Month: May 2012

A Strange Week of of “Real” and Comic Book Heroes and Villainy in Seattle

X-Factor #235 courtesy Marvel

What a strange trippy week in Seattle for heroes and villains in comics and in reality.

Let’s start with comics – Peter David and Leonard Kirk’s excellent X-Factor #235 saw the mutant detectives go undercover in Seattle’s real life super hero movement – we really have one! Shatterstar and Madrox go undercover to join the X-Ceptionals (an Emerald City based group of wannabe costumed heroes) after other would be heroes are sliced and diced by a mystery attacker. The tone twists from comic to tragic with clever dialogue and expressive art.

Let’s get back to reality – Citizen Heroes and The Collectibles co-sponsored the Avengers Assemble film series at SIFF Cinema. Citizen Heroes is a documentary of the real super hero movement in the Pacific Northwest. Director Matt Harrison – my interview with him here – and local masked crimefighters helped introduced the Marvel solo movies this week. The biggest star of this phenomenon is Seattle’s Phoenix Jones of the Rain City Super Hero Movement.

courtesy Rex Velvet?

Jones has apparently inspired “an enemy.” This week a challenge was declared in this video by a man calling himself Rex Velvet who claims to be Seattle’s greatest super villain. Velvet delivered this video to the Comics Blend Facebook page.

And I got the meet some of The Collectibles this week – think Avengers meets The Office. Here’s my interview with the Seattle stars of this comedy web series.

A very strange week of coincidences in Seattle indeed.

Avengers vs. X-Men Round 3 Wrap

 

Avengers vs X-Men #3 courtesy Marvel.com

Steve Rogers is ruled by his sense of responsibility. Scott Summers is ruled by passion for his cause. Logan is driven by both. The lone wolf mutant is on his own again and maybe the only hero willing to do the unheroic acts to save the world.

 Avengers vs. X-Men #3 is packed with plots within plots. We learn the aftermath of a supernatural showdown I really hope we see in AvX Vs or another tie-in book. I’m not giving this away because you can see it on the cover and you should have seen it coming – but there’s a brutal battle of wills, claws, and a shield between Cap and Wolverine.

  Round 3 supports my devotion to the mutants. I still suspect Cyclops’ actions aren’t entirely his own (the Void is still locked in his brain) but I want him to win maybe because he’s leading a hopeless cause against overwhelming odds. Cap is fighting for the Earth. Cyclops is fighting for a future. Like Scott, I have to believe that there’s a reason the Phoenix keeps coming back to the mutants.

Batman, Talons and Arkham: One Hellish Hour of Night of the Owls

Detective Comics #9 cover courtesy DC Comics

 The Night of the Owls crossover events violently tears into Detective Comics #9 as Talons invade Arkham Asylum. The Court of Owls have judged Jeremiah Arkham unworthy. The inmates of Arkham may be the only thing saving him from a death sentence until Batman joins the chaos. 

 The pencils are plot are eerie and violent mirroring the madness and manipulation inside Gotham’s notorious address. The Black Mask, Clayface and all of Arkham’s “patients” are pawns in his plan to escape the Council of Owls’ assassins. This a thrilling hour during Night of the Owls you don’t want to miss.

 In my interview with Tony Daniel (see below) the man behind Detective Comics expressed his hope to work on a Clayface story. In this issue the classic villain has brief moments that are a great tease for what Daniel might do with him.

 This issue features a back story starring Two-Face. Tony Daniel (see his interview link below) takes Harvey Dent into a dark, seedy deal with a devil and sets him for an anti-hero to cheer for. Syzmon Kudranski created a murky violent underworld for Harvey to creep through on his mission.

 Here’s my interview with Tony Daniel at Fan Expo Vancouver (with more video clips from the creator in his own words.) I asked Daniel about Batman’s Rogues Gallery, the Two-Face back story in Detective Comics, the villains he wants to use next and how rock legends KISS inspired him.

Amazing Spider-Man Posters

courtesy Columbia Pictures

  Some fans may say it’s too soon but I’m excited to swing into a theater on July 3rd for the Amazing Spider-Man reboot by director Marc Webb. Spinoff Onlineshared these two new posters showing Spidey – one standing defiantly and one swinging into action!

courtesy Columbia Pictures

“Citizen Heroes” of Seattle at “Avengers Assemble!”

  Phoenix Jones and members of the Rain City Super Hero Movement patrol the streets of Seattle and have generated nationwide attention. Seattle Filmmaker Matt Harrison has been following the adventures of the headline making crimefighters for his documentary Citizen Heroes. Phoenix may be in the spotlight but Harrison learned the Real Life Superhero Movement has been in action for years in the Pacific Northwest.

 

  What inspires someone to dress up to fight crime? Members of the local movement aren’t billionaires with childhood trauma or affected by radiation. Harrison reveals what he’s learned about the local people behind the masks.

  Citizen Heroes and The Collectibles web series are co-presenting the Avengers Assemble film series this week at SIFF Cinema. Harrison and costumed heroes of the movement are introducing Marvel movies. Those cinematic heroes are joining forces on the big screen in The Avengers. I asked Harrison about the next steps on his journey to bring Seattle’s heroes to the movies.

  The Seattle Super Hero Movement is popping up in a real comic book this week. By happenstance or circumstance?  In this week’s X-Factor # 235 Seattle super heroes are under attack. The mutant detectives of X-Factor Investigations are on the case in Seattle. I asked Harrison his reaction to this week’s Seattle centric storyline.

