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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 11/17/12
AvX: Consequences has been cleaning up as the best comic of the week in all the initial Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews, but DC Comics isn’t about to give up just yet. They launched an onslaught of Batman titles this week (at least 2), playing into their revitalized Joker. Was I impressed? Maybe. Has it changed my opinion at all about the Joker? Well you’ll just have to read on to see. Suffice to say, Batman #14 earns the title of Comic Book of the Week! But don’t count Marvel out completely. They launch new X-Men and Thor comics, possibly for the better. And believe you me, the new Thor may be the best Marvel NOW! has to offer so far!
Yes, yes, we all fondly remember The Dark Knight Returns
Comic Reviews: All-New X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #697, Batman #14, Batman and Robin #14, Thor: God of Thunder #1 and Wolverine and the X-Men #20.
Somewhere a Marvel Marketing Exec is Giggling
I told you guys yesterday about the new Iron Man series, well now it’s Thor’s turn, complete with cover image and interview with writer Jason Aaron. Why is someone in Marvel marketing giggling? Because they’ve been drip feeding us these reveals over the past two weeks.
So that’s Thor: God of Thunder #1, written by Jason Aaron (who knows I exist) and drawn by Esad Ribic. You can read their full interview here, if you’re interested. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Thor, so I doubt I’ll be picking up this new series. I just feel like telling you guys all about this stuff in case you’re interested.
And because I’m now finding it all very giggly.
Marvel has this big Marvel NOW! initiative coming out in the fall. It’s nothing too fancy. Basically they’re just putting out a bunch of new #1 issues, with some new creative teams on the popular characters. They do this every couple of years, but each time they want to make it sound super fancy so that people will buy it. That’s fine. People gotta buy comics. But now Marvel marketing has the task of letting everybody know about the new series coming out. How do they do that? By flooding the comic news sites day after day after day.
Every day last week, Marvel released a little teaser image that gave a hint about the new series as well as the new creative team. They looked like this:
Why yes, I am very worthy, thank you
And every major comic book news site – except for me – put those banners on their front page. They were also able to figure out what comic it would be. Worthy = Thor. And Marvel released one a day until Friday, where it just dumped the remaining four.
Flash forward to this week, and it seems that Marvel is once again releasing this stuff one day at a time. Yesterday was Iron Man, today is Thor, and tomorrow will probably be Deadpool.
So I’m just picturing some Marvel marketing exec who decided that rather than reveal all the comics in one big announcement, they’d instead drip them out one day at a time, thereby ensuring they would have major placement on all the news sites each day. That guy is probably giggling and slapping himself on the back. He may even ask for a raise. There isn’t really a point I’m trying to make, I just think that guy is silly.
And yes, I recognize the irony of posting this stuff every day it comes out. No need to point that out.
I Guess Thor’s Gonna Fight Dark Elves After All
Against my recommendation, apparently Thor: The Dark World is going to be about the dark elves. Deadline is reporting that Christopher Eccleston, the 9th Doctor, has been cast as Malekith the Accursed, leader of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim.
Calm down little man, nobody cares
I think this is a terrible idea.
Was there anyone who thought the best thing about the first Thor were the frost giants?
I get that Marvel wants to push the mystical, mythological angle for Thor in his solo movies. And I know that people are a little more accepting of stuff like elves and dwarves after Lord of the Rings. But the movie going public is not that accepting. Thor was a hard enough sell to begin with, but Marvel made it work by focusing on his earthbound adventures. The frost giants were just a small part of the overall story.
So why befuddle the next movie by focusing on the dark elves? It’s not like the dark elves or Malekith are a big part of Thor’s world. Take it from a comic book geek, I don’t know of any story ever about Malekith. The dude is as obscure as any villain ever.
You know, his Doctor wasn’t as dour as everybody seems to think
Thor has a lot more earth-based, easy to understand super-villains. You tread into a world of dark elves and high fantasy and Thor is gonna get lost. I’m just sayin’…
Marvel Movie News from Comic-Con
The biggest news to come out of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, in my opinion, were the announcements of Marvel’s next batch of superhero movies. There was a lot of stuff going down at Comic-Con, but I think this was the biggest. WB made some mention of their next Superman movie, but I’m not too impressed. It’s the Marvel stuff that has me excited!
So even though it’s old news at this point, I still want to give my two cents.
First up, the announcement I’ve been waiting for: Ant-Man!
I’ve been following Ant-Man coverage for as long as I’ve had this blog, and to finally get the official announcement that Edgar Wright is going to start directing is exciting! Not to mention finally getting that logo. Plus the minute-long test reel that he filmed last month was shown in its entirety to the crowd. I, of course, haven’t seen it, and it hasn’t made it to Youtube yet. But You can check out some Twitter reactions here.
From what I’ve managed to gather, the Ant-Man suit is black with red fringe, and it looks more like Eric O’Grady’s more modern costume. It’s steampunkish, I guess. Filming is expected to begin next year, and I am very excited.
