Addendum to previous post/American Gods contest

April 13th, 2011 by

It has come to my attention that there is a contest being held in honor of the tenth anniversary of American Gods. the winner will get to record a part of the upcoming full cast audiobook. I have entered.
If you want to vote for me you can do so here.

Or if you would rather enter yourself (and why wouldn’t you?) you can do that here.

Neil Gaiman and Audrey Niffenegger at the Harold Washington Library

April 13th, 2011 by

Last night I had the opportunity to see Neil Gaiman, writer of among many other things the Sandman, speak to Chicago native Audrey Niffenegger, author of the Time Traveller’s Wife, at the Chicago Public Libray.  I jumped at the chance since they are two of my all-time favorite authors.  The event was in honor of Gaiman’s novel, Neverwhere, being chosen as this year’s One Book One Chicago selection.  

I was one of six hundred people who showed up at the Cindy Pritzker auditorium for the chance to see them. While in line, and later in the auditorium waiting for the talk to start I was pleased to see many people were passing the time with real, honest to goodness paper books, rather than phones or ereaders (I saw several of those as well).  Most people either had Neverwhere or another of Gaiman’s books, or one of Niffenegger’s.  I was severely tempted to get up and do a survey of the audience to find out what they were reading, in order to get recommendations.  Instead I began reading Lev Grossman’s the Magicians, and was thoroughly engrossed in it, by the time the guests of honor took the stage.

When they were introduced, the mention of the upcoming episode of Doctor Who written by Neil got its own round of applause.  Incidently, for the first time ever I noticed billboards advertising the new season on BBCamerica, up at train stations on my way to the event.

Before the talk began I bought a signed copy of Neil’s poem, Instructions, illustrated by frequent collaborator Charles Vess.  I also bought the Night Bookmobile, a short story of Audrey’s that she adapted into a comic.  I will probably write a review once I have read it.

The talk was very interesting.  Below I will list what I thought were the highlights.  I intended to ask them a question, but when the time came I was struck with the sudden doubt that I could project my voice well enough to be heard.  I can be rather soft spoken.  Eventually I rose my hand anyway (people much further back in the room were being heard just fine) but I didn’t get called on.  I sent my question into Neil’s blog, maybe he will answer it.

Highlights as I remember them:

*Neil detailed the origins of Neverwhere.  He said he had read a book by Gene Wolfe (I forgot to write down the title) that featured Chicago in a way that made the city feel like a character.  Similarly he read Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, that did the same for early twentieth century New York.  He suggested to an editor of his that someone should do book like that about London.  The editor said “why don’t you do it?”  He was taken aback, he thought he was giving the editor an idea to give to a “real writer” He didn’t say when this happened but it was either when he was still a journalist or just beginning to write comics.  He didn’t do anything with the idea at that point, but it was planted in his brain.

A few years later he ran into his friend, English actor/comedian, Lenny Henry, who mentioned that he had spoken to the BBC about doing a fantasy miniseries, possibly about warring tribes of homeless people in London.  He asked Neil if he wanted to write it.  Neil said yes, then went home and wrote a letter to Lenny saying that he didn’t want to write about tribes of homeless people in London.  Because he said he could make being homeless seem really cool, and he didn’t want to be responsible for a kid in Dorset (I don’t remember if that was the exact example he gave) running away from home, to be a “cool” homeless person.   Instead he wrote an outline of what became the BBC version of Neverwhere.

*He said that he usually uses a working title until he thinks of something better.  But that he usually doesn’t come up with anything better and so one day he winds up with a book in his hands called Neverwhere, and he thinks “why?”

*When asked how he came up with Coraline, he said when his daughter Holly was around four, she would come home from nursery school, find him at his type writer, and dictate stories to him.  They were about little girls who got locked in cellars, or whose mothers got replaced by witches that looked exactly like them.  He thought he should buy some ghost stories for her.  He went to his local book shop, and asked if they had anything really scary for little kids.  They had nothing of the kind.  And so he decided to write that kind of book himself.

*Asked about why he wrote Neverwhere as an all ages book.  Neil said he doesn’t know what age group a book will appeal to until after it is published and he finds out who is reading it.  He said that when he sent Coraline to his agent, she called him asking, “Do you honestly want me to send this to Harper Collins as a children’s book?” He asked why not, and she said it gave her nightmares.  He asked her to read it to her two young daughters, if they liked it then send it as a children’s book.  If they were turned into gibbering messes then–(he sort of shrugged there).  His agent read it to her her daughters, at the time seven and five.  They liked it, and so it went ahead as planned.  A few years ago, he attended a stage musical addaptation of Coraline.  He happened to be seated next to his agent’s younger daughter, by then fourteen.  He told her that Coraline got published because she wasn’t scared by it.  Her response was that she was terrified, but knew if she let on she wouldnt get to find out what happened next.

*Someone asked something to do with both Audrey and Neil working in visual mediums, as well as prose.  Sorry don’t remember what the exact question was.  Audrey said she often comes up with an image first, then writes as a way of figuring out what the story behind it is.  For example with the Time Traveler’s Wife, she thought of the title, then the image of an old woman sitting on a porch with a cup of tea, waiting for something.
Neil said that writing comics made him much better at describing things, because if he could not adequately describe an image, the artist couldn’t draw it.

*An audience member said she was in an American literature class in which a faction of the students were studying American Gods as non-canonical literature.  She asked him what he thought of the possibility of American Gods becoming part of the accepted curriculum.  He said he thinks authors should have the safety of being dead for a good amount of time before their books start being taught.

*On the topic of American Gods.  He said that the are places in Europe that are ancient and feel sacred.  And on them people built things like Stone Henge.  There are also places like that in America, but here we build giant balls of twine, or replicas of the worlds biggest wheel of cheese circa 1977.  And people visit, and get their pictures taken in front of them, and leave shaking their heads wondering what the hell that was all about.  And that was part to of the impetus to write American Gods, to explain it.

*He said that he has been working on a short story set in the Neverwhere universe called How the Marquis Got His Coat Back.  In which we meet the Marquis’ brother, who is exactly like the Marquis only worse.

*He isn’t planning on writing a sequel to Neverwhere anytime in the foreseeable future.  But if he does, he knows that a brass bed will be involved.  Sometime back, he read an article about workers finding an antique brass bed in the London sewers.  It could not have been brought done there whole, so someone must have brought it down piece by piece, and assembled it.  No one could figure out what it was doing there.  He read the article, and thought “I know.”

*He revealed that Terry Jones is working on an television miniseries version of Good Omens.  He did not say what channel would be producing it, or how far along it was.

*On collaborating with Terry Pratchett, he said it was great, because he was writing for an audience of one.  He would write with purpose of making Terry laugh.  And vice versa.

*Someone asked what upcoming books they recommended.  Audrey said she had read a book called the Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.  She described it as the an amazing, creepy story about the best circus you could possibly imagine.  Neil recommended a graphic novel called Anya’s Ghost, by Vera Brosgol.

So that is my best recollection of what was discussed.  If anyone else was there and has a favorite bit I didn’t include, please leave it in the comments.  And they mentioned at the beginning that it was being recorded for Chicago Public Radio, but the did not say when it will air.  If and when I find out I will link to it here.

Updated: the Gene Wolfe book is Free Live Free.

Lets Be Superficial, who is the sexiest (male) comics creator?

February 23rd, 2011 by

Okay this post was inspired by an interview with Karen Berger, in which she mentioned that Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon are Brazilian and identical twins, and my brain went straight to “I must find a picture of them!”  And I did, and they are very cute.  And it occurred to me that it would be fun to make a post of the most sexy comics creators.  I decided to limit it to males, just because I find objectifying men far more amusing and novel, than doing the same to women.  Especially when it comes to the comics industry.  So keeping in mind that “sexy” is very subjective, I thought I would list the ones I think are the most physically attractive, and then open the floor to you guys to list your own.

Disclaimer: All of these guys are infinitely talented, and are worthy of admiration regardless of their appearance.  And frankly comics creator is a title that is just sort of inherently sexy to me.  But I’m being superficial today, so this post’s deepness level is skin.

First up the aforementioned twins Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon.

Look at them!  They are such cute little hipster boys!  This could be an indie label album cover.  Oh and their credits include doing the writing and art for Umbrella Academy, and Daytrippers, among others.

Keeping with the theme of up and coming brother teams, Jonathan and Joshua Luna.

How hot are they?  Points for being able to work the camera.  They are responsible for the Sword, Girls, and Ultra.

How about David Mack?

I’ve met him twice at conventions, and was utterly charmed by him both times.  He totally recognized me the second time, even though two years had passed, and our first encounter had to be pretty similar to hundreds he had had with fans at conventions.  (I’m not implying anything here.  I just mean that I walked up to his table.  Told him his art was cool, and that I liked it.)  During that first meeting, I had not read any Kabuki though I had heard of it, and had really liked his Daredevil work.  He was incredibly gracious, and gave me the first trade and the, at that time, most recent hardcover collection for half price, and just flat out gave both me and my sister all the uncollected issues for free, as well as two limited prints of his Kabuki work, also for free.  And he signed it all!  It was just such a classy move, that of course the next time we saw him at a convention we bought every new item he had for sale, and we had already bought all the intervening Kabuki volumes.  (By the way Kabuki is amazing!)  Anyway that might have bought him a place on this list, but it was unnecessary because he is undeniably cute.

And this is the only other person on this list that I have spoken to, Neil Gaiman.

The conversation went like this:

Neil: Hello.

Me: Hi.  (blushes and hands over books)

Neil:  What is your name?

