Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2292

Marvel’s Misfit Heroes Go Legit in GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #1 (Review)

Does anybody remember the Great Lakes Avengers? For nearly three decades, they’ve been one of the biggest jokes in the Marvel Universe. Even “Z-list” doesn’t adequately convey just how far down on the totem pole that the GLA really are. In fact, someone would have to create letters beyond “Z” to do that. But as of this week, the GLA is back, and they’re officially Avengers!

Writer Zac Gorman and artist Will Robson are behind Marvel’s new Great Lakes Avengers series, which has a fun way of legitimizing the team without diminishing the Avengers brand. The short version is that Flatman is bribed with the recognition that the GLA has always craved in exchange for signing over his dubious claim to the Avengers name itself. It may not have held up in copyright court, but just go with it.

The first thing we have to say about this book is that Robson’s pages are gorgeous, and he’s got a gift for comedic expressions. The premise for this book is pretty inherently goofy, but the art really carries it. Flatman essentially became the leading character as he attempted to reunite the surviving members of the team: Big Bertha, Doorman, Mr. Immortal, and Squirrel Girl.

One of the unfortunate side effects of Squirrel Girl’s recent prominence is that she’s now too “big time” for this book. She makes a cameo appearance, but her absence from the team definitely had an adverse affect on the rest of the issue. Gorman’s take on the characters didn’t really pop off the page, and some of his humor felt forced. We want to laugh at the GLA’s latest misadventures, but there were times where it just wasn’t very funny. Considering that this is supposed to be a comedy book, that’s a pretty big problem.

That’s not to say that the book isn’t enjoyable. And we have to wonder if Gorman is giving an intentional shout-out to the infamous Justice League Detroit era by transplanting the GLA to the Motor City. Some of the supervillain banter also had shades of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’ comedic Justice League run, which is a promising approach. We’re not quite sure what to make of the potential new member, Good Boy; who despite the name, is actually a young woman who can turn into a werewolf. Her part of the book had one of the few serious moments in the script, which made it feel out of place with the rest of the issue. If we got to pick the new members, we’d add Pansy, the young woman who appeared late in the issue. Pansy didn’t display any powers, but she had the perfect irreverent attitude for this series.

The final page reveal was kind of a head-scratcher, and perhaps not the best hook to end the issue on. But we still think that there’s a lot of potential here. If Gorman’s writing can match the quality of Robson’s art, then Great Lakes Avengers has a good shot to be on our regular reading list.

RATING: 3 OUT OF 5 BURRITOS

 

What did you think about Great Lakes Avengers #1? Unleash your thoughts in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Comics

STAR WARS’ Doctor Aphra Gets Her Own Ongoing Marvel Series

Recovered from New York Comic Con yet? Well, we still have tons of news from the event to cover in today’s Comics Relief!  But before we get to that, Marvel has news on a brand new title set in that galaxy far, far away. Read on for all the details.

Star Wars’ Doctor Aphra Gets Her Own Ongoing Series in December

We finally know just what the mysterious “classified” Star Wars title is coming from Marvel this December, and as some have guessed, it’s the continuing adventures of intrepid galactic archeologist Doctor Aphra. The new ongoing series will be written by Darth Vader writer Kieron Gillen and features art from Kev Walker, with Kamome Shirahama on covers.

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra will be the first comic series to star a character originally created for Marvel and not featured in the movies. Introduced in the third issue of Darth Vader, Aphra is a renegade archaeologist who helped Vader in his quest to track down the identity of the Rebel pilot that destroyed the Death Star. In doing so, she also repaired and activated the murder droids BT-1 and 0-0-0, who are like an evil R2 and 3PO. The series also introduced Wookiee bounty hunter Black Krrsantan, who will carry over into the new book. The first two issues debut from Marvel in December. [Star Wars.com]

EW Names Wonder Woman #1 on 50 Most Powerful and Influential Superheroes List

Entertainment Weekly’s latest issue has the magazine counting down the “50 Most Powerful and Influential Superheroes”, and topping the list isn’t Batman, Spider-Man or Superman as one might assume — it’s Wonder Woman, baby! Here’s what the magazine had to say about her #1 status:

“Before Leia, before Rey, before Katniss, Michonne, Ripley, Buffy, or Furiosa, there was Wonder Woman. Diana Prince. The Amazon princess of Themyscira. In the history of heroes, she ascends to the top as the singular icon for half the population— and more if you count all the boys who aren’t afraid to admire her unparalleled hardcore ferocity. On her 75th anniversary, it’s time she finally gets her due.” EW commissioned a special illustration from painter Alex Ross to mark the occassion, which you can see above. [Entertainment Weekly]

DC Announces New Amazons and Captain Atom Mini-series

Speaking of Wonder Woman, her people are the subject of one of two recently announced six-issue mini-series coming from DC in January of 2017, The Odyssey of the Amazons and The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom.

Set in the world myth, of and years before the birth of Wonder Woman, The Odyssey of the Amazons is by Underworld actor/co-creator Kevin Grevioux and artist Ryan Benjamin, and follows “the stalwart Hessia” and a group of Amazons who embark on a “globe-spanning quest to find others of their kind, encountering legendary creatures and beings along the way.” You can see the cover for issue #1 above.

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom is written by the former Captain Atom writing team of Cary Bates and Greg Weisman, with Will Conrad on art. According to DC’s description, “Captain Atom hasn’t been seen or heard from in years – and even if you think you know what happened to him…you’re wrong! But you’re not alone. To this day, no one on Earth – not even the other superheroes – has an inkling of the missing Captain Atom’s true fate. At last, the truth is about to be revealed in a saga that transcends not only the meaning of life and death, but the limits of time and space.” You can see a sneak peek at Will Condrad’s interior art above. [Newsarama]

Titan Unveils Robotech #1 Cover

UK publisher Titan Comics has revealed the cover for the first issue of their new Robotech series, which is set to arrive in 2017. The cover is Illustrated by Jason and John Waltrip, who hardcore fans should recall from their previous work on Robotech II: The Sentinels back in the early ’90s. The cover features characters from the Macross Saga portion of Robotech, so this indicates that the new comic will be going back to the beginning. You can check out the cover image above. [CBR]

Kodansha Comics Reveals Huge Manga Slate at NYCC

 

Kodansha Comics announced a huge slate of newly licensed manga at NYCC this past weekend. All but two of these new books are due out in summer 2017. Among the titles are Regarding My Reincarnation as a Slime, about a 37-year-old man who dies and returns as a blind slime demon, Love and Lies, about a future world where the government chooses who you will marry when you turn 16, and Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty, a supernatural romance about a boy who is a house cleaner and a girl who is possessed by ghosts. For more details on the other titles, click on the following link: [CBR]

Aftershock Comics Announces Two New Titles for January 2017

New imprint Aftershock Comics has announced two new titles for January 2017. The first is Blood Blister #1, from the creative team of writer Phil Hester and artists Tony Harris and Eric Layton. According to the official description, “Sin is a joke to Brandon Hull. Morality a crutch for the weak, laws mere tools to be abused. But when the corruption he scoffed at begins to manifest on his once-perfect body, Hull finds himself cast into a hidden world of unspeakable horror from which there is no escape. How can you be saved when the evil possessing you is your own soul?”

Also coming in January from Aftershock is the one-shot Animosity: The Rise, by writer Marguerite Bennett and artist Juan Doe. This one-shot is a spin-off of the Animosity series, and puts a spotlight on the devastating effects of “The Wake” and how it affected other parts of the world on that terrifying day, when “The Animals thought, spoke, and took revenge.” You can see the covers for both issues above.

Original Nova Returns In New Marvel Series

Announced at NYCC from Marvel is the return of the original Nova, Richard Rider, in a new ongoing series set to hit this December. But for fans of the new younger Nova, Sam Alexander, fear not – he’s not going anywhere. In December’s Nova #1 by Jeff Loveness and Ramón Pérez, Sam Alexander will be teaming up with his recently resurrected predecessor Richard Rider, “to learn from each other and become better heroes in the process.” Marvel released images of the first two covers, along with some of Pérez’s designs for the characters. You can see the one of the covers above, and the other, along with the designs, in our gallery below. [Comics Alliance]

Images: Marvel Comics / Lucasfilm / DC Comics / Aftershock Comics / Kodansha Comics / Titan Comics

Inked Wednesday #107 – HARRY POTTER Tattoos and More by Lisa Smith

Tattooist Lisa Smith of Arcanum Electric Tattoo helps her clients wear their fandom on their sleeves. She shared a few selections from her portfolio with me, and more than half of the submissions she sent happen to be inspired by Harry Potter. Actually, they’re all about the spells, like the design below, which represents light and dark with wands casting both Lumos and Nox. It’s a cool idea for a matching set of tattoos. Look:

Seeing these tattoos makes me wonder whether there are any Harry Potter fans out there who specifically get ink representing spells. The concept would provide plenty of creative room for interpretation and so many possibilities.

Check out more examples of Lisa’s work in the gallery below. You’ll see a cool Harry Potter Obliviate spell design, Pokémon art, and a Bitmoji tattoo. If you’re interested in maybe getting some ink from Lisa and you’ll be near Pueblo, Colorado, visit Arcanum Electric Tattoo to book an appointment with her. If the shop name sounds familiar, it’s because we featured work by Joaquin Molina from Arcanum about a month ago.

If you have geeky ink on your skin or you’re a tattoo artist that applies pop culture, STEM, or otherwise nerdy ink on a regular basis, then please hit me up because I’d like to highlight you in a future Inked Wednesday gallery. You can get in touch with me via email at alratcliffe@yahoo.com. Send me photos of the tattoos you’d like me to feature and don’t forget to let me know the name of your tattoo artist if you have it, as well the name of the shop he or she works in.

Images: Courtesy of Lisa Smith

Music Dispatch: Read What Tom DeLonge Emailed Hillary Clinton About UFOs

Tom DeLonge really does believe aliens exist. The Blink-182 guitarist cares so much about them that he emailed Hillary Clinton last year to talk about UFOs, though he never got a response. To calm you down from all the humor those messages detail, read on for a catchy single from Maroon 5 and Kendrick Lamar, the newest single from Cloud Nothings, a short tour by Jonny Greenwood, and a moving music video by Anohni.

Forget about all those political news posts in the wake of the Wikileaks. The greatest find to come out of it all has to do with ex-Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge. Someone found an email DeLonge sent Hillary Clinton’s team in October of 2015 to talk about Roswell, Classified Science, and UFOs. So far it looks like the email chain was one-sided, with DeLonge never receiving a response from Clinton or her manager John Podesta, but it’s still delightful to read. In it, he mentions talking to Podesta about his alien multimedia project. You can read one of those messages above. Best of all, please note the sign off. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is Tom DeLonge’s cell phone number. It’s safe to assume it’s been ringing off the hook since these emails were published, but just in case, give it a ring to find out and ask him about his UFO investigations yourself. [Rolling Stone]

Pop and rock have gone hand in hand, but the past few years prove pop and rap can go hand in hand, too. Maroon 5 enlisted Kendrick Lamar for their new single, “Don’t Wanna Know,” and it works surprisingly well. The song premiered on Apple Music Wednesday and a video will follow suit on Friday. Maybe it’s just Lamar who knows how to find the right balance between pop and rap. The hip-hop star has dropped guest verses on songs by Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, and more. The guy knows how it’s done. Check out the song above and see how it holds up to his other guests’ verses. That is, if you can keep track of them all. [Pitchfork]

It’s been two years since we last got new music from Cloud Nothings, but Wednesday that changed. The Ohio rock group returns with “Modern Act,” the first single off their upcoming full-length. It’s polished and quick, showing the work of producer John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie) right from the get-go, yet the band pull it off. The rest of the album, titled Life Without Sound, will arrive on January 27 of next year, but you can hear that single above right now. [Consequence of Sound]

In November of last year, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood released a fantastic album called Junun. The record, which saw him collaborate with Israeli composer/singer Shye Ben Tzur and a 19-member group of Indian musicians called The Rajasthan Express, was accompanied by a film of the same name by Paul Thomas Anderson which detailed the recording process. Now, that LP will come to life as Greenwood tours the songs in Europe and Asia. It’s a brief trek, tallying only eight dates, but one worth visiting if you can. [Consequence of Sound]

Earlier this year, Anohni released her powerful full-length HOPELESSNESS. The album hits you full force, full of pained love and fractured relationship outlines, and album track “I Don’t Love You Anymore” now tugs on your emotions even more. The song got a music video which sees a close-up of the singer as she sings the lyrics. It’s intense and intimate at the same time, offering a deeper look into an already open song just in time to make you break into tears mid-week (if you haven’t already, that is). [Pitchfork]

See you back here on Friday for another Music Dispatch!

Featured Image: Sony/Columbia Pictures

Image: Tom DeLonge’s Official Facebook

Nicolas Cage Hunts Bin Laden with a Samurai Sword in ARMY OF ONE

When you work on the internet, you’re at once bombarded by a slew of real things you wish were fake and fake things you wish were real. It leads to us being incredibly dubious of everything we read or see. When we here in the Nerdist office saw the trailer for Army of One, we immediately thought it had to be fake. It HAD to be! Nicolas Cage as a guy who goes to Pakistan because God told him to hunt and capture Osama bin Laden, and he’s armed only with a samurai sword and the belief that he’s a superspy.

But oh my goodness gracious! Not only is it a real movie, it’s based on a true story (somehow) and is also coming out next month on Blu-ray and On Demand. It’s been directed by Borat‘s Larry Charles from a screenplay by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman, and has a supporting cast consisting of Wendi McLendon-Covey, Rainn Wilson, Denis O’Hare, Paul Scheer, and Russell Brand…as God. I mean, what in the whole wide world is happening when a movie like this can be made and we’re only now just hearing about it? Granted, now we only have about a month to wait to get to see it.

Cage is always at his best when he’s not playing stoic or suave action man, and is allowed to go completely unhinged. When he plays slovenly and unhinged he’s one of the finest actors in Hollywood. We truly can’t wait to see how this movie shakes out, although with beardy Cage with a samurai sword talking to cockney God, we can’t imagine anything less than genius.

Army of One will hit disc and On Demand on November 15, and digital download on November 4. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Movies we’re excited about this fall… GO!

Image: Anchor Bay/Dimension Films

THE BEATLES’ YELLOW SUBMARINE Will Live in Your House with New LEGO Set

The only person alive that probably has the means to really live in a yellow submarine beneath the waves with his friends all on board is James Cameron, but the good news is the rest of us will soon be able to build our own little version of that beloved vessel in our own homes with the newest LEGO set: The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.

We first learned about this groovy new 550 piece set at Mashable, and beyond the actual iconic yellow sub from the classic 1968 animated musical, the collection will include all four Beatles and a Jeremy figure (a.k.a. the “Nowhere Man” Phud). This latest addition to the LEGO line resulted from the company’s LEGO Ideas program, where fans can build and propose new designs. It turns out there are lots of Beatles fans out there. Who knew!

LEGO even put together a short, fun promotional video for the set, titled “The Beatles’ LEGO Yellow Submarine vs. the Sea Monster,” which pays homage to the movie by having the band save a fisherman in that fantastical, trippy underwater world.

We’re not sure we’ve ever wanted to play with a LEGO set more, and we’re pretty sure we know what album we’d play while doing so.

The Beatles Yellow Submarine LEGO set will hit stores at the start of next month, on November 1st, and will retail in the U.S. for $59.99.

What other Beatles album or film would make for a great LEGO set? Go full speed into our comments below to tell us what you think.

Images: LEGO

Love, Alexi #39: Ingrid Haas

Actor, writer Ingrid Haas (Comedy Bang Bang, Chelsea Lately) joins Alexi to talk career, sex, love, dating, relationships, the complexities of female friendships, love addiction, body insecurities, breaking bad habits, being an example for other girls, self worth, modern feminism with it’s shades of gray and contradictions, & so much more! Follow her on twitter/insta @ingridhaas

Follow @alexiwasser on Twitter and check out imboycrazy.com!

DOCTOR WHO MR. MEN Books Coming Soon

At a time in our pop cultural history where every bit of intellectual property gets turned in to some kind of other intellectual property for the purposes of cuteness (who among us doesn’t have a Funko Pop or 40?), it’s easy to get burned out on new products made from old products. BUT! Oh heavens, folks, but! Few mashups have us as excited as the news from the BBC that everyone’s favorite time traveling Gallifreyan, Doctor Who, in all of his iterations, will be turned into books based on the iconic Mr. Men series of children’s books.

The Mr. Men books (along with its sister series Little Miss) began in 1971 by Roger Hargreaves and went until his death in 1988 at which time his son Adam took over. This series of books had titles like Mr. Cool, Mr. Dizzy, and Mr. Christmas and each character’s name corresponded to their major personality trait and was used to tell a simple moral lesson. These things were all over the place when I was growing up, and were among the most beloved books for tiny readers in history.

Now, the Beeb is teaming with Adam Hargreaves and the Sanrio Company for a series of these books about the different Doctors Who, with four books coming in spring of 2017: First Doctor, Fourth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, and Twelfth Doctor (you can see a gallery of these covers below). The idea stemmed from a number of fan-made covers of the different Doctors popping up online. Seemed like an ideal merger to go official.

The books in the series will all have titles like Dr. Twelfth and Dr. First and eventually all of them will get a chance to shine. (Note: the article only mentions twelve Doctors, so I’d imagine they decided the War Doctor was a subject they didn’t want to broach.)

Let us know your thoughts on these very silly, very delightful nostalgia trips in the comments below!

Remember when kids movies were unintentionally terrifying?

Images: BBC/Sanrio

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!

Nerdist Comics Panel #100: Rebirth, Reboots and Retailers

Heath Corson (Detective Chimp) moderates a roundtable of retailers: Jesse James (Jesse James Comics), Lauren and Eric as they discuss why reboots are important to sales, reader’s expectations of continuity, legacies and fan entitlement versus risks in storytelling.

