Fantastic Four: First Steps is on the horizon

The first Fantastic Four movie produced entirely by Marvel Studios and subtitled First Steps is being released to theaters July 25, 2025, and features a mixture of familiar faces and up and coming actors: Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/The Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing. Set in a retro 1960s timeline, the adventurous quartet face the menace of the World Devourer himself, Galactus (Ralph Ineson). I am guessing there will be a cameo from long-time FF comic book menace Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) who is the villain of 2026's Avengers: Doomsday film, but that is merely conjecture.

The Fantastic Four really holds a special place in my comic book-loving heart and after three, count 'em THREE, prior big screen adaptations ranging from mediocre to terrible, I am hoping FF:FS finally hits it out of the park with wonderful characters who are faithful to the spirit of the comics, an engaging storyline (It's Galactus! Don't screw that up!), and stunning visuals and set pieces (It's Galactus! Don't screw that up!).

Fantastic Four. Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

The Fantastic Four, once Marvel Comics' flagship title, now a series canceled since 2015, was like the Star Trek of comic books: a group of adventurers boldly going into the unknown frontiers of space and time and other dimensions, meeting the challenges head on and bringing back that knowledge to help mankind.

Art: Anthony Castrillo. Characters Copyright 2016 by Marvel Comics. No infringement of those rights is intended.


Apparently Marvel Comics decided to stop making FF comics as they don't own the (potentially) lucrative film rights, which they sold off to 20th Century Fox for relatively cheap in the late 90s while undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Why make new stories in the comics which might fuel the competition's movie coffers? It makes (dollars and) sense, but it still stings.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby crafted 102 issues together as writer/co-plotter and artist/co-plotter respectively. They gave us not only our flawed quartet of heroes in Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Ben Grimm/The Thing, Susan Storm Richards/Invisible Woman and Johnny Storm/Human Torch, but Doctor Doom, Annihilus and the Negative Zone, the Silver Surfer, Galactus, the Black Panther, Mole Man, the Watcher, Skrulls, the Puppet Master, the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton and Lockjaw), the Frightful Four, and so much more.

There's a gold mine of stories there, enough for several movies. Since Fox tried three times to bring the FF to the big screen and failed, maybe in a few years they might sell the rights back to Marvel so that their film arm Marvel Studios might make a truly great Fantastic Four film.

To the Pogo Plane, everyone!

The Hands of Uncle Roger: Master of Fried Rice parody covers

If you love Asian food as I do, then you must know about Uncle Roger. Uncle Roger is a character played by comedian Nigel Ng who is very concerned that Asian cooking be done correctly. If you use a flat pan instead of a wok, add some extraneous non-Asian ingredient like "chili jam", or forget to add the life-altering/life-affirming MSG, then you will come to know Uncle Roger's if not wrath then wonderfully skewed sense of humor as he chastises you as celebrated chefs Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver can attest.

In that spirit I created these parody covers to Marvel's much-loved The Hands of Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu from the 1970s which I call The Hands of Uncle Roger: Master of Fried Rice.

So grab some of your favorite Asian food, be it Chinese fried rice and kung pao chicken, Malaysian nasi lemak, or Korean japchae and curl up with the four-color adventures of Uncle Roger.

original Master of Kung Fu covers Copyright 2022 by Marvel Entertainment.

In A Daze Of Futures Passed

The cover for The Uncanny X-Men #141 is one of the most legendary in all of comics. Penciller John Byrne and inker Terry Austin (likely under the direction of their X-editor Louise Jones (Simonson)) created a grim masterpiece for part one of the two part future-set epic "Days Of Future Past."

For a while now I have been gathering once a week on the interwebs with friends I made on Twiter and we watch fun silly mostly '70s and '80s fare such as Buck Rogers In The 25the Century, UFO and Space: 1999, Star Trek TOS and TAS, Ultraman, Knight Rider and Automan. However there is one show that brought us all together that first time and from which our group's name was coined: Manimal.

