Normally the Pull of the Week comes on the Thursday version of the Pull List but this week we decided to keep you in suspense and make you wait until today. –John

Pull of the Week:

USA Comics #1 – Marvel – $3.99
Score: 8.5

When I was younger, I had never known much about Golden Age comics other than that’s where Batman, Superman, Captain America, Namor and the first Human Torch came from. But with Marvel’s 70th Anniversary, they have made it easier to get acquainted with tons of heroes from their past that seemed to be lost in the annuls of time only to be reprinted or re-imagined these decades later. This story follows German journalist Emil Hansen as he is on a supply train interviewing a Nazi colonel during the early days of World War II.

Their train is attacked and destroyed by the Mighty Destroyer who dives out of the train with Emil in tow seconds before a bomb detonates. Emil, though not a Nazi, fears he has become a captive of the Destoyer. He is used as bait and tries to warn the Nazi’s only to be confronted by the Destroyer for trying to save them. Emil talks about how he may not be a Nazi, but Germany is his home and he loves it still. The Destroyer speaks powerful two very powerful words about what a man should do and what he shouldn’t be afraid to. The Destroyer keeps Emil with him as he sets what should be a standard trap on a railway but instead of just watching his target train derail, the Destroyer takes Emil and the two board that train. After some great action sequences fighting around the train, the Destroyer’s plan is revealed with an emotional final few pages.

Issues like this were part of what brought me originally in to comics. I didn’t need long story arcs extending over six months. Back when I first started reading, younger than 10 years old, I had no attention span. If it didn’t wrap up in a single issue, I didn’t remember what had happened four weeks later. The issues that stood out most from my youth were the great one shot stories. USA Comics #1 focusing on the Destroyer is a great comic. Though lacking humor, every other aspect of great comic writing is in this book. There is drama, action, compelling characters with an unusual relationship between the two and of course, conflict.

For someone who only saw the Destroyer before as a WWII version of the Punisher, this anti-Nazi can evoke so much more emotion from a reader than any current rendition of Frank Castle. For example, the explanation of his costume reveals a fantastic “Oh wow” moment that the Punisher could never achieve. Being currently in an era of big events that don’t have much long term consequence like Final Crisis or the Secret Invasion, the story being set in an actual major event such as WWII gives it so much more believability and weight as the reader sees what these characters must go through.

Starting off as Timely Comics, Marvel has gone through tremendous change over the years but like any company to last that long like DC or Archie, they have produced compelling characters. It is great to see a company that honors its history instead of just blindly pushing forward. USA Comics #1 does so in a way that is both captivating and relevant. By keeping the characters accurate to the original themes surrounding them and losing the campy dialogue that was so dominant during the Golden Age of comics, the book instantly becomes so much more accessible to readers new to the character. It’s also great to see one of Stan Lee’s earliest creations still in action after all these years as well.

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We like to showcase and bring you news of different kinds of entertainment here at The Flickast. From movies to tv, comics, games and all things geek, we try our best to find the most interesting, entertaining and informative stuff we can. Its not always very serious, but we always try to make it fun. But sometimes, a film comes along that’s very serious and deals with a subject that’s not fun at all but still warrants attention. That film is The Stoning of Soraya M.

The film, which features Academy Award nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) and Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, Deja Vu), was the recent winner of the LA Film Festival’s Audience Award. It’s based on the true story of an Iranian village’s persecution of an innocent woman named Soraya who’s only crime is being in a bad marriage. This leads her cruel, divorce-seeking husband to conspire against her, trumping up charges of infidelity, which carries a terrible penalty: She will be stoned to death.

Once the plot against her is discovered, Soraya, with the help of her friend Zahra (Aghdashloo) and a journalist stranded in her villiage (Caviezel) will attempt to prove Soraya’s innocence in a legal system stacked against her.  But when all else fails, Zahra will risk everything to use the sole weapon she has left – the fearless, passionate voice that can share Soraya’s story with a shocked world.

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July 4th weekend is said to be the best weekend of the year. It gives studios a whole 5 days of potential profit, as most adults are off work, and kids are usually out of school by then. This is usually a great time to release kid-friendly films, which is exactly what Fox did this year with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Last year, Hancock and Will Smith took over the weekend, grossing $66 million, and the first Transformers film had 2007 with$70 million. This year, Transformers 2 didn’t get the coveted weekend, but it still made top of the list in this years box office, grossing $239 million since last Wednesday. With poor reviews probably having something to do with it, Ice Age has already moved to this week’s number 1 spot, and grossed $14 million yesterday, where Transformers 2 only came in with $10 million.

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After years and years of fans writing letters and banging on the doors of executives at TriStar pictures to get the 1986 classic Night of the Creeps an official DVD release, they have finally given in, and will be giving us our cheesy zombie goodness (in the form of a “director’s cut”) this October. Not only do we get to relive the film over-and-over again, but we get to take part in voting for our favorite cover to be used on the DVD box!

