Comics For Dummies?

Either you are part of the problem or part of the solution when it comes to comics these days. It's bad enough they have become marketing fodder for the movies they not promote or they are stories spread too thin by arcs like Infinity, which would have been wrapped up in a couple issue back in the glory days of comics in the 70's and 80's . But now you have idiots like blogger Doug Zawisza of Comic Book Resources who encourages the dummy down for the audience tact that Marvel has taken trying to lure in new readers by numbering comics with a one.

Here's the news... kids are introduced to comics though cartoons and mass media, then they buy the books, It does not matter what number is on the front. If you can not pick up a comic book and jump in at whatever point the story is at then you are either too dumb and need to go back to Curious George or it's bad writing.
When I was a kid, I grabbed whatever was on the spinning metal rack at the gas station and started reading from there. There were no special allowances made for children in the 80's and why should there be now.

A good story is going to be a good story no matter where it begins, Star Wars is a prime example, sure they gave you in the in a Galaxy Far Far Away in the opening sequence , but from there you jumped into the world and figured out who Darth Vader was and what the parameters for the Force were all without the benefit of a Wiki page. In fact that is what makes collecting comics so much fun is you get to dig back into the back issues and discover the history of canon all on your own. If that is not instant gratification for your tiny mind, you can go to the web and dive into a bottomless rabbit hole of links to catch up.

So to say a story needs to be more approachable to new comers means, dummy it down for stupid kids these day because they can't figure out a story as complex as the Avengers having a cook out on the top of the building. Sure it was not a big epic story, deptie catching a run away planet, but it was a lot of fun and if new readers could not catch on the problem is the lack of special education programs in American schools.

The best part of the story to me was the fact characters who should have never been Avengers in the first place like Wolverine and Spider-man are getting cut. Now if they can ditch Avengers A.I and get Pym and Vision back on board to replace the New Mutants and Hyperion we will be better off.    

The Week In Comics

I like X-23 on the All New X-men. In fact I like her more than Wolverine these days.

I am not sure why this Amazing Spider-man  point whatever is a thing. Where does this fall in cannon?

Avengers Assemble was fun up to a point, then the art work for the depiction of the Hulk was so bad it soured the book for me.

Daredevil 34 , was great , I liked the Dr Strange cameo...of course, Murdock, hasn't been a character I really care about but they continue to make this feel more and more like a super hero book.

Deadpool 21... There's a hit on Wade, the art was a little weak, but the story was fun, I might keep reading, the Deadpool fatigue has worn off.

FF 15 Continues the goofiness the book seems to use as it's calling card. Doom isn't even taken seriously , and the Baxter Building's day care center fighting the battle a s a video game , works in theory. I still hate the art this one was no exception.

Fantastic Four 15- There was still a mess of time traveling dimensional shifting jumble going on, with too many character from too many dimension, the book felt crowded ,but things came together. I liked the Doom/Kang/Annihilus combination. The art redeemed the books weak spots.

Indestructible Hulk 17 was a well written thrill ride. Banner at odds with Toney Stark never gets old. It looks like in the next issues it will be less of what McCoy called a hot potato game and more of a throw down. Curious as to what beasts current strength level is these days. Though Pym, Stark and Beast vs the Hulk, will still be a major beatdown  as the Hulk has taken on much more capable teams of Avengers.

Scarlet Spider-man 25 - They are really trying to make more distinction between Kaine and Parker, aside from clones  and things. The spider -monster freak out Kaine does is interesting , and I suppose turning into a big monster is not just a Banner thing.

Secret Avengers...is well, better written than in the past, Not sure what purpose Banner has on the team, think they should use another Hulk, why not A-Bomb or Skaar?  Betty Ross? Taskmaster takes a bullet to the head , how will they write themselves out of that corner.

Superior Spider-man 24- This book was getting good and now its getting better despite the very spider-man three dark turn. I look forward to the throw down with the Avenger in issue 25...Thor's on the team so it should be a quick fight even with Ock in the Venom suit. Superior Spider Man team up 8 which features Namor's war with the Black Panther spilling over into it's pages was an enjoyable read.

Thor - God of  Thunder- 16 The book was a much better read now they have gotten out of that cursed god-killer arc, it read more like a dungeons and dragons game.I think the book has wandered around of world for too long and think writers avoid being able to write a good Thor story on Earth, hel the last one was the Doom story leading into Siege. Thor drunk talking to his hammer was good stuff so it shows the most potential of getting better than it has in some time.

Thunderbolts Annual - I don't like getting ripped off when it comes to comics billed as a good old versus. In this case Dr.Strange vs the Thunderbolt, but it turned out to be a Cthulhu lite who took Dr. Strange's form. The first half ot the book is the team collecting majick weapons to fight strange with and it's more fun than the actual fight which is not much of a fight when it goes down.

Uncanny Avengers 15 continues to prove why this book is always duking it out with All New X-men and Superior Spider-man to best the cream of Marvel's crop. This book beats those tow. Sentry fights both Wasp and Thor. The verdict against Thor is still out as his power set has shifted here, but it looks like he can hand Thor a beating here. The Cap does his best against the Apocalypse kids.

Uncanny X-force - was just o.k good to see Puck around. X-men is not much better. I could have told you the all Female team would be boring as shit. Enchantress showing up is at least something to look forward to. The only reason I read Young Avengers, which I am writing about after these X-books is it feels like New Mutants to me, is for Skaar, and its a shame to see him wasted in a book about teen drama.  .  

Was Infinity Worth it ?

While the final issue was a lot of fun. Hulk did some smashing and Thor got have at them, was it worth all the tie-ins and the six issues it took to get there? If the big take away from this, that was the ramifications this was hyped to have in the Marvel Universe,  is now In-humans are going to pop up on earth.I think that was a pretty overblown lead in. If you look at the golden age of comic or even the best decade for comics the 8o's we would have gotten a lot more in a lot less time.

It all came down to a show down with the Avengers vs Thanos. One of the classic comic book writers could have pulled this together in three issues at most, two would have been pretty concise. So every thing else was long winded marketing.

This was no Secret Wars, which as simplistic as the off world Contest of Champions was, still was better written than this year's supposedly big event. With secret wars we got the symbiotic suit, Hulk going mindless, Thing staying on another planet and She-Hulk going the Fantastic Four, a new Spider-Woman, Titania and Wasp beating the X-men all by herself.

