The Adventures of Captain Otter

The MTV awards were tonight.  Usually, this is my favorite awards ceremony.  Its one of the few times an action or comedy will win an award and get the respect it deserves.  This means comic book movies too.  They are pretty funny too.  Last years videos were just hilarious.  This year, Iron Man AND the Dark Knight were able to be nominated.  Finally, someone was going to  give TDK the best movie award.  And that guy from Jizz in My Pants was hosting.  Sounds like a great show. 

No, no it wasnt. 

It turns out that Andy Samberg is actually not funny at all as a host.  His jokes fell flat, and none of the spoof videos made any sense.  This does not even pale in comparison to the actual winners of the show.  For the first hour and a half, I got to see nothing but Disney and Twilight stars win awards.  Hell, the only comic book award was given to heath ledger for best villain (duh), but they just threw that one in before the commercials.  The crowning insult of the night was Twilight winning best movie.  As comic book fans, we must swear to never let this happen again.  Twilight’s bizzare cult of girls who love “vampires” must be stopped.  We have to prove that we are the true uber-fans.  I dont want to see us losing any more of these contests.  Our next chance will be with Iron Man 2.  Im ready to get this campaign started now.

 But if that doesn’t work, just remember that the box office doesnt lie, and Twilight cant touch us on this one.

So this is what, my third post on Thor?  Out of like 6 total?  It looks like alot of great stuff is happening, and today i saw two interviews about the movie.  The first is with Tom Hiddleston, the man who will be Loki.  I think hes a good enough choice.  I kind of wanted James Purefoy for the part, but Hiddleston certainly looks like an evil god.

When talking about the character, he definately has a good idea.  He compares him to a bunch of Shakespearean characters, as being this conniving sorceror.  This sounds great, and I always thought of Loki as being more like Iago from Othello.  His true menace has nothing to do with socerery.  Its all about his ability to deceive, to send characters to their demise without actually raising his blade.  Thats just awesome.

 The other interview was with the co-writer of the script, Ashley Miller.  Now this was a great interview.  The highlight of the interview was when Miller said she came close to putting in Frog Thor.  So it looks like she really knows her Thor stuff.  But she really tried to make Thor a fighter.  Not “dark”, but gritty.  Seeing Thor take a pounding, and then fighting back.  Apparently, theres going to be blood and grime and all that good stuff.  Everything about the interview sounded great, and I think i think im looking forward to this movie more than any other comic book adaptation, Batman 3 included.

Iron Man is probably my favorite hero.  He’s got a great character design, and is probably one of the most human characters out there.  That’t not what I’m here to talk about.  I want to tell you how he has one of the worst rogue’s gallery for a character of his caliber.  His greatest nemesis is the Mandarin, and I’ve got nothing against him.  Its everyone else.  The Iron Monger is a great villain, but he been dead for a very long time.  He had a personal connection with Tony, which gave him such a huge menace.  I really need to pick up demon in a bottle so i can actually read what happened.

After that, it gets a bit rough.  After those two, theres the crimson dynamo, whiplash, blizzard, the controller, and a bunch of other ridiculous concepts for characters.  Stark actually has a villain called the Unicorn.  This was clearly not Stan Lee’s shining moment.  And wikipedia tells me that there have been 12 crimson dynamos.  Its impossible to bond with the character when his personality changes every time I see him.  But i think almost all of the villains have the potential to be stronger characters.  The Controller made a recent appearance, an although his costume wasn’t updated by too much he got some good quality time.  By making the villains look like they really could exist, the characters become more valauble.  I mean, no one is ever going to buy a guy called the Unicorn.  But by making the gallery looks and act more realistically, Iron Man might get a stronger gallery.

After reading this week’s comics, I figured I had to make a post.  Too many big surprises and fun stuff happened.  I won’t spoil anything, but Id point you guys in the right direction.

The first was in New Avengers.  A new Sorceror Supreme has been chosen.  Now, Im kind of a Doctor Strange fan.  Kind of.  I think the magical side of marvel has a ton of potential, but needs some redesigning.  By adding some more characters, and redesigning old ones, they could get some more great titles out there.  Doctor Strange more than anyone else.  Great back story, great personality, but the goofiest costume ive ever seen.

So, maybe this could start to reinvigorate the character and give him some great stories.  Id pick up a Dr. Strange title if they got a good artist on board.  But whos the replacement?  I was shocked to find out it wasnt Wiccan.  Based on the solicits for later issues, I was sure he was going to be the new choice.  Thank god though.  How could some scrawny little kid get chosen for sorceror supreme over Victor von Doom?  This choice was a surprise, but I buy it.  If you want to be spoiled, go to any comic book forum or wikipedia.

 The other big surprise came from this week’s Nova.  Richie got his powers as Nova Prime back, which everyone saw coming.  The issue was somewhat predictable.  But on the last page, we see the return of a really old Nova character.  The only reason i know who he is was because he is referenced throughout the series.  Aw hell, you wont know who this guy is.  His name is Garthan Saal, the original Nova prime.  Hes been dead since the late 90s I think, but I might be wrong.  Either way, that opens up some great future plot lines and also serves to confuse the hell out of the reader.

Apparently, Green Lantern also had a rough week.  Im still busy catching up on the older issues, but I hear he has a fun encounter with Agent Orange, who is just full of epic win.

