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Post by humanbelly on Oct 3, 2015 11:20:03 GMT -5
And Doc. . . CRYSTAL??? Yeesh, really- Her main super-power is fostering immense discord between whatever males happen to be in her orbit-! You're just assuming, then, that Hawk and Herc would kill each other off, and simply leave you and the young woman there together, sailing into the alien sunset w/out another soul to trouble your bliss-? Tsk, tsk, tsk-- HB
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Post by humanbelly on Oct 3, 2015 11:15:29 GMT -5
If you were to be stranded on a desert planetoid (with a breathable atmosphere) and you could choose 3 avengers to be stranded with, which ones would you choose? My choices: Hawkeye, Hercules and Crystal. I have a few quick qualifier questions, Doc-- 1) The planetoid has the basic fundamentals for survival, one assumes? Fresh water, some sort of edible vegetation & game, caves and/or tall plant life for shelter from the elements? 2) Do the folks with inherent super-powers still have them? Do guys like Tony & Clint have their gear or no? 3) Any prospect of rescue as a motivating element? Or is it potentially on the planetoid for the long haul? HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 30, 2015 21:29:56 GMT -5
Who is Lionheart? Never heard of it A female, British Avenger (?) with an EXTREMELY short career....she helped/joined the team at the end of the 2nd volume's run, I'm guessing @ #80..... just lump her in with Rage, or any other Avenger that hardly made an impact (except for their own story/origin) and then disappeared. Well, except the writer clearly had a pretty solid plan for developing her and her odd situation (she was saddled with a STUPID personal/family-life dilemma that wasn't going to hold up for a single issue of close scrutiny-- but it really was just a window-dressing plot device, easily jettisoned), and there were lots of effective little hooks set up to let her develop organically. But like everything else, it was deemed expendable and rendered completely moot in one issue by the utter Universe-ruination we refer to as DisAssembled and then Civil War. Kelsey was her name, right? "This. . . could work-!"-- I thought at the time. . . I mean, how'd you like to be the writer who put the work and thought into crafting this character over the course of several months. . . and then having the editor in chief (or whomever) tell you that your work isn't as important or valuable as what this OTHER writer wants to do. . . HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 11, 2015 20:27:46 GMT -5
Ha! Just fixed the eye-rolling typo in the thread title--- As I recall, HBWife was talking to me as I was starting it, and I wasn't ever-so-careful, eh?
Heh- HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 8, 2015 21:03:15 GMT -5
I think. . . I think the SP just tried to dopplegang Thor, and it didn't work 'cause Thor was. . . uhm. . . an Asgardian ( ?), and then he was easily subdued whilst discombobulated. But there's no question that we had at least one insta-rust incident in that brief-ish period when Tony was sporting the boxy golden armor--- that's exactly the image that comes to my mind. (I mean, the fact that he obviously slapped a heavy coat of yellow Rustoleum on the old gray suit completely negates any chance of rust-emergencies anyhow! Not only was Stan disastrous with elementary school science fundamentals, he clearly had no aptitude for basic handyman functions. . . !) HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 8, 2015 11:30:47 GMT -5
Ha! Nope, Bong-- although I couldn't 100% swear to it, I'm pretty sure Pete's still using the ol' web cartridges in the strip. Strangely enough, while I more or less accept and "get" the rationale of the webbing being part of the genetic spider-mutation package, I have to admit that the back-of-the-mind feeling that Spidey could (and did) run out of webbing at pretty much any moment was an intrinsic humanizing, everyman aspect that was so unique to the book during its hey-day. It was the perfect pile-on-Spidey go-to element. HB Pretty much like Shellhead running out of juice back in the old days. In fact, sometimes they would use that trope so much that I, a frustrated fanboy, would mumble at times that there sure didnĀ“t seem to be much "invincible" in the invincible Iron Man... . Ha! That's hilariously true. And if you toss in the fact that, like the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz, he would somehow rust up instantly with just a small amount of water contact, AND that exposure to a common abrasive like emery powder could cause all of his mechanisms to seize up, you'd think he was the COMPLETELY-vincible Iron Man! If that armor were a kids' toy, it wouldn't last until Christmas afternoon. Batteries dead after one use, and cannot be exposed to water or dirt. . . Junior, we're gettin' Santa's money back. . . HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 7, 2015 5:54:16 GMT -5
Ha! Nope, Bong-- although I couldn't 100% swear to it, I'm pretty sure Pete's still using the ol' web cartridges in the strip. Strangely enough, while I more or less accept and "get" the rationale of the webbing being part of the genetic spider-mutation package, I have to admit that the back-of-the-mind feeling that Spidey could (and did) run out of webbing at pretty much any moment was an intrinsic humanizing, everyman aspect that was so unique to the book during its hey-day. It was the perfect pile-on-Spidey go-to element. HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 6, 2015 19:08:17 GMT -5
Say, real quick-- Does anyone besides me ever check in on the still-rumbling-along Spidey newspaper strip by Stan & Larry Lieber (daily) and Stan & Alex Saviuk/Joe Sinnott (Sundays)? Myself, I don't follow it closely, 'cause. . . well, it's not great by any stretch. I guess it hangs on by being sort of a comfortable, inoffensive curiosity-- and it's kind of a landmark on the comics page, I suppose.