One thing it did accomplish taking Marvels end game in mind is it set the stage for the inter galactic universe and put it the spotlight, so they can continue to set up Guardians of the Galaxy. Rocket Raccoon and friends did appear but did not have as major of a role as you would think they would.But of all the big events this one has to be the most disappointing and was not as much fun as Avengers vs X-men, Siege or WWH.    

Scarlet Witch Found Dead

Scarlet Witch was found dead in the pages of Uncanny Avengers issue 14.While tragic and raising many questions this also might be one of my favorite books of the year. Also among the casualties were Rogue and possibly Daken, though no word yet on if the healing factors of either will counter act this dramatic turn of the murderous writer Rick Remender. The where abouts of Wonder-Man are also unknown as it appeared his ionic form dissipated , when Wanda finished a spell to raise mutants before she died.

The issue which was penciled by one of Marvels best artists Steve Mcniven, was full of action and blood shed, with a really cool plot development of Kang going into future time-lines to build a team of future Villains to take on the Avengers , the team looks to include Iron-Man of 2020, Venom-girl, and future Doom.

The deaths that dominated the violence, even after Wolverine said no one dies, occurred in the books second act, Wanda and Simon, engaged in a ritual to raise mutants , but Rogue thought it was another no more mutants thing, so she kills Wanda, using claws she borrowed from Logan. Rogue was then killed by Grim Reaper shortly after wolverine went berserk and killed his son.

So much like the Peter Parker less Spider-man , does anyone think that Scarlet Witch is going to stay dead when she is being introduced in the Avengers 2 ? Of course if Rogue had absorbed Logan's claws then she had his healing ability. Daken was a Horseman of Apocalypse so he had his healing amped up if not immortalized. So what does this death filled issue really mean? It was entertaining, and I don't like knowing I am going to say good by to Wanda even if it just for a year as she is one of my favorite Marvel characters, but hasn't she already died before, is Marvel giving all heroes a Buffy " I've Died Twice" cards?

In other news Paul Rudd is days away from signing the paper work on becoming Ant-man, leaving Gordon Joesph Levitt in the Dr. Strange slot and Rashida Jones remains the contender for the part of Wasp.
             

The New Wave of Marvel Now

With a new wave of Marvel Now titles coming out lets take a look at what the future holds. Aside from a new Daredevil and Miracle Man look for the titles below.

All-New Ghost Rider	March 2014	Writer Felipe Smith Artist Tradd Moore	There is a new Ghost Rider- who is not Blaze , and he  might even be hispanic, since his name is Robbie Reyes. Expect this to be in the same vein as what they have done with Nova, since he is a high school kid becoming a super-hero, in Marvels attempt to bring in a younger audience.
All-New Invaders	January 2014	Writer James Robinson Artist Steve Pugh	the original Invaders (Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Namor, and the original Human Torch)   battle against the Kree in modern times, how many titles does Cap need?
All-New X-Factor	January 2014	Writer Peter David Artist Carmine Di Giandomenico	A SH.I.E.L.D approved mutant team, with Polaris, Quicksilver and Gambit.  If Peter David is still behind the wheel then , if you like X-books this will be worth reading.
Avengers Undercover	March 2014	Writer Dennis Hopeless Artist Kev Walker	The Avengers arena kids try to pull a Thunderbolts on the Masters of Evil.  This really depends on who comes over. X-23 hopefully makes the cut.
Avengers World	January 2014	Writer Nick Spencer Jonathan Hickman Artist Stefano Caselli	It's being called the global Avengers but which is what is being established in Infinity, how many Avengers books do we need and are the Avengers not already protecting the world in Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
Black Widow	January 2014	Writer Nathan Edmondson Artist Phil Noto	So it's take Hawkeye and add more James Bond elements,  I don't see this book lasting very long.
Captain Marvel	March 2014	Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick Artist David Lopez	This is going to take her off Earth and meet up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the mistakes being made here could be taking away the more human elements of the character.
Elektra	March 2014	Writer Zeb Wells Artist Mike Del Mundo	Elektra becomes a hunter of assassins has a list of targets to hunt that are even deadlier than her. Hopefully this means she is taken off Thunderbolts.
Fantastic Four	February 2014	Writer James Robinson Artist Leonard Kirk	Johnny Storm is going to take center stage and see the team dealing with a more dramatic scope of problems.
Inhuman	January 2014	Writer Matt Fraction Artist Joe Maduiera	The Inhuman's are forced out of the closet as they begin springing up on earth in the wake of Infinity. I thought the point of Inhumans is its like Game of Thrones on the moon, so whats the point of this.
Iron Patriot	March 2014	Writer Ales Kot Artist Garry Brown	In taking from the movieverse James Rhodes is the Iron Patriot, not Norman Osborne, which makes for a much less interesting character, because wasn't he a cyborg now at this point.
Loki: Agent of Asgard	February 2014	Writer Al Ewing Artist Lee Garbett	Loki, grows up into a version shockingly or not much more like the popular screen depiction of the character. How much of a villain will be he ?
Ms. Marvel	February 2014	Writer G. Willow Wilson Artist Adrian Alphona	We know about the shape shifting  Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old American Muslim girl. Expect this to fizzle out after the novelty and hyper wears off.
New Warriors	February 2014	Writer Christopher Yost Artist Marcus To	The new team  has the old favorites Speedball, Justice, and  Nova plus a host new characters    a human, an Inhuman, a Demigod an Atlantean And a Clone by the name of Scarlet Spider. Seems likea they are trying to hard to push the Inhumans thing.
The Punisher	February 2014	Writer Nathan Edmonson Artist Mitch Gerads	Frank Castle,  moves to Hollywood, so expect it to be more like Ray Donovon.
Secret Avengers	March 2014	Writer Ales Kot Artist Michael Walsh	Spider-Woman is now on the team, this book really need to regain some focus.
She-Hulk	February 2014	Writer Charles Soule Artist Javier Pulido	For course I am looking for to this book hopefully it doesn't go too Sex in the City.
Silver Surfer	March 2014	Writer Dan Slott Artist Mike Allred	Once again Norrin Rad  has severed  his ties to Galactus , I'd say the Spider-man writer has the best shot at doing something interesting here, this will be a book to watch.
X-Force	February 2014	Writer Simon Spurrier Artist Rock-he Kim	Cable leads this team don't really see it doing much differently than the books current state,

Thor 2 the Dark World

There's good news and there is bad news to this one. First off , its better than first movie, if for no other reason than the fact , Thor has his powers the entire time. The movie is much more action, based it goes into at least three of the 9 realms , not all of them like the promo interviews claimed and if a fun watch. 

