Archive Page 2179

August 2023

Is Blue Beetle the cure for "Superhero Fatigue?" – MSN Slate

Saving the superhero genre from itself is a heavy weight for a relatively "small" superhero film.

In reality, Blue Beetle was released under a microscope. The first major live-action superhero film with a Latino lead, it’s not only carrying the weight of representing an underserved demographic, but also the obligation of proving that there’s still a future for superhero movies at all. And while a $26 million opening weekend—enough to knock Barbie off of the throne after its fourth week at No. 1—isn’t impressive enough to certify it as a hit quite yet, it is the first jolt of hope in a genre that’s recently felt like it was running on fumes.

Review: Adventure Comics #423

The name of the story is "Treachery," and it has Supergirl trying to defeat a pair of aliens who have enslaved her using a pair of strange high-tech glasses. Art by Mike Sekowsky and Bob Oksner, with story by Jack Albano.

More Supergirl in Adventure Comics #423, Sept 1972

The 25 year anniversary of Blade with Wesley Snipes – Yahoo News

The movie's legacy is undeniable. Without Blade, there would be no Batman Begins or The Dark Knight. And I mean this quite literally: Goyer served as a writer for all three films in Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. Less literally, it feels like there would be no The Batman, which director Matt Reeves even said "feels like a horror movie" and features a perfectly emo Batman played by Robert Pattinson. I’d even go as far as to say that there wouldn’t be a Suicide Squad, with its dark, violent take on superhero genre.

These observations are true, but without Tim Burton's Batman from 1989, there'd have been no Blade, 1998. The concept of the dark (literally dark cinematography) superhero movie is derived from Batman 1989 via director Tim Burton and cinematographer Roger Pratt, and also very important, the film design by Anton Furst.

But, going back further, without Ridley Scott's Alien of 1979, which updated the tubes, machinery and technology visual concepts of 1950's sci-fi but rendered with a Gothic horror twist (courtesy of H.R. Giger), we'd probably not have the look of the 1989 Batman. We can go back further than the 1979 Alien, tracking the combination of sleek technological surfaces combined with the Gothic back to 1930s horror films that married together art deco's aerodynamic and glossy modernism with the intricate verticality of the Gothic.

The Blade film has deep visual roots.

Supergirl has got a tangled history but a bright future

Story at The Pop Verse

Dan Green has caught the last train out. One of my oldest friends in comics. A wonderful artist who inked an X-Factor job I penciled. He had a beautiful line that complimented my own work, and I’ve always been delighted he inked it. Godspeed, pal. Thanks for the friendship.

— Walter Simonson (@WalterSimonson) August 21, 2023

Jeff Smith creator of Bone, RASL, and Tuki ends national book tour early due to medical emergency – Comics Beat

August 23's all the New Marvel Comics "The Full List"

Story at Marvel.com

Discount tickets at movie theatres across USA for "National Cinema Day" August 27 – Times Union

National Cinema Day Official website - The Cinema Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit

Blue Beetle connects with hispanic audience

Story at LMT Online

We are a Marvel family, and we do to every Marvel movie even if its not that good or we know its not doing that good," Salinas said. "We do watch DC movies, but this one felt different as it stated that it was not just good but was a very good representation of our culture. After watching it, all I can say is that I was amazed at everything: the way they combined good Spanish dialogue with English, put really good Spanish music and not just Reggeatton, and made it overall a great film to present to audiences."

Blue Beetle marketing fails to connect with large audience

Story at Bounding into Comics

Blue Beetle and the money

Weekend of August 18th: With Blue Beetle failing to hit a relatively low milestone marker of $30 million domestic, the "superhero movies are over" talk will be a little louder. On the other hand, the film didn't crash, so there's something pleasing to audiences about it and the reviews are pretty good in some places, mildly-critical in others, and, as to be expected, completely negative from quarters that are in a state of constant irritated inflammation from the terrible way the big superhero producing film companies have handled their marketing and interaction with fans over the years.

