Gear Live Comic Book News: Articles Tagged Bruce Willis

Red: Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, DC Comics,

Gee, what movie should I see this weekend?

I could, of course, see Jackass 3-D because you can never see enough footage of people getting kicked in the balls. And in 3-D it might feel like I'm doing the kicking.

Hereafter looks cool, and I'll get around to seeing that shortly. Conviction has that kind of mid-October Oscar bait feel to it, where everyone is suicidal or finds salvation through tragedy or suffers from a tragic disease yet still finds time to teach us about life. But I'm not falling for that this weekend.

Click to continue reading Red: Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner

The Expendables V. Eat Pray Love V. Scott Pilgrim

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Independent,

Let’s see…what movie should I see this weekend? Well, there’s The Expendables with Sylvester Stallone (who also directed), Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Gary Daniels, and cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. All manly men getting ready to punch each other and others, shoot each other and others, and mouth off a bunch of one-liner catchphrases. Plus, added bonus: I’ve met Gary Daniels when he was wearing the original Hardcase costume for a proposed Ultraverse movie.

Then there’s Eat Pray Love where I can watch Julia Roberts be sad because she had to leave her happy marriage, take a pile of money that no one else has and travel around the world to wherever she wants, eat what she wants and have everyone she meets absolutely adore her. I like fantasy movies, but they need to have swords.

But there’s also some indy film starring Michael Cera and directed by that guy who did Shaun of the Dead. It’s called Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and it appears to be based on a comic book or something. Anybody know anything about it?

[Artwork: promo poster for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World]

Quote of the Day: John Layman on Hollywood’s Eye For Chew

Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Interviews, Movies, Image Comics,

“The Jim Carrey/Bruce Willis companies called me and asked why I didn’t go with them. I said, because I can’t call Jim Carrey. I can call [Brian Michael] Bendis!”

- Chew writer John Layman on Hollywood adaptations.

(Make sure to check out other notable quotes.)

Read More | Comic Book Resources

The Surrogates & Alan Moore: On Sale Now!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

It costs a bunch of money to make a movie and nearly as much to actually go see one in the theaters. Top Shelf has hit a fall jackpot with their comic book The Surrogates, written by Robert Venditti and drawn by Brett Weldele. It’s debuting as a movie on September 25th, directed by Jonathan Mostow, written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris and starring Bruce Willis and Rosamund Pike.

To celebrate the movie’s release (check out the trailer after the jump!), Top Shelf is debuting The Surrogates comics at iTunes, so you can read the original graphic novel on your iPod Touch or iPhone. You can get the first two issues for 99¢ and the remaining three issues for 99¢ each. If that seems like too big a risk for you, then you can just download the entire first issue—that’s The Surrogates #1—for free from the iTunes App Store. Got it?

Between now and September 25th, Top Shelf will be taking advantage of the slow fall comic book season and offering up a whopper of a sale to celebrate: lots of great graphic novels and comic booky stuff for $3 a pop and reduced prices for their prime Alan Moore books like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Lost Girls, and From Hell. Also, Halloween is coming up, and what better gift than a copy of Johnny Boo by James Kochalka?

It’s a great time to be alive.

[Artwork: The Surrogates © Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele]

Click to continue reading The Surrogates & Alan Moore: On Sale Now!

Read More | Top Shelf

HOWARD CHAYKIN: DIE HARD: YEAR ONE from BOOM! Studios

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

BOOM! goes the dynamite!

Howard Chaykin is one of my favorite writer/artists. Doesn’t matter if he’s working on his own stuff (like American Flagg!, Barnum!, or American Century,), or reconfiguring existing characters (like The Shadow, Challengers of the Unknown, Blackhawk). I’m all in.

And then there’s DIE HARD, one of my favorite action movies ever, thanks in large part to Bruce Willis. At a time when no one was making any kind of Batman movie (Tim Burton’s Batman was a year away), DIE HARD filled the void. Watch it again and think of John McClane as Bruce Wayne. It’s all there. Die Hard is a Batman movie without the cape, the fancy Hot Wheels car and the nipple-suit.

Now BOOM! Studios – which has already scored with licensed properties like Farscape and The Incredibles - has hit the mark again. Chaykin and artist Stephen Thompson (who did Buckaroo Banzai for Moonstone Books) are uniting to bring the pre-Die Hard adventures of McClane to the comic book page.

DIE HARD: YEAR ONE #1 is set in New York City during the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, with McClane as a rookie cop. Chaykin grew up in New York, and is well-familiar with the time and place, so I’m expecting a tough, gritty crime thriller, packed with action and the wry Chaykin humor. The series promises to be well worth reading. The first issue is scheduled for an August release.

And you know how a blog post like this has to end, don’t you? Yippy-ki-yay…

[Artwork: Promotional art from Die Hard: Year One]