Well 2013 is in it's final hours as we speak. Soon the ball will drop and everyone will get the chance to start 2014 off with a clean slate.
First Topic......
One big thing that I'll be pushing this year through the use of this blog, my twitter (@johnnyboy1116), and my facebook (johnny d. leffler) is that I hope others will take the pledge with me and refuse to see remakes in 2014.
This particular brand of Hollywood trash has gone on too long. Now we have a Robocop remake at our doorstep, Ed Helms is signed on to reboot Naked Gun for some ungodly reason, and Ghostbusters is allegedly on the verge of being completely rebooted. I know that comic movies are not necessarily immune to this, but I think that it is a much broader problem.
The truth is that hollywood is not "out of ideas" as some might speculate, but rather they see that a movie like Total Recall does moderately well at the box office so they churn out a bunch of other unnecessary rehashing. Obviously there are a lot more important things in life but I encourage you to tell your friends and family to take the pledge #noremakesin2014. Hit Hollywood at the box office and tell them that we want new and original film for our entertainment.
Next Topic....
I don't often discuss non-superhero comics on this blog, because quite frankly I don't read many. I do have to give kudos to Boom Studios; however, for their "Sons of Anarchy" limited run. Set during events of season five we see Tig act as a surrogate father to a fallen club member's daughter. Don't worry though the gang is all here, as it were, and we see what Jax, Clay, and the others are up to. With it's gritty artwork, and punchy dialogue "Sons of Anarchy" fits nicely into the mythology that Kurt Sutter has created with the TV series. Definitely pick up your copy before this limited run is done.
Next Topic.....
While "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." gives me pause about any Marvel television show going forward. The success of "House of Cards", "Orange is the New Black", and "Derek" on Netflix give me hope that the new batch of MarvFlix shows could be of superior quality. First on the block is one of my favorite characters in "Daredevil" to be produced & godfathered by Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, Cloverfield, Lost, Alias) and I for one am excited to see a faithful live-action adaptation of the Man without Fear. Later shows will focus on Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and others. One character left out that I think could really benefit from a 12-episode or more Netflix show though is Punisher. While feature films did not do him 100% justice I think a limited run of Punisher would be a fantastic addition to the Marvel Television Universe, and on Netflix anything goes.
Final Topic....
2013 is in the books for "The Comic Shop", so what would you like to see going forward? Would you like to see more features about current comic books? More posts about current events? This was never meant to be a one-way street of communication, and I encourage any input because I want this blog to be as fun for you to read as it is for me to write. Please feel free to post your opinions and comments on the page. All opinions are welcomed.
Have a Happy and Safe New Year!!!
Monday, December 30, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
Big Two Comics: The Year in Review (the 1st annual Leffler awards).
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.
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.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Movie News!!
The golden age of Superhero Films looks to be going along strong. This week we got three to possibly five news issues on upcoming projects. So lets get started....
Today was the debut of the trailer for Sony's Amazing Spider-man 2:
http://youtu.be/nbp3Ra3Yp74
Lot of noteworthy stuff packed into the 2-minute trailer. We catch a longer glimpse of Electro, get a good look at Beast Wars Rhino, and the first footage of Dane Dehaan in the dual role of Harry Osborn & the Green Goblin. If you look closely enough in some of the scenes you will notice the easter eggs for Doc Ock & the Vulture as well. Lot of interesting choices made by Marc Webb & Sony for this Spidey reboot. I think Raimi & Webb's series' have their positives and negatives, but I'm intrigued by the possibility of the Sinister Six appearing in a future Spidey film to be named. Should be interesting going forward.
Today Bryan Singer also took to Twitter to announce X-men: Apocalypse for Summer of 2016. This will be a follow-up to X-men: Days of Future Past, which hits theaters Summer 2014. This series in all honesty has me quite concerned. I had hoped that Singer would use DOFP to right the ship so to speak for the X-films, but it appears that it will be more of the same. This blogger would prefer the X-men movies to be closer in tone to the comics of the same name. With a return of the Cyclops, and Jean Grey characters, a bigger role to play for Kitty Pryde, and a smaller role & smaller statured actor for Wolverine. Even as a Wolverine fan I have to admit to a little burn out when he has his own solo films as well as being the main X-man in each movie. A return of Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler would also please me greatly.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/bryan-singer-hints-x-men-apocalypse-is-coming-in-2016
Elsewhere in the X-universe Rob Liefield continues to work through the pre-production process for an X-Force movie. I'll be interested to see if this project comes to fruition and with Apocalypse appearing in an X-men film it is a pretty safe assumption that we will see Cable on film sooner than later. It would be intriguing to see if Ryan Reynold's Deadpool character makes his film return in conjunction with X-Force as well.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/04/rob-liefeld-praises-screenplay-for-x-force-movie
Last but not least DC/WB announced that Gal Gadot (recently of the "Fast & Furious" franchise) will wield the lasso of truth in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman flick. They also teased that Flash may make his big screen debut. A lot has been said about Gadot's slender frame, but with her exotic look, the best trainers in the world, and the ability to train as often/as much as possible will get her into a shape that will please even the most cynical critics.
