Strange and New with Solar The Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Tonight, Strange New Admirals, Strange New Scores, Strange Shows Axed, Strange New Madness, plus an interview with Solar the Podcast, and we remember David M. Jones, Steel Adams, and George Perez. All then more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight. Comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 163 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm of course your host, Thomas Townley. And uh, well, it's been an interesting time around here. I have a brand new computer at my feet. I I after after the last few episodes, you know, had issues. I decided, you know what, I'm going to get a night a new computer next year anyway. Might as well just buy it now with you know the financing I have. So I got a nice uh Dell XPS uh system down here. It's got basically more than I need to do this. So uh very happy about that. Planted my garden this past week. Uh some of the plants did not come through the uh shipping process looking great, so there's that. And uh pretty much uh pretty much the half of it. So uh we got a fully loaded show. Let's go on to the Star Trek news. And we begin Star Trek News today with the cast of the next generation, who will not only be in Picard Season 3 for a couple of minute cameos, they're in there substantially. Now Alex Kurtzman said in an interview with Trekkor.com, quote, When you take on Picard, the first thing you think of you think is, I want to bring everybody back, right? Of course. But Patrick Stewart, and he really deserves the credit for it, equally want to bring everybody back. But what I think was instant from the beginning, saying, if we're going to do that, we have to earn it. We can't just drop that all at once. It won't land in the right way because there won't have there won't have been enough time to set up what had changed about Picard, about all the other characters in the intervening years. So I think that we felt that by the time we get around to season three, now you're like, okay, we've established the world, we've established the characters, and it makes a lot of sense to bring them back. And we have a really good re reason to bring them back. I mean, any story, it's always why. What's the why? And we finally found our why. Yeah, I'm really looking at forward to that. Uh Star Trek Picard this past season was was fascinating. It was just on the verge of being excellent to me. There's just just not there, there are a few few things that made you go, huh? It was good. But we also recommend uh watching Strange New Worlds. And if you're in the United Kingdom or Ireland, you'll be getting access to Paramount Plus on June 22nd. Now, some of the most anticipated Paramount Plus and Shoottime originals from the US, UK, and other international markets will also be available to the UK and Ireland when the service launches, including Halo, 1883, Strange New Worlds, uh, the offer, Mayor of Kingstown, Super Pump, the Battle for Uber, the First Lady, the Manfeld Earth, Queen of the Universe, and and Jerry and Marge go large. But uh most likely Picard and Lower Deck Lower Decks won't be on the service as they are expected to be prime video exclusives for the time being. Now, speaking of Strange New Worlds, they've cast if you watched the first episode, they cast the role of Robert April, who was the captain of the Enterprise before Pike took command, and now an Admiral. Uh Canadian actor Adrian Holmes, who is on the Reimagined Bel Air series as Uncle Phil, was put in the Admiral's boots. Now, this would be the first on-screen appearance by the character, save for the appearance of the character in the Star Trek Animate series, which, as you know, is is always been sort of canon, soft canon, not canon. It depends upon the you know day, what you know, what is. Anyway, uh congratulations are in order for LeVar Burton, who will be receiving the honor of a Lifetime Achievement Emmy at the first annual Children's and Family Emmy Award ceremony taking place this December. The inaugural Children and Family Emmy Awards is the first new addition to the Emmy Award since 1979. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Burton for his years hosting Reading Rainbow on PBS, a television show that helped instill a love of reading and literacy in countless young viewers. His role as Reading Rainbow's host and exec producer previously earned Burton 12 daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. The DVD and Blu-ray of Lower Decks Season 2 will be out this July. The two-disc home media collection includes every episode of the show's second season, plus more than an hour of bonus content, including two exclusive featurettes, Easter eggs, animatics, and much more. The Blu-ray features include a sound foundation, the first season of Florida Dex earned a nominate an Emmy nomination for outstanding sound editing for a half-hour comedy or drama series or animation for the episode No Small Parts. As sound for an episode series is particularly important, go behind the scenes in an interview with the team that creates the dynamic audio for Lower Decks while they discuss how to how they bring the series to life. And in Lower Dectionary, Season 2, the star of season two sees our heroes separated by death and distance. In this feature it takes a deep dive into all things season two through interviews with the producers, casts, and creatives about developing and executing the characters' journeys in the second season. There are audio commentaries on a handful