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AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: Marvel Zombies (2005-current)

Posted in comic books, monsters, pop culture, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, Halloween, holiday, Marvel Comics, monsters, zombies on October 14, 2013 by Paxton

In Dec 2005, Marvel published a 5 issue mini-series written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Sean Phillips called Marvel Zombies. It was essentially an “alternate universe” tale about the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe contracting a virus that turned them all into zombies.

The whole idea originated in a story arc in Ultimate Fantastic Four issues 21-23 (Sep 2005). Reed Richards is tricked by a duplicate of himself from another dimension into bringing over him and his alternate dimension FF teammates. Turns out, that version of the Fantastic Four is actually infected with a super-virus that turned them into zombies and their dimension has run out of their food source; brains and human flesh. The Zombie Four wish to enter this new dimension that is full of tasty brains to eat. Reed and the Ultimate FF defeat the zombies, but only barely and only with the help of Victor Von Doom.

The Marvel Zombies mini begins on this alternate universe of Marvel Heroes a small while after the Crossover story arc. Some of the details before this story arc would be fleshed out in a later one-shot written by Robert Kirkman called Marvel Zombies: Dead Days. But the first Marvel Zombies series takes placed right after Crossover.

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Magneto destroys the cross dimensional portal that Reed used during the Crossover story to bring the zombie FF over to the other dimension. Magneto is then killed by all of the zombies. The Silver Surfer arrives on the planet to announce Galactus’ arrival, but he too is overwhelmed and killed by the zombies who then each absorb some of the Surfer’s Power Cosmic. The zombies with the Power Cosmic kill and devour the non-powered zombies to remove the competition for food. Galactus arrives and barely fights off the zombie hordes. Giant-Man, Iron Man and Bruce Banner develop a machine to harness and increase the Power Cosmic they all have and they use this to finally injure and devour Galactus. Galactus’ power is absorbed by the surviving group of zombies who use this power to leave the planet and start scouring the Universe for planets with more food.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I read this but it’s pretty awesome. I discovered Robert Kirkman first through his Astounding Wolf-Man and Invincible comics. I knew about Marvel Zombies, but when I discovered Kirkman wrote the first two mini-series, I grabbed both of them as well as the Dead Days prequel and devoured them (pun intended) immediately. These first Kirkman produced books are nothing short of amazing in their storytelling. I can’t recommend them enough.

(Via Comic Vine)

There were several non-Kirkman sequels after Marvel Zombies 2. Marvel Zombies 3 (2008) and 4 (2009) were written by Fred Van Lente and drawn by Kev Walker. They are appropriately over-the-top and fun. Part 3 has the character of Machine Man as it’s protagonist and Part 4 uses the Midnight Sons (Morbius, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Damien Hellstrom and Jennifer Kale). Now that I’m looking it up, it seems Van Lente actually also wrote a Marvel Zombies 5 in 2010. I haven’t read that one, but 3 and 4 are fun and zany stories that don’t aspire (nor really need to) to the scope of the first two mini-series. Plus, it could be that the concept is spreading itself a little thin by the third sequel.

After this a collection of one-shots were released called Marvel Zombies Return as well as Marvel Zombies Supreme and a one shot called Evil Evolution which is a crossover between Marvel Zombies and Marvel Apes. So yeah, Marvel is milking the hell out of this zombies thing, but it’s still really popular. And I keep reading them, for sure. I’ll definitely continue on with part 5.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: DC’s Blackest Night mini-series (2009)

Posted in comic books, monsters, Superman, The Flash, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Batman, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, DC Comics, monsters, Superman, The Flash, zombies on October 8, 2013 by Paxton

Summer of 2009 began the DC event, Blackest Night. At the conclusion of the Sinestro Corps War, DC teased the coming of the Blackest Night prophecy. The Guardians of the Universe told of the coming of 5 new Lantern Corps, each backed by a different color of the emotional spectrum. This fracturing would lead to a war of light, the coming of the Black Lanterns, the dead rising and the eventual destruction of the universe.

