More Comic Book Trailers!

Here is a new batch of movie trailers of upcoming comic book movies! Which ones are you excited for the most? Enjoy!

X-Men: First Class


Green Lantern


Thor


Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Exclusive Interview with Amélie Fléchais!

The Phamtom Zone has landed an exclusive interview with artist Amélie Fléchais! A French artist, Amélie's work was mentioned in an earlier blog post about her piece for the 25th anniversary Edward Scissorhands Exhibit at Nucleus. Even though English is not her first language, Amélie was kind enough to let us interview her briefly.

PZ: What kind of art do you specialize in?

AF: I'm specialized in illustrations and comic books, I spend most of the time doing traditional techniques (ink, water color, pencil), but also digital technique.

PZ: Where did you learn?

AF: I have studied in two different schools, during one year in the artistic school "EESI" I specialized in comic books. During 3 years at the artistic school "ESAAT" I specialized in animation. But I especially have learned a lot thanks to people I met in these schools and my friend.

PZ: Do you have any big projects you are working on?

AF: I have lot of big projects, I am preparing a comic book ("chemin perdu" ) for ANKAMA, which will be published at end of 2012, after that I will work on illustration book for the collection "Metamorphose" (Le petit loup rouge") and after that I have two secret projects: also with Ankama and Metamorphose. I would also like to work on my student short movie "Mu" and prepare an exhibit. I want to try to carve wood, and make a short live movie, but I don't know when I could have the time to do that.

Exclusive Interview with Philip Tan!

The Phamtom Zone has landed an exclusive interview with comic book artist Philip Tan. Tan is known for his work on Spawn and recently some cover work for DC Comics.

PZ: You have a very impressive resume in comics. What was your most memorable experience in the industry?

PT: There are quite a few, but one of them got to be meeting Stan Winston and visiting the creature effects production house, when I was drawing his book for him. Getting lessons from Todd McFarlane is another!

PZ: Fans may recognize your work on Spawn for so many years and more recently your work in DC Comics. Do you draw your inspiration from any particular styles?

I love the majority form of comic mediums, Asian to American to European.. they all influence me a lot.

PZ: Do you any major projects coming up that you are allowed to talk about?

PT: For DC? Not really, sorry. Although I am working away slowly on my own book. Hopefully to be published someday

PZ: Lastly, if you were to host a meal with three fictional characters, who would they be and what would you serve?

PT: Kinda tough, never thought about it. Probably give Jiraya nude sushi?

Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Episode 3

Here is the 3rd episode of the series! This series just gets better and better.

Lois Lane, Reporter!

Hark! A Vagrant has posted a handful of hilarious Lois Lane and Superman strips. Fingers crossed on a future interview with Kate Beaton!

Invincible #79

Mark Grayson has saved the world. He ended the Viltrumite War. Ten months later, Mark has returned home. Issue #79 follows Mark as he catches up with all the things he's missed in the time he was gone. His mother has ended her relationship with her boyfriend and is almost ready to give Mark's father another chance. Mark's business is booming. He's even gotten a new costume made. But something is different with his girlfriend Eve. In ten months, she's lost her superheroine figure. Eve seems distant and depressed. Upon going to dinner with The Immortal and Duplicate, Mark finds that the couple has had twins in the time he was gone. This dinner party upsets Eve greatly to Mark's surprise. Mark then finds out, and this is a HUGE SPOILER, Eve was pregnant and had an abortion.

This issue takes a slower pace than the last few. Mark retouches with all of his supporting characters in the aftermath of the war. The huge revelation at the end is something that completely surprised me. This was definitely something I didn't see coming in a mainstream comic book. Next issue: Dinosaurus! 4/5

Cute Thor Promo!

A cute parody of the Superbowl Darth Vader spot.

