In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today’s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we discuss the strange journey of Heavy Metal from Europe to America to the Silver Screen.

National Lampoon has given us a lot over the years. It has given us writers such as Doug Kenney, Michael O’Donaghue, P.J. O’Rourke and John Hughes. It gave exposure to comic actors like John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Christopher Guest, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. It has even “Presented” films like Animal House, Vacation, and Van Wilder.

It has also, in a roundabout way, given us the film Heavy Metal, too. Well, at least the magazine the movie was based on.

Heavy Metal magazine began as the French magazine Métal Hurlant, an anthology graphic magazine started in 1974 by legendary French artists Jean Giraud A.K.A. Mœbius and Philippe Druillet. It presented comics drawn and written from a distinctly European point of view, along with text articles on all areas of popular culture.

National Lampoon publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to try and get Lampoon published in France when he stumbled across Métal Hurlant (which stands for “Howling Metal”) and saw it as something that might work in the United States. He licensed the magazine, renamed it Heavy Metal to have it resonate with American audiences more and started publishing it on high-stock glossy paper as a monthly magazine.

The mag gave European artists such as Giraud, Milo Manara and Esteban Maroto exposure in the U.S. as their work in Métal Hurlant was translated and reprinted in Heavy Metal. It featured work from such luminaries as H.R. Giger, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison and William S. Burroughs in its pages. And it published serials by artists like Arthur Suydam, Bernie Wrightson  and Howard Cruse, among others.

It’s these serials that got adapted into the 1981 film, Heavy Metal, which like the magazine was an anthology of stories inspired and written by creators that worked for the periodical.

The film featured six installments with a framing sequence tied together by one mystical object, a glowing green sphere of unearthly power called the Loc-Nar. The individual installments feature the distinctive variety of styles that were at home in the magazine, ranging from futuristic noir to historical horror, from imaginative fantasy to satiric humor. The film was produced by Ivan Reitman, featured the voices of SCTVers John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy and Harold Ramis. And it had an eclectic soundtrack that featured Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Stevie Nicks, Devo and Cheap Trick.  That line up of musicians was one of the reasons why the film took so long to be released on home video, as nailing down the rights to the music became an issue.

In 1992, longtime Heavy Metal fan and co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Kevin Eastman bought the magazine and set himself up as publisher and editor. Heavy Metal 2000 was released early on in Eastman’sreign as publisher, but had more to do with the man then the magazine.

Heavy Metal 2000 was not adapted from a story that appeared in the pages of the magazine, but rather from a 1995 miniseries Eastman did with artist Simon Bisley called The Melting Pot which was published by Kitchen Sink Press. The original comic was not an anthology, so the film contains only one story, not six like the first Heavy Metal. It does feature a diverse soundtrack with many songs from popular alternative and metal acts of the day, like Queens of the Stone Age and System of a Down. And a glowing green rock does play a role in the proceedings, to sort of tie it in with the first film.

The plot focuses on Julie (voiced by, and most certainly inspired by, Eastman’s then-wife, B-movie actress and former Penthouse Pet of the Year Julie Strain) fighting an evil tyrant with the power of self-regeneration. She fights to free her sister from the tyrant’s captivity, all the while trying to end his reign of terror.

There is another film in the works, at the very least loosely connected to the Heavy Metal brand called War of the Worlds: Goliath.

The film is a sequel to H.G. Wells’ novel, War of the Words, and appears to be some kind of steampunk manga film. It is voiced by Adrian Paul and Adam Baldwin, among others. It is set for a 2012 release, however, footage was shown during the 2009 San Diego Comic Con with a promised 2010 DVD release. Since it was already delayed two years, I’d say that 2012 date should be taken with a grain of salt.

There has been a planned remake of the original in the works, first helmed by David Fincher and then by Robert Rodriguez. Considering Rodriguez’s track record of getting films he is attached to made is about one in four, it might be a while if there will be another Heavy Metal film in the future.

Next time, Swamp Thing gets revitalized in the comics and a film in theaters within years of one another. Did one have any effect on the other?

Back in February, we told you about a possible Blues Brothers television series that was being worked on by John Belushi’s widow Judy and writer Anne Beattes, who worked on Saturday Night Live in the same era that launched the musical act. Variety is now reporting that a pilot script has been written and is currently being shopped around Hollywood. The script has been written by Judy Belushi, Beattes and Wayne Catania and Kieron Lafferty, the two singers currently portraying Jake and Elwood in the official Blues Brothers Revue that is currently touring.

The plot of the new series would have the Brothers just getting out of prison after a 20 year stretch and heading out on the road to find Elwood’s real father. The show would feature a new Blues Brothers Band and a musical number in each episode.

Judy Belushi described the project by saying “I think these are great American characters. We want to keep them alive. We chose to introduce them as new characters but do it in an way that they have some history, have some life behind them.”

Beatts elaborated by explaining, “We’re not trying to replicate Dan and John but Jake and Elwood… It would be Route 66‘ meets Glee, and it all goes to hell in a handbasket.”