Me:  Susan (he writes personalized signature in my books, while I stammer incoherently)

Me: Thank you! (he smiles pleasantly, before turning to the next blushing, stammering person in line.)

Imagine how many times that has happened to him.  He probably has the highest ratio of  swooning to nonswooning fans in comicdom.  It could be because he is a super-genius-writer-guy, or that he is quite nice to look at, but I blame the voice.  He has the best story reading voice ever.  Just listen to one of his self narrated audiobooks for the proof.

Next we have Read Comics favorite Brian K. Vaughan.

Got to like a guy who can work a shaved head, raised eyebrow combo.  He is the writer behind Y: the Last Man, Runaways, and Ex Machina.

As I was compiling this list I was lamenting the fact that none of these guys had any calendar worthy beefcake photos that I could put up.  You would think they didn’t take their sex symbol status seriously.  (That was a whole lot of unplanned alliteration, sorry.)

But thank god for Grant Morrison!  Always planning ahead.  Here is a young Grant (almost demurely compared to later shots) showing off his bum in tight white pants.

Warning next pic may be NOT SAFE for WORK!  For real, I am not kidding.  Don’t let your boss catch you looking.  In fact I’m going to hide it under the jump.

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My longest post ever!: or My thoughts on Buffy Season Eight.

February 17th, 2011 by

Buffy season 8 came to an end last month, with issue 40.  I have some thoughts on both the final issue, and the series as a whole.  I plan on going into detail about the plot, so anyone who has not read the whole thing, and is wary of spoilers, should not read beyond the jump.

Buffy the TV show meant a lot to me.  I connected to it from the moment it came on the air, and for the entire seven years it was on the air, I looked forward to every new episode.  I think I only missed seeing two episodes the night they aired, that whole time.  It is the reason I follow every project Joss Whedon works on with great interest.  Somewhere around season two, I became an unabashed fangirl, and haven’t looked back since.  And it’s fair to say my own writing has been heavily influenced by it.  In that I think a hero (or even more so, a heroine) should not be infallible, that they can make mistakes and fall down, and still remain a hero.

So when it was announced that Joss would be resuming the series as a comic, I was thrilled.  I could not wait for my friends to return, and find out what he had in store for them next.  The first twenty issues or so were pretty spectacular, beautiful art, and brilliantly written.  Having Joss write many, and oversee the rest, assured that the tone of the show carried over to the comics, and that the characters felt true to how they had been previously portrayed.  Those issues did a really good job bringing the audience up to speed with what the Scooby gang had been doing since the end of the series.  And also establishing new characters to root for, such as Renee and Satsu.

Spoilers from here on.  You have been warned, don’t whine to me if you read something you don’t want to.

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Wonder Woman series going ahead, and it sounds like a disaster!

February 3rd, 2011 by

A couple of months ago, I posted that David “Ally Mcbeal” Kelley was developing a Wonder Woman series for television, and that I was very open that I did not think Kelley was the right person for the job.  Initially, all the networks passed on the script claiming that it would be too expensive to produce.  But NBC changed executives, and the new regime decided to order the pilot.

Well blogger/TV critic Jace Lacob, has had a look at the script, and it is worse than I had imagined.  You can see his summary here, but it does not bode well at all.  Some things that stick out for me as not just inconsistent to the character, but really bad writing in general are: that Diana is given three identities.  One is Wonder Woman, crime fighter.  Another is as Diana Themyscira, the CEO of an international corporation, who collects transforming aircraft (the hell?).  And finally  as Diana Prince, a mousy assistant.  I don’t get this conceit at all.  It is traditional for super-hero’s to have a super-hero identity, and a separate civilian identity (in fact in the comics she does sort of have three, wonder woman, Diana Prince, and the Princess of the Amazons.  But the princess/wonder woman identities are publicly acknowledged as the same).  But why have two civilian identities?  with two separate residences?  Especially when at least one of the identities, the CEO, sounds to be very recognizable as a public figure.  What is the point of the third identity?  This just makes the character sound a bit psycho.

Anaother red flag, that this is not a Wonder Woman I want to watch is this that as the CEO, she has  in her employ a gaggle of “nerds” whose function seems to be to make sexual inneundo about her.  For example when she instructs them to bone up on something, one replies the he would, “Bone you up right now, boss.”  That she tolerates this is makes her not just unbelievable as Wonder Woman, but as a successful business woman, as well.

Lacob says it best here, about what sounds likely to be one of the worst scenes to ever be filmed;

In the script’s most painful sequence, Diana is subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and forced to give testimony about the events in Hollywood. She ends up filibustering about everything under the sun for several pages: the politics of the LAPD (name checking ex-police chiefs Daryl Gates and William Bratton), the economy, stimulus funds, pharmaceutical companies, Roger Clemens, the FDA and the FCC, and how networks will air commercials about erectile dysfunction but not for condoms. It’s clearly meant to be a showcase scene for the actress playing Diana, a calculated bid at awards and social relevance. Congratulations, David E. Kelley, the transformation of Wonder Woman from superhero to personal mouthpiece is now complete. Adding further insult to injury: real-life California Senator Dianne Feinstein is described as giving Diana a thumbs-up.

Pages of rambling about anything that crosses Kelley’s mind, is the big triumphant moment?  In a show about a super-hero?  What?

And apparently the episode ends with her weeping over her romantic woes!  DO NOT WANT!

Yeah it sounds horrible, and I do not get what NBC was thinking.  Are Harry’s Law, and the Cape doing that well?

Anyway here are the original concept sketches for Wonder Woman, way back in the forties.

Yes, she is wearing a bustier, but she was a warrior damnit!

And just because I think it’s awesome, here is Project Runway’s Chris March as Wonder Woman.

Ladies Making Comics Tournament

January 29th, 2011 by

The tumblr/blog Ladies Making Comics (a fabulous subject for a blog), is having a tournament where it pits two female comics creators against each other, and readers can vote, eventually coming up with one winner. It’s just a bit of fun, and I thought I’d pass on a link. The first round consisted of: Gail Simone v. Marjorie Liu

Nicola Scott v. Amy Reeder

Alison Bechdel v. Posy Simmonds

Kate Beaton v. Megan Rose Gedris

Laura Martin v. Christina Strain

They are now on round two:

Kathryn Immonen v. Devin Grayson

Emma Rios v. Sara Pichelli

Marjane Satrapi v. Faith Erin Hicks

Elena “Yamino” Barbarich v. Meredith Gran

Adrienne Roy v. Lynn Varley

I really feel bad, that I only recognized 5 names out of 20. It made me wonder how many female comics creators I could come up with off the top of my head, that haven’t turned up in the tournie yet.

Here is who I could come up with, with out double checking the spelling of their names ( just to see if I know them well enough without having to research):

Lynda Berry (Ernie Pook’s Comeek, 100 Demons)

Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, Lil’ Endless)

Dianne Dimassa (Hothead Paisan: Homocidal Lesbian Terrorist)

Rene Engstrom (Anders Loves Maria)

Jennifer Camper (Bitchy Bitch)

Jessica Abel (Art Babe, Life Sucks)

Amanda Conner (Power Girl)

Jenny Breadon (the Devil’s Panties)

Amber Benson (Shadowplay, Willow and Tara)

Jane Espenson (Buffy season 8)

Ellen Forney (I Was Seven in Seventy-five)

And a few I’m not certain about:

Pia Guerra (Y: the Last Man)  Not entirely positive that this person is female.  I think so again was avoiding research

the creator or Girls with Slingshots, ( might be a guy, I don’t know)

Alan Moore’s daughter (not sure what her credits are, but I think she has done some comics work).

So with the five I recognized from the tournament, that means there are 16 female comics creators I am aware of, and three others I may need to research.  That seems pretty pathetic, I know I could at the very least double that, if asked to name male creators.  I guess it’s a good thing their is a blog out there highlighting the works of others.

So go out there and vote!

Post Script:  I came across the the tournament, through a link on Yamino’s blog.  She is the writer/artist, of Sister Claire.  If you haven’t read Sister Claire yet, you should, it’s adorable (there is a martial art in it, known as Nun fu)!

Epic Doctor Who Fan Comic

January 21st, 2011 by

This has been out there on interwebs for awhile, but I only just discovered it last week.  A cartoonist going only by Rich, has created a Doctor Who fan comic spanning 247 pages, called the Ten Doctors.  He clearly has a deep affection for Doctor Who, because the comic is very much a labor of love.  It took over three years to complete, and is a very complex, but entertaining adventure.  As the name implies, it features all ten incarnations of the doctor, through David Tennant.  It was completed before Matt Smith debuted as Doctor Eleven, so he is absent.  It also features countless past companions, aliens, and enemies.  I got into Doctor Who with the new series, so I was only really familiar with the characters from the ninth Doctor’s era and onward.  My experience with old school Who, is composed only of two Tom Baker serials, and short youtube clips, of the other Doctors.  So I did not recognize all the companions, or enemies, or plot elements refferenced, but it didn’t really matter, the story was told well enough that I could infer the most of what I needed to know.  Whenever I did get confused, I could just scroll down to that page’s comment section, and there was usually someone who had posed my question already, and an answer from either Rich, or another reader.  Each doctor, and most of the companions gets a moment to shine, over the course of the comic.  Based just on reading of this comic, I now am a fan of Doctors two, and five, and the companions Jamie, the Brigadier, Ace, Romana and Leela.  (I was already a fan of nine, ten, four, and eleven, and all their companions)  There are plenty of humorous moments, and quite a few touching ones as well.  It is drawn in an animated style, with rough pencils as the finished version.  Someone on Devient Art is going through it, and inking and coloring the pages, but has only reached the sixth page, last time I checked.  Regardless, it is quite is an impressive accomplishment.  Rich has a few other comics, featuring original characters.  Based on the qulity of the Ten Doctors, I plan on checking them out.