Green Lantern #65

Krona, has seized control of the entire Green Lantern Corps. The only Lanterns free from his control are the four Earth Lanterns. Hal, Guy, Kyle, and John are all powerless and must maneuver their way through Oa to stop Krona and save Ganthet. Because their Green rings allow Krono to infect them, the Lanterns decide to use the rings from the other Corps in order to give themselves a fighting chance against Krona. Hal, who was familiar with using a Yellow Ring, chooses to join the Sinestro Corps. Guy chooses a Red Ring. Kyle, who is filled with Hope, chooses Blue. And John chooses to join the Indigo Tribe.

Geoff Johns delivers another exciting turn in the chapter of the Green Lanterns. The entire arc has been solid and ties in to all previous installments of Green Lantern. Doug Manke's art is once again as breathtaking as ever. 5/5

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Episode 2

Here is the second episode of the new Mortal Kombat series! Watch it here!

Edward Scissorhands Tribute

In celebration of the Edward Scissorhands exhibit at Gallery Nucleus, Amelie Flechais, created a beautiful piece. So much detail went into it that I wanted to try and recreate it. Check out her blog when you get a chance. It's amazing.

Smallville Series Finale Teaser

Exclusive Interview with How It Should Have Ended!

The Phamtom Zone has landed an exclusive interview with Tina Alexander from the online cartoon sensation: How It Should Have Ended! HISHE features cartoon shorts that poke fun of the illogical endings of some movies and adds a more realistic, and hilarious, solution to the plot.

Phamtom Zone: About how long does it take to create an episode of HISHE. How many people contribute to the production of a single episode?

HISHE: Right now we are on a three week production cycle. Week one is artwork and script writing. Week two is finalizing artwork and completing animation. We also do all our voice recording during Week two. Week three is music and sound effects. It is a lot of work!!

Daniel and I work together daily on all aspects of the cartoons, but we also have a composer [Bryan English] and Tommy Watson is a huge help on the business side of things and a great resource when we are stumped creatively. HISHE is also made up of a team of great friends that help us with ideas and voices when we need it. Stephanie Fisher being our constant, and awesome, female lead. So there's about eight of us total. We couldn't do it without the help of our friends.

Phamtom Zone: Do you guys plan on doing anything else with HISHE other than the shorts? Maybe a feature length movie?

HISHE: Not anytime soon, although we get lots of requests to do this with our Terminator/Back to the Future mash up. It might be fun someday, who knows?!

Phamtom Zone: What was your favorite HISHE?

HISHE: That's a really tough question. From the original collection, I really love How Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended and it's probably the one that we hear the most about from fans when we attend conventions. I also love our Terminator short, it still gives me goosebumps. More recently I have to say I'm really proud of our TRON rap video. That was a HUGE undertaking and I'm really happy we attempted something different and outside our box.

Phamtom Zone: What movies can the fans look forward to in the future that HISHE will spoof?

HISHE: Well, we're working on Toy Story 3 right now. And Harry Potter fans can relax because we promise we'll spoof that this summer when the series ends.

Our Scream HISHE is already up on our website, but will debut on Youtube this Thursday if you want to embed it on your blog. Thanks for your interest in us, we really appreciate bloggers spreading the word!

Phamtom Zone: Thank you for the interview!

Mortal Kombat Legacy: Episode 01

Here is the first episode of the new Mortal Kombat webseries. I'm about to watch it now. Check it out, it's only 12 minutes long!

Exclusive Interview with Batman Artist: Dustin Nguyen!

Here it is folks, an exclusive (albiet quick) interview with DC comics superstar, and the current artist for Batman: Streets of Gotham.

Phamtom Zone: When and how did you get your start in this business?

Dustin:I broke into comics the summer of 1999 through the DC/Wildstorm portfolio review lines, somewhere between the SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) and the Chicago one.

Phamtom Zone: Your work on the Batman titles have been amazing. Do you have any plans for major projects afterward?

Dustin: Thanks! And yes, this fall. We should be able to announce if not at least talk about it more around this year's major SDCC. It will still have Batman, of course.

Phamtom Zone: If you could host a meal with three superheroes, who would they be and what would you serve?

Dustin: Definitely be Dr. Doom, Bruce Banner, and The Flash ( Wally West one, not
the scientist), and I'd serve them nothing but ice cream.

