Kevin Smith talks a lot, Ande Parks talks a little

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Tonight, Kevin Smith talks Snyder Cut, Disney Plus gets bundled, and we look back at SmallvilleCon with an interview with Andy Park on this comics edition of Multiverse Tonight. Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, and more. If you're looking for a roundup of DP news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight. Hello everyone, welcome, bienvenue. And welcome to Multiverse Tonight. I'm your uh host, Thomas Townley, and uh you're now listening to the number seven podcast on the Apple Podcast, Entertainment News Charts. Uh to be honest, I didn't expect to stay on the chart at all, so being uh being on that chart for a few days is kinda nice. Uh but it's also kinda nice to say uh this is a top ten podcast. Hey, there we go. Uh this episode has plenty of news, and I've also uh decided to s uh scroll up one of the uh interviews that I took at SmallvilleCon, and this one is with uh the legendary Andy Parks. So uh let's get on with the DC News. Now uh we begin DC News with uh Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for a generation, will finally get to step in front of the camera. Announced at the Television Critics Association's summer event, Kevin will appear in this year's Aeroverse Crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earth, as an older Bruce Wayne. Could he be the Aeroverse's Bruce Wayne? Also announced in the crossover are characters from Black Lightning, and, surprisingly, Bert Ward will be appearing as an aged Robin. The departing Aerostar, Stephen Amel, is working on the final episodes of the series, while reflecting on the series at the TCA summer event, re where he revealed that his favorite episode of the series is season two, episode twenty, seeing red. It's one that Amel said was quote, a really beautiful episode, unquote. The episode in in question saw some touching moments between Oliver and his mother, and saw Moira revealing that she knows that Oliver is the arrow and that she couldn't be more proud of him. We got some info on Batwoman from the TCA event. When sh uh when she won't get the that red wig until episode three. The first few episodes are the origin story. And she won't initially even have her own costume. Initially, she'll be modifying a suit from her cousin Bruce, after she comes across Bruce's secret that he was the Batman. Emphasis on the was. It is also revealed that Tommy Elliott, who becomes the villain Hush, will show up in episode two, and that the villain for the season will be Magpie, a jewel thief who developed an obsession for beautiful things while curating Gotham's museum. Black Lightning will be returning sooner than expected. The show's season three premiere has been moved up to October 7th. Batwoman starts the chain on October 6th, then Black Lightning, followed by The Flash on October 8th, Arrow on the 15th, and Legend of Tomorrow coming back in January 2020. So, what's your favorite? Todd Phillips Joker is receiving some high praise. Cameron Bailey, the co-head and artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival, has called it a quote, cinematic achievement on a high level, unquote. The film festival will screen the movie which will be the first comic book movie screened at as a Gallup presentation. Speaking with the Toronto Sun, Bailey said, quote, First of all, it's terrific. So it should play on our largest stage. But it's a really original take on comic book movies and on the Joker character in particular. It's not based on any existing story. It has one of the greatest actors in modern cinema, Joaquin Phoenix, in the lead, and Robert De Niro is in it as well. One of the best actors that has ever lived. About the tone, Bailey said, quote, It's set in the late 70s, early 80s, and it feels like it was made then. It's gritty in its look. It has references to Martin Scorsese's filmmaking, and it feels like it's a cinematic achievement on a high level. Although it's working with very popular material, it has great ambition. That's why it's a gala. The movie opens in theaters on October 4th. One of the holy grails of Hollywood has been a Zack Snyder cut of Justice League. Its existence has been argued about since the movie was uh where uh Snyder relinquished control during post-production in order to deal with the death of his daughter. John Sweden took uh took then took on the post-production, which included a lot of reshoots. The film didn't do as expected at the box office, and the DC Cinemac universe has kind of fallen apart since then. That brings us to the present day. Kevin Smith, speaking with Cinemalam Cinema Blend's Real Bleed podcast, said that it exists, saying, quote, I've not seen it firsthand. And also to be clear, I know Zack, but it's not like we're effing tight, son. That being said, I've spoken now to enough people at various levels into production, there is a Snyder Cut, for sure. That's not a mythical beast, it exists. Now, it's not a finished movie by any stretch of the imagination. There were things that went away from the story that they shot that didn't wind up going into visual effects or anything like that. So I assume, based on what I've been told, that large sections of the Snyder Cut are what are, you know, pre-viz with a lot of green screen. We're ta we're not talking a finished movie. When people hear Snyder Cut in their heads, they think about like a DVD they've seen with an extended cut or something that's finished. The Snyder Cut, that again I haven't seen, but the one I've heard everyone speak of was never a finished film. It was a movie that people in production could watch and fill in the blanks. It was certainly not meant for mass consumption. I feel confident that the audience could handle the that production of the movie without being like, I know there's a common thought process, probably within the studio, and again, no studio was said this to me, but I would assume that they're like, we can't show people like this. Yes, there's a Snyder Cut, but no audience would be able to look at this and see what the director's intent was. I disagree. That should seem like common wisdom, because everyone also wants to put their best foot forward. But I think the audience now, particularly the audience that would consume the Snyder Cut and discuss it at great length, can watch a work print. They can watch a work in progress and fill in the blanks in their heads. Every studio likes to make money. They do multiple incarnations of movies and video all the time. This could be j this could just be more w more of those. All they have to do is lend their audience a little more credence to be like, look, they'll get it. Put up a bunch of bleep disclaimers, including one from Zack himself at the head of it, going, obviously the movie wasn't finished, but here's what we were thinking. There's definitely a way to do it. They could definitely shoot a version of that flick where, you know, they