Marvel News & Views 10.27.03
Posted by Jim Trabold on 10.27.2003
Marvel media roundup and From The Comics Shop with Tsunami, Epic & the fans
Welcome again readers. It's the Monday article. We've got a few news pieces of interest. So let's get started.
AZACETA'S CAPTAIN MARVEL
Paul Azaceta went from working in the Marvel Bullpen to drawing their CAPTAIN MARVEL series. He told us a little about his evolution as a creator and what it was like to go from scanning pages to producing them. He also provided PULSE with a few pages from his sketchbook.
You know this artist looks like a good replacement for Chris Cross for what I'm seeing of his preview work here. Now of course PAD and him have to get along well. I know CAPTAIN MARVEL needs a good pick up with the series. This might be what it needed. Also the fans who loved the series before and kept it going need to stay on board. Contact Peter and tell him he's doing a great job. I would love to see now that Jemas is gone from Marvel and some other moves might be coming Peter getting another title. That title being THE HULK of course. I have to say his Hulk was a nice run. I never got why he was taken off the book. In fact to come to think of it I have always enjoyed Peter's work. Whether it be BUT I DEGRESS for CBG or just a Marvel title he is one of the best and I hope he can keep CAPTAIN MARVEL going and do a great job getting it back on track.
MAN-THING COMING NEXT SUMMER
The Marvel comic-book character "MAN-THING," a vengeful creature born from the evil and injustices perpetrated against man and nature, will find its way to theaters on Aug. 27.
The Artisan Entertainment (news - web sites) film recently wrapped production in Sydney after an eight-week shoot. Brett Leonard, who previously shot a Siegfried and Roy movie, directed.
"MAN-THING" stars Jack Thompson, Rawiri Paratene, Matt Le Nevez, Rachel Taylor and Steve Bastoni.
"We have always felt that this character's story would translate incredibly well to the big screen as it mixes horrifying action with a truly mesmerizing and frightful anti-hero," said Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad.
You know I keep saying that I would like some more of the better known characters. I have no real problems with this character having a movie. I really never was a big fan of the green guy. I just never really cared for the character. I know your saying right now: BLADE is third string Jim. He got a movie. I agree. I just liked BLADE better. Kidding. I do agree this character should get a film. Maybe with a lower budget and under the new Marvel film group that was formed. Those characters that aren't the big leaguers should get films through them. I like that idea better. I admit many MAN-THING fans are going to go see it. Hell I might go see it and like the character more. I admit I'll see it. It's Marvel I can't stop myself. I think now we're going to have like 5 flicks next year. SPIDER-MAN II, MAN-THING, FANTASTIC FOUR, PUNISHER, BLADE TRINITY. Marvel fans get ready to save your money for the movies.
HSU ON SPIDER-MAN II
Jack Hsu is a story board artist on SPIDER-MAN II and Disney's HAUNTED MANSION, as well as several other feature films to his credit. He's also the artist on the Xeric Award winning title, POPPIE'S ADVENTURES. Written by his wife Julie Yeh, this all-ages series features tales from around the world as seen through the teenage eyes of Poppie.
Many fans who own DVDs and also watch all the specials and the like on movies know about storyboards. Mostly it's how they want to plan out the action in a movie. Fight scenes and many other things. In fact being art some times it can look like a comic book or just a panel. It's interesting seeing this guy's work shown on the Pulse site. It could be the fact he's doing other work and of course SPIDER-MAN II. I think he might be a great choice for the job. Not a bad idea to get someone who does comics.
Marvel news bits:
-MTV's SPIDER-MAN animated series will be released on DVD early next year. This will give everyone who missed a few episodes and more a chance to see them and also own them. Also a DVD format will be best.
-X-MEN EVOLUTION Season Finale: "Ascension," part 2 aired this weekend. Apocalypse formed his Horsemen the last episode. Four of the most powerful mutants that attacked him formed the group. I would not be surprised if we see more of the big A that he will choose Horsemen the way he did in comics. Also if you have watched the episode you know some of the future for the series. Even some of the old X-Men comics stories being done in the show later.
-HULK comes out this Tuesday on Video and DVD. This one was a pretty good movie even though it wasn't perfect. I was surprised it didn't do that well in theatres. I have to say also that the way they made the Hulk was done right because it was the comics book Hulk. He's a big guy. You can't have a guy painted green and make a serious Marvel Hulk movie.
-VH1 cancelled it's Super Secret Movie Rules: Superheroes. They didn't think it was funny enough and chose to cancel it and rework on it. Interesting to note Stan Lee, Kevin Smith and a few others were to be included in the special on November 2nd. I would hope they do come out with this special later. Comics fans might enjoy it.