The Blackest Night mini-series was eight issues long and first appeared in June 2009. The story starts with Black Hand walking amongst the tombstones of a cemetery. He grabs Bruce Wayne’s skull and carries it with him (this was obviously during the time just after Bruce Wayne’s fate is revealed in Final Crisis). Black Hand keeps talking about a coming war and retribution. And the coming of “him” (who we’ll discover later).

We see black rings invade the Lantern crypt on Oa and start reviving all of the formerly deceased lanterns. These “zombie” lanterns become the beginning of the Black Lantern Corps.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: Image’s The Walking Dead comic (2003)

Posted in comic books, monsters, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, zombies on October 2, 2013 by Paxton

In 2003 Image Comics released the first issue of The Walking Dead, a comic written by Robert Kirkman. The comic sort of became a phenomenon among the comic reader crowd. Robert Kirkman was the up and coming star for Image. He also wrote the comics Invincible and The Astounding Wolf-Man as well as the original Marvel Zombies storylines.

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Even though I’m a huge Kirkman fan and have read the previously mentioned books, I never once had picked up an issue of The Walking Dead. It was getting a bit out of control. With the popularity of the TV show and the books taking off, everyone was telling me it was the greatest thing ever. Why hadn’t I read it? You NEED to read it. It was getting old and I just shut down. If too many people at once tell me how great something is I tend to turn on that thing and say, “You know what, F**K you, Walking Dead. You think you’re better than me?” I mean, Chris Lockhart and Jeff Brown over on the Geek Fallout podcast fawn all over this franchise so much I fully expect to see them at a commitment ceremony standing next to the Omnibus editions. So for several years I had a chip on my shoulder about this comic (and the TV series, really).

This “chip” is one of the reasons I didn’t choose zombies as my Halloween topic last year; to avoid having to read these comics or watch the show. And, the MOMENT I decided on zombies for THIS year, I knew I couldn’t avoid it any longer. So I sucked it up and acquired the first 5 volumes of trades for the series. These trades collect the first 30 issues of the title.

I figure 30 issues is enough to form an opinion about the comic series. And it’ll help me decide if I want to spend the time watching the show.

So, as you can see by my long, rambling intro, I had NO IDEA what this comic was about other than zombies. So I dove in and started reading. The comic is extremely well written, but I wasn’t surprised about that as I’m a big Kirkman fan anyway. The characters are interesting and it actually, for the most part, feels like what would probably happen if there was a zombie apocalypse. However, the story becomes exceedingly bleak and dark the further you go into the series. It almost becomes a chore to read. This stark bleakness is absolutely one of the series’ strengths while simultaneously being it’s biggest weakness. There’s just no hope. Things keep getting worse.

By the time I finished the fifth trade, I had just met The Governor and his fortress-like city. This character is great, but exceedingly ruthless. He does many despicable things to some of our heroes. However, the character was charismatic and fascinating to read. It sort of made me want to read more. So, even though, like I said, I was getting weary of the sadness of the story, I was consistently intrigued enough in the events to continue reading. I was both relieved and disappointed to reach issue #30. But, that was where my collection ended, so I couldn’t move forward even if I wanted to.

Like I said, I liked the books. At some point I’ll continue reading, but I think I’m taking a bit of a sabbatical from this story. Again, great writing and the minimalist black and white artwork only adds to the atmosphere. If you haven’t, definitely give this comic a chance. But be aware, it’s not for the timid.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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6 undeveloped movie scripts that were turned into comic books

Posted in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Batman, Bionic Man, comic books, Freddy Krueger, Friday the 13th, Jason Vorhees, movies, Six Million Dollar Man, TV shows with tags Batman, Bionic Man, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, Freddy Krueger, Friday the 13th, Jason Vorhees, LEB, movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, Six Million Dollar Man on May 2, 2013 by Paxton

This week the topic for The League is “comic books”. Yep, just “comic books”. I recently did an article about comic book covers that homage famous movie posters, so that idea was already burned. Fortunately, my draft articles are deep with ideas so I pulled this one out of the depths and fleshed it out a bit.

