It's a marvelous life! (WIP Wednesday)

Over the last three weeks, I've fought two head colds but still managed to get a decent amount of work done on the ongoing projects that have been debuting as part of Patreon. I clocked about five thousand words in the last week on Shockwave and Lightweight. Lightweight is just about done while Shockwave currently sits at four chapters of a planned six in the first book.

Next month will be my twice annual Camp Nanowrimo month, where several of my writing friends and I get together and push each other forward on writing projects. My plan is to complete the next three chapters of Quadrant over that month of writing. That will bring me right up to the finishing line with that one as well.

My big goal is to wrap all three novels by the end of May and set out on the next writing journey, which will include a short story or two plus the next phase of Lightweight!

I'm also working on a new scheduling format for Patreon releases, one that will see all the ongoing books update about every six weeks. That one will depend a bit on how things go as I move into the second half of 2019 however.

I went with my wife and the youngest to see Captain Marvel over the weekend. The family and I loved the very different take on the mythos of Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers. A lot of the negative reaction is confusing to me, as I felt it was the best use of Carol since the Brian Reed Ms. Marvel series of the mid-2000s. It gets a thumbs up from me, yet another in a solid string of really great Marvel movies in the last two years.

Today's image is of Carol in costume, drawn by the always amazing Sana Takeda, taken from a variant cover of Life of Captain Marvel. Character owned by Marvel.

A few thoughts on Wonder Woman (Tuesday Throwback)

With Aquaman out soon, it seemed  a good time to take a look back at another DC gem of the last few years!

Big props to the film for just making sure they stopped to
have this photo actually taken mid-film. 

The DCEU's Wonder Woman is the first modern DC movie to do what Iron Man and Avengers did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Director Patty Jenkins, writer Allen Heinberg and star Gal Gadot created a Wonder Woman far superior to her comic counterpart.

I suspect Heinberg can take a lot of credit for that. A noted television writer, he took a story by Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs (with some reported input by Geoff Johns) and crafted a great film script that stayed true to the character while keeping the storyline fresh. While this was his first movie script, he does have a history with comics, writing the excellent Young Avengers for Marvel and the six issue Who is Wonder Woman? run for DC.

Patty Jenkins also has a bit of comic to movie pedigree. While she hasn't directed a movie since the critically acclaimed Monster way back in 2003, she was at one point attached to Thor: The Dark World. She left that movie due to differences with the MCU's creative staff. With this film in her repertoire and The Dark World still sitting as one of the worst MCU movies, it seems she might have taken a wise career path.

But Gal Gadot really brings the film home. An ensemble player up to this point, she shined as the centerpiece of the film. She brought Diana to life in a way no one has quite captured before (with all due respect to Lynda Carter.) She made the character her own, while embodying so many of the best parts of her history.

Clearly the creators (with comic enthusiast Heinberg at the fore front) drew from dozens of DC Comics runs to make this Wonder Woman. From the earliest issues of the character (where Doctor Poison is drawn), to the Perez run (where this version of Ares and the Amazons have their origins) to the New 52's Azzerello / Chiang run (where her secret origin as Zeus' daughter originated). And while all those runs had moments of triumph, the film somehow combines those elements into a whole better than its parts. It's a true achievement by the team guiding the DCEU and hopefully, the first sign of a better future for the Extended Universe.

If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend Wonder Woman to any super-fan. It's the kind of film it is hard to be disappointed in. You can check it out through digital streaming now or pick it up on Blu-Ray September 19th.

To master a universe... (Tuesday Throwback)

On Tuesdays we flashback to a great post of yesteryear on this site. Today we take a look back on my thoughts on Masters of the Universe.

I love the Masters of the Universe film. It is far from a great movie, but I will never quite understand why fans of genre features hate on it so much. It’s a solid adaptation of the cartoon property that grows it up while also introducing some new ideas.

Part of it might be the budget. Director Gary Goddard did tons with the reported $22 million he had with the film, but it still seemed stretched to its limits at certain points. Or perhaps it’s the lack of some regular cartoon characters like Battle-Cat, Orko, Merman or Trapjaw. Whatever it is, I would argue that Masters of the Universe is one of the forgotten classics of the 1980s.

