Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic Trailer Delivers the Suck

So, this is what a motion comic looks like? Consider me sick to my stomach.

It turns out that a motion comic is a far worse crime against nature than I’d initially anticipated. It is not just Ken Burns-style pan-and-zoom job. No, no, no. Mouths and bodies move slightly, like a pale imitation of the moving photographs in the Harry Potter films. Terrible voice acting is involved, too. And now, they’re not just doing this with new books: they’re bringing classic tales into this new format, as well.

The trailer I’ve embedded above (also available here) is for a motion comics adaptation of the first story arc of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men, which I’m on record as adoring. And I just can’t stand what they’ve done to it. This is a travesty, man. It’s just plain horrible.

What do you guys think of motion comics? Have you experienced a whole one? I’ve just seen the trailer for one, but that’s enough for me.

Geek Force FiveCast 218: Marvel and Pixar

In which ECC geeks out about the possibilities now possible for Marvel and Pixar, thanks to Disney’s buyout of the comics giant.

Disney Buys Marvel for $4 Billion

The Walt Disney Company has bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion dollars, according to The New York Times. Now, say that with me again, in the voice of Dr. Evil:

Four billllllliiiiiiiiooon dollars!

I’m not really sure what I think about this yet—as evidenced by my initial tweet on the subject—but I think that Ron Richards at iFanboy has made some great points. The key question here is how much corporate oversight will Disney have over the day-to-day operations at Marvel. Will the House of Mouse be domineering or not? What do you think, Fivers?

Worth Your Consideration #024

• Lionsgate has acquired the distribution rights to Kick-Ass, the film adaptation of Mark Millar’s kick-ass comic book which “tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero.”
• Also from Ain’t It Cool News, there’s news that the next film in the Wolverine franchise will be penned by Christopher (The Usual Suspects) McQuarrie. AICN hated X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which I still have not seen), and feels that the hiring of McQuarrie means very good things for the film version of everyone’s favorite overexposed and overhyped mutant.
• And, proving that I get way too much of my news from a site I often disagree with, here’s yet another bit from AICN: Weird!! If There’s Another SUPERMAN Movie, A Lot Of Stuff Probably Won’t Be In It...For Better or Worse...
• And, oh yeah, will you look at this. Ain’t It Cool did this next story, too. Egads, I didn’t realize until I sat down to write this that all of the stories I was going to cover were from that site. Man, I guess you should just go subscribe to their feed or something (assuming you can find the link to it, which right now I can’t). Ahem… anyway. The news is that Columbia Pictures has found a writer for Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6. His name is James Vanderbilt, and he wrote the first draft of the script for Spider-Man 4, which is currently in pre-production or pre-pre-production or whatever it is they call that stage when a hundred writers rewrite a script to make studio execs happy.

Too Many Characters in IRON MAN 2?

Earlier today, I had the great pleasure of reading this fantastic analysis of what might be forthcoming in Iron Man 2. The writers at All Things Fangirl did a bang up job, and now that I’ve finally seen the Comic-Con footage that they spend part of the article discussing (available, at least temporarily, here), I must say that I do share some of their concerns.

The greatest and most damaging symptom of the Bigger and Better belief in superhero movies is the presence of multiple villains… The greatest sequels are not the ones with more villains, more sidekicks, more fight scenes. Empire, Godfather Part II, The Road Warrior, Terminator 2, Spider-Man 2—these movies aren’t about more of the physical components that made up the first movie, they’re about a continuation of the themes and character development that caused their predecessor to strike a chord with audiences.

Is it possible that Jon Favreau will fuck up the Iron Man franchise by trying to do too much too soon? The Comic-Con footage looks fantastic, but there is a lot going on there. What do y’all think? In Favreau We Trust, or what?

INCREDIBLE HULK Sequel?

I really enjoyed the 2008 film adaptation of the Hulk story, The Incredible Hulk. In fact, I think the first thirty minutes of that film is on par with the best in superhero film we’ve seen this decade. That is why I am excited every time I hear a piece of news confirming the possibility of a sequel to that film or the possibility of characters from that film making an appearance in the supposedly forthcoming Avengers super-flick.

