The 2010 Otter Awards: Best Hero

And now, the big one.  Who wins Best Hero?  Which hero had the greatest impact on comics, and was simply the most heroic individual imaginable?  Once again, let's look at the runner ups before seeing who our winner is.

Nova
This win almost qualifies as a "most improved" award.  For years, Marvel has been developing it's cosmic titles into something sustainable, and Nova has been one of their biggest stars.  In addition to earning Avenger status, the Human Rocket also battled alongside the greatest heroes of the cosmos during the Thanos Imperative.  In many ways his story came full circle, with him once again acting as a bastion for the entire galaxy.  In the event's closing moments, Nova sacrificed himself to stop the mad Titan and protect the universe.  It was a shame to see a hero with so much potential be taken away, but he went out in a downright heroic fashion. 

Batman (Bruce Wayne)
One word sums up why Bruce made this list.  "Gotcha".  How many characters can claim to have "beaten" history itself?  After a brief absence from comics, Bruce Wayne came roaring back with a vengeance.

The only real question is why didn't Bruce take the number one spot?  Although the mystery of Bruce's return has driven Grant Morrisson's Bat-titles, Bruce Wayne himself has only made a strong appearance in the past few weeks.  Even though he's had one hell of a month, he was just shy of earning the Best Hero award.

The Winner
Steve Rogers
When Captain America died, the world suddenly seemed more bleak.  While former sidekick Bucky Barnes continues to carry the mantle with dignity, no one else in the Marvel U can provide the same moral center as Steve Rogers.  After returning from his "death", Steve's first order of business was taking down Norman Osborn's Dark Reign.  Steve lead the charge against H.A.M.M.E.R. and the insane Sentry, reuniting with his greatest friends and allies.  Since then, the former Captain America has had an impact on almost every aspect of the Marvel U.  He's restructured the Avengers as well as creating his own personal team, and his number of supporting appearances has solidified his role as America's top cop.

In addition to Secret Avenger-ing, Steve also headlined a mini-series called "Super-Soldier".  The series proved that even without his powers, Steve can bring some serious hurt.  No one had quite the same presence and lived to the ideals of what a hero needs to be quite the way Steve Rogers did.  It's almost as if he never left

Final Issue of the Fantastic Four?

Could this be it?  After years of publication, could Marvel's First Family finally be done? 

Well, yes and no.  One of the original four will die (supposedly), and you can't have the Fantastic Three I suppose.  Even if they've used that concept several times already.  Although the team might disband temporarily, don't expect their adventures to end altogether.  Between cleaning up various plot threads and dealing with the emotional aftermath of a death, there's still alot more room for stories.  The book may be coming to a close, but the legacy of the Fantastic for is far from over.

The 2010 Otter Awards: Best Villain

After covering Best Team, now let's see which villain wreaked the most havoc.  Here are the runner-ups and winner for Best Villain in comics.


Runner-Ups
Sinestro
Sinestro was once the greatest of the Lanterns, and then became their greatest enemy.  In the past few months he's strattled the line between hero and villain, willing to sacrifice everything to stop the Blackest Night.  Sinestro has always been someone who fully believes his actions are justified, and in fighting off a zombie apoclypse he briefly became the representative of life itself.  Korugar's most hated son has done some pretty vile things over the years, but still believes himself to be the greatest lantern of all.  And truth be told, he might be right.

Lex Luthor
Any comic book fan can tell you Superman first premiered in Action Comics.  And at the moment, the series is now devoted to his archnemesis, Lex Luthor.  And wow, what a change for the better.  Superman has recently struggled to put out a decent comic, let alone an entire franchise.  Lex taking over the series has filled it with new life, even surpassing the Man of Steel.  It's one thing for a villain to beat a hero in a story.  But taking over their entire comic?  That's downright devious.  After gaining an orange ring during Blackest Night, Lex now seeks the power of the Black Lantern Corps.  The result has been alot of fun, and a powerful addition to the Superman mythos.

Winner
Loki
Okay, I might be a bit bias on this one since Loki is my favorite villain.  That being said, few villains had a greater impact and consistently delivered excellent stories as the Lord of Lies.  After negotiating with everyone from Dr. Doom to Norman Osborn, the trickster brought death and destruction to the city of Asgard.  And in the end, he sacrificed himself to save his brother and all of the Avengers.  I mean, I still have no idea why he had a change of heart, but it was a touching sentiment nonetheless.  And of course, in typical comic book fashion he has already been brought back from the dead. 

