Welcome to the twenty-second issue of Convention Sketches
We feature a convention sketch here every week. We’ve got a whole pile of our own, but we want to see yours, too. Email us convention sketches you want to show off and let us know what website you’d like credited for it. (bigshinyrobot(at)gmail.com)
This week, Sean Leslie from the Wednesday Warriors podcast sent in this Captain America sketch by Howard Chaykin.
Marvel and Paramount have released a clip from the upcoming Thor movie. This short clip shows Thor right after he gets banished from Asgard and ends up on Earth.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Thor opens in theaters on May 6th and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings. Thor also stars Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Colm Feore, Joshua Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, and Jaimie Alexander. It will also be available in 3D.
Peter David, co-creator of Spider-Man 2099, is lead writer on a new wall crawler game from Marvel, Activision, and Beenox. Beenox developed Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, one of the best Spidey titles to date.
The new game, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, is scheduled for multi-console release this fall. It will feature the Amazing and 2099 versions of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The player will be fighting against time to prevent the death of Peter Parker. Actions taken in one timeline will affect the world and gameplay in the other. Sounds like a great mechanic. My pre-order finger is itching already.
It’s time for another installment of This Week IN Comics!
Big Shiny Robot! has a weekly column in the Salt Lake City alt-weekly IN Magazine and every week we bring it to you on the site.
If you live in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick up a copy of IN Magazine up from one of their ubiquitous newsstands, and we would highly suggest that you do.
You can read the online version of the story here.
This week we have a spring break reading list. You can pick up all the titles on Amazon.
Invincible Vol. 1, The Unwritten, Marvel Civil War, American Vampire.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42jAbXKmWdo&feature=player_embedded
By Jerk-Bot and Kill-Tacular-Tron
If you think it’s been rough to be Peter Parker in recent years, it’s been just as rough to be a fan of the beloved Marvel Comics character and his superhero alter ego, Spider-Man.
A third movie in Sam Raimi’s cinematic trilogy, 2007’s bloated, bizarro “Spider-Man 3,” made money. But audiences were left scratching their heads as to what they’d seen … the movie nearly undid all the good it’s two, infinitely better predecessors did.
And in the hands of writer J. Michael Straczynski and co-plotter/artist (and Marvel Comics chief) Joe Quesada, a disastrous story line titled “One More Day” not only broke up Spidey and his seemingly perpetual lady love Mary Jane Watson, it turned many longtime fans off. (Even once the exact nature of the plot machinations was revealed, the story turned out to be a failure.)
That’s “Ultimate” version, which celebrated 100-plus, very successful issues under the direction of writer Brian Michael Bendis. That was before Bendis had to reboot the title and dig out his characters from “Ultimatum,” a similarly disastrous, “Ultimate” universe crossover directed by another writer (the hit-and-miss … mostly miss … Jeph Loeb).
Luckily, this is the ideal time to come back to the Spidey fold. There’s a new movie in the works from ironically named “(500) Days of Summer” director Marc Webb and a trio of screenwriters … titled “The Amazing Spider-Man” … that promises to bring the characters and the story back to the basics. (British actor Andrew Garfield is replacing Tobey Maguire in the webbed suit.)
The comics have taken their own interesting directions as well. BRS!’s own Jerk-Bot makes his case for readers to check out the “616” (traditional) version of the character … in the long-running “Amazing Spider-Man” title … while Kill-Tacular-Tron takes on the “Ultimate” version.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (published twice a month, $3.99)
WHO’S IN CHARGE THESE DAYS? Dan Slott (writer); Humberto Ramos, Stefano Caselli and Marcos Martin (artists).
WHAT’S CHANGED? With the end of the three-times-monthly “Brand New Day” directive has come the infinitely better, twice-monthly “Big Time” directive. Gone is the loser-at-love-and-mostly-everything-else version of Peter Parker. He’s now working at a job he loves, as a scientist and researched for a “thinktank” of like minds, run by eccentric billionaire Max Modell. And while he’s no longer with Mary Jane Watson, Peter has a steady girlfriend, forensic scientist Carlie Cooper. He’s even “related” to his nemesis J. Jonah Jameson, since Peter’s Aunt May married Jonah’s father.
WHAT’S GOOD? Slott gets fun and funny. (His “She-Hulk” series is well-worth finding. Trust me.) He certainly gets the character and knows what’s funny (and what is not about the character). For the first time in a long time, “Amazing” actually lives up to its billing.
This is also, arguably, the best art team in many a moon. And there are a variety of styles being employed. Ramos has an exaggerated, either cartoonish or manga-ish, style, Caselli’s art is more grounded and realistic, and Martin has been called by many the Second Coming of Spidey co-creator Steve Ditko. (If you don’t believe the hype, buy issue #655, a trippy, sometimes dialogue-free tale that has many calling Martin a sure award winner.)