While I admire the idea, I remain leery of the execution. To many, including myself, Jake and Elwood were Belushi and Aykroyd, and anyone else playing them would be sacrilegious. The one thing giving me some optimism is that Aykroyd has apparently given the project his blessing by agreeing to appear in the show as the voice of the Brothers’ parole officer.

This isn’t the first time that there has been an attempt to bring Jake and Elwood back to the medium that they started on. In 1997, television network UPN ordered up an animated Blues Brothers series that would have featured the voices of Dan Aykroyd’s brother Peter and James Belushi as Elwood and Jake. Mark Hamill was also in the cast as a law-enforcement agent pursuing the Brothers. Eight episodes were produced before the network brass changed and the incoming executives decided not to air the show. The completed episodes have never been screened.

Alan Rubin, the trumpeter for The Blues Brothers Band and who appeared in both musical-comedy films featuring the ensemble, died yesterday. He was 68.

A graduate of the Julliard School of Music, Rubin played with the Saturday Night Live Band intermittantly from 1975 through 1984. It was through his association with Saturday Night Live that Rubin became involved with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s blues and rhythm and blues revival act, the Blues Brothers. As a member of their band, he performed in concert and on the group’s albums.

Rubin also appeared in the two Blues Brothers movies – The Blues Brothers (1980) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) – proving himself one of the better actors out of the group of musicians. The scene in the first film where Jake (Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Aykroyd) crash an expensive restaurant to convince Rubin to quit his maitre d’ job to rejoin their band is a comic highlight of the film. He can also be heard soloing on various songs on both films’ soundtracks.

Via Blues Brothers Central.

Bob Woodward’s biography of the late comic actor John Belushi, Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi was almost universally reviled upon its release in 1984, just two years after the comic actor’s death at age 33. That didn’t stop a film adaptation, with title shortened down to just Wired, coming out in 1989, though that was equally reviled.

But with Woodward’s book long out of print and Wired never even making it to DVD, perhaps the time has come for someone to do a more – Shall we say fact-based? – look at the life of the man who brought us Samurai’s in the workplace and the joys of collegiate food fights and introduced a new generation to the blues. Hangover director Todd Phillips seems to think so, as he is teaming with writer Steven Conrad to develop a new Belushi biopic.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Phillips is only signed to produce a potential film, not direct, though directing may not be entirely out of the picture. Belushi’s widow, Judith Belushi Pisano, will be serving as an executive producer, so don’t expect the backlash for this project that Woodward’s book and subsequent film adaptation received.

Of course, even though the ink on the deal for rights to Belushi’s life story hasn’t dried yet, people have already begun speculating on who would be a good casting choice to play the comic. Not surprisingly, Zach Galifianakis’ name has been floated, based in part on that actor’s recent collaboration with Phillips on The Hangover. I don’t think he would be a good choice though, as I haven’t really seen him deliver any kind of range in his film appearances, certainly not what would be needed to bring Belushi to life on the screen. Jonah Hill’s name has also been floated, but I’m not sure he can bring the manic energy that fueled so much of Belushi’s comedy.

Personally, I would think that Artie Lange would make a pretty good cinematic Belushi. Although his own career has never hit the heights that Belushi’s did, Lange’s own path mirrors Belushi’s in several respects. They both were touted as breakout stars when the sketch comedy shows they appeared on premiered. While Belushi would parlay his Saturday Night Live popularity into a short lived movie career, Lange’s substance abuse problems caused him to be dropped from Mad TV after only a year and a half. But Lange’s ongoing battles with drugs could provide him insight on Belushi’s own struggles.

Is their latest mission from God taking them back to the medium that spawned them?

According to Undercover, John Belushi’s widow Jane Belushi Pisano is spearheading an attempt to get the Blues Brothers back on to television in their own series. Working with former original Saturday Night Live writer Anne Beattes and Wayne Catania and Kieron Lafferty, the current stars of the officially sanctioned Blues Brother Review tour, she states that she has been developing a new television series which would see the classic musician characters created by her late husband and partner Dan Aykroyd. “The way we have scripted it over 6 to 8 shows where they are on a mission down the Mississippi back to New Orleans.”

While a Blues Brothers project without Belushi may sound like sacrilege to some fans (see Blues Brothers 2000), Belushi Pisano doesn’t have a problem with new actors sliding on the sunglasses and porkpie hats.

They are great American characters. People tend to think of them as John and Dan. They were the first actors to do it but they won’t be the last. When you see Kieran and Wayne you will see how they embody those characters and make them work. There is a spirit of Blues Brothers. It is an umbrella for the Blues.

A Blues Brothers television series doesn’t sound as far-fetched as it initially sounds. The musical Glee has been a surprise hit for Fox, and I have to confess that I’m surprised we haven’t already heard of other knock-off musical shows being developed by other networks. Of course, there are numerous hurtles to leap before we start setting our DVRs for this. For one, there is no mention of Aykroyd’s involvement in, or at least approval for, the project and I would think that would be needed.

Also, it sounds as if the project is in its very early days and that they haven’t shopped it around to the networks yet. Personally, it sounds like it might be a better fit for a cable network like HBO or Showtime rather than the over-the-air broadcast networks who are hampered by the FCC in what language they can use.

Via Blues Brothers Central.