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Iron Man. Can you believe it did so well? I can barely believe it.
The most interesting thing I’m experiencing right now is the stunningly favorable popular sentiment about the quality of the film. People who have never picked up a comic book and never will are telling me how it’s their favorite superhero film they’ve ever seen.
A friend of mine raised a good point — this movie was all about Tony Stark. Iron Man showed up a few times, but we were sold the genius inventor billionaire for the majority of the film instead of the guy in a robot suit.
A great observation, if you ask me. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still shocked by how well this movie has been received. I’m extremely pleased for Marvel Studios, I’ll tell you that. And I’m glad to see that Shellhead is green lit for a sequel. Thor, well, I’m iffy on that.
And 2011? Damn, that should be a fine year for comic book movies. When I was sitting in the theater watching Iron Man, I just kept thinking to myself, “this movie is okay, but how awesome will the Captain America movie be?” Seeing Cap tossing his shield around on the big screen will be a rather religious day for me. No doubt this movie will eclipse the earlier Captain America film.
That same year will see the Avengers movie, if everything goes to plan. Man, how are they going to pull that off? The first test was the Samuel L Jackson cameo after the Iron Man credits. That was good. The next test will be the Robert Downey Jr cameo as Iron Man in The Incredible Hulk. That’s probably my most anticipated movie moment of the year right there.
I know that some have decried the idea of a Captain America movie separate from the Avengers film. My feeling is that we need to see Cap slinging his shield away from the big team to really appreciate the character. We need to see Falcon gliding across the New York City skyline while Cap leaps from rooftop to rooftop. I think we need to see Cap’s mettle tested by going up against the Sons of the Serpent or Hate-Monger.
Not saying I’m right about any of that, mind you. I just think we need to understand Steve Rogers as a man coming to grips with the America that exists outside of his ideals. That way we get a better feel for the motivation and majesty of the person that he is (and there better be some Falcon in there!!!).
P.S. How trippy was it to see Obadiah Stane on a giant movie screen?
Talking about Sifu Kisu, rosin vs. resin, Michael Turner art, Iron Man, Tony Stark, Obadiah Stane, School Daze, Horton Hears a Who, Captain America as a Communist, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Dummy, One Missed Call, Free Comic Book Day 2008, Cyclops in The Castro with no shirt on, fancy cheeses, funny nipple stories, creepy Miley Cyrus pictures, South Park WGA episode, how hookers got the name hookers, The Riches, Mighty Avengers #13, Avengers / Invaders #1, Invincible Iron Man #1, Young X-Men #2, and of course we got more.
So after all this Free Comic Book Day hype, who put out the best book?
Let’s start with a few things that didn’t shine quite as bright as I’d hoped.
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TwoMorrows Publishing easily claimed the prize for Best Free Comic Book Day Offering of 2007, but 2008’s book isn’t so stellar. Comics Go Hollywood is good but it’s aimed more at the novice reader rather than the burgeoning continuity encyclopedia fan. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – it’s just not as rich with information as it could be. |
| Marvel Adventures also fell a bit short. Maybe I was hyping it up too much in my imagination, but this issue isn’t as captivating as some of the better Marvel Adventures offerings. It’s still a strong outing, but it’s no Marvel Adventures Hulk by Paul Benjamin and David Nakayama or Marvel Adventures Avengers by Ty Templeton and Ig Guara. |  |
Now for the good stuff!
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The Runner-Up for Best Free Comic Book Day Offering of 2008: Maintenance from Oni Press. This one-and-done tale about two janitors at a corporation run by supervillain scientists is an excellent exercise in fun storytelling. This free comic did what any FCBD offering should do – it convinced me to pick up the actual series the next time I’m in my comic shop. |
| And the Winner for Best Free Comic Book Day Offering of 2008: X-Men by Marvel Comics. This was a shocker, super fans. I did not expect this book to “wow” me like it did. It was on my FCBD wanted list, but towards the bottom. Yet instead of a mediocre read, Mike Carey and Greg Land treated me to an emotional, interesting, and action-packed issue. This bodes well for the future of the post-Messiah CompleX X-Men franchise. |  |
All around, it was a great Free Comic Book Day where even the weakest free comics were still excellent reads. I can’t wait for FCBD 2009!
