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

arf777

No longer dogless
Pure comic book news - big bummer- today the death of Deadpool :cry:, Deadpool 45 / 250, came out (#45 in the current numbering, they got 250 by counting just about every appearance he has ever made). Can get the 80+ page issue digitally at comixology. It includes a Deadpool / Thanos story, though it is not the coming Deadpool vs Thanos. Which obviously means his 'death' is not permanent. But this is the end of the Posehn/Duggan Deadpool, and no info yet on if there is another Deadpool ongoing coming after Secret Wars or who will write it.

Of course there is other new Deadpool coming- Deadpool's Secret Wars, with him inserted into the original Secret Wars; more Return of the Living Deadpool is coming too. But those all take place before this 'death'.

https://www.comixology.com/Deadpool...uZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9pdGVtU2xpZGVy
 

arf777

No longer dogless
More video from the 'Pool movie set.

http://comicbook.com/2015/04/08/set-videos-deadpool-waves-to-fans-performs-acrobatic-stunts/

FYI, this is within sight of my older sister's apartment in VC. And she isn't even a serious Deadpool fan. I wish I could drop everything, go crash at her place and stalk the set. In my Deadpool mask. With my Cap shield. And nerf gun. And Infinity Gauntlet. And a fat sack.

I'm thinking I'd end up interacting with someone from the flick. Or, more likely, getting myself arrested and deported back to the US of A.
 

arf777

No longer dogless
So...the Vision got completely left out of the final Avengers trailer. But he is important enough that, on top of a previous trailer ending with his reveal, a poster of JUST the Vision has now been released. He looks awesome, but Joss Whedon has apparently gone all dissociative-identity-disorder on him, having special releases about him some days but leaving him completely out of trailers on other days. In fact, he has been so sporadically coy about the Vision that Entertainment Weekly has an article calling him a 'secret character from Avengers: Age of Ultron'. How is he 'secret' with two appearances in one trailer, announcements about Paul Bettany's casting, images of his costume, etc? (not to mention the original Vision appearing in comics in 1940 and the current Vision being consistently in Avengers comics since BEFORE I WAS BORN).

Or has Joss Whedon gotten so old (and / or high) that he is just forgetting about the character on some days and remembering him on others? (NOTE: Joss is only 5 years older than me, so I really hope it isn't from age).

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arf777

No longer dogless
Pretty sure He's just doing it to mess with ya arf777, that's how Joss rolls.

Heh. That's actually a great theory. Joss Whedon both knows his Marvel canon (check the parallels between the 1st Avengers movie and the 1st two issues of the Avengers comic from 1963) and likes fucking with overly obsessive-compulsive fans (which I fully admit is the category I'm in - I have no life, instead I have obsessions).
 

arf777

No longer dogless
In Fantastic Four news, first official full-on images of the Thing.

Now, I really want to like this movie. Rather, I want there to be a Fantastic Four movie that is worth liking. But the casting is questionable (my issues are with Kate Mara and the fact that the dude playing Reed Richards is YOUNGER than her), it is based in part on the, IMHO, shitty Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Victor von Doom is not NAMED VON DOOM. And now this.

For those who have not read the comic much, the real problem here is the face. The Thing arguably has the most expressive eyebrows in Marvel comics. Where are the eyebrows here?

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As a point of comparison, here is a legendary Jack Kirby Thing:

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arf777

No longer dogless
So, on episode 7 of Daredevil so far and I am pleasantly surprised. It DOES veer from canon in some big ways (Foggy Nelson's mom not a high powered attorney, wanted him to be a butcher?) but surprisingly accurate in others. They seem to be setting up The Hand to appear, among other things (Scott Glenn just turned up and is obviously the Stick).

I like that they went all the way back to Fisk wooing (his future wife and mother of his child, in the comics at least) Vanessa. Both her and Fisk really look like the comic book characters (though as is common, she is too skinny compared to her character in the books, who is a zaftig lady). Really liking the depiction of Foggy Nelson. And though Charlie Cox could look more like Daredevil in the face, his voicing of it is almost exactly what I always heard in my head when reading the character. And D'Onofrio as the Kingpin is awesome. Not sure what scene the leaked pic of him in a goatee is from - he is properly Kingpin hairless so far.

If anything, D'Onofrio is bringing too much acting skill to it, making Fisk almost sympathetic at times. IMO, one of the only villains in Marvel you don't really ever sympathize with, at least in the stuff I've read. Though I admit I haven't read as much Daredevil as I have Deadpool, Punisher, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Thanos, Silver Surfer, X-men, Avengers or Captain America. I've only read about half the Bendis Daredevil, some of the Miller, and a lot of his crossovers/teamups. Trying to get caught up on the comics now. My sister was a big Daredevil collector, not me.

