SUPER(ISH) NEWS . . . MOSTLY ABOUT MOVIES!

Posted on April 11th, 2010 by ekko

1.  BUCKY! It was predictable that any movie telling the origin of Captain America would have to include Bucky.  Well, with Chris “Human Torch” Evans now on board as Cap, they’ve announced Sebastian “Hot Tub Time Machine” Stan as the future Winter Soldier.  Reports say Stan has a five-picture deal, so I guess Marvel is hoping for many future episodes.  As am I.  Seriously, Joe Johnston: Don’t screw this up.  Evans and Sebastian look to be about the same age, and Evans if a pretty lean guy, so the Cap we see on the screen will definitely be a different type of character.  It’s hard to imagine how he’ll be next to Robert Downey, Jr., in the Avengers film—particularly because Downey doesn’t dumb-down his acting for anyone—but I’d be willing to accept Cap as a younger guy (physically) as long as Evans can bring us a man (and idealist) out of time.  The movie begins filming in June with a July 22, 2011 release date.

2.  SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN! If I had to make a list of my favorite directors, I’d have to include Sam Raimi, George Romero, David Fincher, M Night Shamalyan (recent work notwithstanding), Joss Whedon, John Carpenter, probably Spielberg (even though that’s an obvious choice) and, of course, the great Wes Craven.  So I’m doing the Snoopy happy dance over the fact Wes will return to reboot and direct “Scream 4.”  The Scream trilogy is a rare example of a series that for the most part maintained high quality throughout (except maybe for the third one).  And best of all, it will be written by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original.  I’m not sure there are that many more horror tropes to satirize, and the fact that most recent horror films are just remakes of old ones means that there aren’t any new tropes in the game, either.  Still, I’m hopeful.

3.  A HELLUVA LOT MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. Okay, I admit that I loved Transformers, and I truly think Shia La Beouf is a very talented actor.  However, to my credit, I wasn’t a fan of Trans2 and I think Megan Fox is a better cardboard standee than an actress.  That said, for “Transformers 3″ Michael Bay has cast John Malkovich and Frances McDormand(!)  The real question isn’t how did he do that (it’s the money, stupid) but why?  They won’t bring new butts into the seats.  He seems to be fishing for critical acclaim (since the first two flicks were not exactly well-received), but is Bay really that pathetic?

4.  THOR NEWS! Director Kenneth Branagh and members of the cast are doing more talking, now that filming has begun on the Marvel Norse epic scheduled for a 2011 release.  They say the movie will take place evenly between Asgard and Midgard (Earth, to you non-Thor fans), but really they’re trying to dispel rumors that cast members are fighting even more than the characters they portray.  The volume of leaks about disgruntled stars (a big one was the report that Odin (Anthony Hopkins) thinks Christopher Helmsworth (Thor) is a lightweight) is definitely troubling.  Except for a few brief shining moments, I’ve always thought of Thor as Marvel’s second-most-laziest character in terms of developing a unique heroic character, largely due to the reliance on Norse mythology.  I’m hopeful that Matt Fraction (who takes over the main title) and Brian Michael Bendis (who will include Thor in the new Avengers title) can rescue the character, but clearly that won’t happen soon enough to inform the film version.  Too bad they didn’t go for the sexy (albeit creepy) female Loki . . .

5.  EVEN MORE THOR NEWS! Incidentally, on May 1 we’ll get our first taste of Marvel’s attempt to rescue Thor from the huge quality drop post-JMS’ run on the title, when free comic book day offers a one-shot “Iron Man and Thor” book written by Fraction and illustrated by John Romita, Jr.  It takes place on the moon(!).  I’ve said here often that JR Jr. is my favorite Marvel artist of all time, but I have to say: His sketches for the new Avengers promos have been less than impressive—but previews of his Thor drawings for the free comic book are awesome.  Anyway, I’m hopeful for the Fraction Thor book because, like JMS and Walt Simonson before him, Fraction has a proven track record of being able to reboot characters with long histories, stay true to past legend, but also make the book completely accessible to new readers.  He did it twice already, with Iron Fist and Iron Man.  Thor will be his first non-ferrous reboot!

