From Marvel
Celebrating the best of the year….Hit the break.
Tags: Best of 2011, Comic books, Daredevil, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Zombies
From Marvel
Celebrating the best of the year….Hit the break.
Tags: Best of 2011, Comic books, Daredevil, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Zombies
At the break, you can read my thoughts about the best of the new 52 and what I think of Starfire’s boobs. But the headline has to be the new Avengers trailer, and related news…
First off, the trailer is awesome. Why is it awesome? Cap uses a gun! Avengers Tower! Updated costumes (except, strangely, for Iron Man)! We get to see Loki versus the U.S. Army, and of course they’re ineffective, so Nick Fury and Agent Coulson summon the team. The trailer then shows a fairly traditional “assemble” scene, with each of the heroes getting ready to answer the call, but then we flash ahead to Loki in custody. At least the heroes don’t all fight each other. (But Cap and Thor do, later in the trailer.) It makes me wonder how much screentime the heroes will actually share…But it’s extremely geek-out cool anyway. Next, we see Fury addressing the team. They’re getting ready for something; presumably, either Loki escaped or the rumors of a Skrull invasion were true and we get to see a little sub-story. I certainly hope there’s more than one major battle. No, I don’t hope it. I expect it. The trailer closes with the inevitable Hulk transformation, which looks pretty good as CGI. I wonder if there will be only one Hulk appearance? Frankly, one is probably enough. With so many interesting characters in the film, I don’t think you need more than one big Hulk scene.
Of course, there’s already controversy with several folks alleging that the preview used existing footage from Iron Man. Michael Bay recently recycled a sequence from his godawful “The Island” picture in his somewhat less godawful Tranformers 3, so movie nerds are on the watch for this stuff. I’m not all that worried—I wouldn’t expect Whedon to have a lot of completed FX shots available for a trailer for a movie that isn’t set to come out for over 6 months. It’s frankly too soon for a trailer, but in these days of instant rewards, I guess the studios feel like they have to keep the hype going. It’s kind of like holding a primary for a national election in January—too soon, and leaves too much time for doubt and negativity to damage the actual release date.
Bleeding Cool has a side-by-side comparison, if you’re curious.
Watch the trailer here:
Meanwhile, Hasbro previewed the toy tie-ins at NYCC, showing both 3- and 6-inch action figures of the main characters. You can find pix of all of them on the internet; Hawkeye has the most remarkable resemblance to the actor (Jeremy Renner), but of course he looks nothing like the actual comic character he’s based on. Black Widow, unfortunately, looks like a cheap sex doll. In the actual film trailer she looks completely different: Like an expensive sex doll. Iron Man is the coolest—but he’s got the circular unibeam, while the trailer shows the more modern one.
Now, hit the break for more comic news.
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Superheroes, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Thor, Zombies
The above-the-cut news has to be that THE D.C. CRISES ON INFINITE EARTH FINALS NEVER HAPPENED! Kinda.
DC Comics publisher Dan Didio Facebooked on Tweeter or Tweeted on Facebook or something that “there have been no Crisis events in the New DCU.” Some fanboys are all pissed off because, like, those were such big events, and, hey, they’re still on my shelf so they must have happened! Me, I say: The Crises pretty much all sucked, so good riddance. My only question: Batman is supposed to have his whole Grant Morrison history intact, and he died during a Crisis, so…Riddle me that, Danny boy. Then he clarified later that there “have been ‘crisis’ in our characters lives, but they aren’t exactly the Crisis you read before.” Which basically means we can expect DC’s next summer event to be a new Crisis. Sigh. So much for the new 52. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Tags: Comic books, Iron Man, Superheroes, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Thor, Zombies
What’s impressive is they managed to get Black Canary in there.
Tags: Picture of the day, Superheroes
I had so much to gab about—I’m such a cape-yenta—that I split the news column this week into one about movies/TV and one about print. This is the print one. The other one came yesterday. So unless you like reading (i.e., are over the age of 30), you probably don’t want to …
Hit the break for news about The Walking Dead; Captain America joining Alpha Flight; the end of Batman, Inc.; the return of the Human Torch; and two new Avengers teams!
Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Avengers, Zombies
TOP 10 REASONS FOR COMIC BOOK FANS TO OWN T.V.s AND GO TO THE MOVIES 2010
10. Smallville. The show was on fumes last season, but it’s picked up. It’s getting annoying, though, waiting for Darkseid. And they better bring it. Because if they don’t, it’ll be the biggest cop out since Rise of the Silver Surfer, in which you never got see Galactus. I’m still pissed about that.
9. D.C. Showcase: Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. Toss in the other two bonus features–12 minutes shorts about The Spectre and Green Arrow, and this is a keeper. Also check out this year’s Superman/Batman DVD, Apocalypse. Pretty damn good.
8. Iron Man 2. Nowhere near as good as the first, but still pretty damn good.
7. Young Justice. All we got was an hour teaser of the series to come, but it was almost as good as the best DC cartoon ever (Teen Titans Go!). The nods to Super Friends were much appreciated by the geeks in my house.
6. RED. Not as vicious as the comic, but lots of fun.
5. Kick Ass. Kicked ass.
4. The Regular Show, Mad TV, and Robotomy. Cartoon Network’s new “prime time” lineup is impressive as hell–Mad is 15-minutes that recall everything every pubescent boy ever loved about the magazine itself: Irreverent, juvenile, and flatulent. Just like me. The Regular Show, with it’s slacker stupidity and bizarre, cell-phone time travel tribute to Bill and Ted’s, is another favorite. And Robotomy is a random, bizarre mess of fun.
3. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Finally! A Marvel cartoon that’s better than X-Men!
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Pure genius. The most fun I’ve had in the movies in years.
1. AMC’s The Walking Dead. Best new show on TV, and one of the greatest ever.
Honorable mentions: The Losers; Planet Hulk (DVD Animated Release).
Tags: Best of 2010, Iron Man, Movies, Superheroes, Superman, Television, The Avengers
ZACK SNYDER IS THE NEXT SUPERDIRECTOR.
There were three Christopher Reeves Superman movies and one with Brandon Routh, making four so far. (I refuse to recognize “Quest for Peace.”) Get ready for yet another reboot of the most all-American, least cynical hero in comicdom. Zack Snyder, who lensed “300″ and “Watchmen,” will take the helm, with Christopher Nolan attached to produce. I hope this isn’t part of the trend to make comic book movies dark and scary–I can’t imagine Snyder behind a character who really needs to be told in a brightly colored, epic story. And no cursing! General Zod will be the bad guy (again). Haven’t they ever heard of Braniac? Darkseid? Mxyzptlk? Metallo? Bizarro? My advice: (1) Skip the origin–play it out the way they did it in the otherwise-unwatchable Jonah Hex: Show a “motion comic” of it, and then launch the main story. (2) Include more than one villain–perhaps in a twenty minute, self-contained drama that plays out during the larger arc. And (3) make Superman proud, strong and confident. Not like the mealy Brandon Routh.
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. More details have been spilling about what will be the fourth X-Men movie. It looks like they’ll be taking some of the unused plotpoints for the Magneto movie, including reshooting his concentration camp scene from X-Men 2, and word is Mystique will be in the flick. Naked. I don’t remember her being important in the early X-Men stories, but then again ,this isn’t Stan Lee’s early X-ers.
HELLBOY 3. Guillermo del Toro will return. Personally, I think the first two films are some fine examples of comic book moviemaking.
GHOST RIDER 2: SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE. The villain in the next Nic Cage overactathon will be The Devil, played by Ciaran (“Aberforth” of Harry Potter) Hinds. The plot will be Blaze trying to repress his Ghost persona while hiding out in Easter Europe, when a bunch of anti-devil worshippers find him and get him to foil the Devil’s latest dastardly plan. Idris Elba will be a drunken dude on GR’s side. Why are they reinventing the wheel here? Jason Aaron’s GR
story wasn’t good enough? Frankly, it would be much cooler if Ghosty fought
Dumbeldore.
WONDER WOMAN. There will be no Wonder Woman movie, but David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal/The Practice) is attached to a
Wonder Woman television series project. Without more information, it’s hard to predict whether it will be worth your eyetime, but I can think of two likely reasons to watch–the right one and the left one.
