NEWS: Punisher, Woverine, and Lighting Nic Cage on Fire

Posted on September 26th, 2010 by ekko

WHUTTUP WITH PUNISHER?

I don’t really worry much about the fact that Peter Parker was in High School in 1962, which would make him almost 60 years old today.  I truly don’t.  I accept that Marvel Universe years are like dog years, and that someone can have a major personal crisis, get married, go across the universe and fight Thanos, and appear in several other major storylines all in a year.  (Jason Aaron did a great job poking fun at this in a Wolverine story, actually.)   But the thing about Punisher is that he has no powers, but he seems to be able to kick just about anyone’s ass.  So I figured when he started the “FrankenCastle” storyline, Rick Remender was really working towards youngifying Frank Castle via the bloodstone.  Looks like I was right.  Remender is leaving the Punisher series soon (dunno if it will be cancelled or get a new writer), and Punisher will be joining . . . Heroes for Hire??  The only time since the Cage/Fist days that “Heroes for Hire” was worth reading whas when it was called Daughters of the Dragon and was created by the power(girl)house team of Palmiotti/Gray/Conner.  The new book will be by the writing team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the force behind Marvel’s “cosmic” line of books).  DnA worked on Punisher way back—they did a decent tale called “Punisher Year One”—but bringing him on to team with mostly loners and outcasts (Moon Knight, Shroud, Elektra, Paladin, Silver Sable, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, Falcon, and Misty Knight) is a terrible idea.  The only way to make this work is to fundamentally change the characters in the lineup, all for the sake of a post-Shadowland gangbang.  This just seems stupid.  Paladin is (and ever shall be) lame, Ghost Rider on a team is weird (Champions, anyone?) and Punisher works alone.  That’s his whole thing.  After the Bloodstone epic, Punisher will be literally 30 years old again, so I guess hey’re going to play it as he’s ready for a fresh new start, but I’m skeptical in the extreme.

QUICK HITS!

- NIC CAGE’S BURNING SKULL . . . IN 3D. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is in production, will be shot in 3D, and will be released on February 17, 2012.  Start making plans accordingly.  I, for one, plan to be outside enjoying the fresh air.

- AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES. The animated series is coming on October 20 (Disney XD), with shorts throughout September.  Recent interviews and press releases suggest that the show versions of Iron Man and Hulk are based on the recent movie versions of these characters, while Thor is more “classic” (Kenneth Branagh’s movie Thor is more Ultimate than Lee/Kirby), as are Wasp, Hank Pym (Ant/Giant-Man, Cap, Black Panther, and Hawkeye.  The shorts will be origin and pre-Avengers assemble stories, as I understand it, and will also be available on the internet.

- WOLVERINE: ECLIPSE. I know a lot of you probably hated the X-Men Wolverine: Origins film, but other than the way they de-mouthed Deadpool, I thought it was a lot of fun.  We’ve been promised a sequel based on the (best ever) Wolverine story by Claremont/Miller, and now the rumor is that it will be directed by David (30 Days of Night/Twilight: Eclipse) Slade.  30 Days of Night was a strong comic book movie, nice and violent, but if he makes Wolvie into a teenie bopper flick, I’ll slice him to pieces.

- ENDERS GAME: SNIKT. And speaking of the Wolverine flick, it’s (Oscar-winning) Director, Gavin Hood, may take on the greatest science fiction novel of all time—Orson Scott Card’s, “Ender’s Game.” I have a hard time imagining how they could do justice to such a layered, complex piece of work, but I know for sure I’d go see it . . .

AND THE MOVING PICTURE . . .

Holy crap.  I don’t know much about the comic, but this movie looks . . . Awesome.

Tags: Filthy Muties, Punisher, The Avengers, Wolverine

MORE SUPERNEWS PLEASE!

Posted on December 16th, 2009 by ekko

1.  Oh, God, please . . . No (Part One). There’s actual development on a Hancock 2.  As if you didn’t get enough sleep during Hancock 1.

2.  Blackest Night #5. Just a mention: Finally, something happens!  This is the first time that I’ve read a BN story—and I’ve read ‘em all so far—where, when I was done, I couldn’t wait to see what happens next.

