marvel | the m0vie blog

Is The World Ready for a Black Captain America?

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Darren

Apparently the casting of Captain America: The First Avenger is around the corner. We’ve had confirmation of several story details (I’ll probably come back to those later in the week) and confirmation of the fact that The Red Skull will be the baddie. Which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, since he is the arch-foe in a rogues gallery which isn’t exactly brimming with iconic villains. I’ve been following discussions about the casting on-line for sometime now, and something has really surprised me when Will Smith’s name came up in connection with the role: apparently the internet nerds are not ready for a black Captain America.

Of course it has been done...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: captain america, captain america: the first avenger, casting, comic books, ethnicity, fandom, marvel, Movies, race, racism, steve rogers, will smith | 2 Comments »

Daredevil: Yellow (Review)

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Darren

The rest of the story you know too well. It’s been told a lot of ways, with many other people in my life, but this is the way I choose to remember it when I think of you.

– Matt Murdock

The first part of Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb’s informal ‘colours’ trilogy (Spiderman: Blue and Hulk: Grey being the rest of it), Daredevil: Yellow has a lot going for it beyond the two talents behind a trilogy of iconic Batman stories (Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory). Cynics would describe it as the last classic that Loeb wrote. The truth is that it offers a wonderful eulogy for the carefree comic book stories of old, simple and ridiculous fare with simple storylines and clear-cut good guys and bad guys. It’s a nostalgia trip – which means it isn’t quite as compelling as the duo’s work on Batman – but it does lend the collection a nice feel to it. If you are in anyway interested in the olden days of comic books without the retro-post-modernism that typically accompanies such fare, this is the story for you.

Daredevil's come on leaps and bounds from his early days...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman: the long halloween, comic books, Comics, daredevil, daredevil: yellow, ed brubaker, frank miller, guardian devil, jeph loeb, karen page, marvel, matt fraction, matt murdock, review, stan lee, the man without fear, tim sale, yellow | 4 Comments »

The Death of Captain America Omnibus (Review)

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Darren

I was impressed by the original Captain America by Ed Brubaker Omnibus, but I wasn’t as blown away by his run as almost everyone else seems to have been. A lot of my problems were outside Brubaker’s control – the big Civil War event in the Marvel Universe loomed large over the climax of his run – and, in fairness to him, he worked around it as well as he could have been expected to. His on-going run is continued in a second (albeit smaller) omnibus, succinctly entitled The Death of Captain America Omnibus, which does exactly what it says on the tin, following the events which immediately followed the climax of the last omnibus (even going so far as to reprint the last issue in that volume as the first one in this volume). It’s just over half the size of the early collection – even factoring in the reprint – but I’ll concede that I actually enjoyed it a lot more. Maybe it was the sense that Brubaker was delivering a pay-off to all the threads opened in the first part of his run, or that he was solidly unfettered by editorial mandate this time around, or even that the storyline was considerably more streamlined and focused – no matter what the reason, the vast majority of my (already admittedly small) qualms about the first collection are dealt with here.

That's gonna be a pain to clean...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bucky, captain america, ed brubaker, marvel, marvel comics, Red Skull, retrospective, review, Steve Epting, the death of captain america, the death of captain america omnibus | Leave a comment »

Spider’s Webb – How is the Spider-Man Reboot Shaping Up?

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Darren

It’s been two weeks since Sam Raimi and Sony parted ways over the now not-to-be Spider-Man 4 and the prospect of a reboot was first mooted by the studio. In that time we’ve had the opportunity to fully consider the facts and little bits of news have been dribbling out. I was initially dismissive of the reboot, albeit in a sort of half-hearted ‘what can I honestly do?’ sort of way. How have the various revelations about the new film – including the announcement of Marc Webb as the director of the project – affected my opinion of this potential 2012 tentpole?

My own spider sense is tingling...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: 2012, blockbuster, budget, Comics, kraven, kraven the hunter, marc webb, marvel, Movie, sam raimi, spider man, spider-man 4, spider-man reboot, tentpole | Leave a comment »

Robert Kirkman’s Run on Ultimate X-Men – Vol. 7-9 (Hardcover)

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Darren

Ultimate X-Men is a tough title to get a read on. The fact that the run has been broken down into blocks by all manner of superstar writers means that there’s really no consistent underlying principle feeding through the eight-year life of the title. On the other hand, the fact that none of these big name writers like Mark Millar or Brian Michael Bendis could create a book living up to the series’ potential indicates that maybe there wasn’t a writer who could steward the book through its entire life cycle. Ultimate Spider-Man serves in many ways as a fulfillment of the promise of the Ultimate line, it’s almost a single, decade-long story of growth and development, the very evolution of a world of superheroes. Ultimate X-Men is very much the opposite, the constantly bending backwards over itself, jolting, starting and reversing as it seems unable to decide where exactly it’s going at any given moment. Robert Kirkman’s run is perhaps the best examples of the series’ strengths and ultimately (ha!) its weaknesses.

Somebody's been watching Terminator a bit too often...

