I’m watching The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Long title, long movie, but I find it poetic and haunting. One of my favorite films to watch after I’ve had a few beers. I think Pitt’s performance as James is one of his best. An underrated movie? What do you guys think?
Well, if you enjoy films which dwell on subtle emotions, rely on oblique, intuitive characterizations which require an audience to bring something of their own to the interpretation of events, and have complex, often contradictory character studies, it may be right up your alley. You may also enjoy the Coen Brothers’ latest, A Serious Man.
I liked it quite a bit but I believe I am in the minority opinion on that (yet again). I thought everyone in it was great , especially Pitt.
Speaking of minority opinions, people have been whining in our youtube comments about us “hating on” Mark Millar. This pleases me to no end. It’s one of the many reasons I rarely read our youtube comments anymore.
Let them hate. It would be both patronizing and downright dishonest if you were to kowtow to popular opinion simply for the sake of making yourself (seem) more likable. Honesty is key, integrity is hard to come by these days, and your unrelenting refusal to hedge your views to please the group at large is what makes your point of view valid and valuable. I wouldn’t give up on reading the youtube responses, though. Take them as an indication of just how impactful an informed and well-stated, if unpopular, opinion can be. Just don’t humor them by responding.
Jose, youtube officially sucks! I tried to post under that video, and now it’s not accepting the post! ARGH! Anyways, he is the response I would have posted:
“As someone who enjoyed the Kick Ass comics, I have to say that I am equaliy impressed with Ebert’s review. He kind of sums up the debate in the first line “Should I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool”. But please, what is this insane idea that you HAVE to see the film in order to have an opinion of it, like it’s a rule or something. Do I need to see Triumph of the Will before I can criticize it? No! Jose and Elliott looked at the trailers, read the source material, and saw how the film was marketed, and said “No thanks”. They choose not to spend their money and time on this product. I plan on seeing this movie at some point, but I think you Millar lovers need to chill out and relax. This isn’t the second coming of Citizen Kane, people! It’s another comic book adaptation, no more no less! Jesus.”
I really dig his stuff. Wish he wasn’t just doing Secret Warriors covers now. He needs to get back on interiors with Allen Heinberg on Young Avengers. His work has that quintessential “Marvel” feel to it, for me, almost like a descendent of John Romita or even the Buscemas, though not in an obvious way. Just very clear, solidly constructed work with an ever-evolving sense of sophistication in his linework. I hope you got to say a few words to him, or at least check out the no doubt beautiful work he had on display.
Cheung has really evolved from his beginnings on titles like X-Force (i believe he worked on that) to become one of my favorite artists working today.
That’s in pounds dude. It made about 12 or 13 million USD in Britain, which is pretty good for there. Obviously that’s small potatoes to the US…but Britain is much smaller.
Brad Pitt proved to me he was more than just eye candy for the ladies after watching 12 Monkeys. He’s a pretty good actor who has some great comedic chops.
Even though I’m a dirty gentile, I really liked A Serious Man a lot(I felt it was way better than Hurt Locker). I really loved Burn After Reading. Not only did I think Burn was superior to No Country for Old Men, I was laughing out loud over the extremely dark ending. Considering I’m usually a sucker for happier endings, that’s saying a lot.
I’m with you smokey, Burn After Reading was really good, but I could not stand A Serious Man. It was an interesting character piece, but it was ridiculously anticlimactic and unsatisfying on the whole. And it was pretty fucking boring.
i think you summed that up perfectly. I couldn’t believe it ended so abruptly. Plus there were so many characters i just wholly disliked and got under my skin. I know that for some of the characters that was there purpose but still i couldn’t stand it.
SmokeyClocks, if you felt that way about A Serious Man, don’t watch Noah Baumbach’s latest movie “Greenberg”. Critics love this guy but after “Margot At The Wedding” and “Greenberg”, I realize he’s a little too pretentious for me.
I like this part of the movie a lot. it could have gotten really silly when the guy with Tourette’s syndrome shows up, but they play it totally straight and let them fight it out. you finally get to see the young autistic lady show her true abilities, very much like the taskmmaster. The being ability to copy every move she see perfectly and fight to the best of her ability.
So what do you guys think of Don Kramer being the new artist on WW once JMS takes over? I liked his stuff on Dini’s run on Detective comics, but I was really looking forward to Nicola Scott’s art.
He’s kind of a middling artist. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about for me. I guess his style will probably serve the stories rather well, depending, of course, on the stories. I wish they could have paired JMS with someone as spectacular as Jesus Saiz, who did fantastic work on the Brave and the Bold.
That book is one of my favs. It’s a very underrated book. I would have loved to see another 50 issues from them both. Kind of makes you wonder what they have Nicola Scott doing instead?
An Addendum: What would you like to see Nicola work on next? What do you think her ideal book would be? This is a question for anyone who wishes to chime in…I really became impressed with her stuff on SS and I’m wondering what anyone/everyone thinks would be a great project for her???
I thought her art on BN WW was awesome and was kind of looking forward to it. Too bad its for only a couple of issues. I would like to see her work with Gail Simone on Birds of Prey.
I really can’t get past the fact that she won’t be working on WW. I was 1st introduced to Ms. Scott’s work in a magazine that will go nameless because when the magazine is mentioned..Its talked about more than the subject at hand….anyway, in that mag, was portfolio pics of WW and you could tell she was just born to draw that book.
Aside from that, if Black Canary gets her own ongoing, I think Nic should get 1st crack!
Just curious what non-comic books y’all are reading. In other words, normal books. I’m currently reading three: Twinkie, Deconstructed; American Conspiracies; and I mentioned in the other open thread that I’m reading Star Trek TNG meets the X-Men.
I am re-reading The Odyssey and almost finished, The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson and A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
You know they adapted a portion of A People’s History into a graphic novel. It’s pretty good. There’s quite a few graphic novels out now devoted to history and politics, which I love. I own several.
I’m reading The Academy by Bentley Little. On the comic front, my trip to the library today garnered The Interman by Jeff Parker, and the first four volumes of the Invincible Ultimate Collections so I can bone up before the Viltrumite War begins!
I also received an interesting book called The Photographer, which mixes photography, pared down cartoon-type comic art, and a number of other fumetti-like techniques. It’s subtitled Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders. If interested, link here: http://us.macmillan.com/thephotographer. It was a present from my sis who heard it featured on NPR.
I guess that kind of dodges your question a bit, but I did include one prose novel!
I would like to know what everyone thinks, especially Elliot, about the Scarlet series coming up from Bendis. The way it’s being promoted is like what Powers was like when it debuted. I’m hoping this means the old Bendis that was good will re-appear for this series.
I’m curious.I think it could go either way.Either a return to form or a dumping ground for plots he couldn’t get into Spiderwoman.Or worse,an attempt to go after more of that Kick Ass money.
But you know what? The premise has something to do with Scarlet somehow inspiring a revolution but BMB says it not political.How can it not be in this climate?I don’t know about BMB’s personal politics but I think marvel could use an intelligent superhero comic that touches of social issues.Left-wing,right-wing or whatever.
I know how you feel. I’m such a fan of his early stuff. I mean Powers is just fucking awesome. It’s probably my favorite title of the last decade. But his work on Avengers just sucks. I mean it’s awful. That Secret Invasion storyline was such utter crap. And his Ultimate Spider-Man is… well, I’d be okay with it if he weren’t so obsessed with unmasking Peter in every damn storyline. Who doesn’t know his secret identity? Having a secret identity and superpowers and wearing tights is part of the comic book landscape. It’s what we as fanboys dig. I don’t care how unrealistic it is that Peter never gets unmasked; having a “spider-sense” ain’t realistic either. And in the 616 universe, he had Spidey unmasked in the first issue of Avengers. And he couldn’t wait to have Spidey unmask yet again to the Avengers after Brand New Day. And he did the same during his run on Daredevil. It may seem like a minor point, but it really aggravates the shit out of me.
Yesterday, went to see Kick-Ass and after viewing my face didn’t melt off.(if you already viewed my blog I know that joke is old) Anyway, I brought my 13 year old nephew to test my theory of what type of movie I was in for. Of course the jokes he would laugh at he laughed at including the rest of the theatre. Another thing that bothers the shit out of me that I didn’t mention in the blog was at the end of the movie was the clapping and cheering of the crowd in the theatre. Like they just viewed a masterpiece or high art or something.(what hell is wrong with people today) What ruined this movie for me was the comic book, because I was expecting shit and I got something that was OK. It was bearable, I didn’t feel like I wasted my money even if it wasn’t my money. That’s right to be on the save side I borrowed the money no way I was going to pay for it if it turned out to be utter shit. That happened to me with the comic book it wasn’t going to happen to me with the movie. This isn’t going to revolutionize superhero movies and it didn’t reinvent my thoughts on superheros or their movies as it seemed like what some reviews made it out to be.
If they clapped then they clapped. Maybe they just had fun. I know as comic readers we all are here on the CCW channel, we expect more from that comic, writer, and movie, but really if they liked it then they probably had fun. lol
I respect your opinion, the comic book ruined my movie going experience. So, I was in kind of a bad mood going in anyway. But I tried to divorce myself from that book in order to be objective but it was so hard. This movie makes me look forward to Scot Pilgrim which looks more fun.
I think a lot of people from this blog will have the same problem you did, and I nearly had it too. It is difficult watching it without imagining , well, Millar sat next to you patting himself on the back. What a cock.
But the film IS a lot better than the comic. That doesn’t make it some groundbreaking, revolutionary piece of cinema (It’s probably the very same teens/emo’s who loved Twilight hyping this to death right now), but it is a fun little film.
I just took it as Kill Bill meets Superbad meets Spiderman 3 or something, and tried my best not to think about Millar’s over-inflated ego, and I really just enjoyed it for what it was.
I just hate the hype machine that is Mark Millar, and I stated this on my blog, that there were good points to the movie, their were kind of bad ones, that made a OK movie. (Nothing special) One moment that I liked in the movie was Nick Cage’s Adam West Batman when he was Big Daddy.
I saw Kick-Ass last night, having not read the comic I went in with no REAL preconceived notions. And I wasn’t horribly offended, nor was I completely blown away. It was ok. Some funny moments, some good action, a shit ton of cheesy dialog, but it was mostly played for laughs so it was alright. I can’t really recommend seeing it, but I can’t berate it either.
Let’s put it this way, it’s not the worst Nick Cage movie I’ve ever seen and it wasn’t the worst super hero movie I’ve ever seen. The audience ate up every minute of it and my GF liked it, so it can’t be all bad. (But it really wasn’t that good either). I give it a 6/10.
Its funny tho. I mean I felt it was over-the-top and boring but still fun but overall didn’t like it. But Leninl Francis Yu said he loved it and claimed it to be the Best superhero movie ever. Warren Ellis showed interest with it, Brubaker showed interest with it. A lot of good writers admire a bad writer’s movie adaption. Makes me wonder…
I guess I’m not done yet. So, yeah it does make me wonder what the big deal is to I thought it was OK, NOT the greatest thing I have ever saw, not even the greatest superhero movie I ever saw. It was something that killed time, time I will never get back.
I just find it more strange that amazing writers like Warren and Ed liked such a movie. Its hard to picture these guys into that shit. And Leinil Francis Yu, I mean he’s friends with Mark so maybe he just liked it out of taste. But yeah IDK I was just thinking about that… what other comic writers think of comic writers…
can someone explain how i found this movie boring?? there was nothing surprising bout it.all the cool parts of the fights were shown in the trailer yet people act like they havent seen it before. when it was over a guy next to me stood up and said they had to make a second one. i was bout to slap him. im eighteen btw so this movie is aimed for me yet i feel i am lucky to have mature tastes for my age. fuck this movie
Question to M.
You mentioned that you borrowed the money to check out Kick-ass and you stated that you were not paying for it if it turned out to be utter manure (paraphrasing). Had the movie not been to your liking, since you would have had to pay the money back anyway, wouldn’t that have meant that you would have paid to see a crappy movie? Just sayin’
What I meant to stay was I got someone else to pay for my ticket. But your right if I borrowed the money I would of paid it back. But the fact remains that I was able to see this movie without haivng to pay for it with my money.
Honestly, when I read this comment back I kind of hate it, and I think the things I wrote on my blog seemed a little more coherent, and less of a rant. Sorry guys, I will leave the rants to the professionals. The film was OK better that expected, and I did have high expectations.(God damn it I was ranting again, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do it, but it’s so addictive) I can see why Jose and Elliott do it so much.
Just so no ones confused my first diatribe about Kick-Ass, not anyone elses comments. I don’t hate any one comments. I think they are every fair and balanced.
More Mark Millar, yeah when I do tell non-comic read friends of mine that particular story they do get shocked he got away with putting that in a comic. So, your right in that regard. I don’t get it, I always joked that my dream job would be a Editor at Marvel because it seems liked they get away with murder by doing nothing. Now it just seems sad that murder, rape, and any violance toured women is the norm in their best selling title.
Seriously I mean…I was having this debate with a friend about Kick-Ass and he didn’t think that a 11 year old killing people might be offensive…what does that say about our society?
I don’t really see how Hit Girl is any more offensive than Jodi Foster in Taxi Driver or Nat Portman in Leon. Foster was 13 in TD and had to do be in some…innapropriate scenes. DeNiro even refers to her “little pussy” at one point. And I haven’t seen Leon in a while, but a main plot of it is Natalie learning to become a hitman no? So how is all that more offensive than a little girl saying some bad words and killing bad people? I really don’t get this criticism.
Portman does not slaughter dozens of people let alone a few. Go back and watch the movie. Portman’s character and Hitgirl are nothing alike. Did Foster’s character kill, maim and behead people too. Must have missed that part of Taxi Driver. That thing that both Leon and Taxi Driver have in common is that they both had an excellent story and substance. I don’t know if Kick Ass has either of those things.
The problem here is that you’re comparing Kick-Ass to Taxi Driver, which is a cinematic classic. There’s no way KA is going to compete with that–no matter how many ninja stars Hit Girl throws. Now, the comparison to Leon is interesting, because The Professional is a very good, but not great film, with some cartoonish elements to it, and it seems like Kick-Ass is trying for a similar tone; judging by the trailers. I’ll be in a better position to compare once I see Ass.
So what we’re saying here is that we’re offended by a little girl killing mobsters and drug dealers?
Meh. Fair enough. I’m not, but I guess I can see why some might. To me it just works in the context of the movie, and the characters are really likeable thanks to the performances by the actors, but whatevs…
I’m prepared to lower my expectations when I go and see this in the next few days. What I want to know is, where are the truly subversive/shocking/revolutionary movies that are challenging the status quo? Where is this generations Network, the Wild Bunch, Taxi Driver, etc? Hollywood movies are tremendously conservative nowadays, and when they try to be bad-ass, it just highlights how far we’ve fallen since the cinema of the 70’s. There are thousands of fun, stupid movies that are made every year. But nobody wants to make a movie that’s going to blow people’s minds anymore.
Um…I don’t think that your comment had anything to do with what he said. he DID NOT SAY that he wants every movie to change cinema. He is wondering where are the film that challenge the status quo. And I agree with him. Know one will give two shits about Kick Ass in a few months and that is fine with me.
I was hoping Kick-Ass would inspire you to join me in my crusade to protect the citizens of the western suburbs of Chicagoland. Maybe Elliott will join me.
I felt the Dark Knight was a benchmark movie for…well, not film in general but comic book films. That movie to me set a new high for the quality of comic book films. I feel with it’s success we’ll start seeing less “X-Men Origin: Wolverine” type movies. Hopefully movies like “Thor” and “The Avengers” will live up to TDK’s success.
So what does everyone think of the July bat-books?
Batman, Batman and Robin and The Return of Bruce Wayne. I cannot wait for this, I love love love Morrison and this is like a dream for me. Widening Gyre has been good and I really like Flanagan’s art. I loved Heart of Hush and SoG but it’s really upsetting me that Manhunter is dropped. That was a great ongoing and backup and now there’s no more Manhunter. Why does every book I love get cancelled? I have never read Birds of Prey or Simone title but I’ve heard she’s great so I’ll give this a try even though I hate Benes art.
I like Batman and Robin, I’m looking forward Batman #701 but Tony Daniel is on art so well see with #700 when Morrison starts writing if he can bring me back to the main Batman title, and I am also looking forward to Batman: Odyssey and that Red Hood mini by Judd Winink. But the one that I will definitely be picking up is Batman Beyond.
Yeah, for #700 Kubert and Quietly will also be providing art, so that will save it. I really like the writing style morrison did in R.I.P., but the art by u know who literally killed the book.
I can understand that when there was already Dark Knight Returns. But I enjoyed the series it was kind of a more kid friendly version of that story, and so I thought I would check it out, just to see what they plan on doing with the characters, like is this going to be a continuation of the original series, is it part of regular DC continuity, or are they going to go in a completely new direction. That’s just me.
I’m really looking forward to the Return of Bruce Wayne. I know Batman and Time Travel is a kinda odd mix…but dammit, I just really like time travel stories (Back to the Future and such), and Batman, so it looks appealing to me.
I actually recently read the “Morrison Batman Saga” in one sitting (Batman and Son, Black Glove, Batman RIP, Final Crisis, Batman and Robin #s 1-3 and 10), and…it actually starts to make a lot more sense than it might be if read over a number of years.
I got back on board with B & R with the adding of Cameron Stewart, the 2nd best take for this series..after Quitely of course.
Morrison who is top notch, I still question if he can pull off folding Bruce seemlessly back into Bat-continuity. At best the titles will be disjointed, at worst, there will be scarring that might take DC years to rectify.
I wonder if are you guys planning on doing a review of the Siege one shots? I’ve read Captain America and Young Avengers ones, they were pretty decent reads, but Siege Loki man, I have no words for it. I think I can go as far as to tell you it was godly (pun intended)! Really, it almost makes me glad that Siege exists, or else I would have not laid my eyes on that one book.
