Or maybe they’ve moved into the next phase and are bitterly regretting the deal. They’ll get there sooner or later.

NBC’s plan is for a final half-season to air, wrapping things up and giving some sort of closure – only, without Harmon on board that concept sounds like a bit of a stretch.

Harmon, as you’d imagine, is not pleased. He took to his Tumblr to set straight some facts:

I do want to correct a couple points of spin, now that I’m free to do so:

The important one is this quote from Bob Greenblatt in which he says he’s sure I’m going to be involved somehow, something like that. That’s a misquote. I think he meant to say he’s sure cookies are yummy, because he’s never called me once in the entire duration of his employment at NBC. He didn’t call me to say he was starting to work there, he didn’t call me to say I was no longer working there and he definitely didn’t call to ask if I was going to be involved. I’m not saying it’s wrong for him to have bigger fish to fry, I’m just saying, NBC is not a credible source of All News Dan Harmon.

You may have read that I am technically “signed on,” by default, to be an executive consulting something or other – which is a relatively standard protective clause for a creator in my position. Guys like me can’t actually just be shot and left in a ditch by Skynet, we’re still allowed to have a title on the things we create and “help out,” like, I guess sharpening pencils and stuff.

However, if I actually chose to go to the office, I wouldn’t have any power there. Nobody would have to do anything I said, ever. I would be “offering” thoughts on other people’s scripts, not allowed to rewrite them, not allowed to ask anyone else to rewrite them, not allowed to say whether a single joke was funny or go near the edit bay, etc. It’s….not really the way the previous episodes got done. I was what you might call a….hands on producer. Are my….periods giving this enough….pointedness? I’m not saying you can’t make a good version of Community without me, but I am definitely saying that you can’t make my version of it unless I have the option of saying “it has to be like this or I quit” roughly 8 times a day.

The same contract also gives me the same salary and title if I spend all day masturbating and playing Prototype 2. And before you ask yourself what you would do in my situation: buy Prototype 2. It’s fucking great.

Okay, maybe that bit about Prototype 2 is a tad contentious, but I’m not going to argue with the rest.

Why was Harmon pushed? My best guess is that he just didn’t get on with NBC, a number of their staff and… well, the show’s longest-standing star, Chevy Chase. They’ve had some very public disagreements of late, perhaps exemplified by a very angry voicemail that Chase left for Harmon and which then “somehow” ended up online.

You can play that audio here.

So, it seems likely that NBC would have had to take sides, and went with Chase as he’s public-facing on-screen talent, and part of the show’s wider appeal in the broad mainstream. Well, if it has any. I expect it has very little.

But as you might expect, there’s a lot of interest in Harmon’s sacking, and it’s something everybody who stays with the show is going to face some grilling about.

The Hollywood Reporter managed to get their hands on a memo from the network to the cast, providing them with pre-scripted responses to keep them on message in interviews. Here are the four questions and answers.

Why did Dan get let go from the show?

We’re not made aware of why staffing changes take place but I will always be grateful to Dan for his great work on the show and wish him only the best. We’re also excited that we’ll be back on NBC’s schedule in the fall and are looking forward to working on those episodes.

Were you aware that Dan was going to be let go?

No, that’s not something we’re consulted on. I’m sad to see him go but I am looking forward to starting our next 13 episodes of “Community.”

Did the studio or network consult with you about these changes?

No they didn’t but we’re looking forward to working with David Guarascio & Moses Port on a new season of Community.

What are their plans for the new season?

It’s a little early to say at this point but we’re looking forward the stories our characters will find themselves in come Sept.

I can tell you first hand that an amazing amount of junket interviews are clogged up with nothing-talk like this. It’s counterproductive, I believe, as it just leads to interviews nobody will want to read or watch or listen to, and eventually the whole junket model will sink into the swamp. It also makes the interviewee look like an idiot or a robot and diminishes their standing with the viewer or reader. No good can come of this kind of dribble.

