10 WORST Comic Book Live-Action TV Series of All Time

We may be in a golden age of comic book TV shows, but there have still been some clunkers over the years.

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http://www.newsarama.com/15448-10-worst-comic-book-live-action-tv-series-of-all-time.html

Arrow: The End is Nigh

Arrow: The End is Nigh

You might need to bear with me a bit on this one, folks.

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Matt Ross
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http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/05/17/arrow-the-end-is-nigh

Getting a Glimpse: Kill Switch

By: Jaclyn Cascio (@jaclynator)

In the motion picture directorial debut of Danish visual effects producer Tim Smit, Hollywood’s new big man on campus Dan Stevens stars in the American/Dutch indie sci-fi flick, Kill Switch.

Not to be confused with the 2008 Steven Seagal film or the 2014 documentary by the same name, 2017’s Kill Switch will explore what happens when parallel worlds collide. The visual effects-heavy, full-length project is based on a 2009 viral short film by Smit called What’s in the Box? The screenplay by Charlie Kindiger and Omi Nooshin was produced in 2016 and Saban Films acquired the distribution rights for the movie this February.

Produced by Aaron Ryder, Sander Verdonk, and Denis Wigman, Kill Switch follows pilot Will Porter (Dan Stevens) as he tries to save his family and the world after a military energy experiment tapping into parallel universes goes terribly wrong. In an attempt to get the box (containing the namesake “kill switch”) to a tower, Will may face a decision of unbelievable proportions. When you have two worlds, how do you choose which one to sacrifice so that the other might endure?

Take a look at the most recent trailer here:



Starring Stevens (Beauty and the Beast), Bérénice Marlohe (Skyfall), Tygo Gernandt, Charity Wakefield, Bas Keijzer, Mike Libanon, and Mike Reus, Kill Switch will delve into first-person point-of-view filming, mixed with the more traditional film style. With the first-person POV introduced in the original short film project, the style was fairly new at the time (2009), but has been used more recently in films like Cloverfield and Hardcore Henry to mixed reception. Will the video game-style Kill Switch be a bigger hit, with up-and-coming Legion star Stevens in the lead?

Kill Switch will be released this month, May 19, in Ultra VOD (video-on-demand). The movie will be released in regular VOD and select theaters on June 16, 2017. Pick up your popcorn, and get ready!

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Best Shots Review: THE FLASH #22, ARCHIE #20

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http://www.newsarama.com/34532-best-shots-review-the-flash-22-archie-20.html

First Full STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Trailer

"Before Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise there was Discovery."

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http://www.newsarama.com/34533-first-full-star-trek-discovery-trailer.html

Deadpool's Creator Discusses Excitement Over FXX's Animated Series And New Comic

What to Expect from Nintendo at This Year’s E3

By: Eric Ashley (@flapjackashley)

The Nintendo Switch has been out for over two months now, and it is facing a pretty critical time in its short lifespan. One of the biggest shows for nerds and gamers alike – E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo – is less than a month away and Nintendo has to make some waves in order to keep up the very positive sales momentum it is currently enjoying. Here are a few key areas I think Nintendo needs to bring to E3 in order to make a lasting impression and cement the fact that they are, indeed, back in the game.

A Link to the Past

Nintendo struck gold with the Wii in 2006, but failed with the follow-up, the Wii U. The latter was so disappointing in sales that third parties quickly abandoned the console and even Nintendo’s own efforts dried up significantly just three short years after launch. The Wii sold nearly 102 million units worldwide; the Wii U has yet to hit 14 million. To compare, the industry leader PlayStation 4 just cracked 60 million shipped with a year’s less time on the market.

The Nintendo Switch, an innovative tablet-like console that can be played at home on the big screen or taken on the go as a portable, has reversed the trend so far. It has outperformed Nintendo’s modest sales figures, selling over 2.7 million in its first month, which is eye-popping for a console that didn’t launch during the Christmas shopping season. In Japan, the Switch continues to outsell its entire competition (PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, Vita) combined, week after week.

