Asylum In Stock

If you save up all your allowance or salary money purely to purchase a PS3 and the Arkam Asylum (game of the year, by the way !) game, no one would call you crazy - in fact, I would go so far as to day that your decision, while rash and totally instinctual, is a brilliant. In fact, I thank myself daily for having the foresight to purchase a PS3, and it's because of games like Arkham Asylum.

Being critically acclaimed has certain advantages to faithful fans such as myself: you can relate with other gamers, you can related with our geeks, and the merchandise that follows is awesome to see - for better or for worse (however, in this case, it's very good).

On total pre-order status and with pre-order sales running out fast, too the Batman: Arkham Asylum series of figures are set for release in January 2011. Two lines have already been confirmed and the details shown on promotional photos look true to the game and overall, great.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Series one figures are accompanied by character-specific accessories and a display base, and is packaged on a 4-color clamshell blister card.


The first set includes the following characters:

The Joker with Scarface (at 6.7” tall and 2” tall respectively). Characteristically clad in a pinstriped purple tuxedo, the ghoulish, leering Joker is accompanied by a monstrous saw-toothed version of Scarface.

Scarecrow (at 6” tall) is clad in dingy brown tatters and a baggy, noose-cinched re-breather mask, and comes equipped with a hose-heavy gauntlet used to deliver gaseous doses of his debilitating fear toxin.

The porcelain doll-like Harley Quinn (at 6.5” tall) is clad in a snug-fitting, short-skirted dress overlapped by an intricately-crafted dark red corset, along with gloves and thigh-high boots. This Harley version is practically the pick of the lot - her concept appearance is totally new and is very well aligned to the history of the character. I believe this costume is a fair rival to that of the Slave Princess Leia !

Finally, you have a Batman (at 6.75” tall), complete with yellow utility belt, flowing black cape, and thick-armored gauntlets and greaves.


Series Two of this video-game inspired action figure line compliments the first installment wave nicely:

Poison Ivy (at 6.5” tall), sparsely-clad Poison Ivy is adorned by delicate vein-like vines studded with miniscule darker-green leaves.

The introduction of Zsasz the murderer was a nice touch (at 6” tall). The lanky Zsasz is clad in institutional orange attire and manacled and padlocked restraint gear.

Bane although only 6.75” tall is a massive vein-laden figure clad in tattered institutional orange attire, encased in crude metal apparatus festooned with tangling acid-green wires and hoses.

And finally, also in the series is an additional Armored Batman (at 7” tall to top of ears).This version is clad in a sculptured armor chassis patterned after the standard Batman costume, complete with gold utility belt and billowing black cape.

Time For Class

I don't think anyone could have anticipated how far the X-Men franchise would go following the release of the very first film - after Wolverine: Origins, it seems that more and more movies are planned along this installment and The House Of El, couldn't be happier.

The next upcoming X-Men group centered movie, planned for a 2011 release, is X-Men: First Class.

X-Men: First Class is intended to be about the young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast and others who attended Xavier's school. Zak Penn revealed he was offered to direct the spin-off in 2007, which he explained, "The original idea was to have me do a young X-Men spin-off, a spin-off of the young X-Men characters. But someone came up with a pretty interesting idea - do a young X-Men movie which is not what you'd expect."

In July 2008, Fox filed the title X-Men: First Class.

Bryan Singer later signed on to direct X-Men: First Class in December 2009, returning to the series that he started with X-Men and X2: X-Men United. Jamie Moss, the writer behind the 2008 Keanu Reeves movie Street Kings, has also come on board to pen a new screenplay for X-Men: First Class.

In March 2010, Singer reiterated that the film will find its axis in the relationship between Professor X and Magneto and the point where their friendship soured, while also detailing the beginning of the school for mutants, with younger incarnations of some characters with new actors in roles of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, etc. Also March 2010, Fox revealed that Bryan Singer will be producing X-Men: First Class instead of directing. The studio wants the film to start production as soon as possible in order to release it in 2011, and Singer is unable to do it due to other work commitments. In May 2010, 20th Century Fox confirmed that Matthew Vaughn will direct the film and announced the film will be released on June 3, 2011.

