Archive for September, 2013

Review: Uncanny Avengers #12

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 30, 2013| 4 Comments »

Uncanny Avengers #12For once, Remender is scarily close to correctly characterizing a character… but it’s still full of fails.

Is it just me, or is Wanda sounding a lot like dear old dad here? The whole ‘take all the mutants to Jupiter to live in a mutant-only world’ reminds me of Asteroid M. She also seems to have been convinced that humans and mutants will never get along. This whole situation is very much a Magneto thing and Wanda has, in the past, done some insane things in the name of just making everyone stop fighting…

But here’s the thing. Wanda knows that not all humans are bad, she is friends with some very human Avengers, for good or bad. And the whole “House of M” thing wasn’t exactly her idea. She was in a vulnerable state and her brother gave her the idea. When everyone was coming to kill her, she latched onto the idea and gave it form, even turning herself ‘human’ in House of M to highlight just how much less-than-worth-loathing Wanda had stored up. House of M failed, No More Mutants wasn’t any better, but both times she was just trying to do something, anything, to stop the fighting, and the pain.

So yeah, in some respect you can see her latching onto the Jupiter thing in the same vein… but I think Wanda would have learned from everything that happened during House of M, plus being an Avenger in general, that a) you have to treat the cause of the human/mutant divide, not the symptoms, and b) never, ever, ever trust the bad guy, doesn’t matter what they are saying.

At the moment, Wanda seems to be walking back through the same old loop without any real character advancement. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting different results. That is Wanda right now. And she very much deserves way more than this.

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Review: Deadpool #16

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Deadpool #16You would really think these Weapon X types would have learned their lesson. I guess for all the tech/bio smarts they have, they lack common sense.

You don’t put the likes of Deadpool in a cage, he’s going to get out and kill everything that moves. But kudos to Butler for having the balls to face Deadpool dead on. Granted, he did have some aces up his sleeve, but this is Deadpool we’re talking about, he can be unstable at times.

It’s pretty messed up though, about all the super-heroes that were created and their sadistic training. Talk about human rights violations. I want to kick Butler in the face myself. Figures that the one who was injected with Nightcrawler’s DNA is the one with the biggest heart. I really hope he gets to live through this story arc. But then they have back up in the form of Wolverine and Captain America, so they have a definite chance of getting everyone out alive (not that the writer would actually let that happen).

This also means that not only did Wolverine come to help Wade (after telling him off) but so did Cap. They are his friends, and for someone like Wade who does what he does and lives like he lives, that probably means more than any of the characters will ever admit to.

As for Eleanor, is she really Wade’s daughter? As far as I know this is the first we’ve heard of her so anything could happen. Kinda messed up the way they are introducing her, but it has the effect needed. Poor Wade, “she’s too beautiful to be mine”. That boy has some major self-image issues, and he hides them all behind jokes.

Also, kudos for Preston, someone had to kick Deadpool out of his moping.

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Review: X-Men Legacy #17

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

X-Men Legacy #17Well, that escalated quickly.

It seems that whatever kind of mutant that new-mutant was, combining her powers with David’s is a bad… very bad… thing. And David knew it, or at least that is how it reads to me with his complete lack of surprise when it all happens. So does that mean David went to this place, at this time, and fights Scott knowing full well what was going to happen. Thereby also puting Ruth into the position of having to kill him to save mutantkind. As much as I ship these two, it’s really turning into a very unhealthy relationship.

But anyway… if he seemingly knows what’s going to happen… then why did he go? Why didn’t he just let Scott handle the new mutant and let that be the end of it? Or am I just reading it wrong and it wasn’t until he was caught in the mutant’s power that he realized what was happening? Or maybe David just believes in not mucking with the time stream?

In any case, we know he doesn’t die because Legacy is still running through at least December and hasn’t been cancelled to my knowledge. So Ruth is going to have to kick her brother’s butt and save the day. Should be fun.

