Tag: Wonder Woman

This is one collectible you’re going to want to keep mint-in-box. Mattel’s Wonder Woman Invisible Jet isn’t just invisible, it’s nonexistent. The Hot Wheels packaging suggests that the jet is nestled within the cardboard and plastic molding (pictured on right). Gullible buyers can be forgiven for thinking there’s a miniature jet in the box — Mattel’s designers had weights hidden inside to make it feel as if it actually contained a toy. The joke continues on the back of the box, in the place  where Mattel usually provides quick facts about the vehicle inside, such as its make and model. Here’s an excerpt: Designer: The Amazons Birthplace: Paradise Island Specialty: Created by Amazon engineering, Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet can make transatlantic flights without refueling. The idea was spawned April 1, when Mattel’s social marketing team came up with a prank ...

Los Angeles Times business writer Ben Fritz and I wrote a cover story that ran Wednesday in the paper’s Calendar section and this is a much longer verison of that article. The premiere for Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man 2” shut down Hollywood Boulevard in May with the year’s most bombastic red-carpet event, featuring fireworks, a heavy-metal soundtrack, go-go dancers and a parade of celebrities that included Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke and Hugh Hefner. Walking through it all were two outsiders of a sort: Diane Nelson and Geoff Johns. The industry odd couple — she previously managed the Harry Potter brand for Warner Bros. but had no experience in comics, he’s a fan-favorite comic-book writer who had never worked at a studio — are the president and chief creative officer, respectively, of DC Entertainment, main comic-book rival to Marvel. Their task ...

Superman lifting a car? Not a big deal in today’s comics, but when it’s the Man of Steel lifting a car drawn on a “very fine”-rated 10-cent-issue of Action Comics No. 1, the deal is the biggest in comics history: $1 million. Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com, which mediated the deal, told the Associated Press: “It is still a little stunning to see ‘a comic book’ and ‘$1 million’ in the same sentence.” The buyer remains anonymous, as often happens in these big money deals. The book doesn’t reach the record heights of Pablo Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe (The Young Apprentice), which sold for $104.1 million at auction in 2004, or a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti that sold for $103.4 million (or $104.3 million,  depending on how you measure it), but comparatively, it’s still a ...

The University of Oregon may have lost its controversial first game of the 2009 season on the blue monster to Boise State, but they will be concentrating on a different type of monster soon – the superhero culture — as the school plays host to “Understanding Superheroes,” a two-day conference on Oct. 23-24 that will discuss the world of superheroes. The conference will be held alongside the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s fall exhibition “Faster than a Speeding Bullet: The Art of a Superhero” and is free to attend, but you have to register in advance. Guests will include keynote speakers Danny Fingeroth, Charles Hatfield and Henry Jenkins, while comics creators Kurt Busiek (“Astro City”), Greg Rucka (“Gotham Central,” “Whiteout,” “Queen & Country”); and Gail Simone (“Deadpool,” ”Birds of Prey,” “Welcome to Tranquility”  and “Wonder Woman”) chime in with an interesting panel about writing the ...

I’m a big fan of lists, so is Jevon Phillips, a star contributor here at Hero Complex. Here’s his take on a recent tally of the women of sci-fi….or is that sigh-fi? — G.B. As usual, there’s a lot to dispute about anyone having a top so-and-so list, but Totalscifionline.com‘s 25 women who shook up sci-fi isn’t too startling. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “Star Trek” are the only franchises with multiple entries on the list (and rightfully so). Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley of “Alien” fame was named First Lady of Sci-Fi. Of course, there were parameters, which the site laid out like so: We’ve limited ourselves to TV and film – SF and fantasy literature probably warrants a further list all of its own – and in those instances where multiple actresses have portrayed a character, we’ve written who ...

One of Keri Russell’s most vivid childhood memories is folding laundry while watching Lynda Carter twirl as Wonder Woman on television. And then there was her star-spangled Halloween costume when she was 4, a homemade outfit that for one night made her feel like a real Amazon princess. "So you can imagine, the idea of playing Wonder Woman now, well, that’s pretty special," said Russell, who gives voice to the most famous female superhero of them all in "Wonder Woman," a PG-13 animated movie that hits stores Tuesday as a straight-to-video release on DVD and BluRay. For Russell, there is "a certain feeling of responsibility" in playing a character that has been quite literally wrapped in the flag since her first appearance on newsstands in December 1941, the same month Pearl Harbor was bombed. "She was the strong female among ...

There’s a long and vivid history of comics and the music world colliding in strange ways. Remember when Marvel published KISS comics? Or when R. Crumb drew the cover for the “Cheap Thrills” album by Big Brother and the Holding Company? How about that sleek John Byrne artwork on Joe Satriani’s “Surfing with the Alien” cover? Those popped into my mind when Warner Bros Records sent me a copy of an EP by the Canadian singer who calls herself Lights as well as her bio, which told a fanciful version of her life in comic-book form. The 21-year-old Lights drew the comic and the album cover herself and is a passionate comics fan, as proven by the tattoo on her back that is modeled on the cover of a Wonder Woman issue. In the EP booklet she drew a white-winged ...

You might recall last week we asked various Playboy Playmates which super powers they would love to have. Strangely some of the women wanted to have the power to read men’s minds (as if one would need magical skills for that). While we were at the mansion, we used our valuable time to probe even deeper, for you, the Hero Complex reader. We asked several  several folks including Hugh Hefner, his (now former-) girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkerson, as well as the current Playmate of the Year (Jayde Nicole), and the former Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood who their favorite superhero was. Sorry Greatest American Hero, most of the responses were the traditional DC types you’d expect. – Tony Pierce MORE RANDOM SILLINESS An interview with the Rancor from "Return of the Jedi"          VIDEO ...

EXCLUSIVE In late February, Wonder Woman will get her own feature-length animated film — her biggest solo spotlight since the cancellation of the Lynda Carter television series in 1979 — and today we’re bringing you the very first glimpse of it. Keri Russell, the Golden Globe-winning star of "Felicity" and Edward Norton’s co-star in the upcoming film "Leaves of Grass," gives voice to the Amazon princess in the straight-to-DVD release that will tell the origin tale of the most iconic female character in comic book history. Russell leads a cast that includes Nathan Fillion ("Desperate Housewives") as Col. Steve Trevor; Alfred Molina ("Spider-Man 2") as Ares, the god of war; Virginia Madsen ("Sideways") as Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons; David McCallum ("NCIS") as Zeus, king of the gods; Rosario Dawson ("Sin City") as Artemis, daughter of Zeus; and Oliver ...

EXCLUSIVE Beyoncé is ready for an Amazon-sized challenge — the pop superstar wants to be the first actress to wear Wonder Woman’s famed red, white and blue bathing suit on the silver screen. "I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?" Beyoncé says that she has met with representatives of DC Comics and Warner Bros. to express her interest in a major role in one of the many comic-book adaptations now in the pipeline following the massive success of "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man" and the "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" franchises. Beyoncé’s acting to career to date has included a comedic role in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and ...