They did just finish a storyline with MaryJane (still married in the strip-- that's one HUGE plus!) filming a superhero film as "Marvella". . . and the Black Widow gets involved. It caught my eye yesterday and today because they've just started a Sub-Mariner storyline, and Namor is sporting his old blue/black vested togs that Reed designed for him back in the Bronze Age-- my personal favorite look for Subby.
But Good-night Irene-- the average of the combined ages of these creators is 81.5 years old! With Saviuk (at 63) being young enough to be the SON of any of the other three!! And it's definitely a creaky endeavor. Lieber's pencils were always serviceable at best, and they've lost an edge-- but they're not awful, just "enh". Stan's plotting/scripting (assuming he does it himself) tends to be clunky and shallow, and a little tedious. He's been doing it for over 20 years, but I just don't think he's ever had a good feel for how a daily strip needs to be paced to keep it moving in sustained, tiny increments of plot. Alex S honestly seems to me to have dropped off more than I would expect. He always, to my eye, had issues with symmetry-- especially in angled views-- and that's become much more pronounced. There's also a problem with foreshortening and 3/4 views being out of whack that is very similar to Carmine Infantino's much later work. In a way, I think Joe's inks on the Sunday strip may still be the strongest contribution. Definitely not the artist he once was-- but there were aspects of today's strip that, to my eye, were clearly carried by Joe's well-placed embellishment (Namor's face, in particular).
So-- I may well be the only person left in America who pays any mind to this strip at all, but I thought, heck, let me put it out there!
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Sept 1, 2015 19:51:15 GMT -5
SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU HAVENĀ“T READ RAGE OF ULTRON (OR FOUND OUT ABOUT ITĀ“S ENDING) I just finished reading the "Rage of Ultron" hardback from my local library branch and I have to say I didnĀ“t care for how it ends. Hank Pym merges with Ultron into one being and flies off to space. Has anybody else read it...? If so, whatĀ“s your take on it? Wow. Sooooooooooooo glad I haven't been reading anything like that all. "Merged" characters are the opposite of a gestalt-- they become less compelling and far less interesting than either of their original sources. Is there anyone on the planet who mourns the (I must assume?) passing of "Douglock"-? I found the whole "whose-memories-are-these?" turmoil of Rogue's early years to be the least interesting aspect of her character at that time-- painfully tedious, even though it wasn't always badly scripted. That is a writer who is out of ideas and is mistakenly self-convinced that he/she has latched onto a daring, new, "edgy" twist for these two looooooong-established characters. There is nothing on earth that could me to look at a stupid development like this with an open mind. Could it be that Marvel simply wanted to divest itself of both entities for the foreseeable future with the new reboot? HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 28, 2015 12:48:29 GMT -5
I remember that issue, Ultron69. Tony Stark was there too and they were all discussing Simon William's physical state and Beast was about to say something and T'Challa cut him off. Hank said something like "I was about to say that," but then he just took off. In this instance I'd agree that Hank wasn't allowed to shine in the brains department, but I think that was right in line with the character development at the time where Hank felt intimidated by the other Avengers. I liked this angle and if you look back at those years, Hank was probably the most complex character in the Avengers, in terms of personality. Even though he was insecure, he retained his sense of humor, and embraced his furriness (thank GOD they did that instead of making him a maudlin bore). Hank and Wonder Man, I'm told by several friends who worked at Marvel at the time, were by far the most popular Avengers with hardcore Avengers fans. Yep, yep. I definitely share Ultron's view that Hank, as a contributing superhero, was awfully under-utilized during his tenure with the group. But he very, very often makes it onto fans' lists of Favorite Avengers-- and indeed he's one of mine. He doesn't have that quality of being forgotten about, or lost in the shuffle-- he had a lasting impact on the team. Soooooo, I'm gonna submit that his success disqualifies him from this particular squad. He'd end up being a "ringer". Hmmm-- unless HE came in as team-leader. Sort of like Hawkeye w/ the Thunderbolts. . . HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 27, 2015 9:18:49 GMT -5
Hellcat's a good addition. I kept thinking of Tigra, and that somehow blinded me to Patsy's existence. I just looked up Century to refresh my memory on him, aaaaaaand he's truly a product of the stupid excesses of the 90's. He's all kewl "stuff" w/out there being a particularly compelling person underneath. . . or that's the impression I get from the Marvel Wiki. I didn't realize he's actually another artificial being, like Jocasta and Jim Hammond, but his multiple powers and abilities are so over-the-top that it makes him inaccessible. My initial impression of him was that he was simply a very, very old amnesiac alien-- and that was an angle (the aged hero/warrior) that I found compelling.
