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Five Cameos You Won’t See In Avengers: Age of Ultron

October 6, 2013 by

ROM___The_space_knight_by_OtimagLike most people I’m pretty excited for seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron, which got me thinking to some great characters I’d like to see (from either a comedic or sentimental viewpoint) make a cameo, that won’t appear in the movie unless Joss Whedon has his mind hijacked. Here they are anyway:

1.Dazzler 

She’s teamed up with the Avengers before, she has roller skates and can generate a great lightshow – surely the 3D version of Age of Ultron needs such an addition!

2. Cloak and Dagger

These guys have a potential movie in their future, so why not introduce them here? If Spiderman can’t be in the movies, then why not use some key supporting characters?

3. ROM Spaceknight

Ok, this is batshit insane but a guy can dream can’t he? I know ROM was a licensed property, but gee he deserves a huge comeback and where better than this movie?  Plus – there’ll be wall to wall silver-coloured CGI for Ultron so why not throw ROM in there?

4. Howard The Duck

Even I think this is beyond silly but had to put it out there. Maybe Whedon could finally redeem the character from a movie viewpoint though?

5. Machine Man

Hmm, I seem to have a thing about silver metal characters, but how cool could those telescoping arms and legs look?

Your turn: what cameos would you like to see that’ll probably never happen?

[pic via Otimag at deviantART]

Filed Under: Marvel, Movies, Opinion Tagged With:

Captain America: Living Legend #1 – Diggle/Granov

October 5, 2013 by

living-legendWhat is Captain America: Living Legend?

Well, three years late, is a good place to start. This four part miniseries was supposed to be released in the lead up to the Captain America: The First Avenger (albeit under a different title), and it’s been shelved ever since. Now, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie around the corner, I guess they figured the right time is now.

I’ve been looking forward to this title for a while, mostly because I dropped Remender’s Captain America on issue 5, not caring for his problematic, pointless, and at times out of character story, or for JRJR’s ugly art. All I was looking for in this book was a decent story and solid art – anything to wipe what’s happening in the character’s current ongoing story from my memory.

On this front, Living Legend delivers. It’s not a great title by any means, but it’s engaging and interesting enough to have me looking forward to the next issue. Diggle’s writing is solid, although the story lacks cohesiveness at times, and it’s nice to see Steve back in character again.

The story begins in 1945 Germany, skips through Soviet era Siberia, and ends up in the present day. From WWII, to space, and finally the Helicarrier. Much of the start of the issue is taken up introducing the character who will be the main protagonist, and this doesn’t leave a lot of room for Steve, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a good set up for the next three issues, but if #2 doesn’t feature a less disjointed narrative, then the title may be in trouble.

The issue is illustrated by the celebrated Adi Granov. He’s best known for ultra-detailed work, and that’s certainly what you can expect here. Fans of Granov’s work will be excited to see a full issue featuring his art. Sadly, I once again found myself decidedly underwhelmed. I have never been a fan of Granov’s, and while I can appreciate the technical skill, I always find it leaving me cold. His lack of expression (and I don’t mean facial) and movement, as well as his characters looking placed in their environments, rather than interacting with them, is something I struggle with. The page design is also uninspiring – although he does take some risks in places, it just doesn’t quite work.

Living Legend is also filled with his trademark teeth baring expressions, as well as almost grotesque looking characters. I was also unsurprised to see Sharon Carter looking exactly the same as just about every female character Granov has ever drawn, just with blonde hair. Interestingly, I found the less detailed panels far better. When he takes the focus off creating something photo realistic, his work can really shine.

Living Legend is a little bit of a let down, but far, far better than Remender’s current ongoing. The sci-fi element looks like it could pan out to be interesting, and Andy Diggle’s writing is nothing to sneeze at. Those who share my opinion of Adi Granov’s art, may be pleased to hear the rest of the miniseries will be illustrated by Agustin Alessio, so here’s hoping there’s more dynamic movement between panels next issue.

Over all, definitely worth a read if you’re a Cap fan, but don’t set your expectations too high.

Filed Under: Marvel, Review Tagged With: , ,

Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 1 ep. 2: 0-8-4

October 3, 2013 by

SHIELD-6After the cliché laden clunker that was the pilot episode of SHIELD, you can imagine my trepidation going into the second episode. Despite my concern, however, I do like to give every new series three episodes before deciding whether or not I’ll continue watching on a week-by-week basis. As I also mentioned in last week’s review, I had a hope that without Joss’ direct input, the series could improve past the snark and heavy handed references.

The bad news is, the episode doesn’t start off on the right foot, with some VFX that just don’t quite look right – even for a TV show – and a fairly stereotypical ‘hero has to get out of impossible’ situation, followed by ‘[insert arbitrary timeframe here] hours earlier’. So far, so average. In addition, the further we get into the episode, the more obvious it becomes that Agent Cardboard Cutout isn’t going to become any more animated any time soon.

The good news, is that while the production values are still mediocre when compared to high budget cable series (which is where the pilot episode should have been sitting, considering its reported $14m budget), the show looks far more polished this week, and looks great for a network TV show. Sets look less studio backlot, and more like they were shot on location. The visual effects are still a bit iffy in places, but are generally pretty good, and the acting has improved vastly.

The great news, is that this episode is engaging. It’s clever, witty, and self referential in a way that doesn’t whack you over the head with an embarrassing desperation to please all the fanboys (and girls) this side of Jupiter. While many will look at the script and see huge similarities between the pilot and 0-8-4, the major difference here is subtlety. Lines are delivered in a far more low key manner, rather than with a comical, over the top facial expression, and a tone dripping with irony. While the writing team was hanging lampshades all over this episode (particularly in reference to Skye’s place on the team), rather than expecting to hear a ba-da-boom-tsssch drum punchline, they garner a chuckle, and a smile.

This episode is fast paced, fun, and a little silly in places, but not so much that it becomes tiresome. Last week, I bemoaned the likelihood of getting something like Burn Notice or Covert Affairs, with a bit more grittiness thrown in. This week, we got the next best thing – something that resembled a cross between Burn Notice and Covert Affairs. Enjoyable, episodic but with the undercurrent of a longer plot, and with a slight feel of guilty pleasure about it.

Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, and Jeffrey Bell have done a great job of the script. There are still a few moments where I could have struggled to suspend my disbelief, but the whole episode is so nicely put together that I found myself not caring. I was particularly impressed with the dramatic shift in the quality of the acting, and if this is down to David Straiton’s direction, then I applaud him. Where most of the actors felt like they were reading from an autocue during the pilot, in 0-8-4 they actually feel like they’ve learned their lines sooner than two minutes before walking on set. Agent Cardboard Cutout is still a weak link, but at least he sounds like his accent isn’t something I put on after a few too many drinks on a Saturday night.

One real revelation for me was Skye. While in the pilot, she felt like an attempted replacement for Darcy Lewis (who, if you’ve read the Thor: The Dark World prelude comics, you will know managed to hack SHIELD without much preamble), in 0-8-4 she’s really settling in to her character. Her place on the team is called into question a number of times, including by herself, and at the end of the episode we start to get an inkling of her real motivations.

The rest of the team (apart from Cardboard), are also well characterised and acted. Melinda May’s woman of few words personality is reinforced, and I’m really excited to see more about how she came to be who she is. Fitz and Simmons are more of the same high speed talking over the top of one another, and despite Skye being the clear attempt at an audience surrogate, I can’t help but relate to these two far more.

I’m a little uncomfortable with the obvious attempt at creating sexual tension between Skye and Cardboard, when there’s very little chemistry between the actors. Suggesting that Cardboard will become her trainer towards the end of the episode doesn’t help with those reservations. I just have my fingers crossed that they’ll subvert this somehow and move on. Or more to the point, I hope my theory on the conversation between Agent May and Agent Cardboard is correct, but you’ll have to wait to find out what that is.

Coulson is firmly back in character, benign expression in place, dropping the odd terrifyingly efficient threat. It’s great to see him get a bit of history, with Leonor Varela guest starring as Peruvian Commandante Camilla Reyes, with whom Phil has an history of not much working. Go Phil, you dog!

