I’ve never heard of the comic book “American Reaper” (probably because it’s yet to be published, natch) but it sure sounds like something I’d enjoy. A nice combination of sci-fi, action, and probably political intrigue, given the subject matter. The series is by Pat Mills and Clint Langley, and Xingu Films has already snapped up the movie rights and put it into the pipeline as a live-action movie. If the name Pat Mills sounds familiar, that’s because he was responsible for the comic series “Judge Dredd” and “Marshal Law”, so the guy knows a thing or two about sci-fi action comics.

I reported on a new sci-fi comic book called “Resurrection” back in January, but now it appears as if some other people think it might make for a pretty good movie, in particular Universal Studios, who have optioned the comic book to turn it into a movie. The story concerns the aftermath (yes, aftermath) of an alien invasion, and how the survivors must try to get on with their lives. Dave Dumee drew the comic and Marc Guggenheim wrote it.

Wow, isn’t this ironic? Chris Carter and the “X-Files 2″ guys have been working overtime trying to fool and mislead movie sites about the plot of their movie, going so far as to hide the title until two days ago, and what happens? The entire plot of the movie is revealed via the back cover of the upcoming “X-Files 2″ book novelization! See, Chris? This is what you get when you try to be too clever by a half, my son. To be honest with you, I don’t know why they’re keeping the plot under such wraps. What, Ma and Pa Joblo is supposed to walk into the theater without knowing anything about the plot? That’s asking for a box office disappointment right there.

According to ComingSoon.net, “Pitch Black” star Radha Mitchell (pictured, below) has joined the cast of Jonathan Mostow’s sci-fi thriller “The Surrogate”. She’s the second major casting after Bruce Willis, who had joined the project earlier. The movie, based on a sci-fi comic book series (the comic cover pictured, left), has a killer premise, and with Bruce Willis on the payroll, you can expect a budget big enough for Mostow to do everything he wants. And yes, Radha Mitchell ain’t bad, either.

I love me a good old-fashion post-apocalyptic movie. Just ask anyone who knows me. Heck, I’m even one of the few people that liked Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld” and “The Postman”. Yes, I liked both movies. So what of it? The latest post-apocalyptic movie headed to the big screen is “Afterburn”, based on a comic book (pictured, below) by Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood from new comics company Red 5 Comics. And none other than Tobey Maguire (pictured, left), Spider-Man himself, is planning on ushering the comics into a movie, and will be producing with partner Neal Moritz.

You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I’m not sure how I feel about the whole premise of Virgin Comics — it’s a comic imprint started with the singular purpose of turning their comic book properties into movies or TV shows. The only series they’ve done that I thought was any good was John Woo’s “Seven Brothers”. For the most part, I find their tunnel-like vision of making comics simply to turn them into movies to be a little insulting to comic book readers. Anyhoo, maybe I’m just projecting. The latest news from the world of comics is that Hugh Jackman will be creating a new series called “Nowhere Man” with the express notion of making a movie out of it in the future.

All hail the Sci Fi Channel! I don’t know what got into these guys, or maybe they’re just getting braver nowadays, but the cable network has a ton of new TV projects coming up, and most of them are just intriguing as hell. Another one of their new backdoor pilot is a TV show based on Rosario Dawson’s comic book “True Believer”, which I’ve never read, but is apparently about a down on his luck superhero, and Deputized, which has “Galaxy Quest” type fun written all over it.

About two months ago, we reviewed a comic book called “Stranded”, about alien warriors who are put on Earth, and their memories wiped, in preparation for something or another. (You can read our review here.) The comic book was made by Virgin, who have been actively developing comic book properties with the sole intent of turning them into movies or TV series. And now the Sci Fi Channel has officially announced that they are making a TV version of “Stranded”.

Speaking of The Spectacular Spider-Man, he’s coming to TV in an all-new cartoon from the WB, and will be joining the network’s Saturday Morning Line-up right before The Batman, which has its series finale (re: its very last episode) the same week that The Spectacular Spider-Man will be debuting — this coming Saturday, March 8, 2008. You will be seeing villains like Doctor Octopus, Electro, Vulture, Venom and Sandman making the webcrawler’s life miserable, but isn’t that half the fun? Some images from the upcoming TV show below.

The Batman is closing up shop on the WB’s Kids programming line, and he’s going out with a bang. Or, specifically, a 1-hour finale that will guest-star the Justice League, as an alien menace called The Joining steals the League’s powers and transfers them to android versions. It’s up to the Batman and Green Arrow, the only two non-powered members of the League, to save the day. Check out some artwork from the The Batman series finale. One word: Holy crap, it looks fantastic!