Okay, okay-- we can bring him in as an associate, I suppose. Sort of like Black Widow was in the mid-60's, yeah?
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 25, 2015 15:36:27 GMT -5
Greedy Like a Pig might be a more apt description. Or perhaps in a way, Intemperant as a Barfly. . .
I would be wonderfully interested in seeing a team that might be called The Mishandled Avengers. . . composed of folks that had a pretty interesting backstory or circumstance, but then lost their writer or their plotline or editorial interest or support or whatever. This is easy for me, maybe, 'cause there were several abandoned characters that I rather liked that other folks truly did not. How would the following work as a legitimate team of Avengers?:
RAGE JACK OF HEARTS LIONHEART (ooo-- how cute if they were to become Sweethearts, eh?) SANDMAN (back as a reformed criminal again) JOCASTA Jim Hammond-- the ORIGINAL HUMAN TORCH (hmm-- him & Jocasta??)
and. . .
CENTURY (from Force Works)
That's off the top of my head, annnnnnnnnnnd. . . wow. . . I LOVE this team! Jim Hammond would likely be the team leader, yes? With his deep wealth of Invaders experience? That's a whole bunch of seriously damaged, personally-struggling individuals, though. Elvin (Rage) might be the least traumatized of the whole, uhm, actually-human gang. (Wow, and this group would be RICH in "What is Human? Who is Human?" story potential, too. Maybe-- maybe I'm gonna have to start bein' a writer at some point, here. . . )
HB
addendum: Actually, upon further reflection, I think Jocasta might be the better choice as team leader. She has many of Jan's best qualities, of course, and has a fairly long history with the team-- albeit on the periphery. Rage was probably an active member longer than any of the others--- but he's still basically a kid in comparison. . . (I fully recognize that this is me largely musing aloud. . . pay no undue attention. . . )
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Ant-man
Aug 23, 2015 18:38:57 GMT -5
Post by humanbelly on Aug 23, 2015 18:38:57 GMT -5
Hank as Ant-Man is really a back-story element of this film, which goes a long way to giving the plot some needed depth and consequence-- but it's not really the thrust of the film at all. Definitely Scott's picture, no question. But y'know, MB, it's funny-- I don't mean this as a negative comment whatsoever, truly, but I think this was the most "television-like" of all the Cinematic U films so far, which means it may transfer to the small screen in a very friendly fashion if you do indeed decide to wait it out. From what I've tried to glean online (and it's been tough to figure out), the whole 3D option for this particular film didn't yield as many $$ as the studios seem to expect. Folks (myself included) are more than happy to see it all traditional-like and not spend an extra 3 to 5 bucks to wear glasses that inherently darken the image.
I could certainly see this working as an ongoing TV series if they ever gave that option a thought.
Just. . . still, they'd HAFTA get Evangeline Lilly outta that hairstyle stat. . .
HB
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Ant-man
Aug 21, 2015 20:47:04 GMT -5
Post by humanbelly on Aug 21, 2015 20:47:04 GMT -5
Corey Stoll was that actor's name, yeah? The guy that played Cross?