So Nintendo has a hit on its hands. People are excited about the Switch. Many people who skipped the Wii U are coming back to Nintendo.

E3 + Nintendo

E3 is a huge event, despite the fact that a handful of companies – Electronic Arts included – have decided to hold their own events during E3 Week, but away from the event itself. Nintendo has not had a live press conference at an E3 since 2012, and this year will be no different. The Big N relies on a pre-recorded stream for game announcements and hype. This worked out very well in 2014, but not so much in 2015. Last year, with the Wii U floundering, they didn’t even have a stream at all. This year, however, the Stream (codenamed “E3 Showcase”) is back. Nintendo’s in-house promotional team, the Treehouse, will also be present to provide realtime game footage, developer interviews and previews after the Showcase.

It’s All About the Games

If we are being completely honest, there isn’t much to play on the Nintendo Switch. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the perfect launch game, and the recently-released Wii U port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the fastest selling game in the Mario Kart franchise with its 48 characters, 43 tracks and brand new characters, and Battle Modes and maps. Beyond that, there are a smattering of digital offerings on the eShop like Snipperclips and Wonder Boy to go along with The Binding of Isaac, Bomberman R, and Puyo Puyo Tetris that have all achieved mild success. Launching last week was Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition, which is a port of the Wii U version with the Mario skins and resources and other DLC included.

But there is no question that Nintendo has to bring the goods at E3. They have the customer’s attention; what they do with that is vital to their success.

While hosting events for new IP ARMS and anticipated sequel Splatoon 2, Nintendo says it will focus a lot on the upcoming Super Mario Odyssey – the other game besides Zelda from the reveal event in January that whipped fans up into a frenzy. There is no doubt that Mario looks great, and it being the first fully open 3D Mario game since Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64 has made this a must buy.



But what about beyond that? Nintendo says that they are focusing on games that are to be released in 2017, which is good since their release first-party schedule looks pretty slim between Splatoon and Mario. But keeping in mind the last Nintendo Direct we had where Nintendo said we were getting information on two specific games and we ended up getting a lot more than that, I think Nintendo is setting us up for some big surprises.

Keeping my hopes in check is tough when it comes to Nintendo because they have not come through on many expectations for quite some time now, and seeing as how the Switch is a runaway hit, I am more confident than ever that they are going to deliver the Big Guns… but how soon?

Hopes and Consequences

I hope Nintendo gives us some details about the long-rumored GameCube Virtual Console. We don’t have any Virtual Console news at all so far, and that is very discouraging considering the Switch would be a prime console for such a thing. We know one is coming because their upcoming paid online service will give subscribers one free NES or SNES Virtual Console game to play for a month, and those will have newly-added online multiplayer. And what’s more, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did a surprise launch of the Virtual Console during E3.

Speaking of online subscription service, it’s time for Nintendo to tell us more about that. We have rumors on how much it will cost (roughly $25-$30 a year), but what does it offer besides online play and the VC game per month? I hope it includes access to a Cloud Storage system for game saves. They need to let us know how this Smartphone Chat App will launch and how it will work. If they fail on these very basic expectations, they are going to be in for a bad time when it comes to feedback.

I also would be very surprised if Nintendo didn’t announce a new, true Metroid game. It’s been seven years since the last one, and everyone and their mother knows that Retro Studios is working on a “secret” project, and reports have surfaced that a game music composer who loves the Metroid series has been brought in to work at Retro… it all adds up, and it will go a long ways in washing that sour taste out of our mouths that the 3DS flop Federation Force left.

A couple years ago, Nintendo surprised fans when it said that Pikmin 4 was not only in development, but was “near completion.” With the Wii U gone, this will be a Switch game as I highly doubt the 3DS side scrolling game Hey Pikmin is what this was. A full Pikmin 4 would be another way to delight fans.