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #36

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Wolverine and the X-Men #36Battle of the Atom continues, but fails to answer the biggest question of all: Who the hell would let young!Bobby watch a baby?!?

Anyway, this issue had some epic battles Young!Jean, Emma and the Cuckoo’s against old!Jean. Then the X-Men verses X-Men. As cool as it is to see these fights, you can’t help but marvel at the pointlessness of the whole thing. Why does it seem that recently it’s all ‘vs’ story lines, and not Good Guys vs Bad Guys but everyone versus themselves. Everyone is on the same team, they should be able to be reasonable about this, not get into fights at the drop of a hat. Ugh.

Deadpool was pretty awesome though, continues to be smarter than most everyone gives him credit for. But his story was a lie, so what is the truth? When Magik goes into the future with young!Bobby and young!Beast it looks nearly idyllic. Even the Sentinels are polite. But whatever young!Jean saw in old!jean’s head made her change her mind. Was old!Jean being sneaky and giving her false information? Or information from a certain point of view? Or is the idyllic future harboring a horrible secret?

Finally, it’s starting to get pretty interesting. Let’s hope we get more of this mystery and less in-fighting.

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Reblog: Adaptation Of DC Comics’ Constantine From Daniel Cerone & David Goyer Lands At NBC

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on September 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

via Deadline

Constantine #1EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. TV and DC Comics are on a roll this development season with a third high-profile project. Constantine, a drama based on the characters in DC Comics’ John Constantine stories, has sold to NBC with penalty. It is written/executive produced by The Mentalist executive producer Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, the go-to writer for Warner Bros.’ feature DC adaptations. Constantine centers on John Constantine, an enigmatic and irreverent con man-turned-reluctant supernatural detective who is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond.

John Constantine, who first appeared in 1985 as a recurring character in the horror series The Saga Of The Swamp Thing, was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and Jamie Delano. He was portrayed by Keanu Reeves in the 2005 feature Constantine and is rumored to be featured in the Justice League Dark feature Warner Bros. has in the works with Guillermo del Toro.

Constantine joins Warner Bros. TV/DC’s The Flash at the CW, a spinoff from hit Arrow, and a Gotham City/Commissioner Gordon drama at Fox, which has a series commitment.  WME-repped Goyer has co-written The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Begins, Man Of Steel and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman. On TV, he is the creator/executive producer of Starz’s Da Vinci’s Demons. WME-repped Cerone is the creator/executive producer of Canadian drama Motive, which aired on ABC this summer and is awaiting a second-season renewal.

The thing is, they tried a similar show in 1998 called Brimstone, it wasn’t the greatest, but it wasn’t bad either, only lasted a season. But with Constantine being based of a comic book character, and it’s a different age/generation in the major demographic now, this could have a better chance at working as long as it’s written well. Though it’s possible non-comic book people could just see it as an attempt to piggy back on recent hits like GRIMM, Once Upon a Time, and Sleepy Hollow.  It really depends on how they play it.

The most notable in all this is that NBC, which is Universal, picked up the show. The Gotham City show is going to FOX which is, of course, FOX. And The Flash is staying with Warner Brother on the CW along with Arrow. DC, which is owned by Warner Brothers, is being very free with their tv licensing of the DC characters. The only two network channels left to have a DC property is CBS and ABC. ABC has SHIELD and is owned by Disney, so I’d bet even money we’ll never see a DC show there, but there is nothing stopping CBS except they are the #1 network so they probably don’t care if they have one or not.

All these shows coming out of the woodwork, but yet still no Wonder Woman.

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On Air – 1X01 Sentinel

Posted in Season 1, tagged , , , , , on September 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Now On Air:

1X01 – Sentinel
Air Date: 9/27/2013
The X-Men must decide what to do about Sentinel and just how far are they willing to cross the line into Brotherhood territory.
Rated TV14 for violence.

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Review: Gambit #17

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , on September 25, 2013| 4 Comments »

Gambit #17With this issue, Gambit’s latest Solo comes to an end… so why didn’t Asmus end it?

