Tag Archives: Marvel

by | September 23, 2013 · 1:15 pm

Editorial | A Highly Anticipated Movie: X-men Days of Future Past

It really is too bad that X-Men: Days of Future Past will not be released in theaters until next year.  Since the “future” part of those days takes place in 2013 (impossibly far away from the year it was written), there would have been some satisfaction in seeing the movie be released this year.  However, Marvel fans will have to wait until May of 2014 to see this visual masterpiece on the big screen.  In preparation, I read the comic books on which the movie is based and I have some thoughts on what I am excited to see as well as some things that should be made clearer in the movie than they are in the books.

The first big difference between books and movies is that comic books are released much more quickly than movies.  This allows for more continuity in the books and keeps them from having to explain and re-explain relationships and back stories.  Because of this difference, and because certain things were not explained well in X-Men: The Last Stand, I am hoping for a little more clarification on certain storylines.

A little more of this, please!

For instance, I really want more screen time for Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin (Sprite and Colossus).  The comics in the DoFP saga do not really explain much about their history, except, of course, to mention that they are married in the future.  The few sparks of romantic in me would like to see some of their love story.

I did not originally like Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde, but she has grown on me and I am excited to see more from her.  She is one of the most important characters in the DoFP storyline.  In the X-men movies, her character really wasn’t fleshed out very much.  In fact, I didn’t even realize that Ellen Page was playing Kitty Pryde until halfway through X-Men: The Last Stand.  This was mostly due to the fact that Last Stand Kitty seemed much more interested in Bobby Drake (Iceman) than she was in Colossus.

I am also excited to see more of the Uncanny X-men who have grown on me, such as Storm and even Nightcrawler (although he still creeps me out a little).  I am curious whether Ben Foster will be asked to reprise his role as the Angel.  He was a very minor character in Last Stand and I felt no real connection to him, so it would not bother me at all if that part were recast for Days of Future Past.

The Sentinels are another highly anticipated plot feature, of course.  Even more fabulous is the announcement that one of my favorite actors, Peter Dinklage, will be playing their creator, Bolivar Trask.

See the resemblance?

Although the Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver do not appear in the comics for the DoFP story, I am excited to see them on the screen for the first time.  Scarlet Witch has one of the coolest super powers that Marvel has ever dreamed up, and I am eager to see how that is translated into film.

Of course, I am also looking forward to seeing my very favorite X-man, and giant crush again also.  Hank McCoy will always be my not-so-secret love.  However, I am sad to see the Kelsey Grammar is not playing the Beast again this time.  My fingers are crossed that Nicholas Hoult will do an equally amazing job.

There are a few things I am not looking forward to seeing, however.  Jennifer Lawrence does not play a convincing Mystique, and I really wish she had been recast.  She was one of the most disappointing performances in X-men: First Class.  Fortunately, Mystique IS a shape-shifter, so perhaps we will not have to look at Lawrence all that much.

I also am not a fan of Anna Paquin’s Rogue.  Come to think of it, these actresses look and act a lot alike.  Perhaps they’re just not my type.

All in all, May 2014 cannot come soon enough for me!  In the meantime, I’ll just have to break out Andrew’s list of things to do while I wait.  Also, I will be enjoying tomorrow evening’s 8/7 pm premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC.

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by | September 13, 2013 · 11:27 am

Around the Web September 13, 2013

This has been a great week for tech announcements. Everyone I know has been talking about the latest Apple Press Conference, but for me the more interesting news came from Sony. They have announced a new preferal called the PS Vita TV. This device allows you play your PS Vita games on your TV using a standard PS3 Dual Shock Controller.

PSVitaLarge

The box will also allow you to stream video services such as Netflix and Hulu and play your PS4 remotely (with a PS4 controller of course).

A while back I wrote about how awesome Greg Rucka’s Queen and Country is. Turns out, actress Ellen Paige is interested in playing British secret agent Tara Chase. Things are still in the early stages, but I’d love to see this project come to life.

tim sale

Check out Greg Rucka’s optimistic tweet about the news.

Finally, it is the 50th birthday of my top two favorite Marvel comics, X-Men and The Avengers. On September 10, 1963, issue #1 of both books was released. Both books were written by the great Stan Lee, with art from Jack “King” Kirby.

xmen1X-Men is the first comic I ever picked up and The Avengers has become one of my favorite titles, especially under the direction of Johnathan Hickman.

Also check out:

10 great X-Men stories from the last 50 years.

10 great Avengers stories from the last 50 years.

