The Spirit!

My allergies are still bothering me. They have been all day. I feel like I’ve got a cold. My only saving grace was a couple of DayQuil tablets I found before I left. This means I chose to stay in tonight…again…
To keep myself from going crazy, I decided to read The Best Of The Spirit

I bought this book years ago, just shortly after the death of Will Eisner, I read it once, and never really looked at it again. It was revolutionary for it’s time, but at the time, it didn’t look like there were going to be any new stories, so I didn’t give it a second thought. I never liked getting into a series where you knew that there is no way it could continue…and considering this one had been dead for decades, I didn’t think there was a chance of it being resurrected….but then wouldn’t you know it, DC Comics decided to start printing a new series, after teaming him up with Batman…. I haven’t read either of these new ones, but from the previews I’ve seen, I’d sure like to.

Also, with all the hype surrounding The Spirit Movie, well, I couldn’t help but give it another shot. Now that I’ve re-read some of the original stories, I can read the new series, and see the movie, and know what’s going on. There was something about the old masked men protagonists I liked. Maybe it was just the fact that they wore suits instead of spandex? The Spirit. The Crimson Avenger. The Sandman. All heroes of the suit wearing variety…although, the latter two did have brief spandex stints, but DC has an annoying habit of changing it’s characters costumes on a fairly regular basis.

I’m just happy Frank Miller is doing this movie. After his work on Sin City, I feel confident that his skills are best suited for this project.

Iron Man Review!

I managed to catch a preview screening of Iron Man on my birthday, and then I saw it again this past Thursday. Considering this is Marvel’s first foray into film making, I have to say that I am very impressed. When the first Spider-Man movie came out, I thought that we’d never see a superhero based movie that good ever again.

Then the sequel came out, and topped it. Once again, I thought there was no way to top it, but where X-Men 3, Spider-Man 3, and the Fantastic Four sequel dropped the ball, Iron Man came in and ran with it….all the way to the bank.

In recent years, the Iron Man character from the comics, a lot of us fans have come to hate after the whole Civil War series, but this movie totally redeems the character in my eyes, and gives me hope that the character will redeem himself in the comics, during this Skrull Invasion storyline.

As for the movie, I figure the reason it does so well, is because it’s doing what the comics did. In fact, it’s doing almost the exact same thing. The only difference is, it takes place in the present, as opposed to the Silver Age of comics. It followed everything perfectly, with a modernized twist. Favreau flawlessly combined not only the origin of the character, but also the Iron Monger storyline as well as the evolution of the armor, which you can probably expect to see upgraded in the sequel.

Some of the highlights of the movie for me were the following:

1. Robert Downey JR as Tony Stark: This man was born to play the part! The look alike, he channels the character effortlessly, and both have struggled with their fair share of demons.
2. Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Favreau as Happy Hogan(Stark’s chauffer/body guard): They played the parts well. Expect these two to hook up in one of the sequels.
3. The 10 Rings: A real tip of the hat to the Iron Man villain “The Mandarin” who is rumored to be in the sequel, along with quite possibly Thor.
4. SHIELD: I loved how they played them up as a real men in black style government organization, as opposed to the S & M leather wearing agents from the Nick Fury comics. Having the SHIELD agents in this movie were a made my little fanboy heart swell with joy.
5. Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury. I won’t comment much on this for a couple of months, but I URGE you to stick around until after the credits. This scene alone is worth the price of admission. Especially if you’ve ever read the Marvel series “The Ultimates.” Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. It paves the way nicely to the rumored scene at the end of next month’s Hulk movie.
6. Terrence Howard: Most of his scenes were cut, but they promise to give him a larger role in the sequel. My favorite part is when he looks at the Mark 2 armor and says “Next time!”, as a nice little tease that he will become War Machine in the next movie…Which he has confirmed in interviews, is what is going to happen, along with a change in personality…

This movie is a good sign of things to come for the superhero genre. The problem with a lot of the movies lately, is they’ve been going away from the standards set by the source material, and now that Marvel is doing most of their movies in house…with the exception of Spider-Man and the upcoming Wolverine movie….you can expect these movies to be done right. They’ve putting an awful lot of money into these movies to please both the long time fans, as well as those who have never even read a comic in their lives. I have to applaud Marvel for this one. Not only do I have a new favorite movie, I feel optimistic about what they have on the horizon…. *cough*Avengers!*cough*

SHAZAM!

This is probably old news to most of you, but it looks like The Rock is in talks to play Captain Marvel in the movie SHAZAM!

If you ask me, the casting couldn’t be better. The only other two actors that I’d want to see play this part, would be Patrick Warburton, who looks the part, and Jerry O’Connell, who actually did the voice work for the character on Justice League Unlimited a couple years ago.

I was never a big fan of the old Captain Marvel cartoon series as a kid, and I really didn’t see the character as anything more than a Superman rip off, until he joined the JSA back in 2000/2001. It was a good place for an underrated character.

