In this episode, the West Coast crew read some listener hate mail haiku's and get to the comicbook goodness with Blackest Night and it's many Tie-ins, vague Deadpool discussion, a Kick-ass mini-movie review, Space Ghost, Hannah Barbara Cartoon, Marvel Zombies (UGH!), Punisher, Mighty Avengers, Siege, Iron Man, Batman, World War Hulk*s*, and more. Woo, we covered some ground on this one!
West
Coast About Heroes - Episode 17
We have a twitter account! For more frequent comic-oriented updates, follow us: TWEET (Feel free to check out our haiku/email contributors as well: YoYoSkills and DrQuest). Also, feel free to email us: aboutheroes 'AT' gmail.com.
- black lantern,
- black lantern corps,
- Blackest Night,
- dc,
- dc comics,
- deadpool,
- hulk,
- kick-ass,
- kickass,
- marvel,
- marvel comics,
- punisher
Yeah yeah, we know, the whole thing went down yesterday and we didn't make a peep, shaddap about it! The West Coast Crew is gonna do a whole podcast on it soon. For now, enjoy:
P.S. We've had the latest Podcast locked and loaded since early last week, we've just had technical problems uploading it. Expect to see it floating through your itunes soon (God Willing!).
So here it is. The Jade Giant returns to theaters in a reboot only 5 years after the previous film, and this time they seemed to have cued into what the Hulk is really about. Smashing stuff. What I felt were the major flaws of the last film were that the Hulk only ever really fought 3 mutant dogs (one of them being a freaking poodle...), and Nick Nolte as the Absorbing Man, who wasn't anything other than somewhat of a glorified Parasite. That's awful. I understood that what the Ang Lee was trying to really display the conflicted character of Bruce Banner / the Hulk by focusing on his child abuse and anger issues, but that's only one side of the coin that is the Hulk. The other side, which is the shinier, more brain-dead and broadly appealing side is the fact that he's A GIANT EXTREMELY STRONG BALL OF PUNY noun SMASHING RAGE. Neglecting that is a stupid mistake. Louis Leterrier (who showed up at the beginning of the showing my friend and I attended in person to thank us for going on opening night, :-D) definitely didn't make this mistake. The Hulk smashes in this movie. He does it big and he does it a lot. Every act of this movie has at least one Hulk action sequence that's amazing for just turning your brain off and watching. And at the end, HE FIGHTS A GUY WHO CAN TAKE HIM ON. Congratulations Mr. Leterrier. You've figured out what makes an entertaining Hulk Movie.
Now make no mistake, this is no Iron Man. Not saying it isn't good, but it just isn't great. I was worried about this movie kinda doing what happened when Disney pulled the theme-park ride-movie summer, when they came out with Pirates of the Caribbean and then a few months later they came out with the Haunted Mansion, leading with the superior movie and then using that as a hook to get people into the other, weaker movie. This isn't the case with the Hulk. It does a good job of standing on it's own and being a fun movie. It's a Blockbuster. It's pretty to look at and has some cool action sequences in it. The acting is decent. I'd actually wish I could say better since Edward Norton (Banner) is one of my favorite actors, but this movie just wasn't the kind of movie that showcases acting skills. It's just all about the explosions and the projectile forklifts.
The movie is faithful to the old tv show more than it is the comic, but not in a way that necessarily detracts from the comic-core. The flashback sequence that shows the Hulk's origin is pretty much a shot for shot recreation of the intro to the tv show, which is fun. Also, David Banner is an alias Bruce uses at one point in the movie. The "Lonely Man" theme even pops up. These are just a few call-backs to the show, but the best one is the playful riff on the "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" line, but I won't spoil it for you.
Man, this review is scattershot, let me try to reel it in: This movie is what a hulk movie should be. It's big, it's bombastic, it's got a lot of the Hulk tearing things up and fighting things that are actually able to go toe-to-toe against him. The acting is good, the special effects are great, it's faithful to it's origins and is worthy of a Hulk fan's approval. They even drop the seeds for The Leader! The only thing I had a huge problem with was the end to the Hulk / Abomination fight at the climax of the movie. It isn't bad, but it could have been a whole lot better. But it is good. And it will tide any comic geek over until the main course of the summer when the Dark Knight opens up. I give this movie a solid B, but I have to say it's on the "Fun to Watch" scale, not the "All around fantastic movie" scale, like you'd find a movie like Fight Club on.
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artists: Art Adams, Frank Cho, Herb Trimpe
Wow, this was unecessary. $5.00 for 24 new pages of art, reprints of Incredible Hulk 180 & 181, and Avengers 83, which didn't even have the Hulk in it! Art Adams does the first 8 pages, which sees the Red Hulk kill a Wendigo for some reason, and does nothing to advance the whole story happening over in Loeb's Hulk book. Frank Cho does the next 8 pages to show us the missing bits from Hulk where She-Hulk got grabbed by the Red Hulk. Again, nothing new to see here. Herb Trimpe's 8 pages are a review of the old Abomination's history, nothing new here. I got more value out of reading the reprints, which is a two-part Wendigo story and introduces Wolverine, than I did of the new stuff. I want to know who the Red Hulk is already. Drop some hints here and there Loeb! I know you're just gonna drop it on us, but lay some clues please! And if you want us to buy 24 pages of new Red Hulk stuff, put something new in it! Read this issue in the shop, and put it back on the shelf. F
In honor of the awwwwesome Zombie Variant Banner Omar Posted, here's a special movie treat I only WISH I had worked on.