Not sure how i feel about the word 'Daredevil' still not being used, and the fact that there is no word of Elektra or Typhoid Mary happening at any point. Or that Foggy does not know who Daredevil is (I admit I have no idea when in the comics Foggy learns it's his buddy Matt, but he knows in everything I've read).

But damn entertaining, with clear points of contact with the rest of the MCU. Certainly better, and more true to the spirit of the comic and characters, than Agents of SHIELD.

What do folks think so far? Anyone seen all 13 episodes yet?

Personal note- I am still more excited about Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. But Jones mainly because a) I want to see David Tennant all purpled-up and evil as Kilgrave (not often you see a Doctor Who purple and evil) and b) I want to see a Bendis created character done better than Powers.

BTW - rumors are now circulating that the Punisher, whose rights Marvel has gotten back, may be coming. The Russo's specifically hinted he may have already appeared - in Winter Soldier, two times a yellow Penske truck saves good guys by ramming into stuff at an opportune moment. During an interview, they said as far as they're concerned it was being driven by the same guy both times, and that the driver is not super-powered but has 'very impressive skills and an extreme agenda'. They've dropped other hints as well. I;m betting, if Deadpool is really rated R and does well, we will see Marvel attempt to do a hard R Punisher and finally get it right. There are also interesting interview tidbits with Alan Fine describing Daredevil as 'one bad day away from being the Punisher'. And both in the comics and the show so far, he is pretty close to Frank Castle in approach, obvious difference being he does not use guns and tries not to kill. But he does beat people into comas. Especially if both Daredevil and Deadpool (who of course DOES shoot and kill people) make big money, I'd bet on the Punisher happening in some form. Personally I think a Netflix show'd be better for the Punisher than a movie - a movie would almost inevitably be an origin story, as he is not sympathetic without the murder of his family.
 

EveryDayAmnesiac

Well-Known Member
What do folks think so far? Anyone seen all 13 episodes yet?

I've seen the first 3, and so far I've been liking it, but not wowed or anything.

I found the first ep to be a bit disappointing in that there was way too much of the "procedural cop / lawyer drama" crap (yawn) that everyone has seen far too much of on American television.

Not talking about Daredevil here, but.... Seriously, how many fucking "cop dramas" and "lawyer dramas" are enough? That's almost all you fucking see on the networks. Which really confuses me because you ask the average person what they think about cops and lawyers, and you know what the say ... Yet, people want to watch series after series after goddamn series about these people? WTF? Drives me fucking nuts.

I'm glad Daredevil moved away from that after doing the whole "establishing" thing.

The fight scenes are already getting repetitive. I mean, it's "Daredevil" doing his hand-to-hand thing against a good, professional fighter. We see the same moves, again and again. And then the "bad guy" finds a weapon, DD hears it and deals with it, then the bad guy finds another weapon, DD deals with it, etc. It's like on The Walking Dead - the zombie attacks get boring unless you find new imaginative ways to make them happen.

Glad I've been able to get to the ep where "The Employer" shows up. Vincent really has a great look for a TV representation of a comic book bad guy - a bit over the top, but down to earth enough to make it real. Can't wait to see more of him.

So they must be doing something right, since I want to watch more!

Sure as shit better than the Ben Affleck version...
 

arf777

No longer dogless
I agree with your criticisms. The fights are cool-looking but repetitive. There are some better ones later when Stick and a dude from the Hand show up, and when Fisk and Daredevil finally fight, but most of them are just DD hopping around people doing the same stuff. And I pretty much guarantee I'm sick of lawyer-drama even more than you, since I work at a big DC law firm all day. I have the added annoyance of always noticing the glaring legal errors in this crap (a murder trial within a week or so of the arrest? Not since the early 20th century in the US. A non-disclosure agreement that is ONLY about public, not private, disclosure? Never seen one like that in my whole career. And those are just the most obvious).

I also started noticing some straight-up ripoffs of Arrow. Especially how they did a continuing origin/backstory in flashback. It's a cool technique but it is kind of Arrow's signature. And of course in comparison even this relatively graphic Daredevil is not that violent. Season 1 of the Arrow was Punisher/Deadpool bodycount.

