The late Christopher Reeve would have been 57 today.

The actor, born in New York in 1952, died on October 10, 2004, after a truly valient second-life as a champion for victims of spinal cord injury and advocate for stem cell research. Reeve had been left a quadriplegic after he was thrown from a horse in Virginia in 1995 during an eventing competition.

The Man of Steel in four films, he also had memorable turns in "Remains of the Day," "Deathtrap" and "Somewhere in Time." He is sorely missed. Here's a look at his appearance on " The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson" shortly after the release of Richard Donner's 1978 classic "Superman."

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

A look back: Superman on Broadway in 1966

Richard Donner: Give Geoff Johns a crack at a new Superman movie 

See the 1959 L.A. Times coverage of George Reeves death

More footage of the caped George Reeves and the trailer for "Hollywoodland" 

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

The sordid secret of "Superman" co-creator Joe Shuster

All images from the Los Angeles Times archive.

Over at the Company Town blog, Claudia Eller talks about another ruling by a judge in the long-running feud between the family of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and the corporate relatives Warner Bros. and DC Comics.  This phase of the trial, though, was not between the family and the companies, but rather was a decision about business practices and the value of the Man of Steel. Here's an excerpt:

A U.S. district court ruled today that Warner Bros. had paid "fair-market value" license fees to its corporate sibling DC Comics for the rights to "Superman."

Last year, the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel claimed that Warner Bros. and DC Comics, both owned by Time Warner Inc., had struck a "sweetheart deal" that deprived them of their fair share of royalties. A federal judge last year awarded the Siegel heirs -- his widow and daughter -- half of the copyright to the Superman material published in the comic book "Action Comics" No. 1. What hadn't been decided was whether the license agreements between the Burbank studio and DC Comics from 1999 to 2002 represented "fair-market value."

The judge's decision was a plus for Warner Bros., which has been in a long-running legal battle with the heirs of the comic's co-creator who last year won a stake in the U.S. copyright to the character.

READ MORE ON COMPANY TOWN

-- Jevon Phillips

RECENT AND RELATED

See the 1959 L.A. Times coverage of George Reeves death

More footage of the caped George Reeves and the trailer for "Hollywoodland" 

A look back: Superman on Broadway in 1966

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

The sordid secret of "Superman" co-creator Joe Shuster

Golden Age memories: Jerry Robinson looks back

I saw Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" a few weeks ago and I have to say I walked out of the screening feeling disappointed.

I'm a big Johnny Depp fan (who isn't?), I love the source material (the brilliant book of the same title by Brian Burroughs) and I consider director Mann to be one of the most gifted filmmakers in Hollywood. But even with all that (or maybe because of all that) I didn't get everything I needed out of this efficient but oddly inert period piece. I'm also thinking that maybe Christian Bale should make fewer movies. Christian, how can we miss you if you won't go away?

There's a different "Public Enemies" on the horizon and it doesn't involve Jack Sparrow and John Connor squaring off with tommy guns. In September, DC will release  "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies," the sixth release in the series of PG-13 animated films that are made for the home video market. Today we have some advance art from the film.

The film is based on the 2003 comics saga by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness. It was very popular, but I have to say it just wasn't one of my favorites ... maybe I need to lower my standards. Or stop writing about movies with this title. (Looks like there was a 1941 comedy about newspaperman called "Public Enemies" that had William Frawley, Fred from "I Love Lucy," as a co-star ... hmmmm.)  

Here's a blurb from DC: 

In the film, United States President Lex Luthor uses the oncoming trajectory of a Kryptonite asteroid to frame Superman and declare a $1 billion bounty on the heads of the Man of Steel and his “partner in crime,” Batman. Heroes and villains alike launch a relentless pursuit of Superman and Batman, who must unite – and recruit help – to stave off the action-packed onslaught, stop the asteroid, and uncover Luthor’s devious plot to take command of far more than North America.

The movie reunites the lead voices of Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor from the landmark "Superman: The Animated Series" and "Batman: The Animated Series." Tim Daly ("Private Practice"), Kevin Conroy ("Justice League") and Clancy Brown ("The Shawshank Redemption") reprise their roles as Superman, Batman and Lex Luthor, respectively.

There are a lot of extras on the DVD for "Superman\Batman: Public Enemies." Among them are a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming "Blackest Night" comics event; "A Test of Minds," a featurette with Loeb looking at the relationship between the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader; and “Dinner with DC: With Special Guest Kevin Conroy,” with the voice actor sitting down with voice director Andrea Romano, DC's Gregory Noveck and the very gifted producer Bruce Timm. There's even more on the Blu-ray, including bonus epsiodes of "Justice League" and "Justice League: Unlimited."

-- Geoff Boucher 

RECENT AND RELATED

Joker creator Jerry Robinson reflects on Gotham's golden age

Wonder Woman's Keri Russell is 'a tourist' with a tiara

Ode to Carmine Infantino, the flashiest artist of the silver age

David S. Goyer on film future of Green Lantern and Flash

Fallen 'Heroes': Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander fired 

VIDEO: Batman and Superman fight ... to the death

DC sends Superman into space and gives Batman his last rites

Artwork courtesy of DC Comics. Jerry Robinson photo by Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times.

Look past the bright spotlights and you'll notice that Hollywood history is drenched in scandal and haunted by heartbreak. Take the case of George Reeves, who died of a gunshot to the head 50 years ago today at his home in Benedict Canyon.

It was reported and ruled a suicide, a heartbreaking end in light of the children around America who had cheered Reeves as make-believe bullets bounced off his chest on "Adventures of Superman" from 1952 through 1958. The actor's death, though, has taken on more grim layers through the years amid persistant arguments that the 45-year-old was actually a victim of murder.

There has been much written about this through the years and it's a compelling riddle. Theories abound but, as with so many unsolved mysteries, dust and legend gather as the years pass and the truth becomes ever more elusive.

Here are some videos of the actor who, for a whole generation, was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

--Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

See the 1959 L.A. Times coverage of George Reeves death

More footage of the caped George Reeves and the trailer for "Hollywoodland" 

<<< A look back: Superman on Broadway in 1966

The Superman problem: Can he still fly in 21st century?

The sordid secret of "Superman" co-creator Joe Shuster

First Superman comic book sold for $317,200

Photos from the Los Angeles Times archives.

Remember the "Batman's Bad Day" video? Here's the silly sequel...

These "Batman-the-sad-sack-mortal-in-a-world-of-superheroes" spoofs never get old. Or do they? Hmmm.

Seen any good fan videos lately? Leave a link in the comments section, and I'll put the best ones up.

