Welcome back! Your humble blogger had to take a week off to get some personal affairs attended to, but I'm back and ready to unload with two new posts this week.
First...as a discussion point last week was absolutely absurd with the amount of comics that came out. "Batman", "Batgirl", "Superior Spider-man", "Nightwing", "All-New X-men", the finale of the initial "Sons of Anarchy" arch, and many, many more. It's great for comics, great for a comic store, but not so good for the old pocketbook. I digress though....
Onto the main topic.....
While slamming through the new season of "House of Cards" on Netflix it occurs to me that comic companies, the big two specifically, could learn something from the way that Netflix presents "House of Cards" and it's other original program. If you are not familiar with the show, basically it is a political thriller. The unique thing about it is that the entire new season is released at one time. The showrunners made the choice to have each new episode end abruptly and poignantly. They do not build to false climaxes to entice viewers to return the following week because they don't have to. It is a more natural form of long form storytelling. It also makes the payoff at the end of the season more meaningful because we do not have 22/12/13 mini-cliffhangers each week.
So how would this translate to comics? We have seen one-time trade releases in the past. "Superman Earth-One" parts I and II were one day releases as well as "Batman Earth-One". These were self contained stories with a structured beginning-middle-end with no false climaxes getting in the way of telling the complete story. Marvel is about to release "X-men: No More Humans" which spins out of the "Battle of the Atom" epic. Once again this is a one-shot deal.
Too often in our modern climate publishers rely on cheap tricks, marketing, and other chicanery to move books rather than relying on good old storytelling. I would argue that while the business still will and should lean heavily upon monthly releases it would be in the best interest of publishers to release books like "Damien: Son of Batman" as a one-shot deal instead of spreading it out over several months. In the monthly books that in between events the publishers publish one or two self contained stories a month. One comic with a beginning-middle-end not tied to another comic, and not reliant on a false climax to get the reader to buy the next issue.
Just suggestions, but something has to change. With Scott Snyder's "Batman" being the ONLY title to surpass 100K in January with no other title cracking 90k that is a concern...
Now look over your shoulder because it's CONSPIRACY THEORY time...close the blinds...put the dogs outside...and don't breathe a word......
For the purposes of this discussion please open a new tab, go to YouTube, and watch the first trailer for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Pay specific attention to the dialogue of Robert Redford's character. He says something to the effect of "Sometimes to create a new world you have to build on top of the old one". That sounds awful Reich-like does it not???
The cosmic cube (tesseract) in the comics has the ability to not only transport a person, but also has the ability to transport a consciousness. Could our favorite crimson cranium be occupying space in Robert Redford's noggin'? Most of us know who the "Winter Soldier" is, but I won't spoil it for my readers that don't. We know that something is afoul at SHIELD from the first two trailers, and my money would not be on Mutha Fukkkin Sammy Jackson's Nick Fury being behind it.
For now it's just a theory nothing more, but it could be much, much more.......stay tuned.....
The "Guardians of the Galaxy" trailer has not dropped as of yet, but I will post it over on our Facebook Community page when it does.
I have not caved in to go see the new movie referred to as "Robocop" yet, because of my pledge to see #noremakesin2014...
Thanks for reading! See you next time at The Comic Shop.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
A column, some news, and a sort of review....
About a month ago "Batgirl" writer Gail Simone took to her twitter account, as she often does, to pose a question to her followers. Simone asked in very general terms for her followers to name the last breakout comic book character that was not based on ultra-violent behavior. Her definition of breakthrough was; a top selling book, cultural influence, appearance in films, and other criteria. The masses struggled to say the least. Her reasoning is that the rise of Deadpool, Harley Quinn, and other characters is because of a fundamental change in the people that read comics.
A quick look at books that came out this week alone gives credence to the rise of the anti-hero. Consider the fact that this week "Forever Evil", which is about a group of villains banding together with the expressed purpose of killing the Justice League's evil doppelgangers. This week also saw the launch of "Loki: Agent of Asgard" as a new Marvel Now! title. Loki has gained quite a bit of notoriety from his film outings in "Thor", "The Avengers", and "Thor: The Dark World". Marvel has taken this as a sign that Loki, a trickster god and all around bad guy, should be the protagonist in his own ongoing series. Furthermore, "The Joker's Daughter" made another one-shot appearance at DC, and "Magneto" has his own limited-run series upcoming for Marvel.
As I have written about here several times this past year we watched as eternal villain Doctor Octopus tried his hand at being a "Superior Spider-man" and I have enjoyed every minute of that ride. Hell, even the "All-New X-men" decided to join evil Scott Summers' Xavier School.
What does this say about us? Is the day of a bright and shining superhero passe? Do we crave a finality and resolution to our superhero stories? Have we deemed the use of lethal force necessary?
If the characters that we once identified as villains are now the sort-of good guys who are the new villains?
I have to wonder aloud if this "new" Justice League that has been teased will be the norm going forward. With Black Adam and Luthor as a surrogate Superman, Deathstroke as a lethal justice Batman, and on down the line. I highly doubt it but I suppose it is entirely plausible.
I know that I've asked more questions than usual in this column, but it's more or less a new phenomenon. I would hope when the anti-hero stories become less compelling that things would get back to the norm, but I can't say I don't enjoy some of this storytelling.
If we think about it enough it's pretty easy to see the anti-hero influence in other media. On television for instance we have all of the following: Meth Kingpin Walter White (Breaking Bad), Serial Killer Dexter Morgan (Dexter), all of the gang members (Boardwalk Empire), Sociopathic Status Seeker Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Hannibal (Hannibal), Sgt. Brody (Homeland), and many, many more.
NEWS.....
First....
Big news from DC in that Geoff Johns ("Forever Evil", "Blackest Night", "Aquaman", "Green Lantern", "Flash", "Superman: Secret Origins") will join John Romita Jr. as the new creative team for the publisher's "Superman" title. As readers we have been stuck in Lobdell-hell for far too long, and thankfully his run with the Man of Steel has come to an end. Look for that coming up this spring.
Second....
Ripped from the headlines at Bleeding Cool Evangeline Lilly (Lost) has been cast as the female lead in the "Ant-man" movie. I would have much more to write about this, but I think I'd rather google pictures of Evangeline Lilly........
oh, um anyway Third.....
Allegedly, according to Bleeding Cool, Fox would be open to having a female version of Dr. Doom. Which of course explains why Fox should not make movies. All joking aside I would be open to it as long as we are talking an A list actor, but I think it would be better off having a male actor in the role.
Fourth....