So, apparently, some guy named Clifton Collins is somehow involved in the upcoming Thor movie.  How do people know this?  He put it up on his twitter.

 This is actually kind of hilarious.  How did this gain any media attention?  I’ve never heard of this guy before, but someone, somewhere, managed to find this stuff two hours  after he put it up.  I dont know what to say.  The guy’s most recent job was as a henchman in star trek.  Before that he was in the new Crank movie.  Anyway, it looks like this guy is still auditioning for whatever part he wants, so does this mean that Thor is finishing up the rest of its cast?  Pretty soon we could be getting some real casting news, like whos playing the warriors three, Odin, Sif, and the rest of the Asgardians.

In much more interesting news, Nathan Fillion commented on his twitter that the recent fan made GL trailor rocked.  Im pretty sure everyone agrees with him.  I guess the moral of today’s post is that people like putting everything on twitter. 

For a while, cosmic Marvel has been pretty useless.  Sure, they had the Silver Surfer, but he can only do so much.  After the amazing Annihilation event, cosmic Marvel has been getting better and better.  Out of the two monthly cosmic titles, Guardians of the Galaxy really stands out as one of the best titles out there.  They’re a proactive team with the goal of stopping galactic disasters before they even start.  Its a good concept, and it works for five simple reasons.

1. A strong narrative with and undeniable sense of fun.

2. Rocket Raccoon.

3. Beautiful artwork by Paul Pelletier.

4. Rocket Raccoon.

5. Rocket Raccoon.

But enough about Rocket….for now.  The rest of the cast is pretty nifty too.  Ive read alot of Dan Abnett stuff, and he has a habit of making decent main characters/leaders that are usually overshadowed by amazing supporting characters.  The team’s leader, Starlord, is a pretty cool guy, but couldnt carry a series on his own when written like this.  The rest of the team, consists of Drax, Gamora, Adam Warlock, the new Quasar, Mantis, Groot and Major Victory.  If youve heard of any of these characters, Im just flat out impressed.  The characters hav pretty crazy origins, like Groot, who is some kind of terrifying tree monster from outer space.  Its actually a running joke in the series that no one knows who the guardians are.  But every character is likeable, and the writers certainly know how to tell a fun story.  One issue ends with Drax killing everyone.  Everyone dies.

Its hard to read Guardians without smiling.  Its probably the funniest title I’m reading, but still relies on good storytelling as the heart of the series.  Guardians even pokes fun at its own subject.  Rocket Raccoon openly admits to hating anything to do with time travel, which is just freaking complicated.  Jack Flag, who is a new recruit, hates cosmic stuff becuase its just completely ridiculous and in no way believable.

The series is only 13 issues in, so I  would suggest picking up the first trade before finding any issues after.  Right now, the Guardians are taking on both Vulcan and Black Bolt in the War or Kings, so they’ve got their hands full.  And in case youre wondering, Rocket Raccoon has already brought Gladiator down to his knees.  Never doubt a raccoon.

If you havnt seen Star Trek yet, stop reading blog right now and go see it.  I’m not a trekkie, but I thought it was an awesome movie.  But thats not why you should go see it.  Go see it to get a first look of Thor taking on the Hulk.

Okay, so Eric Bana isnt the Hulk anymore.  But it seems that Chris Hemsworth has been chosen to play the Norse Superhero/God.  That is kind a terrifying combo when you think about it.  But I was actually thrilled when I heard the news.  I had gone to see Star Trek the night before, and the opening was probably my favorite part of the movie.

Theres been alot of talk as to who would play Thor, and I think Marvel made a great choice.  I mean, Ive only seen this guy in 10 minutes of actual film and Im pretty confident he fits the bill.  I was originally worried they would go with some big wrestler like Triple H or that Canadian guy who wont stop talking about how much he wants the part.  When I heard who was directing, I knew they were going to go for an actor who can actually….act.  I wasnt too happy about some of the other rumors either, as they just didnt look the part.  This Hemsworth guy looks like he has the sharp, strong look needed to play Thor. 

And soon after, Marvel confirmed that Loki had been cast as well, but more on that later.

Interestingly enough, Marvel has yet to actually confirm whether or not Hemsworth will be playing the God of Thunder.  I’m not worried though.  Considering Thor will also be appearing in the Avengers, and they will probably make sure the actor is on board for any more appearences with the character there is bound to be more paperwork and such.   Still, shouldn’t Loki be in all the same movies?  Loki has to be in all the sequels, and I really want to see the rogue have at least some role in the Avengers movie, but I guess they can use other villains.

So this is the first actual post.  But as with everything to do with comics, the origin story has to be told first.  Im just a college kid whos pretty much obsessed with comics.  I practically grew up on the spiderman, batman, and xmen cartoons, and had a pretty decent sized collection of comics.  I had put it off for a while, but around a year ago, I started to get really serious about this stuff and am reading almost anything I can get my hands on.  Youll figure this out soon enough, but my favorite thing in comic books are the Avengers.  Mainly the big Avengers trinity of Cap, Thor, and Iron Man. 

So what is this blog about?  Anything related to comics for one.  I’m pretty much obsessed with anything to do with comic book movies, so ill probably write about that stuff as soon as any info is released.  I’ll also throw in some other stuff I think you guys might enjoy, but I’m here to fight for truth, justice, and the otter way.  So the origin story is done.  Lets get down to business.