The Nerdette

Just a quick geek culture service announcement. For those who don’t have Comic Con International (SDCC) badges, if you were hoping to get in on the returned badge resale, there will be 5000 single day badges going on sale in the near future. However, you’ll need to get a Member ID to purchase a badge, and the Member ID system is closing down on May 24th (tomorrow) at 5:30pm Pacific Time.

I’m guessing single day badges are probably most interesting to people who already live in Southern California and can drive to the San Diego Convention Center since by now every hotel room near SDCC has been purchased. However, San Diego is an absolutely gorgeous city, right on the Pacific Ocean, it’s large enough to have a “major city” vibe but small enough that it’s not nearly as sprawling as Los Angeles. You could do a lot worse than plan a San Diego vacation in a nice hotel further out on the shuttle route and include a day or two at SDCC as part of your summer fun.

Comic Con International has more details on their web site.

Good luck to anyone who who tries for badges!

Original Article

One of the comics I’m most looking forward to pickup up tomorrow as part of my Wednesday comics haul is Justice League Dark. I’m excited about Jeff Lemire starting his run on this title, as I’ve been greatly enjoying his animal man. And one of the characters that he’s adding to the team is arguably one of my very first comics loves: Black Orchid, whom I fell in love with back in the 80s when Neil Gaiman wrote a Black Orchid miniseries (now available in Black Orchid Deluxe Edition)

DC Comics has been using it’s corporate muscle to raise awareness of JL Dark, and today they just released a short trailer for the comic, featuring a very loud dubstep soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DbwIr32-6I

What do you think? Does this get you more enthused? Less? Take it or leave it?

Original Article

So it looks like we’re definitely getting one DC Comics hero on TV next season: Green Arrow. But without the green. And the beard. The show is called Arrow.

I have to admit, I’m a fan of the old Dennis O’Neil, Neil Adams Green Arrow/Green Lantern from the 70s. I like the image of Green Arrow as “robin hood,” even if that look is a bit quaint. I was even a fan of Kevin Smith’s run on Green Arrow in 2000, Quiver. In both cases, he was sort of the old liberal, the conscience of the group. I think that the Justice League Unlimited animated show captured that beautifully.

I’m not a fan of the current run, however. I’m not much for Oliver Quinn as rich kid being young and hip with money and toys. He may have a similar personality but I think too much was lost. Admittedly they went sort of crazy with him in recent years but I wish they would have gone back to the O’Neil/Adams look and attitude. So after the first two issues I gave all the New 52 I dropped it.

What does this have to do with the show? Well, the young buck they have playing “Arrow” looks a lot like the current comic iteration. The one that I quit. So I can’t say that I’m enthusiastic for this show. But I’ll watch it, certainly. Maybe even give it a whole season. But while I have hope, as I said, I’m not holding my breath, either.

Original Article

Marvel has released an art book for The Avengers movie called Avengers: The Art of Marvel’s The Avengers which is a typical big beautiful slipcase art book with lots of groovy pictures, interviews with the designers, producers, cast, and so on. And it’s also got a timeline of exactly what happens when in the Marvel movie universe. It stretches over a few pages in the book, but I’ve reprinted it below as a very long jpg. You’ll need to click on it to open it in it’s own window and scroll to read it all. But it’s really interesting to see how it all interrelates. Or at least it is to me—I geek out on this stuff.

Original Article

Now that Marvel Comics’ superhero team The Avengers have the fastest grossing billion-dollar movie in the history of ever, what about a Justice League movie? DC Comics’ superhero team sports some pretty heavy-hitters too, featuring the “trinity” of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, in addition to other heroes with name recognition like Green Lantern, The Flash, and Aquaman. (And I’m a fan of J’onn J’onzz, the green Martian Manhunter, but I don’t think he’s a known commodity outside of comic book circles).

While DC Entertainment and parent company Warner Brothers wait to see how well The Dark Knight Rises will do at the box office, and perhaps ponder their own superhero team movie, Daniel Morpheus over on deviant art designed his own Justice League movie tribute poster:

You can go to Daniel’s page or click to embiggen.

Not only do I like the poster, but as a fan of the short lived, hokey, but otherwise fun fantasy show Legend of the Seeker, I enjoyed Bridget Regan and would love to see her play Wonder Woman. Of course Bale is Batman as far as I’m concerned, although his tenure in the role might be at an end. The movie had issues but Ryan Reynolds was an excellent Green Lantern and I’d love to see him return to the role. None of us have seen Henry Cavil as Superman yet but considering he’ll be playing the part in the solo movies it makes sense to have him in the Justice League movies. And the rest of the actors are all very fine.

Now the film just needs to be written, green lit, cast, and produced. That’s all…

(and sorry it’s been another few week delay in podcasting! Family events, rock concerts, day jobs, etc. etc. hopefully very soon!)

Original Article

Have you ever noticed how much collateral damage huge superhero battles cause? We focus on the personal war between the heroes and villains, but they’re not simply inflicting damage on each other—they’re tearing their environment apart. In The Avengers, one of the locales that finds itself the locus of such destruction is New York City.

Have you wondered how much damage was done to the Big Apple? Hollywood Reporter apparently had time and some math wizzes on hand, and estimated the damage at $160 billion. And that includes economic damage, etc. They did quite a job of estimating the fantasy devastation, it’s an interesting article.

And for those who haven’t seen the movie, this is peanuts in the grand scheme of massive sci-fi movie damage. The villains in The Avengers want to rule, not simply devastate. But in the grand scheme of urban disasters, this would still be massive!