Recorded live at the PHXCC in Phoenix. Today’s theme is “Merry Go Round” by Kacey Musgraves. NOTE: Apologies to Lauren and Eric for not catching your full names or the name of your stores. Contact us and we will rectify.

Follow @BenBlacker, @HeathCorson, @sonnova, and @LenWein on Twitter!

WOLF CREEK Delivers the Movie’s Same Kind of Creep, Different Kind of Story (Review)

Warning: The following review contains spoilers.  Do not proceed if you are afraid of gruesome murder or finding out plot points. 

It seems like the Wolf Creek television series pilot, which airs on Pop on October 14 at 10/9 central, should be considered in two different ways: as a television show that aims to capture the essence of the eponymous cult horror films—which first introduced us to the psychotic Aussie murderer Mick Taylor (John Jarratt, who reprises his role for the TV series)—and as a standalone entity; another television series launching independent of the films. In regards to the first consideration, the Wolf Creek pilot definitely captures the same level of creep as the films (which is to say very high). And as a standalone TV pilot, it seems like a good shot at pleasing horror fans, or anybody who’s into a story of vengeance that burns slow and is marked periodically by horrific murder. It’s sort of like Kill Bill meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

What most fans of the movies probably already know is that they were based on a true story. There was indeed a serial killer in Australia who, in the ’90s, murdered somewhere between seven and twelve backpackers. And while the movies obviously take extensive liberties with the original story, the pilot brings things to the level of, “c’mon now, who would be crazy enough to do that?” This is because the pilot introduces us to our central protagonist—played by Lucy Fry (Vampire Academy, 11.22.63)—a 19-year-old girl named Eve who witnesses her family get murdered in one of the most violent ways imaginable and then decides she’s going to turn around and hunt down the man who killed her family. Oh, and she’s from America, so Australia isn’t even her native country; just where she does her serial-killer hunting. Again, she’s 19.

If you can get past that conceit—and the story tries hard to help the audience with that mainly by emphasizing the fact that her parents were cops—then you get on the ride and enjoy the thrill of the hunter becoming the hunted. (This dynamic doesn’t quite get off the ground in the first episode, but we know where the story’s going.)

After Eve’s family is killed toward the beginning of the story, we’re taken on a long, well-paced trip of her life post familial slaughter, as she develops a friendship with a hunky (but humble?) police officer, Sullivan Hill, who’s played by Dustin Clare (Spartacus: Gods of the Arena). As her friendship with Hill materializes, so too do her feelings of sadness over the loss of her family, and anger toward their killer.

We watch Eve become obsessed with the mysterious man who killed her family, going so far as to attempt to run down a blue truck through the streets—Taylor’s same iconic blue truck from the films—and even chase a man into a strip joint, where she screams out for help before realizing she found the right type of hat, but the wrong guy.

The performances from most of the cast are really solid, with Fry and Clare playing well off each other. The relationship between the two will obviously be critical for the series, and their dynamic doesn’t seem too stilted or overly dramatic. Although it will still be interesting to see what direction Executive Producer Greg McLean—who also wrote and directed the films—takes the impending love story.

The biggest draw for most people who’ve seen the films however, will probably be Jarratt. Expectedly, Jarratt delivers the same Mick Taylor he does in the films—bowie knife and all—although we actually get to delve a bit deeper into his psyche now. We get some black and white flashbacks of him alone, angrily kicking around his shed, drunk as a skunk. It’s obvious he feels pain in the flashbacks though, and it’s interesting to have the story elicit sympathy for a guy who kills entire families and even has a signature technique known as “head on a stick” (this involves one’s spine. ‘Nuff said).

The only real criticism with the show compared to the movie—and this may simply come down to the six-part TV format—is how well we get to know Taylor’s victims before they’re murdered. It seems that a big part of what made the original Wolf Creek unique in the horror genre was the fact that we spent so much with the characters before they were thrown into the serial killer-fueled fire. That first film had roughly an hour of story before we got to the blood and the screaming; this pilot serves up the biggest helping of that horror—the murder of Eve’s family—up front, before we really know them. But odds are, the series will do plenty of flashbacks so we get to know the family better. Which will be great, because then we’ll have Eve’s motivation for going all Beatrix Kiddo on a lunatic locked down, and we can focus on the thrill of the two-way chase.

3 out 5 Burritos from Down Under:

Wolf Creek premieres on Pop TV at 10pm. Are you going to tune in? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Lionsgate Television