Author Archives: pauldavislyons

Really? This is a thing? Are fans of Grant Morrison supposed to show up looking like Grant Morrison?

Comic Alliance has the full story here: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/08/29/morrisoncon-programming-las-vegas-grant-morrison-jonathan-hickman-jason-aaron-symposia/

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…I think.

Today Marvel released a teaser image for the final issue of AvsX (Avengers Vs. X-men) or (Civil War II). Featuring the Dark Phoenix in female form…with red hair. Is this the return of Jean Grey? You know how comics work, you die in a comic you will return, especially if your name is Phoenix because they rise and come back and such.

OOOOOORRRRRRR!? Is it Emma Frost consumed by the Phoenix force?

OOOOOORRRRRR!? is it Cyclops in a wig? The figure in the image does have glowing red eyes…just saying. Look for the 12th and final issue in October!

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I mean it makes sense right? Disney owns ABC and it also has the rights to many Marvel characters; its a stroke of genius to combine the two. What really seals the deal in my mind is the fact that Joss Whedon is going to be involved.

Now for some of you this is not exactly NEW news. However, I just found out what the name of that show will be: S.H.E.I.L.D.

And I just S.H.A.T. in my pants. This is truly incredible and as I mentioned earlier, a stroke of genius. Whedon has proven him self worthy in the TV realm, look at Buffy and Firefly. Now I understand that Buffy had a healthy 10 season lifespan where as Firefly lived to…10 episodes and a movie? But both shows were solid with quality content, production value and story.

Whedon will be rejoining his brother Jed and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen. Together they created Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and Dollhouse.

Perhaps this trio of writers will create a show that will bridge the gap between Avengers and Avengers 2? Maybe tie in or run parallel with Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: WInter Solider?

Either way this is exciting news for fans Whedon and Marvel. With Joss writing the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot and the Avengers 2 script you better believe these will be tight stories that will bring us 3 years of quality story telling.

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When I was a kid, it was impossible to get into comics. I loved watching Tim Burton’s Batman over and over and I couldn’t wait for a new episode of Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series to air, but this was all I had.

In South Boston, the neighborhood that I grew up in, there were NO comic book stores. NONE. If I was lucky I could find a comic in the magazine stand of a local grocery store. If I picked up an issue of Batman 20, there was no guarantee I could find issue 21. If I bought a comic, that was the only one I’d have to read for months. I read and reread the same issue over and over. I knew the issue intimately, but never knew what the next chapter was. I was only getting pieces of the story, and it was infuriating.

On one occasion, while my father and I were on an afternoon drive, we came across an actual real life comic store. My little eight-year-old heart almost exploded from excitement. I will never forget the experience.

They had a statue of Superman lifting a car over his head, posters of my favorite heros including Spider-Man swinging from a thread, and a even Green Goblin hung from the ceiling on a glider. And of course – comics. To my little eyes, the shelves stretched for miles and miles.

I remember being able to pick out a few, even if some were above my reading level. I’ll never forget one of the issues I held in my hands: Sgt. Rock #19 “Trick or Treat,” featuring Batman.

BATMAN and SGT. ROCK! As a kid, I didn’t even know who Sgt. Rock was, but the idea of Batman fighting alongside a solider blew my mind. This comic combined the fantastical journey of Batman with someone I’d see in the news, a solider – a man with no powers, but with training and perseverance…like Batman.

To me, seeing these two together in the same story created a new depth to the comic book realm that hadn’t existed before, and it was all thanks to Joe Kubert.

The cover of the comic featured Batman leaping into action from the left side with his cape billowing behind him. In the middle, kneeling on one knee, gun in hand, was Sgt. Rock with torn clothes and exhausted face. This was the combination of two worlds I never thought could coexist. I could recognize just how different and similar these characters were and how they were uniting to confront a demonic but common enemy.

In my hands, I could almost feel the threat of this enemy – it could be a threat to the world that held Gotham City, as well as the world I lived in. I could also recognize the grim mortality that surrounded them; tombstones framed the comic book cover. I was only in grade school, but so much was conveyed in just one picture. I’m not saying I was child prodigy, but a child who was captivated by a talented visual storyteller. As usual, I read the comic cover to cover, over and over, and to this day I couldn’t tell you what the story was about, but that cover continues to blow me away. I still feel a small shudder when I look at the bleak grave yard, the menacing monster that could threaten worlds, and two heroes that would stand resilient against it.

This cover defined comics to me as a small boy and continues to remind me how powerful a comic and a story can be. We have lost an amazing talent and his absence will be felt for years to come – but the art lives on.

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Hey Marvel, I know you’re having a great few weeks with Avengers hitting it out of the park with the Avengers film but what the hell is this “The First X-Men” thing you got goin’ on? Cause let me tell you, this isn’t the “first” time you’ve done an origin story for X-Men…”first”…see what I did there?

Recently we’ve had Ultimate X-men and X-Men: Season One so do we need another origin tale about the mutant team coming together? Aren’t you doing fine with AvsX?

Listen, I know there’s no reasoning with you. You’re kind of stubborn, but hey, its why I love you. But can you do me a favor? Can we have an X-Men story without say…gee I don’t know…Wolverine? I know, I know. Blasphemy, right? But come on, the guy is on every team. So before you put him back in Fantastic Four, Defenders, The Inhumans, and Atlas could you just have him sit this one out? Cause Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Ice Man and Marvel Girl were the first line up…

Just something to think about…

I know you’re doing some sort of press release tomorrow, I didn’t get an invite, maybe its in the mail or something is up with my Facebook invite page…

But you’ve got time to think it over before you do anything rash.

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Last I heard, Alan Silvestri the composer of “Captain America: The First Avenger” AND the f*cking “Back to the Future” soundtrack is going to bring a musical voice to the Avengers film. But I guess his music just wouldn’t be enough without…Bush, Soundgarden and Papa Roach?? I guess Paramount is releasing a “Music from and inspired by” Album. Which I guess is code for they’ll use one song for the credits and then rest was just a playlist that they stole from an angsty teen from 2002. I was going to go with an “assembly of bad songs” joke but thought that was waaaaaay too easy.

Check out the playlist and pray half these songs aren’t in the movie.

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