of episodes, plus, as I said, the Easter eggs and animatics. Let's go on to some Star Wars news. John Williams has contributed to the music for Disney Plus's Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Now, Mr. Williams is currently working on the music for the next Indiana Jones movie and The Fablemans, so composing duties actually went to Loki composer Natalie Holt. Now, Natalie is a huge fan of Williams and a trained violinist, didn't get to have a head-to-head collaboration, but he did gift her with something, saying in an interview in the Hollywood Reporter, quote, We didn't collaborate, but I did get to use his theme. He didn't we didn't have very long, and it was quite last minute, whether he'd have time or not. But he really wanted to write that theme because he was the one character that he didn't write the theme for in the original movie. So I think he had this feeling that he wanted to complete that challenge. I think he had two weeks and he came on board and wrote the Obi theme and a suite, which is the main title, and then a few variations on how the Obi theme can work. That was what he had time to give to the project. And it was just a gift. It's so perfect, and in a way, once I had the Obi theme, it sent the it set the tent poles up for the project, unquote. Now she also was asked about how she thought of scoring Obi-Wan instrumentally, given that's in a completely different universe. She replied, quote, There are definitely some synth elements because I do like combining. It's not always straight up orchestral, just sometimes it is. I had John Williams orchestra basically, the same orchestra that he used and the same lineup. What he's done is just within the orchestra and using orchestral colors. So I did a bit of that. I also used more unusual instruments. I found the Swedish folk flutist. He's got hit this collection of 250 different flutes and horns. He had this hunting horn, which I recorded and then pitch shifted it down. There are definitely some of some other unusual elements to the score as well. I just love to experiment with things and be inspired by a sound and then develop something else. Now let's go on to the DC News. In this case, both Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow have had their next seasons cancelled. It's reported that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global are exploring a sale of the CW Network. The Flash, Superman and Lewis, as well as the pilot for Gotham Knights, are apparently still breathing. Viola Davis is currently in talks to have her own spin-off of Peacemaker at HBO Max. Now her character from the first two Suicide Squad movies, Amanda Waller, Crystal Henry will write the spin-off and executive produce with the Suicide Squad writer, director, and peacemaker creator James Gunn. Davis and Pierre Seraphran and EP on Peacemaker. Now Gunn has spoken about his interest in a Peacemaker spin-off, and HBO Max says that the show performed well, though as usual with streaming platforms, they do not cite precise numbers. The streamer also said that viewing of the finale was 44% higher than that of the series debut, and that the season ender had the largest single-day audience for any HBO Max original thus far. Now to the Marvel news. Benedict Cumberbatch will be taking a bit of a break from acting after Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. During an interview with the with IGN at the premiere for his new movie, the 45-year-old star explained how busy he had been between acting, parenthood, and more by saying, quote, It gets very multiversal in life in real life as well. Asked what variant of himself he would like to be, he said, quote, I guess one that's less busy, maybe? I might be that variant very soon, which is nice, taking a bit of a break, unquote. I I think he deserves one, you know. He's been really busy. Ethan Hawke was asked on Instagram if he had a favorite Marvel character. The actor who plays the avatar for Amet in Moon Knight replied, quote, It would be very easy to say Robert Downey because that was a high watermark for me. But in truth, I do think I have to give a shout out to Vincent D'Nafrio's as Fisk. That is a great character portrait. That's a great performance. And when I took this job, I was aiming at him. Making handgun motion he made a handgun motion with shooting sounds, unquote. Well, that's very interesting. Disney's Ms. Marvel series will be getting a theatrical release in Pakistan next month. The decision to give the series a theatrical outing reflects several factors, including the show's status as the first Marvel series to star a Muslim teen superhero, as well as the omission of Pakistan in Walt Disney's rollout of the direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney Plus. Other factors include the Id al-Fittar holidays as a cinema going peak, and the underlying growth of the country's cinema market, where Spider-Man Noe Home recently earned some $1.75 million from just 53 venues. Impressive. Ms. Marvel will be available on Disney Plus streaming service starring June 8th, 2022. It will debut in Pakistani cinemas on June 16th, with episodes 1 and 2 combined into a feature-length presentation. Episodes 3 and 4 will be simil similarly emerged and released in Pakistan on June 30th, with episodes 5 and 6 released on July 14th. Now let's go on to the interview with Solar the Podcast. Hi guys. Thanks so much for having us. Oh, no problem. So uh tell us about Solar.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Chris, you want to hop in?

