Tagged: Spider-Man

Happy Birthday: Mike Deodato

Happy Birthday: Mike Deodato

“Mike” Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho was born in 1963 in Campina Grande, Brazil. His father, also an artist, first introduced him to the work of people like Will Eisner and Alex Raymond, and taught young Deodato how to draw.

They worked together on several Brazilian small-press projects in the 1980s, and in 1991 an agency formed to represent Brazilian artists in the American market. They landed Deodato a gig drawing Santa Claws for Malibu Comics. Next he drew the comic-book adaptation of the movie Beauty and the Beast for Innovation.

His work caught the attention of DC, and they offered him Wonder Woman. Next Deodato penciled Thor for Marvel and Glory for Extreme Studios. He has worked on The Incredible Hulk, Amazing Spider-Man, The New Avengers, Squadron Supreme, Thunderbolt, and many others, and manages all that while still living in Brazil.

 

ComicMix Six: The Best Movies Adapted From Comic Books

ComicMix Six: The Best Movies Adapted From Comic Books

In a previous edition of ComicMix Six, I set forth my picks for The Worst Movies Adapted from Comic Books. Now, because a "worst" list is nothing without a "best" list, I’ve assembled another one for you. This time around, I’m casting the spotlight on the opposite of bad movies and highlighting The Best Movies Adapted from Comic Books.

In contrast to the worst films, these stellar examples of cinematic goodness are not only great comic book adaptations, they’re great movies, too. From brilliant direction, exciting visuals that enhance rather than obscure the story, to compelling peformances, these six films deliver in a big way.

They alse showcase adherence to, and reverence for, their source material and represent what happens when talented people who appreciate comics get together to make a movie. Plus, they’re just plain fun to watch.

So now, without further ado and in no particular order, here is my ComicMix Six list of The Best Movies Adapted from Comic Books.

 

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Piling It On, by Mike Gold

Piling It On, by Mike Gold

With great power comes… bloggers.

One of the first lessons I learned writing an Internet column – both here and on my soon-to-be-revived political rant Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind – is also the first lesson I learned when I started on radio shortly after Marconi found the electricity outlet: if you say it, some people will buy it. Either way, if it’s big enough people will debate it.

Joey Goebbels had some success with this concept… for a while.

We here at ComicMix strive for responsibility, and in that spirit I’ve had a great many column ideas that I rejected simply because they weren’t true. Oh, sure, I thought about selling them to Michael Davis, but then it dawned on me I can squeeze this column out of my spiked copy. Ergo, without further ado, here’s a bunch of columns I won’t get around to writing.

•     •     •     •     •

Oh, sure, Marvel rebooted Spidey to much loathing, but the reboot sells and if there’s one concept in comics that is engraved in stone it’s this: “Fool ‘em once, make big money. Fool ‘em twice and they’ll double-bag it.” In this spirit, Marvel has announced two exciting new projects.

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Spider-Man 4 and 5 to be Filmed Together?

Spider-Man 4 and 5 to be Filmed Together?

Cinematical is boasting quite the scoop today, reporting that one of their industry insiders confirmed that Zodiac writer James Vanderbilt has turned in a script for Spider-Man 4 that will stretch over multiple films. Negotiations regarding the script are still going on, so there’s no certainty that Vanderbilt’s two-part story arc will end up on the big screen.

From Cinematical:

… according to our source, "his story arc has encompassed two films, making Spider-Man 5 shootable at the same time. The studio saw dollar signs and is in the process of reworking his deal to snatch up the story arc."

Sure, everyone’s happy now… but wait until they hear the working titles for the films: Spider-Man 4: Brand New Day and Spider-Man 5: The Clone Saga.

*sigh*

 

‘Marvel Universe Online’ – Why They Killed It

‘Marvel Universe Online’ – Why They Killed It

That’s weird. We were just talking about Marvel Universe Online a few days ago. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (think World of Warcraft with Spider-Man and the X-Men) based on Marvel comics superheroes. Joystiq.com writer Christopher Grant got to have dinner recently with Shane Kim, VP of Microsoft Games Studios, and asked him why it was canceled.

