'The Avengers' Smash in Half-a-Bil!

Just about a week has passed since Joss Whedon and the rest of Marvel Studios/Disney has delivered on hefty expectations of bringing the biggest, baddest Superhero film ever.  And they did it in ways that I think nobody really expected.  First off raking in over half a billion of skrill worldwide ($640 mil to be exact and of that over $220 mil in the US).  Secondly, breaking every damn opening weekend record for any film, be it of the comics-genre or any other for that matter.

When I say that heads were surprised about this-- of course I meant the masses.  Marvel knew that they had put in work to pull off this massive feat.  The last record holder was the Harry Potter franchise-- and that took a decade and 8 films to build the near-cult following, interest and fanbase that made posing with a wand and a scarf...dare I say..cool. 

The Avengers was a fanboys wet dream on the big screen as it brought the monthly serialized comicbook experience to real-life by pulling off the never before continued (well kinda, right?) plotlines through a series of distinct films over the course of 10 years- Hulk 2, Iron Man, Thor, Iron Man 2 and now The Avengers-- with for the most part all of the major talent intact (minus Edward Norton and Terence Howard).  And these films were faithful to the source material-- be it JMS and Coipels new look Thor fitted to the T on Chris Hemsworth or Tony Stark's love for women and flying high (yeah, was smart how they didn't make him a drunk though).

Alright, for those of you that have not yet seen the flick...stop reading now unless you want SPOILERS.

Art by Joey Spiotto featured in Los Angeles Gallery

So now that we are all tuned in what made this film better than the top grossing Marvel Studios film (Iron Man) before it?   The answer is the grand scale that the brand alone that The Avengers brings.

For the same reason The Avengers books are a bigger draw than Iron Man (or any single hero book not named Batman) in the shops.  Where individual titles dissect a single character the team books are where you get the massive, larger than life stories that bring together our fave heroes to take on the crazy badass villians- Loki, Red Skull, Skrull Empire, Ultron, or Thanos (click on the pic --> to take you where I hope The Avengers 3 should take us).

What I loved from the film was a continuance of themes I loved from past films-- Tony Stark in all of his zing! moments, Thor as the ever-loving older bro to poor adopted Loki, Scarlet Johansson jumping around in butt-tight skimpies and Agent Coulsen going out like a champ.  To keep it real, Evans wasn't the best cast teamlead though he improved as a supporting piece in the film vs holding it down as the main guy.  Johansson was fantastic in a scene where she pulls the rug under Loki, but otherwise she needed less dramatic camera time.  Clark Gregg stole most of the show with his lil-bigman approach to things.  There wasn't one moment when I really took myself out of the 2 hour + viewing experience thinking the film wasn't believable, hella cheesy YES.  But totally believable.

The Avengers will not win any Oscars at The Academy Awards or other film awards for that matter but it has proved that this comicbook thang is a serious cashcow in the theatres, licensing and etc cause we all know that the paper doesn't come from the funnybooks.  For those of you that missed Joss Whedon's other bombass masterpiece- Astonising X-Men.  Go read it and you will appreciate this flick so much more for his craftsmanship in balancing out the epic action sequences and ROTFL-copter comedy.

Oh one more thing, bring on the Skrulls vs. Kree then give us more of muthaeffing THANOS.



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big O

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New Trailer! The Avengers

The Avengers official trailer footage is now up peoples!  Here is the first look at Super-Scribe / Director Joss Whedon and his ensemble cast of Hollywood heroes that to this point through Marvel and Paramount released 6 films and some webisodes keeping us hostage after film credits-- in anticipation of, well this...



Yeah, that was pretty damn cool.  Loki looks to be the primary antagonist for our super-crew-- while the film will cover most of the film with Nick Fury's recruitment effort and watching on as Cap and Iron Man wrestle for leadership-- just like in the books baby.  Robert Downey Jr. who is the most highly decorated of his contemporaries with the largest grossing of the Marvel films-- will own most of the biggest moments, just as he does in the trailer.  Chris Hemsworth will bust his classic, drunken Asgardian laugh and Scarlett Johansson with more of her high-flying Mexican wrestling moves.

Besides seeing the team gather, fight eachother, make nice and eventually work together for the greater good-- I am just praying to Stan Lee that like the original story from the 60's we get to see a live action version of Hulk vs. covered in the flick.  Will be updating more Avengers news as it rolls out of NY Comiccon this week, so comeback real soon now you here!

Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures "Marvel's The Avengers"--the  Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, "Marvel's The Avengers" is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series "The Avengers," first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since.  Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when "Marvel's The Avengers" assemble in summer 2012. In "Marvel's The Avengers," superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.

