Not much news today… I flatted two pages, and they look spiffy.

Last night, I watched the Tom Cruise version of “War of the Worlds.”  The opening was artfully done, but pretty much everything else about this movie left me cold.  It was all right, really.  What did impress me was the effects sound track—it was spooky, and exceptionally well done.  It practically sounded like paranoia. 

Today, I read World War Hulk.  Such a cool concept, and a really interesting story.  The ending was weak.  I guess it had to be weak, because it was not like they would really kill of their key characters like they did Captain America…  Oh, yeah… Scratch that.  Anyway, the writing was quite good, and John Romita Jr. is the best action comic art since Jack Kirby.  I just don’t see any living comic artist that comes close.  Klaus Jansen inked, and did so beautifully, and even upped his game, it seemed to me.  I’m glad I read it, even if the end whiffled out. 

Have a great weekend!  Scott.

Hi, Folks:

This is my first episode of Super Tuesday, where I tackle superheroes in other media, not just comics.  This is a big topic, because we are subjected to superhero imagery on billboards, television, at the grocery, and just about everywhere else that features pop culture and marketing.  This week is more an overview of what I intend to cover.

Movies: With the power of Netflix, I intend to watch every superhero movie ever made.  Really.  Will this render me insane?  Well, the movie “Batman and Robin” could well do it, really.  There have been quite a few comic related movies I’ve missed over the years, such as Elektra, Punisher, Hulk, and Spider-Man III, so I’ve definitely got some catching up to do.  If you want to check my pulse for where I stand on comic movies, here’s a short top list of mine:

Live Action: Iron Man, Mystery Men

Animated: The Incredibles,  Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Television: Heroes, M.A.N.T.I.S.

Video Games: I can’t comment, because I’ve never played a video game before.

Superhero Webcomics: This was a pretty hard list to gather, and I’m sure I’ve missed some, but these are the webcomics (besides Johnny Saturn) that actually feature superheroes:

Adventures of Dr. McNinja

Dasien

Evil Inc.

Gaming Guardian

Lightbringer

Local Heroes

Magellan

Mindmistress

Neighborhood Watch

Point Guardian

Shades

Sidechicks

Stealth

Superfogeys

Tales of the Zero Men

Union Der Helden

Unstoppable Comics

Vanguard

Webcomics can come and go pretty quickly, and it’s not always easy to find them, so this list should change often.  Of the above list, my current favorites are Sidechicks and Evil Inc., but that could change because I haven’t had the chance to read many of these yet.

See you next Tuesday for more!

Scott

Super Tuesday, Episode II

Hi, Folks:

Well, in a bid to watch all superhero movies ever made, the time had come for some super research.  Just how many superhero movies had been rolled out, after all?  Well, I went to the Internet Movie Database, and I was flooded with more than 7,000 entries!  OK, as it turns out, many of these were video games, renamed foreign versions, ‘making of’ shows, cartoon episodes, and every other thing you can imagine.  I tried to make a checklist from this information, but soon I called it quits.  I’m still going to keep looking for a comprehensive list of live-action superhero movies, but for now I’m going to be less organized in my approach and just watch a bunch of movies.

Netflix ended up being much more helpful in finding all the superhero movies I’d missed, and tonight I loaded up my list with Ghost Rider, Catwoman, Zoom Academy, The Specials, V for Vendetta, SuperGuy: Behind the Cape, Hulk, The Hebrew Hammer, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Elektra, The Punisher, The Superhero Movie, Darkman, Darkman II: The Return of Durant, and Spider-Man 3.  I realize that some of what I’m going to watch doesn’t qualify as great cinema–We’re not talking Lawrence of Arabia meets the Godfather, are we?  Still, my quest in spandexy cinema has begun. 

As I get organized, I’ll start some sort of review system.  That will make it all that much more respectable, won’t it? 

Think of Me in the Dark Times Ahead–Scott.

This last Saturday night, I watched the Incredible Hulk, the re-launch of the series starring Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, William Hurt as General Thunderbolt Ross, and Tim Roth as the Abomination. It should also be noted that Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Sterns was delightful, and he stole the few scenes he got.

This movie was smart, fast, and well done, and they did us the great service of simply glossing over the Hulk’s origin and diving right into the story. They also made a point of adapting the 1970’s television show as much as they did the comic, taking what worked from the small screen version of the franchise.

My disappointment with the Incredible Hulk is that its advertising campaign touted the movie as being “As Good As Iron Man.” Incredible Hulk was good, but it was not that good. Iron Man was one of the best superhero movies ever made, and Robert Downey Jr. was stellar as Anthony Stark. The Hulk was simply good.

The Incredible Hulk was all around much better than Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie. This is easy to explain: The script was much better written on Incredible Hulk.

As far as special effects go, the Incredible Hulk looked stronger than the preceding Hulk; his muscles looked ‘ropier,’ as if painfully distended all the time. As far as the climactic battle between the Hulk and the Abomination, I was less than entertained. But, I will be the first to tell you that I probably wasn’t the target audience for this battle. Fans in their twenties and thirties, looking for the big payoff images that bring their characters to silver screen life, were probably all orgasmic in fanboy way over this spectacle.

I’ve had this conversation before, you see. Fanboys want their heroes to look cool, and if that means rubber gimp suits and vacuum fitted latex, fine. I’m all about the utility—I’d rather see a fully functional, usable suit or costume. But, that’s just me. That doesn’t apply to the Incredible Hulk so much. (Although I was impressed that Bruce Banner kept getting stretchy pants—the stretchier, the better! An important point if you don’t want the Hulk running around al fresco.)

So, do I give the Incredible Hulk a B+ or an A-? It’s a tough call. I’m opting for the B+.

Scott.