I agree with you. I didn’t think the siege tie-in’s were gonna be good, but I glimpsed thru the Loki pages and I thought it was a terrific one-shot. The writing at least. The art was really elementary.
The art did turn me down a bit too. Not that I think they were bad, mind you, but I felt it was a partial mismatch for the book’s tone and plot. Especially the colors, they were too high contrast, too bright and vivid for it.
No disrespect to Jose and Elliot, but they’re way off the mark on Kick-Ass. I saw it last night with pretty high expectations, and was totally blown away. Most fun I’ve had in the theaters since seeing the Dark Knight in IMAX. I’m in the minority that actually likes the comic, but even I admit that it’s pretty one dimensional and uneven.
The movie fixes all that. It keeps everything that’s good about the comic and makes them BETTER, and it discards everything that sucks from the comic and replaces it with cool stuff. The characters and story is given much more depth than what’s in the comic. Dave is a much more likeable and relatable character in the movie. Gone is the creepy stalking outside tennis clubs for 3 hours, gone is the racism, and instead we’re given a very endearing character. In the comics he explains his actions as “I’m bored and lonely and like superheroes, I’ll be one!” But in the movie he’s given much better reasons. There’s a scene early on absent from the comic where he and his friend are mugged while some bystander just walks away not helping him. This sickens Dave, and it’s really that attitude that inspires his cotumed antics. He’s later saving a guy from muggers, and when asked why he’s risking his life for a guy he doesn’t know he responds, “the 3 assholes laying into one guy while everyone else watches and you wanna know what my problem is? Yeah, I’d rather die!” With this aspect, instead of being a complete naive fool, he’s more like a teenage Rorschach with stupid courage.
They also completely changed the last half of it. The twists are gone, the final fight with D’Amico is really awesome and pumps you up (this is like an action masterpiece, probably the best action I’ve seen in a movie since maybe Hot Fuzz), the relationship with the girlfriend Katie is different (she’s a completely changed and much more likeable character in the movie). The stupid twist where “Omg Big Daddy isn’t a cop he’s a comic geek!” is gone. He really is a cop who was framed by Mark Strong. And the relationship with Hit Girl in the movie is so potent and nice to see, that when he dies in the movie (and it’s a pretty epic death scene), I actually felt SAD, because it wasn’t all for nothing. He’s still a nutcase for training his daughter to do this stuff…but you don’t really hate him for it. And a lot of that is thanks to the actors Nic Cage and Chloe Moertz, who really give top notch performances, as does everyone.
Matthew Vaughn should really be commended for what he achieved with this movie, and I’m not talking about just the movie itself, but the way he went about it. It was ballsy, especially when the movie is based on a comic that isn’t popular and has had pretty tepid reviews from readers and isn’t well known. Vaughn and Jane Goldman took a mediocre comic and made probably the best comic book movie I’ve personally seen. It really is the most entertaining one and even tops the likes of Dark Knight, X2: X-Men United, Iron Man, and Sin City, for me anyways.
I don’t think the Comic Culture Warriors gave this movie a fair shake, to trash it for months and then write it off just because it’s Mark Millar…I like you guys but that’s just not cool to me. This isn’t Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass, this is Matthew Vaughn (director of the awesome LAYER CAKE)’s Kick-Ass, they are two completely different entities. It’s a shame, because I like your guy’s show and would have genuinely liked to have heard your thoughts on the film. For what it’s worth I think you might be surprised by the movie, and that’s all I’ll say.
I am going to paste a comment here made by Morlock50 at the beginning of this thread in response to your comment. It pretty much sums up exactly what I would say to you:
“As someone who enjoyed the Kick Ass comics, I have to say that I am equaliy impressed with Ebert’s review. He kind of sums up the debate in the first line “Should I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool”. But please, what is this insane idea that you HAVE to see the film in order to have an opinion of it, like it’s a rule or something. Do I need to see Triumph of the Will before I can criticize it? No! Jose and Elliott looked at the trailers, read the source material, and saw how the film was marketed, and said “No thanks”. They choose not to spend their money and time on this product. I plan on seeing this movie at some point, but I think you Millar lovers need to chill out and relax. This isn’t the second coming of Citizen Kane, people! It’s another comic book adaptation, no more no less! Jesus.”
I thought Ebert’s review was pretty hypocritical, personally. I mean this is a dude who got his start writing softcore skin flicks, and he’s calling a movie morally reprehensible because it has a kid killing people. Yet, he’s praised other great films like Kill Bill and Leon and Taxi Driver, even though they all feature young girls in violent or sexual situations. I get why this might offend him in Kick-Ass, but basically his entire review just focuses on this Hit-Girl character and how offended he was by her existence in the movie. He barely even makes mention of other things in the movie, like the story and acting. I guess that’s just his opinion and he’s in the minority anyways, but Ebert sadly lost all credibility to me when he panned Quantum of Solace for the exact same elements he had praised Casino Royal for having.
I dunno man, it’s your call, but I think you’re missing out. The comparison to “Triumph of Will” is a bit silly to me, because that’s a racist propoganda film. This is just a fun, well written superhero flick.
The movie is vastly different from the source material like I explained, they are two completely different entities, so to not see it because of the comic isn’t a good reason.
And I on general principle don’t tend to trust marketing. Adventureland was marketed as “Superbad in a theme park!” but couldn’t have been further from the truth.
But that’s just my take on all that. I think it’s a shame you guys won’t give it a chance, but oh well. Keep up the good work on the show anyways! 😀
No matter what you think of the film’s quality, there is NOTHING sexual about Hit Girl..It sickens me that anyone could watch the film and leave thinking that
@colerothacker
I appreciate your ability to disagree without namecalling. But I used the “Triumph of the Will” movie as an extreme example to prove a point; that you can get enough information about a film beforehand to decide whether you want to spend money to see it or not. In this age of spoiler-filled red band trailers, you can practically see a third of the movie online, without having to spend $10 at the theater. Let’s take the comic book source material out of it and focus on the trailer for a second. Hit Girl (a memorable but supporting character in the book) is obviously front and center in all the trailers; to the point that you would think the story was about her. She’s talking tough, dropping “fucks” and “cunt” in the red band trailer, and is shown slicing and dicing nameless henchmen. In short, she is portrayed as a bad-ass ninja, in the Electra school of superheroines. In the background, some chick (Joan Jett?) is singing about having a “bad reputation” to a punk-rock beat. This movie is marketing itself as 2010’s version of Elvis swinging his hips on the Ed Sullivan show; a shocking, extreme, visual spectacle that is going to break all the rules and scare the cultural elite. Elsewhere, the Kick-Ass dude is posing in front of a mirror, doing his interpretation of Deniro’s “Are you talking to me” line–a brief homage to Taxi Driver, which was a truly kick-ass movie that changed the way we all viewed cinema. I just watched a video where the Kick-Ass actors are “responding” to the Ebert(which is really lame-ass to begin with; the Ebert review is exactly the kind of response you should be going for if you’re going to make this kind of movie). They all are saying “Oh, the fim has an R rating” and “We actually toned down the film violence compared to the comic book” and this really rubs me the wrong way. I would have more respect for the filmmakers if they kept in everything from the comic book and released this with an X rating; I’m not saying I would want to see it, or it would be a better movie, but it would show me that they were taking the hype seriously and were reaching for greatness. The bottom line is, they marketed this as being an extreme viewing experience, and if I decide, based on the trailer, that this movie is going to suck, it’s the fault of the people marketing the movie IMHO, because a trailer is supposed to advertise exactly the experience you’re going to get at the movie.
But still the thing about the marketing…..I really don’t think the movie should suffer because of mediocre marketing. There are so many movies today that are just marketed a certain way to get people in seats…I few recent examples I can think of is Adventureland. That film really suffered from the marketing. Watching the trailer you’d think it was almost a sequel to Superbad set in a theme park, neurotic Michael Cera-type protagonist, Bill Hader and Kirstin Wiig being funny and loud, nerdy friends, dick and fart joke type humor. Couldn’t have been farther from the truth- the film was tonally almost completely different from Superbad, it was more like a modern day John Hughes flick. The marketing impeded the viewing experience for a lot of the audience- I know personally, walking out, people were really baffled by the lack of Superbadness- and as a result the movie underperformed. I think Kick-Ass probably has this same problem with the focus on Hit Girl and the wanton violence and the usage of cunt and fuck.
It’s just me, but I think to truly judge a movie fairly you have to see at least some of the final product. But that’s the only thing I really disagree witcha there, pally 😀
Were you talking about Morlock’s comment D? Because, personally, I loved it. Probably one of my favorite comments I have ever gotten on here. But you know…that’s just my opinion.
Brubaker and Eaglesham are both working on a Steve Rogers Mini. The story will be about Steve’s new role in the Marvel and his hero name is now “Super Soldier”. This mini starts in July.
Diamond is thinking about moving new Comic day to Tuesday.
Bendis has Announced Ulitmate Mystery, the Follow up to Ultimate Enemy.
Roger Langridge and artist Chris Samnee are working on a Marvel Adventures Mini about Thor. It will be called Thor: The Mighty Avenger.
Mike Mignola Announced a new Witchfinder Series which will deal with the West.
Tuesday is a bad idea, excited for Steve mini, sad Eaglesham is leaving FF for this, pumped for Who tonight, pondering what Fantastic Three is all about.
I’m seeing a lot of complaints about Brightest Day #0 having no resolution, just serving up as an ad for the upcoming titles…But really, that’s exactly what it was supposed to be! It’s not like they could give away much more when #1 hasn’t even hit the shelves
It wasn’t great but I enjoyed it, and it was nice and heavy (40 pages or something?), it didn’t feel like I was reading a bunch of previews tacked together like those Dark Reign one shots that came out after Secret Invasion, even though it was basically the same thing as that
Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, Secret Avengers, and now Captain America: Patriot. I feel like Marvel’s doing what they’ve done to Iron Man, Deadpool, and Wolverine and just flood the market with books because of the movie that is attached.
I love Marvel and all but I’ve just lately been having Marvel Fatigue…basically started when the announced all 136 Avengers titles they’ll be starting. I don’t even buy Marvel comics anymore, I just get trades.
Not even S.H.I.E.L.D. because that is a good book and I don’t think people should be waiting for the trade on that one. I know it’s just one issue in but I like the unique takes on the Marvel U. I like when Kirkman takes high concept science fiction ideas like he did with Pax Romana, Transhuman, and Red Mass for Mars and apply them in a mainstream comic. Me personally I enjoyed the Nightly News but thats beside the point. I agree with you just so many comic titles it is rediculous I just hope that this “Heroic Age” brings some change to the quality of the books NOT quantity.
Nic Cage has a minor role in this film as a surfer dude.In version I saw back in the day, in the end credits he’s named Nicolas Coppola.Ok, I admit I’m buzzed on cheap beer.I’ll lay off the Cage factoids…
Hey guys, I am off to eat some lunch…and perhaps take in a viewing of Kick Ass. Haven’t decided for certain about that second part yet. I’ll check back in later tonight. Mind the store for me while I’m out, would ya?
Also don’t forget about the new episode of Doctor Who tonight.
My rule of thumb for that kind of situation is to answer the three questions. Do I have spare money? Do I have spare time? Am I going to do anything in that time anyway? Dunno for anyone else, but it totally works for me. Okay, I am lying, nowadays I also roll a dice or I do any other random stuff to get ‘Fortuna’s opinion’ but that is me and I am crazy 😛
all you americian lads will definately enjoy it especially victory of the daleks. And jose you will enjoy kick ass nicolous cage was the best in it. he is finnally cool again. wish i could say the same for luke cage
yeah and nic cage does a fantastic impression of Adam west’s batman from the 60’s and definateley is the funniest in the movie plus he does (and i know this is cheesy but) he kicks ass!
yeah the way he’s scraming through the pain and then sort of whispers to hit girl it’s funny and moving also he does a brillant job of shooting people in the face and he portrays the sick relationship between him and his daughter so well and is a lot better than ghost rider
Yeah man, Ghost Rider was soooo bad. But not really because of Cage, the script and direction were just so…bland and terrible.
But he’s great in Kick-Ass. lol, what does he scream when he’s on fire tho? I heard it’s like, “Take cover child! Switch to kryptonite! Go to Robin’s Revenge!” Which, if true, is pretty funny and cool.
I’m glad he seems to be making comeback. I’ve always liked him (Adaptation is my third favorite movie), but people have been down on him as of late. I just saw Bad Lieutenant and thought he was BRILLIANT in it, and now Kick-Ass, and that Apprentice movie looks like it could be cool…he’s on the rise.
yeah he was brillant in lord of war and even though he has 5 or 6 films out this year he is devinately on the up. is was dead funny every line when he was being big daddy plus red mist was amazing but every time he said anything all i could hear was I AM MCLOVIN. as well as aaron johnson as kick ass his emotion was displayed even though all you could see was his ps sorry i’m taking so long i’m watching anchorman on dvd.
what a fantastic nerdy thing to do he should have another son call him Bruce and a daughter called Diana and the keep going calling his children all sorts of comic book type names and then get an entire justice league goin
If there’s one thing CERTAIN about Kick-Ass, it’s that Nick Cage is the greatest Batman of all time. He’s the only thing I liked about it. His acting alone would make me wanna see it twice actually. But yeah, if your thinking about not wanting to spend money you could always play heavy rain! 🙂
At least your guaranteed some decent writing with HR.
From reading the slew of comments above, I think you guys have just sold me on going to see Kick Ass. And I wasn’t going to. At all.
I’m not expecting cinematic glory, just a bit of fun, so maybe I’ll get my money’s worth???
So let him. Everyone involed with this movie deserves all the praise they get. They worked hard and it’s paying off. They made a great movie. Vaughn at the very least does, because this dude has potential to be one of the great directors of this generation.
Man I’m sorry if I bugged you, but I just liked the movie quite a bit. I get a bit carried away with movies I like a lot 🙂
But for the record…Mark Millar is not the one who is getting the praise here for this movie. He’s just the exec producer, yeah he helped make some desicions for the movie, but it’s all Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman’s show. I’m on THEIR knobs, and I think they deserve all the success they get, not just because they made a good movie, but the way they did. Raised all the money, made outside the studio system, ekpt their artistic vision, hyped it up at Comic-Con…I think it’s really cool and inspiring, is all.
I mean Bendis did write good once upon a time… is it so far-fetched to think he’ll never go back to his torso roots? IDK. I’ll wait till they release some preview pages to see what were getting into. But so far from the art, I’m not entirely saddened. Its over-the-top but I kinda like it. I just think his “don’t want politics involved” is a bad choice. I think the more detailed writing gets the more personal it gets and the more relate-able it can be. But that’s just me…
i’ll be honest i really enjoyed when the first new avengers got together then after cival war when it became luke cage and guests i got really bored and then secret invasion came along ugg what a waste f time and money dan slott wrote the mighty avengers so much better during dark reign and fraction’s iron man 100 times better than when bendis had him in new and mighty avengers!
I see what you mean. He’s not the worst writer, he just gets really lazy. I think when he’s more focused he can do good. He just takes on SO many titles and well puts little thought in them. But, I like Alex’s artwork for Scarlet but I just feel like I’m getting excited for something that’ll just end up being more Bendis Trash… 😦
i think after ultimate spider man joe quesada thought he this bendis guy is good lets just let him rewrite the entire marvel universe and have mark millar pop in to do a good story (old man logan) and a bad one (ultimate comics avengers) the odd time and let ed brubaker kill off captain america a bring him back in a shity mini series a few years later.
Did I ever mention how much I love this movie, I saw it when it first came out in the the 80’s in the theater. It was one of the those what the fuck did I just see moments that has stuck with me for the rest of my life.
After reading the comments about Kick Ass I want to ask when did watching a movies became about making cinematic history, or teaching you a valuable life lesson? I thought movies were about entertainment and having fun, if the movie gave you a couple of laughs shouldn’t that be enough.
Yes that can be enough, but it can also be a shallow experience. The really great films DO evoke those profound emotions, do enrich you with “life lessons”.
I don’t think anyone’s going to confuse Kick Ass for one of those, though. But more power to you if you get a kick out of Kick Ass. Escapism can be a virtue as well. I don’t think anyone’s trying to say that it’s invalid to enjoy the movie on its own merits.
Why shouldn’t filmmakers strive to make cinematic history? 99% of genre movies strive to be mediocre; all I ask is that every 2 to 3 years, a movie come along to blow my hair back? Am I asking too much?
I still like it, but I saw it like 4 times in theaters so…not like AS enthusiastic about it anymore, but I still like it. I’m looking forward to Batman 3.
The Dark Knight and Avatar are both overrated. But the thing is tho, The Dark Knight is a classic. Avatar just sucked. I was watching it and trying not to fall asleep in the theatre. I swore Bendis wrote that movie it was so boring.
I think he might me while TDK is overrated, it’s still a good movie, whereas Avatar is overrated but is actually just really bad and is only popular because of the special effects and 3D and James Cameron.
The real achievement is when a film both entertains and makes history. Those are the ones we remember…those are the Star Wars and Raiders. I don’t think filmmakers ever really set out to make something mediocre, even if it is just a “genre” film. It just turns out that way FAR too often.
Yeah, exactly, I agree. I don’t think Transformers 2 MEANT to be a terrible piece of crap, it was just made by inept filmmakers and writers and actors 🙂 I don’t think Avatar MEANT to be an overblown borefest, James Cameron just had his head so far up his ass he didn’t notice he was a terrible screenwriter 😉
What’s going to be better? The Losers, The A-Team, or The Expendables? Usually Hollywood will only have 2 of a similar film at the same time(Volcano & Dante’s Peak, Deep Impact & Armageddon, Hostel & Because Of Winn Dixie), but this is the first time that I can remember where 3 similar movies are coming out in the same movie season.