Ten of the best vampire films (or at least the ones I like)

It's October and that means things are going to get a bit creepy around these parts. I'm already in the midst of an Atomic Werewolf tale and the first story in my Horror Universe project. But I also thought it would be a good time to throw some focus on the creepier parts of the universe with a few posts on subjects weird and spooky.

First up, vampire movies. Why? Because I still like a lot of vampire flicks and I happen to be writing about the rebirth of a bloodsucker or two as I'm also writing this here blog post. So without any more ado, here's the list of the best vampire movies in my humble opinion, presented in no particular order.

Blacula: A surprisingly in-depth film with a title that makes it feel like a quick cash in. William Marshall took the role of Mamuwalde seriously, and in the process brought a vampire with more pathos than most to the screen in the middle of a strange hybrid of blaxploitation and horror.

Blade: The quintessential film of its type, no other movie has used the vampire hunter trope to greater effect than the initial installment of this franchise. Stephen Norrington worked with a David Goyer script to produce maybe the perfect version of the Marvel hero ever brought to any format.

BloodRayne: I wanted to include at least one "oh so bad it's good" movie on the list and Uwe Boll's insane video game adaptation fits the bill. From strange stunt casting to a plot best described as nonsensical, this one is a mess of cheese and gratuitous nudity and violence.

Bram Stoker's Dracula: The Francis Ford Coppola adaptation of the original novel stays as close as any adaptation I've ever seen, but still strays in weird directions away from the original, mostly to give the director the over the top visuals he wanted to use. Outside poor Keanu Reeves, the cast sells every moment of the tense plot. And the direction makes it one of the most lush films ever put to camera.

Dracula 2000: I can best describe this one as fun, with a strange set of young cast members - a trope of late 90s horror - either helping or battling a Dracula played by Gerard Butler at his scene-chewing-est.

From Dusk Til Dawn: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's film is pulp cinema re-imagined for a new generation. When a bevy of great characters are thrown into a war with an entire vampire cult, action ensues in a film that turns schlock into a masterpiece.

Innocent Blood: Directed by John Landis, this 1990s era vampire flick features a sexy French vampire as she arrives in America and continues her quest to only feed on the criminal. This backfires as she accidentally turns a crime boss. She has to team up with a local undercover cop to stop the crime family and the possibility of a vampire uprising!

Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires: Peter Cushing's Van Helsing travels to China and assists several young kung fu masters in their battle with seven evil vampires in a Hammer / Shaw Brothers production. Sadly Dracula here isn't played by Christopher Lee, the only thing that might have made it an even stronger piece of sheer crossover insanity.

Lost Boys: I'm an 80s kid and an introvert, so this tale of the cool kids turning out to be vampires was right up my alley. The two Coreys were great as the would-be monster hunters, but it is Kiefer Sutherland that oozes every ounce of awesome from his veins to make this one work.

Shadow of the Vampire: A movie set behind the scenes of the filming of Nosferatu, which surmises that the villainous lead Max Schreck is actually a vampire. Willem Dafoe makes a world class creepy monster in an instant classic.

Best Character Ever 24: Thanos

Art by Ron Lim. All characters featured in images for this column are owned by Marvel.

As Avengers: Infinity War is now available to everyone to own, it seems Marvel's Dark Titan is a rather unsurprising choice for the first new Best Character Ever in nearly two years. But my connection with the character dates back way farther than that.

More specifically it dates back to the late 1980s when I first stumbled upon a copy of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition 20: Book of the Dead (Stick to Zuras). I distinctly remember having to convince my mother the cover shot of characters' spirits rising from their graves was merely symbolic. But when I got it for the glorious cover price of $1.50, I knew I held gold in my hand.

The Shape of... Horror?

The Shape of Water won four Oscars and a slew of other awards over the last few months. It deserved them; it's easily one of the best films of 2017. But it's far from the first piece of fiction to tell of the love between woman and fish-man.

Separated at birth? Left: The creature from Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.
Right: John Davie's illustration of the One from the Deep for Horror Heroes 2.

