Batman Begins

[sidereal]

That's a solid conception of Marvin.  My hopes rise.

[ahoythematey]

Does Sam Jackson read anything about the movies he signs onto nowadays besides the amount on the check, or what?

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050107d.php

Seems he doesn't sign on some out of severe hatred, which is always a good thing.

Also, am I alone in thinking that the person responsible for reteaming Sam Rockwell and Alan Rickman in Hitchhiker is a motherfucking genius?  I mean, it's like another Galaxy Quest, almost.

[Shockeye]

Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas. Fuck you George Lucas.

No need to freeze your copy of The Empire Strikes Back DVD searching for spuds among the asteroids -- Playskool brings the elusive Star Wars potato to you! This dark side incarnation of Mr. Potato -- Darth Tater -- comes with lightsaber, cape, helmet, shoes, eyes, nose, teeth, and more! A Sith Lord could only hope to look so good! Discover the root of all evil this Spring with what is certain to be a mashing success with collectors.

[schild]

Wow.

[toma levine]

Come on, with Lucas is has ALWAYS been about the merchandising, no matter how absurd. I think the worst I ever saw was the "Jar Jar french kiss candy sucker" where his tongue was candy and you had to open his mouth and, well, suck his tongue.

Wasn't George's favorite SW fan film about a kid getting a bunch of Star Wars toys on Christmas morning?

[WayAbvPar]

Wow. He is really just raping the bejeesus  out of the corpse that is was my warm feelings for the Star Wars franchise.. I bet Mark Hamill will get a cameo  in Ep III as Cock Knocker.

[Paelos]

Hahahahaha, Darth is a potato head.

Luke <breathing sound> I am your father! Join me and we can rule the galaxy as tater and tater-tot!

[Llava]

Regarding Batman Begins:

I await with bated breath.  Please, do not disappoint me.  Please.  I really, really want this movie to be amazing.  I have such high hopes.  Bale is good.  Nolan is good.  Please, please be good.

Regarding Mr. Wonka:

I've heard a few people tossing around a 'fact' that Mr. Dahl himself disliked the Wilder version of the film.  That could be true, or it could be one of those rumors that starts on the 'net and everyone just buys without questioning it.  I tried to find a direct quote but, let's face it, that's not happening.  So can anyone here validate the truth of that statement?  If it is true, wouldn't it seem that there is a call for a remake (even if it's one from beyond the icy clutch of the grave)?  

Certainly if the author of the original story believes that a film did not portray his story accurately, it's not out of the realm of reason to expect that one might wish to attempt to create a film more loyal to the core concepts of the book.

But you are right- Tim has been slipping for a while, and there is great potential for this to be Not So Good.  Big Fish wasn't a bad film, though, so hopefully he learned his lesson with Planet of the Apes.  With any luck, the film WON'T end with a shot of a Lincoln Memorial that looks suspiciously reminiscent of Wonka.

[Riggswolfe]

Regarding Roald Dahl not liking the Gene Wilder version, it is mentioned in passing in his biography on his official site which is supported by his estate:

Here

Also, a quote from the trivia section of IMDB:

"Roald Dahl was reportedly so angry with the treatment of his book (mainly stemming from the massive rewrite by David Seltzer) that he refused permission for the book's sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, to be filmed. Seltzer had an idea for a new sequel, but legal issues meant that it never got off the ground."


I'd say it's probably true since I've never heard a single person claim he liked it. I think, from what little I've seen, that the Tim Burton version has a good possibility of being the "book" version. Different movies, different times.

As for Batman Begins:

I'm there on opening day. Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe...

They'd have to work very hard to screw this up with this cast.

I am not however, looking forward to Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. The book mostly inspired lukewarm smiles from me and I don't see it translating well to the big screen. It needs to live in the imagination.

[Velorath]

Still looking forward to Sin City a lot more than Batman Begins.  Even if BB is a great movie, it'll still just be a great Batman movie.  It just doesn't seem anywhere near as ambitious as Sin City does.  It also doesn't help that Marvel is continuing to try to run superhero movies into the ground before DC has even gotten back in the game.

[schild]

Still looking forward to Sin City a lot more than Batman Begins.  Even if BB is a great movie, it'll still just be a great Batman movie.  It just doesn't seem anywhere near as ambitious as Sin City does.  It also doesn't help that Marvel is continuing to try to run superhero movies into the ground before DC has even gotten back in the game.

