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blue-collar bonds…
| ...not ‘bonds’ as in: another Government
‘Bonds’ as in James Bonds - seven of them,
superheroes. Preview says scheme to get you to part with your money.
with skills you don’t normally associate withhello to the... Mystery Men.
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Mention the name Dark Horse Comics to a collector and the reaction is likely to be one of intense respect. Mike Richardson’s company is to comic books - sorry, graphic novels - what Fat Boy Slim is to the record turntable: a cutting-edge genius who has taken cult into the mainstream.
Mystery Men director Kinka Usher
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So it should come as no surprise that Mystery Men is that turn-of-the-millennium phenomenon: a mainstream movie with a cult sensibility. Turned into a big-ticket film by award-winning commercials director Kinka Usher, the tale is based on a Dark Horse stalwart with just the right mix of elements to attract one of the autumn’s strongest line-ups, including Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush, who got the Best Actor award for Shine and a nomination for Shakespeare in Love. Also starring are two more Oscar nominees (Greg Kinnear, a contender for As Good as It Gets; and William H Macy, nominated for Fargo), plus voice-of-The-Simpsons Hank Azaria (whose movie roles include an unforgettable turn in The Birdcage and the best human performance in Godzilla); Lena Olin (who will also be seen this autumn in Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate); Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo, who began their big-screen careers in Reality Bites and whose starring roles have since included There’s Something About Mary (Stiller) and Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion (Garofalo); and TV star Kel Mitchell from Kenan and Kel.
Geoffrey Rush as the evil Casanova Frankenstein
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Eddie Izzard and Pras as his disco-loving henchmen, Tony P and Tony C
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Richardson founded Dark Horse Comics in 1986 with the aim of bringing a little sophistication to a market that, 15 years ago, was a pale shadow of what it used to be in the days of The Dark Knight (aka Batman), Superman and The Incredible Hulk. The comics Dark Horse produced - several of which, like The Mask, have preceded Mystery Men onto the big screen - were more in tune with the tastes and peculiarities of Generation X. Which means they were edgier, weirder, more out-there. They were also funny, but they had a human element - emotions to which readers could relate.
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