'Oh, it's good to be back'

"Iron Man 2" looks like it's going to be a ton of fun.

'Iron Man 2' trailer rocks!

There's nothing like a geektastic super hero movie trailer to bring me back to the blog.

In this case, it's the long awaited first look at "Iron Man 2." The highlights for me were the quick glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson back as Col. Nick Fury (he made a cameo at the end of the first movie) and getting to see War Machine in action.

Enjoy!

'In brightest day, in darkest night...'

I know this has been floating around the Internet for a while, but I just saw it again this morning on SCI FI Wire and figured it was worth posting here.

My kudos go to the whoever put this together!



UPDATE: I guess I should clarify that, yes, I realize this is a fan made trailer.

Marvel meets 'The Onion'

How would President Obama handle a storyline from the pages of "The Uncanny X-Men?" The Onion has the answer...

'Ooo..shiny'

The new "Wolverine" trailer is here. What do you think? Will it rate with last year's "Iron Man" and "Incredible Hulk" or will it be another "Ghost Rider?"

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Is the scientist lady in the beginning supposed to be Heather Hudson of "Alpha Flight?" If so, that's kind of cool (even though she first met Wolvie after he got his adamantium skeleton).

But tossing Gambit and a young Cyclops into a Wolverine origin story is not.

Also, why is MTV running an Herbal Essence ad before the trailer? Is that really going after the movie's target audience?

I watched the Watchmen

There are certain parallels between comic books and film. It can be a lot of fun to see a story or a character make the move from one medium to another.

But sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Case in point – “Watchmen.”

Along with “The Dark Knight Returns,” “Watchmen” was considered groundbreaking when it was first published by DC Comics in 1986. With its dark mood and adult themes, it helped show the mainstream world that comics weren’t just kid stuff.

For those unfamiliar with the story, it’s set in alternate 1985 where Richard Nixon is still the president, the United States is on the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union and superheroes have been outlawed. It begins with the murder of an ex-crime fighter called the Comedian who was once part of a superhero team called the Watchmen. His death is investigated by a former teammate – Rorschach, a violent, masked vigilante. Of course, the Comedian’s death is just the first piece of a much bigger puzzle that eventually brings the surviving Watchmen back together.

It’s been a long time since I read “Watchmen.” So my memory of it was a little fuzzy going in. But near as I can tell the film was pretty faithful to the book.

Perhaps a little too faithful. Although “Watchmen” is often branded as a “graphic novel,” in truth it was first published as a 12-issue miniseries – separate storylines strung together to make up an overall plot. As a result, the movie seems a little too segmented. That makes the film’s 161-minute running time feel like it’s dragging at times. In this case, I think the movie would have benefited from a less literal adaptation. They could have mixed the story up a little and tightened it up some. Or maybe a movie isn’t the right medium. Maybe it would have worked better as a cable miniseries.

Also, I think the story carried more weight 20-some years ago. We were still in the midst of the Cold War and still concerned about nukes from Russia. But now that we’re a couple of decades removed from that particular threat it doesn’t seem to have the same level of oomph in the story. It almost seems quaint.

That said, I wouldn’t say the movie was a total bust. It’s a visual feast, with great effects and it is fun to see the characters and certain scenes brought to life (Well, maybe fun isn't right word. It's not exactly a "fun" movie). I also really liked the use of the music in the movie. The “deconstruction of the superhero” (as original writer Alan Moore described it) still makes for a good story. I’m just not sure how well it works in this format.

By the way, “Watchmen” earns every bit of its “R” rating.

If you’re a comic book geek – especially if you’ve already read the book – then “Watchmen” is worth watching, even though you might not be wowed by it. But I think the average moviegoer will want to look elsewhere.

Iron-clad hit

I saw a sneak preview of “Iron Man” tonight, which I thought was an absolutely great superhero flick.

They did a really great job updating the story. Tony Stark’s company is the leading weapons contractor for the U.S. military. But during a trip to Afghanistan he’s captured by terrorists using weapons he designed. While in captivity he builds his first suit of armor to help him escape.

Upon returning home, Stark – who once reveled in being nicknamed “the merchant of death” – seeks a new direction for himself and his company. Privately he begins to perfect his armor suit to help him protect the little guy, while publicly announcing his company is getting out of the war business.

But in the process, Stark develops enemies left and right who try to co-opt his inventions for their own devious purposes.

