Howdy howdy! This here is a good ol’ fashioned TV News Roundup where we the good folk of Grizzly Bomb scour the big bad internets machine on the look-out for the news you need and gosh darn just want.
And that’s about as far as I’m taking that.
Hokey fake cowboy talk aside, this really is a TV News Roundup where we’ll scour the latest TV news and compile it for you in one easy to read place, no need to wade through countless photos of a Kardashian or Justin Bieber here!
Poor Diana, at first blush it seems like she just can’t catch a break.
After the fiasco that was the NBC attempt at a Wonder Woman show, it looked as if the CW, who has had success with comic book based television, was all set to put their own pilot, Amazon, to production this summer with a premiere this fall. Sadly, that is no longer the case.
However, all hope is not lost because it appears as if they are only sending it back to the screenwriter, Allan Heinberg, in hopes to make it stronger because they are of the belief that it could be another hit, much like Smallville and this year’s Arrow. When they first started looking at casting the show (under the super secret code name Isis), Heinberg had not yet finished the script. I’m sure they could have gone forward with the pilot as it was, but in the interest of creating yet another possibly long running show, they decided to put it off until it is more polished. This is actually really good news.
[box_light]Getting another DC drama on the air has been important for the CW, especially in light of the success of Arrow this season, so Amazon remains a high priority at the network, sources say.
As of now it looks like Amazon will premiere either in the mid-season, so January of 2014, or in the next pilot season which would be fall of 2014.
If you’ve been playing along at home, you will realize that there is a possibility of shows about Green Arrow, Booster Gold, and Wonder Woman on television at the same time. This might be the definition of heaven. So geeks, let’s all gather together and offer up a toast to the success of The Avengers, without whom, we might not have this moment. Who knows when superheroes will be this cool again? Let’s enjoy it while we can!
Congratulations are due for DC Entertainment on account of them fully embracing the future. It was announced a couple of weeks ago that DC is now offering their new releases (and some back library) through Amazon, iTunes, and Barnes and Noble. Not only that, but it was announced recently that starting this week DC is also releasing digital content to these outlets on the same day as print. Amazingly enough, they are the first publisher to do so.
Even though print sales are up 12%, it is obvious that we live in the digital age. Between January and September of 2011, digital sales were up 197%. That is not a typo. Digital sales rose almost TWO HUNDRED percent in nine months. When DC launched the New 52, it was met with resistance, as is to be expected, but combined with their digital outlook, it has been wildly successful. Whether you agree with their move or not, you can’t deny that it has worked.
So why isn’t everyone else jumping on this bandwagon? Mainly, what is Marvel’s deal? They have a subscription service already, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, that at first blush seems like a great idea. All the comics you can read for $50 a year? Yes please. As the saying goes, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. That “Unlimited” part of the title? Not so unlimited. In order to read the comics, you have to be on a computer, on the internet. There is no way you can download to your computer to read at a later date, and if you happen to not have internet service? You are screwed. Surely they are watching DC’s numbers surpass their own, for the first time in quite a long time, and have to be asking themselves where they are going wrong.
Perhaps they should take a look at the music industry as a cautionary tale. People don’t buy CD’s any more. It is rare that the average consumer purchases an entire album (I’m an album girl but I realize that I’m in the minority) anymore, choosing instead to pick and choose single tracks to build their music libraries. The music industry refused to recognize this in time and as a result, is hurting. Had they been a little less cocky and had a bit of forward thinking, they could have introduced digital platforms of their own instead letting piracy take over and then having iTunes pick up their fumble and run it in for a touchdown. Unless Marvel realizes the path they have chosen is not the most fitting to the times, they will find themselves in the same situation.
But what about the local comic shop? What about it? Look, I love a print comic just as much as the next girl. There’s something about going in and having that human connection (as awkward as it might be- let’s be honest, we geeks aren’t really the most socially suave people out there) and feeling the actual paper in your hands. Seeing the stack of books to be read on your desk and the collection of carefully preserved editions in boxes lining your dining room walls. I get it. If nothing else, it provides a link to our childhood and past that we are reluctant to give up. Think about it this way though, I am 34 years old and vividly remember going to a record shop and searching through the stacks of CD’s looking for that one that a friend of mine mentioned was good. I’ve spent countless hours with a pair of headphones worn by countless others before me on my head as I sampled whatever the store had on tap that day. People who are even just a few years younger than I, have absolutely no idea what that experience even looks like. Does that make me sad? Of course it does. Much like I imagine people older than I miss the times where you’d go into a soda shop and sit at the counter and the ordering a malted. Does anyone even know what a malted is anymore? Not I. It is the nature of the beast and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
A practice so old, it’s only available in stock photos.
