IT Trailer Breakdown

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This might be an uncouth statement, but I’ve never really understood the big deal about clowns.  I mean, we all collectively agreed that zombies and vampires are overdone, with the days of the werewolf being indisputably numbered, but for some reason clowns just keep on hanging in there as a reliable boogeyman.  

Maybe that’s because there aren’t actually that many clown horror films to see really.  There’s Killer Klowns from Outer Space, certainly, but that was more of a horror-comedy while more recent offerings like Clown or 31 seem to have flown completely under the radar. 

Honestly, I’ve never even been that on board with the idea of clowns being inherently scary.  I understand the mechanism by which they can be twisted to invoke dread but most of the time when people say they’re afraid of clowns they really just mean they’re afraid of creepy clowns and, spoilers, it’s the creepy they’re afraid of.  

All of this is part and parcel to why I’m not terribly on board with everyone’s new favorite Horror trailer for the remake of IT, the Stephen King novel whose original TV adaptation put killer clowns on the horror landscape back in 1990.  As I probably already gave away I’ve got some harsh words about both the original and this trailer for the remake but let’s watch said trailer before going forward. 

Batgirl Film to be Directed by Joss Whedon

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Well, call me Captain “I told you so.”  Granted I didn’t predict Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and director of Avengers, would walk into WB and pitch a Batgirl film but on the topic of the DCEU transitioning to more of a Batman shared universe my predictions have been well documented.  Hell, I’m the guy who pitched a Batman-centric shared universe back in June of last year, before Suicide Squad had a chance to come out and thoroughly cement the irredeemable nature of the DCEU.  Even then, the clues were there for anyone to see so long as they were looking. 

Regardless of your own opinions on the DCEU thus far it can’t be denied that Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Suicide Squad have resoundingly failed at their respective tasks of launching a popular new Superman brand, starting the DCEU, and continuing interest in the DCEU.  Given that failure, it makes sense DC/WB would start drawing down the scale and cost in these superhero ventures and low and behold, before Batgirl, of the 5 announced DC films with actual directors 3 of them were Batman-centric.  Now that number’s jumped up to 4 making it 2/3rds of DC’s upcoming projects that are likely to actually happen so let’s dive into this announcement and see what it could add to the blossoming Batmaniverse. 

Static Thoughts - 8 Characters Who Should Appear in Legion S2

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So, this Wednesday brings us the season finale of FX’s Legion, a quasi-superhero show revolving around the son of Charles Xavier AKA Legion.  The show itself is pretty standard fair for FX at this point, especially so given that it’s, technically speaking, a period piece.  

Like most of FX’s period pieces, the show is putting a lot more effort into the production and costume design than anything else, with a loose story that leans heavy on the good actors to carry things.  The main advantage Legion has is that it’s a show about reality warping, surreal mutant powers, and mental illness, so the plot has a more genuine reason to be vestigial than the likes of American Horror Story or Taboo. 

However, I’m not here today to review Legion aside from that brief review I just gave.  Instead, let us look forward to the already announced Season 2 and dwell on the question of upcoming cameos, easter eggs, and supporting characters.  Legion season 1 has made great use of surprise characters in the name of twists, with the ultimate reveal of Shadow King’s identity as a real fan favorite and the last minute appearance of Patrick Stewart’s Professor X a great stakes-raising element.  In that spirit, I’ve come up with 8 new heroes, villains, and others from the X-Men mythos who should make the jump to live action in Legion season 2.

Justice League Trailer Breakdown

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I don’t think there’s a more inexplicable upcoming blockbuster than Justice League.  Built atop the critically charred bones of the Batman v. Superman, the superhero team-up film looks to be the latest in a long line of brand new starts for the DC entertainment universe, except it’s not even that because that’s Wonder Woman’s job.  The movie seriously seems to have no actual reason to exist.  Maybe a few years ago right Avengers proved that superhero team movies with ensemble casts could be a huge hit, but now it just seems like a late visitor from a bygone age. 

