Showing posts with label Super-Team Family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super-Team Family. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Hawkman and The Sub-Mariner



Hawkman is an impressive looking character in the comics, but is quite tough to pull of in live action.  No matter how well built the performer may be, their arms and chest still tend to appear scrawny when wearing the large helmet and wings.  I am sure some costume designer will crack that issue one of these days, but so far I have yet to see a convincing live-action Hawkman.  Namor also needs someone with a perfect physique to play him as well - you have to appear imposing while wearing just a speedo and ankle wings, and that's no small feat.  It will be interesting to see which of these bare-chested badasses shows up on the big screen first.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Spider-Man and Star-Trek



I was laughing recently when I watched an episode of the original Star Trek.  The Enterprise flew through some kind of space cloud that caused the crew to rapidly grow old.  Now that we have actually seen what the members of the bridge look like in their 60s and 70's for comparison, the make-up used for the "old" versions of the cast seemed very forgiving to me.  Sure, they had a few wrinkles here and a few wisps of grey hair there, but they didn't quite match up with their real life counterparts.  At any rate, it wasn't enough to sully my enjoyment of the episode, the original crew is always fun to watch together.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Legion of Super-Heroes and The Rocketeer



The Legion of Super-Heroes is a great team but can be a challenge for it's writers due to the sprawling cast.  One technique that DC has used a few times is to separate the team by time and space into different groups for long stretches.  I get a kick out of those tales because it's cool to see the Legionnaires outside of their futuristic setting and reacting to contemporary characters.  It might be interesting to see the LSH in a wartime setting, and seeing who they run into as they try not to alter history.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Justice League of America and The Squadron Supreme



George Perez' run on Justice League of America was way too short.  It was the best the book had ever looked and after only a few issues, he left to concentrate on New Teen Titans.  While that obviously turned out to be a wise move on his part, I always hoped he would return to the JLA one day.  Prez is still at the top of his game, so perhaps it will still happen sometime down the line.  I've seen his rendition of The Squadron Supreme in The Avengers and he is great on those JLA-inspired heroes as well.  How cool would it be to see Perez illustrate a JLA/Squadron team up?

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Black Canary and The Beast



The Beast is one Marvel character that I am surprised has never been given a shot at his own ongoing series. He is super agile, has a brilliant mind and has ties to the Avengers, Defenders and The X-Men (OK, that last thing isn't so rare anymore, with Marvel mixing and matching most of it's teams recently).  I think there are a world of story opportunities with Hank McCoy and he could definitely support his own title.  Black Canary has had her own title, but I do feel she works better when interacting with other heroes, like Green Arrow, The Birds of Prey, or the Justice League.  These characters are both victims of unflattering redesigns  - Hank still looks like a kitty cat and Dinah has one of the ugliest costumes in the New 52 - so I hope they both return to something closer to their classic looks from the 80's.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Man-Bat Vs. Morbius



I wouldn't be surprised to see Morbius appear in the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man.  The first film seemed to be trying to capture some of the Twilight crowd, so why not go all the way and include Spidey's vampire rogue?  Still, I would prefer to see Man-Bat in a future Batman flick.  Using Batman's more outlandish and powerful foes would set the movie apart from both previous franchises and Man-Bat has the coolest visual of the bunch.  He might not be able to hold a whole film, but teaming him with Hugo Strange and Killer Croc for a "Monster Men" type plot (where Batman convinces Langstrom to switch sides at the end) could be very cool.

Monday, October 1, 2012

The Fantastic Four and Tom Strong



There aren't a lot of heroes that would be a true intellectual match for Reed Richards, but I think Tom Strong could give him a run for his money.  I have always thought that it would be a challenge to write for super-genius type characters, but writers like Stan Lee and Alan Moore did a great job at it.  Lee and Kirby provided Reed with an unending supply of futuristic inventions and Alan Moore layered one amazing concept onto another for Tom Strong's adventures.  I guess that it's no surprise that such brilliant creators were able to write so well for high-IQ characters.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Superman and The X-Men



Patrick Stewart recently mentioned that he would be appearing as Professor X once again on the big screen. The next X-film promises to draw from the Days of Future Past timeline, so are we in for some reality altering by the end of the film?  Could be... and if so I hope we end up with something closer to the actual "first class" of X-Men.

Recent pics of Actress and MMA star Gina Carano hanging out with Henry Cavill have folks speculating that she will be making a cameo in Man of Steel as a certain Amazonian princess.  I find that highly doubtful, but have to admit, she certainly looks the part.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Robin and Daredevil



You just know this is the Jason Todd Robin, the little punk!  I shouldn't be too hard on him though, he may have a bad attitude but he never caught a break.  Even after getting his history rewritten by Crisis on Infinite Earths, he still didn't get a modern updated costume like Tim Drake and Damian Wayne did, and had to wear the shorts and pixie boots well past their expiration date.  Jason has always had costume issues though... even when he returned from the dead, he would wear his Red Hood full face mask over his Robin style domino mask.  Now that's dedication.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Teen Titans and The Young Allies