Yet where Loki has truly shined is in the number of mini series and one shots dedicated to the villain.  At the end of the day, no villain was as devious, destructive, and downright interesting as the God of Mischief. 

The 2010 Otter Awards: Best Team

Welcome to the Otter Awards, where I recognize the best in comics for 2010.  Our first category is Best Team.  But before we get to the runners up, the Secret Six deserves an honorable mention.  The title consistently delivers quality writing, even if they didn't quite make the top three.  Anyway, let's introduce those who just barely missed the mark.

Green Lantern Corps.
The Corps. has been through a rough couple of years.  Despite facing an army of undead (including their loved ones) and the physical embodiment of death, Hal Jordan and company refused to relent and eventually triumphed over the Blackest Night.  The event's huge financial success speaks for itself, and their victory over the Black Lanterns has already entered comic book legend.  Truly no evil escaped their sight.

The Howling Commandos

This is a hard award to give out, since the Commandos haven't had an ongoing series since WWII if I recall correctly.  Instead, the Howling Commandos PMC has been a driving force in Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors title.  "The Last Ride of the Howling Commandos" was one of this year's best stories, and had more badass moments than most comics have in a year.  Though many of the grizzled veterans met their end, they sure as hell went out with a bang.

The Winner
Secret Avengers
In the wake of the Siege of Asgard, the world seemed to suddenly calm down.  With no more fear of Skrull shapeshifters, Norman Osborn or even each other, the heroes of the Marvel Universe are now leading the world to a Heroic Age.  But even though things seem calm on the surface, trouble is still brewing.  And someone has to fight the threats no one can know about.  Enter the Secret Avengers.

Created by the original Captain America, the team has the coolest roster in comics.  Steve Rogers, Black Widow, War Machine, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Ant Man (Eric O'Grady, the cool version), and formerly Nova made for the most interesting collection of characters in comics.  Even though there are four Avengers titles on the stands right now, this is the team that I always look forward to reading about.  As the group continues to hunt down the Shadow Council, they've face everything from extradimensional threats on Mars to kung-fu showdowns with Fu-Manchu.  The Secret Avengers have lived up to the title of "World's Greatest Heroes".  A strong purpose, great artist, and solid writer makes for one quality comic book.  More than any other group in comics, the Secret Avengers embody what makes a great team.

Marvel Brings Out Fear Itself

Ah, time for a new event.  I know most people (myself included) thought that we needed a longer break from big crossovers, but events do make things more interesting.  They add a sense of scale to things, promising world ending threats and life changing moments.  I don't think the problem is in the idea of events, instead the main problem has been the execution.  The Sinestro Corps. War is a perfect example of how epic an event can be.  The latest attempt by Marvel is about Fear itself.

Who's involved?  The main villain might be some kind of god of Fear, and the guy might be powerful enough to take on all of our heroes.  And it's a classy bunch of characters.  We have Captain America (new and old), Thor, Iron Man, Cyclops, the Thing, Black Panther and his wife Storm, Hulk, and... Dracula!?!?  That last one is by far my favorite.  Marvel gave our favorite vampire a swanky new look recently, and I'm excited at how he'll fit into this group.  And expect Spidey and Wolverine to show up at some point too.  The event will be written by Matt Fraction with pencils by Stuart Immonen.  Fraction will keep writing Iron Man and Thor, but will toning down his involvement on the X-Men franchise.  So, win-win!

Marvel is selling this as a huge game-changer with a scope comparable to Civil War.  I'm actually inclined to believe them, since there has been set up for close to a year I think.  Both Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have had visions of weird tri-pod things.  I can only guess that these machines have something to do with the event, and I'm certainly looking forward to our heroes tearing them apart.

Tron: Legacy Review

If any movie could claim to be a blockbuster during this holiday season, it's Tron: Legacy.  Fans have been eagerly anticipating a return to the Grid for years, and Disney obviously wants this to be a big franchise.  Video games, comic book tie ins, the works.  So does the movie live up to the lofty expectations, or did tit's server crash?  In the end, neither.  It's just okay.