It’s a relief to see the name drops and references delivered with far less of a feeling that the actors are winking at the camera. While a bunch of existing MCU characters and ideas get nods in this episode – the device they’re recovering is supposedly based off the HYDRA WWII weapons from CA:TFS – they fit nicely into the flow of dialogue, and actually got my brain ticking over with ideas, rather than being the basis of an eye roll.

I have a few theories on some of the carrots that are continually being left dangling in front of the audience’s noses, like Coulson’s magical time in Tahiti, and this episode has me actually excited to find out what the reveals are going to be.

Fast paced, enthralling, and excited for more. The plot is still predictable, but not irritatingly so, and the characters are no longer all one dimensional caricatures. I’m so thrilled to see such a dramatic turnaround after such a disappointing pilot. If it werent for Cardboard, 0-8-4 would be getting a solid 9/10, but as it stands…

Rating: 8.5/10 – the .5 is for the cameo at the end

Filed Under: Marvel, Review, TV Tagged With:

Super Corporate Heroes Vol. 1 Review – Miguel Guerra & Suzy Dias

October 2, 2013 by

super-corporate-heroesSuperheroes as a form of celebrity culture isn’t a new thing. Many examples come to mind: DC’s Booster Gold, Mark Waids Insufferable, each dealing with the other side of being a superhero – making money. But neither title really tackles the corporate culture head on – well not like Super Corporate Heroes. It asks a completely new question: what if superheroes were on a payroll, and would only save you if you paid up? Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias provide this take on the superhero culture, and while it falls victim to some minor flaws, it becomes something fairly unique to the genre.

As mentioned before, Super Corporate Heroes follows a group of superheroes under the payroll of Superhero Inc. These are men and woman who don’t do it for the altruism – this is for fame and fortune. The series follows the day to day lives of these heroes – the sleazy, arrogant American Icon, the woman of steel Ms.Titanium, the somewhat anatomically correct human spider known as Spinlar – each of these heroes fulfill an archetype from many of the big two publishers’ rosters. While at times they are amusing parodies, like Spinlar ,who spins his web from his back side, other times they can be quite blatant, like the Wolverine-esque Meerkat, and the less than subtle references become more of a distraction than bringing anything to the table. Despite this, Guerra and Dias manage to create a well-rounded cast of characters that at times elevate things higher than simple parody.

Where this comic really shines is the situations these characters are placed in. While at times the moment-to-moment dialogue feels uneven, jumping from 1960s hammy to more modern characterisation, the events that take place are often a treat. From the victim of a mugging who is torn between being mugged (which is cheaper) or paying up to the local hero to save him, to the disgust a bank has toward being saved by Spinlar, the moments can be incredibly amusing to see play out.

At times the themes move on from simple satire, to deeper exploration of economics in our society. Questions of equal pay between male heroes and female heroes, lack of funding to more basic emergency services, and small businesses unable to pay insurance are all brought up. It’s a welcome depth to the idea of a corporate culture and superheroes, and while these really only get touched on briefly, it’d be great to see more of these topics dealt with as the miniseries moves on.

The art on the other hand is a mixed bag. While it certainly invokes strong ties to the square-jawed, simply designed heroes of the Silver Age, the detail in the facial features appears a bit off. Faces seem to be oddly placed, and occasionally characters are contorted in such a way that looks weird. Backgrounds are also lacking, keeping to a bare minimum of detail, and never really giving the comic a sense of place outside of generic city-scapes. The art overall isn’t bad, but it never becomes anything more than a fairly simply drawn book.

Super Corporate Heroes surprised me, and that doesn’t happen too much these days. Its relevant satire of the global economy elevates it higher than many other comics in its genre, to create something that both entertains and intrigues more than you’d think.

 

Filed Under: Graphic Novels, Independents, Review Tagged With: ,

Jupiter’s Legacy #3 – Millar and Quitely

October 1, 2013 by

jupiterslegacy03FIThe long wait between issues two and three of Jupiter’s Legacy have paid off in a big way. Mark Millar has upped the brutality in this current issue while Frank Quitely contributes another off the chart visual performance. Even with the extended wait, it’s hard to believe we are only three issues into this story. It reads more like an event than an ongoing series when you consider the densely populated super hero universe and the sheer magnitude of power possessed by these two warring factions – you really get a sense of the scope and ambition of this book.