You should be able to click on the following image to be taken to the first page of the Ten Doctors on Rich’s website.  If you are anything like me, you will spend the next few days reading the whole thing.

New Serenity Comic!

January 18th, 2011 by

This November, Dark Horse put out a the graphic novel the Shepherd’s Tale.  It provided us Browncoats with the long awaited back story of Shepherd Book.  While it was interesting to finally find out what he was hiding, and it was a well written story, it didn’t really feel like an installment of Firefly, since most of the crew only appeared in a couple of pages.  When I think of Firefly, the first thing I think of is the fun of spending time with the nine, very distinct, people living aboard Serenity.  Well Shepherd’s Tale writer, Zack Whedon, has given us just, that in an online only, eight page comic called Serenity: Downtime.

Surprisingly it is available on USA Today’s website, along with a brief introductory article about Firefly/Serenity.  It is awesome!  It feels very much like an episode of Firefly.  It even has close ups of River’s feet!  Here is a little blurb about the comic.

Whedon has tried to create an atmosphere resembling a scene from Firefly. “I wanted to reward those fans by showing these characters like it was a part of the show,” he says.

Downtime follows crewmembers snowed in on a planet filled with, as Whedon puts it, “a bunch of people you don’t want to run into.” Though the whole crew is included, the focus is on the mysterious (and fan-favorite) character known as River.

Check it out here!  Serenity:Downtime

Fantasy Casting: Alias Power Man.

January 7th, 2011 by

I had not been planning to do a follow up casting post, about AKA Jessica Jones, but Florence came up with such an inspired sugestion for Luke Cage, that I had to make it an official post.

In the Marvel universe Luke is the hero known as Power Man.  In Alias, while he is still Power Man, he mainly plays the part of Jess’ occasional ally, and hookup.

I’ll let Florence put it in her words, whom she would cast.

Luke Cage= Tyr from Andromeda. My favorite gorgeous deadpan Nietzschian must return to the screen. I’m sure the actor could portray some genuine emotion in his relationship with Jessica, but his default badassitude would be perfect.


I could not agree more.  The The actor in question, is Keith Hamilton Cobb.   He definitely can play a total badass, and he can smolder to boot.   And he has the superhero physique, as well.   This pick is so good, that I am not offering any alternative.  Though I would love to hear anyone else’s suggestion, in the comments

Fantasy Casting: Who is Jessica Jones?

January 4th, 2011 by

As I reported in my last post, ABC is developing a television series based on Alias (the comic, not the previous ABC series by that name). While it is yet to be seen how well the comic will translate into a series, we can still have fun trying to cast it.
Jessica Jones, the heroine of Alias, is a private detective with super powers.  Those being:  flight, super strength, and near invulnerability to injury.   She was once a costumed superhero, going for a time by the name of Jewel, and later briefly by the name Knightress.  However she was never among the top tier of heroes, such as Spider-man or the Fantastic Four.  During her tenure as a superhero, she went through an ordeal that left her emotionally scarred, and caused her to retire from the game. It also left her with a very thick, defensive shell built up around her, to keep her from being vulnerable again.   Essentially she prevents others from hurting her, by inflicting all the damage herself.   She drinks a lot, she sleeps with guys that she doesn’t care about, and that don’t care about her.  And she keeps anyone that might care for her at a safe distance, with a great deal of sarcasism, cynisim, and if that doesn’t work, hostility.
So who could possibly play a character this caustic, and still hold the audience sympathy?   I have three choices.
My first pick, is not known for her portrayals of wounded antiheroes.   In fact she is best known for playing one of the most relentlessly cheerful characters ever to grace a television screen.  Jewel Staite played the adorable, optimistic, genius mechanic Kaylee Frye, on the late, long lamented (by me at least, and a few others) Firefly.   Part of my reason for casting her would simply be because Jessica is so different from Kaylee, that it would be really interesting to see her play that end of the spectrum.   Another reason is that she sort of reminds me of the way artist Micheal Gaydos, drew Jessica.

And she would have no problem portraying the Jess’ youthful exuberance, in flashbacks to her more innocent Jewel days. (Just noticed I cast an actress named Jewel to play a character code named Jewel, that is imaginative of me).  I have not seen her in many roles outside the “verse” , so I don’t know what kind of a range she has, but she endeared herself to me so much as Kaylee, that I want to see her carry a series, even if I’m not entirely certain she can pull off Jessica acerbic wit. (Although she did manage to make Simon to feel like a moron, more than once).

My next two choices on the other hand, would have no problem with that aspect of the character.

Caroline Dhavernas, was the lead on another series that was cancelled far too early.  If Firefly’s run was short, then Caroline’s show Wonderfalls’, was microscopic.  Only three episodes ever aired on network television.  Luckily around twelve episodes of this quirky, funny, and often touching but not cloying, show were filmed, and they were released on DVD.  (Coincidentally Jewel Staite guest starred on a few episodes).

As the main character Jaye, Caroline displayed a talent for the biting, yet deadpan delivery, which is just how Jessica sounds in my head.  While Jaye was just naturally antisocial, rather than having become so due to a trauma, I have confidence that Caroline could convey that she was covering up a deep secret.  She is about to debut in the cast of Shonda Rhymes’ new show Off the Map, which is one of the reasons I plan to watch it, but if that show doesnt take off, or even if it does, she would be perfect in the part of Jessica.

Like the my other picks, I am shocked that my final choice has not had a bigger career.  She is incredibly talented.  Alicia Witt has been working steadily since she was fourteen years-old, yet she is not a household name.  She has been in projects as varied as the family drama Friday Night Lights, the sitcom Cybill, and the scifi epic Dune.

She is probably closer to the age that Jessica is meant to be in the comic, than the other two.  (Though who knows if the network, would want a heroine as old as, [gasp!] thirty-five).  And since she  has been in the business for so long, she could probably relate to Jess’ loss of innocence, and idealism, about her chosen profession.  Despite no longer being a twenty-something ingenue, she is absolutely stunning.  Which I’m sure would help grease the wheels of casting.  Plus she too is a master of the dead pan delivery.

Here is quick side by side of each.  Got a favorite among them?  Or your own pick?

So those are my top picks.  Any ideas about who should be the supporting cast?  Anyone out there scream Luke Cage to you?  Or Miss Marvel?

Jessica Jones on network TV?

December 19th, 2010 by

Entertainment Weekly recently reported that ABC is developing Brian Michael Bendis’ Marvel series Alias as a TV series.  It centered on private investigator Jessica Jones, a former super heroine.  Bendis is listed as a consultant, while Melissa Rosenberg is credited as the writer. It’s going to be called Aka Jessica Jones, as calling it Alias would be pretty confusing. I hate to be negative about a project that is so early in the development stage, but I have some serious reservations about this. I really liked Alias, (earlier this year I named Jessica Jones one of my top female characters) but I can’t really see it translating well as a television series. Especially on risk wary network television. Jessica’s back story is pretty dark, while it’s about equal to some of the stuff seen on SVU and CSI, I doubt that the network would sign off on it for a lead female character. So it would likely be watered down. They will probably be worried that Jess’ drinking, and self destructive behavior, would turn off viewers, and try to make her flaws more “relatable”, like compulsive eating. Gone also would be the references to the surrounding Marvel universe, which was pivotal to the series, to illustrate and contrast Jess’ role within it. They would have to go, since it’s unlikely Marvel would grant them the rights to use Spider-man, or the Fantastic Four, and it would confusing for the casual viewer anyway. And while in the comics Jess’ cases were pretty gritty, with a superhero element thrown in, the series is probably going to want to inject a whole lot more action into it. Altogether it would probably make the show pretty unrecognizable from it’s source material. Also worrying is that Bendis is just a consultant, while Rosenberg is in charge. Her only credit listed in the article is writing the screenplay for Twilight. That movie was a huge financial success, so it makes sense that she would be given more oppurtunties as a result. It’s just that I found that movie dreadfully boring (I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t say how much of that can be blamed on the source material, over the screenplay).
I really hope that I’m wrong. I hope that whatever comes from this is awesome, regardless of how much it resembles the excellent comic series. I’m just skeptical, about the likelihood. Between this news, the David E. Kelley run Wonder Woman series, and the Jossless Buffy reboot, the next few years are not looking promising for female superheroes on screen.

New Webcomics Header in Rotation

November 8th, 2010 by

Tonight I created a new banner image for ReadComics.org. It’s one I’d been meaning to make for a long time… instead of featuring panels from print comics, it’s all panels from webcomics I love. It joins the other three banners in rotation, and should randomly appear if you hit refresh enough times.

