Yearly Archives: 2012

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Grizzly Graphic Novel Review: Marvel Knights Spiderman – The Mark Millar Collection

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Spiderman is sometimes a hit and miss read for me. I love the character, but you go from the great early 90’s dumb action of a story like Maximum Carnage to a debacle like the Clone Saga. Then you have a bunch of filler before Joseph Michael Straczynski makes his mark going into the 2000’s by basically redefining the character and a bit of his back story involving his spider powers. After that you have crap like a Brand New Day that completely craps on continuity, but in recent years it has recovered a bit with Dan Slott taking over writing duties on the sole Amazing Spiderman title.

In the mix between some of that stuff in 2004, Mark Millar started writing duties on Marvel Knights: Spiderman, culminating in 3 story arcs that spanned 12 issues. Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Scotsman responsible for writing in such comics as Kick Ass, The Ultimates, Ultimate X-men, Wolverine, Old Man Logan and Marvel: Civil War, now you are familiar with him. And that’s just some of the titles just from Marvel. It seems to me like his run on Marvel Knights Spiderman is seriously overlooked because to my mind it’s almost right on the same level as the work Straczynski did with the character. The Marvel Knights brand itself was supposed to be a little more dark and edgy, dare I say a little more grown up and violent. Marvel Knights Spiderman was definitely a mixture of all of those but never failed to capture the true essence of the character. Sure Spiderman has moments of rage in the series when his Aunt’s life is threatened and takes some savage beatings along the way, but he never loses his wisecracking cheerfulness that makes him stand out from other heroes without being too cheesy.

The story itself reminds me a lot of Batman’s Hush storyline that DC brought us 2 years previously. Someone has kidnapped Aunt May, and that kidnapper knows Spiderman’s true identity and sends him on a search that will test his limits both physically and morally. Pretty much every Spiderman villain in existence at the time shows up in this story arc, from the Green Goblin to Venom and Doc Ock to Electro. Hell, even Hydro Man shows up for a few minutes to give ole’ Spidey some grief. Aside from truly capturing the spirit of Spiderman’s character even in such dire circumstances, Millar succeeded in making a couple of the villains a little more respectable. One in particular by far.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Throughout the Millar run, Venom and Eddie Brock factor into things heavily as a supervillain auction is called so that everyone can bid on the Venom symbiote that Eddie Brock is willingly giving up due to him having cancer and wanting to contemplate the remainder of his life in peace. The suit doesn’t initially go to the villain I mentioned above, but when it does, it reinvents him and the Venom symbiote as well. Mac Gargan, the Scorpion is the villain who was calling Peter at the beginning of the storyline and he is working for none other than Norman Osborn who Spidey initially discounted from the suspect list. Gargan explains to Spiderman that Osborn has dirt on plenty of politicians out there and goes into a long conspiracy theory about how the government has created certain supervillains to sort of keep the superheroes in check, Osborn being an upgrader of sorts to a lot of supervillains out there. I’d hate this whole idea, but Gargan clears it up and explains that most villains are natural, there’s just those random jobbers out there that were created for the sole purpose to keep the superheroes busy. Gargan went from being  a B lister to a guy who knew Spiderman’s secret identity. Then to further raise his status the Venom symbiote seeks him out and offers a partnership which Gargan takes, creating a whole new Venom. This version of Venom would stick around even past the Dark Reign storyline as he masqueraded as Spiderman on the Dark Avengers. Even though there is a whole new take on Venom with Flash Thompson now owning the symbiote, Millar’s run on Marvel Knights Spiderman made Venom a little more relevant for little over half a decade.

Even casual fans of Spidey should check this one out. There’s a great story and mystery throughout (if you didn’t read the spoiler) and some stellar artwork by heavyweights Frank Cho and Terry Dodson. There are a few unnecessary cameos by the Avengers and some X-men but other than that, this is one fine read. Don’t pass it up! 4 out of 5 grizzlies!

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Toy Fair 2012: Lego, Hulk Hands, & HOVERBOARDS!

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Toy Fair 2012 wraps up today in the city that never sleeps and from action figures to high-tech toys to creepy Barbies that take photos and then display them on their stomach there’s something for everyone.

