WWE champion, UFC Hall of Famer…graphic novelist? Ronda Rousey has completed writing her first graphic novel, Expect the Unexpected, marking her first foray into the comic world.
In Expect the Unexpected, a hitwoman who goes by “Mom” wears a fake baby bump as part of her gimmick. But when she actually becomes pregnant after sleeping with a target, she finds herself challenged with dealing with both her pregnancy and her job, all with bounties on her head.
The adventures of “Mom” partly stem from experiences that Ronda Rousey – who became a mother in 2021 – has undergone…presumably without the whole hired assassin thing. While Rousey wrote the graphic novel, Mike Deodato, Jr. – a contributor to DC, Marvel and Dark Horse – handled the artwork.
On the origins of Expect the Unexpected, Ronda Rousey said, “The whole story is just the story of me and my husband. Our journey trying to get pregnant, having a baby, our becoming parents …When you actually come to that realization and live up to it is I think a process that isn’t really covered in anything I’ve really seen so far. That was kind of a personal journey that was really important to us.”
Ronda Rousey told the Los Angeles Times that she planned for Expect the Unexpected to be written as a screenplay (a separate endeavor than a previously reported one), with the idea for herself to star. But Rousey has developed a love for graphic novels over time. “I originally intended on this being a movie, but I really think that this is the way it was always meant to be, as a graphic novel. Maybe that’s the path that I was meant for more, to be a graphic novelist.” Even still, she wouldn’t mind seeing it adapted for the big screen.
So when can we expect the unexpected? AWA Studios has a BackerKit campaign for the graphic novel officially launching on July 25th, with chances for donators to get hand-signed copies and even being depicted in the artwork having our ass handed to you by Ronda Rousey herself.
Ronda Rousey joins the likes of other former pro wrestlers like The Ultimate Warrior and Jerry “The King” Lawler who have contributed stories or artwork to the comic form.
Toys ‘R’ Us—or, more accurately, the brand’s reanimated corpse—made waves this week with the release of an AI-generated ad that inadvertently reveals so much about this era of widespread “enshittification.” Our piece on that, as well as a lament for the way expiring licenses are killing Forza Horizon 4, a celebration…
Toys ‘R’ Us—or, more accurately, the brand’s reanimated corpse—made waves this week with the release of an AI-generated ad that inadvertently reveals so much about this era of widespread “enshittification.” Our piece on that, as well as a lament for the way expiring licenses are killing Forza Horizon 4, a celebration…
And just like that, 2024 is already half over. Crazy, isn’t it? It feels like Christmas was just a minute ago, but here we are in the middle of summertime. Before we know it, the fall festivals will open up, the awards race will begin, and people will start debating the year’s best movies.
But here’s the thing – whenever people start talking about the best movies of the year, they always neglect all of the films that came out in the first half of the year. Studios know this, which is why high-profile, prestigious movies always bow in the fourth quarter of the year. So, to give these movies a bit of a spotlight, we here at JoBlo have decided to list the 10 best movies of 2024…so far (in no particular order).
Dune: Part 2:
Denis Villeneuve’s epic conclusion to his two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel was everything we hoped it would be. While the first film suffered because it came out at the height of the pandemic and was mostly viewed on HBO Max, audiences could finally see Arrakis in all its glory on the HUGE IMAX screen as Villeneuve always intended. This movie proved audiences are hungry for ambitious fare. With this and Wonka both dominating the box office in early 2024, it established Timothee Chalamet as one of the biggest stars of his generation.
The Bikeriders:
Dune: Part 2 also gave co-star Austin Butler his first great post-Elvis role, with him losing any trace of the King as the snarling villain Feyd-Rautha (his lingering Elvis mannerisms marred his role on Apple TV’s Masters of the Air). Jeff Nichols’s The Bikeriders is another great post-Elvis role for the actor, with him affecting a kind of James Dean cool as an iconic member of an early biker gang. That said, he’s only a small part of the show here, with Tom Hardy even better as the gang’s Brando-esque leader, while Jodie Comer gives the movie some heart. This is a terrific movie.