No, no, no. It was because of someone else. Nothing to do with your comment. Your comment was a “casualty” due to me making some changes. Sorry about that Smartass.
No problem. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t say something that could be misconstrued as me trying to start some shit. Sometimes it’s hard to read a person’s intent without hearing the inflection in their voice or seeing the look on their face.
BTW, is there a list somewhere where I can find what emoticons I can use on this site? I discovered 8) by accident, but I feel like such a tool always using “LOL!” since I don’t know any other symbols to show the intent of some of my posts.
Not to change the subject, but right now I’m listening to Ginger Baker’s drum on Toad, and I’m thinking, this is one of the greatest pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Cream fucking rocks! Just thought I’d share. Carry on.
I’m off to walk my dogs, get a late night snack, and settle down to watch Doctor Who from 1:00AM(central) to 3:00AM on BBC America. God I need to get a new girlfriend!!!
I haven’t seen kick-ass but i saw Defendor, I think it did what kick ass was trying to do, bring a superhero into our world. It was ok, but nothing to write home about.
To continue the Kick-Ass discussion, I’d just like to give a couple of examples of movies that take risks and have a renegade spirit. I think you guys know by now that I’m not a gore fan, but I can tolerate extreme violence if it serves the story, or is depicted in an artistic way.
*The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover:
Directed by Peter Greenaway and staring Helen Mirren. Pretentious, a bit too long, but filled with unbelievable imagery that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. An allegory (allegedly) of British politics set in a diner, with enough sex and violent scenes to earn an NC-17 when it came out. Harsh, uncompromising, and yet weirdly poetic at the same time. See it once and you’ll never forget it.
*Audition:
Directed by Takashi Miike. A torture porn movie that’s actually scary! This is the movie that Hostel wished to be. A widow sets up a fake movie audition, so he can date the prettiest actress at the casting call. The girl he picks is…not what she seems. One of the greatest tonal shifts I’ve ever seen in a film from funny to sweet to creepy to Fangoria. Fantastic.
Loved Audition. I watch so many horror movies that when one actually comes around that truly creeps me out it is instant win in my book. The tonal shift you mention was incredible. The movie starts out like some romantic comedy and when the tone shifts it slaps you right across the face.
It is experiences like this that mean the most to me be it a film, book, television show or comic. To give into the wants and desires of the mass market means to live in mediocrity. Even though all these forms of art are meant to entertain, they can also be used as tools to challenge us. The more something makes me think the more I enjoy it. I think that may be an outlook that just comes with growing older and maturing…but not in all cases mind you.
Gotta say, I was so excited for Audition cause my friends hyped the shit out of it and as an artistic film I enjoyed it but as a horror film I feel asleep… Really. It was so boring thru-out most of it. But the overall plot of it was really cool and had some great lines no doubt.
Sorry you didn’t like it, Mike F. For me, it was truly one of best horror films I ever saw; right up there with Exorcist and Shining. It has the kind of pace that I think works best in horror films; slow build up of creepiness for 2/3rds and the shocking gore at the finish. Much more disturbing and scary than the massive body count of the 80’s slasher movies.
I definitely prefer it over slasher flicks. Actually I prefer it over a lot of other movies, I just couldn’t help feeling distracted several times thru out. It gets a little too quiet and too slow for me to remember i’m watching a movie. But Great lines, great actors and all that. And the director is great too. This was just one of my least favs by him.
Exactly. I watched it with a couple of my friends (after I’d seen it) and didn’t tell them it was a horror movie. When the shit started going down the look on their faces were priceless.
That’s why it would be cool to be a critic where every once in awhile you might end up seeing a movie in a long day of screenings where you know nothing about it until you start watching it. I can’t tell you how many Katherine Heigl movies I’ve had ruined due to the trailers spoiling too many things.
I’m a fan of crime/noir comics and movies. And two films that I enjoyed were Chopper, Bronson, and one I’m looking forward to is Harry Brown with Michael Caine going all Death Wish. You can see why Kick-Ass did nothing for me.
I know Chopper and Bronson deal with basicly the same themes of these being violet people but their so well done and compelling they suck you into the story. That just didn’t happen to me with Kick-Ass.
I hear they’re doing a second volume of Incognito before they get back to doing more. There might have been talk of a third project preceding more Criminal as well. Can’t remember. At any rate, it is prolly Bru’s best stuff and I wish I could afford to buy the hardcover omnibus.
How come Elliott never puts his two cents in on this blog? I know he does the Youtube channel comments section, but that one is heading downhill fast from what I gather. And I never comment on there. I don’t like their setup.
Ya, you tube it sucking it lately. Elliott does post on here but rarely comments. He has his own blog to look after and I think he kinda sees this one as being mine…but he shouldn’t. Plus he is a lot busier than I am am so that’s why you may not see him on here as often.
Well, I guess things are pretty tepid around here at the moment. I’ll have to check back in about half an hour to see if any new comments have shown up. Sigh…anybody who reads this can check out my blog at http://littlekingryan.wordpress.com or simply click my username. Yes, another shameless plug. Just tryin’ to get some hits.
Either The Heroic Age is going to be a bust(at least critically) or my hatred for JoeyQ’s Marvel has just become bigger than it ever was. I’ve grown to hate Marvel(“7 Years In The Making”) but some of their past announcements at conventions or online have peaked my interest enough to either momentarily drop my “no Marvel Comics” ban or at least flip through them at my local comic store. So far, none of these Heroic Age reveals or anything mentioned at C2E2 have me curious at all. It just seems like the same old crap but only more of it.
Rest assured it’s mostly crap, but there are little nuggets of golden corn within that heaping pile.
Gorilla-man gets his own mini,Fraction on Thor, Bru on Secret Avengers (Yet I will not touch anything Avengers) Agents of Atlas gets another go. So for me there are things I’m interested in hell SHIELD by Hickman Jesus H. Christ that was good.
Ok if nothing else read SHIELD by Jonathan Hickman, it is not, I repeat not a MARVEL book (In the best sense of the word) this is pure Nightly News, Transhuman J. Hickman only in the MU.
I like Parker a lot but I’d be more apt to buy his book if it was an Icon book or separated from the current Marvel “continuity”. After reading the first 2 issues of Casanova and his first Iron Man trade, I’m not a Fraction fan. While I liked Brubaker’s Cap a lot, I hated Cap Reborn and I heard his run on Uncanny proved he’s about as bad on team books as Bendis(I’m not an X-Man fan so I never read it). I’m curious about Hickman with all of this CCW praise but SHIELD sounds too League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen to me and, except for The Thing and the heroes/villains spun out of their book, I’ve never been a big FF guy.
I was wondering what my other fellow CCW citizens thought about the “return of bruce wayne” event.
Now, any other year I’d go crazy for Grant writing Batman (except with Tony) but right now I’m saying tired from all these events, I am just not interested…
Anyone else feel like events are too crowded these days?
Am I the only person on here who thinks Grant Morrison is a tad overrated? He’s mostly fine, but I feel he doesn’t do very well in panel to panel transitions. Like I sometimes I just feel like the story isn’t flowing. And it’s not the artist because I feel this way no matter who’s penciling his work. Sometimes I have to go back and re-read the page again because I’m not quite sure what’s going on.
I usually feel this way during action scenes. His character scenes are where he shines.
Yeah your right. There are times when it feels like you skipped a page cause he can get a little rushing at times. I mean he’s not the DCU Messiah, I see your point, but he’s usually a fun writer with dialogue and narratives. I think I might pass on the Return of BW event. I don’t find the plot interesting, a hero hiding in time? Its just not for me… But I’ll stick wtih Batman and Robin until he closes it.
Nope, he’s not overrated. When that sumbitch is On, he is On, but when he’s off Morrison can be a chore.
About a year ago I reread his whole 7soldiers story and the guy is certified genuis and I hated 7soldiers the first time around, but in one big chunk, damn it was marvelous in it’s pure joy of comicbook lunacy.
He’s a madman a weirdo and possibly a druggie but one thing you can’t say about the guy is he is not talented.
Man, I’m kind of burned out on event leading into event leading into the megaevent we’ve all been waiting seven years for also. I’m not really all that enthused about the Return of Bruce Wayne b/c it’s just seems like such a predictable course of events. Now i’m not sure exactly how it’s going to occur, of course, and I guess that’s the attraction for most people, but I agree with you Mike F I’m just not that into it. I just don’t care that much. And if they have a middling-to-bad artist on it (is Daniel drawing it? you can see how much attention i’ve given the thing) then there’s no way I’m buying it. I might read a copy, but my money is going toward supporting more worthwhile and frankly, more deserving efforts.
Excatly I think the root of my dislike for Morrison’s run on Batman is centered squarely on Tony Daniel’s art along with the Final Crisis overlap of Batman:RIP.
Now if Quitely was drawing Return, you’d have yourself a deal. But I’m not familiar with the artists on it, except for Stewart, and he’s on for one issue.
I might see the Losers next week…or I might buy comics. I kinda gotta alternate every week on what I spend money on. Usually it’s between groceries/a dvd, comics, and movie theater. This weekend was a movie theater weekend.
After seeing the first Doctor Who episode of the new series (which is all I’ve seen) I don’t think I’ve ever been that into the show as much as I am now. I came in towards the end of Tennant’s run with Donna and said he will forever be “my” Doctor, or at least I thought. Matt Smith has a long way to go but I love the whole kind of restart button feeling that this new series has. New T.A.R.D.I.S! New sonic screwdriver! I will be completely & honest and say that my main reason for tuning in was Amy Pond. Jaw on floor is all I will add to that.
I think the very end of the episode when the Doctor tells the aliens to “basically run”, I was fully sold on Smith as the new Doctor.
I know I wasn’t the only one who had a huge smile on his face when the Doctor was looking into the new Tardis and said “oh you sexy thing”, that was a moment.
“Basically run” sold me on the series as well. Not Smith as the new doctor, but the series itself. I have no prior knowledge of the actors who’ve embodied the character previous. But as a Who virgin, that line made me realize what a badass the Doctor could really be, all evidence to the contrary.
Heh heh, that little hologram with all the past doctors coming up and all the aliens they defeated sent me a bit giddy. Made me want to get all the DVD releases of the old stuff, especially stuff like the Sea Demons or the tomb on mars stuff
That does sum up the Doctor in two words and if Smith couldn’t get that right he couldn’t make it as the Doctor. I have to ask, what evidence to the contrary do you know of?
Just that he seems like a foppish, somewhat scatterbrained kind of guy. Not the person you’d expect to have lived over 600 yrs (or whatever it is) and have saved the universe countless times.
I’m sad they got rid of the old Tardis…let’s be honest that it is one of the few things had remaining that echoed back to the old show. I watched most of Tennant’s run and I know everyone around here seems to be all about the new girl but I think his relationship with Rose was the best.
I never knew anything about Doctor Who until Tennent, so I can’t sympathize with the nostalgia. I thought the old Tardis was great, but I like the new one too. The only problem I have with the new one is the new glass piece that’s in the center. It’s not as good as the older one. I also never really got to experience his relationship with Rose. But Rose was the de facto main character until she left. She remained when the Doctor changed. But she’s gone and I kind of get a little bit of what everyone else got when they rebooted the series in the new actors.
According to estimates, Kick-Ass is coming in at under $20 million for its first weekend. Considering it’s an R-Rated movie, that doesn’t make it an utter failure, but with all of the supposed buzz and the predictions of at least $25 million, it is definitely looked at as a disappointment. How soon before Millar spins this?
“Wow, turns out when you pull the racism, misogyny and nihilism out of a Mark Millar story*, you get a pretty fun movie. Kudos to Vaughn for directing the hell out of it, and giving it heart.
*Or, in short, when you pull Mark Millar’s writing out of a Mark Millar story …”
Did you look at the comments section of that BleedingCool story? A poster brought up this story about JoeyQ…
A perfect example of this is when a fan asked Quesada if would consider hiring Dave Cockrum (who was sick at the time) to do some X-Men work for them. Quesada responded to the fan by saying that Cockrum’s work “would not appeal to today’s comic book readers”. He then went on describing how this was Darwinism and that eventually all artists work would cease to be appealing to fans (including his own). Talk about being disrespectful, not to mention cold hearted. Ironically (or is it a case of Karmic justice) DAREDEVIL:FATHER which Quesada wrote and drew was negatively received by many fans (especially the art) and under performed on the sales chart.
…If that’s true, he’s even a bigger scumbag than I thought. There are other tacky comments about “the house without ideas” in the comments section of that article as well. Everytime I even think about picking up a Marvel Comic, I just think of the meanspirited & classless things JoeyQ, Brevoort, Bendis, and Alonso have said & done. I’m not saying those at other companies are saints. I’ve heard plenty of rumors about Didio, McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Waid, and James Robinson(among others), but it seems like the bad stuff involving Marvel aren’t just rumors but actual statments made by the “talent” themselves without a hint of guilt or embarassment. I know I shouldn’t care what those in charge say or do as long as I like some of the books they put out, but they’re still rewarded in the long run if I keep buying their company’s books.
Disney can’t do springcleaning fast enough. If they ever do get around to doing this, I just hope they keep Parker, Slott, and maybe Gage around. Hell, Slott seems to have the encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel Universe that Brevoort supposedly does but he comes off as a nice guy who actually takes pride in his work.
Ugh. That’s such a disgusting thing to say about Cockrum. Fuck Quesada.
Wish I had the balls to tell him that when I met him last year. I had a few questions I wanted to fire at him. But when I finally got face to face, all I could think of to ask, “Hey, can I take a picture with you? Pretty please?”
Even though I’ve never seen you before cballsack(I refuse to look at ballsacks), I’m sure JoeyQ made you look even better looking by posing next to you for the picture. LOL! You’re also in good company by not telling him off to his face. According to Gail Simone, quite a few of Marvel’s talent had a problem with the whole Siege #3/Deadpool cover promotion but were afraid to say anything since Marvel’s the #1 comic company. At least our own Elliott isn’t worried enough about his next gig to tell Marvel to fuck off like he did a few months ago.
I love all of the comments attributed to Gail Simone in the comments section of that BleedingCool article. If I didn’t already like her work, I’d start buying it just due to the fact that she seems like a such a nice person as well as being a true professional. We know Rucka isn’t working at DC for the forseeable future and according to BleedingCool, Mark Bagley is going back to Marvel. I hope they don’t do anything to lose Simone(although from her comments, I doubt she’d go to Marvel).
Here’s the pic of me and Q-ball. This was at Bryant Park in NYC. It’s not much to look at, but eh, whatever. Pic’s quality is meh cuz it was taken with my phone. I still have a crappy RAZR.
You are a handsome man, cballsack. (Never thought I’d write that sentence.) Or maybe it just makes you look better because of that weirdo standing next to you. Kind of like when cute chicks hang around fat friends cause it makes em look even better by comparison.
Thank god Bagley is going back to Marvel. Good riddance. Ya, he may be a workhorse but the guy fucking sucks.
As for the Joey Q. comment about Cockrum…fucking hell. I had never heard that before and am very glad you brought that to my attention. At this moment I am seriously considering dropping ALL of my Marvel books until that fuck is gone as EIC. Except maybe Agent of Atlas. Looks like I have some soul searching to do before Wednesday.
I’ve read online several times that JoeyQ and Jemas basically had the attitude of “fuck all of the old fanboys if they don’t like our books” when they first came on board, but after Jemas left, that aggressive stance was calmed down a bit. How can I respect a guy who trashes his biggest competition in one of his first interviews after getting the job of EIC(the interview with the “DC is a limp dick pornstar” analogy), shits on talent, insults fans, and never admits any errors or shows any humilty at all. I think JoeyQ might be a bigger asshole than John Byrne(he definitely has less talent).
John Byrne. Now there’s a guy whose star has faded. Once the most popular man in comic books.
I’ve been reading some of his Star Trek comics lately. They’re not bad. He can still write some corny dialogue, but his stories are always good. I just wish he’d get an inker. Byrne is his own worst inker. And his artistic style has never matured. If anything, it’s gotten worse, unlike guys like Sal Buscema or John Romita, Jr., whose work looks so much different than it did a couple decades ago.
Agreed, Byrne is a terrible inker of his own stuff, he needs Terry Austin back stat. In fact looking back at the old Uncanny X-men stuff one has to wonder how much was Byrne and how much was Austin.
You may be waiting a long time for that to happen.
I don’t think Bagley sucks. He’s by no means the greatest artist in the world, but eh, his stuff’s alright. I prefer his “classic” style of page layouts to a lot of the hip, popular artists of today with panels all over the place.
I’m sorta with you cballsack. I was never the biggest Bagley fan when he was on Ultimate Spider-Man, but I found his art had its charm(although everyone seems to have big Disney eyes). It was actually cool to see his take on DC’s characters when he first left Marvel. While him leaving isn’t going to make me lose any sleep, I definitely wouldn’t be upset if he stayed.
Jose, how do you feel about Finch? I forget if I’ve ever heard your opinion of him since I started coming here.
I can appreciate what Finch does. He is a good artist but his style does not appeal to me in the least. All of his Brightest Day covers that I have seen so far are terrible. His style does not mesh well with the “Brightest Day” concept. His art is the exact opposite of what the tone of Brightest Day should be in my opinion.
I agree. He has some talent(although he has trouble giving characters distinct faces), but he’s not my type of artist and he definitely doesn’t fit with what DC is doing with Brightest Day. I hate how he’s given Aquaman the pinecone armor(I know it’s supposed to be scales but it doesn’t like it to me) that Marvel currently uses on Cap. I’d be curious to see what he could do on a Batman book, but if he goes back to Marvel tomorrow, I wouldn’t care at all.
