Film Review : "Spider-Man Brand New Day"

 

This was a very well-done and entertaining movie. It was successful in many ways. What it got right were sequences of Spider-Man swinging through the city that did not make you feel dizzy. The Hulk looked great, and the fight with Spider-Man was pretty true to the comic books. The movie flowed well, and Holland was sunk into his role as Peter Parker. I could even live with the Punisher being a little soft as long as he wore the skull. But while the tone worked in that it threw alot of things at you in a fast-moving format that did not drag much like a comic book. It was the overall story that was a mess. With the elephant in the room being the lack of a true Spider-Man villain, aside from the brief interactions with Scorpion. 

Spider-Man has one of the strongest rogue galleries in comic books, so to recycle Damage Control andd make them more nefarious, they are in the comics, there are plenty of villains that could have spearheaded this, Mr.Negative being the first that comes to mind. Sure, we have already seen Kingpin, Dr. Octopus, Shocker, the Green Goblin, Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Sand-man, Electro, and the Vulture. But that still leaves Black Cat, Silvermane, Hammerhead, Puma, Silver Sable, the Jackal, the Enforcers, Gargoyle, and Speed-Demon, and Morlun, just to name a few; some of them could have also taken on the type of role Damage Control played.

Jean Grey really had no reasong to debut in a Spider-Man film; the two have almsot zero history together, Deadpool would have made more sense, as he is at least in the X-Universe. If you really feel the need to introduce mutants via Spider-Man, then Iceman and Firestar would have been the obvious choice . Sure, he interacts with the X-men nad has even taught at the school, but this was not used in that context, and it seemed a reach the way she used her powers. These are glaring missteps that marred the film if you are a comic book fan. I can say it's better than the last movie, but that is not saying a ton, However it worked more within the realm of the comics than this one. 

Film Review : "Deadpool & Wolverine"

 What a world we live in. Its a world where writers must keep a careful balance of internet theories to please their audience. In fact, Deadpool's entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe pokes fun at this in its smartest moments. It also pushed the bounds of what you expect Disney to allow as the studio shows there is more wiggle room than expected since even half the adult audience might have to Google the meaning of jokes about pegging. Then it is too late, and they already have the money of the more prudish patrons in hand. I am impressed by how they worked in a wide swathe of the company's media output making "Loki" almost required viewing before going into this. Also, the bulk of the Fox films could help when some characters are marched out.  Spider-man and Ghost Rider were the only corners of the bigger Marvel Universe not touched upon with only a few winks in the direction of Peter Parker.   If you are touchy about spoilers then go see the movie, nothing happens that was not part of wider speculation and had not already been spoiled. 

Reynolds and Jackman, make this a buddy cop team-up that works well against the absurdity of premise. The fight scenes between the two were some of the movie's strongest action sequences. The various incarnations of Wolverine worked better than the varied incarnations of Deadpool, I mean where was Gwenpool? Though like many aspects of the movie, If I blinked I might have missed it. Plotwise there was little surprise, stop this and save your world tropes. I have read critics praising the movie villain Cassandra Nova, and it really just felt like Emma Corrin was doing her best Tilda Swinton impersonation as there was no clear motive or really anything to flesh her out, I think Mojo would have made more sense and been a more inspiring link to the X-Men, would have given the baby Deadpool an ore sensical role. Paradox, worked better as his two-faced manipulations of things, with no real powers held more weight. 

It would be misleading to say there were no X-men in the movie, as Colossus, X-23, and Gambit are all part of the team. I think what they were looking for is Storm, Cyclops, or Rogue, and get a glimpse at how they are going to be brought in. We can pretty much not rest assured that Henry Cavill is not going to play Wolverine, as look what happened with the Reed Richards casting in Dr. Strange, just enough fan casting then take a left turn. My favorite parts of the movie were the NSYNC dancing at the beginning and the brief appearance of the Hulk during the search through Wolverine variants. Overall the chemistry between the two leads was strong enough to carry the film in the classic Hollywood formula even when given the Marvel spin. It did not make apologies for being a super-hero movie which is a must for any such film. 

Film Review : Deadpool 2

The sequel to the quirky mutants anti-super hero film, is more of a super hero film and it continues to make fun of that fact. The problem this self aware fourth wall breaker faces is the shock of being different only works once. I think the inclusion of Cable , Domino, Juggernaut and hell even Shatterstar, makes this feel more like it's placed in the Marvel Universe. When I walked out of this movie I realized I could not remember who the bad guy was in the first movie and in this film the bad guy is even more unimpressive. Deadpool faces a problem similar to guys like Black Panther, Luke Cage and Iron Fist have, a shallow rogues gallery. Deadpool does have enough of a personality to carry a movie where the other heroes mentioned are less fleshed out and somewhat stiff.  This in turn makes the tension dulled. There is now sense of urgency as we are hoping a kid who is not even cool enough for the New Mutants doesn't go off the rails.















