FANDOM FIVE: The Week in Geek Film/TV News

1) Comics and TV Don't Mix

Man, it's a bloodletting out there. Wonder Woman and Locke & Key, two high-profile  and expensive TV pilots based on comic books (one starring Adrianne Palicki, the other produced by Star Trek gurus Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci), were not picked up. On top of that, Human Target, which is based on the DC Comics character, was cancelled by Fox. V was also yanked and cool geek show Breaking In was canceled, although there are small signs of life that it may come back. The cancellations show that the fanboy audience is loyal but not as large as networks wish it was.

2)  Speaking of Endings...

Smallville flew off the small screen last night with a two-hour series finale. The show ran 10 seasons, airing 218 episodes, becoming the longest-running comic book-based series ever. While launching careers and making many employed, one of its achievements was bringing so much of the DC Universe into the public¹s living rooms; not only was the Superman mythos tackled via characters such as Supergirl and Zod, members of the Justice League, Teen Titans, and the Legion of Super-Heroes made appearances.

3)  Lightning Strikes

DC's big comic event of the summer kicked off this week with Flashpoint #1. The story sees Barry Allen, aka The Flash, wake up in a world where he has no powers, his mother is still alive, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are fighting over Europe, and Batman isn't Batman. While many event books are overblown, this one, from writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert, is off to a really solid start.

4)  Holy Batmobile Lawsuits!

If you're driving a Batmobile, you better have more than your license and registration in your glove box. How about a lawyer. Warner Bros has filed a copyright and trademark lawsuit against a man who builds custom-made "Batmobiles." It wants a permanent injunction, the destruction of infringing goods, and statutory damages of no less than $750,000 per infringement.

5)  Doctor's Orders

Doctor Who is a rather cool and quirky show with a legion of loyal devotees. Neil Gaiman is a great writer (do I even need to mention Sandman?) who also has a legion of fanatics. The two combine forces Saturday night when BBC America airs the Gaiman-written episode of the acclaimed inter-dimensional and time-traveling sci-fi show. How will it fare?