We’ve already seen so many failed attempts to launch the DCEU the entire shared universe concept is tanked, Wonder Woman looks like an infinitely more interesting and thoughtful attempt to course correct the franchise, Zack Snyder’s vision for this property has been consistently underwhelming, and we’ve already seen a slew of garbage superhero team-up movies.  Justice League only seems to be in production because the studio owns some superhero properties and they’ve run out of Lord of the Rings movies to fill the void.  By all accounts, this film should be a rolling dumpster fire…so why does it look kind of fun? 

Panel Vision - What If? #28-29

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As I write this, Agents of SHIELD is gearing up to do an entire episode in honor of the classic Marvel “What If?” format.  This was a whole comic series dedicated to asking bizarre questions about altered Marvel continuity like what if Daredevil had killed Kingpin or what if the X-Men died on their first mission.  

It was a popular series during the ‘70s and ‘80s with a handful of revivals around big events in recent years.  Speaking of big events, Marvel’s current big event for the summer is something called Secret Empire, in which Captain America reveals himself to be a Hydra agent after some reality warping shenanigans from a previous comic. 

The pitch has caused a lot of discourse; most of it I’d like to avoid getting into here.  However the subject of altered reality, evil Nazi Captain America, and What If comics reminded me of one of the greatest What If two-parters of all time- What If Captain America had Led an Army of Super-Soldiers in World War II and What If Captain America had formed the Avengers.  Obviously, there’s more going on than the titles or covers suggest so follow me into one of the darkest and most compelling and well written altered continuity stories this side of Superman: Red Son. 

Cover Story - Top 12 Power Rangers Covers

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It’s probably most accurate to say I have a strange relationship with Power Rangers.  I wasn’t in the right age bracket to get into the show as a kid and even as an adult I’ve never really enjoyed any of the various branded media.  However, I am familiar with the franchise history and origin and even though I don’t like it I definitely respect it.  Power Rangers has run, consecutively in one form or another, for 25 years straight, that’s a level of success you can’t ignore.  What’s more, the unique blend of aesthetics between Japanese superheroes and American TV standards has always been a fascinating one.  

The franchise basically re-invented the way we imagine live-action superhero adventures on a level that only a handful of others can actually reach.  Sure, the structure of disposable bad guys, shouting villains with an entourage of lieutenants, giant doomsday weapons, and a heroic bunker might feel generic now but without Power Rangers pioneering it we might not have had stuff like Avengers or The Flash TV show.  As such, I’ve chosen to honor the blockbuster film adaptation with a dive into the recent run of BOOM! Studios Power Rangers comics, let’s dig in. 

Static Thoughts - Samurai Pizza Cats

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This Friday marks the premiere of a new Power Rangers movie.  The upcoming blockbuster represents the first attempt by franchise creator Haim Saban cash in on the new superhero craze, which was pretty much inevitable.  See, Saban is an incredibly successful business mogul, and part of that success has sprung from finding profit in the cheapest corners and most exploitable markets.  After all, the Power Rangers’ creation myth has long been that Saban was on a business trip to Japan in the late ‘80s and just happened to see an episode Super Sentai, a kid’s action show, and got the idea to buy up extra footage from that to splice together into an America equivalent.  

That thriftiness and willingness to exploit fertile markets has been a hallmark of Saban’s media corporation since its inception and dominated much of their output during the ‘90s.  However, while there were plenty of Saban produced Power Rangers knock-offs, he also got into another lucrative side of Japanese entertainment imports that led to one of the strangest artifacts of this era- Samurai Pizza Cats. 

Static Thoughts - Future of Marvel TV

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At the time of writing, we’re in a bit of a dead zone for Marvel TV.  Iron Fist has just finished its premiere and Agents of SHIELD won’t be back for a couple weeks.  As such, I’ve elected to take that time to revise an old topic and delve into where Marvel TV is headed.  I don’t think it’s an understatement to say that TV is the area where Marvel has enjoyed the least success.  That’s kind of a couched statement as Marvel hasn’t really branched out into that many mediums, but even so, it’s kind of impressive that Marvel has made 12 movies, all of them solid, but only one genuinely great TV show. 