Let me start out by saying I never saw the first Tron.  And I'm pretty sure most of the audience didn't either.  The movie does a great job of explaining the events of the last movie, they just never explain what the hell is going on in this one.  I still don't know what exactly the Grid is.  Where did this place come from?  What are all these programs?  Are they like people or something?  How does their culture work?  I can't bother to care about whether this place lives or dies since I don't a thing about it.

And by the way, neither does our protagonist, Sam Flynn.  Son of Jeff Bridge's character, the protagonist from the original Tron, this guy is waaaaaay to cavalier about being transported to a new dimension.  Thrust into a shocking world that tries to kill him from the moment he arrives, Sam never feels the urge to panic or scream wildly in terror.  Then again, the whole character is kind of bland.  The movie's biggest weakness is that it never makes you care about any of these characters.  All we know about Sam is that he's a whiney little jerk who does nothing but steal from his own company.  The story has no real emotion or pathos, and constantly runs on autopilot.  There are some touching moments scattering across the film, but they're too few and far between.  The movie also sports some crazy lines by Jeff Bridges about "digital age jazz" or something that left me deeply confused yet highly entertained.  Then there were two or three character moments that came completely out of nowhere and felt incredibly forced, but they didn't spoil the movie.

The other awkward part of the move was the whole love interest thing.  I'm not spoiling much by saying that Olivia Wilde is a love interest, but considering she's a glorified program it feels more than a little creepy.  It would be like flirting with a spam bot.

Where the movie really shines is with it's jaw dropping visuals.  If you've seen the trailers, you should know just how stylish the world of Tron can be.  Daft Punk's soundtrack fits perfectly, although will never quite blow you away completely.  The action scenes are hit or miss.  Some sequences involving the light cycles were impressive.  The only thing cooler in the movie was Daft Punk's cameo.  Then we had a long sequence with these plane type things which ended things with a whimper.  During the entire aerial duel, I was just waiting for the gang to reach the finish line.

To sum things up, Tron: Legacy was a decent movie.  It was an enjoyable way to spend two hours, but little more.  The characters were forgettable and the story was just lackluster.  Impressive visuals can only go so far, and if you can't make me care about the characters then you just can't make   I did go see it in 3-D, and I think it helped a bit.  If you really don't want to spend that extra $4 then you can probably get away with seeing the normal 2D version.  If you need something to do on a Friday night, go see the movie.  But I wouldn't go too far out of your way for it.

Choose the Next Thunderbolt!

Congratulations, you get to choose which dangerous convicted superfelon will be protecing the good people of the Marvel universe!  The Thunderbolts have gone through alot of changes.  From villains masquerading as heroes to Norman Osborn's personal hit squad, the only running theme is that the team is never to be trusted.  The current roster is lead by Luke Cage and consists of supervillains being given a second chance.

And now you can choose who will be the next member of the team!  Much like having readers decide which Deadpool series to cancel, Marvel is letting the reader vote for which villain will join the team.  So go, vote for you favorite villain and participate in the democratic process.  Because voting for a crook is the most important part of any democracy.

http://marvel.com/news/story/14891/choose_the_next_thunderbolt

For the record, I voted for Shocker.  Old quilt face could certainly use some more respect.

Captain Otter's New Mission

Captain Otter has a few missions in life.  Things I have to do at some point in my life, no excuses.  Today, I add something to that list.

I'm going to collect every issue of Thor.

Now, Thor actually isn't my favorite character.  That prestigious honor has to go to Iron Man.  Thor does qualify as my favorite comic series, and for some reason I feel the need to start collecting every individual issue.  I can't describe it, I just feel the overwhelming urge to collect.  This will be a long, arduous task that will probably take me a few years.  The older issues in particular will be hard to pin down.  But no, that will not deter me.  By Odin's Beard, I will have these issues.

Marvel Plans For Two More Anime

Despite the similarities, comics and manga/anime seem to rarely overlap.  The two have highly distinct styles and characters, each with their own followings.  Marvel wants to change that.  The company has already released an Iron Man anime and a Wolverine series should be coming out soon.  Iron Man's series looked to have some slick animation, even though Wolverine's made me go into a berzerker rage.  Logan is a short, angry little furball of a man who enjoys drinking and stabbing.  The preview I saw showed him as a delicate, creepy, angrogynous...something.