Presented for your approval is my loving homage to the incredible Byrne and Austin cover of that X-Men title for the "ManimAlliance" and many of the wacky goofy television shows of yore we have enjoyed and skewered in friendship.

Uncanny X-Men #141 Copyright 2022 by Marvel Entertainment. 

Bat Slap!

 Batman just doling out a general purpose Bat-slap to the Boy Wonder.

We all know Robin will deserve one sooner or later.

Batman and Robin are Copyright and Trademark 2021 by DC Comics Inc. No infringement of those rights is intended with this parody. 

Who Wore It Better: Zardoz vs Vartox

The cover of Superman #281 (Nov 1974) popped up on a Twitter account recently, featuring the introduction to a hirsute, mustachioed villain named Vartox.



 If you thought he looked just like Sean Connery's character of Zed in the trippy sci fi flick Zardoz (released in Feb 1974) you win the Golden Thigh High Boot.

Now the question is, Who wore it better? And why was this deemed appropriate for young boys of the 1970s?

Move Over Ghost Rider! Make Room for RIDE RIDER!

We love poking fun at Rob Liefeld, the lightning rod artist known for co-creating X-Force for Marvel Comics and for being one of the seven artists to quit Mavel to start up Image Comics with his Youngblood series.

Liefeld has had great success in comics but, let's be honest here, the dude, a self-taught artist, can't draw his way out of a paper bag. He is (in)famous for wonky anatomy, not being able to draw hands or feet, absurd poses, and for "pouchifying" his costumes. Additionally, his character names leave something to be desired: Bloodpool, Task, Badrock, Bloodstrike, Blahblood, and Bloodblah. (Those last two might not be real.)

While perusing some Twitter posts with vintage Ghost Rider art, I wondered what that character might look like under a Liefeldian revamp. Would we be staring at the vacant eyes of Blood Rider? Blaze Rider? How about Pouch Rider or Ghost Ghoster? I got it: Ride Rider!

 Don't insult Ride Rider's pouches. You won't like him when you insult his pouches.

Will It Float? The NEW Aquaman Trailer

Ladies and gents, boys and girls, dolphins and porpoises, here is the first LONG ASS trailer for the new James Wan movie FLIPPERBOY!

Just kidding, it's AQUAMAN, starring bro-man/bro-dude/bro-ham/brocephus/bromide/Vincent Van Brogh/Obi-Wan Kenobro...Jason Momoa.

I like the visuals of Atlantis and the variety of aquatic mounts. The turtle sub was cool, too. I NEVER thought I would live to see Black Manta appear in a blockbuster movie.

But I sincerely hope they tone down the surfer-bro aspect of this iteration of Aquaman that was all over Momoa's performance in the execrable Justice League movie.

Bring your mask and scuba gear. We get wet in December.

Avengers Assemble in Infinity War Trailer

Avengers Frickin' Assemble!

Avengers: Infinity War.

Holy shit!

Fantastic Four. Goodbye, Farewell and Amen

The Fantastic Four, once Marvel Comics' flagship title, now a series canceled since 2015, was like the Star Trek of comic books: a group of adventurers boldly going into the unknown frontiers of space and time and other dimensions, meeting the challenges head on and bringing back that knowledge to help mankind.

Art: Anthony Castrillo. Characters Copyright 2016 by Marvel Comics. No infringement of those rights is intended.


Apparently Marvel Comics decided to stop making FF comics as they don't own the (potentially) lucrative film rights, which they sold off to 20th Century Fox for relatively cheap in the late 90s while undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Why make new stories in the comics which might fuel the competition's movie coffers? It makes (dollars and) sense, but it still stings.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby crafted 102 issues together as writer/co-plotter and artist/co-plotter respectively. They gave us not only our flawed quartet of heroes in Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Ben Grimm/The Thing, Susan Storm Richards/Invisible Woman and Johnny Storm/Human Torch, but Doctor Doom, Annihilus and the Negative Zone, the Silver Surfer, Galactus, the Black Panther, Mole Man, the Watcher, Skrulls, the Puppet Master, the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton and Lockjaw), the Frightful Four, and so much more.

