Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marvel Comics. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Batman and The Silver Surfer




The Silver Surfer is one of those perfect characters. He has one of the simplest designs and yet it is one of the most effective in all of comics. Then there's his compelling origin and tragic partnership with Galactus. His exile on earth taught him the ways of humanity, lessons that he uses now that he is free to roam the spaceways again.

He is also a character that artists tend to really shine on (no pun intended!) His metallic look has invited different interpretations over the years and with new artists and new coloring techniques. Even in the second Fantastic Four film, which had it's share of problems, the Silver Surfer was excellently realized. Unfortunately the proposed Silver Surfer solo film follow up is no longer happening. Hopefully he will get his chance one day - he could definitely hold a film of his own!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Batman and Giant Man



I have already used Hank Pym in his Ant-Man form, but I like this character best when he switches between mini- and mega-sized adventures. Like yesterday's Scarlet Witch, Hank has suffered from a lot of mishandling. Hopefully larger exposure in the upcoming Avengers animated series and motion picture, he will get more of the respect that a founding member of the Marvel Universe deserves. I don't know how big a part he will play in the Avengers film, as I have heard he is in there but no casting announcements yet. We may have to wait for a sequel to really see him (and The Wasp) shine.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Batman and The Scarlet Witch



Here is one character for whom I feel a great disservice has been done. I used to love the Scarlet Witch and her appearances in The Avengers. I thought her relationship with The Vision was one of the cooler match ups in comics and she had a broader appeal with her ties to the mutant side of the Marvel Universe with Magneto and Quicksilver. In later years, writers seemed to opt to put her through the wringer though - first eliminating her children, then driving her mad hand having her kill fellow Avengers, reshaping the world in her image, and de-mutantizing the planet. The last time I thought I saw her, it turned out to be Loki in disguise. I am not sure of her status now, but I hope some writer can find a way to give her a little respect.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Batman and The Sandman (Wesley Dodds)



I was always fascinated with the Justice society when I was a kid and could only read about them in reprints or JLA crossovers. The character that most intrigued me was the Earth-Two Sandman. He had the coolest look - business suit, cape and gas mask! Sheer awesomeness, I felt like if there were such a thing as real superheroes, they might dress like Wesley Dodds. I was not a fan of the the Kirby redesign, which made him look far more generic.

In my later years, I became a fan of the character all over again with the Vertigo Sandman Mystery Theater series. This is an excellent gritty series and features some of the best character work around with Dodds and his flame, Diane Belmont. I highly recommend it.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Batman and The Rocketeer



Dave Stevens' amazing ideas, artistic talents and design sense made The Rocketeer one of comic's perfect gems. It's a shame he passed away at such a young age. The period setting and breezy tone was what really made the title stand apart for me, it gave it a great Indiana Jones/serial cliffhanger vibe. I think the Rocketeer helmet is one of comics all-time great pieces of headgear, right up there with Dr. Doom's mask and Dr. Fate's Helmet.

I still love the Joe Johnston-directed Rocketeer film and think it is one of the better comic book adaptations. I am cautiously optimistic that he will show as much fidelity to Captain America, which he is currently helming.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Batman and The Punisher



I always liked The Punisher as a guest star in Amazing Spider-Man or Daredevil, but other than his first mini-series he had never interested me with his solo outings. Then Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon came along with the 12-part Welcome Back Frank mini series. I really loved this take and felt that it struck the right balance between violence and dark humor. The ongoing series that followed it by the same creative team had its great moments as well, especially early on - but it is those twelve issues that really define the character for me.

It has been very frustrating to see his attempts at the silver screen, all which have been critical and commercial flops. He seems like one of the easiest characters to translate to film, but somehow something always goes majorly wrong. Unfortunately, I think three strikes and you are out is the rule with comic property chances at crossing over to the movies, so it will probably be a long time before any studio wants to try again. Hopefully Marvel Studios will be the one if that day comes.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Batman and The Phoenix



The Dark Phoenix Saga for me is and example of comics at their best - art and writing firing on all cylinders, filled with plot twists, high stakes, colorful characters and gut wrenching melodrama. It's too bad the X-Men film franchise only kinda-sorta touched upon that storyline when if done properly it could be one of the most epic comic adaptations ever.

