Writer makes 'Battlestar' sing

When I heard that

Javier Grillo-Marxuach

(from TV's "Lost") would be penning "Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse," I was immediately stoked. This is a guy who not only made the Super-Skrull cool in a miniseries last year, but told such an epic tale you wished the character had always been written that way.

I wondered what he would do with a tale centered on the original "Battlestar" crew.

The answer is quite a bit. Grillo-Marxuach not only tells a great story, it's one that transcends the trappings of its characters and premise to present them in a way you - if you are a fan - wish they always had been.

So we get crackling dialogoue, particularly between Apollo and Starbuck - with just the right amount of humor and trash talk - and we also get some dynamic derring-do from these two franchise pillars.

Toss in Cylons attacking Cylons, a mystery, a truly menacing villain, the possibility of the crew having found a way to the Lost Colony of Earth - and the teensy, weensy challenge they have in getting there - and a cliffhanger and you have another epic unfolding in these first 22 pages of the 4-issue limited series.

It doesn't hurt that the art by Carlos Rafael is gorgeous, either.

In short, Dynamite has knocked yet another one out of the park. If they keep this up, by the end of the year they will challenge Ryan Howard in that regard.

Helfer as Supergirl?

According to JoBlo.Com, current "Battlestar Galactica" superbabe Tricia Helfer could be getting ready to . . . uh, bust out as "Supergirl" on the silver screen.

The Web site states that "Warner Brothers has already commissioned a script for the younger, blonder and breastier" cousin of Superman, and that Helfer was on the list of possibilities to wear the famed curve-hugging blue bodysock.

Of course, Helfer is 33 and Supergirl is only 17 in the comics, but the explanation for that has never made sense anyway. Supposedly, she is actually older than Superman - but hasn't aged as fast because she spent a majority of her life in orbit?

Odds are, at a time when studios are altering the race and gender of iconic characters for the silver screen, Warner Brothers won't hesitate to change Supergirl's age if it means landing someone like Helfer for the role with an eye toward sending fanboys (and their box-office numbers) into orbit.

'Sin City 2' casting

According to ProjectWonderful.Com, "Sin City 2" director Robert Rodriguez seems both confident and excited that Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas will be part of the cast, saying it was "meant to be."

He says Depp was interested in playing the Jackie Boy character (eventually played by Benicio Del Toro) in the original film, but scheduling conflicts got inthe way.

"But there is a better role for him" as Wallace, a character from the "Sin City: Hell and Back" graphic novel on which a large part of the movie is based. "Jackie Boy was a small part, but he could be really good (as Wallace)," says Rodriguez.

The enthusiasm Rodriguez has for casting Banderas seems to be reciprocated by the actor, he says.

"When I first showed him the first sample of the work, he went, 'Man, I'll do anything in that. I'll be the hunchback. You have to bring me onboard. That looks amazing.' "

"So Frank (Miller) met him that time too and he said, 'I've got to find something for that guy. I've never met him before. He's amazing,' " Rodriguez recalls. "(So we're) looking at the cast of characters and (looking) to see where he can fit." *

E-mail jeromemaid@hotmail.com