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!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
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!
Sunday, August 3, 2014
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!
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!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Comic-con "Dawn of Justice" thoughts..
Hello and Welcome to the July 31st edition of The Comic Shop Blog!
Each time I check I am astounded by the sheer number of page views. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my humble opinions! I'm very grateful and it has emboldened me to take on a few other challenges like my Breaking Bad Fan Blog "All the Remains" and my rasslin' blog. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for your continued support my dear readers. That's enough sap for now onto the topic of the day!
By now you hopefully have seen at least screenshots of the comic con footage from the "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" panel. If not it's most definitely worth a google search. It's hard to get too excited when the movie is almost two full years away, but that stoked the flames of this DC fan for sure. I remember in my youth (when I didn't understand how aging worked) I longed to see Adam West fight crime along side Christopher Reeve, and then much later I longed to see Michael Keaton suit up with Reeve. Nevermind that stylistically, at least, the latter pair wouldn't have worked it was an obsession of mine to see the world's finest united. I've read most of the major crossovers for the two titans, if not all. It's a powerful juxtaposition of ideals, methods, & processes that are ultimately to achieve the same end.
"Dawn of Justice" despite some of it's outward flaws and concerns represents the end to a lifetime of waiting for a fan like me. I have my concerns about the foundation for sure, but I'm hoping they use this film to right the course.
Borrowing from "The Dark Knight Returns" makes perfect sense in this scenario because in that piece of literature Superman was a government lap dog that had actually torn one of Green Arrow's arms off. The "Man of Steel" Supes hasn't torn any arms, but he's pledged a terse loyalty to the government, destroyed a city, & might have twisted a guy's head off. This all gives Batman, who in this narrative has layed low, cause to be skeptical of Krypton's last son.
As an aside I've made my feelings known about the ending of "MOS", but I will give credit to the fact that it does not insult the audience in the way that say spinning the earth backwards really fast would. I love the innocence & fun of the Donner films, but I also appreciate how WB/DC can say "we've done camp/fun. Disney/Marvel has the market cornered on that in this new gen so let's go dark at first." It makes sense to try these characters in a different setting instead of rehashing old storytelling.
To summarize the comic con footage it features Batman in his "TDKR" armor turning on the bat signal with Superman hovering with his red glowing eyes. Pretty straightforward, but also somewhat telling. WB also released a still frame of Gal Gadot in her Wonder Woman attire, and it looked fantastic! The only real question/concern for your humble blogger would be Jesse Eisenberg's take on Luthor, but that's yet to be seen.
I'm very excited to see what comes of this movie, but as I stated we are a ways away from the finished product.
That's all for today, but I'll be back to give my two cents on some of the other comic con happenings.
Happy reading and I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Each time I check I am astounded by the sheer number of page views. Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my humble opinions! I'm very grateful and it has emboldened me to take on a few other challenges like my Breaking Bad Fan Blog "All the Remains" and my rasslin' blog. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for your continued support my dear readers. That's enough sap for now onto the topic of the day!
By now you hopefully have seen at least screenshots of the comic con footage from the "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" panel. If not it's most definitely worth a google search. It's hard to get too excited when the movie is almost two full years away, but that stoked the flames of this DC fan for sure. I remember in my youth (when I didn't understand how aging worked) I longed to see Adam West fight crime along side Christopher Reeve, and then much later I longed to see Michael Keaton suit up with Reeve. Nevermind that stylistically, at least, the latter pair wouldn't have worked it was an obsession of mine to see the world's finest united. I've read most of the major crossovers for the two titans, if not all. It's a powerful juxtaposition of ideals, methods, & processes that are ultimately to achieve the same end.
"Dawn of Justice" despite some of it's outward flaws and concerns represents the end to a lifetime of waiting for a fan like me. I have my concerns about the foundation for sure, but I'm hoping they use this film to right the course.
