Nerd Alert! D&Q turns 25, Fear and Loathing gets graphic, SW figure leaked?

    1 of 3 2 of 3

      Welcome to Nerd Alert!, your weekly round-up of news from the world of science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and all things nerdy.

      I GOT AN AMAZING package in the mail yesterday. See that photo up there? It seems that Drawn & Quarterly, the Montreal-based publisher of all things excellent in the world of comics and graphic novels, turns 25 this year. And to mark its quarter-century of existence, D&Q has published an incredible 776-page volume that tells its story through hundreds of pages of comics published over the years, plus new work by Kate Beaton, Chester Brown, Tom Gauld, Jillian Tamaki, and others. I'll be reviewing Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty-five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels in a few weeks. But first I have to read the darn thing.

      FOR MANY OF US, Hunter S. Thompson's writing is inextricably linked with the striking visual style of illustrator Ralph Steadman. (For others of us, it is inextricably linked with being an insufferable twat in our college years.) Those are some mighty big shoes to fill, but Eisner-nominated artist Troy Little (Chiaroscuro) must have felt like he was up to the task. Little's graphic-novel adaptation of Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—which tells of the profoundly stoned travels of Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo—will be published this October by Top Shelf Productions. Check out the (palpably not-Steadman-esque) sample page below.

      IF YOU'RE NOT A Star Wars fan, good luck avoiding the hype leading up to the theatrical release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens in December. You might as well try to avoid Christmas. Speaking of which, if you're anything like me (which is to say the sort of dad given to wearing Darth Vader T-shirts around the house) you might have a kid who has already started his wish list, with "SPESIAL STARWARS TOYES" given a place of honour. The avalanche of Force Awakens toys is scheduled to land on retail shelves on September 4, but at least one action figure escaped the assembly line a few months early. A Hong Kong–based eBay seller is offering what appears to be a genuine figure of a Stormtrooper as seen in the Episode VII teaser trailers. Where did the seller acquire said action figure? That's anyone's guess (and I'm just gonna put this link here for your edification), but it looks like the real deal. As io9's Toybox blog notes, if it is a custom-sculpted figure, "a humongous amount of work has gone into making it appear legitimate." As of this writing, bidding was up to over US$500, so someone must really want to own this thing that everyone else will be able to own come September.

      I WOULDN'T CALL IT a reboot, exactly. In fact, 20th Century Fox is probably hoping you've forgotten that a big-screen version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was made in 2003. That version, starring Sean Connery and no one else particularly noteworthy, bombed, but the studio apparently still sees untapped potential in the graphic-novel series by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Variety reports that Ira Napoliello and Matt Reilly are "overseeing" the remake, whatever that means, and that Davis Entertainment is producing it. In Moore and O’Neill’s graphic novels, Victorian-era literary characters such as Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, and the Invisible Man team up to form—you guessed it—a league of extraordinary gentlemen. You may recall that Fox commissioned a pilot for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TV series in 2013. If you don't recall that, no matter; the pilot was rejected.

      DO YOU ENJOY PLAYING DRESS-UP? As Stephen Hui reports, New Westminster's Anvil Centre plays host to Northwest Fan Fest from May 29 to 31. Here's what to expect: costume contests, video-game console tournaments, Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation, live comedy and music, and something called a "nerd flea market". Guests include animator Tom Cook; Once Upon a Time actors Michael Coleman, Beverley Elliott, and Faustino Di Bauda; and Uwe Boll, the Vancouver-based amateur pugilist, restaurateur, and filmmaker behind such deathless cinematic classics as BloodRayne, Far Cry, Blubberella, and the upcoming Bigfoots vs. Zombies.

      Comments