SPEAKER_04 13:14

I will I'll hop in. I the the very broad pitch is that it's a it's a thriller journey to the center of the universe, to the heart of our solar system that also explores the vastness of humankind. Uh what that means story-wise is that we're on board the Aethon, which has just been hugely damaged by an enormous solar flare that was pointed directly at Earth. So not only did the ship get ripped in half, but they also don't know if Earth isn't a place where they can ever respond or send help. Uh so it's it's very much a show about people being stuck in isolation, trying to survive against the odds and work together to find a way to get home again.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Yeah, it is uh audio drama that's starring uh Stephanie Beatrice, Helen Hunt, Alan Cumming, Jonathan Bangs, Danielle Pinnock, Colin Ford, Ann Yatko. We've got a really stellar cast that ha ha stellar. Uh I accidentally mixed space puns a lot. Um we have a really world. We have an amazing cast. Uh and and it's a show that runs for 12 episodes. We're currently halfway through our initial release. So six episodes are out right now on all podcasting platforms to listen to. And uh it's a story we like a lot.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

And it's also done with uh fully immersive audio design, meaning that if you listen on headphones, you'll hear a fan up there on the left and you'll hear footsteps coming from on your right. And I uh the scent, you're really meant to be in the middle of the room, in the middle of the action, hearing all of this uh story unfold around you.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Well, great. So uh how did how did this come this uh podcast come about?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Uh it in sorry, uh it initially started as uh Kirk Home Media, which is our company. Um we had a bunch of podcasts that were were kind of talk podcasts. We had all sorts of genres, politics and entertainment and and luxury and health. And uh at the core of that was always the intention to be in the storytelling space. And so uh we started the company wanting to make audio dramas, knowing it was gonna be a much heavier lift, but this was always where we wanted to end up. Uh and so enter Chris, who is uh the greatest storyteller of all time, let's just say that. Um but Chris Chris did uh create the story and he wrote the whole thing, and we had worked together previously, or worked together currently and worked previously in a company called the Speakeasy Society that does immersive theater. And so this was just another way of exploring storytelling.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

And I had always I've always been interested in science fiction. And I uh when this opportunity came up and I was thinking about like, well, what would be a good story? What would be a cool story? I I thought it would I've seen so many uh uh thoughts of going out into the universe and exploring, you know, solar systems far away. I was like, oh, it'd be really cool if we actually turn it inside and like go and explore the sun in our own universe. Uh and just the idea of uh a survival story where you're literally up against the most powerful thing in our solar system. I I and just the survival of humankind against that kind of a division. That kind of a story really excited me. And so we started developing the characters and having them be separate because then they can radio to each other and describe what they're doing, which makes sense in an audio atmosphere. Uh, things like that, where it just felt like, oh yeah, the more we kept digging, we were like, oh, this is really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Okay, so this is basically like a a theater of the mind, an old-fashioned radio drama radio play. So, and uh, of course, you this is had this uh has all sound effects and stuff like that. How did you come up with the audio scape for it?

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Uh we have a sound designer named CJ Drumeller, and he uh is insane. We'll just say that. And so we spent We love you, CJ. We love you, CJ. Insane in a good way. That's a compliment coming from me. Uh the I would say we spent like six months developing the soundscape. Chris wrote it specifically, knowing we wanted the different capsules to sound different. So just from the audio, you could tell where you were if you were familiar with the ship. And just from the audio, you could tell if we were, because the story goes through flashbacks and present. You could tell if we were in the present because the ship is more damaged, or in the past when everything is running a lot smoother. And so CJ spent about, I would say it's probably six months just pulling together what the underlying current of the soundscape is and what the ship sounds like, what the rooms sound like, what it sounds like when they're outside in space, because while we know you can't hear in space, this is a audio format. So we bent to the rules on that a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 18:12

Um sharing that we had a very long ongoing discussion of what exactly zero G's uh sounded like because the ship periodically loses gravity. And while the answer is it doesn't sound like anything, is like that's not fun to listen to. You need to be able to hear the sound of everything lifting. So uh we had fun working through that.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

Yeah, it was a lot of exploring, basically.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Well, cool.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

Also, just making some other choices, like having a much more audible printer than you would probably have in the future, where it's like, but we just need to hear it print, so we needed to do those things.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

I like I like that it's a much more audible printer, as if there will be printers in the future, like everything would be they wouldn't take paper to space, but they I needed to have something physical to give.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

So yeah, yeah, paper was there.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Okay. Now uh you have a lot of good good stars in this, Stephanie Beatrice. You said Tony Hunt, Tony Award winner, Alan Cumming, Kathy Wardner, Helen Hunt, uh Jonathan Banks. How'd you get these people?

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Uh we sent them offers. Uh so a lot of our cast we did know uh or have worked with before. Jonathan Banks is someone we have worked with previously in theater. Ann Yatko is someone who uh we both went to CalArts, and Anne was a Cal Artian. Um, but Danielle Pinnock, Colin Ford, Stephanie Beatrice, uh Alan Cumming, and Helen Hunt, we didn't know. Uh, we went through the whole casting process. We uh wrote some letters to some people and said we think you'd be perfect for our show. Please read it and see if you're interested. It really helps when you have an incredible script that actors want to perform in, because I think that made them more amenable to actually uh accepting the offers. But uh yeah, we went through the casting process of reaching out to people, getting some rejections, getting some acceptances, and finding who the best fit for these roles are. And I think we we landed with a cast that we couldn't even have dreamed of getting. Really incredible.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

And it was also, I don't mean to cut you off, I apologize. Uh part of the weird nature of this is that we had to record in the midst of pandemic times pre-vaccine. So they they had to be willing to come in, follow the protocols, get their temperature tested, come in. They weren't even allowed to touch the doorknobs. The audio engineer had to open and close the door for them. They had to be willing to do all of this uh and record one-on-one and use their imagination, and just having them still come through with such incredible performances is really a tribute to Jenny giving them acting direction and just their incredible nature and talent.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

We love our cast.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Well, was there anyone that you really wanted that you couldn't get then?

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Um, I mean, I wouldn't say it like that. Like from the nature, I don't know how familiar you are with the nature of casting of like, yes, early on we had lists of people of like potentially what would be our dream casting for this role. And there wasn't like a person we wanted that we couldn't get. It was more just here are the various options, and these would all be really cool. And I will say the people we got are definitely on that list. So it wasn't like we ended up with a second place person.

SPEAKER_04 21:30

It was just uh we got like a choosing from two different pieces of gold. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

And we we do say this a lot about Jonathan Bangs, who's obviously not a name that people know, but he from the beginning was in this project with us and helped us develop this role and helped us create the the depth that is Jamal, his character. And then when it came down to casting, we couldn't necessarily hand him the role because. The nature of the industry is we kind of had to go through the process and see if we could get a famous person in the role and all of that. And all along the way, Chris and I were like telling our company like, John's the best one for the role. John's the best one for the role. John's the best. And so it was this, you know, kind of gut-wrenching process where we were really scared for a minute we weren't going to be able to use John. And then we finally were able to convince everyone that he was the best choice. And man, did he show up? And since then, like everybody who's come back and listened to the show, they're like, Yeah, everything sounds amazing. It's really exciting. I love the story. But like that Jamal guy, like, oh my God.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

And we're we're really proud that like he really, he really killed it.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

So yeah. And so so after so after Solar is done, do you have another one in the works?

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Well, what I'll say is that we there's a lot of different stories we'd be excited to tell in our solar universe. And the more you listen to the show, the more you can hear all these different plot threads. And there's everything, you know, that it the store solar is meant to be a contained story in one season, but you can see there's a huge potential for exploring other facets of the world that we were trying to build. Uh, so we would be excited to do that. Uh uh, but we have to just get through season one for now and uh make sure we share it as much as possible and we get the story to land.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

And that'll be yeah. The story continues growing. And I'll say, especially if if uh you're listening, you'll see that our episodes actually are all set in space, and then we have these separate uh pieces of content that are much shorter. They're about a minute to five minutes each. We're calling them recover recovered audio assets, and they are the story of the people on Earth. So already we're starting to tell the story from other perspectives, and we hope to continue learning more about these people.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Part of the uh plot synopsis that we didn't get into quite yet is that even before things went wrong on the ship, things were going very wrong on the ship. And there are competing companies between public and private sectors, and there's all sorts of intrigue around that, and who's telling the truth and who's lying and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Well, well, great. Now uh now it's time for some uh random questions here. I got my deck of cards. Oh these are random questions. Uh let's go with if you were reincarnated as a famous landmark, which would it be? All right.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Oh, that's a hard okay. So the first thing that comes to my mind, and that's strictly because uh whatever, it's the first thing that popped up is the Empire State Building. A, because I love New York, B, because like it would just be fun to be really tall and get to watch everything. You get to spy on absolutely everything going on in New York, and New York is you know, hustling and bustling. There's a lot to look at. So if I'm gonna be stuck in one spot because I'm a landmark, I feel like that would be a pretty neat one to be.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Does it have to be man-made? Let's say no. Okay. I I mean, I don't know why exactly, but I feel like the Sequoia Forest. Uh A, it's a national park, but B, it's just really old, and but it's also changing so I don't have to stay the same all the time. I just have to hope that people don't cut me down too much.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

All right.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

And that's our poetic writer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

All right. Here's here's another good one for you. Uh, would you rather go 30 days without your phone or your entire life without dessert?

SPEAKER_02 25:44

My entire life without dessert.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I'm honestly embarrassed to admit that, but yeah, I I'm glued to my phone. We're producers, you know. We got it.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

I I agree. I have nothing to add to that.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

I need the phone. All right. Oh, and the last one, uh, what's the funniest thing you've seen a kid do?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Um, my niece. Now I think this might be cheating because I haven't seen it with my own eyes. I've only seen the pictures, but my niece lived in New York uh when she was when she was young. She's still young, but uh as a toddler. And one day my my brother, her parents, turned around and saw her up against a taxicab tire, licking it because it tasted good.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

And I would say that's probably my favorite story about what my uh psychotic niece and nephew have ever done.

SPEAKER_04 26:46

I I I don't spend a lot of time around kids, but I do my I I live with some very good friends of mine, and they do have a two-year-old. And whenever he sees me, he will just go, it's Chris. And I think that is a delightful way to be greeted all the time. I but as far as the funnest thing, I I actually was babysitting for my piano instructor in high school, and I was talking with her daughter, and she had just discovered the concept of a joke, like that there is a setup and there's a punchline, and then you laugh. And so I could literally say anything to her, and she would think it was hilarious. So I said, the guy walks into a bar and says, ouch, and she just started laughing hysterically. And then she was like, I have a joke, I have a joke, and I was like, Okay, let's hear it. She says, Once there was an ant and it ate a whole watermelon. End of joke. And I I remember that and I was like, That is amazing. Like, then anything is funny to you in this moment, and that's delightful. So that when I actually was writing my thesis uh composition, because I have a music background, I was writing a thesis composition for a chamber orchestra. I called it uh horse feathers, and I've tried to write the whole thing as though it was a ballet written with the mindset that an ant eating a watermelon was the funniest joke alive. And so, like it would be things like a poster falls in love with the window, because you can see through a window instead of a poster, and and then there's a vacuum cleaner that falls apart while it's sucking things up and it sucks itself up, and the things like that, where it was like, Oh, this is funny. And so that was probably the most impactful, fun thing that a kid ever said to me. Once there was an ant and it ate a whole watermelon.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Oh, cool. All right. Uh tell us uh tell us uh where we can find Solar the Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Uh it's on all podcasting platforms. So wherever you find your podcasts, and if you don't currently listen to podcasts, they're really easy to get. They're all like many of them are free. Downloads on the App Store. You can get Apple Podcasts, uh Spotify, Samsung Free. Uh what else do we have? Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podchaser. Podchaser, uh Pod Podbean is one. Podbean. Wherever you wherever pocket casts. I feel like I'm missing a whole bunch. And I feel like, oh, Amazon Music. Amazon music. Uh I'm just popcorning uh podcast apps. But uh yeah, literally wherever you listen to podcasts, you can find solar by typing in solar the podcast. If you don't immediately see us, it's uh solar, and then type in Kurt Co.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

C-U-R-T-C-O, and uh hopefully we pop up because I we we've worked really hard on discoverability.

