One of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby’s most famous creations is the subject of a new coffee table book from Abrams ComicArts. Reprinted at nearly 9 inches by 12 inches, Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel by Panel, a new hardcover edition of The Fantastic Four, Issue #1, is going to be one for big fans of the characters. Unlike 2005’s bookMaximum Fantastic Four, which included one panel per page in a 9″x12″ format with re-colored and enhanced artwork, Fantastic Four No. 1 Panel by Panel features color, blown-up scans of each page in its original context with all its Ben Day halftone dots jumping off the page. The book is out this week and available here at Amazon. And it has much more than a close-up look at this seminal issue in the history of comics that is worth checking out.
What If…? is a range of comic book series featuring more than 200 stories that allowed creators to jump outside the usual and let their imagination take over. What if Jane Foster (or Loki? or Rogue?) had found the hammer of Thor? What if Doctor Strange was a disciple of Dormammu? What if Phoenix had not died? What if Vision had destroyed the Avengers? What if Venom had possessed the Punisher? What if Silver Surfer (or the Green Goblin) took the Infinity Gauntlet? What if Legion had killed Magneto? What if Jessica Jones joined the Avengers? What if Hank Pym replaced Stark? What if Disney hadn’t purchased Marvel? Almost all of these questions have been answered in the pages of the comics.
Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues with an animated anthology series based on the classic comic. Jeffrey Wright stars as The Watcher, your guide through all ten episodes, who MCU audiences saw at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 2–in a Stan Lee cameo. Chadwick Boseman’s last performances as T’Challa appear in four episodes. Hayley Atwell returns as a different version of Peggy Carter. Samuel L. Jackson is back as Fury. Sebastian Stan is Bucky Barnes. Dominic Cooper returns as Howard Stark. Djimon Housou is back as Korath. And Michael Rooker’s Yondu returns from the dead. Plus lots of superheroes you know with other actors substituting voices for those you know from the MCU. And it all begins tomorrow, August 11, on Disney+. A few more trailers/features have been released in the past week, and we’ve bundled them with the previous trailers:
Founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman as Timely Comics, then re-branding as Atlas Comics, becoming a household name in 1961 thanks to the inspiration of creators Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko, hitting its low in bankruptcy, but rising like the Phoenix to become a movie franchise and Disney property in the 21st century, Marvel Comics has seen eight decades of change. A new hardcover book aims to chronicle all that. Marvel: The First 80 Years–The True Story of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon is coming your way next month.
It’s been another long year of great entertainment. It’s time for the seventh annual round of new honorees for the borg Hall of Fame. We have several honorees from 2019 films and television, plus you’ll find some from the past, and a peek at some from the future – 28 new borgs or updated variants in all, bringing the borg Hall of Fame total to 221.
You can always check out the updated borg Hall of Fame on our home page under “Know your borg.”
Some reminders about criteria. Borgs have technology integrated with biology. Wearing a technology-powered suit alone doesn’t qualify a new member. Tony Stark aka Iron Man was named an honoree because the Arc Reactor kept him alive, not because of his incredible tech armor. The new Spider-Man suit worn by Tom Holland is similar to Tony’s, but it’s not integrated with Peter Parker’s biology. Similarly Peni Parker, seen outside her high-tech SP//dr suit in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Black Manta from Aquaman are merely wearing tech suits. We’d love a reason for a Mandalorian to make the cut, like Boba Fett, or Jango Fett, or the new Mandalorian from the series, since nobody has more intriguing armor. Maybe the second season coming next fall will give us something new to ponder.
Also, if the creators tell us the characters are merely robots, automatons, or androids, we take their word for it. Again, integration is key, but in the Hall, once a member, always a member.
After a few packed years of superhero movies, Dark Phoenix is going to be a target for comparison. No single Marvel movie this year–including Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame–really merits entry on a “best of the best” list, yet all had good, even great, moments, and easily belong in a top 25 superhero movie list.Dark Phoenix now joins that group. Instead of a galaxy-changing upheaval, first-time director and award-winning writer-producer Simon Kinberg marked the end of the X-Men movie saga with a personal story. It’s a story of struggle and tragedy more attuned to the X-Men characters and the cinematic stories 20th Century Fox has told since we first met Patrick Stewart’s professor and Ian McKellen’s metal-manipulating frenemy way back in the year 2000. Although it’s not as compelling and cinematic as James Mangold’s gold standard Logan or the incredible team-up in X-Men: Days of Future Past, actress Sophie Turner leads an emotional journey for her all-powerful Jean Grey that first began in X-Men: Apocalypse, really backing up that tagline from the movie posters: Every hero has a dark side. They really meant it.