MORE RANDOM SILLINESS

VIDEO: Batman vs. Superman...to the death 

<< Top 10 vintage Batman toys...including a somewhat lewd watergun

VIDEO: "SNL" flashback, superhero party circa 1979

VIDEO: Come out of the cave! Batman is addicted to videogames 

 

You know how people tend to reflect on "the good old days" and hold on to a sort of Norman Rockwell or Frank Capra vision of America as a wholesome land of plenty? I was thinking about that when I opened the mail a few weeks back and found a copy of "Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster," a survey of the startling 1950s S&M drawings by the Cleveland artist who had sent the comics industry leaping over tall buildings by ushering in the superhero era in the summer of 1938. Superman is as American as apple pie but, well, so is porn, I suppose, considering the national commitment to it in money, time and Internet acreage.

Shuster was down on his luck in the 1950s. Sadly, he and Superman's other creator, Jerry Siegel,always watched as others made the real money generated by their signature creation. He started drawing kinky tales with curvy women and some truly nasty torture scenes for a "Nights of Horror," a randy, low-rent series of booklets with delicate titles such as "The Flesh Merchants" and "The Bride Wore Leather."

All of this is made more interesting by the fact that many of the bare-chested women look like Lois Lane, and a fair number of the brawny men cracking the whips look like leering versions of the Last Son of Krypton. Comic historian Craig Yoe came across a full-run of the 16 issues of "Nights of Horror" in a dusty corner of a used book shop. It was a disconcerting but momentous discovery, and he has done a excellent job presenting it in a context that is more than purient. "Secret Identity" delves into the sleazy characters in the publishing scene of that era and traces the surprising subplots involving crime and politics and this sad career moment for an artist whose career should have been leaping tall buildings.

-- Geoff Boucher

"Best Crime Comics" is killer

VIDEO: Jerry Robinson reflects on the creation of the Joker

Ed Brubaker's "Angel of Death" and Hollywood pursuits

"The Alcoholic" is a scabby masterpiece

David Fincher looks for the heart of "Torso"

"Tales from the Crypt" meets...Sarah Palin? 

"Secret Identity" Images courtesy of Craig Yoe

There's a great stirring in the mainstream media today about some economic stimulus, Kryptonian-style.

Below you can read a bit from the story from the New York Daily News, but there's also an Associated Press story that ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Star and many other papers.

Maybe they should call him Man of Gold.

Superman proved to be super-expensive when a rare copy of the first comic book featuring him sold late Friday for $317,200 in an Internet auction.

The drummer for the rock band System of a Down, John Dolmayan, placed the winning bid for the 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, the first comic to feature Clark Kent and his heroic alter ego.

Dolmayan, a collector and a dealer of vintage comic books, reportedly bought the inaugural Superman issue for a client.

Auction site ComicConnect said the book's previous owner purchased it in 1950 at a secondhand store for a measly 35 cents.

Now that is quite the return on an investment...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

Fantastic Four as your 401K

To slab or not to slab? That is the collector question

<<<Superman on Broadway, 1966

Grant Morrison talks Man of Steel

I've heard a lot of comics fans who want "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm to play Captain America (and I've also heard from a lot of women who want him to play Personal Cabana Boy, but that's neither here nor there). Maybe the guy is a secret fanboy himself. Here's a Funny or Die video with him that shows an alarming familiarity with the plot of "Superman IV: the Quest for Peace."

Click on the photo below to go to Funny or Die video; There is some raw language that appears on the screen at the end of the video (which is why I can't embed it here on our high-minded Los Angeles Times website) and Funny or Die has quite a bit of raunchy material on their site, so please don't click on the photo if that sort of stuff offends you.

-- Geoff Boucher

MORE RANDOM SILLINESS

VIDEO: "Watchmen," the Saturday morning show?

VIDEO: How many Spider-Mans fit in a Jamba Juice?

VIDEO: Superman vs. Batman...to the death!

<<<VIDEO: "SNL" flashback, superhero party 1979

VIDEO: Monty Python meets the crew of the USS Enterprise

Check this out:

Fun! It's the handiwork of Phillip Lybrand. Phillip sent me an e-mail talking about "A Duel to the Death" as well as two other Bat-films that led up to it (you can find both below)...

My Batman fan-film trilogy started off as little more than an attempt at making an art film. I wrote a little piece of music and suddenly had this visual of Batman passed out at a party.  After sharing the result with some friends online I was given a script that my buddy Roman wrote, "Batman's Bad Day." The last line in that script jumped out and smacked me in the face -- I just had to make it!  The video generated quite a bit of buzz locally, even playing in theatres in front of "The Dark Knight" last year, and a demand was made for a sequel. People wanted to see Batman get his revenge. I couldn't resist, and so, the trilogy had to be completed.

It's a brand new day, here's the latest edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe...

COMIC BOOKS LOSING THEIR POWERS?: The American comic book has, in some ways, never been bigger in pop culture than today with the commercial blockbusters in Hollywood and the critical respect for graphic novels. But business reporter Tiffany Hsu writes that the core publishing business that has struggled in recent years is up against the wall in the current economy: "A high-stakes battle for survival is underway in the comic book universe, and superheroes such as Wonder Woman and Wolverine have been enlisted in the fight. Even President-elect Barack Obama -- and an impostor -- have been recruited to help Spider-Man. With mixed results, the nation's comic book publishers and hundreds of neighborhood shops are fighting off a deteriorating economy, online piracy, rising costs and changing consumer tastes. Comic book sales were down for most of 2008, even at behemoth publisher Marvel Comics. And many small comic stores are closing one by one. Just last week, Marvel released a special edition of Spider-Man in which the superhero notices two identical Obamas at today's presidential inauguration, uses basketball to weed out the phony and is thanked with a fist-bump from the new president himself. But times are stark, and it may take more than Obama and his illustrated posse to revive business, as the industry nervously trains its spider sense on the notoriously feeble January sales month. 'Because comics are an escape, they're a little more protected from the economy,' said Jonah Weiland, executive producer of website Comic Book Resources. 'But I wouldn't say they're recession-proof. Everyone is preparing for a slump.' There's still an appetite for fantasy -- experts said the comics market has been resilient, weathering the wilting economy better than other forms of media. At the Los Angeles Public Library, thrifty fans turned comics into a hot item at the checkout counter last summer. 'If you want to read a series, there could be anywhere from three titles to 50, so it could be a very expensive experience,' said Albert Johnson, a collection development manager at the library. 'That's a big reason why we're seeing more traffic.' But even after a year stuffed with blockbuster films based on comic books, growth in all sectors is stalling." [Los Angeles Times]

