>Not only are we quickly approaching the close of another year, but we are soon coming to the conclusion of a decade as well. All this month you can expect to see my blogs covering a range of the best of the 00’s, and eventually leading up to a year end wrap towards the end of December. For my first installment of the best of the present decade I’m touching on a comic book subject more contentious than comic books; comic book based movies. To keep things among only the best of the best, I’m ranking these in a top 5 format, which means some good movies may be left out. But again, this is for the best of the best.
5. X-Men 2 (2003) This is further proof that the second movie is the best in most trilogy’s. This one had elements of some of the most classic X-Men comic stories. You got a touch of “God Loves, Man Kills”, the Weapon X story, a sampling of the Phoenix saga just before the credits, and a smorgasbord of mutant cameos, including a spot on performance of Nightcrawler as played by Alan Cumming. The message of tolerance was thankfully not lost at any point in the intensity of the action.
4. Watchmen (2009) My ranking of this film may provoke some debate, but I genuinely enjoyed this one and believed it was not only a faithful adaptation, but just downright fun to watch. Of course I’ll go with the “book is always better than the film” saying in this case, but Watchmen still remains as one of the best direct interpretations of a graphic novel to film I’ve seen.
3. Iron Man (2008) The Spider-Man movies were fun, and X-2 made it into my top 5 list here, but I gotta say that 2008’s Iron Man was by far the best Marvel movie yet. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark in what I consider the best casting in any comic movie. From the looks of the upcoming sequel, the original may be outdone as is often the case when following the trilogy formula- first movie establishes character and back story, second movie kicks total @$$, third movie is good but not as good as the first 2.
2. Sin City (2005) The most direct panel to screen interpretation of a comic movie, shown in glorious black and white (with splashes of yellow of course) Sin City was a gorgeous, yet brutal movie to behold. Frank Miller’s artwork really came to life, and the casting of Micky Rourke as Marv was just perfect. I’m hoping a sequel involving the story a Dame to Kill For is in the works, and am willing to forgive Frank Miller for the fiasco that was the Spirit.
1. Batman: the Dark Knight (2008) I doubt that anyone will consider this a surprise for my #1 pick of the decade. Not only was Heath Ledgers portrayal of the Joker the best version of the character any any medium, but the psychological subtext of the fact that Batman is just as crazy as the Joker, that morality is always in question no matter how upstanding a citizen you are, and anarchy is just the other side of the coin with order. This is a film that is a tough act to follow, and I kind of hope that there aren’t any efforts to try to follow it up with a sub par movie. This one stands not just as my favorite comic movies of the past decade, but as one of my all-time favorites.
So there you have it! My personal best of the best of the past 10 years. I have to give a nod to Spider-Man 1 and 2, Batman Begins, a History of Violence, and the Road to Perdition although they didn’t make the list. Now we’ll just have to see if the 2010’s can top what happened in the 2000’s.
As the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get closer to the end of their 25th anniversary, the celebration’s conclusion is becoming more and more bittersweet. Last October, co-creator Peter Laird sold his remaining rights for the Turtles to children’s cable network Nickelodeon, a division of Viacom Inc. For many, myself included, it’s sad to think one of the most successful independent comics of all time will no longer be independent.
The Ninja Turtles have had many remarkable achievements for being originally conceived as just a one-off parody comic. The Turtles numerous licensing deals, including over 350 hours of TV programming, 4 profitable independent films, multiple Playmate action figure lines, and a ridiculous amount of other merchandising outfits, is perhaps their biggest achievement. Yet, to do this all over the last 25 years while only being operated by creators Kevin Eastman and Laird’s independent Mirage Studios is nothing short of miraculous. Though likely beneficial for the future of the Turtles, the acquisition is a blow to one of the biggest independent success stories of all time.
The Turtles will remain to have some autonomy throughout 2010 before the Nickelodeon acquisition takes full effect. If Peter Laird chooses to do so, Mirage Studios will have the rights to publish up to 18 issues of Tales of the TMNT throughout the year. However, they will not be allowed to sell graphic novels collections, which will perhaps making these issues collectors items because of their limited run. Also, 4Kids CW will be allowed to finish airing their Ninja Turtles cartoon throughout 2010 before their contract expires. The deal with Nickelodeon will not effect the Playmate toyline. Nickelodeon is expected to launch a new animated series and animated movie of the Turtles in 2010.