I must say I never paid much attention to Jean Grey in her Marvel Girl persona, it was only when she underwent her Phoenix transformation that she really started to get interesting. I haven't followed the X-titles too closely recently, but I think she is currently dead (again). Comics get a deservedly bad rap for killing off characters only to bring them back from the grave time and again, but I think that complain has to be waived when it comes to The Phoenix - I mean, death and rebirth are part of the whole concept! With that in mind, I hope we see Jean back among the living soon.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Batman and The Original Human Torch



I always thought that Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch was cooler than his silver age counterpart. The featurless face while in flame form made him look much more menacing, and when I found out he was an android that made him even more awesome to me! I am glad that Marvel finally decided to bring him out of retirement and have featured him in modern tales. I am surprised that he doesn't run into Johnny Storm more often though. You would think they would have a lot to talk about.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Batman and The Micronauts



The Micronauts were probably my favorite of the toys turned comics concept that was popular during my childhood years. This was mainly due to the fact that the toys were so cool looking! Lots of points of articulation and great designs, they were pretty cool compared to most of the other action figures out at the time. I remember my brother had Biotron and I had Acroyear and we used to do mock battles, ah - good times. In the comics, I picked up a few issues if their various series, but was really won over with the X-Men vs. Micronauts mini-series. I'm not sure what the rights issues are like, but it would be nice to see The Micronauts back in action.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Batman and The Master of Kung Fu



Out of all of the martial arts characters that came out during the 70's, two really rose to the top: Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, The Master of Kung Fu. Iron Fist of course was a cross between a martial artist and superhero, so that was cool to me. Shang-Chi, on the other hand was a straight up martial artist, inspired by the likes of David Carradine's TV Kung Fu character. The neat thing was that he was still set firmly in the Marvel Universe and would appear with Spider-Man, The Thing and others.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Batman and The Marvel Universe



This is a pretty simple one, admittedly. Originally when I started this project I was very strict. I only wanted to use DC character that were around during B&B's publishing years, so that all the covers would be ones that could actually have been. After a while I got a lot of request for Marvel characters, so I made this early cover to appease the requesters. Of course it was not long before I brought individual members of the Marvel universe in...

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Batman and The Invisible Girl



Susan Storm is a character that got more an more interesting over the years as Stan Lee and other writers further explored her powers and personality. When she began to manipulate force fields as well as turn invisible, she became one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe. She is also unique for the fact that readers were able to follow her from single girl, to wife, to mother. Usually when a character has children in comics, they show up half grown out of the blue one day. It was nice to see Sue raise Franklin and now Valeria from infants to toddlers to kids.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Batman and The Inhumans




I’ve been hearing good things about The Inhumans again lately. Apparently they have been playing a sizeable role in Marvel’s recent cosmic events from Annihilation onward. I am really going to have to catch up on some of that because I have been a big fan of the characters for years. I enjoyed their run in Amazing Adventures and their many guest starring appearances, as well as the stellar mini-series by Paul Jenkins and Jai Lee.

This team has a great line-up, each with an interesting look and power. My favorites are Medusa with her crazy hair, the aquatic Triton, teleporting pooch Lockjaw and their leader, Black Bolt, I think one of the best decisions made with The Inhumans was to not give Black Bolt any thought balloons, in addition to the obvious absence of speech balloons unless it is one of those rare times that he uses his devastating vocal chords. Having his thoughts and emotions conveyed solely through body language and interpretations from Medusa has made him one of the most intriguing and mysterious characters in Marvel’s possession.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Batman and The Incredible Hulk



This was actually my first attempt at a 100-page issue, as it was created before the Cat cover that I posted earlier. I was glad to be able to include a shout out to Marvel/DC’s Batman Vs. The Incredible Hulk tabloid issue, probably my favorite team-up comic of all time, and a definite inspiration for this blog.

