Category Archives: Marvel
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/21/14
Now this was a good week. I love comics. I’m pretty sure that’s kind of obvious, what with this blog. And it’s weeks like this that remind me why I love them so much. So many good issues, so many fun characters, such good writing and art. Comics are so brilliant these days. And I’m sure I’m barely scratching the surface as I stick to mostly Marvel and DC. There’s probably a world of indie titles that are even better.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the week where I dive headfirst into indie comics. Instead, this is the week where Marvel and DC put out some great books! Not only to we get a couple of big finales in Uncanny X-Men and Thor: God of Thunder, but Wonder Woman has a pretty amazing pre-battle sequence. Quality comics, the lot of them. Over at DC, I was delighted with the new issue of Harley Quinn. And even Batman Eternal managed a few surprises. Can you believe it? Of course, the issue was still pretty crummy, but who doesn’t like surprises? The latest issue of Original Sin was also pretty crummy, but it had a neat surprise too.
Comic Book of the Week would have to be Silver Surfer #3 by Dan Slott and the Family Allred. It’s the most Doctor Whoish issue yet, and that’s just wonderful.
Comic Reviews: Batman Eternal #11, Batwoman #32, Harley Quinn #7, Original Sin #4, Silver Surfer #3, Thor: God of Thunder #23, Uncanny X-Men #22, and Wonder Woman #32.
New Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer Pleases and Sparkles
A new international trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy has been released, and it takes a somewhat more serious tone than the previous, music-heavy trailers. I like it!
Obviously the big addition is more Rocket Raccoon, and he is hilarious! The banter in this trailer is top notch. The rest of the movies this summer will probably be good, but Guardians of the Galaxy looks like it’s going to be the jewel of the Summer!
Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 6/14/14
Have you ever walked out of a movie? I haven’t, but I’ve stopped watching films if I’m at home and don’t like them. And now I can say I’ve walked out of a comic book. I want to like DC Comics, they have some great characters, but their current output is just…so, so bad.
The comic in question is Justice League United #2, smack dab in the middle of its Justice League Canada storyline, and the New 52 introduction of Adam Strange. I haven’t particularly enjoyed the series so far, but it was still on my review docket…then I had to stop reading halfway through because it was just so bad. I just couldn’t take it anymore. The dull, endless exposition. The weak, context-less banter between the characters. The generally crummy plot. The awkwardly cut and pasted panels.
Look at this!
How does that pass any sort of muster at DC Comics?! The banter between Green Arrow and Animal man is pretty lively, with the two characters nearly at each other’s throats, but NOBODY MOVES AN INCH FOR THREE WHOLE PANELS! They have the same smiles and faces, every single one of them, despite some pretty harsh dialogue. It’s insane!
There’s also a random Supergirl cameo that completely ignores the fact that she’s a Red Lantern these days.
Fortunately, we’ve still got comics like Lumberjanes, which easily won Comic Book of the Week for the best issue yet of this fledgling series.
So don’t expect a full review of Justice League United #2. My review stack is actually pretty light this week due to just crappy comics and a pretty busy week for me personally. I had this infectious Malware problem Wednesday night that just wouldn’t go away. I had to stay up all night cleansing my computer. It was madness, and left me a very tired Sean.
And for those interested, you can check out my reviews for Captain Marvel #4 and New Avengers #19 at Word of the Nerd. Both of those were pretty solid comics.
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #28, Astro City #13, Batman Eternal #10 and Lumberjanes #3.
I Still Believe in Ant-Man
Don’t get me wrong, it is a tragedy that director Edgar Wright stepped away from the Ant-Man movie because Marvel Studios tampered with his script. I love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and taken as a whole, the Cornetto Trilogy is among my Top 5 movies of all time. And if you haven’t seen Wright’s TV show Spaced, then do yourself a favor and find it, because Spaced is glorious. Wright is a comedic genius, as far as I’m concerned, and I was looking forward to his Ant-Man film more than Joss Whedon’s Avengers 2.
But in life, we don’t always get what we want, and even the world of silver screen superheroes can be bitter and heart-breaking.
But I have not given up on the Ant-Man movie. I still have some big expectations for that tiny little dude.
Spider-Man who?
Last week, Marvel announced that director Peyton Reed had signed on to take over from Wright. Reed has had success with comedies such as The Break-Up and Yes Man, neither of which anybody remembers. However, according to the Interwebs, both have made more money than any of Wright’s films, so the world is just a screwed up place to begin with. Director Adam McKay, of Will Ferrell and Anchorman fame, will help out with the script. Though it remains unknown if Marvel is going to start over from scratch with the script or if they’ll use Wright’s original script and just tweak it to fit what they want.
Based on the movie synopsis, also released last week, it sounds like they’ll just be tweaking.
Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
That synopsis sounds awesome. That’s exactly what I want the Ant-Man movie to be about.
So after all of that drama, it looks like Ant-Man is finally coming together. I still think Paul Rudd is going to be amazing as the lead, Scott Lang, and Michael Douglas should provide more than enough gravitas to Hank Pym.
For some reason, though, a lot of comments I read about this news were that people weren’t going to bother to see Ant-Man now that Wright is gone. First of all, shame on me for reading Internet comments from angry nerds to begin with. That’s never going to end well. (Other than comments on my blog, which are some of the smartest, handsomest, prettiest, most well-thought-out comments on the web!). But second of all, why would anyone think Ant-Man is going to be terrible without Wright?
I’ll be the first to say that Wright was probably going to make an amazing movie. But Marvel Studios has not let us down yet, movie after movie. And they’ve lost directors before and still produced amazing films. Losing Wright is a terrible loss. But Marvel have more than earned our trust.
Ant-Man is going to be great. But maybe now I’m looking forward to Avengers 2 just a little bit more…
New Guardians of the Galaxy Stuff Makes Me Giddy
TV commercials for Guardians of the Galaxy have apparently started hitting the airwaves, and while I don’t have TV in my apartment to watch them, the Internet is kind enough to provide. Thanks Internet! These actually look pretty darn badass…though also clearly heavily edited to get the dialogue they want to line up into a little scene. Still good though.
Hopefully the world doesn’t grow tired of awesome movies by the time this comes out. And I wince every time I remember that the new Ninja Turtles movie is going to come out only a week later. Guardians has the potential to be amazing. But people are going to see Ninja Turtles because they know it. Guardians of the Galaxy has to hit big right out of the gate.
