Marvel Has Got Space Characters Too!
I posted yesterday about Threshold, the new DC Comics space series. Well not to be outdone – especially with a big movie on the way – Marvel revealed their space-based comics at a panel at NYC Comic-Con. First up we have the new Guardians of the Galaxy, written by Brian Michael Bendis.
Young, attractive, blonde male make the best lead characters
As you can see, the team will feature Starlord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, Drax and someone who appears to be a space-armored Iron Man. This is the exact lineup as the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie in 2014. I wonder if these will be their movie costumes. The inclusion of Iron Man clearly has to do with the shared Marvel movieverse, considering Iron Man is probably the most popular character from the movies. So why not garner some fan attention for the Guardians by throwing Iron Man onto the team?
Personally…I’m not impressed. I’m a huge fan of Bendis, don’t get me wrong, but I was never particularly fond of his Avengers comics, and I doubt I’ll pick up his Guardians comic. I tend to buy comics based on my favorite characters, and none of my favorite Guardians are going to be in this series. I’m sure it will be great, I’m sure Bendis has some great ideas lined up. I just doubt it’s for me.
But I really do hope this works out for Marvel, and I can’t wait for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie!
Next up we have the new Nova series by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness.
Alas, if only he’d been blonde
Sure enough, the new Nova is revealed to be Sam Alexander, a teenager who has taken up the Nova mantle after original Nova, Ritchie Ryder, was lost in space. Sam Alexander is also the same Nova who is appearing in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. He also had that big cameo in the last issue of Avengers vs. X-Men.
Gotta say, I’m also not interested in this one. I loved Ritchie Ryder’s Nova during and after Annihilation, but I have zero interest in reading a new Nova just for Nova’s sake. And Jeph Loeb’s comics haven’t been too great, as of late. I’m just don’t particularly care.
So it looks like both these comics will pass me by. There’s still one more day of the NYCC though, so there may be even more new series announced that I can get behind!
Review: Arrow: “Pilot”
The new superhero TV show Arrow is right on target to be a success! The CW has definitely hit the bullseye! Let me William Tell you how good it is! But I kid, I kid; we have some fun here. Amazing puns aside, the first episode of Arrow was pretty damn good, showing us that this new Green Arrow series might be a real straight shooter. That was the last one, I promise. But seriously, this was good TV. There is always some hesitation when it comes to bringing a serious superhero to the small screen, where the show runners don’t have access to the same kinds of budgets as Hollywood movies. I don’t know why, but there’s just a higher frequency of screw ups when it comes to superheroes on TV compared to superheroes in the movies.
Why this difference exists, who knows? But with a focus on character, a lot of fun twists and the promise of a lot more excitement to come, Arrow is going to make other superhero TV shows green with envy. Yep, I went there.
4/5: Good!
Dark and brooding? Check. Bat Symbol? No check.
The previews for Arrow have looked great, so I’ve had a lot of hope for this series, and the first episode did not let me down. Green Arrow is a character who doesn’t rely on a lot of flashy super powers, so his Batman-esque style of crime fighting is easily portrayed on the small screen. His costume isn’t flashy either, so again, a solid translation – though I’m still very concerned about the choice to wear eye makeup instead of an actual mask. It would do nothing to protect Green Arrow’s identity. The fight choreography and the action scenes are very well done, with an emphasis on parkour-like jumping and running. I like that. With movies like the Jason Bourne trilogy turning parkour style rooftop running into a legitimately exciting event, it makes perfect sense to use it with a superhero. I hope we get to see more of that kind of athleticism.
The rest of the show is bolstered by some great character work. Stephen Amell does a great job as Oliver Queen, all hard abs and good looks. I really got a sense that he was a changed/new man trying to poke his way back into a life that he’d lost for five years. Or maybe he just naturally has that far-away sort of look. Either way, I felt he did a good job, and could carry this show. The rest of the cast was really good, especially Colin Donnell as his best buddy Merlyn (more on him later) and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance. They really established themselves well.
The rest of the cast, like love interest Dinah “Laurel” Lance (Katie Cassidy) and younger sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland), do a good enough job establishing their characters, but don’t particularly stand out in the first episode. The rest of the cast, likewise, have weak starts, but a lot of promise, hopefully.