No one has presented a formal state on whether Hugh Jackman might appear as Wolverine. The current cast roster includes:

• James McAvoy as the young Professor X,
• Michael Fassbender as Erik Lensherr (Magneto)
• Benjamin Walker as Hank McCoy, (Beast)
• Alice Eve as Emma Frost

X-Men: First Class will begin filming in August 2010 in London.

Mercury

The history of DC's speedsters is wide and colorful. One of the greatest things about the origins of those character associated with lightening speed is the fact that it's an on-going project and characters are still being developed and fine-tuned.

There is little doubt that the fan lines are drawn between Barry Allen and Wally West; but it would be a total remiss for us to consider the roots of those two greats mentioned. A good place to start would be with the most golden age of golden agers: Max Mercury.

The character first appeared in Quality Comics' National Comics issue #5, in November 1940, as Quicksilver. Almost nothing was revealed about that character except that he possessed super-speed and his secret identity had the first name Max. Due to the character's indistinct background, many years down the line, writer Mark Waid reinvented the character in The Flash storyline.

When the character reappeared in early 1990s issues of The Flash, his name had to be changed from Quicksilver to Mercury to avoid confusion with Marvel Comics' Quicksilver.

In Waid's origin of the character, he was originally a scout with the US Cavalry in the 1830s. A friend of the local Indian tribes, he was shocked and dismayed to find them massacred on the orders of his commanding officer. Enchanted by a dying Indian shaman, he gained super-speed. In the years that followed, he became known to the Indians as Ahwehota (He Who Runs Beyond The Wind), and to everyone else as Windrunner.

Mercury has repeatedly traveled through time, seeking to enter the so-called Speed Force. He usually bounces off and finds himself decades in the future. His first attempt left him in the 1890s, where he created a new identity for himself as Whip Whirlwind. Later, he travelled ahead again, and was active in the 1930s and 1940s as Quicksilver when he acted as a mentor to the fledgling Golden Age Flash and Johnny Quick.

In 1948, he had an affair with the wife of a doctor who had saved his life. When the doctor learned of this, Max fled into the future once more.

He spent some years in hiding, but was persuaded by Jay Garrick to return to action against Professor Zoom (one of The Flash's penultimate limited story-lines). In recent years, he has been the mentor of first Wally West and later Bart Allen (alias Impulse). He taught West about the Speed Force, and helped him to access his full speed by encouraging him to break a mental block he'd placed on his powers—stopping Wally from being as fast as Barry, he also attempted to teach Impulse a measure of patience with varying results. While living with Bart, Max met an aged physician named Helen Claiborne, who turned out to be his daughter from his earlier affair.

Since then Max Mercury has played a secondary role in the background of the speed family plot-line, aiding other superheroes as battling partners and as a mentor.


Max is fully human with granted superhuman speed by ancient Native American rituals. Over time, he tried to find the fuel for his powers (and those of other speedsters): the Speed Force. Though he never quite entered it, his attempts allowed him to travel forward through time.

Amongst his peers, Max is unique in his attempts to understand the Speed Force in a mystical way. He also differs from other speedsters because of his agility; he cannot run as quickly as the Flashes, but he has a greater ability to perform acrobatic stunts and finely coordinated actions than they do - with the skill to even outmaneuver Professor Zoom.

Liberty & Justice

Marvel Studios entertainment is not slowing down with the announcement of Captain America: The First Avenger, slated to be released in the summer of 2011.

Doesn't the excitement just make you feel like a little kid again?

Here at The House of El; we're nothing if not continuously keeping up to date on superhero tidbits of information. In light of the coming of the proclaimed first avenger, let's take a look and who's in the actor roster for this:


Chris Evans will be playing: Steve Rogers / Captain America: a sickly young man who is enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort - if you're a fan, you would know this already. Evans said that he wanted to play Captain America because, he stated, "I think Marvel is doing a lot of good things right now, and it’s a fun character". All fans out there would best remember Evans for playing Human Torch in the recent Fantastic Four installments.


Hugo Weaving will be playing: Johann Schmidt / Red Skull: Captain America's main nemesis and the head of the Nazi's terrorist activities who was personally groomed and trained by Adolf Hitler to be his right-hand man.

