I've posted before about reading comics on a tablet, and how the Asus EEE Pad is perfect for digital comics. The aspect ratio is pretty much perfect for a comic book page, they don't fit as nicely on an iPad's screen.
I've also made mention of the GIT Corp DVD collections that Marvel put out some years ago. Before Marvel created their online subscripton service, they were licensing their books to GIT Corp to create DVD's containing entire runs of books like Amazing Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Hulk, etc, stretching from their inceptions in the 60's until a cut-off in the early to mid 2000's (when the discs came out). At the time they were a tremendous deal, between $40 and $60 for 40 years of comics. Some of the collections are hard to find now and as a result very expensive, but I have collected almost all of them.
I never cared for reading comics on my desktop computer, so I didn't read the GIT Corp collections as much as I wanted to. When I got my tablet, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to start reading them more. The question was, what app would be best to read them on?
The books are PDFs, and there are a number of PDF viewers available in the Android market. The trick is, most of these readers display a MARVEL watermark on the books, which can be read through but is annoying.
After some trial and error I finally found an app, for free no less, called Perfect Viewer, that lets me view my GIT Corp comics without the Marvel watermark.
GIT Corp comics are a little different than current digital comics; the GIT Corp comics are all 2-page spreads (think of a comic book opened up and laid flat on a scanner...since that's what they are!), meaning that they read a little bit small even when the tablet is horizontal. However, Perfect Viewer will let you invert the comics and then zoom in so you can view one (comic) page at a time, you just need to swipe across. This lets you read the GIT Corp comics like current digital comics, very easy to read!
You'll need to download the PDF plugin for Perfect Viewer, but it's also free so that's no big deal. For all my fellow Androids out there, here is a link to the Android Market where you can download the viewer! https://market.android.com/search?q=perfect+viewer&c=apps
At the Thor Message Board the other day a challenge was put forth to rate out of 10 the writers on Thor going back to Dan Jurgens. I tweaked the criteria slightly and said I would only rate the writers on the ongoing title, not mini-series or one-shots. I thought I would expand on my reasonings here.
Kieron Gillen - 10/10
I've said this before and I am sure to say it again, Kieron Gillen is the second coming of Walt Simonson when it comes to Thor. Like Simonson, Gillen has a great grasp on Norse mythology and weaves it seamlessly into Marvel's interpretation of the worlds of Asgard. His dialogue, a tricky subject when it comes to Thor and company, is great, a perfect updating of the old "thee and thou" days. His villains are layered, and have many aspects to their plans; watching Loki and Mephisto verbally spar with each other was a real treat. What is especially impressive with Gillen's contributions is he has never been annointed the regular scribe on Thor, it's always been to pick up the pieces of somebody else's work. I would love to see what Gillen could do with Thor if he as free to set the direction of the character, and if you're not reading it you have to check out Journey Into Mystery, one of the best books Marvel puts out and is written by, surprise surprise, Kieron Gillen.
Mike Oeming - 9/10
Oeming's Ragnarok storyline was perhaps one of the best send-offs a character could ask for. Lots of great nods to past continuity and Norse mythology, real character growth and evolution, it was a great read. The story itself I would rank a full 10/10, but Oeming had an advantage over the other writers in that he knew he didn't have to put the toys back in the sandbox when he was done, meaning he could effect some really drastic changes and developments that normally wouldn't be possible. As such, it didn't seem fair to give him the full 10/10, but if he were to come back to the title I'm sure he would be embraced with open arms by the Thor faithful.
J Michael Stracynzki - 8/10
What I really liked about JMS' run was the slow boil of the story; you could tell he was building to something, and each issue advanced the plot nicely. Most of the issues could be enjoyed as a somewhat standalone story, a rarity in today's market. Some people think there wasn't a lot of action, but we got to see Thor take on Irom Man, the Destroyer, Surtur, those are some real heavy weights. Fights need to have a reason for being, and every battle Thor entered was charged with personal or larger stakes; with Iron Man he was expressing his displeasure at Tony's actions in the Civil War, with the Destroyer he was fighting to save his people, against Surtur he was fighting for the life of his father, there were real consequences beyond something as simple as a grudge match. The only real problem with the title was the delays, it really derailed the story and is the only reason I knocked JMS' ranking down.
Dan Jurgens - 6/10
I'm the opposite of a fair number of fans, I liked Jurgens later run on the title compared to his earlier issues. I think part of that was the art; John Romita Jr. is a master storyteller, and a lot of guys could learn how to tell a story from him, but I've never cared for his sketchy/blocky style (I was a huge fan of his old style when he was working on Amazing Spider-Man the first time around). But I didn't care for the story elements too; I thought Thor's dialogue was atrocious, for starters. I didn't care for the whole Jake Olsen thing, so that didn't help either. However, I absolutely loved Jurgens "King Thor" era, which slowly saw Thor turn into Odin, essentially. It was a phenomenal way to explore and extract aspects of the character that hadn't been explored before. Yes, Thor was returned to the status quo for Oeming to tidy up the series, but man Jurgens was cooking in the later part of his run.