I seriously sat for twenty minutes just staring at the comic thinking there should be another page… and there wasn’t. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been some concrete evidence of where Gambit would be next. Uncanny Avengers is out, maybe Wolverine and the X-Men but that doesn’t seem as likely either, and that ending… it definitely shuts down on the options.

But let’s ignore the ending for a moment and look at the two big things, the first off being Remy and his dad. While it was nice that they kinda had that father/son moment, I can’t help thinking that Jean-Luc is playing Remy because, well, that’s what Jean-Luc does. He took Remy in, yes, because he thought he could use him. It’s always been about what’s best for either Jean-Luc or the Guild. And Remy’s almost casual use of the L-word here? It’s nice, it’s what you want to see from Remy as it heals a fractured relationship, but it doesn’t feel like it would really happen.

Conversely, Remy’s moment with Rogue was pretty spot on. The uncertainty in Rogue is palatable. She wants to tell him to just come with her, but she can’t, both because it’s a choice Remy has to make, but mostly because she’s also very much unsure about herself still. Yes, she did say that he’s not completely trustworthy because he’s a thief at heart, but it’s the truth, they both know it, and ultimately Rogue doesn’t care… she trusts him regardless.

As for Gambit himself, he seems to have accepted the fact that he’s a thief, through and through, and not meant to be the hero. I’m not sure I agree with that assessment of himself, but it’s legit for him to think it. He’s always had that self-worth complex going way back forever ago. I had kinda hoped he would get character development out of that trait in his solo but, well, we can’t always get what we want.

Now we come back to the ending that isn’t really an ending. Gambit is running the Guild and sorta still at the school. This is awesome in and of itself, but as a reader, where does it leave Gambit title wise? I want to read more about Gambit in general at the very least, but there is no real indication that we’ll be seeing him again any time soon. It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s really the ending of a TV show which has been cancelled after all the episodes have been filmed. And we all know that is probably the worst feeling, okay, second worst feeling in the world.

Well, at least he won’t be going to Uncanny Avengers… Remender can keep his grubby mits off him.

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Reblog: Fox Nabs Gotham City Origin Drama About Commissioner Gordon

Posted in News and Editorials, tagged , , , on September 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Commissioner James Gordonvia Deadline

 

Fox Nabs Gotham City Origin Drama About Commissioner Gordon From Bruno Heller & Warner Bros. TV With Series Commitment

EXCLUSIVE: In one of the biggest drama deals this season, after a bidding war, Fox has landed Gotham, from Warner Bros. TV and The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller, with a series commitment. For Gotham, Warner Bros TV is mining one of DC Comics‘ most popular character universes, Batman. It explores the origin stories of Commissioner James Gordon and the villains who made Gotham City famous. In Gotham, Gordon is still a detective with the Gotham City Police Department and has yet to meet Batman, who will not be part of the series. The Gordon character was introduced in 1939 in the very first Batman comic. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Commissioner Gordon has appeared in comic books as well as Batman films and series, including in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, where he was played by Gary Oldman. Along with the Superman franchise, the Batman universe is probably the most prized DC property.

While Superman spawned the long-running series Smallville, this is the first series featuring a character from the world of Batman in a very long time as WBTV had been exploring a Gotham City-set show for more than a year. It is the second high-profile WBTV/DC drama in the works for next season, along with Flash at the CW. In addition to Gotham, WME-repped Heller has the Mars drama Red at the CW. Gotham joins CBS’ sci-fi drama Extant as the two hottest drama projects this season, both sparking bidding wars and landing a series commitment and series order, respectively.

So the comic book related tv shows are still coming out of the woodwork, but we can’t get the Wonder Woman movie or a decent TV series off the ground? I wonder though, will we get Harley Quinn in this? That would be worth it, if she’s done right.

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Review: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – S1E01 “Pilot”

Posted in Reviews, tagged , , , , on September 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.Today saw the premier of the new Marvel tv series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC which, as the title suggests, centers around a team of ‘not exactly team players’ who do the grunt work that isn’t heavy enough lifting for the Avengers to get involved.