3.  D.C.’s Ultimate Universe. I’m not enough of a comic-book nerd to know who came up with the idea of alternate superhero universes first, DC or Marvel, but I suspect it was DC.  Alternate universes, in my opinion, have always been kind of stupid and lame—at least when they merge.  Sure, sometimes they can produce cool stories, most recently when the JLA met their evil counterparts (one of the last few good JLA storylines, in my view), but usually alternate universes are the only thing that aggravate me more than time travel.  As good as the art in DC’s various universe crises has been, the stories have been confusing gonzo gang bangs that come off as excuses to move units.  They aren’t art.  Marvel did a good alternate-reality job with the “What If?” series because they didn’t try to merge it with our own universe.  When that happens, it’s a suckfest.  Jeph Loeb even ruined the Ultimates with some kind of alternate universe crap that I couldn’t make any sense out of at all.  I was happy when Marvel launched Ultimates not as an alternate universe, but as a reimagining of Marvel stories.  There was no need for Uatu or other means to crowbar it into the bigger Marvel U.

Well, DC recently unveiled its plan to publish a new series of “Earth One” graphic novels that will basically reboot its two major characters (which is a good thing, because Bats is dead and Supes is in exile, so fans of these heroes really have nowhere to go these days).  The publishing schedule seems to be 2 of each title per year.  If DC devotes quality talent (and it looks like they are) and doesn’t try to mix this in with their “regular” universe, then this idea could have potential.  Maybe even lead to a new line of regular books—not just graphic novels.  Superman: Earth One will be by J. Michael Straczynski (who did a great job rebooting Spider-Man and Thor) with art by Shane Davis and Batman: Earth One will be by Geoff “I can do every DC comic in the universe because I don’t need sleep and Grant Morrison sucks anyway” Johns, with Gary “I’m Geoff’s muse” Frank. The bad news is, they’re starting with origin tales.  How many more Superman origins really need to be told?  And isn’t Geoff Johns already doing on of these?  Oh, well.  I’m still hopeful.

4.  Oh, God, please . . . No (Part Two). There’s buzz that Smallville will get another season.  Although a pack of wolverines with axes in their teeth pooping out poisonous snakes couldn’t keep me away from the January 20th Geoff Johns penned 2 hour Justice Society special, this season has been remarkably dull.  Especially in light of how the show really bounced back last season.  It’s like they’ve run out of things to say.  Which they have, really, and D.C.’s fault.  Let him wear the suit already!  It’s not going to damage the vitality of your movie franchise (which, let’s be real, is anemic as it is)!

5.  There’s probably nobody working at Marvel whose work I enjoy reading more than Mark Millar, and both of his collaborations with Steve McNiven (Civil War and Old Man Logan) have been genius.  Now, they’re back together . . . On an indie project!  You’ll remember that after Millar worked with (my favorite artist) John Romita, Jr., on the best Wolverine story ever (“Enemy of the State”), they teamed up on the creator-owned project, “Kick Ass,” which will be a household name next year when the movie comes out.  Based on that track record, Nemesis should be awesome.  It will be published by Marvel, like Kick Ass, but it’s fully independent.  The basic idea is billed as a filthy rich anarchist who tries to take down the government.  Kind of V for Vendetta meets Batman.  Based on what I’ve read, it appears that there will be no superpowers involved, just raw guns-and-fists, and tech.

6.  Ronin. Sylvain White, the director of the movie adaptation of DC/Vertigo’s, The Losers, is developing a movie version of Frank Miller’s brilliant and prescient 1983 miniseries.  Can’t wait.  This is one of those books I always thought needed to be made into a moving picture.  Which gives me an idea for a post about comics that should be movies/TV shows.  I think I’ll write that post!  Watch this space for details!

Tags: Blackest Night, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison Sucks, Movies, Superheroes, The Caped Crusader, Wolverine, Zombies

ANOTHER POST ABOUT SUPERDUDES . . . PLUS ONE BALD COP

Posted on December 6th, 2009 by ekko

1.  Thor and Avengers Movies. According to Ain’t It Cool News, Dr. Donald Blake will not be in the movie.  I guess they’re going for more of an “ultimates” thing than a classic Avengers thing.  I’m not too sad about that.  I never understood why a guy like Thor would ever bother reverting to another identity anyway.  Similarly, among the buzz about Jeremy Renner on the shortlist to play Hawkeye—possibly in both movies—is news that the character will be a modern version—again, like in The Ultimates.  I always said that Millar and Finch made the greatest superhero movie ever done in comic book.