Borrowing from "The Dark Knight Returns" makes perfect sense in this scenario because in that piece of literature Superman was a government lap dog that had actually torn one of Green Arrow's arms off. The "Man of Steel" Supes hasn't torn any arms, but he's pledged a terse loyalty to the government, destroyed a city, & might have twisted a guy's head off. This all gives Batman, who in this narrative has layed low, cause to be skeptical of Krypton's last son.
As an aside I've made my feelings known about the ending of "MOS", but I will give credit to the fact that it does not insult the audience in the way that say spinning the earth backwards really fast would. I love the innocence & fun of the Donner films, but I also appreciate how WB/DC can say "we've done camp/fun. Disney/Marvel has the market cornered on that in this new gen so let's go dark at first." It makes sense to try these characters in a different setting instead of rehashing old storytelling.
To summarize the comic con footage it features Batman in his "TDKR" armor turning on the bat signal with Superman hovering with his red glowing eyes. Pretty straightforward, but also somewhat telling. WB also released a still frame of Gal Gadot in her Wonder Woman attire, and it looked fantastic! The only real question/concern for your humble blogger would be Jesse Eisenberg's take on Luthor, but that's yet to be seen.
I'm very excited to see what comes of this movie, but as I stated we are a ways away from the finished product.
That's all for today, but I'll be back to give my two cents on some of the other comic con happenings.
Happy reading and I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy review!
Hello and welcome to the July 29th edition of The Comic Shop!
Lots of news coming out of the San Diego Comic Con, but I'm not going to get into any of that today. Let's jump right into the review shall we? As always I will try to avoid spoilers and specific plot points, but read at your own risk.
The Good: There is a lot to love about this film. The soundtrack is fantastic and integral to the film's storyline. Director James Gunn uses the soundtrack several times to nod to the audience in a bit of fourth wall chicanery. The humor in this film is also top notch with almost every character having their moment to shine on that front.
Chris Pratt absolutely owns his role as Star-Lord/Peter Quill in this film, and I would say he's Marvel's best casting job since Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. Pratt definitely has the leading man material and he absolutely does not miss a beat. Zoe Saldana is good as Gamora but I'll get into my issues with the characterization of Thanos' adopted daughter later on in this review. Dave Bautista certainly doesn't act like he is a former professional wrestler as he makes the very literal Drax the Destroyer his own. If it weren't for Pratt; however, Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon and Vin Disel's Groot would have absolutely stolen the show in this movie. I realize they are CGI rendered characters only voiced by the actors, but they bring a lot of the fun to the movie. Michael Rooker plays Michael Rooker in blue make up as Yondu, but he's good enough as that as well.
A certain mad titan may or may not make his film debut in this movie, and it may or may not be absolutely glorious (wink, wink).
The Bad: I often have a hard time being overly critical about a film after my first viewing. It often takes me a while to digest the information and really think about which things I have issues with. With this film my issues became a little more apparent initially.
My biggest problem is the way Gunn, his partner in writing the film Nicole Perlman, and Saldana chose to bring Gamora to the screen. In her history Gamora is the adopted daughter of a certain Mad Titan, and she is quite powerful. With superhuman agility, healing, and superhuman strength to boot she was trained by Thanos to be one of the more gifted warriors in the galaxy. With that history in mind it was quite disheartening to see her portrayed as incompetent at times, and as love fodder for Quill. Now it's not terrible, but when you give your warrior princess character dialogue that explicitly states "I am no helpless waif...." you should probably have the character live up to that on screen. It's safe to say that there will be several sequels to develop this character and I hope to see her become more of a brooding bad ass warrior in the future.
I also had a bit of an issue with Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser and Karen Gillan's Nebula who went to the "bad guys are bad because they are bad school". Meaning they had enough motivation, that we learned about through exposition, but they were rather flat characters outside of that. They are good enough in their perspective roles; however, I feel like this movie was trying to accomplish a little too much to flesh out these characters. That said they still weren't on the crap level of marble mouth and "Batman Forever Electro" from "The Amazing Spider-man 2" but there is really nothing that stands out otherwise.
