Universal Announces Classic Monster Shared Universe

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

As a long time fan of shared universes and continuity, there’s a big part of me that wonder show this moment of popularity for those things will look once it’s passed into history.  Obviously, that’s assuming any trend can truly pass away anymore instead of simply going into extended hibernation, but by the same token, the young adult film boom of the mid-2010s seems to have thoroughly wound down, so I guess we’ll see.  

One thing seems fairly sure, most of the shared universes of the day will probably be looked back on with awkward disinterest or surprise, and none among them will garner such a response the same way I suspect the Universal Movie Monster-Verse will. 

In case you hadn’t heard, Universal has decided to revive the brands on their classic monster movies of the ‘30s and ‘40s to act as a new shared universe, which makes sense given the original films also acted as a shared universe.  These new films will be kicked off by this summer’s The Mummy and are being managed by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman- two of the biggest hacks working in Hollywood right now behind such atrocities as Transformers, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the worst parts of the Star Trek reboot.  

Previously Universal had done a good job keeping this whole idea out of focus but as The Mummy nears and they start worrying about getting the hype machine going they’ve produce a big publicity spread to get people like me talking about it so, yeah; let’s talk about Universal’s Dark Universe.  

Cover Story - Top 15 Werewolf By Night Covers

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Earlier in the week I mused on the way vampires didn’t truly survive their popular peak during the transition years from the 2000s to the 2010s.  I considered making a similar opening but about werewolves but when you get down to it, I can’t say werewolves were ever as popular as vampires.  The biggest standard bearer for the werewolf genre in the modern era is probably Teen Wolf and good though that show is I had to check to make sure it was still ongoing.  My point is that it didn’t come with the same impactful popularity as Twilight/True Blood/Vampire Diaries. 

No, the true last hurrah for the werewolf was the ‘70s, when films like American Werewolf in London were redefining the subgenre.  In that spirit and because I want to double cash-in on Underworld: Blood Wars, I’m taking a look at Marvel’s big hit werewolf book of the era- Werewolf By Night.  This was seriously one of Marvel’s most successful horror comics alongside Tomb of Dracula, running about half the decade and spawning characters that persist to this day like Moon Knight.  It’s a fun dive into the weird blend of comic book spookiness, early horror-xploitation aesthetics, and superhero storytelling that we’re going to honor here today. 

Comics Rainbow - Vampires

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Vampires; there’s a trend that really didn’t manage to survive the decade.  I’m not saying we don’t have vampire stories anymore, in fact, the upcoming release of the 5^th Underworld film is the entire reason I elected to dedicate this article to the subject.  But in a much more pointed way vampires just aren’t the cultural draw they were in that window of transition from 2007-2010.  

You can probably blame Twilight for that, as it both catalyzed vampires as a popular craze while also poisoning the well for all future vampire stories- hence why most of the Twilight imitators gravitated towards young adult fiction than vampires.  Still, the undead probably won’t be going away entirely given that they’ve been a staple of pop culture since Nosferatu, to the point they’ve thoroughly colonized comics as well as movies, TV, and books.  So let’s get the full spectrum on comic book vampires.

The Mummy Trailer Breakdown

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Let’s talk for a second about “cinematic universes.”  The idea of cinematic universes is a pretty new concept for most general audiences, but it actually finds its origins with the so-called Universal Monster Cycle.  

This was a collection of films produced in the ‘30s and ‘40s by Universal Studios and are considered the first major horror hits of the talking picture era.  Basically, our universally held conceptions of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolfman all come from these movies, and they all ended up sharing continuity with each other. 

The big reason for this was that aside from being owned by the same studio, each of the monster movies had a unique style while still fitting together as a cohesive whole.  That’s always been the secret of the cinematic universe, and now, 85 years later, Universal seems to have forgotten it as they return to this particular well with 2017’s The Mummy.

Cover Story - Top 12 Tomb of Dracula Covers

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

It is currently the dregs of August, and there’s really nothing going on in pop culture.  The dizzying high of summer blockbuster season has given away to the drippy sludge that is the late August offerings while the fall awards season has yet to begin.  If there is one small bit of comfort in the pre-labor day dark, it’s that we’re entering the season of fall TV premieres, which is perfect for someone like me that clings to media topicality as a guiding light in these troubled and rudderless times.  

This week will be bringing us the premiere of the latest season of The Strain, FX’s prestige vampire apocalypse show from the mind of Guillermo Del Toro (he wrote the books it’s based on.)  Even though I don’t like The Strain all that much it is pretty much the only name in vampire fiction these days, thank Twilight, which means I get to talk about the biggest name in comic book vampires- Count Dracula.  I’ll get more into this as we go along but for a time in the ‘70s Count Dracula was one of Marvel comics biggest success stories and today- we honor that legacy. 

Panel Vision - Kickers Inc

Edited by Robert Beach

This Sunday marks the special occasion of Super Bowl 50. All across the nation, the people of America gather round TV sets, bars, and in a stadium to view the epic clash of titans between um…two different sports teams. I’m pretty sure. Okay, obviously I’m a geek and not terribly interested in sports. I know a bit because I grew up in the triple threat area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts where if you don’t support your local sports team, you’re basically screwed. 

So while I know enough to root for the Patriots whenever they make it big, I honestly couldn’t tell you who’s playing at this major event. However, I’ve always maintained a weird affection for the bizarre ephemera of sports, mainly because they’re essentially a pitched battle of physical skill and strategy between two groups in colorful costumes. That’s pretty similar to a superhero set-up and, in 1986, Marvel had that same idea and so the world was gifted Kickers Inc. The greatest gift we could receive. 

10 More Amiibo They Should Totally Make For Smash Brothers

I will occasionally submit articles to the guys at the Laser Time podcast and this is my second published one about Amiibos they should totally make, you wouldn't believe the number of characters who had to get unfortunately cut from this list, check it out here:

http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/2015/09/10/10-more-amiibo-they-should-totally-make-for-smash-brothers/

Darth Vader #9 Review

My third look at Marvel/Disney's crowning achievement of Star Wars glory with Darth Vader #9, check it out over at Front Towards Gamer as this time I talk about how Darth Vader is helping to make Star Wars cool again

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/09/11/darth-vader-9-review-comics/

Nosferatu Remake Finds Director

Something that’s become abundantly clear in recent years is that remakes, reboots, reimaginings, and all other sundry manner of “RE” terms for bringing back old recognizable franchises, aren’t just a passing trend but a full on cultural force.  For the most part it’s not a surprising shift as the Internet age has helped a lot of older media franchises persist in public memory without really exposing newer generations to the originals, allowing for cheap retreads of classics to seem fresh and new while also milking lucrative nostalgia dollars from completionists fans.  It’s a viscous cycle to be sure but sometimes the system works as with the sequel/reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, the rebooted Hannibal show on NBC, or the highly underrated remake of The Crazies.  My point is that revisitation seems to work best for works of horror which is why I’m kind of on board with the recently announced remake/reboot of Nosferatu.