Really, my impression was that he's a darned fine actor (boy, nice rich voice, too), and I believed his involvement in the scenes, but I somehow never fully bought him as this extraordinary scientific genius. I'm certainly a big fan of casting and playing against type when it can be pulled off-- but there was nothing about him personally (mannerisms, habits of speech, basic physicality, whatever) that helped me believe that this guy did that science for a living, y'know? He could just as easily have been a rogue math teacher/football coach, or a body guard, or a district manager for Olive Garden.
He was indeed darned creepy, though, once he got into the suit. And I suspect that the editing room floor (laptop trash bin?) contains a few scenes where we get a clearer, more detailed explanation of the neurological issues that the Pym Particles were responsible for. That became a plot point very late w/out us having full preparation for it.
HB
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Ant-man
Aug 20, 2015 22:45:39 GMT -5
Post by humanbelly on Aug 20, 2015 22:45:39 GMT -5
HB, I was beginning to wonder if I was the only who had seen the movie (Twice now actually). I've been recommending it to other people who don't read comics and were thinking it was going to be lame. So far, I've batted 1000 in that department. Everyone I've talked to loved the movie. So many good decisions and choices were made even down in the lower regions of the priority list. The little girl playing Cassie was just about as endearingly and genuinely enthusiastic (and real-life cute) as a director could ever hope for. She did indeed manage to stop just this side of cloying-- which is unusual for ANY kid in a film with a Disney imprint somewhere on it. Catching her in those few short weeks without her front teeth may have been a million box office $$ all by itself. The fact of the Avengers permeates the film, obviously, but never interferes with it-- and certainly enhances the ending, yeah? I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that I really did like Scott's inane little "gang". You wanna talk about yer heavy Disney-esque influence-- these guys would have been right at home in some sort of Herbie the LoveBug remake. And if someone had tried to simply explain that element to me, it might have kept me from seeing the film ever. But-- they were certainly integrated into the plot, and . . . they worked, and were amusing! I want there to be an AntMan 2, and I definitely want those guys in it (although I imagine they'd add at least two more to the group, including one woman, since sequels can never seem to leave an element like that alone when it's working). REALLY liked the overall low body-count in the film. I think there were. . . 5 or 6, counting the bad guy? Plus the distressing killing of a lamb-- geeze, that was blatantly manipulative. But the few deaths represented then carry a heck of a lot more weight when they're not surrounded by several hundred other innocent bystanders being callously obliterated. Smart choice. LOVED the fact that Hank didn't die-- just loved it. In my mind, it was a given that he wouldn't make it to the end-- the obvious resolution when a star of his caliber is involved. Man, I do hope we get to see more of Michael Douglas down the road. (How many Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated actors have been in these Marvel films, now? It's an embarrassment of riches!) Having a non-stupid resolution w/ the step-dad caught me by surprise, too. I was not expecting that to be a high-road choice at the end. It was ridiculously refreshing. I mean, you don't want to dislike a hard-workin', responsible law-officer, y'know? Ah, it's still got me caught in its aura, doesn't it? HB
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Ant-man
Aug 20, 2015 12:24:35 GMT -5
Post by humanbelly on Aug 20, 2015 12:24:35 GMT -5
How in the world has no one responded on this thread?? Friends, friends-- are we not the AVENGERS ASSEMBLE board?? And I know that many of us here LOVE Hank Pym AND Scott Lang as the tiniest of Marvel heroes!
Finally got to see it last night w/ a recuperating HBSon (wisdom teeth extracted), and not a moment too soon, 'cause I think it'll be fully gone from all of our local multiplexes by tomorrow.
Formulaic? Sure-- but that's honestly a given, since the broader genre of the source material is the very epitome of formulaic entertainment. One might as well turn one's nose up at Papa John's for relying so heavily on pizza sales. . .
Transparently questionable scientific double-talk? Hoo-boy, yeah again-- even more egregious than superhero films usually are. . . but that's always the FIRST free pass you have to hand out if you're gonna enjoy this kind of movie, right?
So take those two things smack off of the critique table, and what have ya got? A WONDERFULLY enjoyable and engaging little romp of superhero movie. This may be the closest thing we've seen yet to a true on-screen representation of a comic book-style story. It completely works (for me & HBSon, anyhoo). And it's yet another genre' being checked off for the Cinematic U (well, two, actually): a romcom/heist-comedy. And considering the notoriously rough road this movie had in coming to fruition, it was immensely gratifying to see so much influence from the source material in creating all of these below-the-public-radar characters for the screen. Michael Douglas' Hank Pym is deeply rooted in our own Hank, and there are only a couple of very oblique references that convey the character's below-the-surface issues. Rudd's Scott Lang is more of a principled goof-up, but it makes me "get" how a real Scott might exist.