JMS=LOEB. Years ago, there was a brilliant writer named Jeph Loeb who teamed up with an equally brilliant artist named Tim Sale to produce a “color” series in which he examined key events in the lives of famous Marvel heroes—Spider Man: Blue, Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray—and also produced some of the greatest Batman stories of the past 20 years (“The Long Halloween”). Not gradually but suddenly, and without warning, Loeb became the kind of hack who created a giant red Hulk who likes to use guns and start in several-issue-long fistfights without plot or point. Now, we have J. Michael Straczynski, who was once a cutting-edge creator responsible for what many think of as the high water mark for Spider-Man stories, as well as the imaginative and acclaimed MAX series about Squadron Supreme. Now, though, JMS seems to be interested in presiding over a conservative costume change for D.C.’s hottest chick, not to mention dull rehash stories of the Amazon wonder, and putting Superman on a walkabout. A what?! Dude can fly! Why walk when you can fly? I just don’t get it.
SMALLVILLE NEWS. In other Supernews, now that the show is cancelled, they’re finally making it get good. Last week they brought in Deadshot (albeit as a cowboy), and next will come Deadpool look-a-like Deathstroke! If they keep bringing in DCU guys, they might actually make me miss it when it’s gone. Actually, I think they should cancel it but next season bring in a live-action Justice League with the same characters. They could do that, I’m sure, and if Tom Welling’s quote is too high, dump him. It’s the suit they need, not the actor.
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Tags: Comic books, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Movies, Superheroes, Superman
It’s been a few weeks—I’ve been busy—so some of this may be old . . . But at least there’s a lot of it!
1. WALKING DEAD. Of course this is the lead story . . . AMC released a 4-minute trailer, and confirmed that the show will launch on Halloween for a special 90-minute episode directed by Frank Darabont, followed by 5 more episodes for the first “season.” (They’re already in pre-production for season 2.) If you’re not saying you can’t wait until Halloween, you are hereby forbidden to read my blog ever again.
2. SMALLVILLE. Buzz is starting about the September 24 debut of the final season of the [pretty good, then bad, then really good, then pretty good, then dull] series “Smallville,” which has been around long enough to wear out its welcome. The final season will be not-Superman-or-Superboy’s battle alongside Green Arrow and probably at least half a dozen others (not-Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, Hawkman, etc.) against Darkseid. Also, the incredibly hot prudish nudist Erica Durance (anybody who heard her interview with Howard Stern a few years ago knows what I mean), who plays Lois Lane, will also play Isis(?) this season. Oh, and Supergirl will be back. Could be good, but keeping Clark out of the tights has gone on too long. Folks are asking what to replace this series with? Howzabout Superman??? ‘Cause this show never had him.
3. ANT-MAN. Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim flick got a mixed reception (but I loved it!) and was a box office dud, but he’s still the only guy attached to an Ant-Man movie. Wright wants to make it a spy thriller. Really? Ant-Man (to me) is kind of a silly character. I only really liked him when he went inside Iron Man after Tony’s systems were fried during a battle with the Hulk (I think that was Iron Man #153, but I’m doing this off the top of my head) during the terrific Roger Stern days. (I did like Scott Lang’s appearances in the brilliant Brian 
Michael Bendis series, “Alias.”) Other than that, he’s a b-lister who should stay off the a-list. If they’re looking for lesser-known folks to get the spotlight, a Giant Man/Wasp movie would be more interesting, or more Blade flicks! Hell, I’d rather see a whole slew of guys: Power Man and Iron Fist, a Daredevil reboot, Moon Knight . .
4. IRON FIST. Marvel Studios hired Rich Wilkes (of the horrible “xXx” action film) to write a screenplay. Of course, we all know that “write a screenplay” rarely translates into a movie that human beings can actually see. But if the chi is with him, Danny Rand will be the first star of a Disney film about a Marvel character (the currently slated Marvel movies are all Marvel Studios productions, started before the merger).
5. DEADPOOL. You have to give it to Ryan Reynolds. Despite all indications to the contrary, he’s pushing to get the Deadpool movie made and talking it up constantly. As Rob Liefeld tweets, “There needs to be a &^%# Deadpool movie NOW!”
6. NEIL GAIMAN’S SANDMAN. Sandman, a most excellent comic book series under any criteria that ran from 1988-96 and was partly responsible for the creation of D.C.’s Vertigo imprint, may be coming to T.V. I know, you’ve heard that before (it was supposed to be coming to HBO), but now it looks like D.C.’s bigger sister, Warner Bros., sees a market on the CW—which is starving for material and is owned by (of course) Warner Bros. The odds, then, of the project actually reaching completion seem a lot greater.