“Iron Man” ranks right up there with the “Spider-Man” movies (at least the first two). The Spidey films benefited from the fact that director Sam Raimi is a lifelong Spider-Man fan. I think it shows in “Iron Man” that director Jon Favreau is great big comic book geek at heart too with a real appreciation for the source material.

I can’t say enough about the cast. Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark. He owns the character. Gwyneth Paltrow is enjoyable as well as Stark’s loyal assistant Pepper Potts. Rounding out the cast is Terrence Howard as Stark’s close friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane.

Also worth noting is the fact that this is the first movie released under the new Marvel Studios banner. Now that Marvel is producing their own movies, that opens up the possibility for potential character crossovers down the road – and it appears some seeds are being planted this summer. Look for S.H.I.E.L.D. to play a key role in the storyline, references to the Avengers’ butler Jarvis and a brief nod toward “Iron Man” spin-off “War Machine.” Meanwhile, there is word Robert Downey Jr. will making a cameo as Tony Stark next month in “The Incredible Hulk,” which is said to also feature S.H.I.E.L.D. and a possible reference to Capitan America’s super soldier serum.

It’s been a great run for Marvel Comics fans at the movies. “Iron Man” keeps it going and shows that there is still more to come. They can’t make a sequel fast enough!

Metal mania

For someone who was never a huge Iron Man fan, I certainly do seem to be posting a lot about the new movie.

I don't think I own a single issue of "Iron Man." But I have enough other books that the character appears in. And although I never collected his own title, I certainly respect him as one of the core Marvel Comics characters.

Not to mention...this movie just looks so cool! It's easily No. 2 on my list of summer movies I really want to see (if you have to ask what No. 1 is, you obviously don't know me very well and must be new to this blog).

With all that said, take a look at the awesome new poster for the movie.

The invincible movie trailer

It's shaping up to look likea great summer at the movies. Here's the newest "Iron Man" trailer...

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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Colbert smash!

Although I'm still a little annoyed at Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada for the way he ended Spider-Man's marriage, I did enjoy his appearance on last night's Colbert Report to plug the debut of the new Captain America and talk about Stephen's presidential campaign in the Marvel Universe...

Spidey Split

Allow me to geek out for a moment here...

Marvel Comics has announced their intention to break up the marriage between Spider-Man and his wife of about 21 years, Mary Jane.

It’s been no secret that comic book creators for years now have thought it was a mistake marry these two. Many thought having Peter Parker married to fashion model spoiled a key aspect of the character – that the super hero was really a nerd who had trouble paying the bills and was awkward with girls.

Although I don’t agree with that assessment, I understand where they’re coming from. But the storyline they’ve come up with for ending the marriage is ridiculous!

After Peter Parker's beloved Aunt May was wounded in an attack, Spider-Man and Mary Jane reluctantly struck a deal with the devil-like Mephisto in which he erased everyone's memory of the couple's time together in exchange for May being restored to good health.

Apparently, as much as they don't want a married Spider-Man, they also don't want a divorced Spider-Man. So they came up with this ludicrous story that amounts to what Star Trek fans refer to as "the instant reset button." This is like Bobby Ewing showing up in the shower on "Dallas" -- it was all a dream, it never happened!

I was collecting comics when Spidey and MJ got married. In fact, I actually own two copies of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 (it was released with two versions of the cover). At the time I thought it was cool, and I didn’t at all think it took away from that “real life” aspect of the character. If anything it enhanced it, by adding a new source of stress to Peter Parkers life. He now had to hold his marriage together while fighting crime. More importantly, it allowed the characters to grow and evolve.

If you want to read stories about what the character used to be like, isn’t that what the Ultimate Spider-Man series is for? Or can’t readers pick up a back issue or a reprint?

Meanwhile, the AP article I read about this quoted a user on a Marvel message board who summed it all up:

"Considering I have been reading Spider-Man for exactly 20 years now, and that seems to be the amount of time [Editor-in Chief Joe Quesada] has decided to rip from Spider-Man continuity, can I simply return all of my Spider-Man comics for a full refund?"

No joke...it's the 'Dark Knight' trailer

I'm not sure how this will last since it's obviously a bootleg shot off a movie theater screen. The quality is poor. But if you enjoyed "Batman Begins," you won't care -- you'll get a charge out of this...
The Dark Knight

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UPDATE: You can now watch and download a much higher quality version here.

