• Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle) both wrote and directed this movie, although he faded from the limelight once it tanked. He went on to direct a Disney Channel movie called Up, Up and Away, which was also about superheroes.
• The plot follows a fairly straightforward comic book route, having mild mannered Jefferson Reed Jefferson Reed gain powers after he gets hit by a meteor. However, they went a bit overboard with his powers.
• The meteor gave Jefferson the following powers: super strength, super speed, the ability to fly, telekinesis, laser vision, x-ray vision, freezing breath, the ability to heal quickly, the power to talk to animals, and the power to make plants grow quickly. Oh, and he can also absorb everything in a book by touching it, but only for 30 seconds, which is probably one of the lamest powers ever created.
• There's actually a scene where Meteor Man clears out a vacant lot, plants grass seeds, using his meteor powers to make it rain, and grows a field of giant vegetables and tomatoes. All to the tunes of cool, light jazz. Ouch.
• There's also a scene where the lead villain and the Meteor Man both absorb a book about "ladies modeling" and they have a vogue-off. Yes, you can't make this stuff up.
• This was Don Cheadle's fifth movie, and isn't usually listed in his filmographies or bios. He sports a blond hairdo throughout the film, and chews up a fair amount of scenery.
• James Earl Jones stars as Earnest Moses, and is dressed in an oversized baseball jersey for the whole movie, and check out his high fade haircut. It's pretty embarrassing to watch the voice of Darth Vader try and imitate Radio Raheem from Do The Right Thing.
• Not that Bill Cosby was the greatest actor to grace the silver screen, but in this film he stars as a mostly mute homeless man (he barks at dogs near the end) who gets the same powers as Meteor Man, and comes to the triumphant rescue at the end of the flick.
• Robert Guillaume of Benson fame also stars as Jefferson's dad Ted, and Marla Gibbs, better known as Florence from The Jeffersons stars as his mom. In Up, Up, and Away, Marla stars again as his mom, and Sherman Helmsley (Mr. Jefferson) stars as his dad.
• Even LaWanda Page, better known as Aunt Esther from Sanford & Son makes an appearance as a sassy nurse. Townsend really enjoyed mining older TV shows to fill the roles in his projects.
• Eddie Griffin plays Jefferson's best friend Michael, although he actually chews up less scenery than usual. Since it was only his fifth film, he hadn't hit his wisecracking stride yet.
• Frank Gorshin, who played The Riddler on the old Batman tv show and Bele on Star Trek: The Original Series, portrays big baddie Byers, in probably one of the worst roles of his life. Sometimes, there is shame in taking a job for the paycheck.
• Sinbad and Luther Vandross both have small roles in the film, and you can imagine what the combined box office power of a comedian and a classic singer would have done, if only it had been marketed properly.
• Marvel Comics produced a six-issue limited series based on the movie, where Meteor Man encounter Spider-Man. Seriously, Meteor Man meets Spidey.
• Meteor Man could see through walls with his X-Ray vision, but for some reason when he looked at people, he could see through their clothes, but not their underwear. Behold the power of a PG rating! In the scene below, you can watch as Meteor Man battles a crackhouse full of underwear clad workers, unites the Crips and the Bloods, and grows the magic field. Endure it if you can.

These images give us hope that G.I. Joe won't be a complete mess, or at least it'll look pretty while continuing to strip-mine all our childhood memories. We haven't heard if Snake-Eyes will have his wolf Timber in the movie or not, although we don't really think they need to give him a slobbering animal to make him look more intimidating. It's also not clear if he'll talk or if we'll just see his face in the flick. (Thanks ProjectThanatos!)

Ant-Man has a sort of troubled history, even by superhero standards. The original Ant-Man was Hank Pym, a mentally ill inventor who served in the Avengers and also created the Avengers' worst enemy, the robot Ultron. Then a reformed thief, Scott Lang, took over as Ant-Man in the early 1980s. More recently, a total asswipe named Eric O'Grady stole an Ant-Man suit and dicked his way around through a dozen issues of The Irredeemable Ant-Man.

