DC Collectibles Artists Alley

DC Collectibles Artists Alley

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DC Collectibles
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http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/05/19/dc-collectibles-artists-alley

What We Know: Midnight, Texas

By: Jaclyn Cascio (@jaclynator)

True Blood ended three years ago. The Vampire Diaries reached its end just recently. If you’re worried about the supernatural void left in your heart after the vampires’ reign ended, NBC has just the thing to fill it. Keep reading to find out more about their upcoming new series called Midnight, Texas.

Charlaine Harris wrote the True Blood book series, on which the wildly successful television show was based. It turns out that television isn’t done with Harris just yet, as NBC brings her Midnight, Texas trilogy to life on the small screen with a new series by the same name. Commissioned in May 2016, the supernatural drama television show is executively produced by Agents of SHIELD alum Monica Owusu-Breen and Six Feet Under producer David Janollari. (You might remember that True Blood was also the baby of Six Feet Under alum Alan Ball.) Niels Arden Oplev and Mark Hentermann are also executive producers of the new show.

Filmed in New Mexico, Midnight, Texas promises to bring the weird in what has been described as a mix of True Blood and Twin Peaks. If you’re wondering how the show compares to Harris’ original book series, it has been assured that the show only adds to and expands upon the original material, but doesn’t take away from it. When producer Owusu-Breen was asked about the author’s involvement with the project, she stated, “She came to set, but she understands the novel had a very small-town pace to it, which is different than what a network requires.” While that doesn’t sound like it bodes well for die-hard book fans, Owusu-Breen also said of the show during a studio press tour, “Like all of [Harris’] novels, it’s very character driven. It’s also got this wild creativity. Like, it goes all over the place. You know, her characters are very three-dimensional. So they are funny, and they fall in love, and there’s passion. And so I do like to describe this show as all my favorite things in a blender. So I think we ride the tones of horror and action and romance and humor, and we don’t shy away from any of them… It’s a little bit like her books on steroids.”

So what does a wildly creative book on steroids look like played out on television? Midnight, a small town in rural Texas, is a safe haven for those who are different. The town actually sits on a veil between the living and hell, and as all supernatural shows promise, nothing is what it appears to be. The town is home to outsiders of all kinds. Residents include Fiji Cavanaugh (Parisa Fitz-Henley of Luke Cage), a powerful witch who owns a Wiccan shop; Lemuel (Peter Mensah of True Blood), a unique vampire with a long history in Midnight; Joe Strong (Jason Lewis of Charmed), an immortal angel who knows all the town’s secrets; and Reverend Emilio Sheehan (Magic City’s Yul Vazquez), as a were-tiger. (No. That’s not a typo or a joke. Owusu-Breen let that little factoid slip during an interview with Blast Magazine.) The town also has its own freelance hitwoman, Olivia (Arielle Kebbel of Gilmore Girls), who might have some powers of her own…and a love affair with vampire Lemuel.

The town also boasts some human (so far) residents. Bobo Winthrop (Orphan Black’s Dylan Bruce) is the town’s premiere pawn shop owner. He is joined by Creek (Sarah Ramos of American Dreams), a waitress and aspiring writer whose overprotective family has a deep dark secret, and the Sheriff (Sean Bridgers of Deadwood).

Manfred Bernardo (François Arnaud from Blindspot) is a psychic running from some trouble who heads to Midnight at the behest of his deceased grandmother. He joins the strange residents as they struggle with suspicious county police, killer biker gangs, and their own mysterious pasts. The struggles bring the citizens of Midnight together into a strange but strong family. And with a prophecy of a medium leading the town against the darkness of their hell-mouth they live on, they’re sure to have their hands full! There’s also a talking cat, for whatever that’s worth.

Check out a trailer for the show, and see the otherworldly folks for yourself!



