The Adventures of Captain Otter

After reading an enormous stack of comics, I decided to pass on some of my recent knowledge to you guys.  These are my current top 3 series, and the ones I think no pull list should be without.  But first, the honorable mentions, Captain America and Secret Warriors.  Captain America is a brilliant comic, but is at a weird place right now with Steve Rogers coming back.  Secret Warriors is pretty fantastic as well, but is slowing down a bit right now in a series of crossovers.

Now, the big three.

First up is Green Lantern.  Green Lantern is far from a perfect title, and certainly has it’s flaws.  But it can tell a grand, epic story like no other.  You won’t be able to find a bigger story in comics, or one that is executed with such incredible skill.  Blackest Night is worth checking out, and even though there tons of tie ins, you should at the very least be looking at the main titles.

Next is the Amazing Spiderman.  Alot of fans are upset over Brand New Day, when Spiderman’s marriage was taken out of the picture with a little demonic assistance.  This understandable, but I started reading after the infamous event took place, so I just couldn’t care less.  Spiderman isn’t a deep or emotional piece of writing that explores the nature of humanity.  It’s just a really fun comic.  It has been consistently solid for the past year, and every issue manages to put a smile on my face.  I always find myself looking forward to the next issue of Spiderman, which is all that matters I guess.  The best part?  It comes out 3 times a month, so you can get more than your fill of Spidey.

The last choice is Thor.  Unlike Spidey, who gets an issue almost every other week, Thor is lucky if his main series comes out bi-monthly.  I don’t know why exactly, or what the cause of the big wait is.  Still, when Thor does come out, it’s the first title I reach for.  I hope this lasts though, because the writer is leaving in the middle of his current arc.  I hope the level of quality can be maintained, or at the very least for it to come out on a decent schedule. 

So these are my favorite three comics right now.  If you havn’t looked at these three yet, you don’t know what you’re missing.

With Blackest Night, the entire galaxy is at war.  And what are you doing?  Just sitting there, being a bystander?  No, it’s time for you to show your support and join a corps.  And how can you do this?  By wearing the t-shirt of your favorite corps. and looking pretty good while doing it.

Yesterday I got my two shirts from Superherostuff.com, and I can’t recommend them enough.  I was introduced to the site by my friend, and the store didn’t dissappoint.  They have a huge range of products, and are making shirts for each of the new corps.  My first choice was blue.  I love the idea of hope’s role in the galaxy, and I can probably identify with that alot.  The other?  Orange, or avarice, which I can certainly identify with even more.  They’ve got alot of great stuff and you should check their website out.  What better way is there to show your love for comics and be stylish as hell at the same time? 

More fun movie news.  After the Incredible Hulk, everyone just automatically assumed that the hero would be part of the Avengers somehow.  Then we started hearing things about Edward Norton not being confirmed, even after Robert Downey Jr. was signed on.  Even now, we don’t know for sure what’s going on.  Well, here are two recent updates about the status of the green goliath.

 1.  No Hulk cameo in Iron Man 2.  Norton denied the rumor pretty unequivocally.  Unless they add it later, no Banner/Stark meet ups till 2011.

2. Norton is game for the movie, and would even like to see the Hulk as a villain.  He loves the idea of the Hulk being kind of an outsider, and thinks that is a great angle to play up.

The lack of a Hulk cameo is pretty understandable.  I don’t think they have the story for the Avengers down yet, so this gives them time to work all that out.  And it’s good to know that Norton wants to do the Avengers.  At this point, I expect him to join once the script is done.  They havn’t confirmed the Hulk’s involvement, and once they get that settled down I think they’ll recruit Dr. Banner.  They don’t want to sign him up when he only has a brief role, so this helps the writing process.

I’m also going to use this as a chance to comment on the “Hulk as a villain” rumor.  Do I want to see Hulk fight his allies, and seen as untrustworthy because he’s the damn Hulk?  Absolutely.  In fact, if I don’t see Iron Man smack Hulk in the face the movie will be a dissappointment.  Of course, Hulk will then throw Tony through a building,  Thor and Stark might try and calm him down, but Captain America then finally gets him to stop.  This has to happen.

But do we want the Hulk to be the villain?  No.  The Hulk isn’t smart enough to act as a recurring threat throughout the movie.  Once he starts fighting, he is going to stop too much.  And do we want our the team of the greatest heroes in the world to hunt down poor Bruce Banner?  That’s not too heroic.  The Hulk needs to be an unreliable ally, and he’s got to be there at the final battle to help the team.  Because when the s*%@ hits the fan, you don’t want some Norse God or a supersoldier from the 40’s.  No, you want a 10 ton green monster.  Problem solved.

The cast for Thor is starting to flesh out, and today we have two more new recruits.  I know I said that I would talk about the Siege event, but this is more important.  Joining Chris Hemsworth is Jaime Alexander and Colm Feore.  Jaime has been doing TV and is starting to break into movies, and is also incredibly gorgeous.  I’ve never seen her act, and quite frankly, I don’t care.  Just look at her.

