Seeing how I am a self-professed comic geek, I am generally my friends’ go-to source for any and everything comic book related. Currently, the most often asked question that I am getting is: “Why did they make another Incredible Hulk movie? Didn’t they just make one a couple of years ago?”

To answer that question, Marvel (comics) is taking a new direction with their movies. They will not be auctioning off licensing to the highest bidder as was done with Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and Hulk. In doing so, we were subjected Spider-Man with organic webbing, The FF looking like a 2 hour commercial for toys, and the Hulk trying to be cerebral and romantic – Ang Lee style. Also with different studios owning the movies, the fans were never going to see crossover cameos like Tony Stark made in the Incredible Hulk.

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Popularity: 36% [?]

The internet has brought us all into the information age. One could argue that in spite of the increasingly stupid things that people do, our society is relatively more informed, creative, and knowledgeable. How else would somebody have thought up Youtube, Myspace, and Bittorrent? For practically everything I loved as a kid, there is an online equivalent. File sharing replaced having to swap tapes and “dubbing” them with a dual cassette player. Myspace replaced handwriting letters to friends, family, and pen pals.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

As previously mentioned in my Charlie Bartlett review, I love Robert Downey, Jr.  So when I first saw trailers for Iron Man and saw how good he looked, you can only imagine how excited I was for May 2nd to come around.  It also helps that even though the only comic books I’ve ever read are the Archie and Veronica kind, I really do enjoy the film adaptations of comic book stories.  And maybe it didn’t take a rocket scientist to decide to use Black Sabbath’s Iron Man in the trailers, but rockin’ out to that at the end of every trailer made me want to see the movie even more.

Since I’ve never read any of the classic comics, I can’t speak to the authenticity of Iron Man as an adaptation.  For that, you’ll have to ask Dr. Danger, a.k.a. Nicholas Johnson, resident Culture Feast comic blogger.  However, I can tell you, from a Regular Jane’s perspective as a movie lover, that Iron Man was an entertaining 2 hours. Continue Reading

Popularity: 9% [?]

Spider-man has been the Marvel cash cow for some time now. With three mega-successful movies, various animated TV shows, countless licensed products, oh and multiple comic book titles, it’s hard not to have immediate recognition of the Spider-man brand. Spidey is iconic, transcending, and loved for being the ultimate confliction of responsibility versus reward. Unfortunately, throughout the 90’s, it had also become a little tedious and a little absurd. This is not a knock on any of the writers or artists involved in producing the comics. This is a direct stab at all of the people involved that took Stan “the Man” Lee’s vision and started distorting it back in the early to mid 1980’s.

            While many writers and artists were given the thumbs up to take Peter Parker in all new directions, the editors failed to keep it within reason. Many of the readers, me included, loved it when Todd McFarlane introduced Venom into the Spider-man continuum. And nobody can act like they didn’t love the black suit,

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Popularity: 20% [?]

As the Spring and Summer movies start rolling out, we're getting closer and closer to the release of the new comic book movies, IRON MAN and THE DARK KNIGHT. Both of these movies are going to be huge and probably make a billion dollars each. These two movies have been so "on the radar" that they have all but eclipsed another comic book movie that is coming out. "What movie is that?", you might ask. The movie is WANTED. You may have seen the 30 second trailer during the Super Bowl. If you haven't, then you can check it out on MySpace or YouTube. Don't make the mistake of watching the trailer for MOST WANTED, Keynan Ivory Wayans incredibly horrible attempt at being a action-hero badass. He failed miserably.

I'm sure your immediate question has switched from, "What movie is that?" to "What comic is that?" I am talking about Wanted, a comic that burst on the scene back in 2004 as a part of Millarworld. This comic was published by Top Cow comics, but it is all Mark Millar's creation. This was my first introduction to Mark Millar's awesome ability

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Popularity: 9% [?]

In the world of comics, you have a bunch of small companies and two big players. We all know who they are. Everybody is familiar with the characters. Of course, I am talking about DC and Marvel. DC is the driving force behind Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. Marvel has their share of heavy-hitters with Spider-Man, the (Incredible) Hulk, and the Fantastic Four. Both companies are riding high on massive waves of successful franchises. Each company’s characters have a counterpoint within the other company, excluding Spider-Man and the Green Lantern(s).

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Popularity: 70% [?]

January 30, 2008 ended an era. Much like the last day of Ron Kirk’s (Dallas’ former mayor) time in office, or the last game of Michael Irvin’s hall of fame career…..yesterday ended an era. What happened you ask? The 60th and final issue of Vertigo comics’ Y: The Last Man hit comic book stores and bookstands.            

Now if you’re like most of my friends (and former girlfriends), you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. I’m talking about one of the best non-franchise (Batman, Spider-Man) titles to come out in the last decade. Y: The Last Man is a comic book first, a piece of mythology second, and then it’s all wrapped up in a Shakespearean masterpiece. You will laugh on one page and choke back tears on the next. I know this from experience. The writing (Brian K. Vaughn) belongs in the pages of a NY Times bestseller. The artwork (Pia Guerra) is exactly what you want in this type of story (i.e. it doesn’t distract from the story).

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Popularity: 6% [?]