Hemworth is starting to get the character and fill out into his role, though often rather than being a quiet stoic of few words, he offers up his little inspirational good guy speeches. Granted the character has been written a few different ways in the past, but a love for Jane Foster as his motivation for not ruling up in Asgard, isn't cutting it. 

The big elephant in the room is the lack of god, power and the cinematic version not , following the mythos or mythology close enough. At one point Odin tells Loki, they are not gods, to they live and die, Loki retorts by saying they do live give or take 5000 years more than humans. So Asgardians are in aliens who live 5000 years longer than humans, are good with majick , but no different other wise. Wrong, this is not how they are depicted in the comic book. 

There are 750000, pagans in the U.S alone, so you are telling all of us , that our gods are not gods , I find this offensive, it nagged at me through out the entire movie, so the sequences that jolted me out of this resentment were obviously good enough to do that. If Disney is the reason behind this you would think, they would be o.k with having Hercules be related to gods as he was depicted  in the cartoon version, then Thor would be no different, why the change of heart? 

It effects the movie as a whole because Asgard then becomes this science fiction planet like Krypton was depicted in Man of Steel , and we have laser cannons and rocket boat, not to mention elves in space ships which is like something from Santa Claus vs the Aliens. Another big no no, is Freya dies and gets sent off on the funeral pyre, and no Valkyries swoop down to take her to Valhalla. There goes a missed opportunity to introduce that character, so don't expect her to show up in Neflix's Defenders show, and of course Dr. Strange is going to need some alien technology to explain his majick. 

Kurse's original helmet worn ,when the character first appears was more like his comic appearance, than the Predator he would turn into. The big showdown fights were all well done and the action paid off in a big way. 

So while a fun action jammed film, that offers a more balanced use to Earth and Asgard, it's more a problem of tone.Loki almost stole the show, and Sif was not as developed as it was claimed she would be. The little mocking blip of Captain America showing up, was funny and cool, The sneak peak into Guardians of the Galaxy with the Collector popping up was pretty cool, not sure if the Captain America end scene will link into that as well or set up Avengers 2. 

Overall as superhero movies go they are becoming overblown attempts to be bigger than the next, but anyone afraid how Thor 2 stacks up against the Avengers , well it holds its own and I would say it's better than any of the Iron-Man sequels.  Iron-man and Iron-man 3 are both better than the first Thor, sayings a lot considering how Thor is one of my favorite characters, alongside the Hulk and Dr. Strange .  Its worth seeing on the big screen and you will get  your  money's worth of spectacle out of it.   

Horror in Comics

If you didn't know I'm now writing for Soletron so most of my comic blogs can be found their , so sorry to make you feel neglected over here , here's a taste of what you ahve been missing out on.
How scary can a comic book really be ? Well that's debatable, but more often than not they have to resort to over the top imagery to grip, but often come with some of the more stellar writing in the business. Here's the top ten...

10 - Walking Dead

The comic is almost as popular as the show based off of it . Grittier and more stylized than most of its peers.



9- Vampirella

Created by Famous Monsters of Filmlands Forest J Ackerman in 1969, she re-defined the sexy vampire or vampire alien as she is from the planet Drakulon, where blood flowed in rivers.

8 - Sandman

Neil Gaiman's break through work for D/C comics was his tale of Morpheus the dream king. Darker than the common super-hero model, this ground breaking work  was darker and more surreal.

7 - Were-Wolf By Night

He's Marvel's take on the Wolf Man, but he was also an anti-hero, back when Wolverine was bouncing around in yellow spandex.



6 - Hell-Boy

This  hell-spawned paranormal detective , hunts down darker evils and creepy folks of folk-lore.

5 - Tomb of Dracula

Not only did this comic focus on every one's favorite count, but is also the comic book which Blade was spawned from.

4 - Swamp-thing

Watch-Men creator Alan Moore's run on this comic is one of the most iconic in comic history, he made the book not just about a swamp-monster but it resonated with something deeper and mythic.



3 - Tales From the Crypt

One of the original pulp horror comics.



2  - 30 Days of Night

The art work alone to this graphic novel was scary.

 1 - Hack/Slash

My favorite on super-hero comic. Cassie Hack who is also one of the hottest women in comics, is like Buffy , but rather than hunting vampires, she hunts down slashers...supernatural based killers like Jason or Chucky.

The Wolverine

The movie was fun and paid more tribute to the comics than the first Wolverine solo outing. First off  if you are hung up on the height thing, well then the Transformers sized Sliver Samurai isn't going to do it for you.  Nor will the fact Viper doesn't have green hair, I mean was that a lot to ask of the wardrobe department, not to mention we will never see Logan in a full costume and mask.  So once you have all that out of the way you can enjoy the movie.

I do have one more beef, so its good news bad news with the bad news first. The fact Logan doesn't have his healing power for the whole first 2/3 of the movie irked me , just like having a de-powered mortal Thor bumbling around on earth the middle of his movie... you are telling me that you don't think the character is relatable because they are so powerful, well though shit Hollywood it's a super-hero film. Wolverine did transcend a lot of the spandex stereotypes by feeling more like a martial arts films with the yakuza and ninjas flying about.

The film was well directed and the part somewhat over dramatized by Jackman but it was balanced out , my attention was kept and the action was reasonably paced. For some reason I had it in my head Omega Red was going to be in this but...oh well.  Jean Grey did haunt Logan throughout the movie which was a nice connective tie, as well as an Trask industries in the news footage and of course the two big cameos at the end.

The end was big and cartoonish, which was a slight departure from the rest of the film that kept a somewhat grittier tone than most Marvel films this side of Punisher Warzone. There was a lack of blood for someone who should have been cutting his opponents to shreds, but maybe that was flying off screen. I think Iron Man 3 was a slightly bigger and better movie,  it was a hello of a lot less chaotic than Super-man, but  aside from the whole mutant thing it was grounded in reality, though Viper who doesn't have powers in the comics somehow got the toads tongue in this.