Amazon has released a pre-order option for the DVD, and has given three options for the art, all of which are pretty cool, but all this is really doing is delaying the time before we can get to Robert Patrick giving his award-deserving performance of a brain dead teen. Voting ends on July 12th, so be sure to check out each cover after the jump, and vote accordingly.

Night of the Creeps is a 1986 film directed by Frank Drekker (Monster Squad), about a race of alien brain worms who kill and re-animated thier prey, which then go postal on a local college campus. Campy hilarity then insues.

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I know what you’re thinking. At the end of Resident Evil: Extinction, what was arguable the weakest of the three films, you really wanted just one more go around for Alice and her nemesis, the evil Umbrella Corporation. Well, get ready because according to reports over at Shock Til You Drop, you might be getting just what you want. That is, if you can believe the rumors.

According to the site, a tipster has revealed that there will indeed be a fourth installment of the franchise and it even has a name: Resident Evil: Aftermath. The story, and again just speculation at this point but not that hard to believe, concerns all those clones of Alice revealed at the end of the third film and how they will take their final revenge on the Umbrella Corporation as they hide in their layer deep under Tokyo.

Lending more credence to this rumor is the fact that Paul W. S. Anderson revealed last year he was indeed writing a new film, that Capcom was involved and that everyone was “excited.” Plus, according to the site, a Sony insider said the studio is looking to get Resident Evil: Afterlife into theaters by September 17, 2010.

No word on if Anderson will direct or if franchise star Milla Jovovich will be back. Although, at least in the case of Jovovich, I think its pretty likely — especially in light of the video after the jump where she pretty much conforms it. Rumor or not, we’ll keep you posted on this as it develops.

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When we first told you about this movie, we gave a bit of info about it including who was going to be in it, Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell, who the director is, the talented Johnathan Mostow, what its all about and when it may be released. This time around, we’ve got the first poster for the upcoming film to share with you.

Brought to us by the folks at Coming Soon, this poster features Bruce Willis flanked by a bunch of what appear to be tubes used to create the surrogates of the title. In fact, they look like other versions of Willis himself, which makes sense. Plus, the poster features a pretty decent tag line that does a good job of encapsulating the story. Willis is the only human in a world filled with artificial people and only he can save mankind from destruction. Sounds like pretty much every other movie featuring Bruce Willis, doesn’t it? But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

As with many posters these days, its not particularly innovative or even that interesting. It just shows the required info which, in this case, is a decent tag line and a giant picture of the movie’s star. Plus, he’s sporting that cool goatee. I guess that’s all you really need to get the message across. Of course, this is just the first poster, so I’m sure we’ll see co-star Radha Mitchell in there at some point too.

Surrogates hits theaters on September 25. Click through for a larger version of the poster.

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We’ve posted quite a few things about Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming World War 2 romp here on the site, from clips of angry Nazis to awesome new posters, but it looks like this newest one has to be the best, and it was only released in France. The trailer shows the film in a new light, making it slightly less dark and more comedic, with lots more Brad Pitt talking about “Nat-zee Scalps”.

Check out the clip below.

Iglorious Basterds hits theaters August 21.

Coming off of news about a month ago that Bradley Cooper was joining the ‘Team’ as Templeton “Faceman” Peck, and then word that Liam Neeson was joining as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, it looks like rapper The Game is in “serious consideration” to take on the role of B.A. Baracus, joining Joe Carnahan’s cast in what is shaping up to be an interesting film.

According to Blackfilm.com, who has the exclusive, they say that The Game (real name Jayceon Taylor) is being seriously considered for the role, and will be going head-to-head with other potentials like Common, Ice Cube, and mixed martial artist Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. It looks like the role once portrayed by Mr. T is shaping up to be quite a battle of rappers, which can only help the film’s publicity.

As of today, The Game has only a handful of on-screen credits, ranging from 2006′s Waist Deep with Tyrese Gibson to 2008′s Street Kings with Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker. This isn’t a huge change from Mr. T’s credits, which were only 3 films and a TV appearance before taking on the role in 1983.

If this news turns out to be solid, that only leaves one more role  to be filled: Capt. H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock, who was originally played by Dwight Shultz in the series. There is no word yet on what direction Carnahan is planning on going with that one, but when there is, we’ll bring it to you. With a screenplay by the team that brought us Wanted and the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, the film is currently set for a June 11th release date in 2010.

Captain America Reborn #1 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 6.5

This review doesn’t have to do with the fact that Marvel is bringing back Steve Rogers, something many people are opposed to. Instead, it is based on the merits of the issue itself and how well the story inside is told, even if the central idea isn’t a popular one. The issue starts off with Steve Rogers giving a quick speech as he and the other soldiers get ready to storm Normandy on June 6th, 1944. D-Day. It flashes back to the present where Bucky-Cap and the Black Widow storm one of the H.A.M.M.E.R. helicarriers.