I think the best thing Arrow has going for it so far is potential. Along with establishing Oliver Queen’s new status quo, they also fill the episode with hints, flashbacks and mysteries that are legitimately interesting, and could easily propel the series forward. Likewise, the future of several character relationships intrigues me. So yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to more Arrow, and I thought the pilot was fantastic.
Join me for more after the jump! And there will be SPOILERS for the first episode, as well as possible Green Arrow in general.
Green Arrow for Injustice Game – Still No Robin
The makers of Injustice: Gods Among Us continue to reveal their fighters at an agonizingly slow pace. The latest is Green Arrow.
The game comes out in April, so I suppose the developers still have plenty of time. But can you really tell me that they don’t, at this point, already know all the fighters who are going to be in their game? I guess I’m just being impatient. As long as they let these reveals trickle out like they are, they’ll continue to grab headlines on geek sites.
The previewed box art has also revealed Green Lantern and Joker – but they were kind of obvious choices.
But I just want to know if the game is going to feature Robin! And I’ll keep saying this in the hopes that one of the developers reads my blog, but what would be a cooler match up in this type of game than Batman vs. Robin? The teacher vs. the student! It’s classic! Nightwing is in the game, sure, but he’s not Robin anymore. People know Robin. People know the Dynamic Duo that is Batman and Robin. A fight between the two of them still holds a lot of oomph behind it!
So make it happen, NetherRealm! Don’t make me tell you again!
Also, speaking of Green Arrow, look for my review of the first episode of Arrow later today or this weekend.
Larfleeze is Kinda, Sorta, Maybe Gonna Get His Own Series!
Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern, is one of my absolute favorite new comic book characters introduced in the past couple years. He’s crazy, in a fun way, and he rocks the color orange almost as well as Otto. He’s been kind of a stinker in the pages of Green Lantern: New Guardians in the New 52, so it seems that DC is going to give him his own series, written by space and joke master Keith Giffen!
Or actually, Larfleeze is going to get some back-up features in a new cosmic superhero comic entitled Threshold.
Reach harder, you lovable bastard!
Giffen is one of the geniuses that wrote Marvel’s Annihilation series, which was this huge space-based Marvel story that completely rewrote the entire Marvel space landscape. You know the Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out in two years? That movie exists because of the work that Giffen did with Marvel’s space characters. So now that he’s working for DC, they’ve decided to let Giffen have similar fun with all of DC’s space characters. Could be a real blast.
But I’m mostly interested in the Larfleeze back up stories that are going to be a part of Threshold.
For those who don’t know, Larfleeze is the Orange Lantern; similar, of course, to the Green Lantern. A few years ago, writer Geoff Johns blew up the Green Lantern mythos, introducing some stellar new concepts and ideas that remain popular to this day. One of those is the idea that ‘Green’ is just one color in the entire Lantern spectrum, and that there are other groups out there, not just the Green Lantern Corps. There’s the Sinestro Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, the Star Sapphires, the Indigo Tribe…and then there is Larfleeze, the only Orange Lantern. The color orange represents greed in the emotional spectrum, and Larfleeze is an alien psychopath who is obsessed with his own power and owning stuff.
He’s comedic gold! And I’m very much looking forward to this series now.
Giffen had this to say about Larfleeze:
Yeah, there’s always going to be humor in everything I do, but with Larfleeze, he’s just such an outrageous character that you can do a lot with him. His first adventure is going to be dark humor, because he is, of course, greedy and self-centered and mean. So if you find that funny, then you’re going to find this story hilarious.
Sounds excellent to me! You can read the whole interview at Newsarama.
Saying Goodbye to the Ponds
I wasn’t as broken up about the loss of Amy and Rory Pond in Doctor Who as I have been about some of the previous companions, but I’ve no doubt that if they’d actually filmed and included this deleted scene, I would have been in tears!
SPOILERS, of course, for what happened to the Ponds…though I think everyone already knows that the Ponds were leaving Doctor Who.
That was heart-breaking! The final fate of the Ponds, as well as a goodbye to Brian Pond. This scene was apparently written but never filmed. That’s definitely Rory’s voice, so someone toyed around with it. Gloriously sad scene. They should have included it in the episode.
What did the rest of you think about the mid-season finale of Doctor Who Season 7? I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a review of all six episodes, but I dunno…mostly because I wasn’t too impressed or elated by Season 7 so far. But what did you guys think? I know I’ve got some Whovians in my readership. Let me know in the comments!