Alexander will be playing Sif, an Asgardian who likes beating the snot out of just about everything.  There was a rumor that Jessica Biel might take the part, but it could turn out that Biel will play the Enchantress (which was originally speculated) or won’t be joining the movie at all.  Anyway, I don’t think anyone will complain about this girl.  I don’t know how big a part Sif will play, since Jane Foster will be the primary love interest.  I expect her to be a supporting character, and when Thor is banished maybe she tries to help him out.  As Thor spends time on Earth, he learns to love us humans (and why wouldn’t you?) and fights to defend us.  Maybe Sif will question Thor’s decisions, since the character was never to fond of humans.  Who knows.  Either way, this girl is in.

The other actor is Colm Feore.  Feore has been around for quite some time, and you might have seen him last year on 24.  He played the president’s husband, and did a pretty good job.  The actor will be playing some kind of villain, although we don’t know who this is.  Even though Loki is going to be an important character, I expect there to be someone else for Thor to hit.  Maybe this guy will be playing that villain, although it is unlikely.  Something shadowy and sinister. 

We still need a few more parts filled out.  We need casting for the Warriors Three, Hemdal, Balder, and a bunch of other Asgardians.  If all goes well at Marvel, we should be hearing some more announcements soon.  And once that’s done, we get to find out who will play Captain America.  Come on, you the know the suspense is killing you.

Big things have been brewing at Marvel.  Ever since the Avengers dissasembled, things have gotten worse and worse.  Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and now Dark Reign.  Marvel is at it’s darkest point, and things are going to get just a bit worse.  We don’t know exactly how Dark Reign will “end”, but we now know it will flow into something called the Siege.  We had heard something earlier about the Siege of Asgard, and this is almost certainly the same event.  My impression is that the Siege is too big for a Norse castle stuck in Oklahoma, and almost every corner of the Marvel U will be involved.

So the Cabal has blown up.  Osborn tried getting all the big power players in one room, and it’s pretty much over.  Emma Frost and Namor continue to support the Xmen, and the criminal known as the Hood is in a tricky position.  And of course, Doom isn’t too fond of being pushed around by the Green Goblin, and things are going to start getting messy really soon.  So what is this Siege?  A bunch of books have been alluding to big things happening, and New Avengers has been dropping some hints about magical baddies getting angry.  Tomorrow, I’ll make a list of the big players and what I know for sure.  Expect the big players to be Dr. Doom and Loki.  How do I know this?  Generally speaking, it’s almost always their fault.

At worst, this just another event.  We could see our heroes bogged down in another crossover, which we’ve seen a bit too much of.  Best case scenario, we see the event to finish off everything.  If we see the heroes finally win an event, and the world restored to order, that could be so epic.  I really hope Marvel pulls this one out, and gives us the kind of event we’ve been waiting for.

Yesterday, I talked about how the Chameleon evokes nothing but hatred for me.  Today, I talk about a villain who begs you to love him.  I’m talking about the man with the plan, Dr. Horrible.  Back during the writers strike, Jos Whedon wanted to work on something.  You know his name from Buffy and Firefly, but the guy also writes alot of comics.  He put together a group of actors, and gave us Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.  He threw the thing online for everyone to see, and last week was given an emmy for his achievement.  The result easily gets into the top 5 superhero stories in the past few years.

So what makes Dr. Horrible so special?  A huge part is the charisma of the cast.  Neil Patrick Harris is just amazing, and Nathan Fillion has enough charisma to make up for the fact that he can’t really sing.  Felicia Day is absolutely adorable, and everything works.  Add in some catchy songs, and you have yourself a great movie/show.  What makes the story stand out even more is the quality of it’s writing.  You see real character development, and the movie explores what it means to become a supervillain.  How can Dr. Horrible, a guy who just wants to change the world, impress the girl he loves?  With heroes like Captain Hammer running around like idiots, how do you find out what you really want?  I wouldn’t dream of spoiling any of the details, and I can only say you have to watch it.  It’s something truly original in every way, and any comic book fan should fall in love with it.  Just do a google search, and watch it on Hulu or something.  It’s only 40 minutes, so you could probably watch it right now.

In fact, I’m such a big fan of Dr. Horrible, that I’m going to do a scene from it in my dorm’s talent show.  Lucky for me, the term “talent” is used very liberally.  I don’t have any singing or acting abilities.  But you know what else I don’t have?  Shame.  Me and some of my friends are going to be singing and acting out the end of Act One, so wish us luck.  Lord knows we need it…..

Spiderman has a long list of great villains.  The Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Shocker, Rhino, Venom.  But none of them make me quite as angry or infuriated as the Chameleon.  What’s to like about him?  I can safely admit that I despise the Chameleon.

