Tagged: Captain America

Cap In The Saddle Again

  • News
  • October 16, 2007

O.K. By now you’re heard that "Captain America" will be returning to Captain America, in issue #34. Place your orders today, folks!

I have no problem with Cap’s return. It was inevitable. That’s fine. I don’t know if it’ll be Steve Rogers resurrected; I certainly hope not. That sort of shoddy storytelling got tiresome about 20 years ago. Like the flag and the nation for which he was named, Captain America endures and that’s fine by me.

I’m not going to join the loud chorus of nay-sayers who have been pooping all over Alex Ross’s brand-new costume design. Cap’s got a gun and a knife? Bg deal. He’s a soldier, remember? If a gun was good enough for Alex Schaumberg, it’s good enough for Ross and for me.

However, there is a storytelling problem here. If the costume is so vital that it must survive as the skin of another, as it had before in the 1950s, then why change the costume? I guess we’ll find out. I hope we’ll find out. (more…)

Marvel costume contest

  • News
  • September 18, 2007

asm262-200-4469756This could be fun: Marvel wants to see you in your costume and they’re handing out prizes to the best-dressed Marvel fans.  All you have to do is head over to www.marvel.com/costumecontest right now to enter Marvel’s First Annual Costume Contest!

 

The deadline for submissions is October 22.  Then, from October 23 through October 29, fans will be able to vote on Marvel.com for their favorite entry. Then, before you go trick-or-treating, check Marvel.com on Halloween day to see if you’re one of the winners of Marvel’s First Annual Costume Contest and Marvel Costume Contest Voter Sweepstakes

 

The Grand Prize Winner will receive a personalized ‘handbook style’ page to appear in a Marvel comic book and be spotlighted in a feature article on Marvel.com along with a signed Captain America Omnibus by Ed Brubaker; plus, one randomly selected voter will win a signed Captain America Omnibus by Ed Brubaker for helping judge the competition.

Now if they’re really serious, they’ll make a cover out of the costume.

WW-CHICAGO: Marvel Still Civil

  • News
  • August 12, 2007

Wild Weather on the East Coast Friday stranded most of the Mondo Marvel panelists in New York (hmmm… wonder how ComicMix‘s E.I.C. made it out that evening), leaving Joe Quesada and C. B. Cebuliski to fend for themselves while sharing with the crowd images and news from upcoming Marvel projects.

One other panelist, Rob Liefeld, who was there to talk about his new Killraven series. Apparently thought up at a bar in San Diego last year, Liefeld and Rob Kirkman will be bringing us an all-new take on the charactertarting fresh and looking to integrate Killraven into the Marvel Universe of the future – a world where our heroes are gone but their artifacts remain, one piece of art had Killraven holding Captain America’s shield. Look for the book in mid-2008. Reminding us that the creators of comics were and are comics fans themselves, Liefeld took some time to talk about his love for the character (and his DC counter-part Kamandi) during his childhood, you could hear the 11 year old Rob coming through loud and clear.

Luke Cage is back in his tiara and yellow shirt now that writer/artist (and Cartoon Network legend) Genny Tartakovsky has gotten a hold of him. The new artist on Punisher War Journal is Corey Walker. Doing his first work for Marvel, Tan Eng Huat (Doom Patrol) will be the artist on the mini-series Silver Surfer: In Thy Name, to be written by Simon Spurrier (2000 A.D.). I wonder if that news blows the ending of the current Silver Surfer mini.

Up next for Paul Jenkins will be a limited series drawn by Paul Guluay called Penance: Relentless about “the most hated man in America.”

Quesada and Cebuliski also said there are some big shake ups (an end?) coming to the Ultimates Universe by year’s end, and we’ll be seeing the "real" Nick Fury back in action next year.

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

  • News
  • August 11, 2007

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin, and the cotton is high.  Or so I’m told.  Living in a major metropolitan area in the twenty-first century, I have to take such things on faith.

This summer, the fun times for someone like me are largely political.  The presidential election is over a year away.  The first primaries are six months away.  Nothing is going to be decided any time soon, so I can pretend it will all turn out for the best. 

I spent the summer I was 15 going “clean for Gene,” campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, who was running against Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform.  Four years later, I ran as an alternate delegate for George McGovern. Four years ago, I nearly got arrested outside the Republican convention up the street from here.  Presidential campaigns are fun!

Which is not to say they couldn’t be much more fun.  The problem is that presidential candidates tend to be politicians.  They spend all their time hustling campaign funds, writing policy, and meeting the public.  They go on the Sunday morning news shows and show how serious they are.  They go on Oprah or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to show they’re regular folks who can take a joke.

They don’t save the world from alien invasions.  They don’t even fight crime.

Presidential campaigns would be a lot more fun if, instead of Republicans versus Democrats, it was Marvel versus DC.   For example debates between:

 

Captain America and Superman on immigration reform.