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by | July 1, 2013 · 1:30 pm

Editorial | What Doesn’t Kill You: socializing with other geeks can make you a better geek

At a recent gathering of geeks—too small to be a convention, and too large to be a D&D adventure—I had the opportunity to see Joss Whedon fans in the wild.  This is a rare occurrence, as these creatures spend most of their time hiding under the covers and sobbing into their pillows.  It was so nice to see others with similar interests and to interact in a large group, although it felt oddly surreal to be seated near a pair of Klingons with their infant son.

Spending time with someone other than a plastic Marvel (or DC) action figure collection will allow an expansion of horizons, both within the realms already known and loved, and in worlds beyond.

For instance, I adore all projects Joss Whedon, but recently, when several of my friends pointed out plot points, nuances, and an entire free, web mini-series that I had missed (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, in case there is anyone still uninitiated into that little piece of genius), I realized that I am not quite as knowledgeable as I had once thought.  It was a little bit of a shock, but the conversations I now have are on a completely different level.

muchadomovie.com

Whedon’s new film “Much Ado About Nothing”

It’s also nice to be introduced to new areas of geekdom by those already well-versed in it.  Instead of being overwhelming and intimidating (perhaps to the point that interest is lost), these new spheres of interest are easily explored with the help of a guide.  I have many such experiences with this—especially since it can be daunting to get into such things as Manga, or even the wild, tangled world of comic books, thanks to their snarl of alternate storylines (Spiderman, anyone?).  Several years ago I was introduced to the wonderful world of Japanese anime by my friend Elaina.*  My first experience was a positive one thanks to her direction.  First she had me check out Studio Ghibli, and then the character Yomiko Readman (Agent Paper) in the popular manga/novel series and animated film Read or Die.  I’m nobody’s anime buff—not even close—but I can now speak with some small knowledge on the subject thanks to Elaina.

A healthy brain is one that is regularly challenged to work hard, and an easy way to challenge it is to hang around other intelligent people.  I found this out the hard way a few years ago when I looked up from my full-time job in retail to realize that I didn’t know anyone smarter than I.  It might sound like an opportunity to show off, or even a chance to be promoted rapidly, but in reality it was just boring and frustrating.  Since then I’ve cultivated friendships with some brilliant people around my own age that not only keep me humble but actually stretch my cognitive powers and force me to learn and remember to my full potential.  The challenge is exciting and keeps me hungry for information.

Spending time reveling in one’s own creative genius has the tendency to give an inflated view of one’s own cleverness, but there is always someone more intelligent.  This was illustrated beautifully in The Big Bang Theory’s character Sheldon Cooper.  The character is a brilliant, but narcissistic physicist who is ridiculously arrogant about his own cerebral abilities.  Not until Stephen Hawking points out an elementary, mathematical mistake in his paper on the Higgs-Boson particle does Sheldon realize he is as human as the friends he insults on a daily basis.

It may sound difficult to seek out people of similar brain capacity—society frowns upon those who ask for Mensa scores immediately after an introduction—but they can often be found in these very gatherings.  It’s no happenstance that some of the brightest minds of our time are self-proclaimed geeks, so there is no better way to find some of them than in a meeting of geek minds.

Jayne Cobb hat

“Man wears a hat like that, people know he ain’t afraid of anything.”

Lastly, spending time in the company of other geeks fosters a sense of cultural identity.  It is proof that no geek is alone, and validates his passions.  There is nothing quite like the feeling of acceptance that comes from seeing another Browncoat in a Jayne hat.  Here, not only are those things that make a geek so painfully awkward at times in the outside world not awkward, they are normal!

The wisest man in the world lived about three thousand years before the term “geek” was coined, but his thirst for knowledge made him one all the same; and he said, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”  Come to think of it, my authentic replica Medieval battle axe could use a whetstone.  Maybe it’s time to get some friends together for a little LARPing and some good, old-fashioned, geek socializing.

*name changed

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by | June 4, 2013 · 10:19 am

Going Digital

Completely to my surprise, I’ve become a huge fan of digital comics.  There, I’ve said it, and you can’t make me take it back.  I didn’t start off as a fan, but like a new convert learning about Scientology, I didn’t realize it until I was eyeballs deep in it.  For months I had been buying comics that came with free digital copies but I didn’t do anything with them because I didn’t have a device that would allow me to read them properly.  Sure I could have used my phone, but it’s less than satisfying.  That all changed when I received an iPad mini for Christmas, and I have to say that I love this little device.  It is small enough to be truly portable but the screen is big enough that it doesn’t feel like I’m trying to look at something on my phone.  Also there are lots of great apps, some of the best of which are the various apps from each of the major comic book publishers.  Suddenly, I discovered that I now have a device that can make use of all those free digital copy codes that I hadn’t bothered to do anything with.  Thankfully, they were attached to the comic itself; otherwise I would have probably lost them.