Note: Some of Aron Coleitte’s work is covered in the Hardcover Volume 9 (with the rest of his short run spilling over into the Ultimatum Hardcover). If I can bring myself to pick up Ultimatum, I will run a review of his rather short tenure on the title. This review is only concerned with Kirkman’s run – up until the end of the Apocalypse arc.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: 1990s, apocalypse, bishop, cable, comic books, date night, magical, marvel, marvel comics, pheonix?, retrospective, review, robert kirkman, sentinels, the magician, ultimate apocalypse, ultimate marvel, ultimate universe, ultimate x-men, x-men | Leave a comment »

Kevin Smith & David Mack’s Runs on Daredevil (Hardcover Vol. #1)

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Darren

It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s also been said that Frank Miller’s Born Again pretty much defined Daredevil. So it should really come as no surprise that Kevin Smith borrowed from that particular story wholesale for his relaunch of the character back in 1999. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – Smith has the decency to admit that the concept isn’t incredibly original – and in a way it provides a suitable note upon which to relaunch the title.

Bring your child to work day was not the resounding success Matt Murdock expected...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: born again, comic books, daredevil, david mack, echo, guardian devil, joe quesada, kevin smith, kingpin, marvel, marvel comics, mysterio, parts of a hole, review | Leave a comment »

Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Darren

I’ve always seen Daredevil as a peculiarly Catholic superhero. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s the devil imagery. Frank Miller clearly sees the character as an Irish Catholic (he admitted that he believes the character practices) in an interview at the end of the first omnibus. It just seems to fit. There’s just something so human and organic about the character – so vulnerable and flawed – that he seems like some sort of lost soul amidst the pantheon of god-like superheroes. A man torn between heaven and earth. The fact that probably the greatest story told using the character is titled Born Again and his mother is a nun (as close as you can plausibly get to a virgin, I suppose) doesn’t exactly hurt, either.

Daredevil puts a novel twist on flag-burning...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bill Sienkiewicz, born again, comic books, daredevil, daredevil by frank miller omnibus, Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion, daredevil: born again, daredevil: love & war, daredevil: love and war, David Mazzucchelli, frank miller, kingpin, love & war, love and war, marvel, marvel omnibus, review, the man without fear | Leave a comment »

The Vulture(s) Circle Spider-Man 4…

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Darren

It’s been a while since I looked at the possible villains lined up for Spider-Man 4. With the shooting date drawing dangerously close, I’ve bowed out of all the rumours we’ve been hearing about the film – mainly about whether The Lizard would be appearing or who would be playing the Black Cat. But, as far as rumours go, this one is too juicy – and too close to the deadline – to avoid discussing. Basically two Oscar-nominated actors – John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway – are playing a pair of villains. Malkovich will be playing Adrian Toomes, and Anne Hathaway will be playing Felicia Hardy – but the character apparently won’t be sharing her comic book counterpart’s secret identity (the Black Cat), instead getting an entirely new secret identity (something called ‘the Vulturess’).

Somebody finally figured out that the only way to make John Malkovich more badass was to strap wings on him...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: anne hathaway, black cat, comic book films, films, john malkovich, lizard, marvel, Movies, raptor, sam raimi, sequel, spider man, spider-man 4, spiderman, spiderman 4, the lizard, the raptor, the vulture, the vulturess, villains, vulture, vulturess | Leave a comment »

Ultimate Human – Ultimate Hulk vs. Iron Man

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Darren

Well, I guess the Ultimate line is supposed to be a vehicle for redefining old Marvel stories, so it seems appropriate that the Ultimate Hulk has been getting around knocking seven kinds of crap out of various heroes. He was the first opponent Mark Millar’s superteam faced in The Ultimates, he had this themed face-off with Iron Man last year and this year he squared off with Wolverine in the infamously delayed Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine series (in a fitting echo: Wolverine originated as a Hulk opponent). The book is an obvious attempt to cash in on Marvel’s two big summer blockbusters last year: The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Still, as cash-ins go, it’s reasonably diverting.

I quite like him when he's angry...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: cary nord, hulk, iron man, marvel, marvel ultimate universe, marvel universe, review, ultimate hulk, ultimate hulk vs. iron man, ultimate hulk vs. iron man - ultimate human, ultimate hulk vs. ultimate iron man, ultimate human, ultimate iron man, ultimate leader, ultimate marvel, warren ellis | Leave a comment »

Ultimate Iron Man

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Darren

The first member of The Ultimates to get spun-off into his own book, the ultimate version of Iron Man is also the only one to get his own miniseries (and he even supported another miniseries, Ultimate Human, last summer and has a new one, Ultimate Armour Wars, this year). Here we have all the ingredients for a great superhero saga – Andy Kubert as artist on the first six issues and Orson Scott Card as a writer – but it just doesn’t come together quite as well as it should. Though Card posits some interesting theries behind the psychology of Marvel’s current poster-boy, he doesn’t really deliver anything of interest on the story front, and really suffers from attempting to write rebellous teenage characters and somehow feeling required to craft his observations into something resembling a cookie-cutter superhero plot.