The Ugly: We have to wait three years to get the next installment of this wonderful movie!
The Verdict: Disney/Marvel has hit a home run with this out of left field film property. This film doesn't have a ton of exposition and the they get through a lot of it rather ingeniously. The humor and the action are top notch, which has come to be a common expectation from these Marvel releases. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is this summer's must-see, and it is accommodating to those that may have not seen other Marvel movies because it does not really tie-in to the other films at this point. The only real thread to the greater Marvel universe is a certain mad titan that made a post-credit cameo in "The Avengers".
That is all for today I will be back as soon as I can to talk about comic-con news, but get out Friday and see "Guardians". I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Lots of news coming out of the San Diego Comic Con, but I'm not going to get into any of that today. Let's jump right into the review shall we? As always I will try to avoid spoilers and specific plot points, but read at your own risk.
The Good: There is a lot to love about this film. The soundtrack is fantastic and integral to the film's storyline. Director James Gunn uses the soundtrack several times to nod to the audience in a bit of fourth wall chicanery. The humor in this film is also top notch with almost every character having their moment to shine on that front.
Chris Pratt absolutely owns his role as Star-Lord/Peter Quill in this film, and I would say he's Marvel's best casting job since Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. Pratt definitely has the leading man material and he absolutely does not miss a beat. Zoe Saldana is good as Gamora but I'll get into my issues with the characterization of Thanos' adopted daughter later on in this review. Dave Bautista certainly doesn't act like he is a former professional wrestler as he makes the very literal Drax the Destroyer his own. If it weren't for Pratt; however, Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon and Vin Disel's Groot would have absolutely stolen the show in this movie. I realize they are CGI rendered characters only voiced by the actors, but they bring a lot of the fun to the movie. Michael Rooker plays Michael Rooker in blue make up as Yondu, but he's good enough as that as well.
A certain mad titan may or may not make his film debut in this movie, and it may or may not be absolutely glorious (wink, wink).
The Bad: I often have a hard time being overly critical about a film after my first viewing. It often takes me a while to digest the information and really think about which things I have issues with. With this film my issues became a little more apparent initially.
My biggest problem is the way Gunn, his partner in writing the film Nicole Perlman, and Saldana chose to bring Gamora to the screen. In her history Gamora is the adopted daughter of a certain Mad Titan, and she is quite powerful. With superhuman agility, healing, and superhuman strength to boot she was trained by Thanos to be one of the more gifted warriors in the galaxy. With that history in mind it was quite disheartening to see her portrayed as incompetent at times, and as love fodder for Quill. Now it's not terrible, but when you give your warrior princess character dialogue that explicitly states "I am no helpless waif...." you should probably have the character live up to that on screen. It's safe to say that there will be several sequels to develop this character and I hope to see her become more of a brooding bad ass warrior in the future.
I also had a bit of an issue with Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser and Karen Gillan's Nebula who went to the "bad guys are bad because they are bad school". Meaning they had enough motivation, that we learned about through exposition, but they were rather flat characters outside of that. They are good enough in their perspective roles; however, I feel like this movie was trying to accomplish a little too much to flesh out these characters. That said they still weren't on the crap level of marble mouth and "Batman Forever Electro" from "The Amazing Spider-man 2" but there is really nothing that stands out otherwise.
The Ugly: We have to wait three years to get the next installment of this wonderful movie!
The Verdict: Disney/Marvel has hit a home run with this out of left field film property. This film doesn't have a ton of exposition and the they get through a lot of it rather ingeniously. The humor and the action are top notch, which has come to be a common expectation from these Marvel releases. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is this summer's must-see, and it is accommodating to those that may have not seen other Marvel movies because it does not really tie-in to the other films at this point. The only real thread to the greater Marvel universe is a certain mad titan that made a post-credit cameo in "The Avengers".
That is all for today I will be back as soon as I can to talk about comic-con news, but get out Friday and see "Guardians". I'll see you next time at The Comic Shop!
