Comic Books (And The Movies / Shows Based On Them)

Thanos is on the Marvel/Disney cartoon 'Avengers Assemble' this morning, wielding the Infinity Gauntlet.

In related news, my Gauntlet is at my local post office. It will be in my hands tomorrow. Then they will ALL PAY.

So...more enraging Marvel announcements for Secret Wars. They are redoing the Korvac Saga, and it will be as much the (new) Guardians as Avengers.

For those unfamiliar, the Korvac Saga is one of the most famous Avengers storylines from the '70s. It's about a human named Michael Korvac who becomes a near-cosmic entity. Like the best Marvel bad guys, he is more damaged than evil.

http://www.newsarama.com/23670-dan-abnett-on-korvac-saga.html

Someone please tell me why they are doing this. As they still have relationships with great writers, including Jim Starlin, Brian Michael Bendis, Rick Remender, Gerry Duggan and J. Michael Straczynski, why are they re-doing classic stories in mutilated form instead of getting the good writers to write new ones? I know at least half a dozen aspiring comics writers (not counting me) who would happily give them new stories.

New Age of Ultron trailer. The more I hear it, the more I like Spader as the voice of Ultron. Not what I pictured over years of reading the character, but it works.


EDIT: If you pay really close attention, you can see the Vision fighting alongside the other Avengers.

A whole lot of comics movie and TV news today.

1st off, Wolverine 3 is supposed to start shooting in 2016. Next, Jared Leto has a new haircut, supposedly for playing the Joker in Suicide Squad. Third, the possibility of an Agents of SHIELD / Daredevil crossover is being floated.

Perhaps the most interesting, IMHO - John Barrowman (Captain Jack from Doctor Who and Merlin from Arrow) is developing a mini series based on a recent Heavy Metal story. That could open up a whole shitload of Heavy Metal material for TV, if it is successful. Lots of great stories there over the years.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/arrow-star-john-barrowman-heavy-779318

http://www.newsarama.com/23712-jame...f-s-h-i-e-l-d-netflix-crossover-and-more.html

News for Gotham fans- Jada Pinkett-Smith said in an interview this morning that she is likely not returning as Fish Mooney next season. Though she then said that Fish could turn up anywhere. Apparently she only signed a one year deal and has not re-signed as of yet.

http://www.newsarama.com/23721-fish-mooney-out-of-gotham-jada-pinkett-smith-talks.html

Not a big comics or graphic novel fan but I heard so much about Here by Richard McGuire that I ordered it. "Read" it on Friday evening (vaked) and it blew me away. Maybe not quite as awesome second time round in an unaltered state but a nice book, a good experience.

Ricardo said:

Not a big comics or graphic novel fan but I heard so much about Here by Richard McGuire that I ordered it. "Read" it on Friday evening (vaked) and it blew me away. Maybe not quite as awesome second time round in an unaltered state but a nice book, a good experience.

Click to expand...

Haven't heard of this one before, but it sounds like it's inspired by a form of history that resurged in the 90s- the history of extremely small spaces (like one book whose title escapes me right now that was the history of a single acre in the American South). I have added Here to my list to be ordered when I get paid.

In other graphic novel news, images have been released for the upcoming Jim Starlin installment of Thanos, The Infinity Relativity, coming out as a Marvel Graphic novel June 2. First images at
http://www.newsarama.com/23719-than...galaxy-in-infinity-relativity-first-look.html.

It involves the Guardians and Adam Warlock.

And on a different topic, another collectible- full-size steel Captain America shield. can have that on one hand and the Infinity Gauntlet on the other.

arf777 said:

Haven't heard of this one before, but it sounds like it's inspired by a form of history that resurged in the 90s- the history of extremely small spaces (like one book whose title escapes me right now that was the history of a single acre in the American South). I have added Here to my list to be ordered when I get paid.

Click to expand...

