Film Review : Ant Man & Wasp

After the girl Thor I am sure it's easy to think I don't like female superheroes if you haven't been a regular reader and know that many of my favorite marvel character are women...She-Hulk, Tigra, Ilsa Bloodstone, Angela. Satanna and Wasp. In fact I was more excited to see her onscreen than Ant-Man. I liked the first movie as it didn't take it self too seriously, but was pretty true to the character. I thought Marvel had already screwed the pooch , by no having Hank and Janet as part of the original team which did not include Black Widow and Hawkeye, so from that point we are totally off canon \, but that's what we have been dealing with. So the original Janet got lost in the sub-atomic universe and Scott is on house arrest when the movie picks up.

Ghost who is now a girl, has the main goal of self preservation and is competing against some gangsters trying to steal Pym's tech. I think they missed an opportunity here to make the gangsters,characters from the comics.It could have been villains like Boomerang, Blizzard, Constrictor , Grizzly ...I can name them all day, but you see where I am going here. There is really no point in Marvel ever making new characters for the movies. Th action sequences are highly entertaining, though the fight choreography is beginning to get stale as all the hand to hand is beginning to feel the same. Wasp does the same flying head scissors as Black Widow, at least have each character use a different style of martial arts.

I do like how they jerk the rug out from under you at the end to tie it into Infinity War, that certainly places Ant-man in a position to reach our "decease" heroes in a unique way. Since this is a path Dr. Strange has already traveled, he would be the link to Ant-man, and the tech exists to bring Ant-man back, can Stark and Banner figure it out, that is if Banner is not a Skrull, or perhaps he is and that is what he is trying to learn for himself. Overall I think Wasp came close to stealing the show, but Rudd is stayed true to his character so continues to make him likable. If you didn't see the first movie it's ok you can jump in and figure it out as they recap in a way.

Film Review-Avengers Infinity War

 This is the ten year culmination of what we have been building up to. For some actors this means they have become very comfortable in their roles.With many of the actors contracts running up we knew going into this things were going to change, which translates to characters were going to die. Before we get into the meat of things in that regard, which can't be the elephant in the room because I think it is what gave audiences the strongest reactions, lets address that is what we are going to talk about at some point. So rather than shouting spoilers and being overly sensitive to your needs in that regard the fact of the matter is if you waited ten years for this and still haven't seen the movie by the time you are reading this, then it was much of a priority to you in the first place so who cares what gets spoiled or not.

Here I weigh things heavily against the comics, since this is a comic book blog not a movie blog. They pulled from various incarnations of the Infinity Gauntlet Saga. Obviously since the Black Order is a more recent invention. There were big difference in the story due to the fact people like Sliver Surfer and Adam Warlock are not involved. Mar-vell is coming and being played by Jude Law, but that is not where we are when we get to this film. The first device they use is having Thanos first whip up on Thor , Hulk and Loki to establish what kind of threat he is. This is the only real appearance of the Hulk as Banner is impotent to become him in this regard for the bulk of the movie also meaning they faked us out with fake trailers since the scene with the Hulk running behind them on Wakanda never happens.

The stars of this movie are really Thor, Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch. Iron - Man has some moments but like Thanos says he does a lot of work for just a drop of blood. Spider -man is out powered holding his own better against the Black Order than Thanos. The Guardians of the Galaxy have some great moments with Thor and Mantis is more fleshed out. What what do Captain America and Black Widow do? Less than Vision thats for sure. Black Panther reaffirms the fact when he is not the sole super hero in the room, he falls back to being next to useless. He did very little in this movie and nothing against Thanos. In fact it was Thor who rescued Wakanda. Wakanda for ever held less weight as it was more "Wakanda for the next twenty minutes" or "Wakanda until we need a Nordic god to save us". Captain America did not do much more , but contributed more when it came time to throw down , being able to hold his own against Proxima Midnight, when both Black Widow and Shuri were getting their butts kicked by her later.

Dr. Strange should have had Thanos on the ropes midway into the movie. Scarlet Witch was able to hold him back with one hand. As a bad guy Thanos was one of the better ones to grace the screen. Not as clever as Loki, but more complex than he was in the comics. The only two complaints that are coming from the movie are the end. Who died and the general ignorance of people going into it not realizing this was only the first half, The Black Panther death got under the skins of some. Mot only did he get killed at the box office by this movie , but he got killed on screen. I think this took the gas out of the hype machine, I would prefer to have lost Scarlet Witch, Spider-man and Dr. Strange, but if that's how things went , it defied my expectations, so I am fine with it if this is a permanent death. I'll lend my theories on how they could work around this in the future in another entry, but right now this is what we got. I think Dr. Strange and Scarlet Witch certainly went out on a high note. Sure I could have used more Hulk. but they are juggling lots of pawns and I am fine with the Hulk not being in it at all as he is more of a loner , but oh well. This is one of the better Marvel movies for sure.