Community will return for 13 more episodes in a few months time and they may, somehow, be the best in the show’s history. More likely, they’ll be an embarrassment, viewing figures will drop even further and the fourth-season section of the inevitable full-run box set will get treated more or less like that Attack of the Clones coaster that Fox so thoughtfully provided in their Star Wars box.

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In the meantime, Kapow attendee Joseph Glass discusses the thought behind his question at the DC panel at Kapow which has sparked a major media attention this week.

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As you read this, I am currently flying through the air to the Phoenix Comic Con. But before I hit the airport, I hit the comic shop. And these are a few of the things that caught my eye.

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Is it true that, among other things, it reboots parts of Sandman continuity? That’s what I’m hearing…

But here are two more variant covers by Josh Corvey… and the Hellfire Club comics that inspired them.

Of course this is far from Steed And Mrs Peel’s The Avengers swiping from X-Men. It originally happened the other way round.

This comic is a sequel to the Avengers episode A TOUCH OF BRIMSTONE, the one Chris Claremont and John Byrne swiped the Hellfire Club from, an episode censored in the UK and banned in the USA when it originally aired in the 1960s.

Claremont and Byrne raided the TV Avengers pretty liberally: the Hellfire’s Black QueenJean Grey had an outfit that is derived from Emma Peel’s “Queen of Sin” character in that episode.

The story engine in both tales are similar: in The Avengers, Emma Peel goes in undercover to the Hellfire Club, gets drugged, and is forced into the “Queen of Sin” get-up. In the same way, during the Dark Phoenix Saga, Mastermind brainwashes Jean Grey into her Black Queen outfit.

The longest-lasting effect the Hellfire Club’s had on the X-Men mythology is the White Queen. Emma Frost’s name is a direct reference to Mrs. Emma Peel’s name. The White Queen’s lingerie outfit is the direct opposite of Emma Peel’s black costume.

According to John Byrne himself the “homages” don’t stop there:

I first encountered Peter Wyngarde, as an actor, on the Avengers episode “A Touch of Brimstone”, which dealt with Steed and Emma having an encounter with the Hellfire Club. Later he turned up on a British series called Department S, and its spin-off Jason King (the name of his character). When Chris Claremont decided he wanted to do a Hellfire club arc in UNCANNY X-MEN (he had just seen the above mentioned Avengers episode) as part of the “darkening” of Phoenix, I suggested the “in-joke” of having Mastermind, in his disguised form, resemble Peter Wyngarde and, mixing character and actor, that his name be Jason Wyngarde. (Chris seemed to have some small problem remembering if this was supposed to be Mastermind’s real name, or one MM had made up. It is refered to both ways in the story arc.)

Furthermore, the leader of the American Hellfire Club was Sir Patrick Clemens — the first name is an homage to Patrick MacNee who played Avenger John Steed, the last name is a tip-of-the-hat to Brian Clemens who wrote “A Touch of Brimstone.” Patrick Clemens’ lover, Diana Knight, is a reference to actress Diana Rigg who played Mrs. Emma Peel. Emma’s maiden name was Knight… The Black Queen of the London branch of the Hellfire Club is Ms. Steed, a reference to MacNee’s character John Steed.

The rest of the Hellfire Club are references to other famous actors: Sebastian Shaw is JAWS actor Robert Shaw:

Harry Leland is Orson Welles (Welles played Harry Lime in THE THIRD MAN, Leland is a character in CITIZEN KANE)

and Donald Pierce is Keifer Sutherland’s father, Donald Sutherland (Pierce is a reference to the character “Hawkeye Pierce” Sutherland played in the movie MASH).

And just for a reminder, here’s a look at that original episode.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Swipe File we present two or more images that resemble each other to some degree. They may be homages, parodies, ironic appropriations, coincidences or works of the lightbox. We trust you, the reader, to make that judgment yourself.  If you are unable to do so, please return your eyes to their maker before any further damage is done. The Swipe File doesn’t judge, it’s interested more in the process of creation, how work influences other work, how new work comes from old, and sometimes how the same ideas emerge simultaneously, as if their time has just come. The Swipe File was named after the advertising industry habit where writers and artist collect images and lines they admire to inspire them in their work. It was swiped from the Comic Journal who originally ran this column, as well as the now defunct Swipe Of The Week website.