Strangely, a lot of my weekend reading/viewing has been very much centered on small(ish) spaces: There was Here, then the movie The Babadook which is mostly what happens in the house, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie () which is of its time and set (I'm pretty sure) in L.A. but mostly the guys' house, Tom Hanks in The 'Burbs which is set in a small residential area , a "Storyville" documentary set in a Japanese Love Hotel called Love Hotel (incredible stuff) and Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth set in five taxis

Are you at all familiar with micro history? There are two versions- original is best illustrated by Carlo Ginzburg's The Cheese and the Worms- micro in the sense that it is a whole book on the weird theology proposed by a singe miller interrogated by the Inquisition, during which he lied out a whole cosmology including alleging the moon was made of cheese and worms. http://www.amazon.com/The-Cheese-Worms-Cosmos-Sixteenth-Century/dp/0801843871. Or the Devil in the White City- a history of a notorious serial killer who mostly worked the tiny area of the Chicago Columbian Exhibition.

Then there is the later version that focused on small spaces. Kind of like mixing Ginzburg and architectural theory a la early postmodernism. Includes histories of specific buildings and public spaces, sometimes over centuries. Some work on Cahokia/Monk's Mound was written that way, as are some classical histories (like histories of the Athenian Acropolis or of the Roman Forum). Still trying to find my copy of my book on the one acre spot. Cannot remember the title but I have a hard copy somewhere.

Seems like Here takes that even further, though fictionally.

I love Night on Earth. Especially the Italian sequence ("The pumpkins!").

arf777 said:

Are you at all familiar with micro history?

Click to expand...

The short answer is no, but it sure is interesting....

Ricardo said:

Not a big comics or graphic novel fan but I heard so much about Here by Richard McGuire that I ordered it. "Read" it on Friday evening (vaked) and it blew me away. Maybe not quite as awesome second time round in an unaltered state but a nice book, a good experience.

Click to expand...

BTW- if you want to try comic-based graphic novels to see if you like the genre, probably the best ones to start with, IMHO, are Alan Moore's. Especially Batman: The Killing Joke (can get that for less than $10 new on amazon - http://smile.amazon.com/Batman-Kill...d=1425843117&sr=1-1&keywords=the+killing+joke) and everybody knows who Batman and the Joker are, so you don't need to know comics to get it.

Then, if you like that, Moore's Watchmen. More expensive, longer, and more convoluted. But head-and-shoulders above the movie, and again, no knowledge of comic book continuity needed.

If you like those, you can then try some of the legendary ones that do connect directly with comics, like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's 1978 Silver Surfer graphic novel or Lee and Moebius' Silver Surfer. Then I'd recommend anything by Jim Starlin, one of the few people who both writes and does the art, and writes both comics and graphic novels. He's a personal favorite, and is becoming more and more popular- Thanos, the bad guy from Guardians of the Galaxy and at least two upcoming Avengers movies, is his creation (and the subject of most of his graphic novels). Plus his Dreadstar comics and graphic novels are being developed for television.

For great graphic novels that have no relation to comics at all, check out Art Spiegelman's Maus (about the Holocaust, but with mice as Jews and cats as Nazis, heavy but brilliant), or Will Eisner's Contract with God, considered by some to be the first graphic novel, about life in a Bronx tenement (based on Eisner's childhood).

New Daredevil trailer. D'onofrio looking much more like the Kingpin in this than in the stills from a little while ago. I assume he starts out less Kingpin-ey and gets more so as time goes on.


Also from the straight-up comic book world, an odd looking new armored or robotic Bat-man?



http://www.newsarama.com/23742-meet-dc-s-all-new-batman.html

1st episode of Brian Michael Bendis' Powers premiered today on Playstation network. You can watch it for free at http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/trailers/417999-watch-the-first-episode-of-sonys-powers-series#/slide/1

Here is the direct Youtube link, but you may have to sign in to watch it that way. The above link you don't have to.


And a new trailer for the rest of season 1 of The Flash, including Mark Hamill as the Trickster (which he was in a previous version of The Flash)

Oh. My. God. My two favorite characters. I even have both of the action figures in the pic from the announcement.

http://www.newsarama.com/23795-marvel-s-deadpool-vs-thanos-coming-fall-2015.html

Though I swore to myself I had to stop spending $$$ on comics collectibles, I did it again. Just bought a new in box version of the rare 2013 San Diego ComicCon Deadpool Corps set with the taco truck. As soonas I got my VAS and GAS under some kind of control, I go all comics nuts. What is a geek to do?