Saturday, July 5, 2014
These things I think....film & page edition
Hello and welcome!
I have a lot I'd like to cover since I've been gone for quite some time.
First..... Lots of different news items in the last couple of months about WB's big "Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice". Jason Momoa was cast as the trident wielding Aquaman which makes for an interesting choice just from the basic look. While Arthur has typically been a blonde fella Momoa is definitively not that with a more exotic look. I'm excited for the casting, but I hope that they do not take too many liberties with the core story of the character. There have also been recent set shots of Henry Cavill in Clark Kent garb, and a studio shot of him in front of what appears to be Gotham city. Lot of little tidbits, but no main encore at this point. Newsworthy, to this blogger at least, is that director Zach Snyder has stated he has no interest in delving into Batman's origins. I'm happy that someone has finally had the courage to say "hey everybody knows the story of the god damned Batman if not they have the internet". While I have my concerns about this project I'm excited to see what a polished, grizzled, war-worn Batman looks like. The additions of the Bat-family will really open up the WB cinematic universe to ample opportunities for new film ventures.
Second.... The scoundrels over at Latino Review have a juicy rumor about the finale of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" with regards to Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. I won't go in to spoiler territory, but suffice to say it would make for a very interesting Hulk solo film. I quite enjoyed "The Incredible Hulk" and I think it is criminally underrated in it's place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I attribute this to the fact that Edward Norton was shown the door and the role was recast for the first team-up masterstroke. As with all Latino Review news I wouldn't put money on it's voracity, but it makes for interesting conversation.
Third... A short time ago on a movie set not so far away Harrison Ford broke his leg while filming the highly anticipated "Star Wars: Episode VII: The Search for more Money." I'm clearly a Ford fan from my "Indiana Jones" hero worship, but I have to say I think the poor guy is snake bit (pun so not intended). Seems like every movie that requires action ends up with the poor guy in traction, or he gets sick on location during the filming. The early word was that the injury would possibly delay the project again, but it appears that JJ Abrams and crew are going to try to work around and get some other things done while Ford is out. Early reports are that Han Solo will be a main focus in this first entry into the new trilogy.
Fourth..... On the page there are a lot of interesting things going on. At Marvel the big hit, in this blogger's opinion, is "Original Sin". Written by Jason Aaron this epic focuses on the impacts on the Marvel universe after the Watcher is murdered and someone uses his eye to release a plethora of deep, dark secrets. After several big event outings with Brian Michael Bendis Marvel gave the keys to Aaron and so far he has hit a home run. He has introduced new and unheard of pairings (Doctor Strange and the Punisher for example) and put them in otherworldly settings to investigate the Watcher's death. Aaron's wit and respect for the history of the Marvel library comes through in his work. For instance, during one tense interrogation scene (with Hulk & Wolverine as the interrogators) the subject asks "what is this the good cop bad cop routine?" To which Logan replies "More like the Stab Cop Smash Cop routine". Lots of good nuggets like that and other new editions to the canon make it a totally worthwhile read.
A lot more hit and miss with DC as production issues delayed the "Nightwing" and "Forever Evil" finales to the point that they started spoiling the ending to their own event in a sneak preview of the stellar first issue of the Johns/Romita Jr./Janson "Superman". Bleeding Cool ran the original edition of the final "Nightwing" in an art only form and I found it to be superior to the finale they ended up going with even with no dialogue. As I said "Superman" was pretty awesome out of the gate, but I always have to approach the big, blue, boyscout with cautious optimism because his success doesn't seem to last. Scott Snyder is winding down his "Zero Year" opus before Batman is kicked five years into the future in conjunction with "Future's End". I'd like to read "Batman Eternal" and "Future's End" but there is no way I'm buying a weekly comic. It would be really awesome to see Snyder add on to another Frank Miller work with a supplement to the "Dark Knight Returns" (much like "Zero Year" is an addition to the phenomenal "Batman: Year One"), but I imagine that is wishful thinking at this point.
