Hello and welcome to the 01/28/15 edition of The Comic Shop!
Lots of big news in nerd culture this week!
First.....The trailer for Josh Trank's "Fantastic Four" made it's debut. I have to say it doesn't look all bad, but I think your humble blogger will wait for word-of-mouth and professionally written reviews before I plunk down my small fortune to see it.
Second....Just announced tonight "True Blood" actor Mehcad Brooks will snap pictures as Superman's no. 1 pal Jimmy Olsen on CBSs "Supergirl". I don't know enough about the young man to make a determination, but from the results of "Arrow" & "The Flash" this group knows what they are doing in putting these projects together. In all honesty I'm not the biggest Supergirl fan, but I am looking forward to this series.
Third....Paul Feig confirmed the new Ghostbusters this past week by announcing Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones as the new titular Busters. I don't anticipate even seeing this in all honesty, but I'm sure it will be good by today's comedic standards. Feig's "Bridesmaids" was a runaway hit, and I found it quite enjoyable. I still find this less offensive to my nerd brain than the Ghostbusters 3 ideas that Akroyd was peddling. I'm glad this is the alternative I guess.
Fourth...As a huge Indiana Jones fan I would love to see Chris Pratt put on the fedora, and swing a whip into the next Indy adventure. He's quickly become a legit action star while maintaining his family friendly loveable doofus Andy Dwyer persona from "Parks and Rec". I'm less thrilled by the prospect of this being called a reboot, because in all honesty I feel that is wholly unnecessary. With the Jones movies being based on early cinema serials there is no need (in my mind) to explain continuity changes and the like.
Fifth.....Actor Tyreese Gibson (F&F movies, Transformers series) is petitioning WB hard to play a Green Lantern in a future film. In all fairness to Mr. Gibson I hope WB simply says "pass". This is an actor with limited range and it's not difficult to see that he essentially plays "loud smartass guy" in every movie.
Sixth....I'm as huge a Batman fan as anyone. That said I hope they do not use up an Affleck appearance in "Suicide Squad". Not that it wouldn't be cool to see Batman in the movie, but WB needs to get away from the stigma that they can't do anything successful without Batman involved. "SS" would be a great opportunity for a standalone project to prove that WB can be viable with it's plans for an ongoing shared universe.
Onto the reviews........Spoilers below
Robin returned to duty in "Batman & Robin" in last week's release. While the book itself is of good quality I have some issue with the death and return of Damian Wayne. Not to mentioned we now have a superpowered Robin that completely invalidates Batman. It's one issue in so I will have to see where it goes, but I am not happy with this current creative direction. As a fan of the Snyder style Batman stories it was hard for me to see the fantastical journey of the Dark Knight making an incursion into Apokolips in the HellBat suit to save his son.
The penultimate chapter of Spiderverse took place in "Amazing Spider-man" and I am still quite enjoying the story. I think if had more money to invest in comics I would buy the tie-ins, but I'm happy with the main narrative from Dan Slott in ASM. Lots of crazy ridiculous things happen, but they all seem to make sense in the web that Slott has woven. Bonus points for the fact that my fave SpOCK is a major player in the ongoing saga.
"Grayson" has taken some getting used to for me; however, I have found the last few issues to be rather enjoyable. It is a bit of odd storytelling, but it is quite good. I would still like to see Dick return to his superhero persona, but I think this might be a good way to make him mean more to a wider audience.
I think that's all I wanted to hit on for today....so happy reading and I will see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Let's pretend I posted this 12 days ago....The Second Annual Shoppie Awards!!!
Hello and Welcome to the abandoned Ames store in Mars Hill, Indiana! We spared no expense in our change of venue from the party room at the local TGI Friday's. Lets get on to the most prestigious awards in comics!!!! (Beware there will be comic and movie spoilers..on with the shitshow)
Most Surprising Face Turn of 2014: Our first award of the night goes to a man that has a hairstyle not unlike my own. In 2014 he stomped out crime in a Norman Osborne-ian fashion. The winner of most surprising face turn right from the pages of Geoff Johns' "Forever Evil" event....drumroll....LEX LUTHOR
Most Surprising Heel Turn of 2014: Not a lot of really strong contenders in this category, but Jason Aaron anted up by revealing that Nick Fury had been straight up murdering living planets, gods, and the Watcher himself in the "Original Sin" event. Honrable Mention goes to the Superior IronMan, but it is only a few issues in.
