comic book | the m0vie blog

Some Superhero Legacy: How Spider-Man Changed the Movies…

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Darren

This is one of my entries on the latest cross-blogging event, tracking down some of the most overrated movies of all time. It’s being run by Mike over at You Talking to Me. I can’t spoil the list by giving you any of the other titles, but I can tell you another entry will be appearing on this very blog before the week is out.

Let me pitch you a scene. It’s early 2002. There’s a whole rank of huge blockbusters looming. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Star Wars: Episode II; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Austin Powers in Goldmember; Men in Black II; Ice Age. And then there’s a strange one. Spider-Man, from that guy who made The Evil Dead. Really? Sure, Richard Donner’s Superman was great, but that was decades ago. Joel Schumacher had killed the Batman franchise only a few years back. That Bryan Singer fella had proved he wasn’t a one-hit wonder with X-Men, but it wasn’t exactly box office gold (only the eighth biggest film of 2000). Comic book movies were a strange proposition – transitioning the characters to the big screen just didn’t work naturally. Somethings aren’t meant to be adapted.

Has Spider-Man Blackened the Name of all Superhero Films?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blogging, comic book, comic book films, comic books, daredevil, films, Movie, Movies, spider man, spider-man 2, spider-man 3, spider-man ii, spider-man iii, superhero movies, superheroes | 10 Comments »

Wolverine: Old Man Logan (Review)

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Darren

What is it about the X-Men and crapsack futures? Mark Millar has taken everybody’s favourite feral anti-hero and dropped him in his own particular horrible future. Old Man Logan takes a familiar Millar conceit – “what if the bad guys won?” – and applies it to the familiar Marvel Universe. Of course, this being Millar, he’s piled even more horror and crappiness on top of that, giving us an inbred Hulk family and wild dinosaurs, but it’s an idea that many will recognise from his own Wanted, among other works. Of course, this being a Wolverine book, we follow the familiar antihero as he attempts to navigate post-apocalyptic America (divided into four kingdoms) while delivering a mysterious package with former Avenger Hawkeye.

A hulkin' good time...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, arts, comic book, dark knight returns, mark millar, marvel comics, marvel universe, old man logan, Red Skull, steve mcniven, wolverine, x-men | 8 Comments »

Superman: Red Son

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Darren

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! Superman: Strange visitor from another world! Who can change the course of might rivers, bend steel in his bare hands and who, as the champion of the common worker, fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, socialism and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact.

…

Let out enemies beware: the is only one super-power now.

– Russian propaganda broadcast

I’ve remarked before, and many others have remarked as well, that Superman is a very tough character to write for, particularly after seventy years of publication. This is a fact reflected by the difficulty even comic book aficionados have in picking the iconic Superman stories – the essential collections, as it were. Undoubtedly Alan Moore’s work on the character would be collected (handily in Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?), as would Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman. I’m fairly sure that this collection would also make the shortlist. As far as interesting and insightful takes on the character go, Mark Millar has what might be termed a “doozie” here: what if Superman had landed in Russia? What if instead of fighting for “truth, justice and the American Way”, he fought for Mother Russia? It’s certainly an intriguing idea, and Mark Millar’s execution is near-flawless as well.

Well, of course the balloon is red...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, comic book, dave johnson, dc comics, dc universe, elseworlds, grant morrison, Jimmy Olsen, justice league, mark millar, red son, review, superman, superman: red son, superman: red son: the deluxe edition, United States | 3 Comments »

Could Kick-Ass Be a Cinematic Watchmen?

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Darren

Okay, I think we were all a little disappointed with Watchmen. Although the use of that word seems unfair. The book defined the comic book superhero genre in a way that bled into film long before the movie was made. Zach Snyder’s work seemed… redundant. Watchmen had influenced the comic books that came after and they had influenced the movies. If anything, the movie adaptation seemed much less mature and developed than the previous year’s Batman blockbuster – The Dark Knight. Publicity and reviews for this year’s Kick-Ass are beginning to emerge and it seems like it’s all good, so far. The film, along with Shutter Island, was the runaway hit of Butt-Numb-A-Thon this year, a sort of geeky Sundance. It’s an interest look at what “real” superheroes would look like, and part of me wonders if this is movie will end up being what Watchmen should have been?

Nicolas Cage's moustache could kick your ass...

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: alan moore, comic book, film, kick-ass, kickass, mark millar, Movie, superhero, superhero films, watchmen | 2 Comments »

New X-Men Omnibus by Grant Morrison (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Darren

Every once in a while a creator lands a run on a mainstream comic which suits them to a ‘t’. There’s Alan Moore’s tenure on Swamp Thing and Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil, for example. Sure, both writers did great work with other characters on a stand-alone basis (notably Superman and Batman respectively), but these were generally individual arcs rather than directing three or four years of the characters’ stories. Having read New X-Men, I can confirm that Grant Morrison has found his own such series.