Depending upon how the competition moves over the next few weeks it might mean BB can build up some late-summer box office, or.... it can fade away like The Flash, Shazam 2 and others have done in the recent past.

Quick review: Knight Terrors First Blood #1

Trouble at the Hall of Justice when Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman find Dr. Destiny impaled multiple times and quite dead, only to learn from a phone call from Harley Quinn that Doc Destiny is on a operating table at Arkham having a nightmare. Deadman interjects himself to help explain what's going on.

Review – Too Much Vomit: Knight Terrors First Blood #1, DC Comics July 2023

Blue Beetle opening haul is off by $5 million from the projected $30 million start DC/Warners touted, but on the other hand the film did "dethrone Barbie" – MSN Variety

A predicted $30 million domestic opening did not materialize for the Beetle that is Blue, but the international total appears to be $43 million. The production cost for the film is estimated at $105 million, which means the film needs to clear $210 million, approximately, in order to turn a profit. Can it happen?

...it’s one of the softest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe."

Superhero movies: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II says its "clown work"

Story at MSN Movie Meter - he played Black Manta in Aquaman, appeared in Matrix Resurrections and Candyman

Blue Beetle takes Barbie's position at #1 on box office – MSN Hollywood Reporter

The "complicated" relationship between Alan Moore and DC Comics – MSN Collider

What's going on with Spider-Man 4? – Desimartini

A new Percy Jackson movie is coming – Comicbookmovie

Blue Beetle to fall short of projected $30 million weekend start?

Story at MSN Movie Web

Blue Beetle headed for $30 million opening weekend? – The-Numbers

The coming DC Comics of November – Gamesradar

Toxic Avenger remake coming in September with Peter Dinklage – Yahoo

Cavill Superman: James Gunn "clarifies" the situation – Yahoo Independent

James Gunn impacts DC Comics sales with his social media mentions

Story at MSN We Got This Covered

Marvel wants Tom Cruise – Comic Book Movie

...the possibility Tom Cruise had been tapped to play the Superior Iron Man, a villainous version of Tony Stark aligned with the Illuminati.

Tom Cruise has turned out to be areliable action film star, but his forays into other genres, for example, horror, with The Mummy (2017) was surprisingly badly crafted despite the mega-talents of Cruise and Russell Crowe on the screen.

Would Cruise even want to get involved with the superhero genre now that a part of Hollywood is blaming the "spandex movies" for a variety of woes and saying the words "superhero fatigue" as an explanation for the box office failures of the last 8+ months?

Blue Beetle movie reviews are rolling in

"If you’ve seen Tom Hardy’s Venom, this will feel familiar" – UK Express

"Thank God, a superhero movie without time travel or the multiverse" – Yahoo

"Refreshingly Latino" – LA Times – the alien suit is "nfity"

Blue Beetle, better than average – MSN Chicago Tribune – (Almost) damning with faint praise: "Blue Beetle works, basically, and that puts it ahead of the game for most DC Comics-derived movies."

"Can anything cure Marvel’s malaise?"

Story at Comics Beat

But there’s no denying that the periodical business, which drives so much of the comics shop traffic, seems particularly tapped out at the moment, with price increases and a bombardment of variant covers and mini-series being loaded into a mason jar to turn into mush. And unlike my overnight oats, it’s not a particularly healthy diet. Which brings us to The State of Marvel...

The problem with articles covering the ups and downs of the comic book publishing world, especially anything that focuses on the monthly-style periodicals (aka "floppies") is that there isn't hard data on numbers of issues sold. How to make a comparison of "then" and "now" without numbers, there's no clear way to be accurate to know what's really going on.

But the numbers simply aren't there. Like streaming, the big comic book publishers do not share hard info on "audience size" unless something is fantastically successful and the numbers can be used as part of continued marketing. The fact that numbers are not used in continued marketing may be the only firm clue as to what's going on, numbers-wise, in the world of comic book pamphlet & staples publishing, which is to say, the obvious explanation is that it must be bad.

Remembering comics publisher Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. – The Comics Journal

Written memoriam by Bud Plant

Original page August 21, 2023