First Glimpse of New Wonder Woman Adrianne Palicki in Action

The clip is from an actual filming session for the upcoming Wonder Woman TV show featuring actress Adrianne Palicki in the title role jumping over cars and chasing after a felon. My wife noted the changes to the costume but says that she still can't stand Palicki. :)

Worlds of Wonder

Here's the first pic of Wonder Woman from the upcoming TV series. The costume is a mixture of classic elements and the designs by Jim Lee for the present JMS run on the title. My daughter loves it but my wife hates it. Actually my wife dislikes the actress, Adrianne Palicki, as well, not just the costume designs! :)

In other news, Marvel just announced the creative teams for the new monthly Daredevil, Punisher and Ghost Rider series. Mark Waid will mark his return to monthly writing for Marvel with Daredevil and Greg Rucka, who's been missing since the end of his run on "Batwoman" will be writing the monthly Punisher. Rob Williams will also be writing the new Ghost Rider monthly series. I'm very happy with the choices and am really looking forward to both monthlies later this year. It's about time that these three street-level Marvel icons get the creative teams that they deserve.

Finally, I just finished watching "Beast Stalker" - the film that made Dante Lam a household name and allowed Nick Cheung and Liu Kai Chi to nab the "Best Actor" and "Best Supporting Actor" awards respectively in the 28th HK Film Awards. The film was banned here in Malaysia so I didn't get to see it when it was first released. I became a huge Dante Lam fan after "Fire of Conscience" and "Stool Pigeon" so it's great to finally see where it all began. In fact, the three films should be watched back-to-back as a kind of Dante Lam trilogy. Beast Stalker contains all the elements that we love Dante Lam for: crazy gunfights and car chases, gritty gangsters, ultra shocking violence, cops seeking redemption, Liu Kai Chi, the darkness in the heart of man, and an extra bonus in the form of Zhang Jingchu (who spoke really bad Cantonese but who cares?). I told my wife that the DVD was for my research in my Evidence studies. It's really just a very cool HK movies featuring cops, kidnappers, gangsters, and Liu Kai Chi. Anyway, did I mention that Liu Kai Chi is in it? For my money, nobody plays the lowlife cop/gangster/informer better than Liu Kai Chi. The ending feels like the recent "Cable" series featuring Nathan Summers protecting the girl Hope from Bishop - except we get Nic Tse protecting a small girl from Nick Cheung.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman Cartoon

Wonder Woman Wallpaper

Wonder Woman Cartoon Character

Highlights from DC Comics Solicitations for April 2011

Check out the latest DC Solicitations at CBR.

Among the things that caught my eye include:

The first "First Wave" hardcover. What's not to like? A cool story by Brian Azzarello featuring the GA Batman, Doc Savage and the Spirit. Also, very beautiful artwork with a noirish twang by Rags Morales and Phil Noto. This can’t-miss pulp fiction hardcover features FIRST WAVE #1-6 and BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE #1.

I've got the two "Justice Society" TPBs from the 1970s. This "Infinity Inc." hardcover picks up the story from there and features Power Girl, Huntress, Star-Spangled Kid, Nuklon, Jade and Obsidian - basically the offspring of the Golden Age characters. Even sweeter that the collection is in hardcover this time.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning ("DnA") have been doing some really good work on Marvel's Cosmic heroes as well as the new "Heroes for Hire" in recent years. However, the duo's greatest work (arguably) was on DC's Legion in the 1990s. This hardcover, "Legion Lost" collects the entire 12-issue series and features artwork by a young(er) Olivier Coipel - before he became a superstar artist after "House of M", "Thor" and "Siege".

Finally, something my daughter Moira will absolutely adore - the first hardcover volume collecting stories featuring JMS' Wonder Woman in her new costume! :)

Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC: The Musical

This is possibly my favourite video of all time on YouTube! Enjoy... :)

Diana's Latest Wardrobe Change

The Malay Mail carried an article yesterday on Wonder Woman's latest wardrobe change. They even included the Jim Lee designs in the article. Well, newspaper reporters are really an ignorant lot. It's not really the first time Wondy has changed her costume (check out her other costume changes in this CBR article). But of course, to make it all seem newsworthy, they say that she's changing it for the first time in 69 years. Wow! I do not dare imagine the B.O. if Diana took 69 years to change her costume for the first time. Of course, you don't want to confuse people by explaining that the Golden Age Wonder Woman is really Hippolyta, i.e. the present Wonder Woman's mother (who was killed in "Our Worlds At War" and miraculously brought back to life by Circe in "Amazons Attack" several years back).

Anyway, Gail Simone is off the book for good and J. Michael Straczynski is on the book as of (the renumbered) issue #600. Read an interview with JMS on his direction for the book as well as the costume change at CBR.

I Can't Even Say It... Wonder Woman?!?

Straczynski On Monthly Superman and Wonder Woman

This just came in: DC announced that J. Michael Straczynski will be taking over both the Superman and Wonder Woman monthly series - as of Superman #701 and Wonder Woman #601 (immediately after the anniversary issues).

I remember several years ago that JMS mentioned in a Wizard interview how he'd willingly crawl naked over broken glass and vomit for the chance to chronicle the monthly adventures of the Man of Steel. Guess this really is a dream come true for him. My take on JMS is that he's really a very good writer when he puts his mind to it. His run on "Amazing Spider-Man" is still a highlight for me. I also read his "Supreme Power" but was a little underwhelmed and ended up giving away all the hardcover collections - primarily because he did not finish what he set out to do. Speaking of that, JMS has this annoying habit of not finishing series that he started - case in point, the aforementioned "Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme" series, the earlier "Rising Stars" stuff from Top Cow and also "The Twelve" at Marvel. He can also be uncooperative and egotistical at times - as evidenced by his not-so-graceful exit from the critically acclaimed "Thor" because of his unwillingness to be part of the "Siege" crossover. A writer's writer, to me, is someone like Peter David who could work his magic no matter what is thrown his way - see how he seemlessly work his wonders on the monthly "X-Factor" even when the title crosses over with the other X-books in "Messiah CompleX".

Well, all in all, I'm hoping that JMS will be a little more committed to the Superman title seeing as this is his childhood dream come true. I'm not so confident about his take on Wonder Woman though. Gail Simone was doing the best run on the title since Greg Rucka and now she's been taken off the book to make way for JMS. Wonder Woman is a difficult book to write, no matter how you cut it. Probably DC thought that JMS could do a good combo of the everyday-world-meets-mythology as he did over on "Thor"? I'm just hoping that he doesn't come up with humongous ideas (as he is known for) and then abandon the title when he runs out of steam...

For more on JMS's take on the two DC icons, check out this article over at Comic Book Resources. Also, read an original essay by JMS on Superman at Newsarama.