But now that I have seen the whole thing, over all I did like it. Very subtle references to Marvel canon (there is even an Elektra reference, but you have to know her backstory to catch it). And the character portrayals by the actors (less so the writers) are as perfect as I've yet seen, relative to the comics. Daredevil's dialog could use some Bendis snappiness, but the actor has the vibe right, IMO. Ditto for Foggy Nelson, the Kingpin, Stick, and surprisingly, Vanessa (soon to be Fisk), who gets more like Wilson Fisk in attitude as time goes on. Though if you know the comics, there is stuff coming with Ben Urich that'll piss you off. Especially for a character who is in so much of the Marvel Universe, you want more accuracy (in the comics, he is not just associated with Daredevil, but with Spider-man [he works with Peter Parker for a while], Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and even, during Civil War tie-ins, with the New Avengers).

I've been wondering how they could have made the fights better. In the comics, especially in the Miller run and the Bendis run, Daredevil has a distinctive, leaping-boxer fighting style, and though the art is gorgeous, he does usually use the same moves over and over. It works in comics because they can mess with perspective, color, change artists, etc. But the same actor doing it over and over in live action gets boring. Gotta give Fox credit there - Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has a pretty consistent fighting style in all the movies, as he should, but it doesn't get boring. Of course that is a movie every few years, not a 13 episode TV season watched in a binge. I bet if I watched all the Jackman movies in a row, the fights would get boring. That's one of the great things about Deadpool- he is so nuts that, by definition, he never fights the same way twice- that is how he is one of the only people who regularly beats Taskmaster, because Taskmaster cannot predict Deadpool's moves. Really hoping they give him varied styles in the flick.

Though Daredevil is not close to perfect, it is the best Marvel TV effort to date, and is, IMO, more consistent, and true to the comics, than Gotham or the Flash. And as a former New Yorker, I like that they finally allowed some of the characters to SOUND like New Yorkers. Daredevil and Foggy don't, but some of the others at least do, especially both Daredevil's and Fisk's fathers in flashback.

But Arrow, to me, is still king of the hill for TV superhero shows. Followed by Constantine (which has, as of most recent news, still been neither cancelled or renewed - I personally want to see it renewed if for no other reason than they have already teased the Spectre, a Jerry Siegel creation from 1940 connected deeply to the Green Lantern in more recent decades).

I am hoping Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have a little more variety and pop than some of Daredevil has. Iron Fist should have VERY visually impressive fights - the dude is supposed to be a true master martial artist, with a knowledge of both Tai Chi and Kung Fu. And Luke Cage is very 'hulk smash' at times in his style in the comics, which is varied and potentially fun to watch. And of course Jessica Jones should be able to fly, which, if done well, will add a visual Marvel has not had in TV. Plus of course Jessica Jones will have a purple, evil Doctor Who.
 

grokit

well-worn member
I like constantine, used to have all the hellblazer comics but I stopped watching it for some reason. I'll probably catch up at some point. I never could get into arrow. I've watched a few of the daredevil episodes and I think I'll try to stick with it. I like it better than the other two shows. The tv heroes are better than the cartoon heroes for the most part, but for myself only the movies can compete with the books.
 

arf777

No longer dogless
I generally agree on live-action TV superhero shows vs cartoons.

But there are a couple of exceptionally entertaining episodes of the Ultimate Spider-man cartoon. Most notably the Joe Kelly-authored episode 'Ultimate Deadpool' and the Spider-ham episodes of the same cartoon (if you don't know Spider-ham, he's a Spider-man from an alternate universe, a pig named Peter Porker). Also there's a good Avengers animated episode where Thor becomes Throg, the Frog of Thunder (a.k.a. Frog Thor).

Spider-ham-
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Throg, the Frog of Thunder-
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arf777

No longer dogless
More Marvel movie, tempted to call it silliness- a trailer for a trailer for Ant-man. When did trailers for trailers become a thing? It's an ad for another ad.


...and now the actual trailer the previous one was a trailer for.


Looks pretty good. But. Not sure why they made someone other than Pym Yellowjacket, unless they’re trying to make Pym a pure good guy. Which of course he isn’t in the comics – he beats his wife, kills people for revenge, and many other nasty things.

And of course he is a main dude on the registration side in Civil War, doing extremely questionable things. And this time they can’t say they’re drawing from Ultimate Marvel - he is even more of an asshole in that than in the mainstream continuity. Still looks fun though. Michael Douglas would have made an awesome Pym Ant-man or Yellowjacket when he was a younger.
 