My expectations were pretty low, so it was surprisingly good all thing considered and worth the rare trip to theater. Granted I only have a moderate interest in the character, I'm not sure he is even in my top ten marvel characters, though he is immense in his popularity almost surpassing Spider-man, I appreciate the thought behind this now if we just stick to everyone's powers as is, i'll live with the compromises in costuming.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. COMIC -Con Spoilers

It's Saturday Morning  is the midway point for Comic-Con, many out of towners begin to pack it up to catch flights on Sunday afternoon so this is the biggest day of the Con so lets take a look at the biggest panel of the weekend so far  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. There is now way we can discuss what went down at the panel with out spoilers being revealed so you have been warned ...the mandatory SPOILER ALERT is in effect .

This panel seemed to be more Marvel fueled than ABC, Jeff Loeb starting of as the Master of Ceremonies. He was soon joined by Writers/executive producers/show runners Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen  followed by writer Jeff Bell and then the cast of the show before Greg Clark came out to deafening applause that was eclipsed by the fan reaction when Joss himself came out.   Whedon fielded a few questions and it almost seemed planted when a girl asked if their were any clips to share and he answered  "There was a whole legal thing with lawyers, So we can't show you a clip. We're just going to show you the episode." Before they showed the pilot episode. Which is very much felt like a Whedon show closer to Dollhouse and Avengers than his other work, the dialogue retains the very real feeling banter than is his trademark. I have friends who aren't familiar with his work previous to Avengers other than knowing I'm a huge Buffy freak so it didn't catch them in the Avengers movie and might fall just as flat on the general minority would didn't like Avengers. Cobie Smoulders reprises her role as Maria Hill on the show, though how much of a role she can have in the series remains to be seen as she is still under contract for another Season of How I Met Your Mother.   It's no secret  Gregg Clark returns to play fan favorite Agent Coulson who is back from the dead. Though the story gives purposefully conflicts account of how this happened , so it looks to be another plot thread in the series, as Coulson thinks S.H.I.E.L.D  just had him fake his death.

J. August Richards role has been speculated as being Luke Cage and this is not the case. He does play into the shows tie-in to Iron-man 3 , as his powers come from Extremis. That's not the only tie in as Iron-man appears on one of the monitor screens in the control room. The movie tie-in's to the larger Marvel Movie Universe  don't stop there, as the Super-Soldier Serum , Gamma Radiation and the Chitauri whose weapons have fallen into the wrong hands factor in, not to mention  Black Widow and Thor come up in conversation.     though any one of these elements.

Fans of the Whedonverse will be happy that Ron Glass — who played Book on Firefly — appears as a doctor so going forward we can hope to see many other familiar faces as casting has Buffy, Angel , Dollhouse and Firefly to pull from. The Show premieres September 24th on ABC

Finally!!

Well before I go any further I have to express my excitement at the fact ...SENTRY IS BACK!!! o.k as a horseman of Apocalypse and since his return is taking place in the pages of Uncanny Avengers this will lead to a rematch between Sentry and the man who put him down...Thor. This will of course be a fight that I am conflicted over since I like both characters , if I think back to Seige, I was rooting for Thor and  will prolly always root for Thor over Sentry, just like I would want the Hulk to beat either of them should those tussles ensue ...which if this bleeds over into Avengers it very well could.

I do think he should keep this black and blue looking tron suit that he's wearing , I like it better than the yellow one , though he has that blue Arch Angel looking face that I could do without and the pale white hair is an improvement in the  characters look. Hopefully there will be some positive fan response and this can be a permanent thing rather than just a few issues. We have seen other characters like Wolverine , the Hulk and Angel all go back to their normal selves after a stint with Apocalypse, but since his current horsemen have been brought back from the dead then does that mean they go back to being dead?

So who are the other three? They are choices designed to target specific avengers for sure , and good choices one in particular would make me a little excited for the next issue but is eclipsed by Sentry for sure and that's Daken. The other two are Banshee and the Grim Reaper who just died an issue or so ago, when Rogue killed him.

oh and other comics came out as well,   new avengers or  the Illuminati Avengers, has the Wakanda and Atlantis war building, I think Atlantis will take them.

The Hulk was alright, Daredevil's guest appearance was not annoying and the build here is that Baron Zemo is going to be a big bad, not really much the Hulk should worry about.  Superior Spider-man was pretty decent , the amped up Scorpion and Vulture loose on the raft as the Spider-slayer is hunting him or J,J Jameson.    

Cable and the X-force, the Uncanny Avengers showed up for Cable there was a brief fight , Thor schools Colossus in a big way and the Avengers get Cable, pretty satisfying and a fun read. The art in that book is pretty good, not up to the level of new avengers which was the best marvel art.

Then there was Age of Ultron 10, Marvel got butt hurt that it leaked after being poly-bagged, but truth be told I would have been pissed if I had paid to read that piece of trash, it's not the first time Bendis has wasted my time, they used up the space time continuum, so this gives them a loop hole for all sorts of multi-universe abuse, they go into the Ultimate verse and show galactus show up. Thor knocking Ultron's head off was the best of it all , but overall the whole ten issues has been a waste.

Movie Review: Man of Steel

If you read this blog, it is no secret that Super-man is my favorite D/C comics character,  so the anticipation and the expectations are raised pretty high, though after the Rotten Tomatoes reviews started coming in and the social media reaction was not negative but just not knowing how to take the film, I tried to lessen my expectations. Now after seeing it myself I can understand the odd reactions as it was not what people expected and I am still a little unsure how I feel about it.

It was entertaining and did not suck. Part of this was due to the fact it was incredibly well made. Some of the mega-galatic qualities made elements of the Avengers look like cheap video game cgi.  So from a production and cinematic level it was a better movie than Avengers as it had more of a Ridley Scott feel than the more comic like elements Snyder normally employs.

From the get go liberties began to be taken with the mythos. Krypton resembled something that was a cross between "City of Lost Children" and "Dune". Truth be told I am so tired of this origin story being told I guess the visual element was needed to keep from losing me. The last adventures of Jor-el, while fun to watch could have been trimmed to have put more screen time with Clark in the suit before he turned him self over to the military. Zod shows up and outs Clark via a broadcast threat, so the fact the military decided to just take Zod's word or everything seemed a little off to me.

