Shaq Breaks Into Comics with New Kingdom Entertainment

   Formally announced today at a panel in Comic Con, Shaquille O'Neal will be breaking into comics with not just 1 but 2 new series. Alongside writer Alexander Storm, New Kingdom Entertainment will release Shaq's Hoop Fighters early next year. The series is, as of now, only going to be 4 issues but the legendary basketball player said that there could very well be a chance of it to go ongoing. Co Founder of Milestone Media, Michael Davis, has called Shaq coming to comics, and the potential readers Shaq will bring, " is the biggest thing in African American comics since Milestone."

   Consider that Milestone brought us properties like Blood Syndicate, Icon, Hardware and most notably, Static, this could be a HUGE move. While details have not be released on Hoop Fighters or Shaq's other book, Clean Ops, we'll keep an eye out on details for you.




 

The Truth about SEX

   Confirmed today at San Diego Comic Con during the Image Comics Experience panel, Joe Casey has come out to talk about Sex.

    Casey stated during that panel that:

 "Sex". . .not a joke title."

Sex is promised by Casey to not be what we expect. Casey commented:

"Superhero comics have always sort of brushed against the concept of sexuality. It's time we just embraced it."


  Sex will be an ongoing, drawn by artist Piotr Kowalski. Casey also promises that Sex is not what we would expect. Sex will hit stores this winter.

Tarantino's Django Unchained Hits DC Comics

     Announced mere hours ago at Comic-Con, prolific director Quentin Tarantino, will be doing a comic book adaption of  Django Unchained. Django Unchained is a western epic that set two years before the Civil War in the South. Django have a very harsh history with his masters which attracts the German-born bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz. Schultz offers Django's freedom if he helps him catch the homicidal Brittle brothers. Django agrees but is focused on having his wife, who had been sold into the compound of Calvin Candie; where his plantation is turned into a hunting ground nicknamed 'Candyland' where slaves are the prey. The duo must face Calvin and his trusted slave, Stephen, in order to save Django's wife, Broomhilda with other adventures along the way.

   The comic will not only  adapt the movie but will be the entire original screenplay for the movie, turned into a 5 issue miniseries.

   Tarantino commented about the comic during Comic-Con today:

"We have worked out a situation where we're going to do a 'Django Unchained' comic. It's going to come out -- I think the first issue is going to come out a couple months before the movie opens and basically take the entire story of the film and do it as a comic book from beginning to end. What I'm really excited about -- not only do I love comic books, I always loved western comics in particular along with the superhero stuff. So I was really excited when it come up with doing a comic about the film. One of the things that I'm really excited about is that 'Django Unchained' is a big epic. When I write big epic scripts like 'Kill Bill,' there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make the movie because they're too f-ing big. They'd be four hour movies if I did everything that was in the script, so there always is this aspect that the script is this big literary piece that I'm always taking it out and changing it and transforming it to make it a movie by the time it's all finished. That's the process, I'm always adapting my movie every day, my unwieldy script into a movie every day as I do it, but what's really cool about doing a 'Django Unchained' comic book is that it's the entire script. Even though things might have changed in the movie, I might have changed something else, I might have dropped chapters, I might have dropped big pieces -- that will all be in the comic. The comic will literally be that very first draft of the script. All that material that didn't make the movie, all of that will be part of the piece. And I'm really excited about it. So, be looking out for 'Django Unchained' in a comic book store and 7 Eleven near you!"


The movie will feature Jamie Foxx as Django, Kerry Washington as Broomhilda, Christopher Waltz as Schultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie and Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen.The movie hits theaters this Christmas.  Django Unchanged #1 will hit stores this November in both print & same-day digital.

Toys Come to Life in Portacio's & Brunswick's Non Humans

  More news from San Diego Comic-Con as it was announced today that Image Founder, Whilce Portacio will team with "Jersey Gods" creator and writer Glen Brunswick for a new 4 issue miniseries called Non-Humans from Image.

   Non-Humans details the story of what happens when a NASA probe returns from space with a disease that brings our toys to life and its affects in that future as it fast forwards 26 years later to see how humans live with their now sentient living play things.

   The new miniseries will feature life of the toys and how they are treated in this new future.

