Cover Story - Top 15 Werewolf By Night Covers

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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. 

Is Ghost Rider coming to Agents of SHIELD?

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We are now about 2 weeks out from San Diego Comic Con, the biggest event of the geek media calendar year.  It’s basically Christmas in July for the geek world, the point in the year where we catch a glimpse of everything that’s going to dominate our social media conversations and news feeds for the next year or so.  Lately, each year has been marked by some major announces from the good people at Marvel Studios, even though recent offerings have been a little sparse given their greater focus on the Disney Expo.  As we all impatiently salivate for the latest major announcement from the little multi-billion dollar business that could one of the more shockingly relevant Marvel properties up at bat this year is Agents of SHIELD. 

Despite spending 3 years hemorrhaging viewers and slowly becoming the least integral aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the show has managed to turn quite a few heads with a shocking train reveal of their new logo design which features a flaming chain.  While there are several Marvel heroes that use both chains and flames as weapon most fans have taken this to mean that Agents of SHIELD season 4 is planning to introduce Ghost Rider to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Panel Vision - Batman: Book of the Dead

Today marks the premiere of what’s sure to go down as one of the most notorious flops of 2016: Gods of Egypt.  There are a lot of reasons Gods of Egypt is more or less destined to fail, not the least of which is the horrendous white washing that informs so much of the films representation of the ancient Egyptians.  However, the mysticism of Ancient Egypt has always had a hard time working its way into the popular consciousness.  The most any of us know about the faith of Egypt tends to come from the cavalcade of Mummy movies produced by Universal and Hammer films, hence why Anubis is the most well known Egyptian deity. 

Egyptian myth is funny that way, the deities are all instantly recognizable and unique but beyond visual recognition their particular brand of aesthetics just doesn’t capture the imagination.  My theory is that it’s because the mythic Egyptian oeuvre has already been colonized by a far more dominant informing genre than fantasy adventure: science fiction and as evidence I submit Batman: Book of the Dead, in which Batman proves the gods of Egypt came from space.

Hulk & Valkyrie to co-star in Thor: Ragnarok

Edited by Robert Beach

One of the biggest problems facing Marvel’s Phase 3 slate is what to do with the Thor franchise. Thor was one of the bigger hits of phase one, both financially and achievement wise. It was the first film to cement the idea Marvel could integrate the truly out-there and bizarre aspects of its comic continuity to the big screen; however, when Thor: The Dark World rolled around in 2013, things took a decidedly sour turn.  The film is the lowest-grossing Marvel sequel to date and thoroughly failed to find real engagement from audiences.  

Thor in phase 1 had firmly carried the banner of Marvel merchandising and Marvel cosmic weirdness, but now at the close of phase 2, Thor toys have been a bit of a non-starter and Marvel’s much more successful Guardians of the Galaxy now carries the banner of cosmic weirdness. Given all this, it’s not surprising that Marvel is walking on eggshells about the upcoming third Thor film: Thor: Ragnarok.  The title alone promises major shake-ups to come for the God of Thunder along with heavy ties to the ongoing Thanos saga leading up to Avengers: Infinity War.  Now Marvel has made their concerns about the film even clearer by officially adding The Hulk and Valkyrie as additional main characters.

Moon Knight May Replace Iron Fist on Marvel's Netflix Series

Edited by Robert Beach

You may have heard some seriously weird rumors about Marvel’s Netflix line up lately. In case you hadn’t heard, Marvel is planning a whole slew of interconnected Netflix shows over the course of the next couple years. This shared Netflix universe already started earlier this year with Daredevil and is set to continue this November with Jessica Jones. Next year we’ll see Marvel’s Luke Cage show in spring, which will mark the first Marvel enterprise to be headlined by a black character.  

