Which Wiki? Marvel.com vs Wikipedia
April 25, 2007 | 4 Comments
In Casey’s recent post: “Please, Not Another Wiki”, I felt some serious resonance with an internal debate I’m having. In short, Casey states that in general new wikis are a bad idea. They require an entire community to be successful and why not leverage an existing wiki (like Wikipedia) to accomplish your task.
Specifically, when externally linking to details about a comic book character in the Marvel Universe I find myself unsure whether to link to Marvel.com’s Marvel Universe Wiki or to a specific article on Wikipedia. Marvel’s wiki has a much more structured format. There is always a consistent set of data about each and every hero.
However, it is limited in this structure as well. There are less pictures, no external links, and a lack of information tertiary topics. The tertiary topics I find lacking include publication history, video games, and television appearances, etc. Similarly, Wikipedia has great profiles on the various artists and authors. This can develop insight and detail not available on Marvel.com.
Also, Wikipedia has a larger community who can be more responsive. Yet, Marvel has the expertise in this area and in turn should be able to provide better editing. In the end I still find myself leaning towards Wikipedia, however, I remain torn as Marvel has develop a fairly competitive alternative. I’ve pulled a couple side-by side examples so you can compare yourself.
| Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Jessica Jones | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Peter Parker/Spider-Man | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Sandman/William Baker | Wikipedia | Marvel |
I am left wondering if Marvel had just invested their initial time and resources into working with Wikipedia, wouldn’t contributors, consumers, and fans have benefited more?
Tags: carol danvers, comics, jessica jones, marvel, marvel universe, ms marvel, peter parker, Sandman, spider-man, spiderman, wiki, wikipedia, wikis, william baker
Spider-Man 3: NBC.com Exclusive HD Preview
March 6, 2007 | 2 Comments
If you don’t like to know much about upcoming movies and truly appreciate the surprise and enjoyment of seeing things for the first time in the theater, stop reading now.
NBC.com is running an exclusive HD preview of Spider-Man 3. The catch is that it will only be online until 12AM tonight! (Of course then you’ll just have to look for it on YouTube or Google video…) This is more of a clip, or full scene than a preview. It is a full 7m 31s long clip that shows three major scenes and then ends with a few short clips in preview style.
First it starts with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson hanging out in a web expressing their love for each other. This then cuts to a scene with Peter telling Aunt May his intentions to ask MJ to marry him. Aunt May tells a touching story of how here and Ben met, as well as the fact that they would have been married 50 years if he had not been killed. She then gives Peter her engagement ring to give MJ.
This then cuts to Peter on his scooter where he is attacked by the new Green Goblin. After throwing him around quite a bit, the Goblin removes his mask, revealing Harry Osborn, and tells Peter he is going to kill him. Peter argues that he did not kill Harry’s father Norman and the chase begins.
This fight continues for a majority of the preview. The fight is particularly brutal. At one point Peter nearly loses Aunt May’s ring, but is able to fight off Harry long enough to get it back. At this point Harry starts pulling out some of his special goblin weapons.
Peter is able to use them back against him and catches Harry off guard. He finally gets enough distance between himself and Harry to setup a clothesline of webbing to surprise and takedown Harry.
We then see Harry fall four or five stories onto the pavement where he is seen unconscious. Peter rushes too him and begins CPR. We are left wondering if Harry is in fact alive. Having seen other clips in other trailers, Harry does end up in a hospital, so this must mean he survived.
This is where the “scene” portion of the preview ends. We then see the text “and the story continues…” Then it transitions into a series of clips from the movie. The most significant being of Sandman and Venom. I really love how they show Sandman as able to become huge in this clip.
Finally we are treated to our first clear, high quality shot of Venom. Sadly, it is the same shot we have seen blurry in previous leaked and official trailers.
I continue to be excited about this movie, but I am starting to think they are showing us too much. If this is the entirety of the Goblin vs Spider-Man action in this film, I will be a little let down that it was shown so completely to us. As much as I enjoyed this, I do appreciate secrecy and surprises in the theater.
Tags: "black suit", "Spider-Man 3", aunt may, ben parker, engagement, film, goblin, Green Goblin, harry osborn, mary jane, mary jane watson, mj, movie, nbc, nbc.com, peter parker, preview, ring, Sandman, sony, spider-man, spiderman, spiderman 3, theater, trailer, venom
Spider-Man 3: The Video Game Trailer
February 28, 2007 | 6 Comments
With both Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man video games, Activision put together possibly the greatest product tie-in video games. IGN gave these scores of 8.8 and 8.4 respectively, which says a lot (scores from GameCube versions).
The development team is claiming that they have improved on the previous games with a larger, more detailed map of Manhattan as well as the ability to go underground in the sewers and subway systems. In previous games, they left things wide open for you to swing and explore the city, taking on thugs and side missions as you so desired. In this game they have enhanced this piece immensely, causing alternate story lines to spawn based on your actions as well as setting up competing city gangs who need to be kept under control.
Of course all the villains from the movie will be included, we can expect Venom, Goblin, and Sandman. They also promise to bring in a few other Spider-Man bad guys who aren’t in the movie, just to keep things interesting.
The trailer above leaves me with very high hopes for this game. More than anything, I hope they can find a good way of harnessing the Nintendo Wii controller for even more engaging game play.
But, hey who am I kidding, let me swing around New York city as Spider-Man and there really doesn’t need to be much more of a point in the game than that…
Tags: "black suit", activision, city, comic, comics, gamecube, manhattan, new york, Nintendo, peter parker, spider-man, spiderman, venom, video game, wii
Marvel Civil War Concludes
February 25, 2007 | 4 Comments
Civil War concluded this week after 116 issues of lead-in and direct tie-ins. This has been a monumentally large event in the Marvel Universe. Many have criticized it for it’s delays or for it’s political allegory. I however think this was one of the most brilliantly engaging comic series ever. Even more significant will be the impact it will have for years to come.