put Snyder into it, explaining what wo what would have gone what have would have went here, what would have went there. Man can that man talk. Uh here's the tenpenny version of that whole long speech. In other words, yes, it exists. Will it ever see the light of day? Probably not. I'd like to thank you for listening to this edition of Multiverse Tonight. You know, one way you can support this show is to listen to it through the Radio Public App. Every episode of Multiverse Tonight as heard through the Radio Public App, or iPhone or Android, means that you can get this podcast, and we get a couple of cents in our can. Find the Radio Public App in Google and iTunes app stores, and give it a try today. And we're back. Thanks for that. Uh again, Kevin is such a is such a talker, and if you if you do speech of s the his speeches word for word, it's a big one. Uh speech of things that we will never see, Ben Affleck's version of The Batman. What would have what would it have been about? Cinematographer Robert Robert Richardson would have worked on the movie, and he spoke with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he revealed that the movie would have taken Batman into the depths of Arkham Asylum. Quote, I want to shoot Batman with Ben Affleck, because that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a love script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it. He was going into the more insanity aspects. He was entering more into the Arkham. He's going into where everyone was bad. Unfortunately, Ben Affleck couldn't quite get to a state of happy with the script, and he eventually hung it up. It's kind of a shame. It kinda sounded sounded interesting. While we're on The Batman, reports are surfacing that Warner Brothers is considering adding Black Klansman star Javid Dav John David Wat uh Washington to the movie. What character he's being considered for is not known at this time, but it's possible that he could play Harvey Dent. Interesting enough, he's currently filming Tenant with the Batman's Batman, Robert Pattinson. So I guess they might have time to work on their chemistry together. Now, let's go to the Marvel News. ABC Entertainment President Carrie Burke spoke to Deadline.com and said, quote, I've spoken to Marvel, and we are in Active Talks about one project in particular, unquote. And while she wouldn't give away any details, she said the character would be, quote, something brand new mostly, unquote, and that the series would fit in with the strategy of female focused superheroes. The network's current MCU show, Agents of Shield, is currently winding down with its seventh and last season. Disney Plus is getting ready to come out in a big way. First off, it's been revealed that at the last Disney Investors meeting that Disney Plus will be available with a bundle with Hulu and ESPN Plus for the low, low price of $12.99. And the first people who will will be able to subscribe to Disney Plus will be members of D23, the Disney Fan Club. There are a huge list of shows and movies that were revealed, and I'll have that in the show notes for you to peruse at your leisure. Let's just say there is there's a lot. All sorts of TV shows, everything. Uh Disney Plus will launch on November 12th. Rob Liefeld thinks he's found the role for Dwayne the Rock Johnson in the MCU. Posting to Instagram, the comic book creator posted, quote, dearest at the rock. Based on reports about Sandy Chemistry between you and a familiar friend, I believe the next logical step is for you to join the Marvel Universe as Garrison Kane in a future Deadpool installment. Life old uh continued on in the Instagram post, quote, you're a natural, and Kane is already celebrated by millions of comic fans who have thrilled to his adventures since I first introduced him in X-Force number two. Your pal Rob, unquote. So would you like to see The Rock in Deadpool 3? Speaking of actors, Amanda Siegfried Z Amanda Sifried speaking with MTV revealed that she turned down the chance for an M for a major Marvel Cinematic Universe role because she didn't want to be tied down by the role. Quote, I turned down a ma a Marvel Studios movie once and they haven't called me back since. Seifried told MTV. And it was a big one. I don't regret it because I didn't want to be green for six months out of the year. They tell beautiful stories through superheroes, and my daughter's now really obsessed with superheroes now, and part of me wishes I'd done it. But the other part of me is like I had life to live, and I don't think I would be very happy. So, she didn't want to be green. Could that role have been Gamora? We'll never know. According to the New York Post, the New York City Council voted to approve a proposal to co-name University Avenue between Brandt Place and West 176th Stan Lee Way. The proposal still needs approval from Mayor Bill de Blasio. Lee formerly lived at 1720 University Place. He attended high school at Dwitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. And he passed away on November of 2018. Now, let's go to the geek news. Viacom has acquired the rights to Jim Davis' Garfield brand. Viacom has a definitive agreement to acquire Paws Inc, which holds the rights to Garfield and U.S. Acres involving including merchandising rights. Garfield will be put into the hands of Nickelodeon. Nick will then develop a new Garfield animated TV series. And sadly, a comic book creator, Eric Cologne Ernie Cologne, has passed away at the age of 88 from cancer. Mr. Cologne's career lasted 60 years across several publishers and with many roles, including comic book editor, writer, colorist, and literary. He is best known for his artwork on titles including Damage Control for Marvel, Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld for DC, and the Illustrated Edition of the 9-11 Commission Report. Now, we should have that interview with Andy Parks. Hello, Tom's Tony here at uh Smallville Con, and I'm here with the great Andy Parks. Hey, good to see you. Alright, tell me uh how do you find uh your inspiration when you draw?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Hopefully, when you go to your job every morning, you know I've been doing this so long that I kind of know what my goals are. Um and those are based on foundations of guys that I admired when I was breaking in Dick Giordano, Klaus Dance, and these Inkers have really influenced me. But still, some days I especially after you don't do it, let's say you take a vacation or even a long weekend like this, you're gone from the board, you can kind of lose your way and like, uh. So I turn to people I admire still, like Kevin Nolan. I'll get out maybe some Kevin Nolan original art that I own and look at that and try to draw some inspiration out of that stuff. Anything to just get the pen or pencil moving again. Because like it's like anything else, if you don't do it for a few days, you start to go like, uh, I can't draw anymore.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

