BREAKING NEWS: Vannessa Hudgens Next as Dazzler?

Latest news from our sources in "The Biz" say that High School Musical Starlet Vanessa Hudgens is next up to try and bring Dazzler to the big screen. The actress has shown her musical and dancing talents in the blockbuster High School Musical 3.

Also, the recent news that Beyonce is lobbying to play Wonder Woman leads us to believe that we'll see this another casting that crosses racial barriers.

A Friendly Warning

Don't believe Internet gossip. Dazzlefan.com and Bedazzlerfan.com are NOT associated with the Web's #4 Dazzler-related blog.

ONLY Dazzlerfan.com brings you the best and most authoritative news from the heart of Dazzler fandom.

And that's real.

Overtweeted

Marvel's Agent_M is live-tweeting a character management meeting at the House of Ideas today, and among several other tidbits, he says:

Always with the Dazzler.

Now, this might be Marvel editorial gushing over the Internet sensation that is the Dazzler Fan Blog, but it could be a hint of an upcoming project, especially with Marvel marketing big kahuna Jim McCann's very public position as Dazzler Fan #1 and McCann's recent allusions to some new pitches he's devising (McCann debuts as a comics scribe with What If: House of M, co-written by Brian Reed).

Speculate rampantly in the comments.

Dazzler Marketing Tie Ins, #1 in a Series

That's not a lens flare - General Mills' short-lived Dazzler breakfast cereal had pieces of real disco ball baked into each groovalicious bite. Some concerned parents found this a bit hard to swallow, and the tasty treat was yanked from shelves after only 24 days.

The Many Loves of Alison Blaire: The One From Beyond

A woman as lovely and talented as Alison Blaire, the dynamic Dazzler, has many admirers of course - but who among them can truly hold a candle to her?

Naturally, being Dazzler, Alison has proven herself quite the irresistable force of attraction - who else could capture the attention of the Beyonder himself?

Not only was the One from Beyond ready to grant Alison her every wish, but he was also willing to make an honest woman out of her.

Alison's response? She didn't need some omnipotent guy granting her every wish - like any self-respecting superheroic showbiz type, she wanted to work to achieve her dreams.

And she didn't need some jump-suited jerry-curled fool following her around like a kicked puppy - Dazzler needs a real man!

Next!

Dazzler In Uncanny X-Men #500?

Everyone's favorite Alison is on the Greg Land cover (that's her in her 'signature' black jumpsuit - but that's another post altogether) of UXM #500 and there are rumors that she'll play a role in Warren Ellis's Astonishing X-Men run. No confirmation about the latter, but it appears that Dazzler is back in the X-fold after her stint in New Excalibur.

This week's issue of Uncanny X-Men has Pixie and Hellion leaving a Dazzler concert in San Francisco, but Ali Blaire herself doesn't make an appearance. No word about how big of a presence she'll be in the book, but we can assume she plays a role in Secret Invasion: X-Men, at least.

Kirsten Bell now linked to Dazzler Pic

New rumors are swirling that Kirsten "Veronica Mars" Bell is having her agent actively pursue the roll of Dazzler in the upcoming movie. One Hollywood insider, who is an extremely reliable source, reports that Ms. Bell said on the set of Heroes, "I'd kill to play Dazzler." This news will no doubt be well received with fandom.

With so many starlets being linked to the coveted roll, we here at DFB would like to propose a Disco Dance Battle to see who gets the part. The Dazzler Disco Dance Battle would be aired on Fox, American Idol style, allowing for America to determine who would play the disco mutant; and to create built in hype for the film.

The Most Powerful Mutant On The Face of the Planet

In Secret Wars II #4, The Beyonder not only admires Dazzler's beauty, but declares "the most powerful mutant on the face of the planet!"


You read it right fanboy! This is canonical, in continuity proof of what we have believed all along here at DFB. Who's the most powerful mutant? Not Wolverine! Not Jean Grey! Not Magneto! The most power mutant is DAZZLER!

Dazzler #6 On List of Top 10 80's Marvel Characters

Dazzler was listed on Marvel's Top 10 Characters Created in the 1980's. The travesty is that she was only voted #6. I think we can all agree that Dazzler by herself is better than the New Mutants combined (seriously, #2???!!!)

It matters not though, because here at the DFB, Ms. Blaire will always be #1 in our hearts.

A bit of housekeeping

Please note that we changed the URL for our blog to www.dazzlerfan.com, to show that we're not playing around here. http://dazzlerfan.blogspot.com should still redirect you here, but Google seems to be a bit goofy at times, so update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.

Here is what Google says about all this:

Your blog's new address is http://www.dazzlerfan.com/. Since it takes time for this new address to be available all over the Internet, you can still get to it at http://dazzlerfan.blogspot.com.

Your new address should work for everyone after at most 3 days. At that time we will redirect your readers from your old address to the new one.

Tricia Helfer to star as Dazzler!

Although Jessica Biel's name has been bandied around for a movie version of Dazzler, word has reached the ears of the Dazzler Fan Blog that Tricia Helfer's name is now attached to the project - and it could be a four hour mini-series event!

The lovely leggy Canadian is on the look-out for new projects following the end of Battlestar Galactica and her turn on the new season of Burn Notice and this could be just the project. No word on Helfer's singing ability though we understand fellow BSGer Lucy Lawless has offered to give her pointers. Sounds good to us!

