Category Archives: Marvel
New Avengers Cartoon Trailer!
As if I haven’t posted enough Avengers trailers over the past few months, we’ve got a new one – but this trailer is for the cartoon The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Season 2 is right around the corner!
The cartoon is a blast. It seems loosely based on the various movie versions of the characters, while adding a ton of comic-related stories and villains. It stars Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Wasp, Hawkeye, Black Panther and Ant-Man. It’s made by the sort of writers who like to seed their stories early, then let them play out.
For example, the villainous Ultron was something of a background character (and even a temporary Avenger!) before he eventually became the big bad at the end of the first season.
This new trailer is rather exciting. I see teases for the Vision, Red Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Ms. Marvel, the Kree, the Skrulls and basically just a whole lot of awesome, comic book jibba jabba! I know I’ll be tuning in.
6 Super-Villains That I Want to See On the Big Screen
The best superhero movies are also the ones with the best villains. Would Spider-Man 2 have been so great had Doctor Octopus not been such a sympathetic and tragic character? All four X-Men movies have given Magneto a starring role, and for good reason. And the late Heath Ledger redefined the Joker with his incredible, Oscar-winning performance. The superheroes may be the stars of the flick, but a great super-villain can easily steal the show!
The only super-villain recognized by the Academy
There have been some fantastic super-villains on the big screen. From General Zod’s immortal demand that Superman “KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!” in Superman 2, to the gregarious Loki pulling double-duty as the villain in both Thor and The Avengers. But being the notorious comic book geek that I am, I know of many classic and fantastic super-villains who have yet to see any motion picture love. So here is my list of 6 super-villains who have never appeared in feature films before, but definitely should!
The Exiles Are Back…Sort of!
One of the biggest stories out of Wondercon this weekend was the creation of the new series Xtreme X-Men, which appears to be a spiritual successor to an old favorite of mine, Exiles. The basic concept is that a team of alternate reality X-Men and superheroes band together to save the multiverse. Exiles ran for more than 100 issues and featured fantastic writing, amazing characters and downright brilliant alternate takes on familiar faces.
Well it’s been a few years since Exiles was cancelled, I guess Marvel has decided to give it another go!
That's 'Xtreme' without the 'E', because the X-Men are just that much more EXTREEEEEEM!! Mountain Dew! Snowboarding!
The problem is I don’t give two flying fudges about any of the characters announced. The only reason I started getting Exiles, and subsequently fell in love with the series, was because one of the main characters was an alternate version of the Mimic, one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. This new series, Xtreme X-Men? Not so much.
The book will be written by writer Greg Pak, and it will spin out of the series Astonishing X-Men, which I consider to be the most extraneous X-Men title now on the stands. Pak recently wrote a story in which normal Cyclops traveled to an alternate reality and met a bunch of alternate versions of the X-Men. Pak really loved writing those characters, so he said in a recent interview that he talked to his editor and somehow someone greenlit a new series starring some of those alternate characters.
And because ‘X-Men’ is far more marketable than ‘Exiles’ – no matter what adjective is in the front – Pak was given the reigns to Xtreme X-Men.
The three characters in that image, from left to right, are Emmaline Frost, a steampunk Emma Frost who appeared in a different Astonishing X-Men story written by Warren Ellis; Governor General James Howlett of the Dominion of Canada, a pulp-adventurist Wolverine; and Kid Nightcrawler, who is basically just a young, hyperactive Nightcrawler.
They will be joined from the normal Marvel Universe by, of all people, Dazzler!
I just don’t have any interest in any of the characters so far. None of them sound too exciting, and I wasn’t about to read that Astonishing X-Men story. I haven’t been interested in Astonishing X-Men since Joss Whedon left. But for all you non-comics fans, hear me out here. I know the X-Men are a popular comic book franchise, but the number of books is getting out of control.
The two main books are Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine and the X-Men, both of which are good (the latter being great!). Then as auxiliary titles, we have X-Men, X-Men: Legacy, Astonishing X-Men, X-Factor, Uncanny X-Force and finally Generation Hope, which has been cancelled.
Is adding a new book called Xtreme X-Men really a good idea? I guess marketing thinks so. I realize its a unique idea compared to those other X-books, but there are only so many X-Men titles that the fans can be expected to buy. Trim the fat, Marvel! Trim the fat!
Review: Punisher #9
Holy crap this is a terrible comic book. What a difference an artist makes. And what a difference crappy storytelling makes. Sheesh. All of the mood, all the badassery, all the sensible storytelling goes right out the window with this lackluster and downright pathetic issue of Punisher. What the hell happened? I remember last issue ending on a very cool cliffhanger. But this issue just drops that cliffhanger flat. I half expected a sad trombone to play. The rest of the issue does not make up for it. We have a dull fight scene, a downright bizarre interruption and when we finally get to the moment the entire series has been buildings towards, it lacks energy and excitement because writer Greg Rucka has created a Punisher that just doesn’t interact well with people.
Punisher #9
And he looks freakin’ ridiculous!
Comic rating: 1/5: Terrible.
Rucka’s Punisher build up has come home to roost as we finally reach several confrontations that have been building all series. Punisher faces off against one of the leaders of the Exchange, and Punisher has a conversation with the Bride. But both encounters are absolutely botched. Punisher comes off as a pathetic lightweight against a villain who has not earned even an ounce of villainous cred, and then the fight ends in a ludicrously convoluted way that just flies in the face of the entire series up to this point. I could barely believe what I was reading. I know it all has to do with the crossover coming up with Daredevil next month, but couldn’t they have found a better way to introduce this idea?
Then when we finally get to the momentous meet-up between the Punisher and the Bride, it falls completely flat because Greg Rucka’s Punisher is very short on words, thoughts, emotions or anything else. There’s no chemistry between these two characters, but frankly that’s not surprising.
Join me for a full synopsis, with spoilers, and more analysis after the jump.
The Top 6 Irish Comic Book Characters
Top o’th’mornin’ to ya, me bloggies! Or the afternoon. Or even Sunday, depending on when you’re reading this. Throw back a pint in the name of your favorite geek Internet blogger! I’ve got a little bit of Irish in me, and that sure comes in handy on this, the holiest of the green holidays! It’s St. Patrick’s Day!
Kiss him, he's an Irish superhero
And like all things, whether it be holidays or the judicial system, I like to attach superheroes to it! So here’s my list of the Top 6 comic book characters who also have a little Irish in them. Oddly enough, I couldn’t find any superhero named ‘Leprechaun’. Somebody get Marvel Comics on the phone! Have I got an idea for them!
Henchman-4-Hire