From here on will be spoiler filled.
The series concludes with a huge fight amongst the two sides. The resistance is winning, Captain America is about to take out Iron Man when a group of civilians (firefighters, EMS, police) tackle him. As he looks around him, he realizes how much the fight has cost the people they should be fighting to protect. To prevent more bloodshed, he orders his team to stop fighting and surrenders.
Anyone who fought is offered a pardon. Some take the opportunity to register. A few leave for Canada to form a new Omega Flight. Others decide to remain underground as the new lineup for the New Avengers.
Here is a list of the major milestones from the series:
- Nitro kills 600 people and all of the New Warriors except Robbie Baldwin (Speedball) in Stamford, CT
- Superhuman Registration Act is enacted
- Spider-Man’s identity revealed as Peter Parker
- “Thor” returns, he’s actually a clone/cyborg creation
- Goliath/Bill Foster is killed
- The Thunderbolts get a new roster (including Green Goblin, Bullseye, Venom, and Penance)
- Negative Zone Prison is created
- Robbie Baldwin (Speedball) becomes Penance
- Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) and Sue Storm (Invisible Woman) separate temporarily, their marriage rocked
- Captain Marvel returns, from the past
- Captain America surrenders and goes to prison
- Tony Stark (Iron Man) is appointed director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Maria Hill is demoted
- The 50-state Initiative begins; placing a sanctioned super-hero team in every state
- May Parker is shot; (Peter Parker’s aunt)
- Spider-Man ditches the Iron Spidey Suit, returns to the Red and Blue as he switches sides. At the conclusion he regresses further into the Black Suit
- New Avengers get a new roster (Sentry, Iron Man, Captain America leave. Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and a new Ronin join)
- Mighty Avengers are formed
The next big thing to watch in the Civil War aftermath will be following The Initiative. There are around 63 issues in this crossover event. It will primarily highlight how the Initiative is being created, run, and what these new superhero teams will have to face. I am looking forward to this continuation.
Tags: "black suit", bill foster, civil war, goliath, mark millar, may parker, mighty avengers, mr fantastic, negative zone prison, new warriors, penance, peter parker, Reed richards, shield, spiderman, stamford, sue storm invisible woman, thor, thunderbolts
Spider-Man 3: Images of Venom
November 13, 2006 | 9 Comments
Thanks to Alan Derosby the site tip, I finally got the opportunity to see a clear version of the Comic Con footage I had previously blogged a blurry version of. The key moment I was dying to see was the end footage which featured the first imagery of a full Venom.
I know Sony has been yanking this footage all over the place, so I’ve merely grabbed to frames of the video to publish, hopefully they’ll allow this to stay. With the 100s of incoming searches I get for this daily, I’d think they’d want this promoted as much as possible. Fan zeal for this film is at an all time high, they should milk the community to create the largest opening ever, but that’s just me.
To my delight, they have chosen a McFarlane-esque Venom. At least for now we see sharp teeth, but no oversized tongue or excessively huge Venom. In many ways, I hope the quick clip with Brock begging to end Parker’s life in a church followed by his transformation into Venom becomes the final scene, or even a post credits scene to end the third movie. It would make the ideal cliffhanger and would guarantee a fourth film.
Tags: comic con footage, eddie brock, mcfarlane, peter parker, spider-man, spiderman, trailer, venom
Spider-Girl is Dead, Long Live Amazing Spider-Girl!
October 16, 2006 | 2 Comments
![Amazing_spider-girl-1[1]](http://static.flickr.com/110/270710622_f382b7f396_m.jpg)
After 100 hugely successful issues, the Spider-Girl run was ended. However, this was ended to begin an all new line called Amazing Spider-Girl. I’m not entirely sure why, possibly marketing? Does this make for an easier jumping on point? It seems odd considering many of the other titles recently went back to some old numbering to clear up some of these odd on again off again renumberings. Amazing Spider-Man is the most recent having had put it’s numbers back with issue 500, which was previously numbered volume 2 number 59.
Anyway, back to Spider-Girl… If you love classic Spider-Man style action, Spider-Girl may be just what you are looking for. Mayday Parker is the daughter of Peter in an alternate future. She’s still in high school and dealing with many of the topics and conflicts which made the original Amazing Spider-Man stories classic and wonderful.
I highly recommend you pick up Amazing Spider-Girl #0 which gives a complete recap of what happened in the 100 issue run of Spider-Girl. This will put you in a good place to pickup and enjoy the new Amazing Spider-Girl!
Tags: amazing spider girl, amazing spidergirl, mayday, mayday parker, parker, peter parker, spider-girl, spider-man, spidergirl, spiderman
Mary Jane A Casualty of Civil War?
September 18, 2006 | 2 Comments
We knew that there were going to be greater risks for the important people in Peter Parker’s life when he revealed himself has Spider-Man. This risks are suddenly very real and potentially fatal for Aunt May, Robbie Robertson, Flash Thompson, but especially Mary Jane. It was this in mind that I’ve been freaked out ever since seeing the cover on the left.
Weeks ago Joe Quesada seemed to confirm without a reasonable doubt that there was no way they could ever kill off Mary Jane, or have them get divorced, or have them be separated in any way. He stated that she is far too important and anything done to mess with the relationship would only age Spider-Man and Peter Parker even further. Here’s hoping Quesada can stick to this…
Tags: joe quesada, mary jane, mary jane death, mary jane watson parker, parker, peter parker, quessada, spider-man spider man, spiderman