The Super Bowl has come and gone, and was a tremendous waste of time for everyone involved but the Seahawks & their fans. What is newsworthy comics-wise is that we got a glimpse at new trailers for "Trans4mers: Age of Extinction", "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", and "The Amazing Spider-man 2". If you haven't seen them yet check em out over on youtube, and I will try to share the links on my Facebook Page for this site. Just gonna give a quick reaction to all the trailers:
"Trans4mers: Age of Extinction" - While I'm not in love with them making another Baysplosion Transformers movie it was pretty freaking cool to see the Dinobots even though Optimus was riding one for some reason.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" - I loved the graphic novel, and while it looks like this isn't an entirely faithful adaptation it looks like it captures a lot of the espionage and intrigue of the graphic novel of the same name.
"The Amazing Spider-man 2" - This movie's action sequences look absolutely spectacular. I like the villains that they' chose to have in the movie, and the trailer was just a thrill ride. My only gripe is the "dumb Aunt May" routine they seem to be doing it's not funny, and it's wholly unnecessary.
Review-ish...............
As you know from my reviews I'm a big fan of the Marvel books "Superior Spider-man" and "Daredevil". Today I decided to see what was up with the "Trial of Jean Grey" series, and I was blown away by another title in the "All-new X-men" tie in portion of that book. For this "sort of" review I want to group all three together.
The color palette chosen by the inkers on these three books are very similar. Bright and vibrant like what we may have seen in an earlier time in comics. The art is a fun non-realistic style which adds to my personal enjoyment. Finally and most importantly they have writers that really understand the heart of the characters they are crafting. I just had to give a little praise to the Marvel group, because I do not do a great job of doing that on a weekly basis.
That's all for today...Happy Reading....and I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
A quick look at books that came out this week alone gives credence to the rise of the anti-hero. Consider the fact that this week "Forever Evil", which is about a group of villains banding together with the expressed purpose of killing the Justice League's evil doppelgangers. This week also saw the launch of "Loki: Agent of Asgard" as a new Marvel Now! title. Loki has gained quite a bit of notoriety from his film outings in "Thor", "The Avengers", and "Thor: The Dark World". Marvel has taken this as a sign that Loki, a trickster god and all around bad guy, should be the protagonist in his own ongoing series. Furthermore, "The Joker's Daughter" made another one-shot appearance at DC, and "Magneto" has his own limited-run series upcoming for Marvel.
As I have written about here several times this past year we watched as eternal villain Doctor Octopus tried his hand at being a "Superior Spider-man" and I have enjoyed every minute of that ride. Hell, even the "All-New X-men" decided to join evil Scott Summers' Xavier School.
What does this say about us? Is the day of a bright and shining superhero passe? Do we crave a finality and resolution to our superhero stories? Have we deemed the use of lethal force necessary?
If the characters that we once identified as villains are now the sort-of good guys who are the new villains?
I have to wonder aloud if this "new" Justice League that has been teased will be the norm going forward. With Black Adam and Luthor as a surrogate Superman, Deathstroke as a lethal justice Batman, and on down the line. I highly doubt it but I suppose it is entirely plausible.
I know that I've asked more questions than usual in this column, but it's more or less a new phenomenon. I would hope when the anti-hero stories become less compelling that things would get back to the norm, but I can't say I don't enjoy some of this storytelling.
If we think about it enough it's pretty easy to see the anti-hero influence in other media. On television for instance we have all of the following: Meth Kingpin Walter White (Breaking Bad), Serial Killer Dexter Morgan (Dexter), all of the gang members (Boardwalk Empire), Sociopathic Status Seeker Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Hannibal (Hannibal), Sgt. Brody (Homeland), and many, many more.
NEWS.....
First....
Big news from DC in that Geoff Johns ("Forever Evil", "Blackest Night", "Aquaman", "Green Lantern", "Flash", "Superman: Secret Origins") will join John Romita Jr. as the new creative team for the publisher's "Superman" title. As readers we have been stuck in Lobdell-hell for far too long, and thankfully his run with the Man of Steel has come to an end. Look for that coming up this spring.
Second....
Ripped from the headlines at Bleeding Cool Evangeline Lilly (Lost) has been cast as the female lead in the "Ant-man" movie. I would have much more to write about this, but I think I'd rather google pictures of Evangeline Lilly........
oh, um anyway Third.....
Allegedly, according to Bleeding Cool, Fox would be open to having a female version of Dr. Doom. Which of course explains why Fox should not make movies. All joking aside I would be open to it as long as we are talking an A list actor, but I think it would be better off having a male actor in the role.
Fourth....
The Super Bowl has come and gone, and was a tremendous waste of time for everyone involved but the Seahawks & their fans. What is newsworthy comics-wise is that we got a glimpse at new trailers for "Trans4mers: Age of Extinction", "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", and "The Amazing Spider-man 2". If you haven't seen them yet check em out over on youtube, and I will try to share the links on my Facebook Page for this site. Just gonna give a quick reaction to all the trailers:
"Trans4mers: Age of Extinction" - While I'm not in love with them making another Baysplosion Transformers movie it was pretty freaking cool to see the Dinobots even though Optimus was riding one for some reason.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" - I loved the graphic novel, and while it looks like this isn't an entirely faithful adaptation it looks like it captures a lot of the espionage and intrigue of the graphic novel of the same name.
"The Amazing Spider-man 2" - This movie's action sequences look absolutely spectacular. I like the villains that they' chose to have in the movie, and the trailer was just a thrill ride. My only gripe is the "dumb Aunt May" routine they seem to be doing it's not funny, and it's wholly unnecessary.
Review-ish...............
As you know from my reviews I'm a big fan of the Marvel books "Superior Spider-man" and "Daredevil". Today I decided to see what was up with the "Trial of Jean Grey" series, and I was blown away by another title in the "All-new X-men" tie in portion of that book. For this "sort of" review I want to group all three together.
The color palette chosen by the inkers on these three books are very similar. Bright and vibrant like what we may have seen in an earlier time in comics. The art is a fun non-realistic style which adds to my personal enjoyment. Finally and most importantly they have writers that really understand the heart of the characters they are crafting. I just had to give a little praise to the Marvel group, because I do not do a great job of doing that on a weekly basis.
That's all for today...Happy Reading....and I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Ahhhh....NEWS! and other musings
Before we get started today I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that yes I have in fact sold out. I had the opportunity to monetize the blog by trying to bring in some ad money and I decided that it was a good opportunity. I assure you that it was not an easy decision for me to make, but I would hope that with enough support I might open some new doors that will benefit you, my dear reader, and me, your humble blogger. Bottom line is I do this because I love it, but if there is any chance I could pay the bills with it I would jump at the opportunity.