Reynolds is pretty comfortable now in this role. Brolin also slides into the techno virus of Cable pretty easily. When it comes to Domino I think this was a missed opportunity. Deadpool himself calls her a black Black Widow, which is how this character comes across. I got the ironic easter egg in the fact she landed on an inflatable panda bear who looks more like Domino than she did in this movie. Domino's scenes came across as just something that looks good to get the blood pumping to dub step. Of course people are raving saying she should get her own movie or one she teams up with Deadpool. There is little chemistry between her and Reynolds. Half of their interaction is over a head set and most of the time she in wandering off doing her own thing. In an X-Force movie it could work, but left to her own the problems that Deadpool has would be multiplied.

Some of the film's strongest performance came from CGI'ed characters Colossus and Juggernaut. With the rest of the returning cast going overboard to compensate for us having seem them before. The winks at the audience trying to hard. Deadpool's trademark crazed banter with himself continued to have charm of it's own, though when taking more blatant pop culture references wore at you by the end of the film where it culminated into almost Wizard of Oz level melodrama. I get that this movie is stupid fun almost to the point now of being like one of the "Airplane" films. It is like laughing at fart jokes, though those are almost more high brow than this movie at times. It was fun, and though Deadpool didn't die another movie might find them going to the well too many times. This is supported by the films 66% drop it's second week. Deadpool might have avoided one bomb, the future might be an uglier one time travel can't save him from.

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.

Marvel the Summer of Discontent

I have been sitting on this one for awhile and need to just get it out so I can move on. I think if it took my all summer to get this post out then it is obvious that Marvel has been less than inspiring considering when I started this blog I wrote once a week about comics. So this is a collection of various glimpses into the releases of the summer as well as a grim look at the big picture. Secret Empire continued to suck as well as Marvel comics in general. This isn't just me, I went to a panel of comic retailers and they all agreed , Marvel might have you fooled when it comes to the movies , but the books are not selling. People are pissed and want their characters back I am not sure Marvel has had an event worth a shit in past few years.The best part was bringing back Banner for an issue and watching him plow through everyone.  X-men even with it' overly cerebral slant is one of the best books going since Dedato is doing the art. Not my favorite team of all time, but I'll take it. Mighty Thor 22 issues later is even worse of a mess, like when they had Hulks of too many colors now there is Volstagg as a war-Thor. Speaking of Hulk the Hulk Generations was ok and brought Banner Hulk back, but I am unsure what is really the point of this the Generations Wolverine book was about the same quality, no real point considering those two had already met, it just looked like something else to mess with the time line. Speaking of messes the Infamous Iron-man's 11th issue seems like something that should have gone down in either the Fantastic Four who needs a return to comics or in Dr.Strange. Nothing to do with Iron Man at all.

Black Panther 17 was the best yet from the new writer, but I have a hard time seeing how he can hold up a movie on his own. Speaking of movies bound to flop based on the comics , the Mighty Captain Marvel is an even more contrived space opera that is hard to care about even with the Alpha Flight involved. Now to further clutter things up we have Hyperion and the Ultimates. Granted the latter at leastw works with Danvers current mythos. When it comes to Avengers there does seem to be some hope for the Uncanny Avengers who find Scarlet Witch back in their ranks in the 26th issue. I think this book would work better with Beast in it instead of Rogue. Johnny Storm as needs to go. The team doesn't need two magic users, ask anyone who plays D&D so get rid of Brother Voodoo. That would leave us with Quicksliver, Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Synapse. Bring in Beast and another odd Avenger from the past like Jocosta, Mantis or Tigra and it would be a great book. See I just named off three more female super-heroes so I am all for girl power. Just not a she-Thor.

X-men Blue is decent in it's 10th issue . None of the X-books have really been that great though I am glad that Daken is back.Jean Grey finds it 6th issue being much better than you would ever imagine her being able to hold down her own book. Granted each issue has guest ranging from Dr. Strange to Thor to Scarlet Witch, you might notice I just named some of my favorite characters to I am sure that factors into the equation, but I think this book pays homage to the canon that came before it. So lets hope the fall finds them making some better choices with Legacy.