We now have two new superhero animes on the horizon.  It's no surprise that the X-Men are one of them.  Those guys are Marvel royalty, and we also have a Blade series coming.  Despite a lack of comic book success, Blade seems to have solid success in other mediums.  The first two movies were highly stylish, and if you've seen the Hellsing series you'll know that vampires can fit quite well in anime. Sooner or later, these might be worth checking out, if only for something new and different.

Marvel Revives CrossGen

It's a longstanding joke that nothing stays dead in comics.  Apparently, this applies to the publishers themselves as well.  Yesterday Marvel revealed that they had purchased and revitalized CrossGen, a publisher whose six year run came to a close in 2004.  I'm going to level with you guys, I don't really know too much about CrossGen, nor do I care enough to do an in depth analysis.  I don't know why exactly I don't care.  Maybe it's the fact that I just finished finals week, or the fact that if something fails it usually fails for a reason.  More likely it's because guy in black brandishing a cane isn't terribly exciting in a medium dominated by the God-damn Batman.

The two first titles are called "Ruse" and "Sigil".  Both were mainstays back at CrossGen and are being given a second chance.  I'll probably take a closer look at the two when they're on the shelves.  For right now, I'm not terribly excited about the return of a failed comic book company.

Big Bang Theory's Justice League

We've seen lots of incarnations of the Justice League.  And while we have a long, long wait before the team gets a movie, the Big Bang Theory has provided them with at least some live action treatment.

Looks like we've got pretty much the whole crew here.  I'm slightly speechless, and don't know what to say.  the picture kinda speaks for itself, don't you think?

By the way, that Batman still looks more intimidating than Clooney in Batman and Robin.

Yup, Iron Man 3 Gets a New Director

It's confirmed, Jon Favreau will no longer direct Iron Man 3.  This comes from Favreau himself, who will instead be working on Disney's the Magic Kingdom.  Now we've seen Disney rides turned into box office gold (and also abysmal, nightmarish failures starring Eddie Murphy) but an entire theme park?  Here's a bit of what he said on the project.


Between the theme parks and the movies, the Disney iconography was probably the first set of archetypes that I was exposed to. Walt was able to expose me as a child to the full array of emotions, including fear and sorrow. Those movies and attractions haunted my dreams  and made a deep impression on me as a child.

I'm a Disney fantatic who knows the lyrics to at least 5 of their songs by heart and have gone to the park an embarassing number of times.  I just have no idea how this would work.


This doesn't truly answer why Favreau left Iron Man 3.  Was it just to work on this project?  Was money an issue?  Was there some kind of bad blood after Iron Man 2?  We are hearing that Robert Downey Jr. might have actually sided against the director somehow.  Unless the truth is that both parties amicably parting ways, we're not going to hear it.

One plausible reason is that Favreau just didn't want t spend another 3 years working on the character.  Committing 8 to 10 years to one character is a big chunk of time, and even Nolan had to take a break after each Batman.

All we can do now is look to the future and hope Marvel finds a director right for the project.  I'd like one who can deliver on action, but what we is someone with a knack for what makes the character so interesting.  I would rather get someone like Alfonso Cuarón over Michael Bay.

Will Iron Man 3 Get A New Director?

Remember yesterday how we talked about fear?  I'm afraid of Iron Man 3 going the route of X-Men 3.  Today we're seeing a rumor that Jon Favreau will not in fact direct the third (and most likely final) installment of Iron Man.  We have several reports saying Favreau passed on the deal for a variety of reasons, ranging for salary disputes to script issues.

This comes as a bit of a shock.  Marvel already announced the release date for Iron Man 3, and Favreau recently talked about what the movie might contain as part of the bigger Marvel universe.  Why exactly did this happen?  One report suggests that Favreau's increasing success as a director means a bigger price tag, and that he would have needed more money.  We also don't know how attached he is to the idea of connecting the movies together, or if he just wants to do another project.  Until we hear something from either party, it's hard to validate this kind of news.