-SPIDER-MAN II has a reported budget of $210 Million. Now this is a budget I can see for a movie franchise that proved itself already in the movies. The first Spidey movie made a ton of money. This next one s supposed to be even better. I expect the fans to do what they can and make it even better.
SLEEPWALKER RETURNS
This February writer Robert Kirkman will bring the fan favorite (although somewhat obscure) character SLEEPWALKER back to the Marvel Universe in an all new ongoing series. Includes a five-page color preview of the first issue.
Now many fan of my column know I was not a big fan of the first series. I never really cared to much about this character. I never understood him either. I don't understand why they are bringing him back. I understand it was part of the Epic line idea. My question though isn't Epic having a few problems? Now we're having an Epic title with a character that had one of those series in the 90s that helped flood the market. I know many fans did enjoy this character. Hell I remember getting emails about him in my Handbook because people wanted to use him for Epic. But I just don't get it. Why him? Why not BLADE? IRON FIST? MAN-THING? Nope. It's SLEEPWALKER. Let's see if this series last longer then 33 issues. Well SLEEPWALKER
From the Comics Shop
Hello again fans. I call this piece from the Comics Shop for a reason. Some times I'm actually in the comics shop in my area writing it. I have the pleasure to get to talk to other fans and see what they think and also see what's happening in the comics shop. I don't know what to actually think about with some of the comics and the like I see at shops now a days you know. The Comics industry is like in a constant flux sometimes. One day every title in a store is X-Men related and selling like hell. The next week it's Batman all over the place and selling. Hell the following week it's Spider-Man. Every comic and company has trends. Marvel and DC the big two have had many different ones threw the years. Different lines of books. Different characters. Killing characters and bringing them back to get fan interest in fact. Even crippling a character to give them renewed interest. Even taking a character back to square one.
In fact the concept always changes. Every time one company does something the other tries to out do it. Even the new lines and the like can have ramifications on others. But today I've decided to check out a few changes even in the years with Marvel. This year two lines actually where created by Marvel. TSUNAMI and EPIC. Both lines got off to nice starts and seemed to hit a wall. Bill Jemas of course was one of the reasons. That's right Bill. He started these lines and of course came up with many other mistakes. But not everything he did was wrong. Hell ask many people at Marvel. The writers, the artist. Hell he sucked in many ways. It's why us fans hated him. He ripped the hell out of us and tried to rip our hearts out even. In the end it was him that fell. He found out the fans are the biggest safety net you can have in comics. If you have the fans on your side you'll always have a way to fix a small problem.
TSUNAMI when it first came about was a great idea and even had some fans ready to support some of the titles and try out others. The problem is Marvel never backed some of the books. Jemas never came back and said hey let's have a few adds for more of these books. Yes you have an occasional add for RUNAWAYS and SENTINEL. Those two books though where two of the better books in the damn line. I admit that's the smart thing. Back the books up that are great. Back up Brian K. Vaughan because his work is great. Hell I would do that every week. I think TSUNAMI could've succeeded more with better books or some of the better books getting more support. You'll note that 3 books are going to get trades after they got cancelled. RUNAWAYS, SENTINEL, and MYSTIQUE. The common factor in two of those books are the writer. Brian K. That's the right writer to back if your Marvel. I expect as well if the fans back another book or two will get trades. I also expect a few books will be cancelled. NAMOR and INHUMANS are on that list. HUMAN TORCH and NEW MUTANTS both would need the fans to work to keep those books.
Remember it is the fans keeping alive a line of titles from a few years ago. There's only one title in the line standing but remember SPIDER-GIRL was part of the MC-2 line with J-2, FANTASTIC FIVE, WILD THING, and A-NEXT. That line of titles still exist thanks to the fans supporting one book. That's right if not for the fans SPIDER-GIRL would be gone as well. The same can happen with many TSUNAMI titles. The fans would have to jump on board and ones who want in would have to get in now. This is the time if you like the titles to go to a store and say to a friend "Hey you want to try a cool book?" Then hand them a copy of say RUNAWAYS or MYSTIQUE. Those two although saved most likely would be ones a reader would get into easy. It's the fans that help titles stay alive.
Epic on the other hand was supposed to be the fans that where going to get a try at doing some work. Of course with sending in their own work. With to many submissions at once I guess they never got a chance to look at most of the work. Also it doesn’t help when Bill Jemas never really cared to look at some of the work. I have to say that’s another reason EPIC really never got to far off the ground floor. Bill. That's not the only reason because there are some titles that where done. The factor of some of them not doing well in sales and never really interesting or any good didn't help. Of course now they will try to get some of that done with UNLIMITED X-MEN and UNLIMITED SPIDER-MAN. I expect any of the better artist or writers that fans like will get a chance to do more. So again it will be the fans.
