We feel bad about posting that creepy teaser for The Strain so early in the morning. Below is an antidote, the just-released second trailer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, to get you dancing:

This one gives a longer glimpse of Rocket, the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), expected to be a particular hit with kids (commenting on the first trailer, Entertainment Weekly warned, “Hipster parents, stare into the eyes of your child’s next Christmas gift”).

Marvel, alert to the growing interest, recently announced the launch of their “first original prose novel,” Rocket Raccoon & Groot: Steal the Galaxy! by Dan Abnett (Marvel; ages 9 and up). Groot, by the way, is an extraterrestrial plant monster, voiced by Vin Diesel. Since his only words are “I am Groot,” sounds like an easy job, but Diesel claims a lot goes in to it.

For all the tie-ins, see our downloadable spreadsheet, Guardians-Movie-Tie-ins.

Collections of the original Marvel comics are also in print.

We’re on the verge of the summer movie season, as the new issue of Entertainment Weekly reminds us with a cover featuring Jennifer Lawrence, looking ready to join Blue Men Group in makeup for her role in X-Men Days of Future Past.

Coming in August is a more tongue-in-cheek comic adaptation, Guardians of the Galaxy. It seems the world is poised to fall in love with one of the characters, Rocket Raccoon and his side kick/body guard, a large plant named Groot.

Marvel, sensing the growing interest, has announced the launch of their “first original prose novel,” Rocket Raccoon & Groot: Steal the Galaxy! by Dan Abnett (Marvel; ages 9 and up), which led one comics observer to moan, “a prose novel … set to capitalize on the presumed success of the upcoming major, big-budget Guardians of the Galaxy feature film. This is the world we live in now.”

Several other “prose novels” will be published to tie-in, which is presumably less surprising since they come from publishers who are generally in the prose novel business (downloadable spreadsheet here; for all the tie-ins to the summer’s movies, check our listings of Upcoming movies).

Time to get hooked on a feeling:

In the late-night talk show competition, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Jimmy Kimmel rolled out “the big guns” against the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night by debuting the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy.

Heeeere it is:

Entertainment Weekly offers a “deep dive” into it with a scene-by-scene analysis (gotta love that gun-totting raccoon; EW warns, “Hipster parents, stare into the eyes of your child’s next Christmas gift.”)

Tie-ins: See our downloadable spreadsheet — Guardians of the Galaxy Tie-ins.  Collections of the original Marvel comics are also in print.

The trailer for the latest Marvel movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, debuts tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Also appearing on the show will be one of the stars, Chris Platt (Parks and Recreation).

There’s been much angst among fans, who have been waiting impatiently for the trailer to be released. A hue and cry went up when it was announced that it would not appear on the Superbowl. Fans were thus forced to read the tea leaves on what the movie will be like, based on the action figures debuted at Toy Fair this past weekend (USA Today featured the LEGO figures) and scene-by scene descriptions of an early trailer that was shown during a panel at Comic-Con.

The movie, described as “an action-packed, epic space adventure,” (more about it from USA Today) is based on the Marvel comics by Dan Abnett, Gene Colan, Arnold Drake, Steve Englehart, Andy Lanning (cover of  volume 1 at left).

Tie-ins: See our downloadable spreadsheet — Guardians of the Galaxy Tie-ins

As part of Sunday’s Olympics coverage, NBC debuted a preview of the Universal movie Unbroken (the studio is part of NBC), directed by Angelina Jolie. It is based on Laura Hillenbrand’s long-running best seller, Unbroken (Random House, 2010), still on the NYT hardcover nonfiction list at #11 after 156 weeks.

Looks like the movie will bring new readers to the book; the preview sent the book up to #2 (from #62) on Amazon’s sales rankings.

It will be several months before the movie theatrical opening (set for Christmas Day), but  the Olympics serves as a good tie-in, since the hero of the film, Louis Zamperini (played in the film  by Jack O’Connell) competed in the 1936 Olympics. The real-life Zamperini, now 96, is also featured in the preview, narrated by  Tom Brokaw.