This Week in Marvel

dare

After what happened at the polls this week, the Riri Iron-man books, feels like a discarded foot note in Marvel's social justice warrior agenda. I can't see Disney wanting to be considered subversive, so no more M.O.D.O.K Trump jokes. What is eluded to here is the fact Tony Stark might have been killed off in Civil War 2. So Marvel is really spitting in the faces of it's fans by taking away a third character we know and love. Three from the cinematic universe, if they continue to commit marketing suicide. This week it was obvious we are tired of being politically correct, so give us back the original characters living and dead.

All- new X-men brings back the Inferno arc and seems like it is setting the ground for their next Monsters on the Loose cross over, though we know some of that is coming from the Cho-Hulk series. Amazing Spider -Man's Renew Your Vows feels good as a story until you consider where this is going to fit into to continuity.  Speaking of outside continuity that go back and tell a classic Avengers story on the 1.1 Avengers book. Why not just make this line-up the new team and kick the imposters out? This eliminates the margin for error more ret-conning can cause. As for ret-conning gone wrong, the seventh issue of Captain America, finds this hail Hydra story line muddying the waters even further. The 13th issue of Daredevil is a waste of time as Murdock is barely in the book which focuses more on his side kick we could not give a shit about and the serial killer chasing him in the sewer.

Ret-conning continues with the second issue of the Clone Conspiracy. The Jackal brings back everyone who has died on Spider-man's watch with what he implies to be the best intentions and they do handle the two Gwen Stacey's as well as one could deal with that without killing them off, which is what is best. This does raise the question of if this will create more problems than it solves. The Uncanny X-men was a slight improvement, but the Uncanny Avengers was much better as they square off against the Hulk who is resurrected by the Hand. The team sees that they are out classed. Though Rogue goes into the fight thinking she can hand with any version of the Hulk. This version can't talk but doesn't seem to be totally mindless as it has enough memory to fight out of instinct. Not sure Cable is going to help much.

Catching Up With Marvel

So we have had 12 issue of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and so fat they have led to next to nothing ? It leads up to Kid Kree professing his love to her and then Devil Dinosaur wrecking a Lego land science fair? That is bull shit and my last time wasting another minute with this book. All New All Different Avengers was more flash back story telling this time with the real Thor in the flash back so it felt more like an Avengers book. The 6th issue of Captain America only offered Steve Rogers perspective on Civil War, and we have already begun to see how this HYDRA arc is tying into it. Speaking of Civil War the 6th issue of it didn't do much aside from show Black Panther switch sides and the kids run off to hide Miles So far the series has been a flop and a vehicle to show boat Danvers. Other show boats that sank include the Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme, which is too bogged down with characters from other realities.


The 17 issue of New Avengers and it is clear why there are too many Avengers books, this one is cluttered and makes it hard to care about any one in it. The new Avengers book with the new Wasp and Hercules, is not the worst written book, but the art is a little too much for what is going on here.   the 10th issue of Agents of Shield got a little convoluted in how it was written but it was entertaining. The way the series ended made me wonder if it is getting canned.The 15th issue of Extraordinary X-men is becoming a reprise of Inferno. The 12th issue of Ms .Marvel continues to be a waste of paper. She works much better as a member of the Champions who have a pretty decent second issue going to prove none of these characters need their own books. Death of X finds conflict that should have happened in the first issue finally going down in the 3rd and the X-men should slaughter the In-Humans. The 12th issue of Scarlet Witch was alright, not great, which is a let down considering she is one of my favorite Marvel characters. Unsure about this new arc she is going on and how they are diminishing the impact of her being a mutant and emphasizing her as a witch, when I think balancing the two would be best, just like balancing the two sides of Dr. Doom the science and the magic is important.

While it was entertaining and in most ways felt like either a Bat-man or Punisher book the 6th issue of Night Hawk was pretty good even though I am sure this book is getting canned. Another black super-hero book that was better than it had the right to be is the first issue of the Prowler. The art is some of the best, I can't see the him being able to hold down his own even with it being this tied into their new Clone Saga. The best Civil War moment might have been the Gamora vs Danvers fight in the 13th issue of  Guardians of the Galaxy that finds that team falling apart. This book also had great art. The first issue of Fool Killer is really a surprise , sure with Moon Knight crazy costumed anti-heroes are covered, but this book is less surreal and more like Dexter is some ways. Speaking of Moon Knight it gets crazier and crazier. I think they have brought it too a cross roads that makes more sense. The 13th issue of Spider-Woman finds shit getting real and setting her up to have major beef with the Hob-goblin, I have always felt she needed to tap more into Spider-man's rogues gallery since she doesn't have that compelling of a rogue gallery on her own.