I respect Finch as well.This weekend I was re-reading some old single issues of Ultimate X-Men (I know it’s a Bendis comic,don’t get mad at me) and I really enjoyed the how clean and distinct it looked compared to rushed and murky work he started doing on New Avengers a couple years later.
I like Finch a lot. And his style shouldn’t appeal to me at all since I’m generally not a fan of this new wave of art style, but I think he’s extremely talented. Definitely in my top 5 of comic book artists working today.
And he’s a workhorse, too. I cannot name a Mahnke book that has been late, at least anytime in the recent past, though maybe there have been some (?). The man even comes in and helps finish Final Crisis when J.G. Jones craps out. A special size GL #50? Check. All on deadline. This is the kind of artist who I consider a real professional. None of this eight weeks to finish a single book bullshit for me, please.
All that said, Is he right for Brightest Day? Probably, but I don’t want to see him off GL anytime soon.
J- I’m with you on the Finch not meshing well with “Brightest Day” as a concept. Finch has that tendency to over-render everything so that often his figures appear to have a rough, craggy texture, almost like stone statues. It works for Moon Knight. It’s okay for some X-Men stuff. But a Brightest Day should have a bit more cleaner, simpler style….good call.
Meh…you may have convinced me that songs about fistfucking can be decent but I will never be convinced that Bagley is “alright”. His art combined with the verbal diarrhea of James Robinson on JLA make it one the the WORST books ever produced. Let him go back to Marvel so they can put him on another book I could care less about so I don;t need to look at his “art” anymore.
I think Bagley needs work drawing faces. That’s his biggest fault. I kinda used to feel how you did about him, but I don’t know, the guy’s kinda grown on me a bit.
Bagley needs a really tight inker to sharpen up his art, someone like Terry Austin (last heard of working for Archie), Dan Green, Art Thibert. Otherwise his characters start looking like ghouls or old crones.
JLA 41 and 42 were better than the 4 issues that came before but its a title thats on life support at the moment. There was a report on bleeding cool from C2E2 that Robinson had 4 years of stories plotted out, I was hoping he’d be gone by #50 tbh. With the return of Bruce Wayne and also with Hal and Barry now back a Big 7 JLA title (maybe helmed by Grant Morrison?) would seem logical as the big DC event of 2011
Good call on inkers for Bagley, Locus. I’ve never been a fan of Bags myself (I hated it when he replaced Larsen on ASM way back in the day and maybe I still hold a little grudge), but you were right that his art greatly improves depending on his finisher. Just look at the pic Cball posted above: http://www.gtfyweb.com/media/marv/Misc/Bagleyart.jpg Inked by Thibert.
Now I really like that picture of Bagley’s that littlekingryan* posted. Depending on the inker, I’ve found Bagley’s art has grown on me over the years.
Yeah, Smartass, I noticed the Cockrum quote too. Quesada is a total fucking douchebag. I’d put old school artists like Cockrum, Busema, Romita, Perez, Kane, Adams, and Byrne (before he fell the fuck off) up against any of the “artists” of today. Who, besides possibly J.H. Williams is even in their weight class? Remember when comic book art actually looked like it belonged in a comic book, instead of hanging on a wall in a fucking museum?
I wouldn’t even go that far. I feel the “realistic” style that a lot of artists use these days is so bland, boring, and often times “traced”, I’d put more “old school” comic artists in a museum before 99.9% of the guys working today. Hell, even Samuel L. Jackson had the right idea about that in Unbreakable.
I wonder if there is a possible breaking point for any of JoeyQ’s biggest cheerleaders or the more aggressive Marvel Zombies? Even though there were a lot of Marvel fans who called “foul” about the Siege #3/Deadpool cover promotion, there were also plenty who said it was just business and/or a joke(although these are the same people who cry bloody murder if someone at DC does or says something even 1/10th as bad). I’ve gone back & forth with Marvel due to their, imo, drop in quality, disrespect to the fans & past stories, and general unprofessionalism, but that Cockrum story made me positive that I’ll never drop a single penny on a Marvel book until JoeyQ is gone. I’d do the same thing if I heard Didio, Chris Ryall, Mike Richardson, or Erik Larsen say something similar.
I just started watching the CCW videos from the beginning. I got to the second one and Jose was joking about a scene from “Big” that bothered him by the way Tom Hanks tossed around his comics. I was curious as to what type of comic guys are out there in the CCW Nation. Do you bag & board everything? Do you treat comics like magazines that you either pass on to a friend, save without bagging, or just throw away/recycle when you’re done? Do you do both of these things depending on the book?
Oh my god, that’s sooooo funny! I knew there had to be other comic book fans out there who winced at that scene! I’ll never forget sitting there as a teenager in the theater watching him slap his girlfriend with the comics, mentally crying out, “Hey, don’t throw them around like that!!!”
Man, I can’t even watch those old episodes without throwing up in my mouth a bit. That scene did bother me in Big when I was younger but not so much anymore. I haven’t bagged or boarded my comics in over 10 years. I just throw them into long boxes.
I used to bag and board some stuff, but I never did that with everything. Over the years, I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the comics that were worn out and pretty much stopped bagging and boarding the rest. I still occasionally take good care of some comics that I feel I might be able to sell(I have the black & white Mouse Guard comic that was printed by ComixPress) or others that I happen to like, but more often than not, they’re either unbagged & stacked, given to a friend, or recylced. Even though some may see that as a waste of money in the long run or the destruction of an objet de’art, most comics aren’t going to be worth much more than a magazine or newspaper you buy, and paper isn’t meant to last for years & years anyway. I’m actually sort of happy that I haven’t kept every single comic I’ve ever bought. Considering I’ve been reading them since the early 80’s, I’d have thousands of long boxes and I’d look like some kind of horder.
I bag and board a small amount of my older comics but for anything from the last 10 years (I pretty much gave away everything from 1992-99 to charity shops) I put them in large plastic containers like this http://www.buy4now.ie/woodiesdiy/productdetail.aspx?pid=8758&loc=P&catid=9.5 , they are relativitly airtight and secure and a stack of them occupy one side of the freezer room.
I’ve only been collecting weeklies and singles for like 3 years…I’ve been reading comics since like 2002, but I started just getting trades and stuff. I bad and bord them now, but it’s pretty expensive, so I’m thinking of just quitting that.
I know I’m a nerd, but I bag and board most everything (granted, I don’t buy that much stuff). I have a spinner rack I display my new purchases and favorite covers in and it protects them from random spillings, projectile vomiting, etc. Or at least that’s how I justify it to myself.
I bag and board some stuff, but most of my comics just get shoved into long boxes. When I start getting too many boxes piled up I’ll pass on, or sell the stuff that I don’t really care about anymore. But I like to keep the good stuff for reference or re-reads. I never bag my trades, makes them look like shit on the bookshelf.
I have two longboxes. One completely filled with old singles that I know I’ll reread, the other for stuff from the last five years or so. The rest I read and toss.
“After careful consideration, I have decided I want to leave this world the same fucking way I came into it…Naked, screaming and covered in someone else’s blood!”
The Asylum Street Spankers, my favorite band in the world, did a really cool rendition of this song. I was gonna post it but it got yanked off Youtube due to some copyright infringement… the bastards.
The CCW*TV Companion Blog 
J.
you still awake?
Great fight scene and great movie Ashaman.
J.
I’m watching The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Long title, long movie, but I find it poetic and haunting. One of my favorite films to watch after I’ve had a few beers. I think Pitt’s performance as James is one of his best. An underrated movie? What do you guys think?
Never saw it but have been meaning to.
J.
Well, if you enjoy films which dwell on subtle emotions, rely on oblique, intuitive characterizations which require an audience to bring something of their own to the interpretation of events, and have complex, often contradictory character studies, it may be right up your alley. You may also enjoy the Coen Brothers’ latest, A Serious Man.
That does sound like something I may enjoy. A Serious Man is another movie I need yet to see but really want to. I am a fan of the Coen Brother’s.
J.
What did you think of Burn After Reading?
I liked it quite a bit but I believe I am in the minority opinion on that (yet again). I thought everyone in it was great , especially Pitt.
Speaking of minority opinions, people have been whining in our youtube comments about us “hating on” Mark Millar. This pleases me to no end. It’s one of the many reasons I rarely read our youtube comments anymore.
J.
Let them hate. It would be both patronizing and downright dishonest if you were to kowtow to popular opinion simply for the sake of making yourself (seem) more likable. Honesty is key, integrity is hard to come by these days, and your unrelenting refusal to hedge your views to please the group at large is what makes your point of view valid and valuable. I wouldn’t give up on reading the youtube responses, though. Take them as an indication of just how impactful an informed and well-stated, if unpopular, opinion can be. Just don’t humor them by responding.
Well, since I HAVE been drinking I did respond…with snide remarks bordering on insults. Oops! 🙂
J.
I may have to go check that out. Always entertaining.
It was on out last LAST RANTS where we talk about the Kick Ass and Scott Pilgrim trailers.
J.
Did you just go post those responses a bit ago?
Jose, youtube officially sucks! I tried to post under that video, and now it’s not accepting the post! ARGH! Anyways, he is the response I would have posted:
“As someone who enjoyed the Kick Ass comics, I have to say that I am equaliy impressed with Ebert’s review. He kind of sums up the debate in the first line “Should I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool”. But please, what is this insane idea that you HAVE to see the film in order to have an opinion of it, like it’s a rule or something. Do I need to see Triumph of the Will before I can criticize it? No! Jose and Elliott looked at the trailers, read the source material, and saw how the film was marketed, and said “No thanks”. They choose not to spend their money and time on this product. I plan on seeing this movie at some point, but I think you Millar lovers need to chill out and relax. This isn’t the second coming of Citizen Kane, people! It’s another comic book adaptation, no more no less! Jesus.”
I noticed on your blog you had some Jimmy Cheung art posted. He was at C2E2 today too.
J.
I really dig his stuff. Wish he wasn’t just doing Secret Warriors covers now. He needs to get back on interiors with Allen Heinberg on Young Avengers. His work has that quintessential “Marvel” feel to it, for me, almost like a descendent of John Romita or even the Buscemas, though not in an obvious way. Just very clear, solidly constructed work with an ever-evolving sense of sophistication in his linework. I hope you got to say a few words to him, or at least check out the no doubt beautiful work he had on display.
Cheung has really evolved from his beginnings on titles like X-Force (i believe he worked on that) to become one of my favorite artists working today.
Did you hear that Kickass only made like five and a half million in the UK? This pleases me to no end.
Schadenfreude.
That’s in pounds dude. It made about 12 or 13 million USD in Britain, which is pretty good for there. Obviously that’s small potatoes to the US…but Britain is much smaller.
Burn After Reading was sooooooooooooooo boring. God. I turned it off after like 40 minutes.
You really need to start watching quality flicks, like the one I watched yesterday: Dance Of The Dead.
Wow, good one. I almost thought you were serious there for a moment.
We’re going to the prom to kick some zombie ass.
LOL
I’ve seen Dance of the Dead. Was it decent? Yes. Will I ever see it again? Probably not. But I did enjoy it for what it was.
J.
Well I guess I’m in the minority as well. I loved Burn after Reading, but I would have to say that John Malkovich was the best in the movie.
I loved it when he sunk that hatchet into Richard Jenkins’ head near the end of the film.
The begining when he gets fired and when he’s working out on the boat are my favorite parts.
i like burn after reading lol
Brad Pitt proved to me he was more than just eye candy for the ladies after watching 12 Monkeys. He’s a pretty good actor who has some great comedic chops.
Even though I’m a dirty gentile, I really liked A Serious Man a lot(I felt it was way better than Hurt Locker). I really loved Burn After Reading. Not only did I think Burn was superior to No Country for Old Men, I was laughing out loud over the extremely dark ending. Considering I’m usually a sucker for happier endings, that’s saying a lot.
Barton Fink is a great Coen Bro’s movie.
i liked burn after reading, i hated a serious man, and this is there best
I’m with you smokey, Burn After Reading was really good, but I could not stand A Serious Man. It was an interesting character piece, but it was ridiculously anticlimactic and unsatisfying on the whole. And it was pretty fucking boring.
i think you summed that up perfectly. I couldn’t believe it ended so abruptly. Plus there were so many characters i just wholly disliked and got under my skin. I know that for some of the characters that was there purpose but still i couldn’t stand it.
SmokeyClocks, if you felt that way about A Serious Man, don’t watch Noah Baumbach’s latest movie “Greenberg”. Critics love this guy but after “Margot At The Wedding” and “Greenberg”, I realize he’s a little too pretentious for me.
The Dude abides
Makes me wanna drink a white russian
Watching it right now myself
I liked “Assassination” a lot but it’s not the type of movie I’d rewatch every time it’s on.
J.
I like this part of the movie a lot. it could have gotten really silly when the guy with Tourette’s syndrome shows up, but they play it totally straight and let them fight it out. you finally get to see the young autistic lady show her true abilities, very much like the taskmmaster. The being ability to copy every move she see perfectly and fight to the best of her ability.
very cool,
thanks for posting this one Jose!
So what do you guys think of Don Kramer being the new artist on WW once JMS takes over? I liked his stuff on Dini’s run on Detective comics, but I was really looking forward to Nicola Scott’s art.
He’s kind of a middling artist. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about for me. I guess his style will probably serve the stories rather well, depending, of course, on the stories. I wish they could have paired JMS with someone as spectacular as Jesus Saiz, who did fantastic work on the Brave and the Bold.
I really wish Nicola Scott would have stayed on the book to but Kramer is a decent choice. I enjoyed his art on JSA vs. Kobra.
J.
I wish Nicola and Gail Simone would do about another 50 issues of Secret Six. I really got into that book.
That book is one of my favs. It’s a very underrated book. I would have loved to see another 50 issues from them both. Kind of makes you wonder what they have Nicola Scott doing instead?
Last I saw, it was a Wonder Woman issue, right? Beyond that, I haven’t investigated. Anyone have any leads?
She’s on for the rest of Gail Simone’s run. Beyond that I have no clue.
An Addendum: What would you like to see Nicola work on next? What do you think her ideal book would be? This is a question for anyone who wishes to chime in…I really became impressed with her stuff on SS and I’m wondering what anyone/everyone thinks would be a great project for her???
I thought her art on BN WW was awesome and was kind of looking forward to it. Too bad its for only a couple of issues. I would like to see her work with Gail Simone on Birds of Prey.
Power Girl, Batwoman or a Mera/Aquaman comic by Scott would be nice too.
I really can’t get past the fact that she won’t be working on WW. I was 1st introduced to Ms. Scott’s work in a magazine that will go nameless because when the magazine is mentioned..Its talked about more than the subject at hand….anyway, in that mag, was portfolio pics of WW and you could tell she was just born to draw that book.
Aside from that, if Black Canary gets her own ongoing, I think Nic should get 1st crack!
Kramer is serviceable
Is anyone else still awake?
CCW late night insomniac chat located at http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/ComicCultureWarrior.
I am finally turning in. Later.
J.
Yeah unfortunately. I get off of work at 4 am so I usually don’t go to sleep till 6ish
I woke up 10 min. ago…..sorta
Just curious what non-comic books y’all are reading. In other words, normal books. I’m currently reading three: Twinkie, Deconstructed; American Conspiracies; and I mentioned in the other open thread that I’m reading Star Trek TNG meets the X-Men.
I’m reading Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
Epic book!
I’m reading 30 days to a Great Attitude, no seriously!
I am terrible.I get books to read on flights then when I get home I never finish then.The last one I did finish was Spook Country by Will Gibson.
I am re-reading The Odyssey and almost finished, The Girl with The Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson and A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
You know they adapted a portion of A People’s History into a graphic novel. It’s pretty good. There’s quite a few graphic novels out now devoted to history and politics, which I love. I own several.
Neil Gaiman’s “Fragile Things”
Woah, me too!
I’m reading The Academy by Bentley Little. On the comic front, my trip to the library today garnered The Interman by Jeff Parker, and the first four volumes of the Invincible Ultimate Collections so I can bone up before the Viltrumite War begins!
I also received an interesting book called The Photographer, which mixes photography, pared down cartoon-type comic art, and a number of other fumetti-like techniques. It’s subtitled Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders. If interested, link here: http://us.macmillan.com/thephotographer. It was a present from my sis who heard it featured on NPR.
I guess that kind of dodges your question a bit, but I did include one prose novel!
I’ve been wanting to read The Photographer. Looks interesting.
I just want to say that Kick Ass was great.
Is anybody playing any of the superhero games on Facebook? If so, hoe are they?
HOW are they?
I don’t play any SH ones but the Mafia and Viking ones aren’t too good.
Superhero City is pretty fun, I haven’t played it in a while tho.
I would like to know what everyone thinks, especially Elliot, about the Scarlet series coming up from Bendis. The way it’s being promoted is like what Powers was like when it debuted. I’m hoping this means the old Bendis that was good will re-appear for this series.
I’m curious.I think it could go either way.Either a return to form or a dumping ground for plots he couldn’t get into Spiderwoman.Or worse,an attempt to go after more of that Kick Ass money.
But you know what? The premise has something to do with Scarlet somehow inspiring a revolution but BMB says it not political.How can it not be in this climate?I don’t know about BMB’s personal politics but I think marvel could use an intelligent superhero comic that touches of social issues.Left-wing,right-wing or whatever.
I’m still a Bendis fan, and I keep wanting to give him a chance, and I hope this is going to be the return of the good BMB.