Midnight, Texas is keen to advertise the kind of supernatural creatures and people living in the town, which might sound like a buzzkill for some viewers. Those who are fans of mystery might be worried that the preview told them everything they need to know. On that subject, Owusu-Breen reported at WonderCon 2017 (where the pilot of the show was screened), “We let the audience know who they are and ask questions about that. It’s not their powers that make them interesting. They’re interesting AND they have powers.” The key thing she noted is that we may know what and who they are right off the bat, but each of them has a dark past and their own stories that we will learn about along the way. Take the angel, Joe, for example. Lewis has said of his character, “Joe is not like a Hallmark angel. He’s not some cherubic icon on the front of a greeting card. He’s an immortal creature who has lived through a lot of different circumstances. I think one of the hardest fights in life is to move through your experiences and life’s struggles and hold onto a sense of hope and discovery…”

Has the show caught your fancy yet? Are you ready to fill the hole in your heart left by True Blood and The Vampire Diaries? Follow the show’s official Twitter and mark your calendar for the NBC premiere of the ten-episode first season of Midnight, Texas on Tuesday, July 25. And if you’re in the UK, you’re in luck as SyFy UK got the UK broadcast rights for the show, so you won’t be left out of the loop!

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http://www.nerdhq.com/what-we-know-midnight-texas/

LIEFELD: The 'Funny' & Contradictory Evolution of DEADPOOL and His Debt to Video Games

DEADPOOL creator ROB LIEFELD has returned to the Merc With the Mouth. Here's what's coming next.

via The Nerd Machine

http://www.newsarama.com/34566-liefeld-deadpool-hasnt-changed-since-1991-and-marvel-legacy-will-prove-it.html

Alien: Covenant Review

By: Haylee Fisher (@haylee_fisher)

WARNING: SPOILERS (AND BLOOD) AHEAD

When it comes to the Alien franchise, you know what you’re going to get: jump scares, blood and gore, death, and aliens. And that’s exactly the case with Alien: Covenant.

The film is a direct sequel to 2012’s Prometheus and follows a crew on the colony ship Covenant bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy to start a new life. En route, they receive some signal interference and an inaudible message, later discovering it’s coming from a previously undiscovered (to them) planet. They decide to investigate the planet that they think may be more hospitable than their original destination, Origae-6, but soon come to find out there are more nefarious goings-on in play and must escape this dangerous world or die trying.



So many themes in Alien: Covenant invoke literary motifs, like the evil twin archetype, or even biblical ones, as evoked by the title itself with a covenant. In the Bible, God made many covenants, or promises, with man, the most important believed to be his promise to never again destroy the earth, and that destruction is mirrored in a sequence in the film.

It also deals with the conflict of man vs. faith, with the man in question being Billy Crudup’s Captain Oram, who fulfills a similar role to Prometheus’ Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and who also struggled with opposing concepts of science and her convictions and the conflict therein. However, for a captain, Oram is kind of dumb. On the other hand, his actions could be defended and perhaps justified by interpreting them as having too much faith in people and his surroundings.

A crew that includes Jussie Smollett, Danny McBride, Michael Fassbender, and Katherine Waterston – whose role recalls Sigourney Weaver’s in the original – join Crudup on board the Covenant. James Franco also makes a cameo, continuing his trend of appearing in every movie ever made. Though the movie is long, I wish there would have been more character development of the humans in the crew. I wanted to feel sad as they were offed, though maybe I’m too rational and knew that since this was an Alien movie, they weren’t all going to make it anyway. Even still, Waterston’s Daniels is the most levelheaded and resourceful, and I wouldn’t mind another movie of her fighting her way out of bad situations. The other crewmembers just felt under-developed and their actions predictable.



The film also explores what makes a man (or woman): is it faith? Bravery? A creator? That’s where Fassbender comes in, playing the dual roles of David and Walter. The first scene in the movie takes place before Prometheus chronologically, and shows how David, an android, came to be. We meet his creator and learn his motivations – he wants to make something eternal that has the potential to also create, and perhaps become a father to nations (there’s another biblical covenant – God’s to Abraham – coming into play). As the film goes on, we learn he is in fact a creator, just as Peter Weyland created him. And he is determined to create beings with his same desire for domination. But is Weyland a monster for creating him, or is David the monster for creating the things he does?