http://comicbook.com/blog/2013/12/04/flash-reportedly-a-lock-for-batman-vs-superman/
The new Batman, Ben Affleck, also gave a fantastic interview to Playboy (yes they do have articles) in which he does not shy away from the criticism that has come from his casting as The Dark Knight. He also shies away from no responsibility for his part in the failure of the Daredevil film.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ben-affleck-says-his-batman-wont-compete-with-christopher-nolanss-version-doomsday-rumored-to-be-a-villain-20131203
All in all a lot of fantastic news coming out right now. With Del Toro's long rumored Justice League Dark still in development, and several other projects in the pipes it looks as if the Golden Age of Comic Book Film will continue as long as we support it.
Today was the debut of the trailer for Sony's Amazing Spider-man 2:
http://youtu.be/nbp3Ra3Yp74
Lot of noteworthy stuff packed into the 2-minute trailer. We catch a longer glimpse of Electro, get a good look at Beast Wars Rhino, and the first footage of Dane Dehaan in the dual role of Harry Osborn & the Green Goblin. If you look closely enough in some of the scenes you will notice the easter eggs for Doc Ock & the Vulture as well. Lot of interesting choices made by Marc Webb & Sony for this Spidey reboot. I think Raimi & Webb's series' have their positives and negatives, but I'm intrigued by the possibility of the Sinister Six appearing in a future Spidey film to be named. Should be interesting going forward.
Today Bryan Singer also took to Twitter to announce X-men: Apocalypse for Summer of 2016. This will be a follow-up to X-men: Days of Future Past, which hits theaters Summer 2014. This series in all honesty has me quite concerned. I had hoped that Singer would use DOFP to right the ship so to speak for the X-films, but it appears that it will be more of the same. This blogger would prefer the X-men movies to be closer in tone to the comics of the same name. With a return of the Cyclops, and Jean Grey characters, a bigger role to play for Kitty Pryde, and a smaller role & smaller statured actor for Wolverine. Even as a Wolverine fan I have to admit to a little burn out when he has his own solo films as well as being the main X-man in each movie. A return of Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler would also please me greatly.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/bryan-singer-hints-x-men-apocalypse-is-coming-in-2016
Elsewhere in the X-universe Rob Liefield continues to work through the pre-production process for an X-Force movie. I'll be interested to see if this project comes to fruition and with Apocalypse appearing in an X-men film it is a pretty safe assumption that we will see Cable on film sooner than later. It would be intriguing to see if Ryan Reynold's Deadpool character makes his film return in conjunction with X-Force as well.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/04/rob-liefeld-praises-screenplay-for-x-force-movie
Last but not least DC/WB announced that Gal Gadot (recently of the "Fast & Furious" franchise) will wield the lasso of truth in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman flick. They also teased that Flash may make his big screen debut. A lot has been said about Gadot's slender frame, but with her exotic look, the best trainers in the world, and the ability to train as often/as much as possible will get her into a shape that will please even the most cynical critics.
http://comicbook.com/blog/2013/12/04/flash-reportedly-a-lock-for-batman-vs-superman/
The new Batman, Ben Affleck, also gave a fantastic interview to Playboy (yes they do have articles) in which he does not shy away from the criticism that has come from his casting as The Dark Knight. He also shies away from no responsibility for his part in the failure of the Daredevil film.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ben-affleck-says-his-batman-wont-compete-with-christopher-nolanss-version-doomsday-rumored-to-be-a-villain-20131203
All in all a lot of fantastic news coming out right now. With Del Toro's long rumored Justice League Dark still in development, and several other projects in the pipes it looks as if the Golden Age of Comic Book Film will continue as long as we support it.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
A little bit of a fantasy add-on to my last post..
It's easy to criticize and complain. Especially as fans we have a habit of sitting and watching something only to turn and complain about (insert: plot holes, inconsistencies, tone, music, finale, etc.)