Bringing an air of realism to a super hero book is not a new concept – we have seen it many times from Watchmen to the more recent Invincible but there is a modern world pathos that Millar brings to Jupiter’s Legacy that is absent from some of these other works. The degradation of the family unit, the rampant drug use and tanking economy all touched on here by Millar lend more than a gritty realism when looked at through the lens of social criticism. It takes on a biting satirical edge in much the same way as Burgess did in A Clockwork Orange, however we are dealing with human society as it effects the super human, which is an altogether new and different perspective.

There is something voyeuristic about this narrative in that it feels like we are watching a family fall apart. On a much larger scale we are witnessing events unfold in the super hero community that will have ramifications reaching every corner of existence. The conflict here is like a presidential campaign on steroids – both sides have their own deeply held beliefs and motivations, some are more altruistic than others but in a world where might truly makes right, these ideals are only as strong as those who hold them.

Millar does an excellent job writing dialogue for these characters. Although these are new characters, he has given us a look inside them through his sharp, intelligent dialogue and made them feel familiar. Their interaction and collusion paint an accurate portrait of just who these people are and what drives them to do the things they do. The narrative is briskly paced to say the least – events happen in rapid fire succession, sometimes leaving us to wonder if there’s going to be a return to that plot thread later or are we to fill in the blanks ourselves – which can lead to confusion or a point being muddled where it should be crystal clear. This is a complex story full of subtext and sometimes that can get lost in the fast tempo. However, I think Millar is doing a fine job of balancing the fast pace of the narrative with the abundance of information presented – I would just recommend reading these issues more than once to really get the most out of the lush contextual landscape.

Frank Quitely is the perfect artist for the realistic super hero story. His clear and concise portrayal of anatomy is enhanced by his knack for dynamic perspective and posing within a panel. Quitely is a master visual storyteller – he employs the location almost as much as the characters as a conveyance device for the plot. Those of you who have read my reviews of his work know that I am an unapologetic fanatical fan of Mr. Quitely’s work, especially when he and a certain Grant Morrison collaborate to make comic book magic, so it should come as no surprise at all to hear that I was floored by his work in this issue. There are so many incredible pages but one of the gruesome highlights would have to be the splash page of Grace’s brutal murder.

She is twisted in pain and pierced multiple times by numerous weapons – swords and arrows obliterate her abdomen as her life blood gushes from the cruel wounds of her ferocious assault. The whole thing is a study in slaughter. Another such page shows Brandon astride his freshly murdered father surrounded by his new team mates while his manipulative Uncle Walter stands beside him with his misguiding hand upon his nephews shoulder. The once powerful and majestic Utopian lies lifeless, his face now a smoldering skull with two bottomless pits where his eyes, a father’s eyes, once beheld the world and all he held dear. Quitely expertly captures the emotion in this scene with subtleties like the inclination of Brandon’s head as he gazes up at his uncle and the consternation in Walter’s face as he looks to a future that he will shape from the shadows. Peter Doherty’s dynamic colors add a vivid depth and dimension that truly enliven these pages.

Millar and Quitely have fashioned a world where super heroes are not immune to the problems that tear families apart. Jupiter’s Legacy does not lack action, excitement or a compelling and engrossing narrative that keeps you wanting more – it has all of that. This is a world that is not hindered by past continuity conflicts or preconceived notions of how a character would or should act. This is a new world, but a world no less full of situations that shock and surprise by their very nature – not by juxtaposing behaviors or contrasting norms, but they are shocking simply by the brutal finality that result from them.

This is a comic book that doesn’t pull any punches however it does not need to be reined in for being gratuitous or needlessly indulgent. There is a balance here that is not so easily maintained – just look at a book like Crossed and you will see just how hard this balance is to maintain and how awful a book can be when it goes careening off the tracks and into the world of pointless violence and depraved sexuality. Jupiter’s Legacy is first rate across the board and for that reason as well as the myriad merits mentioned in this review. I give this issue my strongest recommendation – add this title to your pull list ASAP.

So until next time, see you at the comic book store.

Filed Under: Image Tagged With: , ,
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