Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series!
August 23, 2007 | 3 Comments
No shock, but this is an extremely exciting announcement for me. In the video we only see Spider-Man as a whole, but there are snippets of a few other classic villains shown in this order: Doc Ock, Lizard or Scorpion, Electro, Goblin, Vulture, Sandman and Venom.
This will be arriving sometime in 2008!
Tags: animated, animation, cartoon, doc ock, electro, goblin, lizard, Sandman, Scorpion, spectacular spider-man, spectacular spiderman, spider-man, spiderman, venom, Vulture
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 Pewter Chess Set
August 14, 2006 | 6 Comments
SOTA Toys is releasing a $499 pewter Spider-Man themed chess set this August. I have to admit, the geek in me was intrigued… at first.
I really like the board itself. It’s themed like a rooftop in fairly ornate detail. This includes a non-flat surface creating a much more three dimensional and real experience. I was surprised to have not seen this idea sooner, it’s just brilliant.
The cast for pieces is good, at least on first glance:
Heroes
King: Spider-man (red & blue)
Queen: Symbiote Spider-man (black)
Knight: Punisher
Knight: Moon Knight
Bishop: Daredevil
Bishop: Black Cat
Rook: Cloak & Dagger
Rook: Blade
Pawn: Spider Tracer
Villains
King: Green Goblin
Queen: Doctor Octopus
Knight: Scorpion
Knight: Sandman
Bishop: Electro
Bishop: Lizard
Rook: Venom
Rook: Rhino
Pawn: Spider Slayer
This list is where I became frustrated. To begin with, why have both red & blue suit and black suit Spider-Man? What a terrible cop out. Let’s instead put Black Cat in that spot. Hell, if Spider-Man wasn’t also Peter Parker Black Cat would still be attached to Spidey. Alright, don’t like Black Cat? How about Spider-Girl? Or one of the three Spider-Woman characters? Surely any of these would be better. I’ve got no love for the clone-saga, but frankly I’d take Scarlet Spider over two Spider-Man’s on the chess board…
Next, what’s with Moon Knight?!? I suppose they fought alongside each other occasionally, but I’d much rather see Human Torch, Silver Sable, or even Firestar in this lineup. Cloak and Dagger seemed strange at first, until I realized they first appeared in a Spider-Man comic, leading me to accept them far more readily. The rest of the heroes are good choices.
On to the villains… this is a tough one. Spider-Man has one of the deepest rogue galleries of any super hero I’ve ever encountered. The ones chosen here are a solid list. At first I really wanted a female in the “Queen” slot, but as I poked around in my head, I couldn’t come up with an A-list (or even B-list) female villain for Spidey. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not free of complaint when it comes to the villain list…
First off, we have Blade on the good side, but no Morbius on the bad? Who did Blade show up to fight? The dude kills vampires exclusively!
This lack of match-up has me concerned for Daredevil, Punisher, Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, and Moon Knight. These guys all fight organized crime. That’s their shared niche and where Spidey teams up with this crew. Where are the major crime villains? Where’s Kingpin? Tombstone? Hammerhead? The Enforcers?
As I said before, there are a lot of villains, so I can understand them leaving some out. What I don’t get is why, knowing this, they would decide to make all the pawns the same? One or two unique spider-slayers is tolerable, but why not pull some other thugs up as pawns when you got all these other big names to choose from: Beetle, Chameleon, Carnage, Shocker, Hydro Man, Mysterio, Morbius, Man Wolf, Kraven the Hunter, Vulture, or Hobgoblin?
Back on the hero side, I’d love to see them use regular people, friends, and family as pawns instead of the lame spider tracers. For instance, take your pick from these: Mary Jane, J Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, Robbie Robertson, or Harry Osborn. Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun? Imagine having to sacrifice Gwen Stacy to take down the Green Goblin. It just begs to be setup this way!
In conclusion, with the stiff $499 price tag, they could have, should have, gone the extra mile to make this chess set irresistible to all fans. At this price they need to do something, their target market will all have similar complaints to mine… Save your money or buy more comics.
Tags: "black suit", aunt may, Beetle, Betty Brant, black cat, blade, Carnage, Chameleon, chess, cloak, Cloak and Dagger, dagger, daredevil, doc ock, Doctor Octopus, electro, enforcers, firestar, flash thompson, game, goblin, Green Goblin, gwen stacy, hammerhead, harry osborn, hero, heroes, hobgoblin, human torch, Hydro Man, j jonah jameson, kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, lizard, Man Wolf, mary jane, moon knight, Morbius, Mysterio, organized crime, osborn, pewter, prowler, punisher, rhino, Robbie Robertson, Sandman, scarlet spider, Scorpion, Shocker, silver sable, spider slayer, spider tracer, spider-girl, spider-man, spider-woman, spiderman, spidey, the enforcers, tombstone, vampire, vampires, venom, villain, villains, Vulture
Spider-Man 3: Sandman Poster
July 24, 2006 | 4 Comments
This is the Sandman poster from ComiCon in San Diego. By far my favorite of all the posters we’ve seen so far. It almost looks like he’s protecting the girl standing by his side with a teddy bear. I’ve heard some rumors that this girl is his daughter?