What's hard is to look at what has been presented and ask the question "how could that be better?"
With this in mind I humbly present to you my fantasy version of the end of Man of Steel. (Keep in mind that I am literally only changing the way things played out in the train station in the climax of the film everything has played out exactly the same to that point because I believe that it is important to have that human cost of battling through Metropolis to teach the young hero he has to find a better way.)
The two crash through the train station ceiling and land with a thud. (By the way this train station is impossibly far for Lois Lane to get to from her position in the wreckage of Metropolis as she observes the two crashing to earth from the atmosphere so she is not there and not involved in the end of this scene). They wrestle around for position with Clark keeping himself between Zod and the innocent people in the station. Zod takes notice of this and chooses to try to liquefy the humans with his heat vision. Seeing this Clark exclaims "STOP" and as he does he releases his arctic breath for the first time in his life. This shocks Clark, and Zod stares, unable to comprehend why his arm is frozen from the elbow down. Before Zod has time to act Clark grabs his frozen arm by the wrist and pushes through at the elbow dismembering Zod. After this Zod realizes that Clark means business. In his panic and bewilderment he realizes that he is now at a tactical disadvantage and retreats. Clark, satisfied with ending the battle, decides not to follow.
Fast Forward through the events of the MOS 2: Batman kicks ass........probably we meet Wonder Woman.
We open the eventual JL movie with a shot of the planet Mars. Zoom in to see Zod emaciated, and pale. He is tinkering with a Merle Dixon appendage-weapon to attach to his injured arm. He is still fuming, waiting for his revenge. We hear a thud and see the surface of the planet tremor. There are several subsequent thuds each one louder than the previous and getting closer to Zod. We see a sheer terror in Zod's face as a large figure casts a shadow over 10 ft tall. We see two large hands grab the sides of Zod's skull. The camera pans away and we see the large shadow grasping a smaller one and hear a loud crack, a loud squish, and a muffled laugh. We pan back behind the large object in a green jumpsuit covered by broken shackles, and we watch as he leaps off into space.
Reveal: Justice League: Doomsday
What's hard is to look at what has been presented and ask the question "how could that be better?"
With this in mind I humbly present to you my fantasy version of the end of Man of Steel. (Keep in mind that I am literally only changing the way things played out in the train station in the climax of the film everything has played out exactly the same to that point because I believe that it is important to have that human cost of battling through Metropolis to teach the young hero he has to find a better way.)
The two crash through the train station ceiling and land with a thud. (By the way this train station is impossibly far for Lois Lane to get to from her position in the wreckage of Metropolis as she observes the two crashing to earth from the atmosphere so she is not there and not involved in the end of this scene). They wrestle around for position with Clark keeping himself between Zod and the innocent people in the station. Zod takes notice of this and chooses to try to liquefy the humans with his heat vision. Seeing this Clark exclaims "STOP" and as he does he releases his arctic breath for the first time in his life. This shocks Clark, and Zod stares, unable to comprehend why his arm is frozen from the elbow down. Before Zod has time to act Clark grabs his frozen arm by the wrist and pushes through at the elbow dismembering Zod. After this Zod realizes that Clark means business. In his panic and bewilderment he realizes that he is now at a tactical disadvantage and retreats. Clark, satisfied with ending the battle, decides not to follow.
Fast Forward through the events of the MOS 2: Batman kicks ass........probably we meet Wonder Woman.
We open the eventual JL movie with a shot of the planet Mars. Zoom in to see Zod emaciated, and pale. He is tinkering with a Merle Dixon appendage-weapon to attach to his injured arm. He is still fuming, waiting for his revenge. We hear a thud and see the surface of the planet tremor. There are several subsequent thuds each one louder than the previous and getting closer to Zod. We see a sheer terror in Zod's face as a large figure casts a shadow over 10 ft tall. We see two large hands grab the sides of Zod's skull. The camera pans away and we see the large shadow grasping a smaller one and hear a loud crack, a loud squish, and a muffled laugh. We pan back behind the large object in a green jumpsuit covered by broken shackles, and we watch as he leaps off into space.
Reveal: Justice League: Doomsday
Decidedly Divisive: The Superior Spider-man, Man of Steel, & other issues
Greetings and salutations,
I want to start off today by speaking about Paul Walker. While I won't grieve for him because I think there are a lot more tragic losses in our world on a daily basis I do think that it is in explicitly poor taste that Universal is moving ahead with Fast & Furious 7. They waited a whole day to comment on the future of a profitable franchise. "He's our brother, he's our friend, but we're going to go ahead and make millions off of a movie that he was involved in" and then credits roll and a picture of the guy with his DOB-DOD flashes. Just my opinion and if you feel differently that's all well and good.
