Thursday, October 11, 2012

Green Lantern Vs. Wolverine



I am surprised at how much I am enjoying the current CGI Green Lantern Series.  I guess between the movie version and my initial take on the character designs, my expectations were lowered before I checked it out.  The designs I was worried about look great in motion and the action scenes are a lot of fun.  The last episode had a battle with none other than Anti-Monitor and my personal favorite GL - Chaselon - so I was in heaven!

I also checked out the anime Wolverine series on G4, but just couldn't get into it. Milo Ventimiglia just seemed off for the voice of Logan and the animation didn't really wow me.  My favorite animated Wolverine can still be found in the Hulk Vs. Wolverine short released a few years back.

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.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Robo Force (Versus Ultron)



I wanted to give myself a challenge and see if I could create a second cover featuring one of my new teams, and here is the result.  These heroes are of course searching for the reason behind humanity's disappearance, and that would naturally lead to a prime suspect in Ultron.  Here's hoping we will see Hank Pym's unruly problem child facing off against the Avengers on the silver screen sometime down the line...

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.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Guardians of the Universe and The Watcher




I like these characters but none of them are particularly good at their jobs.  Uatu has a vow of non-interference that he treats as more of a suggested guideline than a strict rule to follow.  The Guardians claim to want to provide order to the universe, but have unleashed some pretty big horrors on it in doing so.  Oh well, these kinds of twisted work ethic make for entertaining reads when character like The Green lantern Corps or the Fantastic Four have to deal with them.  I do wonder, though, why such powerful entities still haven't found a cure for male pattern baldness.

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).

Friday, September 21, 2012

Justice League of America and The Black Panther




I finally caught the recent Black Panther animated series.  Well, animated is kind of a generous term, as it is closer to a motion comic.  While it was cool to see John Romita Jr's artwork in motion, I wish they had gone a step further and given the series a full animated treatment.  Still, the stories are right from the comics and if you are a fan of those, it is well worth checking out.

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.

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