Mirage Studios will send the turtles out with a bang with the new animated TV film “Turtles Forever” which aired last Saturday, November 21. An encore showing of this will air November 28 and December 12, split into three 22 minute episodes. The film combines three sets of Turtles, the original, violent comic versions, The 80s goof-off Turtles, and the darker cast from 4Kids cartoon. Check out the trailer below.
Its been a radical twenty five years. Let’s hope the Ninja Turtles can have twenty five more with Nickelodeon, and avoid a Spongebob crossover.
>So, as you may have noticed, the title above states that this is Part 1 of a series of blogs about my favorite comic adaptations. I’m hoping to make this an ongoing thing, with at least one post a month dedicated towards this thing… So, let’s get right to it. As I stated, this is about comic adaptations, meaning that this includes movies, cartoons, video games, toys, models, and so on. And this doesn’t just include mainstream American comics, but pretty much anything in a comic format which would include web-comics, manga, independent stuff, local stuff, and so on. Also… I’m pretty sure some of the things that I hold near and dear to my heart could potentially drop my credibility on certain subjects, but I’m not concerned. So, to start it off, I begin with 1986’s movie adaptation of the Marvel Comic, Howard the Duck.
Yes, Howard the Duck, the comic about the cigar smoking anthropomorphic duck, who happens to also be a Master of Quack-Fu. Apparently, sometime in the 70s George Lucas (Star Wars) had a conversation with his co-writers on American Graffiti about the comic, Howard the Duck. Fast-forward a decade and we get the the production of the movie. Produced by George Lucas and written by director Willard Huyck and his wife Gloria Katz, Howard the Duck made it to the Big Screen. It took something like $36,000,000 to make, and it grossed about somewhere around $16,000,000. Clearly, this was not a box office success. Critics hated it, and for the longest time, I couldn’t find anyone who’d even want to give the movie a chance. But why? There was a great cast that was found in Lea Thompson as Howard’s human love interest, Tim Robbins as self-titled scientist, and Jeffery Jones as the “real” scientist who was responsible for bringing Howard to Earth in the first place, and let’s not forget the actual stars, Ed Gale as the actual actor in the duck-suit and Chip Zien as the voice of Howard. As I understand it, the duck-suit was something that paved the way in terms of animatronics and full-body suits. And that’s just the tip of the special effects that were used in this movie. But I’ll get to that a little later.
The premise of the movie goes a little bit like this; Howard the Duck, inhabitant of Duckworld, is ripped from his quaint bachelor pad apartment and through a wormhole in space for what appears to be no reason. He lands in Cleavland, Ohio outside of a hole-in-the-wall club where a struggling all-girl rock band led by a woman named Beverly (Lea Thompson). As she leaves for the night, she’s mugged in a alley where she is saved by none other than Howard. This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship. They later go on to meet one of the band members’ boyfriend who claims to be a scientist (Tim Robbins), this was not eventful. Later on, we get to see the filmmakers play with the idea of a sexual relationship between Howard and Beverly. Then we meet a real scientist who claims to be able to send Howard home, in that attempt, instead of Howard going up and away, something evil comes down to play. And yes, I intended for that to rhyme. That’s essentially the first half of the movie, you could argue that it might pass as a romantic comedy up until this point… But the second half? The movie really lets loose with the second half. The Dark Overlord is the name of the being who comes to town, possessing the body of an innocent scientist, he mutates and grows in power. And I’ve got to say, the ideas that they put on film as far as the concepts of telekinesis and similar power types are vary impressive and way ahead of their time. I think the best examples of these visual feats were only being done in Japanese animation at the time, the majority of which weren’t even a blip on the American radar. And by the time The Dark Overlord absorbs the whole of a nuclear power plant, I was like, this can’t get anymore awesome, and then it does, like two more times. When it’s true form is revealed, it’s truly a sight to behold, both in imagination and execution. Remember, this is 1986, so stop-motion effects were well into play here, and considering that Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) were heading the effects, they hold up pretty well to this day. And so, when the climax is reached and you think there’s nothing left… BAM! Awesome theme song! Co-written by Thomas Dolby (A Big Synth-Artist of the 80s) and George Clinton (Awesome man and Master of Funk). What more could you want? I mean… Besides a more accurate portrayal of Howard and his story.