 

  Since Citizen Heroes is co-presenting the Avengers Assemble film series I has to asked the director to pick his favorite Avengers and reveal his expectations for the big movie.

 

  Director Matt Harrison, Knight Owl and Sky Man are scheduled to present more Avengers solo movies this week at SIFF Cinema. To learn more about Harrison’s project here’s the Citizen Heroes link.

By Editor

 

James Bond Compared to Doctor Who

 

Daniel Craig in Skyfall courtesy MI6-HQ.COM

  James Bond. Doctor Who. Two of Britain’s incredible contributions to my geeky life. While the two characters will never meet on-screen Skyfall director Sam Mendes compares the secret agent to the Time Lord. The Director was part of a recent press conference in Turkey and told Collider.

  “That’s why I mentioned the word in the press conference, “regeneration” rather than “evolving,” because I feel it is like, you know, we have Doctor Who…there’s a geek answer…we have Doctor Who and I was brought up on the idea of Doctor Who, who at the end of his final episode, he dissolves and a new actor pops up and he regenerates and it’s a whole other character: sometimes it’s an old man, sometimes it’s a young man, but he just changes.  I’ve always loved that idea.”

  Mendes goes on to discuss Daniel Craig’s performance as 007 and compares other action film franchises.

  “I think that what’s interesting is you have an actor who is capable of playing the consequences of his actions as well as fulfilling those actions with great elan and cool and that is always more interesting. That’s not to say that what I’m looking at or what I want to look at is a kind of navel-gazing depressive [laughs] because that’s not what Bond will ever be.  He’s a doer, not a thinker.  And I think you have to understand that. I also think he doesn’t walk amongst us.  He’s not Bourne , he doesn’t walk the streets. He’s a lone wolf. You have to keep him separate for most of the movie.  It’s a very particular area he has to exist in.

  But, there’s a reason why the most interesting, to my mind, franchises now are The Dark Knight and Bourne because there are characters at the center who are, to some degree, in conflict about what they do and are pushed right to the edge. That is one of the wonderful things about what’s happened to these movies recently is that audiences have embraced movies that go darker and more personal.  Having said that, they all have the thrills and spills you expect, as well.  It’s about a balance.

 For more of the interview here’s the link.

Hulk Smash! Mark Ruffalo Gets 6 Picture Deal?

Marvel's Avengers The Hulk courtesy Marvel Studios

  When the Hulk leaps into action to save Iron Man in the Avengers trailer – the screams from the crowd huddled around my computer were filled with joy! The Hulk must really be awesome in Earth’s Mightiest Movie because Mark Ruffalo revealed he’s signed a 6 picture deal with Marvel Films to Collider.

  (Ruffalo also reveals there’s a deleted scene with the great Harry Dean Stanton.)

  So Avengers 2 is a given but how about a Hulk solo movie? What comic book story would you want to see on the big screen?

  I love Peter David’s run on The Incredible Hulk. I especially enjoyed when the merged Hulk – Banner’s mind in control of the monster body – was allied with a group of heroes called the Pantheon. This organization answered to no government and their missions often brought them into conflict with other heroes. I could see a great Pantheon-SHIELD conflict orchestrated by The Leader, a scientist mutated by gamma radiation in a very different way. While the members of the Pantheon took names inspired by Greek mythology, their leader Agamemnon, was half-Asgardian. See the Thor cameo?

 

Planet Hulk image courtesy Marvel.com

 Greg Pak’s Planet Hulk would be an out of this world – literally – adventure for the Green Goliath. It’s already an animated movie.   The Illumanati (Tony Stark, Reed Richard, Doctor Strange, Professor X, Namor) decide the rampaging Hulk has done enough damage and blast him off to an uninhabited planet to live in peace. The thing about programmed spaceships with a Hulk on board – they can go off course. The Hulk goes through a wormhole and lands on a barbaric world, is forced to become a gladiator, becomes a hero and leads a revolution against the planet’s cruel leader. In the sequel World War Hulk, the Hulk and his Warbound (allies from the arena) come back to Earth to lay down some serious vengeance on the Illumanati. Hulk doesn’t realize until later that he fathered a son on Sakaar until Skaar arrives on Earth ready to resolve his daddy issues with some serious fighting!

By Editor

Avengers Movie Characters Move to Comics!

 

Scarlet Spider #5 courtesy Marvel.com

Movie fans know Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) as SHIELD operatives from previous Marvel films and the upcoming Avengers movie.

 Now Fury (Jr) and Coulson are in the Marvel Universe after Battle Scars #5 and now a terrorist threat will send the SHIELD agents into action in Scarlet Spider #5 on May 9th.

 “There’s a dirty nuke loose in Houston, and everybody from the Houston PD, the F.B.I., S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers get pulled in,” Battle Scars and Scarlet Spider writer Christopher Yost tells Marvel.com. “Fury and Coulson are the face of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this case, and Coulson actually runs point with Iron Man, Scarlet Spider’s the one on the ground.”

 “In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Coulson somewhat became the face of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” adds Yost. “So when S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up in the comics, Fury and Coulson can now serve that function.

“Fury’s not the director, not the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.—he’s an agent. He and Coulson aren’t going to be sitting in meetings; they’re going to be out there on big S.H.I.E.L.D. adventures.”