WHAT’S BAD? As with everything coming from the Big Two publishers, ASM occasionally “crosses over.” Upcoming issues will tie into the “new” “FF” monthly title, as well as the “Avengers” books … Spidey is now a member of both teams … and the big “Fear Itself” event book will have repercussions as well.
Also, a “point-one” issue existed solely to launch a new “Venom” monthly series. (Believe it or not, it’s Peter’s former nemesis and now pal Flash Thompson who’s wearing the alien symbiote.)
IN CONCLUSION: The first story line in “Big Time” (issues 648-651, which are now in trade paperback form) was so good that sales are actually up again, and the good word of mouth spreading. You should try it now. If you love Spidey as much as we do, at least …
ULTIMATE COMICS: SPIDER-MAN (published once a month, $3.99)
WHO’S IN CHARGE THESE DAYS? Brian Michael Bendis (writer); David Lafuente, Sara Pichelli, Takeshi Miyazawa and Chris Samnee (artists).
WHAT’S CHANGED? In August 2009 the Ultimate Spider-Man series was relaunched as Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, picking up after the events of the previously mentioned Ultimatum event. Unlike Peter’s 616 counterpart, more and more people know about his alter ego. Keeping a secret identity isn’t nearly as easy as you would think. Currently Aunt May’s home is more of a halfway house for super hero teenagers. Bobby Drake, Johnny Storm, Gwen Stacy and Kitty Pride know about Parker’s night life, as well as live with him and his aunt. And the latest entry in people that know who Parker is the most shocking yet. J. Jonah Jameson.
WHAT’S GOOD? Everything? Is it okay to say everything? Seriously, every time someone nags that creator-owned books are the only way to go, and super hero books are “boring and repetitive” I bring up this book. Always fresh and full of new twists and turns. One of my recent favorites? Peter Parker being subject to “Super Hero School”.
Carol Danvers has a meeting with the Ultimates (Captain America, Thor and Iron Man) to discuss what to do with Spider-Man. Namely the amount of collateral damage he’s doing. Parker will stop a diamond thief with $11,000 in stolen jewelry, but cause $2.7 million dollars in property damage. The Ultimates all share stories about Spider-Man and what they think of him. Afterward it is put to a vote whether or not he will be forced to retire until he’s of age. This leads me to the possibly bad side of this story.
WHAT’S BAD? Well, the big thing right now in the Ultimate universe is the “Death of Spider-Man” crossover. I highly doubt they will kill off Parker. In my opinion, Spider-Man is the flag ship character for the Ultimate Comics. I’m pretty sure it’s just going to be a play on words. I think fellow ‘bot Kiley’s theory is the most likely. Ironman’s got a brain tumor, and he’s been getting really buddy buddy with Parker, even giving him new web shooters as a birthday present. It seems as though Marvel is setting it up for Tony to step down, and Peter to take the helm as Iron Man. Maybe.
Similar to what Jerk-Bot had brought up, it can be really irritating (and obvious) when Marvel tries to shove some big event down our throats to get sales up. It generally feels forced and hardly ever helps the title.
IN CONCLUSION: I’ve always really enjoyed Ultimate Spider-Man, but in the last thirty or so issues I have fallen in love with it. When I worked at the comic shop and people would ask me the best way to get into X-Men or Spider-Man, I’d point them to the Ultimate trade paper backs. Marvel keeps them in print, and they are hard to put down. Plus, Bendis tends to write for the trade, so reading them this way is highly beneficial.
Jerk-Bot is the robotic nom de plume or Utah-based writer/reviewer Jeff Michael Vice. He would like you to listen to him rant about movies and other geeky stuff on both the Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show , as well as watch him review movies on the Big Movie Mouth-Off .
Kill-Tacular-Tron spends his days running Ackley Design LLC. giving small businesses a face. His nights are spent screaming at people he doesn’t know on Xbox LIVE.
According to the Huffington Post, we finally have some concrete proof on who Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man will be facing in the upcoming franchise reboot The Amazing Spider-Man. C. Thomas Howell, who has been cast for the movie, spilled the beans on some of the movie’s plot on the Retro Radio podcast. If you want to avoid potential plot spoilers, skip this part, in a nutshell, he revealed the Lizard to be appearing in the movie as one of the villains, though it is unknown if he’s the only villain. Regardless, here’s what Howell had to say:
“There is not a whole lot to talk about. Sony wants us to be hush-hush right now. I play a relatively small role. I play a construction worker who’s son is caught in the middle of a battle between the Lizard and Spider-Man on the Manhattan bridge. Spider-Man helps me get my son back from this perilous situation. There is some payback there at the end of the movie. Spider-man is kind of hurting. I help him when all of the other people won’t. Part of the story is, the nation thinks he might be a bad guy. They don’t know what to think. Because of my experience on the bridge with my kid, I know he is a good guy. I pitch in and help out at the end. That is the best way.”