Tags: "Spider-Man 3", flink marko, movie, poster, Sandman, spider-man, spiderman, teddy bear
Spider-Man 3 Trailer, A Detailed Look
June 28, 2006 | 22 Comments
Anyone who knows me knows I’m crazy amounts of obsessive about Spider-Man. Anyone who doubts that fact… well… you won’t after you look at the rest of this post. So without further ado, a clip by clip break down of the entire Spider-Man 3 Teaser Trailer!
Opening CGI banner, “How Long…” displayed on a Spider-Man-esque texture.
CGI continues switching quickly to the text: “Can Any Man Fight The Darkness…”. Following the display of the text, in comes an oily black substance. Clearly representing “the darkness” this is also the first clue that the black suit or Venom suit will somehow be involved in this story.
All of the CGI texture is taken over by the black substance, the texture becomes that of a black suit. The text changes to “Before He Finds It In Himself”. The camera begins to pan out.
We now see Spider-Man sitting in the black suit. It is raining. He turns to look straight into the camera. Then jumps from his perch.
From what appears to be Spider-Man’s perspective we look down at his hands. His fingers are clenching and flexing as he stares at them.
As the camera cuts back to third person we see Spidey with his hands on his head. For those familiar with the story of the black suit, notice the bell to the right of the shot. I expect this is significant.
The shot cuts to Harry Osborn in a balcony of some sort. He sneers at the camera.
It cuts back to Spider-Man, he is tearing at his mask. We see the back of his head exposed. The suit does not seem to be flowing as expected… Odd.
The shot cuts to Eddie Brock played by Topher Grace staring upwards intently. He stands on a slate tiled floor. Is this within a church perhaps?
Another cut, Mary Jane Watson is shown for the first time, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst. She is sitting in what would appear to be a formal setting in a black strap dress. The look on her face is not happy.
We switch to Peter lying in bed most likely asleep without his mask, but otherwise in the red and blue costume. As the camera angle changes we can see a black rubbery substance beginning to crawl up his arm.
The scene shifts to a profile shot of Peter Parker. He is not at all happy in this shot. He is wearing a collared shirt with a suit. Did someone die, or is he going to some other formal event? Aunt May does not appear in this trailer, did they kill her off?
The pace changes and we go back to Spider-Man clearly struggling with the suit.
From another angle we see the suit being removed from his back. The setting appears to be the same as all other shots involving the black suit up until this point.
Now we switch back to a shot of Spider-Man with the red and blue suit. From an upside down hanging position we see him spring rapidly towards the ground.
Arguably the sweetest shot from the trailer, we see Sandman in full sand form sweep down and collide with a police officer. If you don’t think this is flippin sweet, there’s no impressing you.
The shot cuts to Peter parker on the street looking shocked at something.
This cuts to the first happy moment with Mary Jane and Peter making out while in a gigantic spider web. Go Pete!
And we’re back to black suit Spidey! He crouches in a window or doorway. We seem to be back in the stone based gothic setting shared by all the black suit scenes to this point.
Our first shot of the new Green Goblin is a quick one. When viewed in slow motion it is clear that something about the glider has changed. Additionally, Goblin is not wearing the same suit as he did in the first Spider-Man movie. Instead there seems to be a loose fitting jacker and either a form fitting mask or just greened skin. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that Goblin does not in any way look like a Power Ranger!
We see black suit Spidey again, in a subway tunnel. He shoots dual webs at a target.
A-ha! He is shooting towards Flint Marko aka Sandman played by Thomas Hayden Church! He hooks the passing train and propels foot first towards Marko/Sandman.
Here is where we cut to my favorite scene. Peter is dancing with Gwen Stacy! It appears to be some sort of tango or something. As he leads into dipping her, there is the clear appearance of longing in her eyes. I cannot wait to see how this love triangle plays out. The Peter/MJ/Gwen triangle carries years of angst and conflict in the comics, hopefully they do it justice here.
We cut to MJ on the floor? She is in a regular looking whit shirt and looks back over her shoulder. She appears afraid.