Matt Fraction - 1/10
I'm probably being generous giving Fraction the 1 point, but he's had great artists doing his stuff, even though the colourist destroyed Pascal Ferry's art on his first run. Anyway, Fraction seems to have simply ignored the work done by JMS and Gillen, taking away the more contemplative and mature Thor we were enjoying and replacing him with a hot tempered brute. The dialogue, as I've chronicled before on this blog, is atrocious. The story concepts are great, but the execution is horrendous. I love Thor, and have a full run going back to volume 2 of the book, so Fraction not only got me to drop a book I was invested in emotionally, but also as a collector. That is very hard to do. I look forward to when he leaves the book and I can come back to it, and the collector in me has resigned himself to maybe getting the Fraction books in the dollar bin in future to re-complete the collection.
I came to the computer today planning to write an entry about how the major comic companies should be letting someone who buys a physical print copy of a comic access to download it as a digital comic for free.
Then Comics Alliance posted that Marvel has announced they are doing just that.
Now, they are not doing it for every comic they publish, for now it is just the Ultimate line. However, this is a really big step towards where I think digital needs to go. I am not willing to pay the same amount for a digital copy and a print copy, as digital copies are one hard drive failure away from being lost, which is far more likely to happen than a flood or fire destroying my print comics. However, I absolutely love reading comics on my Android tablet (Asus EEE Transformer ftw!).
This is the perfect solution for me. I still buy my physical comics, can hold them in my hands, but if I'm away from home I don't have to haul my comics along with me (risking damaging them in my travel bag even though they are bagged and boarded).
I don't think that polybagging every comic sold is going to be an option, but for now to get the ball rolling it's acceptable. If I'm on the fence about picking up a book not being able to flip through it can be a deal breaker. It does remove the "this is not a library" problem though I suppose, but realistically polybagging the books is an extra cost Marvel is going to want to eliminate.
My first thought was have a code you can scan with your device to get the book, but then someone could just scan it on their phone in the store and in effect "steal" the digital copy. Maybe each store is given a list of codes for the comics they ordered, and they give them out upon purchase? The bonus there could be is that after say, 2-3 months, the store could sell the upload codes separate from what are now back issues, which would be a nice show of support for the stores. I can see problems with that system too, but I'm sure something can be worked out.
I do wish that digital titles were priced at $.99, as I would end up giving Marvel more money every month than I do know, as I would buy some titles digitally and others in print form (though I'd hope for the free download of that comic as well, as I've suggested). I can see how that might be a concern to the brick and mortar stores though, as that price would cause some people to switch entirely.
I've been reading comics for about 20 years, which is kind of scary when I think about it since I started reading them when I was 8 years old. I got my start with Marvel, and while I spent some time collecting a lot of DC and read books from other publishers as well, I have always read Marvel books during those 20 years.
I hardly recognize the Marvel Universe anymore.
I am finding it harder and harder to stick with the characters that I have loved for all these years.
This is what Spider-Man
should have done.
I refused to buy the Spider-Man titles (other than the very rare mini-series, such as Spider-Man/Human Torch) after the resurrection of Aunt May, as Amazing Spider-Man #400 is one of the best "death of" stories ever. I was at the point where I was willing to forgive and come back when the reveal of Gwen Stacey and Norman Osborn's twins came about. That drove me futher away then the Aunt May thing did, and since then the added atrocity of (poorly) magic-ing away Peter and Mary Jane's marrage came to pass. It's too bad, because Spider-Island sounded like a pretty fun concept, but since I now feel I've outgrown the character I haven't picked it up, nor will I return to the Spider-titles.
I no longer recognize the Avengers. Ever since Avengers Disassembled I haven't recognize the team. To me, the Avengers are the go-to team when the world is in danger, and around the time I dropped New Avengers (approximately #35), I really felt that the then-current line-up would have no real chance against a Skrull Invasion or the Masters of Evil. That line-up mostly remains in place today, and I cannot stand the writing of Brian Michael Bendis on the Avengers to even entertain picking up the current adjectiveless Avengers title. From what I've seen on-line it's still not "my" Avengers anyway.