I know how you feel. I’m such a fan of his early stuff. I mean Powers is just fucking awesome. It’s probably my favorite title of the last decade. But his work on Avengers just sucks. I mean it’s awful. That Secret Invasion storyline was such utter crap. And his Ultimate Spider-Man is… well, I’d be okay with it if he weren’t so obsessed with unmasking Peter in every damn storyline. Who doesn’t know his secret identity? Having a secret identity and superpowers and wearing tights is part of the comic book landscape. It’s what we as fanboys dig. I don’t care how unrealistic it is that Peter never gets unmasked; having a “spider-sense” ain’t realistic either. And in the 616 universe, he had Spidey unmasked in the first issue of Avengers. And he couldn’t wait to have Spidey unmask yet again to the Avengers after Brand New Day. And he did the same during his run on Daredevil. It may seem like a minor point, but it really aggravates the shit out of me.
Yesterday, went to see Kick-Ass and after viewing my face didn’t melt off.(if you already viewed my blog I know that joke is old) Anyway, I brought my 13 year old nephew to test my theory of what type of movie I was in for. Of course the jokes he would laugh at he laughed at including the rest of the theatre. Another thing that bothers the shit out of me that I didn’t mention in the blog was at the end of the movie was the clapping and cheering of the crowd in the theatre. Like they just viewed a masterpiece or high art or something.(what hell is wrong with people today) What ruined this movie for me was the comic book, because I was expecting shit and I got something that was OK. It was bearable, I didn’t feel like I wasted my money even if it wasn’t my money. That’s right to be on the save side I borrowed the money no way I was going to pay for it if it turned out to be utter shit. That happened to me with the comic book it wasn’t going to happen to me with the movie. This isn’t going to revolutionize superhero movies and it didn’t reinvent my thoughts on superheros or their movies as it seemed like what some reviews made it out to be.
If they clapped then they clapped. Maybe they just had fun. I know as comic readers we all are here on the CCW channel, we expect more from that comic, writer, and movie, but really if they liked it then they probably had fun. lol
i’m not bashing you, I didnt like it just saying.
I respect your opinion, the comic book ruined my movie going experience. So, I was in kind of a bad mood going in anyway. But I tried to divorce myself from that book in order to be objective but it was so hard. This movie makes me look forward to Scot Pilgrim which looks more fun.
I think a lot of people from this blog will have the same problem you did, and I nearly had it too. It is difficult watching it without imagining , well, Millar sat next to you patting himself on the back. What a cock.
But the film IS a lot better than the comic. That doesn’t make it some groundbreaking, revolutionary piece of cinema (It’s probably the very same teens/emo’s who loved Twilight hyping this to death right now), but it is a fun little film.
I just took it as Kill Bill meets Superbad meets Spiderman 3 or something, and tried my best not to think about Millar’s over-inflated ego, and I really just enjoyed it for what it was.
I just hate the hype machine that is Mark Millar, and I stated this on my blog, that there were good points to the movie, their were kind of bad ones, that made a OK movie. (Nothing special) One moment that I liked in the movie was Nick Cage’s Adam West Batman when he was Big Daddy.
I saw Kick-Ass last night, having not read the comic I went in with no REAL preconceived notions. And I wasn’t horribly offended, nor was I completely blown away. It was ok. Some funny moments, some good action, a shit ton of cheesy dialog, but it was mostly played for laughs so it was alright. I can’t really recommend seeing it, but I can’t berate it either.
Let’s put it this way, it’s not the worst Nick Cage movie I’ve ever seen and it wasn’t the worst super hero movie I’ve ever seen. The audience ate up every minute of it and my GF liked it, so it can’t be all bad. (But it really wasn’t that good either). I give it a 6/10.
Couldn’t agree more, and I’m done talking about this.
Its funny tho. I mean I felt it was over-the-top and boring but still fun but overall didn’t like it. But Leninl Francis Yu said he loved it and claimed it to be the Best superhero movie ever. Warren Ellis showed interest with it, Brubaker showed interest with it. A lot of good writers admire a bad writer’s movie adaption. Makes me wonder…
I guess I’m not done yet. So, yeah it does make me wonder what the big deal is to I thought it was OK, NOT the greatest thing I have ever saw, not even the greatest superhero movie I ever saw. It was something that killed time, time I will never get back.
I just find it more strange that amazing writers like Warren and Ed liked such a movie. Its hard to picture these guys into that shit. And Leinil Francis Yu, I mean he’s friends with Mark so maybe he just liked it out of taste. But yeah IDK I was just thinking about that… what other comic writers think of comic writers…
can someone explain how i found this movie boring?? there was nothing surprising bout it.all the cool parts of the fights were shown in the trailer yet people act like they havent seen it before. when it was over a guy next to me stood up and said they had to make a second one. i was bout to slap him. im eighteen btw so this movie is aimed for me yet i feel i am lucky to have mature tastes for my age. fuck this movie
Question to M.
You mentioned that you borrowed the money to check out Kick-ass and you stated that you were not paying for it if it turned out to be utter manure (paraphrasing). Had the movie not been to your liking, since you would have had to pay the money back anyway, wouldn’t that have meant that you would have paid to see a crappy movie? Just sayin’
What I meant to stay was I got someone else to pay for my ticket. But your right if I borrowed the money I would of paid it back. But the fact remains that I was able to see this movie without haivng to pay for it with my money.
Honestly, when I read this comment back I kind of hate it, and I think the things I wrote on my blog seemed a little more coherent, and less of a rant. Sorry guys, I will leave the rants to the professionals. The film was OK better that expected, and I did have high expectations.(God damn it I was ranting again, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do it, but it’s so addictive) I can see why Jose and Elliott do it so much.
Just so no ones confused my first diatribe about Kick-Ass, not anyone elses comments. I don’t hate any one comments. I think they are every fair and balanced.
It all sounds good to me buddy. I think movie viewers are way too desensitized to violence.
Thanks, yeah it seems like it would take a lot to shock people these days.
Like throwing babies out of windows?
J.
More Mark Millar, yeah when I do tell non-comic read friends of mine that particular story they do get shocked he got away with putting that in a comic. So, your right in that regard. I don’t get it, I always joked that my dream job would be a Editor at Marvel because it seems liked they get away with murder by doing nothing. Now it just seems sad that murder, rape, and any violance toured women is the norm in their best selling title.
toward women
Seriously I mean…I was having this debate with a friend about Kick-Ass and he didn’t think that a 11 year old killing people might be offensive…what does that say about our society?
I don’t really see how Hit Girl is any more offensive than Jodi Foster in Taxi Driver or Nat Portman in Leon. Foster was 13 in TD and had to do be in some…innapropriate scenes. DeNiro even refers to her “little pussy” at one point. And I haven’t seen Leon in a while, but a main plot of it is Natalie learning to become a hitman no? So how is all that more offensive than a little girl saying some bad words and killing bad people? I really don’t get this criticism.
Portman does not slaughter dozens of people let alone a few. Go back and watch the movie. Portman’s character and Hitgirl are nothing alike. Did Foster’s character kill, maim and behead people too. Must have missed that part of Taxi Driver. That thing that both Leon and Taxi Driver have in common is that they both had an excellent story and substance. I don’t know if Kick Ass has either of those things.
J.
Trust me Jose Kick-Ass was unoriginal and went for style over substance.
The problem here is that you’re comparing Kick-Ass to Taxi Driver, which is a cinematic classic. There’s no way KA is going to compete with that–no matter how many ninja stars Hit Girl throws. Now, the comparison to Leon is interesting, because The Professional is a very good, but not great film, with some cartoonish elements to it, and it seems like Kick-Ass is trying for a similar tone; judging by the trailers. I’ll be in a better position to compare once I see Ass.
So what we’re saying here is that we’re offended by a little girl killing mobsters and drug dealers?
Meh. Fair enough. I’m not, but I guess I can see why some might. To me it just works in the context of the movie, and the characters are really likeable thanks to the performances by the actors, but whatevs…
Didn’t have high expectations, damn it I really have to stop talking about this movie it’s making me type crazy things.LOL
Hey I liked it, it’s no There Will Be Blood, but you gotta get the stick out ya’ butt its a fun, stupid movie.
I’m prepared to lower my expectations when I go and see this in the next few days. What I want to know is, where are the truly subversive/shocking/revolutionary movies that are challenging the status quo? Where is this generations Network, the Wild Bunch, Taxi Driver, etc? Hollywood movies are tremendously conservative nowadays, and when they try to be bad-ass, it just highlights how far we’ve fallen since the cinema of the 70’s. There are thousands of fun, stupid movies that are made every year. But nobody wants to make a movie that’s going to blow people’s minds anymore.
I think you’re going to be generally dissapointed by every movie you see if you go in expecting it to change cinema.
Um…I don’t think that your comment had anything to do with what he said. he DID NOT SAY that he wants every movie to change cinema. He is wondering where are the film that challenge the status quo. And I agree with him. Know one will give two shits about Kick Ass in a few months and that is fine with me.
J.
DAMMIT JOSE!!!!
I was hoping Kick-Ass would inspire you to join me in my crusade to protect the citizens of the western suburbs of Chicagoland. Maybe Elliott will join me.
SMARTASS and his trusted sidekick PANTSLESS!!!
That’s another cartoon in the making 🙂
You’re right I misread what he said. Sowwy…:(
I felt the Dark Knight was a benchmark movie for…well, not film in general but comic book films. That movie to me set a new high for the quality of comic book films. I feel with it’s success we’ll start seeing less “X-Men Origin: Wolverine” type movies. Hopefully movies like “Thor” and “The Avengers” will live up to TDK’s success.
Agree
Hell we might even see an Savage Dragon movie before too long
From your mouth to Hollywood’s ears!
Better yet to Matthew Vaughn’s ears
He’d do a cool Dragon.
Although I hear he’s eyeing Nemesis, Mark Millar must be swimming butt ass naked in fanboy money right about now.
I feel like watching Kick-Ass just so I can take part in these discussions. I didn’t even read the comic so I really have nothing to contribute.
But, then again, when do I contribute anything?
true
Your awesome name is a contribution
So what does everyone think of the July bat-books?
Batman, Batman and Robin and The Return of Bruce Wayne. I cannot wait for this, I love love love Morrison and this is like a dream for me. Widening Gyre has been good and I really like Flanagan’s art. I loved Heart of Hush and SoG but it’s really upsetting me that Manhunter is dropped. That was a great ongoing and backup and now there’s no more Manhunter. Why does every book I love get cancelled? I have never read Birds of Prey or Simone title but I’ve heard she’s great so I’ll give this a try even though I hate Benes art.
I like Batman and Robin, I’m looking forward Batman #701 but Tony Daniel is on art so well see with #700 when Morrison starts writing if he can bring me back to the main Batman title, and I am also looking forward to Batman: Odyssey and that Red Hood mini by Judd Winink. But the one that I will definitely be picking up is Batman Beyond.
Yeah, for #700 Kubert and Quietly will also be providing art, so that will save it. I really like the writing style morrison did in R.I.P., but the art by u know who literally killed the book.
Now he’s the Lord Voldemort of comics.
i dont understand the interest in batman beyond. i never liked the concept of it.
I can understand that when there was already Dark Knight Returns. But I enjoyed the series it was kind of a more kid friendly version of that story, and so I thought I would check it out, just to see what they plan on doing with the characters, like is this going to be a continuation of the original series, is it part of regular DC continuity, or are they going to go in a completely new direction. That’s just me.
I agree General, I have an utter distaste for Batman Beyond.
Well, I really liked Batman Beyond. I thought it was well done. Bruce Timm can do no wrong in my book.
I’m really looking forward to the Return of Bruce Wayne. I know Batman and Time Travel is a kinda odd mix…but dammit, I just really like time travel stories (Back to the Future and such), and Batman, so it looks appealing to me.
I actually recently read the “Morrison Batman Saga” in one sitting (Batman and Son, Black Glove, Batman RIP, Final Crisis, Batman and Robin #s 1-3 and 10), and…it actually starts to make a lot more sense than it might be if read over a number of years.
I got back on board with B & R with the adding of Cameron Stewart, the 2nd best take for this series..after Quitely of course.
Morrison who is top notch, I still question if he can pull off folding Bruce seemlessly back into Bat-continuity. At best the titles will be disjointed, at worst, there will be scarring that might take DC years to rectify.
I wonder if are you guys planning on doing a review of the Siege one shots? I’ve read Captain America and Young Avengers ones, they were pretty decent reads, but Siege Loki man, I have no words for it. I think I can go as far as to tell you it was godly (pun intended)! Really, it almost makes me glad that Siege exists, or else I would have not laid my eyes on that one book.
I agree with you. I didn’t think the siege tie-in’s were gonna be good, but I glimpsed thru the Loki pages and I thought it was a terrific one-shot. The writing at least. The art was really elementary.
The art did turn me down a bit too. Not that I think they were bad, mind you, but I felt it was a partial mismatch for the book’s tone and plot. Especially the colors, they were too high contrast, too bright and vivid for it.
I won’t be reviewing those books Luiz because I haven’t read the and probably won’t. They really didn’t interest me at all.
J.
No disrespect to Jose and Elliot, but they’re way off the mark on Kick-Ass. I saw it last night with pretty high expectations, and was totally blown away. Most fun I’ve had in the theaters since seeing the Dark Knight in IMAX. I’m in the minority that actually likes the comic, but even I admit that it’s pretty one dimensional and uneven.
The movie fixes all that. It keeps everything that’s good about the comic and makes them BETTER, and it discards everything that sucks from the comic and replaces it with cool stuff. The characters and story is given much more depth than what’s in the comic. Dave is a much more likeable and relatable character in the movie. Gone is the creepy stalking outside tennis clubs for 3 hours, gone is the racism, and instead we’re given a very endearing character. In the comics he explains his actions as “I’m bored and lonely and like superheroes, I’ll be one!” But in the movie he’s given much better reasons. There’s a scene early on absent from the comic where he and his friend are mugged while some bystander just walks away not helping him. This sickens Dave, and it’s really that attitude that inspires his cotumed antics. He’s later saving a guy from muggers, and when asked why he’s risking his life for a guy he doesn’t know he responds, “the 3 assholes laying into one guy while everyone else watches and you wanna know what my problem is? Yeah, I’d rather die!” With this aspect, instead of being a complete naive fool, he’s more like a teenage Rorschach with stupid courage.
They also completely changed the last half of it. The twists are gone, the final fight with D’Amico is really awesome and pumps you up (this is like an action masterpiece, probably the best action I’ve seen in a movie since maybe Hot Fuzz), the relationship with the girlfriend Katie is different (she’s a completely changed and much more likeable character in the movie). The stupid twist where “Omg Big Daddy isn’t a cop he’s a comic geek!” is gone. He really is a cop who was framed by Mark Strong. And the relationship with Hit Girl in the movie is so potent and nice to see, that when he dies in the movie (and it’s a pretty epic death scene), I actually felt SAD, because it wasn’t all for nothing. He’s still a nutcase for training his daughter to do this stuff…but you don’t really hate him for it. And a lot of that is thanks to the actors Nic Cage and Chloe Moertz, who really give top notch performances, as does everyone.
Matthew Vaughn should really be commended for what he achieved with this movie, and I’m not talking about just the movie itself, but the way he went about it. It was ballsy, especially when the movie is based on a comic that isn’t popular and has had pretty tepid reviews from readers and isn’t well known. Vaughn and Jane Goldman took a mediocre comic and made probably the best comic book movie I’ve personally seen. It really is the most entertaining one and even tops the likes of Dark Knight, X2: X-Men United, Iron Man, and Sin City, for me anyways.
I don’t think the Comic Culture Warriors gave this movie a fair shake, to trash it for months and then write it off just because it’s Mark Millar…I like you guys but that’s just not cool to me. This isn’t Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass, this is Matthew Vaughn (director of the awesome LAYER CAKE)’s Kick-Ass, they are two completely different entities. It’s a shame, because I like your guy’s show and would have genuinely liked to have heard your thoughts on the film. For what it’s worth I think you might be surprised by the movie, and that’s all I’ll say.
😀
I am going to paste a comment here made by Morlock50 at the beginning of this thread in response to your comment. It pretty much sums up exactly what I would say to you:
“As someone who enjoyed the Kick Ass comics, I have to say that I am equaliy impressed with Ebert’s review. He kind of sums up the debate in the first line “Should I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool”. But please, what is this insane idea that you HAVE to see the film in order to have an opinion of it, like it’s a rule or something. Do I need to see Triumph of the Will before I can criticize it? No! Jose and Elliott looked at the trailers, read the source material, and saw how the film was marketed, and said “No thanks”. They choose not to spend their money and time on this product. I plan on seeing this movie at some point, but I think you Millar lovers need to chill out and relax. This isn’t the second coming of Citizen Kane, people! It’s another comic book adaptation, no more no less! Jesus.”
Thanks Morlock.
J.
AMEN BROTHER!!!
I thought Ebert’s review was pretty hypocritical, personally. I mean this is a dude who got his start writing softcore skin flicks, and he’s calling a movie morally reprehensible because it has a kid killing people. Yet, he’s praised other great films like Kill Bill and Leon and Taxi Driver, even though they all feature young girls in violent or sexual situations. I get why this might offend him in Kick-Ass, but basically his entire review just focuses on this Hit-Girl character and how offended he was by her existence in the movie. He barely even makes mention of other things in the movie, like the story and acting. I guess that’s just his opinion and he’s in the minority anyways, but Ebert sadly lost all credibility to me when he panned Quantum of Solace for the exact same elements he had praised Casino Royal for having.
I dunno man, it’s your call, but I think you’re missing out. The comparison to “Triumph of Will” is a bit silly to me, because that’s a racist propoganda film. This is just a fun, well written superhero flick.
The movie is vastly different from the source material like I explained, they are two completely different entities, so to not see it because of the comic isn’t a good reason.
And I on general principle don’t tend to trust marketing. Adventureland was marketed as “Superbad in a theme park!” but couldn’t have been further from the truth.