The effects might be taken for granted, also-- but they do a wonderful job of visually capturing the sense of a tiny person operating in an enormous environment. There's almost an intangible involved with that-- and this is the best I've ever seen it achieved. You also finally get how Antman can fight so effectively-- it's surprisingly dynamic.
Ahhh, good stuff.
Well, maybe not Evangeline Lilly's hair/wig-- but everything else. . .
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 14, 2015 13:04:16 GMT -5
Did you see the new FF movie, HB? Nope-- although my lack of attendance is less of a boycott and more a BUSY summer issue (I haven't seen Ant-Man yet, even, daggone it! Or Jurassic World!). But honestly, I cannot imagine giving over the price of a movie ticket for a film that has driven me away with almost every glimpse. I suppose my harsh criticisms will necessarily ring hollow, since one ultimately can't fully judge a film for oneself w/out watching it-- but still. If I watch someone pour vinegar, raw liver, and pickled herring into my chocolate milkshake, I can offer a 100% certitude that I am not gonna like that shake, whether I drink it or not. Heh. (Geeze, now I'm craving a chocolate shake. . . ) I even recognize that I'm the one guy who kind of liked Green Lantern, and Cowboys & Aliens, and even the first Ghost Rider (a little). But if nothing else, the previews for those films let me know that they'd have a tone that appealed to me. HATING the tone in the FF previews. Truly hating it. Pretty much the way I've hated the tone of the Batman previews, in fact. HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 10, 2015 15:07:56 GMT -5
I'm opting for the REDBOX option.....I'm not paying more than $2 to be disappointed, ha-ha! I ACTUALLY didn't think the first two FF movies were THAT bad, (the THING should have looked rockier, taller, more massive in general).....the characterizations (esp. Silver Surfer) were OK..... EXCEPT DR DOOM was wrong, wrong , wrong!!!!!!!!! That slick, Americanized DOOM just ruined it for me! He even cracked jokes in the first FF movie!?!?! Didn't ANYONE read a comic book with Dr Doom in it before attempting to make a FF movie?!?!? SHEEESH! I too MOSTLY enjoyed the other 2 movies. I think they did a good job with the actual team. If they hadn't screwed up Dr. Doom and Galactus so badly, they would have been excellent. However, those screw ups were pretty massive. It's especially baffling that they're unable to commit to a Victor von Doom with his roots in the source material. Honestly, his story is compelling as-is. And much like Magneto, if his childhood experiences are grounded by setting them in a Latveria that is suffering from being the worst of Soviet satellite nation hell-holes-- from which he barely manages to escape, and ends up in college with arrogant, "privileged" Reed Richards--- geeze, he becomes a first-tier movie villain character. One that we care about, ala Magneto or Loki, say. Just. . . no understanding of what makes good storytelling at all. Galactus, on the other hand, was probably just a bad choice from the get-go. Making him a big "humanoid" for the movie would have looked, well, silly. Knockin' on the door of the MST3K treatment, I think. But a big cloud of cosmic mustard gas simply turns it into the disaster-of-the-week--- with very little to be learned (and I have to confess that I don't remember much about the movie anyhow). Good, interesting conflicts and adversaries are of COURSE what make good movies in this genre. And some of the FF's early rogues gallery are likely, while others I wouldn't touch on a bet. Ones that, off the top of my head, I think could make a much better film? Red Ghost and his Super Apes Diablo Possssssibly an iteration of the Frightful Four (regardless of how obvious that is) Annihilus-- absolutely (and maybe w/ a helping of teddy-bear eared Blastaar) Don't Go There's-? Mole Man Namor (Unless there's a huge resurgence of interest in amphibious characters) Miracle Man Hate Monger Molecule Man Puppet Master That's completely off the top of my head-- but, ANYTHING other than another round w/ Doom at this point. He's out, out, OUT. HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 10, 2015 11:26:26 GMT -5
