Fox Developing Cowboy Bebop Live-Action Feature Film!

by Alex Billington

All your Faye Valentine fantasies are finally going to come true… if you have any at least! Following Akira and Ghost in the Shell announcements, apparently Cowboy Bebop is in for a live-action adaptation as well. IF Magazine talked with veteran producer Erwin Stoff (via AICN) and discovered that he's working on making a live-action Cowboy Bebop movie with Fox. Apparently it's very fresh news: "I'm really excited to be working on it, and it's in the really early stages. We just signed it the other day." If you're not so familiar with Bebop, it's an incredibly popular Japanese anime TV series that first aired back in 1998 and has become a hit here in the US as well as Japan. I'm not exactly a big fan myself, but considering Hollywood is caught up in the anime trend, I'm definitely excited to see this one come to life as well.

Stoff goes on to explain his enthusiasm for the project and their attempts to remain faithful. "I have such an enormous admiration for its creators, that our first and foremost concern is going to be a real degree of faithfulness to the tone of the movie, to the mix of genres, and so on and so forth. When I met with them in Japan, one of the first things that I brought up was the experience that we had on A Scanner Darkly, and how hard we worked to remain faithful to Philip K. Dick, and that was our big concern here." Don't get confused, this does not mean that they're going for a similar animated look like A Scanner Darkly, as he explicitly said that it's going to be live-action. And if you're wondering who Faye Valentine is, she's one of the main character's in the series and a fan favorite. The photo to the right comes from Bam Kapow's gallery of Faye Valentine costumes.

The show first aired in Japan in early 1998 and was brought over to America in 2001 on Adult Swim. The series follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters traveling on their spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071. Sony released a full-length animated film titled Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heavens Door in 2001 where it was greeted with immense praise from fans worldwide. It is easily one of the most popular mainstream anime series and is beloved by many people even if they're not hardcore anime fans. I think it's the perfect series to adapt, but like Dragonball, I worry that it may get screwed up in translation if it falls into the wrong hands. Unfortunately both Dragonball and this adaptation are at Fox, which isn't a good sign so far, but maybe they'll find a good director. However, I'm enjoying Hollywood's anime trend and am anxious to see what they're going to do with Cowboy Bebop. Thoughts?

Original here

Top 10 links for comic-book heroes

Damian Noonan scours the web for caped and masked crusaders

The Dark Knight, 2008

The new Batman films, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, started with Batman Begins in 2005 and return once again to a Gotham City cloaked in darkness.

Christian Bale in the new Batman film, 'The Dark Knight'

The official website for The Dark Knight, which opens on Friday, has trailers and goodies to download: but also see the magazine of the International Cinematographers Guild (icgmagazine.com and click "Current Issue") for an insider's view.

The Mark of Zorro, 1920

The original action hero movie. The character of Zorro was created by Johnston McCulley, a former police reporter, for a five-part weekly magazine serial in August 1919. Douglas Fairbanks is the caped crusader in this silent movie version, which runs for 58 minutes and is out of copyright (search for "Zorro"). Joe Shuster, the artist who co-created Superman with writer Jerry Siegel, has said: "The movies were the greatest influence on our imagination, especially the films of Douglas Fairbanks".

Buck Rogers, 1928

The first pulp science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, launched in April 1926: its covers by Frank R Paul are icons of popular culture (see a gallery at frankwu.com). A story in its August 1928 issue introduced Anthony Rogers, who falls asleep after breathing a strange gas and wakes 500 years later to become a heroic spaceship pilot. Renamed Buck, he became the star of the first sci-fi comic strip, which appeared in American newspapers on January 7, 1929. The Internet Archive has 12 of 14 known surviving episodes of the Buck Rogers radio show from 1939 (search for "Buck Rogers").

The Shadow, 1930

"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow knows!" The Shadow, also known as "The Dark Avenger", was one of the great pulp fiction characters. He was created as a mysterious narrator to introduce radio dramas, but later starred in pulp novels and his own series (for which he was voiced by Orson Welles). Bill Finger, the writer who, with artist Bob Kane, co-created "the Bat-Man" in 1939, admitted borrowing a Shadow plot for his first strip. You can buy reprints of Shadow stories and other pulp fiction at The Vintage Library.

Superman, 1938

The first comic books to feature whole original stories, rather than reprints of newspaper strips, appeared in 1935; but for fans, the "golden age" of comics began with the arrival of Superman, the first superhero, in the debut issue of Action Comics in June 1938. On the website of the Department of American Studies at the University of Virigina, you can find the whole of that first Superman story (search the xroads site for "Superman").

Batman, 1939

Detective Comics, now known simply as DC, not only published Superman, but also weighed in with other top-ranking superheroes. Batman made his debut in May 1939 and was joined by teenage sidekick Robin in 1940. Read a recent reinvention of the origins of Batman on the DC site (click "Heroes and Villains").

Spider-Man, 1962

Considering that he is now Marvel Comics' most important character, Spider-Man is a latecomer. He was created by Stan Lee, Marvel's head writer, with the idea that a teenager - Peter Parker - would be the hero, rather than just a sidekick. This fan site has covers of the early comics and audio of the unforgettable theme song from the 1960s TV cartoons (under "Things", choose "Shows", then "1960s cartoon" ).

2000AD, 1977

The British comic 2000AD not only gave the world Judge Dredd, it also nurtured a wave of talented artists and writers who a decade later would be instrumental in revitalising American comic books. This official site has a complete gallery of covers and, if you register, whole stories to read. There's also a BBC mini-site (bbc.co.uk/cult/comics), where you can read classic 2000AD strips in their entirety.