The Beekeeper:
I’m a sucker for a good action movie. Truthfully, I thought Doug Liman’s Road House remake would be 2024’s first great one, but I was wrong. It was decent, but another movie financed by Amazon-MGM was even better, David Ayer’s The Beekeeper. I’ve often been critical about how Jason Statham’s action heroes are a little too invulnerable. Still, it can’t be denied that he’s cast perfectly to type as the vigilante hero of this demented action epic. Ayer turned what could have been just a fun B-movie into an action thrill-ride that puts many action flicks with quadruple the budgets to shame.
Late Night With the Devil:
This was an unexpected smash hit for IFC/ Shudder earlier this year. A low-fi, the seventies-set horror flick, Late Night With the Devil, gives star David Dastmalchian a tailor-made role as a schlocky seventies host who makes the mistake of inviting the devil into his studio and pays a hefty price. The less you go in knowing about this one, the better.
Civil War:
A24’s biggest-budget movie ever grows more prescient by the day, with the U.S seemingly more divided than ever. Alex Garland’s film is an urgent call for both sides to find some common ground. More than that, it also showcases Kirsten Dunst in a career-best performance as a veteran photojournalist whose dormant conscience may prove to be her ultimate undoing.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga:
The fact that George Miller’s epic prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t a blockbuster will be one of the biggest cinematic tragedies of the year. We’ll never get to see his planned Mad Max: The Wasteland, while audiences missed out on one of the most dazzling action epics of the year, boasting iconic performances from Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and Tom Burke. What a damn shame.
The Dead Don’t Hurt:
While Kevin Costner’s Horizon has gotten a lot of press, many overlooked another great old-school western that came out this year: Viggo Mortensen’s The Dead Don’t Hurt. Mortensen himself stars opposite Vicky Krieps in this romantic, touching old-school oater, which deserved a better theatrical release given that it barely played in most markets.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die:
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence can still pull in quite the crowd with the fourth instalment of the enduring series just about as big of a hit as the last film in the saga. It’s a big comeback role for Smith (in the wake of the Oscar slap) while it also re-establishes directors Adil & Bilall as up-and-comers to watch in the wake of the Batgirl disaster.
Hit Man:
Richard Linklater’s semi-fact-based Hit Man was the darling of the festival circuit last fall, with many claiming it offered Glen Powell his first truly great leading role. While it did fine on Netflix, it’s kind of sad to see how quickly the movie fell out of the cultural zeitgeist once it got released. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a real gem.
In the Land of Saints and Sinners:
Of the dozens of routine Liam Neeson action movies that have come out over the last few years, it’s ironic that the one truly great one barely made a dent at the box office. Neeson has one of his best roles in years in Robert Lorenz’s Ireland set hitman drama. However, it can’t be denied that co-star Jack Gleeson of Game of Thrones utterly walks away with the movie as an initially crazed associate of Neeson’s who proves to have a lot of depth and a noble streak. This movie is a true gem.
What do you think belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments!
This week’s top stories centered around Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, as Midnight Society, a gaming studio he co-founded, cut ties with him, YouTube cut off monetization on his channels, and he admitted that he had sent “inappropriate” messages to a minor, resulting in his ban from Twitch in 2020. Read on for our…
This week’s top stories centered around Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, as Midnight Society, a gaming studio he co-founded, cut ties with him, YouTube cut off monetization on his channels, and he admitted that he had sent “inappropriate” messages to a minor, resulting in his ban from Twitch in 2020. Read on for our…
Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.
Sad news to report today as it has been announced that Martin Mull, the hugely talented comedian and actor known for playing Colonel Mustard in Clue, Leon Carp in Roseanne, Gene Parmesan in Arrested Development, and more, has died at the age of 80.