Kinberg wrote the original script for the Dark Phoenix in X-Men: The Last Stand, but he gets a lot closer to the spirit of the source material this time. The key conflict mimics Marvel’s Jim Shooter and Chris Claremont’s reported struggle when they developed the character of Dark Phoenix, asking whether Jean Grey is irretrievably bad or bad only because she is possessed by a dark force. At the same time most of the cosmic oddities are stripped from the comics story, but not all, pulling the necessary elements from the original tale in a more accessible way for audiences. Jessica Chastain′s new villain and her compatriots from afar are very much the same as found in the comics, all but in name. The opening act in particular is perfectly executed, beginning with a nicely cinematic launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and a return to the stealth fighter that Nicholas Hoult′s Beast had been building in X-Men: Apocalypse. If you’ve seen the trailers or know the story then the subject of the scene is no surprise–a rescue of the astronauts aboard from a giant solar flare, directed by James McAvoy′s Professor X from Earth, but led in space by Jennifer Lawrence′s Mystique, who grew to be the front-line commander of the team in the last film. The most entertaining superhero of all the X-Men movies is back, Evan Peters′ Quicksilver, this time using his speed and time-stopping powers to assemble the astronauts for rescue in the character’s third and final awesome show-stopper. He’s accompanied by the teleport-wielding Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler, providing actor Kodi Smit-McPhee the first of several key scenes that showcase his unique superhero, and round out a building arc for the typically background superhero.
The big takeaway from Dark Phoenix may be that it’s clear the material is capable of being recycled and resurrected many times, by different writers, directors, and actors. Famke Janssen’s performance of Jean Grey was excellent in the original X-Men trilogy. Sophie Turner’s performance is equally good. In a few years we’ll see it all over again, which is pretty much what the Phoenix is all about. Dark Phoenix will likely be accused of copying the empowered women theme of Captain Marvel. In actuality Dark Phoenix was completed earlier, in October 2017, and if Dark Phoenix hadn’t been delayed by the Fox-Disney merger, the positions would no doubt be flipped to some extent. The timing and similarities reportedly prompted Fox to go back and make some revisions. But who says audiences can’t embrace two movies released within 90 days about the two most powerful superheroines in the Marvel pantheon? Captain Marvel was able to generate far more buzz, and it’s a more upbeat story, so Dark Phoenix is unlikely to make a dent by comparison to that billion dollar box office hit. But the acting and script for Dark Phoenix is probably a few degrees better, and the wrap-up of so many beloved characters makes Dark Phoenix a more important chapter for its franchise.
After 21 movies and a decade of superheroics, the end arrived this weekend with Marvel Studios′ Avengers: Endgame, already setting new box office records. Nearly every seat at multiple screenings at my local theater was sold out this weekend, as was the case across the country. Which means many have seen it, but even more haven’t. You can’t review a film without some details, so if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor: bookmark this and come back later. The short version: If you’re a superhero fan and you’ve followed the previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you won’t want to miss it. But re-watch bothAvengers: Infinity War and Captain Marvel first. I’ve no idea how anyone will follow the events in the film without first seeing at least these two films. Endgame is a good wrap-up to the first major story arc in the franchise and a fine segue into the future of the films. But it’s not perfect (what ever is?) and I’m going to walk through some goods and bads from the film.
That means “there be spoilers ahead” so consider yourself forewarned if you continue.
Note to email subscribers: Clicking on the link will take you into the full review.
With winter settling in and another cold snap crossing the U.S. and the film’s nomination for a Best Animated Film Academy Award, audiences are continuing to discover Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in theaters (reviewed earlier here at borg). Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse–The Official Movie Special is a new hardcover book going behind the scenes of the movie, and it has a different twist. The book interviews all three of the film’s directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, who provide different perspectives on working with Phil Lord on the script, and share insight into the pre-production, voice actor recording, and visual effects.