Also no word if any other Marvel Universe characters will be involved, but as Hugh Jackman's name is floating around as executive producer, who knows? I mean, if he went to TV for something like Viva Laughlin, its hard to imagine him not coming to TV for something of this magnitude!

Stay tuned, Dazzler Fans - more as it develops!

Dazzler by Terry Dodson

Cover to Secret Invasion: X-Men #3 - Source

Why Dazzler Matters

The creation of myth is a hell of a thing.

I could be drunk as I write this, this could all have started as a lark between Phil, Matt, Rich and myself, and Dazzler might be the jetsam of a fallen-through cross-promotional movie/music/comic deal who was created entirely by committee, down to which celebrity she should most look like (and feel free to hazard a guess in the comments - no Wiki-cheating!), a fact which explains her schizophrenic publishing history and early barrage of guest appearances.

All this could be true. But none of that matters.

Alison Blaire matters.

Before Dazzler appeared without origin or preamble in Uncanny X-Men #130, you had three options when it came to being a mutant. You could:

1. Join the X-men
2. Be a bad guy
3. Kind of hang around and help out when needed, despite claiming you're not part of the team, which is what happened to Jaime Madrox, Havok and Polaris.

What does Dazzler do? She saves Cyclops, Phoenix and Nightcrawler from the Hellfire Club and then tags along to Chicago to rescue the rest of the team. And then she quits, content to keep playing disco gigs in shady nightclubs.

Yes, that early departure is likely due to the massive Dazzler promotion engine losing its wheels. Yes, her eventual ongoing series would eventually draw her back into superheroics, but Dazzler is the first example of a mutant who simply decided to use her powers to have a career.

She wouldn't be the last, either. Even as Dazzler herself ends up back in the superhero game, the mutant books at Marvel were following her lead, albeit twenty years too late. Grant Morrison devised a mutant culture where most of the world's X-gened population didn't have to put on costumes and monologue incessantly. NYX, when it could be bothered to come out, lived in that culture and focused on characters and day-to-day life over the high-minded 'protecting the dream' rhetoric that even die-hard X-fans are probably a little sick of by now. And it's Dazzler that set the precedent.

So the next time you read an X-Men book and wonder what contribution Dazzler makes to the team, correct your thinking. It's not the X-Men that Dazzler's made a lasting impact on, but the world. From an editorial perspective, Alison Blaire has stumbled to the forefront of the mutant rights issue, and whether as an actress, a disco diva or a member of Lila Cheney's backing band, she's proudly proven time and time again that mutants don't need to rely on Charles Xavier in order to give back to society.

Dazzler: The Doll

As many of you already know, I've been conducting years of research toward completing Dazzler: Thank You For The Music, the first-ever comprehensive critical and informational overview of the character, due from TwoMorrows in mid-2009.

I thought I might share some of my research here from time to time, so as to enlighten my fellow Dazzled Ones about their favorite character, even as I create a modicum of "buzz" for my book. I'm sure the Dazzled Ones who lurk at this site will be first in line to purchase, but I'd be lying if I didn't secretly hope to get a call from The Today Show or (dare I hope? dare I dream?) my idol Terry Gross at NPR's Fresh Air!

The images accompanying this post are a few remnants from a long-hidden, all-too-brief era in Dazzler history, when Marvel Comics was desperately seeking to market and sell their disco-dancing mutant hero to not just comics fans, but the public at large. As my book will demonstrate, throughout Dazzler's existence, there have been enterprising editors and licensing executives who have seen the untapped potential in this tremendous character and have sought to exploit her in media as diverse as television, Broadway rock operas, and (as we'll discuss today) toys.

These pictures are exclusive images taken from Mattel's archives, depicting a few of the prototypes drawn up for an aborted Dazzler: The Doll toy line, to be issued alongside Barbie to young, impressionable girls who would then (one presumes) be driven by curiosity to pick up one of Marvel's Dazzler comic books.

The Marvel/Mattel deal was one of the first spearheaded by Stan Lee after moving to California in 1981. For weeks, Lee could be found haunting South Bay eateries and nightclubs along with executives from Mattel's corporate offices in El Segundo. Lee even hosted a "launch party" for the doll line, even though the project had not moved past the prototype stage, at LA nightspot Whisky-A-Go-Go. The party is notable for featuring a brief set by seminal LA punk group X.

It's still unclear exactly what happened to sour the deal between Marvel and Mattel; there are however indications that the material developed for the Dazzler: The Doll project would later be utilized by disgruntled former Mattel employees to launch Jem at Hasbro.



Stan Lee at the Dazzler: The Doll launch party, July 1982

Pretender to the Throne

We here at the Dazzler Fan Blog demand that you accept no pale imitations!

There is only one true Dazzler - Alison Blaire - and as such, we implore you to stay away from the second rate knock-off that is Jem!

The true Dazzler needs neither a light show (she generates her own) or a theme song that lets you know she's truly outrageous: not unlike Darkseid, she simply is!

Dazzler - accept no substitutes!

Dazzler Fan Art

Source

JESSICA BIEL TO STAR AS DAZZLER

Word on the street is that Jessica Biel will star as Dazzler in the upcoming movie.

We here at the DFB are extremely happy with this choice.