While it’s nice that Marvel wanted to give readers access to unpublished art from some of their most popular bullpen members, retrospect casts a different angle on this old Marvelmania offer. Considering the trials of tribulations over the years of artists trying to get credit, royalties and access to their original artwork, you get the feeling that Marvel was picking these guys up by their ankles and shaking them until all the loose change fell out. Running their pockets, as it were — in the Mighty Marvel Manner.
Better Call Saul Season 1, considered
Before the first episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad spinoff aired, I mused whether or not it would be AfterM*A*S*H or Frasier. These derivative works are rife with peril, especially when the original material is as hyper-successful as the misadventures of Walter White were. To quote some advice from that dear departed character: tread lightly.
I’m pleased to report that Better Call Saul has defied the odds and overnight become one of the best shows on television, a must-see journey alongside star Bob Odenkirk as he transitions from the no-luck, trying-to-be-good Jimmy McGill to the assured, sleazy Saul Goodman that we first got to know. I was skeptical, and I’m more than happy to let it be known that I was off-base. The show is great.
And I’m going to double-down and commit some heresy: I think it might be better than BB. Read more…
Sunday Stupid: To celebrate Opening Day, let’s watch Hal McRae trash his office and draw blood!
Organized professional baseball has been around for well over a century, and therefore there are oh so many less-than-stellar moments to go along with the highlights. For every gimpy Kirk Gibson walk-off World Series home run, there’s George Brett regaling anyone within earshot about his pants-shitting predilections. Read more…
Star Trek comics have been around almost since the show’s earliest days on air, and while the first Gold Key books were nothing to write home about, over the years there have been a number of series and individual issues worthy of note. Indeed, the comics often offered enhanced opportunities for experimentation, for the Enterprise-centric narrative to boldly go places no television hour-long could. Something like The Modala Imperative, an adventure that spanned generations and reunited Spock and McCoy in the 24th century, would be impossible for live-action, and thus could only take place in book form.
Today we look and one of the more delightful comic runs that Trek ever had, one that came early on in DC’s first stab at an ongoing. Because who can resist the goateed so-good-to-be-bad doings of the Mirror Universe? Read more…
The Mystery Egg either contains Puff the Magic Dragon or a hellish monster that will kill you!
Did poor, wretched living things really arrive at your door sealed in a plastic egg? Did Peter, Paul and Mary contemplate legal action for the use of “Puff, the Magic Dragon” as the moniker for said woebegone creature? What was it exactly? A salamander? An alligator? A seal? A real goddamn dragon? Where does this rank on the animal home delivery continuum — before or after skunks and monkeys? Do you really want a surprise beast that has “runs” and “climbs” amongst its list of abilities? Didn’t we learn anything from Kane about wanting to know what’s in a “Mystery Egg”?
There’s a lot riding on the upcoming Netflix Daredevil show. It’s new territory for Marvel both in dissemination and content: pay-service streaming and street-level vigilante crime-fighting. Matt Murdock and his Hell’s Kitchen environs are going to be a new thread in the interwoven big and small screen House of Ideas adaptations, a dark alleyway as it were, one that could very much lead to grander vistas opening up, both creatively and financially. And this is a good thing. We might not be getting residual checks from Disney anytime soon, but it’s wise to keep the corporate overlords happy. More money for them, more (hopefully) nice shiny things for us.
From the looks of the promo materials, those behind this new adaptation are borrowing a tad from the early 1990s Frank Miller/John Romita, Jr. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, which makes sense since that was a prestige one-stop origin tale for the horned one. And this means, since we’re only a matter of days away from people binge-watching the new show, that it’s a perfect time for us to take a look at that mini. Hop into the blogintomystery.com time machine! Read more…
So you could have one of these mood rings and impress your flaky New Age friends, all for the low price of $3.99 — which seems like a princely 1970s sum for a worthless lump of plastic. But how many rings would put you in a potentially romantic relationship with the web-slinger? The goofy kid with the boldly-striped t-shirt certainly looks content. With this Spider-Man mood ring, I thee wed…
In honor of tonight’s WrestleMania, the 31st iteration of that rasslin’ megashow, today’s Sunday Stupid is devoted to the superest superstar ever to headline it: Hulk Hogan. And, more specifically, the most steroid-addled interview he ever gave to Mean Gene Okerlund, brother. Read more…
This WrestleMania weekend, we must all hail Botchamania!
