Thursday, 11th September.

Google Taps McCloudTo Explain New Browser

Google has chosen cartoonist Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) to explain the Internet giant’s new browser known as 'Chrome.' McCloud has produced a 38-page comic detailing the features of the new browser that Google is introducing in an effort to forestall any attempt by Microsoft, which is shaping up as Google’s chief rival in the Internet realm, to limit access to Google for those using Microsoft’s popular Internet Explorer browser. McCloud’s Chrome comic is not a Webcomic, though it is available for reading online. It was created as a pamphlet (and can be easily downloaded) to explain Google’s entry into the browser market to journalists and bloggers.

McCloud, as usual, manages to explain the inner workings of the Chrome browser in a straightforward visual way that should make this 38-page comic a 'must-read' for techies as well as for ordinary Internet users (with PCs, since there is no Mac version of Chrome yet), who will be able to understand the basic concept behind Google’s new V8 javascript engine, but who will probably be much more interested in the security aspects of the new browser, which includes a 'privacy mode' that creates an 'incognito window' where nothing that occurs is ever logged on the user’s computer, as well as powerful new protection against 'malware' that wants to take over your machine.

Informative and didactic comics such as McCloud’s explication of the new Chrome browser are commonplace in Japan, and were also quite prevalent in this country in previous eras such as World War II. The fact that Google, the leading corporate champion of the Internet age, chose to use a comic book to introduce and explain its new browser is further verification of the growing influence of comics and of the growing recognition of the comics medium’s powerful pedagogic potential.

'Watchmen' Trial Date Set. Judge Denies Injunction

The legal dispute between 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. over screen rights to Watchmen is coming to a head very quickly. U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess has set a trial date of January 6th for the case, while indicating that Fox should give up any notion of a preliminary injunction and instead concentrate on expediting the discovery and deposition phase of the trial. After the discovery portion of the case Fox will be able to petition the judge for a permanent injunction to stop Warners from releasing the film, which is currently set to premiere on March 6th.

The dispute between the studios stems from a 1991 agreement between producer Lawrence Gordon and Fox, which established a buyout arrangement under which Fox would relinquish its screen rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen graphic novel. Fox claims that Gordon failed to live up to his part of the agreement, while Gordon and Warner Bros. contend that he did.

While Warner Bros. had been pushing for a quicker trial date (April) than Fox (June), with his decision to begin legal proceedings in early January, Judge Feess appears to be in no mood for a long, drawn out dispute and wants to get the facts of the case, including sworn depositions and all the relevant documents, out in the open as quickly as possible.

'Kick-Ass' Casting: Aaron Johnson, Nick Cage, Lyndsy Fonseca

British actor Aaron Johnson has won the role of dweeb/superhero Dave Lizewski in Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass comic book series. Johnson got the role (in spite of Vaughn’s instructions that he didn’t want any English actors auditioning) by adopting a pitch-perfect American accent that, according to The Daily Mail, totally fooled the veteran director. The 18-year-old Johnson is fresh off an appearance as 'Robbie the Hottie' in Gurinder Chadha’s new movie Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging.

The actual filming of Kick-Ass starts later this week in London. The cast includes Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse along with Nicholas Cage, who will play Big Daddy, Lyndsy Fonseca, who will portray Dave’s crush Katie Deuxma, and Mark Strong.

New Ghostbusters Film Gets Writers

A new Ghostbusters film starring the key original cast members is in the works, with the first order of business a script by The Office co-executive producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who’ve signed on to write, according to the Hollywood trades. The pair recently wrote Year One, directed by original Ghostbusters co-writer Harold Ramis.

The Ghostbusters property is due for a boost this fall when the new videogame is released, with script by Ramis and Dan Ackroyd, and voices by Ramis, Ackroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and other cast members from original film.

Tokyopop’s Ghostbusters manga is due out next month.