By the way, I am finally getting around to reading the first Trade Paperback of Stracinsky’s recent reboot of the Thor title, and I have to say, as someone who hasn’t been a fan of the book since Walt Simonson’s run many decades ago, it is freakin’ awesome.
2.  The New York Times released it’s list of 2009 graphic books worth buying, mentioning several titles that were included in Berkeley Place’s “Best of the Decade” list.  So if you didn’t believe me, believe them that you need to go buy “Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Ed Brubaker’s “Criminal,” and the “Scott Pilgrim” series.  Not to mention the Zombiecentric “The Walking Dead,” written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn.

3.  The poster for Iron Man 2 is out.  And it’s got War Machine and a May 7 release date.  I’ve said before that I liked the first one a lot, but the climactic battle lacked tension, and was impossible to follow (too dark!).  Here’s hoping they improve the action side of it—I can’t imagine they’ll improve the Tony Stark side of it.  Speaking of Iron Man, I had the good fortune of getting the first two trade volumes of Matt Fraction’s Iron Man series.  Good stuff.  I’ve never been a huge fan of the tin can, but Fraction does a good job weaving Iron Man into the Skrull Invasion/Osborn tapestry.  You can see the poster, along with some incredibly hot pix of Scarlet J as Black Widow, here.

4.  Anyone who wants to show me how much they appreciate me this Xmas can get me the new Shield boxed set.  Out of all the “best TV shows of the decade” lists that I’ve read—which include great shows like The Wire, Sopranos, Arrested Development, Buffy the Vampire Slayer . . .  The Shield is hands-down my favorite show all time.

5.  My buddy and occasional contributor CD published a bunch of superhero songs recently, and admitted that more than a few came from this very website.  I’ve been trying to get together a worthy A to Z for about 6 months now.  Still working on it . . . Anyway, CD hasn’t been all that well lately, so he’s delinquent on contributing to this site.  If you miss his comic posts, or if you just want to be a nice guy, stop by his site and tell him you hope he feels better.

6.  Speaking of comic book posts . . . Here’s an interesting article: Guess how many times Jean Grey has died and come back?  Hint: the over/under is 12.

7.  Green Lantern/Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds recently said in an MTV interview that the GL movie won’t be all origin—they’ll tell it, but there’s a story after that.  More importantly, he said that Deadpool is still “on the horizon.”  He also agreed that Deadpool was mishandled in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  But then again, he said that “every line I had in that was stuff I thought he would say. It wasn’t something that a writer said to me.”  So, knowing that Ryan is a big part of the potential Deadpool feature, is that supposed to fill us with confidence?  I really don’t care too much if they screw with Green Lantern—I agree with Frank Miller’s All Star Batman that GL is kinda dumb and lame—but they better not mess up Deadpool.
8.  And, finally, news and stats: Diamond Comics Distributors announced the sales stats for October 2009, and boy is it bleak.  Sales are down 1.3 million from October 2008.  Of course, that may be due to the ever increasing number of trade paperbacks.  I know I can’t afford to buy all the $4 books I want each month, so I’ve been waiting for trades on series like New Avengers and Iron Man.  Wish I’d done that with Blackest Night, because that series is turning into a huge disappointment.  Good sales news was that Wolverine Old Man Logan, a quality series recently hardbound, moved a staggering 7,341 units.  Marvel controls 40% of the market, D.C. 37%–closer to even than they’ve been in a while, I believe, and DC beats Marvel on trade sales—by just 300 books, though.  Interested in knowing who is buying what?  No surprise, Blackest Night was October’s bestselling book by far, followed by Batman and Robin, Green Lantern, and Blackest Night/GL spin offs.  Marvel doesn’t crack the top ten until numbers 7 to 9, with New Avengers, Dark Avengers, and Uncanny X-Men.  Spidey took rank 10.  If Dark Avengers is such a good seller, how can Marvel really end the series after Siege?  It’s not like them to leave money on the table.  Just ask the always-bitter Chris Claremont.

Tags: Best of the Decade, Deadpool, Filthy Muties, Iron Man, Movies, Superheroes, Wolverine