Big Wheel Keep On Turning

Last week was one of those weeks that moves a litle faster than most. And while it was a week with some decent comic books, it was hard to focus on them when Amanda and I knew that there was a mad (if not particularly talented) bomber somewhere in a ten-beer pissing range.

But that madness is all over now, and it is not only New Comics Night, but it is New Comics Night on one of those odd weeks when there are a legitimate shit-ton of new issues of not only old favorites, but a bunch of actual new and interesting comics as well.

All of which is an roundabout way of saying that the Boston-based D-List supervillain team of The Dzhokhar and The Speedbump are no longer an issue, the new comic books are out, and therefore this…

…means the end of our broadcast day.

But there are a ton of new issues of some very decent regular series here. We’ve got one of the last issues of Joshua Hale Fialkov’s generally good I, Vampire, new issues of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers (plus a new issue of Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender), new issues of DC’s Flash, Justice League Dark and All-Star Western, plus Jupiter’s Legacy, the new book by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, plus a bunch of other good-looking stuff!

But before we really talk about any of them, we need some time to review them. So until then…

…see you tomorrow, suckers!

Intellectual Property Expansion: Marvel Studios News Roundup

It has been a big couple of days for news out of Marvel Studios – or at least potential news out of Marvel Studios.

First of all, it has been announced that Lee Pace has been hired to play the antagonist in James Gunn’s Guardians of The Galaxy, to which I think I speak for many of us when I utter a resounding: “Who?” And before you start: yeah, yeah; I know Pace played Thranduil in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, but I’m gonna go on record as not having seen it. We all know full well that Jackson will release a nine-hour extended version of the flick on Blu-Ray, and I’m holding out for that version. Anyway, it has not yet been announced exactly who the bad guy in Guardians of The Galaxy is going to be yet. With the reveal of Thanos during the credits of The Avengers, it doesn’t seem like Marvel Studios would shoot that wad just yet, but the Chituari are probably still floating around somewhere, as are the Kree (and what better way to introduce, say, Captain Marvel for Marvel Studios’ Phase Four?)… and considering Pace read for the Star Lord part, maybe we’re looking at Mar-Vell here. Or considering the presence of Rocket Raccoon, possibly a snap-on trash can lid.

Second: Marvel Studios’ President of Production Kevin Feige has confirmed that they have reclaimed the movie rights to Daredevil from Fox. Fox released the 2003 Ben Affleck version of Daredevil (and I still maintain that the director’s cut DVD version of that flick is at least a little underrated), and the terms of that deal stated that Fox had ten years to put a sequel or a reboot into production or lose the whole shooting match. And they came close – last year, director Joe Carnahan pitched a grindhousey version to be set in 1973 with a pretty damn cool-looking sizzle reel… that he then released online after Fox spiked the deal.

Keeping The Demon In The Bottle: Why Iron Man 3 Isn’t About Stark’s Drinking

Remember how the very first time we saw Tony Stark in Iron Man, he was holding a glass of scotch? And how he brought a portable bar to the weapons test? And how, in Iron Man 2, Tony got drunk, pissed in his own suit in front of God and everybody, and then blew up his own party? And remember how, as a comic book fan (which I presume you are if you came across this Web site), you were excited about all this groundwork being laid to seemingly eventually bring us a movie adaptation of the classic David Michelinie and Bob Layton arc from Iron Man, Demon In A Bottle, from back in 1979?

And do you remember how empowering it was to think that finally the general public would see a superhero that spoke to you – a stumbling, reckless drunk who is able to overcome being unable to perform basic motor tasks while packing a powerful repulsor… and by “repulsor,” I, of course, mean “personal odor”? You remember that feeling? Just me? Hello, is this thing on?

Anyway, whether you were hoping for a reproduction of a classic comic book storyline, or for a kids’ adventure movie that might lead to children pointing at you as you leave a bar and screech, “Iron Man!” rather than “Stranger Danger!”, you ain’t getting it in Iron Man 3, Apparently the corporate overlords at Disney were somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a superhero movie where the most demanded tie-in action figure was the variant with “Action Vomit!”