Includes Deadpool, Lady Deadpool, Kidpool, Dogpool, SquirrelPool, and ChampionPool. All packaged in taco shells.

A treat for Jack Kirby fans- I cannot believe I did not know this existed. Back in 1973, when the NFL was still somewhat cool and not just corporate, they hired Jack Kirby to imagine a futuristic version of football. Here is the main pic.



Here's link to more of the art from this awesome project.
http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/jack-kirbys-1973-nfl-artwork-fantastic-trippy-hell

Deadpool begins filming! Yes!!!

http://comicbook.com/2015/03/16/ryan-reynolds-morena-baccarin-have-begun-filming-deadpool-/

So what did folks think of last night's Flash? Eobard Thawne?!?!

For comic relief- me as Deadpool, AKA Arfpool (or maybe Beardpoo or Vapepool)

No idea how I missed that this exists- Jack Kirby documentary on youtube-


And in the news- it's official, TJ Miller is playing Weasel in Deadpool, according to the actor's own tweets. Which means they are sticking with the Joe Kelly-era based script, which also means Morena Bacarin is Vanessa/Copycat rather than Outlaw or one of the other Deadpool ladies.

http://screenrant.com/deadpool-cast-tj-miller/

Two interesting bits of news, both in some way Deadpool related.

First, according to Ryan Reynolds, there is still a chance the Deadpool movie could be R instead of PG-13. And in the same article, news that the Deadpool writer whose work the script is based on, Joe Kelly, has another project in development, a film adaptation of his graphic novel 'I Kill Giants'. And according to at least one source, Kelly himself may write the script. He has written many TV scripts before- as part of 'Man of Action' he has written many episodes of Ben 10, Ultimate Spider-man, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H, to name a few.

And something i do not actually care about- James Wan, director of some horror flicks and 'Furious 7', might direct an unspecified DC film. Never seen any of the Fast and Furious stuff or the horror he directed, so I have no clue if this is good news or bad for DC. He's pretty much gotta be better than Zack Snyder though.

http://www.newsarama.com/23887-joe-...er-and-director-james-wan-talks-dc-films.html

Well @arf777 , I know how you feel about DC (), but I decided to make the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" my next set of comics to read.

I actually haven't read any comics for quite a while now - after I got all caught up on Sin City and Hellboy and Walking Dead I got sorta lost ...

Not sure where I'll go next - maybe the original TMNT stuff? Or maybe some more X-men ...

So many to choose from and so little time, it can make a guy indecisive.

@EveryDayAmnesiac I'd actually like to read the DC back catalog, especially Crisis, some of the Green Arrow-Green Lantern and The Flash of my childhood, some vintage Batman. But until DC creates a subscription service like Marvel Unlimited, it ain't gonna happen. Not gonna spend the money necessary.

Something you might want to check out- the few official Marvel/DC crossovers, especially JLA/Avengers and Amalgam Comics. You can get JLA/Avengers pretty cheap. Not the best writing or art, but its fun seeing Superman and Batman interact with Captain America and Thor.

DC can surprise you sometimes.

They did some beautiful work in the 70s and 80s, especially Kirby, Moore and Miller. Just cost a lot to get access to. It

@EveryDayAmnesiac - I think I have mentioned it before- there are two options for really good deals on unlimited reading of some digital comics collections. Marvel Unlimited is $9.99/month and allows reading of thousands of back issues of Marvel, including X-men, Fantastic Four, Thor, Hulk and Avengers back to the Silver Age, almost every Wolverine issue ever, and all but the Joe Kelly Deadpool.

And now Scribd has a comics collection as well, includes some Silver Age Marvel, plus some indies and defunct publishers back to the Golden Age.

But STILL no access to the DC catalog without buying individual copies either on paper or digitally. Only upside there is you can get some of that cheap in hard copy - recently got a new hardcover edition of The Killing Joke for $8. But $2 more and you get a month to read thousands of titles from either Marvel or Scribd.

And in news today, Ryan Reynolds tweeted this: