The Walking Dead Trailer

Lock your doors and windows and grab a baseball bat, the zombie apocalypse is coming to your livingroom. AMC has announced that its new series, The Walking Dead, will premiere on Halloween night, Sun., Oct. 31 at 10PM-9C. The pilot will be a 90-minute episode, and subsequent episodes will be one-hour long presentations.

But don’t worry. On Halloween night, those are just trick-or-treaters at your door. Or are they?

AMC has this four minute trailer available on their website. I’m looking forward to this series.

The Walking Dead Cast

We have a full cast photo for the upcoming comic book/horror TV series The Walking Dead. I’m looking forwatd to this show.

The Walking Dead Production Photos

Production in beginning in Atlanta for AMC’s adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic book series The Walking Dead. The first season will consist of six episodes, and is being written, produced and directed by three-time Academy Award-nominee Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, who are traveling in search of a safe haven after a zombie apocalypse takes over the world. The AMC website has these production shots on their website. This is looking like it could be a very good show.

Sarah Wayne Callies Joins The Walking Dead

Sarah Wayne Callies, who played Dr. Sara Tancredi on the TV series Prison Break, has landed female lead in AMC’s new show The Walking Dead. Based on a popular comic book by Robert Kirkman, Callies will portray Lori Grimes, the slowly-unraveling wife of the show’s hero, Rick (Andrew Lincoln).  Along with Lincoln, she will be joining a cast with Jon Bernthal, and Jeffery DeMunn. Frank Darabont is helming the show that is being adapted from the Image comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.

The Walking Dead follows a group of people struggling to survive in a world that has been overrun by zombies. Callies’ character is the wife of police officer Rick Grimes (Lincoln), who flees with their son Carl during the zombie apocalypse, and tries to reach the presumed safety of Atlanta. They are accompanied by Shane (Bernthal), the partner of her husband, who lays comatose. Finding the city overrun with the undead, Shane gathers a group of survivors who set up camp on the outskirts of Atlanta, where they’re eventually joined by Rick.

So far AMC has made a commitment for six episodes that will air in October as part of an annual Fearfest horror marathon. Dexter producer Charles Eglee will be joining Kirkman, Darabont, and Gale Anne Hurd as producers on the series. AMC president Charlie Collier offered, “AMC strives to make original shows that play like movies and The Walking Dead is a perfect complement to the network’s celebrated movie franchise, Fearfest, which has always been an important destination for our audience. With its depth of story and the remarkable talent attached, The Walking Dead gives us an opportunity to raise the bar significantly within this popular genre, and continue our commitment to being the home of premium programming on basic cable.”

Warren Ellis Bringing Gravel To The Screen

Gravel the comic book series by writer Warren Ellis and artist Mike Wolfer, has been optioned by Legendary Pictures, the same production company of Superman Returns. The acclaimed author will apparently be taking a much more active role in the project than he has with some of his previously optioned books.

According to Variety, Ellis will write the first draft of the Gravel screenplay. Gravel has appeared as multiple limited and ongoing comics series that have been published by Avatar Press. Ellis will also be an executive producer on the film.

Gravel follows a soldier in the British S.A.S. who moonlights as a for-hire “combat magician.” Ellis debuted the main character, William Gravel, during the 1999 Strange Kiss miniseries, which was followed by Stranger Kisses, Strange Killings and the subsequent ongoing Gravel series.

Ellis has become well known for his work on the popular comic book series Planetary, The Authority, Transmetropolitan and Astonishing X-Men. And he has been increasingly in demand in Hollywood. Ellis has worked on anime adaptations of the Marvel Comics character Wolverine and Iron Man, and there are movies in development based off of his comics series Ocean and Red.

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EC Rises From The Crypt

Joel Eisenberg and Timothy Owens` EMO Films has formed a specialty division, EC Film, Radio and Television, Ltd., in association with rights-holder William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., to exploit the notorious EC comics library in all related media platforms. Titles included in the deal are Tales From the Crypt (based on the original works, as opposed to the HBO intellectual property version), Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Weird Fantasy, Shock SuspenStories, Two-Fisted Tales and the remaining horror, science fiction, crime, humor and dramatic library, with the exception of Mad Magazine, which is owned by Time-Warner.

The deal was brokered by Eisenberg and Cathy Gaines-Mifsud, the daughter of EC publisher William M. Gaines, representing William M. Gaines Agent, Inc. Corey Mifsud, Cathy`s son, has been assigned VP of Development for the new company. William Maxwell Gaines is widely considered one of the most influential figures in comic book history. Gaines’ father, M.C. (Max) Gaines, was the publisher of Educational Comics (EC), offering such parent-friendly fare as Picture Stories From The Bible. When the elder Gaines died in 1947 as a result of a freak boating accident, the younger Gaines, who was studying to become a chemistry teacher, unwillingly took over the family business. Losing most of the old guard and hiring an anti-establishment band of writers and artists, Bill canned the educational titles, changed the E in EC to Entertaining, and focused his efforts on maintaining a primary line of horror, crime and science fiction books.

The new EC was an immediate though short-lived smash. By 1955 a festering backlash against comics, spearheaded by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, had picked up steam. Though Wertham argued that comic book violence led to juvenile delinquency, the EC brand was not all blood and guts. Stories about racism, substance abuse and war crimes were glossed over, however, by the lurid imagery of the line`s most successful titles. A Senate investigation followed, which led to the end of the classic EC era.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity for EMO Films,” says Eisenberg. “The amount of source product here is staggering, and we look forward to both developing projects in-house and setting up the material with outside entities.” EMO Films recent release, the Columbine-themed “April Showers,” has set sales records on its digital release platforms.

EC was a revolutionary comics publisher that changed the comic book industry. They did phenomenal work that has stood the test of time. EC was famous for their snap endings. The twists that they turned their stories on, along with the incredible artwork that they produced, created weird and creepy worlds that enthralled readers. There have been movies and TV shows based on EC comics in the past, most notably the Tales from the Crypt franchise. I like the idea of revisiting EC comics. Let’s hope that the new projects can capture a piece of what made the comic books special.

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Blood Energy Potions

First they made energy drink shots in bottles shaped like potion bottles that any worthy dungeon adventurer would be carrying. Now the makers of the Mana and Health Energy Potions are making the Blood Energy Potion bags.

They bill it as being the world’s first synthetic blood beverage, but these pouches actually contain a fruit pouch flavored drink. Each pouch is said to contain 4 hours of energy, along with protein, and electrolytes. The Blood Pouch Energy has drink has been developed with a similar nutritional makeup to real blood, as well as having a similar color, look, and consistency.

The pouches are designed to look like transfusion bags, and they are resealable. This is a crazy product, but at the same time its kind of cool. This will be a great prop for people to add to their horror game sessions, or for people to add to the ambiance of their Halloween parties. I think its great that they’re making containers that can be used as props in different genres.

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