Free Comic Book Day 2008 has arrived. Below you will find a list of the books I’m hoping to snag this May 3rd at my local comics shop (Phantom of the Attic Comics in Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA, USA). This FCBD reading list is in order of awesome to totally awesome (i.e. best for last).
Note how there are no selections from DC Comics, seeing as how they intend to provide two books that have already been published. LAME! You can click on the thumbnail image of the comic cover to download free preview pages (if available).
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Transformers Animated from IDW Publishing. I’m not a huge Transformers fan, let alone really a fan at all. But this is a nice cover image and interesting concept — an adaptation of the first episode of the new Transformers TV relaunch. Consider my curiosity piqued. |
| X-Men from Marvel Comics. I know this should probably be higher on my list, but I always get a bit burned by Marvel’s primary FCBD offering — they rarely deliver. It looks like Marvel is trying something out it did last year in Spider-Man: Swing Shift. This X-Men comic will be the launch point of the new X-Men status quo that hasn’t even debuted yet in the regular series. Worth checking out. | |
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Arcana Studio Presents from Arcana Studios. I’m going strictly off the strength of the solicitation here. The book has four different samples in it. Not normally how I like to roll, but they each have an interesting hook to them. I’d like to see more and this is free! |
| Cartoon-Apalooza from Ape Entertainment. Five original short stories including three first appearances of new creative properties. The cover art looks great and the concepts all sound very fun. What’s not to like? |  |
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Maintenance from Oni Press. I heard an interview with the Maintenance creators a few months back on Around Comics. Basically, these two guys are the janitors at an evil corporation run by mad scientists (think AIM from Marvel). Like my other picks, this has a strong cover and a strong solicitation. |
| Bongo Comics Free-For-All! From Bongo Comics. The Simpsons and Futurama comics crammed into a pocket-sized digest. The preview pages look fun and I tend to like to pick up at least a couple things from Bongo Comics a year. Why not make sure that one of those things costs me $0.00? |  |
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Marvel Adventures from Marvel Comics. Astute ComicShocker readers already know that I enjoy me some Marvel Adventures comics (particularly Avengers and Hulk). Here we’ve got Hulk, Spidey, and Iron Man (hey, doesn’t he have a HUGE movie out this weekend?) all in one. Last year we got the first appearance of Marvel Adventures Hulk and it was sweet. The free Marvel Adventures Iron Man ashcan from Halloween 2007 was awesome too. Nuff said. |
| Comics Go Hollywood from TwoMorrows Publishing. Last year’s offering from TwoMorrows simply blew my mind. It got me hooked on Write Now! Magazine. It was also jam-packed with content. It took me like three days of riding the bus to-and-from work to read the whole thing. That’s what I call FCBD quality! | |
DC Universe #0. All I can say is… wow.
It makes next to no sense. Is it possible to feel like I wasted $0.50? Because I think that I did.
All I got was a collection of six teasers for upcoming story events. I feel like I paid $0.50 to have DC Comics make me watch a disjointed and scattered commercial, all narrated by the Flash.
And what was the deal with the (SPOILERS!!!!) last page? A strip club with a soda can on the ground and some graffiti nearby? Is Grant Morrison trying to say that strip clubs are evil? Well guess what — they’re not. And neither is graffiti. Some graffiti is really sweet.
But you know what kind of sucks? Lightning. That’s right. It’s loud (well the thunder is loud, but the two of them go hand-in-hand), it’s destructive, and it’s annoying when you’re trying to sleep (trust me, it kept me up all night recently).
I’d like to introduce a new feature, similar to something you see here all the time but it’s a bit different: Reads You Don’t Need. And can you guess what the first issue is to ever receive this honor? You guessed it! DC Universe #0.
P.S. Okay, let me be fair. The issue was ambitious. But it should have had a consistent narrative as the focus instead of a series of snapshot sales pitches.
P.P.S. Astute readers will notice that we already had a ComicShocker this week. That installment, however, was actually catching up on the previous week. This ComicShocker is for this week. Right now. The one with DC Universe #POOP– Oops! I mean #0.
March Madness! 16 films battle in the Tournament Movie Tournament!!! Read the ROUND ONE, ROUND TWO, and ROUND THREE fights, or check out the FINAL ROUND bracket!
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