EDIT: GAH! It's not on youtube anymore, so I have to link to it on some stupid website. Check the movie out here and then come back to AH and curl back up in our nerd blanket again. END EDIT.
Impressive no? I wish I could have worked on this soooo bad.
In this episode, we open an Iron Man movie figure, read e-mails from Sanna and Ray, and discuss Justice League of America 19, Captain America 36, Iron Fist 13, Countdown 6, Amazing Spider-Man 554, Iron Man 27 (which leads into the discussion about the Mandarin's rings), Death of the New Gods 7, Robin 172, Checkmate 24 and FX 1. We close with a bit of movie discussion, regarding the upcoming Hulk and Iron Man films, Justice League: The New Frontier and the upcoming Batman animated film, and the finally upcoming Evangelion movies.
So the sheet on which I wrote the show notes is at home, and I'm at work, but I want to go ahead and get the episode up, so I'll update this post later with the notes. I can tell you that 1) the audio on this one is much better and 2) we spend a lot of time talking about the Mandarin's rings.
Episode 96 - Silly Ring, Activate!
- captain america,
- checkmate,
- countdown,
- death of the new gods,
- evangelion,
- fx,
- hulk,
- iron fist,
- iron man,
- justice league of america,
- mandarin,
- podcast,
- rings,
- robin,
- spider-man
In this trouble-free podcast, we start out reading a few e-mails, then we talk about the new Knight Rider show and Speed Racer film. From there we start into comics, reviewing Hulk 2, Ultimates 3, Amazing Spider-Man 551, Cable & Deadpool 50, Transformers Spotlight - Arcee and Justice League of America 18. Then we talk briefly about the rumor that DC Comics is cracking down on late art, and about the toy news (or lack thereof) from the New York Toyfair. Then it's back to comics, with Mighty Avengers 9, Death of the New Gods 6, Countdown 10, Robin 171, Umbrella Academy 6 and Runaways 29 rounding out the discussion.
Episode 92 - No, We're Watching the Watcher
- arcee,
- cable deadpool,
- countdown,
- dc comics,
- death of the new gods,
- hasbro,
- hulk,
- justice league of america,
- knight rider,
- mattel,
- mighty avengers,
- podcast,
- robin,
- runaways,
- speed racer,
- spider-man,
- toyfair,
- transformers,
- ultimates,
- umbrella academy
This week, Nick announces his contest winners, and we talk about some books: Amazing Spider-Man 546, Wolverine 61, Nova 10, Salvation Run 3, Green Lantern Corps 20, Green Arrow - Black Canary 4, X-Factor 27, Mighty Avengers 7, Hulk 1, The Goon 20, and Countdown week 36.
About Heroes, Episode 87
- black canary,
- contest,
- countdown,
- green arrow,
- green lantern corps,
- hulk,
- messiah complex,
- mighty avengers,
- nova,
- podcast,
- salvation run,
- spider-man,
- The Goon,
- wolverine,
- x-factor
Author: Jeph Loeb
Penciler: Ed McGuinnes
Inker: Dexter Vines
Colors: Comicraft
Judging from the reviews of Jeph Loeb’s Marvel work and listening to our podcast you can probably tell I am not his biggest fan. While I appreciated his wonderful stories such as Long Halloween, Hush, and his run on Superman; his work on Marvel has always left me wandering why he just doesn’t stay at DC. Anything from his run on X-force, Cable, Gambit & Wolverine to the recent Ultimates, Wolverine, and Onslaught Reborn were nothing short of craptacular. Be that as it may, I always like to judge a new book base on the story it manages to tell, not the creative team’s past works. That may all change when Daniel Way starts his Deadpool book though.
In the aftermath of World War Hulk we partake in a crime scene investigation with She-Hulk, Iron-Man, Thunderbolt Ross (who still has the fucking coolest non-superhero name), and Doc Samson. It seems the victim was none other than the Hulk’s old nemesis Emil Blonsky aka Abomination. However, it seems that the Winter Guard (with a new Red Guardian and Dark Star) want the body to stay in mother Russia…..so there is a pointless fight and a revelation that it was a “red” Hulk that killed Annihilation and destroyed a town. So who do Samson and Ross turn to for help? Well, none other than Bruce Banner….so who is the red Hulk?