As you might have noticed I have written a couple columns in which I had add on information afterwards. My column on trilogies is no different. I apologize that a lot of my posts are at a late hour and sometime my thoughts are not complete at the time of publication. With the "Trilogies" post I neglected to factor in how fan expectations also contribute to the perceived failure of a third chapter. In all fairness to the writers, directors, actors, and crew sometimes we, as fans, set the bar unrealistically high. This was very evident with "The Dark Knight Rises" Director Christopher Nolan painted himself into a corner, and the fans helped to keep him there. "The Dark Knight" was the perfect Batman movie.
The problems that it made for the third chapter were numerous. One could consider any one of the following: the movie had a cliffhanger ending that left fans craving conclusion, Heath Ledger (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) died, and "The Dark Knight" was critically acclaimed, which at that time was relatively unheard of for a comic book movie. One can look to the fan reception to the series finales of "Lost", "Dexter", "Seinfeld", "Breaking Bad", and many other fan favorite shows to see what happens when expectations and reality intersect.
NEWS......
WB/DC took the opportunity today to announce that Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network", "Adventureland", "Zombieland") has been cast as Lex Luthor for the DC Cinematic Universe. They also announced that Jeremy Irons ("Lolita", "Die Hard: With a Vengeance") has been cast to play Alfred Pennyworth.
First, lets take a look at the good. Irons is a fantastic actor, and he is of a different age and body shape than previous cinematic Alfred's. My hope against hope would be that Irons will portray the ex-intelligence agent/military officer Pennyworth that was featured in Geoff Johns' "Batman: Earth One". Johns version was a fresh take on the character, and made him an even more capable partner to the Dark Knight than previous versions.
Next, lets take a look at the "could be good". We know Eisenberg can portray a rich douche from his time as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. Eisenberg is a decent actor, but can come off as a big budget Michael Cera. While I quite enjoyed Eisenberg in "Adventureland" and "Zombieland" I couldn't really say that he is a must see actor for me in anything else. On the plus side he is the same age as the DC Cinematic Universe's Superman Henry Cavill, so they both still have a lot of time left on the clock.
Finally, I have firmly embraced a "wait and see" approach for this movie/film universe. With each new news item that comes out I say to myself "It could be good". My gut feeling though is that if all of this casting is for one film it is going to be a bloated mess. I never in my life thought I would be more excited about an upcoming "Spider-man" movie than to see Batman and Superman on screen together. It is very troubling indeed, but I will try stay positive at least until we see the first trailer.
I hope that WB/DC can pull this off because more and more people are looking at their film choices and saying "Make mine a Marvel".
That is all for this week at The Comic Shop....join me next week for a new column I have tentatively titled "The Anti-Hero Dilemma". Thanks for Reading!
As you might have noticed I have written a couple columns in which I had add on information afterwards. My column on trilogies is no different. I apologize that a lot of my posts are at a late hour and sometime my thoughts are not complete at the time of publication. With the "Trilogies" post I neglected to factor in how fan expectations also contribute to the perceived failure of a third chapter. In all fairness to the writers, directors, actors, and crew sometimes we, as fans, set the bar unrealistically high. This was very evident with "The Dark Knight Rises" Director Christopher Nolan painted himself into a corner, and the fans helped to keep him there. "The Dark Knight" was the perfect Batman movie.
The problems that it made for the third chapter were numerous. One could consider any one of the following: the movie had a cliffhanger ending that left fans craving conclusion, Heath Ledger (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) died, and "The Dark Knight" was critically acclaimed, which at that time was relatively unheard of for a comic book movie. One can look to the fan reception to the series finales of "Lost", "Dexter", "Seinfeld", "Breaking Bad", and many other fan favorite shows to see what happens when expectations and reality intersect.
NEWS......
WB/DC took the opportunity today to announce that Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network", "Adventureland", "Zombieland") has been cast as Lex Luthor for the DC Cinematic Universe. They also announced that Jeremy Irons ("Lolita", "Die Hard: With a Vengeance") has been cast to play Alfred Pennyworth.
First, lets take a look at the good. Irons is a fantastic actor, and he is of a different age and body shape than previous cinematic Alfred's. My hope against hope would be that Irons will portray the ex-intelligence agent/military officer Pennyworth that was featured in Geoff Johns' "Batman: Earth One". Johns version was a fresh take on the character, and made him an even more capable partner to the Dark Knight than previous versions.
Next, lets take a look at the "could be good". We know Eisenberg can portray a rich douche from his time as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. Eisenberg is a decent actor, but can come off as a big budget Michael Cera. While I quite enjoyed Eisenberg in "Adventureland" and "Zombieland" I couldn't really say that he is a must see actor for me in anything else. On the plus side he is the same age as the DC Cinematic Universe's Superman Henry Cavill, so they both still have a lot of time left on the clock.
Finally, I have firmly embraced a "wait and see" approach for this movie/film universe. With each new news item that comes out I say to myself "It could be good". My gut feeling though is that if all of this casting is for one film it is going to be a bloated mess. I never in my life thought I would be more excited about an upcoming "Spider-man" movie than to see Batman and Superman on screen together. It is very troubling indeed, but I will try stay positive at least until we see the first trailer.
I hope that WB/DC can pull this off because more and more people are looking at their film choices and saying "Make mine a Marvel".
That is all for this week at The Comic Shop....join me next week for a new column I have tentatively titled "The Anti-Hero Dilemma". Thanks for Reading!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Trilogies....
The trilogy is inarguably one of the more difficult things to pull off in the cinematic world. Not even including comic movies we have seen some of the biggest franchises fall flat on their face when attempting a third and final chapter.
Think about how great "Godfather I" & "Godfather II" are in juxtaposition to the third chapter. George Lucas brought us one of the grandest epics we have ever seen but it is hard to argue that "Return of the Jedi" was really the best way to finish that series.
Recently we watched our favorite armored hero Tony Stark go out with a whimper in "Iron Man 3" and we have third chapters of "Kick-Ass", "Thor", and "Captain America" coming down the pipe. I would argue that the "Iron Man" franchise went off the rails during the second chapter, but I digress.
Narrow focusing on comic movies one could say that "Spider-man 3" and "The Dark Knight Rises" were not the ideal note to end a series on. I think the two of these series exemplify why it is so hard to succeed in a final chapter.
If we look comparatively the first film in both series "Spider-man" & "Batman Begins" respectively Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan had a very clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish. They took a "Who am I?" and "How did I come to be?" approach. This is very basic for the origin story, and is not much different from any other first chapter. The first chapter of both films concluded with a neophyte hero at the end of the very beginning of their journey.
The second chapter is a little bit harder to nail down a summary theme; however, I would generally refer to it as "Where am I going?" and "Why do I continue?" In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that "Spider-man 2" and "The Dark Knight" are my two favorite superhero movies of all-time so I am a little biased. A common theme between these two movies is that both heroes have felt the overwhelming burden of the sacrifices that they have had to make to be a hero.
