1.  THE WALKING DEAD. I’m leading with this story because (a) I love zombies; (b) I love comics; and (c) I’m starting to love AMC’s original productions.  Oh, and (d) because “The Mist” is one of the best horror films of the past 10 years.  And this story combines all of this, and more!  AMC released still shots of what the zombies will look like in their Frank (Shawshank Redemption and The Mist) Darabont helmed adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s brilliant, ongoing epic, The Walking Dead.  The bad news: Season one will be just 6 eps.  No release date yet, either.  The picture, above, does a very nice job at mirroring Adlard’s brilliant art from the comic.  If they can do an equal job at paralleling Kirkman’s scripts, we’re in business!

Go here to see all the pictures.

2. GREEN LANTERN’S BIG AND SMALL, AND OTHER D.C. MOVING PICTURE NEWS. Here a Hal, there a Hal, everywhere a Hal Hal! Not only were plot points about the movie recently leaked to the internet, but Cartoon Network has announced a cartoon coming in 2012.  The leaked details weren’t huge (or unexpected), but they confirm that the film will feature the entire Green Lantern Corps, the threat will be Parallax, and characters will include Sinestro, Abin Sur, and Amanda Waller.  DC is also saying that their next live-action flick will be Batman in 2012, and then The Flash after that, but Wonder Woman and Aquaman are also in development.  Vincent Chase is up for the lead in the latter film.  Seriously, though, my question is, is Justice League dead in the water?  I wonder whether the abysmal failure that will be called “Jonah Hex” will have any effect?  And another thing: Why does it take so damn long to release all this stuff?  At least DC isn’t making the 1-a-year mistake Marvel keeps making: Both Batman and Superman will come out in 2012, with Bats getting Independence Day and Supes taking Christmas.  Still, it seems nobody has learned from Peter Jackson that it is easier and more economical to film three movies at once and then stagger the post-production and release dates.

3.  SPEAKING OF GREEN . . . I was a big advocate of the Rulk series when it started: Big, muscular McGuiness artwork and Jeph Loeb at his Bruckheimer best, but the series floundered under its own weight.  It started taking itself too seriously, created a whole conspiracy thing, and stretched out the central question: Who is Red Hulk?  Turns out, it is General Thunderbolt Ross.  Which we all pretty much knew anyway.  This series had a promising, fun start but ended up being some of the worst work these two extremely talented individuals ever put out.  Sad.

4.  X-MEN FIRST CLASS. And speaking of movies, the “X-Men: First Class” movie appears to have begun casting, so it may actually be a “go.”  James McAvoy has signed on to be the young(er) Professor X.  They’ve also got a director (Matthew Vaughn) and a release date of June 2011.

5.  TEEN TITANS . . . Hasn’t been good since Geoff Johns left it several years ago.  In fact, it’s been awful.  To try to save this once venerated franchise, D.C. is bringing in JT Krul.  Krul wrote the Blackest Night Titans spin-off, which wasn’t horrible but was pretty much dispensable.  He says he’s going to try to make the team stable and relevant again.  That would be nice.  During both the Marv Wolfman and Johns runs, it was one of my favorite reads.

6.  THE RETURN OF THE LIZARD. If you don’t know that Amazing Spider-Man has been revamping and reintroducing Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, one crook at a time, then you haven’t been reading this blog enough.  Spidey’s enemies are by far the most engaging group of baddies in comic history.  Yeah, Batman has a bunch of foes, but they’re not nearly as distinctive as the ones created by Stan Lee so many years ago, which included a zoo crew (Lizard, Vulture, Rhino, Scorpion); hunters, thieves and killers (Kraven, Chameleon, Shocker, Mysterio); mob leaders (Hammerhead, Kingpin, Silvermane); forces of nature (Molten Man, Electro, Sandman, Hydro Man); and of course the evil geniuses (Green Goblin, Tinkerer, Doc Ock).  The latest three-issue arc featured The Lizard, reimagined now as a Jeckyl/Hyde type who can control little lizards like Aquaman speaks to fish.  The plot itself was fairly simple, and not nearly as interesting as the Rhino and Sandman arcs, but it was well-written.  For example, the internal dialogue is on a par with Daniel Way’s work on Deadpool.  The star here, though, is artist Chris Bachalo.  Amazing work on a title that is surprisingly solid and consistent considering it publishes thrice monthly.

7.  THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE. Between this title and Batman and Robin, I’m actually turning into something I never thought I’d be: A fan of Grant Morrison.  His narratives are still a little too random and insidery for me, a casual Batman reader, but they’ve gotten much better than they used to be.  And the stories are constantly intriguing.  I know where this miniseries has to end, but I have no idea how it is going to get there.

8.  THE DEATH OF DRACULA/X-MEN #1. By now most of you probably know that Victor (Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth) Gischler and Paco (Deadpool) Medina has written the next big X-Event, “Curse of the Mutants,” which is about mutants and vampires.  Basically, Lord Drac dies and the rest of the bloodsuckers scramble for a new leader.  Wow!  That sounds . . . Stupid.  No, not stupid: Blatant and pathetic.  We know all the teens are digging Twilight, and True Blood is the only popular show left on HBO, but come one.  The one-off Claremont did, years ago, where Storm hooked up with Dracula in the Uncanny X-Men title was good.  But no more ever needed to be said on the topic.  I’d say I’ll keep an open mind, but that would be a lie.  I won’t.  X-Men books have been too convoluted, intermingled, intermixed and complicated for decades now, and just starting at an issue #1 simply is too little, too late.  How did Claremont’s brilliant vision get so off track?

9.  AVENGERS MOVIE. Last but not least, one of my favorite new actors, Jeremy Renner, may play Hawkeye in The Avengers.  Combine that with Joss Whedon in line as director and you’ve got The Best Superhero Movie Ever Made.

Tags: Comic books, Filthy Muties, Green Lantern, Hulk, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies