For a while now, I’ve been toying with branching out with my Behind the Masks column, and looking at characters who didn’t start out in the world of comics. Not to say they haven’t appeared in comics at all, of course, as you’d be hard pressed these days to find a character who hasn’t, but certainly the characters we’ll be looking at over the next three weeks are more famous for their appearances in films and novels than for the comics. With Halloween fast approaching, we’ll be taking a gander at three characters who can easily be labelled icons of horror, starting with arguably the original (and best) mad scientist, Doctor Victor Frankenstein.

This column presented a challenge for two fundamental reasons. The first reason, which is also shared by the next two columns I’ll be tackling, is that there have simply been so many versions of Frankenstein in film and TV that it’s hard to pick just five versions to hold up as the best. Especially since, with the sheer number of Frankensteins available, I haven’t actually seen each and every one out there. So instead of a definitive list (which all my other columns clearly have been), consider this simply a choice selection from a range of Frankesteins, though by no means all of them. That said, anyone who disagrees with the number one choice is a wrong person.

The second problem is, which performances do I consider? When I threw the voting open to you, my lovely readers (and you are lovely), there were votes coming in for Gene Wilder, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. Now, while all three have played characters named Frankenstein, they weren’t technically playing the original Doctor Victor Frankenstein, but instead one of his descendents. So could they be considered eligible? I wrestled with this for a while, and in the end, decided that yes, they could. While they’re not playing the same Frankenstein, the character they do play fits the same purpose within the confines of the story they appeared in, reflecting certain aspects of the character of Victor Frankenstein who appeared in the original novel and displaying a very similar relationship to his creature as their forefather. So, votes for these actors were counted, and one or two of them may appear in the list which follows.

However you count it though, your favourite Doctor Frankenstein was the legendary Peter Cushing, and who could argue with that? Well, those of you who voted Colin Clive into a close second, probably. But which side will Behind the Masks fall on?

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Expectation seems to be everything with the new Thor movie. Whether it be the expectation of what has come before (Iron Man, Hulk) or what's next (Captain America or the Avengers Uber-movie). That being said, although Thor can be seen as bridging some gaps in the cannon continuity of the new Marvel-Film Universe(lets ignore Hulk for now), it comes alive by just being it's own thing.

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This weekend I'll be off to the beautiful county of Kent with the special lady in my life so I'll be completely off the grid, enjoy these little bits of comic book news until I get back.

You're on the Global Frequency...again. After one failed attempt to launch Warren Ellis' comic book series as a TV show with a pilot back in 2002, a new version is now being planned according to Aintitcool. Coincedentally I've just finished the second trade paperback collecting this series (courtesy of Sidekickcast regular and Drawing Monkey Stuart Tipples Thanks) and my first thought was this would be perfect as a TV show. For anyone unfamiliar with the series, Global Frequency is an independent rescue agency that utelizes the skills and knowledge of 1001 experts across the world all channeled through a central hub. It works like a mix between 24 and Fringe for proper internet geeks often dealing with environmental issues, conspiracy theories or fringe science, pretty much the sort of stuff Warren Ellis likes to talk about all the time.

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Got a busy weekend ahead so may not be posting much apart from Something Silly of course, so to tide you over this is what I can gain from what's going on in the world of comics

According to the Hollywood Reporter there's a good chance that the Kenneth Branagh's Thor movie will have a welsh guy playing Thor's father Odin. No it's not me but someone almost as good Sir Anthony Hopkins, if you check out the image above from 1999's Instinct with Cuba Gooding Jr he certainly knows how to rock the long hair and beard combo, all he needs now is is a dodgy eye and a raven on his shoulder and he's away. How reliable this information is this information? Who knows, it was previously believed that Odin would be played by Brian Blessed (although he seems more a shoe in for Volstaag if you ask me) and both Robert De Niro and Jude Law were falsely reported to be in the flick.

Marvel have finally made their way onto the iphone according to Bleeding Cool with the inclusion of some of their titles on the comixology app. Currently you can get hold of Brubaker's run on Captain America, Astonishing X-Men, Marvel Zombies and Age of Apocalypse?! Good news for iphone owning comic book fans but bad news for any comic book company not yet on the iphone...DC...anybody?

And finally over on the Millarworld forums...

CLICK IMAGE TO EMBIGGEN

The boys are back in town, don't know what it's about but it's certainly given me a stiffy the size of Florida.

Link: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/toldja-marvel-studios-about-to-announce-chris-hemsworth-as-thor/

Niki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily reported today that following the casting of Chris Hemsworth as the Thunder God, Tom Hiddleston will play Loki the God of Mischief in Kenneth Branagh's upcoming Thor movie. The English actor won Best Newcomer at the 2008 Olivier awards and was last seen opposite Branagh in his TV drama Wallander. I haven't really seen him in anything myself but he certainly has a look of mischief about him, more so than previous candidate Josh Hartnett.

So do you want the good news or the bad news? Let's give you the bad news first so we can go out on a high; the previously announced schedule of Marvel studios movies has been drastically changed with Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and the Avengers movies all being pushed back. The good news is Spider-Man 4 has been given a 6th May 2011 release date and Iron Man 2 keeps it 7th May 2010, of course whether any of this is 'good' or 'bad' news depends on your point of view.

Those changes in full:
Thor moves from 16 July, 2010 to 17 June, 2011.

The Avengers moves from 15 July, 2011 to 4 May, 2012.

Captain America moves from 6 May, 2011 to 22 July, 2011.

With any luck the delays are story driven rather than marketing and distribution concerns, I wouldn't like to second guess Marvel's reasoning but hopefully they are trying to link the Thor and Captain America movies a little more as they are now scheduled to hit just one month apart. Of course it could simply be that Kenneth Branagh requires more time to fully develop his Thor picture or more cash and momentum is needed to make the Avengers movie as absolutely kick ass as I pray it will be. In other Marvel movie news Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johanson were both confirmed this week for appearances in Iron Man 2, can you say Crimson Dynamo and Black Widow?! Just been reliably informed by forum member MangoFoxtrot that Mickey Rourke will be playing Whiplash in next year's Iron Man 2, good work sir.