Here’s the new banner:
webcomics banner

I had to make some hard choices while making this, what to pull from and what to leave out. Here are the comics, from right to left:

  • XKCD‘s geek anthem needed including, of course.
  • User Friendly was probably one of the first webcomics I read with any regularity.
  • Don Hertzfeldt‘s famous Rejected video is probably the outlier here. It feels like a webcomic to me, but maybe just because I associate it with that early-internet-days “thrill of discovery” you got whenever you found a new link of note.
  • Rounding out the top row, Jesus and Mo is a new-to-me webcomic that’s both hysterical and irreverently poignant.
  • Axe Cop, another new-ish webcomic, is notable for both its hilarity and the fact that its author is a 5 year old kid.
  • Dr. McNinja is both a doctor… and a ninja.
  • I managed to squeeze a tiny frame of Penny Arcade in there. In case you’ve somehow been living in a webcomic void, it’s mostly about videogaming, and sometimes features snarky comments reviewing the latest games. This frame is from one of their first comics, and if you follow the link, you’ll see that they were all about the reviews right from the start.
  • Underneath Penny Arcade is a piece of Scott McCloud‘s very early webcomic, My Obsession With Chess.
  • PvP is another classic videogame webcomic. Notably different from Penny Arcade in that it has characters that do stuff.
  • Order of the Stick is an awesome D&D parody. I almost replaced it because its bright colors made it stand out, but I spent a lot of time finding a panel with all the main characters in it (that I liked). Plus, it was great to get the fighter saying “.org”.
  • It’s possible I thought myself really clever when I positioned these characters from Sinfest underneath Jesus and Mo. Sinfest is a webcomic that I found looking through old bookmarks. I was happy to see they still appear to be coming out.
  • Finally, Little Gamers is another comic I had in my aging bookmarks file. (And no, I didn’t do the right corner last, it just happened that way.)

ReadComics Podcast #049 – Book Club #19 – So Super-Duper

November 7th, 2010 by

This book club podcast about the first ten issues of the comic book So Super Duper features Marty, Florence, Jason, Angela, and Susie. We talk about our impressions of the comic.

“So Super Duper” is a cute story about a character named Psyche, a new-ish Super Hero who isn’t quite as super as everyone else on his team. Psyche slowly discovers that his lack of superheroness may not be the only thing that is different about him.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #049 (23.3 MB, 49 minutes)

Vampire Puppets, two great tastes that go great together!

October 21st, 2010 by

I have loved puppets since I was a little kid.  I blame Sesame Street. (Jim Henson, the Muppets, and Sesame Street were a huge influence on me.  I have fur and felt coming out my ears).  One of my cherished childhood toys was a very authentic Grover puppet.  I’m still a little sad that it disappeared around the time my family moved.

I haven’t loved vampires quite as long.  However considering I have spent a little over a year writing a very silly series of novels about vampires, it’s fair to say that I love them now.  I do not love every book, move, or tv show that feature vampires, there are just far too many.  I do love an awful lot of them though, including Buffy, the Dresden Files, True Blood, and the Vampire Diaries.

So it should come as little surprise that I love love love, vampire puppets!  It’s just a perfect intersection of my interests, (much like space circuses are for Marty).

There has surprisingly been a lot of bloodsucking puppets over the years.

The most famous, and earliest occurrence of the phenomena that I can think of, is of course, the Count von Count, from Sesame Street. (I think I also had a Count puppet around the same time I had the Grover, but it wasn’t quite as treasured, or as true to life).  The Count has all the trappings of the classic vampire lifestyle, the gothic castle, the snazzy duds, and excellent grooming habits, but without the bloodlust.  He just thirsts for numbers.

There was also Count Blah a character on the short lived Greg the Bunny TV show.  The conceit of the show was that puppets were another race, that lived alongside humans.  If they were lucky they could get work on kids shows.  Blah was clearly inspired by the Count.  He wore a similar costume, and used a Bela Lugosi style accent.  He was called Blah, because he said “blah” at every pause in his sentences.

Most recently another short lived comedy gave us a Vampire Puppet episode.  ABCfamily’s surprisingly clever scifi/action spoof the Middle Man, did an episode where the spirit of Vlad the Impaler, was awoken in a ventriloquist’s dummy version of him.

Perhaps my favorite vampire puppet incident, is the Smile Time episode of Angel.  It was written by Ben Edlund, the creator of the Tick, who had some experience with bizarre humor.  In it, our vampire detective hero, gets magically turned into a muppet style puppet, and hijinks ensue.  It is a fabulous episode, that really had fun with the premise.  He had a removable nose!  It became a big favorite among the show’s fans.

It even inspired IDW to do a follow up comics in miniseries.  In which Angel’s rival Spike, also got puppetized. (Hey look!  This post does have something to do with comics after all!  Go me!)

It wasn’t just tv that has embraced the vampire puppet movement.  In the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the main character (played by Jason Segel who also wrote the screenplay) writes and performs a Dracula opera starring puppets.  The puppets were made for him by the Henson workshop!  It’s a hilarious sequence in an already extremely funny movie.

There is even an webshop called Dopplefangers that will make a custom vampire puppet version of yourself!

And a few years ago, a friend of mine performed in a play inspired by Nosferatu, featuring many great puppets.

(My pal Emily and Lil Orlock)

It may not the biggest sub-trend in the vampire fad, but I think it’s my favorite.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 15: Animal and Vegetable Edition.

October 5th, 2010 by

Sandman ran for 75 issues, and in them featured hundreds of memorable characters.  All with names and interesting back stories.  I could keep going for months trying to cast them all, but I think I have covered nearly all the major players.  Today I will get through the last, that I expect to do. Unless I realize I have left out anyone important, or come up with a particularly inspired choice for one of the minor characters.

These last characters all have in common that they will need to be portrayed by either, puppets, CGI, or an actor in major prosthetics, or a combination of all of the above.  I will pick a voice actor for each.

Morpheus had a series of pet ravens.  They are usually the spirit of a dead man that has been reincarnated as a raven.  He retains his human personality and ability to speak, but in every other way, such as taste and behavior, he is a raven.  The one that he has for most of the series, except flashbacks to earlier eras, is named Matthew.  He is the spirit of Matt Cable, a supporting character from DC’s earlier horror/fantasy epic Swamp Thing.

Matthew is loyal, rough around the edges, and a little sardonic.  Before he died Matt Cable made some mistakes, and hurt people he cared about.  It was interesting to see Matthew the Raven striving to atone for those mistakes, and become a little more sensitive.  He often served as the audience’s surrogate.  One that could openly ask questions like, what is going on? And, why did you do that?  As well as being a sympathetic ear for Dream.

Though if memory serves Matt Cable was an American character, I always heard Matthew speaking with an English accent. Which is probably why I went with a British actor for the his voice.  Clive Owen

Owen has a deep, rich, but slightly gritty voice.  Just what I hear when I read Matthew’s dialogue.  He often plays characters with some darkness in their past, while still be able to deliver a biting one liner.

Next we have Barnabas.  Barnabas is Destruction’s pet/companion.  He appears to be a large grey dog.  He too can speak, and has a human like personality.  Though he does show that he likes dog things like chewing on stuff, and getting scratched behind the ears.  It is unclear if he is simply a talking dog, or a reincarnated spirit like Matthew.  He is very down to earth, and sarcastic.  If he wasn’t a dog, he would constantly be rolling his eyes. I’m going with Michael Palin for his voice.

Palin is of course a member of Monty Python.  He would be able to play the sarcasm, and the intelligence, along side the warm, nurturing side of the character.  And of course he would nail the utter goofiness of him going dog-giddy over a stick.

Last but hardly least, is Mervin Pumpkinhead.  One of the few characters that is there purely for comic relief.  His body is made of twigs, and his head is a jack o’lantern.  He usually wears overalls or coveralls, and has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  He is the janitor/handyman of the Dreaming.  He is a smart aleck, with a wise crack for everything.  He has a somewhat inflated ego, and likes to hear himself talk.  I am choosing another Python, for him.  Eric Idle

Idle knows how to play a smart-ass.  Since Merv’s face so simplistic his personality is really going to have to come through his voice.  Idle has plenty of voice over experience, and is really versatile.

I also think the character should have a real person in a suit, perform his movement.  As again, he is such a minimal design, he could come across as very artificial if he was purely CGI or animatronic.  For that I suggest Doug Jones.

Jones has made a career of bringing to life extraordinary, fantasy characters. He played one of the Gentleman, a terrifyingly creepy monster, on a particularly memorable episode of Buffy.  More significantly he has worked with Guillermo del Torro, playing Abe Sapien in both Hellboy films, and the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth.  He is impossibly tall and thin, and is incredibly expressive with his body.

Okay, that it is it for this series of posts.  I can’t believe I made it to fifteen posts.  It has been fun.  I may try another fantasy casting project for another comic series, but I haven’t thought of one yet (maybe Fables).  As I said in the very first post, I really don’t want to see Sandman made into a film. I think it exists in its ideal form already.  I do think it probably will get adapted someday, and if even one of my casting choices made it to the screen, I would be super excited.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 14: Maiden, Mother, Crone, and Crazed Agent of Vengeance. Yay!

October 4th, 2010 by

The three woman who repeatedly appear in Sandman went by many names: the kindly ones, the fates, the furies, the weird sisters.  They were consistently shown as a trio of woman that seemed to function as one being.  They always appear as one young woman, one middle aged women and one very old woman, aka the maiden, the mother, and the crone.

They served many purposes in the series.  They were used as prophets, that occasionally commented on the action, and less frequently propelled it.  They were also the furies, the means through which justice for a primal crime, was acted out.

Typically they looked different every time they appeared, so to remain true to the comic they should be played by several different actresses.  However for the purposes of keeping this post relatively short, I will only cast one actress each.

Lisa Backwell as the maiden.

She played the lovable, loopy, and naive, Pandora on the third and fourth series of Skins.  She has a round, child like face, that would make for a good contrast with the other two.  The maiden was sometimes drawn as older and more voluptuous than Backwell, but she also sometimes looked like little more than child.

Brenda Blethyn as the mother.

While she is a very versitile actor, she has played quite a few mothers.  In such films as Pride and Prejudice, Lovely and Amazing, and Little Voice.  All very different mums, but maternal nonetheless.

Jackie Burroughs as the crone.

Burroughs has been working steadily since the mid sixties, and is still going strong.  She has looked nearly exactly the same for the past twenty years.