I love movies. I love comic books. I love comic book movies. We have tons of movies coming out BASED on comics books. But how about comic books based on movies? There are plenty of those as well. But what about comic books that are based on movies that never were made for whatever reason. Ahhh, that could be interesting.

Today, I’m going to talk about six undeveloped movie scripts that were turned into comic books.

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Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet – These first two entries are probably the most high profile examples of unused movie scripts becoming a comic book. In 2004, Smith wrote a screenplay for a new film version of The Green Hornet. Much like the next script in this list, it was a reboot of the characters and the concept. Smith even announced that he intended to direct the feature as well. The project, however, died after the poor box office of Smith’s Jersey Girl. Dynamite Comics purchased the unused script and had Kevin Smith adapt it into a new Green Hornet comic series.

Kevin Smith’s Bionic Man (2011) – I talked about this series in my Bionic Reviews feature a month or so ago. Kevin Smith wrote a screenplay for a new Bionic Man movie back in the 90s. It was a reboot of the characters and concept of the Six Million Dollar Man TV series. It ultimately went unused. However, after the success of Smith’s Green Hornet title they asked if he had any other unused scripts to adapt. Smith pulled out the Bionic Man script and Dynamite loved the idea. They tapped Phil Hester to adapt the screenplay into a 10 issue story arc to launch a new Bionic Man comic series that is still being published to this day. It has also spawned a Bionic Woman comic series.

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Frank Miller’s Robocop (2003) – During initial production of Robocop 2, there was a first draft script by one of the original Robocop screenwriters, Edward Neumeier. However, due to a writers strike he dropped out. One of the producers contacted Frank Miller to write the script as Miller was still riding the success of his Dark Knight Returns graphic novel. Miller wrote a draft that producers and studio executives labeled “unfilmable” and the studio had the script rewritten into what eventually became Robocop 2, the movie. In the early 2000s Avatar Press acquired the Robocop comic license and the publisher William Christensen, who owned a copy of Miller’s “lost” original screenplay, contacted Miller about adapting it into a comic story. Miller was enthusiastic and worked with Steven Grant to adapt his unused screenplay (which included notes for Robocop 3) into a story. Due to scheduling conflicts, Miller was only able to contribute some of the covers and not actually write or draw the interiors. The nine issue adaptation was published in late 2003.

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11 comic covers that homage famous movie posters

Posted in comic books, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags Cavalcade Comics, comic books, movies, pop culture, Star Wars on April 17, 2013 by Paxton

I love movies. Obviously. I also love comics. So when comic artists homage famous movies it really gets my nerd blood pumpin’. So I thought I’d take a look at some of my favorite movie poster homages that can be found on the covers of some surprising (and not-so-surprising) comics.

FYI, these aren’t all of them. I could probably do another full article of more homages. These are just some of my favorites. You can click the images to make them BIGGER.

Star Wars / Spidey Super Stories #31 – Not surprising that there is at least one Star Wars homage cover out there, right? But did you expect it on Spidey Super Stories? The comic based on the Spider-Man skits from Electric Company? I kind of love that this is out there. Dr Doom as Darth Vader?! BRILLIANT!

Adventures in Babysitting / Darkwing Duck v2 #17 – Adventures in Babysitting is an awesome movie. Plus, it has one of the best posters painted by the great Drew Struzan. I really love the Darkwing Duck homage plus it’s such a cool comic to do it.

Enter the Dragon / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v4 #6 – There’s no more appropriate place for an Enter the Dragon homage than on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Plus, I think Jaime from Shezcrafti is gonna love that I included this one. What a great recreation of the poster.