So which Ant-Man will we see in the movie? Earlier, Wright had hinted that Ant-Man would be both the Hank Pym and the Scott Lang versions, but now he says:

It could be Scott Lang, it could be Hank Pym, it could be both - okay it is both, now there's an exclusive for you.

Both issues of the Dark Horse companion comic will have variant covers. One will be drawn by Drew Struzan, and the other by Hugh Fleming, but it isn't clear who created this piece. Since Struzan designed the teaser poster, this could be Fleming's artwork, since the style looks fairly different. But only the crystal skull knows for sure. Plus you'll notice three different Indianas on this image, something they haven't done since Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Maybe they just really want you to know that Harrison Ford is definitely in this movie. [Ain't It Cool News]

Jacques Tardi illustrated Adele's adventures, although he had to find a way to move her from the 1910s and out of World War I where "Her feisty nature made it impossible to provide her with a place in the war. She would not have been allowed to fight, and could no more have settled for being a nurse, than she could have remained home rolling bandages." So, he had her get stabbed through the heart, and then frozen until World War II, when she could have a much larger role.

Adele frequently had run-ins with prehistoric creatures, mad scientists, and conspiracy theories. She also wasn't afraid to dish out both bullets and fisticuffs, and she was sometimes aided in her escapades by a resurrected mummy which was brought back from the Middle East by her great grand-uncle. EuropaCorp is planning a three movie Aventures series to begin hitting theaters in 2009, and we wouldn't mind seeing a gun toting Audrey Tautou go head to head with a pterodactyl and Adele.

Besson buys 'Aventures' rights [Variety]

• The budget: According to several different sources, the budget on the film was spiraling out of control. Although we wonder what "out of control" really means, because the effects powerhouse Weta was onboard to do the costumes, and "maybe" some digital effects... if they had time. If a studio waves a $25 million dollar check at you, we have a feeling you'd make the time.
• The rumblings from the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman camps: Christian Bale was not happy that they were making a movie that would feature another Batman in it, saying it'd screw up what they'd been working on as part of the whole Batman Begins / The Dark Knight series. Plus with the constant rumors that Warners wants to return to basics with a new Superman movie (sans Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh), and a Wonder Woman flick, then it doesn't make any sense to populate a big budget film with other actors playing the parts of the Big Three members of the JLA.
• The cast: Director George Miller wanted this film to be huge, which could account for the budget being pushed up, but his cast was cast with a slew of B-list actors, at best, and didn't feature a name that would draw masses of people to the theaters. Did you want to shell out $12 bucks to go see some unknown amateur magician play Batman, or would you rather wait for Christian Bale? That's what we thought.
• The script: Apparently everyone and their mom thought the script needed work, and this will probably be the ultimate reason for the movie coming to a dead stop. Due to the strike, no rewrites can happen no matter how hard anyone begs. It's the kryptonite to this project, and maybe that means we'll get a quality JLA movie sometime down the road. Probably after Marvel releases The Avengers and it rakes in a boatload of cash.

Ranger Danger is not to be confused with Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, or the actual Danger Rangers, who teach kids about safety. According to Smith, this project as "My stab at a comic-book/sci-fi movie. It's in the vein of Flash Gordon, something I've noodled with a couple of years. Now I feel we are mature enough filmmakers to tackle it." Smith? Mature? Wha?

So far the film has only appeared as a t-shirt worn by Randall in Clerks 2 (see above for image), and it looks like a Rocketeer knock-off. If Billy Campbell is really trying to bring that property back, then he might have to go head to head with Smith, who has two movies to finish before he could even start this one. Hopefully it'll be fart-joke free, because methane cannot mix very well with a jetpack.

[My Boring Ass Life]

If you slide eyes right, you'll see not one, or two, but three mentions of Marvel. First, you've got an embedded "Marvel authentic wallpaper" logo, which just sort of boggles the mind. Do you need a big note telling you that yes, this is indeed wallpaper? In case you didn't get the point, you've got the trademark and copyright by Marvel in 2007 note, and then the official Marvel logo right below that. So apparently Marvel is releasing an Iron Man movie this May, just an FYI.

Beyond that, the wallpapervertisements of the Mark III armor look great, but what's with those lame-o Mark I shots? Seriously, they look like shaky-cam shots that didn't make the advertising cut.

