Fellowship Reviews: February 2011

For What It’s Worth: Wonder Woman’s Costume Change – A Look Back.

It’s been eight months since Wonder Woman appeared in her new look, and I thought now is the time to look back and really look at it. You recall the uproar that came when it appeared, but is it really the costume or the change itself? Now we know that most costume changes a temporary, usually to shake things up either for story purposes or (most likely) to increase sales.

Which one was this? Well, the change happened as J. Michael Straczynski took over the book and went a new direction, and sales did increase – so probably both. However, the outcry is gone now. It has moved over to complain about the upcoming Wonder Woman TV and that David E. Kelly is destroying the character.

Let’s look at the costume again…is it really that horrible? No, I don’t think so, but there are things I would change….let’s go from head to toe.

The Tiara – not a major difference, agree?

The Choker – not sure why this was added, and I don’t care for it.

The Jacket – I’m not a fan of the jacket. It’s funny, in researching images for this editorial, most images have her out of the jacket, so I guess the pencillers don’t care for it as well.

The Halter Top – the eagle is gone and the WW is shrunk, but it’s not a big deal. I don’t care for the golden straps around the elbows.

The Gauntlets – it’s funny that the bracelets change size a lot. The most recent images have the bracelets as big as these gauntlets. Again, I don’t have a problem with them.

The Belt – once again, not a major change.

The Pants – here seems to be the problem and I don’t know why. To me, it’s not a big deal that you don’t see her legs. Do YOU want to run around in hot pants or a skirt all the time?

The Shoes/Boots – I wouldn’t have mind that they had kept the red boots to add a little color, but I’m not really complaining.

Overall, this is a moot point, Diana will be wearing this outfit for now. There were some rumblings that the outfit was changed to help the possibilities of a movie. Now we have a TV in the works, coincidence? Yes. It just worked out that way. And to those who said that fans won’t embrace the change…take a look below. Someone did.

For What It’s Worth: Super Heroes That Should Have Movies part II

This is a follow-up to my previous list of Super Hero movies I wanna see. So, shall we continue? Again, in no particular order...

1. Huntress – This can be done without any reference to the Bat. In the pre-Crisis days, she was Helena Wayne, the Daughter of Bruce and Selina Wayne (Earth 2’s Batman and Catwoman). In the current continuity, she is Helena Bertinelli, born into a prominent Mafia family. After witnessing her entire family murdered at the age of 19, she crusades to put an end to the Mafia. Helena adopts a costume disguise and weaponry to seek revenge, confronting not only the men who ordered her family's death, but the assassin himself. Could this be the first movie that features a DC heroine that doesn’t suck? One would hope.

2. Moon Knight – Mercenary Marc Spector, working for terrorist Bushman, began to question his choices. When Marc betrayed him in response for the death of an archaeologist, Bushman beat him and was left in the desert to die. It was his belief that Khonshu (Egyptian spirit of vengeance and god of the Moon) had brought him back from the dead in order to be the moon's knight of vengeance.

3. The Creeper – I would prefer the more recent version of the origin written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night). Jack Ryder is a controversial talk show host who was in the middle of an investigative report into the new form of stem cell research being conducted by Doctor Vincent Yatz. The sample that Yatz had included Joker Venom (that would have to be changed for the movie) was injected into Ryder to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Ryder was then killed, however the stem cells mutated Ryder’s body, creating the Creeper. Think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Dr. Jekyll would be more like Morton Downey Jr. (too old a reference?) and Mr. Hyde is more like a super-human Joker. Sounds like fun, huh?

4. Nova – Think of a combination of The Last Starfighter and Green Lantern. Richard Rider receives the powers, costume, and the responsibilities of a Nova Corps member (an intergalactic police force). Given his recent popularity, I would think this would be a good choice. Maybe after seeing what happens to Green Lantern (who is VERY similar), they might consider it. Annihilus, while a Fantastic Four villain, would make a good choice considering the recent galactic events Marvel has released.

5. Nightwing – We’ll probably never see a live action Robin again (unless it’s the Teen Titans movie), so this is the next best thing. They can make some references to Batman, but since Nightwing has (or had) his own stomping ground of Bludhaven and his own rouge’s galley, he can be totally separate from the Bat-universe. Do his origin and briefly touch on the Robin area in a flashback (maybe even do it in the opening credits ala Incredible Hulk) and we’re off to the races…..Deathstroke has to be the villain. The only other one would be Blockbuster, but would have to work it up somehow so he doesn’t come off as a Kingpin rip-off (which I guess he is since he made the deal with the devil – I mean Neron).

For What It's Worth: Captain America Fighting Nazis in the Movie

It's been revealed in a newsblog on Comic Book Movie's website that there will indeed be Nazis in the movie. You can read the report here.

