Stardust

For the past few weeks, the most interesting story going into WWE's SummerSlam event was definitely the tag team match that saw Arrow star Stephen Amell becoming the latest celebrity to step into the wrestling ring. Partnering up with the high-flying Neville, Amell was pit against Stardust, who has been laboring under the impression that Amell was, in fact, the real Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, with this whole "Stephen Amell" thing being a secret identity that fooled all of his viewers, and that his defeat of a superhero would allow him to take his place as pro wrestling's greatest supervillain. If that sounds a little complicated, it is, but it was also pretty great. Last night, the match finally happened, and as you might expect if you're even slightly familiar with how celebrity appearances work in WWE, Amell and Neville got the win in a match that saw Amell diving from the top rope to the outside on both of his opponents to set up the victory.

Well I certainly had that one wrong. Yesterday, when WWE teased a "face-to-face confrontation" between Arrow star Stephen Amell and Stardust, the former Tag Team Champion who has been recently styling himself as a cosmic supervillain, I assumed that we'd get a minor physical altercation that would set up a match between Stardust and another pro wrestler. That is, after all, the way celebrity appearances usually go. What we got was something way, way better.

If you've been paying attention to pro wrestling, the King of Sports, then you may already know that WWE has been teasing a feud between Stardust, also known as Cody Rhodes, and Stephen Amell, the star of TV's Arrow, for a while. Now, it looks like they're taking the next step: With only a few weeks left until SummerSlam, the second-biggest show of the year for WWE, a preview for tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw has announced that Amell will be showing up for a "face-to-face confrontation" with the wrestler who has become his arch-nemesis via social media.

There are a number of names that get thrown around when discussing comics' great artists, but Charles Vess is one who stands alone from the pack, occupying a whole category of the conversation unto himself. His work is immediately recognizable, his voice and personality shining through in every project – depicting impossible worlds in a naturalistic way, using a craftsman's eye and skill to channel unbridled imagination onto paper, creating fantastic images that never fail to evoke sincere human emotion.

If you watched WWE's Monday Night Raw this week, then you may have noticed an unexpected guest appearance from Stephen Amell, the star of TV's Arrow. That in itself isn't unusual --- Amell's a wrestling fan, and WWE loves very few things more than having celebrities in the front row for its shows --- but what is unusual is that he became a small part of the show, getting into a verbal altercation with former Tag Team Champion Stardust. Stardust would go on to call Amell out in a "Backstage Fallout" segment, and now sources including the Wrestling Observer are reporting that this could all be leading up to a guest appearance for Amell at this year's SummerSlam, possibly actually stepping into the ring to wrestle Stardust.

We've seen our fair share of statues honoring Fletcher Hanks' highly bizarre alien crimefighter Stardust The Super Wizard since the character entered the public domain some years ago, but Fresh Monkey Fiction will finally give the hero -- and five other pulp classics -- at least five points of 4.5" tall action figure articulation in 2015.

A while back, I wrote about a Kickstarter for the Golden Age Bakery, a business in Chapel Hill built around making edible versions of classic Golden Age comics by printing them on cookies. I can think of no better cause. In that article, I mentioned that I'd really like to see a set of cookies featuring a story by the relatively obscure (and legitimately insane) Fletcher Hanks...

Whimsical, thrilling, enchanting, touching, wry, knowing...heck, let's just cut to the chase and call Stardust what it is: magical. I've been accused of speaking in blurbs before, but since the above pretty accurately represents my unfiltered thoughts as the final credits rolled at the Stardust screening I attended a few weeks ago, I'm standing by them now...

Press Release With Comic-Con mere days away, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is raising the stakes with three incredible exclusives and a slate of amazing signings! EXCLUSIVE: STARDUST VIP PACK!Be among the first to experience the film magic of Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess' Stardust at Comic-Con! Th ...