It just seems like the house of ideas can’t crack the formula to bring its superheroes to the small screen, aside from 1 or 2 notable exceptions.  As such, the future of Marvel TV, though a clear slate of announced projects, feels more tenuous than anything else at their company.  It’s basically guaranteed that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will be a blast and their upcoming Secret Empire event comic promises to be absorbing, but in the land of television, Marvel’s upcoming features read a lot more like a list of threats than promises. 

Inhumans Casting Breakdown

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As the future of Marvel TV lurches forever forward the time has finally come to speak once more about the Inhumans.  I actually blew most of my article formats on this particular Marvel property 2 years ago when it first looked like Agents of SHIELD was going to lead into the Inhumans.  Allegedly that’s still happening only now their debut will be in the form of a prestige TV show rather than a film, which is probably for the best.  Marvel spent 5 years trying to make the Inhumans into a suitable substitute for the X-Men with exactly zero success so abandoning that plan in the name of a television show is probably smart. 

However, there are still some pretty big red flags when it comes to the Inhumans show but rather than go through them in a list format I figured I’d naturally address them through a casting breakdown.  After all, an Inhumans show is going to have to focus heavily on a very small collection of characters, and while I’ve already discussed their comic book origins, the actors involved raise a whole new dimension to the conversation.  So, with that in mind let’s talk about the casting of Marvel’s Inhumans. 

Panel Vision - Batman: The Cult

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This weekend the comics world lost a legend in Bernie Wrightson.  Wrightson stands tall as one of the most influential artists in the comic medium’s history, not just a great talent but someone who changed how we thought about comics.  

His career history is massive and littered with awards and standout work, including his incredibly beloved Frankenstein illustrations and the credit of co-creating Swampthing, the character that helped launch DC’s mature reader’s imprint Vertigo Comics. 

Wrightson is the father of horror in comics as we understand it today, revitalizing the genre after it was neutered by the comics code in the ‘50s.  His illustrations were the first time in the era of the big 2 that comics were actually scary and unnerving, a terrifying dive into the strange and disturbing.  

He’s the man who helped horror books transition from funny, spooky tales to something actually frightening, a talent he brought to all of his work.  So, to honor this great man I thought I’d take a look at my personal favorite work from him as well as my favorite Batman story- Batman: The Cult. 

Panel Vision - History of Superhero Musicals

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Superheroes and the Musical genre have always made for somewhat strange bedfellows.  They’re both styles that emerged in popularity in the ‘60s, both depend heavily on colorful exaggerations of real life, and both are the domain of spectacle-driven popular culture more than the high art of theater or literature.  Despite those similarities and the way the verbosity and simplicity of the superhero would seem a natural fit for the world of the musical the two haven’t intersected as often as you might think. 

There’ve been some notable exceptions over the years, but the two just don’t combine nearly as often as they really ought to, given everything they have in common.  The two are set to combine once more in the upcoming Flash/Supergirl musical crossover episode, which will be the first major superhero musical in the past 5 years.  What previous musicals have there been?  What are the origins of this strange tradition?  Has it ever been done legitimately well?  All these questions and more will be answered in the history of superhero musicals. 

Filmland - Severance

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As I write this, it’s the weekend of The Belko Experiment’s premiere.  This new dark horror-comedy from the director of Wolf Creek and the writer of Slither and Guardians of the Galaxy promises a playful yet gory dive into a blend of office politics, gladiatorial combat, and the corporate culture of backstabbing and inhumanity on the way to the top.  

This kind of subject has always been fertile ground for horror.  The idea of corporate greed as culture and betrayal as the order of the day was a core theme in John Carpenter’s They Live, and the idea of the evil, greedy, monolithic corporation exploiting its workforce has been a cornerstone of the Alien franchise since the beginning. 

Corporate culture was also obviously on the minds of the people behind 2006’s Severance, a British-German horror-comedy about a team building exercise that ends up murderous.  One look at the poster tells you everything you need to know about this flick, to the point you have to wonder if The Belko Experiment was somehow inspired by this film.  So, to mark The Belko Experiment’s return to this fertile genre, let’s take a trip in the way-back machine and check out the movie that got there first.    