The joke's on you

Check out the wicked cool poster for "The Dark Night."

I loved "Batman Begins." As big a Tim Burton fan as I am, I think it might have been better than his original film. I can't wait to see the next installment.

Armor up!

The "Iron Man" teaser trailer has arrived!

I had a YouTube version the foootage shown at Comic-Con posted here for about a day last month before Paramount had it yanked.

This new trailer is very similar to that. It's not quite as long and is missing some cool stuff -- but at least you can watch it in glorious HD Quicktime.

Enjoy some shots of ol' shell head in action while rocking out to Black Sabbath!

Super snail mail

Right now if you get a piece of snail mail from the Rooneys, it's likely to come with one of the Postal Service's commemorative "Star Wars" stamps stuck to the envelope.

Maybe when we use those up, we'll pick up the Marvel Comics Super Heroes stamps that go on sale later this week.

Could all of this be the Post Office's attempt to reach out to geeks and youngsters who would be more likely to use e-mail?

'I Am Iron Man,' Part 2

I'm a few weeks late in posting this. Odds are, if you're geek enough to care, then you've already seen this photo of what Iron Man will ultimately look like in his upcoming movie.

But since I earlier posted the first image of his old, clunky gray armor, I figured I should keep up and pass this along. It's been sitting on my desktop for three weeks.

Free Comic Book Day

I further indoctrinated the kids into the world of geekdom last weekend when we took part in the annual Free Comic Book Day festivities.

Free Comic Book Day is an event staged by the comic book industry on the first Saturday of May. They've been doing it for several years now. Marvel, DC and some other comic book companies all publish some books they're willing to give away for free on that day. It's all intended to get people into comic book shops and stir up more interest in the medium.

So I took the kids down to Electric City Comics--the shop where I purchased most of my collection over the years.

The guys in the shop let the kids each pick out two books. So Nolan got a Transformers book and a Sonic the Hedgehog comic. For Thomas it was Spider-Man and Justice League Unlimited.

Caught in a tangled web

I got to see the long-awaited “Spider-Man 3” last night. Although I won’t say it was a bad movie, I have to admit I was a little disappointed.

Regular readers will recall I’ve been expressing some reservations about this movie for quite some time. I was hoping I’d be wrong. Oh well.

There’s just too much in this movie. It’s got three classic villains from the comic books. Any one of them could have carried the movie on their own as the single main bad guy. But instead they all get short changed to a degree—especially Venom. He’s one of the all-time top Spider-Man bad guys and yet he barely got any of the screen time he deserved.

And as if the three bad guys (Sandman and the second Green Goblin being the other two) weren’t enough, they also cram in Gwen Stacey (and her police captain father).

I also didn’t care for parts of the “Dark Peter Parker” storyline. This was a deviation from the way the story of Spidey’s black, alien costume was handled in the comics. To me, it was reminiscent of the mid-1990s, around the time I stopped collecting comics, when storylines at the time resulted in the Spidey books becoming much too dark for their own good. The fun was sucked right out of Spider-Man then, and that’s what happened again in this movie.

Like I said, it wasn’t all bad. There were still some moments I liked and some parts that were fun. But overall this movie just tried too hard.

I loved the first two movies so much and was optimistic director Sam Raimi knew what he was doing and would pull this one off. Now I hope whoever does the inevitable “Spider-Man 4” takes a less is more approach delivers a much simpler story. I’m going to start the campaign now for the Lizard as the next featured villain.

SIDE NOTE: That shot above reminds me a lot of the cover of "Web of Spider-man #1." I wonder if that was intentional? If so, then well done. I always loved that cover.

'I Am Iron Man'

I'm counting the days until the release of "Spider-Man 3."

But in the meantime, Ain't It Cool News has a scoop on another Marvel Comics character coming to the big screen. Here's a first look at Iron Man's first suit.

When Iron Man first appeared in "Tales of Suspense #39" he wore a clunky, gray suit of armor before eventually upgrading to the sleek red and gold outfiit fans are more familiar with.

It looks like he will follow suit (no pun intended) in the movie--starting out with this makeshift outfit.

Jon Favreau is directing "Iron Man" with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.

The Shield

I got busy last week and never got around to commenting on the publicity stunt involving the death of Captain America.

The Sentinel of Liberty was struck down by a sniper’s bullet in a recent Marvel comic. But as true-blue American Stephen Colbert shows us, Cap’s spirit lives on…