Happy Turkey Day – Classic Marvel Macy’s Parade Videos

On behalf of Ben and myself, have a great Turkey Day and holiday weekend! In cruising around on the Spider-Man Crawl Space site tonight, I found this great clip. If you need a Spidey Macy’s float fix, head over to Crawl Space for all kinds of them.

But without further blabbing, enjoy this skit from the 1987 parade. There’s about 20 characters and some spectacularly bad fight sequences including a lame chase with Captain America and Dr. Doom. Nice eyebrows, Hulk.

And this one from ’89. Where have all the good men gone? Yeesh. Also, note the Deborah Norville gaffe talking about Wonder Woman for a Marvel float:

Have a great holiday!

Ultimates Vol. 3 #5: I don’t get it

The title of this post probably tells you everything you need to know, but seriously, when it came to the final issue of Ultimates Vol. 3, I didn’t get it.

-Yeah, I understood the Magneto close and it definitely made sense going into the Ultimatum event. As IGN’s Jesse Schedeen eloquently put it: “For the first time, I feel as if I can actually explain the premise of Ultimatum to a layman without resorting to vague generalities.”

-Yeah, I kinda understood that apparently Dr. Doom was behind the ‘criminalization’ of Hank Pym’s Ultron…I guess. What’s his motivation? Why and how? I need to understand more here other than a single-page splash to close out the book.

Finally, I understood that the book left me with a strange feeling. I re-read it to make sure I caught everything, but perhaps it was the time elapsed since the fourth issue or something else, but I can’t say I liked it. It came across as thrown together and not an end to a well-orchestrated tale. In checking out some other reviews and chatting with Ben, I don’t think I’m alone either. It’s irritating because I don’t think you should leave a reading of a book confused in a bad way and that’s what I felt after reading this.

Perhaps it’s the Jeph Loeb critisicm that is working in the back of my mind, but this was a strange and seemingly forced end to what was turning out to be a decent mini-series.

At least, I think it was.

Episode 06 – “Suddenly Cynical”

In this Galactus-sized episode, Adam Fleishman stops by to give us The Newbie Book Report and wastes no time dishing out some harsh criticism.  We read listener email and rant about back matter, event banners and Jeph Loeb. Then Ben and Josh show off their huge stacks and talk comics including: Amazing Spider-Man, Secret Invasion, 1985, The Twelve, the Ultimate Universe, Batman R.I.P., Green Lantern, Walking Dead and Invincible, The Stand, Rasl, Greatest Hits, Spawn, G.I. Joe, X-Force and finally, Final Crisis. Phew!

To listen, click here or subscribe via iTunes

Prez-Elect Obama: A Spider-Man Fan?

Barack Obama - Comic Fan!

I knew there was a reason I loved this guy.

As I perused Newsarama the other day, I saw this post entitled ‘5 Lessons We Hope Obama Learned from Spider-Man‘ and bookmarked the page to check it out later. Then, a friend of mine on Facebook had a link to ‘50 Things We Didn’t Know About Obama‘. Number 1? He collects Spider-Man and Conan The Barbarian comics.

Whu? Huh? How did I miss this?

Apparently, this just broke over the past days and this article points to how a certain store is now selling more and more because of this revelation. The President-Elect is not only a comics fan, but a Spider-Man fan?

I love America.

More Movie News: Kick Ass Photos and a new Watchmen trailer debuts

When comic book movie news rains, it pours.  Right on the heels of Marvel’s latest directorial announcement, two other upcoming comic movies make a splash: the biggest and wettest being the new trailer for Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, due out on 03.06.09.  The trailer debuted on Yahoo! Movies (and of course, neamintcomicshow.com) just hours ago and it’s already generating some great buzz. Don’t know why iTunes and the movie’s own website were snubbed, but it sure looks dope!

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First Look: Kick Ass Photos

In other movie news, the first photos were released from the Toronto set of Kick Ass.  The film adaptation of Mark Millar & John Romita Jr.’s current series will star Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski (a.k.a. “Kick Ass”) as well as Nicolas Cage and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (a.k.a. “McLovin”)

Kick Ass in Action

NY Comic Con/MTV, Captain America Director Named

-If you are planning on attending February’s NY Comic Con like Ben and myself, you know how much fun it can be. If you’re between 16-28 and a hardcore fanboy/girl, you can apply at the Con’s official site to be part of the MTV True Life documentary series. The person they choose will be their guest and followed around by the MTV True Life production crew all weekend. Don’t forget the NYCC takes places from February 6-8th, 2009, at the Javits Center in NYC.

Also, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and George Perez were recently added to the roster of celebs appearing at the event.

-Marvel announced that Joe Johnston has been signed on to direct the Captain America movie, slated for release in May 2011. Johnston is used to bigger-budget action movies including ‘Jumanji’, ‘The Rocketeer’, ‘Jurassic Park III’ and the legendary ‘Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.’ He’s a former Academy Award winner, taking home a 1982 Oscar for the visual effects in ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark.’ You’ve heard of that, right?

You’re Fired! – Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander relieved of duties on “Heroes”

Jeph Loeb (pictured here with Heroes star, Kristen Bell) was fired by NBC according to Variety

Uber-reliable Hollywood rag Variety has reported that comics scribe Jeph Loeb and co-executive producer Jesse Alexander have been relieved of their duties on NBC’s Heroes.  The news comes midway into the third season of the comics-inspired drama which debuted with stellar ratings and a rabid fanbase, but has since limped into mediocrity since its first season.

According to the article, Loeb and Alexander, who have been with Heroes since the beginning, were let go due to “frustration with the creative direction of the show.”  Fans have criticized Heroes for being derivative of plots and characters found in mainstream comics, a fact that the shows producers would likely attribute to homage rather than plagiarism.  From its inception, Heroes asserted itself as a show pulled directly from comic book lore.  A better criticism of the show might be that its characters, while largely likable and interesting, seem to demonstrate wildly erratic motivation and behavior.   … [ Begin Editorial ]