In recent years, the character has gotten a lot more exposure. They’ve pretty much given Billy Baston(Captain Marvel), a promotion to SHAZAM keeper of the Rock of Eternity. This means that his sidekick Captain Marvel JR, has been upgraded to just Captain Marvel, and Billy’s sister Mary, is one of the main characters in the weekly series Countdown, has taken on the powers of Black Adam, which seem to cause insanity…among other things.

It would seem DC is really trying to push the entire Marvel Family into the spotlight.

I wonder how Marvel Comics feels about this….

IronMan Movie Trailer

You can check it out here

I had serious doubts about this movie, until I saw the trailer.

I especially liked how they used the Black Sabbath song ‘Iron Man’ in the trailer….it seems….fitting….

Now I can’t wait for it to come out. This one just might be the one to fix Marvel’s current box-office slump.

May 2nd/08 won’t come soon enough.

-Mark

Triple H as Thor?

From the sound of things, Marvel Comics has a Thor movie in the works. Apparently there’s a bit of conflict already. It seems, they want to cast Triple H as the lead character in the movie. The director, on the other hand, is quite opposed to this idea. At first, so was I, but then I started thinking it over, and it suddenly doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.

The Pros

• He looks the part. He’s got the long hair, and the super hero body.
• He’s tends to make most of his WWE appearances holding a sledgehammer.
• He has done some work in Marvel movies before. Anyone remember Blade 3? He wasn’t that bad.
• Thor is pretty much a viking. Not much difference between vikings and pro-wrestlers. Lots of yelling and ass kicking.
• As long as he doesn’t hurt himself, this movie has the potential to have some of the best fight scenes of the decade.

The Cons

• Not many wrestlers can make the leap from the ring, to the big screen successfully.
• He can play bad guys, with no problem, but how well can he play the good guy?
• Will he be able to pull off the Norse lingo and accent?
• How old is he? If the movie is successful, would he be able to do a half a dozen sequels and still look like the Thunder God, about 10 years down the road?
• If he gets involved in a steroid scandal down the road, would that have a negative impact on the character, and would it hurt the possible movie franchise?

To be honest, I don’t think the Thor character can support an entire movie on his own. If this was a movie based on The Avengers, with a larger supporting cast, then I’d have more faith in it. Despite what Marvel thinks, Thor is not a really famous character. When people think comics, they think Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Wonder Woman, and The Hulk.

I really do think that Triple H, would be right for the part. Plus, he could bring in the legions of WWE fans, that would no doubt pack the theaters, and give Marvel a financial hit.

Let’s face it, Marvel hasn’t exactly been doing so well with the last few movies it’s released. Here’s hoping Thor and The Incredible Hulk can turn their luck around.

The Metal Men?

 

Looks like Warner Bros is going the obscure route, to bring us more comic book based movies. Here’s what the Comics Continuum had to say about it:

“The Metal Men movie that producer Laura Shuler Donner has been developing apparently has taken a step forward. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eric Champnella has been brought on board to write the film for Warner Bros. Geoff Johns has been helping with the development of the film and will be an executive producer. Duncan Rouleau is working on a new Metal Men comics mini-series.”

Up until recent years, I never gave the Metal Men much thought. Much like the Doom Patrol, they are one of those groups that had an almost constantly changing origin. That, and I’ve never really been a big fan of robots and androids in comics, because writers tend to see those characters as being expendable. Seriously, just look at Red Tornado, Vision, Ultron, etc. I also found the older stories to be a little on the boring side. After the events of Infinite Crisis and 52, the stories look like they’re going to be a lot more entertaining. I think it’s this month, that they will be making their debut in the comic Superman/Batman. Since I don’t really go out and buy back issues anymore, I’m just going to wait for thise one to come out in graphic novel format. I’ve actually got high hopes for this movie, because Geoff Johns will be an executive producer, and he’ll be helping out with the development. Which is cool, because I’m a huge fan of his work. I figure if anyone can make a movie about the Metal Men, entertaining, he can. Odds are, most people haven’t even heard of the Metal Men. I know a bit about them, but I’d hardly consider myself an expert on the subject. With that in mind, I’m just going to keep my trap shut, and tell you to “Read This!“
I would also say, “Go out and pick up the back issues!” Unless you’re a huge comic fan, and have a vast knowledge of DC Comics continuity, I’d advice against it. Because of the events in 52, Infinity Crisis and One Year Later, none of those stories hold any relevance in the current continuity. So, I say just cut to the chase and pick up Superman/Batman #34 on April 18th….. or the 19th for those of you in Canada…

