Might as Well Talk About Iron Man

You know, I sort of wish I hadn't liked Iron Man so much. Then I'd be able to say something different from what I see everywhere on the net and hear in conversation. But you see, it's all true. Everything good you've heard about this movie is 100% right on. The acting is great, the effects are well done and still special effects (not overdone), and the plot reduces the character to his most essential elements and works from there.
A big reason many of us die-hard comics fans were so (rightfully) excited is because Jon Favreau, the director is... well, one of us. He's been looking to do a Marvel movie for around ten years now if you believe the rumors, and he finally got his shot and quite a bit of budget to do it with. It's actually a joke among my friends and I that scripts for movies more in line with the Spider-Man and X-Men (read: Wolverine) films, but Favreau rejected them on the grounds that they'd have made crappy comics.
And really, that's why Iron Man rocked so hard. It really felt like a good adaptation of a comic, even without being one. And the Iron Monger suit was like watching a steel-plated Hulk; bulky yet graceful... nice.

Movie Trailer Madness: The Incredible Hulk

Is it bad that I can tell more or less the entire story from this trailer? Banner on the run, hating the Hulk inside him, society hating Hulk even more, Blonsky becomes the Abomination, people see how much worse Hulk could be, then Hulk saves them, and enjoys some popularity, and Banner accepts that the Hulk can be a force for good, and runs off at the end to continue to try to control it. They even got the license for the piano music from the T.V. show.
This isn't a criticism, though. The plotting of a Hulk story isn't where the depth comes from; it's the psychology and build-up, while the story mostly ends with Hulk hitting things and Banner running away. Also, they're obviously pulling some cool moments from all over Hulk continuity, like the Banner-into-Hulk air drop from The Ultimates. So I'm looking forward to it (it comes out the day before my birthday, and I always loved the Hulk), but I don't expect to be surprised.

Movie Trailer Madness: The Spirit

Frank Miller's Will Eisner's The Spirit. Damn it movie, what do you want from me? Yes I enjoyed Sin City, but that's because that's a faithful adaptation. No I don't want The Spirit to be Sin City 2, I can wait for that. Yes I like the casting you've got. No, I don't want them to all either be "badasses" or "whores" (Frank, you really need to work on this one). Yes I like the fact that The Spirit is having a resurgence, but a big part of that is Darwyn Cooke's version, which is true to Eisner's original vision. Oh, and it has colors. No, really. You can do that in a crime-based movie.
Now, I understand that Sin City was a gold mine, and 2 is in development hell due to actor disputes and schedule problems, but that's no excuse to take something that is an artistic work in its own right and make it into a "holdover" for something else by betraying the heart of the work. Now, I'll admit that this is a fairly abstract trailer, and the finished product might be something completely different. But I wouldn't put money on it. Not when I saw that all black "movie version" Spirit figure at NYCC.
Regardless, here's the trailer. Make your own decision.

Movie Trailer Madness: The Dark Knight

Now, it should be no surprise that I'm excited about the next Batman movie. While this time around Nolan doesn't have a comic to pull from (Begins was basically Year One: the backstory heavy edition), he is making some parallels to other films (he's referenced Heat as an inspiration in interviews). The fact that he said that brings up what I feel is an interesting point. Is it that different to make a superhero movie compared to any other kind? Now of course, with Batman, you can address the logical problems of superheroism by explaining his gadgets, but what about someone with powers, specifically ones that would not work in the real world? Could you base a Flash movie on some other film with no fantastic qualities? I'm not sure. Then again, I suppose it depends on the skill of the director and the quality of the script, not the conventions of the genre. What people expect is less important than delivering them a quality story.
Alright; I promised a trailer, so here it is. It's actually a brand new one, from some viral marketing event. The quality is iffy (I suspect camera phone), but the stuff's all there, and it's good.

The Best Part

So. Con again. Want to know the best part? I got to meet two writers who are among my all-time favorites; personal heroes of mine for the last few years and probably a good few more. Hell, I even liked them on a social level. I'll tell the stories in chronological order.
I met Darwyn Cooke on Saturday, early afternoon. I had tried in the morning, but the line to meet and get a signature was constantly changing direction, and I have a fervent distaste for strangers touching me, so I left, dejected. When I returned, he was coming back from a lunch break, and I made sure that the newly-forming line was going my way. I jumped through hoops for the right to meet the author/artist of New Frontier, damn it, and I was going to tell him how much I enjoyed his work. When I got to him, some random person (who hadn't been in any line) jumped in ahead of me and began accosting Mr. Cooke about something some other artist had said about commissions. When I (and by the look on his face, Mr. Cooke) had had enough, I politely elbowed the man out of my way, and got one of the things I had literally gone to New York to get.
Meeting Grant Morrison was less annoying, but took longer. I'd attended his Spotlight panel, and waited in various lines for almost two hours, but I got to him. The guy who helped change my perception of comics. He can write a story that explores Hell from the perspective of a Golden Age character gone wrong, or he can do Batman in a self-reflective style that uses things that had been retconned out. He made a joke about Britney Spears. I got a picture of him with me and my girlfriend. And his signature is across my copy of Kid Eternity's cover. And for that, all of the hassles were worth it. Everything else at con was just a bonus.

