Kong toys!

Down in San Diego, Playmates Toys unveiled the action figures it's doing based on Universal's upcoming remake of "King Kong."

The range will include:

Basic Figure Asst.:
- 6" scale (8 styles total)
- Available this fall at mass market retailers for the suggested retail
price $9.99

Deluxe Figure Asst.:
- At a towering 11", the Deluxe Roaring Kong and Deluxe Bull T-Rex action
figures
- 11" scale (2 figures total) -- Deluxe Roaring Kong and Deluxe Bull
T-Rex
- Both figures feature 14 points of articulation at the neck, shoulders,
elbows, wrists, hands, hips and knees
- SRP $17.99

14" Feature Kong Figure:
- Highly detailed 14" figure features sound effects including roaring,
stomping and ambient jungle noises
- With 22 points of articulation, this Kong walks around on his front
knuckles and when standing up, Kong shakes his arms in the air
- SRP $24.99

Role Play Toys:
- Role play set includes Kong mask and breakaway chains
- Deluxe, electronic Kong arms allow children to experience the power of
Kong
- SRP $9.99 and $19.99

Battling Action Game:
- Kong vs. T-Rex Battle Game including 6" Kong and 6" T-Rex
- Game features posable Kong and T-Rex figures that twist and swing to
attack, each monster has a collapsible feature, and unique fighting
techniques
- SRP $14.99

Skull Island Playset:
- Multi environment playset inspired by the mysterious Skull Island
- Designed to play with the 6" action figure collection
- SRP $29.99

Soft Figures:
- 8" Kong basic soft figures
- 11" roaring Kong soft figures includes chest-activated roaring sounds
- SRP $5.99 and $9.99

DC Direct, JLU action figure sneak peeks

Superhero Times is snappin' pics in San Diego. Check out their gallery of upcoming DC Direct and Mattel figures here.

Another shot

More from Newsarama.

Darwyn Cooke to do ongoing Spirit series

Well, I'm not sure how I feel about someone other than Will Eisner doing the Spirit, but Cooke is probably the best guy around to do it.

According to a Newsarama report from the International Comicon in San Diego, the new series will debut in 2006, following up a Spirit meet Batman oneshot written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Cooke.

Cooke will write the ongoing title himself. It'll be set in a the modern age, not Eisner's 1930s/40s milieu but, aside from that, he's shooting to stay as loyal as possible to the original, citing these two goals for himself:

”One - preserve and if humanly possible, enrich the core essence of the Spirit. Give long-time readers a contemporary look at the magic that has held them for decades, and introduce a new generation to the irresistible pull of this rich human drama. Action, crime, romance, humor and pathos will all be generously employed in the ‘spirit’ of the original strip. There'll be no deconstruction and every issue will be a story unto itself, making every issue an ideal jumping on point. Every story will try to add and hopefully strengthen the essence of Eisner’s characters and vision.

”The second goal is to produce a work that reaffirms the Spirit as the strip for graphic innovation that enhances storytelling. This second mandate is, I believe, the one to be artistically important. While we cleave to Eisner’s vision and world-view for Central City, we should be equally mindful of his vision that contemporary storytelling techniques be continually introduced to engage the reader in fresh and appropriate ways. I believe that this would have been very important to Will, and I feel it is the key to avoiding a simple homage.”

Eisner's longtime associate Denis Kitchen helped bring the project to fruition.

Also in the works, a series of "Best of the Spirit" paperbacks featuring some of Eisner's top work on the strip.

Pop Artifact! Superman roller skates

More Superman.

Quick hits

Coming Soon has an update on plans for a live-action film featuring Will Eisner's Spirit.

The official site for Underworld: Evolution is up.

Via BoingBoing: Back in 1982, original "Bullwinkle and Rocky" voice actors performed a live script reading from one of the toons scripts. Check out the performance here.

Pop Artifacts! Batman and Robin squeeze toys

PBS to air Python specials

"Monty Python's Personal Best" devotes one episode each to the troupe's six members: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones.

The episodes will mix interview footage and clips from Python films and TV programs.

It'll air sometime next spring, UPI reports.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" review roundup

Newsday: This is Burton in the winking mode and full-tilt visual extravagance of his three best movies: "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood." The youngest audience members will miss the layering of pop culture references upon which Willy has built his madhouse (as if time had stood still the moment he shut the gate on the outside world): Sgt. Pepper, the Bee Gees, "Ben-Hur," "THX 1138," "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Busby Berkeley-style production numbers for the Oompa-Loompas (written by Burton die-hard Danny Elfman) that remind us how fascistic those synchronized routines could be.

Depp, who is to Tim Burton what James Stewart was to Alfred Hitchcock, misses the mark when the script requires him to shtick it up a la Jerry Lewis. But he puts his head on the block in ways most of his contemporaries wouldn't dare, and ultimately overrides the camp posturings of the flashback sequences (Joan Crawford, anyone?) to make us feel something for Willy's inner child.

Rolling Stone: The Michael Jackson pallor. The unnaturally white teeth. The smile stretched with insincerity. Johnny Depp's deliciously demented take on Willy Wonka, the candy man of Roald Dahl's book, demands to be seen. Director Tim Burton surrounds Depp with miraculous visuals of spun sugar and creeping menace. Their missionary lunacy is a treat for twisted children of all ages.

MSNBC: The new movie often feels less like a remake than a trip through Burtonland, where weird landscapes, Danny Elfman’s spry music and Johnny Depp’s whims threaten to turn the movie into a series of improvisations. Fortunately, there’s more of the classic Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “Ed Wood”) than the problematic Burton (“Big Fish,” “Planet of the Apes”) of recent years.

And the casting couldn’t be much better. Highmore, who was Peter Pan to Depp’s J.M. Barrie in “Finding Neverland,” has the requisite soul and spirit to play Charlie. Also making solid contributions are David Kelly as Charlie’s young-at-heart grandfather and James Fox as perhaps the most indulgent parent on the planet. Depp’s dark take on Wonka may not become as beloved as Wilder’s version, but his performance is the film’s chief source of welcome surprises.

Chicago Tribune: Tim Burton's scrumptious version of writer Roald Dahl's 1964 children's classic is almost everything you'd want it to be: a peach of a story delightfully imagined by Dahl and lushly realized by Burton. It's full of witty or awesome scenes, flights of fancy and characters either totally, lovably sweet or outrageously, humorously rotten.

Marvel's next big movie

"The Watcher"!

Mike Sterling has the scoop!