Two years before it even previewed, I released my own take on the love of a man from the depths of the ocean and a modern woman in a short story simply titled "The Beach House." As part of the anthology Horror Heroes 2, it told the story of a young woman named Lynda. Out on her own for the first time after a pampered childhood, she quickly finds herself in trouble when she moves into a beach house with several other students seeking freedom. But the strange boy that saves her one night on the sand quickly sends her life in a direction she could never imagine...

Perhaps it's nothing Oscar worthy, but "The Beach House" is a compelling entry in my writing history. It's well worth a check for anyone that wants to see more creatures from beneath the sea, or just want to see me write something a bit more romantic.

Horror Heroes 2 is an anthology of monsters turned heroes. It also features "Frankenstein & The Rejects" by Travis Hiltz and Darrin Albert's "Steamed,"  which features Bigfoot. It is now available in print and Kindle editions.

Star Wars, divisive pop culture and entitlement

So last Saturday, I was fortunate enough to enjoy a private screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi with my wife and children. I enjoyed it thoroughly. We had a great experience at a fun movie.

Then I came home and read all the comments I avoided for the previous two days. And my heart sank.

The Last Jedi goes in directions no previous Star Wars film or story goes in. It questions the importance of the Jedi, the righteousness of the battle and the meaning of sacrifice for the greater good. It challenges preconceptions and hate rolled out because of it.

I by no means think everyone should love the film. But it is a well made (if a bit long) film. Rian Johnson knows Star Wars, he loves Star Wars and he wants to make Star Wars something that can last for decades to come. The Last Jedi is very much that movie, even as it re-writes the questions fans were left asking from The Force Awakens.

The sense of entitlement among the haters of the film may have reached peak insanity however. As I write this the petition to remove The Last Jedi from canon is at almost 50,000 supporters. 50,000 people are angry enough to make up and sign this because they didn't like what path the film puts Luke Skywalker on or how it differentiates from the Expanded Universe or how porgs are literally too cute to exist or whatever. They fell betrayed somehow by a piece of cinema, even while demanding a new one from the creators.

Star Wars isn't ours. We can love it. We can hate it. But it is not ours. Much like George R. R. Martin, Lucasfilm is not our bitch. You are welcome to dislike it. You are welcome to give up on the universe you've treasured or return to the Expanded Universe you loved beforehand. But it is not my place, your place or anyone's place outside Kathleen Kennedy and her bosses at Disney to determine the future of Star Wars. Lucasfilm backed Rian Johnson's vision of where Star Wars needs to go and like it or not, that is where it went.

Talk to your friends or find like-minded folks that agree with your dislike. But don't try to rain on the parade of fans that did love it. It's time, much like Elsa, to let it go.

An assignment of monstrous proportions

I don't get the stubby upturned arms, but otherwise
the new design is pretty darn cool.

For me super powered fiction is far wider than just stories based on costumed superheroes. Any super powered being doing anything super powered fits the category and I often find that one supernatural element can turn even the most normal character into a larger than life hero. I caught a couple films over the last few days that fit that category.

Shin Godzilla was a fascinating reboot of the giant monster by original creative studio Toho. Produced by the same director as Neon Genesis Evangelion, the movie certainly has more depth than either American Godzilla film and most of the previous Japanese films. Using a ton of jump cuts, it chronicles the Japanese government at war with the invading menace of Godzilla. But they also are at odds with the governments of the world, ready to react violently. The movie manages to be terribly critical of the current Japanese government's slow response in the face of the disaster as well as its willingness to roll over for the United States and United Nations. It makes an interesting dichotomy, even as the film also develops a very very different take on Godzilla as an ultimate evolutionary force. If you like monster movies, this one definitely offers something different.

A bit odder yet is The Assignment, a Michelle Rodriguez film by action movie impresario Walter Hill. The movie casts Rodriguez as a male hitman forced into a female body by gender reassignment surgery. It creates a very strange film with Rodriguez dressed as a bearded man for the first third of the film until a crazed mob doctor takes out her vengeance for the hitman's murder of her brother. The plot gets hairier and deeper as the movie continues, but it manages to both be a very strange character piece and a pretty decent actioner, even if it relies a bit too much on narrative exposition to move the plot along. But it's still a unique film worth a look, especially if you're a fan of 48 Hours or The Warriors.

