CBF Quick Picks #19 : Iron Man 2, Cap Casting News, FCBD, and Sweet Marvel Goodness
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What the heck has happened this last week and a half that has made comics so unbelievably good? Between a big movie just out, another big movie not out yet but has big casting news, big books from Free Comic Book Day, and big stellar stuff from Marvel, I couldn’t help but concatenate it all into one big podcast. My disappointments with parts of Siege aside, Marvel has certainly been on a role with their latest book and movie offerings. It only makes me wonder if they can keep things riding high into next year with their Thor and Cap movies, especially with Heroic Age coming down the stretch. But I won’t be a prophet of doom here – I’m loving Second Coming and I love this new take on the Wolvie/Spidey dynamic that Jason Aaron brings to the table. You definitely will not guess how Aaron starts that off… |
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CBF Quick Picks #18 : X-Force #26
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Green Lantern Corps #47 was so close to being the pick this week, but I had to give it to the latest chapter in Second Coming for raising the stakes in the war for mutantkind. Good pacing, good art, violent content as one would expect from a X-Force book, and a pivotal death that the X-writers can play off of in the remaining chapters. One can only hope this pace continues properly what with 9 more chapters to go, but I’m enjoying the ride while I’m still at a high point. |
CBF Quick Picks #13 – Uncanny X-Men #522
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Holy poop, we got working audio…
After some audio hiccups the last couple of weeks, I’m back in action with a new Quick Picks. And good timing as well because I get to talk about characters that first got me into comics almost 20 years ago. This sure was a pleasant surprise and it brought back one of my favorite X-Men characters of all time. It only makes me wonder where she goes now that we’re heading into the Second Coming storyline starting next month.
I wonder if Wolverine is in that one…
CBF Thoughts – Captain America Done Right
So it’s official – Chris Evans puts on the star-spangled costume in 2011, finally helping to get the ball rolling for the new Captain America movie. I’m sure Marvel is pretty ecstatic to finally get some movement going for the last of the Big Three that will comprise the core of the Avengers movie in 2012. The question now remains is will we get the right Captain America movie when it hits theaters.
I’m sure you’re curious now as to what I feel is the right Captain America movie. I don’t think it needs to be too complex – what’s so complicated about a guy picking up a shield and fighting Nazis – but it at least needs to hit these core values:
1) Stick to the WWII time frame – for a lot of introductory superhero movies and shows nowadays, it’s been very difficult to stick to the origin story and come up with something unique and make them stand out. Cap stands out right away because this will be Marvel’s chance to really tell a great WWII superhero story. Does it not sound awesome to see Cap charging with shield in front into a whole Nazi platoon?
Granted, we will eventually need to transition this into the 21st century if we want to know why a WWII veteran is leading a superhero team and somehow can keep his face fresh without botox, but it need not be the core of this origin story.
2) Don’t get a cameo addiction – the one thing you can definitely say that made X-Men 3 and Wolverine stink badly was trying to fit way too many characters into short time frames. While X-Men 3 can be somewhat forgiveable knowing that they wanted to end the trilogy with a cameo bang, that was not forgiveable for what was supposed to be the definitive origin story of one of Marvel’s signature characters. Captain America cannot fall into that trap – this is Cap’s story through and through and the supporting characters need to be key in building that story instead of bringing it down into the eternal abyss. They cannot be just there for the sake of being there.
3) Keep the politics out – IGN Comics made a good point about this in their feature of making the perfect Captain America movie. If we know the character well, it’s that he is loyal to the American Dream, not the government or military. He will fight for them as long as they are true to the Dream as well, but he won’t think twice about turning his back to them if it means the Dream is in jeopardy. The best example of this was in Civil War – he made you feel conflicted when reading the series because while you would think Cap would side with the pro-registration community, he actually does the opposite because he believed that all Americans’ personal liberties and privileges were about to be taken away.
I, like IGN, make this point because it’s no secret that America doesn’t have the greatest reputation with some countries around the world. To make this movie all about how great America’s government is would make people question what this movie is trying to get across to us – is it about making a political statement or about a man fighting for his people and their futures?
4) Bucky WILL actually help the movie – The one thing I’ve loved about the recent Batman movies so far is that Robin has been kept on the sidelines. That’s not to say I don’t like the character – Robin just does not fit with Christopher Nolan’s vision for the franchise. And that works fine with me – this trilogy is all about exploring Batman’s rise to glory and how his city reacts. With Cap, everybody that knows his origin story in the books knows Bucky is key to Cap’s WWII roots and his presumed death is what drives Cap to lead the Avengers upon coming out of his frozen state and assure that he will never leave a partner behind ever again. The best part will be, should we get sequels, that Bucky has more to offer should Marvel go the route of Ed Brubaker’s run on the book so far. I’m personally excited to see that should that be the case.
What are your thoughts? Any potential pitfalls that could derail the flick? Or will we get the definitive Cap story we always wanted?
Happy 2010 from CBF!