Ain’t It Cool News’s Hercules has news from a Los Angeles’ Television Critics Association event that indicates that Tim Roth, the man who played Incredible Hulk baddie Emil Blonsky, signed with Marvel for three films. These three films could apparently include both a sequel to The Incredible Hulk and the aforementioned and as-yet-untitled Avengers film.

What do you think? Did you guys and gals like The Incredible Hulk? Are you looking forward to seeing more of the characters from that film?

Worth Your Consideration #023 - SDCC 2009

• Bucket Reviews has the Iron Man 2 panel up on YouTube in three parts (1, 2, and 3). Sadly, this doesn’t include the actual footage from the film that was shown, as that’s apparently against Comic-Con’s stone age rules and regulations. But, fret not: Screencrave.com has recreated it for us and Ain’t It Cool News has a nice recap.
• In other Iron Man 2 news, Live For Films has a nice, brief piece on the announcement by director Jon Favreau that the Iron Man sequel will not end in a cliffhanger meant to set up an eventual Avengers flick. Says Favreau, “We’re working towards Avengers, but by the same token we want to resolve this film and make [Iron Man 2] play on its own.”
• In other comics news, the perpetually in legal-limbo property Marvelman now belongs to Marvel. I have the infamous birthing issue of Miracleman (Marvelman’s title in later years) that the guys at iFanboy mentioned on their show a few weeks back, but have very little attachment to the character otherwise. That said, this is apparently very big news. What do you think about it, Fivers?
• Moving back to film adaptations of comics, a favorite subject of ours here on Geek Force Five, AICN’s description of the Kick-Ass session at Comic-Con has me itching to see the film. I knew very little about it before reading the AICN piece and the Wikipedia article, but man, this sounds cool. It’s apparently about a kid who decides to become a super-hero and then gets his ass kicked in the process before finally coming into his own. You guys fans?
• In film adaptation news of the non-comic book variety, there’s the trailer to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland that’s finally made it’s official appearance, post-SDCC. You’ll remember that I tweeted about the leaked version last week, and I have to say that it’s even better in HD.
• This trailer for Dorian Gray (an adaptation of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, surely) is also quite good.
• In one final bit of adaptation news, Peter Jackson let slip during his panel with James Cameron that his film version of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones (one of my favorite books of the last ten years or so) will have a trailer within a few weeks time.
• And, lastly, for those Heroes fans among you, SDCC was not without news about the forthcoming new season of that show. I will watch as always, but have my reservations about a season that will supposedly begin with Claire locking lips with her college roommate. Whaddayathink?

Thor: The Return of Cheesy Action Fantasy?

The use of this picture was necessary for several reasons.  Firstly, it was just hilarious.  Secondly, it illustrates how long it has been since that long ago era of the eighties when we were last treated to a big screen schlock treatment of fantasy.  While fantasy novels were my love as a teenager, serious treatments of the genre tend to bore me.  I checked out mentally after the first Lord of the Rings.  At some point, it became a Discovery Channel special focusing on midgets trudging through the woods with snazzy special effects.

Continue reading.

First Look at Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in IRON MAN 2

It was four months ago, on March 16, that we first talked about Scarlett Johansson joining the cast of Iron Man 2. Today, first at comicbook.com (in a pixelated screen capture from Entertainment Tonight), and then at Coming Soon (in the small but higher-res version I’ve included above), I got my first look at Scarlett in character as Black Widow. And all I have to say is that the rawrs I’m seeing on Twitter are a tremendous understatement. She looks absolutely perfect for this role, don’t you think? 

Scott Williams is More Than a Tracer

Longtime Jim Lee collaborator Scott Williams has joined the group of artists blogging at Gelatometti. I’ve always thought that the inks and embellishments provided by Willliams are a big part of why Jim Lee’s work pops the way that it does, and I honestly wish that the two of them would work together on everything that Lee does. That said, it’s nice to see him playing around with the pencils of a couple of other masters—Byrne and Kirby—in his first post. The only thing that would make this debut more perfect would be a look at the original pencils, for comparison’s sake.