Thor has undergone some really great character development over the past few years under J Michael Stracynski and Kieron Gillen. Then Matt Fraction took the reins and I no longer even recognize the character. Under JMS Thor was quicker to think and slower to act, he had a grandeur to him that made you feel he truly was a god. He no longer spoke in Shakespearean tones but still had a tone of voice that conveyed he was something special. When Fraction took over, that was all thrown out the window in favour of a brute who smashes first and thinks later, if at all. He is a petulant man-child who is angry at his resurrected father (despite the two making peace under JMS), who recently died as prophecized (even though JMS made a large point of the breaking of the Ragnarok-cycle signalling a fresh start for the Asgardians). If not for the hammer I don't know if I'd recognize him.
Continuity is ignored, a lot. I'm not talking about contradicting a story from 20 years ago, I'm talking about contradicting a story that came out 2 months prior. As mentioned with Thor, it looked like Matt Fraction didn't even glance at the issues put out by JMS or even Gillen before he got started. Characters are free to be on multiple superteams across the country at the same time. Wolverine has long has the superpower to be in every book put out in a month, but to have him be a regular member of the X-Men, Avengers, and X-Force is a bit much, especially when the X-Men were living in San Fransisco while the Avengers are based in New York! Spider-Man is having solo exploits, running around with the Avengers, and is a member of the Future Foundation! Considering how often Marvel has their books crossover with each other, this is pretty hard to swallow.
I remember when a character crossing over to another book was special. It didn't happen every issue because the books had sub-plots, character development, and a main plot of it's own to move forward. Now it seems almost every book has to be tied-in to whatever Event-of the-Month is happening, and it really derails the other books from doing anything of note. The best books from Marvel, I feel, are the ones that can hide in their little niche corner away from the main events to tell the stories they want to tell. Daredevil, up until Shadowland, was a great example of a brilliant book that pretty much got left alone.
There is a splash page in Secret Invasion that has always stuck with me. In it, a ship full of Skrulls disguised as "classic" Marvel heroes is squaring off against the then-current Avengers, and honestly, I found it very hard to not root for the Skrulls since they looked a lot more like heroes I know and love.
I just cut out The Mighty Thor and Secret Avengers from my pull list, and I'm not sure how long my other Marvel titles are going to last. As a Marvelite for 20 years, that makes me really sad.
Like most fans out there, I love a good inter-company crossover. There is something really exciting about seeing favourite characters that cannot interact normally on the same page. Sure, we've had some duds like Marvel vs DC, which was ambitious but any comic that shows Wolverine beating Lobo gets a big thumbs down from me, but we've also had some gems like X-men/Teen Titans and JLA/Avengers.
The crossovers I've mentioned were all big cosmic end-of-all-existence type stories, which certainly have their place. But I've always enjoyed the quieter moments when these characters meet, like the Avengers and the JLA working together modifying one of Aquaman's aquatic vehicles for dimensional travel. I still maintain one of the best inter-company crossovers ever was Superman/Gen13. I have passing knowledge of Gen13 but honestly do not know a ton about the characters, which was probably one reason I picked up this crossover, to learn more about them. The mini-series did not disappoint, as it was a completely character-driven story; the heroes did not fight each other once, and I couldn't have cared less.
It is in that vein that I'd love to see the following crossovers, but since there wouldn't be enough explosions and cosmic peril I doubt they would ever see print.
Thor and Wonder Woman - Rather than tell a tale of the Amazons versus the Asgardians, I would explore a sort of diplomatic exchange, where Asgard sends a delegation to Themyscira and vice versa. Can you imagine the shenanigans the Warriors Three would get up to on an island filled with only women, especially Fandral? I'm sure Artemis would love to do some training with the Valkyries. And in the end if you need a big battle, I'm sure that Loki and Ares (DC) could come up with some delicously diabolical plot to foil.
Justice League International (Giffen/Dematteis) and the Great Lakes Avengers - This would simply be comic gold, playing these teams up together. I could easily see a card tournament breaking out when these teams get together, with the loser having to accept G'Nort onto their roster!
Captain Marvel and Power Pack - Power Pack is a group of kids trying to make it as superheroes in an adult world. Captain Marvel is a kid who can transform into an adult. I think the potential for a really fun and poignant all ages tale is here just waiting to be exploited.
Iron Man and Batman vs Lex Luthor - I don't want to see these guys slug it out in suits of armour, I want to see a board room battle royale. I'd love to see a corporate espionage style of tale that sees LuthorCorp trying a hostile takeover of Stark Industries, with Batman coming to Iron Man's aid.
Edwin Jarvis and Alfred Pennyworth - We've had the Justice League battle it out with the Avengers, but now I'd love to see these two gentlemen's gentlemen sit down for a spot of tea to swap war stories. This would have been a great back-up feature to JLA/Avengers.
I could go on and on regarding this subject, but what about you? What crossovers have you always wanted to see?