Blindly Following A Old Trope… In A Good Way: Daredevil #25 Review

Editor’s Note: Amateur. You carry your spoilers like a blind man. Leaves you vulnerable in seven ways.

Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil has been pretty universally solid, with a few missteps along the way – whether we needed another “drive Matt Murdock insane” story like we got a few months ago is an open question, and that whole “throw Foggy out a high window… as a faint to have some schmo with a scalpel kill him in front of witnesses” plan probably could have used an extra day or two on the drawing board. But in general, those moments are outnumbered by good, and sometimes great, moments and stories.

But then there are times when Waid just fucking outdoes himself. I’m not sure how into this whole greater Unknown Mastermind With A Master Plan To Break Matt Murdock greater storyline I am – again, it’s something that’s been done by at least three Daredevil writers I can think of off the top of my head – but the particular story of Daredevil #25, with this particular antagonist, has a progression and an arc and a final twist reveal that is simply magnificent.

Don’t get me wrong, the antagonist himself is only okay – every writer of superhero comics ever has at least toyed with the idea of a villain who is the evil version of the hero (Bizarro / Owl-Man / Kaine / Sinestro / Faith anyone?) – but that final twist reveal? Man, that’s enough to forgive going to that villain well.

Loki Walks Into A Bar And Throws Three Nails On The Desk: Tom Hiddleston Up To Play The Crow

It was a long night in Boston last night; between the cops putting the arm on the surviving Boston Massacre bomber right around the time they lifted the lockdown, and the cancellation of the Boston Comic Con (meaning we suddenly didn’t need to get up early this morning), well, much liquor was consumed.

So our energy levels are low today – and I swear, this will be the last time that we use the weirdness of the past six days to plead for anemic levels of content here (although we might come up with something else) – but we found this interesting item that is either really promising news for the movie, or a wretched and ill-advised portent of doom for the actor: apparently Tom Hiddleston, the guy who played Loki in Thor and The Avengers, is going out for a role in another superhero movie.

Problem is, that role is of The Crow, in the remake of the 1994 Brandon Lee movie of the same name.

Hoo, boy.

Return of The Dzhokhar

Update, 4:10 p.m.: Boston Comic Con just announced that this weekend’s convention has been cancelled:

ATTENTION: Boston Comic Con has been cancelled. We will try to reschedule for a later date. Thank you for your support & understanding.

— Boston Comic Con (@BostonComicCon) April 19, 2013

The full message from Boston Comic Con, including details on rescheduling and refunds:

Due to the unfortunate events that have transpired here in Boston, a city wide lock down has been put into effect until further notice causing The Hynes Convention Center to suspend all events until further notice. As such, The Boston Comic Con has been posponed [sic] and will be rescheduled to a date sometime in 2013.

All people who purchased advanced tickets on line will have their tickets honored at the rescheduled show. We will notify you of that date. If for some reason, you can not come to the show on that date, we will refund your ticket.

Please, we ask for your patience, understanding, and cooperation.

We appreciate your loyalty, and continued support for The Boston Comic Con. Unfortunately, this situation is beyond our control.

We stand with all Bostonians and hope that current events are resolved quickly and a degree of normalcy can be returned to our city.

Thanks a lot, you cowardly, mad-bombing, cop-killing douchecanoe.

————-

Yes, the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office is in the lockdown area because of the manhunt for the missing Boston Marathon bomber, roughly walking distance from where last night’s shootout with the prick occurred. As such, we are a bit distracted from normal comics news today (but not so distracted that we didn’t notice that “Dzhokhar” is uncomfortably close to being pronounced, “Joker”).

However, we are still anticipating that a single 19-year-old untrained dipshit will either be found dead or rounded up by the cops in time to allow tomorrow’s Boston Comic Con to proceed as scheduled – and as of this writing, it is still scheduled.

We are still continuing with this weekend’s convention under the assumption today’s situation is temporary. Apologies for any inconvenience.