After Luke Cage, the plan was for there to be an Iron Fist show about the character of Danny Rand: a billionaire who was trained in martial arts in the hidden city of K’un-Lun and gained the ability to channel his life energy into his fists. After that, the plan was for all of four of Marvel heroes to crossover in a mini-Avengers style mash up called Defenders; however, the Iron Fist show has hit some serious hiccups, and now the rumor is it’s been canceled. With Daredevil season 2 slouching in to fill its spot in 2016, rumors that a new show featuring Moon Knight will take Iron Fist's place. 

 

Groot #3 Review

I take a look at the 3rd issue of Marvel's outstanding Groot comic, which features a Silver Surfer team-up, check it out over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/08/07/groot-3-review-comics/

Panel Vision - Top 12 Comics That Should Be Shows

Edited by Robert Beach

As we enter the dog days of the summer season, the ramp up is getting started for all the fall series dramas, which translates to “A ton of superhero and comic book shows.” This fall alone we’ll be seeing Flash, Arrow, Walking Dead, Gotham, Supergirl, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Jessica Jones. All of that is before Lucifer, Preacher, Agent Carter, and Legends of Tomorrow kick up in the winter. With Krypton, Teen Titans, Static Shock, and #4Hero still in the development cycle, I’d expect plenty more superheroes on TV before we see non-superhero adaptations like Southern Bastards or Sex Criminals. As such, I thought I’d get in on the act by taking a look at the top 12 comics that should be TV shows.

Panel Vision - Super Villain Comics

An odd subsection of comic books that’s gaining quite a bit of notoriety in recent years are villain comics.  Partially this is due to the build up for things like the Suicide Squad movie but overall there have just been more villain comics in the works nowadays.  Just the week we’ve seen installments of Sinestro and Magneto comics as well as the ongoing Secret Wars: Future Imperfect comic which follows the villain Maestro’s point of view.  Villain titles are hardly anything new for superhero comics so I thought it’d be cool to go through the plethora of previous books about the bad guys.  This won’t be touching on every villainous ongoing, one-shot, graphic novel, and mini-series ever because we really don’t have the time, just the ones I think are worthy of checking out for the curious.  What’s more I won’t be touching on comics that feature reformed villains like Thunderbolts, Superior Spider-man, or the Flash Thompson Venom comic.  This is just comics about villains doing their villain thing, with that said let’s look at the comic that arguably started this whole trend with…

Moon Knight #17 Review

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My final review for last week is up on All-Comic.com, it's a look at Moon Knight #17, check it out here- 

http://all-comic.com/2015/moon-knight-17/

Panel Vision - Coven #1 Review

If I had to choose the most dynamic and exciting rising name in indie comic I would point squarely at Zenescope comics.  Zenescope has been, consistently, very ahead of the popular curve, getting in on the trend of converting public domain fairy tales and seminal children’s literature into thrilling action adventure stories well before it came into vogue.  What’s more Zenescope has never been one to sit on their laurels, always pushing ahead and expanding their stable of comics in diverse and lateral ways such as the horror anthology series Grimm Tales of Terror. 

Panel Vision - Moon Knight #16

In case you aren’t familiar with him Moon Knight is a Marvel vigilante character created in the ‘70s to fight werewolves.  Since then he’s stayed around thanks to the popularity of his unique visual scheme while his actual character has ended up filtered through a variety of different lenses.  This latest incarnation of Moon Knight takes things somewhat back to the characters roots with an emphasis on supernatural fantasy, though it’s blended nicely with Moon Knight’s role as a gritty urban crime fighter.  The result is a comic that ends up thoroughly informed by ‘90s sensibilities but executed in an infinitely better manner. 

Panel Vision: Groot #1 Review

The success of Groot as both a character and now as a national phenomenon is an astonishing tale.  I mean that literally by the way, Groot’s first appearance was in Tales to Astonish #13 as the monster from Planet X.  Most folks nowadays know him from his appearance in last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy but in case you’re unaware here’s the skinny on the character.  Groot is a prince of Planet X who initially left his home in an attempt to protect from the villains then ongoing Marvel event series Annihilation.  During the battle he was destroyed, but because Groot is essentially an Ent he was able to re-grow himself from a single twig.