And uh one of your biggest runs was on Green Arrow. Uh, tell me a little bit about that time.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

It was a really it was a great break for Phil Hester and I. We'd been working together for a long time, but DC would not hire us together. And then Kevin Smith had admired some of Phil's work, so he hired us to do a clerk's comic at Oni Press. And then when he was gonna do Green Arrow at DC, he just said, Well, I want Phil and Andy to do it. And I think everybody at DC was like, Really? He and the editor Bob Shrek really stood up for us and said, Yeah, these are the guys for the job. So it really changed our careers. It was a really good selling run because Kevin was involved and it was a good book. And it cemented Phil and I as a team so we could work together from then on, which has been great.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Uh now I have to ask about about Kevin here, real quick. Um, he's he's known for being very laid laid back and not putting points uh things out on time. He takes his time. Uh, was that ever a problem?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

A little bit. Um DC did not solicit the book until he had six scripts handed in. So we were, I don't know, we had an eight or ten issue kind of leeway there before he started to fall behind a bit. But it was we did we did pretty well. I mean, I think maybe the book shipped a little late a couple times toward the end, but overall we put out 15 issues more or less on a monthly basis, so it was good. And uh what are you doing nowadays? I am at the moment I have some writing projects I'm working on, but at the moment my regular day job is inking Batman Beyond over Rick Leonardi, who I really enjoy working with.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

And one last question I must ask about the hats. What's with the hats?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I discovered, well, partially, I lost my hair pretty severely in my 40s. And I don't want to be it's not, you know, no there's a nose unleft. You can't be out in the on the sun. So I started wearing hats for that reason. Then I was like, you know what? I like vintage stuff and I love I just think hats are cool. So I started collecting and now it's kind of my trademark. So yeah, I would almost always have a nice hat on and a con. Alright, Andy.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Well, I know you have to run to the panel. So uh thank you for your time and uh I hope we'll uh talk more again someday.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Absolutely good to talk to you, man. Thank you. Good to see you too. Thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah, Mr. Parks was uh a very nice very nice guy, and you know, I I caught him just before he went to his uh panel, so you know, it was it was very you know nice to sit down and give me a few minutes of his time. You know, he didn't have he didn't have to do that, I could have waited, but you know, again, a true class act. Uh that brings us to the end of uh our comic book news for today. And uh now uh be sure to check us out on social media. We're of course on Twitter at multiverse tom, or also on Facebook and Instagram as well, at uh multiverse tonight. And uh if you'd like to contribute some money, uh please visit mtpodcast.com to go to our coffee or Patreon as well, and be sure to visit multiver multiver multiverse tonight.com and check out our affiliate marketplace links, the link to our Tea Public store, uh we also have show notes there, we have you know the occasional article, and so much more. And uh if you're a subscriber, be sure to share us with your friends, and if you're brand new to the show, please be sure to subscribe. You know, and uh go online, leave us some feedback, uh let us know how we're doing. You know, sound doesn't exist in the vacuum after all. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for our intro music and to Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Uh thanks for watching the comic book edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with the sci-fi edition. Now, please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse tonight is a production of Half-Bake Genre Productions, copyright twenty nineteen. All right, research.