Parker and Wayne are both desperately searching for a way out. Parker has begun to lose his powers and sees it as a sign to walk away, whereas Wayne sees DA Harvey Dent as a man that can do what Batman does without the mask. Their paths diverge a bit toward the end though and Parker finds that he can make responsible choices, but MJ can also make choices. Wayne makes an end-times sacrifice to try to cement his legacy through a straw man Harvey Dent.
Raimi and Nolan had different approaches to the third chapter of their film series. Raimi had every intention of continuing on with the "Spider-man" franchise while it was widely regarded that Nolan intended to bring his Dark Knight epic to a close. This influenced the choices that they made and makes it very hard to find a common theme between the two films other than they were a disappointing end to a film trilogy.
In all honesty it's hard to say what Raimi's motivation was when directing "Spider-man 3". The film is over saturated with villains, plot twists, and character changes. Venom was probably one villain too many in retrospect, but Raimi felt the need to add him out of fan service. He also tried to end Harry's arch, add the Stacys, tell the Sandman's story, give story service to Peter & MJ's relationship, portray Peter's turn to the dark side, and throw in the Raimi humor with J. Jonah Jameson and the rest. It was just too much for a 2 1/2 hour movie. Character development is always a good thing in storytelling, but the character development in "Spider-man 3" made Peter look like a person with bipolar disorder.
"The Dark Knight Rises" was a fun movie overall, but it was plagued with several problems and logical inconsistencies. The most troubling for me, was that Bruce Wayne used his parents death to fashion himself into a living weapon in the last two features only to QUIT BEING BATMAN because his "kind of" girlfriend died. It would've been much easier to accept that he had been working in the shadows for 8 years under the radar. Bane was a fantastic villain, and it was acceptable that the film came full circle with the addition of an Al Ghul but there were a lot more failures than wins on the whole. After two mostly grounded and realistic-ish movies Nolan took the opportunity of the third film to have some really BOMBASTIC stuff that was completely unnecessary. I know I'm dogging on the movie but I would have to rank The Dark Knight trilogy in my top five for sure.
Other Great Moments in Third Chapter History....
-Emo Parker dance routine (Spider-man 3)
-Clark Kent vs. Evil Cigarette Smoking Superman (Superman III)
-Bat-Nipples (Batman Forever & Batman & Robin)
-The Mandarin Twist (Iron Man 3)
-ThunderLips "the ultimate male" (Rocky III)
-Not Peter Weller Robo-cop (Robo-cop III)
-Robot Ninjas (Robo-cop III)
-"NOOOOOOOOOOOO" (Star Wars ep. III)
- JAWS 3-D (Jaws 3-D)
-Ratner (X-3: The Last Stand)
-Axel Fox (Beverly Hills Cop III)
-"Talk to Da Hand" (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
-Turtles in TIME (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III)
That's another column in the books.....just a few news items worth note...mostly rumors so take them with a grain of salt for now.....
- Word is that Lauren Shuler Donner over at Fox has her eyes set on Channing Tatum to take on the role of Gambit that was so inadequately filled by Taylor Kitsch in "X-men Origins: Wolverine". Tatum is still not great casting for this specific role in my eyes, but as I have said before it is more important in this stage of the game to amass star-level talent. Tatum could sell a shit sandwich on the side of the road he's so hot right now.
- ALLEGEDLY.....Marvel's long-range planning for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe involves centering "Avengers" movies around Paul Rudd's Ant-man, the as-yet-uncast Dr. Strange, and other heroes not currently involved with the Avengers. This is in response to Robert Downey Jr.'s desire to walk away, and the likelihood that the ensemble cast is going to want another raise if "Avengers: Age of Ultron" succeeds comparably to the first film entry. My suggestion to Disney/Marvel would be that if you are going to shell out the big bucks and rake in the profits do it right and get Spider-man, X-men, and the Fantastic Four back under the Disney/Marvel umbrella. Please for the love of god stop Fox from finger-banging the X-men franchise. I will say "Amazing Spider-man 2" looks pretty damn cool though.
- The new look Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made their first public appearance, and I have to say that I really like the look of the bros. and the Shredder. Each turtle has their own unique style that makes them more individualized than different color bandanas. I think that a lot of people are not giving this a chance because Michael Baysplosion is involved, but I think a lot of what has been coming out about this film looks promising.
-Finally....."Empire Magazine" has released 25 covers celebrating "X-men: Days of Future Past" I hope that I'm wrong but to me it looks like Singer has chosen to Twighlight-ize the X-men franchise. The look of Quicksilver alone is enough to turn this blogger's stomach.
That's all for today! Happy reading and see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Think about how great "Godfather I" & "Godfather II" are in juxtaposition to the third chapter. George Lucas brought us one of the grandest epics we have ever seen but it is hard to argue that "Return of the Jedi" was really the best way to finish that series.
Recently we watched our favorite armored hero Tony Stark go out with a whimper in "Iron Man 3" and we have third chapters of "Kick-Ass", "Thor", and "Captain America" coming down the pipe. I would argue that the "Iron Man" franchise went off the rails during the second chapter, but I digress.
Narrow focusing on comic movies one could say that "Spider-man 3" and "The Dark Knight Rises" were not the ideal note to end a series on. I think the two of these series exemplify why it is so hard to succeed in a final chapter.
If we look comparatively the first film in both series "Spider-man" & "Batman Begins" respectively Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan had a very clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish. They took a "Who am I?" and "How did I come to be?" approach. This is very basic for the origin story, and is not much different from any other first chapter. The first chapter of both films concluded with a neophyte hero at the end of the very beginning of their journey.
The second chapter is a little bit harder to nail down a summary theme; however, I would generally refer to it as "Where am I going?" and "Why do I continue?" In the interest of full disclosure I will admit that "Spider-man 2" and "The Dark Knight" are my two favorite superhero movies of all-time so I am a little biased. A common theme between these two movies is that both heroes have felt the overwhelming burden of the sacrifices that they have had to make to be a hero.
Parker and Wayne are both desperately searching for a way out. Parker has begun to lose his powers and sees it as a sign to walk away, whereas Wayne sees DA Harvey Dent as a man that can do what Batman does without the mask. Their paths diverge a bit toward the end though and Parker finds that he can make responsible choices, but MJ can also make choices. Wayne makes an end-times sacrifice to try to cement his legacy through a straw man Harvey Dent.
Raimi and Nolan had different approaches to the third chapter of their film series. Raimi had every intention of continuing on with the "Spider-man" franchise while it was widely regarded that Nolan intended to bring his Dark Knight epic to a close. This influenced the choices that they made and makes it very hard to find a common theme between the two films other than they were a disappointing end to a film trilogy.
