More Comicbook Celluloid Shenanigans

Well, I'm very nervous talking about this at such an early stage, especially seeing as Iron Man is my favourite Marvel hero. I do feel intrigued now as to how its going to turn out. There were rumours a-plenty regarding who was going to play Tony Stark. Tom Cruise (magh), Nicholas Cage (now we're getting warmer), Leonardo DiCaprio (JUST NO, OK) but now John Favreau has signed up Robert Downey Jr.

I was somewhat heartened by the news that John Favreau was going to direct as I have a huge amount of respect for him. His writing and acting in Swingers really showed the world heights the he was capable of and so the thought of him directing Iron Man alleviated some of the anxiety created by the rumour mill. Now with the signing of Robert Downey Jr. I am even more hopeful for the film adaptation. Robert was superb in both Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and A Scanner Darkly. He really added flesh and integrity to both those roles and shows that he is not a single-role actor like Sean Connery (the only Russian submarine commander to have an Edinburgh accent), Tom Hanks (Mr Reliable American) or Hugh Grant (the hardy-perennial English fop).

Now I'm intrugued. Come on Mr Favreau, don't let us down.

All Hail Galactus?

So, the new Fantastic Four movie, eh? This movie will follow the appearance of the Silver Surfer and the coming of Galactus. This is probably the best and most well-known storyline that exists in the Fantastic Four's run and also amongst Marvel fans worldwide.

Galactus is a cool bad guy and represents a danger that is far beyond what we could comprehend. He also seems like a metaphor for our own constant devouring of natural resources. He's a warning to us all, if you will, that if we don't take good care of our planet it will become a lifeless world much like Mars.



The Silver Surfer is a shining pillar of virtue. He was a man, called Norrin Radd, who decided to give up his life and his love in order to save his home and his people from Galactus. He made a bargain with Galactus and became the Silver Surfer, Herald of Galactus. He would spend eternity searching the universe for worlds for Galactus to devour. He would use his judgement to decide whether of not a world and its life deserved to live or not. His eternal search was stopped when he came to Earth and initially judged it to be fodder of Galactus, until Reed Richards and co convinced him that Earth and the Human race were worth saving. Norrin, reconising something of his own people in the Humans, decided to help the Fantastic Four defeat Galactus and save Earth. The succeeded but the cost was great for the Silver Surfer. Galactus imprisoned him on Earth for eternity.



This is certainly my favourite storyline of the Fantastic Four. I do tend to avoid the Fantastic Four because, other than this story, they are a bit bland for me. They have, however, spawned some of my favourite Marvel characters, including Dr Doom, Galactus and the Silver Surfer. I especially love Dr Doom and the Silver Surfer. I am quite partial to the Thing as well, on his own of course. Having said this, the first movie was entirely disappoining. In fact, for me, the only high point was Julian McMahon's superb Dr Doom. I thought that the Thing was too small, Jessica Alba was wooden as Sue Richards and Chris Evan's Johnny Storm was more annoying than a recurring rash. The only time where a Marvel movie adaptation has been less enjoyable was the laughable Punisher with Dolph Lundgren in it. That's right I even thought Daredevil (yes, even though it has Affleck in it) was better than Fantastic Four. Let's just not mention Elektra. Tim Story, also, does not have a good track record. In fact, he has directed the downright awful adaptation of Luc Besson's Taxi with Queen Latifah in it. Enough said.


You can understand then why I have some misgivings about the second outing of the Fantastic Four. Especially with the use of one of my favourite stories featuring two more of my most-loved Marvel characters.

What I don't understand is that the Hulk, which I thought was superb and inventive, has recieved a change in director for the sequel but the Fantastic Four, which was mediocre at best has not. A quick comparison, using www.rottentomatoes.com (a site which compiles ratings based on all available reviews of movies) finds the Fantastic Four at 26% where Hulk scores a very reasonable 60%. Why then are we being subjected to another Tim Story effort? Probably contractual obligations. I can only cross my fingers and hope that this time he'll get it right. On past endeavours though, the outlook is not good.

My only hope is that, when the time comes for Norrin Radd's first solo outing on celluloid, he will be given the respect he deserves. For a man who sacrifices everything to save his home and his people from the "Devourer of Worlds" I can only hope that his story is done justice.

On a more personal note...

This Is a rare Marvel Legends Series 7 Apocalypse action figure. I have been searching for one of these now since I let it slip through my fingers when they came out a few years ago. Now, on the advent of my 25th birthday, I am finally the proud owner of one. I am one of the ever-so-rare and lucky geeks to have a girlfriend who shares and actively encourages my geekiness. So much so that she searched high and low and spared no expense to make this action figure the crowning jewel of my birthday gifts. I was grinning from ear to ear the other evening when I unwrapped this bad-boy. I would just like to say, publicly; thank you Leigh-Anne you are wonderful and I would be lost without you. I will always remember my 25th birthday fondly because of you.

Oldies are goodies

To continue in a similar vein from my last post, Doom is back and then some. I discovered, much to my delight that Microsoft have released Doom on Xbox Live Arcade. I am impressed. It is an excellent port right down to the dodgy midi version on Pantera's "Mouth for War" playing over the first level of the third episode. I excitedly played through the first few levels and remembered fondly all the old tricks and secrets that those days of playing on my old 486 revealed to me. It plays really smoothly and the console control system adapts perfectly to playing with speed and indeed it plays a bit quicker that it does on the Windows 95 keyboard on my PC. I have been disappointed by recent efforts to port Doom and I am very pleased at the quality of the 360 port. Playing Doom on the Gameboy Advance was a frustrating effort for me, especially as I had one of the original consoles with the unlit screen (Nintendo, what were you thinking?). The 360 version, however, has me smiling. Perhaps I am over-enthusiastic about because it has appeared just in time for my birthday and I am in an excellent mood because my girlfriend has bought me all sorts of amazing gifts but nevertheless well done Microsoft. Now, I never thought I'd say that...