#gatchman

Ken the Eagle x Speed Racer based Bi flag! ^^ (With and without the characters~) For an anon~ Hope you like this!

Gotta say I’m rather excited (or, as excited as I can get these days) about an announcement made today at Comic Con by the Russo Brothers, directors of some of the best entries in the MCU, including “Captain America: Civil War” and the last two Avengers movies.

“Battle of the Planets” is to be a live-action adaptation of the anime that ran in the US back in the late 70s, right after the release of “Star Wars.”  Originally called “Gatchaman” (or “Science Ninja Team Gatchaman” to be exact) in its native Japan, BOTP followed the exploits of 5 super-powered teens in costumes fashioned after various birds (eagle, falcon, owl, etc.) who fought off an alien invasion.  The series was updated in the early 90s with a 3-part OVA that sported updated (and I felt, even better) costume designs, but was spoiled a bit in that they tried to tell the story of the entire original series (which I think was about 100 episodes) in three 45 minute installments.  The series was re-branded (and I believe re-dubbed) as “Saban’s Eagle Riders” later in the 90s/early 00s and ran on a basic cable channel.  I can’t remember if that was a re-tread of the original anime, or an updated series from Japan.  At the time Japan was producing several new series based on older anime (Astro Boy, Gigantor, etc.)

There was a live-action “Gatchaman” film from Japan a few years ago but, while ambitious, was hobbled by budgetary restraints and not much action of the heroes in their costumes.

“Grimjack” is based on a comic book series created by John Ostrander and Tim Truman from the 1980s.  It followed the story of John Gaunt, a former policeman turned mercenary/private investigator in the city of Cynosure, which was basically the nexus of reality where all different universes converged.  The setting was great because you could have magic users interacting with sci-fi aliens interacting with dinosaurs - the possibilities were endless.  It was one of my favorite comics at the time, and still holds a place in my heart.  The Russos are reportedly developing this as a television series for one of the streaming services (Amazon, I think).