The Thing has turned into the Rodney Dangerfield of the superhero set, he just doesn't get any respect. I don't read the title because quite frankly I can't stand how it's written, but I saw scans from Avengers #11 where some of the team heavy hitters are engaged in a battle with the Hood, who is wielding an Infinity Gem or two. Two of the Avengers, Thor and the oh-so-cleverly-named Red Hulk, also have a Gem each, but it appears Namor is a part of the battle without one. The battle is pretty heated, and the non-powered members like Hawkeye and Mockingbird are staying out of the way. When Ben decides to intervene, he's told to stay back, it's out of his league.
Ben Grimm used to give the Hulk a run for his money on a regular basis, and now he has to hang back with the completely non-powered heroes when the going gets tough? Ben has always been a peer to Namor but he can't even think about joining in this battle? This is a textbook example of how the Thing has seemingly slid down the power pole in the Marvel Universe, and it is a real shame.
The Thing has an important role in the Marvel Universe. He is not the toughest buy around; he can't beat the guys like Thor and the Hulk, but he will give them everything they can handle. A week or so ago I posted the Thing's fight with the Champion, which showcases the Thing's role perfectly; he is the underdog you can't help but believe in when the chips are down. He should be the epitome of the "second tier" strongmen in the Marvel Universe. Therefore, I feel I should remind people of some of the amazing things Benjamin Grimm has done over the years.
Fantastic Four #40 - The Thing absolutely humiliates Dr. Doom in this fight, crushing the monarch's hands through his armour, which is pretty much as strong as Iron Man's.
Fantastic Four v.3 #27 - The Thing takes on the Avengers and takes down several members and gets past a line-up that includes Thor and Wonder Man, who promised he could not do so. It is stated the Avengers were holding back, but it also states that the Thing was as well.
Marvel 2-in-1 #92 - The Thing takes on Ultron. Ultron has taken on entire teams of Avengers that include characters like Thor in the line-up, and here the Thing matches him strength for strength.
Fantastic Four #235 - His teammates can't take the heat and pressure of descending to the core of Ego, the Living Planet, but the Thing soldiers on to save the day.
There are a lot of other examples, but Ben Grimm is a hero that isn't afraid to mix it up with the most powerful opponents or dangerous situations. Sticking him on the sidelines with Hawkeye (and why Hawkeye, who has taken on the entire Wrecking Crew by himself, won't get in there either is a whole other beef I have with Bendis' Avengers) and Mockingbird, human characters with no powers, annoys me to no end.
I just read a report that said Alan Davis was coming onboard the Captain America title being written by Ed Brubaker, and I am absolutely ecstatic about the news! Alan Davis is one of the best in the business, for various reasons.
There are certain art styles I just don't care for. I don't like sketchy lines (John Romita Jr.), greatly exaggerated proportions (Rob Liefeld), or highly stylized (Chris Bacchalo) art styles. I like clean lines, easily identifiable figures, and clear storytelling.
Too many artists these days do not do a good job of telling the story. The pictures might be pretty, but I find I have to wait for the next issue to come out so I can read the 'Previously In" page just to figure out what in the world happened. In other rarer exceptions, an artist is an excellent storyteller but the pictures aren't the prettiest; I find John Romita Jr is a perfect example here. He is a master at laying out the story, I never have any trouble whatsoever at following the story. I find his images, however, to be sketchy, blocky, and not very attractive to look at. I really hate saying that since I loved his old art style from his first run on Spider-Man, but it's the way I feel.
Alan Davis combines the best of both worlds. He lays his pages out brilliantly, the story very easy to follow. His images are gorgeous, another huge plus. And on top of all of that, he has that old school work ethic down cold; I can't ever remember a book being delayed when Alan Davis has been on the art.
It probably doesn't hurt that Davis is an accomplished writer as well; for example, he penned and penciled JLA: The Nail, which was a fabulously fun Elseworlds story that looked at the DCU without a Superman. The sequel explored the idea of a rookie Superman looking to learn from other more established heroes like Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter, as opposed to being the inspiration for other heroes himself.
When Avengers Prime was announced, I decided to pick it up even though I am very anti-Bendis-on-Avengers because I wanted to see the Big Three bury the hatchet. As I got into the series though I quickly realized the story was garbage. Bendis ignored a whole pile of Thor continuity (a big no-no when the book is set in the Nine Realms of Asgard!) that makes the book read more like a What If...? than an incontinuity comic. Some of the dialogue is absolutely horrid, and it just takes a lot of fun out of the book. However, I stuck with the book for one reason; the art of Alan Davis. Even drawing a bunk storyline Davis brought his A game and made one gorgeous read. I'd love to get my hands on an un-lettered digital copy of the book to re-do the dialgoue for my own pleasure...ah, to dream.