Comic Book Stuff

• Have you seen The Colbert Report’s “The Word” on Comic Justice? No? Well see it here! After seeing this, you know for a fact that Colbert is a comic geek. Not that there’s anything wrong with that
• Also, I came across this little gem the other day. Billy Ray Cyrus had his own Marvel comic book. This amused me, and disgusted me at the same time. How come he had his own comic book and I didn’t? I’m almost tempted to hunt it down so I can read it. I figure his superpowers came from his mullet. Perhaps he used it to strangle the life out of people who defended the rights of good music? With out reading it, I’ll never know. Sure, I could probably find a reason on Google or Wikipedia, but I’m a really, really lazy young man. This does get me thinking one thing thought, “If Billy Ray Cyrus can have his own comic book, then WHER THE HELL IS MINE?!?!?!”
• A couple of weeks back they Warner Brothers announced they would be making a live action Justice League movie. My only question is, are they going to use the big name characters from JLA or will they use the second stringers JLI and JLE? Since WB owns DC Comics, and they hold the rights to those characters and the movies they are in, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all on the same team, and mix it up with some of the lesser known characters like they did in Justice League Unlimited. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on this one. If it’s anything like Superman Returns or Batman Begins, I’ll so be up for seeing it. On the other hand, it could turn out like Catwoman or Superman 4, in which case, I’d have to say that perhaps it would have been better to spend the money on a good movie, rather then trying to cash in on this recent superhero craze.
• DC is also doing an animated movie based on the series New Frontier. From the looks of things, it won’t have anything to do with JLU. It will feature the voices of David Boreanaz as Green Lantern, Brooke Shields as Star Sapphire, Neil Patrick Harris as The Flash, and Kyle MacLachlan as Superman. As you can see, it’s going to be quite some time before it actually get’s realeased…mostly due to the fact that half the cast has yet to be announced. Either way, it should prove to be fairly entertaining.
• Seeing covers like this, almost makes me wish I had the money to buy the half dozen Avengers related titles that are going to be pimped out over the next few months. It makes me wonder how long until a live action Avengers movie is in the works. With an Ironman movie coming out next year, and a Captain America one not long after that, as well as an Ant-Man one, I really don’t see any live action Avengers anytime soon.

300

I saw a midnight showing of 300 last night, and I have to say I thought it was a lot better then I expected it to be.

 

Without giving away too much, think of it as a combination of Braveheart and Gladiator. It’s based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, of the same name. I still have yet to read it, but once it drops in price(or comes out in paperback), I think I’ll be picking it up.

To be honest, although it was a good movie and all, I got a bigger kick out of the trailer for Spider-Man 3, that they showed during the previews. One of the reasons I’m glad I came back from England, is the movie prices. For the cost of one movie there, I can see three over here. I guess that’s looking at the glass kind of half full.

Ghost Rider – Review

I just got back from seeing the Ghost Rider Movie, and I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.

This movie was almost likable, once you can get past the following things:

• Cheesy dialog
• An over-reliance on CGI
• Nicholas Cage….acting as himself
• Jelly beans and The Carpenters
• The goth bad guy.
• The script seemed more like poorly written fan fiction.

At times I felt a little embarrassed watching it, because there are some parts that are just too corny. You have to ask yourself, “If they gave this to a real director, we might have a good movie” I wish Marvel would stop letting Mark Steven Johnson(Daredevil) mess with their works.
Just go in and say to yourself “This is just a B-Movie with a budget….”, and it won’t seem as bad.

Frank Miller and Batman

The Dark Knight Returns!

Back in the late 80s, Frank Miller wrote a tale about a retired Batman. It was very much a story directed at adults, that took us back to the Batman of old. Not campy, or silly. Dark, gritty, and serious. Just the way the Batman was when first debuted more then 60 years ago.
After going 10 years without wearing the cowl, Bruce Wayne finds himself back at it, cleaning up the streets of Gotham. With the exception of Superman, who is now a government tool, he is the only hero left. The others retired or just disappeared when public lost interest in them.
However, the return of Batman also means the return of his old enemies, like Two-Face, and of course, the Joker.
As the story progresses, a new Robin is born, Batman assembles an army, and a knock-down, drag out fight with Superman ensues.
This is by far one of the best stories featuring Batman that you’ll ever read.

The Dark Knight Strikes Again! (DK2)

About 10 years later, Frank Miller wrote DK2, the sequel to The Dark Knight Returns. This story was not as successful as the previous, mostly due to the fact that the fans of the orignal were drawn down the middle. You either loved it or you hated it. There was no inbetween. A lot of people hated it for many reasons, one being the artwork, because Miller did all the colors digitally.
For the exact same reason, people loved it. It showed that he wasn’t stuck in the past, and artistically he was still willing to try other things.
In this story, the President of the United States is a hologram controlled by Lex Luthor, who along with Brainiac have blackmailed Superman, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel into working for him. All the while, Batman has been working underground for years, his army growing as he recruits former heroes who have disappeared/been kidnapped or just given up. Soon he has Green Arrow, The Atom,
The Flash, Elongated Man, Plastic Man, and Catgirl(formerly Robin) working for him as his new Justice League. On Catgirl’s advice, Batman waits for a concert to begin before he reveals to the world that he’s still alive. At this point, there is a superhero fad among the young people at the concert. They’re all dressed up in tights, much like the band. This is when Batman makes his appearance and unmasks. He gives a speech to the kids below, and tells them to ‘Give them Hell!’
So, now he’s got his army from the last story, not to mention an army of kids caught up in a superhero fad. This of course leads to another confrontation between Superman and Batman. While this is all going on, there is a mystery villain killing off heroes, who looks a lot like the Joker.
Both of these stories are worth picking up and reading. Over the past year they’ve been re-released as graphic novels that you can pick up at your local bookstore. Just make sure you read them in the right order.