THE SECRET STORY OF NARNIA: So why exactly did Disney jump ship on the "Chronicles of Narnia" franchise after the first two grossed close to $1.2 billion worldwide for Disney and its partner in the project, Phil Anschutz's Walden Media? Patrick Goldstein has a long explaination of the economics, politics and personalities involved, here's an excerpt: "According to multiple sources, the once-close relationship between Disney and Walden began to unravel when, after the first 'Narnia' film cleaned up at the box office, Anschutz essentially put a gun to Disney's head and demanded that the studio renegotiate its deal with Walden. Anschutz insisted that Disney either gave back a sizable chunk of the studio's lucrative distribution fee or Anschutz would distribute the 'Narnia' series on his own. Believing the franchise was too good to give up, Disney reluctantly changed the terms of its Walden deal, but the renegotiation poisoned relations between the two behemoths. When the second film faltered, there was so little good will left over that Disney had far less qualms about cutting its ties with the franchise. To be fair, Walden wasn't all that happy with the way Disney handled the film. The first movie had been released at Christmas, which seemed a logical slot for a family-oriented picture. But when Disney saw that 'Prince Caspian' was an edgier, more youth-oriented film, it decided to go after teenagers as well as family filmgoers. That decision led to what, in hindsight, appears to be a huge blunder, releasing 'Prince Caspian' in May, at the start of summer. Sandwiched between 'Iron Man' and 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,' 'Prince Caspian' not only failed to attract many teenagers, but it lost a large piece of its family following, who were turned off by the edgier, not especially well-focused marketing materials. 'We felt that, for that film, we had to try to appeal to every audience,' says Disney studio chief Dick Cook. 'The movie was edgier and tougher and the marketing materials reflected that. Sometimes when you do that, you risk alienating the families and maybe that's what happened.' Cook defended the studio's decision to put the movie into the summer. 'Warners has always been able to move 'Harry Potter' back and forth, so we thought we had just as good a chance of doing well. Honestly, who knows -- it may have been a factor. In the summertime, you don't always get many second chances. But release dates are funny -- they never seem to effect a movie people really want to see.'" [The Big Picture]

GRIM STUDIO NEWS: Warner Bros. released the second-highest grossing film of all time last year with "The Dark Knight" and has "Watchmen" and a sixth "Harry Potter" film on tap for 2009. That doesn't mean everything is rosy at the Burbank lot. Here's the story by Claudia Eller:  "Warner Bros. Entertainment is eliminating 800 jobs, or about 10% of its global workforce, becoming the latest media company to take drastic cost-cutting measures amid a deepening recession. The move is expected to save the movie and television studio more than $50 million annually in costs. Walt Disney Co. is also shortly expected to make substantial cuts in its ABC television division. On Tuesday, radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications slashed 1,850 jobs, or 9% of its employees. In recent months, others including Viacom Inc., NBC/Universal, video game giant Electronic Arts and Hollywood's largest independent studio Lionsgate have downsized their ranks as they struggle with the global economic crisis and market downturns of DVD revenue and advertising sales. Of the 800 positions being eliminated by Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., about 600 people will be laid off across all divisions of the studio's operations. Another 200 open positions will not be filled. About 300 positions in management information systems, finance and accounting will be outsourced to India and Poland. In addition, about 155 people who work in 'back office' positions will be offered jobs with a third-party outsourcing company on the Burbank lot, according to a person familiar with the matter. The layoffs and outsourcing of jobs will begin immediately and continue over a period of time, the person said." [Los Angeles Times]

SUPERMAN MEETS SPIDER-MAN!: Ah, one of the great moments of my childhood was in 1976 when all the rules of physics seemed to stop and the impossible happened: Superman met Spider-Man. What happened? Well, they started punching each other, of course. The book had GREAT cover drawn by Ross Andru (based on a Carmine Infantino layout and tightened by Dick Giordano inks) and a fun story by Gerry Conway with Lex Luthor and Dr. Octopus as the bad guys. It was sold as one of those great oversized tabloid editions. I was thinking of that landmark DC-Marvel crossover this morning when I saw footage of Brandon Routh, the most recent Man of Steel on the silver screen, meeting the considerably shorter Tobey Maguire, who was pitch-perfect as Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" films. If Warner Bros. brings Routh back as the last son of Krypton (that's no done deal, of course) perhaps we'll see a summer showdown between the two signature heroes of the top comic-book companies. That would be cool.  The two actors met at a charity event, here's the lowdown from MTV: "They were on hand at Abram Simon Elementary to perform some community service as part of the president-elect’s call to community action on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. But the momentous meeting was the kind that comic geeks salivate over. Maguire was hard at work with volunteers in a classroom at the school trying to figure out how to build the IKEA-style shelving units, when Routh walked by just behind him, but the superheroes-in-street-clothes barely acknowledged each other as they pitched in while wearing their civvies ... Though Maguire was kept busy screwing panels of the shelves together, a short time later, as Routh pulled books from boxes to stack them in the newly built cubbies, he happened across a — no joke — Spider-Man book, and walked it over to his super-brethren. 'I think this is yours,' he said, handing Maguire the book. The web-slinger laughed, and the actors shook hands and chatted for a few moments before Routh walked back across the room to shelve 'I Can Read: Spider-Man 3, Meet the Heroes and the Villains.' 'I think I can probably beat them all up,' Routh said. 'Just kidding.'" [MTV]

TRIVIA QUESTION: "Superman Vs. Spider-Man" was the second comic book published by DC and Marvel partnering together to produce a "publishing event" moment. What was the first? The cover is at the bottom of this post.

ON THIS DATE: Happy birthday today to Mr. David Lynch, one of the great oddballs of cinema history and a truly singular spirit as a filmmaker. Lynch was born in Missoula, Mont., on this day in 1946, and reached the rank of Eagle Scout at age 15 and served as an usher at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, a bit of random bio data that I thought you would appreciate on this day. Lynch would give us the television masterpiece that is the first two seasons of "Twin Peaks" and unforgettable films such as "Mulholland Drive," "Blue Velvet" and "Eraserhead." To celebrate his day, let's all get some damn fine coffee ... but only after checking to make sure there isn't a fish in the percolator. To see some video memories of Lynch moments, keep reading ... 

Welcome to Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe...