Senior animation supervisor Josh Beveridge recounts the steps of the animation process used for the film, including inkline methodology to make the film look like a comic book, using a large team of animators. Several pages are devoted to each of Miles Morales and his family, Peter B. Parker, Spider-Man Noir, Gwen Stacy, Peter Porker, and Peni Parker and SP//dr–how each was designed, how each was presented to distinguish their different comic book origins using variations in light, color, and dimension, and how each voice actor approached the performance. The villains get coverage, too, including the Prowler, Kingpin, Tombstone, and a new Green Goblin and Doc Ock.
The best look at stills from the film released so far can be found in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse–The Official Movie Special. It also nicely references all the writers and artists that created the various Spider-Verse characters used in the film. It features concept art and production art from production designer Justin K. Thompson, art director Dean Gordon, and creators Jesús Alonzo Iglesias, Seonna Hong, Patrick O’Keefe, Shiyoon Kim, Yashar Kassai, Naveen Selvanathan, Paul Lasaine, and Craig Kellman. Voice actors Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, and Hailee Steinfeld also provide contributions.
Take a look inside at a few pages from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse–The Official Movie Special:
Still aren’t in the Christmas spirit yet? With no Christmas day episode of Doctor Who this year, Netflix is filling in the gap with an episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina called “A Midwinter’s Tale,” another solid episode of the series taking the story forward where the first season left off, and delving into some classic tropes of American and Victorian Christmas lore. It’s all with the twist of the darker, horror-infused world of the show, but as Miranda Otto’s character Aunt Zelda says, “Christmas is the best time for ghost stories.” See A Christmas Carol, as an example.
Plenty of Christmas episodes of past genre television series are available right now, most via services you may already subscribe to, others for a few dollars (and some you may find free to watch on YouTube). How about starting with the unofficial sequel to Die Hard and Die Hard 2 starring Reginald VelJohnson(Ghostbusters, Tron: Uprising) in his third appearance as Sgt. Al Powell? He’s one of several actors guest starring in a trilogy of Christmas episodes of Chuck, available on Amazon Prime. First is “Chuck vs. the Crown Vic,” then VelJohnson and Michael Rooker(Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead) in “Chuck vs. Santa Claus,” rounded out with Brandon Routh(Superman Returns, Arrow) and Stan Lee in an early cameo as himself in “Chuck vs. the Santa Suit.” But be careful, you may end up getting sucked into the rest of the series, starring Zachary Levi (Shazam!, Psych the Movie, Thor: Ragnarok),Yvonne Strahovski(The Predator, The Handmaid’s Tale), and Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Leverage, Castle).
In the same vein as Sabrina, check out Grimm with Christmas episodes “Twelve Days of Krampus” and “The Grimm Who Stole Christmas,” both available on Amazon Prime. “Twelve Days of Krampus” provides one of the best illustrations of Krampus, the folkloric character who has been a subject of this time of year for more than 2,000 years. Ever get coal in your stocking? Learn more here. And you’ll find some familiarity with the critters in “The Grimm Who Stole Christmas” as the new Sabrina episode. Each of these Grimm episodes is among the best of Christmas episodes, and overall great episodes of the series. And if paranormal shows are your thing, don’t forget the Supernatural episode, “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” Catch it on Netflix. The Winchester Brothers pursue some pagan gods at Christmastime, revisit their own Christmas past, and try to share a Christmas together as only they could.
That brings us to six classic Christmas episodes. How about six more?
This month Marvel is celebrating the first ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a look back at the first three phases of the films in a new hardcover book, Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years. With the March 2019 release of Captain Marvel the official fourth phase of the MCU will begin. With that shift to a new era quickly approaching, as well as an uncertain future thanks to the imminent completion of the acquisition of the X-Men characters, and the 10-year benchmark, it’s a good time to assess all Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was able to pull together beginning way back when we first saw Robert Downey, Jr. don the Iron Man armor for the first time. This nostalgic trip back over the past decade will be published by Titan in conjunction with Marvel.
Readers will find interviews with Feige, co-president Louis D’Esposito, Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh, Anthony and Joe Russo, James Gunn, Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Evangeline Lilly, Karen Gillan, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Gwyneth Paltrow, William Hurt, and Josh Brolin. Multi-page sections focus on each of the 22 films in the series. High-quality color photographs accompany the discussion of each film in chronological order, most with behind-the-scenes images, like a great image of all the parts to Ant-Man’s helmet laid out on a table.