Luke Cage and John (Green Lantern) Stewart on affirmative action.

Thor and Wonder Woman about the separation of Church and State.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne on the inheritance tax.

Storm and Aquaman on global warming.

The Punisher and Batman on prison reform.

Professor X and Green Arrow on family values.

The Avengers and the Justice League on national security.

(more…)

Marvel’s upcoming slate

  • News
  • August 8, 2007

In presenting its 2Q 2007 report yesterday, Marvel unveiled that it is producing Hulk Smash, a new animated direct-to-DVD movie that will be released by Lionsgate in October 2008.  Concerning its first two self-produced live-action feature films, Marvel has completed production on Iron Man while The Incredible Hulk began production in July, and the two movies are slated for release in 2008 on May 2 and June 13 respectively.  Marvel’s additional movie, TV and stage projects in the works include:

  • Wolverine (Fox) – Gavin Hood to direct and Hugh Jackman stars
  • Punisher 2 (Lionsgate) – Lexi Alexander will direct, starring newcomer Ray Stevenson.

As we noted in yesterday’s Big ComicMix Broadcast, in development at Marvel Studios we have:

  • Ant-Man, writers Edward Wright and Joe Cornish; Wright also directs
  • Captain America, David Self/writer
  • Nick Fury, Andrew Marlow/writer
  • Thor, Mark Protosevich/writer
  • The Avengers, Zak Penn/writer.

In animated TV series development:

  • Spider-Man, with Sony, with a distribution deal in place with Kids’ WB
  • Wolverine and The X-Men (26 episodes) developed by India’s First Serve Toonz
  • Iron Man (26 episodes) developed by Method Films in France.

There are two more animated direct-to-video DVDs with Lionsgate: Doctor Strange comes out next week and Teen Avengers is slated for July 2008.

And finally, the most terrifying project that’s literally in the wings: Spider-Man the Musical, featuring music and lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge the show will be directed by Julie Taymor, and produced by Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment, and SONY Pictures Entertainment.

Whew.

MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Profit of Cash

486136925_ec5fc13f8d-6540263I just came out of a screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth installment of the series, and before I go spouting off my likes and dislikes, I wanted to forewarn anybody reading this review that my expertise is vastly limited in the world of J.K Rowling. While I’ve never read the books, and it’s not due to a disliking or laziness, I just find the concept of visual storytelling much more effective than having me conjure up images from the deep and dark recesses of my imagination.

With that said, I want readers to understand that I’m reviewing this film as just that, a film, and not so much a visual appendage of the book. So please keep the hate mail that starts off with “You ignorant twit…” to a minimum.

Now that that is out of the way, I loved the film. It had all of the visual aspects and plot maturity that the previous films were leading up to, and I know we are only going upwards from here. The last film left us with the big reveal of nose-less Ralph Fiennes as our quintessential baddie Lord Voldemort, and Harry taking his first step of many into adulthood. There lies my biggest problem with the film, but we’ll take it slow, as per usual.

Putting our best foot forward, the visual effects never cease to amaze me in each of these films. Each director (in this case, BBC veteran David Yates) has brought a different look and feel to the film they were charged with, and gave the film an entirely fresh feel, without diverting too far from the original text. In this film, we get more special effects than any of its previous predecessors. Between CG’d giants, to CG’d fireworks, even to Ralph Fiennes CG’d lack of a nose, there is certainly more computer graphics in this film than you can wave a stick at. Though through all of this, not once was I taken out of the mythos by a lack of belief, all thanks to the superior visual effects.

By far my favorite aspect of the film to talk about, and probably the one that will get me in the most trouble, is the undertone used throughout the first and second act. That undertone being the same thing that has fueled some of the most important science fiction and fantasy films of our era, and probably before that. This message of course is essentially “Damn the Man!”

(more…)

Bid on dinner with Joss Whedon at Comic-Con

There are some parties at San Diego that are impossible to get into. Sometimes, it’s better to get into a nice quiet upscale dinner, and even those can be amazing — I happened to be at one two years ago where the food was great and the stories were stunning.

But this might be the topper for the year: Joss Whedon (Astonishing X-Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain America’s surrender in Civil War) is auctioning off five seats at a dinner table with him at the San Diego Comic-Con this year. Bidding is up to over $4000 a seat with a week to go. Here’s a link to one of the seats, but check on eBay as there are five separate ones and eBay didn’t set this up as a Dutch Auction.

Dinner will be on July 27th in San Diego, and 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit Equality Now. Here’s Joss making a speech for them:

Hat tip: Heidi MacDonald.