Best Crossover Event of 2014: A lot of potential in this category, but with the humble bloggers humble funds I did not get to read them all. Therefore my favorite and most recommended would be the aforementioned "Forever Evil" event. The "Trinity War" preamble was also relatively good.
Shooting Star Award (for star making performance in a feature film): Strong contenders in this category. Evan Peters was surprisingly awesome as Quicksilver in "X-men: DOFP", Anthony Mackie stole the show as Falcon in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", and Chris Pratt showed he had leading man potential as Star Lord in the smash hit "Guardians of the Galaxy". After careful thought and consideration the committee has deemed that Chris Pratt will take home the hardware this year. Not only did he steal the show in "GOTG", but was the lead voice in the surprisingly awesome (and nominated for Best Picture) "Lego Movie".
The Peanut in the Turd Award (good performance in a bad movie): Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Spider-man in the underwhelming "ASM 2" was one of the few bright spots. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but I think if they would've pulled more focus to Spider-man in this Spider-man sequel it would've been a better received sequel.
The Whoopsie Award: 2015 is the 75th anniversary of the introduction of "The Flash". DC did not realize that this milestone was happening after Superman and Batman in previous years. That is an unacceptable offense for a publisher that has made money off of the scarlet speedsters' television debut and comics. A last minute push of variant covers was too little a mea culpa and does little to relieve the sting of the insult.
The "I've Made a Huge Mistake Award": Just an excuse to give Will Arnett an award here. I really enjoyed his work as Batman in "The Lego Movie", and apparently audiences did as well as work is currently underway on a Lego Batman solo movie. Arnett also wasn't too terrible in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot, and he provided some of his droll humor to the movie.
Best Male Performance in a ComicMovie: Going with the safe pick here. Our first double winner of the night.....Chris Pratt! From his role on "Parks and Recreation" Pratt had to drop considerable weight to get himself into heroic shape and he made the necessary sacrifices to do so. He brought a lot of wit and humor to the role, and helped to make something that people weren't sure about into a smash hit.
Best Female Performance in a ComicMovie: Lots of women participated in Comic Movies in 2014, but I felt only one had a consistently strong performance....Scarlett Johansson!! Her role as Natasha Romanoff is portrayed as a strong female lead. One of the refreshing things about "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is that it had little to no romantic subplot. Widow was Cap's teammate and nothing more, and that is not what your humble blogger expected when the casting was announced for the Cap sequel.
Best Comic Run in 2014: This is out of left field and some people may not particularly care for it, but all of this is a matter of opinion. The award for best comic run of 2014 goes to Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino's run on "Green Arrow". It is my feeling that the work of these creators is on par with a duo like Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo "Batman", Mark Waid/Chris Samnee "Daredevil", or Dan Slott/Humberto Ramos, etc. "Spider-man". This comic was a little more under the radar, but in their limited run they accomplished a lot with Ollie. Some of the better stories included "The Outsiders War", "The Longbow Hunters", and Ollie's run-ins with Komodo. While it wasn't a direct companion piece to television's "Arrow" it would be a good pick up for any fan of the emerald archer. I will say that any of the previously mentioned titles would also be a good choice for this award, or even anything with Geoff Johns on it would be good.
Hero of the Boob Tube Award (best in TV): Superhero television is a growing goliath with a lot of new projects coming out in the next year or so. In 2014 the best of the boob tube ; however, was the CW television's "Arrow". The 2nd season really brought the lighting and the thunder to the small screen, and made up for some areas that needed improvement from the first season.
Best Movie: Our final award goes to the best Comic Book Movie of 2014. In my opinion the best comic book movie of the year was "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". While "GOTG" and "X-men: DOFP" were excellent movies in their own right I feel that the Cap sequel accomplished a lot more of the big picture stuff. It was basically a reboot of the Marvel Universe that ensured that we wouldn't be given the same set-up for all of these upcoming "Avengers" sequels. Like I mentioned before there was also a breakout performance, and the refreshing lack of romantic interest in the movie. This movie answered questions that we did not know were even going to be asked. I did not know what to expect going in, and while it wasn't a direct adaptation of the source material it was an excellent alternative.
Thank you all for reading and for your continued support of "The Comic Shop Blog"......
Most Surprising Face Turn of 2014: Our first award of the night goes to a man that has a hairstyle not unlike my own. In 2014 he stomped out crime in a Norman Osborne-ian fashion. The winner of most surprising face turn right from the pages of Geoff Johns' "Forever Evil" event....drumroll....LEX LUTHOR
Most Surprising Heel Turn of 2014: Not a lot of really strong contenders in this category, but Jason Aaron anted up by revealing that Nick Fury had been straight up murdering living planets, gods, and the Watcher himself in the "Original Sin" event. Honrable Mention goes to the Superior IronMan, but it is only a few issues in.
