News & other random thoughts...

Hello & welcome to the 08/21/14 edition of The Comic Shop!


Thank you so much for your continued readership!  We are about to pass over 2000 pageviews, which I never thought would be possible.  Be sure to share the blog, and feel free to like the facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thecomicshopblog?ref=hl  .  As a wise man once said "Tell your friends about me"....On to the news.....



First....  Chris Pratt dressed up as Star Lord once again to entertain children in a hospital.  I do not have a lot to say about this, but that it is admirable that someone in such an enviable position has chosen to use it to be an everyday hero.  He has also used his influence to garner participation from his "Guardians" co stars in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  Suffice it to say definite man crush engaged from this blogger.

Second...The lovely Evangeline Lilly unveiled her look for the upcoming Marvel "Ant-man" film.  While the character Hope Van Dyne is an invention of the film world and left the collective uber-nerds feeling "Lost" it appears that she has taken on a very Wasp-like look.  I'm hedging on this project because of the turmoil with the original director Edgar Wright, but I enjoy the work of Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, and Michael Douglas.  It's hard to doubt Marvel at this point, because each movie seems to be an improvement upon the previous one.

Third... "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" has opened to a lukewarm reception from critics with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 44%.  Not to say that an RT score is the end all be all for whether a film will be good or not, but early reviews reaffirm some of my concerns about the project.  Eight years is a LONG time to go between sequels.  Not to say it's unheard of, but it does not exactly inspire confidence.  That coupled with the death or recasting of some of the ensemble roles (Michael Clark Duncan & Brittany Murphy RIP)(Clive Owen- career DOA) makes this a wait-and-see for this blogger.

Fourth....November solicitations started a bit of a firestorm with an alternative cover for an upcoming issue of Spider-woman as drawn by former erotic/soft core artist Milo Manara.  I'll spare you the pictures, but it was quite upsetting to a number of paying customers as the cover featured Jessica Drew baring her assets to the city (and also quite a shovel face IMO).  Make of it what you will, but I can't speak to a woman's point of view on something like that.

Fifth.... Dark Horse has released a trailer for the upcoming "Prometheus: Fire and Stone" which will be the first in a series of books ("Aliens: Fire & Stone", "AVP: Fire & Stone", and "Predator: Fire and Stone").  While I thought the "Prometheus" film was quite entertaining it was one of those movies that is so filled with holes you can't look at it the same way after you think about it for five minutes.  That said I love comics, and I love that they are crossing over these franchises so I might give it a cursory look.

Sixth....Vince D'Onofrio has shaved his head and looks to be a fantastic Kingpin for the upcoming "Daredevil" Netflix series.  D'Onofrio appeared at the outset to me to be an odd choice, but now I'm looking forward to his portrayal of the nefarious Wilson Fisk.  As you can tell from my Frank Miller list I'm a big DD fan so I'm hoping Marvel hits another home run with this project.

A final note...I will be keeping my "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice" speculation/discussion to a minimum until we at least see a real trailer for the project.  I have found often in my life that reading too much about a movie beforehand can really ruin the experience, so to that end I will not participate in ruining it for my readers.


The Comic Strips -  Beware Spoilers for comics released on 08/20/14





This week's pull list was a bit lean for your humble blogger with just "Daredevil" and "Batman & Robin" being purchased.


Daredevil - This issue was the continuation of a tie-in to the "Original Sin" event that features Murdock traveling to a newly hostile Wakanda to rescue his nun mother Sister Maggie.  I've noted before that I'm a huge fan of what Mark Waid has done with DD; however, this issue lacked any kind of satisfying conclusion and was more or less a PSA for postpartum depression.  As noble as that may be it's not exactly why we pick up comics.


Batman & Robin - Another chapter in the "Robin Rises" saga unfolded, but in actuality not a whole lot happened.  In truth this single issue just completely deballed the "Death of the Family" event from last year by having Batman apologize the the Bat-family, ensure them of total truth in the future, and then embark on a suicide mission to Apokolips to rescue/resurrect his son.  The total truth thing gets thrown to the wolves when the dead-to-the-world Dick Grayson shows up to have a PB & J and offer to help with Bats mission.





That's all for this week...I will see you next time at The Comic Shop!

A Book to Kill For...my favorite Frank Miller stories so far

Hello and welcome to the 08/18/14 edition of The Comic Shop!

After my last post I want to reiterate that I always welcome well-thought-out responses to my various topics.  After all I am more than willing to participate in the debate/discussion and I never want to give the impression that I do not value the opinion of others as much as I value my own.  A lot of our contemporary problems could be solved if people were more willing to hear out the other side and try to understand that not everyone has the same upbring/values/experiences/views/environment/socioeconomic background/etc.   I am as guilty as anyone else at being stubborn about opinions that I hold, but I always try to at least hear what the other side has to say. 

With the impending release of "Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" I thought it might be fun to look at my favorite Frank Miller stories that I have read.  

 

So on to the column.....Let's be Frank....

1.  The Dark Knight Returns - This novel was a watershed moment for comics in that it showed publishers that there was in fact an adult audience.  Published on gloss paper and released in maxi-series format "TDKR" was a turning point in the marketing in comics (along with "Watchmen" and other comics of the time).  "TDKR" features an older Batman that returns to action after a long absence to rid Gotham of the new scourge of the mutants.  He also has one last fatal tussle with the Joker, and beats the ever-loving hell out of the big blue boy scout.  I've written at length about how much I love this book before so it goes without saying this is my unquestioned number one.