Of course though even if the fans have a lot of say you'll notice that many fans don't like certain writers or artist. Even though they don't like this work most still buy the titles. I've had fans write me asking when a Morrison or Austin would leave the X-Titles. The problem is the X-Titles sell to well to get rid of them. If say they dropped suddenly or fans started writing in complaining more then there would be changes. It's the fans that can have a say. It's the fans who keep a title alive or let it die. It's the fans as well that can get a writer or artist off a title. Complaining about it on message boards sometimes works but writing to Marvel or stop buying a book and bang Marvel will make a move. I know many fans would love some better writers or artist on books. Hell it was the fans as well that helped Mark Waid stay on FF. I expect those same fans didn't like say Chris Claremount doing FF or the same ones complaining about NEW or UNCANNY. So it's up to the fans. It always has been. Comic fans are great to have on your side. They are not great when you have them against you.
These are just some of the reasons why a Bill Jemas got fired. Hell it might be what leads to say Joe getting fired. The fans will always know what's good. They help lines like MARVEL KNIGHTS stay around and ones like MIDNIGHT SONS or OVER THE EDGE die out. The fans will decide if TSUNAMI or EPIC will stay alive. Hell you may only have like two books standing or one. But remember that's the same as SPIDER-GIRL still being around while the MC-2 line is still alive in a way.
Remember trends and how they work. The 60s with the return of the heroes of Marvel comics, The likes of Stan and Jack and others creating SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR, X-MEN, HULK, DAREDEVIL and many others. Bringing back CAPTAIN ANERICA and NAMOR even. The 70s with the creation of WOLVERINE and rebirth of the X-MEN into the UNCANNY group that fans got into thanks to Chris Claremount. The violent heroes and villains that came out of WOLVERINE being so popular like PUNISHER and ELEKTRA. Frank Millar helping the Man Without Fear DAREDEVIL even become more popular in the 70s -80s. The 80s with some of the lines of books like NEW UNIVERSE, STAR, and EPIC coming out of Marvel. They all had highs and lows. The 90s with more and more titles such as X-Titles and Midnight Sons filling and over filling the shelves. Characters like Darkhawk, Sleepwalker, and other getting titles but never really being able to hold them long enough. The crash of course afterwards because the fans got pissed at comics. Marvel going bankrupt of course.
So far in the current stream of things Marvel is in the long run trying to fix some of it's mistakes and Jemas finally gone thanks to the fans and other moves happening will only help Marvel grow and prosper. It's the fans who have been there to cause most of the things and the fans who will decide what happens next. So Marvel has to be smart. The new president of Marvel has to do the same. Get on the fans side and give them what they want. I would do that if I where part of Marvel. Hell I would listen to the fans and I think Marvel should do that to get back to the top. Fans are waiting for Marvel to fix Jemas mistakes now. They are waiting and watching. It's Marvels move next. Make the right one and you will have a ton of success. But make the wrong ones and the fans will murder you.
Remember it's the fans that got SILVER SURFER a new series, It's the fans who actually brought SLEEPWALKER back (read above), It's the fans who keep SPIDER-GIRL alive and it's the fans who decided that it was time to bring back ALPHA FLIGHT. The fans control comics a lot. Jemas forgot that. He got on the wrong side of the fans. He made fun of them, he ripped them, he did a little of everything to kill himself. He's gone now. Marvel will have to take steps that make sure the fans stay on board. They need the fans. So now it is time to fix the mistakes. Do what they must to make the fans happy.
Of course this is mostly my opinion though. How fans will always be the ones that will be the deciding factor. It's the fans that read my articles and the ones the check out other comics sites and read other articles on 411 COMICS. I just hope Marvel is smart enough to make the right moves now. I think Jemas leaving the top job was the right one. That is a good trend. I hope if TSUNAMI or EPIC are saved in any way that it's only because the fans who love the books say let's do what we can. SPIDER-GIRL was saved. CAPTAIN MARVEL beat out the other crap of U Decide. It's the fans who help the trends and the fans who decide what will happen. So fans let's see what you can do.
Very busy and full weekend this week. I have the last part of the Book of the dead coming Wednesday. Just in time for Halloween. I also have a few more things to throw in. If you have questions for the Handbook go ahead and write in. Also opinions are welcome as normal. Have a comment or want your opinion in my column go ahead and email and I may fit you in the next Mail Bag or Comics Shop feature. Reporting from the Marvel Universe this is Jim Trabold. Have a great week.
STAY CURRENT