6.  LOTS OF AVENGERS. All of the Avengers titles will end at the end of Siege, only to be relaunched as The Avengers, Avengers Academy, and Secret Avengers.  The main team has pretty much been confirmed, and the only real surprise there is that Cap will be Bucky not Steve, but Marvel recently also announced that The Beast is returning to a non-mutant team as a member of The Secret Avengers, alongside War Machine.  The series writer, Ed Brubaker, is of course brilliant at turning second-stringers into A-list characters, and I can’t wait to see artist Mike Deodato—my favorite New Avengers artist—take on War Machine.  I also can’t wait until they haul in Howard the Duck.
7.  R.I.P. I don’t usually do death announcements, but I have to mention the passing of Archie Comics artist Henry Scarpelli on April 4.  Who didn’t love Archie as a kid?

8.  AND SPEAKING OF DEATH . . . Rumor is someone’s gonna die in the last Smallville ep.  Rumor hasn’t been confirmed, but what has been confirmed are appearances by Hawkman, Black Canary, Cyborg, and Stargirl.  This is a show that has really lost me.  I watch to see other D.C. heroes, and when they’re just whining about romance (see the recent “romance in the haunted cabin” episode), I tune out.  It’s too bad.  There’s so much potential for greatness here, but for whatever reason D.C. won’t let them make the show more than just intermittently good.

9.  AND FOR THE GEEKIEST OF THE GEEKS . . . SALES NUMBERS! A lot of my readers come just for the music.  I’ve had more than one person tell me, “Comic books?  I’m a grown man!”  But I dig ‘em.  And this blog is about what I dig.  But even I can say that only a few of you will care at all about this last item: On Thursday, Diamond Comic Distributors released their March sales numbers.  Of course, Marvel dominates the overall market (they saturate it, after all)—40% to D.C.’s 30%–but surprisingly, only one Marvel title made the top 5 (Siege #3).  Here’s the top 10 regular books:

1     BLACKEST NIGHT #8     $3.99     DC
2     SIEGE #3     $3.99     MAR
3     GREEN LANTERN #52     $2.99     DC
4     BATMAN AND ROBIN #10     $2.99     DC
5     GREEN LANTERN CORPS #46     $3.99     DC
6     NEW AVENGERS #63     $3.99     MAR
7     DARK AVENGERS #15     $3.99     MAR
8     ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #1     $3.99     MAR
9     UNCANNY X-MEN #522     $3.99     MAR
10     AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #623     $2.99     MAR

In the trades category, indie publishers and imprints dominated, with Kick-Ass at #1, and top-10 entries by well-deserved books like Kirkman’s “Haunt,” Ennis’ “The Boys,” and the latest installment of Buffy Season 8.  If you’re not buying (or at least reading) The Boys, you’re truly missing out…

Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Horror, Movies, Superheroes, Thor

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Posted on April 11th, 2010 by ekko

Tags: Video of the day

SHAKA PONK

Posted on April 10th, 2010 by ekko

Shaka Ponk, a French electropunk band, get a mention here for their United States debut, “Bad Porn Movie Trax.”  I mean, how can I avoid writing about a band with song titles like “How We Kill Stars,” “French Touch Puta Madre,” and “Just a Nerd?”

Check out the single:

Do (direct download)

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on April 10th, 2010 by ekko

Tags: Bestiality, Picture of the day

MONTY-Rock Stars Don’t Eat Cookies

Posted on April 9th, 2010 by ekko

I don’t know if I’ve written about someone from the rural areas of Pennsylvania before, so in the interest of equal time, I bring you Monty.  His new EP, “Rock Stars Don’t Eat Cookies” is a little bit rock, a little bit punk, and fairly genre-defiant.  It’s not going to change your life or anything, but it’s pretty good.  Especially the kooky “Richard Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things” and the punky shouting of “UFO.”  You can get for less than 5 bucks (under a dollar a song) from Amazon.