UPDATE: Universal has indefinitely postponed production of Fast & Furious 7.
Anyway on to the topics I've chosen for today. There will always be divisive issues in any walk of life. If you live life in the comment section long enough you will wonder how compromise ever occurs in our society. I always find the discussion much more riveting than the the topics themselves, so today I've picked two things from recent memory in the comic realm that people either really loved, or that people really hate. This is just my two cents on both subjects. (Beware Spoilers may loom)
Superior Spider-man
A little over a year ago Dan Slott made the controversial decision to "kill off" Peter Parker. Slott decided to have a dying Otto Octavius swap bodies with the able-bodied Parker. While at the outset this sounded like a ploy and a poor idea I have to say that as a comic fan I have been pleased with the results. Initially I was upset that Otto's "heroes journey" was wrapped up within the events of Amazing Spider-man #700 and not carried over into the pages of Superior Spider-man, but after seeing this last year of story lines unfold I have to admit that I have been more than happy with how this has played out.
Consider that in 4 movies and over 50 years of comics Peter Parker has largely remained unaltered. He has always been a character of great unbalance often sacrificing his life as Peter Parker for his life as Spider-man (like a hero should). With this reinvention Slott has presented a Spider-man for the new era a balanced Spider-man that attempts to be a hero without sacrifice. Otto-Parker has used his intellect for the betterment of both sides of his personality. As Parker he has received a Doctorate, built his own technology company, and began dating a little person. As Spider-man he is a hero for the modern era. He is the Patriot Act Spider-man with his spider-bots generating constant surveillance of NYC, his own private army ready at his beckon call, and his own brand of brutal (sometimes capital) punishment.
Different is not always better, but I think if one judges this era of Spider-man as a temporary change it has at least been an entertaining one. One could say that Slott's Otto-Parker is as much a commentary on contemporary society as it is a superhero story.
Man of Steel
I have always had a place in my heart for Superman. Batman is far and away my favorite character to come out of comics. I have always enjoyed the idealism that Superman represents. To me he represents a long passed "pie on the window sill"Americana. An immigrant that came to this planet and showed us that it is possible to be our ideal selves. Times have changed in 75 years though and I can't say with any amount of confidence that an immigrant, even an exceptional one, would be welcomed with open arms by the masses.
That said, with no Bats on the schedule for summer of 2013 this was the movie that I was honestly most looking forward to. I've admitted to in the past being a bigger DC fan than Marvel and that still is true to this day.
I enjoyed the movie, but even though I found it entertaining I found it quite troubling as well.
My first problem and the biggest one that I have with the film is with the end. Initially I did not like that Superman killed Zod. Then I looked through my comics and scanned the history to see that he had killed previously (Doomsday, Zod & co. in the (inferior) Lester version of Superman II, & others).
While I still hold fast that certain characters are not killers I feel that the way that he did it was the biggest problem. Considering that during the course of the film Clark has to learn to ball his fist (because he never fought before) it makes zero sense for him to brutally and violently snap Zod's neck in the film's finale. It was not a passive act like Bale's Batman allowing Ra's Al Ghul to fall in the wreckage of the elevated train, or diving at Two-Face to protect an innocent life but rather the grizzly act of a trained killer.
Writer Max Landis, in a YouTube version of his pitch to DC for a new version of "The Death of Superman" laid out the best possible way to have Superman kill an unstoppable enemy combatant. In his version of events a raging Doomsday has laid waste to Metropolis and most of the top members of the Justice League. Superman, during the final climactic blows, remembers his father encouraging him to mercy kill a wounded cow by merely pushing on his skull. Superman uses this memory to aid him in ending the Doomsday spree, by pushing down on Doomsday's skull effectively killing him.
I'm not saying that Landis's idea would've been a better scenario, but it is better in the sense that it is organic to the farm-boy Superman narrative.
With a Batman-Superman movie on the horizon it is quite likely that the violent, destructive end of this movie was used to set up the narrative of having the very human Batman teach Clark about the preservation of the lives of the innocent and the damned as well.
..............................
That's all I have for today. Like I said I don't expect people to agree with what I have to say, but I'm always happy to contribute to the ongoing discussion.
