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« Comics: March 2007 | Main | Comics: May 2007 »

Comics

Speed Reviews

Mighty Avengers - very cool. I'm liking the two timelines and the reference-heavy story line. And i'm happy to see Ultron in full Oedipus mode.

Daredevil - well-written and fun, even if it feels like its the 10th time i've seen the "is gladiator guilty?" storyline.

Fantastic Four - great. We've known that Black Panther has a "Galactus contingency plan" since the Priest run; now we get to see what it is. This book is well written, funny, well paced and just plain good. Glad to see McDuffie back at Marvel and in such a big way. But i'll be a little disappointed if Gravity's more-or-less unique powers get replaced with more generic "protector of the universe" type powers. And why are these big floating planet-heads always picking blond haired, blue-eyed guys to be protectors of the universe?


By fnord12 | April 30, 2007, 1:55 PM | Comics | Link



Marvel Monthly Sales

Also from P O'B, here's Marvel's sales for March.


By fnord12 | April 30, 2007, 1:54 PM | Comics | Comments (16)| Link



Movie Hulk Gray....Mebbe

starfaith IM'd me this morning with the latest Hulk movie tidbit. The rumor being circulated is that he might be gray this time round.

During the interview when asked about Incredible Hulk and if they would use any CGI from the first film, Avi responded with:
"None, no. It's a new Hulk, new direction, new size, new color, new attitude. Anything that was done before is not in this movie. It's a very different kind of Hulk. It's more of a love story, it's more of a heroic Hulk. It's a kind of Hulk we loved in the show, so it's kind of more influenced by the show than anything else. It's very human, very touching, and huge action."

It's not much to go on. He could just have been tossing out words with "new" in front of them to stress how much this movie will not be like the Ang Lee one (sorry, Ang Lee. i really really like your chinese language films and wish you would make more of those instead). The color might not really be all that new. Perhaps a different shade of green...

And even if he is gray, i don't think they're talking about Gray Hulk considering Avi Arad described his as being the "heroic Hulk". I think we all know that Gray Hulk was not anything close to heroic. Plus, to couple that "heroic" line with "a kind of Hulk we loved in the show" and you're definitely not talking Gray Hulk.

I hope they don't talk about this movie so much that i get sick of it before it even comes out like i'm already sick of Spider-man 3. Ugh.


By min | April 23, 2007, 1:35 PM | Comics & Movies | Comments (3)| Link



Nutmeg is how Captain America goes down

Also from Joshua: Here's someone who actually takes the time to actually play with his toys.


By fnord12 | April 20, 2007, 1:43 PM | Comics | Comments (1)| Link



Sega Making Marvel Games

Sega has made a deal with Marvel to create games based on Thor, Hulk, and Capt. America. They've already had a deal to make an Iron Man game. The Iron Man movie comes out in May 2008, Hulk in June 2008. Sega plans on having the titles ready to launch at about the same time.

The article goes on to mention Sega's past "failures" with the Saturn and Dreamcast and Sega Sports (isn't that the game adam loves so much?) and how it's a switch that Sega is going with licensed material instead of their usual strategy for making original content.

It also brings up how EA usually does licensed stuff like Harry Potter and Superman and LOTR. Having seen bits of these games in commercials, i have to say, i hope Sega does a much better job than EA did because those games looked awful. Marvel video games in the past have been pretty good. Marvel vs Capcom comes to mind for one. And recently, Ultimate Alliance. Let's hope Sega doesn't mess things up.


By min | April 18, 2007, 11:23 AM | Comics & Video Games | Comments (2)| Link



Nawt-un!

My lovely sister just informed me that Ed Norton will be playing Banner in the new Hulk movie.

Norton, who recently starred in The Illusionist, will take over the role from Munich star Eric Bana, Marvel Studios has confirmed.

The firm has also confirmed the movie, to be released on 13 June 2008, will be directed by Louis Leterrier whose credits include The Transporter.

...

The new version of Hulk will be less serious than the last and more in tune with the comic book series, according to Marvel.

The film will focus on Hulk alter-ego Bruce Banner, who is on the run, and his efforts to cure the condition which transforms him into the green monster.

The scriptwriter is Zak Penn, who penned the X-Men sequels.

I don't actually recall the first movie being serious. Although, we did watch it almost entirely in fast forward, so it's possible we missed out on all the seriousness. However, I'm hoping that "serious" is a euphemism for "god awful".

We liked the X-Men sequels well enough. The Transporter was light-hearted fun for the whole family. It could work. Although, I'm having some trouble picturing Edward Norton huge, green, and wearing purple pants.

Speaking of purple pants, you know what the favored attire of Fin Fang Foom is? Purple diapers.


By min | April 17, 2007, 1:54 PM | Comics & Movies | Comments (3)| Link



Speed reviews

Iron Man - i like the idea of someone providing all these unrelated terrorist groups with bizarre high-tech gear, and it's cool that they're bringing the Mandarin back, but what i really liked was watching Tony keep pushing off the meetings and then finding out it was because he couldn't face the family of dead SHIELD agents. I especially liked Dum Dum's observation that Stark runs SHIELD like he runs a corporation and it's been working except when it's a military organization, people die. That's high quality stuff and i was surprised to find it in what's felt like a mediocre book so far.

Punisher - good concept of people taking up and misinterpreting Captain America's mantle, but the pacing sure could pick up. The first half - SHIELD tries to capture the Punisher but fails - didn't need to take up the majority of the book.