Catching Up with Marvel This Week

Ok...  a week after Dragon-con , things are returning to normal. Thinking back at the Con it seems Dead Pool is the most popular character in the Marvel Universe based off of the sheer volume of merch worn and cosplay. Comic wise we are in a lull as they have taken have taken too long for the throw down that should be the new civil war.

Amazing Spider- Man is full on into "Dead No More' and showed up Prowler's fate and how the new female  Electro comes about, but there was little in the way of actual Peter Parker. Uncanny X-men did not have much going on aside from the introduction of the New Hell-fire club. Introductions has been the them lately as Dare-Devil's 11th issue entangled him with the In-Humans, and also brought in this new serial killer big bad. Squadron- Supreme had them squaring off against Spider-man, who held his own against the team longer than you would suspect. The 12th issue of Silk finds them at the beginning of the end for this series as she is off in the Negative Zone, and away from the back drop that works best for her character. Invincible Iron-Man find the ground work being paved for Victor Von Doom to take over.

The All New All Different Avengers was another book full of prep work for Marvel's agenda to replace every one so Disney will be left holding their mouse dicks, as they continued to introduce this new version of Wasp, even though Janet is not going any where.While it gets points for being both original and a mind fuck the 6th issue of Moon Knight, continues to make things more obtuse. The 11th issue of Dr. Strange re-introduces Baron Mordo and I dod give them props for not feeling the need to make him the black Mordo from the movie coming out in a couple of months. If diversity is not organic than it is just another buzz-word in the agendas of bigger machines moving toward a one world government... and that is not just a Hydra plot.

The Week in Marvel

It wasn't too bad this week, though it does seem apparent that the social justice warriors of Marvel continue to push their agendas in the wrong direction. The 12th issue of Invincible Iron Man, finds Tony more preoccupied with Riri, than even makes sense of the character to be. Riri like Moon-Girl is a smart black teenager, which Marvel must find to be a novel idea. Sure the fact she could make an Iron Man suit requires some suspension of disbelief. Where did she ge the money to make the first suit which is more complex than the tin cn version of mach 1.  Even with Klaw, Daredevil's Annual was terrible in every respect. "Uncanny In-humans" has it's heart in the right place as it felt more like the In-humans, but it was not very well organized from a story telling perspective.


The chase scene that made up the 10th issue of the Punisher was a lot of fun and found a cinematic tension that pulled you in. The finale of Dr. Strange's first 10 issues was a little on the anti-climatic side. It seemed like this story could have been told in four issues. I generally like this book and Strange is one of my favorite characters, so it was disappointing. Moon Knight continues to not make any sense. The 11th issue of Silk finds Cindy getting webbed up with the ghosts of her ex. This seems like a diversion away from what this book's story really seems to be about. I could not bring myself to read another issue of Deadpool or Vote Loki.Squadron Supreme was fun and the cross over with Spider-man makes sense, I think Hyperion would smoke Blue Marvel so not sure why that is a stale mate , I suppose it places the Squadron on Starks side. While not bad, the Kingpin lost a little momentum in the 2nd issue of his Civil War arc and they have made it unclear how it ties into the bigger story. Uncanny X-men might have the weeks best art within the pages of it's 11th issue.

Weeks of Marvel

Here is a little catching up. First off the second issue of Civil War 2 is better than the first though I do not like what I think is going to happen with Bruce Banner. If Carol Danvers kills him, before he can turn into the Hulk, I'm contemplating just giving up on comics all together. I mean then only Dr. Strange will be left of my top 3 characters since Thor is still m.i.a. I like how Stark took down the In-Humans. Karnak's depiction in every other book that is not his is better than what happened in his solo book. Speaking of In-Humans , both their books were just terrible. Trying to go with these more "diverse" In-Humans instead of focusing on the core is really weakening them. You want an In-Humans book, get Gorgon out of the wheel-chair, then focus on Triton, Karnak, Medusa, Black Bolt, Crystal and Maximus. Sure I'll give you Lash, but none of the others are worth a damn. The cross over in Squadron Supreme, was a fake out if you were to judge the book by it's cover.

The 8th issue of Venom Space Knight, was a little bit of a let down. The new art falls really short of where the old artist held the bar and Flash chasing after Venom, was on the lame side. The second issue of Thunderbolts was really weird the art looked like it was from a 90s comic and now the In-humans are coming out of no-where not sure how much sense it made. The other lets down were the Amazing Spider-man which saw very little Parker and more Regent than anything. Vote Loki's first issue is pretty pointless as was both the obtuse Spider-Gwen and Black Widow.