unknown 29:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

All right, folks. Well, uh I'm I'm very glad to hear about this podcast. I look forward to uh hearing the whole thing. And uh you know, of course, uh you can find more about them at SolarThePodcast.com and uh you can also go over Sorry there Joys of Live Podcasting. They were some great guests, by the way. Uh so I do recommend uh going over to SolarThePodcast.com and uh checking them out. Now let's get on with some geek news. Doctor Who's next doctor will be Nokuti Gatwa. Gatwa is best known for playing Eric Ifong in Sex Education, a role that earned him a Best Actor Award at the Scottish BAFTA Awards. Now outgoing Dr. Jody Wicker's thirteenth doctor will regenerate in a special this fall. And Sirius Gatwa said, quote, there aren't quite the words to describe how I'm feeling. A mix of deeply honored, beyond excited, and, of course, a little bit scared. This role and show mean so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my of my talent incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care. I will endeavor my utmost to do the same. Rusty Davies is almost as iconic as the doctor himself, and being able to work with him is a dream come true. His wrying is dynamic, exciting, incredibly uh intelligent, and fizzing with danger. An actor's metaphorical playground. The entire team have been so welcoming and true truly give their hearts to the show, and so as much as it's daunting, I'm wary of joining a really supportive family. Unlike the Doctor, I may only have one heart, but I'm giving it all to this show. The Quantum Leap Revival has been picked up for a full series order. The series is set 30 years after Dr. Sam Beckett disappeared into the time space continuum. The series will follow a new team of scientists that hopes to unlock the secrets of the Quantum Leap Accelerator and the man who created it. The series stars Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Siung, and a respected physicist and man of faith. The cast also earns Ghostbuster also includes Ghostbusters' alum Ernie Hudson as Herbert Magic Williams, a Vietnam War vet and seasoned member of the Quantum Leap team, who is able to keep the government at bay during the mission to rescue Ben. Rounding out the ensemble are Nanursa Lee as Jen, head of QL Security, Mission Alexander Park as Ian, the mastermind of the artificial intelligence program behind the titular experiment, and newcomer Caitlin Bassett as Addison, a QL project team lead in charge of the technology that allows the team to keep in touch with whomever is traveling through time. According to Deadline, the pilot episode, which was first ordered in January, will undergo some reshoots that are said to be related to the direction, not the casting. Frank Miller has launched his own independent publishing company called Frank Miller Presents. The company will have the writer artist behind the Dark Knight Returnsity and 300, acting as president and editor-in-chief, with the goal of creating and curate curating a line of comics that hopes to capture Miller's distinct visual style while also working with a range of talent from comic veterans to rising artists. The company has been quietly in the works for months, if not years, and is cont is coming to the launch pad with several titles, including a new Sin City comic and a return to Ronin, the samurai sci-fi creation Miller wrote and drew prior to finding mainstream crossover success with The Dark Knight. Joining Miller is the in the new venture is Dan DeDio, who acted as co-publisher of DC from 2010 to 2020, and will now serve as publisher at FMP. Cien Thomas, the CEO of Frank Miller Inc., will serve as COO of FMP. FMP will aim to produce two to four titles a year, which will be a mix of Miller's creations and new works. Miller is returning to the world of his acclaimed noir series Sin City with a Western tale set in the city's past titled Sin City 1858. Ronin, Book 2, is a follow-up to the Six Issue Miniseries originally published by DC in 1983 and 1984, and focused on a Ronin reincarnated into a bleak future. The titles for the new original works are Pandora and Ancient Enemies, details, which were not given for those titles, Miller would be writing or drawing, nor on the creative teams of the new books. In recent years, when Miller has revisited his work, such as Dark Knight, he has worked with other artists. The Dark Knight, The Golden Child, released in 2019, had art by Raphael Grandpa, although Miller wrote the story and script. Now we stop we uh stop to remember those who have gone on. David M. Jones, visual effects artist on movies like Star Wars and Closing Counters of the Third Kind, has passed away. Jones was employed at ILM, Universal Heartland, and Boss Film Studios for most of his career. As a model shop supervisor, or visual effects supervisor at Boss, he worked for he worked on Batman Returns, The Scout, Outbreak, Air Force One, and Starship Troopers, among other movies. At the start of his career, Jones built major models and worked in the Optical Effects Unit for Star Wars and served as his consultant on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both that were nominated for the Visual Effects 1978 Oscar with Star Wars Prevailing. Now he earned also an earned Emily nomination in 1996 for his work on the Fox series Space Above and Beyond, and did effects for HBO's Tales from the Crypt from A9 to 1995. His resume also includes Space Academy, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Hunt for Red October, Cliffhanger, and Desperate Measures. Nicknamed Details Dave, Jones enjoyed piloting radio-controlled model aircraft, fly fishing, and restoring his 1965 Lotus Elon. Survivors include his long, long lifelong friend and ex-wife, Janice Gerson, his son Hunter, a mechanical engineer who builds rocket ships at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. David M. Jones passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 74 years old. Comic book legendary artist Neil Adams has passed away. Neil Adams reinvigorated Batman and other superheroes with his photorealistic stylings and was a champion for creators' rights. He was born in 1915 in June 15, 1941, and was raised in a series of military bases around the world. After graduating high school in 1959, he tried getting in at DC Comics, but ended up at Archie Comics, where he did a panel that was published in Adventures of the Fly