DENNIS O’NEIL: Continued stories revisited yet again…

In last week’s installment of what some of you may be beginning to think is an endless blather, when I was discussing movie serials I neglected to mention that serials were among the first non-comics forms to use superheroes. During that decade, lucky young popcorn eaters could see Superman, Batman, Captain America and, in my opinion the best of them all, Captain Marvel in the continued chapter plays that were a staple of Saturday matinees. (That probably doesn’t exhaust the list, but memory is not my greatest gift… At least I don’t think so…) Having seen some of the above-mentioned entertainments, and having, within the past two weeks, seen the Spider-Man and Fantastic Four movies, I realize that the serial makers were born too soon.

Because, let’s face it, some of the serialized costumed do-gooders look kind of silly. That’s because the directors lacked the technology to make them not look silly. It takes an army of costumers, model makers, CGI wizards, animators and, probably, guys whose jobs I’ve never heard of to produce, on the screen, what cartoonists produced with ink on paper in large quantities for lousy pay. Of course, we comics readers had to bring some of our own imaginations to the artists’ static, silent images, but that was okay, we could do that.

Consider the preceding two paragraphs a digression, please. And now we return to our regularly scheduled topic –

What about these continued stories, anyway? Good or bad? Pro or con?

Let’s begin with the obvious con. If you come in late, maybe you’ll have trouble understanding the story. There are remedies for this problem. The serial makers mentioned in the opening digression showed the last minute or so of the preceding chapter before getting on to new material. The old radio serials used a similar technique, and a lot of current television shows begin with a voice over intoning something like, “Previously, on Your Father’s Moustache…” and then we get brief takes of the scenes that will escort us into the new action.

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MIKE GOLD: My All-Time Favorite Comic Book Cover

mikegold100-3788233They don’t draw comic book covers like this any more. And, well, that might be a good thing.

These days, we’re in a phase where covers are particularly boring. When it comes to the great American staple, the heroic fantasy comic, most are over art directed and too posh for their own good. Few actually have anything to do with the story inside; they are simply generic poster shots. When I stare at the big Wall-O-Comics at most shops, my eyes quickly glaze over. They generate little enthusiasm and manage to completely ignore the sense of wonder that makes comics magic. At best, I walk away from the Wall thinking “gee, that Captain America cover sure would make a swell statue.”

Yes, I still use the word “swell.” I’m trying to bring it back.

Look at a few of the really great covers. If you’re at all interested in the genre, how can you pass ‘em up? They are exciting, intriguing and most of all, they appeal to the sense of wonder.

141_4_000000156-1511909 1570_4_00033-4531937

1749_4_126-3256716 xxx-2128657

Yeah, they’re all ancient. But don’t try to tell me they’re childish. Putting on a mask and fighting crime and/or evil as the result of some event that wouldn’t even cut it in Greek tragedy is childish. We’re simply negotiating the price.

However, some covers were simply wonderfully absurd. They are so far over the top you’ve just got to check them out. In fact, there are so many of them that there’s an entire website devoted to the topic, run by cartoonist Scott Shaw!. It’s called Oddball Comics and you’ve got to check it out. He’s got about a trillion such covers there. But I don’t know if he’s got my all-time favorite comic book cover.

  (more…)

ROBERT GREENBERGER talks Civil War

  • News
  • June 20, 2007

bobgreenberger100-6328820It must come as quite a shock to you. We’re talking about a profound cultural shift for the betterment of mankind, People want this, Richard. They need the superhumans of the world to be responsible, properly trained, qualified…and ultimately held accountable. That’s what the initiative is all about. We’re trying to move out of the dark ages of masked vigilantes into a brighter future where tragedies like Stamford can’t ever happen again.

– Tony Stark to Richard Ryder, Nova #2.

World War Hulk began last week and we saw the jade-jawed giant arrive on Earth with a pretty big mad on. With less than twenty-four hours to evacuate Manhattan, Doctor Strange and his, er, estranged Avengers offer to help Iron Man clear the populace. Shellhead magnanimously offers amnesty for their help.

Welcome to the new status quo in the Marvel Universe. The dust continues to settle from the brawl that was Civil War and with all of Earth confronted by a new menace, now’s not a bad time to assess the new political landscape.

After the Mutant Registration Act, unveiled in Uncanny X-Men #181 and passed into law, required all mutants in America to be registered. Those not complying faced criminal charges. Once that was passed, a parallel super-hero or super-power act was an obvious follow up and came up during the Acts of Vengeance crossover. Fantastic Four #335 began the first serious examination of such an act. Reed Richards addressed a congressional subcommittee saying such an act was unnecessary. His odd argument that such a law wouldn’t be followed by the villains anyway struck an odd chord.

While American legislators dithered over it, the Superpowers Registration Act became Canadian law in Alpha Flight #120.

Years went by without much activity on either front with the Mutant law not being vigorously enforced and the super-human law a mere idea.

Then came the House of M. (more…)

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