So it’s not the most accurate of comic book adaptations, but it does a good job of being fun. Sure, it temporarily ruined the careers of everyone involved with the movie, but I think they each recovered eventually. But more to the point, now-a-days, I’m finding more and more people who liked the movie and even loved the movie. In fact, it was recently released on DVD earlier this year and at my other job at a certain video chain, we received 2 copies of the movie and the last time I checked, one copy was stolen and the other pretty much stays checked out. As soon as it comes back, its out the door again. Even my niece loved the movie, and I can’t get her to watch anything with animatronic suits. And she hates the Ninja Turtles… ;( But yeah, Howard the Duck. One of my favorite comic book adaptations. And on a personal note, one of the greatest movies ever. Until next time.
>When it comes to daily woes in comic-dom, no ones got more than Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. In the past couple of years he’s had his marriage to super-hottie Mary Jane erased from continuity setting him back to his down-on-his-luck bachelor status, also setting him back to having to scrounge for rent. The arch nemesis of his personal life, J. Jonah Jameson is now the mayor of New York, and to make matters worse, is also his step brother thanks to the wedding of Aunt May and Jameson’s father J. Jonah Sr. And too make matters even worse than that, Pete accidentally walked in on some old-folk ugly-bumping action. Traumatizing to say the least.
Lately, life as Spider-Man hasn’t been much easier thanks to the fact that Norman Osborn is now basically in charge of SHIELD, now re-named HAMMER, and has his own team of Avengers who were previously criminals and psycho killers. Norman is flying around in a modified Iron Man suit and calling himself the Iron Patriot while enforcing the Super-Hero Registration Act which of course puts him at odds with Spider-Man even more than usual. This past week saw the release of the one-shot Dark Reign: the List- Spider-Man, in which we find Parker and the staff of Front Line ready to expose Osborn’s past indiscretions as a mad scientist at Oscorp, and discredit him once and for all as the public at large seems to have forgiven the whole Green Goblin thing as a moment of un-medicated psychosis. Pete swings into action as Spidey, breaking into Oscorp and downloading video footage of Osborn experimenting on human subjects to re-create the super-soldier serum, which is in effect, torture. This of course outrages Norman and initiates a knock down, drag out fight between the Iron Patriot and the wall-crawler. As epic as their confrontation is, you can tell by the end of the story, that this isn’t over yet. Not only is Spidey at odds with the most powerful man in the country, but in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man he faces the combined forces of his rogues gallery mainstays in a story titled the Gauntlet. Electro is back, more unstable than ever, but more organized as the Spidey-villains are out for the web-slinger with a vengeance!
Also at the end of the List issue is a backup story reprinting the Pulse #5 from 2004, where Norman Osborn is finally exposed as the Green Goblin to the public after endangering Jessica Jones, who was pregnant at the time. Jones’ baby’s father is Luke Cage, and as this story shows, you do not mess with Cage’s family. Normally, I just enjoy a watching a story unfold, but I found myself rooting for Cage to inflict some major hurt on Osborn.
>Throughout the fall of this year, Dark Horse is releasing a series of 9 one-shot comics like Abe Sapien, a couple of Star Wars comics, Sugar Shock from the Dark Horse/ Myspace anthology, the Goon, and probably the most anticipated of these is the Dr. Horrible comic.