And yeah, this is potentially very bad news.  Although Iron Man 2 had its share of flaws, I was really hoping to see Favreau take the best of each movie and make a perfect final product.  Everyone assumed the director would be coming back for the last film, and it's hard to imagine who could possibly carry on that legacy.

So if the news is true, Marvel is going to need a new director.  I guess we have to figure out who could be right for the job.  I wonder if Christopher Nolan has some free time after Batman...

What Do You Fear?

I'm afraid of honey badgers.  There, I said it.

It looks like the Marvel universe is being asked a similar question, and Spidey is being asked if he fears tomorrow.  He WOULD fear for the future, the pessimistic little wall crawler.  I'm willing to guess each character has a different image and fear that will teased over the next few weeks, and we'll get a better idea of what's going on.

We've also seen hints of characters like Thor, Hawkeye, Magneto, Colossus, Spider-Woman and more involved.  Right now, it's pretty much impossible to get a read on what's going on since this came completely out of the blue.  The border of the image shown has a slightly Celtic, magical feel to it, which would make sense.  I can't think of a villain who might be associated with this, other than someone like Nightmare.  Maybe it has something to do with the vision Steve Rogers saw at the end of Reborn?  Or the whole Shadow Council business he's dealing with?  I'd really like to share more on this, but this is literally everything I can think of.

Holiday Movie Highlights

Although the Summer usually has all the blockbusters, we'll always see one or two big pictures come in an dominate the holiday season.  That, and almost every indie movie that thinks they can win an Oscar.  Last year we had two big hits with Sherlock Holmes and Avatar.  While I don't think any movies coming out now will be multi-billion dollar sensations, that doesn't mean we can't get excited.  Here are the movies that will generate the most buzz, for better or worse.

Tron Legacy
When 30 years go by without a sequel, its usually time to call it quits.  But Tron's die hard cult fanbase refused to give in, and Disney delivered with a sequel.  And how.  It's clear that Disney wants this to be a huge success, and the movie boasts some of the coolest visuals in years.  Throw in Olivia Wilde and you'll have plenty to stare at for two hours.  The most interesting part of the movie is the fact that Daft Punk did the entire soundtrack which is full of win.

Reviews have been somewhat mixed, and the movie has a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes.  The story is point of some contention amongst reviewers, which isn't too surprising.  Hard to say if this will have an impact on the Box Office.  People will go see Tron because it looks so damn pretty, and we'll see if style points can lead to success.  The movie is due in theaters this Friday.


Yogi Bear
Go see this movie if you're under twelve, or are over forty and have some longstanding love for the character.  I have nothing against family movies, but this is more of a kiddie movie.  I really can't see this being anything else than exactly what it looks like.  The fact that it's the last family movie to come out this year might help it's numbers though.


True Grit
The Western that won John Wayne an oscar....and the Coen brothers?  That sounds just crazy enough to work.  I'm generally not a fan of Westerns, and I've never been able to watch more than five seconds of a Coen Brothers film (Big Lebowski notwithstanding).  Yet putting the two together somehow feels like a winning formula, and it will be fun to see the auteur directors take on a more commercial project.  Although I don't expect huge box office numbers, quality film making and an all star cast will turn this into a highlight of the holiday movie season and surefire contendor for Best Picture.  And wait, two Jeff Bridges movie in two weeks?

Little Fockers
Why did this become a trilogy?  Meet the Parents is a comedy classic.  De Niro at his best and some hysterical scenes made it memorable, and at it's heart it was a fairly smart movie.  It portraying the gap between generations and also changing perception of masculinity.  Yknow, in addition to portraying a cat peeing on the cremated remains of Don Corleone's mother.  And then Meet the Fockers was just a terrible, painful movie.  Still, it made money so here we are.  Expect it to do well at the box office but not make audiences too happy.

So those are big movies for the rest of December.  As shocking as it is for me to say this, it's True Grit that I'm looking forward to the most.  It's just something different.  And hey, after everyone bought and loved Red Dead Redemption, maybe people will be open to Westerns again.  It would be funny if the Coen Brothers can draw in teenage gamers, but we've seen weirder things happen.

Batman: Arkham City Trailer

Batman Arkham Asylum wasn't just the single best comic book game ever made, it also ranks as one of my favorite games of all time.  The free flow combat was endlessly fun, and I couldn't get enough of the stealth mode.  Stalking terrified henchman before beating them to a bloody pulp refuses to get old, and I've been dying for the sequel to come out.  And here it is!