At the same time as Bucky and the Black Widow make their way through hordes of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents, the Vision, the Falcon and Sharon Carter, the woman who shot the fatal point blank bullets in to Steve Rogers, go talk to Henry Pym where Sharon admits her involvement in Steve’s death while under the control of the Red Skull and Armin Zola. She then begins to tell the details of that day that make her believe that Steve Rogers still might be able to be brought back. Back on the helicarrier, Bucky and the Black Widow search for an item that played a part in that fateful day one year ago when Steve was killed, only to be intercepted by Ares and Venom of Norman Osborn’s Avengers team.

And, as expected, an explanation of what just happened to Steve Rogers on that very day is explained in full, playing off the events of Captain America #600 and filling in the details that were left unspoken until now after Sharon began to remember all of the events of that day. Unfortunately, unlike Captain America #600, there were no creepily sexual cameos from the disturbed Crossbone and Sinn couple.

The issue itself feels very lean. Like even though there are supposed to be some big reveal moments, the idea that Steve is coming back isn’t a brand new idea in the minds of the reader and the events of Captain America #600 have shown the seeds of how it could happen. The pages with Sharon, Falcon, Vision and Hank Pym talking are pretty boring because of this as it is almost entirely old information and the new information doesn’t prove to be impactful enough to back it up. Norman Osborn, along with a “secret guest”, have a quick appearance that has much of the same lackluster effect.

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A few weeks ago we showed you Grace Park discussing the upcoming BSG TV movie The Plan. Then, a bit more about The Plan was revealed when we went to a special panel discussion in Hollywood with some of the cast and producers of Battlestar Galactica. Now, thanks to Collider, we’ve got more video to share with you about The Plan and some other stuff as well.

This time around its an interview with Battlestar Galactica alumni and The Plan director Edward James Olmos. He was interviewed at the recent Saturn Awards, which took place last week in Hollywod. Among the things Olmos reveals in the interview are that The Plan will make fans want to go back and watch the entire BSG series again with a new awareness of what was going on with the Cylons, that the final script for BSG was “one of the finest scripts he’s ever read” and that he will be at Comic-Con this year in appreciation for all the fans who supported BSG.

The video doesn’t exactly dig deep or provide much in the way of new information. Still, its fun to see Olmos and hear him talk about The Plan and his work on BSG. He’s a talented, introspective and obviously grateful man who’s made a lasting impression on the history of television. Unfortunately, watching him talk about BSG just makes me miss the show that much more.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan airs later this year on Sci-Fi Channel. Check out the video after the jump.

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We’ve mentioned this movie before when it was first announced and when it it looked like Neil Marshall was set to direct it. But now, forget all that because according to the gang at Ain’t It Cool News, Robert Rodriguez, who is writing and producing Predators, has confirmed to the site that Nimrod Antal will direct the film. In addition to confirming the director, he also offered up a few details about the film, which is supposed to completely reboot the franchise and move it as far away as possible from the Aliens vs. Predator movies.

According to AICN honcho Harry Knowles, Rodriguez said this about the story of the film: “I can’t go too much into the story right now, because we’re still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning. Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in its own right, and that’s what we want to do with this.”

As for his choice of director, Rodriguez was very enthusiastic, saying: “First of all, on a personal level I found him to be an outstanding presence, a great communicator full of ideas, and upon meeting him you can immediately understand how he is able to wrangle cast and crew and get the best out of everyone. I always loved Kontroll, where he proved himself to be a very resourceful and original filmmaker. When I saw Armored, I could tell he’s also great with action and has a keen eye for casting.

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According to Variety, the Sci-Fi Channel is developing a reboot of Alien Nation, the 1988 feature film starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin that led to a a spinoff series on Fox. Spearheading the new series for the network will be Tim Minear, former Angel writer/producer and veteran of other sci-fi shows like The X-Files, Firefly and Strange World — a rather interesting show made with Howard Gordon that only lasted one season.

In case you’re not familiar with the premise of Alien Nation, it centers on the partnership between a veteran cop and his alien detective partner, set against a world where alien “newcomers” have landed on Earth and are attempting to assimilate into society. Of course, assimilation is easier said than done and as the unlikely partners relationship grows stronger, so do the obstacles that these two face from within the department and the world at large. According to the article, the reboot would expand the backstory of the “newcomers” and would include a mythology that evolves over time.

Minear in particular is excited about the possiblities with the new series, especially when he’s able to mix many of the shows he’s worked on in the past. “It’s genre mixed with procedural mixed with funny and mixed with big, giant scary,” Minear said in the article. “I love serialized stuff, but this is also a cop franchise. That Starsky and Hutch /Lethal Weapon buddy cop comedy is absent from TV right now.”

Minear continued: “You can take (the original Alien Nation) a step forward and really do a show that encompasses the clash of civilizations, and the idea of a ghettoized minority,” he said. “You can touch on racism, terrorism, assimilation, immigration. And there’s room for satire.”

Sounds cool. Hey, maybe James Caan and Mandy Patinkin will be in the new show? I think they’re both available. The new Alien Nation series is expected to debut on the new Sy-Fy Channel sometime in 2010.