But that’s just my take on all that. I think it’s a shame you guys won’t give it a chance, but oh well. Keep up the good work on the show anyways! 😀
CR.
I might check the movie out later tonight CR. I might.
J.
lol, I got to you!
Actually you didn’t because I ended up not seeing it. Came to my senses and saved myself some time and money.
J.
darn.
This is the best review of Kick-Ass
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1262948/Kick-Ass-Dont-fooled-hype–This-crime-cinema-twisted-cynical-revels-abuse-childhood.html
I hope you’re joking.
The Daily Mail is the Fox News of our (UK) media.
No matter what you think of the film’s quality, there is NOTHING sexual about Hit Girl..It sickens me that anyone could watch the film and leave thinking that
again, PLEASE be joking!
@colerothacker
I appreciate your ability to disagree without namecalling. But I used the “Triumph of the Will” movie as an extreme example to prove a point; that you can get enough information about a film beforehand to decide whether you want to spend money to see it or not. In this age of spoiler-filled red band trailers, you can practically see a third of the movie online, without having to spend $10 at the theater. Let’s take the comic book source material out of it and focus on the trailer for a second. Hit Girl (a memorable but supporting character in the book) is obviously front and center in all the trailers; to the point that you would think the story was about her. She’s talking tough, dropping “fucks” and “cunt” in the red band trailer, and is shown slicing and dicing nameless henchmen. In short, she is portrayed as a bad-ass ninja, in the Electra school of superheroines. In the background, some chick (Joan Jett?) is singing about having a “bad reputation” to a punk-rock beat. This movie is marketing itself as 2010’s version of Elvis swinging his hips on the Ed Sullivan show; a shocking, extreme, visual spectacle that is going to break all the rules and scare the cultural elite. Elsewhere, the Kick-Ass dude is posing in front of a mirror, doing his interpretation of Deniro’s “Are you talking to me” line–a brief homage to Taxi Driver, which was a truly kick-ass movie that changed the way we all viewed cinema. I just watched a video where the Kick-Ass actors are “responding” to the Ebert(which is really lame-ass to begin with; the Ebert review is exactly the kind of response you should be going for if you’re going to make this kind of movie). They all are saying “Oh, the fim has an R rating” and “We actually toned down the film violence compared to the comic book” and this really rubs me the wrong way. I would have more respect for the filmmakers if they kept in everything from the comic book and released this with an X rating; I’m not saying I would want to see it, or it would be a better movie, but it would show me that they were taking the hype seriously and were reaching for greatness. The bottom line is, they marketed this as being an extreme viewing experience, and if I decide, based on the trailer, that this movie is going to suck, it’s the fault of the people marketing the movie IMHO, because a trailer is supposed to advertise exactly the experience you’re going to get at the movie.
Fair enough. Those are some good points man.
But still the thing about the marketing…..I really don’t think the movie should suffer because of mediocre marketing. There are so many movies today that are just marketed a certain way to get people in seats…I few recent examples I can think of is Adventureland. That film really suffered from the marketing. Watching the trailer you’d think it was almost a sequel to Superbad set in a theme park, neurotic Michael Cera-type protagonist, Bill Hader and Kirstin Wiig being funny and loud, nerdy friends, dick and fart joke type humor. Couldn’t have been farther from the truth- the film was tonally almost completely different from Superbad, it was more like a modern day John Hughes flick. The marketing impeded the viewing experience for a lot of the audience- I know personally, walking out, people were really baffled by the lack of Superbadness- and as a result the movie underperformed. I think Kick-Ass probably has this same problem with the focus on Hit Girl and the wanton violence and the usage of cunt and fuck.
It’s just me, but I think to truly judge a movie fairly you have to see at least some of the final product. But that’s the only thing I really disagree witcha there, pally 😀
Buddy while I’m on your side with the movie.
Goddamn self fucking edit
clifnotes!
😉
hehehe…yeah, sorry, I’ll work on that. I just got a lot to say!
i think he was referring to morlock, buy ya you too.
Were you talking about Morlock’s comment D? Because, personally, I loved it. Probably one of my favorite comments I have ever gotten on here. But you know…that’s just my opinion.
J.
Thanks Jose. My brain is vomiting ideas tonight, I tell ya.
You made me read lotsa word morlock, damn you damn you to hell
good criticism though
referring to colerthacker I’m pretty much on board with the Kick-ass movie, I liked it.
I’ve pretty much knew what too expect going into the movie tis my guilty pleasure and OH fuck am I guilty.
Heh
Brubaker and Eaglesham are both working on a Steve Rogers Mini. The story will be about Steve’s new role in the Marvel and his hero name is now “Super Soldier”. This mini starts in July.
Diamond is thinking about moving new Comic day to Tuesday.
Bendis has Announced Ulitmate Mystery, the Follow up to Ultimate Enemy.
Roger Langridge and artist Chris Samnee are working on a Marvel Adventures Mini about Thor. It will be called Thor: The Mighty Avenger.
Mike Mignola Announced a new Witchfinder Series which will deal with the West.
Tuesday is a bad idea, excited for Steve mini, sad Eaglesham is leaving FF for this, pumped for Who tonight, pondering what Fantastic Three is all about.
Well Ben is going to be on the New Avengers.
Not buying the mini All I got to say
Nice outfit
Anyone else feel Brightest Day didn’t give enough of one story? Alot of stories, but not alot of info?
I’m seeing a lot of complaints about Brightest Day #0 having no resolution, just serving up as an ad for the upcoming titles…But really, that’s exactly what it was supposed to be! It’s not like they could give away much more when #1 hasn’t even hit the shelves
It wasn’t great but I enjoyed it, and it was nice and heavy (40 pages or something?), it didn’t feel like I was reading a bunch of previews tacked together like those Dark Reign one shots that came out after Secret Invasion, even though it was basically the same thing as that
Well said, the story doesn’t start till #1, this is exactly like Dark Reign New Nation or Enter the Heroic Age but actually worth the 4 bucks.
I really disliked Brightest Day. I’ll give issue 1 a shot, but the 0 issue was crap.
Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, Secret Avengers, and now Captain America: Patriot. I feel like Marvel’s doing what they’ve done to Iron Man, Deadpool, and Wolverine and just flood the market with books because of the movie that is attached.
I love Marvel and all but I’ve just lately been having Marvel Fatigue…basically started when the announced all 136 Avengers titles they’ll be starting. I don’t even buy Marvel comics anymore, I just get trades.
Not even S.H.I.E.L.D. because that is a good book and I don’t think people should be waiting for the trade on that one. I know it’s just one issue in but I like the unique takes on the Marvel U. I like when Kirkman takes high concept science fiction ideas like he did with Pax Romana, Transhuman, and Red Mass for Mars and apply them in a mainstream comic. Me personally I enjoyed the Nightly News but thats beside the point. I agree with you just so many comic titles it is rediculous I just hope that this “Heroic Age” brings some change to the quality of the books NOT quantity.
Hickman. 🙂
J.
I read the first trade of Secret Warriors and really liked it. I really want to read this SHEILD origin series and Fantastic Four.
A bit off topic, but, when you read normal Marvel Nick Fury, what voice do you have in your head when you read his dialog?
I use George Clooney’s voice for some reason. It fits tho.
Obviously for Ultimate Fury I use Sam Jackson’s voice.
Who’s the voice of Sam Fisher fom splinter cell, that guy.
Michael Ironside
When I hear Nick Fury’s voice I hear something akin to Jack Kirbys, they even smoked the same type cigars.
I use Pauly Shore’s voice.
I use Emo Phillips’ voice.
J.
Damn it, every time there names are so similar that whole man part of the name.LOL
What was everyones thoughts on the Kick-Ass movie? I thought the movie was Awesome!
I really liked it. I’m off to see it a thrid time tonight.
So far I rank my favorite comic based films as:
Kick-Ass
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Sin City
Batman Begins
Spider-Man 2
X2: X-Men United
Incredible Hulk
Watchmen
Spider-Man
that was awesome.
That was cool
it hit both parts of my fanboy dna
My response:
Nic Cage has a minor role in this film as a surfer dude.In version I saw back in the day, in the end credits he’s named Nicolas Coppola.Ok, I admit I’m buzzed on cheap beer.I’ll lay off the Cage factoids…
Spicolli is never wrong
Right on, Deemar.
Oh check your inbox sent synopsis and I’ll be sending pics for ref later
doing right now in fact…
jose would you ever review one of elliots books? or would that be a friendship ender..
you never seem to mention his stuff at all (not even poking fun at him)
is it a touchy subject ?
I did review Ash Saves Obama #1 for the blog.
J.
never saw that. i will read it now
Hey guys, I am off to eat some lunch…and perhaps take in a viewing of Kick Ass. Haven’t decided for certain about that second part yet. I’ll check back in later tonight. Mind the store for me while I’m out, would ya?
Also don’t forget about the new episode of Doctor Who tonight.
J.
My rule of thumb for that kind of situation is to answer the three questions. Do I have spare money? Do I have spare time? Am I going to do anything in that time anyway? Dunno for anyone else, but it totally works for me. Okay, I am lying, nowadays I also roll a dice or I do any other random stuff to get ‘Fortuna’s opinion’ but that is me and I am crazy 😛
all you americian lads will definately enjoy it especially victory of the daleks. And jose you will enjoy kick ass nicolous cage was the best in it. he is finnally cool again. wish i could say the same for luke cage
You just reminded me that Luke Cage is where Nic got his stage name from, haha.
yeah and nic cage does a fantastic impression of Adam west’s batman from the 60’s and definateley is the funniest in the movie plus he does (and i know this is cheesy but) he kicks ass!
His death scene was fucking epic.
yeah the way he’s scraming through the pain and then sort of whispers to hit girl it’s funny and moving also he does a brillant job of shooting people in the face and he portrays the sick relationship between him and his daughter so well and is a lot better than ghost rider
Yeah man, Ghost Rider was soooo bad. But not really because of Cage, the script and direction were just so…bland and terrible.
But he’s great in Kick-Ass. lol, what does he scream when he’s on fire tho? I heard it’s like, “Take cover child! Switch to kryptonite! Go to Robin’s Revenge!” Which, if true, is pretty funny and cool.
I’m glad he seems to be making comeback. I’ve always liked him (Adaptation is my third favorite movie), but people have been down on him as of late. I just saw Bad Lieutenant and thought he was BRILLIANT in it, and now Kick-Ass, and that Apprentice movie looks like it could be cool…he’s on the rise.
yeah he was brillant in lord of war and even though he has 5 or 6 films out this year he is devinately on the up. is was dead funny every line when he was being big daddy plus red mist was amazing but every time he said anything all i could hear was I AM MCLOVIN. as well as aaron johnson as kick ass his emotion was displayed even though all you could see was his ps sorry i’m taking so long i’m watching anchorman on dvd.
Bad Lt! I saw this movie recently also and I’ve been asking other people…What did you think of the ending?
you mean they dont just shoot him in the back of the head like in the comic
Nope. That scene is greatly improved on in the film.
Good thing this blog is full of a bunch of Kick-Ass haters since you guys are spoiling a movie that hasn’t even been out for 48 hours yet.
Ya, I haven’t watched the movie, but could care less about a few spoilers.
I’m pretty sure it’s widely known Big Daddy bites it. It happened in the comic second to last issue…which was a year ago buahaha.
The spoiler is that this scene is differen’t than the comic. Not that he dies.
Nick also named one of sons Kal-El,as in Superman’s Kryptonian name.
what a fantastic nerdy thing to do he should have another son call him Bruce and a daughter called Diana and the keep going calling his children all sorts of comic book type names and then get an entire justice league goin
Kal Cage, Bruce Cage, Diane Cage, Barry Cage, Hal Cage, Jonn Cage, Arthur Cage, Ollie Cage, Carter Cage……
LOL well,Cage’s oldest son is a heavy metal goth dude.He kinda LOOKS like a modern comic character.Is that close enuff?
victory of the daleks? oooh sounds good 🙂
yeah thats the one in the sneak peek at the end of episode 1 with churcill in world war 2
Can’t wait…i’ve still got half of episode two to finish, as well as Confidential episode 2. Does anyone watch Doctor Who Confidential?
If there’s one thing CERTAIN about Kick-Ass, it’s that Nick Cage is the greatest Batman of all time. He’s the only thing I liked about it. His acting alone would make me wanna see it twice actually. But yeah, if your thinking about not wanting to spend money you could always play heavy rain! 🙂
At least your guaranteed some decent writing with HR.
From reading the slew of comments above, I think you guys have just sold me on going to see Kick Ass. And I wasn’t going to. At all.
I’m not expecting cinematic glory, just a bit of fun, so maybe I’ll get my money’s worth???
Don’t do it. Remember that bloody Millar will probably get a percentage of the potential profits from the film.
So let him. Everyone involed with this movie deserves all the praise they get. They worked hard and it’s paying off. They made a great movie. Vaughn at the very least does, because this dude has potential to be one of the great directors of this generation.
Man, will you get off Millar’s knob already. Your comments are becoming quite sycophantic and creepy.
J.
I’m glad somebody said it.
Thank god somebody said that. I would have but wasn’t sure if you would have let it stay up there. You were a lot more polite than I would have been.
The only knob I’m on is Matt Vaughn’s. Guy is a pretty great director.
Man I’m sorry if I bugged you, but I just liked the movie quite a bit. I get a bit carried away with movies I like a lot 🙂
But for the record…Mark Millar is not the one who is getting the praise here for this movie. He’s just the exec producer, yeah he helped make some desicions for the movie, but it’s all Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman’s show. I’m on THEIR knobs, and I think they deserve all the success they get, not just because they made a good movie, but the way they did. Raised all the money, made outside the studio system, ekpt their artistic vision, hyped it up at Comic-Con…I think it’s really cool and inspiring, is all.
Well, by going to see it I mean download it for free from a torrent site. Take that, Millar!
Yep, everyone not wanting to give Millar money should at least do this. Maybe then they’d stop having to quote from the Daily Mail.
Nick Cage will always get a lifetime pass from me for Raising Arizona..
I LOVE the Cagemeister!
Anyone see the new “Lori” video?
Alright…this is obviously fake. And the first video was so brillant too. Next you’re gonna tell me the WoW spaz kid was play acting in his room.
If he was playacting, then the remote up the ass bit was a brilliant piece of improv. :*
Anyone else have faith in Scarlet?
I mean Bendis did write good once upon a time… is it so far-fetched to think he’ll never go back to his torso roots? IDK. I’ll wait till they release some preview pages to see what were getting into. But so far from the art, I’m not entirely saddened. Its over-the-top but I kinda like it. I just think his “don’t want politics involved” is a bad choice. I think the more detailed writing gets the more personal it gets and the more relate-able it can be. But that’s just me…
i’ll be honest i really enjoyed when the first new avengers got together then after cival war when it became luke cage and guests i got really bored and then secret invasion came along ugg what a waste f time and money dan slott wrote the mighty avengers so much better during dark reign and fraction’s iron man 100 times better than when bendis had him in new and mighty avengers!
I see what you mean. He’s not the worst writer, he just gets really lazy. I think when he’s more focused he can do good. He just takes on SO many titles and well puts little thought in them. But, I like Alex’s artwork for Scarlet but I just feel like I’m getting excited for something that’ll just end up being more Bendis Trash… 😦
i think after ultimate spider man joe quesada thought he this bendis guy is good lets just let him rewrite the entire marvel universe and have mark millar pop in to do a good story (old man logan) and a bad one (ultimate comics avengers) the odd time and let ed brubaker kill off captain america a bring him back in a shity mini series a few years later.
Did I ever mention how much I love this movie, I saw it when it first came out in the the 80’s in the theater. It was one of the those what the fuck did I just see moments that has stuck with me for the rest of my life.
It’s in my collection. Right next to Fargo, Lebowski, and No Country. 🙂
You are on my ‘have a beer with’ short list King Ryan =)
IM
Thanks, bro. You are now on mine, as well.
Very cool King Ryan! A beer is in order!
That’s what I get for multi-tasking =)
two beers, then
Yeah that was a great little movie. I only saw it recently, but loved it.
I got it on my DVD shelf, next to Blood Simple, Fargo, Lebowski, O Brother, Man Who Wasn’t There, No Country, Burn After, and Serious Man.
Old school!
After reading the comments about Kick Ass I want to ask when did watching a movies became about making cinematic history, or teaching you a valuable life lesson? I thought movies were about entertainment and having fun, if the movie gave you a couple of laughs shouldn’t that be enough.
Yes that can be enough, but it can also be a shallow experience. The really great films DO evoke those profound emotions, do enrich you with “life lessons”.
I don’t think anyone’s going to confuse Kick Ass for one of those, though. But more power to you if you get a kick out of Kick Ass. Escapism can be a virtue as well. I don’t think anyone’s trying to say that it’s invalid to enjoy the movie on its own merits.
Why shouldn’t filmmakers strive to make cinematic history? 99% of genre movies strive to be mediocre; all I ask is that every 2 to 3 years, a movie come along to blow my hair back? Am I asking too much?
Well it depends on how you judge a movie really. Kick-Ass blew my hair back, 3 years ago had the same experience with The Dark Knight.
Avatar probably should have, but unfortunately it was fucking awful 🙂
I enjoyed the Dark Knight but it is easily one of the most overrated movies ever.
J.
My sentiments exactly. Good movie but I didn’t find it the Citizen Kane of superhero movies as so many others did.
I still like it, but I saw it like 4 times in theaters so…not like AS enthusiastic about it anymore, but I still like it. I’m looking forward to Batman 3.
Did Dark Knight really come out 3 years ago??? Doesn’t seem like that long.
And, yes, it’s one of the most overrated movies ever.
Avatar is also one of the Most Overrated films.
The Dark Knight and Avatar are both overrated. But the thing is tho, The Dark Knight is a classic. Avatar just sucked. I was watching it and trying not to fall asleep in the theatre. I swore Bendis wrote that movie it was so boring.