Finally..... Lot of great things going on now for comic fans! Pretty soon "Arrow" will return to the small screen along with "Constantine", "Flash", "iZombie", and "Gotham". Not to mention "Marvel Agents of SHIELD" season two, and the first season of "Agent Carter" as well. We also have two more summer blockbuster releases with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" set for August releases. We are living in an unprecedented era for comics and related media and I encourage you dear reader to live it up to the fullest.
Thanks for reading and I will catch you next time at The Comic Shop!
I have a lot I'd like to cover since I've been gone for quite some time.
First..... Lots of different news items in the last couple of months about WB's big "Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice". Jason Momoa was cast as the trident wielding Aquaman which makes for an interesting choice just from the basic look. While Arthur has typically been a blonde fella Momoa is definitively not that with a more exotic look. I'm excited for the casting, but I hope that they do not take too many liberties with the core story of the character. There have also been recent set shots of Henry Cavill in Clark Kent garb, and a studio shot of him in front of what appears to be Gotham city. Lot of little tidbits, but no main encore at this point. Newsworthy, to this blogger at least, is that director Zach Snyder has stated he has no interest in delving into Batman's origins. I'm happy that someone has finally had the courage to say "hey everybody knows the story of the god damned Batman if not they have the internet". While I have my concerns about this project I'm excited to see what a polished, grizzled, war-worn Batman looks like. The additions of the Bat-family will really open up the WB cinematic universe to ample opportunities for new film ventures.
Second.... The scoundrels over at Latino Review have a juicy rumor about the finale of "Avengers: Age of Ultron" with regards to Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. I won't go in to spoiler territory, but suffice to say it would make for a very interesting Hulk solo film. I quite enjoyed "The Incredible Hulk" and I think it is criminally underrated in it's place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I attribute this to the fact that Edward Norton was shown the door and the role was recast for the first team-up masterstroke. As with all Latino Review news I wouldn't put money on it's voracity, but it makes for interesting conversation.
Third... A short time ago on a movie set not so far away Harrison Ford broke his leg while filming the highly anticipated "Star Wars: Episode VII: The Search for more Money." I'm clearly a Ford fan from my "Indiana Jones" hero worship, but I have to say I think the poor guy is snake bit (pun so not intended). Seems like every movie that requires action ends up with the poor guy in traction, or he gets sick on location during the filming. The early word was that the injury would possibly delay the project again, but it appears that JJ Abrams and crew are going to try to work around and get some other things done while Ford is out. Early reports are that Han Solo will be a main focus in this first entry into the new trilogy.
Fourth..... On the page there are a lot of interesting things going on. At Marvel the big hit, in this blogger's opinion, is "Original Sin". Written by Jason Aaron this epic focuses on the impacts on the Marvel universe after the Watcher is murdered and someone uses his eye to release a plethora of deep, dark secrets. After several big event outings with Brian Michael Bendis Marvel gave the keys to Aaron and so far he has hit a home run. He has introduced new and unheard of pairings (Doctor Strange and the Punisher for example) and put them in otherworldly settings to investigate the Watcher's death. Aaron's wit and respect for the history of the Marvel library comes through in his work. For instance, during one tense interrogation scene (with Hulk & Wolverine as the interrogators) the subject asks "what is this the good cop bad cop routine?" To which Logan replies "More like the Stab Cop Smash Cop routine". Lots of good nuggets like that and other new editions to the canon make it a totally worthwhile read.
A lot more hit and miss with DC as production issues delayed the "Nightwing" and "Forever Evil" finales to the point that they started spoiling the ending to their own event in a sneak preview of the stellar first issue of the Johns/Romita Jr./Janson "Superman". Bleeding Cool ran the original edition of the final "Nightwing" in an art only form and I found it to be superior to the finale they ended up going with even with no dialogue. As I said "Superman" was pretty awesome out of the gate, but I always have to approach the big, blue, boyscout with cautious optimism because his success doesn't seem to last. Scott Snyder is winding down his "Zero Year" opus before Batman is kicked five years into the future in conjunction with "Future's End". I'd like to read "Batman Eternal" and "Future's End" but there is no way I'm buying a weekly comic. It would be really awesome to see Snyder add on to another Frank Miller work with a supplement to the "Dark Knight Returns" (much like "Zero Year" is an addition to the phenomenal "Batman: Year One"), but I imagine that is wishful thinking at this point.
