an icepick through the keyhole

Re: Thor

I liked it - it wasn't as epic as I was hoping in scope, but it handled the mythos well, there was sufficient humour to ground it, and the grandeur of Asgard and the cosmic avenues it opens up for the rest of the Marvel Movieverse lent that right bit of spice to whet our appetites for the movies to come.

I loved Jaimie Alexander as Sif, though, and wish she had more time. I found her much hotter than Natalie Portman's Jane, but then I'm biased because I've always preferred badass Sif to slightly wet Jane.

I was really happy with the handling of Loki. They could have gotten all comic booky bwah-ha-ha God Of Evil on us, but Branagh and Hiddleston actually gave us a really subtle Loki. You saw the quiet way he was manipulating people, all Iago-like, but ultimately his motivations were not as one-dimensional as mere mischief, conquest or jealousy. The twists in his plan showed how Loki's mind works on multiple levels and people keep underestimating or not being able to comprehend how labyrinthine his schemes are - and that's the way it should be! Kieron Gillen understands this, as seen in the latest issue of Journey into Mystery when Young Loki speaks to the shade of his dead self.

Ultimately, Thor defeats Loki not by outwitting him but the way Thor does best: sheer brute force. And you know that Loki's last move was calculated and he was already working that in as a variable for the rematch. It was reminiscent also of the love-hate Shakespearean struggles between the two and Odin of the Simonson era, where even Loki will take up arms to defend his family and home. Loki as a character and as an actor in this movie was great.

If I could wish for something, it'd be a companion live action Tales of Asgard TV series going along the lines of Game of Thrones...

This is what DCU Online should be like (lots of pictures at the links, safe for work, although I make no representations to the possibility of hysterical laughter):

http://sigma7.livejournal.com/642085.html

http://sigma7.livejournal.com/642367.html

http://sigma7.livejournal.com/642577.html

http://sigma7.livejournal.com/642816.html

No spoilers.

Call for questions, by way of Tom Galloway:

This year's San Diego Pro/Fan Trivia will have Len Wein, Kurt Busiek, Mark Waid, and Robert Skir going up against Tom Galloway, Terence Chua, David Oakes, and John Sardegna, with the questions being asked by Peter David. We're looking for people to write questions for it, with this year's theme being "Young Heroes". Specifically, we're looking for questions about characters college aged or below, from stories published from 1956-1986 (essentially the Silver Age and Pre-Crisis). For example, Superboy, Supergirl, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Robin, Teen Titans, Spider-Man, Human Torch, the original X-Men and Kitty Pryde, etc.. If you send in a Legion question, we request that you also send in at least one non-Legion question for each Legion question, as we don't want an excessively Legion dominated set of questions.

There are two types of questions in the match, toss-ups and bonuses. You should mark your questions with what type you think they are. Toss-ups can only be answered by individuals, while the full team can consult on the latter. The latter can thus (and should) be both harder and perhaps a bit more complex in terms of a correct answer. In general, questions requiring more than one answer ("Name seven of the villains who appeared in the story about Reed and Sue's wedding") should be bonuses, not toss-ups. Ideally, I think 90% of toss-ups should be answered correctly, while around 50-70% of bonuses should.

Questions should not ask for issue numbers (they can be included in the question, but try for more descriptive set-ups than just "Who was the villain in Forbush-Man #3?") or creators. We're interested in story content. Also, unless it was fairly memorable, please don't write questions on the order of "In Superboy #158, Lex Luthor revealed a particular fondness for what Martian dessert?" where this was never mentioned again outside of that one panel.

As an example, take a look at 2003's match, including all questions and whether and who answered them correctly, in this post.

I'll just note that ones I think were probably too easy were Tossup #10, Bonus #11, and Bonus #13. Ones I think were probably too hard were Tossups 2, 8, and 20.

Finally, if possible, try to add a bit of style to the questions, sothey're not of very basic forms like "What's the Top's real name?" "Who fought Forbush-Man in Forbush-Man #1?", etc. I like Tossups 3 and 14 from the 2003 match in this regard.

Questions should be sent to hal_sdcc@yahoo.com

The match'll be Sunday the 27th, 2:30, in Room 4.

It's funny. Over the last year I've been reading and paying more attention to comics than I have for the last five years or so, but I haven't really been talking about it much on this journal. I'm not sure why: maybe it's time I actually get off my ass and do that comic/pop culture musings blog I've been mulling over in my head.

But there are interesting rumblings happening in the mainstream comic industry - and for mainstream read Marvel and DC. It's no secret that there's been a portion of people my age who grew up with comic books who have been rather critical about the direction super-hero comics have taken in the last, oh, five or six years or so. For DC, it's been one descending mess after another, and calls for Dan DiDio's head have been getting louder and louder.