I want to start off today by speaking about Paul Walker. While I won't grieve for him because I think there are a lot more tragic losses in our world on a daily basis I do think that it is in explicitly poor taste that Universal is moving ahead with Fast & Furious 7. They waited a whole day to comment on the future of a profitable franchise. "He's our brother, he's our friend, but we're going to go ahead and make millions off of a movie that he was involved in" and then credits roll and a picture of the guy with his DOB-DOD flashes. Just my opinion and if you feel differently that's all well and good.
UPDATE: Universal has indefinitely postponed production of Fast & Furious 7.
Anyway on to the topics I've chosen for today. There will always be divisive issues in any walk of life. If you live life in the comment section long enough you will wonder how compromise ever occurs in our society. I always find the discussion much more riveting than the the topics themselves, so today I've picked two things from recent memory in the comic realm that people either really loved, or that people really hate. This is just my two cents on both subjects. (Beware Spoilers may loom)
Superior Spider-man
A little over a year ago Dan Slott made the controversial decision to "kill off" Peter Parker. Slott decided to have a dying Otto Octavius swap bodies with the able-bodied Parker. While at the outset this sounded like a ploy and a poor idea I have to say that as a comic fan I have been pleased with the results. Initially I was upset that Otto's "heroes journey" was wrapped up within the events of Amazing Spider-man #700 and not carried over into the pages of Superior Spider-man, but after seeing this last year of story lines unfold I have to admit that I have been more than happy with how this has played out.
Consider that in 4 movies and over 50 years of comics Peter Parker has largely remained unaltered. He has always been a character of great unbalance often sacrificing his life as Peter Parker for his life as Spider-man (like a hero should). With this reinvention Slott has presented a Spider-man for the new era a balanced Spider-man that attempts to be a hero without sacrifice. Otto-Parker has used his intellect for the betterment of both sides of his personality. As Parker he has received a Doctorate, built his own technology company, and began dating a little person. As Spider-man he is a hero for the modern era. He is the Patriot Act Spider-man with his spider-bots generating constant surveillance of NYC, his own private army ready at his beckon call, and his own brand of brutal (sometimes capital) punishment.
Different is not always better, but I think if one judges this era of Spider-man as a temporary change it has at least been an entertaining one. One could say that Slott's Otto-Parker is as much a commentary on contemporary society as it is a superhero story.
Man of Steel
I have always had a place in my heart for Superman. Batman is far and away my favorite character to come out of comics. I have always enjoyed the idealism that Superman represents. To me he represents a long passed "pie on the window sill"Americana. An immigrant that came to this planet and showed us that it is possible to be our ideal selves. Times have changed in 75 years though and I can't say with any amount of confidence that an immigrant, even an exceptional one, would be welcomed with open arms by the masses.
That said, with no Bats on the schedule for summer of 2013 this was the movie that I was honestly most looking forward to. I've admitted to in the past being a bigger DC fan than Marvel and that still is true to this day.
I enjoyed the movie, but even though I found it entertaining I found it quite troubling as well.
My first problem and the biggest one that I have with the film is with the end. Initially I did not like that Superman killed Zod. Then I looked through my comics and scanned the history to see that he had killed previously (Doomsday, Zod & co. in the (inferior) Lester version of Superman II, & others).
While I still hold fast that certain characters are not killers I feel that the way that he did it was the biggest problem. Considering that during the course of the film Clark has to learn to ball his fist (because he never fought before) it makes zero sense for him to brutally and violently snap Zod's neck in the film's finale. It was not a passive act like Bale's Batman allowing Ra's Al Ghul to fall in the wreckage of the elevated train, or diving at Two-Face to protect an innocent life but rather the grizzly act of a trained killer.
Writer Max Landis, in a YouTube version of his pitch to DC for a new version of "The Death of Superman" laid out the best possible way to have Superman kill an unstoppable enemy combatant. In his version of events a raging Doomsday has laid waste to Metropolis and most of the top members of the Justice League. Superman, during the final climactic blows, remembers his father encouraging him to mercy kill a wounded cow by merely pushing on his skull. Superman uses this memory to aid him in ending the Doomsday spree, by pushing down on Doomsday's skull effectively killing him.
I'm not saying that Landis's idea would've been a better scenario, but it is better in the sense that it is organic to the farm-boy Superman narrative.
With a Batman-Superman movie on the horizon it is quite likely that the violent, destructive end of this movie was used to set up the narrative of having the very human Batman teach Clark about the preservation of the lives of the innocent and the damned as well.
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That's all I have for today. Like I said I don't expect people to agree with what I have to say, but I'm always happy to contribute to the ongoing discussion.
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