Always staying relevant and taking it to the next level is LEGO who debuted a whole bunch of Lord of the Rings activity sets as well as sets for The Avengers and Deadpool.

LEGO’s ninja-themed playset NINJAGO Fire Temple was good enough to win Activity Toy of the Year award but makes me glad I don’t have kids yet when I see the $120 price tag. Yikes!

Perhaps one of the weirdest/coolest/most useless items available this year is the opportunity to pre-order an authentic replica Back to the Future hover board! It does disclaim actual hovering but does allow you to release your inner Marty McFly for what is still an undisclosed price until early March.

Continue reading Toy Fair 2012: Lego, Hulk Hands, & HOVERBOARDS! →

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2012 Grammys Recap & Performances: Foo Fighters, Adele, Chris Brown, and More

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The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were on Sunday and as usual, it is always the weirdest collection of people you can put into one arena. Ranging from country stars, to rappers wearing what they obviously woke up in from the parties the night before, Super Bowl champions delivering the worst line readings from the teleprompter, and why not – CBS stars to further the ratings of the ‘Can’t Be Sober’ to watch network (seriously, I don’t need another CSI, Two and a Half Men, NCIS person shoved down my throat if their shows are predictable, unfunny, and worst, unoriginal, but that’s an argument for another day).

The big stories of the awards were obviously Adele completely sweeping through her six nominations with six wins, including being the youngest person to win Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year during the same year. She was definitely the story that night performing “Rolling in the Deep” in her first public performance since her vocal cord surgery that threatened her rising career. And damn. She brought the house and obviously no one was stopping her that night. Not even snot.

Kayne West also took home four awards including Best Rap Album for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (which is epic in my opinion) and even won for his collaboration with Jay-Z on their Watch the Throne song ‘Otis’. The Foo Fighters also dominated their categories and took home four awards including Best Rock Album. Also the best speech that was not self-serving, just telling artists to just hone their craft, make mistakes, and just play. Making ‘Wasting Light’ in Dave Grohl’s garage definitely showed that you don’t need a high tech studio and tools to make a great album, just the desire to rock out.

There were a couple of polarizing moments in the Grammys such as the return of Chris Brown. Because only in America can you beat a woman (before the same awards show three years ago), break windows on Good Morning America, have your delusional teenage fanbase defend your actions (don’t EVEN get me started on that), and then win a Grammy and dance your way to America’s hearts once again…

Although that son of a bitch can dance, I will give him that.

Nicki Minaj is crazy. Looking at the very 90s controversial Madonna-esque performance (or would be a rip off of Lady Gaga’s rip off of Madonna, I can’t keep track these days) of her new song performing as her alter-ego ‘Roman Holiday’, she definitely went for shock value and being a water cooler topic. I thought it was meh, but only because Nicki Minaj is everywhere.

And that’s not a good thing considering some of her rap lyrics come off as borderline lazy and stupid. Again, I digress. Katy Perry debuted her new song about Russell Brand that will surely be dominating iTunes very soon, Taylor Swift did her best impression of the Taylor Swift surprised face at the end of her ‘Mean’ performance, Bruce Springsteen can still dominate a live performance, and the Beach Boys performed on their 50th anniversary with Maroon 5 and Foster the People.

Obviously the performances of the night in my opinion, belonged to Adele, Coldplay & Rihanna (just because I’m a Coldplay slappy), and Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of Whitney Houston’s rendition of the Dolly Parton song (it’s like Inception up in here) ‘I Will Always Love You’. She owned that performance. Absolutely amazing. Granted I wanted to hear ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ but probably felt inappropriate at the time. Also Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt killing the Etta James tribute with the song ‘Sunday Kind of Love’. It is really cool to see these award shows and watch artists collaborate together because it truly is about the music. It encompasses what Dave Grohl says, of just going out and just playing to your hearts desire. There’s no lines in genres, sometimes good music is truly good music no matter what type of sound comes out, you just have to enjoy the moment. On that note, enjoy the performances below and be glad because the Grammys were long (three and a half hours, oy) and this is easier to just embed these videos so you can get the cliff notes version of what I just broke down for you.