The 12th issue of New Avengers is a big improvement, the art is great. Squirrel Girl is back to being drawn relatively hot instead of looking like a teenage lesbian. The arc with Dum Dum, might drag this book in a weird place unless they have a show down with the Howling Commandos. I am a little confused with where this falls with the death of magic arc over in Dr. Strange, I am assuming, that was resolved by this point?  The first issue of the "Gods of War" series of Civil War, was fun and pretty much picks up where Hercules left off. The art is very suited for the story being told though the Cho-Hulk is drawn a little oddly. One of the best books over the past couple of weeks was Ant-man, whose 9th issue told a charming story without risking becoming a cliche.  Civil War X-men was much better than Uncanny.

The Week in Marvel : 3/2/16

The 7th issue of "Invincible Iron-man" finds Mary Jane Watson being forced into his story for the bulk of the book. War-Machine is in trouble so he brings in Spider-man to help. The at is pretty killer even if the story is all set up here. While it's clever that the Avenger's Mansion was turned into a sex-club for cos-play, Wrecker's rampage and the Quick Sliver & Dead Pool team up fall short of really packing a punch in the 6th issue. Red Skull is back and Sin is drawn pretty hot.  While the art in Nova is a mixed bag I'm not sure how I feel about the clone of his dad, it seems a little like a cop out to me. The 8th issue of Deadpool was alright, not great but entertaining enough. It seems like a very color by numbers Deadpool story that plays it too safe. While it's well drawn and succeeds on many levels Spider-Man's second issue has some problems. Sure Miles is a teenager and has high school drama, I think Spidey handles this better . The big thing is OK Miles beat Black Heart, but not after he schooled the rest of the Avengers who are far more powerful, I'm not buying it. Nova is another book with high school problems, these might even be more serious. I'm cool with the art. Even the Richard Ryder clone is jumping the shark, but I can handle it. The 5th issue of Nova just doesn't gel in the way it's all handled. If we were watching this on screen it would seem like bad CW writing. A-Force's 3rd issue is just bad, if anyone believes they just killed off Dazzler in this book has money waiting on them from a Nigerian prince. Good art alone can't save Guardians Infinity book. The fourth issue seems to be the choking point for most Marvel arches. I am not sure that they need two Guardians of the Galaxy books as well as solo titles for every one no matter how good the movie did.



The first issue of Black Widow really kills it. I'm not the biggest fan of the pencil work, but it is drawn from an interesting perspective with angles that look like they are from a Die-hard film. The book is also paced like a Die- Hard film. Little dialogue, Natasha is escaping from the Helicarrier with extreme prejudice. My only qualm is Natasha could have been drawn better. She looks like she has the body of a 12 year old. Avenger's Standoff Assault on Pleasant Hill, is damn fine story telling. Yes they are still ripping off  Wayward Pines, but the link to the Cosmic Cube is explained and the Thunderbolts role in all this is pretty clear. They pretty much telegraph, how Steve Rogers gets his groove back. Speaking of Rogers he is next up for issue 4 of Old Man Wolverine. But I am getting ahead of myself, Old Man Logan's 3 issue is pretty damn good. Not a big Kate Bishop fan, but the writers got her voice right, and I love the fact Logan says there is no girl- Thor in the future. In other X-related news Uncanny X-men, has some of the company's better art and aside from a lack luster team everything else you could want from an X-men book. I am going to start another column entitled" Save Your Heroes" where I'll answer the question... so you think you can do better? and layout what I think would be a better direction for the book. I get the fact this book is taking the place of X-force, but it could be done in a more interesting manner.

Movie Review : Deadpool

Deadpool is one of those books I skip more often than not because I have reached an exhaustion point with the character, since he not only appears in Uncanny Avengers now, but has multiple books and for the past few years was being forced fed to you due to  his immense popularity. Popularity evident in the almost endless parade of Deadpool cosplay at any convention that was a a fever pitch last year. The movie works off of the same elements that made the character popular an due to the R rating doesnt' have to let up. This redeems the character of Ryan Reynolds previous portrayal in Wolverine Origins. However one thing that should have carried over from the Wolverine movie is absent, namely the Weapon X Program. Instead we have a torture chop shop that is closer to Hostel. Thus creating a vacuum that is filled by made up villains when actual villains from the Marvel Universe could have been used. Deadpool's rogues gallery might not be the strongest on it's own, leaving his scraps from the X-men's table , but there re plenty of villains who have yet to see screen time in the X-men movies that could have fit the bill.