Con's Great Lesson

So. Comic Con; three days of madness, fanboyism, capitalism, and one really nasty car trip. A ride so bad that by then end people who actually liked one another were so sick of the other's presence... I'm focusing on the wrong part of the story here. The point was the bits in the middle, not the shuttling across four or five states.
Point of fact, I learned very little about upcoming comics events that I didn't already know. I attended part of the Final Crisis panel, but since I'll be buying that only when it finally comes out in trade, I can't say I much care. I was hoping for a panel on the upcoming storylines in Green Lantern, but apparently they wouldn't let Geoff Johns have a room to himself for an hour or so.
Want to know what I did learn quite a bit about? Merchandise. I now know every toy, t-shirt, and video game that Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse will be putting out related to thier comics (Marvel), movies (DC), or both (Dark Horse). I'm not looking down on these companies for this, hell, it's good business (and I can't wait for some of this stuff to come out), but it's not really promoting anything other than the merch, and you can't buy any of it, even if they have a final product packaged and priced right there under glass. It's like they're reminding the fans that the companies have us by the sensitive bits when they feel like it.

Keeping Things Straight (Last in a Triple Post!)

I hate repeating myself. If it's not a good story, and one I really like telling, then I only want to have to go through it once. Also, if I don't repeat, then it gives people more incentive to keep listening to what I say. Ergo, this semester has been rough.
I'm a comics guy, so I talk comics with my friends. I do a comics-based radio show, so I have to fill about 2 hours each week. I have class discussions, the discussion board, and this blog. And I hate repeating myself (unless I'm proving a point).
With my friends, I don't want to bore them. In class, I think it wastes time to go over the same points again and again. With my show, I feel it would be cheating to crib ideas or materials from class, so I have to keep racking my brain to think of things I can work with.

So please, forgive me if I fall behind in a conversation every so often. I may be having deja vu.

Comic Corollaries: Action Figures

Okay, so maybe you don't have to like action figures if you're a comic fan, but why wouldn't you? For my money, there's something indescribably cool about having a physical representation of the characters you like. Then again, I'm not the sort to spent more than $20 on a toy, and frankly the $20 ones have to really appeal to me.
Also, for the record, they are toys to me, not collectibles, and I open them as soon as I get back to my house. I can't really fathom hunting around for just the one you wanted then leaving it on a shelf, unopened, unappreciated. For example, earlier today I finally found a 25th Anniversary G.I.Joe Destro; something I've wanted for nigh on four months now. He makes a nice addition to my desktop. It's great to be a toy fan for the sake of their aesthetic purpose, but more importantly, it lets me keep a collection of the characters I really enjoy.

The X-Men in other media...

Considering how insanely popular the X-Men have become within my lifetime, it's a no-brainer that they'd show up outside their comfort zone of comics. However, I will warn you, reader. I may myself stray from the intent of this post, and be prepared for a long one.

Before movies, cartoons and video games, comes the merchandise. I myself ate X-Men fruit snacks, chewed X-Men gum, wore X-Men clothes, and owned several dozen X-Men action figures, so I may be said to be something of an expert. Wolverine has appeared in all of them, in something that will quickly become a habit. Speaking specifically, since the Marvel Secret Wars toyline in 1984, no less than 73 figures of Wolverine have been produced. In fact, while Wolverine found a place in the Secret Wars line, it wasn't until 1993 that any other X-Man was made into a figure. Nonetheless, once the dam broke in '93, it would be hard to ever again look into a toy isle and not see some sort of X-Men (read: Wolverine) representation.

The video games were, as comic book games often are, mostly mediocre. With a few bright spots in the mid-90's beat-'em-up genre and the fantastic X-Men Legends, they have essentially forgettable. The one unifying thread? The characters of Cyclops, Storm and (of course) Wolverine, who've appeared in every one to my recollection, with Iceman, Gambit, and Colossus being the most often used otherwise. A nice range of ethnicities, I suppose, though I'd like to see Banshee implemented somehow.

The cartoons many of us have seen. The first was the unfortunate attempt at a girl's show, Pryde of the X-Men, whose quality was so low that the people who green-lit Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (also featuring X-men) killed it after one episode. The early-90's one, smack dab in the middle of the X-Boom, played loose and fast with the canon, but stuck to the heart of the characters (while giving Wolverine plenty of robots to cut in half). Most recently was X-Men: Evolution, which served as a sort of animated Ultimate X-Men, while thankfully avoiding the Jean Grey/Wolverine subplot by making Jean (and most of the team) about fifteen. However, we can only imagine how the upcoming Wolverine and the X-Men will fare, considering that he's been given top billing over the entire franchise.

Lastly, the movies. Dear gott im himmel, the movies. I'll say this; they're fun little action romps. But to put it one way, I actually laughed when I heard that a Wolverine movie in the franchise was planned, because last time I'd checked, I'd already seen three Wolverine movies. You see, when someone writes Cyclops as being a dull jerk, they're being lazy. When someone writes Jean Grey as psychic powers with romantic tension and red hair, they're being lazy. When someone has to incapacitate Professor X before every single fight, they're. Being. Lazy. however, when that person then decides to write Wolverine as being a level-headed natural leader of men with no problem making emotional connections to people, they're just being idiots. By the end of Wolverine 3: The Last Stand, he was acting more like Cyclops that Cyclops had been (before they killed him off-screen five minutes in, which apparently bothered no one).

Wow, that was not the post I had planned. I was going to do an even handed review of each category and make recommendations based on my favorites, but that Canadian bastard is just so grating in his popularity that I can't avoid the prick.