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Marvel Comics has fashioned itself something of a trailblazer in the world of contemporary comics and film. Beyond the fact that they’ve created their own movie studio and single-handedly brought the concept of inter-universe continuity to the big screen successfully, they’ve also produced some of the most lasting superheroes of color in the history of the medium, including mainstays like The Falcon (the first mainstream African-American superhero ever), Luke Cage, and Storm, and more obscure figures like the Blue Marvel, Misty Knight, and Blade. PoC in their comics have served as leaders of teams like the X-Men, various incarnations of The Avengers, the lofty position of Sorcerer Supreme,...

by Brett White

Since the Marvel Universe was conceived of in the much less diverse days of the early 1960s, the majority of the characters that have risen to prominence are straight, white and male (looking your way, every member of The Avengers other than Black Widow). And while Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't completely lacking in diversity, most of the women there served as a love interests (Pepper Potts, Betty Ross, Jane Foster and Peggy Carter) and there were even fewer characters of color (James Rhodes as War Machine and the Ultimate version of Nick Fury, himself previously Caucasian in the comics).

Things look to be improving for Phase Two, with characters like Sif and War Machine getting prominent placement and Falcon and Sharon Carter suiting up for action. But we think Marvel can really strive for diversity by utilizing some of the great characters mentioned below in Phase Three.

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

AC Comics

Crypt Of Horror #16, $29.95

Action Lab Entertainment

NFL Rush Zone Season Of The Guardians #1 (Denver Broncos Variant Cover), $3.99

NFL Rush Zone Season Of The Guardians #1 (Arizona Cardinals Variant Cover), $3.99

NFL Rush Zone Season Of The Guardians #1 (San Diego Chargers Variant Cover), $3.99

NFL Rush Zone Season Of The Guardians #1 (Chad Cicconi & Dave Dwonch Regular Cover)(not verified by Diamond), $3.99

NFL Rush Zone Season Of The Guardians 32 Team Variant Pack (not verified by Diamond), $125.00

Amryl Entertainment

Cavewoman Cover Gallery #5 (Budd Root Special Edition), Ar

Cavewoman Cover Gallery #5 (Budd Root Regular Cover), $4.25

Antarctic Press

Gold Digger #147, $3.99

Applause Publishing

Doctor Who Faq All That’s Left To Know About The Most Famous Time Lord In The Universe Sc, $22.99

Archaia Entertainment

Jim Henson...

No, Joel Silver hasn’t fallen through a time rift and into a scenario that sees him hiding out from a group of hooded bandits in the safety of a cathedral, but the producer is looking to the past for inspiration with his next movie, which he describes as “a cross between Blade and Wanted” - two movies Silver happens to have a little history with (and if you care, you can look that up on your own, thank you very much).

Anyway, Sanctuary is said to be based around a secret Vatican organization who take in possessed men and women and train them to fight against the forces of evil whilst also harnessing their demons, presumably with crossbows and wooden stakes but more than likely with technology-enhanced versions of those weapons.

So the comparions to Blade are kind of obvious to point out, given that the titular character in...

By David Savage

One of the most idiosyncratic and inventive voices of genre filmmaking to emerge in the 1970s was Jeff Lieberman (born 1947), whose three best known films, Squirm (1976) Blue Sunshine (1978) and Just Before Dawn (1981) have become classics of horror and sci-fi. Cited as an influence on such directors as Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino (the latter lists Squirm as an essential viewing if he’s to take you seriously), Lieberman’s filmmaking captures the low-budget resourcefulness of Roger Corman and combines it with a singular point of view -- one that seems both quirky and at times, deliriously demented.

Here at Cinema Retro, these are exactly the types of directors we enjoy tipping our hat to. So I’m excited to announce that I’ve organized a tribute to Lieberman built around these three films with the generous participation and hosting of Anthology Film Archives in New York City,...

No doubt: it's been a very good year for both these stars. And much as I admire Jean Dujardin's sublime performance in The Artist, my hunch is that the industry will favor one of its own on Oscar night. So who will it be -- George or Brad? I'm saving my prediction for a later Oscar piece, but for now simply want to consider these actors' respective contributions, leading up to and including 2011. And you'll note I say "actors," because one thing this past year confirmed was that both these handsome, movie-idol type personalities can, in fact, really act. Some will claim they've always known it, but for me this was a pretty striking discovery. Too often Pitt and Clooney have been constrained by their leading man status to playing cool, heroic protagonists who save the day and get the girl. And they appear to be playing themselves. (Sometimes even on the same screen,...