Is there beauty in the beast?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: assault on weapon plus, comic book, Comics, e is for extinction, frank quitely, grant morrison, here comes tomorrow, magneto, marvel omnibus, new x-men, new x-men omnibus, planet x, review, sublime, x-men, xorn | 4 Comments »

Brian Michael Bendis’ Run on Ultimate X-Men – Vol. 4 (Hardcover)

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Darren

Talk about a change of pace. Apparently it was originally conceived that Bendis would be in charge of both Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men during their run. Instead he’s spent almost a decade at this stage with the web-spinner, but he did migrate over to the sister title for a year at the end of Mark Millar’s run. The run is unfortunately too short to fully develop the potential of Bendis on the title, but it represents a massive upwards swing in the quality of the book from the crazy illogical and teen-angst-filled Millar run. It’s still far from a classic, but – read in the context of the entire series – it is perhaps a better representation of what Ultimate X-Men could have been.

And he still doesn't shave...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: bendis, blockbuster, brian michael bendis, comic book, marvel comics, new mutants, review, ultimate marvel, ultimate spider man, ultimate wolverine, ultimate x-men, wolverine, x-men | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Watchmen (Theatrical Cut)

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Darren

Probably the best we could have hoped for. Which is a guarded compliment at best. The movie has several gaping flaws, both as an adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal work and also as a film in its own right. And yet it contains more interesting ideas than most prestige dramas, and at least two standout performances. The film is widely inconsistent, sometimes feeling too long in its gratuitous acton or sex scenes, but too short on the actual big ideas that make it thought-provoking. Ultimately, what ties the film down is also what props it up, in a manner: the fact that it is based on one of the most important books of the last quarter century.

Just the three of us...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: adaptation, adrian veidt, alan moore, billy crudup, billy crupud, comic book, doctor manhatten, dr. strangelove, ending, film, film adaptation, graphic novel, jackie earle haley, league of extraordinary gentlemen, malin akerman, matt frewer, matthew goode, Movie, non-review review, patrick dean morgan, patrick wilson, review, richard nixon, rorschach, squid, United States, watchmen, zack snyder | 5 Comments »

Paul Dini’s Run on Detective Comics – The Heart of Hush

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Darren

Batman’s rogues gallery is a strange one. Thanks to the character’s absorption into popular culture (by the live action series, the cartoons, the movies), he has a fantastically strong and well-recognised selection of villains – to the point where people who haven’t picked up a comic book wonder whether The Riddler will be the villain in the next Batman film. He has tonnes of opponents who are easily recognised by the public and are wide and diverse, many that any other comic book character would kill for. However, once every few years the powers that be will attempt to introduce a new major villain into the character’s life – for example Grant Morrison populated his own run on the title with new enemies (and the Joker). Very occasionally these are succesful – Bane is a fairly well-known addition to the ensemble, despite only arriving about fifteen years ago, and Victor Zsasz remains the most recent bad guy to be featured in Nolan’s movies – but mostly these are failures – like Orca or KGBeast. Here Paul Dini is attempting to move the most recent major bat baddie from the latter category into the former. Does it work?

Eye see you...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman r.i.p., batman rip, batman: heart of hush, batman: the heart of hush, catwoman, comic book, detective comics, graphic novel, heart of hush, hush, paul dini, review, the heart of hush | 2 Comments »

The Killing Joke

Posted on September 14, 2009 by Darren

Hmm… Understandably quite a controversial comic (Alan Moore himself reportedly has very little time for it), The Killing Joke remains the most definitive comic to examine the dynamic between the Caped Crusader and his polar opposite. It also reveals a bit of twisted logic to the character, providing an almost logical motivation for his countless heinous actions. It also features some of the best artwork that you are liable to see on a Batman comic.

The Joker didn't get he was meant to bleach his HAIR...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, barbara gordon, batman, brian bolland, comic book, comic books, Comics, dc comics, deluxe edition, feminism in comics, graphic novel, joker, oneshot, review, The Dark Knight, the joker, the killing joke, the killing joke: deluxe edition, women in refrigerators | 4 Comments »

Absolute Sandman: Volume I

Posted on August 3, 2009 by Darren

I’m supposed to say that Sandman is a comic for people who don’t like comics. It’s not. It’s a comic for people who like stories.

Neil Gaiman created a series that ran for the bones of a decade following the resurrection and revival of Morpheus, the King of Dreams. DC Comics cleverly repackaged the entire collection as four slipcase Absolute Editions. I own all four and have read them cover-to-cover once (and occasionally going back and revisiting particular threads from time-to-time). I’ve decided to re-read the entire collection again from the very beginning. So, how does the first volume hold up?