Marvel 2018 first Quarter

I has taken me some time to get this done as comics have been less than inspiring except for the return of the Hulk in No Surrender and the news that Sentry is getting his own book again.  So here is a look at some of the books from the first quarter. Marvel is beginning to do a lot better in 2018, here is a look at some titles of not mostly for better the worst one was ...Black Panther 169

Complaints about the legacy numbering systems is it shows white character like Captain America are at 697 issues where Black Panther is at 169, well when you are a supporting character in your own book it probably means you are a better supporting character than a lead, which is why his movie doesn't bode well. He started as a supporting character in Fantastic Four. The 169th issue finds the focus on his two lesbian body guards. He gets one panel and yet another comic where the cover has nothing to do with what is inside. If you were to spend 3.00 on this in a comic book store you should be pissed.

Captain Marvel 168

This was almost as bad as Black Panther, space opera that was a jumble, we had Sasquatch shooting guns like Chewbacca. The Alpha Flight is getting butchered as her side kicks. Carol is lost and this book lacks direction.

All New Wolverine 30

The common theme is too many guest stars are crammed into each issue. I hate the way Laura is being drawn.Hopefully this arc is over and the book will get better, as long as they switch artists.

Phoenix Ressurection

Forced to choose between this and the Jean Grey book I chose this one as two books re out of hand. She says good by to the Phoenix force, guess we will see where this goes for better or worse.

Amazing Spider Man - 794

It wasn't the worst issue but Scorpio from the Zodiac is kind of a lame villain. I know Bobbi is Peter's girl friend , but tired of her tagging along all the time. It looks like Norman Osborn is going to become Carnage, well they have had worse ideas and he has already worn an Iron-man suit so we know he likes to play dress up.

the Incredible Hulk 712

The worst Thor vs Hulk ever. The way it was drawn sucked. They were throwing punches behind one another, it was framed in a way that did not make sense. Who ever drew this had never seen a fight before in real life. Story wise well Cho proves he is a pussy by not letting go and letting a Hulk be a Hulk.

Avengers 677

This whole No Surrender story seems like a variation of the original Secret Wars, but on Earth with the Grandmaster taking the Beyonder's role. This issue mainly focuses on Quick Sliver with, Living Lighting, Scarlet Witch and Human Torch as support though the others are in the mix. They throw down with the Black Order which is clearly getting you more familiar with them for the movies to come.

Marvel Two In One 2

I like the fact this book is continuing the story of the Fantastic Four who despite the terrible movies that have been made you feel like you don't realize how much you will miss them til they are gone. With Mole Man and Doom in tow all that is missing is Reed and Sue.

The Falcon 4

The 4th issue of Falcon was better than expected, but he is another hero about to be crowded out by his supporting cast, I love Son of Satan, but if you already had Brother Voodoo then it's getting crowded, Marvel in trying to be PC, inadvertently is racist by assuming if a character is black he knows all other black people and has them on speed dial, just because Brother Voodoo works with one sect of Avengers doesn't mean he is tight with Sam. In fact this was more up Hellstorm's alley so why is Jericho in it at all?


Iron-Man 595

Was not as bad as Black Panther, but wasn't good. The art was better than Black Panther's though. It is basically Marvel trying to undo messes they have made.


Captain America 697

I didn't care for the art , but damn it was well written. Throws in Kraven a the Spider-man villain, which is always a nice touch to see one hero fight another hero's villain. It was done in a way that makes sense in the context of the larger story they are trying to tell here and puts Captain America back where he needs to be.

X-men Blue 20 / X-men Blue Annual 1

Issue 20 finds the stuck in the mess that is time colliding with different dimensions and is a mess. The annual find them trying to rescue the Starjammers from a symbiotic planet but first they fight Venom, Jean takes care of him, though Angel, Ice-man and Beast don't do as well.

Guardians of the Galaxy 150

Adam Warlock is back, the way he is handled makes me think the writer read to much Sand-man , but we shall see, otherwise it's a pretty decent lead in to the next Infinity Event, I am still not totally sold on Ant-man being on board, but this is better than most of I have read from this book recently so I called call it an improvement.

Spider-Man 236

I don't hate Miles. This was not one of his best stories he is in the 616 universe and trying to bolster him by giving him variations of Spider-Man villains with a few real ones thrown in is not doing him any favors. Why can't he have his own bad guys? The whole dad thing, seems a little tired and super -retconned.

Marvel 2017 Update

This has been floating around for a while so forcing myself to finish it. The comics have been so uninspiring it is hard to get inspired enough to write about them. So Kevin Feige announced that the Marvel movies are done at 22. So Dr. Strange will get a sequel , but not a 3rd movie? Or the tie-ins will stop and everyone has to stand on their own two feet. If the Spider-man sequel does well I have a  hard time imagining that they wont make a third. In cases it would be clearly going to the well too many times. Is the focus going to shift on tv? With In-humans proved to be a bust. This is too becomes a gamble. The actors are dropping from the contracts so re-booting is imminent. Though they have learned their lesson from the comics and Legacy finds them returning to the status quo. Jane Foster will die. Iron-heart could never get off the ground. I was going to write separate reviews for The Punisher and Runaways shows , but I can sum them up in a few sentences. The Punisher, had it's moments and ended strong. Too many extra story lines, and Jigsaw should have been a thing and not just an old Army buddy. More ties into organized crime would have been nice. My major complaint is no costume, having a costume is an establishing an identity which is like the crest of his shield that symbolizes what he is fighting for. Without this he is not a super-hero or anything but another character in a crime drama. The Runaways gets a good feel of the characters. It wastes too much time with origins and gets mired down into a soap opera with their parents that eclipses the kids. I keep telling myself if this doesn't change I am giving up on the show.