In reading this article and the comments below, two things pop into my mind:

(1.) So far there hasn't been any images showing that Nazis are in the movie. The only thing that's known is the image to the left will be in the movie, but it's cap hitting an actor at a USO function from what I understand. Fred Van Lente, who is writing of the movie prequel web-comic has this to say...

Schmidt (the Red Skull) runs an organization called Hydra, which starts as a part of the Third Reich power structure, and so therefore they are Nazis.

I can sort of see why people are like, they’re not seeing a bunch of guys in SS uniforms or Gestapo uniforms running around in the Super Bowl trailer— that’s because many of the Nazis in First Avenger wear Hydra uniforms.

It is not some kind of rewriting of world history. There are Nazis in the movie, I’ve read the script. It is not trying to pretend that the Nazis didn’t exist, or that World War II didn’t happen the way we all know it from history.

OK, so they are there. We just didn't know it because they are wearing different uniforms. Here's another part of my concern with this. I think Marvel/Paramount chose the wrong way to handle to PR for this movie. The THOR movie will be out in May of this year. We started seeing things for the movie at San Diego Comic Con in July of LAST YEAR. So...10 months of PR for Thor, and essentially 5 months for Captain America, because we really haven't seen anything up until just before the Super Bowl which was the first of February. We'll see how this works.

(2.) Most of the responses on the story was "I knew the Nazis were gonna be there all the time. Why was anybody concerned anyway?" OK...first, you're full of crap. I've read a lot of stories regarding this movie, and anytime pictures of Hydra agents were release people asked "Where are the Nazis?" None of these "Know-it-alls" chimed in and said "they'll be there, don't worry." Now that we get "confirmation," they come out of the woodwork and say "I knew it all the long. What's your problem?" UGH. And to answer their question, let's solve this .....

Nazis were the bad guys of World War II
Captain America fought Nazis
The movie Captain America: The First Avenger takes place in World War II (mostly)
Ergo...Captain America has to fight Nazis in the movie!

There was a concern felt by a lot of fans (and I'll admit it too) that there was an attempt to PC the movie. Hell, they're changing the title to The Avenger so it can be shown in Russia, Korea, and the Ukraine. So is it too far of a leap to think that they think Nazis might be a sore subject for some people? I don't think so. I'm glad we got this cleared up.

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For What It’s Worth: Worse Case Scenario – Warner Brothers and Superman Situation.

A lot is riding on the Superman reboot directed by Zach Snyder with the script by David Goyer with assistance by producer Chris Nolan. And I don’t mean future sequels and other movies featuring DC characters leading up to a possible Justice League movie.

What’s the concern? They are casting actors with a production start date in August 2011 and hopes of a December 2012 release. THERE’S THE CONCERN. They HAVE to start production this year. Why? Because of the decision that came down regarding the lawsuit between the Estate of Jerry Siegel (Superman co-creator) and Warner Brothers. The ownership is 50/50 right now (the other co-creator, Joel Shuster, has no heirs) with the condition that Warner Brothers must have a movie in production by the end of 2011 or lose their 50% of the rights to the Siegel Estate.

Wow!!! Now, I think everything will work out, but what happens if the movie DOESN’T start shooting this year? Let’s think about the possibilities here. In said scenario, in 2013 the Siegel Estate will obtain the characters that appeared in Action Comics #1 – mainly Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Let’s also say that the estate decides NOT to enter an agreement with Warner Brothers/DC Comics? I’ll give you a couple of minutes to let that sink in.

We’ve recently seen that Action Comics can still go with another character as the lead, but the title Superman is gone! Would the Trinity be Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern then? Where would the Estate take the characters? Marvel is the most likely place, but Image, IDW, and a couple of other smaller comic companies would kill to get their hands on Superman and the automatic visibility he would bring.

Now let me be clear, I don’t think this would happen. Worse case actually would be the Estate owns the entire rights and would make a deal with Warner Brothers. I think the movie will start production this year so the whole thing will be moot. But it’s fun to think about stuff like this. I may do something similar with the Kirby Estate once I find out more of what is up for grabs. Stay tuned….

I will address some of this tomorrow night on the broadcast in the news segment. Join us here at 7:00pm CST (-6 GMT)

For What It’s Worth: Super Heroes That Should Have Movies part I

With 2011 and 2012 being the years of "The Super Hero Movies,” I wanted to put together a small list of characters I wouldn’t mind seeing on the big screen. So, in no particular order...

1. Challengers of the Unknown – Four men survive a plane crash unscathed, decide that since they are "living on borrowed time" they should band together for incredible adventures. They dealt with threats from space and from the paranormal. Of course they have to battle Multi-Man. He has the ability to return from the dead with a different, random superpower. Think of X-Files with more super heroic tones.