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arf777

No longer dogless
And more Deadpool- first shots of Ed Skrein as Ajax/the Attending/Francis. Never seen him in anything (stopped watching Game of Thrones during season 1, prefer the books), so I am a little surprised at how small he seems to be. Ajax is physically huge in the comics, usually towers over Deadpool (only usually, as their relative sizes vary at times - he is from the Kelly era, after all, when even the visuals would get crazy).

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Some other pics- dude in motion capture suit standing in for Colossus, some shots of Negasonic Teenage Warhead, more shots of RR as Deadpool.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=118550
 

RUDE BOY

Space is the Place
, so I am a little surprised at how small he seems to be. Ajax is physically huge in the comics, usually towers over Deadpool (only usually, as their relative sizes vary at times - he is from the Kelly era, after all, when even the visuals would get crazy).

The magic of film ! when all is said and done after they work their mojo with camera angles and editing he may look to be a hulking big guy. (look at actors like the little twerp tom cruse in real life as compared to their films, a damn near jockey size little dude in RL but often seemingly standing a inch taller then 6 foot 2 inch co-stars in films)
 

arf777

No longer dogless
The magic of film ! when all is said and done after they work their mojo with camera angles and editing he may look to be a hulking big guy. (look at actors like the little twerp tom cruse in real life as compared to their films, a damn near jockey size little dude in RL but often seemingly standing a inch taller then 6 foot 2 inch co-stars in films)


They certainly have the tech to do that - shit, they made Elijah Wood look shorter than me, and i am short. And yeah, Tom Cruise (whose face Deadpool had for a number of issues) is seriously tiny but never looks it. I assumed it was all the Thetans in his little body ;).

One worry is Deadpool is the lowest budget Marvel-based movie in over a decade, so the question is whether they can afford to do it in post.

I gotta admit, in the pic the guy does have the Ajax/Francis asshole look down. Looks like someone I'd like to see beaten silly on general principals. I really hope they're staying with the part of the leaked script where he spends a chunk of the movie with 'Hello my name is Francis' carved into his forehead (courtesy of Deadpool, of course).

And in Deadpool comic book news, the final page of Return of the Living Deadpool #3 may sets a new record for 4th wall breaking, mentioning every major author who has written DP.

If you have not read it, Return of the Living Deadpool takes up where Night of the Living Deadpool ended. Deadpool wakes up from a Mexican food binge to find the zombie apocalypse has happened, and the way he finally deals with it is to let a horde of zombies eat him (because he discovered the zombies were engineered from his DNA in the first place). As a result, after he regenerates he finds the zombies had started turning into (even crazier) Deadpools (for some reason complete with his costume).

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arf777

No longer dogless
Deadpool appearing all over the Marvel universe (because of his death last week) continued with the April 1 issue of Wolverines. Not usually a fan of stuff written by Charles Soule (wrote Death of Wolverine), but both the dialog and the art are really funny. Deadpool declares himself the new Wolverine. I love the dead bird strapped to his head for the Logan hair effect.

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And this very odd three minute thing aired during iZombie last night (btw- been loving iZombie, based on the Vertigo comic). "Superhero fight club" with Arrow, Flash, R'as al Ghul, Firestorm, Merlyn, and others.

 

arf777

No longer dogless
Forgot to post about this. The great Herb Trimpe, who is most famous for his artwork in the Incredible Hulk comics in the '70s, died on April 13. Though he did not design the character (John Romita, Sr designed him), Trimpe drew the first published version of Wolverine, in The Incredible Hulk 180 & 181. BTW - The Incredible Hulk 181, first story involving Wolverine (he is only glimpsed in #180) is referenced repeatedly in the Deadpool issue of Wolverines (cover in my previous post) - since in Wolverine's 1st published appearance he fought the Hulk, Deadpool attacks the She-Hulk ("Banner is too tough") wearing one of Logan's old costumes and some fake claws.

Cover of Trimpe's Incredible Hulk #181, first ever Wolverine story and 1st cover Wolverine was on. RIP, Herb.

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arf777

No longer dogless
...and 1st shots of Mike Colter playing Luke Cage from the set of AKA Jessica Jones. Good to know he's appearing in it.

On the down side, there is a pic showing David Tennant as Kilgrave not actually in purple makeup as the Purpleman, just wearing purple. That SUCKS. He better turn purple at some point. I need a purple evil former Doctor Who. Evil and wearing purple doesn't cut it.

http://io9.com/first-look-at-david-tennant-as-the-purple-man-in-aka-je-1697873727

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/NovasSpace/news/?a=118663

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