— Boston Comic Con (@BostonComicCon) April 19, 2013

We are still preparing to attend and cover both days of the convention, so watch this space for that coverage… or for news of whether the status of the convention changes. 

Thursday Night At The Movies: Patton Oswalt on Star Wars and Kick-Ass 2

It is yet another eventful evening in the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office – tonight, we have a plumber in replacing the sink garbage disposal. You know, that thing mounted under your sink that is designed, meant and sold to grind small bits of kitchen detritus so it can be washed down the sink, thus leaving more room in the trash for beer cans? The device that has a big warning on it to keep your damn hands away from it unless you want to sharpen your wrist like a #2 pencil? Yeah, that shit the bed. On an egg shell. A bit of garbage so known for toughness and resiliency that they are sold in padded specialty containers, and if the bag kid at the grocery store puts them at the bottom of the bag, you’re allowed by Massachusetts law to bust him in the mouth with a sack full of canned goods.

So posting must be quick tonight, what with my needing to keep an eye on this guy in case he asks for assistance… and if he does, considering all I know about plumbing is its spelling, I will be forced to respond, “Sure… hows about I staple the back of your BVDs to your spine so I can stop seeing that stereotypical man-ass cleavage there, champ?”

So in the spirit of quick improvisation, we have a couple of videos for you, starting with Patton Oswalt on the set of Parks & Recreation, filibustering the city council by spending almost ten minutes explaining what the plot of Star Wars: Episode VII should be – including Marvel superheroes, the X-Men (yes, I know they are Marvel heroes, but tell movie rights holder 20th Century Fox that) and the homoerotic cast of Clash of The Titans. It’s some good, impressive and funny stuff – as you can tell by the poster Entertainment Weekly made based on selfsame improvised rant.

And if that’s not enough, well, someone leaked an extended, bloody battle scene from the climax of Kick-Ass 2. Both of which you can find after the jump.

The Heroes We Deserve

It has been an… eventful week so far here in Boston. We had the awful events at the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, followed by an outpouring of support from around the country on Tuesday – the New York Yankees, a baseball team that, on a normal day, no Bostonian would admit is staffed by a single legitimate human being, played the Red Sox’s victory song, Sweet Caroline, during the third inning at Yankee Stadium last night – and all the late night comics were extremely supportive, despite carrying humiliating memories of being eaten alive at Nick’s Comedy Stop on Warrenton Street back in the 90s (and as someone who was a comedian back in the 90s, trust me: they were all eaten alive at Nick’s).

But now it is Wednesday, and as you might have read, Boston is not your normal American city. We’ve been here longer than almost any other city in this country, we were the first ones to chuck a hearty “fuck you” to out British overlords in the 1770s, and we were the setting of America’s greatest sitcom, where every single character drank in a bar all day and then went to work because even the most incredulous TV viewer had no doubt that not even hours of drinking could prevent a Bostonian from getting up and going about his fucking business.

Man Of Steel Official Trailer Hits Internet

Zack Snyder may have hit a home run with this movie. There is a moment in this trailer where you will believe that a man can fly – roughly at 1:55 in where Superman places his fist against the Arctic crust and leaves behind a crater as he shoots off from the Earth. And, Kevin Costner telling a distraught young Clark, “You are my son” after showing him the ship that brought him here may as well already have “For your consideration” captioned underneath it for Oscar voters. Seriously.

Enjoy!

Man Of Steel comes to US theaters on June 14, 2013.

Remain Calm And Carry Comics: Boston Comic Con Taking Place As Scheduled

After the wretched and depressing events at yesterday’s Boston Marathon in Boston’s Copley Square, there was some speculation about whether or not this weekend’s scheduled Boston Comic Con would still be held, what with the fact that it is being held at the Hynes Convention Center – roughly three blocks from the, as of this writing, still-active crime scene.

The question was up in the air until a few hours ago, when the convention emailed attendees with advance passes to tell us that not only is the convention still on, but that all scheduled guests are apparently confirmed to still be there.

You can check out the full release from Boston Comic Con, including the names of all the confirmed guests, after the jump.