I think we’ll get some information on some previously announced third party games. Stardew Valley (with its console timed-exclusive multiplayer mode), Sonic Mania, NBA 2K18, the Switch-exclusive Runner3, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Payday 2 should be on the docket. I’m hoping that EA will surprise us with a major announcement to go along with the forthcoming FIFA 18 – perhaps a new Star Wars game? The Switch has been successful that third parties can’t ignore it, so I’m looking for some nice announcements at the Spotlight.

Fields of Dreams

I think it’s time for Nintendo to finally give Earthbound fans Mother 3. It could even be released as part of a launch of Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games. Fans have been begging for it for years, and Nintendo has a lot to make up to us given the slop and lazy games they gave us during the Wii U era, and this would be a perfect gift. It would send the Internet into full meltdown mode.

Pokemon Stars is another long-rumored game, but it is unclear if it will come out for the 3DS or the Switch. If Nintendo were smart, it would come out for the latter as Switch sales would go through the roof at Christmas. At the very least, have a dual release like Breath of the Wild was, although I’m not sure how much attention they want to take away from Mario in December. But having a wealth of quality games to choose from is never a bad thing, and it’s about time Nintendo gave us that problem to have. With the 3DS in the twilight of its life – despite the 2DS XL coming out – a Switch-only Pokemon game is destined to come out, making it the first Pokemon game in the main story to be released for a home console. Why not have it happen when the iron is hot and people are itching for beloved Nintendo franchises to play on the Switch?

A Wii U port of Super Smash Bros is a given also, but will it come this year or next? It supposedly will come with new characters, and hopefully include all the DLC fighters and stages that were previously released – a la how they handled Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Could it come in the fall? Is that the reason they are pushing out the final amiibo from that series this summer?

I would love to see a remake or sequel to Eternal Darkness. They keep renewing the copyright on the game, and there is a demand for it. I’d even take it to be one of the first releases for the GameCube VC, which in my realistic mind is what I anticipate it to be.

I would love to see third party games such as a Battlefield, Red Dead Redemption 2, or Resident Evil 7 come to the Switch. It’s not out of the realm of possibility: Nintendo upped the RAM in the Switch based on Capcom’s suggestion to meet the standards to be able to run a game with the Resident Evil engine.

Finally, I would love for them to drop a hint at a new Animal Crossing for the Switch. Two spin-offs aside, the mainline series has been dormant since 2013 in North America, save for an update that added amiibo support to the 3DS’s New Leaf last fall. Animal Crossing would be the PERFECT game for the Switch and taking it on the go with you – building my town and paying my bells to Tom Nook in HD quality portably would be the stuff my dreams are made of.

The Nintendo Magic

There is just something about Nintendo games that draw people in. The pick up and play addictive nature of a Mario Kart, or now the expansive open world adventure that Zelda brings, Nintendo just has a magic about them makes you love gaming. Part of that magic is the element of surprise, and it is an aspect that has been missing from Nintendo for the past few years. If you look up on YouTube the wild crowd reaction to the surprise unveiling of Twilight Princess (then for GameCube only) at E3 2004, that is the magic and joy that Nintendo can bring its fans.

Nintendo has a golden opportunity next month to turn the heads of people who think the Switch success so far is a fluke and to further delight the people who already own one. Any number of the games I mentioned above would sell units from now through Christmas and beyond. Could you imagine all of Nintendo’s big franchises – Zelda, Mario Kart, Pokemon, Smash Bros, Super Mario, Metroid, and Animal Crossing – all released within a year of the console being on the market? It would be unprecedented in Nintendo’s history. But as the Switch is the fastest selling console in the company’s history, maybe it’s time to hope for the unprecedented to become the new normal.

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http://www.nerdhq.com/what-to-expect-from-nintendo-at-this-years-e3/

LION FORGE COMICS Full AUGUST 2017 Solicitations

CATALYST PRIME continues.