Best Crossover Event of 2014: A lot of potential in this category, but with the humble bloggers humble funds I did not get to read them all. Therefore my favorite and most recommended would be the aforementioned "Forever Evil" event. The "Trinity War" preamble was also relatively good.
Shooting Star Award (for star making performance in a feature film): Strong contenders in this category. Evan Peters was surprisingly awesome as Quicksilver in "X-men: DOFP", Anthony Mackie stole the show as Falcon in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", and Chris Pratt showed he had leading man potential as Star Lord in the smash hit "Guardians of the Galaxy". After careful thought and consideration the committee has deemed that Chris Pratt will take home the hardware this year. Not only did he steal the show in "GOTG", but was the lead voice in the surprisingly awesome (and nominated for Best Picture) "Lego Movie".
The Peanut in the Turd Award (good performance in a bad movie): Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Spider-man in the underwhelming "ASM 2" was one of the few bright spots. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but I think if they would've pulled more focus to Spider-man in this Spider-man sequel it would've been a better received sequel.
The Whoopsie Award: 2015 is the 75th anniversary of the introduction of "The Flash". DC did not realize that this milestone was happening after Superman and Batman in previous years. That is an unacceptable offense for a publisher that has made money off of the scarlet speedsters' television debut and comics. A last minute push of variant covers was too little a mea culpa and does little to relieve the sting of the insult.
The "I've Made a Huge Mistake Award": Just an excuse to give Will Arnett an award here. I really enjoyed his work as Batman in "The Lego Movie", and apparently audiences did as well as work is currently underway on a Lego Batman solo movie. Arnett also wasn't too terrible in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot, and he provided some of his droll humor to the movie.
Best Male Performance in a ComicMovie: Going with the safe pick here. Our first double winner of the night.....Chris Pratt! From his role on "Parks and Recreation" Pratt had to drop considerable weight to get himself into heroic shape and he made the necessary sacrifices to do so. He brought a lot of wit and humor to the role, and helped to make something that people weren't sure about into a smash hit.
Best Female Performance in a ComicMovie: Lots of women participated in Comic Movies in 2014, but I felt only one had a consistently strong performance....Scarlett Johansson!! Her role as Natasha Romanoff is portrayed as a strong female lead. One of the refreshing things about "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is that it had little to no romantic subplot. Widow was Cap's teammate and nothing more, and that is not what your humble blogger expected when the casting was announced for the Cap sequel.
Best Comic Run in 2014: This is out of left field and some people may not particularly care for it, but all of this is a matter of opinion. The award for best comic run of 2014 goes to Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino's run on "Green Arrow". It is my feeling that the work of these creators is on par with a duo like Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo "Batman", Mark Waid/Chris Samnee "Daredevil", or Dan Slott/Humberto Ramos, etc. "Spider-man". This comic was a little more under the radar, but in their limited run they accomplished a lot with Ollie. Some of the better stories included "The Outsiders War", "The Longbow Hunters", and Ollie's run-ins with Komodo. While it wasn't a direct companion piece to television's "Arrow" it would be a good pick up for any fan of the emerald archer. I will say that any of the previously mentioned titles would also be a good choice for this award, or even anything with Geoff Johns on it would be good.
Hero of the Boob Tube Award (best in TV): Superhero television is a growing goliath with a lot of new projects coming out in the next year or so. In 2014 the best of the boob tube ; however, was the CW television's "Arrow". The 2nd season really brought the lighting and the thunder to the small screen, and made up for some areas that needed improvement from the first season.
Best Movie: Our final award goes to the best Comic Book Movie of 2014. In my opinion the best comic book movie of the year was "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". While "GOTG" and "X-men: DOFP" were excellent movies in their own right I feel that the Cap sequel accomplished a lot more of the big picture stuff. It was basically a reboot of the Marvel Universe that ensured that we wouldn't be given the same set-up for all of these upcoming "Avengers" sequels. Like I mentioned before there was also a breakout performance, and the refreshing lack of romantic interest in the movie. This movie answered questions that we did not know were even going to be asked. I did not know what to expect going in, and while it wasn't a direct adaptation of the source material it was an excellent alternative.
Thank you all for reading and for your continued support of "The Comic Shop Blog"......
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