In all honesty it's hard to say what Raimi's motivation was when directing "Spider-man 3". The film is over saturated with villains, plot twists, and character changes. Venom was probably one villain too many in retrospect, but Raimi felt the need to add him out of fan service. He also tried to end Harry's arch, add the Stacys, tell the Sandman's story, give story service to Peter & MJ's relationship, portray Peter's turn to the dark side, and throw in the Raimi humor with J. Jonah Jameson and the rest. It was just too much for a 2 1/2 hour movie. Character development is always a good thing in storytelling, but the character development in "Spider-man 3" made Peter look like a person with bipolar disorder.
"The Dark Knight Rises" was a fun movie overall, but it was plagued with several problems and logical inconsistencies. The most troubling for me, was that Bruce Wayne used his parents death to fashion himself into a living weapon in the last two features only to QUIT BEING BATMAN because his "kind of" girlfriend died. It would've been much easier to accept that he had been working in the shadows for 8 years under the radar. Bane was a fantastic villain, and it was acceptable that the film came full circle with the addition of an Al Ghul but there were a lot more failures than wins on the whole. After two mostly grounded and realistic-ish movies Nolan took the opportunity of the third film to have some really BOMBASTIC stuff that was completely unnecessary. I know I'm dogging on the movie but I would have to rank The Dark Knight trilogy in my top five for sure.
Other Great Moments in Third Chapter History....
-Emo Parker dance routine (Spider-man 3)
-Clark Kent vs. Evil Cigarette Smoking Superman (Superman III)
-Bat-Nipples (Batman Forever & Batman & Robin)
-The Mandarin Twist (Iron Man 3)
-ThunderLips "the ultimate male" (Rocky III)
-Not Peter Weller Robo-cop (Robo-cop III)
-Robot Ninjas (Robo-cop III)
-"NOOOOOOOOOOOO" (Star Wars ep. III)
- JAWS 3-D (Jaws 3-D)
-Ratner (X-3: The Last Stand)
-Axel Fox (Beverly Hills Cop III)
-"Talk to Da Hand" (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)
-Turtles in TIME (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III)
That's another column in the books.....just a few news items worth note...mostly rumors so take them with a grain of salt for now.....
- Word is that Lauren Shuler Donner over at Fox has her eyes set on Channing Tatum to take on the role of Gambit that was so inadequately filled by Taylor Kitsch in "X-men Origins: Wolverine". Tatum is still not great casting for this specific role in my eyes, but as I have said before it is more important in this stage of the game to amass star-level talent. Tatum could sell a shit sandwich on the side of the road he's so hot right now.
- ALLEGEDLY.....Marvel's long-range planning for Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe involves centering "Avengers" movies around Paul Rudd's Ant-man, the as-yet-uncast Dr. Strange, and other heroes not currently involved with the Avengers. This is in response to Robert Downey Jr.'s desire to walk away, and the likelihood that the ensemble cast is going to want another raise if "Avengers: Age of Ultron" succeeds comparably to the first film entry. My suggestion to Disney/Marvel would be that if you are going to shell out the big bucks and rake in the profits do it right and get Spider-man, X-men, and the Fantastic Four back under the Disney/Marvel umbrella. Please for the love of god stop Fox from finger-banging the X-men franchise. I will say "Amazing Spider-man 2" looks pretty damn cool though.
- The new look Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made their first public appearance, and I have to say that I really like the look of the bros. and the Shredder. Each turtle has their own unique style that makes them more individualized than different color bandanas. I think that a lot of people are not giving this a chance because Michael Baysplosion is involved, but I think a lot of what has been coming out about this film looks promising.
-Finally....."Empire Magazine" has released 25 covers celebrating "X-men: Days of Future Past" I hope that I'm wrong but to me it looks like Singer has chosen to Twighlight-ize the X-men franchise. The look of Quicksilver alone is enough to turn this blogger's stomach.
That's all for today! Happy reading and see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
An add-on about Stan Lee, news, and other random topics
Hello there fellow Comic Fans and welcome to a brand new edition of The Comic Shop....
Before I get into the news of the day I just wanted to say a few more words about Stan Lee that I neglected to add into my last post.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that Lee also used his comics as an opportunity to comment on the various social ills of the time that he was living in. Whether it was racism, or other controversial topics he took a stand and put his name on his thoughts about the subject. It was a very progressive way of doing things, and it was not as welcomed in the time he was writing to speak out in support of certain things. He showed true courage by standing up for what he believed was right, and he is still supportive to social causes to this day by taking a stand for the creators of "Astonishing X-men" when they decided to have a homosexual couple marry in their book. After writing my column last week I finally sat down and watched "With Great Power" the Stan Lee documentary on Netflix and it is a fantastic look at Stan Lee.
On to the News.....
First...
Word broke earlier this week that the "Man of Steel" sequel project has been pushed back to a 2016 release. Lot of rumors are abound, but it seems the most likely scenario is that the brass at Warner have decided to film "MoSII" and "Justice League" back to back. This is generally cheaper on cost, and the actors can get everything in for both movies and then go on to other projects. I applaud that they are giving this some extra time because I am really hoping for them to do it right.
Second...
April solicitations for DC comics have confirmed that "Superman: Unchained", "Nightwing", "Suicide Squad", and "Teen Titans" are all coming to an end. While I'm glad that "Titans" and "Squad" are getting put out of their misery I'm going to be sad to see "Unchained" and "Nightwing" go.
Scott Snyder has been telling the best Superman story of the New 52 with "Unchained", and Jim Lee's artwork made Clark jump off the page. While "Nightwing" has been hit or miss Dick Grayson is one of my favorite characters in comics, so I'm hoping this is not signaling his death in the mega crossover event "Forever Evil".
Third....
A trailer has hit the interwebz for the DCAU movie "Son of Batman" which will be loosely based on Grant Morrison's "Batman & Son" arch of his run on the Dark Knight's main title. It's great to see Damien back, but it is a little confusing when they have their second movie of the New 52 DCAU based on a comic from pre-new 52 continuity. While he wasn't originally involved in the storyline I am always more than pleased to see Deathstroke in anything, because he is such a badass character.
As the Superior Spider-man turns.....
If you haven't picked up "Superior Spider-man" #25 DO IT NOW....this issue is double sized and it is setting up the main events that will play out in Spidey's life over the next year of story lines.
That's all I have for today. Be sure to "Like" my page on facebook (www.facebook.com/thecomicshopblog). I will be back later this week with more content.
Until next time....see you at The Comic Shop!