Phamtom Zone: Thank you so much, sir!

Dustin: Thanks, Peter!

Smallville Pilot Re-Aired Friday!

With only a handful of episodes left before the series finale, The CW will re-air the pilot episode of Smallville this Friday! The Pilot, which aired over a decade ago, broke viewer records at the time it aired.

Cartoons That Should be Made Into Movies!

I stumbled upon this live action Doug trailer a while back and it got me thinking. If someone could take the concept of Doug and make it into a movie, what other familiar children’s cartoons could be re-imagined into something a grown-up audience would watch?

Where’s Waldo?

Think of it as a cat and mouse thriller that spans across the globe. Waldo, a scientist wanted by the government, must evade not only his government but also the a secret society of men bent on utilizing his intellect for evil. They will stop at nothing to find him. The one person Waldo can trust is himself. Think Jason Bourne in a red and white striped sweater.

Casper

I’ve seen the original and it was incredibly good. There’s no way to top that, so let’s take the story in a different direction. A young boy is murdered a century ago. In the present, we have your typical teenager who just moved into town. He tries to make new friends, but something in the house he moved into won’t leave him alone. With the ghost of a young boy haunting him, the young man must solve a century old murder before times runs out.

The Magic School Bus

A group of kids go on a boring field trip and stray from the tour. They come across a gypsy. She offers them a field trip they will never forget if they all board her "Magic Bus." The children travel to many different worlds, realities, and time-lines that are both fantastical and horrifying. They soon realize that “Madame Frizzle” isn’t the lovable enchantress she made herself out to be, but rather a millennia old demon hungry to steal their souls.

Archie

Archie is your typical high school jock that can’t settle on a girl. On one hand, he has Betty who is cute, kind, smart, and in love with Archie since they were kids. On the other, there’s Veronica, who’s rich, exotic, beautiful, and has the power to wrap Archie around her pinky. Along with his best friend, Jughead (who has a bottomless stomach) and his arch nemesis, Reggie (so vain he keeps a mirror on him at all times.) Archie goes through the trails and tribulations of the world called high school. This is a coming of age story.

Alun's Birthday

Happy (Early) Birthday to Which Way Back North? Co-Creator, Alun Lee!

Thundercats Animated Series 2nd Trailer

Slow news day folks, here's the second trailer released for the new Thundercats cartoon.

Green Lantern WonderCon Footage!

Warner Bros. has release the footage viewed yesterday from WonderCon for the summer blockbuster: Green Lantern! The CGI looks so much better than the trailer released last year! I can't wait! The scene with Sinestro addressing the Corps was beyond epic. See how many familiar Green Lanterns you can spot!

Marvel's Fear Itself Trailer!

Marvel has release the official teaser trailer for this summer's crossover event: Fear Itself.

Amazing Spider-Man #657

In the aftermath of Johnny Storm's death in Fantastic Four #587, Spider-Man visits the Baxter Building to express his condolences to the FF. Peter trades stories of his fondest moments of Johnny with the rest of the team. After reminiscing, Reed shows Peter Johnny's Last Will and Testament. 

"Testing. This thing on? Um... Pete, you there? Pete? If you're hearing this, I'm sorry, pal. Sorry that I'm gone. Cause, well... I know how you feel when it comes to losing family. And that's what you are to me. Family. So... if you're thinking of this as my last will and all... I'm not leaving my sports cars or stuff like that... I'm leaving you the best thing I ever had...my spot on this team. A place in this family. The best sister, two brothers, niece, and nephew a guy could as for. They--We all love you, Pete. So, you up for it, bro? We're all here for you."

This issue should be read hand in hand with Fantastic Four #588. They both give the Johnny Storm character a great send-off and sets up for the new FF (Future Foundation) Title that introduces Spider-Man as a member of the team. 5/5

Comic Book Movies of 2011

2011 is the year for comic book fans! Which big superhero movie are you excited for the most?

Captain America: The First Avenger


Green Lantern


Thor


X-Men: First Class