Finally..... Lot of great things going on now for comic fans! Pretty soon "Arrow" will return to the small screen along with "Constantine", "Flash", "iZombie", and "Gotham". Not to mention "Marvel Agents of SHIELD" season two, and the first season of "Agent Carter" as well. We also have two more summer blockbuster releases with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" set for August releases. We are living in an unprecedented era for comics and related media and I encourage you dear reader to live it up to the fullest.
Thanks for reading and I will catch you next time at The Comic Shop!
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
"SNIKT" "SNIKT" super short "X-men: Days of Future Past Review" (Spoilers)
Hey gang welcome to an abbreviated edition of The Comic Shop! Trying to write this while my son is sleeping so forgive me if I'm a little unorganized in my thoughts. I would like to address a lot of things on the page and coming to the screen, but that will have to wait for another day.
To get me out of the house my wife had me go see "DOFP" with a friend, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the finished product of this film. Things that at the outset that I thought I would hate like Evan Peters' Quicksilver were actually pretty entertaining. His prison break scene was one of thing that stole the show for sure. I continue to be in absolute man-love with Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Casting does not get much better than that, and as much as I've rallied against X-men solo movies I would plunk down $10 to watch Fassbender play Magneto all by his lonesome.
I would like to give credit to the director of this film, but I'm going to hedge on that because he has some serious pending legal troubles that I'd like to see pan out before heaping praise upon him.
While this was by no means a faithful adaptation of the source material it was an entertaining and fun journey that served the absolute purpose of making "X-men: The Last Stand" a distant memory. Kudos for Fox and company wiping the Ratner off of their rug, and having one of the biggest Memorial Day openings in history.
While I'm usually a J. Law fan I kind of got the feeling that this was a paycheck job for her. She didn't seem too enthused in doing anything other than delivering lines. I could be wrong, but we all know that she has other aspirations that do not involve wearing blue body paint and pasties.
Otherwise McAvoy and Jackman really carried the film with emotion and range. There was a TON of character development for Xavier in this film even though it was character development in reverse.
I would recommend this movie because it is that good, and it is that entertaining.
That's all for now...check me out next time at The Comic Shop!
To get me out of the house my wife had me go see "DOFP" with a friend, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the finished product of this film. Things that at the outset that I thought I would hate like Evan Peters' Quicksilver were actually pretty entertaining. His prison break scene was one of thing that stole the show for sure. I continue to be in absolute man-love with Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Casting does not get much better than that, and as much as I've rallied against X-men solo movies I would plunk down $10 to watch Fassbender play Magneto all by his lonesome.
I would like to give credit to the director of this film, but I'm going to hedge on that because he has some serious pending legal troubles that I'd like to see pan out before heaping praise upon him.
While this was by no means a faithful adaptation of the source material it was an entertaining and fun journey that served the absolute purpose of making "X-men: The Last Stand" a distant memory. Kudos for Fox and company wiping the Ratner off of their rug, and having one of the biggest Memorial Day openings in history.
While I'm usually a J. Law fan I kind of got the feeling that this was a paycheck job for her. She didn't seem too enthused in doing anything other than delivering lines. I could be wrong, but we all know that she has other aspirations that do not involve wearing blue body paint and pasties.
Otherwise McAvoy and Jackman really carried the film with emotion and range. There was a TON of character development for Xavier in this film even though it was character development in reverse.
I would recommend this movie because it is that good, and it is that entertaining.
That's all for now...check me out next time at The Comic Shop!
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