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http://www.newsarama.com/34529-lion-forge-comics-full-august-2017-solicitations.html

Best Shots Review: SECRET EMPIRE #2

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Exploring Serena: A Discussion with Yvonne Strahovski of The Handmaid’s Tale

By: Karen Valenzuela (@VictoriaNoir89)

If you’ve been watching Hulu’s splendid (painful, infuriating, brutal…) The Handmaid’s Tale, you know just how much of a conversation starter it is. Based on Margaret Atwood’s powerful novel of the same name which was published back in 1985, the series covers an array of timely issues: women’s rights, choice, freedom, misogyny, separation of church and state, fundamentalist religion in general, and an array of other human issues. More than anything, we see what happens to people when they’ve had their freedom, rights, and identities stripped from them – as women especially are reduced to homemakers (Wives), disciplinarians (Aunts), cooks (Marthas), or fertile wombs (Handmaids).

What makes the series so hard-hitting and fascinating? What makes every episode cause you to feel like you’ve just been on a 24-hour bender? The setting is horrific, the storyline is upsetting and maddening (understatement!), but nothing in Gilead is black and white. And no character is purely good or purely evil.

The character that demonstrates this better than anyone else in the series (arguably in any series I’ve seen so far, to be honest) is Mrs. Waterford, one of Gilead’s highest ranking Wives. We know her as Serena Joy, and she’s played masterfully by Yvonne Strahovski in the series. Serena is one of the show’s main antagonists, so we see her Handmaid Offred oftentimes pitted against her, being brutalized by her, oppressed by her. But the show also delves deep inside of Serena herself. What makes her tick? What drives her to do the things she does? What brought her to where she is when we first meet her in Gilead?

Episode six especially shows us more of who she was before Gilead. How suddenly her instrumental involvement in the coup that brought the United States to its knees, and her voice in the subsequent government Gilead formed in the aftermath, was erased, silenced.

When I was given the opportunity to talk to Strahovski about The Handmaid’s Tale, I wanted to focus on Serena Joy in particular. There isn’t a word in the English language powerful enough to describe how amazing of a character Serena Joy is in the show, so I’ll stick to fascinating. How, I wondered, does anyone with a working moral compass manage to make a woman who does so many inexcusable, cruel, selfish things into someone we, as viewers, want to understand better? How is Serena Joy so human? Why does her suffering hurt us so much in spite of the things she does? I wanted to get to know Strahovski’s process, and how she was able to humanize Serena for herself in order to bring to life such a deep, nuanced, complicated character.

What I found out is that Strahovski isn’t just incredibly talented. She’s also a deeply intelligent person, very much aware of the world around her and the many challenges too many of us face today and of the wild range of emotions humans are capable of. Not to mention how brave she is, because Serena Joy is not an easy character for a good person to identify with. Suffice to say, it takes a stone cold bad-ass to enter into this process and create from it such an absolute masterpiece of a character. And that’s exactly what Strahovski has done here.

How do you solve a problem like Serena? Here is the discussion I had with Strahovski about all things Serena Joy and the oppressive world she lives in:

NHQ: Have you guys been paying attention to the show’s reception? I know that it’s probably a lot easier to keep the blinders on and tell the story without letting the articles pervade what you guys are trying to do. But because it’s such a timely show and has all these feminist issues and with everything going on in the world right now, is this something you are paying attention to?

YS: I keep a little eye on what’s happening, definitely what’s happening in the world. I haven’t really seen any articles about the show since it came out, if that’s what you mean. But I do know just from what I’ve been hearing and the conversations I’ve been having with people that it is really speaking to people and it seems to me that people are connecting to the show because it directly reflects their concerns and fears about today’s current political and social state in this country especially, and in other places of the world.

NHQ: Every single episode I feel like I’m watching and just getting heavier.

YS: Yeah… (laughs)

NHQ: Right? It’s a heavy show. But it’s brutal and so beautiful and perfectly done, honestly. But right off the bat, let’s just go ahead and say it. The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist story.

YS: Gosh yes.