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Grizzly Graphic Novel Review: Batman – Gates of Gotham

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I believe I’m one of many that very much enjoyed Dick Grayson’s tenure as the Batman. He lived, he learned, he kicked some major ass. He overcame his doubts that he could be a great Batman and I’m sure should Bruce ever need him to step up again he will take the call. That being said, The Gates of Gotham is one of the last handful of stories we will see with Grayson as the Dark Knight and it’s a little bittersweet, but they brought us one hell of a story with this one. 

I’m really becoming a fan of Bat-comics where they alternate between the story in the present time and one from times past. I’m not so much a fan that I want them to wear the whole thing out, but it really works for some of the stories. More recently it was used in the Penguin: Pain and Prejudice series. In Gates of Gotham it is used to present us with a bit of Gotham’s past that none of us were ever aware, least of all Dick and the rest of the bat-gang.

Basically,Gotham was financed and brought to prominence by the wealthiest families of power and influence: The Waynes, the Cobblepots, and the Elliots. Together they tasked two brilliant architect/engineers, the Anders, with turning Gotham into the most modern and fast growing cities in the country. The Anders take great joy in this job, but eventually things begin to turn sour and the problem presented in modern-day Gotham somehow links back to this era inGotham’s history during the late 1800’s.

Enter present day Gotham and the start of the story: Someone is blowing things up in Gotham with semtex explosives. And they’re not just blowing up petty stuff, they’re going after landmarks such as the Gotham City Trigates among others that you’ll be treated to in the trade paperback. “The Families Will Fall by the Gates of Gotham” is the only inkling Batman and Commissioner Gordon have to go on. Thus starts a race against time investigation before any more lives are lost to the mysterious bomber. Along the way Batman will unravel the mystery ofGotham’s past and a couple of his rogues gallery as well. Since the families involve the Elliots and the Cobblepots, expect to see both Hush and Penguin popping up in the trade. Hush was my favorite of the two in this storyline, though his presence was brief it gives you an indication of how utterly twisted Tommy Elliot is as the villain Hush and his undying hatred for Bruce Wayne. His fixation on him being the only one to kill Bruce Wayne is akin to Joker’s insistence that no one can kill “his” Batman except for him.

As I said before, the story was very well done. The whole trade had a very gritty, noir feel to it and the art was melded perfectly with that. Not only do I enjoy seeing Dick Grayson as the Batman, but I love it when several members of the Bat Family work together to run down a case. This one in particular had the quartet of Dick, Red Robin, the ever annoying (But likeable!) Damien Wayne and a surprise visit from Cassandra Cain back briefly from her Batman Inc. duties overseas as Black Bat. The interactions between Damien and Cassandra were amusing, as Damien always tries to berate someone over how his father wouldn’t approve of them and how he is going to be the heir of Batman. Eventually Red Robin gives Damien a sobering statement pointing out that his father only recently started giving a rat’s ass about him. It was all great banter that made the book flow as it reached a great reveal to the climax.

*Minor Spoilers Below*

I have always enjoyed seeing new and twisted villains that Batman can square off against, such as Professor Pyg, and I’ve heard that the DC Comics New 52 is doing just that with some of their newer villains. The villain in this story, ‘The Architect” was pretty awesome I thought. His suit reminded me of Mr. Freeze’s in a way and the fact that the pressurization slowly kills the person wearing it and makes them delusional was both cool and a little disturbing. There’s no telling if the Architect will show up in Batman’s future anytime soon but I’d be welcome to a return anytime. Overall I give the trade a 5 out of 5 grizzlies. The art, the story and the characters were all masterfully done in this Bat installment. I urge any Batman fan to give a whirl.

Movie News & Opinions

Twisted Metal: The Movie!

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The new Twisted Metal video game on the PS3 came out today. I haven’t yet had a chance to go out and rent it, but my heart yearns for some vehicular combat where car and body parts fly hither and yon across the screen. I mean seriously, check out this game play video below and tell me that the mass mayhem isn’t something every guy dreams of being in the thick of every now and then.

I’m not so sure of Sweet Tooth turning into an effin’ transformer, but with a storyline so completely ridiculous who the hell am I to judge?

