“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” Movie
October 20, 2007 | 4 Comments
Marvel announced the title and release date of their upcoming X-Men movie trilogy spin-off. The official title will be X-Men Origins: Wolverine and will be released on May 1, 2009.
I like how they are including “X-Men” in the title. This helps to link it to the other three movies and in turn will hopefully gain it more recognition and success. It also sets up the proposed Magneto movie to have a similar title like “X-Men Origins: Magneto”. I’d love a whole series of these single character focused X-Men movies, the possibilities are extensive: Professor Xavier, Emma Frost, Beast, maybe even Gambit? The May release is also significant as this solidifies May as Marvel’s movie month, I could get used to that.
Of course Hugh Jackman will be reprising his role as Wolverine. According to Marvel.com, there is also the possibility of “a young William Stryker, Sabretooth, Weapon X and a bevy of other mutants—both returning and new characters.”
Tags: hugh jackman, marvel, movie, movies, mutants, weapon x, william stryker, x-men, x-men origins, x-men origins wolverine, xmen origins
Marvel Civil War Continues?!?
August 28, 2007 | 2 Comments
IGN posted this image today with a gigantic veil of secrecy. It’s drawn by Marko Djurdjevic, perhaps the hottest cover artist at Marvel right now… As soon as I looked him up, I realized he is the artist responsible for nearly every painted cover I’ve been in love with since December.
Anyway, from left to right this image includes: Sentinels, Cable, Wolverine, Thing, unknown #1, Ms Marvel, Cloak (without Dagger, WTF?), Captain America (who’s in the suit?), Iron Man, Thor, Hercules, Yellowjacket, unknown #2. I think I should know unknown #1. IGN makes a big deal about who unknown #2 is (the dude in the top right corner). If we knew who was writing this, we might be able to make a better guess. A Marvel.com article makes me wonder if this is Vulcan, but that’s a serious shot in the dark.
Many knock Civil War, but I haven’t felt the passion since that series ended. This has the potential to make me dig in with some serious Marvel induced excitement. Is this a one-shot? A new series? An alternate universe? What does it mean?!? I can’t wait to find out.
Tags: cable, captain america, civil war, cloak, comic books, comics, dagger, emperor vulcan, hercules, IGN, iron man, marvel, ms marvel, sentinels, thing, thor, vulcan, Wolverine, x-men, XMen, yellowjacket
Mutant America Clothing
January 6, 2007 | 4 Comments
I love tastefully done comic geekery clothing. Mutant America sells a few shirts all of which are very cool. The Marvel based designs include two Madrox shirts, a “Magneto was Right” shirt, and the Xavier Institute shirt (shown here). They also sell rings and pins, also tastefully designed.
I would be happy to comment on the quality of these items, if only I had some of them…
Tags: apparel, buttons, clothing, comic books, comics, marvel, merchandise, pins, x-men
Civil War Podcasts
July 28, 2006 | Leave a Comment
If you’ve been following Civil War, like me you probably need some sort of fix to help between issues. Thankfully Marvel and Comic Geek Speak have put out a pile of fantastic podcasts. One of the primary reasons I blog about comics is to achieve a sense of discussion and community. These podcasts allow you to think about the comics you are reading and at least hear some discussion about the characters.
Here are links to the current Civil War related podcasts. Most of these are really great.
Marvel Podcast: Millar/Civil War Podcast
Marvel Podcast: Straight from the Trenches: Civil War: Front Line Podcast
Marvel Podcast: Civil War: X-men, Runaways & Young Avengers
Comic Geek Speak: Civil War - Episode 1
Comic Geek Speak: Civil War - Episode 2
Tags: cgs, civil war, comic geek speak, marvel, millar, podcast, podcasts, runaways, spider-man, spiderman, x-men, XMen, Young Avengers
Marvel Podcasts
June 5, 2006 | 3 Comments
I am silly amounts of addicted to the Marvel Universe. As part of that I was pretty excited in January when I first discovered Marvel’s podcasts. Since then I have found myself waiting less than patiently for the semi-monthly or so releases. The insight into the authors, artists, and overall creative teams at Marvel has engrossed me even further into the Marvel Universe and the many exciting events that are currently taking place there.
The first one of these I casually listened to was with Damon Lindelof talking about Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk. Of course I have been rabidly following that series, at least for the first two issues. Where’s issue #3 Lindelof/Marvel?!?