Basically, Microsoft owned up to the fact they don’t do MMOs well.

"We don’t have a heritage of MMOs," said Kim. The article went on to list several MMO attempts that Microsoft attempted that failed. "It’s a hits-driven business … it’s all about quality, all about hits."

A link to a Gamasutra.com piece shed more light:

Given the rumors of confusion on the dev team about what the game was going to be like at a fundamental level, pulling support from the project seems like a no-brainer. That said, I think MUO’s death highlights Microsoft’s sordid history with Massively Multiplayer games.

I think that the fact that we’re still talking about Marvel Universe Online several months after it was officially canceled shows that the concept is still compelling and viable. But there’s no arguing that outside of a few MMO hits, the landscape is littered with flops from many different companies. Remember The Matrix Online or Star Wars Galaxies? Not surprising when you consider it’s a subscription-based business. How many of us just have HBO and consider that good enough instead of also getting Showtime?

I like to imagine, though, that Uatu the Watcher is spying on one of his "What If…?" universes where Marvel Universe Online game out and was more popular then Warcraft. Of course, the game would be populated by a thousand variations of Spider-Man and Wolverine with names like "5piDer-MaN" and "Wolverine Gets High."

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for April 3, 2008

Let’s be honest: It was a forgettable week for comics. Both Marvel and DC are still trying to get their summer events off the ground, and the rest of their books seem to be treading water. And while a few decent indies hit the shelves this week, none were exceptional.

So, if that’s not enough to get you excited for a big batch of reviews, I don’t know what is.

Book of the Week: BPRD 1946 #5 — For a series that started out with three and a half low-key books, BPRD 1946 goes out with a frenetic climax, as Bruttenholm and pals do their darndest to prevent a payload of monsters from being launched into America.

There are also monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys, all captured in crazed fashion by artist Paul Azaceta (read my interview with Paul right here).

This book continues to work well as narrative backfill, showing the Bruttenholm’s transition from fighting Nazis to raising Hellboy. While there are allusions to events to come, the story never obsesses with self reference, as it’s too busy having fun. Sample dialogue from the villain: "You’re in over your head, stranger! You and your popgun army!"

Lots of credit to Mike Mignola and co-writer Joshua Dysart for pumping out yet another Hellboy property while keeping the quality sky-high. (You can also read my interview with Dysart right here.)

Runner Up:

DMZ #31 — This series seems to have finally pulled itself out of a long dry spell of one-and-done books that strayed too far from the central narrative. We’re back to Matty in his role of journalist/angry-young-dude, as he covers the campaign of Parco, a mix of Hugo Chavez and Barack Obama who’s trying to jostle the system. As expected, the system doesn’t like being jostled.

When this series is clicking, Brian Wood does a beautiful job of paralleling real events and politics without straining. The DMZ story works all by itself, but it still offers commentary on things like the current election season and Iraq.

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The Single Greatest Comic Book of All Time?

The Single Greatest Comic Book of All Time?

Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog continues to be one of my favorite comic blogs on the InterWebs, as it never fails to crack me up while also turning me on to some comics that might not have otherwise been on my radar. Yesterday’s celebration of his one-year anniversary with the new ISB site was no exception.

In order to commemorate a full year with the "new" ISB, Chris revisits his assessment of "The Single Greatest Comic Book Of All Time" — which happens to be November 1988’s Batman #425, featuring a Jim Starlin story and Mark Bright pencils.

According to Chris, a single page featuring Batman’s creative use of a car battery changed the course of his entire life:

That’s it. That’s the moment. That’s where the ISB was born, although it wouldn’t actually show up for another seventeen years. You can draw a line straight to the comics I read today and everything makes sense: The way Batman casually looks around for something to use, the delight he takes in “getting improvisational,” the thug’s reaction and the grin Batman’s got in the shadow, the way the guy just crumples. You don’t hear a whole lot about Mark Bright, but man. That is a beautiful page.