UFO

Stream:

Tags: Indie rock

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on April 9th, 2010 by ekko

For a complete collection of great pix like this, go here.

Music interpretation:

Meatgrinder (Four Tet remix)-Madvillain (direct dl)

Tags: Hip Hop, MF Doom, Picture of the day

BIG LIGHT-Animals in Bloom

Posted on April 8th, 2010 by ekko

The first track off of Big Light’s “Animals in Bloom” is “Good Time of the Year.”  It’s the perfect opening salvo for this mostly feel-good, NoCal pop record.  It’s a cheerful tune about moving on, breaking up, going from San Francisco to New York City because “it’s a good time of the year to move on.”  It’s the kind of song that makes you want to hear more.  And it jumps right into the “doo de doo doo” of “Monster,” another fantastic, catchy pop song.  Can these folks do no wrong?

The band is from the town where I met and married my wife, San Francisco, and is well-led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Fred Torphy.  This is the band’s first full-length, but they’ve already shared the stage with great bands like Spoon, Broken Social Scene, The Mother Hips, and Dead Confederate.

But back to Big Light‘s music: If the radio still mattered, I can assure you that there are at least five radio-ready singles on this record.  And those that aren’t instant pop hits are interesting and catchy in their own way.  On songs like “Caution” and “Heavy,” the band tries it’s hands at jammier, bluesier material, but even then they don’t spread too far from their pop/hook base.  The way the album is structured, it descends from sunny pop, getting deeper and deeper, until it comes to the 7+ minute “Bonebreaker,” a masterpiece of accessible jamrock.  The answer to my question, it seems, is “No.”  This band cannot do any wrong.

Just $7.99 at Amazon!

Good Time of Year (dl)

Tags: Indie Pop

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Posted on April 8th, 2010 by ekko

From Bohemian Rap CD–for my review, go here.

Tags: Hip Hop, Video of the day

FRANK MILLER’S BATMAN RETURNS: THE RETCONNING OF A RETCON.

Posted on April 8th, 2010 by ekko

DC has announced on their blog that Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, will return . . . Sort of.  In 2011, Miller and Lee will publish a 6-issue mini called, “Dark Knight: Boy Wonder,” which will fit into the whole Miller batverse (Batman: Year One; All Star; Dark Knight; and Dark Knight Returns).  When I picked All Star Batman and Robin as one of the best series of the last decade, I got some gripes in the comments about how Miller hates comic books, Batman, capes, etc., but I stand by my pick.  Now, adding a sense of continuity to the narrative (effectively retconning the All Star retcon), we’ll get an even clearer picture of Miller’s genius vision.  It got me thinking: Who created the best Batman?  Here’s my top 10:

10.  Paul Pope. Some may find Pope’s “Batman: Year 100” a bit derivative of Miller’s Dark Knight, but it’s really worth a read for the art.  It’s also got a lot more Sci Fi elements to it than any other (successful) Bat-story.  Oh, and then there’s the visuals.  Incredible.

9.  Mike Barr and Jim Aparo, Batman and The Outsiders. Marrying the dark Batman with the more kid-friendly (and more fun) takes on the character, this series was about a group of superhero misfits and their tutor: Batman.  Basically, instead of one Robin, you had six.  The series was around for a long time, but it was the 1983 Barr/Aparo run that made this a series worth reading.  It’s also worth nothing that Aparo’s Brave and the Bold team-up book was a ton of fun as well.  But some will complain that it is Batman-lite.