The Fortress of Solitude being a space ship instead of an ice castle , made sense i selling it with as much realism they attempted with this and I think overall the film succeeded in what it intended to do in making Super-man more feasible to modern audiences when he was so grounded in World War 2 values. The Smallville elements were handled better than previous films , I feel even more than the Donner films. Reeves had more charisma on screen and made you feel like Super-man was your friend, this movie he was much more clearly alien and there was an sense of isolation and being on the outside looking in that almost took from the Bill Bixby Hulk television show.

As with Smallville or any of the movies there is this sense of joy that wells up inside of me when ever I see him first appear in the suit. Its such an iconic image that somehow manages to almost hold more weight for me than when I see Banner transform on screen. I think this is because the Hulk is more about release where Super-man is the actualization of our higher selves. It was in these moments the movie excelled, but when it threw a lot of hard sci-fi at you in the big battle scene in the movies second half that it lost something for me.

After Clark saves Lois when she is crashing to Earth and becomes embroiled in stopping all these various terra forming plots and devices Zod has set in place it gets scattered and then turns into a disaster film combined with the third  Matrix film. Snyder dialed back his trademark slow-mo fight scenes but went just as over  the top but in a much more Micheal Bay manner and lost me because then I couldn't see the character. The character came back in the final fight scene with Zod. I find it hard to believe Super-man would have allowed for that much destruction of Metropolis to take place, but this is a different Super-man who will kill, when he has to.

Overall I will have to see the middle section again to make a final judgement, it quality film making but feels weird seeing this as the portrayal of his world be it on Earth or on Krypton, it was gritty and often serious , though I don't think that was necessarily problematic, it was an intangible element in the tone, but maybe I just need to see it again to get use to the stylistic difference. It was one of the more well made Super-hero films to date and raises the bar on Marvel when they think about the quality in which they wish to bring the cosmic elements to life.    

Faster Than the Speed of Sense

Comics continue to not really inspire and the plague of alternate universes / time travel to weasel their way around continuity and make readers really give a shit less , is most pronounced in Age of Ultron but books like the Indestructible Hulk where the team up with the Walt Simonson Thor occurs and while mildly entertaining at least more so than other books I read this week I don't feel like for all the talent working on it it really lived up to it's potential , the Avengers books continue to be mired down in cosmic goobly gook , this includes new Avengers, I'm not sure if I forgot to read Dark Avengers or it it really left that little of an impression on me.

While we are on the subject of poor first impression , X-men one did little to dispel the notion that an all female team can't carry a book. It was less than memorable with Rogue the only character worth caring about and Jubilee who didn't appear to be a vampire with a baby. While the art in Savage Wolverine was pretty good and had a guest spot with a Hulk from where and why is he mindless? the story was weak.

What's there to look forward to ... mmm the Daredevil arc of the Hulk can go either way , I think Superior Spider-man has more promise than any of the X or Avengers book though Uncanny could get back on track making Fantastic Four pretty much a lost cause.


 
in other news

It's no secret now that Quicksliver and his sister the Scarlet Witch will be in the sequel to the Avengers, though now Fox and Disney/Marvel get to slug it out over the fine print concerning Marvel's speedster who has already been cast for the X-men film, as Evan Peters from American Horror Story fame playing the role. In the X-men film the Avengers can't be referenced and the Fact Magneto is their father can't be referenced in Avengers nor can the word mutant, so genetic freak is o.k? I'm sure Joss can work around it if it's justa matter of verbiage and hopefully this will mean skipping over origins all together.  Scarlet Witch runs neck and neck with Tigra  for being may favorite female Marvel character, I like Wasp, Carol Danvers and She-Hulk as well but I know at least Jennifer Walters will never see the light of an Avengers Movie.

Other news to be raising their prices over the years Dragon-con is certainly lacking any interesting guests so far the only ones I give a shit about are

James Marsters

Traci Lords

 Doug Jones

Laurell K Hamilton

Jim Butcher

Richard Lee Byers

 and then geeks in general might care about but I don't really give a shit about
 

Billy Dee Williams

George Takei

William Shatner

Post- Age of Ultron

You know we are dealing with the same mess we had a few weeks ago, there isn't really anybook I'm finding that entertaing though the Avenger's Enemy Within book was the best of the bunch, Iron-Man being a cosmic character seems like they are reaching, Thor has great art but is an obtuse read that suffers from the time travel plague sweeping across the company as a whole. Can you think of any book where it's not mucked up with time travel, body swtiching or alternate reality? Daredevil is the only one that pops into my head, though the rather underwhelming Thunderbolts counts. The Hulk will end up in some sort of return to the savage land with the Raw Hide Kid showing up and riding dinosaurs so that sounds like another time slip of a mess.

Defenders now has a Wonder=woman knock off, why not make Valkyrie your Wonder-woman kncok off? Then bringing in Neil Gaiman's Angela character to end the Age of Ultron, is Joss Whedon in charge how did we end up with so manny warrior women, not that I havea problem with them, some of my favorite marvel characters are women,...She-hulk, Tigra, Wasp and Scarlet Witch. Why not further develop those?

So we can agree Age of Ultron is a flop, it should have taken place in the Ultimate Universe, so looking ahead we have this Infinity which will be rehash of the Infinity Gauntlet story, bringing Thanos in and ramping up Guardians of the Galaxy for the big screen, we know Captain America,Thor and Spider-man have movies coming out so expect them to be spotlighted.So Captain America should have his other worldly adventures wrapped up by septemeber, according to sollicts the God-slayer thing gets drug out in Thor til August, and Expect Peter Parker to be back by the time the sequel hits. So with Movies and now ..television entertwined with who gets a push, expect more from SHEILD, the rumors of Luke Cage debunked so J August's character will get a push who ever it might be. Then on Marvel's slate it's Ant-man, Dr.Strange and Black Panther, so by the fall the seeds will start being sewn to increase awareness of those characters. Falcon should get more face time since he is in Cap 2, he is already being shocased on the Avengers Assembled Cartoon, Winter Soldier...well he has had his own book and since he is the villain in this then, I don't know. He seems a weird choice for a villian to me.