Finally for today’s post is Hippolyta Hall.  She was not created for the Sandman, but was a DC Comics heroine that went by the name of the Fury.  A title she inherited from her mother, (though in a bit of confusing crisis muddled continuity, she was also Earth Two Wonder Woman’s daughter).

Poor Lyta did not have an easy time of things in the series.  She was married to the second DC hero to carry the title of the Sandman.  Both she and her husband Hector, were unknowingly tricked by a pair of renegade dreams, into being trapped inside a child’s dreams.  To make matters worse, her husband Hector was dead, but being stuck in the Dreaming, neither of them knew this.  And on top of that Lyta was heavily pregnant when she was trapped, and remained so for the whole two years, that she was stuck there.  When Morpheus discovered what had been done by the misbehaving dreams, he put end to it, setting the Halls free.  This however effectively killed Hector.  He was already dead, but freed from the dreaming, his spirit was allowed to move on.  Lyta of course had no idea what had happened, she just saw her husband disappear, and her world dissolve.  Morpheus, not being very sensitive to other being’s distress, didn’t bother to explain any of it to her.  Which left her with a mighty grudge against Morpheus.  One that was easily exploited by those who wished him ill.

I would cast her with Amber Benson.

She was excellent as the lovely Tara on Buffy.  She is also a talented writer and director, who has made several independent films, and published quite a few fantasy books.  She would be able to sympathetically play Lyta’s rage at the powerlessness she has over her life, even while becoming more of a pawn.

I think the next post will be the last in this series.

New Wonder Woman TV show.

October 4th, 2010 by

According to this article Warner Brothers is developing a Wonder Woman series for television.

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/10/wonder-woman-tv-show.html

It does not say how far into development they have gotten, or which network will likely air it.  It does say that they have chosen David E. Kelley to be showrunner.  This seems like a bad fit to me.  Kelley has had success in the past, creating such shows as, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope, The Practice, and Picket Fences, none of which have much in common with Wonder Woman.  I don’t know what the plans they have in store for the show, but I would think it would have to be an action drama to some extent, and Kelley doesn’t have much experience with action.  I am not much of a Kelley fan, I have not been able to stick with one of his shows for much more than a season or two.  In my experience, he tends run out of character driven stories pretty quickly, and then relies on increasingly  absurd plot twists, and controversial stunts, just for the sake of controversy.  His characters are usually very quirky, and as the series progress they seem to lose any humanity that makes them relatable, devolving into a walking mass of unusual ticks.  This does not bode well for his Wonder Woman, as though she has gone through many different characterizations over the course of her sixty plus years of being published, she has never come across to me as either quirky, or neurotic (another Kelley main stay).  I guess we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 13: Gods both Tricky, and Catty. Plus a bonus Faerie.

October 1st, 2010 by

Like I said before, all types of gods were welcome in Sandman.  One of the most memorable was Bast.  The Egyptian goddess with a human body and a cat’s head.  She was a major goddess in her time, but as her following dwindled, so did her power.  Her personality is as catlike her appearance.  She is at times: flirtatious, self interested, aloof, affectionate, and playful.  There also times when the sadness of her loss comes through.

My pick to play her is Virginia Hey.

She played a regal, enigmatic, goddess-like character as Zhaan on Farscape.  As such she has loads of experience acting through large amounts of makeup, that the role would require.

Next up we have one of the ultimate trickster gods, Loki.  He is portrayed just as he is in Norse mythology.  The untrustworthy adopted son of Odin.  He loves a dirty joke.  He can’t pass up any opportunity to mess with anyone, and he doesn’t like being shown up in any way.

My pick is Iggy Pop.

He looks a lot like the character as drawn, and he is a pretty good actor.  He played a sweet, softy of a suburban dad on the Adventures of Pete and Pete, in the nineties.  Think of what he could do with an anarchist god.

Finally we have Puck, of A Midsummer Night’s Dream fame.  In Sandman he is depicted as a malicious imp.  More likely to slip strychnine in your coffee, as give you donkey ears for a night.  In his true form he looks like a tiny hairy devil creature, but he can also look human.

And my pick for him is David Tennant.

Obviously Tennant is very capable of being lovable, which is the antithesis of the role, but I really want to see him play a malignant character.  I am sure he can pull off the right mix of hyper, and viscious.  It would be fun to see him play the human form, and also a motion captured CGI version.

Next up the furies!

Tony DiTerlizzi at the Wild Rumpus

October 1st, 2010 by

I’m sad to say that I missed Tony DiTerlizzi yesterday at our local kid’s bookstore, The Wild Rumpus. However, my co-worker Tony (who did actually tell me about the event a few hours before it happened), was in attendance, and his son, Odin, and had these questions for DiTerlizzi:

“How much do you like drawing?”
“Oh I really like drawing.”

“Do you like to draw comics?”
“You mean like Batman and Iron Man? I used to draw them all the time when I was about your age. I really liked Iron Man.”

Apparently DiTerlizzi is also the artist for some of his books, and he was giving away sketch books filled with art from his new novel The Search for WondLa. Here is a picture of the stack of books Tony brought in to work with him today:

Click to see full-size

You might have to see the image full-size to make it out, but I love the dragon sketch on the inside cover of Kenny & The Dragon, which I have added to my reading list. Tony also had this to say about the event:

He was great. Told stories about being a “highly imaginative” kid and did drawings like he did back then. (Dinosaurs vs. Aliens: The T-Rex & Triceratops team up. “Not on our watch!”) He spoke about wanting to create a heroine, like Alice Little, Dorthy Gale and Wendy Darling, for a long time and that is where The Search for WondLa came from. He also mentioned his little daughter when he was engaging Isla during the signing.

“Well hello Isla. What a pretty name. What do you like to do?”
“I like to play.”
“Oh, isn’t playing fun! My daughter is about your age too. She loves to play. And collect bugs!”
“Yeah I like bugs and aluadsr hasde hasd areaagdre bbfeard…” (That last part was unintelligible tired 2.3 year old speak for yeah, but they are a little icky too.)

I think it’s great that fathers my age are writing books for their daughters with strong female characters.

I also think it’s great. And I can’t wait to read The Search for WondLa to Colleen.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 12: Ladies (please say in Flight of the Conchords voice)

September 30th, 2010 by

Rose Walker is an American teenager that becomes embroiled in one of the earlier plot lines of the series.  She is central to the second arc, but also pops up later on in a smaller role.

She is shown at first as having her hair dyed in several wild colors.  Later she has a more muted red-brown hair, with just a single streak.  Her face is round and youthful, regardless of her eventual age.

My pick for the role is Amber Tamblyn.

She looks the part, and she could handle Rose’s sarcastic shell that protects her more vulnerable nature.

Nada is an African princess from an unspecified time period.  Pre recorded history, most likely.  She became involved with Morpheus, and it led to her down fall.  Despite the tragic turn her story takes, she has an innate strength of character, and dignity.

I’m going with Lauryn Hill to play her.

( I could not find a picture of Nada anywhere.)

She is best known as a musician and singer, but she has acted as well.  She looks a bit like Nada as drawn, but more importantly she projects the integrity inherent in Nada, as well as the charm that would captivate the Dream king.

Finally for today is Thessaly.  She is one of the more mysterious characters in the book.  It is implied that she is many centuries old, and that she is a witch.  She is also rather ruthless, or at the least not very concerned with politeness.  She usually knows more than she says about any given situation, and she doesn’t have much patience for those who know less than her.  She is depicted as being very petite, with brown hair, and a heart shaped face.  She usually wears round glasses that are too big for her face.

My choice for the part is Elisabeth Moss.

She is currently playing Peggy on Mad Men.  She can play shrewd, and intense, like nobody’s business.  It would be really fun to see her play intimidating.

Up next will be sundry gods and goddesses.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call part 11: Mortal, Immortal, and Other

September 29th, 2010 by

Shakespeare was a character that popped up in Sandman from time to time.  There was no gimmick to it.  He wasn’t a time traveller, or a wizard.  He was just Will Shakespeare, Elizabethian Era playwright, struggling to make good.

I think I’d cast Gary Oldman.

I don’t really have much to say for my reasoning behind the choice.  I just think he’s a good actor who looks good with a beard, and who seems comfortable with Shakespearian dialogue.

Hob Gadling is another character that didn’t appear often, but made quite an impression.  He is first seen in the fouteenth century, claiming that dying is for suckers.  Dream overhears this, and makes a deal with him.  Death won’t come for him until he decides he is tired of life.  Dream checks up on him once a century, and we get to see him go from rich man to beggar, and back again.  We see him happy with a full life and family, to a man that has outlived everyone he loved.  And regardless of his circumstances he always chooses to go on.

His physical appearance remains pretty much the same through out, just his clothes changing to match the times.  He is shown to have reddish brown hair and usually a beard.  My pick is Ewan McGregor.

For no other reason than I like him.  I think he is charming, and so is Hob.

Morpheus had a son named Orpheus.  And a couple of daughters named Blorpheus and Shmorpheus, I kid!  Orpheus is in fact the same Orpheus from the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice.  He actually has pretty pivotal role to play in the series, and it’s one I am loathe to spoil, so I won’t go into it too much.  He starts as a relatively carefree youth, but goes through a trauma that changes him a great deal.  His appearance is mainly of a nice looking young man, but with a haunted look in his eyes.

Who better for that than Matt Smith?

He is of course the latest actor to take up the mantle of the Doctor, and he’s done a bang up job of it.  He often comes across in the same scene, as very young boy and an old old man.  Which is just right for Orpheus.