For those not familiar (where have you been?) Dr. Horrible is the main character from the wildly popular online mini series titled: Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog, Starring Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Houser, and How I Met Your Mother fame. Dr. Horrible is the villain you feel for, and who sings! This is the brainchild of Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon who was inspired by the success of the BTVS episode called Once More With Feeling, otherwise known as the musical episode of Buffy. I have to say, I’m not a fan of musicals, but the Buffy musical episode was awesome, so I saw Dr. Horrible online and thought it was incredible. The good doctor is just like you or I. He pines for the attention of the cute girl he met at the laundry-mat, he’s a bit of a nerd, so is a bit of an outsider, and oh yeah, makes a freeze-ray and gets into a tussle with a muscle bound super-hero who ends up stealing the girl of his dreams. You know, stuff we all relate to. The one shot comic, by Joss’s brother Zack Whedon, takes us back to Horribles childhood and the roots of his criminal super-genius. We see his first encounter with the girl at the laundry-mat, and his first encounter with arch-nemesis Captain Hammer. It’s a real hoot that comes with your choice of three covers.
Speaking of Joss Whedon, coming soon from Dark Horse: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Scoobie-gang sidekick Willow will have her very own comic coming out on Christmas eve-eve. (That’s Dec. 23rd) It looks like a good time to be a Joss Whedon creation.
The latest promotion by DC, as we all know by now, is the release of the different Corps’ rings along with specially selected Blackest Night tie-in issues throughout the DCU. As I have signed up myself to get all of the rings by getting all of the issues, I’ve found myself surprised at a couple of titles I previously knew little about.
First up, to get the Indigo ring of compassion, I purchased REBELS #10, which to be honest with you folks, I knew nothing about. After reading this particular issue, I was somewhat surprised to see Vril Dox, leader of LEGION, son of Braniac, and class A bastard was still around and kicking. Not surprisingly however, is that he is still a jerk. Now here comes the spoiler: Dox is presented with a yellow ring, told by the ring that he has the ability to instill great fear, and becomes a member of th eSinestro Corps. Even for a title I’ve never followed, that was a big surprise for me. Then of course to earn the orange ring of avarice, I picked up on Booster Gold #26. Booster is one of those characters who has something of a cult following, so I was intrigued after quite some time of kind of ignoring him. Typically Booster is a pretty happy go lucky character, but in this issue we see him depressed at the funeral of his best friend Ted Kord, aka the Blue Beetle. To make matters worse, shortly after the funeral, Ted’s body is re-animated by one of those pesky black rings that have been flying around the past few of months. Finally, a title I didn’t need a ring to encourage me to buy it, Green Lantern Corps had probably the first unexpected casualty as Kyle Rayner seemingly dies at the end of issue #42. We’ll see how permanant this death is as we are in the middle of an event that is all about resurrections, and remember, this is a death in comic books. Those usually don’t stick.
All this said, I have to tip my hat to DC for such an effective marketing promotion as it has already introduced me to titles I would ordinarily ignore. Now that I know Vril Dox is a Senestro Corpsman, I want to see where it goes. I guess we’ll see if the upcoming issues of the Outsiders, and Adventure comics will grab my attention as well.
Many Star Clipper regulars who’ve come into the store or read our recent email newsletter might have heard that Star Clipper is sponsoring two films in the St. Louis International Film Festival. The two films are called “The Pride of St. Louis” and “Old Dog, New Trick,” both of which I am the co-producer on. The films collectively trace the influence of KSHE 95 on the 1970s St. Louis music scene, particularly with regards to bands Mama’s Pride and Pavlov’s Dog. With heavy promotion from KSHE, both bands were close to breaking big on the national music scene. However, luck wouldn’t have it and both acts broke up and fell into semi-obscurity. Taking an “almost famous” approach, the films catch up with members of both bands in their present lives, and explores how music still effects them. “Old Dog, New Trick” is particularly personal to me because the focus of the film is on my dad, Steve Scorfina, a founding member of Pavlov’s Dog. Since I’ve been working on this project for a little over two years now, I’d love to share with you a little of what went into the filming.
First, the films were directed by Mike Steinberg and Thomas Crone. To put my relationship with them into context, I was a student with both teachers at Webster University. The first class I took with Thomas was the history of rock film. We watched everything from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Spinal Tap.” Likewise, I worked as a work-study student for Mike at the Webster University Film Series. I think I made my presence know there by constantly bombarding him with rock film suggestions, from feature length documentaries “Sonic Youth in 1991 – The Year Punk Broke” or “The Fearless Freaks,” to more obscure stuff like “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” (told with barbie dolls) or the unreleased Black Flag documentary “Reality 86′d.” Many of my suggestion eventually made it to the film series calendar, so I guess I was doing something right.
