What I Need From Marvel in 2019

You might have noticed I began to cover more comic book related media and less about the actual books themselves. I have kept reading them, but did not feel inspired enough to write about them.  They have not been bad per se , in fact they have improved now that we have corrected problems like Steve Rogers not behind the shield, Banner not as Hulk, Jane Foster the impostor Thor and Toney Stark being MIA. So going back into finishing what is less of a review and more of an over view, we will look back to see what they have done so far and where it needs to go.The Avenger's book has been treading water , Ghost Rider doesn't fit on the team. I am also fine with Dr. Strange not being on it despite him being one of my favorite characters I think he works better in the context of the Defenders. I liked when they brought Namor in , but that story kinda fizzled. We know the Squadron Supreme is showing up and Coulson is a bad guy now.This year will bring the Avengers into 3 big events . The War of the Vampires, No Road Home and a big Asgard themed event the War of Realms . At present they are no faring as well in their solo books. Thor has gone in a weird world direction. The last issue of Captain America focused too much on the side story of the bad guys, while he is being framed for the murder of Gen. Ross, I think they could do better than recycle this tired old spin,  Iron Man's current conflict with the Controller might be the most interesting story of the big 3 Avengers with proven track records for holding their books down.

Black Panther is hit or miss with his inter-galactic story arc, but at least they have him out of Wakanda,because when he is stuck there they tend to tell the same stories over and over again and due to his limited rogues gallery it gets boring quick. While we are on Avengers with limited Rogues galleries it looks like the newest run of Captain Marvel, is resorting to alternative universes and even then she has Spider-woman tagging along. I think Jessica Drew holds her own book down better than Capt. Marvel which is going to prove a detriment to trying to mine sequels out of a Capt . Marvel movie. The same thing could be said for Black Panther.


The Immortal Hulk is being praised as horror book, but I am not sure it's much different than any other version. He is in Hell at the moment, which lends it self to Clive Barker like dark streak, but I am not sure I am totally sold on the direction they are taking it. I did like the ass kicking he gave the Avengers a few months ago.The first issue of the new Guardians Of the Galaxy worked for me. I am fine with Moondragon and Beta Ray Bill on the team. It looks like Gamora is going to be pulled in at some point. When it comes to the cosmos, the return of the Fantastic four should find Marvel's first family, pulling it all together if they are smart. They have gone right for Galactus and Doom, which you can guess will be the focus of any movie coming down the road. The key to their success lies in getting Dr Doom. right. Spider Man Far From Home could have also served as a place to introduce Doom. Spider-man 's book as long as they stay away from convoluted plot points with clones are fairly consistent. It is too bad Miles did better in Into the Spiderverse than in his own book.

X-men are trying to shake things up with almost another no more mutants trick.  I like the fact two of the New Mutants, Magick and Wolfsbane are on the main team.Though the New Mutants are not that new any more. It seems like a very contrived way to bring  Cyclops back. Matt Fraction is coming back to Marvel and may or may not be on an X-book. An Eternals vs X-men books could be cool as you know with a movie pending they are going to need more fleshing out. If they are planning to make Ikaris gay, though most people have assumed it will be him though it could be Sersi, which I would find more interesting, though Ikaris' Prince Valiant hair cut is kinda gay . Also we can expect more Nova and Shang -Chi in the coming years . It will also be interesting to see how they blend Conan into the universe proper.

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Conan the Barbarian

The bar is set pretty high on this one. You have what i consider the epitome of fantasy characters this side of Bilbo Baggins, so a failure to fully grasp the concept of Conan when he is the paradigm epic fantasy warrior the we have a problem. After we get past the pitiful baby Conan puppet, the movies two best performances come from Ron Perlman and the kid who plays little Conan, as bad ass who shows up at field day with the heads of five warriors in tow in what is the best combat sequence of the movie, then we go to adult Conan, a smiling charmer not the grim warrior who has endured the worst the world has to offer.
This movie is a remake in title only and i am fine with that . Conan's best depictions are in his creator Robert E Howard's depictions of him and i would follow that with the Savage Sword of Conan books from the 80's and Robert Jordans' take on the character. If you haven't guessed along side the incredible Hulk and Frankenstein's monster Conan is my favorite literary character. So i went in set up for disappointment. Jason Momoa 's casting in the lead role , drew my ire because he looked almost to black in some of the pictures i had seen, the followed by his lack of size . Then came game of thrones and his role of Khal Drogo, which revitalized my hope for this movie. where he went wrong was straying from Drogo's demeanor, the only time Conan should be smiling is when he is drunk or just finished bedding a princess, as with most humans who learned to become guarded to survive what life has thrown at them these are the only times the wall come down. Arnold's depiction of Conan came off as a witless meat head and his lack of acting chops he came off as emotionally flat , which if given the context of someone who is very guarded would work for me though , make no mistake about it Conan is very street smart.
The Movies only depiction of barbarism was shown in how he treated women, a very small scope , Conan is a thief and a mercenary , while critics decried the fact he was not a clear cut good guy as in the lack of values , i thought he could have stood to be more amoral. He should make the punisher and wolverine look like boy scouts as he kills with no qualms and it is part of his survival instinct.
The other characters were cut and past color by number side kicks and villians, rose mcgowans' performance the most disappointing , like Conan she was much more interesting as a child . But i can say in the scope of the 80's sword and sorcery films.... beast master, death stalker, the sword and the sorcerer, red Sonja ,barbarian queen etc, this movie sits well if not head and shoulders above them. I feel there were alot of missed opportunities , the awesomeness it could have encompassed was pass by, the bright red blood shed lost the edge it had in the first 20 mins, we needed more limbs hacked and heads flying. this was the golden moment for cinematic violence passing us by.
Measuring it up i would say it surpassed the clash of the titans remake and pathfinder, but lacks the bite of Valhalla rising, though the latter went more for realism and conan is a epic fantasy, the grim tone should have been realized, well made in it's construction,on a film making scale would say most comparable to the scorpion king, but there is the problem as it should have been darker and bloodier.