NO LEX APPEAL: Quick, what's Superman's greatest weakness? Nah, not kryptonite -- it's a stunningly shallow pool of quality villains. At least that's the problem when it comes to his future life as a film franchise that can keep up with that guy from Gotham. Who are the great Superman villains? Well, you got Lex Luthor but, geez, do we want to see him in another movie? Brainiac and Bizarro are viable but both are somewhat limited as evocative villains and Parasite and Darkseid could work but they don't exactly energize the broader audience of moviegoers. And none of those four is as memorable as the Joker or even Dr. Octopus. Batman and Spider-Man easily have a half-dozen signature villains but, by that point with Superman, you're getting dangerously close to Terra Man territory. I've written before about the best way to save the Superman film franchise and about Brandon Routh's hope that the next film will feature Brainac (he's also, ahem, hoping that the next film will feature Brandon Routh) but I bring it up again today because of this posting by El Mayimbe: "According to my sources, the WB is actively hearing takes from writers for a new Superman movie.  WB is committed to re-making Superman into an interesting franchise. At the moment, the execs haven't heard anything they like yet but the kicker is that WB wants a NEW VILLAIN from Superman's Rogues Gallery to be the main antagonist...NOT LEX LUTHOR!  Writers have been told to come in to the studio to pitch a story with a new villain but again, the WB hasn't bit on anything they heard yet. In fact, Luthor is going to take a back seat. Whether he is altogether out or reduced to a contagonist character in the new script remains to be seen. Personally, I think this is the way to go. Worked at first for Batman back in 2005, why not Supes? Now I know that goes contrary to what Kevin Spacey said a couple of weeks ago, but I'm just relaying what I'm told... So could we be seeing Brainiac, Darkseid, Doomsday, or even Zod battling Supes on the big screen in the near future?" [Latino Review]

TAKING A FRESH WHACK: Director D.J. Caruso is making a drama called "Jack the Giant Killer" that sounds like it might have a sharper edge than recent fairy-tale fare such as "Stardust" -- but one that might present a bit of a topic conflict with the planned television adaptation of "Fables," the outstanding Vertigo Comics series. It's also not clear how the New Line "Giant Killer" project will affect the oft-discussed Caruso adaptation of "Y: The Last Man." Here's the trades announcement on "Giant Killer": "D.J. Caruso is up for slaying giants. New Line has set him to direct 'Jack the Giant Killer,' a drama that takes an adult look at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend. When a princess is kidnapped, a long-standing peace between men and giants becomes threatened, and a young farmer is given an opportunity to lead a dangerous expedition to the giant kingdom to rescue her. Darren Lemke wrote the script; Mark Bomback did a rewrite. Neal Moritz and David Dobkin are producing." [Variety]

ASTRO BOY REVISITED: I have to admit I know nothing about "Astro Boy" (sorry, it's one of my pop-culture blind spots) but I have heard three people mention the October 2009 release in the past month and then I came across something by Casey Seijas over at MTV who seems quite excited about it and has posted a number of images. Here's part of the post, which actually mentions the words "astro" and "titular" in the same sentence: "Featuring an all-star cast of voice actors including Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Matt Lucas, Donald Sutherland and Freddie Highmore as the titular character, 'Astro Boy' follows the adventures of a young-yet-powerful robot, who, in the hopes of winning his inventor-father’s heart, sets off on a quest to rid the world of evil. However, he soon discovers that his home, Metro City, stands on the brink of destruction, and it is up to him to save the day as well as his friends and family." Well there you go... [MTV Splash Page blog]

WATCHING THE WATCHMEN: More from the makers of "Watchmen," which will be in theaters in March. Or will it? Here's the Japanese trailer for Zack Snyder's superhero epic...The trailer looks great but, y'know, fyi, it is in Japanese...

ON THIS DATE: It was 36 years ago today that "Schoolhouse Rock" premiered on ABC's Saturday morning line-up, interjecting more excitement and more emotion into the lives of impressionable youngsters such as myself. There were some great talents brought to bear on the irresistible ditties, people like Bob Dorough, Lynn Ahrens, Dave Frishberg and Jack Sheldon. They age surprisingly well (although "Elbow Room," the perky ode to Manifest Destiny, is a bit creepy to me now) and to celebrate their anniversary, let's all find a way to pass them on to a new generation. You can see the five absolute best "Schoolhouse Rock" videos at the end of this post...

The confetti has been cleared away, the egg nog has gone bad and I'm back at work. Hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did and welcome to the first 2009 edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

THE (NEW) DOCTOR IS IN: Big news from across the Atlantic, where the TARDIS has a new owner. I'm still mourning the departure of David Tennant, the best Doctor Who of them all, but I suppose it's time to move on, especially now that his replacement has been named: "The BBC today announced that Matt Smith has been cast in the role of the Doctor in the iconic BBC series 'Doctor Who.' Smith will be the eleventh Time Lord and will take over from David Tennant who leaves the show at the end of 2009. He will be seen in the forthcoming fifth series that will be broadcast in 2010. ... Matt Smith said of his new role: 'I'm just so excited about the journey that is in front of me. It's a wonderful privilege and challenge that I hope I will thrive on. I feel proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to join a team of people that has worked so tirelessly to make the show so thrilling. David Tennant has made the role his own, brilliantly with grace, talent and persistent dedication. I hope to learn from the standards set by him. The challenge for me is to do justice to the show's illustrious past, my predecessors and most importantly to those who watch it. I really cannot wait.' Lead writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat said, 'The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe. As soon as Matt walked through the door and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man. 2010 is a long time away but rest assured the Eleventh Doctor is coming -- and the universe has never been so safe.'" [BBC]

GOODNIGHT, SWEET PRINCE: Meanwhile, the old Doctor has returned to the London stage after a painful holiday season of scar tissue and bed rest. Nosheen Iqbal has the story: "Four weeks after a prolapsed disc forced him off the stage, David Tennant has returned to play Hamlet for the final week of the Royal Shakespeare Company's sold-out production at the Novello theatre in London. The Doctor Who actor, who was confined to rest for most of December while recovering from back surgery, resumed his role on Saturday night. His performance won a standing ovation from a delighted audience, who had turned up expecting to see understudy Edward Bennett. Thousands of fans were left disappointed after Tennant's sudden departure from the show last month. Despite complaints, the RSC refused to offer refunds. Tickets for the West End run of Hamlet, which transferred from Stratford-upon-Avon, sold out within hours of going on sale in September. A cautious statement from the RSC said the company will assess Tennant's return on 'a day-by-day' basis. Theatregoers are advised to check the RSC website for updates throughout the week. The sold-out run at the Novello theatre is due to finish on 10 January." [The Guardian]

THE SICK SCOTSMAN: I had heard from several people that Mark Millar, one of the true shining stars on the comics scene today, had a nasty medical scare over the holidays, and now Scottish journalist Toby Mcdonald has details: "Mark Millar almost died after being pole-axed by his own medicine. The 39-year-old -- whose 'Wanted' series was turned into a blockbuster starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy -- lost more than a stone in weight in 10 days. Marvel comics writer Mark was raced to hospital after his temperature soared to 103 and he developed extreme flu-like symptoms. Mark, of Glasgow, said: 'I went off sick the first week of December and thought I had a heavy cold or flu. My temperature was a consistent 103F and I was awake all night shivering. After a week, it wasn't passing and my wife made me an appointment with the doc. He did tests and found my blood was wonky, my spleen was huge and my liver was acting weird -- all the symptoms of several very nasty things. I was sleeping 20 hours a day and have almost no memory of the whole episode.' Doctors finally discovered Mark was suffering a severe reaction to his medication for Crohn's, which causes agonising inflammation of the digestive tract. He said: 'They rushed me into hospital, kept me there for five days and did a million tests, which I slept through. I can barely remember being in hospital." [The Sunday Mail]...NOTE: A stone, by the way, equals 14 pounds, according to my handy pocket guide to British weights and measures.