Now comes the news of a Twisted Metal movie in the works to further rock our worlds and it is being developed by the same team bringing us Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance this Friday in theaters. They are also the same team behind the Crank movies starring Jason Statham. The trailer from Ghost Rider: Spirits of Vengeance actually looks as if they were possibly doing a test run for a Twisted Metal movie with the car and motorcycle scenes. Not to mention with the frantic pace and ferocity of the Crank films I’d say it’s safe to assume they can handle a Twisted Metal movie. Check out a little from the story reported at Deadline:

Sony Pictures has made a preemptive 7-figure deal for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance co-director Brian Taylor to write and direct a live action adaptation of the iconic video gameTwisted Metal. Ghost Rider’s Avi and Ari Arad are producing the adaptation of the game, which has been published in various configurations by Sony Computer and is one of the biggest selling video games. The newest version of the game was just released today for PlayStation 3. Avi Arad, of course, has been a producer of Sony’s Spider-Man films since the beginning, including the upcoming 3D The Amazing Spider-Man.

I know what you’re thinking; how is this different from any other terrible videogame adaptation out there? How is it different from the egregious Street Fighter movies? The all but destined to be doomed Doom movie? The numerous pieces of Uwe Bol directed drivel? The answer is simple, that there is no difference. The movie will more than likely suck, but we fans of Twisted Metal can only hope and pray that it doesn’t.

I think it will be fine just so long as they don’t try to make the movie smarter than what the game itself is. Let’s face it, the Twisted Metal story is fairly simple; a group of broken and desperate drivers have turned their cars into killing machines in order to be the one to reach the organizer of the Twisted Metal tournament so he can grant them a wish. How can you screw up a 90 minute movie given that premise? I think they can make it at least passable as a video game adaptation like the Resident Evil franchise and possibly spawn some sequels off of it. I for one hate the Resident Evil movies, but somebody likes them as they are already on part 5. We can only hope a classic video game like Twisted Metal gets the same chance.
Movie News & Opinions

Transformers 4: Michael Bay Returns in 2014

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So a few months back I wrote a Transformers article about Michael Bay possibly coming back for one or two sequels with the Robots in Disguise, even though he had already said that the third one would be the last of them. Days later Michael Bay came out and dispelled any rumors about himself returning to any more Transformers flicks. I didn’t even bother to update the article or write a follow up one because I was so sure this particular article would be coming, just not so soon. Check out the snippet below from IGN:

Paramount Pictures has now issued a press release officially announcing Michael Bay’s involvement:

Paramount Pictures announced today that director Michael Bay has signed a two-picture deal with the studio, which will commence this spring with the filming of Pain and Gain, and will be followed by the next installment in the hit Transformers franchise.

Following Pain and Gain, Bay will bring audiences a new take on the Transformers franchise as he begins production on the fourth installment in the hit series of movies based on the best-selling Hasbro toyline. The third, and most recent installment of the franchise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Is the fourth highest global grossing film of all time with 1.124 billion dollars of worldwide box office success. Directed by Bay, the movie will re-unite the filmmaking team from the hit franchise, including producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto and Ian Bryce; and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Bay, Brian Goldner and Mark Vahradian. Paramount Pictures will release the film on June 29th, 2014. 

 

So there you have it. That explosion-whore Michael Bay will be returning to explode even more, all over giant robots once again. Man, that sounded so dirty. But seriously, like Bay was going to pass up on this billion dollar franchise that is such a sure thing for him. This guy’s purpose in life is to make movies like this and the sooner he realizes that, then the better off we will all be. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that this Pain and Gain, Wahlberg-Bay-The Rock collaboration is at least a worthwhile movie to go see. I just don’t have very high hopes for anything besides napalm and half naked chicks from Michael Bay.

 

So until 2014 let the speculation begin about which actors shall return, which transformers shall kick ass and what form the story shall take! I for one am totally excited for another Transformers movie to come out. I enjoyed the third installment because it went back to it’s roots of non-stop action and a story that you could set your mind on cruise control for, unlike Revenge of the Fallen where you had to set your brain off completely to enjoy the toilet humor and bogus ass story. What’s everyone else thinking? Has the transformer franchise run its course or is everyone psyched for a new one? Comment below!