Nostalgia aside, there simply are not that many comic shops around anymore. I live in south Georgia and there is one shop in town. That’s it and there is never anyone else in there when I go in so sadly, I’m not sure how much longer they’ll be around. There are plenty of people who might read comics but have zero outlet to them. Until now. The digital age has opened up the world of comics to such a wider population and surely that’s a good thing right? I think so. The more the merrier and all that. No, I don’t want anyone to go out of business. I want everyone to be able to man a comic shop if they so desire and do so until their dying day, or until they retire, whichever comes first. Frankly, that isn’t a reality anymore. DC recognizes that the print stores still (for however long) have a place in the world though and they have set up a digital storefront that enables those brick and mortar places to place that on their site and then receive 30% of the sales. Better than a sharp stick in the eye I guess.
Another good thing to the digital revolution in the comics world? It has allowed smaller publishers to find success. Even on Comixology you can find small publishers but it’s the small vendors that are finding a small bit of success as well. Sites likes Dark Horse, an outfit that pulls double duty of publishing and sales, are becoming more popular. Dark Horse has a variety of comics, including a personal favorite of mine- The Guild, and has in the last week announced that they too are going to be offering their graphic novels (Hellboy for example) through Amazon. Not only that, but individual artists have set out their own shingles.
Mark Waid, of The Flash fame (at least that’s where I know him most from), has set up a site of his own called Thrillbent and it is comprised solely of digital content. He even makes a point of saying that it isn’t his intent to bury print media but rather that he believes that print and digital can coexist in peace. If someone of his caliber and experience believes so, then who are we to doubt? Want to hear more of his thoughts on the matter? Head on over to GEEK for an exclusive Q&A where he discusses his new site and his current work on Daredevil.
As with so many things today, we find ourselves in a situation where the “future” has collided with the present time. Now if only those hoverboards were to come to fruition, I’d be a happy woman. For now I’ll just have to settle for reading Batman on my iPad.
Thanks to an Amazon page that jumped the gun revealing possible box art, and a tentative release date, Sony has been forced to show its hand and publicly announceGod of War Ascension, the fourth game in the GoW series. Sony broke the news officially with a brief and vague teaser that revealed PlayStation’s iconic God-killer suspended in chains.
All signs point to the upcoming game serving as a prequel to the first game, which makes some sense considering Kratos has already systematically murdered his way through Olympus and razed the Earth in the process — there clearly isn’t much story left to tell after that. However, fans of the series are already familiar with Kratos’s history in the Spartan army and the misguided deal with Ares that sealed his fate as the Ghost of Sparta. Admittedly the backstory was only alluded to in short sprinklings throughout the three games, but the origins of Kratos seem very tame compared to the epic scale of the original trilogy. Nevertheless Sony is claiming this will be “the most ambitious God of War adventure in the series yet.”
God of War Ascension reportedly has a release date of Spring 2013.
I would love, love, LOOOOOOOVE to have read A Dance of Dragons early, because it’s been pure torture waiting the last few years for George R.R. Martin’s 5th installment of A Song of Ice and Fire to be released. (That’s the name of the series that the HBO watchers would call a Game of Thrones.) But I have to tell ya, I’m not willing to risk a decapitation for it because that’s what the main man himself has promised to the bastard who sold 180 copies earlier than the July 12th release date of the novel. Check it out below from IGN:
Woe to the Amazon employee who accidentally shipped copies of George R. R. Martin’s 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons, early. 180 copies of the book, which was heavily embargoed until its release date on July 12th, were prematurely shipped out to readers by Amazon in Germany and now spoilers have begun to pop up all over the web.
“I am not happy about this. My publishers are furious. If we find out who is responsible, we will mount his head on a spike,” the Game of Thrones author wrote on his blog.
That’s just great. Now I have to tread very carefully until the 12th because there are 180 potential assholes out there who could spoil what happens in the book. I won’t even be reading the comments on my own article for fear of it being blown wide open for me! But be careful viewers of the TV show before you read on, because I’m unleashing a couple spoilers of my own below!
You’ve been warned!
SPOILERS
See what happens Stark! You see what happens when you release a book early!?
After the last book, A Feast for Crows, we are finally back with some of our more favorite characters. It was nice to see Jaime and Cersei Lannisters’ points of view but I’ll take Arya, Tyrion and Jon Snow any day. Daenerys I don’t mind, but I don’t find her as interesting as the others. We’ll be seeing her for sure as she practices at being Queen in Mereen as well as the development of her three dragons who continue to grow. Tyrion is off across the Narrow Sea to escape the vengeance of his sister Cersei due to his “supposed” killing of Joffrey and his bad ass murder of papa Tywin. Arya now in Bravoss continues her training with the assassins known as the Faceless Men and Jon is now trying to secure his position as the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch against those who still bear him ill will.
I can’t wait to finally see what is happening with everyone and will definitely be waiting for July 12th because Mr. Martin looks like he could have the penchant for going medieval on your ass.
It’s sad to say that NBC has decided to pass on the pilot to the new Wonder Woman series. It seemed like a mess from the start. I remember many of my colleagues didn’t mind the costume and I myself though she should have had the original star spangled underpants. Hell, NBC probably would have picked the pilot up they had use that costume.
And BOOM that's a wrap!
But instead the series is effectively dead unless a miracle happens and it manages to air elsewhere. However that does not seem to be in the cards as NBC was their last option according to Spinoff Online: