Rob Worley’s Fifth Anniversary
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Comics2Film is an instant dose of what’s happening in the increasingly
busy give-and-take relationship between film and comics. SCOOP talked to
Rob about his site’s big fifth anniversary and more.
SCOOP: We’ve
lived through an age, a brief one, where we saw websites come and go like the
wind. What makes C2F stick around?
ROB WORLEY: It’s just a passion and
fascination for the subject, both on my end and that of the C2F readers. As a
comic fan, I’ve always been intrigued by the prospect movies based on them. So
are a lot of other people apparently. The staff of Comics2Film.com has grown
from a one-man operation to a volunteer staff of about 10 people. Our readership
just keeps going up too. Even Hollywood is incredibly infatuated with the
subject lately.
The cool thing about the Internet is that you can publish
something that reaches a worldwide audience without spending a ton of money. I
think the websites that “came and went like the wind” were the ones who invested
massive sums of money in startup costs thinking it would bounce right back into
their pockets. That doesn’t happen. The Internet economy is still evolving. C2F
and sites like it stay around because they’re motivated by passion and interest
first.
How did you think up the idea in the first place?
Like I
said, I’ve always been intrigued by the subject, ever since I was a little kid.
No matter how disappointing comic book movies and TV shows were (think of the
Spider-Man show of the late 1970’s) I still couldn’t wait for the next one.
“Wait” is the key word there. With these projects there’s always a lot of
waiting.
So, I thought it would be cool if there were a place where a fan
could go to check on the status of some project they’d heard about in the past.
Some place where they could just see the latest on anything. If you’re asking
questions like, “Are they going to make a Madman movie,” or “What ever happened
to that Wonder Woman movie,” or “When is that Hulk movie coming out,” I thought
there should be a place where you could easily look up the answer.
In
1997 I started collecting information about the development of any comic book
movies I could find. There were about 25 that I was aware of at the time. I
organized it into an easy to reference archive that I updated one or two times a
week.
Today we have archives on 500 movie and TV projects based on comic
books and we update the site every week day, and sometimes more often than that.
Rather than just simply serving as a clipping service, the site now features
exclusive articles several times a week and breaks news
routinely.
What’s the biggest story you’ve broken so
far?
Comics2Film was the first to report that Sandra Bullock was attached
to star in the Wonder Woman movie. That was in August of 1999 and, although
there was a lot of dispute about it, producer Joel Silver confirmed it about a
month and a half later. Of course, Bullock is no longer involved with that
one.
Last year C2F broke the news that Ben Affleck would star as
Daredevil.
I guess the story that’s gotten the biggest reaction so far
this year is when we revealed the existence of the AFI student film “The Lobo
Paramilitary Christmas Special.” Fans are clamoring to see this short film. It’s
been a double-edged sword though, as the AFI has become very upset about the
reporting on the movie.
What’s the best part about doing your
site?
Easily, the best part is coming into contact with so many cool and
interesting people in the comics and movie industries. It’s a total gas to be
able to chat with the likes of Keith Giffen, Patrick Warburton, Hans Rodionoff,
Guillermo Del Toro, David Tischman, Peter Briggs and so on.
What are
you doing to celebrate the fifth anniversary?
We’ve got this massive
giveaway contest running on the site. We launched it on May 24th, the
anniversary date, but it’s going to run well into September. We’re giving away
tons of great prizes: 1 winner every day with a big grand prize at the end.
Gemstone Publishing donated a huge pile of books: the Overstreet guides,
Hake’s Price Guide, Tales of Terror and more. Warner Home Video
gave us DVDs of all their top animated titles, and we also have DVDs from Deep
Discount DVD, New Line, Columbia TriStar, Universal, Tokyopop and Lions
Gate.
We’ve also got cool, one-of-a-kind prizes from the production
offices of Smallville, Birds of Prey and Hellboy. We keep
getting stuff from all these cool places.
The grand prize is the
Mega-Library – which should have at least one copy of every key comic book movie
DVD, as well as the Gemstone books and some of the unique collectibles we’ve
been getting. Fans can still enter to win at http://www.comics2film.com/ContestEntry.php?f_id=14.
Anything
else you’d like to add?
As a fan of comic book movies, I’m just
incredibly excited to be in this amazing era where movies are getting made by
people who have a healthy respect for the source material and the technological
muscle to make it look cool. I’m thrilled to have been a part of it for five
years and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next five.
tors could have their
portfolios reviewed and participate in a ”breaking in” panel. <br><br>Over in
the sprawling retail area of the show, fans could find favorite comics, books,
action figures and collectibles - some of which were selling for amazing prices.
Many fans showed their devotion to the hobby by dressing up as their favorite
characters, meaning there were also many junior Supermen, Spider-Men and Wonder
Women in attendance.<br><br></div>
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