'Ex Machina' is art imitating ... art?

I've told you before how much I admire "Ex Machina,"  and I wanted to let you know about a fun surprise in the newest issue, No. 40, which hit stands today. (Stop reading now if you don't want any cats let out of any bags. ...)

The story, written by Brian K. Vaughan and drawn by Tony Harris, finds Mayor Mitchell Hundred seeking collaborators for an autobiographical project -- a graphic-novel account of his first term as the chief executive of New York City. The final few pages of the issue have some guest creators drop by, and they are none other than writer Garth Ennis and artist Jim Lee. Nice!

-- Geoff Boucher

Image credits: Wildstorm/DC Comics

Director D.J. Caruso now says he hopes to make a film trilogy based on the "Y: The Last Man" comic books that will star Shia LaBeouf and also tweak a basic element of the plot -- even though he knows any departure from the original risks the wrath of fanboy purists.

"It is tricky to suggest changing things. I'm sure the fanboys will stone me and my kids for daring to change a thing. But Brian K. Vaughan [the writer of the comics] loves the ideas we've come up with. He even said said, 'You have to think outside the box because the reason this story hasn't been made into a movie so far is that we haven't thought outside the box.'"

I sat down with Caruso the other day at one of his favorite spots in Los Angeles, the grand and venerable Union Station, a site used by Ridley Scott in his brilliant "Blade Runner," a film dearly loved by Caruso. "When I found that out, I started coming here and I just got taken by the place." We got together to talk about the tech-thriller "Eagle Eye," which stars LaBeouf and opens this Friday (that Calendar cover story ran Sunday in the Los Angeles Times) but eventually the conversation turned to Caruso's next project. There's been chatter for months about Caruso making a "Y" movie, and while he was careful to say it's not a done deal, he seemed very optimistic that "Y: The Last Man" would be at theaters in 2010.   

"It's at New Line and New Line is now under the umbrella at Warner Bros., and we're working it out. It's not a done deal, but I'm hoping that's my next movie. My favorite thing about the story is that it's about the last man on earth who is not a man yet, he's a boy. He's still a man-child. He has to become a man on this journey. I don't want to say it's a post-apocalyptic story, but it does have that feel. Every man, everything in their world that is male, in fact, dies. Everything with the Y chromosome dies, except for this one guy, Yorick, and his pet monkey, Ampersand. It's about them and this embattled world of women and the women who come after him."

Caruso made a big commercial breakthrough last year with "Disturbia,"a film that started LaBeouf's career-shaping run of big-time roles. He and the star clearly have built a rapport together. I got to watch them on the set in Los Angeles early this year and in talking to Caruso then it was very clear that the director has found his screen muse in LaBeouf. Caruso sounds absolutely locked in on the 22-year-old actor as his on-screen version of Yorick, the last man on Earth.

"Shia wants to be Yorick. So we're talking about reuniting again. I know he needs a little bit of a break but this looks like it will fit for him. He's perfect casting. Even if I did know him and hadn't worked with him, it's pretty clear that he's perfect. He is Yorick. Yorick has a sense of humor, he's self-deprecating, he has this wonderful relationship with 355, who is the female super agent. Ultimately I want that relationship to be very similar to Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin in 'Midnight Run.'"

And what about that key plot change?

The Sunday Review: "Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition"

By Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris (Wildstorm, hardcover, $29.99)

Which graphic novel would you hand a curious friend who had never read one but wants to give the medium a try?

A lot of fans automatically say "Watchmen," which makes perfect sense, I suppose, considering the fact that it changed the ambitions of the entire sector with its cinematic sensibility, gravitas and heart-rending emotional nuance. But, really, Alan Moore's 1986 epic is so steeped in comic-book lore and deconstruction that its greatest appeal is to true believers. If you didn't grow up reading the tidy escapades of the Justice League, Moore's flawed mystery men aren't quite as jolting or disturbing. "Watchmen" may be the perfect graphic novel, I just don't know if it's the best first graphic novel. "The Dark Knight Returns," meanwhile, is audacious and unforgettable, but I'd rather not hand a skeptical newcomer a book with Batman and Superman in it. (And if I was going to give them one with the trad capes, I'd go "Batman: Year One," even though Christopher Nolan's movies have pinched so much from that tale that it'll never be the revelatory read it was when first published.)

Today, right now, I have no doubt that the very best introductory graphic novel is the one that came in the mail recently and is sitting right here on my desk: the amazing "Ex Machina."

D.J. Caruso says Shia LaBeouf is 'perfect' for a 'Y: The Last Man' film trilogy

Director D.J. Caruso now says he hopes to make a film trilogy based on the "Y: The Last Man" comic books that will star Shia LaBeouf and also tweak a basic element of the plot -- even though he knows any departure from the original risks the wrath of fanboy purists.