When David meets Walter, a later version of himself, it’s clear he wants Walter to join his mission: to create new life by melding aliens and humans, the latter of which he feels doesn’t deserve to live. But Walter is more empathetic to humans, reluctant to unite with David and his cause, and thus is his weakness. Though he was programmed to be more unemotional than David, he in fact has learned to care for his human companions. David and Walter are the most developed characters, though some of their time could have been cut, like the weird flute scene, though it did serve the purpose of showing Walter could create, too, despite how he had been programmed.

The movie is beautifully shot, with Ridley Scott at the helm yet again. It’s obvious he loves the franchise, and seeks to be more ambitious with each film. It’s a dark movie, both in color and in tone, and he gives the audience what they want when watching an Alien movie: intense action, blood (lots of blood), terrifying situations and imagery, and aliens bursting forth from their hosts’ chests.

Though perhaps only advancing the franchise from Point A to Point B – and a bit predictably at that – as opposed to Point A to Point C, Alien: Covenant is exactly what you want and what you expect it to be. Though the plot is a bit weak, it gets the job done of bridging the gap between Prometheus and Alien, and fans of the series won’t leave disappointed in the amount of horror in their favorite horror franchise.

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http://www.nerdhq.com/alien-covenant-review/

SUPERGIRL Gets New Regular Artist in August

SUPERGIRL takes a bullet and adds a new artist in SUPERGIRL #12.

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http://www.newsarama.com/34562-supergirl-august-2017-solicitation-preview.html

Injustice: Gods Among Us #3 - Tom Taylor & Mike S. Miller

Injustice: Gods Among Us #3 Tom Taylor & Mike S. Miller Genre: Graphic Novels Price: $0.99 Publish Date: January 29, 2013 Publisher: DC Comics Seller: DC Comics

Superman battles one of his most deadly foes while an innocent life is in danger. Tragic events are about to unfold that will change the course of history for the heroes of the DC Universe. It all kicks into high gear here!

get it now at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/injustice-gods-among-us-3/id597754102?mt=11&uo=2&partnerId=11&at=1010ldoE

Gotham: “Light the Wick” Review

By: Tyler Carlos (@tylos624)

This week’s episode of Gotham, while happily reintroducing some old villains I’m glad are back, felt like a bit of tease after the action packed events of last week’s episode. “Light the Wick” seemed to promise something a bit more impactful would happen in this episode, but with four episodes left this season, I guess I couldn’t expect the writers to put everything into one episode.

Caution: Spoilers ahead.

Starting with James Gordon, it seems like his time on the Court of Owls is already over after Katherine discovered that James actually broke into her house and found the key card to the Wayne Enterprises Lab. This was a short amount of time, but I am simultaneously surprised that Katherine didn’t see right through Gordon from the start. He has a reputation for doing the right thing, and the Court has a reputation for being an omnipotent presence in Gotham. But, either way, Gordon was able to finally figure out how the Court is going to bring judgment upon Gotham – and I gotta say I really like this.

Using the Tetch virus as the means of bringing destruction upon Gotham is a great way of tying the whole season together – as well as figuring out a way to bring Barnes, AKA The Executioner, back into the mix. This was one of my favorite moments of the episode, because this dude is pissed. He wants vengeance on Gordon so badly, which promises an exciting fight in a future episode. And using the virus as a bioweapon makes a nice connection to the Batman: Arkham Knight video game, or else even Batman Begins. They want Gotham to rip itself apart.

And with the return of Barnes came two more villains: Jervis Tetch, AKA The Mad Hatter, and Hugo Strange. Tetch only made a brief appearance, but that one moment reminded us where he is. As for Strange, he had a much bigger role in this episode, as he is the one who was able to actually weaponize the Tetch virus. Plus, he dropped a little hint that Fish Mooney is alive and well, and now I’m a bit desperate to see how she may play into all of this.