Rounding out today’s post is Daniel Hall.  To say what Daniel’s role in the series is, would be to give away a major plot point.  So I won’t.  I’ll just say that he begins as an adorable human baby, and by the end he is neither a human or a baby.  So for the early scenes he should be cast with a beautiful, blue eyed baby , with curly blond hair.  For the later scenes I would cast Mitch Hewer.

He played the talented and impish Maxxie, on the first two seasons of Skins.  He has a very youthful, and sweet look, and is drop dead gorgeous.  Daniel needs to look innocent, but also wise.  I think Mitch would nail that.  And with that, I am officially out of pretty blond males.  This cast has taken them all!

Next post will probably involve important ladies.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 10: Beautiful Dreams and Nightmares.

September 27th, 2010 by

The next three dreams, did not appear in Sandman as much as the others I’ve already featured, but they did make an impression.

Eve may be the biblical Eve, or she may not be, or both could be true.  She lives in a cave, and seems to have great knowledge and power.  She could have been the first woman.  Or a goddess of prehistory.  Or an old crotchety witch.  Or any of a number of other female archetypes.

Her appearance changed with each time she appeared in the series.  Sometimes she was an ancient crone, sometime a middle aged motherly type, and sometimes a beautiful voluptuous young maiden.

Since she always looked like the same woman, but at different ages, I would cast her with a single actress and put her in the appropriate aging makeup.

My choice is Christina Hendricks.

Eve is drawn as having black hair, but I’d rather keep her as a redhead, and hope the Sandman super-fans will forgive me.  Hendricks first impressed me on Firefly, where over the course of a single episode, she went from a naive farm girl, to a dangerous, seductive con artist.  She was equally convincing as both.  Lately she has been utterly mesmerizing as Joan on Mad Men.  It is one of the most nuanced performances on television.  She has been powerful, and also vulnerable.  Confidant, and also petty.  Charming, and also manipulative.  Sympathetic, and then repellent.  She owns every scene she’s in.

Fiddlers’ Green is unique in that he is actually a location.  An idyllic patch of land, that travelers, sailors in particular, often dream of.  Fiddlers’ Green decided one day to go traveling, himself.  He took a human form and set out to see the Waking World (which is what our world is referred to, in the Dreaming).  He took both the appearance, and general personality, of the prolific late nineteenth, early twentieth century, English author G.K. Chesterton.  He called himself Gilbert (which was Chesterton’s given name), and was genial, lovely man.  I didn’t know that he was based on Chesterton, when I first read Sandman.  In fact, I only learned it this afternoon, when I was reviewing the Sandman character page on Wikipedia.  I am just not as familiar with English fantasy authors as Neil Gaiman is.  Before today I had identified Gilbert as Teddy Roosevelt.

But the fact that he is English rather than American, works even better for for the actor I chose, Jim Broadbent.

Gilbert is an incredibly lovable, somewhat blustery, fellow.  Broadbent is very good at playing endearingly, bombastic men.

Finally there is the Corinthian.  The Corinthian is a nightmare.  Nightmares have just as much a place in the Dreaming, as any other dream.  He too escaped into the Waking World.  In which he became a serial killer that preyed on adolescent boys.  He is one of the most chilling characters I’ve ever come across.  He looks like a handsome, well built, blond man.  He almost always wears sunglasses.  That is because he doesn’t have eyes.  Where his eyes should be, he has two small mouths.  It is really creepy.

My choice for the part is James Marsters.

He has appeared in countless scifi and fantasy series.  Such as: Torchwood, Caprica, Smallville, but he is best known for playing Spike on Buffy, and later its spin off Angel.  He, like Hendricks, is a top rate scene stealer, but he manages to do it while making everyone he is playing against look better.  He has great comic timing, but also excels at imbuing his characters with depth.  He can go from broad physical comedy, to intense emotional soul barring, in the blink of an eye.  He is also capable of scaring the living daylights out of me.  Which is essential for the part.  But his range will also come in handy for some aspects of the Corinthian’s storyline, that I don’t want to give away.

I also want to put in a quick plug for Marsters’ audiobook narration of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series.  They are a blast.

Next time, some notable humans.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 9: Faeries!

September 26th, 2010 by

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 9: Faeries!

In Sandman all religions, and mythologies were welcome.  You could see Odin one eye, rubbing elbows with the Lords of Order and Chaos.  There were several denizens of Fairyland, that would come in and out of the narrative at their will.

The king and queen of Faerie’s appearances were few, but memorable. They came across as haughty, a touch petty, and very powerful.  They appeared of humanoid, but not human.  They are longer, and thinner than us.  Their faces are elfin.  Oberon has green skin and greenish white hair, and rams horns.  Titania has light blue skin, and dark blue hair.

My pick for Oberon would be Jude Law.

He played a character in the Talented Mr. Ripley, that was prettier than everyone else, and damn well knew it.  That is exactly the quality that is needed most for Oberon.

For Titania I’m going with Cate Blanchett.


She played an Elf queen in the Lord of the Rings, so she certainly has the look for it.  It would also be fun to see her playing a devious, self serving, fairy queen, to contrast with Galadrial’s almost angelic nature.

The most prominent fairy to grace the pages of Sandman, was Nuala.  She was sent to the Dreaming as an ambassador of Faerie.  Or so she thought.  She was actually sent as a gift to Morpheus, from the king and queen.  Morpheus had no interest in her, but as it is unwise to refuse a fairy gift, he allowed her to stay.

When she first appears it is as a stunning blond.  It is soon revealed that that is a glamour.  Her true appearance is a very petite, slightly awkward looking brunette.

For the glamoured version I propose January Jones.

I think the reasons are obvious.

For the non glamoured version, I’ll go with Emma Watson.

She has that new adorable pixie cut, and is tiny, and has plenty of experience playing awkward despite being gorgeous.

Nuala’s brother, Cluaracan, also frequently pops up in Sandman.  His personality can best be summed up as amusingly drunken, braggart.  He too, often wears the glamour of a tall, beautiful, blond.  His real appearance is more modest.

For his glamoured self I would go with Alexander Skarsgard.

He is best known as Eric on True Blood. Between the angels, the fey, and a few other characters coming up, I am exhausting my supply of pretty blond boys.

For the non glamoured version, I cast James McAvoy.

He could handle the comedy, as well as the slightly tragic aura that sometimes leaks through.  He isn’t a conventionally pretty boy, but he rocks what I like to call the homely hot factor.

Coming up, a few more dreams.

Dream casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 8: Heavenly Creatures and Hellspawn.

September 25th, 2010 by

Sandman played host to gods and demons from a vast array of pantheons.  This post will concern itself with the biblical.

One of the most complex characters in the series is Lucifer.  So much so, that he was given his own long running spin off series.  His arc is one of the most surprising in the whole series, so I won’t go into it.  I’ll just describe his back story.  He was the light bringer, God’s most beloved Angel.  He decided that he didn’t like being a servant to his creator, so he led a rebellion of Angels.  They lost, and were cast out of Heaven.  They fell and became the residents and staff of Hell.  Lucifer became the Lord of Hell, also known as the Adversary.  He was fond of saying it was better to rule in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

This version of the Devil is erudite, calm, slick, and very dangerous.  He is drawn to look like the angel he once was, but with (for  lack of a better word) a certain edge.  His hair is sometimes shown as blond, sometimes as red.  His eyes are piercing, his cheekbones sharp.  Everything about him is sharp, including his taste in clothes.  He favors tuxedos, with a jaunty scarf, for accent.

Neil Gaiman apparently based him on David Bowie, and it’s hard to argue with that.  Except to say, I would not cast him.  Only for the reason, that I would find the fact that it was David Bowie playing a very David Bowie part, at this point in his career, distracting.

So instead I nominate Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

He already played a Bowie-esque character in the film Velvet Goldmine.  And he did it with great aplomb.  He’s also played sinister characters very well.  Most recently he played a self centered, hot tempered, king on the Tudors.

Lucifer had a demon lover, by the name of Mazikeen.  She was devoted to him, and she rules.  She is a badass!  And I kind of love her.  She has a very distinctive look, one that would have to be replicated with a lot of prosthetics, and probably CGI.  One side of her body looks like a beautiful brunette, the other is a twisted, mangled approximation of a human woman.  She is equally proud and confident with both.  My pick for her is Famke Janssen.

(This picture is taken from the Lucifer series, after Mazi’s “deformity” was corrected.  She was not at all pleased by that.  She continued to wear a mask over the side of her face where it had been.)

Famke is best known for playing Jean Grey in the X-Men films, but it was her turn as a sociopath on the first season of Nip/Tuck, that put her in my mind for Mazikeen.  I haven’t considered anyone else since.  She projected intense strength and intelligence in that part, even as she did super crazy stuff.

There were a couple of non fallen Angels in Sandman.  They were almost always together, so I will cast them as a team.  Remiel, was the mouthpiece of the two.  Only because Duma, the Angel of silence, never spoke.

They look very similar.  Slight, feminine, beautiful men, with curly blonde locks.

I would put Joe Anderson, as Remiel, and Eddie Redmayne, as Duma.

Anderson has played supporting parts in Across the Universe, and Becoming Jane.  He is very nice to look at, and he could properly convey the arrogance that is hiding under Remiel’s humble exterior.  I have only seen Redmayne in an adaptation of Tess of D’Urbervilles, in which he played a character named Angel.  That wasn’t what made me think of him.  There is something unusual about his face.  It isn’t necessarily ethereal, but it is otherworldly.  I think he could bring out the enigmatic quality, of Duma.  He is silent, but he is very present.

Coming next, faeries!