Anyway, Brubaker has proven to be a great fit for Captain America, and the addition of Alan Davis is only going to make this book better. I never expected Steve McNiven to stick around for very long, so I'm glad Marvel has put a Grade A professional on the book as his replacement. With the Captain America: The First Avenger coming out on DVD soon and the Avengers movie next year, Marvel needs to have top talent on their Avengers franchise books, and they have clearly done so with Captain America.
Now if only the would give The Mighty Thor to Kieron Gillen and get Bendis off of the Avengers I would be a happy boy!
This week has been pretty busy for me so my apologies for the lack of proper articles, but I saw this and thought I'd share it. It's a promo from Marvel for "The Mighty", part of the Fear Itself event I'm ignoring. When I saw the image though, my first thought was "Is that Iron Man or Penance?". I know it's Iron Man, but wow, it sure is hard to tell!
This really is a weird assortment of costumes. Iron Man and Wolverine look completely different (Wolverine is easily recognizable but as I said Iron Man looks way too much like Penance), Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist and Spider-Man have different costumes but are easily identifiable, and it looks like they just got lazy with Hawkeye and black Widow by just adding neon lines to their regular costumes. No comment on Dr. Strange and She-Rulk there since I don't follow the titles they're in enough to know what they normally look like these days.
I'll do a "Why I Skip Events" post later, but from what I've seen online I don't feel like I'm missing much from Fear Itself. Outside of the cosmic books (Annihilation, War of Kings, etc) I can't remember the last event from Marvel that was actually very good.
Newsarama had a fun article detailing their own NFL Fantasty Football team made up of Marvel characters. It was a neat read, though as a devout Canadian Football League fan I don't really care for the NFL. I've always enjoyed the classic Avengers East vs Avengers West baseball games, because mixing superheroes and sports is fun. The sport I know the most about is curling, since I coach kids from ages 6 all the way up to adults, and it's my blog and I'll...blog...if I want to.
Anyway, if you know nothing about curling, get ready to learn a little about the sport!
There are four positions on a curling team. The Lead, Second, Third, and Skip. Each team member needs a certain skill set, which roughly break down as the following:
Lead - Needs a light tough to place rocks in place to set up your strategy for the end. Also needs to have strong sweeping skills, meaning power, endurance, and good judgement.
Second - Needs to be able to bring the heat, clearing opponents rocks as needed. Also needs the same sweeping skills as the Lead.
Third - Needs to be able to throw all kinds of shots, also contributes to the calling of the game's strategy.
Skip - The leader of the team, needs to be able to throw any and all type of shots. Cool under pressure, they excel with the game on the line and call all the shots of the game.
So with these skill sets in mind, who would I chose among the heroes of the Marvel Universe to make up my team? Since curling is traditionally divided into men's and women's divisions, let's take a look at both. For the men's side...
Lead: Daredevil
Daredevil's radar sense make him a great judge of the weight of the rocks. With his radar sense, he will easily be able to detect how far the rocks are from each other and the speed at which they're traveling. He would even be able to detect the variations in the pebble of the ice, helping him to find straight spots in the ice or areas where the rock will travel quicker or slower.
Second: Hawkeye Aim is so important in curling I just couldn't leave Hawkeye out. The harder you throw the rock the more difficult it is to hit the target, and Hawkeye doesn't miss no matter what.
Third: Cyclops Cyclops has spent countless hours working on his aim, and more importantly, his angles. Cyke has an intrinsic feel for spatial relations, meaning he will be an expert in predicting how rocks will react when they hit each other. He is a gifted strategist and will be able to offer sound tactical advice to the skip.
Skip: Captain America
The ultimate team leader, Cap never bows under the pressure. With his years of shield slinging he will be able to predict exactly how the rocks will react. His strategic mind is second to none, and strategy is extremely important in the game of curling.
The rise of Youtube has lead to some pretty cool fan made comics content to be seen by the masses. One such series is Avengers Assemble. It is basically The Office meets the Avengers, and it is a fun little series. Much as any series, I feel that it feels itself out for what it wants to be in the first season and is stronger in the second season (my personal theory is most shows do not reach their full potential until the third season).
The crew working on Avengers Assemble have obviously put some money into the series, as some of the costumes look really good. Each character is distinctive, in a stylized-for-the-series kind of way. Lots of guest stars make appearances too, which makes for some fun bits.
If you want a testament to the quality of the series, Stan Lee himself guest stars in the latest episode (which I am about to watch!). If Stan the Man can take the time to shoot an episode then do yourself a favour and spend the time checking it out!