The Teen Titans in their original form are still one of my favorite teams ever.  These days, the Titans are one of the biggest victims of DC's multiple continuity and timeline reboots.  Multiple versions of the same character, team members seemingly aging at different rates and confusion over who was actually a member and when have turned what was once a simple concept (superhero side-kicks form a team) into a muddled mess.  I was hoping the DC reboot would streamline things, but it has only exacerbated the problem.  Maybe for the next reboot they should just de-age all the original Titans and start from scratch!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Aquaman And Abe Sapien



I got a kick out of both Hellboy films and it's too bad that a third installment looks doubtful due to non-blockbuster box office figures, creators with other commitments, and an aging Ron Perlman.  I think that the best realized character in those flicks was Abe Sapien.  The combination of makeup, computer imagery, and Doug Jones' physique and performance made Mike Mignola's creation step right out of the comic pages.  While David Hyde Pierce did a fine job voicing Abe Sapien in the first film, I was glad that Doug Jones was given the ability to provide the vocals in the sequel (and the animated films that followed as well).

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Metal Men, Machine Man and Jocasta



I read recently that Barry Sonnenfeld is going to direct a Metal Men film.  I have always thought that they were a great fit for animation, and indeed loved their appearances on Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  It will be interesting to see what angle Sonnenfeld goes with, whether the film will be all CGI or live action with CG enhancements.  Either way, I hope that this film comes to pass and a new generation of fans get to see how fun these characters are.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The Atom and Mouse Guard



So far, my favorite of the new Saturday animated DC shorts has been the Sword of the Atom two-parter.  I loved that Mini-Series (and its related Specials) back in the 80's.  Gil Kane's art really shined in the tropical setting and there was something very cool about Ray Palmer riding a frog, sword in hand and ready for battle.  Mouse Guard continues the tradition of forest animals in epic tales with beautiful artwork, so this felt like it would be a fun combination.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Sgt. Rock and Captain America



It will be cool to see what Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be like with the modern day setting and new characters, but I would not have minded seeing another story set in World War Two.  They glossed over most of his career in the first film and I am sure there are plenty of stories to tell from his wartime days.  The WWII Cap costume worked a lot better than the updated one that he used in The Avengers, hopefully there will be a few changes made for his next cinematic appearance.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Martian Manhunter and Warlock



I was happy to see that J'onn J'onzz will be front and center in the upcoming Justice League of America ongoing series.  His inclusion on the roster of Stormwatch rather than the Justice League when the New 52 relaunch debuted seemed off to me and it is good to see him back where he belongs.  Who knew that after all these years, he would be mentoring Vibe again?

Friday, September 14, 2012

Hourman and The Fantastic Four



I can't say that there is any logical reason for this scene to be taking place, I just thought it would make for a hoot of a tale.  I read yesterday that DC is soliciting another installment in the JSA: The Liberty Files series, and Hourman looks to play a sizable role.  Even though that is technically only an Elseworlds version of Rex Tyler, it looks like that will be the closest that we will get.  I am sure an Hourman of some sort will eventually show up in Earth 2, but by this point I no longer expect him to bear any resemblance to the classic golden age character.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Wonder Woman and Wolverine



This is my favorite version of Wolverine - with the brown suit and without the memories.  I was hoping that the conclusion of the Avengers Vs. X-Men event would result in Wolverine finally leaving the Avengers, but it looks like Marvel is going in the other direction and further mixing the two teams together.  It's a strange move and I feel that it serves to make the various teams less unique, but maybe they have something in mind with the set up that I haven't thought of.

I also read that Wonder Woman is once again being prepared for a potential TV series.  Let's hope they learned something from the mistakes made with the last attempt, which looked pretty lackluster from the footage I saw of it.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Hawkman Vs. Thor



The first photos from the set of Thor: The Dark World have leaked, and it looks like Thor still hasn't learned to put his helmet on for battle.  Other than that personal pet peeve, the film promises to be a lot of fun with all the new characters that are being introduced.  I don't imagine we'll see a Hawkman film any time soon, but perhaps he will show up as part of the inevitable Justice League movie (or its sequel).  If that comes to pass, let's hope that he gets to keep his helmet at least!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tintin and Jonny Quest (Part Two)



Now that Tintin has had his big box office debut, it is high time for Jonny Quest to shine on the silver screen as well.  His tales were always packed with adventure, danger, and exotic locales and had all the elements necessary for a fun animation to live action transition.  Hopefully some big time producer who remembers the old cartoons as fondly as I do will get the ball rolling one of these days.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Tintin and Jonny Quest (Part One)



I was pleasantly surprised by the recent Tintin film. I was concerned at first that the characters would look creepy in CGI, as often happens in motion-capture films.  Fortunately the right balance was struck between human features and Herge's character designs that it looked pretty cool to me.  Some of the Thompson Twins' bumbling didn't  translate well, but for the most part I thought the film was increibly well realized.  The action and pacing reminded me of Spielberg's earlier work on the original Indiana Jones films, he really seemed to be having fun as a director here.  I understand Peter Jackson will be helming the next one and that will be cool to see.

Stay tuned for Part Two of this team-up, coming tomorrow!

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