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 7: Dream Boys

September 24th, 2010 by

Morpheus’ realm is called the Dreaming.  It is where we all go when we dream.  It contains all the people and things that we dream of.  The setting and populace shift constantly.  However there are some fixed (or as fixed as things get in the Dreaming) characters, they are known as major dreams.  They are part of our collective unconscious.

Possibly the most important is Lucien (at least in his role).  He is in charge of the library of the Dreaming.  It contains every book ever dreamed of, which includes books that were written, and books that were only ever written in the author’s head. That spy thriller you wrote two chapters of, lost interest in, then forgot it existed?  It’s there.  Want to read the version of Tale of Two Cities where Darnay gets guillotined, and Carton assumes his identity and gets the girl?  It’s there.

Lucien is Dream’s most trusted subject.  He is fastidious, loyal, and a touch snarky.  He is the Dreaming’s butler, professor, CEO, and nanny, all rolled into one.  He is tall, rail thin, with rust colored hair that sticks up in tufts.  He wears small wire framed glasses, and formal, slightly Victorian style suits.

My choice for the part isn’t actually an actor, and isn’t a perfect match physically, but he reminds me of Lucien in the way he carries himself.  Tim Gunn.

I could probably come up with an actor, that could do the job very well, but I like Tim.  He is my choice.  He feels like Lucien to me.

Next up is Cain, of Cain and Abel.  Aka the first murderer.  That is who he is more than the Cain of the bible, though he is that as well.  He is the first being that came into existence that took another being’s life.  When the story of Cain and Abel came into existence it was about him, and so he became Cain.

He is loud and aggressive, and sarcastic.  He is constantly going through the cycle of seeking out his brother for company, finding some flaw in him to pick at, going into a rage, and killing him.  Over and over again.  It is as much his function, as it is Destiny’s to observe it.  Despite his unpleasantness, I rather enjoy his scenes, when he isn’t killing Abel.  It helps that his victim, always gets up again (yet that also makes it worse, it’s complicated).  And his sardonic commentary on the action is pretty funny.

He is drawn as a tall man with brown hair, that sticks up in two points to give the illusion of horns (this hairdo is also known as the wolverine).  He has a beard, and dresses in shabby brown suits.

I would cast Christopher Eccleston as Cain.

He can play the manic energy, and the wit.  He also can work a homicidal glint in his eyes.  By the by, this cast list by the time it’s done, will include a lot of people from Whedonverse shows, a few more cast members from Skins, and likely Eccleston will not be the only Time Lord.

There needs to be an Abel to go with our Cain.  Abel is the first murder victim, to Cain’s first murderer.  He too is stuck in a cycle.  He can’t get away from his brother.  He desperately wants them to get along, but he knows  the inevitable outcome.  He is timid, and a stutterer, and has a tender heart, which he knows he has to conceal from Cain.  He is not capable of standing up for himself.  He is both adorably sweet, and cringe inducingly pathetic.

He is a short, stout man, with black hair, in a Wolverine cut of less prowess, and a goatee.  He too wears shabby suits, in blue.

I had a two top contenders for the part, both specialize in playing sad little men.  Ricky Gervais, and Paul Giamatti.  Gervais looks more like the character, but I think I’m going with Giamatti.  Gervais’ brand of SLM usually is not aware of how pathetic he is, while Abel knows all too well.  A Gervais character that is self aware loses some of the necessary patheticness.  On top of that Gervais has recently lost a great deal of weight, and looks too good to play Abel anymore.  Giamatti can do a self aware SLM, that is still a sad-sack.

(I had a lot of trouble finding pictures of Abel, and could only come up with this one of him recently murdered.  He does recover I promise.)

Next up, Angels, Demons, and the devil himself.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 6: Tail End of the Endless

September 23rd, 2010 by

Rounding out the Endless, are Destruction, and Destiny.  In Sandman things are rarely what you expect them to be.  Ie: Death is a perky, optimistic young woman, and Dream is a dour, moody guy, that mopes around in a long black robe.

Likewise, the embodiment of Destruction is a laid-back, Zen-ish drifter.  Although he wasn’t always.  He had to work pretty hard to achieve calm.  Which doesn’t mean he used to be a rageaholic, by all evidence he was pretty gregarious.  I don’t want to go too much into his arc, because it us pretty interesting.  So I’ll just get straight to his physical description.  He is impossibly tall, and broad, with long red hair, and a beard.  According to the Sandman Companion, the early inspiration for his look, was the English actor Brian Blessed.  Who could open his mouth so wide when he laughed, that it looked like it took up his entire face.  He is still working, so he could concievably do the part, but he is in his seventies now, and looking older than Destruction ever did.  And Destruction’s final look never did look that much like Blessed.  My top choice is Adam Baldwin

Even more than casting Summer Glau as Death, casting Adam Baldwin as Destruction, would have the Whedonites rejoicing.  He has played any number of lovable, and not so lovable, sociopaths over the years.  Lately he has become beloved in the geek world for two roles, col. John Casey on Chuck, and Jayne Cobb on Firefly.  He is appropriately physically intimidating, for the part, and his hair could easily made the right color and length.  He is a very good actor, he could play both the exuberant Destruction of the flashbacks, and the more subdued one of the present.

Destiny is probably the least interesting of the Endless (at least to me).  He is also the only one not to have been created by Neil Gaiman.  He is a character that had been knocking around the DC universe since the early seventies.  He really doesn’t have much of a personality.  His job is to observe everything that happens, and make sure it goes down exactly as written in his book.  Which is pretty easy, as everything that happens, has happened, and will happen is written in the book.  Including him reading the book.  He doesn’t have opinions, or preferences, or emotions.  His main physical characteristic is a long brown cloak, with a hood that is always drawn down over his eyes.  Since his eyes are never shown, and he is described as being blind (although he still reads, and moves in a way that proves it is not a hindrance), it is possible that he doesn’t have eyes.  The other main feature, is the enormous book that is always chained to his wrist.

Given that you don’t see his face, and that he doesn’t need to posess much charisma, you could put just about anyone under the hood, and it would work.  So I’m going with Bill Nighy, just because I like him.

It almost seems a shame to hide that much charm under a cloak, but he can do restrained and aloof as well.  Maybe he can even manage to make the character a little less dull.

Up next a few prominent dreams.

I’m not going to link to the previous posts anymore since there are too many now.  They should all be available on the main page, or by clicking the tags.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 5: Worst Double Date Ever

September 22nd, 2010 by

It’s interesting that in a series that included, demons, serial killers, trickster gods, and the Judeo-Christian devil, the most malevolent creature of all, is Desire.  It’s true that desire is not an inherently bad thing, but it can make people do dangerous, reckless things.  And Desire of the Endless seems to represent this aspect of the concept, more than any other.  Desire is neither man nor woman, rather it is both, and therefore is always referred to as it.  This makes sense, since desire is not a gender specific concept.  Then again, neither is any of the other concepts the Endless represent, and the others all stick to one gender identity.

Desire the concept is not solely about lust.  You can desire just about anything.  Lust is however desire, and the entity Desire seems to concern itself most with lust.  And it seems to derive pleasure from making people desire things that are not good for them.  It is safe to say that, while it is not specifically a woman, Desire is a petty bitch.  Get on its bad side, and it will make it its mission to take you down.  It holds grudges, and goes to great lengths to get revenge.  Usually manipulating things at a great distance, to keep its hands appearing clean.

Desire’s appearance is one of androgyny.  Most often looking like either a handsome woman, or a beautiful man.  Its clothing was often either menswear, when looked the most feminine, or fetish-wear, when it was more masculine.  The artists tended to make it resemble those nineties icons of gender blurring, Annie Lennox, and KD Lang, and occasionally David Bowie.

There is really only one actor in my mind that could pull it off, Tilda Swinton.

Not only does she favor a somewhat androgynous look in her personal style, she has already played a gender bending supernatural role, as the title character of Orlando.  She also demonstrated bone chilling maliciousness, as the White Witch in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Desire has a twin sister, Despair.  They aren’t twins in that they look alike.  Far from it.  They simply came into existence at the same time, and are often intertwined.  Desiring something too much can make you miserable.

While Desire the character, is almost entirely unsympathetic, Despair is not.  She does not wish to make people unhappy, it is simply her function.  Just as Death does not cause people to die, she just takes them when they do.  Despair embraces the miserable to her bosom, and drowns them in it, but it’s not out of viciousness.  In her own way, she is helping them.  She seems to have genuine affection for her twin, and a few of the other Endless.  And she seems to be a little lonely, since most non depressed people, do not wish to be anywhere near her.  And she tries to stay away, since as I said, she does not want to cause misery, it just leaks off her like radiation.  Just like being around Delirium, can make a person crazy.

Despair looks like a female sumo wrestler, if the sumo was the height and scale of a twelve year-old child.  Even if there is a person out there that fits that description, it would be a miracle if they also possess the acting chops to convey the nuance of the part.  So I am proposing hiring a very good actress, and then putting them in extensive makeup, and maybe augmenting it with visual effects.  My candidate is Judi Dench.

That is in no way a comment on her looks.  I think Judi Dench is gorgeous.  If I look half that good at half her age, I will be very happy.  She is such a good actress, that I think she can make the character sympathetic through the makeup, while still being very creepy.  In fact, the idea of lovely, warm Judi Dench, speaking in Despair’s skin crawling voice, and ripping at her flesh with a hook, sends wonderful shivers up my spine.

In the next post I will finish off the Endless, and we will see from there.

Read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, by following the links.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 4: Crazy Cute.