DC has been trying as hard as possible to run super hero tv shows into the ground for the past 30 years. Marvel's track record - with TWO good movies is more than DC can vouch for. They gave us Batman and Batman Returns. The second of which is likeable only if you have a deeper understanding of German Impressionism.

As far as the other arguments someone might make against my TV comment - Adam West and Christopher Reeves were horrible superheroes. Though, later, I will admit to digging Lois and Clark and the new series Smallville (comparatively new, I guess).

I've really love someone to dig into the Dark Horse archive - Usagi Yojimbo, Grendel. Well, I'd really just like them to stop digging into the stupid shit in the Dark Horse archive.

Also, someone needs to kick Peter Eastman and Kevin Laird around until they actually make the ORIGINAL TMNT comic books into a film.



That one.

Edit: The above post really doesn't make much sense - except for the ninja turtles part, and I apologize for that. To clarify, Spiderman and Spiderman 2 were better than anything DC has given us. I can only hope that Batman Begins is 10% as good as the aforementioned. At least then it will be on par with Michael Keaton's Batman.

[MrHat]

Turtles in a half shell, turtle power!

And I feel kind of dirty being tricked into thinking whatever was up there was cool when it turned out to be Batman.  Dirty I tell you.

[Velorath]

DC has been trying as hard as possible to run super hero tv shows into the ground for the past 30 years. Marvel's track record - with TWO good movies is more than DC can vouch for. They gave us Batman and Batman Returns. The second of which is likeable only if you have a deeper understanding of German Impressionism.

I agree completely that DC has been the King of crap superhero TV, but with the way Batman Begins is shaping up, stealing Bryan Singer away from X-men for Superman, and now from what I hear, hiring Joss Whedon to do Wonder Woman it seems like they're actually putting some effort into their movies.  Maybe the disaster that was Catwoman was enough to make them realize they can't just churn out crap and slap a comic book name on it.  Meanwhile what do we have on the way from Marvel?  We have Man-thing and what will probably be pretty bad Fantastic Four movie.  Oddly enough though I just went to Marvel's website and they've got three ad's for Catwoman on the front page getting about as much space on there as Elektra.

Just out of curiousity though, I thought I recalled you liking Smallville or at least an episode of it, but I could be thinking of someone else.

I've really love someone to dig into the Dark Horse archive - Usagi Yojimbo, Grendel. Well, I'd really just like them to stop digging into the stupid shit in the Dark Horse archive.

I have all but the last two trades of Usagi.  Probably the only comic I've bought consistently since I was young.  Dark Horse is also putting out a hell of a good Conan comic right now as well as reprinting a lot of the old Marvel stuff.

Also, someone needs to kick Peter Eastman and Kevin Laird around until they actually make the ORIGINAL TMNT comic books into a film.

That could be a little tricky though since they'd either have to tell a bunch of different stories or throw in a bunch of filler if they just want to focus on Shredder since if I remember right he died at the end of the first issue and it wasn't all that plot heavy.

And I agree that the Spiderman movies have probably been the best Superhero movies made.  I will give Marvel credit for letting Raimi do the movies for their flagship character.  If only all their decisions were this inspired.

[schild]

I can agree with 99% of what you just said, except one thing: Joss Whedon can't do shit with material that's not his own.

Edit: Mostly because he stumbles through his own. It takes him 123987123712 episodes to tell a cohesive story. Two hours would fucking kill him. I expect the firefly movie to need an entire 7 season tv show to make any sense.

[Velorath]

I'll admit, in this instance I'm basing my faith in Whedon off his current run on Astonishing X-men, which has been the only time in my history of reading comics I've actually gone out of my way to pick up an X-men book.  Not sure if you've read those or not.

[schild]

I'll admit, in this instance I'm basing my faith in Whedon off his current run on Astonishing X-men, which has been the only time in my history of reading comics I've actually gone out of my way to pick up an X-men book.  Not sure if you've read those or not.

I stopped reading XMen after issue 4 of X-Men Unlimited, also coincided with issue 50 of wolverine. I think both series jumped the shark at that point. That was pretty much the end of my comic reading days, though I'll go out of my way to sit in a shop and catch up on Usagi Yojimbo, among other things.