Static Thoughts - Beauty and the Beast (1987)

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This Friday marks the premiere of Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.  The hotly anticipated film will be Disney’s 7^th live-action fairy tale blockbuster and is basically the company’s way of planting their flag onto the fantasy genre.  There were sporadic competitors but ultimately Disney’s brand of big-budget fable has become the defining name in post-Game of Thrones mega-fantasy.  What’s more, the film is the first major live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast in decades, certainly the first major attempt to try and realize the Beast with CGI. 

Given the occasion, I thought it’d only be fair to take a look back at the last time this particular fairy tale was given a major release.  Back before Disney’s animated adaptation became the Oscar-winning success that completely defines this story there was another Beauty and the Beast, a bizarre 1987 TV series that time has more or less rejected despite featuring Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman, and George RR Martin, the father of modern fantasy.  With such a pedigree how is this series not more widely known; let’s find out. 

Filmland - Leprechaun Series

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Geek culture and St Patrick’s Day have never really been comfortable bedfellows.  I’m not sure why that is, holidays, in general, tend to fit the geek aesthetic shockingly well.  They’re all about strict color-coded palettes, they’ve got mascots and usually some degree of lore, but for whatever reason St. Patty’s has never found the home among the nerds that Christmas, Halloween, and others have secured.  

Maybe it’s the emphasis on raucous social interaction putting people off- I couldn’t say.  I will say that the one place where nerd culture and the ephemera of St. Patty’s- stereotypical Irish stuff, a handful of surface level Celtic folklore, four leaf clovers, and most importantly the holiday’s favorite mascot, combine is in the 1993 horror-comedy oddity Leprechaun. 

There was a time everybody had heard of this flick though I think its ubiquity has faded as the video store era has evaporated from memory.  However, there was an age when the Leprechaun franchise, a horror series based around the joke of having a little person dressed in a caricature of “Olde Irish” garb, was a powerful enough juggernaut to spawn five sequels and even a reboot, though we’ll get to that.  So, with St. Patty’s upon us once more let’s dive into that misbegotten era that was the ‘90s for a full look at the Leprechaun film series. 

Cover Story - Top 10 Iron Fist Covers

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So, let’s talk about Iron Fist.  By now you’ve probably heard at least a little about him from his new Netflix show and the stewing Online controversy over it.  I don’t want to get too bogged down in that particular conversation, largely because we’re here today to talk about comic covers.  

However, I am still looking at artwork revolving around a white savior trope with a lot of it steeped in Orientalism.  In that regard let me just say that Iron Fist as the great white hope has always been a bad character concept, even when it was widely considered okay back in the mid-'70s. 

What’s more, I’d dare argue that Iron Fist has always been brought down by the awkwardness of trying to fit an Asian pulp aesthetic into the superhero world, so much so that I was barely able to fill out this list of covers.  However, there are still good Iron Fist covers out there and some of the best ones actually manage to address this pretty well.  So, let’s dive into the 40 years of Iron Fist history to see the best of the middle ground. 

Static Thoughts - 15 Netflix Shows for Marvel's Phase 2

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At time of writing Marvel has produced 4 massively successful Netflix series, with 5 more currently in development plus Iron Fist barreling towards us at high speeds.  Basically, Marvel has completely colonized the world of Netflix programming with the same level of success and drive as they brought to conquering the world of summer blockbusters.  

Given this, I figure it’s well passed time to start pitching new shows they could add to their Netflix roster, especially given how many Marvel characters would be better served by a series than a movie.  The diffused time frame, tight budget, and altered expectations basically set-up the Netflix realm to handle any number of more difficult or obscure Marvel characters and I’ve got 15 here that deserve their shot in Marvel’s inevitable Netflix Phase 2. 