Before I get into the news of the day I just wanted to say a few more words about Stan Lee that I neglected to add into my last post.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that Lee also used his comics as an opportunity to comment on the various social ills of the time that he was living in. Whether it was racism, or other controversial topics he took a stand and put his name on his thoughts about the subject. It was a very progressive way of doing things, and it was not as welcomed in the time he was writing to speak out in support of certain things. He showed true courage by standing up for what he believed was right, and he is still supportive to social causes to this day by taking a stand for the creators of "Astonishing X-men" when they decided to have a homosexual couple marry in their book. After writing my column last week I finally sat down and watched "With Great Power" the Stan Lee documentary on Netflix and it is a fantastic look at Stan Lee.
On to the News.....
First...
Word broke earlier this week that the "Man of Steel" sequel project has been pushed back to a 2016 release. Lot of rumors are abound, but it seems the most likely scenario is that the brass at Warner have decided to film "MoSII" and "Justice League" back to back. This is generally cheaper on cost, and the actors can get everything in for both movies and then go on to other projects. I applaud that they are giving this some extra time because I am really hoping for them to do it right.
Second...
April solicitations for DC comics have confirmed that "Superman: Unchained", "Nightwing", "Suicide Squad", and "Teen Titans" are all coming to an end. While I'm glad that "Titans" and "Squad" are getting put out of their misery I'm going to be sad to see "Unchained" and "Nightwing" go.
Scott Snyder has been telling the best Superman story of the New 52 with "Unchained", and Jim Lee's artwork made Clark jump off the page. While "Nightwing" has been hit or miss Dick Grayson is one of my favorite characters in comics, so I'm hoping this is not signaling his death in the mega crossover event "Forever Evil".
Third....
A trailer has hit the interwebz for the DCAU movie "Son of Batman" which will be loosely based on Grant Morrison's "Batman & Son" arch of his run on the Dark Knight's main title. It's great to see Damien back, but it is a little confusing when they have their second movie of the New 52 DCAU based on a comic from pre-new 52 continuity. While he wasn't originally involved in the storyline I am always more than pleased to see Deathstroke in anything, because he is such a badass character.
As the Superior Spider-man turns.....
If you haven't picked up "Superior Spider-man" #25 DO IT NOW....this issue is double sized and it is setting up the main events that will play out in Spidey's life over the next year of story lines.
That's all I have for today. Be sure to "Like" my page on facebook (www.facebook.com/thecomicshopblog). I will be back later this week with more content.
Until next time....see you at The Comic Shop!
Monday, January 13, 2014
News...and a column about Stan Lee....true believers only!
Hello friends and welcome to the 1/14/2014 edition of the Comic Shop....
We have just a couple of news items today
First....
Michael "The Man from Catherine Zeta-Jones's Death Valley" Douglas has signed on to star in the big screen version of "Ant-Man". He will not play a cunning linguist, but rather he will be playing Hank Pym (the original Ant-man). As we already know Paul Rudd ("This is 40", "Knocked Up", "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers") has signed on to star in the Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", "At the World's End") directed feature. What we now know is that Rudd (of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" fame) will be playing the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Lang is a wrong-doer turned right, and I think it will be an uplifting story for the big screen adaptation of "Ant-Man". I have noticed that more and more we are seeing comedic actors being cast in dramatic roles to great effect. I think Rudd, who was a classically trained actor and starred in the super smash hit "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" will fit the Marvel movie mode nicely by being an action hero with a smart wit, and a quick sense of humor. The casting of Douglas was a little out of left field, but I would imagine they will be portraying Pym as a retired hero. They could also possibly strip him down to simply being a brilliant scientist. Either way this movie will likely be Marvel's biggest gamble of 2015, and I would argue that "Guardians of the Galaxy" will be their biggest gamble of 2014.
Second....
April solicitations are here and DC has announced that the new Flash creative team will be introducing Wally West to the New 52. It is hard to say where West fits in to the New 52 continuity, but other than Stephanie Brown he has been the character that fans have most been clamoring for to return.
While I'm glad he is back I still wish that DC would take my unsolicited advice and create an Earth 4 where Dick Grayson is Batman, Wally West is Flash, Damien Wayne is still alive, and several other editorial edicts are no longer in place. This would give fans the option to choose between the current New 52 continuity & the pre-New 52 continuity.
Third....
April solicitations have also signaled a likely end to the "Superior Spider-man" title. I will be sad to see the title go, because Spidoc was such a breath of fresh air to the Spider-man character. How often in comics do we see circular storytelling? For instance how many different times will we be presented with "Joker did this awful thing to Batman will Batman kill him? I think he might do it this time? Nope never mind".
I could only hope that the success of "Superior Spider-man" would have the lasting legacy on editors at Marvel & DC. I hope that it will show them that if they are willing to make radical changes it can pay off in the long run.
That's all for news...on to the column!
Comic history is littered with a litany of claims to certain creative properties. Did Bob Kane wholly create Batman or did Bill Finger help? How much of an impact did Kirby, Ditko, and others have on the characters that Lee takes credit for creating?
Getting in to that portion of the argument is a rabbit hole that I, for one, do not want to go down. I would rather talk in general terms about the impact of characters that Lee created or helped to create. Please note when I say "he created" in this blog I am not trying to take credit away from anyone else.
Stan Lee has had a fantastic career in comics. It is easy to be glib about his creations and note that a majority of them have powers bestowed on them by rays, isotopes, and other radioactive materials. The heart of what Lee created; however, was so much more than that.
He created comics that taught kids about science. Think about the concepts introduced with different characters. With the X-men he introduced kids to the concept of evolution. With the Fantastic Four he introduced kids to the concept of cosmic rays. In the pages of the Hulk he introduced the gamma rays. In Spider-man & Daredevil he talked about radiation. Obviously a lot of what he introduced was to an absurd degree, but it was an introduction of concepts that could inspire young minds.
In the documentary "The Men Without Fear", about the character Daredevil, Lee stated that he would purposefully use "big words" to encourage children to either learn them from the context of the story, or to encourage them to look up the words in the dictionary. His thought was that if he told an engaging enough story the child would do everything they could to understand everything about the story.
For my money Lee's greatest contribution to comics and other media has been the character Spider-man. To understand why I say this I will refer to my previous blog post "The Hero's Journey".
In the pages of Daredevil and the Hulk Lee introduced Matt Mourdock & Bruce Banner. Mourdock & Banner were heroes before they were even touched by the warm embrace of radiation. Mourdock leapt to action when he saw that an old man was about to be run down by a truck, and that resulted in his blindness and superpowers. Banner was a scientist that acted heroically when he saw a young man wander onto a gamma radiation test site. Banner saved the young man, but became the living embodiment of the Jekyll/Hyde complex.