The sequel moves from the Asylum to the streets, and it looks like Arkham's warden Quincy Sharp is now Gotham's mayor.  If you solved "Arkham's Biggest Secret" you would know this only slightly less worse than making the Green Goblin head of National Security (which, for the record, also happened).  And as you can see, Quincy Sharp has brought longtime Batman villain Hugo Strange to Arkham's new quarters.  What is it with this guy?  A few months ago maybe five people knew his name, and now he's the primary antagonist of a blockbuster video game and possibly the next Batman film.  It's like everyone just suddenly realized the character existed.

It goes without saying that the trailer is pretty damn impressive.  True, those arn't the in game graphics, but it certainly sets up the tone of the game as well as major plot points.  Hugo Strange has potential to stand out here, and his knowledge of Batman's secret identity should make for one exciting story.  I'm honestly not sure how they'll integrate that kind of information into a video game, or what Batman's "greatest weakness" is.  Based on the screenshots released so far, the game looks remarkably polished.  Truth be told, as long as they don't drastically change anything I'll be perfectly content with it.

Thor Trailer Unveiled

Great Odin's Raven, it's finally here!  After months of waiting, we've finally got ourselves our first official trailer.  That is, unless you're special and went to comic-con.  But for most of us, this is our first time checking out the mighty god of thunder strutting his stuff in motion.  Without further ado, I give you the Thor trailer.

Sadly, I'm still grappling with the full details of the new blog, so I'm just going to link the trailer.

I'm beyond excited about this movie, yet the trailer was decently done.  It serves more as an introduction to the setting, trying to communicate what Thor is.  We don't see too much plot or character here other than the bare essentials, mostly because they only had time to communicate those basic elements.  All in all though, I'm pleased.  I'm hoping the final product stands out as a brilliant movie in its own right, and this trailer doesn't sway me too much in either direction.

So we don't get a ton of info in the trailer, but what worked?  First off, Chris Hemsworth looks awesome as Thor.  That guy is easily the most physically intense superhero we've seen yet in terms of sheer size and muscle (and no, CGI Hulk doesn't count).  I've never felt so inadequate as a human being just by looking at someone.  We don't hear him talk all that much, and we're going to have to see more than three seconds of dialogue before we can judge him as an actor.  The next thing that stood out was just how closely they stuck to the original Walt Simonson and Jack Kirby style.  Asgard looks more Flash Gordon than Lord of the Rings, a very big risk if you ask me.  We also get to see Anthony Hopkins as Odin, which is arguably the coolest part of the whole thing.

And the designs all look top notch.  The Destroyer looks perfect, and seeing it tear apart everything in it's way is nerdtastic.  I'm still wondering who exactly will be in the armor, and how it fits into the story.  All I know is, watching Thor battle it out with that thing is certainly going to be epic.  Speaking of epic, the big guy laying the hammer down in the last scene???  That's what I want to see in a Thor trailer.

All in all, the trailer was good enough.  It didn't do anything to pump me up too much, although there was certainly nothing wrong with it.  The quality of the movie is going to come down to Kenneth Branagh's directing, and his ability to communicate an effective story.  This trailer should remove any doubts as to how Thor will fit into the Avenges and the rest of the Marvel Universe, and it will be a long wait till May to see the beginning a new hero and the next chapter of a sprawling epic.

First Look At The New Venom

Poor Venom.  He just hasn't been able to catch a break recently.  That Lethal Protector solo series never really caught on and I'm pretty sure most people want to forget about Spider-Man 3.  And then there was that solo movie he was supposed to star in, but hey, we still have the comics!  Today Marvel unveils the newest Venom, and they bring along a unique new twist on the character.  That's my polite way of saying I have no idea what the hell this thing is.

As any good comic fan can tell you, Venom is an alien symbiote from another planet that shares a twisted bond with it's owner.  This is just a bit weird, because nothing about this new costume says "alien life form" to me.  What it does scream out is "let's rip off Call of Duty".  It has some charm and is sort of funky, don't get me wrong, it's just something completely unexpected.  Now, we also have some artwork of the classic Venom costume.  We don't know exactly what this means.  Maybe when our beloved alien monstrosity needs a snack he reveals his inner self.  And it's one scary inner self.