Wait you say, Ajax is in the comics. Sure if we are talking about the big Hulk sized goon from Pantheon. That one is far from a big bad, and I would have been fine with the Pantheon being worked into it. This did not ruin the movie for me since my emotional connection to the character is much less than if this was a Hulk, Thor or Dr. Strange movie. Why did they not make the character Fantomex ? The movie was very entertaining and kept me engaged, I did not feel bad for having to pay 20.00 dollars to see it in Imax, because all the other showings were sold out. As I told me wife the only other movie I am going to pay that much to see again will be Dr. Strange....I guess until 2025 when the Sentry movie comes out or Marvel makes a Hulk solo film.

Everything about the movie was over the top. The action scenes were bloodier than even Daredevil's Netflix show.  We had numerous masturbation references, We had sex scenes , which were just a few degrees less tame than those from Jessica Jones. Is it a kid's movie. Well it depends on how old your child is and how much they like Deadpool. If he is their favorite character, well you are going to have to have a talk with them before and after. He has had little cartoon face time so unless we are talking the video game they would have have to have read the comic book. So they are not a stranger to the kind of adult flavored wackiness, but bringing it to life might be intense and require a bathroom break or eye covering in a few moments like the strip club scene. If they are 12 or older let them have at it. I saw Conan the Barbarian when I was little and it didn't warp me, though I suppose my previous therapist might say that is up for debate.

Will my daughter see this movie? No, but  she doesn't really care about the character, if she wants to see Wonder-Woman on March 25th, well ratings wise it should be a different story. There are plenty f reasons for Deadpool's r-rating all of them are what makes the film work, so props to the studio for not backing down and editing it to a pg-13. Half the dialogue would have needed to be rewritten. Colossus pretty much serves as the movies moral barometer and that would have given his character a less pivotal role. The cgi on him is good and shows how many of the larger than life characters should be handled one day when they hit the screen...I'm thinking Sasquatch when they make a Alpha Flight movie.Speaking of big bruisers, another question is why make up this Angel chick when she could have very well have been Monet?No only do you not have to be a fan of the comic book, but the movie works better if you aren't even thought the tone and the character himself is pretty much intact. No laser beam eyes, though they do poke fun of that depiction as well as Green Lantern. It gladly defies most of the super-hero conventions , except for the origin story which is told in a way that doesn't bog the movie down. The effects and fight scenes are pretty much everything you could want from a Deadpool movie and future Wolverine or Punisher movies could stand to learn from.

Reynolds shows he was in fact perfect for the role with Morena Baccarin once again proving she is more than a pretty face, she adds a bit of an edge to her character and is believable in the role. The girl who plays Negasonic Teenage Warhead, is passable and the villain is typical for what he doesn't would have been better served as real character with more depth. But overall it's a ride that doesn't slow down and keeps you pulled into Deadpools world. Hopefully rumors are right and the Liam Neeson jokes are winks toward him bringing Cable to life which is confirmed in the post-credits scene. One of the better Marvel movies and the best of the X-men films. It was also a great movie for Valentine's.

This Week in Marvel 1/27/16

First off lets get the big news that is really non news out of the way since it should come as no surprise that the Alex Ross cover of the All New Avengers fourth issue that got some hype as it fooled you into thinking that Sam Wilson and Jane Foster were going to be a thing. Given her taste in men, it seemed far fetched to begin with and the two have zero chemistry, when here motives for kissing him on solid ground not in the sky are vague, just a seize the moment shock value thing that doesn't even make sense when taken in context. The best moment aside from Vision schooling a 3rd string villain is the line by the civilians complaining about being save by the understudy Avengers to which the other replies "Where are the real ones, man the world is getting so politically correct these days." While the tension continues to grow with Marvel trolling their readers, take a look at message boards and it's obvious to readers this is becoming the case, which is only going to go so far. I for one am not buying comics any more for this reason and will only read them online or in the store and purposefully not buy them, with the first issue of the recent Dr. Strange being the only exception. I will buy issues when Thor...Odinson and Bruce Banner Hulk come back. But Marvel is pissing over their legacy for a feeble attempt to grab more money, that way they can do much like the trend of bringing back the originals, sell you an Asian ken doll or a white one. But super heroes are iconic because they are the only one who does what they do so it is devaluing their product.

