The Atom and The Falcon

 

Sam Wilson's newest cinematic outing seems to only be getting middling reviews, and the box office seems to be following suit. It looks like I can wait a few months for the Disney+ debut to watch it.  Have any of you seen it, and what is your opinion?  Should I catch Captain America: Brave New World on the big screen?

Swamp Thing and Judge Dredd

 

Looks like Dredd is out of his jurisdiction, which usually makes for an entertaining tale. He wouldn't be there unless the was chasing down some kind of larger threat.  Let's hope that he and Swamp Thing can work together to confront whatever it may be. 

Wolverine and Hawk & Dove

 

This would be a fun team up if only to see how Logan gets along with each side of this team. I was happy to use a Steve Dillon Wolverine image here.  He really made an impression on me, especially his work on The Punisher.  I was lucky enough to pick up an original page by him several years back:

Spider-Man and Animal Man

Well, the final Captain America: Civil War trailer has hit, and we have finally gotten a glimpse of the new Spider-Man.  It's just a fleeting moment, but what I see is promising.  The voice denotes a clearly younger Spidey and the costume looks to be the classic one we all love with only a few minor tweaks.  Coolest of all was that his eyepieces actually moved when he spoke - I am not sure how they will explain how a teeenager created a costume that can do that (I'm assuming Stark helps out there), but it will really help the character emote when in full costume - no more ripping your mask off every  other scene. Spidey!

The Atom Vs. The Punisher

I'm not sure what is going on with The Atom at DC these days, but it's been years since the character has been given a fair shake.  Things began to go downhill with the Identity Crisis mini-series where Ray Palmer's  ex-wife was revealed to be a murdering psycho.  Palmer went into hiding after that and a new younger, hipper Atom - Ryan Choi - was introduced. Just as Choi was gaining some popularity, he was killed off.  Palmer returned just in time for one more big DC event, The Blackest Night, and  not long after DC revamped their entire line with the New 52.  Ray Palmer has popped up out of uniform, but from solicitation images it looked as though Choi would be back as The Atom... but apparently there seems to be an even newer Atom in the Justice League titles, this one a female.  It's all very strange and it makes it hard to invest in a character when DC keeps switching identities on us.

Harley Quinn and The Punisher

I thought I would put together a new romance for Valentine's Day.  There aren't a lot of characters that would give Harley Quinn the same thrill to be with that she gets from The Joker, but Frank Castle might just fit the bill.  Of course, he may not always reciprocate her feelings, but since when has that stopped Harley?  Whatever the result of this match made in Arkham, it would certainly be fun to read about.

Ambush Bug Vs. Deadpool

I think that both of these characters serve an important function for the DC and Marvel comics lines. More than just humorous characters, they are very meta and can comment directly on what's going on in the comic book world they operate in. The fact that they seem to know they are comic book characters allows them to react to the various fads and cliches that the genre goes through.  As seriously as we fans want our hobby to be taken, there is certainly plenty to parody, and it's good that we have guys like these to help us laugh at ourselves.

Robin and The Punisher

Christopher Nolan is pretty good about keeping the complete details to his films under wraps until they open in theaters, and so there are still a lot of questions about The Dark Knight Rises.  The big one for me is exactly what type of role does Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character play?  I have seen assumptions that he will take over for a dead or weakened Bruce Wayne as either Robin or a new Batman, but I just don't know if that makes sense.  He's too old for Robin and I doubt Nolan will end his trilogy by replacing the main character.  I would like to see a new version of Robin when the Batman franchise inevitably rebooted, because the character wasn't really done justice in the Schumaker films in which he appeared.

I think the Punisher should probably enjoy a rest from films for a while.  It's weird - he seems like one of the easier characters to adapt, but each one of the three Punisher films has been a disappointment.  Maybe a cable TV series would be a better way to go.

This cover marks the end of the smaller-sized covers on this blog.  Beginning tomorrow, the covers will all be in the larger size that has been featured a handful of times.

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.