With the creation of Peter Parker Lee turned his storytelling paradigm on it's ear. Lee introduced a nerdy, gangly kid that you wouldn't even give a second look. Parker, after being bit by a radioactive spider, chose the path of selfishness. When his selfishness directly led to the death of a beloved family member Parker chose to use his powers for good out of obligation. With this Lee introduced that "with great power comes great responsibility" and through that creed he taught, what I believe, is the greatest moral lesson in comics ever.
In Parker, Lee also introduced a character that was not too dissimilar from the reader of the comic. At his inception Parker was a teenager. He was young and naive, he struggled to make money, had all sorts of trouble with women, and he had many other everyday issues that effected him. This wasn't completely unique in this one character, but it has become the staple for Spider-man storytelling for decades.
Lee may have not been the sole creator of any of these characters, but I think it is impossible to deny his involvement.
I hope to one day meet him so I can thank him for his contributions to the medium that I love so much, and to ask him about superhero genitalia. Just like Brodie in "Mallrats" I often wonder about the Thing, for instance, does he have a rock down there?
That's all for today....see you at the Comic Shop!
We have just a couple of news items today
First....
Michael "The Man from Catherine Zeta-Jones's Death Valley" Douglas has signed on to star in the big screen version of "Ant-Man". He will not play a cunning linguist, but rather he will be playing Hank Pym (the original Ant-man). As we already know Paul Rudd ("This is 40", "Knocked Up", "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers") has signed on to star in the Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz", "At the World's End") directed feature. What we now know is that Rudd (of "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" fame) will be playing the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Lang is a wrong-doer turned right, and I think it will be an uplifting story for the big screen adaptation of "Ant-Man". I have noticed that more and more we are seeing comedic actors being cast in dramatic roles to great effect. I think Rudd, who was a classically trained actor and starred in the super smash hit "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" will fit the Marvel movie mode nicely by being an action hero with a smart wit, and a quick sense of humor. The casting of Douglas was a little out of left field, but I would imagine they will be portraying Pym as a retired hero. They could also possibly strip him down to simply being a brilliant scientist. Either way this movie will likely be Marvel's biggest gamble of 2015, and I would argue that "Guardians of the Galaxy" will be their biggest gamble of 2014.
Second....
April solicitations are here and DC has announced that the new Flash creative team will be introducing Wally West to the New 52. It is hard to say where West fits in to the New 52 continuity, but other than Stephanie Brown he has been the character that fans have most been clamoring for to return.
While I'm glad he is back I still wish that DC would take my unsolicited advice and create an Earth 4 where Dick Grayson is Batman, Wally West is Flash, Damien Wayne is still alive, and several other editorial edicts are no longer in place. This would give fans the option to choose between the current New 52 continuity & the pre-New 52 continuity.
Third....
April solicitations have also signaled a likely end to the "Superior Spider-man" title. I will be sad to see the title go, because Spidoc was such a breath of fresh air to the Spider-man character. How often in comics do we see circular storytelling? For instance how many different times will we be presented with "Joker did this awful thing to Batman will Batman kill him? I think he might do it this time? Nope never mind".
I could only hope that the success of "Superior Spider-man" would have the lasting legacy on editors at Marvel & DC. I hope that it will show them that if they are willing to make radical changes it can pay off in the long run.
That's all for news...on to the column!
Comic history is littered with a litany of claims to certain creative properties. Did Bob Kane wholly create Batman or did Bill Finger help? How much of an impact did Kirby, Ditko, and others have on the characters that Lee takes credit for creating?
Getting in to that portion of the argument is a rabbit hole that I, for one, do not want to go down. I would rather talk in general terms about the impact of characters that Lee created or helped to create. Please note when I say "he created" in this blog I am not trying to take credit away from anyone else.
Stan Lee has had a fantastic career in comics. It is easy to be glib about his creations and note that a majority of them have powers bestowed on them by rays, isotopes, and other radioactive materials. The heart of what Lee created; however, was so much more than that.
He created comics that taught kids about science. Think about the concepts introduced with different characters. With the X-men he introduced kids to the concept of evolution. With the Fantastic Four he introduced kids to the concept of cosmic rays. In the pages of the Hulk he introduced the gamma rays. In Spider-man & Daredevil he talked about radiation. Obviously a lot of what he introduced was to an absurd degree, but it was an introduction of concepts that could inspire young minds.
In the documentary "The Men Without Fear", about the character Daredevil, Lee stated that he would purposefully use "big words" to encourage children to either learn them from the context of the story, or to encourage them to look up the words in the dictionary. His thought was that if he told an engaging enough story the child would do everything they could to understand everything about the story.
For my money Lee's greatest contribution to comics and other media has been the character Spider-man. To understand why I say this I will refer to my previous blog post "The Hero's Journey".
In the pages of Daredevil and the Hulk Lee introduced Matt Mourdock & Bruce Banner. Mourdock & Banner were heroes before they were even touched by the warm embrace of radiation. Mourdock leapt to action when he saw that an old man was about to be run down by a truck, and that resulted in his blindness and superpowers. Banner was a scientist that acted heroically when he saw a young man wander onto a gamma radiation test site. Banner saved the young man, but became the living embodiment of the Jekyll/Hyde complex.
With the creation of Peter Parker Lee turned his storytelling paradigm on it's ear. Lee introduced a nerdy, gangly kid that you wouldn't even give a second look. Parker, after being bit by a radioactive spider, chose the path of selfishness. When his selfishness directly led to the death of a beloved family member Parker chose to use his powers for good out of obligation. With this Lee introduced that "with great power comes great responsibility" and through that creed he taught, what I believe, is the greatest moral lesson in comics ever.
In Parker, Lee also introduced a character that was not too dissimilar from the reader of the comic. At his inception Parker was a teenager. He was young and naive, he struggled to make money, had all sorts of trouble with women, and he had many other everyday issues that effected him. This wasn't completely unique in this one character, but it has become the staple for Spider-man storytelling for decades.
Lee may have not been the sole creator of any of these characters, but I think it is impossible to deny his involvement.
I hope to one day meet him so I can thank him for his contributions to the medium that I love so much, and to ask him about superhero genitalia. Just like Brodie in "Mallrats" I often wonder about the Thing, for instance, does he have a rock down there?
That's all for today....see you at the Comic Shop!
Friday, January 10, 2014
A new year a new look...and other random things
Hello Readers!
As you can see I took some time today to update the overall look of The Comic Shop. I hope the new page is fluid in use, and easy on the eyes.
First...
When I started writing this blog I had no idea what I was going to do with it. A quick scan of my blogger history shows how many times I've started to write something, but give up when I struggled for content. I do truly enjoy writing this blog and it is a joy for me.