Fascinating discussion points include D’Esposito pointing out how the produces intentionally made each new film a different genre, not just a superhero movie. He also indicates that casting Robert Downey, Jr. was the most important casting decision of the franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn talks about using the soundtracks on set for everyone to get the feel of the two Guardians movies. The book even provides some preview information for next year’s Captain Marvel movie. And there are several Easter eggs that most fans will have never read about anywhere else, often 10 or more for each film (the Collector and the Grandmaster are brothers?). Here are a few pages from Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years:
For a movie that had some pretty rough previews, including Tom Hardy as a journalist with some indecipherable dialogue and a scientist who mispronounced a key word in the story, the end result may come as a surprise: Venom is actually a pretty good movie. Do we credit a great post-production and re-shoots, including a complete redo of the strange “symbiote” explanatory scene, or does Sony need to simply work on improving its movie trailers? Frankly all that matters is what made it to the screen. Fans of the comic book anti-hero and villain, of alien invasion movies, of that unique character design from co-creator artist Todd McFarlane, of Tom Hardy, and non-traditional superhero movies, you’ll have to work to find anything wrong with this movie. It’s a good Halloween month monster movie and you don’t need to know anything about the character or Marvel Comics to jump right in. But you just might want to check out the comics after you see it. Like Frank Miller caused Daredevil to become popular, McFarlane made Venom big in the 1980s. Unlike McFarlane’s movie Spawn, an R-rated film that was too dark for mainstream audiences, the PG-13 rating for Venom makes this movie accessible to everyone.
A mix of the classic alien invasion flick, the horrifying McFarlane character look, with the grimy city vibe like the Detroit of Robocop, Venom has elements that make it feel like it belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, regardless of its origin as a Sony film. As for quality and delivery, it falls somewhere above Blade, Iron Man 2 and 3,The Fantastic Four, the Hulk movies, and Spawn, X-Men 3 and X-Men: Apocalypse, and somewhere below Hellboy and Deadpool. For most fans of adaptations of comic books on the big screen, that will be enough. Full of good humor moments, the film doesn’t take itself seriously. We meet the archetype from 80 years of superhero comics with Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, an Everyman, a down-and-out guy who can never get a break who gets caught making a few mistakes. Usually this archetype ends up captured by Batman (or insert other superhero here) and thrown into the slammer, but this time he encounters a body shifting alien presence that merges with him, blending the best and worst of both beings. Beginning with a crash landing as a SpaceX-inspired ship returns with some specimens from outer space, we eventually meet four alien beings, the lowliest of rank who calls himself Venom. Merged with Eddie, Venom needs to eat living lifeforms to continue on and he doesn’t grasp the subtleties of only killing bad guys just yet. Audiences will get to watch these aliens, the symbiotes, body-shift through several random characters (like Denzel Washington’s character in the movie Fallen), including the key cast and an animal or two–and it’s mostly great fun.
Venom is probably a rare time audiences will see Michelle Williams in a stock role. Usually every part she takes on results in an Oscar-worthy performance, but it’s nice seeing her do something less dramatic. And she gets some great scenes directly with Venom (including an Easter Egg scene that points straight back to the origin of the character originally discussed between Marvel Comics editor Jim Salicrup and writer/co-creator David Michelinie). This may be Tom Hardy’s best role since Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (where he was the only good thing in the movie), as he at last gets to play a spectrum of emotions and demonstrate a broad acting range. Despite what we heard in the movie trailers, his regional American accent is spot on in the final cut and his dialogue is delivered clearly–none of that crazy speech we saw him bring as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Not hiding behind make-up or masks as inMad Max: Fury Road, Dunkirk, or Star Trek: Nemesis, Hardy again proves he’s one of the best actors around. The sound department gets it just right–Hardy’s voice is also the voice transformed into the monstrous, demonic sounding Venom, and it’s unique and effective. No doubt some elaborate work went on behind the scenes for Hardy-as-Eddie to be arguing with Hardy-as-Venom. Some of the best lines, and laugh-out-loud moments come from Venom, reminiscent of Gollum and Sméagol.