 

Yesterday I brought you the music videos of David Fincher and today I bring you his commercials. With a strong visual eye and an occasionally dark, yet playful, sense of humor, Fincher has directed commercials for companies such as Nike, Budweiser, Heineken, Coca-Cola, Apple, Motorola, Adidas, Colt 45, Levi's, At&T and Hp and in those commercials he's featured stars such as Brad Pitt, a very young Angelina Jolie, the late Dennis Hopper, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Claire Forlani, Billy Dee Williams as well as sports stars such as Charles Barkley, Michael Vick, Terrell Owens, Adrian Peterson, Ladainian Tomlinson, Troy Polamalu, Shawne Merriman and Steven Jackson. Over the next four pages I have gathered a collection of 23 of Fincher's commercials for you to preview and I'm sure you'll recognize many and yet will have never realized they were directed by the man behind Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and his latest effort,...

Blue Sunshine Montreal’s only psychotronic film centre will be celebrating it’s one year anniversary by presenting the film that inspired their name: 1978’s Blue Sunshine with director Jeff Lieberman in attendance! The event will take place on Saturday, June 25th at Blue Sunshine, 3660 St-Laurent, 3rd Floor. Doors will open at 7:45pm and the film will screen at 8:30pm. Tickets are $15 but they also have a combo pack available for $25 that include both the screening and Jeff’s Miskatonic class on “Radioactive Movies” the next day!

Be sure to visit the official homepage for Blue Sunshine. Here is the trailer for the film and below it is more info from the press release:

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The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies presents

Radioactive Movies!

with Instructor Jeff Lieberman

Sunday June 26 – 11am-2pm

Registration: $15

(Tickets will not be mailed to you – bring your receipt and your name will be...

Actress Rue McClanahan was best known for her role as lusty Southern belle Blanche Devereaux on the television sitcom The Golden Girls. She had a successful career on stage, film and television for over fifty years.

She was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma on February 21, 1934. She studied theater at the University of Tulsa and made her professional stage debut at the Erie Playhouse in Pennsylvania in 1957. Soon after, she was performing in off-Broadway plays in New York.

McClanahan began acting in films in the early 1960s, appearing in the low-budget thriller Five Minutes to Live (aka Door-to-Door Maniac) (1961) starring Johnny Cash. She continued her career in such features as the Sherlock Holmsian fantasy They Might Be Giants (1971) with George C. Scott, and the western slasher film Blade (1973).

She starred as Vivian Cavender Harmon, Bea Arthur’s title character’s best friend, in the sitcom Maude from 1972 to 1978. She starred...

Beloved TV actress Rue McClanahan, best known for her oversexed, promiscuous and outgoing menopausal portrayal of southern belle Blanche Devereaux on the 1980's TV series The Golden Girls has passed away at the age of 76 from a stroke.

We'd like to take a moment to remember Rue from her beginnings, in horror films, like 1961's Five Minutes to Live, in which she played a small uncredited role; the strippers-getting-killed-by-a-maniac TV film Angel's Flight; the episode Daisies of James Coburn's TV-horror series Darkroom; Jeff Lieberman's slasher Blade; and the sci-fi movie Starship Troopers. Even in 2009 Rue was appearing on the Biography Channel's Celebrity Ghost Stories. We'll miss this charming and funny actress...

Watch the episode of Darkroom with Rue:...

It’s hard to surprise people when putting together a list of the best slasher movies and, in the interest of doing so, I thought I’d exclude all the genre mainstays from the list. This list doesn’t necessarily represent the “ten best”, but rather some of the slasher subgenre’s more ‘overlooked’ offerings.

10. The Mutilator (1985)

It can be argued that this film’s greatest asset is its amazing tag line (By Pick, By Sword, By Axe, Bye Bye!), but that’s doing a bit of disservice to director Buddy Cooper’s only attempt to run with the slasher big dogs.

First we’ve got one of the most preposterous killer motivations in the subgenre: a child, cleaning his father’s gun in an attempt to gleam his daddy’s affections, accidentally shoots his mother dead. Dad comes home, flips his lid and viola! Instant slasher!

If you track down the uncut version,...