NHQ: Yeah! I’ve seen a lot of people trying to push that to the side – not anybody that’s directly attached to the show, but bloggers who’ve written articles and I’m like “no, you’re wrong” but…

YS: Oh, I haven’t seen those.

NHQ: Yeeaah. Apparently I roll in the wrong circles. But have you done any outside research on your own? Besides just reading the book? Articles about feminism? And considering who Serena Joy is (in the book, Offred recognizes her as a televangelist who used to be on TV before Gilead), and the things that have gotten her to the place where she’s at when we first meet her in the show, have you done any research on Christian fundamentalism, and what causes women like her to buy into that ideology?

YS: I stuck to the book and script really religiously. Pun intended. (laughs)

NHQ: (laughs) Good one!

YS: The story, for sure, is a feminist story. A human story. It speaks to so many issues and it speaks to so many current issues of the day, for sure – particularly pertaining to women’s rights. But in order for me to tackle someone as difficult as Serena, I felt like I had to stay away from all of those headlines, you know?

NHQ: Yes!

YS: And typical descriptions of what the show is about. Because I just really had a hard time relating to Serena. And so for me, it was more about stripping away all of that televangelist…You know, I had it in one ear, but then it was really about taking it away and just treating her as a human. You know in the book she’s very evil, and on paper, she’s very brutal and evil, so for me it was about even stripping away that title. Stripping away the fact that Serena Joy’s evil and figuring out what makes her tick and what makes her heart cry and what makes her heart hurt. And I think that was the biggest task for me: to try to humanize her behavior and the choices that she’s made and that she continues to make in her life. Yeah! So I hope that answers your question.

NHQ: Absolutely it does. And it totally comes through in your portrayal of her one hundred percent. I think that’s what makes her character so complicated and so hard for us as viewers to just be like, “I hate her.”

YS: Yeah.

NHQ: As somebody who has watched the show, I don’t hate her even slightly. There’s so much that goes into her story. And that’s actually super smart that you didn’t dig deep into that televangelist – watching people like Tammy Faye Bakker – because it would be too easy to let the seriousness of the character slip away and she’d be more of a joke.

YS: Well, and I didn’t want to make this cliche sort of evil villain, either, you know? It was really important for me to make her human. Even though I personally don’t agree with who she is and what she does. The biggest thing for me was that duality that she has gotten herself into this mess. She was the one that wanted society to change and become Gilead. And she wanted women to follow their biological destinies, but somewhere along the lines, she lost her voice and her right to speak about it. And somewhere along the lines, things turned into what they are now, as we see them, you know, when you first meet everyone in Gilead. And now she’s living in that world of her own creation where she is oppressed and unhappy as well, and going through pain and hurt. So it’s a really interesting character – to see how she struggles with that, and how she abuses her power, and how she finds an outlet where there is no outlet by screaming at Offred. And how she holds onto this hope of having a baby, but how she shuts her eyes to this monthly rape that happens with this other woman. And how she tries to connect but gets rejected constantly by the Commander, and even by Offred. And that power play. Like, there are so many things going on in this, and for Serena.

NHQ: Ooooo yeeeaahh. I just think of that scene when Offred is walking out, and she looks up and you see Serena kind of looking down from the window. And it’s right after Offred has manipulated the Commander to get herself released from her room.

YS: Yes.

NHQ: You don’t know what that conversation was like between Serena and her husband, but you know that he was like “Let her out” and she was probably just like “GRRRRRRRR!!!” You know?

YS: Mmmhmm. Livid, yeah.