Be warned, there is some foul language in the series, which tends to take me out of the story a bit I have to admit. I'd give it a PG-13 for language and content. For links to the episodes, and for information on the series, go to http://avengersassembletheseries.com/!
Not a lot of time today, so I'm going to leave you with one of the greatest battles in comic book history, the Thing vs the Champion from the pages of Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7. This fight summed up why Ben Grimm is such a great character and a true hero. I highly recommend searching out this comic if you don't have it and give it a read in full, you won't be disappointed.
I started a post about this topic a week or two ago, but somehow Blogger ate it. Fingers crossed for a better result this time!
The guys at my comic shop are pretty awesome. Since I live 2 hours away, I am unable to pick up my comics as frequently as I used to (which is why I do not attempt to do reviews of the latest comics!). Often when I do pick up my books I now have a baby waiting in the car (with his mother, not by himself!) and have to move pretty quickly, so I don't have time to browse very much. Fortunately, when a book comes out the guys think I'll like, they put it in my box for me to take a look at.
When I discovered Captain America corps in my slot, I almost put it back on the shelf. I try to avoid starting a lot of new titles and mini-series because of the cost of comics these days, and this looked like something out of continuity anyway, which is sometimes a bonus and sometimes not. As I gave it a quick flip though, I decided to give it a try.
The book had some good things going for it. The art looked pretty good. Roger Stern was the writer, a huge check mark in the plus column. But in the end, the reason I got the book was because it just looked like fun.
The basic concept is similar to that of the Thor Corps, written by Tom DeFalco years ago; take the characters that have either been the title character, or continue their legacy, and throw them together for an adventure. In this case, we have Steve Rogers (as a rookie Captain America), Bucky Barnes (as Captain America), John Walker (USAgent), Shannon Carter (American Dream from the MC2 universe), and a new character from the far future, Commander A. I would've bought this book if it was just Steve, Bucky, and Walker running around, having American Dream was a real bonus.
The book is just plain fun, something comics seem to be afraid to be these days. In my mind, one single line summed up how much fun this book is; while retreating from an attack from an alternate-reality police force, some of which were pursuing our heroes from the air, the USAgent shouts to his teammates "Shields up!". Now how fun a line is that when you've got 5 different Captain America's wielding four different types of shields? Eat your heart out Star Trek.
I'm 3 issues into this 5 part mini and cannot wait to pick up the last two parts. It's been a really fun read and I highly recommend you check it out.
When I was a kid we had an awesome video rental store in town. I have fond memories of my brother and I beating Golden Axe II in the mini-arcade with $1.25; I didn't remember what character he used, I was older therefore I got the dwarf with the axe and that was that. On several occassions I would run into the store out of breath because I had sprinted from my house once I realized I was an hour and a half late returning my movie and they would say no problem and waive the late fee. A real homegrown small town shop.
It was at this store that I first rented Transformers: The Movie. I recall being really confused about who all of these new Transformers were, and I was disapointed that Optimus Prime and most of the original crew were only in the first act of the film. Still, it was Transformers and the animation was gorgeous so I rented it a few times over the years.
1 of at least 4 different
covers from various
releases of the show.
The movie I rented the most though was Pryde of the X-Men.
As a kid this X-Men cartoon mystified me. I had only ever seen the one episode, and longed to find more episodes of the series. While I will always have an undying love for the 90's Fox X-Men cartoon, which doesn't get enough credit for being the amazing series it was, there was something kind of special about that single episode from 1989.
While I would keep an eye out for more episodes for years (before that new fangled Internet caught on), I would eventually learn that this single pilot episode was it. The show was never picked up, despite some truly beautful animation for the time.
Why do I have such a special place in my heart for Pryde of the X-Men? There are plenty of reasons!
Professor Xavier, Devourer of Worlds
The cast - This team of X-Men featured three of my favourite mutants; Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat (as the no-codename-yet Kitty Pryde). I've always loved this trio of mutants, whether they are members of the X-Men, Excalibur, or whatever team they may find themselves on. Colossus is the gentle giant with the soul of a poet, Nightcrawler the devout man of God in the form of a demon, and the brave young girl who can walk through walls, Shadowcat. Add in Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine and you've got a pretty solid line-up. The cartoon also featured Dazzler, which I'd love to hear the reasoning for, considering more well-known female X-Men like Jean Grey or Rogue could have been used (though to be fair, was Rogue really popular before the 90's cartoon?). This was actually my first exposure to Dazzler, I'd never heard of her before.
The animation - As I noted before, the animation was gorgeous. Very smooth, very dynamic, the characters looked really good. I really liked Magneto with bare hands, it kind of symbolizes he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for what he believes in.
Land ho!