CORALINE, BUTTONED UP: What movie is my 11-year-old daughter, Addison, most excited about in 2009? Well, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," without a doubt, but a fairly close second is "Coraline," which opens Feb. 6 and adapt Neil Gaiman's sweet and eerie tale of little girl who finds a mysterious door that takes her away from her boring life and right into a web of dark supernatural danger. Here's a video with some snippets from the film as well as some of the behind-the-scenes work going into the film by Henry Selick, who also directed the 1993 classic "The Nightmare Before Christmas." (Also, to read my three-part interview with Gaiman, click here.)

A GOTHAM GROOM AND THE MUTANT MOTHER: Film chameleon Gary Oldman has been a vampire, a wild-eyed wizard, a doomed punk icon and Batman's best friend, but those were just movie roles. You know what he is in real life? An optimist. How do I know? The 50-year-old actor just got married...for the fourth time. His new bride is 31-year-old musician Alexandra Edenborough. The Telegraph in the U.K. reports: "Oldman divorced from his third wife the former model Donya Fiorentino in 2001, after his previous marriages to Hollywood star Uma Thurman and English actress Lesley Manville broke down...the actor married Edenborough at a small ceremony last week. Rumours of their engagement had circulated since they attended the premiere of Brad Pitt's film 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' earlier in the month." In other life-event news, Rebecca Romijn, who looks deliriously good in blue skin in "The X-Men" films, is now a mom. People Magazine reports:  "Rebecca Romijn and husband Jerry O'Connell have welcomed healthy twin girls, People has confirmed. Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip were born Dec. 28. 'Mother, father and both girls are all home and doing well,' Romijn's rep Lewis Kay told People.  They are the first children for the 'Ugly Betty' actress, 36, and actor O'Connell, 34, who married at their Calabasas, Calif., ranch in 2007. The new mom, whose pregnancy cravings included lemonade and soy cream cheese, is planning a long maternity leave." Soy cream cheese and lemonade? She is a mutant.

ON THIS DATE: Actor George Reeves was born in Woolstock, Iowa, on this day 95 years ago. The actor (whose birth name was George Keefer Brewer) appeared in one of the great classics of cinema, "Gone with the Wind," but he is, of course, remembered most as the Man of Steel on "The Adventures of Superman" television series. The one-time amatuer boxer took the role with reservations in summer 1951, but he became a pop culture icon -- as well as frustrated symbol of Hollywood typecasting. Reeves died in summer 1959 of a gunshot wound that was ruled a suicide, but it remains a murky matter in minds of many and became the plot of the 2006 film "Hollywoodland." To honor his birth, let's all look up in the sky today and ponder the 21st century meanings of truth, justice and the American way. [If you'd like to see a bit of Reeves in caped action as well as the trailer for "Hollywoodland," you can find some video at the bottom of this post.]

Welcome to your Tuesday morning edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from across the fanboy universe.

ALAN MOORE SAYS 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA!': Well, not really, but I just love posting this photograph of him  any chance I get and I do suspect that he would express some glee about the ugly corporate feud that has raised doubts about the planned release of "Watchman," the big Warner Bros. adaptation of Moore's epic. I would call Moore and ask him directly, but the last time we spoke he made it quite clear that he was done talking about the film and Hollywood in general because he more or less loathes the film industry. A judge's surprise ruling last week has created the very real possibility that "Watchmen" might not hit theaters in March -- a shocking development but, now that I think about it, when Moore talked to the Hero Complex in September he seemed to have some mystic premonition of this latest development. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." Spooky! Well, the guy does wear metallic talons and worship an ancient Roman snake god, so I wouldn't want to get on his bad side. And what is the latest on the "Watchmen" case? Here's a statement from Warner Bros.:  "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the Court’s ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox’s claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film." "Watchmen" has joined the list of truly contentious Hollywood projects. What are some of the other ones? Check out our new photo gallery "Big Hits, Bitter Battles." 

A DIMMER 'TWILIGHT'?: Reporter Michael Cieply (a former colleague here at the Los Angeles Times) has always been a smart and savvy chronicler of the movie industry, and his take on the real story behind the 2008 box-office returns is especially insightful: "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before. Or any number of films that are fondly remembered as midsize hits. Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event. A "movie of the century" — something that made you want to dress up, get in line, and act silly just to see it — used to come along every year or two. The "Star Wars" films had that quality. So did "Titanic," in a quieter, dreamier sort of way. But heart-stopping film events like that have been popping up every few weeks this year.... Even this year’s really big one, "The Dark Knight," was never quite as big as it felt. Clear away the urgent reports about 6 a.m. screenings and Imax-size demand, and you are left, according to an always-sobering tally kept by the Box Office Mojo website, with the 26th-most-popular movie of all time, in terms of tickets sold. A smart, counterintuitive article, and again you can read the rest right here. [New York Times]

A BRIGHTER "TWILIGHT"?: Remember that Will Rogers line about lies, damn lies and statistics? Joal Ryan has a look-on-the-bright-side article compared with that New York Times piece; Ryan points out that, considering its budget, "Twilight" was a bigger hit than "The Dark Knight" (although it ignores the fact that Warner Bros. made a gazillion dollars on all the product and licensing deals for "Dark Knight"): "If only Wall Street had bet on Twilight. Or Hannah Montana. Or Kirk Cameron. With a $167.3-million overall domestic take as of Sunday, per Box Office Mojo, Twilight made more than four times its reported $37-million production budget — the best rate of return on any film in the 2008 Top 10, including 'The Dark Knight.' The Batman epic was a pretty good investment, too, very nearly tripling its gargantuan $185-million budget with a $530.8-million domestic take, Hollywood's second-biggest ever. Still, 'The Dark Knight' was nothing compared to these off-the-charts performers: 'High School Musical 3: Senior Year' ($89.7 million), which grossed about eight times its $11-million budget; the Hannah Montana concert movie, which made about nine times its $7-million budget; and, Cameron's 'Fireproof,' which cost $500,000 to produce, and made $33.1 million — or, more than 60 times its budget." [E! Entertainment News]