Well I think there have been some great Marvel movies! I liked both Avengers, all the X-Men movies, and Winter Soldier. I didn't see the first Captain America, and only saw the first Iron Man, which I thought was okay at the time but now I can hardly remember it. RE: The Fantastic Four. I have always maintained that their stable of villains is unique and impressive-- making their books enjoyable. And in the FF heyday, there was a lot of humor and infighting. I don't think the movie people understand this. I have not seen the latest movie, but apparently they get their powers from entering the Negative Zone--but I haven't heard anyone even mention Annihilus (sp). What is the Negative Zone without him? According to the reviews (which haven't really even made a pretense of keeping things spoiler-free, I think), it's not really called the Negative Zone, but. . . Planet Zero? Dimension Zero? Area Zero?? Something like that? But yeah-- that exposure is the source of their powers, it looks like. I daresay the big problem is that FOX owns the rights to this property, and Marvel/Disney doesn't have any control over the product whatsoever. Although there are some exceptions, FOX- as an entertainment corporation behemoth- has ALWAYS (well, since the Murdoch era, at least) valued and emphasized "youth", trendiness, flash, and "hot"-ness over actual substance in their projects. This reboot is an almost comical example of that corporate mindset. HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 10, 2015 8:42:14 GMT -5
Boy, Hollywood as an entity is just astonishingly unable to learn from its own mistakes-- decade after decade-- isn't it? Or at least, amazingly blind to what is obviously a bad product once a threshold of investment has been reached. The very first, few sneak peeks at previews told the tale on this dog. Changes from source material can be overcome if it is A GOOD FILM. But the moment those early previews gave us even a little bit of the hackneyed, cliched, tired dialog and overwrought/underplayed narration, the game was up. No way around it. It starts with the writing. And it was nakedly apparent at that point that actually "writing" the film was a mere formality before getting it up on the screen. Gad-- what an embarrassment. And such a sad waste of resources (although, well-- I guess it does provide employment for lots of good folks up and down the hollywood production food chain). And if a studio pulls the plug, it does put a lot of people immediately out of work-- so in a way, it's still the humane way to operate. Hmm-- which is never the way any studio would operate-- so there HAS to have been some sort of insurance or bottom-line advantage to going ahead and releasing the film.
Maybe. . . maybe the story is simply inherently un-cinematic? I wonder if anyone has considered making it into a television series? I'm serious. It's a MUCH better format for getting to know these characters and their other foes over the course of time. . .
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Aug 4, 2015 19:58:33 GMT -5
Ahhh hahahahahaa--! Bless you, Marvel Boy, that is of course EXACTLY the add I was so fondly remembering! Does anyone besides me think that it might well be Marie Severin inked by her beloved big brother John? Hmm? (Sure does look like his inks, I'm thinkin'--!)
Oh my lord, and I just noticed that the book Hulk set aside for his tea break is Atlas Shrugged! Oh, that is too, too funny!
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jul 21, 2015 9:04:45 GMT -5
That Micronauts #7 cover--- I don't have the issue, but that image has always stuck with me. I think it might be something like an "Undiscovered Greatest Cover of All Time"-type thingy, y'know? And I only know it from the in-house ads! This might be worth its own little thread, in fact. "Favorite In-House Ads". Ones that actually added to your enjoyment of a book, rather than annoy you with their presence. Wasn't there one with the Hulk sipping tea in a Masterpiece Theater setting? Possibly an add for subscriptions? Or possibly FOOM?
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jul 8, 2015 7:42:55 GMT -5
What a great Pollard cover! I think its only weakness, in fact, is in the coloring. The white background behind the logo somehow makes it feel less substantial or less "finished", y'know? Darken the building roofs a bit-- maybe give them a distinct finish point-- and then maybe make all of that a light blue? I believe I remember issue #192 pretty well, MB. There's a good bit of the ol' "trapped w/ Jonah" (which we've seen a number of times before) dynamic going on, and the exchange between them has a particularly good real-life dialog feel to it. Jonah is stunned to discover that Spidey is adept in scientific/engineering matters, too, IIRC.
Beyond lots of random early reprints (Collector's Item Classics and such) of random early Spidey stories, I do believe the first "run" that I read with a sense of on-going continuity started w/ issue #65 and went through #80 or #81. So of course, this was a Spidey Hey-Day for me. Ya got yer Kingping, yer Man-Mountain Marko, and a particularly long (and ultimately chilling) arc that featured some doofy "tablets" and a youth formula and the demise of Silvermane-- which bled right into another fine go-round with the Lizard-- and ultimately ends with a really great issue (with the BEST JJJ comeupance ever!) #80, with the Chameleon. I believe that issue's the first time we ever see Spidey partially lift a car-- curls the rear end, actually-- and my buddy Bryan and I thought that was AWWWWWWWWSOME!!!