3rd Wonder Woman Trailer Breakdown

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I find myself a little stymied on how to proceed in breaking down this latest Wonder Woman trailer.  As we barrel towards the June release date, I find myself more and more confused by the growing optimism surrounding the film.  Actually confused isn’t the right word- I know why people are psyched for the movie it’s just that at this point the anticipation is starting to feel more like lower expectations and whistling past the graveyard.  

I don’t mean to sound negative, it’s just that the Wonder Woman trailers haven’t promised the second coming that so many are regarding it as and this latest trailer serves as a perfect example of that feeling.  Actually, the true embodiment of my feelings on Wonder Woman is the atrocious theme by Hans Zimmer. 

Zimmer hasn’t really done anything impressive this decade but the Wonder Woman theme is easily his weakest modern piece, a confused medley of electric guitar and vaguely Mediterranean riffs that feels completely out of place for this character.  Maybe this is because Zimmer’s ‘Now We Are Free’ from Gladiator is already the perfect theme for Wonder Woman but still, the new theme lacks a clear identity and is just too much of a heavy war tune to fit the ambassador of peace.  

And yet I still see people praising it, individuals who were actually condemning not too long ago now saying it’s a great ending to the trailer and not a completely out of place button.  It all makes me wonder what exactly it is nervous Wonder Woman fans want from this movie, until finally it hit me: they want Wonder Woman to be awesome, and that’s okay. 

Static Thoughts - Top 13 Samurai Jack Episodes

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So, Samurai Jack is coming back for a fifth season.  If you’ve never seen or heard of Samurai Jack that probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, so I’ll try and elaborate.  Samurai Jack was one of the last cartoons from what’s considered the Golden Age of WB’s animation channel Cartoon Network.  To be fair, that’s a biased title imposed by people who grew up with the Network during this time, but by the same token, there were plenty of quality programs.  However, most of them were geared towards comedy like Dexter’s Laboratory or Johnny Bravo, with the narrative stuff being mostly relegated to the DC Comics shows. 

Samurai Jack is the prime exception there, a dramatic and beautifully animated series about a time displaced Samurai in a dystopic future desperately trying to return to the past and undo the future he’s trapped within.  It was a well written and wonderfully produced show that was fun for kids and offered a lot to adults in the animation and some of the stories as well.  With that in mind and to celebrate its upcoming revival, I count down my top 13 Samurai Jack episodes. 

Static Thoughts - Kong: King of the Apes

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So, a new King Kong film is upon us.  Kong: Skull Island will be the third official attempt to relaunch the King Kong franchise after the first remake in 1976 by Italian mega-producer Dino De Laurentiis and the 2005 remake by Peter Jackson.  Kong has enjoyed plenty of other revivals well outside those films, though, as any giant ape fan will let you know.  Most famous among these would be King Kong vs. Godzilla, a Japanese co-production that was so successful it landed Kong his own animated TV show. 

However, the King Kong Japanimated show wasn’t the only time he came to the small screen.  No, I’m referring to last year’s Kong: King of the Apes, an American/Japanese/Canadian CGI-animated series for Netflix that premiered April 15, 2016.  It’s a 13 episode block of CGI ape adventures that pit Kong and a cast of human heroes against an army of robot dinosaurs in power armor in the strange and crazy world of 2050.  Given that we’re about to give Kong another shot on the big screen I thought it’d be fun to dive into what might be the strangest corner of his franchise, which is impressive given he once fought his own robot double as built by Doctor Who. 

Comics Rainbow - Apes

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2017 seems to truly be the Age of the Ape.  Apes and Monkeys have always occupied a pretty unique place in the nerd culture pantheon.  They’re not like ninjas or zombies who defined an era before fading away into the collective nerd background noise, and they’re not like superheroes, which just sit atop the pop culture soil like permafrost.  Instead, apes tend to pop up sporadically as pop cultural touchstones that just stand as enduring monuments, like King Kong or Mighty Joe Young or the Planet of the Apes.  

The truth extends to comics as well as everything else, a medium that was once editorially mandated to feature a certain number of gorillas a month.  Given that love of ape characters the annals of comic history are flush with some fan favorites, underappreciated gems, and complete misfire ape characters and today I give you the full spectrum on all of them.