'Y'? BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU: One of the more intriguing comics-as-film projects kicking around town is the D.J. Caruso adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn's wry, sublime series "Y: The Last Man." I talked to D.J. a few months back, and he was mightily enthused about the prospects of making the film with his familiar on-screen muse Shia LaBeouf, but in a recent conversation with Edward Douglas it sounds as if the last-man-on-earth tale is presenting the filmmaker with some headaches: "Yeah, it's been a while. I think it's one of those that the source material is fantastic stuff, it's great, but it's a tough one to lick into getting into a screenplay. I've tried to feel like it's a trilogy of movies and I think everyone sort of agrees, but at the same time, just getting the first movie right and getting the right beats and knowing what to put in, it's been really tough. You have great minds like David Goyer and you've got Carl Ellsworth and you've got Brian K. Vaughn, and I'm working with them to just kind of crack it and get it down. And we're almost there. I know it's a slow process, but I think eventually we'll get it. We're going to get it and we'll get it right, but we had a pretty good breakthrough a couple of  weeks ago in the final act, and hopefully we'll get there.... If you're familiar with the source material, there's so much great stuff and he meets so many great characters but it's over the course of a long period of time. When you're telling the story — yes, the fanboys and all the people who love it will go and see it — but if you're just seeing the movie from a filmgoers' perspective and you're not familiar with the source material, you have to make sure you make the movie that they understand and they love, too. Like I said, it's been more difficult than I thought, but we're getting close." [Comingsoon.net]

LOOK, UP IN THE SKY: Here's some consumer news for you fans of the classic Superman cartoons, this from Robert Greenberger's short article: "Warner Home Video is finally releasing their own version of the Superman cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer. The 17 classics have been in the public domain and collected repeatedly over the last 20 years. Come April 7, though, the first authorized collection will be released. In addition to the Paramount cartoons, released in 1941 and 1942, the two-disc set will include two extras: 'The Man, The Myth, Superman' and 'First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.' The set will retail for $26.99 and if you have never seen these cartoons, they are well worth it." [Comic Mix] If you'd like to see a few snippets from the genius work of the Fleischers on the Man of Steel, there's some video at the bottom of this post. 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: Empire magazine has some exclusive photos from Michael Bay's "Transformers 2" and you can see them right here.

ON THIS DATE: Author Lewis Shiner, whose work began in cyber-punk, drifted into magical realism and often deals with the slippery nature of reality and history, celebrates his 58th birthday today. Today is also the 27th birthday of Kristin Kreuk, the Canadian actress who is best known in the role of Lana Lang on "Smallville," but I especially liked her with Miranda Richardson in the wonderfully weird 2001 television movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All." So to celebrate, let's avoid all bad apples today.

Welcome to your post-Thanksgiving edition of Everyday Hero, the roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

Superman, back to the beginning: A few months ago, Richard Donner told me he that he wishes Hollywood would allow writer Geoff Johns to script the next Superman film. Well, if some studio executive is curious about how Johns would handle a reboot of the franchise all they will have to do is pick up a copy of "Superman: Secret Origin," a back-to-Smallville series that will premiere in the early months of 2009. Johns gave Matt Brady the lowdown on his vision for the Clark Kent series, which sounds extremely promising to me: "We haven't seen a modern-day retelling of Clark's first adventure as Superboy with the Legion of Super-Heroes, or the day Superman met Jimmy Olsen or the origins of Superman's longtime enemies like the Parasite and Metallo. More importantly, Clark Kent himself will be explored in his earlier years in a way I don't think he's ever been explored before. And freaking Gary Frank, one of the greatest Superman artists in history already, is illustrating it. Every cover, every panel, every line. For longtime readers -- with the inclusion of the Legion of Super-Heroes back in Superman's history, General Zod introduced and all the other changes made post-'Infinite Crisis' nearly three years ago -- they've been requesting a definitive secret origin. 'Man of Steel' was brilliant and 'Birthright' was a beautiful book, but 'Superman: Secret Origin' will be what lines right up for the modern-day monthly books. It will feature new looks at the origin of not only Superman, but some of his greatest allies, enemies and supporting cast and it will tie into everything Gary and I have done so far on 'Action Comics' as well as setting the stage for the future." The entire article is well worth reading and, again, it's right here. [Newsarama]

Logan's run: The always interesting Empire Magazine from across the Atlantic has a first-look image of Hugh Jackman from next year's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" film and he looks ... well, pretty much the same way he looked in the three "X-Men" films. That's not a bad thing and, according to my wife, it is in fact a very good thing. Here's the promotional blurb from Empire: "It's that time again, and the new issue of Empire is about to hit the shelves. And this month we have a very exciting, news-packed feature from the set of 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine,' which is why the glowering mutant himself adorns our front cover. We got the lowdown from star Hugh Jackman, director Gavin Hood, Liev Schreiber (who plays Victor Creed) and many more for the full picture from the film's set, and here's a taster of what they're going for. 'There's a scene in the first "X-Men movie," ' said Jackman, 'where Wolverine's introduced in a bar, fighting in a cage, and you felt that he did this every night of his life. If this movie is successful, you should feel that this guy can walk straight off the end of this film and into that bar.' We also heard a little bit from Danny Huston on his take on the sinister William Stryker. 'The thing about Stryker is that he feels like he's got this God-given right, that he's on a crusade. He both loves and hates mutants, because his son was a mutant and murdered his wife. So he understands what they're going through but despises their force, their potential danger. It's wonderfully complicated.' 'In Logan and Creed,' continues Huston, 'Stryker finds his children and hones their powers like racehorses. But as in the world of horse racing, when your horse breaks his leg and is suddenly useless, he has a very cold way of looking at them. And he's also a mad scientist excited by the possibilities of what he can do to mutants.'" [Empire]

Samuel L. Jackson gets spooky: The world's greatest f-bomber, Samuel L. Jackson, will be honored tonight with the 23rd Annual American Cinematheque Award at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Jackson, who turns 60 this month, is intensifying his focus on his career as a producer, and in a recent interview with Jerry Endling, he told the reporter to watch for a pair of television projects, including one with fantasy themes: "I have two ideas that are about to come to fruition. One's a cop show, and the other one is sort of a supernatural show about these immortal women -- it's four women that were placed here at the beginning of time to guard us against the forces of evil. And they have personal lives that we'll get involved in, which will be strange from women who are thousands of years old and who've had relationships with people throughout history. And the cop show, we're actually trying to figure out if we can set in a city like Atlanta, because that's a place we haven't seen, and there's two very different guys who have just become detectives. One has been a detective who's been in an undercover situation for about five years, and the other one has been a beat cop." [Hollywood Reporter]...ALSO: If you haven't seen it, check out this photo gallery of Jackson's ever-changing hair styles on screen, which was put together in very witty fashion by Hero Complex contributor Chris Lee.