Overall, the films are pretty fun, so give them a look if you enjoy strange cinema as much as me.

I am shameless enough to also use this as an excuse to post
a hot picture of Michelle Rodriguez as well. 

A few thoughts on Wonder Woman

Big props to the film for just making sure they stopped to
havethis photo actually taken mid-film. 

The DCEU's Wonder Woman is the first modern DC movie to do what Iron Man and Avengers did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Director Patty Jenkins, writer Allen Heinberg and star Gal Gadot created a Wonder Woman far superior to her comic counterpart.

I suspect Heinberg can take a lot of credit for that. A noted television writer, he took a story by Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs (with some reported input by Geoff Johns) and crafted a great film script that stayed true to the character while keeping the storyline fresh. While this was his first movie script, he does have a history with comics, writing the excellent Young Avengers for Marvel and the six issue Who is Wonder Woman? run for DC.

Patty Jenkins also has a bit of comic to movie pedigree. While she hasn't directed a movie since the critically acclaimed Monster way back in 2003, she was at one point attached to Thor: The Dark World. She left that movie due to differences with the MCU's creative staff. With this film in her repertoire and The Dark World still sitting as one of the worst MCU movies, it seems she might have taken a wise career path.

But Gal Gadot really brings the film home. An ensemble player up to this point, she shined as the centerpiece of the film. She brought Diana to life in a way no one has quite captured before (with all due respect to Lynda Carter.) She made the character her own, while embodying so many of the best parts of her history.

Clearly the creators (with comic enthusiast Heinberg at the fore front) drew from dozens of DC Comics runs to make this Wonder Woman. From the earliest issues of the character (where Doctor Poison is drawn), to the Perez run (where this version of Ares and the Amazons have their origins) to the New 52's Azzerello / Chiang run (where her secret origin as Zeus' daughter originated). And while all those runs had moments of triumph, the film somehow combines those elements into a whole better than its parts. It's a true achievement by the team guiding the DCEU and hopefully, the first sign of a better future for the Extended Universe.

If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend Wonder Woman to any super-fan. It's the kind of film it is hard to be disappointed in. You can check it out through digital streaming now or pick it up on Blu-Ray September 19th.

Different Kinds of Super: Moana

Image Credit: Disney's Moana on Facebook.

One of the reasons I dubbed this page Super Powered Fiction is because I wanted to differentiate myself from what's often called "superhero fiction". I think the term superhero is limited, as it immediately draws to mind costumed adventurers in some kind of pseudo-modern setting. But for hundreds of years, stories of super powered beings have floated through every form of entertainment ever. Once in a while, I like to spotlight a piece with a clearly super powered being, even if it doesn't fall into the traditional idea of a superhero.

Disney's latest animated feature definitely fills that category. With a young female lead that is "friends" with the ocean and a super-strong demigod as the leads, the film looks to tell a unique tale with two heroes that must use their abilities to save the day. How is that not a piece of super powered fiction?

Check out the full trailer for the film below:


I'm definitely excited for this one when it releases at the end of November. What do you think of Disney's latest animated feature?

Best Character Ever 22: James Bond

Bond. James Bond. It is a name synonymous with English language culture. Over twenty movies after Sean Connery first donned a tux to bring the character to life in Dr. No, he has become one of the most beloved characters in the history of entertainment.

Through the years, Bond has been brought to life by a half dozen actors of varying ability. Connery wasn’t the actual first. That honor actually goes to Barry Nelson, an American actor on the 50s television anthology show Climax!, where he played “Jimmy Bond”. But he set up the look and style of the character for decades to come.

Since that time, the question of who is the best James Bond floats through the ether of everyday conversation and internet argument. Sean Connery, Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan all have a strong contingent of backers. Roger Moore, the longest running Bond, often ends up as something of a red-headed stepchild while George Lazenby is barely an after-thought. But none are my favorite Bond. No, the best Bond is often the most derided: Timothy Dalton.

