Tag: comic book

A Rant About the Silver Surfer Casting, but Not the One You May Expect #MCU #SilverSurfer #comic #movie #FantasticFour

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I don’t read comics, so my knowledge of them is spotty. Also, I’m far more concerned that Marvel hire actors based on their talent rather than whether they remain faithful to the comics. Ergo, having no sentimentality towards the print medium, changing up the characters doesn’t affect me. But I get that it may affect others who love that medium and the particular characters as written. All that said, I still need to ask this question: What’s the big deal with the Silver Surfer casting for the Fantastic Four movie?

According to Wikipedia (sorry, that’s my source), Shalla-Bal is a canon Silver Surfer in an alternate universe (i.e., not the 616-universe of the MCU), and all the reporting claims that the Fantastic Four movie will be based in an alternative universe. Therefore, it makes sense that Shalla would be the Silver Surfer. Now, maybe your objection is that you prefer Norrin Radd, and that makes sense, but how do you know Norrin won’t be in this movie too?

According to Wikipedia, Shalla and Norrin were co-Silver Surfers in that alternative “Earth X” and “Universe X” universe (whatever that is). Just because Norrin hasn’t been cast yet doesn’t mean he won’t be. We currently have no reason to assume that you won’t get your Norrin Radd too, and maybe having two of them creates a better dynamic, if not in the comic, in the MCU, which is all I’m talking about and the source of your complaints.

As always, these complaints are coming far too early in the filmmaking process, and I suspect they’re based on assumptions rather than logic. Consider the complaint, “Krypton isn’t going to be destroyed in Man of Steel! I know! I saw a quick clip of an undestroyed Krypton!”

Spoiler alert!

That turned out to be hysterical nonsense, didn’t it?

Dirtbaggery aside, Jonathan Majors was awesome as Kang, so other than his unforeseen legal troubles, his race-swap casting worked out very well. But this isn’t even a swap. Shalla-Bal is a canon Silver Surfer as is, and Julia Garner is killing it (e.g., Ozark on Netflix). I’m not just disagreeing; I don’t even see the issue here.

One respondent on Facebook pointed out that many people don’t want the Silver Surfer in this movie at all, whether male or female, because we’ve already seen it. They want Dr. Doom. This response makes at least some of the following assumptions:

  1. Dr. Doom won’t be the main villain in Secret Wars (or elsewhere);
  2. Dr. Doom won’t be the main villain in Fantastic Four;
  3. The Silver Surfer wasn’t cast merely as a cameo to set up Galactus as the next big bad evil guy for the next couple phases of the MCU.

All we have right now is confirmation of a casting. Everything else being thrown around is mere speculation. Everyone should just relax. If the movie (like its predecessors) sucks, you’ll have plenty of time not to watch it then. If it doesn’t, but you insist on hating it anyway, it’s your loss.

Everybody just be cool.

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Inktober for Charity, Day 29: Green Lantern #Inktober #JDRF #StillBrave #GreenLantern #DCEU @JDRF @stillbrave @KevinBednarz @VancityReynolds

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September’s series of musical selections is officially over! It’s October! Or should I say . . . Inktober?

Do you remember what happened the last time I celebrated Inktober? No? Well, you’re not going to like it. You’re certainly not go to like this one. You see, a friend posted to Facebook a list of Inktober assignments, and being the smartass I am, I’ve taken on (synonym: stolen) those assignments despite my . . . “modest” drawing skills. Look, mine will be funnier, okay? I’d link to his (which are going to be much better), but he protects his tweets. You’ll have to settle for mine.

He’s drawing for a charity by offering his drawings for sale, the proceeds for which go to the Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation. Noble, but my choice of charity is the JDRF. Unfortunately, no one will buy my work, so until their link breaks, you can directly donate here. Or you can donate to Stillbrave. I won’t get angry. Here are the assignments:

I don’t know all of these things.

<< Prior | Next >>

And here is today’s entry.

Day 29: Green Lantern

Because the Green Lantern movie is one of my guilty pleasures, I chose to go with the Ryan Reynolds version.

Okay, well that’s a crash and burn, but why should this drawing be any different from the rest? You probably think Ryan Reynolds deserves this because of the movie. Let’s change the subject, then.

Isn’t it about time we get a live action Green Lantern? By the time the series is released on HBO Max, I’m probably going to be too frustrated to enjoy it.

Before you laugh, try to remember that it’s for charity. Then laugh.

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Groot! @Bartoneus @newbiedm #GotG #MCU #Groot #comic #Hulk

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Ah, the Internet. So stupid at times, but also so wonderful. I recently put out a call for help based on a vague memory.

I don’t like comics, but I hate losing knowledge even more, so I really wanted to hunt down this reference. My TV doppelganger, Danny, came through.

Once I saw this cover, the memories started pouring back in. There are still some holes, so I’d love to re-read the comic, but … hey, is that … GROOT?! The “tree monster” is one of the characters I had forgotten, so this was quite a jolt. I love the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and was wondering whether that was the Groot or just another member of his species.

For what it’s worth, Wikipeida confirms this, though all but the mastermind among Hulk’s enemies were actually copies of other creatures.

I love how these two tied together. One of the few comics I’ve ever read introduced me to a character that 38 years later would be part of a movie that I love, all within the context of a medium that I don’t particularly like. What are the odds?

Well, probably not bad. Nerds do what nerds do.

I’m glad I went down this path.

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Comic Book Movies: Same IP; Different Media #movie #MCU #DCEU

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I ran into this meme on Facebook, and it triggered a long-held thought that I suspect is still relevant today.

Constantine
Constantine (if you know the source of this meme, please let me know so I can give proper credit)

This refers to the movie Constantine, which I love. Its Rotten Tomatoes scores are typical of the divide between film credits and the audience. The last panel in the meme is what grabbed me. It references the fact that comics and movies are different media, and so they should play out differently. That appears to be something many (not necessarily most) comic book fans can’t grasp. Even when they accept, for example, the death of Thanos, they immediately start spreading theories as to how he could return in future movies. That attitude is still prevalent, and as much as I loved Thanos, I don’t get why.

This issue goes back a long way for me. I remember my cousin, and avid comic book collector, not liking that the Joker died in Michael Keaton’s first Batman movie (1989). In part, he saw it as a waste of a character that could be put to good use later. (His views may have changed, but others still make this argument.) The thing is, the Joker is not a character that they should have used again, precisely because it’s a movie.

It’s necessary for villains to survive in the comics. There are only so many ideas for villains, and with comic story lines having to last decades, killing off villains would create a shortage of adversaries for your stories. The only way to fix that would be to have another person take up that villain’s mantle. Sometimes that works, but doing that too often would leave the reader with the notion that they’re effectively dealing with the same character, so the writers are (cheaply) trying to have it both ways. Hence, you instead put them in prison or Arkham Asylum, they escape, and then you start the cycle again.

Movies are different. Most audience members require definitive closure, with death providing the most dramatic end to a story. Because the MCU‘s “blistering” pace still produces only three movies per year, there are actually far too many interesting villains that will go unused if you’re going to reuse the ones you’ve already shown. By the time you genuinely need to reuse a villain (if ever), you’re probably rebooting the cinematic universe for a different generation of viewers anyway. Ergo, for movies, you can have the closure your audience craves without painting yourself into a corner. If that pisses off a small percentage of your core fans that are still going to watch your movies anyway, you have an acceptable outcome.

Go ahead. Kill the Joker.

EDIT: See my comment below.

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