Squirrel Girl continues to be a waste of time, they can't even keep to their own myths with the Dr .Doom thing. Venom Space Knight at least continues to wow you with the art where Carnage's solo book is now a mess and just a waste of time , if this is supposed to be a horror book there is nothing scary about. Spider- woman's 3rd issue sees the stupid pregnancy arc coming to a close. There was some interesting choices with the layout of the story that almost seems like clips from Family Circus, but they work and this is one of the better issues in the Ms. Drew book since she has been slapped in that stupid costume. While it's not bad and often endearing the 6th issue of Extraordinary X-men is not extraordinary. It is better than the first issue of Old Man Logan which seems unclear as to what world this is happening in and wasn't that the point of Secret Wars to get everyone on the same page. Another looming mess is in Angela Queen of Hel, though Hela's appearance might clear some things up. How Angela can hold her own against Bor is a mystery to me, but it is good to see the forced lesbianism on a character who wears a chastity belt pushed aside for a second for some sword play and that was not mean to be the pun it turned out to be. Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur might be getting better when the Cho-Hulk shows up in the next issue , but the current 3rd issue is really nothing to write home about. The New In-Humans  this week feels more like  a super hero book, book none of the characters are very engaging even Crystal so you could care less if they are walking into a trap or not.

The fourth issue of "Howling Commandos" finds the title pulling it together to make one of the best books of the weeks holding it's own if not better than most of Marvel's other team books and finds the book at a place where the story has arrived to take you off into what could be one of their staples if given the right push and aside from Man-thing these were characters I never ad any connection with. In the 3rd issue Daredevil continues to stay strong and finds his secret identity colliding once again with his work in tights.

The Week in Marvel

This week in Marvel Hulk  12 was the best of the bunch. Mark Bagley seems to be the only one really knocking it out of the park. It  sucks Dr. Green had to de-power the Gamma Corps. I thought Gray was Glen Talbots, and a peek a Marvel's very own wiki confirms this, so how is he black when he gets de-powered ? Under stand they want diversity in comics, but changing some one's race when it's established canon they are white is poor editing. As for the other Avengers. Avengers World 18, felt more like an X-men book. On the better side of mediocre . Avengers 42, continues to set up the Secret Wars, about as good as that book as going to get with the story they are choosing to tell.

The Guardians of the Galaxy team up was fun. The art looked like it came right out of the 90s. Guardians of the galaxy have to be every where they are like the new- X-men there appearance in Angela, helped an other wise dull book, the whole Black Vortex thing is a lot of hype about nothing.
I dislike the art in Wolverines 9, but I like Daken even without his arm, but it has flipped the character around and now he doubts himself.

People whine about wanting more female-centric comics, but X-men is boring as all hell, so not making a great case for that argument.Speaking of female comic books, Spider -Woman 5 , was not bad , but what happened to her powers? Shouldn't it only take her one hit with a sledge hammer to knock a hole in the wall? I can knock hole in a wall with one hit and no powers, so should she since she's in the 5 to 7 ton rage. I would think she would knock the whole wall down. The motorcycle thing, seemed a little CW.

The books I passed on this week were  Rocket Raccoon, Original Sin, Iron Fist and Hawkeye, because they have been so terrible I can't even bring myself to flip through them anymore. Why some of those are big sellers is beyond me I think they are geared towards hipsters who want to be geek-chic by reading a comic, but don't really care for super-heroes. I salute  them with my middle finger for their efforts.

Now What Marvel?

Marvel has been so focused on movies it seems the quality control of the comics has slipped in the past couple of years. It seems half the books are cleaning up the messes made in Marvel's so called "big events"  or the are ramping up to make another mess. If you have heard anything about the up-coming Secret Wars event, then this catastrophe on the horizon is pretty evident. The worst thing about these events is every since Avengers vs X-men, they have been pretty anti- climatic. From the snooze fest that was Age of Ultron  to garbled story-line of the recent "Spider-verse".

Clean up from Axis is still under way in Superior Iron Man, this book is drawn better than most, it would take another column to go into the downfall of the companies art. 5 explores the origin of the Teen Abomination, who proves to be even more connected to Stark's past. Almost devoid of any action except a flash back scene that is kinda cool as it goes back to the 70s and shows Iron-Man fighting Whiplash for a few panels, even though that a fight we have seen almost too many times at this point. Then on the Avengers side of the fence we have the New Avengers ramping us up this week for Secret Wars, but not a punch is thrown. Secret Avengers is so poorly drawn it's hard to digest the story. When M.O.D.O.K became and Avenger I was pretty much done with that book. The Thor annual was three terrible stories , Thor is in my top five favorite Marvel Heroes ( the other four are the Hulk, Dr.Strange, Scarlet Witch and Vision)  so for me to not have any investment in the book is a sad state of affairs , not asking for Marvel to wow me with every book, but at least don't make me loose interest in my favorite characters.It looked like Invaders is coming to a close in this weeks issue, no one is shedding  any tears from that one with out Steve Rogers as Captain America that team has no point.  S.H.I.E.L.D. was one of the weeks best books it felt like one of the Spider-man team up books from the 80s. The story worked and good things are happening all around on this one.