Speaking of Villians , the other heroes aside from Dr.Strange have a fairly weak rogues gallery and Black Panther barely has one at all, I mean Klaw? Man-Ape, though I suppose they could take him to the Savage Land or something. Ant-man has ...Ultron, then Egg Head and I suppose any of the masters of evilm I think he would be a good gateway to bring in Vision and Wonder-man. Joss confirmed this week that yes, Scarlet With and Quicksliver will be in the Avengers sequel, I thin this will help phase Rober Downey jr out. I'm fine with an Iron-man less team. They will more than liely follow the books and have the team drop down to Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksliver and bring in Black Panter though Captain Marvel is suppose to show up.

Marvel studios has an aversion to characters keeping their mask on so hows that going to work with Black Panther? Will Dr.Strange be in Blu pajamss? At 45 MArk Ruffalo knows the clock is ticking on him as Banner in a stand alone and just think how bad an Iron-man four without Downey will flop as they are saying the character is enough like James Bond that anyone can play him. How long with the Comic book movie trend last? Regardless Marvel needs to step up to the plate and start writing books that have me looking forward to my weekly comic book store run rather than just me making it out of obligation, because once we reach that level of apathy do you think we will pay for movies?

Iron -Man 3

O.k here we go on very little sleep after seeing a late night showing.

Mostly entertaining, I think Iron Man 3 succeeds if not in being a good movie then at at least better than the previous film in this trilogy. It has a strong start and acknowledges the Avengers as being a traumatic even for the character , part of this being the fact he has to acknowledge that gods and aliens exist in the world and his power is he's a guy who build things. There is a wink to A.I.M but no guys in yellow beep keeper suits, hazmat suits would have worked as well. It was somewhere in the first big action scene that things went left of center for me. In a much similar way to how they did in Thor, because for almost of the movie we have a powerless Tony Stark, due to armor malfunctions. So this way I suppose we have an Iron-man movie with him not in the suit the bulk of the movie ,trying to make it more like a James bond film and the giving you a big superhero ending like something out of the transformers as Stark jumps from one armor to the next.

I can appreciate the message being conveyed by the depiction of the Mandarin, as just an actor playing role as I have always said you can throw any Arab in front of a camera and tell the world its Osma Bin Laden and how are we to say different, if all the back story we have on him is what CNN tells us. But at the end of the day the Mandarin who is a pivotal character in the Marvel Universe when it comes to Stark's world...just doesn't exist. No power rings , nothing. So if you going into this expecting it to be faithful to the comics in any way then expect to be let down. The fact the movie has some heart and Downey's portrayal of Stark continues to carry the film don't make it a waste of money but after the few two film captured a balance of reverence and being broad enough for the general movie going public then, this is a jarring turn.

The only accurate information the creators gave us going into this is its not as dark as the trailers would lead you to believe. They keep a low level of humor buzzing through out. As far as Easter eggs, they have jumped the rabbit on this. Don't expect to see S.H.E.I.L.D or any Avengers, unless the trailer for Thor 2 counts and the post-credit scene , which does not have anything to do with Guardians of the Galaxy.
The best easter egg to me was the Hulk-Buster armor and the ten seconds it spent on screen.They are really going to have a lot of action figures to sell.

The fact Norman Osborn wasn't in the Iron Patriot costume was fine as he is in the rights to Spider-man deal, and the Iron Patriot was pretty much a running joke. There was no Rescue even though Potts does have on a suit for a second. The president has an Iron Patriot suit on for a minute but that doesn't make him the Iron Patriot.

The whole plane scene felt a little forced to me but with the exception of when things got very transformers for the big battle scene which by no means out did the Avengers the action was better than the sort of thing I saw in the Fast and Furious six trailer. The bad guy an odd choice but worked. The end either is going to start the tone to write Iron-man out of the Avengers to make room for the new characters or is going to make it harder for them to get the band back together sort of thing because this movie doesn't lead you to believe they became functioning team. The tug of war between being a good movie and a good comic book movie...super-hero movie, rage through out as they are somewhat apologetic where the previous films didn't so the change of direction did bring its changes in the tone.

The Curious Case of Comics This Week

How often does a D/c title make the cover picture to a blog...not often. D/C continues to show improvement this week. I like Catwoman , I'm not sure why I take pauses from reading it, it's one of the fee powerless superhero books I like. She does pretty well with out powers and is in and put of Arkham all in one issue. There's a lot of fun stuff in this pretty ,inch everything I need from tho shook is delivered with great art. Art is where D/c is putting a hurting on marvel, there stories are a jumbled mess most of the time even a bit on this weeks Justice League it still great to look at.

O.k Marvel...the mess is made tampering with what works, this can be dome with taste and class, the Superior Spoder -man for one has surprised me, this episode the action was a little sparse and the lack of Tony Stark helped keep the beat going amd with Dr. Ock's plan to further remove the Peter Parker parts ...well we'll see.

But future/ past , time Travelling and alternate worlds thing is the editors letting sloppy writing run rampant, it's company wide mess now, Dark Avengersalmost unreadable I gave it a chance to see Skaar. It couldn't find a fuck to give. The big glaring one is Age of Ultron , first off we are ever told when these events take place and now the teams have split some people like Wolverine are going into the past others like Fury in the future, thoughgSueStorm commented that she never remembered seeing Fury look that young. so where is he from? I can't be shocked by She-hulk getting killed or Wolverine killing Hank Pym because I don't know what context to take it in. I don know with Ant-man being green lit if Phm is in fact dead it won't be for long.

Thunderbolts was a little better, at least it could be followed though the whole terrorist arc is underwhelming. Iron-man the god killer thing is big and dumb. Nova was fun, the art was great, it think this greatest American hero stick it's in now. Reds to move forward some,Rocket Racoon and Gamora's appearence didn't make me any more than neutral at best to the characters. Howardthe duck is more intresting than rocket Racoon. I think Gamora and drax and the only ones worth keeping on that team and if I was writing it would add, Nova, Adam Warlock, and mmm...Beta Ray Bill or even Sif to the team, but Mantis or Moondragonwould work as well.