The current brouhaha is over Final Crisis, how it seems to contradict or outright ignore the events Countdown to Final Crisis (another continuity and quality nightmare) and Death of the New Gods, which were supposed to be lead-ins to it, and then the abrupt departure of Chuck Dixon from the DC stable. If your eyes are starting to glaze over, or you don't understand what the fuss might be about comic books, that's okay.

But if you have an idea, or are curious, here's a couple of interesting articles for you to read.

Comic Book Resources has an editorial by Greg Hatcher about said brouhaha

io9 has an article concerning rumours about a shake-up at DC.

I'm looking forward to Comic-Con a lot more now. If not the panels, the bar talk should really be interesting.

Got back from The Incredible Hulk. Not quite as incredible as I'd hoped, but still pretty darn good and entertaining (and the end fight is a lot better than the one in Iron Man, but then excessive property damage makes me happy).

Everyone knows that this isn't a sequel to the Ang Lee train wreck, but the key thing to keep in mind is that this is actually a reboot of the television series. The opening montage, the lab set-up that Banner has that transforms him into the Green Goliath... it's all right out of the television show. Lou Ferrigno is doing the Hulk roars, for pete's sake.

Norton does a better Banner than Bana, because despite the good muscle tone, he's more geeky sounding and looking. Liv Tyler brings the pretty, but she's more or less emotionally flat as Betty; then again, Tyler has never particularly impressed me with her acting chops. William Hurt is workman-like with Thunderbolt Ross. In fact, generally the characterisation is pretty blah. You're just waiting for Banner to hulk out, really. It says something when the most emotionally interesting character is the CGI'd one. But then again, that's who you paid to see.

Also, lots of nice, non-intrusive call-backs to the television show as well as the comic book. People in the know will notice familiar names, see the set-ups for future villains, and enjoy the background details that make this a part of a unified Marvel Studios universe and Chapter 2 in the overall Avengers saga. And to remind people: no need to stay behind for the credits if you don't wanna: there's nothing after them this time.

And please, guys. Don't fuck up Iron Man 2.

Reel 13 is a short film showcase by WNET New York. The winner of June 7, 2008 is a short film (originally made in 2005) titled "Super Power Blues" written and directed by Greg Pak, who also happens to be the current writer on The Incredible HulkHercules.

In another hilarious installment of "Hi, I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC", Iron Man and Batman discuss their movies. Might be spoilers for those who've not seen Iron Man or Batman Begins.

And if you're in that category, I... I... *choke* I just don't know you anymore...

By way of The Legion Omnicom, an announcement on Newsarama:

We’ve been told that DC’s upcoming Final Crisis spans the past, present and future of the DC Universe.

With today’s Action Comics #863, part of that “future” has been previewed in a teaser image that confirms a team-up fans have been speculating about – writer Geoff Johns and artist George Perez will unite to tell the story of a multiverse-spanning 31st century battle in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds beginning in August.

One of the two promised DC mini-series that will tie directly into Final Crisis, the Legion of 3 Worlds story will pull together the characters from three teams that have called themselves Legion of Super-Heroes during DC’s publishing history. And if we go by the teaser image, a slew of Perez-drawn Legion members will be fighting alongside Superman against a villainous threat in the future that will include a couple threats from the present as well – Superman-Prime and… is that Lex Luthor?

After wrapping up the Sinestro Corps War just a few months ago, it hasn’t taken Johns long to start writing another epic storyline, this one in five oversized issues that will tie into the Final Crisis story writer Grant Morrison is telling with artist J.G. Jones this summer. And it won’t surprise readers of Johns’ monthly comics that these issues will feature members of the original Legion, which Johns helped re-introduce to the DCU last year in a crossover between his Justice Society of America title with Justice League of America, then used in the current Action Comics story.

But three Legions? All together and all part of the DCU? What happened to the reboots where one Legion replaced the other? And for those readers who’ve never read any Legion stories, what do they have to know to understand this series? And what is Lex Luthor doing in that picture? Newsarama talked to Geoff Johns in a two-part interview to find out the answers to these questions and more…

More at the Newsarama page. Also, preview pages here and here.

I admit, and purely because at heart I am and always have been, and always will be, incredibly sappy and sentimental and militant about the Legion (and which Legion fan isn't? Really, as a fandom, we're scary - ask anybody), I'm quite stoked about this. Because. IT'S THE FRICKIN' LEGION! THE PRE-CRISIS LEGION! AND THE ZERO HOUR LEGION! AND THE REBOOT LEGION! AND THE TIME TRAPPER! AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-VILLAINS! AND GEORGE PEREZ!

Oh yeah, and Superboyman-Prime. Whatever.

Anyway, insert obligatory squee, and a quiet prayer that they don't screw this up.

( Dave Stevens, 1955-2008 )

It's amazing. After years of fantasizing about [Bettie Page], I'm now driving her to cash her Social Security checks.

Also, we lost Jerry Serpe, longtime DC colorist. They will both be missed.