I think Mike and Thomas met my dad through me. However, my memory may be wrong and Thomas might have met him when he wrote a review on the Pavlov’s Dog reunion for the Post Dispatch in 2004. I’m pretty certain that Mike met my dad at the film series with me attending a film about vinyl collecting, or when we were selling records at the St. Louis Record Show around 2005. Mike is an avid record collector, So my dad and him hit it off instantly. Either way, when Mike and Thomas came up with the idea to document the St. Louis classic rock music scene, they ask me to get involved as a co-producer. To say the least, I was honored and excited to help.
As a producer, I did everything from filming certain scenes to scanning photographs and making and distributing flyers. The most interesting scene I shot was following my dad around my grandparents old home in Ferguson where his bands practiced at the legendary carriage house. The beautiful old victorian home was abandoned, but designated as a Missouri historical landmark for its age. I had heard so many stories about the carriage house, but this was the first time ever seeing it in my adult life.
The film “Old Dog, New Trick” traces my dad’s life in music. He first played with Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers) in a high school band called Mike and the Majestics. He then transition into a psychedelic group called the Good Feellin’ before joining the original blues rock line-up of REO Speedwagon in Champaign, IL. However, the zenith of his musical career was with St. Louis’ own Pavlov’s Dog, a seven piece art rock band that achieved a platinum album with their first record “Pampered Menial.” The band tore apart after management stole almost everything they had achieved. Yet, the music carried on, and my dad now counterbalances a life as a quirky antiques salesmen with a reinvented music career as a band leader.
“The Pride of St. Louis” focuses on the brothers Liston. Pat Liston, now an Irish folk singer, and Danny, now a contemporary christian rocker, original formed southern rock act Mama’s Pride in the mid 70s. The band slowly worked to acclaim, eventually being taken under the wing of Lynard Skynard’s Ronnie Van Sant. However, when Van Sant died in the legendary plane crash, it effectively ended Mama’s Pride journey as well. With little record company support, the band was dropped from their label ATCO and forgotten in the throws of Disco. Miraculously, when the band reunited in 2004 to amazing success it also jump-started an exciting second act for Mama’s Pride.
Since the Star Clipper Blog is comic related I feel I should mention the amazing poster art local comic artist Ted May provided for Old Dog, posted above. Thanks so much Ted. Secondly, Pavlov’s Dog had a comic strip featuring them in the late 1970s called “The Adventures with the Hounds.” The twelve issue strip appeared in a local music magazine called St. Louis Music Scene throughout 76 and 77. I don’t have all the issues, so if anyone reading this happens to have these please let me know.
The films premiere November 20 at the Tivoli at 7:00 pm and will be followed by a Q & A with Directors Mike Steinberg and Thomas Crone, subjects Steve Scorfina and Danny Liston, and myself. The film will be followed by a concert at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room with the Old Dog Scorfina and Danny Liston at 9:30 pm.
Thanks so much to Star Clipper for sponsoring this and I hope to see you there!
Issue 50 of X-Factor has arrived and it answers a question that has long lingered from issue 1: Why does Layla Miller know stuff? Without spoiling the whole issue, I will say this Layla Miller heavy issue is quite a dozy. The members of the summers rebellion face a mega-Sentinel, Jamie Madrox tangles with a highly evolved duplicate, and the ancient Doctor Victor Von Doom reveals his masterstroke. Even with all this it’s the Layla Miller section that makes the issue one of the most talked about single issues of the year.
Writer Peter David has been working towards this well-executed revelation since he relaunch X-Factor in 2005. However, most fans who’ve been patient enough to stick with this slow-burner story find X-Factor to be the most rewarding book out in the X-line. In a recent X-Position with David, the writer admits to finding it surprising that no one figured out Layla Miller’s secret early. He points to a minor plot point in X-Factor 10 as major evidence about Miller’s abilities. So, if you want to try to figure out the mystery of Layla Miller before you read #50 pick up the trade with issue 10.
