I’ve been pretty excited about this flick since I heard about it years ago and finally we get one of those awesome Drew Struzan created posters. USA Today reports that the movie will take place in 1957 with Indy traveling from New Mexico, Mexico City and South America in a race to beat the Soviets (yep, no Nazis this time) from claiming the crystal skull referred to in the film’s title.

In addition to a 65 year old Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones the film also stars Cate Blanchett (Lord of the Rings, Elizabeth) playing a Soviet femme fatale, Ray Winstone (Beowulf, The Departed) as an unethical rival archaeologist, Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Disturbia) as your typical 50s greaser and likely is Indy’s son and last but certainly not least, Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starman) reprising her role as the only real decent lady for Indy, Marion Ravenwood. Originally I was scared that they were pushing the limits a bit considering Harrison Ford’s age but it is part of the story as the last installment, The Last Crusade, was released in 1989 and the story took place in 1938. So we are talking a 19 year gap storywise. I’m eagerly looking forward to this one.

A great fantasy that looks like an animated oil painting.

Comic book adaptations of movies usually suck but IDW Publishing gets it right with the first issue of Beowulf, based on the Old English poem and the upcoming cgi film from director Robert Zemeckis. This is a 4 part mini-series with a new issue coming out weekly through October.

Written by Chris Ryall (from the screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary) and stellar art by Gabriel Rodriguez, the story follows the the 6th century warrior Beowulf as he faces the monster Grendel, it’s demonic mother, and a dragon tied into Beowulf’s destiny. This issue introduces you to all those involved and it really does a great job of setting up the story and giving you a pretty good idea about who the main characters are. Like I said, the art is amazing and I’m really glad I picked this up on the urging of my comic shop owner. I know the story but this is still a very special treat. Grade: A+

Wildstorm: Midnighter #12

Written by Keith Giffen with art by Rafael Sandoval, this issue catches up with Midnighter trying to find information on the organization called Anthem, who basically seem to be a group of ultra-conservative superpatriots out to mold America into their ideal image. Right after Midnighter is able to contact his computer guru to crack the case, he gets involved in a battle with a supervillain that causes some major destruction in New York City. As always, the way Midnighter deals with adversaries is thrilling and inventive and this one is great. This is my favorite “non-Big 2″ superhero title out there and I loved this issue! Grade: A- DC Comics: Countdown 30 (and counting…)

DC is getting better with this but the story, as I have said before, pales in comparison to their previous weekly title, 52. But there is a lot of fun in this issue and as a whole you can see that they are getting somewhere…..it’s just taking quite a while. I’ll keep hanging on and there is the promise in all of the teaser adds for this book and DC’s whole line in general that something big is coming. Okay! By the way, isn’t that cover above really cool? Grade: C+

Until next time–Peace….