Original Article

Did you watch the 6-episode season of “Comic Book Men?” We did (and mentioned it on the podcast). Overall we liked it (well, I liked it more than Michelle). The format of putting the events of the episode into context by wrapping it into a podcast was very cool. It was more interesting than the “confession cam” of most unscripted TV shows, let the cast interact with each other while explaining the episode, and was more entertaining. Sometimes the events and interplay was interesting, sometimes not, but it kept me watching.

Today, AMC and Kevin Smith announced that Comic Book Men has been renewed for a  second season. Whereas the first season was 6 hour-long episodes, this new season will be 16 episodes of 30-minute shows. I think that the 30 minute format might work better, keeping the shows more focused and interesting. And one thing I’d like to see is more female interaction. “Comic Book Men” is in some ways like filming inside a boys locker room (with everyone dressed). I go to my local comic shop every week and there is a girl behind the counter and girls who come in all the time. I understand that Walt hasn’t hired any women but more focus on the women who come in the store, or in their lives, would be welcome.

Congrats guys, and looking forward to what you bring next season.

Original Article

Last night we saw Marvel’s latest superhero epic, The Avengers. We absolutely loved it. Joss Whedon didn’t simply make a good movie with characters that I already enjoyed. But he managed to achieve all the goals of a good superhero team movie, some of which seem in opposition.

For a superhero team movie to really shine, it has to have character moments for each individual hero while not slowing the movie down or stretching it to four hours. The stakes need to be high enough to justify assembling so much heroic firepower while not being so global or intergalactic that it takes us out of the story for being too scattered. And we all know that ultimately our heroes will triumph, but the danger and sacrifice must be real enough to keep us on the edge of our seat. Finally, the best superhero movies need to deliver more than simply the popcorn action set pieces, but to have a heart and a message under it all.

Joss Whedon (writer/director, for the three people who don’t already know) managed to do all of this with flying colors. The movie is 2:23 but seemed to fly by. Everyone gets their moment. Even the characters without superpowers have valuable skills and justify their presence on the team. The world is in jeopardy, but the stage of conflict is contained enough that we can follow the action. And in the midst of all the wild action set pieces, the movie has a lot of heart, and touches on many of the same familial themes of loyalty, morality, responsibility, and altruism of the best superhero movies.

The movie looks fantastic and is very exciting, but this is a cast of excellent actors and Whedon knows how to keep the moving moving while letting them act. Every actor has moments to shine here, and truly inhabits their roles. Hiddleston again proves that he can give a villain depth and real charisma, making the whole affair that much more real. Nobody plays a rock star superhero nursing his wounds and hiding a heart of gold like Downey Jr. Helmsworth, Evans, Renner, and Johansson bring their impressive talents into the mix, making a team of basically unbelievable characters (a god? a steroidal super soldier? etc) come to life. And Mark Ruffalo, who had a completely unenviable job of stepping into a role already played by Eric Bana and Ed Norton, in my opinion nailed Bruce Banner and The Hulk better than any of his predecessors. His Banner is not a whiny wallflower begging to be left alone, but a man who understands who he is and his capabilities as both scientist and monster.

As a fan of action movies, superhero movies, and fantasy, I walked into The Avengers expecting to have a good time. Even so, I was very pleasantly surprised by just how good the final movie was. If you’re looking for some pre-summer and summer fun at the cinema that will not simply entertain, but engage you, this movie will.

Original Article

I’ll admit it. I’m psyched about The Avengers. I loved Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. Iron Man 2 was fun. I am a huge Firefly fan and was really glad to see Joss Whedon get the director’s chair. (Michelle is psyched too, by the way. I’m just writing this first person). The movie opens this weekend in the United States. And so I spent the extra money to buy advanced tickets to a Saturday night show. It was inevitable, really.

Team comics are always hit and miss with me. I loved Millar’s Ultimates. (Hickman’s current take is okay too, although I’m not quite as into it). I’m enjoying the Disney XD Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes animated series. But I’ve never been as big a fan of the Marvel Universe Avengers. There’s just too many Avengers for me to keep track of. I need a PhD in continuity to know who they are. I’ve been sort of enjoying Avengers Vs. X-Men (just got #3 yesterday). But while I get the basic story, there’s aways at least a half dozen characters between the X-Men and Avengers I just don’t know. And that pulls me out of the stories.

But the movies (and animated series) are difference. They’re not written for the “in crowd” alone. They nod and wink and thank the in crowd for coming, but they’re written for mainstream culture. They don’t have a dozen Avengers, they have a core group of 5-7 (depending on the animated series vs. movie) that we can easily follow. And the smaller number also gives us more time to get to know them within the parameters of a single episode or film.

So even though I’m on the fence about the comics, I’m completely sold on the films. I think Marvel Studios has done a great job with the solo films (I even liked Ed Norton’s Incredible Hulk). The reviews on Avengers have been positive. And so, to end as I began: I’m psyched. And if you read this blog and listen to our podcast…there’s a good chance you are too.

(DC people, worry not: we’re just as psyched about The Dark Knight Rises)

Original Article

After a MUCH longer delay than we anticipated, we’re back with #38! That’s right, Comics Corner #38! But what happened to #37, you ask? Listen to the podcast, and you’ll find out! And you’ll also find out what we think about indie comics Manhattan Projects, Rachel Rising #7, Rocketeer Adventures #2, Saga, and Secret #1; Marvel Comics’ Avengers vs. X-Men and Daredevil 10.1; and DC Comics New 52 #8s: Animal Man, Batman, Demon Knights, Justice League, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman. In addition to sundry discussions about comic movies and TV, of course!

Original Article