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big O

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Classic Material- Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Usually reserve this ongoing column for the old school books that shook me as a youth but as most of you know already, Whedon & Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men books became an instant, timeless classic.  The two titles (not that you perv) that truly pulled me back into returning to Wednesday comics-life again -- Jeph Loeb/Jim Lee's Batman: Hush arc and this tasty morsel of page devouring perfection -- Astonishing X-Men: Gifted.

And if you have yet to flip the script we got you covered yo.

First lets start with the core of the not so merry Mutants which starts out as Cyclops, Wolvie, Beast, Kitty Pryde and my personal fave of the bunch- Emma Frost, the White Queen.   From the beginning the team is thrown into their endless conflict with Mutant survival as the public opinion is that the mutant genome is a disease, that can be cured.

To protect and educate mutants they serve as teachers/instructors at Xaxiers School of the Gifted.  With White Queen as one of the headmasters you can guess that her style of pedagogy is hardcore-- like using the Danger Room to simulate an attack by a Sentinel during a seminar.  Easy mama.  The team struggles being they each have highly polarized approaches in teaching and dealing with groups that are looking to bring down their peoples and cause.

 

Whedon masterfully baits you in at the peak of tense moments to make you smile and laugh like when Logan points out his concern of Scott introducing yet another new costume for the team.

Immediately you realize the extent of bad blood between Emma and Kitty which is what you can expect being that both were introduced to us in the
same book and one another on
opposing sides between the Hellfire Club and X-Men in the 80s.  Nice drop on X-history!

Beast gives into his need to be accepted by humanity (more so than before with his recent evolution of being more feline in nature) by reaching out for the supposed mutant cure and Wolvie helps to show him how very wrong he is to think this way- in a claw fight of course.

Despite the difficulty the X-Men have in keeping their school and unity intact-- like an old married couple they find a way to remedy things and take on other issues like Ord from Breakworld, Emma's jealousy over deceased Jean Grey... low and behold the return of a fallen comrade, Colossus!  Not everyones cup o' tea but here is Astonishing X-Men: Gifted in motion-comic stylee...


Whedon and Cassaday serve us a well-balanced feasting of action, drama, love, laughter and a serious homage to the history of X-lore before it.  In the process their work of genius in Astonishing makes me have to re-think the greatest X-stories ever told.  If you are not into motion comics...here is another great way to read


this fab work. Real touching to see Kitty reunited with her life-long love Peter and again one of the more hilarious scenes ever written in comics history between them and Wolvie to follow. Throw in appearances by Nick Fury, SHIELD, the introduction of Agent Brand of SWORD, new mutant Armor and you got all the elements that helped Whedon/Cassaday's mad-talented chemistry place the X-Men back on the top of the comics world.


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big O

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if you don't know, now you know- Whedon's Avengers

The interwebs just went bonkers over this just released news that is worth it's weight in some serious geekazoid drizzle-- Joss Whedon is in the final stages with Marvel Studios to head up the Avengers flick scheduled to hit screens in May 2012.  Oh mah gaw!!!.  I seriously thought this was just an April Fool's joke in the beginning of the month.

Whedon will also be remixing the script wrtten by Zak Penn who worked on many other Marvel films that include Fantastic Four, The Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand.  It is being reported that all of the primary cast from Iron Man2 , Hulk and the films in production - Captain America and Thor- will return for the high powered cast featuring the original Avengers (including Nick Fury).



For all Whedonites out there-- whether followers of Buffy the Vampire (small screen & in-print), Firefly, Dollhouse, Astonishing X-Men and so on-- this could be the big score that we have been waiting for with the merging of some tinseltown BIG coin being put in the hands of a real-deal creator that has proven success in the world of comics and the other more mainstream art mediums.

Whedon is known for his keen eye at placing some fine fem-candy as a centerpiece to his stories, but being that the Avengers is currently cast as well-- a jive-ass sausage fest-- who will be casted from his listing of hawties to take part in balancing the X and Y?  Well my vote goes to Julie Benz tho I ain't hating on Eliza either.

I suppose the outcome of both Thor and Captain America flicks could really be moot being that we all know that Whedon's take on the Avengers will be upon us in 2012 (oh please Mayan gods hold off on the end of us until June!!!).  Oh I am sure some more deets will be coming along soon.  Stay tuned ya'll!!

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big O

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MarvelFest NYC 2009

For you lucky East-Coast heads, tomorrow in Union Square will be MarvelFest, a 3 + hour event to kickoff Marvel's second motion comic- Astonishing X-Men. 

This event ad is pretty damn hilarious.

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