2. Hellstrom – “The Son of Satan!” He became an occult investigator and exorcist, battling minions of his father. Hellstrom was in a monastery, hoping to become a priest when he found out about his true heritage. Of course, we already know who would be the villain of this movie.

3. The Teen Titans – I would prefer the original group: Robin, Kid Flash. Aqualad, Speedy and Wondergirl. I would also like to have Hawk and Dove (preferably, the original Dove but Dawn Grainger would be fine). It would be tricky to handle this because they would want to make the movie hip, but it shouldn’t be so hip that the movie would be dated a few years down the road. Just read their early adventures with all the slang. You can tell the time in which it was written.

4. Captain Marvel (Shazam) – A boy who becomes a champion of good by the wizard Shazam. Whenever Billy speaks the wizard's name, he is struck by a magic bolt of lightning that transforms him into an adult superhero empowered with the abilities of six legendary figures. If handled similarly to the Harry Potter movies, I think this would work.

5. Captain Marvel (Mar-vell) - He is a solider of the Kree race who had come to Earth as a spy before becoming it’s protector. With rumblings of Krees and Skrulls being introduced in the Avengers movie, it might make sense to bring him onlong as well. Of course, I’m biased because he is my favorite hero.

So, what do you think??? I'll have another group posted soon. Stay tuned....

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For What It's Worth: Spider-man joins the Fantastic Four and my four other choices

If you haven't heard by now, Spider-man is joining the Fantastic Four. He is taking the place of the late Johnny Storm, the Human torch who "died" in Fantastic Four 587.

OK...It makes sense for this move. They know each other for a long time (they met in Amazing Spider-man #1). He has a similar personality to Johnny plus he can help with Reed on his scientific experiments. But PLEASE!!! There are several heroes worthy of being on teams (including this one) but it seems like every team has to have Spiderman, Wolverine and Deadpool in them. Geez! That's one of Marvel's problems.

Who would I rather see?

She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters)
She already has history with the team (she replaced the Thing after the Secret Wars), brings most of the same things the Spidey would (strength, fun) plus other ...ahem...attributes. Seriously, I enjoyed her on the team and she deserves another turn.

Lyja
Johnny's "ex-wife," this would be interesting choice given that the wounds of the Secret Invasion are still trying to heal. She has the strength, the "bio-blasts" and of course the Skrull's ability to change forms. Some interesting story possibilities could have come from this choice. Guess they decided to play safe.

Crystal
Johnny's ex-flame. Another hero has has history with the other members, she would probably join out of respect for her ex-boyfriend. And to have someone with the abilities to control all of the elements on your side is not bad either.

Spider-girl
Even though she no longer has powers, she's still a hero. With the recent death of her other parent (father) in her own book, she's on her own. She has a friendship with Sue Richards (Invisible Woman) and Sue knows Anya's secret identity. Now this couldn't have been an option because at the time this decision came down, Spider-girl was a member of the Young Allies (a series that was recently canceled).

There's four people right there and a ton more, but they played it safe. They didn't want to do something different or original. Granted, Spider-man has never "officially" been a member of the Fantastic Four, he's been by their side so often that he practically was a member. Now he's officially a member. That is until they reach issue # 600 where they will bring back Johnny. Sigh. "The House of Ideas" huh? Well, not original that's for sure.

Oh, by the way, I hate the new costumes too.

So...what do you think?

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For What It’s Worth: Bucky and Bullets

With the release of the image of Sebastian Stan of Bucky Barnes in the forthcoming Captain America: The First Avenger, it made me wonder, “When did he start using guns?”

Bucky Barnes first appeared (March 1941) almost a year after Robin the Boy Wonder (April 1940). I mean c’mon, he’s a Robin rip-off, except he didn’t have a utility belt. Bucky and Cap fight the Nazis with their fists (well Cap had the shield too). It may sound ridiculous, but that was the 1940’s for you. Flashback stories that were told from the 1960’s (Captain America’s rebirth) up until recent years continued that trend.

It wasn’t until Bucky’s “return from the death” in 2005 that guns were added. As the Winter Soldier, he was an assassin for the Soviet Union, so he had to use weapons. Now as Captain America, he continues to carry a gun (and a knife). Even the flashback stories show him using all types of firearms.

Don’t get me wrong, there is logic to him having knowledge in all types of weapons and using them. However, it’s like another part of my innocence gone. It’s like Toto pulling the curtain to reveal that the Wizard of Oz is an ordinary man operating a console of wheels and levers while speaking into a microphone. I just have to accept it and move on…

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