The Savage Wolverine was pretty good, didn't recognize Amadeus Cho how did he grow up so fast ough every Boyd aged slower in comics Now what version of the Hulk is that which showed up at the end is another good question to ask. Didn't both wo Amy other X titles. I did giv e Captain Marvel a shot and it was. Jch improved,though the art work was still lacki thou I'll give it another shot since I like Carol Danvers.

the Middle of the Road in Comics

This week was a mixed bag as comics tried to walk the middle road between convoluted modern take on the stories and classi action that has been their bread and butter all these years. Are audiences more complex as the average comic reader is an older demographic that it once was? I'm pretty well read but I'm not expecting Ayn Rand when I read the Avengers or even Anne Rice , I want big battles. This most recent arc in the Avengers attempts to give us that as they introduce this kid who must be like the Beyonder or the Hood when he got the infinity gems, let's see über powerful character with no known limits to his power, sounds like he belongs in D/C or if you want that bring the Sentry back...as a kid even if you have to . If I was writing for Avengers that's what I would do bring the Sentry back you can even have the Gaurdians of the Galaxy find him in a cosmic egg if you want the space opera in their , down grade his power set a little or make him more flawed .

Uncanny Avengers is the better Avenger's book, I mean Secret Avengers is pretty much knocked out the running with the Drone Iron Patriot thing. This week we had history rewritten with the remember that time Thor just had an axe and fought Apocalypse...well thankfully even with the axe Thor comes back and puts a hurting on him. Just ink if he had the hammer it would have been no contest, but they made have a handicap here. So that said axe falls into the hands of Kang who has the whole time travel thing to iron over if he has had Thors axe this whole time why haven't we seen it before.

Thor isn't doing so great in his own book where does the god slayer and and the god bomb begin the question they are asking here. We have the Thor of Christmas future jumbled in the mix here.the story has some of the best art in the biz but the story is a mess.

Uncanny X-men , well the past version of Angel joins the Present day Cyclops' team , not much else happens and this time travel thing is going to com back and bite them on the ass. Wolverine solo book the book and his fucking mean gun ...meh.

Age of Ultron goes to the Savage Land, Red hulk smashing Ultron robots, Nick Fury has been hiding out in the secret avengers gift shop the big Summer event is the songs remains the lame. Speaking of lame the whole Battle Royale version of Avengers Accademy spent the the whole issue dedicated to Arcade's power up grade which could have been time well spent in two pages now an entire issue.

So looking ahead its going to depend on how well books like Hulk, Superior Spider-man , Uncanny Avngers and all new X-men can maintain their game leading the pack.

D.C looks like it might be more intresting with all the Leagues fighting each other, now all the Avengers teams could do something similar but then it would be pretty much like civil war.

A little brighter

Having to hop on and start writing the next day read comics since they have been less than memorable these days, though this week there has been a marked improvement.

Indestructable Hulk...Well if it had any less smashing then I wouldn't like it the fight with Attuma is a little short , obviously the Hulk could take him no surprise then next . the Walt Siminson Thor guest appearence which looks fun thou a little baffling in the continuity department. With that said the Hulk returns to be one of the worthy just in a different context and the book that was the most fun to read. Issue six was a vast improvement and the long overdue return to the Hulk being the best read on the shelves rather than an obligation as he is my favorite character. Legs see how long they can keep this up

The avengers shows improvement though two,elf the new characters I think are wall hangings Thor, Hulk, Ms Marvel are the only ones who really did much. Granted it was out of Captain Americas league. Hyperion didn't add anything the return of the Eden thing is a plot thread I had though they had wrapped already so hate to see it get mired back down into that

Superior Spider-man is beginning to work for me know the avengers have caught on , they need to get dr strange on it. Any way I hope they take a turn to make spiderman a heel so when Parker gets back he is still though of as a bad guy and finally has had it and cracks turning into o,etching more like Moon Knight...that's where I would go with it it would take Peter into a darker place, I think something like that would help Super-man out as well , but the action comis I read was just a crazy mess. This weeks issue was a little week the Avenger show down stated but the throw down not until next week.

Dark Avengers in the alternate reality it's really hard to care Skaar or no Skaar and can we get rid of that Ragnarok robot already Oreo something to change him so it goes beyond just being a Thor clone, not that I don't know that's what it is it's just like having two of the same actions figures so you Coe up wit something childish like that so you can play wit both.

All New X-men hmmm the art was pret decent, I'm am still interested in seeing where it goes even if this issue didn't really go beyond the danger room and this weeks issue was a recruitment drive on the present day Cyclops part.

The Jusitce Society was e best dc book I have read in a while I ink they are really making the most of this and I want to continue readi. I think the character dynamic works and it feels more like an avengers book that's the avengers which I guess is one of things I like about it, JLA was an improvement but got overblown. Action Comica showed the most improvement with awesome art and a story that looks almost worth following.

I did read other stuff it filed to make enoughof an impression, skipped capt america i have gotten bored with that story. Not none of these books were in any way conned to be of Ultron so the steps we have taken forward might be lost whenwe get into the thick of that. Gaurdians of the Galaxy had good art but was a little lost in its own mythos to connect with me.

Age of Ultron get marginally better with Vision's appearence then they killed off She-hulk or so it Seems took a blast that went in one ear and out the other, guess we will see how her healing factor holds up.

if Age of Ultron is Our only hope...

It's taking me a minute to finish this blog because sadly its hard for me to get excited about comics these days as they are all pretty much varied shade sof bad or boring , overly operatic and lacking of any cool ass kicking moments which lets face it is why we read them in the first place, of not we would be watching day time soap operas. First I'll give so e thoughts on things ont he world of comics then break down comic by comic where any redemption is to be found and it will all be with Marvel as D/C is at the other end of the spectrum a lot happening in a jumble with out forming any connection for you to care about the character , odd for they seem to connect when the characters are on the small screen, I'm really enjoying Arrow even ough I the comicsi could care less about Oliver Queen.

...so far it's pretty grim beginning for the year, the thing is I want to enjoy comics not bitch about them. I look forward every weds to new comic book day only to be let down and recalling fonder times when that wasn't the case...jaded perhaps, well I shouldn't be , in relationships there's the factor of your expectations and the fact another person with free will has the choice to behave in whatever, manner they chose, so heartbreak is the risk you take in feeling. With comics I am a customer paying money to get a desired product , if you are capable of providing this service and have done so in the past them that is what I expect.