What's funny is that, while the actual immediate plots are about as hokey as ever, you never notice because the facility with the dialog and characters is just great, and the pacing is exactly the right kind of breathless. And the art, of course, is beyond reproach throughout. When I think of Romita's Spiderman, this is the exact, wonderful run that comes to my mind.
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jul 3, 2015 16:08:25 GMT -5
All I can say, HB, is that I have been buying comics since 1976 or so and have never seen a comic that is more advertisements than storyline. I was generous when I decided not to count the seven page foldout that was all ads. You pick up this comic and it seems really thick--like it's actually worth $4 and then you realize most of that thickness is ads. Hickman's story is fine, in fact I find it very enjoyable, but when nearly every other page is an ad or filler, it's irritating. It's distracting. I guess it boils down to this--I want more Secret Wars and less ads about Secret War tie-ins. My nerd rant is over. Thanks for listening! Oo-- I forgot to take that 7-page foldout into consideration, too. And see, here's where the whole price-point thing falls apart, IMO. Quality paper, expensive printing processes, "soaring" materials/production costs in general-- these are always, ALWAYS touted in the first breath of defense of the ridiculous per-issue cost of a comic. Sooooooo in theory, how in the world can those extra seven, non-revenue-generating in-house ad-pages be justified?? In effect, the price of comics seems to go up so that they can produce more extravagant in-house ads. . . in the very comics that the prices keep going up in. So to speak. I hate 'em. I hate 'em all-- the slime. Greedy, self-servin' sons o' Moloids. . . HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jul 2, 2015 9:32:21 GMT -5
I am astonished. I just picked up Secret Wars #4, and below is a listing of what you get for $4.00: Inside cover: Full page ad for toy Page 1: Blank page with title "Second offense" Pages 2 and 3: Double blank (when I use term "blank" I mean there is no storyline or story related art moving the book forward) page spread of creator credits (anyone remember when this used to be a single bar across the bottom of the page?) Page 4: Blank page listing characters who appear in this book Pages 5-8: Our first pages of storyline! I feel so empowered Page 9: Full page ad for an art school
Page 10: storyline Page 11: Full page ad for Iron Man
Page 12: Storyline Page 13: Full page ad for Marvel Future FightPages 14-16: Storyline Page 17: Full page ad for Ant-Man movie
Page 18: Storyline Page 19: Full page ad for Secret Wars #6Next we have a seven page fold out of all ads for other comics. I won't count these as real pages.Page 19: Storyline Page 20: Full page ad for Marvel cartoons Page 21-24: Storyline. Page 25: Full page ad for Agents of Shield Page 26: You guessed it: Full page ad for House of M Page 27: Storyline Page 28: Full page ad for Spider Island Page 29-31: Storyline Page 32: Full page ad for Old Man Logan Page 33: Storyline (END) Pages 34-36: Full page adsfor various comics Inside back cover and back cover: Full page ads Anyone see a pattern here? There are more ads and filler than story. This is just abusive. Marvel should be ashamed but they probably aren't. What do you all think? By my count that's. . . 20 pages?. . . of story-telling content? Which is kinda "enh" to be sure. And then no old-time letters or Bullpen pages to give that sense of "total experience", either. It's still more content than the 17-pagers we were getting in the late 70's, of course. But when 20% of the available pages for content are being used for completely expendable title/credit/cast-of-character filler, that's just an abuse of the average fan or consumer's expected lack of guile. It becomes a game of how little product they can get away with providing and still charge the same. Also, one assumes that the ubiquitous house ads don't generate a dime of up-front revenue, so it is REALLY hard to accept them as an economic necessity when they take up THAT much page-space per issue. Heck, I'd rather see those horrible Hostess tie-ins, given a choice! HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jul 1, 2015 15:26:51 GMT -5
Remember this thread? Message from my sister just now on my answering machine. She had Captain America on a flight this morning. Chris somebody-- Chris Evans, that's it.
"Really nice kid."
*sigh*
Somehow, it just doesn't seem right, does it? Referring to Captain-freaking-AMERICA as a "really nice kid". . . like, he double-bagged your groceries w/out even being asked first, or something. (Which, mind you, Steve Rogers WOULD do, of course. . . )
Grnrgghhnnn
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 30, 2015 6:42:44 GMT -5
Ha! SpideyW, was that a reiteration of your earlier post? "HB, you doof, I already explained it all RIGHT HERE!"--? I did start clicking on the links-- and simply couldn't get through all of the breathless hype in order to glean the answer(s) to my question(s).