Sebastian Stan will be playing: Buck Barnes: Captain America's sidekick. It is not clear on whether the movie version of Barnes sets up the Winter Soldier identity (the baddie that Bucky eventually becomes). It has been revealed however that Stan has been sign to a multiple of movies under the Marval Studios umbrella.

Samuel L. Jackson will be playing: Nick Fury: a sergeant in the United States Army during World War II who lead an elite special unit of US Army Rangers nicknamed the Howling Commandos and would later become the director of the super-spy agency, S.H.I.E.L.D..

Dominic Cooper will be playing: Howard Stark: The father of Tony Stark, who worked on various government projects dating back to the World War II era.


Neal McDonough will be playing: Dum Dum Dugan: a former circus strongman and member of Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos, known for his his marksmanship with rifles and for his impressive physique.In an interview with MTV News, McDonough stated that he is already growing Dugan's trademark mustache and plans to wear the character's signature bowler hat.

The latest addition to the exciting cast is Tommy Lee Jones as Col. Chester Phillips. Lee's involvement in the Captain America movie was announced in June 2011.

More exciting stuff: the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be releasing more movies into cinemas near you with Thor (also scheduled for 2011) and The Avengers (for 2012)

Avengers Assemble !

Super Summer

There are few things cooler than a hot actress playing a super-hero; and one of things would be if a hot actress voiced for a super-hero.

Summer Glau (from the defunct Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Serenity and Firefly) will play the voice of Supergirl in Warner Premiere's animated Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, coming to Blu-ray and DVD on September 28.

In the film, the latest in a Warner Bros.-produced series based on popular DC Comics stories, Summer plays Superman's cousin Kara, a mysterious survivor of the doomed planet Krypton who shows up on Earth.

The best news of all is that Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy will be reprising their roles as Superman and Batman, respectively, from the characters' animated series in the '90s and a previous DC movie, last year's Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.

Apocalypse is based on the 2004 comic book arc, written by Jeph Loeb, which reintroduced Supergirl into the DC Comics universe. Unlike the rocket that brought her cousin to Earth, Kara's pod was delayed in its arrival, leaving her in suspended animation until landing. When she wakes up she is not terribly happy to learn that Earth's yellow sun gives her powers far beyond those of mortal women.

If you've loved the DC animated productions so far, you'd expect nothing less with this second installment of the Superman/Batman storyline - especially when you know Bruce Timm is involved.

*incidentally, check out Summer Glau's special appearance in the ever-cool, ever-geeky past season of The Big Bang Theory.

Big Bad Hex

With the movie on the way to the projector room of our closest cinemas, it would be a shame for The House Of El to not play tribute to this soon-to-be underdog star.

Jonah Hex is live is one that is probably not envied by any of the other heroes and anti-heroes of the DC Universe. Jonah has battled alcoholism, and as an adult faced his mother's turn to prostitution. If you didn't already know, Hex is your typical Western-gruff bounty hunter whose face is horribly scarred on the right side. Despite his poor reputation and personality, Hex is bound by a personal code of honor to protect and avenge the innocent.

He's an expert marksman whom rarely misses and is always up to a good fight.

Though he has traveled extensively throughout the American West, he has also ended up trudging through South America and China. At one point he had quit bounty hunting, married and had a son, and took up farming - though unruly circumstances saw to it that his marriage and his family lifestyle did not last.

Hex's facial injuries - his most noticeable features - can be traced back to being sold into slavery by his father to some Apache for safe passage. Jonah eventually saved the chief from being killed by a mountain lion and was made an honorary member of the tribe. He was soon betrayed by the envious son of the chief while on a raid.

Jonah returned years later to challenge him in a sacred tomahawk battle, but the chief's son sabotaged Jonah's tomahawk. Jonah used his knife instead self-defense when the tomahawk broke. The tribe saw this as a violation of the rules of the sacred battle and sentenced Jonah to wear the mark of the demon - by pressing a searing hot tomahawk to his face. It was said that his honorary relationship to the chief was the only thing that saved him from death.

In a limited story series called the Hex series, Jonah was transported to 2050. The exact date when this occurred has been in debate, although several sources point to 1875. It is also unknown how long Jonah stayed in the future or what date he returned.