The news was revealed by Martin’s daughter Maggie on Instagram. “I am heartbroken to share that my father passed away at home on June 27th, after a valiant fight against a long illness,” Maggie wrote. “He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials. He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and—the sign of a truly exceptional person—by many, many dogs. I loved him tremendously.“
THR reports that Universal Pictures has snagged the rights to A Vicious Circle, a graphic novel series published by BOOM! Studios created by Mattson Tomlin and Lee Bermejo. Ryan Coogler is on board to produce A Vicious Circle via his Proximity Media banner, with Tomlin set to write the screenplay.
A Vicious Circle is a “two-hander action thriller about assassins from the future hunting each other through time” which is being described as John Wick meets Looper. Sounds like fun to me.
If you’d like more detail, the graphic novel synopsis has you covered: “Shawn Thacker is a trained assassin from the future who seeks revenge on the only other man with his affliction—each life they take forces them both to involuntarily travel between vastly different past and future eras. Spanning from 22nd century Tokyo to 1950s New Orleans to the Cretaceous Era and beyond, the two mortal rivals are locked in a battle of wills that spans millions of years, all to alter the course of history.“
In a statement, A Vicious Circle co-creator Mattson Tomlin said: “Building this world and characters with my partner Lee Bermejo and our friends at BOOM! Studios has been one of my favorite creative experiences to date. It’s rare to be given so much freedom to say what you want to say and to then see Lee bring the world to life so vividly has been a literal mindblower. I’m so psyched to have the chance to watch our characters leap into yet another reality and a whole new medium with a similar mind-bending approach with the help of our friends at Universal and the wizards at Proximity.“
Co-creator and artist Lee Bermejo added: “Collaborating with an amazing writer and partner like Mattson Tomlin on A Vicious Circle and being allowed by BOOM! Studios to bring that vision to a reality has been one of the most creatively and personally fulfilling of my career thus far. We wanted to create a project that would take viewers on an experience they’d never seen before, and now I’m beyond thrilled to see it take on new life with the visionary folks at Proximity at a fantastic home like Universal.“
Ryan Coogler is currently in production on his untitled supernatural thriller starring Michael B. Jordan for Warner Bros., which is rumoured to be a period thriller involving vampires. In addition to Jordan, the film is also set to star Delroy Lindo, Jack O’Connell, Hailee Steinfeld and more. It’s set for a March 7, 2025 release.
Many of us have a fear that might be considered irrational to someone else, and for Lupita N’yongo, that fear was cats. When it came to starring in A Quiet Place: Day One, this proved to be a big problem as one of her co-stars was… well, a cat.
A Quiet Place: Day One centers on Sam (N’yongo), a young woman who finds herself stranded in New York City when the alien invasion begins. She’s accompanied by her cat Frodo and soon teams up with Eric (Joseph Quinn) to try to survive the invasion. Although N’yongo was keen to take part, the involvement of the cat almost made her consider turning the film down. “When I read the script, I loved the character, and I loved the story that Michael was telling with this film. It’s a very surprising tone that he’s added to this universe,” N’yongo told Digital Spy. “The cat, that was the sticking point for me.“
The actress said she tried to get director Michael Sarnoski to change the cat to a different animal, but he refused. So in order to get over her fear of cats, Lupita N’yongo went through cat therapy. “It started with two, and the first day, they just let the cats roam around me, and I asked the woman who brought the cats questions about why they were doing certain things,” N’yongo explained. “The next day, I touched one with one finger and slowly, slowly I got comfortable enough to hold a cat through this film.“
The “cat therapy” worked, and N’yongo got along just fine with her feline co-star, who was actually played by two cats: Schnitzel and Nico. In fact, she became a cat mom in real life, adopting a cat named Yoyo. “I have historically been afraid of cats, but when my life was altered instantly recently, a little voice whispered to me that it was time to embrace change and new possibilities,” N’yongo wrote on Instagram last year.
A Quiet Place: Day One is now playing in theaters, so be sure to check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.