Dalton came to the character right after Roger Moore and his movies came with an instant tonal shift. The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill are not the wild campy rides of Moore’s era. They are dark, gritty Cold War tales that feature really threats and limited gadgets. James Bond is a cold-blooded killer, but still our moral compass through a world where no one is someone we really want to root for. Over the fifty years of James Bond films, these two come the closest to Ian Fleming’s originals. If you haven’t watched them, give them a shot, especially if you’re a fan of Casino Royale or Skyfall.

Talking all the different James Bond actually brings up my favorite aspect of the character, one that always surfaces every time Bond is recast. A theory has been around for decades that all James Bond movies are in continuity and that the name and number are passed from agent to agent as one retires or dies. This creates a fascinating continuity akin to some of the craziest comic book universes. It’s also an idea that if I ever wrote a James Bond novel, I would definitely put into play.

Here is my personal James Bond timeline:

• 1962-1968: The first 007 is actually named James Bond. He comes into operation and takes on the forces of SPECTRE. Injured in battle, he temporarily retires.
• 1969-1970: A new Bond takes the place of the original, but his wife is quickly killed at the hands of SPECTRE agents. His quest for vengeance leads to horrible injuries that leave him badly scarred.
• 1971: With a need for a 007 active, the recovered first Bond returns. His work is short lived though and he quickly is retired. The resurfacing of SPECTRE in the early 80s brings him back into operation, temporarily giving the world two active Bonds.
• 1972-1985: After experimental plastic surgery, the second Bond returns to duty with a new face. He would quickly become an expert agent, now regularly towing the party line for M and the Special Service.
• 1986-1990: A hard-nosed military veteran becomes the third man to take the Bond name after the previous Bond is forced into retirement. He is much less concerned with materialism than previous 007s, but his hard-nosed views clash with those of M.
• 1993-2005: After two years without an active Bond, a fourth Bond is brought in to the Special Service. In the post-Cold War era, he faces far different threats and spends much of his time jet-setting rather than in active service.
• 2006-present: After the previous Bond is forced into retirement, the fifth and current James Bond becomes active. In the post-9/11 world he is far more tactile an operative than previous 007s. The nephew of the original Bond, he also carries the birth name James Bond. (Feel free to insert all his young adventures as James Bond Jr . if you would like.)

I love playing these kind of Wold Newton games with literary figures and Bond started that for me. That alone makes him an important addition to this list.

Currently, Daniel Craig may or may not have filmed his last Bond with Spectre. After that, it could go to anyone. (Idris Elba is my choice for Bond 6 though.) If Craig leaves, I look forward to building the growing narrative of multiple Bonds.

Oh, and anyone that spends time debunking the theory (like the folks that made Skyfall), should stop. Have fun and live a little.

Best Character Ever 19: Snake-Eyes

The Sideshow collectibles figure is on my Amazon Wishlist should anyone
have $200 burning a hole in their pocket. 

You can’t get much cooler than Snake-Eyes.

I mean, think about it. He doesn’t talk. He’s nearly invincible and you can almost never take him by surprise. He’s a master of stealth and a master of both hand to hand combat and the use of the Uzi, a.k.a. the coolest submachine gun ever created by man.

And he looked completely different than the rest of the G.I. Joe line.

And he got a pet wolf too!

The fact that he was hard to find made him that much cooler to my brother and I. Eventually we got a hold of him, about the time we first learned that he could shrug off radiation like it was nothing.

He would go on to be a featured player in several multi-part G.I. Joe episodes, but the show never really gave him the respect I thought he deserved, instead focusing too much time on Duke and Scarlett, and later Flint and Lady Jaye. Thankfully, the comic would not do the same.

Still can't believe my
mom bought this cover
for young Nick. 

But it was the first issue of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic that I bought that really cemented my love for Snake-Eyes. The look into the intricate and mysterious origins of Snake-Eyes inside had me hooked (though the appearance by Scrap-Iron and Firefly, my two favorite Cobras didn’t hurt). More importantly, it got my older brother to start buying every issue.

From then on, we were both fans of the coolest ninja ever, especially when he embarked on a quest to save his fallen brother Storm Shadow. The two would settle their differences and become strong friends, a recurring theme through many years and variations of G.I. Joe stories (right up to the second stronger film G.I. Joe: Retaliation.)