In this economy it means spending money I sometimes don't have, have I downloaded them , yes, but I find it's gotten easier time wise forms just to go into the storeamd red everything there and be done with it, does it mean when I sit downat the iPad in this cast to review me that I ome times don't remember what I read ...yes , did I do too many drugs in college ...yes, but it also means that you are making comicbooks that aren't that memorable.

This week was plagued with long winded writers who think they need to have their version of the Silmarillon before every arc and if we are being frank its a bloated bore get to the point and show me as the story moves forward origins and all of the back story can unfold, this thing with Hyperion was a bore, we go a page of action and several of the history of the universe, the only cool thing was a little glimpse at the Squadron Supreme who if an one has any smarts needs to cross over into the Avengers to retrieve Hyperion who doesn't belong on the team, if you want that character bring back Sentry.

Superior Spider- man a boring excursion into the Mary Jane break up where the big pay off was Otto putting the breaks on things with M.J, to avoid what could have been a very creepy element,which at first made me feel uncomfortable but if we are going all the way with this I think Otto as Spidey should be uncomfortable..other news the Rhino is going to be Amazing Spiderman 2, but if Jamie Foxx is in it I'm still not going to we o oh well I'll have to catch Rhino clips online.

Dark Avengers in this alternate universe is like lost carbon copy to what was just done in Secret Avengers how did than slip past the editor. I will keep cracking the book open to check in on Skaar but that's it. I odd need to remind myself to never pick up Xtreme X-Men ever again , it said in the solicit Wolverine was going to fight Hercules and eluded to it on the cover but open the book and ....wait for it...they are gay lovers ...no I'm not making a joke,granted this is in an alternate universand we know Hugh Jackman is a Hollywood closet case only fooling housewives in Iowa, but come on false advertising .

Let's looks at the stat of Marvel, we have already touched on Spiderman so lets go down the line.

The Indestructable Hulk...I actually have bought this one . Its the best of the bunch, the cast of scientist introduced the last issue I hope don't bog things down but it entertaining.

Thor God of Thunder... Most of the books problems are in the disjointed scripting switching time frames from page to page worked better I the planning stages than committed to paper. The Art work is the best going and when this God Slayer arc wraps I guess we shall see how it hangs.

Uncanny Avengers...This book is working right now, though the RedSkulls mutant minions had no connection and Havok is a weak character and seems pointless as Cap pretty much did his own thing.

Captain America...feels like I'm reading Kamandi

Iron Man...Almost unreadable , to think someone is paying for this

Ff...like a reality show that's badly drawn and Fantastic Four properties like one of the boring episodes of star trek. No clobbering time

Avengers...things got jumbled and too cosmic fast the new characters don't work but they are committed to their mistakes and I don't see them not allowing it to go down with the ship

Ms Marvel...I really want to read this book but I can't the art gives me a headache and the story is worse.

All New X-men...they are taking there time getting around to anyone happening md it looks like this as well as Uncanny are going to see the Avemgers showing up, and it looks like the same team in two places at one way to go editors

Thunderbolts ...the art is horrid I like old hulk Villians being used but it's just really bad otherwise red she hul is the only Hulk related non banner book that works , though I know Bammerhulk is about to show up in secret avngerw which isn't off to a stellar start , not unlike New Avengers, I like the art the story is dragging its like the Kwanis club for marvel men.

So marvel what you're saying is I have age of Ultron to look forward to ...a villian I don't hate but it's a robot so little low in the personality dept and the whole post apocalyptic it's the end of the world as we know it is different for. Fear itself how? Oh yeah a lot less cool since know chosen or amped upHulks and such. I know they want to get away for. The hero vs hero events. It i. Tink good story build I to events not events build good stories.

The Come Down : Marvel Now

It's a sad sign when it has taken me weeks to get motivated to finish this blog entry because I have been so bored with Marvel's output lately, as you will read this was started waaaay back before issue 700. I will catch up and give my thoughts on Indestructible Hulk. But the the bottom line , is Marvel Now has lost all momentum and it feels like we are back to the status quo before it's finished. As Dr Horrible would say
" the status isnt quo anymore."

We are only in the very beginning of this Marvel Now and starting to see the come down as the hype once again wears thin, Marvel though will see this as a success however since it caused a spike in sales.Yet Dan Slott's plotting of the Amazing Spiderman run which will lead into the new Superior Spider man is so bad he has begun to get death threats. Spider man issue 700 leaked and the big spoiler of Dr. octopus and Peter Parker doing a freak Friday body switch pretty much outraged message boards,I don't think I read anyone thinking t was a good idea this continuing marvels legacy of disrespect towards their tent pole character in line with One More Day and the Clone Saga debacle.

Speaking of disrespecting Spider-Man Jaime Foxx, who\os being mis cast as Electro, claims Electro is now going to start off wanting to be Spider-man's side kick then the accident turns him bad sort of thing. The suit will not be green and yellow but black, this should not be surprising as this movie seems intent on getting its colors wrong.

The spider man thing is a symptom of a bigger problem. Look at all New X- men which is one of the better books and still falls into a muddled mess with only it's art to save it. I mean has a punch really been thrown in that book? I little in fighting maybe. The Avengers book, this Garden thing is silly, the new Villians don't feel like they even belong in the Marvelverse. The New Avengers illuminati concept is a waste of Dr. strange. The Ff book is like Mad magazine level of dumb and the main Fantastic four book doesn't seem to have much going on either though I like the art.

Sure the art in Thor is great, the story is plodding along and S.H.E.I.L.D is already weighing the Indestructable Hulk down. I do like the fact he is being seen as a weapon of mass destruction and the scope of his power is realized. The red she- hulk's book is decent but looks to be veering off course, while Captain Marvel is just unreadable. Captain America is a mixed bag, it feels like a Superman story line. Iron-man is a mess. So that leaves what book I'm enjoying? Thunderbolts? Is horrible. The number ones of this week don't look too exciting . so that leaves Uncanny Avengers.

The age of Ultron is beginning to get some hype, but there is nothing appealing to it. Already Hank Pym and Vision are said to not have major roles. I like the fact Wasp and Scarlet Witch are back but will they be used to good effect in this. It looks like Black Widow, Black Panther and Red Hulk will have major roles, as will the Superior Spider-man. I guess we will see what they can do leading up to this, but when it's too boring and sad to get a life long reader to talk about it we have a problem.