Ant-Man is quite possibly the movie I am most looking forward to out of all movies in the next 5 or so years. And that includes Avengers 2.
Iron Man 3 actually had a mini-trailer shown at Comic-Con, which is kind of exciting. Who knows when we’ll get to see the first real trailer, but I’m excited that the film is coming along so well. Apparently in the footage people saw the Iron Man armor simply flying across the room to Stark, rather than having him standing in a giant machine that puts the armor on him manually. Now he controls it with his mind – which is the point of the Extremis storyline in the comics, of which the new movie will be based. Although considering that the armor looks like…
I can’t say I’m too pleased. That’s supposed to be his new Iron Man 3 armor, and it looks silly. Who though it would be a good idea to inverse the gold and the red? It looks hideous.
Though we do have confirmation that Ben Kingsley is playing a variation of the Mandarin, which is awesome! Ben Kingsley seems perfect for the role, and I definitely wanted Mandarin in this film. That he won’t be the a negative stereotype Chinese man is fine. PC him up a little. Works for me.
Not much news came in about Thor 2, other than the fact that they’re not going to call it ‘Thor 2’. I find that fascinating, considering that all of the Iron Man sequels have been numbered. Calling it ‘Thor 2’ just seems obvious. But ‘The Dark World’? Sounds foreboding. I’m hoping he goes to visit the Underworld, otherwise known as ‘Hel’ in the Norse mythos.
It makes a little more sense that the Captain America sequel has a subtitle, since his first film was Captain America: The First Avenger. So at least Captain America: The Winter Soldier is keeping that bit. Again, not much news came out other than the title – but what an exciting title. That is the exact #6 suggestion on my list of 6 Things I Want in the Captain America, Iron Man and Thor sequels. So I’m glad to see that Marvel Studios are reading my blog lists. The Winter Soldier is a badass character with potential for a badass storyline. So I’m excited.
We all knew it was coming, and Marvel has finally confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy will be coming out in 2014. I still think this is a risk on their part. Obviously movies about space heroes have had some success in the past. But I think it’s going to be jarring for the public to be thrown into this space-themed world when they’re expecting the more grounded, realistic Avengers sort of superhero action. And say what you will about The Avengers film, it was definitely grounded in realism. They may have been larger than life heroes fighting an endless army of aliens, but compared to what they could have done, that film was riding on its sense of realism.
I don’t know if Guardians of the Galaxy can do the same thing. Especially not with this cast.
The Avengers in Space!
That’s real, actual concept art from the upcoming film. We’ve got, from left, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Starlord, Rocket Raccoon and Gamora. Anyone not familiar with this group click here for an earlier write up I wrote on the comic and team. It looks like a fantastic team, and one that sticks very close to the series that came out a few years ago. But again, I just think the non-comics-loving movie audience isn’t going to grasp the Guardians of the Galaxy the same way they did The Avengers.
Though I will always be behind a movie that brings Rocket Raccoon to the masses.
Review: The Avengers
The Avengers was phenomenal. It was amazing. It was deliriously wicked. It was the perfect blend of mind-blowing action and heart-tugging giddiness. I could wear out the Thesaurus with the ways in which The Avengers movie lived up to everything I had hoped, and shined in ways I could not have imagined. We comic book geeks have been waiting for this movie our entire lives (and more specifically, since 2008), and Marvel Comics and director Joss Whedon have delivered a superhero extravaganza!
The new kings and queen of Hollywood
The Avengers is not only now the definitive superhero movie, it has raised the bar for all Hollywood blockbusters that will ever be made from this day forth.
Rating: 5/5: Great!
With The Avengers, this grand, long-gestating experiment by the Marvel movie people has come to glorious fruition. I always had faith that they could pull it off. Iron Man in 2008 was a brilliant film, and when Samuel L. Jackson appeared at the very end and teased ‘The Avengers Initiative’, I knew there was hope. Then The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, all came along over the past few years, each one exciting and highly entertaining. I’m a fan of all of these films. But could Marvel really pull off The Avengers? Could they not only bring all of these major characters together into one film, but have it make sense and live up to the overwhelming hype?
I should be ashamed for even including those questions in my review. The answer is so incredibly ‘HELLS YES!!’ that I’m almost afraid of having my Internet License revoked.
Every Avenger gets a moment (or more) to shine. The humor is legitimately funny and delightful. The fights and action scenes are clear and exciting, with no blurring or over-editing. The Avengers are people first, action stars second; with a lot of character-based drama. Loki as the villain is far better here than he was in Thor, and easily carries the antagonist role. The climax was sufficiently chilling and climactic.
And the Hulk absolutely steals the show, smashing his way into our hearts. I could not be more pleased with this movie.
Some **SPOILERS** to follow.
Henchman-4-Hire 