7. BATMEN. If you were a fan of Batman: International (I wasn’t) then you may be excited by the news that when Bruce Wayne is done returning, he will wear the Batsuit. But Grayson will, too. Apparently, Batman is going to incorporate himself around the world—kind of like the Avengers: Initiative idea. Se, we’ll have Batman, Detective, Batman and Robin, Batman Inc., and Batman: The Dark Knight. Every month. Marvel should do this with Deadpool, since they can’t seem to publish enough of him every month, either.
8. DAREDEVIL AND GAMBIT. Looks like Gambit will be the new Daredevil. I’m not psyched about it, but my son is apeshit. Daredevil and Gambit are, respectfully, his two favorite heroes. So for him, this is like a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup: Two great tastes that go great together. Daredevil will be ending at the end of the Shadowland arc in November with issue #512. Andy Diggle will return with Daredevil Reborn #1 in January. How much you wanna bet Daredevil Reborn” lasts about 13 issues, and then they go back to the regular numbering with #525? (Or later with #550?) Murdock will be back, that’s for sure. Reborn will feature the art of Davide Gianfelice, who is currently impressing the world on the indie ”Northlanders” series. Here’s the cover of “Reborn,” drawn by Jock:
And to close this out . . . Nuthin’ but:
Yeah, Brand New Day is ending and the book will drop to a twice-a-month schedule. As of now, I don’t think Marvel plans to fragment the Spider-Universe the way it was before BND by having half-a-dozen Spider Books each month (thank God), but major changes are afoot. I hope so, because BND is going out with an uncharacteristic whimper. The usually great series’ concluding arc “OMIT,” is not just silly, it’s lame and boring and doesn’t even seem to fit in with the overall BND story. Here’s some of the changes a’coming that I’ve heard:
- Spidey will get new tech.
- The next storyline, “Origin of the Species,” was originally called “The Sinister 666” as it features several classic Spider-Villains like a new Scorpion, Rhino, and Electro.
- Norman Osborn, Carnage and Spider Girl (a.k.a. Arana) will be getting their own titles, although Oz and Carnage’s will be miniseries. One will be Oz in prison, the other will be Spidey and Iron Man vs. Carnage. No announcement yet about creative teams.
Tags: Comic books, Daredevil, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Spider-Man, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Zombies
TV news–Rapid fire style!
- In 2011, G4 will be running a new Iron Man “anime” animated series, produced by anime studio MadHouse. It will take place in Japan.
- Other upcoming Marvel anime projects discussed by Jeph Loeb at Comicon International included Wolverine, X-Men, and Blade.
- D.C./Warner Bros. Animation announced a November 9 DVD release of animated “shorts” (10-20 minute stories) featuring Superman, Captain Marvel, The Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex.
- Also from D.C. on November 9 will be the Secret Origin: The Story of D.C. Comics DVD release. It’s a doc narrated by Ryan “Green Lantern” Reynolds about the history of the publishing company. But it’s also produced by the publisher, so don’t expect unbiased poop. Sounds more like promotional material in advance of the GL movie.
- And Smallville is definitely ending this season. And it’s about time.
- The AMC official bloggers are working overtime on news about The Walking Dead. Now, the artist of the comic, Charlie Adlard, is confirmed as a zombie extra. I hope he plays one that dances like Michael Jackson.
- Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the new Spider-Man will be a complete reboot based on Brian Michael Bendis’ incredible Ultimate Spider-Man series for Disney XD. Now, they’re talking Ultimate Cartoon as well, with the involvement of Eisner/Emmy winner Paul “Batman TAS” Dini (and Bendis, of course). They’ve said there will be lots of team-ups (a la Batman: Brave and the Bold). I don’t think there’s even the remotest possibility that this could be bad.
- One last thing: I happened to come upon the pilot episode for The Amazing Screw-On Head (a 22-minute cartoon based on the Mike Mignola/Dark Horse comic from 2002). It’s brilliant. Really. It’s available on DVD and all of you should see it. Animation for grown ups.
-I lied–one more last thing: The Avengers!
Tags: Comic books, Iron Man, Superheroes, Television