How can something be both overrated and classic?
I think he might me while TDK is overrated, it’s still a good movie, whereas Avatar is overrated but is actually just really bad and is only popular because of the special effects and 3D and James Cameron.
The real achievement is when a film both entertains and makes history. Those are the ones we remember…those are the Star Wars and Raiders. I don’t think filmmakers ever really set out to make something mediocre, even if it is just a “genre” film. It just turns out that way FAR too often.
Yeah, exactly, I agree. I don’t think Transformers 2 MEANT to be a terrible piece of crap, it was just made by inept filmmakers and writers and actors 🙂 I don’t think Avatar MEANT to be an overblown borefest, James Cameron just had his head so far up his ass he didn’t notice he was a terrible screenwriter 😉
From a film that’s basically Superbad meets Kill Bill, yes you are!
hey if anybody is just chillin check out the chat
http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/ComicCultureWarrior
I hope everyone has forgotten about Millar & Kick-Ass by next Friday and The Losers ends up being the movie to see.
I doubt it’ll be better than Kick-Ass. It looks good…but nothing that special. I’ll see it tho.
I liked Kick-Ass better when it was called Greatest American Hero.
I will defiantly be checking out the Losers next week.
J.
Me too!
And so the blog is officially dead for the night. Or is it?
Actually, when I wrote that, I was officially dead for the night. Must have fallen asleep five seconds before my head hit the pillow.
What’s going to be better? The Losers, The A-Team, or The Expendables? Usually Hollywood will only have 2 of a similar film at the same time(Volcano & Dante’s Peak, Deep Impact & Armageddon, Hostel & Because Of Winn Dixie), but this is the first time that I can remember where 3 similar movies are coming out in the same movie season.
I think The Losers stands the greatest chance of sucking the least.
And we’re at 450!
Whoa, some posts are missing! Did I piss you off Jose or was my comment about The Losers’ first appearance a catalyst for some “fireworks”?
No, no, no. It was because of someone else. Nothing to do with your comment. Your comment was a “casualty” due to me making some changes. Sorry about that Smartass.
J.
No problem. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t say something that could be misconstrued as me trying to start some shit. Sometimes it’s hard to read a person’s intent without hearing the inflection in their voice or seeing the look on their face.
BTW, is there a list somewhere where I can find what emoticons I can use on this site? I discovered 8) by accident, but I feel like such a tool always using “LOL!” since I don’t know any other symbols to show the intent of some of my posts.
Emoticons are for pansies, dude. Keep them guessing.
😦
J.
I don’t think is a list anywhere. Haven’t seen one.
J.
I think it looks awesome. It probably will be, but people will probably still bumming kickass. It’s Twilight round 2, I tell thee…
Not to change the subject, but right now I’m listening to Ginger Baker’s drum on Toad, and I’m thinking, this is one of the greatest pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Cream fucking rocks! Just thought I’d share. Carry on.
I’m off to walk my dogs, get a late night snack, and settle down to watch Doctor Who from 1:00AM(central) to 3:00AM on BBC America. God I need to get a new girlfriend!!!
Let me know what you think of Doctor Who.
J.
Mine finished downloading about thirty minutes ago. Now if I can just tear myself away from Photoshop long enough to watch it…
Well, go watch it so we can talk about it. A couple of very interesting things happened this week.
J.
Alright, I will if you’re still gonna be around in an hour…
I will probably be around for another couple of hours. Start a new thread at the bottom after you’ve watched it.
J.
it’s down there
New post is up.
J.
well I’m starting it now, my download just finished.
Cool, someone else to talk about it with. 🙂
J.
I think you’re going to enjoy it quite thoroughly, tom.
I;m LOVIN all the Kick-Ass hate! Let it flow people, let it flow! 😛
Yes, let the hatred flow through you. Feel the power of the dark side of the Farce.
Did anyone see Defendor with Woody Harrelson and if so how do you think it compared to Kick-Ass.
I have it but haven’t watched it yet. It’s sitting in my PS3 as we speak.
J.
I haven’t seen kick-ass but i saw Defendor, I think it did what kick ass was trying to do, bring a superhero into our world. It was ok, but nothing to write home about.
To continue the Kick-Ass discussion, I’d just like to give a couple of examples of movies that take risks and have a renegade spirit. I think you guys know by now that I’m not a gore fan, but I can tolerate extreme violence if it serves the story, or is depicted in an artistic way.
*The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover:
Directed by Peter Greenaway and staring Helen Mirren. Pretentious, a bit too long, but filled with unbelievable imagery that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. An allegory (allegedly) of British politics set in a diner, with enough sex and violent scenes to earn an NC-17 when it came out. Harsh, uncompromising, and yet weirdly poetic at the same time. See it once and you’ll never forget it.
*Audition:
Directed by Takashi Miike. A torture porn movie that’s actually scary! This is the movie that Hostel wished to be. A widow sets up a fake movie audition, so he can date the prettiest actress at the casting call. The girl he picks is…not what she seems. One of the greatest tonal shifts I’ve ever seen in a film from funny to sweet to creepy to Fangoria. Fantastic.
Loved Audition. I watch so many horror movies that when one actually comes around that truly creeps me out it is instant win in my book. The tonal shift you mention was incredible. The movie starts out like some romantic comedy and when the tone shifts it slaps you right across the face.
It is experiences like this that mean the most to me be it a film, book, television show or comic. To give into the wants and desires of the mass market means to live in mediocrity. Even though all these forms of art are meant to entertain, they can also be used as tools to challenge us. The more something makes me think the more I enjoy it. I think that may be an outlook that just comes with growing older and maturing…but not in all cases mind you.
J.
Gotta say, I was so excited for Audition cause my friends hyped the shit out of it and as an artistic film I enjoyed it but as a horror film I feel asleep… Really. It was so boring thru-out most of it. But the overall plot of it was really cool and had some great lines no doubt.
Sorry you didn’t like it, Mike F. For me, it was truly one of best horror films I ever saw; right up there with Exorcist and Shining. It has the kind of pace that I think works best in horror films; slow build up of creepiness for 2/3rds and the shocking gore at the finish. Much more disturbing and scary than the massive body count of the 80’s slasher movies.
I definitely prefer it over slasher flicks. Actually I prefer it over a lot of other movies, I just couldn’t help feeling distracted several times thru out. It gets a little too quiet and too slow for me to remember i’m watching a movie. But Great lines, great actors and all that. And the director is great too. This was just one of my least favs by him.
Well said.
Dude, I loved Audition too. I almost wish they didn’t even advertise it as a horror film. It works so much better if you have no idea what’s coming.
Exactly. I watched it with a couple of my friends (after I’d seen it) and didn’t tell them it was a horror movie. When the shit started going down the look on their faces were priceless.
J.
hahahahahaha in have never thought to do that but it’s genius. my girlfriend is going to be so mad at me after i do this.
That’s why it would be cool to be a critic where every once in awhile you might end up seeing a movie in a long day of screenings where you know nothing about it until you start watching it. I can’t tell you how many Katherine Heigl movies I’ve had ruined due to the trailers spoiling too many things.
What?
OMG!!! What indeed!
J.
Don’t even get me started on 27 Dresses.
I refuse to watch trailers now. They give away everything. It’s so annoying.
I refuse to watch films, now. I only watch the trailers, it saves me a lot of time. 🙂
The first Mission Impossible would have been a great movie if the whole climax wasn’t in the trailer.
I’ve seen the second and third Mission Impossibles. Never watched the first, for whatever reason. I keep hoping it’ll show up on HBO or On Demand.
That is totally awesome!
I’m a fan of crime/noir comics and movies. And two films that I enjoyed were Chopper, Bronson, and one I’m looking forward to is Harry Brown with Michael Caine going all Death Wish. You can see why Kick-Ass did nothing for me.
I know Chopper and Bronson deal with basicly the same themes of these being violet people but their so well done and compelling they suck you into the story. That just didn’t happen to me with Kick-Ass.
meant to say violent sorry getting tired, need sleep, it’s getting pretty late on my side of the country.
So, do you read Criminal? They talk about both of those movies in the back pages.
Criminal rules. Love those essays in the back matter.
I buy the trades now
my pull list is bursting, gotta make some sacrifices
Criminal is great! Brubaker’s best book by far.
J.
I hear they’re doing a second volume of Incognito before they get back to doing more. There might have been talk of a third project preceding more Criminal as well. Can’t remember. At any rate, it is prolly Bru’s best stuff and I wish I could afford to buy the hardcover omnibus.
Yes I do, my favorite and one of the best comics on the market today.
Yes I do, my favorite and one of the best comics today.
Sorry, pressed submit twice.
Just finished watching Victory to the Daleks. In a word: impressive. I thought it was tip top. Where to begin?
Hold that thought. I made a new post and it will be up in a second. Go to the new post and start commenting.
J.
word
Pretty good job of editing in this video.
How come Elliott never puts his two cents in on this blog? I know he does the Youtube channel comments section, but that one is heading downhill fast from what I gather. And I never comment on there. I don’t like their setup.
Ya, you tube it sucking it lately. Elliott does post on here but rarely comments. He has his own blog to look after and I think he kinda sees this one as being mine…but he shouldn’t. Plus he is a lot busier than I am am so that’s why you may not see him on here as often.
J.
that’s the blog at Geek to Me?
maybe i’ll have to go over there and bother him sometime 😮
Explains why that sucka late posting the Sunday Funnies?
Not a good enough reason for me, I’m always looking forward to your funnies Deemar, E. better get it together.
boy I am dominating the recent posts sidebar…going for total domination.
Not as long as I’m around. 🙂
J.
Well, I guess things are pretty tepid around here at the moment. I’ll have to check back in about half an hour to see if any new comments have shown up. Sigh…anybody who reads this can check out my blog at http://littlekingryan.wordpress.com or simply click my username. Yes, another shameless plug. Just tryin’ to get some hits.
I’m also at the chatroom (http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/ComicCultureWarrior) desperately looking for a fellow insomniac to shoot the shite with….
I want to see what Cap is like in the Losers.
The Line-ups for the Avengers and Co have been Shown.
The Avengers
Iron Man
Thor
Bucky Cap
Spider-Woman
Hawkeye
Jarvis
Noh-Varr
Secret Avengers
Super Soldier (Steve Rogers)
Nova
Beast
War Machine
Black Widow
Moon Knight
Valkyrie
Sharon Carter
New Avengers
Luke Cage
Jewel
Spider-Man
Ms. Marvel
Wolverine
Thing
Doctor Strange
Iron Fist
Mockingbird
Avengers Academy (Teachers)
Hank Pym
Quicksilver
Tigra
Speedball
Justice
Bad guys highlighted for Herioc Age
Doctor Doom
Baron Zemo
Loki
Ultron
Kang
The Wracking Crew
The Hood
Spider-Man and Wolverine are also on the Avengers 😦
Secret Avengers is by far my favorite line up, but no Doctor Voodoo?
Still ain’t buying any of those books
Which series is Brubaker writing?
Secret Avengers
It’s the one Avengers book I’m chomping at the bit to read, but I’m on a self imposed strike from Avengers.
Too bad. I’ll just send you links to free uploads so you don’t have to buy it. Just kidding, I’d never do a thing like that. ;o
Heh…
😉
Can’t do that it would be wrong heh
I will probably pick this up, It is an odd cast of characters, and it’s very hard for me to pass on Brubaker. Who’s on art?
Mike “Steroid People” Deodato
That made my decision not to buy easier, plus his contribution to Bendis’ Dark Reign means I’ll hate him forever.
Oh Deodato, ya he’s a big fan of muscles.
I’m not sure if thats, going to stop my from buying the book but I will have glance through it now before buying it.
Don’t let me stop you it’s Brubaker atleast so you won’t have too suffer the BMB
Im just waiting for an announcement on what Dan Slott will be working on other than Spidey and Heroic Age anthology.
I’m beggin sweet lord give Slott a good artist
Either The Heroic Age is going to be a bust(at least critically) or my hatred for JoeyQ’s Marvel has just become bigger than it ever was. I’ve grown to hate Marvel(“7 Years In The Making”) but some of their past announcements at conventions or online have peaked my interest enough to either momentarily drop my “no Marvel Comics” ban or at least flip through them at my local comic store. So far, none of these Heroic Age reveals or anything mentioned at C2E2 have me curious at all. It just seems like the same old crap but only more of it.
Rest assured it’s mostly crap, but there are little nuggets of golden corn within that heaping pile.
Gorilla-man gets his own mini,Fraction on Thor, Bru on Secret Avengers (Yet I will not touch anything Avengers) Agents of Atlas gets another go. So for me there are things I’m interested in hell SHIELD by Hickman Jesus H. Christ that was good.
Ok if nothing else read SHIELD by Jonathan Hickman, it is not, I repeat not a MARVEL book (In the best sense of the word) this is pure Nightly News, Transhuman J. Hickman only in the MU.
Read it, buy it, Do it, Do it.
I like Parker a lot but I’d be more apt to buy his book if it was an Icon book or separated from the current Marvel “continuity”. After reading the first 2 issues of Casanova and his first Iron Man trade, I’m not a Fraction fan. While I liked Brubaker’s Cap a lot, I hated Cap Reborn and I heard his run on Uncanny proved he’s about as bad on team books as Bendis(I’m not an X-Man fan so I never read it). I’m curious about Hickman with all of this CCW praise but SHIELD sounds too League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen to me and, except for The Thing and the heroes/villains spun out of their book, I’ve never been a big FF guy.
I was wondering what my other fellow CCW citizens thought about the “return of bruce wayne” event.
Now, any other year I’d go crazy for Grant writing Batman (except with Tony) but right now I’m saying tired from all these events, I am just not interested…
Anyone else feel like events are too crowded these days?
I definitley want to check it out. Being a Batman fan helps, and I might be interested in Batman post #700 as long as Grant Morrison’s writing.
Am I the only person on here who thinks Grant Morrison is a tad overrated? He’s mostly fine, but I feel he doesn’t do very well in panel to panel transitions. Like I sometimes I just feel like the story isn’t flowing. And it’s not the artist because I feel this way no matter who’s penciling his work. Sometimes I have to go back and re-read the page again because I’m not quite sure what’s going on.
I usually feel this way during action scenes. His character scenes are where he shines.
Yeah your right. There are times when it feels like you skipped a page cause he can get a little rushing at times. I mean he’s not the DCU Messiah, I see your point, but he’s usually a fun writer with dialogue and narratives. I think I might pass on the Return of BW event. I don’t find the plot interesting, a hero hiding in time? Its just not for me… But I’ll stick wtih Batman and Robin until he closes it.
Nope, he’s not overrated. When that sumbitch is On, he is On, but when he’s off Morrison can be a chore.
About a year ago I reread his whole 7soldiers story and the guy is certified genuis and I hated 7soldiers the first time around, but in one big chunk, damn it was marvelous in it’s pure joy of comicbook lunacy.
He’s a madman a weirdo and possibly a druggie but one thing you can’t say about the guy is he is not talented.
So we agree that he’s overrated. Cool.
I find my interest is wanning rapidly and my patients for Morrison even though he’s a favorite is gone completely.
So while I still buy B&R that Bruce Wayne mini I’m not touching.
I still think that Zenith is the best thing that Morrison has ever done
Man, I’m kind of burned out on event leading into event leading into the megaevent we’ve all been waiting seven years for also. I’m not really all that enthused about the Return of Bruce Wayne b/c it’s just seems like such a predictable course of events. Now i’m not sure exactly how it’s going to occur, of course, and I guess that’s the attraction for most people, but I agree with you Mike F I’m just not that into it. I just don’t care that much. And if they have a middling-to-bad artist on it (is Daniel drawing it? you can see how much attention i’ve given the thing) then there’s no way I’m buying it. I might read a copy, but my money is going toward supporting more worthwhile and frankly, more deserving efforts.
Excatly I think the root of my dislike for Morrison’s run on Batman is centered squarely on Tony Daniel’s art along with the Final Crisis overlap of Batman:RIP.
That just pulled me outta the story.
Now if Quitely was drawing Return, you’d have yourself a deal. But I’m not familiar with the artists on it, except for Stewart, and he’s on for one issue.
I might see the Losers next week…or I might buy comics. I kinda gotta alternate every week on what I spend money on. Usually it’s between groceries/a dvd, comics, and movie theater. This weekend was a movie theater weekend.
And what did you lay out your hard-earned cash for? Or (since this is a comic blog) do I even have to ask?
Why, Kick-Ass of course :D!
Well, here goes nothin’.
After seeing the first Doctor Who episode of the new series (which is all I’ve seen) I don’t think I’ve ever been that into the show as much as I am now. I came in towards the end of Tennant’s run with Donna and said he will forever be “my” Doctor, or at least I thought. Matt Smith has a long way to go but I love the whole kind of restart button feeling that this new series has. New T.A.R.D.I.S! New sonic screwdriver! I will be completely & honest and say that my main reason for tuning in was Amy Pond. Jaw on floor is all I will add to that.
I think the very end of the episode when the Doctor tells the aliens to “basically run”, I was fully sold on Smith as the new Doctor.
I know I wasn’t the only one who had a huge smile on his face when the Doctor was looking into the new Tardis and said “oh you sexy thing”, that was a moment.
“Basically run” sold me on the series as well. Not Smith as the new doctor, but the series itself. I have no prior knowledge of the actors who’ve embodied the character previous. But as a Who virgin, that line made me realize what a badass the Doctor could really be, all evidence to the contrary.
Heh heh, that little hologram with all the past doctors coming up and all the aliens they defeated sent me a bit giddy. Made me want to get all the DVD releases of the old stuff, especially stuff like the Sea Demons or the tomb on mars stuff
wasn’t that sweet? sweet indeed
That does sum up the Doctor in two words and if Smith couldn’t get that right he couldn’t make it as the Doctor. I have to ask, what evidence to the contrary do you know of?