Official Web Site: UnbrokenFilm.com

A new trailer for Catching Fire will debut at Comic-Con this weekend. Another teen dystopian adaptation, Divergent, will also be featured, with many of the stars, as well as the book’s author Veronica Roth, on had to talk with fans, setting off a round of publicity for the movie that doesn’t open until March.

USA Today has the best headline, “On set of Divergent, Kate Winslet is pregnant and mean” (she is actually pregnant but only plays mean as the intimidating Jeanine Matthews).

Shailene Woodley, who plays the lead, Tris, is also featured in the current issue of Interview magazine (the big news? She is topless for the photo shoot).

MTV is promoting their live-stream coverage of the Comic-Con event with a video of their visit to the Divergent set.

Summit Entertainment clearly expects this to be a success; they have signed up a screenwriter for the sequel,

DivergentOfficial.com

Facebook/DivergentSeries

The 2006 YA/crossover phenomenon, The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak (RH/Knopf Young Readers), is scheduled to make its film debut almost a year from now, on Jan. 17, 2014.

Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson will play the foster parents of Lisel, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, according to the Hollywood Reporter. French-Canadian actress Sophie Nelisse will make her English-language film debut as Lisel. Production is expected to begin this month in Berlin.

The film will be directed by Brian Percival, who directed the series pilot, and several episodes of Downton Abbey (including the first two of season three).

The book is still on the NYT Young Adult Best Seller list, at #8, as of the current list and was a 2007 Printz Honor book.

The publicity drum is beating for the release of the third installment of the series based on the Batman comics, The Dark Knight Rises, which arrives in theaters next week.

As a result, a forthcoming behind-the-scenes book is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings:

The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy Jody Duncan Jesser, Janine Pourroy Retail Price: $40.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Abrams – (2012-07-20) ISBN / EAN: 1419703692 / 9781419703690

The Judge Dredd comics are getting the Hollywood treatment. It’s a classic series for good reason, so I hope the movie brings readers to the source. Unfortunately, it was made into a terrible movie in 1995, starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Scheider.

The new movie, called Dredd, coming September 21, looks like it will be much better, because it stars Karl Urban, who always brings intelligence, and when necessary menace, to his varied roles. He has quite an acting challenge, since Dredd never goes without his helmet, which covers his eyes. Stallone opted to ignore this characteristic and ditched the helmet. Urban, however, believes the helmet is essential.

Also, Alex Garland wrote the script. He’s no stranger to thoughtful sci-fi given his novel (and the subsequent film) The Beach (Penguin/Riverhead, 1998) and his screenplay for Never Let Me Go, based on the Kazuo Ishiguro novel.

The Dredd trailer released recently and already there is talk of sequels.

Official Movie Site: DreddTheMovie.com

Hollywood is continually signing up comics, with the hopes that one of them will be the next Batman, if you’re aiming for gravitas, or Avengers, if you’re aiming for a lighter tone. The question for library buyers is whether the resulting movies (if they actually come about) will hook readers on the originals.

Most movie fans seem to be happy to enjoy the movie’s universe, with no interest in going beyond that experience. Part of the blame falls on the publishers, who issue lackluster tie-in comics and maintain the currently running series with no obvious ways in to the stories. I find myself sending the few eager readers back to the classics, to those that inspired the filmmakers, rather than the new releases.

In the case of Dredd, I will recommend the collected original series Judge Dredd: Case Files by John Wagner, with outstanding art by Brian Bolland. There are five collections (the fifth was published in June), beginning with:

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 John Wagner, Pat Mills Retail Price: $19.99 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: 2000 AD – (2010-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 1906735875 / 9781906735876

The individual titles are available on OverDrive.

Movie tie-in:

Dredd: Collecting: Dredd Vs Death, Kingdom of the Blind & The Final Cut Gordon Rennie, David Bishop, Matthew Smith Retail Price: $8.99 Mass Market Paperback: 704 pages Publisher: Abaddon – (2012-07-31) ISBN / EAN: 1781080771 / 9781781080771

Note: The titles in this collection are available individually from OverDrive