We’ve arrived at the next decade. Hope everybody enjoyed themselves in 2009 and are prepared for more fury from Mike and myself in 2010. Marvel definitely seemed to enjoy the last of 2009 with the official acquisition of them by Disney made known yesterday.
As we prepare to see what the comic world has to offer this year, we’d like to see what you wish to see come out of 2010 in comic books. We already know Blackest Night is wrapping up in DC, Siege is just getting started in Marvel, and Vertigo is continually pushing new and fresh material at alarming rates. What do you expect to see come out of these books and others? What would you want to see overall this year?
Let us know your thoughts and resolutions for the year to come. We already know what Wolverine’s are. What do you say, bub?
Indeed…
CBF Podcast 13: The Decade in Review Part Deux
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Tim and I wrap up (no not rapping, we just talk) our decade in review starting at 2005. We hope you had a great year (and decade) and we’re looking forward to better and more podcasts, comics, movie reviews, videos and giving you our unique (some say odd, very very odd) take on comics.
Happy New Year everyone!
CBF Podcast 12: The Decade in Review Part One
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Using Tim’s quick pick from a few weeks ago, we round out the year and the decade with a look at Wizard’s Decade in Review. So what did you think about the last 10 years of comics?
Enjoy part one!
CBF Quick Picks 2 : X-Men: Magneto Testament
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Round 2 of Quick Picks is here….two days later than I wanted. Bummer.
In any event, got another good one here I think you’ll like. It’s not often we talk about X-Men books around here (except when Wolverine decides to break continuity again), but this one really got my attention recently. I consider this the definitive Magneto origin and you’ll definitely feel sympathetic towards one of the best villains comics has around. Leave your comments and thoughts, peeps.
CBF Podcast 8: The Unwritten, Spider-Man, X-Force, DVDS
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No Green Lantern talk!
Okay, a little Green Lantern talk. Tim reviews the DVD Green Lantern First Flight, which I should be watching this Friday. There’s been some buzz about the new Marvel and DC DVDs and anime being made, such as Wolverine (which is really, uh…Japanese), Ironman and Hulk (both of which look amazing). We should do a movie podcast down the line.
I review issues 2 and 3 of Mike Carey’s The Unwritten. This is getting good, literary references, secret identities, magical powers, and mystery everywhere. I recommend it with my other new Vertigo favorites, Fables and House of Mystery.
We take a quick look at Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin. Meh.
Tim reviews the end of the Spider-Man arch American Son, with spoilers so you are hereby warned. He also gets into the new X-Force, which is headed up by Wolverine. How he finds the time to do this we don’t know, must be a mutant or Canadian thing. I make a mental blunder confusing my X-titles (like that’s never happened to you).
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Anatomy of the Comic Book: The Dark Knight Returns
Re-boots seems to be all the craze nowadays in movies. Batman was brought back to audiences four years ago and showed what the character and his universe was really made of (Heath Ledger would have something to do with that in the sequel). I also recently saw Star Trek, which refreshed a franchise in dire need of new direction and yet still honored the spirit of the franchise.
It’s only fitting then that I start off my blog series about relevant comic books with a re-boot that brought the Batman of the comic books out of the campy terrain:
- Dark Knight Returns
Before this book hit the stands, Batman was all about Adam West and the Bat-Tusi in the 60′s. The campy nature of the show became a hit, but at the same time, it made the character one not to be taken too seriously in the books. Rotating writers in the 70′s and early 80′s made efforts to bring the character back to his dark roots, but it was 1986 that saw Frank Miller put Batman back on top of the food chain.
Comic book enthusiasts know Miller well from bringing a similar darker edge back to Daredevil and Wolverine around the same time frame. His independent work on Sin City and 300 would become feature films as well. This dark, edgy style was the kind of boost Batman needed and would help remind us who he is and why he is the way he is.
Dark Knight Returns gives us a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne long retired from the crime-fighting business, but seeing his city still crumbling under the might of old and new villains. Not one able to enjoy retirement for too long, he dons the cowl once more and revamps his tactics to take on this new, violent society. The book is renowned for helping to bring more adult-oriented storytelling to the books and put characters in new lights (a female Robin, a government puppet in Superman, Joker just an unfunny psycho, etc.). It also (like Watchmen) spoke of a society in the Cold War going to actual war and what its characters’ values spoke of those events.
I also take personal satisfaction in the last issue when Batman must confront a Superman that has to bring him in. Say what you want about all the help he needed; the sight of Batman kicking the Man of Steel to the floor is a sight that won’t leave me.
What’s interesting about this book is that it speaks volumes as to what Mike and I spoke about in our last podcast regarding Neil Gaiman’s ‘Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?‘. Batman is a character that is relentless in his quest to put fear into the criminal element. The only way he can ever see himself out of the game is if he was dead. No amount of golf or emptying the family wine coolers would bring satisfaction. It’s a sad story to see, but it brings the kind of depth to a character that can be difficult to replicate at times.
This darker edge has resulted in many superb stories from The Killing Joke to Knightfall. It transferred over into the animated and movie realms and the rest is history. Read Dark Knight Returns and tell us what you think.