Hunh-- and that's sort of a whole 'nother topic, isn't it? The fact that all of the marketing hype-speech is having precisely the opposite of the desired effect on me. It's falling into exactly the same realm as my Mom's assurances to my 5-year-old self that things like liver and canned green beans taste REEEEEALLY good! I'm going to love them!
My reaction- at the most primitive levels of my deeper brain- is one of immediate aversion and mistrust------ ("Fire BAD!")
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 28, 2015 11:47:26 GMT -5
I know I know I KNOW I'm probably going to regret asking this-- or seem like a dunce for not knowing-- but I simply can't bear to splortch and slog through the unending Trump-esque puffery and hype that is layered on to all of these "announcements"-- that still seem to avoid giving salient responses about some rather basic details of the "NEW" Marvel Universe.
To wit: Is this indeed a slate-wiped-clean reboot? Everyone and everything starting over again (or. . . not existing ever) from scratch? 'Cause it really doesn't seem like it at all. It sounds like a hastily cherry-picked collage of elements from the chaos of Marvel's assorted "universes", and yet they seem to be trying to stack the deck in order to be able to draw from "Classic" continuity. . . just in case. (I swear, I'm detecting a whiff of Eau de Pocket Universe, ala Franklin Richards. . . )
Honestly, I will not be buying a single issue of any of this. . . but it would be nice to know in a straightforward fashion if there really is a reasonable, long-term gameplan involved here. Y'know?
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 28, 2015 8:51:07 GMT -5
Oh yeah, SF, the whole Magic the thing is still huge with the younger generation-- it kind of replaced the D&D craze from our era, I think. HBSon and several of his buddies have REEEALLY taken to it over the past year or so-- but honestly, it's just about a 20-year-old phenomenon of its own, and I daresay its flash of fast-buck lucrativeness may be on the wane. It's definitely been the salvation of lots of comic/collectible shops, since the baseball/sports card boom seemed to evaporate almost overnight. That & HeroClix & DragonBall Z and Pokemon etc, etc do have the advantage of being actual, interactive gaming experiences (beyond the simple acquisition of collectible "thingies") which is what likely has contributed to their longevity. I totally get it.
Although I myself honestly find them tedious and self-referential beyond any shred of bearability. . .
(The one exception being HeroScape, which proved a delightful and years-long activity and passion for HBSon & I. Sadly, though, it never caught fire in popularity enough to be the kind of sure-fire cash-cow that could be relied on to generate tournament attendance and such.)
There's a small-ish shop in Timonium, MD that I believe Wundagorborn and I have in common, and in one of my visits I was forced to leave empty-handed, 'cause nearly all of the longbox back-issue inventory on the sales floor was being used as table-tops for a Magic (Magik? Majick?) tourney. I was peeved for a few minutes, until it occurred to me that from a retail perspective, all of that square-footage was generating FAAAR more revenue for those few hours of tournament than it would have just sitting there as (likely) completely idle, non-moving inventory.
HB
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Post by humanbelly on Jun 26, 2015 17:03:48 GMT -5
Yes. I have the magazine. IMO, once you flip the page after Lionheart, 95% of what's there doesn't exist. I refuse to even acknowledge it, only exceptions being Luke Cage and Young Avengers which I'm actually okay with. There are several there that I can imagine making great Avengers but I'd given up and stopped reading by the time Valykrie, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, and so forth joined. Did Nova ever even join? I know he was on the cover of Secret Avengers 1 and appeared briefly inside but never really did anything. Cannonball and Sunspot are a cool idea but, even though I tried a couple of issues of that book, it was a mess. Havok and Rogue were fine in their Uncanny Avengers appearances and the book was okay but it never felt like the Avengers to me. Actually, nothing has felt like the Avengers to me since Disassembled. I still consider that to be the end of the Avengers and will never forgive Bendis for it. In a sort of abstract way I knew that time's been passing, but--- Sweet Fancy Moses, we're now at the 10-year mark since Bendis (& Greater Corporate Marvel) effectively destroyed our Universe in a way that Hembeck could only dream of. Ten years. Man. Really, we ARE the old fogeys at this point, pining away for how things usedta be. I don't think we're wrong, mind you-- but we're definitely not the voice of the masses, I'm pretty sure. . . Rats- HB
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