Since this is the first issue I was not surprise there was no mention of the events that followed WW Hulk and to be honest I really don’t know if we are going to get any. It seems that the great minds of She Hulk and Doc Samson believe that Hulk killed Abomination with a big gun. I repeat a gun. Loeb writes a bratty She-Hulk and a not-so-bright Doc Samson that for no reason starts a fight with the Russian super-team. The identity of the red Hulk seems to be Rick Jones, or at least that is what we are led to believe. Rick Jones appears in an Alaskan frontier about 100 miles from anything…funny thing was he takes two steps and there are about 20 people trying to put out a fire. Good catch editors!
While I’ve never been the biggest McGuinness fan his pencils are good enough to see what is happening panel to panel. His oversized characters could work on a book whose character happens to be one of the bulkiest characters in comics. However, the art doesn’t save the book from just being a mediocre title. The dialogue seems out of character and the revelation that Bruce Banner is already out of his comma and back at the end of the first issue kind of kills the momentum built in WW Hulk…and I really don’t see Ross going to Banner for help so early. It’s a first issue and as all first issues they are hard to judge, but I hope Jeph at least answers all the questions left open from the last pages of WW Hulk to the beginning of this book. C+
In which, in between bad 69 jokes, we take on adult comics, One More Day, Incredible Hulk 110, Teen Titans 50, Outsiders - Five of a Kind and 50, She-Hulk & Dan Slott, Buffy, New Warriors 4, Captain America the Chosen, Uncanny X-Men 490, and we end with a discussion of Warpath (or is it Thunderbird)?
Listen to About Heroes, Episode 69
Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile, but here's a slew of fun stuff for you to try and make up for it. Haven't forgotten about you and still love you all and the site, just busy busy busy. Anyway...BEHOLD.
We've all seen the "Quiet or Papa spank!" Batman, but does he ever make good on this threat?
Yes.
This wouldn't fly now, but throwing Godzilla into the Planet Hulk mix couldn't really hurt. I'd go for it.
Lol, Jay actually makes a shark cry for it's momma. Only in the Golden Age.
Terrifying...with or without context.
Hahahaha, c'mon. That's funny. That's 'Malibu's Most Wanted' funny.
Everything I know about women I learned from comics....
......
oh robin, when will you learn...
Gayest Looking Superhero fight EVER.
again........i'm speechless.......
HAH!
Can't remember if I've posted this one in the past, but it's worth a second look anyway. What a bum.
Don't we all wish we had that?
And now I say g'bye for who knows how long, but trust that I'm out there grabbing funny pics, and someday, they'll make it up to the site. :-D ta-ta
Incredible Hulk #106
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Gary Frank & Jion Sibal
World War Hulk Prologue
Writers: Peter David, Chris Giarrusso
Artists: Al Rio, Sean Phillips, Chris Giarrusso, & Takeshi Miyazawa
Marvel's next event launches this week, and it's starting out strong. Two issues came out this week, Incredible Hulk #106 and the World War Hulk Prologue. Having not read Planet Hulk, I'm coming into this event fresh and was hoping that these issues would give me enough information to understand the plot of the event other than "Hulk Smash Marvel U," and I was pleasantly suprised. Both manage to tell a cohesive story leading into the main World War Hulk mini-series. Incredible Hulk starts out with She-Hulk meeting Amadeus Cho, Hulk's biggest fan, and talking to him about the Hulk and how Hulk is not the hero Amadeus thinks it to be. Doc Samson shows up at Mr. Fantastic's request to try to take Cho in, or stop him from what he is planning to do, whatever that is. A fight breaks out and Jen winds up smashin Samson into the next state. Pak writes some good dialogue between the three, summarizing the arguments for both sides without sounding tired like some of the registration arguments did. Gary Frank does the art here, and does a great job. This book has set me up for World War Hulk, and I think that I'm going to be getting the Incredible Hulk issues along with the main series. B
The World War Hulk Prologue picks up where Incredible Hulk 106 left off with more conversation between She-Hulk and Doc Samson, so pick up both and read Incredible Hulk first. It also focuses on the Hulk and his "warbound" as they travel towards Earth in thier stone spaceship. The Hulk has to stop some aliens from taking over his ship and goes beserk on them, and when his allies come to help, he sees them as the Illuminati, and not his allies. This causes concern amoung the "warbound," because they worry that Hulk's rage will consume him and even they will not be safe. One of the warbound takes Hulk aside and helps Hulk meditate and focus his rage. Hulk tells him about the Illuminati, what they did to him over the years, and what their weaknesses are. What we're seeing here is an actual plot devoloping rather than Hulk just going down a checklist. I thought that this book would tell the Planet Hulk saga in 32 pages so I would not have to read it. Rather, it summarized it in a few sentences and set up these warbound characters from it so well that I now want to go back and read the Planet Hulk arc as well as the World War Hulk mini. That says a lot about this comic. Along with the main story, the comic contains a mini-marvels short by Chris Giarrusso which is hilariously funny. The 6 pages alone are worth the $3.99. Also included are is the Amadeus Cho short story from Amazing Fantasy #15, also written by Greg Pak. This is the story of how Amadeus Cho met the Hulk that was recounted in Incredible Hulk #106. Overall, this was a good comic, and really was not what I expected. B