One character that has really gotten under my skin, though, is Leigh Tompkins. Every episode since James killed Mario, she throws in some jibe that she will never forgive him for doing so and that he is a monster. But I mean, come on, James saved Leigh from being killed. When James brought this up, she said that Mario only got the virus because The Mad Hatter wanted to hurt James. Well, what did she expect him to do? Just let a psychopath walk the streets of Gotham? It’s just time for her to stop blaming James and blame the man truly responsible.

Moving over to Oswald, I gotta say that his story was the biggest disappointment this episode. I felt like the previous episode promised a bit more action on his part. Firefly was the action star of his team, as she was the one that torched Talon (btw, how many Talons does the Court have?). The main thing that happened with Penguin is that he was locked up in a Court cage next to Nygma. But even their reunion felt a little anticlimactic. I don’t know, I just thought that there would be a little more something to this reunion.

As for Selina and Ivy, all that happened between these two was Ivy saving Selina using her trusted plants. It’s good to know that this actually how Ivy saved Oswald. But there was almost nothing else to this. All that happened was Ivy saved Selina and now Selina is off to kill the clone Bruce. It was just a bit simple.

Lastly, Bruce is doing well with his training, and it now seems that he is learning to control the anger, sadness, and loneliness he got when his parents died. Bruce’s part in the Court’s plan is still a mystery to me. The Court does everything for a reason; therefore, there is a specific reason they are training Bruce. I believe it must be for something beyond becoming the Batman. They want to turn him into something that will serve them. Perhaps they want him to be the next Talon?

Overall, this was a decent episode, though nowhere near the best of the season. With four episodes to go, there’s still plenty of time for the action I thought might happen in this episode. But with the return of these villains, and the hints at others, along with the new weapon to destroy Gotham, Jim Gordon is definitely in for the fight of his life.

Rating: 3 out of 5

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http://www.nerdhq.com/gotham-light-the-wick-review/

A Complete Marvel's GENERATIONS Cover Gallery (Almost) and Full Creative Team List

A look at most of the covers and even some variants for Marvel's August-September series.

via The Nerd Machine

http://www.newsarama.com/34565-a-complete-marvel-s-generations-cover-gallery-and-full-creative-team-list.html

PRIME Called Out By U.S. PRESIDENT In OPTIMUS PRIME #7

You got some 'splaining to do, Autobot.

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http://www.newsarama.com/34558-prime-called-out-by-u-s-president-in-optimus-prime-7.html

DC's Heroes Get Wacky In LOONEY TUNES Crossover One-Shots

A silly symphony indeed.

via The Nerd Machine

http://www.newsarama.com/34564-dc-s-heroes-get-wacky-in-looney-tunes-crossover-one-shots.html

Interview with a Cosplayer (Who’s Cosplayed as a Vampire)

By: Scott Muller

On Memorial Day weekend, May 25 through May 28, Megacon will take place in Orlando, FL. MegaCon Orlando is the Southeast’s largest comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming event. At the convention, you’ll be able to peruse vendors, take pictures and get autographs from big-name celebrities, buy art and books from artists and authors, and take pictures with any of an army of cosplayers. I’m sitting down with one of those cosplayers today: Amy Nicole Cosplay.

Scott from Nerd HQ (NHQ): How are you today, Amy?

Amy Nicole Cosplay (ANC): Fantastic.

NHQ: For the non-nerds who might be reading this interview, what exactly is “cosplay?” Is there a difference between a cosplayer and someone who’s just dressing up in a costume?

ANC: Tough question right off the bat! I think the answer probably differs depending on who you ask, but since you’re asking me, cosplay is typically thought of as a combination of the words “costume” and “play.” It’s basically dressing up as a character from any variety of genres as a show of love for the fandom. I think someone dressing up in a costume may not necessarily be a cosplayer, but a cosplayer is essentially someone dressing up in a costume.

NHQ: So, wait, is “cosplay” a verb or a noun, or both?

ANC: I’ve heard it used as both, although more commonly as a verb. Usually, you’ll hear, “I’m going to cosplay such and such,” but cosplayers also sling it around as a noun like, “Let me pack this last cosplay for the convention.”