8.  Jim Starlin. Starlin was a brilliant artist in his own right (if you’ve never checked out Dreadstar, shame on you), but his work on Batman was extraordinary.  Under the guidance of Denny O’Neil as editor (see #3, below) he penned “A Death in the Family” (pictured)

which featured the horrible death-by-bludgeoning of Robin.  (Of course he didn’t stay dead—but supposedly DC is done resurrecting people now, at least according to Blackest Night #8.)  The art chores were by the amazing Jim Aparo (then also of The Brave and the Bold), but Starlin’s run also included work by the great Bernie Wrightson.

7.   Alan Moore. Yeah, he only did The Killing Joke, which is mostly Joker without much Batman, but . . . Wow.

6.  Bill Finger and Bob Kane. The creators.  Lots of folks forget—or never read—Detective Comics #27 and the issues that followed.  In those early years, Batman was a dark, mysterious figure known to kill his enemies and was without an origin for the first six issues.  Soon, though, they started introducing all kinds of Bat-paraphernalia, including Robin, and the character descended into cartoonish lamestream for decades.  Until he was rescued by Denny (see #3).

5.  Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, with Michael Lark on art chores. Batman wasn’t really in the Gotham Central series, but I still say it is one of the best Bat-series of all time.  It’s out in bound volumes, and if you like Brubaker’s crime stories, it’s well worth your investment.

4.  Grant Morrison. I know I’ve said a lot of bad things about Morrison’s Batman: R.I.P., and I stand by every one of them.  Morrison’s Batman is simply too powerful, too omniscient, and the narratives are too hard to follow(!)  At the same time, though, the story itself was pretty good (it just wasn’t told very effectively).  And with the new Batman and Robin book, the best D.C. book on the market today, he’s more than redeemed himself.  (I know, that’s Dick and not Bruce, but the cowl is the cowl.)  He’s actually made me look forward to future Batman stories, something I haven’t experienced in a very long time.

3.  Jeph Loeb. With “The Long Halloween” and “Dark Victory” (art by Tim Sale) and “Hush” (Jim Lee), Loeb’s Batman run is largely why people respected him enough to forgive that steaming pile of Ultimatum.  Unfortunately, he’s used up most of his good will on Red Hulk.

2.  Dennis O’Neil. In 1969, O’Neil and Neal Adams came along and tried to make The Bat into a serious character.  Along with Dick Giordano (whose style fit with horror books like Tomb of Dracula), they revamped the character into something worth reading again.  Oh, and they created R’as al Ghul.  That alone should give this run mad credibility, no?

1.  Frank Miller. Say what you like, but between Dark Knight and Daredevil, Frank Miller put more comic books in the hands of adults, teens, and movie execs than anyone, ever.  He’s responsible for, in my view, bringing comic books into the modern age.

Tags: Comic books, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader

MENHIRS OF ER GRAH-Billy Cross’ Daughter

Posted on April 7th, 2010 by ekko

“Billy Cross’ Daughter,” the new release by Menhirs of Er Grah sat in my “to be reviewed?” file for a few weeks, teetering on the edge.  When I have a free moment, you see, I skim through that file, on random, and no single song off of this record grabbed me enough to make me move it to the “review” file.  But at the same time, every song made me want to find the time to sit down and listen to the whole album, straight through. This weekend, I finally did.  And I’m very grateful.

Folk singer/songwriter Thom Carter apparently has a following already, and this is his third record under the name Menhirs of Er Grah (named after the single largest block of stone carved by Neolithic man).  From what I’ve read by fans and critics, this is being hailed as his best release.  I don’t know about that, as this is the first I’ve ever heard, but I can say that this a well-crafted album that is too delicate to be digested piecemeal.  Like a complex Hall and Oates at times, or a more melodic Will Oldham, the record gets better and deeper with each listen.  It’s gone from being on my fence as a “thanks but no thanks” to being a candidate for best record of the year.

Get it for cheap at Bandcamp!

Do What You Want

Circle Me With Love

Tags: indie folk