Brunswick commented to CBR:

"One of the basic questions that "Blade Runner" asks is, "Are androids actual beings or merely constructs?" It leaves the viewer with plenty of misgivings about whether or not society has the right to eliminate them -- perhaps, in fact, they are too human to kill. Non-Humans are created much in the way that a human mother gives birth to her child. That is to say that they come from us -- the stuff or DNA of our brains. Somehow our personal traits are combined with a spark of life that allows our toys to become sentient. In effect, these live toys are even more human than androids since they actually are a reproductive product of us. Which begs the question, "Does society have the right to eliminate a new partly human life form if it may pose a threat to society?" A good number of Non-Humans are full of anger and violence -- they are deemed a threat. Under these circumstances, the police are ordered to hunt them down and destroy them. On the other hand, some Non-Humans function quite well in society -- once they are registered they are allowed the limited rights of an oppressed minority."


And Portacio added about his collaboration with Brunswick in CBR:

"What attracts me to Glen's style is he is great at establishing a strong premise that instantly evokes images in peoples' minds and that invokes me to ask a lot of 'world building' questions. At my core as a creative I am immersed in Science Fiction and world building. Glen has the confidence to create such a solid premise that allows me to fill in all the details visually, to make this world live and breathe. In fact, throughout we have had hours and hours of conversations just building all the societal structures, how and why they would react to Non-Humans. What would society allow or not allow Non-Humans to do. Even their religion of sorts. We even figured out a philosophy they would naturally develop because of their experiences. We also built layers of different classes of Non-Humans and how they would implant themselves into society. We have so much background that the hardest thing was to edit out what we didn't need at the moment to tell the core story. But if you look at the book and read the script carefully you will see we hint at everything. We meshed so well in building this world we could go for years telling varying stories of how our humans and Non-Humans live and survive."

 And this will not be the normal cute and cuddly story. Buddy-the-Bear is a teddy bear who is a drug dealer while there is a Victoria Secret Mannequin whole will have a toy dog and a Goth doll girlfriend. So, clearly, this will be an interesting future. Non-Humans #1, written by Glen Brunswick with art by Whilce Portacio will hit stores this October.

Silvestri Brings Back Cyber Force . .. FOR FREE!!

Silvestri, Hawkins & Pham bring back Cyber Force this October ... For FREE!

        Announced on Friday and reiterated today at Comic-Con, Marc Silvestri and Top Cow are bringing back Cyber Force this October. One of the biggest differences to Cyber Force this time around is that it will be free. Yes. FREE. Silverstri has started a Kickstarter to start the project. The kickstarter will help fund to bring Cyber Force back ... for free. In both print AND digital formats. Rebooting the title that launched Top Cow, Top Cow COO Matt Hawkins commented to CBR about Cyber Force's return:

"We are very intentionally keeping the rest of the Top Cow Universe pretty far away from "Cyber Force" so we can build and ground it separately, but yes the "reboot" gave us a good reason to start over. There have been somespin-off miniseries done over the years by Ron Marz and Mark Waid but nothing that was a pure reboot. There are no plans in the first year to have the Artifacts stories cross with "Cyber Force." They do take place in the greater Top Cow Universe however."


 Silvestri and Top Cow hopes that will they not only have the first issue of Cyber Force for free digitally or in your local comic shops with enough funding from Kickstarter ... but at least the first 5 issues would all be free in both formats. Merely ask for it or pick it up or download it. Top Cow's Overlord told Hero Complex the following:

"We want to use [Kickstarter's] crowd-sourced funding in typical Top Cow fashion, meaning differently. "While most everybody uses Kickstarter to fund a project in order to build it and then sell it, we at Top Cow are going to use the funds to build 'Cyber Force' and give it away -- for free! Plus we’re not talking just one issue but five full issues of the comic. And it won’t be free just digitally, but also as a full-color printed comic that will be available at any participating comic shop. So for people that want to read 'Cyber Force' digitally -- yes, including torrent sites -- it’s free. And for anyone wanting to hold a traditional comic in their hands to read it -- it’s still free. We figure this is a great way to reward loyal comic fans plus get new people to get onboard reading comics and see what they’ve been missing. Plus it allows fans to actually get involved in the comic making process and be part of something truly groundbreaking that will help all of us that love the genre."


Cyber Force # 1, written by Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, with art by Khoi Pham, will hit stores this October . .. FOR FREE!!!