NHQ: How did you start in the world of cosplay? Is it something you’ve started relatively recently or did you start when you were little, dressing up as, say, Wonder Woman?

ANC: Mentally, it started when my mom let me be She-Ra for Halloween. She made me the outfit and sword. I was like five. I started taking it seriously at Supercon in 2013. At first, I thought it would be stupid, but then decided to give it a shot. After creating and wearing my costume for the first day, I thought it was awesome and the rest is cosplay history.



NHQ: You’ll be attending all four days of Megacon this year, correct?

ANC: I’ll actually be attending Friday through Sunday. I’ll be cosplaying, but not at a booth.

NHQ: I’ve seen you at several events in the past: charity events, past Megacons. How many events do you do a year?

ANC: Last year I did around 20 on my own or in groups. I do my own stuff and I’m part of a few groups including being an admin for a group called Florida Con-Artists (on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). We cosplay together at smaller conventions and I help them do cosplay-related events. We’ve already done four events this year. I’m also part of a group called Team Firestorm with Havok Cosplay out of Fort Myers in South Florida (on Facebook and Instagram), which does more competitive cosplay.

NHQ: What’s the furthest you’ve ever travelled for a convention?

ANC: Epicon in Albany, Georgia.

NHQ: I’ve seen you cosplaying as Black Widow, Sally Jupiter from Watchmen, Lara Croft, Elektra, and a female Punisher. Do you know how many different characters you’ve cosplayed?

ANC: I’ve done 51 different cosplays.

NHQ: This might be like asking you to pick your favorite child, but is there any particular character that you really enjoy cosplaying?

ANC: I like to cosplay as the badass chicks…the ones that can hang with the guys. I’d rather cosplay someone with a weapon than one that’s just pretty. For example, I love being Lady Sif, Lara Croft, Black Canary, Black Widow, and Elektra.

ttest” costume? And since we’re in Florida, I mean that literally – what cosplay is the hardest to wear because it gets so hot?

ANC: Probably Black Widow. It doesn’t look like a lot, but the suit material doesn’t breathe well, she’s got gear everywhere, and her super-thick wig tends to bump everything up a few degrees.

NHQ: Do you make your own costumes, or do you buy most of them, or does someone make them for you?

ANC: I mostly make my own, but sometimes I’ll buy parts if it’ll save time or give me a better starting point.

NHQ: Is cosplaying something you do for a living, or are you like Clark Kent, with a “cover” job that hides your secret identity? Do you know anyone who does it full time?

ANC: No, my “real life” job is crime scene investigator. I do know people who do it full time. There are ways to do it, but it’s one extreme or another.

NHQ: I know a few other cosplayers that seem to appear at every event in Florida and Georgia, like Cecil Grimes. Is the cosplay community mostly friendly, competitive, or is it really cutthroat…like dueling Rick Grimes getting in fist fights at a convention?

ANC: It depends on the people you surround yourself with. While there’s a serious side to competitive cosplay, the people in my con family have been supportive and friendly, which has allowed me to do more group cosplay.

NHQ: Can you recall a really cool experience you’ve had at a convention?

ANC: That’s hard because I’ve had so many cool moments with attendees. At one convention, though, we had an artist next to our booth. Jason Momoa came up to her booth shopping and bought everything with a particular image on it that he liked. The artist couldn’t snap a picture, so I took one for her and sent it to her. She was super happy about that.

NHQ: On the flip side, I’m sure you’ve had at least couple uncomfortable experiences at a convention. Instead of asking you about them, straight up, let’s use them as a teaching moment. If there’s any advice you could provide cosplayers at a convention or attendees at a convention when it comes to cosplayers, what would you tell them?

ANC: For attendees, when meeting cosplayers, don’t touch their weapons! Also, please come up and talk to me instead of staring at me; I won’t bite! I’ll gladly take a picture; there’s no need to try to snipe a picture or be sneaky about it. Seriously, I can totally see you when you’re trying to sneak a picture on the escalator. I’m more than happy to take a picture with anyone, just come up and ask. To the cosplayers, to avoid horror stories, do your homework about a con before you go. Also, consider the costume in the environment. For example, if you’re wearing comic book character cosplay to an anime convention, you might not get the reception you want. Finally, in environments like Florida, be conscious of the weather. It’s always hot; keep that in mind.