No. 4. He then went on to writing, penciling, inking, and littering humorous full-page and half-page gag fillers for Archie's Jokebook magazine. In 1962, Adams began his comic career in earnest at the Newspaper Enterprise Association Syndicate. From a recommendation, writer Jerry Kaplan, aka Jerry Capp, brother of Lil Abner creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposed Ben Casey comic strip based on the popular television mega series Drama. From there on, his career included work for Continuity, a company that he created, DC Comics, he worked on such titles as Action Comics, The Adventures of Bob Hope, The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, The All New Careers Edition Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, Aquaman, on Batman, he would revitalize the Joker, bringing Batman away from the camp of the 60s TV show, and to the brooding avenger we know today. He also created Risha Ghoul and his daughter Talia and revived Two Face. And he did a lot of work on Batman, including The Brave and the Bold, Challenger and other comics such as Challenger of the Unknown, Dead Man, and he rechristened and the rechristened Green Lantern Volume 2 as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, with issue number 76 in 1970. O'Neill and Adams teamed up two very different superheroes in a long story arc in which the characters undertook a social commentary journey across America. A few months earlier, Adams updated Green Arrow's visual approach by designing a new costume and giving him his distinctive goatee beard for the character in Brave and Bold at number 85. A major example of what the industry and the public at the time called Relevant Comics, the landmark run began with number with the 23-page story No Issue, No Evil Shall Escape My Sight, and continued to, and through him, Save a World, in the series finale in May of 1972. It was during this period that one of the best-known O'Neill Adams stories appeared in Green Lantern number 85 to 86, which was revealed that Green Era's Ward Speedy was addicted to heroin. He also did work for The Flash, Hot Wheels, Harley's Little Black Book, House of Mystery, Justice for All, Just Like America, The Commandy Challenge, Our Army of War, Fam Strangers, Spectre, Star Spinkled War Stories, Superman, Teen Titans, Weird War Tales, World's Finest Comics. For Marvel, he worked on Amazing Adventures Volume 2, Adventures No. 93 through 96, Conan the Barbarian, Crazy Magazine, Dracula Lives, Epic Illustrated, Fantastic Four, Antithesis, First X-Men miniseries number one through five, Cold and the Barbarians, Monsters Unleashed, New Advent New Avengers, Savage Sword of Conan, Savage Tales, Thor, Tower of Shadows, No. 2, X-Men, X-Men Giant Size number three, an adventure special, and for others and uh various comics for other publishers, including the $6 million man, an issue of Playboy. I mean the list is long, folks. During the 1970s, Adams was politically active in the industry and attempted to unionize the creative community. His efforts, along with precedents set by the Atlas Seaboard Comics Creator Friendly Policies and other factors, helped lead to the Mart Industry's standard practice of returning original artwork to the artist who can earn additional income from art sales to collectors. He won his battle in 1987 when Marvel returned original artwork to him and industry legend Jack Kirby, among others. Adams notably and vocally helped lead the lobbying efforts that resulted in Superman careers Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster receiving decades overdue credit and some financial remuneration from DC Comics. And in 1978, he helped form the Comics Creators Guild, which with over three dozen comic writers and artists joined. Also during the 70s, Adams illustrated paperback novels in the Tarzan series for Ballantine Books. With the independent comic publishing boom of the 80s, he worked for Pacific Comics and other publishers, and he founded his own continuity comics as an offshoot of continuity associates. His comic book characters included Megalith, Bucky O'Hare, Skeleton Warrior, Cyberrad, and Ms. Mystic. And uh he uh also, he and fellow artist uh Michael Nitzer entered into a dispute over intellectual property rights to Ms. Mystic, a character that they had worked on jointly in 1977, which Adams had published under the Pacific Comics and Continuity Comics imprints, linked to a lawsuit against Adams in district court in 1993 that was dismissed in 1997 due to Statue of Limitations. Adams and his wife Merlin were married in March of 1987 and lived in New York, and had one son, Josh Adams. Neil had four children in his previous marriage to Corey Pfeiffer, who is a comics colorist, and their children are Chris were Chris, Noel, Jason, and Zia. James Adams works as a in a toy works in toy and fantasy sculpture, while Josh and Joel Joel and Josh Adams illustrate comics and do design work on TV shows. And Zia Adams has also worked as a colorist. Adams died in New York on April 28th, 2022. His wife Marilyn told the Hall reporter that Adams had died from complications of sepsis. Neil Adams was 80 years old. Also gone is one of Neil Adams' contemporaries, artist and writer George Perez. Perez was born in June of 1954 in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. Perez's first involvement with the professional comics industry was as an artist and Rich Buckler's assistant in 1973. And he made his professional debut in Marvel Comics Astoshing Tales number 25 in August of 1974 as penciler of an untitled two-page satire of Buckler's character Deathlock. Soon Perez became a Marvel regular penciling a run of Sons of the Tiger, a serialized action adventure strip published in Marvel's long-running Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine. He and writer Bill Matello co-created The White Tiger, a comic's first Puerto Rican superhero, a character that soon appeared in Marvel's color comics, most notably the Spider-Man titles. Perez came to prominence with Marvel's superhero team comic, The Avengers, starting with issue number 141, and in the 1970s, writer Roy Thomas and Perez crafted a metafictional story for Fantastic Four number 176, in which The Impossible Man visited the offices of Marvel Comics and met numerous comic creators. Whilst most of Perez's Fantastic Four issues were written by Roy Thomas or Lynn Wien, it would be a Fantastic Four annual that would have his