

“Darwyn may be the creator fans most often ask to see at HeroesCon,” says convention owner Shelton Drum. “It’s hard to overstate his profile in the comics industry.” Drum should know: he founded the yearly Heroes Convention in 1982 as an offshoot of his “Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find” comics store, and has built a strong reputation over the years for running a very fan- and family-friendly comics convention.

The addition of Darwyn Cooke to the HeroesCon 08 guest list, coming hot on the heels of the release of “Justice League: The New Frontier” DVD release, adds to an enormous guest list featuring many of comics’ leading lights, including names like Frank Cho, Al Feldstein, David Finch, Matt Fraction, Adam Hughes, Robert Kirkman, Greg Rucka, Herb Trimpe, and hundreds more. HeroesCon also includes Indie Island, a 10,000+ square foot section at its center devoted to independent and alternative comics, giving it one of the most diverse guest lists of any U.S. comics convention.

Heroes Convention has made incredible strides over the last several years, cementing its place as the comics industry’s preeminent “comics-first” convention. With the addition of Darwyn Cooke to an already enormous guest list, the convention is solidifying its status as a “must” on the schedules of comics creators and fans alike.

Heroes Convention 2008 is an annual comics convention founded in 1982 by Shelton Drum, who also owns and operates the Heroes Aren’t Hard To Find comics shop in Charlotte, NC. For more information refer to www.heroesonline.com.

If you’d like more information about this topic, please contact Dustin Harbin by e-mail at dharbin@heroesonline.com, or by phone at 704.375.7463.

Then there is this Today Show interview. NBC had YouTube disable embedding on a Web site so you’ll need to make the jump to YouTube to watch it.

Enjoy.

As the rest of the Dollar Bin guys know, I’m not the biggest fan of the Watchmen. Why? The coloring. Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking. “How can Kris say that about the Watchmen?” Whenever I think about the Watchmen I’m reminded of that one time I told our buddy Flaco what I thought about the Watchmen and I can’t get over his expression as he looked at me like I was smoking crack. I plan on reading the Watchmen again sometime in the next year, and I hear that there’s an Absolute Watchmen book that’s supposed to be awesome. I’ll see if I can track one down and I do a nice blog post here for you to read.

Until then….

I’d just like to point out that we now have the forum back up:   http://forums.thedollarbin.net/index.php

Also, I love you all.  Even Nic.

Hopefully it’ll help us get to know each other a bit better and to flesh out some of the topics, discussions and questions that can sometimes get lost or even be left unspoken in the comment sections. But we also hope you will continue to comment directly to the shows and articles as well. Just like a young Hollywood starlet, we need as much feedback, hatemail, praise and attention that we can get.

So head on over, sign-up and start posting! http://forums.thedollarbin.net/index.php

Just a few topics discussed include the following: Child Star Train Wrecks, Musicals, Hot women in film and TV, The Beatles, 90s Rock, and many many more.

This is raw and uncut (just like Girls Gone Wild). I don’t really remember everything discussed or what asinine things we said, but its all on tape and let that be a lesson to you (and me).

Batman: The Patriots What!??!! My god the children…

Lois: I told you! I told you ! I told you!!!

Rachelle’s Living Between Wednesdays Caption Contest

I have an idea that I’ve been kicking around the last few months and I think I’m ready to kick it off in 2008. Everyone knows by now (I think) that we post interviews and such on the site that don’t make it into the feed. I love these and although they don’t get the traffic they deserve I want to expand this attempt at giving everyone a voice. I’ve done a few things now with my phone recorder/Vonage, but it just isn’t giving its price tags worth. So to stuff even more time consuming projects into my life (so I can continue to have excuses for not having a girl friend) I’ve decided to open the segment “Discussions With Listeners”, or “Listen to Yourselves for a Change”, or “Spread the Word”, or some other lame title thing.

Basically it comes down to this:

1. You send me an email (adamatthedollarbindotnet) telling me what you want to discuss.
2. I schedule together the crew necessary.
3. We give you a call and we talk. (With Vonage I can call quite a bit of the world for free, so don’t worry if you are outside the US)
4. I’m thinking I’d like to keep it down to 15-30 minutes or so.

Hit me up.

With added bonus of Adam wearing the black Spider-man mask in mourning.

It Was Calling For Me
That’s right. I bought The Amazing Spider-Man #546, the very first issue of the new storyline, Brand New Day. I had plans not to buy this book, but when I was at Acme Comics last night it started calling for me. It was saying things like, “This is not the same Peter Parker that you grew tired of reading,” and “It’s a great jumping on point,” and “It’s freaking Steve McNiven.” Brand New Day is a reboot of sorts of Peter Parker, Spider-Man and basically the whole Marvel Universe. What was I to do? I tried to ignore the book but I finally caved.

Am I ashamed?
At first I couldn’t believe I bought it. I immediately called Adam and left him a voicemail telling him about giving in to the mind-swipe by Joe Quesada. Then I read the book and MAN, am I glad I bought it. It’s awesome. The art of course is top-notch. The writing is witty, funny and clever. Questions about the upset in the Spidey Universe are loosely answered, but you are given enough to not really want to ask for more right now.

Do I recommend Brand New Day?
You bet your last $4.00 I do. Go get it right now.

This blog post is the sole responsibilitiy of Kris Black. The other Dollar Bin guys do not endourse or condone Kris’ course of action . . . yet.

Who’s Gonna Be There?

We’ll be there in all glory interviewing some of our most favorite people in comics, and I’m not talking about our favorite people we love to hate. Oh no. I’m talking about creators that actually work their collective asses off because of their enormous love for creating comics. Sometimes these folks are referred to as mini-comics creators or indie creators. We at the Dollar Bin like to refer to them as family.

Of course their will be creators there that work for the likes of the big publishers and we think of them as family too. That’s why we can talk smack about people because we’re all family and that’s what family is for right? We love you all!

If you can make it to Charlotte then look for us at Charlotte Mini-Con 2008. Here’s a link to the location on Google Maps so there is no excuse for you not to be there unless you are from another country like our buddy Andrew down under. It’s just a $3 - $5 donation to get in which means you can write it off on your taxes for next year. Now how’s that for being a comic book fan? Tax deduction.

How will you find us?

Easy, either head over to Rob Ullman and J. Chris Campbell’s tables where we like to refresh, relax, get back rubs by some of Rob’s pretty ladies, and download get maintenance repairs on recording equipment by J. Chris’ robots. If we are not there just ask those fine guys. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

Check out the not-so-pleasant reaction it is getting at Newsarama, and a five part interview with Joey Q at ComicBookResources.com.

Of course, that’s just my opinion. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think.

The Amazon Kindle seems like a useful product and I’m really interested in trying one out. I wonder how long before we see a comic book for it. Tim Sale’s black and white artwork would be a perfect candidate for the Amazon Kindle.