Mediocrity most excellent: The latest issue of Chris Ware's always fascinating series "The Acme Novelty Library" (from publisher Drawn & Quarterly) has reviewer Richard Gehr marveling at its loopy worlds of heartbreak: "Bleak, yet brilliant. The party line on Chris Ware's ongoing Rusty Brown graphic novel is in no danger of wavering with its latest installment ... the Chicago cartoonist's operating trope this time around is low-brow -- even no-brow -- science fiction. Following some typically self-abnegating boilerplate ('The contents of this volume ... should not be interpreted as an artistic response to recent criticisms and/or reviews of this periodical'), the book opens with 'The Seeing Eye Dogs of Mars.' Attributed to one W. K. Brown (one F. C. Ware holds the copyright on the 'Library' itself), the 33-page faux-SF story demonstrates yet again Ware's genius for mimicking the mediocre, exquisitely. A study in blues, oranges, and browns, Brown's 'Seeing Eye Dogs' recounts a romance gone savagely wrong during a mission to colonize Mars." [Village Voice]

-- Geoff Boucher

Photos: "Superman: Secret Origin" art by Matt Brady, Samuel L. Jackson and "The Acme Novelty Library" cover. Credits: DC Comics; Alejandra Villa /For The Times

You might recall last week we asked various Playboy Playmates which super powers they would love to have. Strangely some of the women wanted to have the power to read men's minds (as if one would need magical skills for that).

While we were at the mansion, we used our valuable time to probe even deeper, for you, the Hero Complex reader. We asked several  several folks including Hugh Hefner, his (now former-) girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkerson, as well as the current Playmate of the Year (Jayde Nicole), and the former Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood who their favorite superhero was. Sorry Greatest American Hero, most of the responses were the traditional DC types you'd expect.

-- Tony Pierce

MORE RANDOM SILLINESS

EXCLUSIVE: Dan DiDio of DC Comics talks about Superman leaving "Action Comics" (and Earth), the revival of "Adventure Comics" and major changes in Gotham City that will mean "a close to the existing lore ... the last rites of Batman."

I was in New York a week ago to work on a long feature about the singer Beyoncé but (just to prove what a hopeless fanboy I really am) I was more excited about making my first visit ever to the offices of DC Comics, which was no disappointment. After a tour, I sat down with Dan DiDio, the senior vice president and executive editor of the DC Universe, which means he oversees the bread-and-butter, ongoing comics titles. He had plenty of scoop to share, including this Andy Kubert cover above, which is the variant for the upcoming landmark Batman tale "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader"...

Geoff Boucher: So, Dan, what are you most excited about right now?

Dan DiDio: Oh, gosh, that’s a good one. We’re coming to the end of “Final Crisis” right now and I’m not only excited about people reading the ending of “Final Crisis” but I’m also excited about getting to the end of “Final Crisis.” We did “Countdown to Final Crisis” and “Final Crisis” itself so this has been a long story for us. I feel we’ve accomplished a lot of goals and we created a lot of excitement. But more importantly it’s a point of change for us in DC Universe again. And once you know the ending is coming, it’s in sight, that’s when you start getting worked up about what’s coming up next. That’s what I really get jazzed about. We have two really big events that spin out of “Final Crisis” each in its own way and affecting our key franchises, Superman and Batman. The first thing we’re going to see is called “Battle for the Cowl,” that’s going to be a book that features nearly every member of the Batman family   

GB: Even Ace the Bat-Hound?

DD: [Laughs] Probably. We have a writer-artist team on this right now that’s scouring every book possible to see what they can include in these two-page spreads they want to build of all the characters that inhabit the Batman universe. So it’s a lot of fun for us. I always like those things because it’s a big noisy adventure book. And whenever you do one of those, the level of excitement is always right there on the page. You hopefully have people respond properly to that.

GB: There’s a lot going on with the Batman franchises.

DD: There are a lot of questions about what’s going on with the Batman line of titles. We just recently canceled three of the longtime Batman-related series: "Birds of Prey," "Robin" and "Nightwing." They all end in February. Then in March, “Battle for the Cowl” starts and once it does, you will get to understand how the Batman universe is starting to be realigned.

GB: And what about the Man of Steel?

DD: Simultaneous to “Battle for the Cowl,” we’re going to be making changes in Superman’s world as well. Superman has been the star of "Action Comics" for its entire run, essentially, and he will be leaving it and handing it over to new characters. The only time he hasn’t appeared in the book, I believe, was after “The Death of Superman,” in those years. So this is a lot of fun for us. I think that’s going to get people excited and scratching their heads and wondering what’s going on. In his own book, "Superman," there will be a dramatic turn as the hero leaves Earth and it seems like he’s leaving for good. We’ll follow his adventures in space more so than his adventures on Earth, and that’s a big and exciting thing. We’re also bringing back one of the old-time favorite titles of DC Comics, "Adventure Comics." It will be ...

When it comes to writing, the most interesting aspect of iconic comic-book characters is the flexibility of intepretation. Writers representing wildly different ambitions, genres, generations and cultural backgrounds have been able to make their ideas fly with success, which is why there's enough room, somehow, inside Batman's cape for Bob Kane, Frank Miller, Tim Burton, Adam West, Bruce Timm and Christopher Nolan.

But there's can be downsides in the comic books, however. These are ongoing adventures, at least on some level, and readers often reflexively look for some sort of continuity. There's also the numbing clutter of so many competing mythologies through the years -- not to mention some pretty bad fashion choices. What's a writer to do if he or she wants to achieve something that is both fresh but alo "true" to the character? Grant Morrison reveals a lot about the choices a writer must make when approaching a character like Superman during this looooong answer to a question posed by Zack Smith about the starting-point context for Morrison's highly regarded run on "All Star Superman," which took the Man of Steel into a setting that was entirely new but, as it turns out, quite familiar.    

'All Star Superman' could be read as the adventures of the ‘original’ pre-'Crisis on Infinite Earths' Superman, returning after 20 plus years of adventures we never got to see because we were watching John Byrne's 'new' Superman on the other channel. If ‘Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?’ and the Byrne reboot had never happened, where would that guy be now?

This was more to provide a sense, probably limited and ill-considered, of what the tone of the book might be like. I never intended 'All Star Superman' as a direct continuation of the [Mort] Weisinger or Julius Schwartz-era Superman stories. The idea was always to create another new version of Superman using all my favorite elements of past stories, not something ‘age’ specific.

I didn’t collect Superman comics until the ‘70s and I’m not interested enough in pastiche or nostalgia to spend 6 years of my life playing post-modern games with Superman. 'All Star' isn’t written, drawn or colored to look or read like a Silver Age comic book.  'All Star Superman' is not intended as arch commentary on continuity or how trends in storytelling have changed over the decades. It’s not retro or meta or anything other than its own simple self; a piece of drawing and writing that is intended by its makers to capture the spirit of its subject to the best of their capabilities, wisdom and talent.