Much like Chris Ullrich‘s post a while back, directing you to a list of comics that "hooked" popular creators, it’s always interesting (to me, at least) to find out what issues were the "first" for various readers.

Mine? Marvel Team-Up #129, featuring Spider-Man and Vision vs. The Mad Thinker’s Robots. They smash evil versions of Albert Einstein, Mark Twain and, I believe, Abraham Lincoln. Vision questions his own humanity – or lack thereof – and there’s a big robot with a club for a fist. Ed Hannigan’s cover remains one of my favorites to this very day.

When Superheroes Get Old

When Superheroes Get Old

Geriatric superheroes appear to be all the rage these days, as a number of sites are linking to Italian artist Donald Soffritti’s illustrations of Superman, Spider-Man and a variety of other super-types in their Golden Years. Soffritti’s work is great, and I can’t help but giggle every time I look at his take on DC speedster The Flash.

(And please, for everyone’s sake, don’t tell DC/Warner Bros. about this stuff.)

(via ComicNerd.com)

 

Along the same lines, BoingBoing points us to a similar piece that fast-forwards the age of popular cartoon characters, including Popeye, Felix the Cat and Dennis the Menace (my personal favorite).

 

ComicMix Six: The Worst Supervillain Names in Comics

ComicMix Six: The Worst Supervillain Names in Comics

A while back, I gave you "The Worst Superhero Names in Comics," but now it’s time for the other end of the spectrum. Yes, it’s time to give the supervillains their due. (Well, those of them with horrible names, that is.)

Oh, and before anyone mentions folks like "Mr. Banjo" and "Captain Nazi," I didn’t include those characters because they were created to fight Captain Marvel back when that character’s adventures were still very much aimed at younger readers – so I consider them to be an entirely different animal. The same goes for any villains created with intentionally silly names (i.e., Howard the Duck’s nemesis, "Dr. Bong").

Ready? Okay, then I give you the ComicMix Six list of The Worst Supervillain Names in Comics…

6. BUSHMASTER: Yeah, I know it’s the name of a deadly snake. But honestly, guys and gals, when you see Wonder Woman (of all people) fighting a telepathic character called "Bushmaster," and then you read her thought bubble proclaiming, “Great Hera! I — I cannot resist the telepathic commands of the evil Bushmaster!” … Well, you can’t help but laugh and cringe at the same time — which is painful, believe me.

Congratulations, Bushmaster. You just barely edged out "The Growing Man" and "Bi-Beast" in the award for names with ridiculous innuendo.

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Happy Birthday: Marv Wolfman

Happy Birthday: Marv Wolfman

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, Marvin A. “Marv” Wolfman got his start in comic book fandom before joining DC in 1968. In 1972, he moved to Marvel Comics under editor Roy Thomas.

After Thomas left, Wolfman’s friend Len Wein became editor-in-chief, but  a year later he passed the position on to Wolfman. Wolfman missed writing, however, and chose to step down as editor-in-chief a few years later so he could return to creating the comics himself.

While at Marvel, Wolfman wrote for Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange, but he is possibly best known for his work on Tomb of Dracula, including the creation of the vampire-hunter Blade.

In 1980, Wolfman returned to DC and created The New Teen Titans. He worked on Superman and Night Force, revived Dial H for Hero, and then launched the pivotal Crisis on Infinite Earths.

During the ’90s, Wolfman focused more on animation and television, and in the 2000s he has written a novel based on Crisis on Infinite Earths, the novelization of Superman Returns, and an animated movie, Condor, for Stan Lee’s Pow Entertainment. Wolfman recently took over the writing for DC’s Nightwing series.

In 2007, he wrote a nonfiction book, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, among other honors.

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