His origin, told through a few different short run stories on the title, was filled with pathos. His family was killed by a drunk driver while he was away on a mission that ultimately left him horribly disfigured. He would find inner peace with the Arashikage ninja clan, but would never rest until he found his family’s killer. (A man that ultimately turned out to be Cobra Commander.)

My brother and I would go on to buy every Snake-Eyes figure to come out from the original line of figures, six different toys in all, sometimes more than one.

I am sure much of my fondness for the character comes from the age I was at. I was a child of the 80s, in love forever with the ninja, and to me Snake-Eyes was a ninja but better. He was an American ninja and not just some schmuck from a weak action film. (Sorry, Michael Dudikoff.)

Snake-Eyes would eventually pretty much take over the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero title for much of its later run, going so far as getting top billing during the Andrew Wildman era.

As a mainstay of the Joe team ever since, through dozens of new incarnations Snake-Eyes has remained. Ninjas are damn cool and they will never get much cooler than the silent warrior with the lost family and the hot redhead girlfriend.

And he will ever be the best damn warrior this or any army will ever see.

I watch "Almighty Thor" so you don't have to!

Today is Thor’s Day, so why not celebrate with an *ahem* cinema classic.

Look I get a hammer too, even though I get
no billing on the DVD cover at all!

Oh, the Asylum. You keep B-movies alive and for that we have to thank you. Their series of mockbusters continued this year with the epic Almighty Thor, clearly no relation to any Marvel movie that may have been released at the same time.

Johnny Depp got old and became Captain Jack Sparrow.
Richard Grieco got old and became... this.

Superhero movies meet Egyptian Mythology: Gods of Egypt

While the casting choices of the film have had a bit too much shade thrown on them, Gods of Egypt looks like an amazing piece of cinema from Egyptian born filmmaker Alex Proyas (The Crow). Already visually stunning, it very much seems to take queues from the Marvel blockbusters in its construction of a world where the gods are real.


While not out until February, I suspect it to be a big movie upon its release, as does Summit Entertainment, which hopes this will be their next major franchise. And while Proyas hasn't made any major film since the painful Knowing in 2009, his work on Dark City should be required viewing. I suspect Gods of Egypt to continue his track record of amazing world building while also giving some great roles to some amazingly talented actors and actresses.

Cool Stuff: Masters of the Universe

I love the Masters of the Universe film. It is far from a great movie, but I will never quite understand why fans of genre features hate on it so much. It’s a solid adaptation of the cartoon property that grows it up while also introducing some new ideas.

Part of it might be the budget. Director Gary Goddard did tons with the reported $22 million he had with the film, but it still seemed stretched to its limits at certain points. Or perhaps it’s the lack of some regular cartoon characters like Battle-Cat, Orko, Merman or Trapjaw. Whatever it is, I would argue that Masters of the Universe is one of the forgotten classics of the 1980s.

The mining of our childhoods...

Tens of thousands of words have floated through the nether of the internet over the last few years about the mining of the childhood of all of us kids from the 70s and 80s. Most of it find the idea bad, that remakes and decades past-sequels often just stomp on our images of our childhood.

Case in point, the newest talking point:



The upcoming Jem & the Holograms film clearly isn’t the original series. No Misfits, for one. Nor is synergy anything other than a buzz word they apparently say at the beginning of the show. And it looks like no actual holograms were hurt in the making of the film.

So it isn’t the Jem film that updates the Jem we knew from the 1980s. It takes away some of the uniqueness of that show and replaces it with modern cinema tropes about the Youtube generation. It makes you long for the evil of Pizzazz.

And I will be honest here, it really isn’t anything to complain about.

When media is converted to another form of media, things change. Nick Fury stops being a World War II soldier. Juggernaut and Professor X apparently don’t no one another. Galactus is a cloud—okay, that one may not be the best example. But for the sake of brevity in storytelling, the sake of making something fit into a different time period or just because the creators’ vision for the film is not quite the same as the original, things change.

Here is the news flash. They should.