So there you have it. It seems they’re really going to play up the “Spider-Man: Hero or Menace” angle, which is pretty refreshing to me. In the Raimi movies, that kind of went on the back burner, what with Spidey being New York’s hero and getting the key to the city and all that. As to what the movie Lizard will look like, no news on that front yet, but here’s a concept from DeviantArt member MalottPro to whet your appetite.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that Darren Aronofsky is bowing out of directing duties for The Wolverine mere minutes ago.
It seems as though Aronofsky isn’t comfortable with the time away from his family and out of the country it would take to shoot this film. I wonder, though, if there are other more insidious reasons for it and this is just a really nice white-washed way of saying Fox was too hard to deal with creatively. It’s no secret Fox seems to force their own bizarre horridness onto what should be good movies (like the last Wolverine movies) and Aronofsky is certainly big enough now to call his own shots and that could cause plenty of friction.
I’m not saying this is the case, I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the case. Fox is allegedly aggresively moving forward to find another director because the “script is great.”
From the Hollywood Reporter piece:
Stated Fox: “While we are of course disappointed that Darren can’t do The Wolverine, we also understand and respect his reasons. Having done both The Wrestler and Black Swan with Darren, we know he is an extraordinary talent and we look forward to working with him on other projects in the future. Hugh Jackman and Fox both remain fully committed to making The Wolverine. We will regroup and move forward aggressively.”
What do you guys think? Is this picture doomed? Who should they get to replace him?
Hey BSR readers! Arse-bot here with a quick little update to yesterday’s Daredevil story. THR has updated their original story with sources saying that this new story line will follow the “Born Again” story line!
Sources say the new story line will be the adaptation of the critically acclaimed Frank Miller-written and David Mazzucchelli-illustrated Born Again run of the comic series, which saw the Kingpin of Crime learn the identity of the superhero and begin to systematically destroy his life.
“Born Again” is one of my favorite DD story lines, one that I have read and re-read nearly a dozen times. While I’m quite excited to see this played out, it seems a bit like a story line that should come later in the franchise being that we have just barely established the character in one movie – a movie that is several years old now. That all being said though, I understand this has been a difficult franchise to get off the ground and who knows if we will even get more films beyond this, so I’d rather see it early (in my opinion) than not at all!
Daredevil is one my top three favorite superheroes, and I know he doesn’t have as much fan clout as Spider-Man and the X-Men, but neither does Iron Man and look how well that turned out in the right hands. I’m excited to see another DD film finally go into the works, and hopefully this time around it won’t be so underappreciated!
According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, 20th Century Fox has tapped a fellow named David Slade to bring a new Daredevil film to life.
Word has it that it will be a continuation of Ben Affleck’s not perfect but certainly under-appreciated Daredevil film as opposed to a reboot. Which is good news since the last thing we need is a rehash of his origin story.
Slade has at least one other movie in production between now and Daredevil. He’s no stranger to comics adaptations or genre pictures, he directed the adaptation of 30 Days of Night and Twilight: Eclipse. He’s a music video director, so Daredevil might at least look cool.
There’s no word about Affleck’s involvement, but I thought he was a great Daredevil and I would love to see him take another crack at ol’ Hornhead.
UPDATE 03/16/11, 3:45PM MT:
Hey BSR readers! Arse-bot here with a quick little update. THR has updated their original story with sources saying that this new story line will follow the “Born Again” story line!
Sources say the new story line will be the adaptation of the critically acclaimed Frank Miller-written and David Mazzucchelli-illustrated Born Again run of the comic series, which saw the Kingpin of Crime learn the identity of the superhero and begin to systematically destroy his life.
“Born Again” is one of my favorite DD story lines, one that I have read and re-read nearly a dozen times. While I’m quite excited to see this played out, it seems a bit like a story line that should come later in the franchise being that we have just barely established the character in one movie – a movie that is several years old now. That all being said though, I understand this has been a difficult franchise to get off the ground and who knows if we will even get more films beyond this, so I’d rather see it early (in my opinion) than not at all!
Daredevil is one my top three favorite superheroes, and I know he doesn’t have as much fan clout as Spider-Man and the X-Men, but neither does Iron Man and look how well that turned out in the right hands. I’m excited to see another DD film finally go into the works, and hopefully this time around it won’t be so underappreciated!