In 1904, Jonah was shot during a card game. His corpse was stolen, stuffed, mounted, and dressed in a ridiculous singing cowboy costume, then put on display in a traveling circus. The circus owner was eventually murdered and Jonah's body was stolen yet again. It would pass through various hands before finally being acquired by the restaurant Planet Krypton, owned by Booster Gold. A very twisted turn of events indeed.

In 2010, Jonah's presence was renewed when he was found by a Black Lantern ring and was revived as a member of the Black Lantern Corps, in the Blackest Night storyline.

Jonah Hex is probably one of the most well-known and well recalled DC Universe characters born of the golden age of comics - alongside such creations as the Challengers of the Unknown and DC's military era writings.

Being a non-superhero, Jonah did not have a "Rogues gallery" comparable to costumed comic-book heroes, though he had a few adversaries who returned from time to time. The most notable of these to date was Quentin Turnbull, known at first as simply the man with the eagle-topped cane.

Turnbull was the father of Hex's best friend, Jeb Turnbull. During the American Civil War, Jonah actually surrendered himself to the Union forces after the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, but he refused to betray where his fellow soldiers were camped. A Union soldier was able to determine the location of that camp by examining the dirt in the hooves of Jonah's horse. The Union soldiers captured all of Jonah's fellow soldiers and then later massacred most of them, framing Jonah as a turncoat. Turnbull's son was one of those slaughtered, and Turnbull vowed his vengeance upon Jonah.

Turnbull will be featured as the antagonist in the 2010 movie, played by John Malkovich.

Jonah Hex undoubtedly a curious character on printed paper and an even curiouser hero to portray in the movies. There's little knowledge as to why we see a revival of Jonah in 2010 but we (meaning I) have faith that DC will be leading all on the right path.

Can You Fathom The Fox In Fathom?

First and foremost; big respect to the late Michael Turner.

As a little background to the whole affair, Fathom is a comic book created by Michael Turner and originally published by Top Cow Productions. It debuted in 1998 and was Michael Turner's first creator-owned comic book series. Fathom has received honors and has claimed the "number one selling comic book of the Year".

Fathom is currently published by Turner's own company, Aspen MLT.

On March 3, 2009, Variety magazine announced that a movie adaptation of Fathom is under development by Fox Atomic, with Megan Fox signed up to play the role of Aspen Matthews (the leading character), and also as a producer on the film. It has also been announced that English actor Matthew Tate will portray Chance Calloway. Screenwriter and video game creator Jordan Mechner will write the script.


If anyone else has been keeping track, is Megan Fox casting herself in more and more comic culture roles recently: from Transformers to Jonah Hex?

The late creator Michael Turner is to be credited as the film's Executive Producer.

Apocalypse on DVD

No, we're not talking about the sequel to 2012 - all that death and destruction. We're talking about something far worse; we're talking about Darkseid.

Warner Premiere's next DC Universe animated title Superman/Batman: Apocalypse will hit Blu-ray and DVD on September 28. The movie is based on the second story arc, "The Supergirl from Krypton," from Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner's the "Superman/Batman." The artwork is featured above and looks awesome !

On a side note, no trailers have been released yet, but The House of El will get right on that as soon as there's one release to tease us with.

I don't know about you but I loved all DC's animated features (but I may be a little biased).

Green Lantern: The story so far

All kids have dreams: some want to be scientists, some want to be rock stars, race car drivers, some what to be like their dads, some wished to be pilots and some (like Kal-El and myself) wished to be super heroes. Of course, the next best thing is to see those super heroes hit the big screen !

The next best thing for me is the upcoming Green Lantern movie !

As fans may already know, the film will star Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan alongside a cast of relatively well-known actors portraying penultimate characters such as Sinestro, Carol Ferris, Dr. Hector Hammond, Abin Sur and Pie-face Kalmaku. Green Lantern is scheduled to be released on June 17, 2011.

Warner Bros. initially changed the direction of the film into that of a comedy; by June 2006, a script was completed which was set to star Jack Black in the lead role. However, the studio dropped the comedy idea due to poor fan reaction on the Internet. In an attempt to change the tone of Green Lantern to be taken more seriously, Zack Snyder was approached to direct, but he turned down the offer due to his commitment on Watchmen.