He does have a TV pilot called Knifeman on the cards, but beyond that, all I can see are a number of in-development projects that go way back, and which have been lying so still of late that I’ve assumed they were dead and, of course, the potential of several things still secret. Pretty hard to count those from here, however.

Our best clue to something more solid comes courtesy of Cosmopolis star Robert Pattinson who says he’s already lined up for a reunion with the director:

I’m filming another movie with Cronenberg but I don’t know when he wants to start filming. It’s going to be his first one in France and he promises it’s going to be very strange.

Not Eastern Promises 2, then. Apologies to those who wanted to see Pattinson wrestling naked with Viggo Mortenson.

Pattinson was speaking with Inrockuptibles, the French culture magazine. A fan site did the translation.

Now, I’ve got no idea what this new project might really be, and the notion that it’s going to be filmed in France doesn’t help me work it out any. I’m sure we’ll hear something else about it soon, if it’s really going to happen.

Incidentally, if Pattinson is what you’re interested here and not Cronenberg, the young man also said:

I’m preparing a thriller too, with a beautifully written script too. It doesn’t have a director yet. Tons of French diretors are in line to to do [it].

And… what was that about a new Cronenberg film again?

Well, there’s a lot going on in this film, I’m sure of that.

The 1993 film was the last work of River Phoenix, who died during the shoot. Director George Sluizer, also responsible for the simply fantastic Spoorloos, has found a way to complete the picture and has been working with editor Michiel Reichwein for a couple of months.

But now they need money. From the campaign page:

Besides editing, there is also a budget needed for sound editing, music composing & recording, color correction and mixage. The Netherlands Film Fund will supply a part of the post-production budget needed. There rest of the budget will be raised by George Sluizer himself.

Therefore George Sluizer needs your help to fund the last part of this special feature and complete it for public display in September.

The page also features a new trailer for the film. Here it is.

And if that’s not quite set it up well enough for you, there’s also a plot blurb:

Dealing with nuclear testing and its long-lasting deadly effects, the story portrays Boy, a young widower living in the desert at a nuclear testing site. Living as a hermit, he waits for the end of the world carving Katchina dolls that he believes have magical powers. While traveling on a “second” honeymoon across the Arizona desert, the car of the Hollywood jet-set couple (Pryce & Davis) breaks down. They are rescued by Boy, who holds them prisoners because he desires the woman and wants to create a better world with her.

As long as nobody hides in a fridge.

So… there’s an unseen George Sluizer film with River Phoenix, Judy Davis and Jonathan Pryce in it? And if I cough up, I’ll get sent a DVD copy? Thank heavens that it’s pay day on Friday.

Thanks to Films Actu for the heads up.

When will I learn? These things are always going to be pushed towards the homogenous. Animated superhero stories have no reason to look any more alike than those in comics, but yet they almost always do. Le sigh.

Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter for the pics. Do note that they have some annotations at their end that you may wish to read.

No sooner had I settled in and wrangled the wifi, than a young man knocked on the door with a tray of ice cold milk and cookies, and a hand written welcome note from the managers of the show.

Something tells me that I’m going to look very kindly on Phoenix Comic Con.

Well, we are launching the Bleeding Cool Magazine preview issue zero here, holding the Bleeding Cool Fan Awards on Friday and running a Bleeding Cool panel on Saturday, so they are being extra lovely to us.

Mmm. Ice cold milk and cookies. Room 632 if anyone wants any.

The plot basics will remain the same: a cop is killed then resurrected in a new, cybernetic body. This time, however, there’s at least one new major character in the mix. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oldman is going to play:

 Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation.

Named for the virus protection software?*

Joel Kinnaman is playing Murphy. It remains to be seen who the villains of the piece will be – heads of this callous corporation, I’d imagine, but in the guise of which actors?

Padilha seems to be most sincere in his intentions with this film. I look forward to seeing it come together.

*Bob Morton was the man behind Robocop in the first film. He certainly didn’t seem torn in this way.