Today's handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

Everyone knows that Spider-Man is going to the theater stage, but now it appears the theater is also coming to Spider-Man. Work continues on the Spidey musical for Broadway (which at a reported $40 million will be the most expensive production in the history of theater) but in the meantime an acclaimed writer of stage drama is coming over to the webslinger's massively successful movie franchise. Borys Kit has the trades announcement this morning: "David Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer in 2007 for his drama 'Rabbit Hole,' is in final negotiations to write 'Spider-Man 4' for Columbia. Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire are back as director and star, respectively, as are series producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. Kirsten Dunst also is expected to return for the latest movie featuring the Marvel Comics character. Plot details are under lock and key. Columbia always has gone off the beaten path during the development process when hiring writers for the 'Spider-Man' movies. Alvin Sargent, a veteran scribe best known for 1973's 'Paper Moon' and 1980's 'Ordinary People,' served as a writer on the second and third films. Michael Chabon, another Pulitzer winner, also worked on 'Spider-Man 2.'... Lindsay-Abaire's 'Rabbit Hole,' which starred Cynthia Nixon and Tyne Daly, hit the Broadway stage in 2006 and won four Tonys, including best play. The writer also is known for the play 'Fuddy Meers.'" [Hollywood Reporter]

Twilight, Twi-bright, first vamp I see tonight: I'm not sure the world is prepared for how huge "Twilight" is going to be, at least if Internet activity is any sort of predictor of movie box-office grosses. Today's "Twilight" update: Rotten Tomatoes now has a massive 93-image photo gallery from the movie (um, isn't that pretty much the whole movie?) while Gina McIntyre has an interview with Robert Pattinson on the fang-mania. "'It’s happened since the day it got said that I was playing the part,' Pattinson said, running his hands through his hair. 'It was like a day when it changed. [People went from saying] ‘Are you the guy from ‘Harry Potter’? to ‘It’s Edward!’ It’s really, really strange.' When asked if he thinks he’ll ever become accustomed to that aspect of his newfound celebrity, he simply replied, 'No. It’s just a certain amount of acceptance, I guess. The only kind of strange thing is when you get photographed...I don’t think you’d ever get used to that. You can’t really live normally when that’s happening.' " [Entertainment News and Buzz, Los Angeles Times]

Brainiac, the smart-guy choice: Brandon Routh is doing a lot of press right now because of his role in "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and in an interview with Robert Sanchez the subject turned to the next Superman movie. Routh hopes to wear the cape again and he would like to a certain city-shrinking, green-skinned evil genius as the heavy. "I think there are a lot of things you could do with Brainiac. He's been given a lot of power and a lot of different abilities over the years in the comics, as far as I understand. I know that DC is working on a Brainiac storyline that they are excited about and I think combining the two and have that flow between the comics and the movie would be a nice thing. I honestly think there are a lot of interesting things you can do with Brainiac. Controlling people, controlling technology, a lot of cool things." [IESB]

Fear is good: Tonight is the L.A. opening night of "Fear(s) of the Dark," which i've been hearing great things about. (Guillermo Del Toro gushed about it: "Rusty alleyways and vaporous ghosts painted by the masters of dread. Razor-sharp images that will slice your eye and nest there forever. Thrilling, disturbing and haunting. Bring the kids!")
Here's the description from the folks at IFC: "A wildly inventive and visually dazzling collection of fearful tales by six of the world’s most renowned comic and graphic artists. Featuring the cutting-edge talents of Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre Di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire, 'Fear(s) of the Dark' was featured at the Sundance, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and 'Rendez-vous with French Cinema' film festivals. 'Fear(s) of the Dark' will open in Los Angeles on October 31st at Landmark's Nuart Theatre [11272 Santa Monica Boulevard] followed by a national roll-out. The artists featured have all drawn from their own fertile imaginations –- and worst nightmares –- to tell their tales. From a besotted student whose girlfriend is weirdly ardent in her affections, to a Japanese schoolgirl menaced by a long-dead samurai, and a pack of hounds on a bloodthirsty rampage, 'Fear(s)' has a story strand to trouble every sleep –- not to mention a stunning range of animation styles. Shot in shimmering black and white, the six intertwined tales create an unprecedented epic where phobias and nightmares come to life and reveal Fear at its most naked and intense." [press release]

X-Halloween: Tim O'Shea has an interview with Jeff Parker about "Giant Size X-Men: First Class," the Marvel new release with some fun Halloween touches, such as the Beast starting an (ahem) X-Files sort of paranormal investigations. Parker described his fave parts of the book: " 'Dean Haspiel drawing Bobby Drake, making the Thing’s hand breakdance. Michael Cho putting Cyclops in the role of Gort. Nick Kilisian showing the X-Men as Pod People. David Williams somehow putting EVERYONE in one double page spread and making it look beautiful. But I think one feature that readers are going to love is Roger Langridge’s two-pager featuring young Charles Xavier, done in an Edward Gorey style. People who have heard of Roger and wonder what why he’s so praised will understand what the big deal is.' "

-- Geoff Boucher

Credits: Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man unmasked in the third film in the super-hero film franchise, photo by Merrick Morton and courtesy of Columbia Pictures. "Action Comics" issue No. 280 featuring Curt Swan cover of Brainiac, courtesy of DC Comics.

Yesterday we had a link to Chris Lee's great (and unflinching) feature on Kevin Smith, who may have his most commercial film of his career in theaters today but is also grappling with a weight-related heath crisis. That story ran on the cover of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section; today Lee went through his notebook and pulled out some more material from the interview that will be especially interesting to the fanboy crowd. 

Kevin Smith does not feel one iota of guilt about making Superman gay. That is to say, the New Jersey-born writer-director knows precisely how big a casting coup it was to land Brandon Routh -- the studly star of director Bryan Singer’s 2006 Man of Steel update “Superman Returns” -- to portray a closeted gay man. In Smith’s raunchy sex comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” (which hits the multiplex tomorrow), Routh's character, Bobby Long, is in a relationship with Justin Long’s flamboyant gay porn star character Brandon St. Randy. (The pair are pictured above, with Routh on the right.)

“On paper, it’s a thankless role. He’s the straight man, the set-up guy,” Smith, seated on the patio of his Hollywood Hills home last week, said of Routh. Instantly realizing his unintended pun, Smith reframed the discussion of Routh’s portrayal. “He’s a straight man playing a gay guy who’s pretending to be a straight guy in that weird ‘Victor Victoria’ way. But Brandon found a way to play him like a hen-pecked husband in a gay marriage who’s still not quite living out loud. He’s so funny. He found a way to make it more comedic than it was on the page without changing a word.”

MORE RANDOM SILLINESS

An interview with the Rancor from "Return of the Jedi"

          Superhero party from "Saturday Night Live," circa 1979

                     Mr. T talks smack to Superman

The fanboy vote: Presidential politics with a pop-culture spin

                 Even Adolf Hitler is mad about the "Harry Potter" postponement

-- Geoff Boucher