Let me be a bit more clear.  The Chameleon is an amazing villain who’s stood the test of time.  Like almost every good Marvel character, he was created by Stan Lee and has been causing havoc ever since.  The Chameleon might be a half decent fighter, but he can’t compete physically with heroes like Spiderman or Captain America.  Instead, he makes their lives as annoying as possible.  In the current Spiderman arc, we see the Chameleon taking Peter’s place.  I had to put this last issue down five times before I could finish it.  It’s downright frustrating knowing that Peter’s social life is going to get even worse, and that the villain is destroying many of his relationships.  Compared to this, dropping Spidey in a vat of acid doesn’t seem so bad.

So, the Chameleon is a unique, and when written well, interesting villain who somehow manages to make Peter’s life even worse.  As much as I hate him for doing it, that’s the kind of response a good character should bring about.  Do I hate the Chameleon?  Yes.  And that’s why I love him.

If you don’t know who Bruce Campbell is, take a quick step back from your computer.  All set?  Good.  Now slap yourself in the face so hard you start seeing funny colors.  Now check out Campbell on wikipedia.

Campbell is an old pal of Sam Raimi’s, and the two have been tight ever since Evil Dead (which was awesome, by the way).  Campbell has had cameos in all three Spidey movies, and has done voice work in the games.  We’ve always known he would show up in Spiderman 4, but it might be more than just a cameo.  The actor recently said that he would have a much bigger role this time around.  Some people think he might get the role of a villain like Mysterio, but I see him as more of strong supporting character.  Someone who works at the Bugle or something.  Either way, more Bruce Campbell means a better movie.

If you want more Bruce Campbell, you can also check him out on USA’s Burn Notice.  The show is about an ex-CIA agent trying to clear his name.  Bruce Campbell has an amazing character, and his scenes alone are almost worth watching it.  Spiderman 4 will hit theaters next May, so mark your calenders.  It looks like this movie is actually going to get made, and should start shooting in January.

I think I have a pretty fair view of reboots.  They offer amazing potential to revitalize a franchise after an older series (Batman, James Bond) or a disastrous showing and change of studio (Hulk).  At the same time, rebooting just to milk a franchise for all it’s worth annoys me to no end.  It almost feels like they’re pressing the do-over button.  The latest reboot?  Deadpool.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?

Lauren Shuler Donner, the producer of the X-movies, recently commented on the status of the movie.  She described it as a “reboot”, meaning that we would see a character much closer to the one we know and love.  On one hand, this is great.  Baraka-pool has no place in a Deadpool movie, and we want our Merc With a Mouth to actually talk.  It’s been pretty well known that we would see classic Deadpool.  But a reboot?  I hope this doesn’t mean they ignore what happened in Wolverine altogether.  Even if you don’t love the treatment of the character, you have to admit it sets up how he obtained his powers and went completely crazy.   I don’t think I want to see a Deadpool origins movie, where alot of time is devoted to Weapon X experimenting on him.  It would feel too much like Wolverine.  No, let’s start the movie out with Deadpool recapping how he got here, and then move the plot forward from there.  And if they ignore Wolverine, it just feels kind of cheap.  If they ignore everything that happened to him, why was he in the movie at all?  It feels like the people making the X-movies don’t care enough about source material and are too willing to play around with things.  When they make big decisions with characters, I don’t want to see the movies just move on from them. 

For a character who’s been around since the twenties, Solomon Kane isn’t too well known.  He’s a puritan who loves nothing more than vanquishing evil and wearing old school hats.  To be honest, the only thing I knew about the character was that he was created by the same guy who made Conan the Barbarian, and that he was some kind of witch hunter.  I’ve heard news about the movie for a while, and I’m a big fan of the actor playing him.  The guy’s name is James Purefoy, and I loved his work on HBO’s Rome.  I’ve always wanted to see him in a big role, and this might be his chance for a breakthrough.  And now, we have this trailer to finally get a look at who Solomon Kane is.

In many ways, this trailer is completely awesome.  The action looks incredible, and the artistic design completely blows me away.  All of the demons look flawless, and puritan imagery work so well.  My only concern is that the plot could be a little predictable.  We see Solomon, a powerful warrior, cursed by a demon.  The warrior then adopts a life of puritanism and peace.  Of course, things are never so simple, and he gets caught up in a bigger war and starts killing things again (lots of things).  Oh well, it looks like Solomon is heading for hell.  But wait!  The trailer says that our hero might be able to find a new soul, and escape his curse.  If the plot is predictable, we’ll see Solomon fight the evil wizard, save the world and win a new soul.  This could make for a good movie, but I really hope that Solomon has to live with his curse.  Let the movie end with him not yet redeemed, and willing to fight the good fight even if it means heading to hell.  Can you imagine anything more hardcore?  Someone who knows they’re cursed, who gives up a chance at a better life, all for the service of humanity?  End the movie with him content with this sacrifice, knowning that the good he’s doing far outweighs his own personal torment.  You can let him get a happy ending in a later movie (they hope to do a trilogy), but I think a bittersweet ending would work incredibly well for this style of movie.  Either way, this looks to be a fun spin on the fantasy genre, and I have high expectations for it.  Something about this trailer draws me in, and I’ve watched it 6 times straight.  The design and style are top knotch, and I already know I’ll be standing in line to see this movie on opening day.