WrestleMania, the premier professional wrestling/sports entertainment event, is this Sunday. It’s the annual “Showcase of the Immortals,” WWE’s answer to the Super Bowl, and over the years it’s become a festival of sorts. The week leading up to it is filled with expos and fan events, including a Hall of Fame ceremony where performers past — those in Vince McMahon’s good graces — are inducted into that company’s answer to Canton and Cooperstown. It’s the pinnacle of the industry, where, at least in theory, the absolute cream of the crop, the upper echelon of excellence, is on display and celebrated.
And then there’s Botchamania, which is pretty much the exact opposite. And it’s glorious. Read more…
Burton. Keaton. Nicholson. 1989. Be there. – Batman: The Official Comic Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture
As mentioned recently in our post on the 2002 Spider-Man cards, it was great seeing J.K. Simmons get an Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. He indeed deserved it for his performance in Whiplash, one of those supporting roles that totally makes the movie that it’s in. But he was no revelation, as he’s been doing solid work for years, everything from psychopaths to comedic foils, from Oz to State Farm commercials. And, of course, J. Jonah Jameson. It’s for that last role that we comic book devotees owe him a special debt of gratitude. It’s rare that a beloved (or hated-beloved) character is recreated so fully in flesh and blood.
Michael Keaton, star of Birdman, was also up for a lead actor award, but alas he didn’t take it home. There were surely many of us out there rooting for him, though, mainly because of his decades ago turn in the role upon which that film was a meta commentary. Today we look back in time at 1989’s runaway blockbuster: Tim Burton’s Batman — and its comic book adaptation. Read more…
The Speedee-Bilt model airplane promises “MANY HAPPY LANDINGS.” In related news, it lies.
This ad promises “Many happy landings and launchings,” but one imagines that the “Speedy-Bilt” model planes were like others of their ilk: flimsy contraptions ready to fall apart at the slightest jolt. Especially when they augur right down into the dirt on their maiden voyage, like all these things do, ruining all the painstaking effort with that tub of Elmer’s Glue.
The Mission: Impossible — Rogue State trailer will make you believe a man can fly — stuck to the side of a plane!
The action and stunts here all look great, exactly the sort of thing we’ve come to expect from the endless Mission: Impossible franchise. (When I saw the dreadful Mission: Impossible 2 in a theater about 800 years ago, I would have believed that aliens would land in Times Square before any more would be made.) Read more…
In loving memory of the Red Menace – The Avengers #43
We here in the West have been lacking a superpower boogeyman since the Soviet Union collapsed a quarter of a century ago, a real life ideological threat that always looms, never hits too close to home, and is therefore perfect for serving as an umbrella foil for all levels of fiction. Al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorism have somewhat filled that breach in tragic ways, but their antagonism is all too real. Yes, the Cold War flared through proxies, but those happened oceans away. East vs. West always had a cloak and dagger quality about it which signaled that it was partially a game, something worthy of the machinations of a John le Carre novel. It’s hard to think of 9/11 and ISIS as games. Read more…
While there’s tons of new footage to be had in this one minute spot, the biggest takeaway is Quicksilver’s snatch of dialogue. (Apparently he, like all other characters in the Whedon-Avengers-Verse, speaks mostly in quips.) Hey, he has an accent, and isn’t random kleptomaniac suburban DC trash. Progress!
Spider-Man squares off against the Legal Eagle, and we’re all left scratching our heads!
There are a lot of things to unpack in this one-page Hostess ad, so let’s dig right in — just like we’d dig right into a Hostess cupcake, amiright?!?! Read more…
Jared
blog into mystery 