My first thoughts were: Funny but too Self-Aware.

It was by no means a bad pilot, I did enjoy it, the dialogue was sharp, the look fantastic, and Lola… oh Lola. And I will continue to watch because it really did set up for some great adventures that this team can get into. The show isn’t afraid to directly address things seen in the movies (bonus) but there was also a bounty of comic book references to be found, meaning anything is up for grabs in the future (as long as it’s under license).

Also, Arrow needs to take notes about voice overs, cause seriously, as annoying as Sky kinda was, she nailed the voice over.

But as it got to the end, the whole thing just started to tilt on its axis with the cringe inducing moment of “It’s an Origin Story.” My friend thought that piece of dialogue was amazing and I just wanted to stab something, preferably not myself. Yes, being self-aware can be fun, which is why it’s played for laughs both straight and sardonic, but it almost never works when played for serious gravitas. I know there was the whole “the world is now full of superheroes” thing they got going on but do they really have to say it out loud like it’s the next “i’m always angry” line? No. It ain’t nowhere near that epic.

Maybe it was just me but that moment totally pulled me out of it, that and the cosplay comment, but Ward suffered for that one so all’s good.

Speaking of Ward and the rest the characters, we don’t learn a terribly lot about them as individuals for the most part, which is a good thing, you don’t want a pilot laden down with too much exposition and you want to leave stuff for later episodes, but for the moment, they all seem rather cookie-cutter, especially for a Whedon series. Like this is every spy/secret agent team ever put together on film and not in a cool juxtapose way like Firefly. But again, this is Whedon. I’m sure there is a lot more here we’re not seeing yet so I’m giving a very big benefit of the doubt on this one.

In the end, I liked it… did I love it? Not especially. I loved Coulson… but that was pre-existing. Nothing else really connected with me. Perhaps it’s the back of my mind saying “no matter what happens, there will never be mutants in this show” that is bumming me out? It’s possible, I always favored that side of Marvel. But in the end, the show just didn’t click with me. For whatever reason, these characters didn’t give me a spark or make me want to care about them on a personal level, and it’s not because they’re OCs cause I fall in love with OCs all the time, case in point, Coulson.

So, in closing, other than the two issues listed above, I don’t really have anything bad to say about the episode, structurally wise. It was a well made episode. I would recommend that everyone give it a try and see if maybe they have a different experience because I know my friend is nearly giddy over it. It’s also a bundle of opportunities and I will say I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

I wonder if it will help if I imagine Level 8 is where they keep all the files on mutants and they are never mentioned because none of the characters have clearance and mutants just kinda blend with other heroes? That… that could work…

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500th Post + Thanks

Posted in Press Releases, tagged , , , , on September 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Somehow I managed to reach 500 posts here on my blog. I always thought I’d get there, but being here is something else all together!

My first thanks goes to my co-producer, Chellerbelle. I’ve put a lot of work into XMTFFS and she kept me focused and was a bounty of ideas. She knows she’s awesome, but I’ll still call her awesome again.

And speaking of awesome, I wasn’t sure of the response to the series, but checking over the stats from the weekend the response was more than I had hoped. Big THANKIES to all my readers! You will always be the best.

The next episode goes ‘on air’ on Friday, and here is a little Sneaky for you!

“I don’t think we have to bother being discreet at this juncture,” Scott added, giving the man a nod, “not after the incident at M-TAM.”

“Which brings up the question you’ve been ignoring,” Wolverine eyed him carefully, “what are we going to do about Nimrod?”

Bobby raised his hand, “I vote we let Jubilee use it for target practice.”

“I gave my word to Agent Duncan that we’d return it,” Scott told him pointedly, “we’re not the Brotherhood, we’re not thieves.”

“Then why did we steal Nimrod in the first place?” Jean asked, one brow raised.

Scott frowned awkwardly, “Borrowed…”

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