2.  Born Again - What is the secret identity of a superhero worth?  If you are a junkie/prostitute/ex-girlfriend of Matt Murdock it's worth an arm full of heroin.  When the Kingpin gets his hands on the information all hell breaks loose.  With a premise like that "Born Again" is one of the more fantastic Daredevil books.  Truth be told "Daredevil" is not even in the book until the 3rd act, but this story sets in motion the "I'm not Daredevil" narrative that was the cornerstone of hornhead storytelling for decades.  The events of "Born Again" also laid the groundwork for Kevin Smith's stellar "Guardian Devil" story several years later.

3.  Wolverine......When Marvel comics decided to give Wolverine his own title there were a lot of options for writers, but they chose Frank Miller.  Frank introduced a lot of new concepts for the character including placing him in Japan, his catchphrase "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice", and introduced characters like Yuriko, Mariko, and the Silver Samurai.  This story was picked from with some liberty taken to craft the narrative for "The Wolverine" film that hit theaters last year.

4.  That Yellow Bastard.....My favorite of the "Sin City" stories features Detective Hartigan fighting to protect the innocence of a young girl in a city filled with Sin.  This was an integral part of the original "Sin City" film with Bruce Willis playing the aforementioned Hartigan.  

5.  The Hard Goodbye....Another story from the "Sin City" feature film this one features Marv avenging the death of a prostitute "Goldie".  Equal parts Rasputin and hard boiled storytelling this is one of the better narratives in the "Sin City" universe.  In truth I became more of a fan of this story after Mickey Rourke brought it to life on screen.  Bonus points for the fact that Frank Miller played a tainted priest in the live action adaptation.

6.  Batman: Year One.....The follow up to "TDKR" this story showed Bruce Wayne's first adventure as Batman, and gave a full blown origin to the caped crusader and Jim Gordon.  I have mixed emotions about this book, because I like that it is the set up for the dark and brooding tone featured in "TDKR".  My issue with it is the pacing, which is extremely slow and frustrating.  It still makes the list though because of what it means to the origin of Batman and Gordon as I mentioned before.

7.  Daredevil Comics.....As a more general entry I own two trade paperback collections of Miller's first run with hornhead.  While it starts out kind of rough you can tell while reading when Miller got more creative control.  The stories take a darker turn, and he introduces characters like Electra and Bullseye to the story.  Once again Miller built the framework for how Daredevil stories would be presented for future decades with this run.

In full disclosure I have not read "Ronin", "Man without Fear", and I refuse to read ignorant bile like "Holy Terror".  I do; however, intend to read the first two at some point in the near future.  

In a related story the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (which were created to quasi-parody Ronin and Daredevil stories from Frank Miller) movie won two weeks in a row at the box office.  While "Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to rake in the cash (now over $200 million) it somehow has not beat the mixed reviewed turtle flick.

That's all for today!

See you next time at The Comic Shop!

The FF reboot is in the can...

I've written at length about this before, but please spare me your complaints about Michael B. Jordan.  He & Kate Mara are likely the best members of the cast speaking generally.
I fully support this not because I have "liberal" allegiances (I Dont), or that I'm PC (I'm not), or white guilt or whatever dismissive garbage a person would want to attribute this to.

It is an accurate representation of the families of today rather than the "nuclear family" from the 60's when these characters were introduced.  If director Josh Trank wanted to make a FF film based in the 1960's I would agree wholeheartedly, but he's not so I don't.

Let's not pretend that these studios are 100% loyal to the source material on anything.  I mean I didn't see a giant squid at the end of "Watchmen", but I, not unlike many of my comic loving brethren glossed over it because it wouldn't sell to a wider audience.  In my rational this is no different in that it's a tweak that could play to a wider audience.  It's not a given, but there is reason to believe that it could impact the box office.

As "fanboys" it can be hard to digest the idea that not everything the studio does is for us.  It's hard to pan or praise this project without seeing a single film cell.  I will say the production model of a Thing was leaps and bounds better than anything they've done in the past.

It is not my intention to get on the soapbox on this issue, but it gets a little old as a comic fan to get lumped in with the ignorant bile that is spewed when casting news like this comes out.  I get a little embarrassed for people that react by saying "when do I get my white so & so?"  Don't worry one day you'll get a white superhero on film other than; Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, the Fantastic Four, He-man, Dick Tracy, Nick Fury (Hasselhoff), the Lone Ranger, the Punisher, Green Lantern, Star Lord, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Green Arrow (TV), Flash (TV), most Agents of SHIELD (TV), Agent Carter (TV), Wolverine, a few of the X-men...and so on.

As I said I do not intend to be negative or condescending, & it appears now that fans have become more accustomed to these cosmetic changes.  I did not see as much of the negativity flooding the net when Jason Momoa was cast as Arthur Curry/Aquaman or when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson teased being cast as Shazam.  For that I give the fanboys credit, because those casting choices are very different than their comic lineage.

I will try to keep it more positive in the future, but it is tiring to hear & read so many complaints about a second-tier hero being played by an underrated actor in a movie from a studio that many people already hate.


Thank you for reading & I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!