There is something missing from modern comics. Oh, wait I think I found it.

My childhood innocence.

Edit: Fucking Marvel. It looks like an X-Men Unlimited with Juggernaut came out in goddamn November of 2004. That's not what I'm talking about. If I can find a cover of the Unlimited series I'm referring to (from 1996 or so) I'll post it.

Edit: Issue #4 of this series:


Here's issue 3 - to date - the best comic book cover I've ever seen:



And here's the last X-Men I read:



And that's obviously Wolverine #50. I'm sure everyone here remembers - and probably has it.



The last Superman I bought and read?



All of the best stuff, imo, came out around the same time in my youth. Maybe it was just the time of my life. But I have multiples of both the Wolverine #50 and Superman #500 for reading and keeping safe. I thought both storylines were just the cats meow.

I've been thinking of picking up some Sandman stuff. But to be honest, a comic book would have to be really goddamn incredible these days for me to enjoy it. So if there's any compendiums or something anyone would recommend. I may actually take some time off of reading books and delve into some comics.

[Velorath]

It's like any other form of entertainment really, be it movies, music, books, or television.  You just have to weed out the crap, especially in the mainstream.  There are still comics out there worth reading.  Conan, The Walking Dead, Astonishing X-men and Usagi to name a few.  Hell, I've been reading a lot of really positive reviews on Captain Fucking America lately (something so shocking that I've actually had to order a few issues now to find out for myself).  And then there's the massive amounts of crap like Spiderman finding out his dead girlfriend Gwen Stacy had pity sex with Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) and got pregnant with twins who rapidly aged to adulthood.  That not only pisses on your childhood innocence, it beats and rapes your inner child and then goes back to pissing on your childhood innocence.

[Margalis]

IMO the time for superhero comics was the late 70s to mid-80s. Late 80s onwards seemed to just spiral towards garbage in accelerating fashion. The few years leading up the formation of Image comics everything started going to hell

Marvel has no clue what to do with Spider-Man anymore. He got married, was a clone, etc. They've done "I'm giving up being Spider-Man" a few times, as well as "wow I lost my powers", "my wife got kidnapped again"...pretty much every storyline they can think of they've done 3 times already, so they have to come up with some truly wack shit like the cloning and Gwen Stacy stuff.

[stray]

All of the best stuff, imo, came out around the same time in my youth.

Funny, I think the same thing, but I haven't read any of the X-Men issues you mentioned. What's the significance of Wolverine #50 anyways? I had the first few issues of Wolverine when that series first came out, but that wasn't long before I quit reading comics.

*wonders what Wolverine #1 is worth*

Anyways, 15 years later I pick up Preacher on a whim and was just blown away. After that, I got into comics again last summer...but my interest has already died out. I made the mistake of thinking all comics had evolved in something like Preacher over the years, but I was wrong. Most of that stuff is probably best off where I left it: In my childhood.

I'm sure Velorath is right though, I just need to weed out the bad stuff. Though for myself, I'd make it a rule to stay away from superhero stuff. Movies are cool and shit, but that's only once in a while.

[schild]

I'm going to take a moment to give our friends to the east a nod. The FLCL Manga and subsequent cartoon are as good, if not superior, to any comic I've ever read.

Oh and props to Hunter X Hunter - the entire series. Also, Fullmetal Alchemist. The basis of a game coming out this Tuesday - localized by Squeenix. I'm excited, in a dorky, ex-anime fan sort of way.

[Llava]

Best comic I've read within the last couple years:


Brilliant, hilarious writing.  A parody of... well, everything that comics are, really.  Especially notable moments include Agent X fighting a pair of motorcycle riding japanese assassin anime girls sporting Hello Kitty accessories.  "Punctured lung is not for happy party time go!"

If anyone's looking to get back into comic reading, pick up any of these (as long as the writing credit is Gail Simone... two or three were written by some other hacks).  Unfortunately, they probably won't be easy to find.

The Deadpool comics written by Gail Simone are also classic.  Same story arc, really.