So many fans seem to think they want shot for shot adaptations of the work they once enjoyed. But I am here to say that does not a good film make. The first Sin City succeeded despite some incredible painful lines and goofy visuals solely because Robert Rodriguez devoted so much time to make the visual aesthetic work. And Gus Van Sant’s Psycho shot-for-shot remake failed miserably despite having a much stronger cast than the Hitchcock original. And much of the distaste for either film usually spins out of the fact that they are too close.



Sometimes are love for the old clouds interesting changes in the new. Which is why I always say: despite the changes I will give it a chance. Jem & the Holograms might turn out to be a horrible film, but I will not let the simple changes made from the original rip me away from something that looks like it has some great visual cues and a great young cast.

Look, I hated G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and find the second and third Transformers movies to be seemingly unending garbage. But let’s be honest: both are bad films even if you pull the license away. Neither put the effort forth to start with even a halfway decent story nugget. Painfully coincidental relationships between the new unit member and their threat isn’t something most people can suspend disbelief for. And racist robots are bad whether they were Transformers or GoBots or Orbots or whatever. Jem may have equally bad writing, but a single trailer isn’t enough to show that.

Hey, director Jon Chu was also the guy that made the
GOOD G.I. Joe film!

So the next time you find yourself commenting about how “they ruined your childhood”, stop and consider what you’re saying. Your childhood has not changed and the great show you had fond memories of is almost certainly available on DVD (but probably is way more painfully written than you remember.) These movies may want to draw you in, but they are made for a far wider audience. Even if that audience proves not to be you, do not hate it for the changes. Let it go and hope for something better in the future.

In the case of Jem, it is easy by the way. Just go check out the absolutely amazing new IDW comic by Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell. Two issues in and I can already say it is one of my favorite comics on the market today.

Marvel movies and thinking forward

All signs seem to point towards the Russo brothers, directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the upcoming Captain America: Civil War, have been tapped to take over for Joss Whedon on the Avengers movie franchise. It is quite a step up from episodes of Arrested Development and Community or the awfulness that was You, Me and Dupree.

But by choosing young or less high profile directors, Marvel has started to cement a series of great new faces on the directorial side. One can easily argue they started that push with Joss Whedon and the first Avengers film. While Whedon was a proven television quantity, his film work was not nearly as high profile as the Avengers allowed. But by putting trust in him, Marvel came out with a masterpiece.

The Russos created their own great film with their first foray into a Marvel Universe, which they will deepen in their next film. And in doing so, they continue a line of great lesser known or unknown directors Marvel has fostered into solid talents whose careers will deepen as they move past Marvel film-making.

With a new writers program also in place, Marvel Studios seem set to build new talent as they continue to make solid films for years to come.

The next stop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe lands in May with Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Welcome to the Medium with Jupiter Ascending

I have an itch for journalistic feature writing. It’s been there since my teenage years and I have scratched it since that time with reviews, Examiner articles and random posts here or there. But in the last year or so, a great new social resource has developed for longer form journalistic writing over at Medium.

I have long searched for a way to use Medium for my own writing and I am glad to say I finally have started with an article about Jupiter Ascending and its importance to science fiction fans.

I will continue to post a new article to the site once or twice a month. I have plans for a few long form interviews to appear there, as well as a few other longer pieces on movies and television. We will see how I get to them in between other writing and work, but I suspect a few will pop up in the near future.

Be sure to let me know what you think about “Why every science fiction fan should see ‘Jupiter Ascending’” here, at Medium or on social media.

What's Up for February 8, 2015

I finished a nice bit of reading this week, polishing off a couple comic trades and the rest of Chris Jericho’s third book. You can as always check out my ratings over at Goodreads.

I slipped into a couple new books this week, watched a weird foreign film and listened to a heck of a lot of Sia. Check them all out below.

Best Character Ever: Iceman

Art by Joe Madureira. Character owned by Marvel.

For a lot of kids the first superhero they fell in love with is Spider-Man or Superman or Batman. Maybe the Hulk. My earliest memory of superheroes probably was Richard Donner’s Superman, but he wasn’t my favorite hero from early childhood.

No, that was Iceman.