Well, with the Avengers film, we will have out third Hulk in as many movie appearances. I am not too worried, as I think Mark Ruffalo is a talented actor and I’d rather The Hulk have more screentime than Banner anyway. It will be sweet to see him go toe to toe with the likes of Thor and Iron Man! Ang Lee’s Hulk film had a nice 20 minute desert sequence, but the rest was kind of misguided… Leterrier’s follow up was much better, and I really liked the design of their CGI Hulk – looked like a Sal Buscema version of the character. So hopefully, the momentum will continue and we will get the best on-screen Hulk appearance yet. I’d love to see interest grow again, because I was really looking forward to a sequel to his solo film, this time featuring The Leader.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Batman and The Human Torch




The Human Torch is a perfect concept for a superhero. A basic, instantly understandable power with a very interesting visual look. A man bursting into flame is a pretty frightening concept, but that is tempered by Johnny Storm's happy go lucky attitude. That same attitude makes him a great team member as well, either with his Fantastic Four co-stars or Spider-Man. Johnny's slight ego is a welcome character trait - I mean how many of us wouldn't feel a little puffed up if we actually possessed superhuman abilities? It's only natural but something that isn't touched on very much in comic book stories.

The advent and growth of computer coloring in the past 15 years or so has meant a lot of different looks for The Human Torch, as artists have experimented with various ways top represent flame on the printed page. Some have been pretty effective, and some quite garish. For my money, I still prefer the "lots of little lines" look that was the standard when I was growing up - that to me is the real Human Torch. I also do not care for it when artists get overly detailed and allows Johnny's hairstyle to show through while flamed on. That just never looks right to me.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Batman and The Human Fly



Going once again to the well of obscurity for today's entry. The Human Fly was a short lived marvel series in the 70's featuring what they called "The first real-life superhero!" In actuality the comic was a tie in to an Evel Knievel-type motorcycle stunt man who wore a costume to match his comic book counterpart. I remember seeing ads for this when I was a kid and thinking that he must be the coolest guy ever. The always excellent Bronze Age magazine, Back Issue, did a feature on the whole story behind The Human Fly, and it was very interesting. If you haven't read it, it's well worth seeking out.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Batman and The Freedom Fighters



Presenting… my least favorite cover! I guess we all have clunkers every now and then and I consider this to be one of them. I don’t know if it was the too simple design or the art I chose but this one never really came together. It’s too bad because I really like the Freedom Fighters. The Human Bomb, The Ray, Doll Man and the rest made for an especially eclectic bunch. Plus they had eye candy with Phantom Lady and were led by Uncle Sam himself! Simply a great line up.

I have liked the recent Freedom Fighters mini-series with the mostly legacy characters and am glad to hear that they will shortly be starting their own ongoing series. If it is up to the quality of the mini-series, we should be in for a fun ride!

Batman and The Gargoyle



This is an idea I wanted to do for a while but could never find the right images. Finally I got very lucky, with a Batman image where even the rain was falling in the right direction. It took a bit of fine tuning, but it was worth it, even if the joke is a bit hokey.

As I mentioned in my Defenders entry, I always had a fondness for The Gargoyle. I loved the fact that in his civilian identity, he was in his elder years, rather than the usual late 20’s, early 30’s. It worked perfectly for a magic based character and gave him a unique perspective. I am not sure of his current status these day, but I hope to see him featured somewhere soon. He’s too cool a character to leave in linbo.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Batman and The Fantastic Four



The Fantastic Four really spoke to me as a kid. I come from a strong family unit so the idea of a superhero team that was first and foremost a family was very appealing. I was just as interested in their personal interactions as I was about how they would get out of their latest life and death situation. On top of that, the series included (in my opinion) Marvel's best rogues gallery and best character, The Thing. Yes, Spidey, Cap and the Hulk are great - but the Thing is, to me, the heart and soul of the Marvel Universe.

The FF films are soon to be rebooted, and hopefully they will learn from what the first franchise did right and wrong. They got the family interaction right, remembered to include humor, and the Torch and Surfer effects were very impressive... but skimping on budgets gave us a Galactus cloud, unconvincing Thing costume and overall limited heroics. Plus this mis-casting and mis-scripting of Doctor Doom is something that is very hard to overlook. It'll be interesting to see how this new wave of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Men films look given the advantage of hindsight.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Batman and The Falcon



I have liked The Falcon since he was a regular guest star in Captain America back in the day. I always liked his costume and I even think I remember having his MEGO action figure when I was very young. I also fondly remember his four issue mini-series in the 80's. I am suprised we haven't seen him in more solo action, but at least he is still a strong supporting player in the current Captain America series. Hopefully if the film adaptation is a hit and spawns sequels, we will see The Falcon show up on the silver screen as well.

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