NHQ: Yeah! Totally. And she’s just watching from this spot up in the window, and it’s perfect. But I think your portrayal, specifically, has heightened Serena into this multi-faceted, super layered character. What really spoke to me is the duality that you talked about. It would be really easy to say Serena is evil, you reap what you sow. But people are capable of doing really terrible things when they’ve had their lives totally wrecked. She’s been cut off from her identity, she doesn’t have any way to derive any amount of comfort, no sex, no intellectual stimulation. Her existence basically has no meaning. You can feel heartbreak for Serena in her suffering, and find these bad pieces of yourself that are reflected back at you through her, and at the same time not excuse her cruelty and selfishness or the way that she is punching down, right? Those two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

YS: Yeah. And you brought up a really great point. Like, it was really important for me that her behavior – even though I am trying to humanize her and get some sort of sympathy, empathy – I do feel like her actions are inexcusable at the same time. So that is a really important story to tell and that’s why it’s so complicated, you know, when you are playing someone like Serena. You spend so much time sort of justifying in your brain how and why this person does what they do and why they’re going to be okay with it. Because they justified it this way. And it kind of makes you think about real life and people in power. And it makes me wonder about how people who’ve put themselves in authority positions or have been elected into authority positions…how they abuse that in order to survive. Like, it’s just their pure survival factor versus the greater good of the world. And that balance, and how one outweighs the other often. And power is being abused, and the greater, bigger picture isn’t being looked at. So it was a really interesting process.

NHQ: Yeah, for sure! So transitioning into something that’s maybe a bit less heavy… I’m a writer. Which I think is a bit similar to acting, because both are, in a sense, creating characters. To really get a character I’ve created to come to life, I try to come up with random details, everyday situations, how they’d react to them. What they like, things they enjoy…What kind of driver are they? Do they curse somebody out who doesn’t use their signal when they’re turning? We know from Atwood’s book that Serena likes gardening. Are there any backstory details or anecdotes you thought up yourself to bring her to life for you?

YS: Yeah! There was one thing. I learned to knit to play Serena Joy. And I never knitted anything in my life. But I made a scarf and it took me the whole time we were filming to make one blue scarf.

NHQ: I can relate to that.

YS: (laughs) I gave that to [showrunner] Bruce Miller at the end of the show. And one of the things that struck me about Serena is this idea that, yeah, everything gets taken away from her…her ability to sexually relate to her husband and the intellectual stimulation…I thought, well, what does she do? They had her written as smoking and knitting and painting and gardening. And I thought, well, that makes a lot of sense! Because what else is there to do when all you have is this responsibility of a house that is so…barren of joy – pun intended – no outlet and personal freedom. And so the knitting was actually something that, you know, wasn’t just a physical thing but – this is gonna sound maybe a bit cheesy – but…kind of it was very much an acting point into the repetitive solitude of her life. And I don’t want to put down knitting, because knitting is awesome, and I know a lot of people who knit and have fun with it. But for me, I meant to turn it into just a version of the repetitive solitude that I feel like she always feels. And it’s very much a part of her. The knitting was very much the biggest thing for me.

NHQ: Is there anything that you’ve walked away from this experience with that you didn’t have when you first joined the production? Not, like, a physical object like Serena’s green dress, but something that made you change the way you see certain situations or people, or a change in your ideology, or even a strengthening in your ideology?

YS: Yeah! I think I walked away from this more of a feminist than I was already.

NHQ: Woo! Awesome. That’s epic.

YS: (laughs)

NHQ: I’m one of Nerd HQ’s resident feminists, so I love to hear that!

YS: Oh, yeah! Power to you! (laughs)

NHQ: Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to talk to me. It’s really given me some extra insight into what you were doing with the character, and the show. Thank you, Yvonne!

YS: Aw, thank you. I really appreciate the conversation!

Episode six of The Handmaid’s Tale was released today on Hulu! Put down whatever you’re doing, go onto Hulu, and watch it right now! Especially after reading how Yvonne approached Serena Joy and her portrayal of her, you simply have to watch this episode. I think you’ll agree with me when I say that Yvonne Strahovski is officially a gift to the art of acting. Watch the show, and watch this episode! YOU. WILL. NOT. REGRET IT.

Hulu has also renewed The Handmaid’s Tale for a second season after announcing it as the most watched show ever in the site’s existence, original or otherwise. Congratulations, Yvonne!

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