"It is tricky to suggest changing things. I'm sure the fanboys will stone me and my kids for daring to change a thing. But Brian K. Vaughan [the writer of the comics] loves the ideas we've come up with. He even said said, 'You have to think outside the box because the reason this story hasn't been made into a movie so far is that we haven't thought outside the box.'"

I sat down with Caruso the other day at one of his favorite spots in Los Angeles, the grand and venerable Union Station, a site used by Ridley Scott in his brilliant "Blade Runner," a film dearly loved by Caruso. "When I found that out, I started coming here and I just got taken by the place." We got together to talk about the tech-thriller "Eagle Eye," which stars LaBeouf and opens this Friday (that Calendar cover story ran Sunday in the Los Angeles Times) but eventually the conversation turned to Caruso's next project. There's been chatter for months about Caruso making a "Y" movie, and while he was careful to say it's not a done deal, he seemed very optimistic that "Y: The Last Man" would be at theaters in 2010.   

"It's at New Line and New Line is now under the umbrella at Warner Bros., and we're working it out. It's not a done deal, but I'm hoping that's my next movie. My favorite thing about the story is that it's about the last man on earth who is not a man yet, he's a boy. He's still a man-child. He has to become a man on this journey. I don't want to say it's a post-apocalyptic story, but it does have that feel. Every man, everything in their world that is male, in fact, dies. Everything with the Y chromosome dies, except for this one guy, Yorick, and his pet monkey, Ampersand. It's about them and this embattled world of women and the women who come after him."

Caruso made a big commercial breakthrough last year with "Disturbia,"a film that started LaBeouf's career-shaping run of big-time roles. He and the star clearly have built a rapport together. I got to watch them on the set in Los Angeles early this year and in talking to Caruso then it was very clear that the director has found his screen muse in LaBeouf. Caruso sounds absolutely locked in on the 22-year-old actor as his on-screen version of Yorick, the last man on Earth.

"Shia wants to be Yorick. So we're talking about reuniting again. I know he needs a little bit of a break but this looks like it will fit for him. He's perfect casting. Even if I did know him and hadn't worked with him, it's pretty clear that he's perfect. He is Yorick. Yorick has a sense of humor, he's self-deprecating, he has this wonderful relationship with 355, who is the female super agent. Ultimately I want that relationship to be very similar to Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin in 'Midnight Run.'"

And what about that key plot change?

The Sunday Review: "Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition"

By Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris (Wildstorm, hardcover, $29.99)

Which graphic novel would you hand a curious friend who had never read one but wants to give the medium a try?

A lot of fans automatically say "Watchmen," which makes perfect sense, I suppose, considering the fact that it changed the ambitions of the entire sector with its cinematic sensibility, gravitas and heart-rending emotional nuance. But, really, Alan Moore's 1986 epic is so steeped in comic-book lore and deconstruction that its greatest appeal is to true believers. If you didn't grow up reading the tidy escapades of the Justice League, Moore's flawed mystery men aren't quite as jolting or disturbing. "Watchmen" may be the perfect graphic novel, I just don't know if it's the best first graphic novel. "The Dark Knight Returns," meanwhile, is audacious and unforgettable, but I'd rather not hand a skeptical newcomer a book with Batman and Superman in it. (And if I was going to give them one with the trad capes, I'd go "Batman: Year One," even though Christopher Nolan's movies have pinched so much from that tale that it'll never be the revelatory read it was when first published.)

Today, right now, I have no doubt that the very best introductory graphic novel is the one that came in the mail recently and is sitting right here on my desk: the amazing "Ex Machina."

'Ex Machina,' the perfectly wired graphic novel

The Sunday Review: "Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition"

By Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris (Wildstorm, hardcover, $29.99)

Which graphic novel would you hand a curious friend who had never read one but wants to give the medium a try?

A lot of fans automatically say "Watchmen," which makes perfect sense, I suppose, considering the fact that it changed the ambitions of the entire sector with its cinematic sensibility, gravitas and heart-rending emotional nuance. But, really, Alan Moore's 1986 epic is so steeped in comic-book lore and deconstruction that its greatest appeal is to true believers. If you didn't grow up reading the tidy escapades of the Justice League, Moore's flawed mystery men aren't quite as jolting or disturbing. "Watchmen" may be the perfect graphic novel, I just don't know if it's the best first graphic novel. "The Dark Knight Returns," meanwhile, is audacious and unforgettable, but I'd rather not hand a skeptical newcomer a book with Batman and Superman in it. (And if I was going to give them one with the trad capes, I'd go "Batman: Year One," even though Christopher Nolan's movies have pinched so much from that tale that it'll never be the revelatory read it was when first published.)

Today, right now, I have no doubt that the very best introductory graphic novel is the one that came in the mail recently and is sitting right here on my desk: the amazing "Ex Machina."