first major collaboration with writer Marvel Wolfman. Perez drew the first part of writer Jim Shooter's The Korvac saga, which featured nearly every Avenger who joined the team up to that point. In 1980, while still drawing the Avengers for Marvel, Perez began working for the rival DC Comics, offered the art chores for the launch of the New Teen Titans, written by Wolfman. Fortunately, he was working on Titans long while he was working on Titans, long Teen Justice League artist Dick Dillon passed away, providing an opportunity for Perez to step in as the regular artist on that title as well. While Perez's stint on the JLA was popular as fans, he received greater attention for his work on The New Teen Titans, which was launched in a special preview in DC Comics Presents in number 26. This incarnation of the Titans was intended to be DC's answer to Marvel's increasingly popular X Men comics. In August of 84, a second series of The New Titans was launched by Wolfman and Perez. Perez took a leave of absence from New Titans. New Titans in 1984 to focus on his next project with Marvel Wolfman on DC's 1985 50th anniversary crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earth. Crisis had purportedly featured every single character DC owned in a story which radically restructured the DC Universe's continuity. After Crisis, Perez inked the final issue of Superman in September of 1986 over Kurt Swan's pencils for part one of the two-part story Whatever Happened to the Map Tomorrow. And Perez was one of the artists on Batman No. 400 as well. Wolfman Perez teamed again up again to produce the History of the DC Universe Limited series to summarize the revised history of their fictional universe. Now, in 1987, Perez played a key role in the 1987 reboot of the Wonder One franchise. Writer George Pot writer Greg Potter spent several months working with editor Janice Race on new concepts for the character before being joined by Perez. Inspired by John Byrne and Frank Miller's work on refashioning Superman and Batman, Perez came in as the plotter and penciler on the series, which tied the character more closely to the Greek gods and jettisoned many of the other elements of her history. Perez at first worked with Padre and Lenwein on the stories, but eventually took over the full scripting chores. Later, Mindy Newell joined Perez as co-writer for nearly a year. Now, while not as popular as Ear Titans or Crisis, the series was a very successful relaunch for one of DC's flagship characters. Perez would work on that title for five years, leaving as artist after issue number 24, but remaining as writer to issue number 62. Perez returned to the character in 2001, co-writing a two-part story in issue number 168 and 169. And he also drew the cover for Wonder Woman, number 600, as well as the interior art. And for the successful 2017 Wonder Woman feature film, director Peg Jenkins would credit Perez's work on the title character as a major influence on par with the work of the original creator, William Moulton Marston. After that, it would go on to runs on the New Titans, Superman, War of the Gods, Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet, Silver Surfer, and the JLA Adventures Crossover of 2003. In 2011, DC launched a new Superman series written by Perez, who would provide breakdowns and cover art with interior artists by Jesus Marino and Nicola Scott. Perez would remain with that till issue six. The New Titans uh hardcover graphic novel was also published that same month, reuniting the team of Wolfman and Perez, and he was also Inker on the New Green Arrow series, which launched at the same timeframe as the as uh Dan with Jan Jurgens. And he also worked on World's Finest Revival, written by Paul Livitz. In July 2012, Perez explains his departure from Superman as a reaction to the level of editorial oversight he experienced. This included inconsistent reasons given for rewrites of his material, the inability to editors of editors to explain him the basic aspects of the new 52 Superman status quo, such as whether his parents' adoptive parents were alive or dead, and restriction imposed by having to be consistent with action comics, which was set five years earlier than Superman, a situation complicated by action writer Grant Morrison having not been forthcoming about their plans. Now, from September 2014 to December 2016, Perez wrote and drew six issues of his own comic creation, Sirens, published by Boom Studios. And in January of 2019, Perez announced that he was formally retiring due to various health issues, but he would continue to produce only a limited number of convention style head sketches on commission and attend a limited number of conventions. In October of 2013, Perez revealed that he would soon undergo laser and infect injection surgeries to adjust hemorrhaging in his left eye that had effectively made him blind in that eye. By the following June, the procedures were not yet completed, but his condition had improved to the point where he was able to resume work. In May of 2017, he was admitted to the hospital with chest pains due to a heart attack while traveling to a convention and had a coronary stint fitted. And in January 2019, Perez was dealing with multiple health issues, including diabetes and vision and problems with his vision and his heart. In December 7th, 2021, he revealed on his Facebook page that on November 29th, he had undergone surgery for a blockage in his liver and had been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. Given the prognosis of 6 to 12 months, he chose not to pursue treatment. George Perez was married but had no children. He passed away on May 6th from pancreatic cancer. He was 67 years old. And that brings us to the end of this edition of Multiverse Tonight. Now be sure to check us on social media. We're at Twitter at Multiverse Tom, or also on Facebook and Instagram as well. And if you'd like to contribute financially to the show, check out the show notes, uh Tizar Tea Public Store, and so much more. Head on over to the brand new MultiverseTonight.com. If you're a subscriber, thank you. Please be sure to share us with friends. And if you're brand new to the show, thank you. Please be sure to hit that subscribe button, and maybe if you want, leave some feedback. Let me know how we're doing. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Thanks for watching this edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night.