Next, I heard Joss Whedon talk about his Astonishing X-Men series, which I immediately sought out the trades and am now following monthly. In fact, if you want to get in on a modern X-Men title, this is the one to read. The team consists of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Colossus, and Beast. The series has dealt with some fantastic plot twists and events, including a story line about a mutant cure whihc is eerily familiar to X-Men 3’s major plot line. Understanding Whedon’s reasoning for building the team he did and why he is playing with the stories he is made the whole experience that much richer.
Craig Kyle was interviewed about the Ultimate Avengers movie. After listening I of course bought the DVD on launch day. If I hadn’t heard him explain in great detail about why he had changed many of the major story elements, I may have been annoyed at the film. Instead I enjoyed every minute of it and again found insights into the changed characterizations.
I was surprised to find Keith Giffen and editor Andy Schmidt raising my interests for Annihilation and all the cosmic Marvel heroes featured there. I had previously had every intention of being blissfully ignorant of this major event which follows primarily characters I find out of place and uninteresting in Marvel. Instead, Silver Surfer, Drax the Destroyer, and Nova have all captivated me into this major event. In fact I’m trying to find back issues of Drax the Destroyer which are proving to be as elusive as honest politicians… Granted, I still find Ronan and Super Skrull about as boring as anything ever written… but you can’t win them all.
The X-Office episode was an amazing amount of fun to listen to, but I haven’t been able to find much that is too interesting in most the X-Men comics these days. The exception is of course Joss Whedon’s previously mentioned Astonishing X-Men. The banter between the many editors, writers, and artists who participated in this episode made for the occasional laugh out loud moment and definitely made a flight from Orlando to Manchester entirely more tolerable.
The two Civil War episodes added to my already frothing excitement for this event. In fact, I’m not sure anyone has ever felt so giddy about an upcoming set of comics as I do about Civil War. I just wish I could sit down and read the 30+ comics that will make up this massive event in one long binge. Alas, I will have to wait for Mark Millar to layout his tale slowly over the next six months…
I could go on, because there are more great episodes to highlight (Neil Gaiman on Moon Night, Ed Brubaker on Daredevil, Daniel Knauf on Iron Man, etc). However, I just need to say thanks to Marvel and hopefully encourage at least one person to listen to these amazing podcasts. I’m certain they will continue, especially if the marketing team learns how addictive they may prove to be.
I will warn you though, listening to the Marvel podcast will be hazardous to your wallet! You’ve been warned, now go listen and spend money on comics.
RSS feed of the Marvel Podcasts
Tags: "astonishing x-men", "Damon Lindelof", "ultimate avengers", Andy Schmidt, Beast, civil war, colossus, comic books, comics, Cyclops, Daniel Knauf, daredevil, Drax the Destroyer, ed brubaker, emma frost, hulk, iron man, joss whedon, Keith Giffen, Kitty Pryde, mark millar, marvel, marvel universe, moon knight, Neil Gaiman, Nova, podcast, podcasts, ronan, rss, Silver Surfer, super skrull, ultimate hulk, ultimate wolverine, Wolverine, x-men
X-Men 3 Review: Astonishing, Uncanny…
May 26, 2006 | 9 Comments
I expected to like this movie, but instead, I loved it. Without Bryan Singer directing I feared this may be a disappointing conclusion to a great series. Instead the movies just got better with each installment.
I was initially doubtful about the casting of Kitty Pryde and Juggernaut, but both actors played their parts to perfection. Combined with reading Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, I’m now thinking Kitty may be my favorite X-man. Right when you think think “how can she be useful in a fight?” she calls Juggernaut a “dickhead” before leaving him unconscious. Yes I’m serious.
In general the movie throws a lot of unexpected events at you. From who the funeral is for through to the after credits clip which will leave you wondering if this is truly the Last Stand for the X-Men movies.
The only thing I was not entirely satisfied with was the surprisingly small role Angel played. Also, does anyone know what happened to Nightcrawler?
Tags: "astonishing x-men", angel, astonishing, bryan singer, comics, Juggernaut, Kitty Pryde, last stand, movie, Nightcrawler, review, uncanny, uncanny x-men, x-men, XMen
X-Men 3 - After Credits Clip
May 23, 2006 | 8 Comments
According to IGN Filmforce there is a special must see 30 second clip of additional footage at the end of X-Men 3: The Last Stand, after the credits. The scene is described as a “coda” for one of the main characters. I know I’ll hang around to see it.
Tags: "The Last Stand", comic book, marvel, movie, tls, x-men, X-Men 3, x-men 3 the last stand, XMen