Actor-writer Corey Reynolds, a comic book fan and personal fan of the John Stewart character, pitched Warner Bros. an idea for a trilogy, with him starring as John Stewart and performing screenwriting duties. Reynolds intended to introduce Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern Corps and Justice League in possible sequels. He finished the script for Green Lantern: Birth of a Hero in June 2007, receiving positive feedback from Warner Bros. with a potential 2010 release date. However, the studio abandoned Reynolds' concept, and in October 2007, Greg Berlanti signed to direct/co-write the film. The decision was made to have Hal Jordan as the protagonist instead of John Stewart. Comic book writers Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim were hired to co-script the film with Berlanti.

Berlanti, Green and Guggenheim found it difficult writing the script because two of their drafts of the screenplay had been leaked on the Internet during the scripting phase. The new script features Martin Jordan, Carl Ferris, Carol Ferris, Thomas Kalmaku, Tomar-Re, Abin Sur, Sinestro, Kilowog, the Guardians of the Universe, Legion and Hector Hammond as well as cameos by Guy Gardner and Clark Kent.

The story follows the original Hal Jordan/Green Lantern storyline, including the battle between Legion and Abin Sur, Abin Sur's crash landing on Earth, as well as the choosing of Hal Jordan over Guy Gardner and Clark Kent. Some parts will be drawn from the Emerald Dawn mini-series.

By December 2008, the writers had written three drafts of the screenplay and Warner Bros. was preparing for pre-production. However, Berlanti was forced to vacate the director's position due to scheduling conflicts. In February 2009 it was reported that Martin Campbell is set to direct the film, replacing Berlanti. In April 2009 it was reported that Warner Bros. has decided to shoot the film at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, and was given a $150 million budget, however as of October 2009 it will no longer be filmed in Australia but has instead moved the majority of first unit filming to Louisiana.

It was announced in July 2009 that Ryan Reynolds had been cast as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. It was also reported that Hal Jordan's love interest, Carol Ferris, would be played by Blake Lively. Carol ultimately will become the villain Star Sapphire, although there's no word whether there might be some hint of that in the first movie.

Later that same month, it was revealed that Peter Sarsgaard (from the movie, Orphan) would portray Hector Hammond and that Mark Strong was in negotiations to play Sinestro. Also in January 2010 concept art for Kilowog, Abin Sur, and Tomar-Re surfaced.

On February 9, 2010 Tim Robbins joined the cast as Senator Hammond, the disapproving father of Hector Hammond. On March 14, 2010, it was announced that Temuera Morrison and Taika Waititi had joined the cast as Abin Sur and Tom Kalmaku, respectively.

In an interview with MTV News, director Martin Campbell when asked about the film's effects-heavy epic scale commented; "It's daunting, just the process, (there are) something like 1,300 visual effects shots, it's mind-blowing, quite honestly". When asked about the constructs created from the power rings Campbell stated; "One of the nice things is, we'll all sit down and say, 'Well, what are we going to do here?' Really, it's as much as your imagination can go to make the constructs". The studio also confirmed to MTV News that the film will have a 3-D release.

According to Comics Continuum, an animated Green Lantern film is in the works at Warner Bros. Animation and will be part of a direct-to-video project that will be timed for release of the live-action Green Lantern movie in the summer of 2011. The Green Lantern animated project will likely take a look at the origins of the Green Lantern Corps, including the first ring wielders. In an interview with Bruce Timm, the producer revealed that a sequel to the Green Lantern animated movie had been discussed but cancelled, along with a sequel to the Wonder Woman animated film, because of the two pictures not achieving the immediate success that they had hoped for. However, Timm did hope the live action film would renew interest in a sequel. There has also been a lot of talk about a Green Lantern animated television series. When Geoff Johns was speaking at the Emerald City Comic-Con in 2010, he was asked about the series possibility and said "There's a very, very good chance."

Director Martin Campbell has confirmed the possibility of seeing a Green Lantern trilogy during interviews for Edge of Darkness. In June 2010, Warner Brothers studios hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, all of whom worked on the Green Lantern screenplay, to write a treatment for the second installment already !

That's just a little taste of the progress so far of this little kid's dream.