Before we get to the awards portion I just wanted to comment on a couple of news items from here in the last few days.
The web-heads over at Sony officially announced a 5-man writing team to join Marc Webb in fleshing out the Spider-man universe; Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci (the duo that brought you Transformers, Transformers ROTF, Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness), Jeff Pinkner (Fringe), Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted's Bogus Adventure, Super Mario Brothers, Men in Black), and Drew Goddard (Buffy, Angel, Alias, Lost). These six will writing movies to focus on Venom, and the Sinister Six. Ideally to tie in with ASM 3 & 4 one would imagine.
Sony has really thrown down the gauntlet with universe building in trying to catch up with Disney/Marvel's juggernaut. It will certainly be interesting to see the first movies to focus on the antagonist from a comic series (if we do not count Catwoman and honestly who would?). Here's hoping for a better go round with Venom this time, and a compelling story with the Sinister Six that sets up Spidey as the underdog that he is.
Speaking of the mouse group word has come out that Don Cheadle's War Machine/Iron Patriot/James Rhodes will play an important role in the upcoming sequel to the mega-blockbuster Avengers. While some were disappointed that Cheadle took over for Terrence Howard in between shellhead's first and second movie I was happy to have an actor of Cheadle's ilk join the franchise. I more had a problem with him donning the Iron Patriot armor in Iron Man 3. Not because I'd hoped that Norman Osborne would get to do it eventually, because I think cooperation between Sony & Disney is a pipe dream at best. Iron Patriot, in comic form, represented the highest form of corruption of the ideal of the original Avengers. It was Norman Osborne's middle finger to the Stark & Rogers legacy. Without spoiling anything I could see Rhodey stepping into the Iron Man armor for future solo adventures so this could be a way of presenting him as a main event player.
The following awards took place in the party room of a TGI Fridays. All award winners received 50 Schrute-bucks, which are not redeemable for cash value.
Animated Film of the Year: And the winner is: The Flashpoint Paradox. This was a fantastic sub-two-hour movie produced by the DC animated group. It captured the essence of the source material without having to cut a lot of important things out.
Comic Book Film of the Year: And the winner is: The Wolverine. I know, I know this was a year that had Man of Steel, Thor 2, Kick Ass 2, and Iron Man 3, but these are my awards so shutupyouface. The Wolverine was a fantastic solo film for one James Howlett. We got to see his time in Japan, establish Mariko & Yuriko (who were essential in the comics), watch him fight silver samurai, ninjas, and the viper (an admittedly weak point of the movie). I can not say enough good things about this movie. As much as a derided the fact that nearly every single superhero movie has a scene featuring a fight on a train. The quick-cut fight on a bullet train in this feature is truly something to behold.
Promotional Event of the Year: And the winner is Villains Month. 3D covers, features on 16 different Batman villains, Black Adam & Deathsroke solo issues, there is no way this wasn't winning. Honorable mention to Age of Ultron and Death of the Family, which I did quite enjoy.
Writer of the Year: And the winner is...Mark Waid. With all due respect and love for Scott Snyder (Batman, Superman Unchained), Dan Slott (Superior Spider-man), and Jeff Lemeire (Green Arrow, Animal Man, Sweet Tooth). This was Waid's year wholly on the strength of this Daredevil title. History shows us that hornhead has been a hot bed of creative writer activity with a virtual all-star cast (Frank Miller, Ed Brubaker, Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis, and others) over his history. Waid has introduced a compelling yarn that will withstand the test of time. While he said from the outset that he wanted life to be a little bit better for his title character he has certainly pulled no punches over the course of his time on the title. The introduction of a new villain in Ikara, and the recast of Bullseye were just the tip of the iceberg with respect to Waid's contribution to the title. With his time with this version of Daredevil coming to an end it is a bittersweet feeling to know that these issues are numbered.
Artist of the Year: And the winner is......Greg Capullo. Jim Lee once again had some fine contributions, and there are a lot of good artists out there. Capullo; however, represents one half of a slam dunk for the creative team for DC's top drawing title in Batman. His caped crusader is detailed in Capullo's nuanced style, and each page is just a joy to look at.
At this point in the show we pause to remember those we lost this year: (Cue Sarah McGlaughlin music)
Peter Parker, Damien Wayne, The Guardians of the Universe, Talia al Ghul, Alistair Smythe, Apex, Rogue, Nara, Sharon Carter...
And that brings us to our final award of the night...take it away John!
Character of the Year: And the winner is...........The Superior Spider-man. There were a lot of worthwhile contenders for this category for sure. Of course this award is all based on personal preference. To explain why SpiDoc is award worthy one has to understand how far this character has come. When Amazing Spider-man #700 went on store shelves the immediate response was vocal and negative. It was seen as a stunt & not a permanent change for Spidey. I have written about it previously, and I will continue to tell everyone that will listen. I LOVE THIS BOOK! It's a new spin on Spidey, and it's refreshing & entertaining. It may be fleeting and all indications are that it is, but I for one will enjoy however many issues SpiDoc has left in print.
Thank you for reading! This will not be my final blog post of the year, but I thought the awards would be fun to do. Hope you enjoyed & a very happy holiday to you all.
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