The villains - Sure, some of the Brotherhood are kind of duds (Toad and the Blob, for example), but who doesn't get excited to see Magneto AND the Juggernaut together! The White Queen was a good boost in the power department over using Mystique, and Pyro allows for some creative power applications.
The plot - For a late 80's cartoon the plot was pretty solid. Sure you can poke holes into it you want to, but you can do that with almost anything, particulary cartoons. Some concessions are made for story purposes, and I'm okay with that.
I wanted the ducts cleaned, not crushed!
The fights - Yes, most of the battles were pretty brief, but each mini battle gave the characters a chance to show off their powers, a great way to introduce them to the audience. My favourite fight, hands down, was Colossus against the Juggernaut. Ol' Jugghead pulls a masssive air duct down to crush the team, but Colossus armors up to catch it. The two then charge each other while crushing the air duct in a massive display of strength, trash-talking each other on the way. They then toss the duct to the side and start duking it out. I would have given anything to see that fight to conclusion!
Now, don't take my praise to mean the show was flawless. Too many characters don't speak in full sentences (Colossus and the Blob, though at least Colossus has the second-language excuse). Half of the Brotherhood are complete morons. Wolverine is for some reason Australian (don't believe me? If you check it out, he calls the Toad a "dingo").
G'Day Bub.
While making their big charge to get to Magneto aboard Asteroid M the team splits off to hold off individual Brotherhood members. Storm has to stay out of the fight to maintain the station's atmosphere since Cyclops blew a hole in it (which is a great reason to keep her out of the fight!), and then the team encouters Pyro. Dazzler urges the team on while she holds him off, and that's fine. But next the team encouters the Toad. Wolverine matches his own agility against the Toad's, and traps him pretty effectively. So why in the world doesn't Wolverine keep going with the rest of the team?! Cyclops even says they need Wolverine's tracking power to find Magneto!
Do yourself a favour and check this episode out. It's easily findable on Youtube, but I'll go one better and provide it for you here! If you've never seen it before, give it a looksee and let me know what you think of it in the comments!
Alpha Flight #3 - Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak & Dale Eaglesham
When Marvel announced that Alpha Flight was getting a new 8 (9 counting the 0.1 issue) issue mini-series, nobody was happier than me. I have a complete run of every volume of Alpha Flight, including annuals and mini-series, even the godawful volume 3. I love Alpha Flight.
Therefore, it makes me kind of sad that the new series isn't really grabbing me. It is head and shoulders better than the last series, don't get me wrong. But it just feels like a retread of the past, even though it features the classic team, which really has very few appearances together as a unit. Alpha Flight in conflict with Department H and the Canadian government used to happen on a regular basis in the first volume. It was the entire basis of the second volume. It's been done. A lot.
I'm also not digging the personality re-write for Marrina. I realize that the creators wanted someone to create conflict, but Marinna was the sweetest being you'd ever meet, and I always liked that hopeful optimism she brought to the team. If an in-story event lead to this new portrayal I'd be fine with it, but instead the past is being ignored. I would rather they used another Plodex character in this role than simply ignoring Marinna's previous personality.
On the plus side, the book is gorgeous, and some of the smaller details are fun. Aurora battling Jeanne Marie at superspeed was a nice touch, and the banter between Sasquatch and Shaman is great. And Puck is back, which makes everything right with the world.
Marvel has announced that Alpha is becoming an on-going and will be a part of a new Commonwealth of Heroes...now that is a new concept that I am very much anticipating. I'm willing to give the creative team some time to grow into the book so I hope you can do the same.
Captain America Corps #3 - Roger Stern & Phillipe Briones
This book is old-school Marvel fun, no surprise considering the legend himself, Mr. Roger Stern, is the one writing this tale. I almost skipped this book at first; I didn't even know it was coming out, the guys at my shop put it aside for me because they thought I'd like it. In the end I thought the concept was fun, and Stern was writing it, so I gave it a try.
Absolutely loving it.
As I said, the concept is just plain fun. Seeing Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, and Shannon Carter running around together slingin' shields is a real treat (and the new guy, Commander A, is starting to grow on me). They are fighting a team called the Ammericommand, which at first I though was kinda hokey but hey, this is a team of out-of-time patriots out to save the multiverse, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
The art is very well done and the colouring is crisp. I really have no complaints about this mini-series at all. On the extra bonus side, Stern uses thought balloons! I can't remember the last time I saw thought balloons!
You cannot go wrong picking this up!
The Mighty Thor #4 - Matt Fraction & Oliver Coipel
When Thor was relaunched in The Mighty Thor, I almost skipped picking up the title, and I have a full run of Thor starting with volume 2, so I didn't consider this lightly. However, the art of Olive Coipel convinced me to stick around.