That was almost the only Spidey book worth buying. Amazing Spider-man has so of the company's better art work, but every Spider- was saying good-bye. Peter Parker and Otto the Superior Spider-man had a throw down. Then in a step down in the art department is "Spider-man and the X-men"  which feels like the Ultimate Spider-an cartoon. the book teams him up with the kids from Xavier academy. The fight solid holograms of Spidey's foes.  Who would  have thought that Spider-man 2099 would be one of the weeks best comics. It was fun watching him get his butt beat by the Maestro Hulk.

The first issue of Spider-Gwen debuted. Boy was it a stinker. The art was marginal. Story thin a rice paper and I could not find myself caring about a single character in the book. Sure the Vulture showed up, the voice he was written with did not even seem like the same character. Marvel is trying to be diverse, but can't seem to get a grip on a female super-hero in her own book. Capt. Marvel might be the best of the bunch, but more often than not it bores me to tears. I like Carol Danvers, but I have a feeling her solo movie will make Halle Berry's Cat-woman seem like a good idea.

Wolverines was the best of the X-titles. It feature Fang from the Imperial Guard, who opening a six-pack of kicked butt on Wolverines foes and family. Amazing X-men, was half-way decent, the Living Pharaoh becoming the next Juggernaut took me by surprise. All- New X-men was a book I really enjoyed and now barely has a story line worth following. It crosses over into their Black Vortex event, featuring Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Rounding out the week in Marvel is Fantastic  Four, this issue was more build up though I was pleased that the Hulk was throwing down against some monsters with Ben Grimm and Dare Devil which was another transition issue. Inhuman was well drawn, but Blackbolt giving up his thrown to Medusa who he let slap him around is not in character at all.  Well better luck next week...books to buy  this week... Spider-man 2099, S.H.I.E.L.D and Wolverines. If you are a huge Juggernaut fan then Amazing X-men is a must.

Catching Up With Marvel

Unfortunately , The big bang lately hasn't been on the shelves, but on-line with the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer springing up and  the dishearteningly underwhelming Fantastic Four re-boot, which does a race flip with Johnny Storm, for no good reason. Guardians is going to be strong and prove sticking more closely to the source material works every time, while Fantasitc Four will flop, much like the impending Amazing Spider-man sequel.

Last week nothing really wowed me,  the high point has been a Thor story that is bringing him back to earth. this week is getting better

Avenger's World issue 3  has Shang -chi, who has no business being an Avenger, getting his butt kicked by Gorgon. When this character was created as the Master of Kung-fu it was an attempt for Marvel to have their own Bruce Lee, so I am surprised they still have him going. ...Note to my self as a Marvel writer... Kill him off,.

Captain America number 17 sees the series taking a turn into...shaky ground as this Dr. Mind Bubble arc begins. Superior Spider-man team , has some great art, and t he sotry worked with the main title, so I can't complain much about it.

Amazing X-men 4 was a lot of fun recaptured more of an old 80's  X-men feel. I think this is my favorite line-up currently in print. The worst continues to be the X-men book. Enchantress is not enough to keep my interest.  The Mean while.. story in the back of the book was better than the main story in every respect.

Daredevil 36 closes out a fairly iconic run, the book continues to impress despite my rather lackluster attitude toward the character. Murdock outs himself in court and the next series is going to pick up in San Francisco. Speaking of characters that once underwhelmed me the first issue of New Warriors was pretty impressive, it's a book that I want to see where it's going and hope New Salem , remains a fixture.

Punisher issue two had a weird feel, the art work tried to be overtly stylistic and felt like the writer had been watching too much Breaking Band and Sons of Anarchy. Electro is showing up in the next issue so it should keep the book more grounded in the Marvel u.    

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.

Hulk and such

OK , getting back on track with my pulls , The Hulk has started to eclipse the incredible title, jeff parker used his noggin and relaxed to write an issue which the number i don't have on me i will come back and edit it in but it has a zzzakk hulk on the front , it was very fun read hearkened back to the days of the 80's hulk, remember back when it was just a fun title to read - sure peter david had his moments, but got too much into the path which ang lee took of the self help hulk
anyway ross is starting to feel more like his own person here .
the hulk annual that is a cross over with the spider-man and dead pool annuals was some alternate universe gobbly gook worthy of sucking an egg like it was written for legion of super heroes and waste of money.
i was very impressed with uncanny x-man 439- shame they are switching writers for schism , or the x-civil war - all the x's are going to live in text as they are hyping it as some thing that is going to change the x landscape - whatev- the art was iffy on uncanny but writing stellar even if it just boiled it down to hope and wolverine