Black Panther - ugh, something about the dialogue just doesn't work for me. i guess i'm used to Priest's BP so this guy sounds way too casual, but this may actually be closer to the Roy Thomas BP in the Avengers. This was OK but i don't need it going forward. The bit with the alien bugs in the beginning was pretty funny though, and i'd like the political stuff if it was delivered a little differently.

Avengers - really cool. I like the two timelines catching up with each other and the idea of these Avengers being on the run is nice. Dr. Strange is a badass. It feels a little out of synch to see Brother Voodoo show up here in such a different context than in Black Panther, but that's no big deal. The art is growing on me, too.


By fnord12 | April 16, 2007, 11:50 AM | Comics | Comments (2)| Link



Hey Peter Sanderson, keep your Elder God/Pokemon hate to yourself

Marvel continuity historian Peter Sanderson, describing his experience at comic-con:

High overhead still floated the malevolent elder god Cthulhu in his guise as a balloon of Pikachu, draining America's youth of their life energies and taste in cartoon art.

Earlier:

One Comic-Con landmark that was hard to miss was the unearthly, unspeakable menace of H. P. Lovecraft's elder god Cthulhu, which hovered above the heads of unsuspecting convention attendees, and was once again disguised as a giant version of Pikachu from Pokemon. Don't these fans realize that the reason that Cthulhu/Pikachu wears that blissed-out smile is that he is just about to suck out their brains? Can anyone stop his march to world domination?

Consider Pikachu's latest triumph. Perusing the current schedule for Boomerang, Cartoon Network's sister cable network, to which it has banished 20th century animation, I cannot find classic Looney Tunes except for most episodes of the revived anthology series Toon Heads. But Boomerang is now doing hour-long blocks of Pokemon. Could any of us have imagined a day would come when there was no Bugs Bunny show on daily television? Does it even make sense that Warners would drop such a valuable property from its TV networks, especially from a channel that doesn't have commercials and hence presumably need not cater to current fads? Grateful as I am for the 1990s Batman episodes on Boomerang, will the network eventually become so crammed with retired series from Kids WB and Cartoon Network that Warner/Turner will have to found yet another new network for classic theatrical cartoons? Or should TCM just expand its Cartoon Alley schedule? Or is Warners' current attitude, "Let 'em eat DVDs"? (And will a new generation buy Looney Tunes DVDs if they haven't seen samples of the cartoons on television?)

Damn! If only Pikachu/Cthulhu could meet the fate he so richly deserves! Little did I know on Thursday that before Comic-Con ended, I would see justice served.


By fnord12 | April 10, 2007, 5:12 PM | Comics | Comments (3)| Link



Wondermark

Let it be known that i have found these comic strips funny. Not in a particularly subversive or political or extraordinary way. They're just traditional funny comic strips. Like "I wish comic strips in newspapers were funny like this".


By fnord12 | April 9, 2007, 11:36 AM | Comics | Comments (4)| Link



Quick and dirty comic reviews

I thought Omega Flight was great but the pace needs to pick up if it's gonna be a 5 issue mini. I knew i loved the art as soon as i saw Sasquatch.

The first Annhilation: Heralds story confused me (am i supposed to remember these Centurians from Annihilation? i don't.) min pointed out a story-telling flaw in the art too - i think over all it was just rushed and hard to follow. And the second one i liked but i thought it wrapped up these great new menaces Giffen created way too easily. I've been having second thoughts about not getting Nova/Annhilation II. I hear Nova's gonna be on Earth for a bit and react to post-Civil War. That sounds interesting. Hmmmmmmmm.

Iron Fist was good but maybe just a little bit too much history and not enough story? You know these guys love their comic books if they're bringing back the Steel Serpent which is nice, but it was a little overwhelming jumping from all these different character's (revised?) origins. it'll probably read better altogether. I'm a little wary that they're gonna give Iron Fist a major power up (showing that other IFs could "shoot" their chi, for example), but we'll see how that goes.

Runaways - good, funny, etc. I just feel like i'm missing something having not read Runaways/Young Avengers Civil War and wondering if i should get it even though reviews have not been stellar.


By fnord12 | April 9, 2007, 10:44 AM | Comics | Comments (4)| Link



People make mistakes

Especially when they are angry and tired. In the latest issue of Spider-Man, Peter said that his Aunt May's maiden name was Fitzgerald. In fact, her maiden name was Reilly (hence the Spidey clone taking the name Ben Reilly). But Peter's mother's maiden name was Mary Fitzgerald. People are saying that the mistake was due to bad editing or lazily looking the wrong name, confusing May with Mary (and likely it is due to something along these lines).

But, Peter was angry, tired, and distraught over Aunt May's wound, and was potentially thinking something along the lines of "She's like a mother to me." I think it's entirely explainable that Peter got his wires crossed and picked the wrong maiden name given his emotional state.

And Peter is a brilliant scientist who could easily have created non-dissolving webbing. It was something he was criticized for early on when he tried to sell his web formula. He probably went back and figured out how to do it but realized that he shouldn't try to sell it because it would give away his identity. Also, in the Spider-Man cartoon, Spidey meets an alternate reality version of himself who has created all sorts of different webbing/glue and made himself very rich. I don't know if that's true in the comics as well - it would have occurred in the 90s when i stayed well clear of the Spider-Man comics, but in the cartoon, the alternate universe Spidey wore the Web-Armor which definitely did appear in the comics.


By fnord12 | April 2, 2007, 10:42 AM | Comics | Comments (3)| Link



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