Iron Man movie wallpapers [Comic Book Movie]

There's a lot more to see — just click on an image to get to the full gallery.

While the gallery was packed tighter than Emma Frost's pants, next door at Golden Apple artists were signing pieces and doing original sketches for fans, with all proceeds going to The Hero Initiative, a non-profit organization that helps comic book artists and writers in hard times. Stan Lee came in, flashed his grin around the gallery, flitted over to the comic book shop to sign some items for the charity, and then vanished into the night.

We spoke briefly to artist Sarah Coleman who painted a huge Scarlet Witch piece for the show. Admittedly not a "comic book person" to begin with, Coleman struck out on her own and did a lot of research on Marvel characters before settling on Wanda Maximoff and her magical powers. Although she was quick to point out to us that Wanda's powers "were initially math-based, giving her the ability to affect probability." Rewrites over the past few years have changed her ability from "hex magic" to "chaos magic," and she's now one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe.

So, you do learn something new every day, true believer. We feel like we should have known this and retreated into the night ourselves, but not before shouting "Excelsior!" at several random passers by.

World War Robot will first hit the web as a comic, probably with two to four pages appearing weekly. Then you`ll be able to buy yourself a "Bertie" robot toy (designed by Wood himself and produced by Bigshot Toyworks & Threezero) at the New York Comic-Con in April. Gibson says it has "so many points of articulation, it`ll blow your mind." We caught up with Gibson recently, and he gave us a few details about this robotic dystopian war in the making.

So what`s the storyline of World War Robot? What`s it about?

A dwindling band of humans and robots battle it out in what`ll probably end humanity as we know it - on Earth, Mars, and the Moon. Badass battles, really intense human/robot drama, plus it gets kinda political. And we`re attempting a little experiment with a different kind of humor. This war is the tail end of the worst things imaginable - epic catastrophes. So the comic is also dosed with a bit of "desperation comedy". Like laughing while you`re crying.

What comes after that? Further plans for the World War Robot?

It`s all leading up to the release of the first WWR toy, a figure called Bertie that rocks. It`s 1/6th scale, stands 14 inches tall, and has an amazing 43 fucking points of articulation! That`s more moveable joints than grandma!

What`s it like working with Ashley?

Ash is so fucking talented. We`ve been trying to do something together for years on the comic front. He used to do a page-strip for me every month when I edited Play Magazine about 6 years ago - a spin-off of his incredible "Popbot" series. We`d met at E3 while he was working on art for Konami`s Contra: Shattered Soldier, and the rest is robot history.

Below you can check out an exclusive image of the variant version of the Bertie-bot, which will be super rare. Only here at io9!

According to series creator Joss Whedon, the plot involves a successful robbery masterminded by Captain Mal Reynolds and his crew. "Basically, they pull off a heist and everything doesn't go completely wrong. This, needless to say, has never happened, and it's about how they deal with success." It's set during in the television series continuity, which is almost like having the show back. Almost.

Based on these pages, and that great shot of a grinning Jayne, we're excited about this book. While it would be great if this show was still on the air, this comic book will hopefully be the next best thing. If we just didn't have to wait three months for it. Does this mean there's still hope for for a Voyagers! comic book? I'm still holding onto some hope.

Since the writing on the website isn't covered by the Writer's Guild (even though several guild members have contributed to it), that means they'll have new content for at least three months, according to project manager Joe Tolerico. They're also working within continuity, and everything on the site gets approved by Tim Kring before it hits your screens. It's basically meant to serve as a gap between Volumes 2 and 3, and hopefully that means they'll be explaining why Volume 2 started out like a lead balloon.