Watchmen, 1986

These days, we like our superheroes to be complicated, flawed characters. Much of this is credited to Watchmen, by British writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, tidily summed up on this fan site. In 2005, Watchmen appeared in Time magazine's list of the 100 best novels published since 1923 (time.com/time/2005/100books).

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, 1986

Frank Miller's dark, gothic reinvention of Batman - again, originally a short series for DC, but later a graphic novel - was even more influential than Watchmen. It led inexorably to the Tim Burton Batman movie of 1989 and to the modern era of superhero films. Read early drafts of the script for the 1989 movie, by writer Sam Hamm, on this intriguing website, which also has an early attempt at a script for a Watchmen movie.

Original here

Katy Perry and the media’s ‘Kiss’ of hypocrisy

By Tony Sclafani Katy Perry may be kidding around with her two current gay-unfriendly hits, but the media adulation she's getting just isn't funny. View related photos Nekesa Mumbi Moody / AP Well, it’s official. It’s cool to make fun of gay people again. How do we know? Because the folks in Medialand told us as much by relentlessly cheerleading two gay-unfriendly songs by newcomer Katy Perry: “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl.” The first derides an emo guy with a barrage of gay stereotypes that were cliché even in Boy George’s heyday. The second addresses same-sex kissing (and, by extension, bisexuality) by putting forth the judgment that such a smooch is “not what, good girls do… not how they should behave.” Although these tunes have definitely amused mainstream listeners, with “I Kissed a Girl” staying at No. 1 for several weeks, they’ve been less welcome by some members of the gay community and the alternative press. Blogger Duane Moody, for example, asked “What Do You Have Against Gay People, Katy Perry?” The Washington Blade’s review lampooned Perry’s CD title, “One of the Boys” as “One of the Clueless.” It also singled out “Ur So Gay” as “a song that delivers no enjoyment, only confusion as to how anyone could be so shortsighted about its connotative meaning.” The Philadelphia Weekly was equally as unenthusiastic in its review. The New Gay conducted a confrontational interview that had a rattled Perry actually say, “My closest friends happen to be gay.” She wasn’t being ironic. Celebrity blogger Mollygood pointed out Perry comes from a religious upbringing (she used to record Christian music as Katy Hudson) and in her New Gay interview, Perry talks about how in her “strict, suppressed household,” homosexuality was considered “wrong.” But as Mollygood also says, that’s not so far removed from the message she’s sending with her hit songs, whether she realizes it or not. The feminist blog, Feministe, chimed in as well, with blogger Fatemeh accusing Perry of reinforcing old stereotypes and playing into gender clichés. The blog’s commenters were even more negative. Clearly Perry, who is straight, is kidding around with these songs. Both are clever, if simplistic tunes and both obvious bids for attention — which the 23-year-old is definitely getting. But the real problem shouldn’t be with Perry herself. Artists in a free society should have the prerogative to say whatever they want, even if it’s offensive to some. Media hypocrisy The trouble has to do with media hypocrisy. For over a decade, anti-gay prejudice messages have been put forth in everything from public service announcements to movies to award shows. Because of this and some societal factors, a mindset has taken hold (especially among people under age 30) where deriding someone for being gay is just not done. But that was so yesterday. Once the media found it had a hot babe with a smart mouth to promote, their tune changed pretty quickly. “Ur So Gay” became the toast of MTV, probably because it played into the popular trend of male bashing. “I Kissed a Girl,” with its “Girls Gone Wild” overtones followed, and now Katy Perry is the “it girl,” with every writer apparently legally required to call her “sassy” and “rebellious.” Of course the “rebellion” comes neatly packaged courtesy of the Capitol Music Group. Not only is the media sending a mixed message in heralding Perry, they’re undermining any stand they might want to take in support of gays in the future. How can anyone heed their warnings not to disrespect gays when they roll out the red carpet for an artist who has done exactly that? The real point seems to be they’ll do anything for an audience. ‘Ur so….What?’ The litmus test of hypocrisy here is that if you substituted a different minority in Perry’s tunes, they’d never get airplay. “I Kissed a Black Guy” or “Ur So Korean” would not be Top 40 bound. For that matter, a song called “I Kissed a Boy,” sung by a guy, would probably die on the vine. Ethnic jabs are now largely seen as déclassé and gay insults were following suit. But now those insults have returned — with an inferred stamp of approval, no less. The media have used some discretion in the past, like when MTV nixed airing Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up.” You’d think some judgment might have been used here, considering that gay teens attempt suicide four times as much as straight kids. This isn’t a call for a ban on either song, just a question about why the high holy mass treatment is given to some politically incorrect works of art and not others. Let’s look to the past for a good example: It was one thing to have Frank Zappa’s 1979 song “Jewish Princess” known only as a below-the-radar satire (which in itself caused protests). But had that song been sent blaring from every radio in the country, it would have sent another message to the Jewish community Perry’s supporters note she’s bringing up issues that used to be whitewashed. That’s true, but we live in a more gay-friendly world now. TV has a gay talk show host whose biggest recent controversy was about dog adoption, not sexuality. The biggest pop star of the 1970s is out and has the appellation “Sir” before his name. Doogie Howser’s coming out elicited…indifference. “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed a Girl” aren’t so much starting a discussion as reviving one — the juvenile one we used to hear in the pre-Ellen era. It’s fine if the media wants to give a big promotional push to songs with unpleasant messages. They just need to be equal opportunity offenders, so to speak. If that ever comes to pass, I respectfully request MTV lift their broadcast ban on the God-des & She’s “Lick It” and 50 Cent’s “I Still Kill.” Original here