September 21st, 2010 by

Now that I’ve got Dream and Death well cast, I’m going to try to tackle the most variable character in the series.  Delirium is the youngest of of the Endless.  Which is a bit like calling a 150 foot Sequoia, small because most get up to 160.  Nevertheless, she does have a childlike quality to her.  As the embodiment of insanity, she is unpredictable, sometimes sweet, playful, and careless.  Sometimes dangerously sensitive to slight, and quick to anger.  She is easily distracted, and nearly impossible to have a coherent conversation with.  All of which makes her the most compelling character in the series to me.  And many of her scenes are the ones I find most entertaining.

It also makes her very difficult to cast. Like her fellow Endless, her appearance changes frequently.  Unlike the others, hers changes rapidly, often mid-scene, sometimes mid-sentence.  She has few consistent physical characteristics.  She most often looks like an adolescent girl, though occasionally looks as young as nine, or as old as twenty.  Her clothing is usually in tatters.  Her hair, is often a wild variety of unnatural colors, although sometimes it is partially, or completely shaved.  Her most consistent feature is that she has one blue, and one green eye.  However, the most reliable way to identify her is by her technicolor word balloons, and nonsensical dialogue.

In my last entry, I site the fact that Summer Glau’s breakthrough role on Firefly, had too much in common with Del (as she is affectionately referred to), to make her my choice for Delirium.  It would feel a bit like a repeat performance.

So I hesitated a little with my top choice for the part, Hannah Murray, because she has also portrayed, a spacey, vulnerable, occasionally dangerous, character.  She played the mentally ill, anorexic, Cassie, on the British, out of control teens drama, Skins.  I’m giving her the part though, because fewer people who would be going to see Sandman, would have already seen Skins, than would have seen Firefly.

She demonstrated on Skins, that she possess all the necessary skills to play Delirium.  She made Cassie, a character that could have been played for laughs, or as a freak show, into someone you couldn’t take your eyes off.  She had me constantly yelling at the screen, for someone to please pay attention to her, as she desperately needed help.  Anytime someone hurt her feelings, I felt it, and demanded vengeance.  And when she was happy, it was magic.  She managed to make me entirely invested in her safety, even when she was the one endangering it.  And she scared the bejesus out of me, in her darker moments.

She looks young enough, and with good wigs, and makeup, she can pull off Del’s ever-changing looks.  The effects department will have to work out how to add the frogs, fish, and or butterflies, that tend to manifest out of thin air, around her.

My alternate choice, should the imaginary studio require a bigger name, is another Whedon alum.  Sarah Michelle Geller.

The second image, is a portrait of Delirium, that I found in a book called Vertigo Visions.  The strong likeness of the Del in this picture, to Sarah Michelle, is what put her in my mind for the role.  The books dates it as having been done in 1995, two years before Buffy made her a household name.  It could be a coincidence, or the artist Sherilyn van Valkenburgh, could have spotted the then unknown (and at that point brunette) actress in something, and used her as the model.

Either way, I think she could handle the part.  She displayed a lot of versatility over her seven years as Buffy.  Displaying strength, and spunk, along side vulnerability, and introspection.  She is in her thirties now, but she is on the tiny side, I’m sure with the right costumes and makeup, she could be made to look the appropriate age.

Okay, that’s it for the major parts.  The next entries will be two or more characters each.  Starting I think, with the twins.

Click to read parts 1, 2, and 3.

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 3: Death Wish List

September 20th, 2010 by

In part 1, I gave my reasons for embarking on this project.  In part 2 I cast my Dream.  Now it is time put my casting cap back on, and pick an actress for the role of Death.  In the universe of the Sandman Death is an upbeat, very cute, goth girl.  As with all the Endless, her appearance changes, depending on her surroundings.

However, she is one of the more consistent of them.  Her clothing does change according to the era, but for the most part, she is thin, pale, dressed all in black, with black hair, that is only slightly less messy than Dream’s.  She always wears an ankh, somewhere on her person, usually as a necklace.  And she has a black curlicue, under one eye.  She is most often seen wearing a black tank, and black jeans, and occasionally finishes it off with a top hat, and umbrella.

She is the most relatable, down to earth, member of the Endless, and she is probably the series’ most beloved character.  She is also the character that I have had the most trouble casting.  She has to be instantly likable, and yet formidable.  She has to be both glib, and insightful.  I kept coming up with actresses that worked in one aspect, and failed in another.  Natalie Portman, is cute enough, but I’m not sure she’d be able to convey the character’s power.  Angelina Jolie could cover the power, but is too intimidating.  Amy Adams, too cute, no edge at all.  Death had to be all of that and more.  She has to be someone who you’d actually be happy to see at your final moment.  I went back and forth.  I think I’ve finally got it.  Summer Glau

She is probably best known for her roles on two short lived Scifi series.  She played Cameron, a cyborg assassin, on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  And on Firefly, she played River, a brilliant, psychologically damaged, young girl, made into a sleeper agent by the government.  She was so good at portraying River’s insanity, while also showing her vulnerability, and under lying danger, that I was considering her as the top contender for the part of Delirium.  But I felt that actually might be like casting her in the same part, especially since there is a big overlap in the audiences for Firefly, and Sandman.  Then as I was crossing out another name to play death, I remembered the charm, Glau brought to the role of River.  The fact that she moved with a preternatural grace.  The way she could deliver the strangest non sequitur, in way that made you think it would make perfect sense if you were just inside her head.  Most of all, the looks she gave to her big brother when he was being an idiot, would translate perfectly into the, affectionate yet exasperated, way Death relates to Dream.

Look at her here, imagine it as a top hat, and that’s our girl.

It doesn’t hurt that she bears a slight resemblance to Fairuza Balk.  Who at one point, I’m not sure if it’s still the case, had been set to play the part, in the film adaptation of Death the Time of Your Life.  Which was a spinoff miniseries of Sandman.  Considering the film was set to be directed by Neil Gaiman, it would be fair to say Fairuza is his top choice.

However, as popular as Summer may be with the geek community, it may be necessary to pick a bigger name, to get the movie made.  So under duress I would submit my next choice.  Zooey Deschanel.

She has been the winsome, indie, girl next door with an edge, du jour, for the past couple of years.  For good reason, she’s charming, and beautiful, and talented.  She’d be very good for the part, I just like Summer Glau a little bit more.

Coming up in part three, Delirium!

Dream Casting, Sandman Casting Call Part 2: Casting Dream.

September 19th, 2010 by

I already gave my reasons, for why the Sandman should never be made into a movie in part one. I’m going to try casting it anyway. From now on I’m going to play the part of a casting director, for my ideal imaginary version the film. And in the world of Sandman, imaginary versions of things, are just as valid, as real ones

The most important part to cast is of course the Sandman himself.


Some background on the character, before I get to my casting pick(s). The Sandman of the title* is actually Dream the anthropomorphic embodiment of dreams. He is a member of the group of beings known as the Endless. Each of whom is the living representation of a universal concept, that happens to start with a D, in English. Some of the others are Death, Destruction, etc.

Dream has many names, all of which are either the word for dreams in another language or variations there of, or the name of the god or king of dreams from a specific culture. However he is most often referred to in Sandman, as Morpheus, so that is what I’ll call him from here on.

One of the qualities that all the endless share, is their tendency to shift their appearance depending on whom they are speaking to. For example when Morpheus had an affair, with an African Princess, he looked like an African Prince (albeit an African Prince with several of his more unique features). When he met with a house cat, he looked like a house cat version of himself. In those scenes, the casting would have to be done accordingly.

But, for the most part Morpheus looks like a very pale, thin man, with messy black hair that defies gravity. And eyes, that are depicted as pieces of the night sky, with stars shining out of them. Not an easy look to find in nature.

My top pick for the part, is a little known actor, named Peter Wingfield.  He recently had a small part on Caprica, but he caught my attention, over a decade ago, when he got a prominent part on the television series Highlander. Which was a surprisingly good adaptation of the silly Highlander movies. Peter played an immortal named Methos. He was at least five thousand years old, and often came across as morally ambiguous. He did a great job of projecting the character’s age, despite his youthful appearance. A trait that will be useful for playing Morpheus, who is only slightly less old than existence itself. He also would be able to portray the character’s humanity, along with his other-worldliness. Beside that he just looks the part to me. Morpheus was most often depicted as having a long, angular face. As does Peter.

(And look how good he is with the naughty smirk! Not a skill he would really be able to put to use in the part. Morpheous’ default expressions, are mope, and scowl.)

He can even pull off the ridiculous hair, without looking a complete prat.

(Well not too much, at least.)

The only drawback in my mind is how little well know he is. Which I don’t really consider a drawback, as I think the role benefits from there not being any baggage being brought in by the actor. However my imaginary studio bosses probably would not see it that way.

So when they say, “This simply won’t do! No one has heard of this guy! We need a name for the poster.”

I will stomp my feet, and storm out of the meeting, and hold my breath until I turn blue. And when I have picked myself off the floor, after realizing that they could not care less if I died of asphyxiation, I would submit my alternate choice. Guy Pearce.

He has the bone structure, and the liquid eyes the part calls for. While his resume carries some stinkers, such as The Count of Monte Cristo, and the Time Machine, in both of which he came across as rather wooden. He was impressive in both Memento, and the Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Dessert. Which shows some range. Although neither part had much of the Dream king in them. Still, at least he’s a recognizable name.**

Stayed tuned for part three, where I try to conquer Death! Er, I mean find a suitable actress to fill the part. Sounds more dramatic the first way!

*There are two other Sandmen that appear over the course of the series. They are both DC comics heroes that have used the title in the past.

**Phooey, Methos forever!