The Marvel codes are 12 character alphanumeric codes that must be entered into a website in order to get the digital copies, which is a bit annoying, especially considering that I was new to digital comics and had a considerable backlog.  However, a few hours and about 150 codes later, I was ready to start enjoying my digital comic collection, and man did I ever enjoy them.  Over the course of a Christmas vacation I was able to catch up on months of comics without having to bring a short box around with me or risk damage to my physical copies by shoving them into a backpack.  The image quality is just plain awesome.  It would be easy to assume that reading comic graphics on a digital screen would be a strain but so far all the comics I’ve seen have been excellent.  Although I have glasses and all around pretty crappy vision, I very rarely have an issue reading a page of comics on the screen.  On the rare times I do, I can just double tap the panel I’m having issue with and it automatically zooms in on the panel. It even works for two page spreads by focusing on small areas at a time.  All of the major publisher apps are powered by Comixology, which means that they function in nearly the same way, making it as easy to switch between publishers without too much culture shock.

Another reason I am a big fan of digital comics is that I can find and read many back issues that I wouldn’t easily have access to otherwise. All of the publishers are working to fill in the back catalog of old comics, and while their complete libraries aren’t available yet, quite a few substantial runs are. One of my first strictly digital purchases was Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27, ultra rare books that I could never possible hope to hold in my hands.  Now I’ve got them, in digital form.
I also use the digital format to follow and read books that I’ve heard good things about but was unaware of at the time they were released or books I could not justify buying at full price. New books online are priced the same as the physical ones—probably to keep retailers from rioting—but older books are often discounted, making it worthwhile if you don’t mind being a couple months behind reading the book. Some publishers are also looking for new ways expand their digital footprint with things like digital first content or digital codes for other products like trade paperbacks.

Although all digital comics so far use the same developer, Marvel has clearly taken the lead in this digital frontier.  They seem to really be pushing people into the digital realm any way they can.   Many of their titles come with free digital copies.  However, their method of pushing digital copies does have its flaws. The digital copy that comes with the physical comics isn’t really free, since they charge a dollar more for the books that have them, and there isn’t an option to buy the book without the code.  The store attached to the Marvel app runs 99₵ sales every Monday and sometimes has other specials to celebrate comic or real life events.  I have gotten some great comic runs out of these sales, which made me very happy (although my wallet less so).  While other publishers have sales, they are less frequent and often a bit lack luster.  Another really cool thing is that each time a Marvel code is redeemed, the store that sold the book gets a small credit, provided the purchaser specifies their retailer from the provided list.  It may not be much per book, those little bits will add up, helping out local comic stores.

On the other hand, DC prints two versions of the book, one with a code and one without, and the book with the code comes in in a polybag.  Unfortunately, they don’t really explain how their system works.  Until a month ago, I had no idea that’s why they had polybag versions of comics.  While I personally am willing to pay the extra dollar for the digital copy, I can understand why not everyone wants to pay extra for something they aren’t going to use.

As with all new things, there are some downsides. Pricing at times can be inconsistent. Captain America Vol. 7 #1-5 are still $4.00 each despite being up to six months old now even though other titles from the same publisher are down to $1.99 after only a month or two.

Unfortunately, the support is sometimes questionable.  On a couple of occasions I have not been able to redeem codes for various reasons and have submitted help tickets without a response from the publisher.  Other times after returning home from my local comic book store, I’ve opened a book only to find that there isn’t a code inside.  At that point I’m left with the choice to either pay for the comic again, or to do without the digital version.  I’m hoping they will get some of this sorted out in the near future.

I am looking forward to seeing where this interesting new realm of comics is going to take us.  For all my love of digital comics, I will always enjoy having the physical book in my hands, even if I don’t necessarily read it in that form.  For some people, though, this is exactly what they need to keep reading their comics, without cluttering up their house.

The best part is that by expanding how comics are published, they can hopefully spread the joy of comic reading to even more people. With access to comics in all forms increasing and the popularity of comic characters growing, thanks to all the new movies that have come out in recent years, we are hopefully close to a new and wonderful comic book resurgence.

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