With that it mind I want to extend the offer to any reader that I will publish guest editorials about any topic in the comics realm with no prior restraint. Obviously I won't publish anything that is hate speech or anything like that, but within reason. I really want to open up discussion, and what better way to do that than to open up the opportunity for counterpoints to my own editorials, or new points of view about issues in comics.
Any submissions should be made to johnnyleffler1116@gmail.com
Second...
If you haven't checked it out yet "Detective Comics #27" hit the shelves this week, and it is very cool. At $8 it's a bit of a steep price, but it is well worth it. It comes in tradepaperback form and has a collection of stories by a who's who of writers celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Dark Knight.
Third....
As reported by various media outlets "All Hail the King" the Marvel short attached to the home video release of "Thor: The Dark World" will not in fact feature Loki (Tom Hiddleston), but rather pick up the story of Trevor Slatterly/The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). SPOILER DISCUSSION
..........................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................................
While I found the Mandarin twist in IM 3 to be a little less than riveting it does sound like a wonderful name for a mixed drink. Ben Kingsley is too high of a profile actor to be regressed to playing a druggie, actor, dolt. I can only hope that "All Hail the King" sets in motion events that will make Kingsley the right and truthful Mandarin for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is incredibly disheartening for Marvel/Disney to sign an actor of Kingsley's ilk and only use him as a punchline. It is as disappointing as Hugo Weaving only signing on for one appearance as the Red Skull to this point, or the fact that they brought in Hollywood heavyweights like Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel to do voice-over work for "Guardians of the Galaxy".
Fourth.....(spoiler-ish)
Upon further review it appears that the Ultimate Universe is not going away after all, and will instead be rebooted as Ultimate Marvel NOW! This is unfortunate for this blogger, because I had hoped to see Miles Morales in the Marvel 616. We will have to put a pin in that idea for now.
Fifth.........
A leaked image from Marvel solicitations for April's books spoiled the return of "The Amazing Spider-man" to store shelves. It looks like Otto's days running around in Pete's body are numbered at this point. It will be interesting to see how Slott & Ramos weave the status changes during the "Superior Spider-man" run into the future for the fan-favorite Peter Parker.
Sixth...and final
There are a LOT of rumors flying right now about the upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel right now. In the last few days I have read several.
The first is that Affleck's Batsuit will be similar in appearance to the artwork of Alex Ross (one could postulate Black leather cape/cowl and a gray bodysuit).
The second is that Bryan Cranston is again being rumored to play Lex Luthor. I for one would be all for this as I am an unabashed fan of "Breaking Bad" and Cranston's performance made that show an all-time favorite.
The third rumor is that Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons will share heritage with Kryptonians. This one is a bit of a stretch, and will be hard to get by comic fans in general. I can see story-wise how it would make sense so that Clark can learn more about the history of Krypton, and we know from the established continuity in "Man of Steel" that there were Kryptonian colonies on several different worlds. I'll admit I'm not a fan of this idea, but I am trying my best to keep an open mind with all the news items associated with this film. This will either be a dynamite success, or a dysfunctional shitshow. I'm obviously pulling for the former, but the more I hear the more I'm inclined to anticipate the latter.
Until next time...Happy Reading!
As you can see I took some time today to update the overall look of The Comic Shop. I hope the new page is fluid in use, and easy on the eyes.
First...
When I started writing this blog I had no idea what I was going to do with it. A quick scan of my blogger history shows how many times I've started to write something, but give up when I struggled for content. I do truly enjoy writing this blog and it is a joy for me.
With that it mind I want to extend the offer to any reader that I will publish guest editorials about any topic in the comics realm with no prior restraint. Obviously I won't publish anything that is hate speech or anything like that, but within reason. I really want to open up discussion, and what better way to do that than to open up the opportunity for counterpoints to my own editorials, or new points of view about issues in comics.
Any submissions should be made to johnnyleffler1116@gmail.com
Second...
If you haven't checked it out yet "Detective Comics #27" hit the shelves this week, and it is very cool. At $8 it's a bit of a steep price, but it is well worth it. It comes in tradepaperback form and has a collection of stories by a who's who of writers celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Dark Knight.
Third....
As reported by various media outlets "All Hail the King" the Marvel short attached to the home video release of "Thor: The Dark World" will not in fact feature Loki (Tom Hiddleston), but rather pick up the story of Trevor Slatterly/The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). SPOILER DISCUSSION
..........................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................................
While I found the Mandarin twist in IM 3 to be a little less than riveting it does sound like a wonderful name for a mixed drink. Ben Kingsley is too high of a profile actor to be regressed to playing a druggie, actor, dolt. I can only hope that "All Hail the King" sets in motion events that will make Kingsley the right and truthful Mandarin for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is incredibly disheartening for Marvel/Disney to sign an actor of Kingsley's ilk and only use him as a punchline. It is as disappointing as Hugo Weaving only signing on for one appearance as the Red Skull to this point, or the fact that they brought in Hollywood heavyweights like Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel to do voice-over work for "Guardians of the Galaxy".
Fourth.....(spoiler-ish)
Upon further review it appears that the Ultimate Universe is not going away after all, and will instead be rebooted as Ultimate Marvel NOW! This is unfortunate for this blogger, because I had hoped to see Miles Morales in the Marvel 616. We will have to put a pin in that idea for now.
Fifth.........
A leaked image from Marvel solicitations for April's books spoiled the return of "The Amazing Spider-man" to store shelves. It looks like Otto's days running around in Pete's body are numbered at this point. It will be interesting to see how Slott & Ramos weave the status changes during the "Superior Spider-man" run into the future for the fan-favorite Peter Parker.
Sixth...and final
There are a LOT of rumors flying right now about the upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel right now. In the last few days I have read several.
The first is that Affleck's Batsuit will be similar in appearance to the artwork of Alex Ross (one could postulate Black leather cape/cowl and a gray bodysuit).
The second is that Bryan Cranston is again being rumored to play Lex Luthor. I for one would be all for this as I am an unabashed fan of "Breaking Bad" and Cranston's performance made that show an all-time favorite.
The third rumor is that Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons will share heritage with Kryptonians. This one is a bit of a stretch, and will be hard to get by comic fans in general. I can see story-wise how it would make sense so that Clark can learn more about the history of Krypton, and we know from the established continuity in "Man of Steel" that there were Kryptonian colonies on several different worlds. I'll admit I'm not a fan of this idea, but I am trying my best to keep an open mind with all the news items associated with this film. This will either be a dynamite success, or a dysfunctional shitshow. I'm obviously pulling for the former, but the more I hear the more I'm inclined to anticipate the latter.
Until next time...Happy Reading!
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