NHQ: One thing I’ve always talked to my friends about is the whole “cosplay is not consent” campaign. It seems that most convention goers are pretty cool people. Do you have a lot of issues with convention goers getting too “touchy feely” with you?

ANC: I have. Cosplayers are, ironically, the worst about this. At least two or three times a convention I have to admonish someone about invading my personal space.

NHQ: On a related note, it seems like some cosplayers (or people who are just dressing up) are just doing it so they can dress up in provocative costumes and show off as much as possible. Do you just shake your head at those people or do see all cosplayers as equal?

ANC: That’s another tough question…I feel like there’s a common ground between us all, but I think everyone gets something different out of cosplay. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you might be after something different than I am. A little advice for some cosplayers is to keep in mind that some people are kinda mean and depending on what you wear, you might be drawing the wrong type of attention.

NHQ: Do you have any costume ideas that you tried that just didn’t pan out? Like you tried on the costume and were like, “Ugh, I’m not pulling this off?”

ANC: (Laughs) All of them! No, I’ve made a few that I had to redo or scrap. I started Aquaman and had a hard time completing it because there weren’t any pictures of him from the waist down available yet. So, I had to put that on hold until I had a chance to look at pictures of his full body armor.

NHQ: So, are there any costumes you have in the wings? Or do you not want to spoil anything?

ANC: (Laughs) I have a list on my phone of about 30 that I’m working on. As for major stuff, Havok Cosplay does an epic Ghost Rider with full flaming motorcycle. I’ll be taking on some more armor building to create a female version of Mephisto from Marvel Comics for a team up with his Rider. I’m also lucky enough to be grouped with some very talented cosplayers for two upcoming Pokemon crossover groups that should be pretty show stopping.

NHQ: Are you really a nerd at heart? What are your favorite nerdy indulgences? Nerdy hobbies?

ANC: Yes. All of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, comics, TV shows, conventions. Star Wars. D&D. Magic: The Gathering. I’m also a science nerd.



NHQ: I asked earlier about advice to convention goers about interacting with cosplayers. You attend a bunch of conventions; do you have any advice for attending conventions, in general? Especially Megacon?

ANC: Be patient. Florida is going to be hot and crowded and you’re going be in long lines. Know you’re going to have to put up with that. Even food vendors are going to have lines. If you accept it early, it won’t be that bad.

NHQ: Anyone you’re looking forward to meeting at this year’s Megacon?

ANC: It was Jeffrey Dean Morgan until he cancelled. I’m also looking forward to seeing James Marsters together with Nicholas Brendan and Eliza Dushku. It’s going to be tough to see a lot of them because we’ll be so busy.

NHQ: If people want to interact with you, what are some ways they can do so?

ANC: I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; you can find me on all of them under Amy Nicole Cosplay. I’m good about responses, so I will message you back…even if you’re a jerk, I’ll at least take the time to tell you so! If someone takes the time to message me, I will message them back. If you see me at a convention, please come say hi – I love meeting people I’ve interacted with in real life.

NHQ: Well, one last question before we go. If you could give any advice to little boys or girls (or big boys or girls, I guess) that want to cosplay, but are shy or don’t know how to get a cool costume, what advice would you give them?

ANC: Stop talking about it and just do it! Pick a character that you think is realistic for you (and I mean that logistically; like, it won’t be super-complicated to put together). If you buy the costume, I challenge you to try to make one part of it yourself to make it unique. Go from there.

NHQ: Before we go, anything or anyone you’d like to give a shout out to?

ANC: Major thanks to my family, especially my dad, for always nurturing my inner geek, and to my friends, fans, and crew for never judging me in my weirdness! I love you all!

NHQ: I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me. I look forward to seeing who you’ll be cosplaying at this year’s Megacon. Thanks, Amy!

ANC: Thanks!

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