Personal favorite moment:
Agent X is hired by a business man to assassinate a rival business man.  This rival is actually directly across from Agent X's employer- as in, their buildings are right next to each other and their windows view right into one another.  As his employer is going on about the necessity of subtlety in this operation, and how it must be in no way able to be traced back to him, Agent X is building a small ramp from random pieces of furniture in the office.  He wheels in his goped (scooter, whatever) and launches himself off the ramp, through the window, across the space between the two buildings (yelling out "SO MANLY!" as he does) and directly into the opposing building.  The assassination... doesn't go very smoothly.

Sorry for the fairly unrelated plug.  There just aren't enough people who've read those, though, so I find myself painfully unable to make references.

[Velorath]

Anyways, 15 years later I pick up Preacher on a whim and was just blown away. After that, I got into comics again last summer...but my interest has already died out. I made the mistake of thinking all comics had evolved in something like Preacher over the years, but I was wrong. Most of that stuff is probably best off where I left it: In my childhood.

I'm sure Velorath is right though, I just need to weed out the bad stuff. Though for myself, I'd make it a rule to stay away from superhero stuff. Movies are cool and shit, but that's only once in a while.

Well, back when we were kids I know most of us probably picked up comics based on the characters we like and probably almost never looked at who was actually writing it.  These days I look for authors whose work I like, read several different review columns, and before torrent sites started getting cracked down on, those with looser morals could even download and read comics before buying them.

[Evil Elvis]

Director: "Oh God.  Ok.  Lets just keep Alba in front of the Thing as much as we can.  Christ."

As far as the X-Men books, for my money, nothing beats the Silvestri/Claremont era.  Lee's run after Silvestri wasn't too bad either.

[schild]

Ya know, no matter how ya slice it, imo, Fantastic Four already sucked. We don't need a movie. Wonder Woman sucks. She should never be mentioned again. I couldn't care less about X-Factor or any of the other X sideprojects - never have, never will. Don't give two shits about Ghost Rider either.

Why? They were all paler versions of the main characters that companies were publishing stories about. Most of the mainstream stuff in Marvel and DCs stable are just cripple versions of X-Men, Spiderman, Superman and Batman.

They really have to reach into other brands to start pulling out characters I care about.

Like Archie and the gang. That Jughead is an absolute riot.

[stray]

Ya know, no matter how ya slice it, imo, Fantastic Four already sucked. We don't need a movie. Wonder Woman sucks. She should never be mentioned again. I couldn't care less about X-Factor or any of the other X sideprojects - never have, never will. Don't give two shits about Ghost Rider either.

Why? They were all paler versions of the main characters that companies were publishing stories about. Most of the mainstream stuff in Marvel and DCs stable are just cripple versions of X-Men, Spiderman, Superman and Batman.

Well, except the Fantastic Four. They, along with Sub-Mariner and Captain America, were the first things Marvel ever did. They predate the X-Men and Spider-Man by almost 20 years.

I still agree though. It's not a good for a movie.

[Velorath]

Well, except the Fantastic Four. They, along with Sub-Mariner and Captain America, were the first things Marvel ever did. They predate the X-Men and Spider-Man by almost 20 years.

I still agree though. It's not a good for a movie.

Although the Fantastic Four's Human Torch was obviously a bit of a retread of Marvel's original Human Torch.  Also, while the Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch, and Cap all predate Spider-man and the X-men by a good about, the FF only appeared less than year before Spider-man debuted in Amazing Fantasy.

[Signe]

I wasn't much of a comic fan as a child, but my uncle had a million of them.  I did really like Fantastic Four.  I disliked the Submariner very much... he was very elfy looking.  Even back then I knew there was something bad about elves.

[Zane0]

I too am skeptical of a successful Hitch Hiker's translation to the theaters.  Most of the book's charm lay in its narrative, and that doesn't work very well with movies.

Now, I did like the '81 version, but it was a TV series originally, and struck me as an attempt to be very faithful to the book.  For this version, we'll have to see if significant elements are changed to work with a big budget movie format.

[LordDax]

If everyone is sick and tired of Marvel and DC (Im getting tired of DC but some of the new Marvel keeps me going) what about the newer publishers and their more...adult-oriented material?

Darkhorse
Image
Anamgalm
Selfpublished (Strangers In Paradise, etc)

Personally I like alot of the new Image stuff, and Darkhorse is truly starting to become an "older/mature" comics publisher for older readers that grew up on them.