Strangely enough, the description of the new series is pretty interesting.  This will be a covert, black ops hero out on international missions.  Personally, I love those kinds of stories and think we could use more of them in comics.  Okay Marvel you've got me a little interested.  Sadly, we don't know who will be donning the costume.  Originally, with Mac Gargan losing the costume I predicted Peter Parker's ex-room mate/convicted felon Vince Gonzalez would become Venom.  If you've reading the newest issues, you would have seen that Vince is now taking orders from Norman Osborn and has a new grudge against Harry.  And I don't know, he just looks like the kind of guy who would enjoy eating people.  He would have made for an exciting villain, but it's pretty clear this Venom is a good guy of some kind.  The writer describes the character as "a hero going in", so that narrows our choices a bit.  My guess is that the new Venom will be Peter's old high school nemesis Flash Thompson.  The guy proved himself to be a man of honor in the military, where he also damaged his legs.  Both of those would lead him to taking this role, and the character seems to have grown a pretty strong moral center.  I can see that working pretty well.

So here's our new Venom, in all his....glory?  This could be the symbiote's chance to make it solo, and with a writer like Rick Remender that's certainly a possibility.  Despite my reservations about the new look, I'm certainly interested enough to give this one a shot.

Grant Morrison's Batman Hurts My Brain

Like 99% of the internet, I love Batman.  The guy's been around for so long he's practically mythology, and most modern day writers have to come to terms with the fact that they will never make a character as cool as Batman.

But after 70 years of comics, movies, and TV shows, it's hard to wonder just how much more they can do with this guy.  How many Batman stories could there possibly be?  Enter Grant Morrison, a man who probably consumes more acid than an entire 60's rock band.  The man brought back almost every piece of forgotten continuity, gave Batman a son, then "killed" our hero and had Batman fight his way through history before saving the world and creating an entire army of Batmen.  The whole thing is so confusing, TV tropes gave it a page all to itself.

So it's one thing to shake up continuity.  We get it.  That's not what separates Morrison's Batman from so many other titles that go retcon-happy.  Oh no.  The whole thing is layered with ridiculously complex symbolism, multiple non-linear narratives, foreshadowing, references, and even time travel that will make your head spin.  And some guy called Mr. Pyg who is easily the most disturbed Batman villain of all time, making even the Joker look positively sane.  Yet somehow, it works.  I hated the first two arcs of his material I read.  I've been following Batman my whole life, but even I couldn't understand half of what he was referencing or alluding to.  As you read more of it, you see just how meticulously planned and structured this saga is.  Morrison doesn't write comics you can read just once and understand.  The final issue of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" is the best example of this, where multiple storylines seem to converge in the space of just a few panels.

That being said, there are still plenty of moments that are crazyawesome regardless of how intensely you've been following the series.  Like Pirate Batman.  Or Bruce being buried alive, then bench pressing the lid of the coffin and hundreds of pounds of dirt on top of it to reach freedom.  Or a hallucinating, tripped out Batman.  Or a villain's meticulous, evil plan almost coming to fruition, only to realize that Batman had already foiled his plan hundreds of years in the past.  And did I mention Pirate Batman?

And now the big question: would I recommend Grant Morrison's Batman?  Yes and no.  If you don't feel like putting in the energy to figuring it out, then stay the hell away from it.  But if you want a challenge and plan on starting from the beginning of Morrison's run, then you might find a completely fresh look on comic's most iconic character.

Captain Otter Begins

Hey all, and welcome to the exciting origin story of Captain Otter!  It's actually kind of a reboot, but more on that later.  In this first post, I figured I'd introduce myself and what I would be doing on the blog.  I love comic books.  I also love movies.  As you can guess, I really love comic book movies.  Not mention making the world safe for otters everywhere.

So that's what this blog is about.  Exploring the uncharted realms of nerdom.  I'll be offering reviews of anything that might cross my way, discussing the latest rumors and scoops, and sharing whatever nerdy stuff pops into my head.  Whether it's a comic book, movie, video game, TV show or novel, Captain Otter will be there.  Trust me, it'll be an adventure.