Gareth S. Young - - 1000 Trillion Suns

...Elseworlds! DC comics, blessed with three of the most iconic super-heroes in the history of the medium - The "Trinity" of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman - created an imprint in the late 80s that would feature "imaginary" stories set in alternate timelines or realities. These stories would be released under the imprint of Elseworlds. Gotham by Gaslight In 1989, the first of the Elseworlds story, Gotham by Gaslight, was released. Featuring Batman, but set in Victorian times, the caped crusader has to hunt down Jack the Ripper who has come to Gotham to continue his murder spree. Although not officially branded with the Elseworlds logo, Gotham by Gaslight is considered the first of the Elseworlds books. Superman: Red Son One of the most lauded and critically acclaimed Elseworlds story was Superman: Red Son, which wonders what would've happened if the baby Kryptonian had crash landed in a farm collective in the Soviet Union inste...

Next year, Captain America celebrates his 75th birthday. No doubt the comics will celebrate this in fine style, and it's just been announced that ABC, the television wing of Disney, will be showing a 1 hour  75th Anniversary Special . Later in the year there is, of course, a third Captain America movie -  CIVIL WAR  - to be devoured by the fans. And all of this is great. I'm a fan of comics, movies and Cap, so I'm on board for all of it. What is interesting though is how OLD all of this comic book stuff is. DC's Holy Trinity There's a lot of excitement for DC's upcoming Batman versus Superman movie and the first "on screen" appearance of the Big 3  - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman - together in one movie. Warner acquired Time Inc. in 1989 and with it, DC comics. About ten minutes later, a Batman movie was announced. That it's taken more than 25 years to get the Big 3 together is baffling to me. Supes, Bats and WW are three of the...

One of the lucky ones Superheroes used to be better-known for their four-color shenanigans in comic books than their hi-definition antics down at your local IMAX theater. In fact, comic books almost faded into obscurity as comic book shops closed, print runs declined and the only people who cared about them were a generation of fans hanging onto their childhoods. I don't deny I am one of those people. I am one of the lucky ones, born at just the right time to see comics change from kids entertainment to mature, grown-up storytelling. The Golden Age Yours for a paltry $3.2 million... The first appearance of Superman (1938) is regarded by collectors as the beginning of The Golden Age of comics. Batman (1939), Captain America (1941) & Wonder Woman (1941) were also born during this period. The recent  $3.2 million sale of the "holy grail" copy of Action Comics #1  shows that interest in these characters is still through the roof, although most people know the...

Every summer, the movie studios release what they call "tentpole" movies. Normally, these are big-budget, effects-driven franchise movies, designed to prop up the studios and make them their profits for the year. I call them programmed franchises because they're not acquired with one movie in mind. The philosophy from the start is to produce at least a trilogy. So much money is invested in these movies that failure can cripple a studio. Trivia Blast!! - New Line Cinema had to merge with its parent company Warner Bros after the (relative) failure of  The Golden Compass:   Budget: $180M  Box Office: $70M ( The Golden Compass  was intended to follow the trilogy of His Dark Materials books by Phillip Pullman) Jaws   Stephen Spielberg is sometimes credited with creating the first summer "Blockbuster" movie with  Jaws .  Jaws  was the first movie to be distributed with a "wide release," meaning that it opene...