The bottom line is numbers talk and bull-shit walks so the cancellations this year now include The Un-believable Gwen-pool gets cancelled, Luke Cage ( a good character not meant to support a book of his own), Hawkeye, Gen X, and America Chavez. Can Squirrel-girl be far behind one wonders. Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers and X-men Blue are said to be Marvel's biggest selling books. As of Amazing Spider-Man 793, it's been reduced to haphazard mess,  this time is one with Venom symbiotes taking over people and the new Flash Thompson Anti-Venom is the only hope, as Spider-Man himself is possessed by a symbiote. Black Cat who is taking a much larger role as a villain seems to be stepping up to orchestrate this. X-men has some focus and now they have become a cluster fuck of mindless stories that feel like the kind of plot chaos that goes on in your average issue of Justice League. Avengers is not much better they are going into "No Surrender" so far it seems murky something with Kang, or High Evolutionary and building into another Infinity War in time for Infinity War to go to the big screen.


Planet Hulk is Greg Pak trying to recreate what they had with Banner using Cho-Hulk and it falls flat, though the last page of issue 711 shows Cho and Thor about to go at it. This trend continues as the go into a "World War Hulk" coming out of Planet Hulk, as this point Banner Hulk will be back so Cho-Hulk will be a mute point. Maybe he will get killed off, we can only hope, but not likely since Pak is writing it. The comics trying to cash in one the movies. Speaking of movies cashing in Black Panther continues to prove that Black Panther is a great supporting character who works in the context of the Avengers or Fantastic Four, but can't support his own book. They throw in other black characters from the Marvel Universe to try to offer support in the comic and it seems forced. The movie looks like a video and while it will be rallied behind since it is the politically correct thing to do, the story will suck, because there are no memorable Black Panther solo adventures to pull from, unless you are talking about his feud with Dr. Doom, which isn't happening in this movie.  Iron Man is taking to long to bring Tony back and in the process things could not be more convoluted than they already are.


The best news of the year is Dr. Strange bringing back THE SENTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Loki is stealing Strange's thunder and we know Sentry has ripped one god in half, and Are's is tougher than Loki. When he actually gets into action by making a triumphant return to Asgard. Moon Knight is showing some promise. The art looks like it is drawn by the same due who does Crossed, which is a good thing.

Film Review : Thor Ragnarok

The third installment of the Thor movies is the most entertaining of the three, but is that really saying much considering how flawed the first two are. The first well Thor doesn’t have his powers most of the movie, the depowering route means the writers don’t know how to handle the character in their true form. The second movie was better to some extent though we had elves in space ships. The third film is fun , but has major problems. I am a huge Thor fan, I have the Walt Simonson Thor tattooed on me. So the bar is high, but I want to see Thor on screen. I like Chris as Thor, I think the script he has to work with most of the time leaves something to be desired.

Clearly this movie was following a blueprint laid out by the Guardians of the Galaxy films.As it tried to inject more humor into the story. To the point of making the Hulk come across like Drax when he was given something to do aside from smash. Sometimes this worked better than other, using the Hulk in a humorous context worked better on the first Avengers movie , if the Hulk was going to have a sense of humor which he is typically to angry to have one, it should be handled more like it was there. But of the movie’s problems this was actually the mildest one. I can understand on following the comic books frame for frame. When it comes to the actual Norse mythology, the comics have been more faithful to it than others , but have adhered to the basics, aside from obvious faults like turning Jane Foster in a Thor. I get that Valkyrie was not Brunhilde, though I did like the wink to her in the flashback sequence. The problem is Valkrie’s are not sworn to protect Asgard they are sworn to take dead warriors to Valhalla, pretty basic core stuff.

Another big plot fail is the fact Hel is the daughter of Loki, not his sister. OOPS, that pretty much pisses on the point of the movie. Toilet flushing inserted here. So with the basic premise being foolish, let's look at what I liked. Dr Strange being way more powerful was cool to see. I also liked Korg and Meik being included in the wink to the Greg Pak “Planet Hulk” storyline. Funny how it made it into this movie after having Beta Ray Bill replacing the Silver Surfer in the cartoon adaptation. Why Beta Ray Bill wasn’t in the movie I don’t know , while the Hulk is my favorite superhero I would have prefered Beta Ray Bill fighting Thor in the arena if we had to go that route. I thought Hel looked good and Skurge was fairly true to the character. The film leads us up to where Thor and Loki are going to fall into the Infinity War. We already know the Hulk buddies up with Rocket Racoon. So it’s too bad the Thor films never got it right , but at least this one was fun getting it wrong.