Here's some of the better parts of Heroes 360:

• 
  
• The Comics. They're all fairly short stories, maybe five to six pages in length, but they feature quality artwork with some of your favorite Heroes characters. SEE Matt Parkman on the job! READ as Hiro learns how crappy the future is! GASP as Peter Petrelli gets ribbed for being a nurse! Plus one of the most recent stories features Horn Rimmed Glasses Man himself whaling on a superpowered guy with a baseball bat. Not too shabby.
• 
  
• The Spinoff Sites: Sites for places like PrimaTech Paper (the front for the mysterious Company), 9th Wonders (the comic publisher in the show), and The Yamagato Fellowship (a fictional Japanese foundation that studies heroes) do their best to make the world of Heroes seem real with updated content and design. PrimaTech Paper even has a page informing clients that Noah Bennet is unfortunately no longer with the company. Wink wink.
• 
  
• The Interviews, The Video, The Forums: There's enough extra content at these sites to make Peter Jackson's DVD producer jealous. Everything from video interviews to behind the scenes looks, and a forum that speculates on everything from Hiro's virgin status, to the secret powers that Mr. Muggles must wield.
• 
  

• Rom was bought by board game company Parker Brothers from creator Bing McCoy. They wanted to try their hand in the booming action figure business since Star Wars figures were helping Kenner rake it in, and electronic toys were becoming all the rage. Why not combine the two?
• McCoy originally created Rom as a meditating Egyptian mystic, because he was studying meditation at the time. Thankfully that action figure didn't make it to store shelves. Although it could be argued that Rom's expressionless robot face and non-moving limbs are perfect models for meditation.
• Rom was pitched as a "cyborg," with no backstory, but he eventually got a micro-history, courtesy of the Parker Brother marketing department. Rom was a "Spaceknight" sent to the Earth to destroy "Dire Wraiths" who could assume any form.
• Rom came with an Energy Analyzer that could see if something was a Dire Wraith, a Translator that could allow him to talk to any "intelligent being" and a Neutralizer that could blast things into smithereens. Talk about clunky. "Hi, hold still while I use my clunky analyzer on you and then please don't move if I draw my neutralizer. Thanks!"
• Rom could "breathe" through his Respirator, which produced a raspy sound when you hit one of the buttons on his backpack. It allowed him to sound like he had asthma on multiple alien worlds.
• Rom's "rocket pods" allowed him to fly around via your hand. If you pushed another button on his back, these would light up red, just like his eyes, the respirator, the analyzer, the neutralizer, and the translator. They sure loved sticking red l.e.d.s on this guy.
• Marvel Comics later produced a Rom series of books that lasted 75 issues, far longer than the 1979 holiday period where Rom was introduced as a toy.
• McCoy approached Stan Lee in an effort to get Marvel to sue Robocop as being a Rom knockoff, but Lee decided it wasn't worth the money or effort. Probably because Robocop was much cooler.

This all started with a remake of John Carpenter's The Fog back in 2005, and these foggy mutant films just keep rolling in. Based on the box office numbers from the Fog remake and The Mist (it's just about to drop out of the top ten, where it debuted at #8), it's unclear why Hollywood is so into this trend.

The good news is that comic book publisher Studio 407, publishers of Night & Fog, signed a first-look deal with Myriad Pictures, and that means its indie properties will begin the arduous Hollywood development cycle very soon. While it's nice to see deals with companies other than Marvel and DC, we hope there will be a few original storylines tossed into the mix.

Myriad, 407 On Drawing Board [Hollywood Reporter]

In the 12-issue series, occasional panels are devoted to a young boy sitting next to a newstand, reading a comic book about pirates called "Tales of the Black Freighter." Over the course of the series, it becomes clear that the book is meant to serve as a metaphor for the events occurring in the main Watchmen storyline, but it's also beautifully written as a standalone story that holds its own, even after repeated readings.

Director Zack Snyder told audiences at this year's Comic-Con International that he'd be including that story in the feature film. However, Warners has threatened to make it the first thing on the chopping block in the vein of keeping the film short. Although after they'd seen what he'd already filmed, he was given the go-ahead to film it as a special feature for the DVD.

Now it looks like Snyder will be doing it as an animated film, and the studio will be sending it out to store shelves just as Watchmen starts hitting the big screen. How will Snyder be able to keep his focus on making a good movie while working on this direct-to-DVD project? We're already concerned that Watchmen is getting short shrift because of Snyder's high on visuals, low on writing style (see his 300 as evidence of this).

Plus you'll have to buy a movie ticket and a DVD to get the whole story. Darn double-dipping. Still, we're gonna do it.

The Watchmen Universe Expands [CHUD]