It cuts back to some action, Spidey is falling from what appears to be a building, two large chunks of debris travel with him.
A pumpkin bomb hovers over the shoulder of Harry Osborn. As he turns his glance towards it, it suddenly detonates. Is this the causality of him becoming the full fledged Goblin? Is he somehow scarred or damaged by this event?
We then cut to an odd scene. Peter is falling through space, quite high up, obviously in the city. He sees an engagement ring floating in front of him, he is lunging for it. Is this part of some sort of dream sequence? Is it possible he is fighting for MJ with Green Goblin Harry as is implied by the placement of these clips?
We then see un costumed Harry punching aggressively towards the camera. He too is up high with the city scape as a backdrop.
It cuts to an un costumed Peter on the side of a building. The new Goblin is flying towards him on the new glider. The new glider appears to resemble a snow board more closely than any conventional glider from the first Spider-Man or any of the comic gliders. Spidey dodges and the Goblin crashes abruptly into the wall.
Moving back away from the action we see MJ talking with someone. She appears to be making an emotional connection with this male figure. The angle changes and we see it is Harry as MJ reaches out to stroke his hair.
We see Peter briefly looking shocked. In theory this is in reaction to the Harry/MJ interaction we just witnessed. He is dressed in a black suit with a black ties. Ladies in the background are also dressed in black. This clip has me seriously fearing for Aunt May’s life…
We cut back to some action! Black suit Spider-Man is swinging across as a pipe bursts with extreme amounts of water.
The scene changes and we see Peter again. In this shot he looks exceptionally angry. His hair is darker and greasier. My belief is that the black suit is having a negative affect on him. This is also implied by the limited voice over. Shocking here though is that he pulls his coat apart revealing the black suit under his normal clothes. In the conventional Spider-Man continuity, the black suit was able to morph into whatever form or clothing appearance he needed. If the new suit possessed this, he would not be wearing clothes over it… It would appear they have made a significant modification to what the suit is capable of. Let’s hope it’s for the best and not like the stupid organic webbing we’re stuck with…
Finally we cut to black suit Spidey in the most cinematic of all these shots. He is hanging upside down staring into his reflection in a building. Though he is donned in the black suit, his reflection is red and blue! Is this just being done for effect, or is there some significance to this? I can’t wait to know…
There is is, Spider-Man 3. The closing insignia/logo thingy.
We have a release date! You know where I’ll be on May 4th, 2007!
So that’s the rap up of all the visual elements. While all of this is going on, there is an epic sounding Hollywood piece of music playing. This is extremely well edited to match up perfectly with the many cuts. At one point we get some brief voice over.
Eddie Brock: “Parker”
Mary Jane: “What’s happened to you?”
Peter: “I don’t know. I have to stop it”
OK, so doing this rap up made me even more excited about this film… I guess I gotta go read some comics to quench my Spider-Man thirst!
Tags: "black suit", "Spider-Man 3", "Tobey Maguire", Bryce Dallas Howard, comic, comic books, comics, costume, eddie brock, Green Goblin, gwen stacy, James Franco, Kirsten Dunst ,Mary Jane Watson, marvel, movie, movie trailer, movies, peter parker, Sandman, sony, spider-man, spiderman, Thomas Hayden Church, Toby Maguire, Topher Grace, trailer, venom
Spider-Man 3 Teaser Trailer Available!
June 27, 2006 | 14 Comments
The Spider-Man 3 teaser trailer came online today. Spider-Man 3 promises to have as many as three major classic villains including Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), Green Goblin 2 (James Franco), and Venom/Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Toby Maguire returns as Peter Parker, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, and Elizabeth Banks as Betty Brant. Other new cast joining this installment include: Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy, Bill Nunn as Joe Robertson, and James Cromwell as Captain George Stacy.
I’m extremely interested to see how the love triangle with Gwen Stacy will play out. I’m a bit curious how Peter comes into possession of the Venom black suit. Maybe they’ll follow more of the Ultimate Spider-Man story for that one…
Anyway, by no comparison have I ever anticipated a movie more than this one. This is guaranteed to rock. OK, I gotta go watch the trailer a few more times…
Tags: "Spider-Man 3", Bill Nunn ,Joe Robertson, Bryce Dallas Howard, eddie brock, Elizabeth Banks,Betty Brant, Green Goblin, gwen stacy, J. Jona Jameson, J.K. Simmons, James Cromwell ,Captain George Stacy, James Franco, Kirsten Dunst ,Mary Jane Watson, movie, movie trailer, Sandman, spider-man, spiderman, Thomas Hayden Church, Toby Maguire,Peter Parker, Topher Grace, trailer, venom