X-Factor will take a leap from issue 50 to issue 200 this December (Marvel you and your numbering gimmicks). Issue 200 starts a more basic detective story, where X-Factor is hired by Franklin Richards to find his mother the Invisible Woman. I hope the next 50 issues of X-Factor are just as compelling as the first 50, and have plenty more of Layla Miller in them.
>So, I’ll just get right to it. IDW’s re-imagining of the classic G1 Transformers mythos is pretty interesting. From what I’ve read of this series, they’ve taken elements from the old 80s comic, the 80s cartoon, ideas from the 90s Beast Wars cartoon (bleh), and mixed it in with a plethora of fresh ideas and made a pretty great story with these giant transforming robots that we’ve all grown to love or hate. Last week, IDW released a recap issue called, The Transformers Continuum (TTC), which lists every major plot point of the series since they acquired the rights to the comics from Dreamwave Productions back in 2005. Since that time, one could say that this incarnation of The Transformers is what Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics is to the regular run of Marvel Comics… What I mean to say, is that this series was created with a new generation in mind, but it doesn’t alienate older readers. Optimus Prime is still the leader of the Autobots and Megatron still leads the Decepticons. Most of the transformers remain associated with whatever allegiance they were apart of in previous media. But what is different here is just like how the Ultimate Marvel comics are different from the regular Marvel Comics. This series has all the information it needs on all the original characters and it takes into account of all the retcons that they have gone through over the years… All the plotpoints and plotholes… All the relationships, friends and enemies… The series can and has established everything about these characters on the first swing. And what TTC does with this information gives us a complete look over this revised history.
We learn of the origin of Megatron, and how he was once a noble robot. We learn of his slave origins and his rise to power, eventually leading to him overthrowing the Autobot leader of that time, Sentinel Prime. With the defeat of Sentinel Prime, there became a split in the Transformer populace, those who followed Megatron became known as Decepticons and those who were not in favor of Megatron’s more aggressive ideals remained Autobots. Eventually leading to the rise of Optimus Prime as the leader of the Autobots. We learn about the Cybertron (Transformer home world) war and what eventually led the war to come to Earth. The comic shows us that apparently, Optimus Prime tends to get beaten within a inch of his life by Megatron quite often. We also see the rise of Galvatron. Which is a fun subject, because in some media, Megatron is rebuilt into Galvatron, but in other media they are two separate entities. In this comic, they are separate. We also see an interesting take on the Witwicky family. Generally a Witwicky tends to be a primary human character that associates with the Autobots in most of the Transformer media, including the two live-action movies that have been released. In this series, Spike Witwicky isn’t really pro-Autobot… In fact, he seems to just be Anti-Transformer in general.
Anyway, the issue was really informative and really helps bring anyone up to speed who is interested in this weeks release of The Transformers ongoing series. Starting at Number 1, The Transformers comics will no long be various sets of miniseries and one-shots. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next. See ya.
>One of the most recent releases in comic-dom that I’ve grown to love just after the first issue is a new series from Oni Press called Stumptown. This is not a title that has received much attention or hype, but if you’re a fan of modern hard-boiled, than Stumptown is right up your alley.
Unlike most detective stories, Stumptown takes place in small-town Oregon where one of the daughters of the local casino owner has gone missing, and private detective Dex Parios is hired to find her. We immediately discover that Dex isn’t your typical, classic private eye as she is charged with the care-taking of her younger, seemingly mentally challenged younger brother, but indulges in some of the classic vices as drinking, smoking, and gambling. Dex reluctantly agrees to take the case free of charge in exchange for having her debts to the casino wiped off the books, and finds her attempts to investigate the case upset by local thugs almost the minute she begins. The appeal in the story for me so far is how the end of the issue leaves you asking more questions than you initially have answered, as a chapter of good mystery fiction should. I’m hooked.
If you’re a fan of Scalped, 100 Bullets, or Micky Spillane novels, than Stumptown is definitely worth a try. With the growing popularity of Scalped, the prospect of more Darwyn Cook interpreted Parker stories, and quality modern-noir like Stumptown, noir is going strong.
One of my favorite bookstores in St. Louis. Star Clipper offers not only the best selection of comic books and graphic novels in the city, but also a cornucopia of art, design and pop-culture related books and magazines. 