[Righ]

When it come to comics, my list goes like this:

Luther Arkwright
Brainstorm
Watchmen
The Invisibles
V for Vendetta
Sandman
Electric Soup
Northern Lights
Oor Wullie

All later period British comic books. Most comic fans know the ones by Moore, Morrison and Gaiman. Everybody should learn about those of Bryan Talbot.

[Shannow]

Willy wonka, gay pron and comic books. This thread has it all.

Ian the triffed in the Fantastic Four? Are there trailers out for this yet?

Oh and whoever takes over for Bryan Singer on Xmen 3 better no f**k it up or I will kill them.

[Velorath]

If everyone is sick and tired of Marvel and DC (Im getting tired of DC but some of the new Marvel keeps me going) what about the newer publishers and their more...adult-oriented material?

Darkhorse
Image
Anamgalm
Selfpublished (Strangers In Paradise, etc)

Personally I like alot of the new Image stuff, and Darkhorse is truly starting to become an "older/mature" comics publisher for older readers that grew up on them.

I like Conan, Usagi, and the B.P.R.D./Hellboy stuff from Dark Horse.  From Image like I've mentioned, I read Walking Dead, they just put out some new Flaming Carrot stuff, and I'm sure they have other good stuff I just haven't read it.

Not much I read from DC.  Read Identity Crisis mostly because of the hype.  Checking out Green Lantern:  Rebirth for much the same reason.  Surprisingly I think JSA is probably the best comic out there if you're just looking for good superhero stuff.  More importantly it doesn't read like it's ashamed to be a superhero comic like so many others do these days.  If you see some trades in the bookstore, flip through them even if you aren't into DC (which I'm not).  Kurt Busiek is also supposed to have some more Astro City stuff coming out sometime.

DC's best stuff usually comes out of their Vertigo line, and while I don't think anything has matched Preacher, you might want to give The Losers, and Y the Last Man a try.

Very few things I'm reading from Marvel these days.  Thunderbolts is good for classic superhero type action with the twist of several old Marvel villains trying to reform.  I've also already mentioned Astonishing X-men.

That's just the current stuff that I'm readingand not even getting into the 11GB of Conan stuff I'm going through while waiting for Dark Horse to release more Conan TPB's.  Like I said though, there's good stuff out there it's just a matter of weeding through the crap.

[Hanzii]

When it come to comics, my list goes like this:

Luther Arkwright
Brainstorm
Watchmen
The Invisibles
V for Vendetta
Sandman
Electric Soup
Northern Lights
Oor Wullie

All later period British comic books. Most comic fans know the ones by Moore, Morrison and Gaiman. Everybody should learn about those of Bryan Talbot.

Good list.
I'd add Preacher to it myself.
Last time I met Neil Gaiman (notice how I constructed the sentence to underline, that this has happened more than once) we ended up talking only about Bryan Talbot. Especially The Tale of One Bad Rat.
I have a Sandman påaperback signed by Talbot, Gaiman and McKean... and I've never meet Talbot - but his wife taught classes at my department at the university.

What was the subject again?
Oh yes. Like the first Batman, loved the second and hated the rest. And as Schild said, there really isn't that many second tier superheroes from the big publishers worthy of a film.

[Righ]

I first met Bryan Talbot at a small comic convention in Glasgow. I was lucky enough to get to read his unedited and upcoming (at the time) Nemesis the Warlock work months before they were published. He's a very personable chap.

Now I guess I'll have to find copies of Preacher since I'm unfamiliar with it.

[HaemishM]

Preacher kicks all kind of ass. To the point that I'm sorry that Ennis went on to do the Punisher, because really, that's a character in need of a good permanent vacation.

Whedon's Astonishing X-Men will show you all you need to know about how well Whedon handles someone else's characters. Namely, quite fucking well, provided he likes them.

For good comic stuff I've read recently:
Invincible
Anything by Geoff Johns
Anything by Grant Morrison
Anything by Kurt Busiek
Anything by Mark Waid

Invincible really is a big sleeper surprise for me. It's an Image superhero book, about a teenager whose father is a superhero (that world's equivalent of Superman). The kid gets superpowers as well, and it just goes from there. It's really top-notch stuff.