So far the art is the only reason I'm sticking around.
Sure, the idea of Galactus at war with Asgard is fun, I'll give Fraction that. But the execution really isn't grabbing me, in particular the dialogue. I had a post a couple of days ago featuring my re-write of the dialogue in #5, and it's no better in #4.
My beef with the dialogue is the lack of consistency. On one page it feels like Fraction is trying to capture the somewhat grander speech patterns JMS brought to the book; he did away with the thee's & thou's but Thor still spoke with a grandeur and authority that made it clear he was a god not to be trifled with. But then on the next, Thor is speaking like any regular joe; if you had to take a shot every time Thor tells someone to "Shut up" in the past 4 issues you'd be wasted out of your mind.
I will give Fraction credit, his first arc on Mighty Thor is far better than his first arc in the pages of Thor, but I am still on the fence on continuing to get this book once the current arc is finished.
I think part of the problem with the transition of superheroes to the small screen is the creators spend too much time focusing on the super powers and not enough time on the characters. Any good series is driven by strong characters and their relationships with each other, not on the spandex.
I still think this suit looks
better than Aqua-Superman
in the upcoming film.
I really think that the show that really got this right was Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. As a kid I watched it because it had Superman in it. Now when I watch it on DVD, I'm watching for the relationship between the two title characters. It is important to note the title; Superman gets third-billing, how often does that happen? Pretty much never.
My wife, who has no interest in superheroes whatsoever (after watching Spider-Man 3 with me she didn't know who I was talking about when I referenced Venom, though in her defense I rewatched the movie and they never do call him that on-screen), loves Lois & Clark. While we were dating long distance she and her best friend would borrow the seasons from me and they would devour them inside a week. They wanted to see the love story, they didn't really care about Superman.
I keep hearing about new television series being developed by Marvel and DC; I've read about the Hulk, Mockingbird, and Cloak & Dagger from Marvel and Wonder Woman from DC. I don't think any of those properties (especially from the synopsis' I've read) really fit the small screen very well. Here, in no particular order, are the properties I think would translate well to television and how I would do them. The titles are just for fun though!
Daredevil
In my mind Daredevil is a slam dunk of a television show. Rather than focus the majority of the show on Daredevil, shine the spotlight on Matt Murdock and his legal practice. There are a ton of legal dramas on television, just add a swashbuckling vigilante into the mix. I think Matt's blindness would also be able to give the show a different spin than your average show. The best part about this series is you can easily work in guest stars from the Marvel Universe. The Punisher could be a recurring character who Matt has worked with as Daredevil in the streets and defended (or prosecuted!) by attorney Matt Murdock in the courtroom. Work in Luke Cage as a bounty hunter or as Matt's personal security. Jennifer Walters as a rival attorney. So many characters could be worked in, but again, keep the focus on the characters, not on their superhero exploits.
X-Men
As much as I hate to admit it, putting the X-Men back into a high school setting (cliche, I know) would work extremely well. X-Men Evolution did a great job with this concept; I resisted the idea at first, but after watching the show they developed a unique look at the X-Men's history and relationships that was very well done. I would probably put the X-Men into a regular high school, so you can explore the prejudice and persecution angles, but also of acceptance. I'm not even sure what line-up I'd use since almost any one I can come up with would make for a good show.
Justice League of America
I don't actually know what I'd call the series (Super Buddies, Formerly Known as the Justice League?), since using the Justice League name leads people to believe Superman, Batman and company are the stars. No, I would base this show around the Giffen/DeMatteis/Macquire premise, as a comedy. Guy Gardner, Sue Dibny, Elongated Man, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice and Maxwell Lord. The characters aren't over-powered (the problem with including J'onn J'onnz), but the potential is there for a lot of laughs. I would do the series in the same vein as the Tick live action series, which was hilarious.
SHIELD
Counter-terrorism shows are popular these days, so unleash Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Maria Hill and the other members of SHIELD. Some weeks you can work in organizations like Hydra or AIM, others you can just use original creations. No superpowers required. My only requirement is we don't get a Samuel L. Jackson Fury...I like my Fury with greying temples and chomping on a cigar, thank you very much.
Power Pack
Why Disney hasn't put this into production for ABC Family, I do not know. As much as I'd love to see Pixar's take on the Pack, it would be too similar to the Incredibles. Therefore, give the Powers kids a live action series instead, the younger viewers will have a ball!
Damage Control
Rather than focus on super-powered beings fighting, how about focusing on cleaning up the mess afterwards? For some reason I imagine this series being done in a similar tone to that of the Office, which is funny considering I rarely watch that show. I think it would work.
I could keep going, but I'll stop there for now. What shows would you like to see?