Just that he seems like a foppish, somewhat scatterbrained kind of guy. Not the person you’d expect to have lived over 600 yrs (or whatever it is) and have saved the universe countless times.
I’m sad they got rid of the old Tardis…let’s be honest that it is one of the few things had remaining that echoed back to the old show. I watched most of Tennant’s run and I know everyone around here seems to be all about the new girl but I think his relationship with Rose was the best.
I never knew anything about Doctor Who until Tennent, so I can’t sympathize with the nostalgia. I thought the old Tardis was great, but I like the new one too. The only problem I have with the new one is the new glass piece that’s in the center. It’s not as good as the older one. I also never really got to experience his relationship with Rose. But Rose was the de facto main character until she left. She remained when the Doctor changed. But she’s gone and I kind of get a little bit of what everyone else got when they rebooted the series in the new actors.
Its been a hard days night…BRAINNNS!!!!!!!
I wish I could shake your hand for posting this gem.
According to estimates, Kick-Ass is coming in at under $20 million for its first weekend. Considering it’s an R-Rated movie, that doesn’t make it an utter failure, but with all of the supposed buzz and the predictions of at least $25 million, it is definitely looked at as a disappointment. How soon before Millar spins this?
How did my post jump ahead of older ones?
Your message may have entered a section of subspace filled with chronotron particles, thus initialing a temporal jump ahead of earlier postings.
I need to quit watching Star Trek.
I’ve noticed this phenomenon, too. I don’t get it.
It’s to prevent discovery of the Higgs. Thank you CCW nation for saving the universe, have a beer.
me three!
And will it jump up ahead of others?
Yep, it sure did. Somehow Jose’s and Venom’s posts will remain the last on this thread. Strange.
I know why it’s doing it.
J.
I’ll just leave this here:
“Wow, turns out when you pull the racism, misogyny and nihilism out of a Mark Millar story*, you get a pretty fun movie. Kudos to Vaughn for directing the hell out of it, and giving it heart.
*Or, in short, when you pull Mark Millar’s writing out of a Mark Millar story …”
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/04/18/john-rogers-backhanded-kick-ass-compliment/
J.
Did you look at the comments section of that BleedingCool story? A poster brought up this story about JoeyQ…
A perfect example of this is when a fan asked Quesada if would consider hiring Dave Cockrum (who was sick at the time) to do some X-Men work for them. Quesada responded to the fan by saying that Cockrum’s work “would not appeal to today’s comic book readers”. He then went on describing how this was Darwinism and that eventually all artists work would cease to be appealing to fans (including his own). Talk about being disrespectful, not to mention cold hearted. Ironically (or is it a case of Karmic justice) DAREDEVIL:FATHER which Quesada wrote and drew was negatively received by many fans (especially the art) and under performed on the sales chart.
…If that’s true, he’s even a bigger scumbag than I thought. There are other tacky comments about “the house without ideas” in the comments section of that article as well. Everytime I even think about picking up a Marvel Comic, I just think of the meanspirited & classless things JoeyQ, Brevoort, Bendis, and Alonso have said & done. I’m not saying those at other companies are saints. I’ve heard plenty of rumors about Didio, McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Waid, and James Robinson(among others), but it seems like the bad stuff involving Marvel aren’t just rumors but actual statments made by the “talent” themselves without a hint of guilt or embarassment. I know I shouldn’t care what those in charge say or do as long as I like some of the books they put out, but they’re still rewarded in the long run if I keep buying their company’s books.
Disney can’t do springcleaning fast enough. If they ever do get around to doing this, I just hope they keep Parker, Slott, and maybe Gage around. Hell, Slott seems to have the encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel Universe that Brevoort supposedly does but he comes off as a nice guy who actually takes pride in his work.
That’s enough from me. I’m tired and cranky.
Ugh. That’s such a disgusting thing to say about Cockrum. Fuck Quesada.
Wish I had the balls to tell him that when I met him last year. I had a few questions I wanted to fire at him. But when I finally got face to face, all I could think of to ask, “Hey, can I take a picture with you? Pretty please?”
I suck.
Even though I’ve never seen you before cballsack(I refuse to look at ballsacks), I’m sure JoeyQ made you look even better looking by posing next to you for the picture. LOL! You’re also in good company by not telling him off to his face. According to Gail Simone, quite a few of Marvel’s talent had a problem with the whole Siege #3/Deadpool cover promotion but were afraid to say anything since Marvel’s the #1 comic company. At least our own Elliott isn’t worried enough about his next gig to tell Marvel to fuck off like he did a few months ago.
I love all of the comments attributed to Gail Simone in the comments section of that BleedingCool article. If I didn’t already like her work, I’d start buying it just due to the fact that she seems like a such a nice person as well as being a true professional. We know Rucka isn’t working at DC for the forseeable future and according to BleedingCool, Mark Bagley is going back to Marvel. I hope they don’t do anything to lose Simone(although from her comments, I doubt she’d go to Marvel).
Here’s the pic of me and Q-ball. This was at Bryant Park in NYC. It’s not much to look at, but eh, whatever. Pic’s quality is meh cuz it was taken with my phone. I still have a crappy RAZR.
You are a handsome man, cballsack. (Never thought I’d write that sentence.) Or maybe it just makes you look better because of that weirdo standing next to you. Kind of like when cute chicks hang around fat friends cause it makes em look even better by comparison.
Thanks, but I only like you as a friend.
**crushed**
i’m way out of your league, anyway
Thank god Bagley is going back to Marvel. Good riddance. Ya, he may be a workhorse but the guy fucking sucks.
As for the Joey Q. comment about Cockrum…fucking hell. I had never heard that before and am very glad you brought that to my attention. At this moment I am seriously considering dropping ALL of my Marvel books until that fuck is gone as EIC. Except maybe Agent of Atlas. Looks like I have some soul searching to do before Wednesday.
J>
I’ve read online several times that JoeyQ and Jemas basically had the attitude of “fuck all of the old fanboys if they don’t like our books” when they first came on board, but after Jemas left, that aggressive stance was calmed down a bit. How can I respect a guy who trashes his biggest competition in one of his first interviews after getting the job of EIC(the interview with the “DC is a limp dick pornstar” analogy), shits on talent, insults fans, and never admits any errors or shows any humilty at all. I think JoeyQ might be a bigger asshole than John Byrne(he definitely has less talent).
John Byrne. Now there’s a guy whose star has faded. Once the most popular man in comic books.
I’ve been reading some of his Star Trek comics lately. They’re not bad. He can still write some corny dialogue, but his stories are always good. I just wish he’d get an inker. Byrne is his own worst inker. And his artistic style has never matured. If anything, it’s gotten worse, unlike guys like Sal Buscema or John Romita, Jr., whose work looks so much different than it did a couple decades ago.
Agreed, Byrne is a terrible inker of his own stuff, he needs Terry Austin back stat. In fact looking back at the old Uncanny X-men stuff one has to wonder how much was Byrne and how much was Austin.
I thought Jerry Ordway was his best inker, in my humble opinion. I really loved their short run together on Fantastic Four.
You may be waiting a long time for that to happen.
I don’t think Bagley sucks. He’s by no means the greatest artist in the world, but eh, his stuff’s alright. I prefer his “classic” style of page layouts to a lot of the hip, popular artists of today with panels all over the place.
I’m sorta with you cballsack. I was never the biggest Bagley fan when he was on Ultimate Spider-Man, but I found his art had its charm(although everyone seems to have big Disney eyes). It was actually cool to see his take on DC’s characters when he first left Marvel. While him leaving isn’t going to make me lose any sleep, I definitely wouldn’t be upset if he stayed.
Jose, how do you feel about Finch? I forget if I’ve ever heard your opinion of him since I started coming here.
I can appreciate what Finch does. He is a good artist but his style does not appeal to me in the least. All of his Brightest Day covers that I have seen so far are terrible. His style does not mesh well with the “Brightest Day” concept. His art is the exact opposite of what the tone of Brightest Day should be in my opinion.
J.
I agree. He has some talent(although he has trouble giving characters distinct faces), but he’s not my type of artist and he definitely doesn’t fit with what DC is doing with Brightest Day. I hate how he’s given Aquaman the pinecone armor(I know it’s supposed to be scales but it doesn’t like it to me) that Marvel currently uses on Cap. I’d be curious to see what he could do on a Batman book, but if he goes back to Marvel tomorrow, I wouldn’t care at all.
Agreed.
J.
That’s funny. I hate the pinecone on Cap but I like it on Aquaman.
I respect Finch as well.This weekend I was re-reading some old single issues of Ultimate X-Men (I know it’s a Bendis comic,don’t get mad at me) and I really enjoyed the how clean and distinct it looked compared to rushed and murky work he started doing on New Avengers a couple years later.
I like Finch a lot. And his style shouldn’t appeal to me at all since I’m generally not a fan of this new wave of art style, but I think he’s extremely talented. Definitely in my top 5 of comic book artists working today.
Doug Mahnke would have been better for BD, I don’t know why he isn’t promoted more by DC, he’s far and away their best artist atm.
And he’s a workhorse, too. I cannot name a Mahnke book that has been late, at least anytime in the recent past, though maybe there have been some (?). The man even comes in and helps finish Final Crisis when J.G. Jones craps out. A special size GL #50? Check. All on deadline. This is the kind of artist who I consider a real professional. None of this eight weeks to finish a single book bullshit for me, please.
All that said, Is he right for Brightest Day? Probably, but I don’t want to see him off GL anytime soon.
But his Aquaman definitley is awesome.
J- I’m with you on the Finch not meshing well with “Brightest Day” as a concept. Finch has that tendency to over-render everything so that often his figures appear to have a rough, craggy texture, almost like stone statues. It works for Moon Knight. It’s okay for some X-Men stuff. But a Brightest Day should have a bit more cleaner, simpler style….good call.
Meh…you may have convinced me that songs about fistfucking can be decent but I will never be convinced that Bagley is “alright”. His art combined with the verbal diarrhea of James Robinson on JLA make it one the the WORST books ever produced. Let him go back to Marvel so they can put him on another book I could care less about so I don;t need to look at his “art” anymore.
J.
I think Bagley needs work drawing faces. That’s his biggest fault. I kinda used to feel how you did about him, but I don’t know, the guy’s kinda grown on me a bit.
I think Bagley needs work drawing.
J.
Bagley needs a really tight inker to sharpen up his art, someone like Terry Austin (last heard of working for Archie), Dan Green, Art Thibert. Otherwise his characters start looking like ghouls or old crones.
JLA 41 and 42 were better than the 4 issues that came before but its a title thats on life support at the moment. There was a report on bleeding cool from C2E2 that Robinson had 4 years of stories plotted out, I was hoping he’d be gone by #50 tbh. With the return of Bruce Wayne and also with Hal and Barry now back a Big 7 JLA title (maybe helmed by Grant Morrison?) would seem logical as the big DC event of 2011
Good call on inkers for Bagley, Locus. I’ve never been a fan of Bags myself (I hated it when he replaced Larsen on ASM way back in the day and maybe I still hold a little grudge), but you were right that his art greatly improves depending on his finisher. Just look at the pic Cball posted above: http://www.gtfyweb.com/media/marv/Misc/Bagleyart.jpg Inked by Thibert.
Now I really like that picture of Bagley’s that littlekingryan* posted. Depending on the inker, I’ve found Bagley’s art has grown on me over the years.
Bagley’s “art” is similar to Tony Daniel’s “art” 😦
I totally agree.But I have some problems with his recent JLA stuff.Like others have said maybe it just depends on his inkers.
Yeah, Smartass, I noticed the Cockrum quote too. Quesada is a total fucking douchebag. I’d put old school artists like Cockrum, Busema, Romita, Perez, Kane, Adams, and Byrne (before he fell the fuck off) up against any of the “artists” of today. Who, besides possibly J.H. Williams is even in their weight class? Remember when comic book art actually looked like it belonged in a comic book, instead of hanging on a wall in a fucking museum?
I wouldn’t even go that far. I feel the “realistic” style that a lot of artists use these days is so bland, boring, and often times “traced”, I’d put more “old school” comic artists in a museum before 99.9% of the guys working today. Hell, even Samuel L. Jackson had the right idea about that in Unbreakable.
I wonder if there is a possible breaking point for any of JoeyQ’s biggest cheerleaders or the more aggressive Marvel Zombies? Even though there were a lot of Marvel fans who called “foul” about the Siege #3/Deadpool cover promotion, there were also plenty who said it was just business and/or a joke(although these are the same people who cry bloody murder if someone at DC does or says something even 1/10th as bad). I’ve gone back & forth with Marvel due to their, imo, drop in quality, disrespect to the fans & past stories, and general unprofessionalism, but that Cockrum story made me positive that I’ll never drop a single penny on a Marvel book until JoeyQ is gone. I’d do the same thing if I heard Didio, Chris Ryall, Mike Richardson, or Erik Larsen say something similar.
This interview has me giddy for the future of Fables(one of my top 3 on going series).
http://www.newsarama.com/common/media/video/player.php?section_id=16#playerTop
newsarama is still shit, but Bill Willingham is the man.
I just started watching the CCW videos from the beginning. I got to the second one and Jose was joking about a scene from “Big” that bothered him by the way Tom Hanks tossed around his comics. I was curious as to what type of comic guys are out there in the CCW Nation. Do you bag & board everything? Do you treat comics like magazines that you either pass on to a friend, save without bagging, or just throw away/recycle when you’re done? Do you do both of these things depending on the book?
Oh my god, that’s sooooo funny! I knew there had to be other comic book fans out there who winced at that scene! I’ll never forget sitting there as a teenager in the theater watching him slap his girlfriend with the comics, mentally crying out, “Hey, don’t throw them around like that!!!”
Man, I can’t even watch those old episodes without throwing up in my mouth a bit. That scene did bother me in Big when I was younger but not so much anymore. I haven’t bagged or boarded my comics in over 10 years. I just throw them into long boxes.
How bout you?
J.
I also have been known to just give people long boxes full of my old comics.
J.
I suppose that’s better than giving them a V.D.
You would think so, right?
J.
Can I have some?
Long boxes of old comics, I mean. I’ll pass on the V.D.
Just don’t “pass on the V.D.” to me.
Ba-Da-Bump!!!
Thanks you ladies & gentlemen! I’m here all week! Don’t forget to try the veal!
I think we all know it’s too late for you already.
Shit, I forgot to try the veal.
LOL!!!
Best response to that line that I’ve ever heard!
I used to bag and board some stuff, but I never did that with everything. Over the years, I’ve gotten rid of a lot of the comics that were worn out and pretty much stopped bagging and boarding the rest. I still occasionally take good care of some comics that I feel I might be able to sell(I have the black & white Mouse Guard comic that was printed by ComixPress) or others that I happen to like, but more often than not, they’re either unbagged & stacked, given to a friend, or recylced. Even though some may see that as a waste of money in the long run or the destruction of an objet de’art, most comics aren’t going to be worth much more than a magazine or newspaper you buy, and paper isn’t meant to last for years & years anyway. I’m actually sort of happy that I haven’t kept every single comic I’ve ever bought. Considering I’ve been reading them since the early 80’s, I’d have thousands of long boxes and I’d look like some kind of horder.
One of these days, I’m gonna organize my closet full of comics. I won’t even venture as to how many boxes I have. It’s a big walk-in closet.
‘Ballsack, Come Out Of The Closet!
There’s a sentence I never thought I’d ever say. LOL! Sorry, I’m a little punch drunk.
GOOD NIGHT LADIES & GENTLEMEN!!!
I bag and board a small amount of my older comics but for anything from the last 10 years (I pretty much gave away everything from 1992-99 to charity shops) I put them in large plastic containers like this http://www.buy4now.ie/woodiesdiy/productdetail.aspx?pid=8758&loc=P&catid=9.5 , they are relativitly airtight and secure and a stack of them occupy one side of the freezer room.
I’ve only been collecting weeklies and singles for like 3 years…I’ve been reading comics since like 2002, but I started just getting trades and stuff. I bad and bord them now, but it’s pretty expensive, so I’m thinking of just quitting that.
I know I’m a nerd, but I bag and board most everything (granted, I don’t buy that much stuff). I have a spinner rack I display my new purchases and favorite covers in and it protects them from random spillings, projectile vomiting, etc. Or at least that’s how I justify it to myself.
But I never bag or board trades. Only singles….
I bag and board some stuff, but most of my comics just get shoved into long boxes. When I start getting too many boxes piled up I’ll pass on, or sell the stuff that I don’t really care about anymore. But I like to keep the good stuff for reference or re-reads. I never bag my trades, makes them look like shit on the bookshelf.
I have two longboxes. One completely filled with old singles that I know I’ll reread, the other for stuff from the last five years or so. The rest I read and toss.
If they are appropriate maybe you can give the ones you toss out to a local library?
J.
I used to do that but they would only take so many “stained” copies of Cherry Poptart.
Dude! That is fucking classic! Fucking hell… 🙂
J.
A friend of a friend’s Facebook status:
“After careful consideration, I have decided I want to leave this world the same fucking way I came into it…Naked, screaming and covered in someone else’s blood!”
Interesting…
I love it.
Kewl…400 comments.
J.
The Asylum Street Spankers, my favorite band in the world, did a really cool rendition of this song. I was gonna post it but it got yanked off Youtube due to some copyright infringement… the bastards.
I’ve always loved that. One of the best things I’ve ever seen on TV that didn’t involve naked ladies.
How can such a simple puppet skit be so brilliant?
There’s an auction happening to help support Gene Colan, who was badly injured recently.
http://www.thecliffordmethod.blogspot.com/