Hellboy Reboot Announced

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One of the strange things about the modern age of blockbusters is that despite ‘superhero’ being the biggest genre in the world heroes that don’t come from Marvel or DC just can’t manage to break through.  This rule has been in place pretty much from the dawn of the modern blockbuster/superhero romance in 1978, though there are a few notable exceptions.  

There was a time in the ‘90s when Savage Dragon and Spawn commanded genuine respect, the Witchblade/Darkness franchise has always flirted around the edges of relevance,  and even now the folks at Valiant Comics are committed to turning Bloodshot and Ninjak into multimedia success stories. 

Still, for every one of those examples, there are five or six superheroes that never break through or fail within their first year.  By in large, the public will just never care as much about the likes of Supreme, X-O Man of War, the Occultist, or Green Hornet.  However, we cling to exceptions to this rule that we’ve managed, like the continued viability of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Static Shock.  As such, it really shouldn’t come as this much of a surprise that Hellboy is getting rebooted. 

Static Thoughts - In A Mirror Darkly

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It seems these days that alternate realities and parallel universes are everywhere.  That’s actually kind of to be expected as nerdy media becomes more and more of a dominant genre.  Back in the day geek material struggled for mainstream relevance unless it stripped out as many of its big ideas as possible but these days people are making movies and shows out of Ant-Man and Dr. Strange.  As such, digging into more complicated ideas like the Multiverse, pocket universes, or altered continuity are becoming more and more widespread. 

The Flash has really embraced this idea with the Multiverse and Flashpoint, Legends of Tomorrow had its own altered universe episode, Stranger Things was built on a dimensional foundation, and Agents of SHIELD has found serious success with an altered continuity story set in a world where the bad guys won called ‘Agents of Hydra.’  As I’m eager to capitalize on this trend I thought I’d look back at hands down my favorite altered reality story, coming to us from the most hated Star Trek series of them all Star Trek: Enterprise- this is ‘In A Mirror Darkly.’

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. 

Film Land - Blockbusters According to Comics 2016

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It’s no secret that I love superhero comic books, but part of what I like about them is that there’s so much variety to the material.  That’s part of why I’m not surprised superheroes have grown into the state religion of big budget blockbusters at this point in time.  It’s a genre that includes everything from space opera to spy thriller to irreverent comedy so it only makes sense that it would be perfectly situated to cater to the changing trends and tastes of a modern audience.  

That idea is what’s fueled my now yearly custom of looking at the year’s biggest success stories and trying to find the comic book answer to those properties.  Last year this was more aimed at films but as 2016 was a little light on big, impactful movies I’ve broadened that subject to include some major TV success as well.  With that said, let’s dive into the subject and find out what 2016’s blockbusters look like according to comics. 

Static Thoughts - What to Expect from Stranger Things Season 2

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Edited by Robert Beach

With the summer season drawing to a close, the time has come to look back on the many success of the last few months and inexorably ask: what’s next? For some, that may be a difficult question for Netflix’s Stranger Things, the breakout TV success of the summer. The answer is obvious: Season 2.  

As anyone who’s seen the show knows, there was a lot of dangling elements left in the retro sci-fi adventure series to be developed for the second season. Netflix has already announced plans for a follow-up to the massively popular series. Even though there are some obvious places to go with things, the question of what the second season will be about looms large over the production. As such, I’ve come up with a list of 5 major possibilities for what Stranger Things season 2 could be about. Obviously, there are spoilers to follow.

Static Thoughts - '80s Influences on Stranger Things

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Edited by Robert Beach 

The show of the summer has finally arrived. Surprisingly, it was a sleeper hit from Netflix that no one had ever heard of called Stranger Things.  Pretty much coming out of nowhere, Stranger Things won over audiences with its winning combination of small town stories, kid adventure tropes, horror-inflected sci-fi, and a smooth, creamy layer of ‘80s nostalgia so thick you could cut it with a spork.  

That last bit is what brings us here today as I maintain one of the best things about Stranger Things is being able to pick out the deliberate homages to 1980s pop culture and touchstones. Some of this comes in the form of direct shoutouts and references while others formed through a repackaged version of classic scenes from various movies of the time.  With that said, let’s look at the top 10 1980s influences on Stranger Things (and one ‘90s influence, but we’ll get to that in due course.) Needless to say, spoilers to follow. 

5 O'Clock Shuffle - August 8th

Welcome to the latest installment of the site's news broadcast the 5 O'Clock Shuffle, coming to you every Monday with the news you may have missed over the weekend and a look at what's to come, all in just under 10 minutes.

This week I take a look at Suicide Squad's controversy and box office returns, Man of Steel 2, the prospect of new Marvel and Star Wars TV Shows, and a look at all the hot new DC Comics hitting the store this Wednesday.