There's a gold mine of stories there, enough for several movies. Since Fox tried three times to bring the FF to the big screen and failed, maybe in a few years they might sell the rights back to Marvel so that their film arm Marvel Studios might make a truly great Fantastic Four film.

To the Pogo Plane, everyone!

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 Trailer

"Showtime, a-holes!"

That phrase will be on everyone's lips and t-shirts next summer, thanks to Chris Pratt's charisma and the deft writing and directing of James Gunn in reassembling his misfit Guardians of the Galaxy for new exploits in the sequel.

The new trailer has got it all: laughs, spectacle, Baby Groot, button pushing, beautiful multihued people, great 70s rock music. Enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2.

The Billion Dollar Movie Club

I have yet to see Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice.  The movie opened HUGE in March, breaking/setting records.

But then word of mouth spread, and week two, week three, and more came and the movie's fortunes dwindled. Oh, it made money for Warner Bros. studio and the producers (to the tune of $863 million worldwide).

But we live in a cinematic world where $863 million is a disappointment.  We live in a moviegoing world where there are - to date - 24 films that have grossed more than $1 BILLION each (that's domestic + foreign grosses).  That's BILLION, with a "B",

Batman and Superman are the oldest known superheros around today, having first been published in comic books in 1939 and 1938 respectively.  They both have had successful turns in theaters.

But finally putting them TOGETHER in one blockbuster movie, oh, this should have been another Billion Dollar Baby.  But only if the movie was good.

When it was announced that WB was releasing a movie featuring Batmand AND Superman, not only were the rapid fanboys interested, but it got the general public's attention.  They WANTED to see a movie which, for the first time, featured these two legendary, mythical, American heroes.

But WB fumbled that ball and made a grim, dark joyless movie.  And the public told those closet to them to sit this one out.  Go see Zootopia or see Deadpool again.

In comparision, Sony recently revealed that in next year's reboot of their Spider-Man movie series, titled Spider-Man: Homecoming, Robert Downey Jr will appear as Tony Stark (and likely in his Iron Man getup too).  That sentence got not only the fanboys' attention, but the public's as well.

Mark my words, that sentence is worth at least $500 million in movie tickets worldwide.  And since this new Spidey movie is being produced for/with Sony by Marvel Studios head-honcho Kevin Feige and his brain-trust, it should be as enjoyable as the best Marvel movies.  If it's good, there's the other $500 million, and you have another Billion Dollar Baby.

The Doctor Will Tease You Now

The first teaser trailer for DOCTOR STRANGE, Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts. The movie opens in November.

Daredevil and Elektra Art by Bill Sienkiewicz

Artist extraordinare BILL SIENKIEWICZ nails another great cover for Marvel's Daredevil title. (Image copyright Marvel, from Comics Alliance)

Some Big Movie Trailers For 2016

Trailers, trailers, trailers, y'all.

Star Trek Beyond (July 22)

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25)

X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27)

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (November 18)

Captain America: Civil War (May 6)

The Legend Of Tarzan (July 1)

Suicide Squad (Aug 5)

Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad - Trailers For Both Movies Show Promise

Another San Diego Comic Con has entered the history books.

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. got my attention with trailers for their two big movies for 2016.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (out March 25, 2016). Not a Man of Steel sequel, but more a preamble to the announced Justice League movies. Henry Cavill proved he has the chops for Superman in Man of Steel and Ben Affleck appears to be diving deep in his role as Batman. I just hope the filmmakers due justice (no pun intended) to this historic first-time onscreen pairing of the most well-known superheroes of all time.

Suicide Squad (out August 5, 2016) with Jared Leto stepping into the killer's smile and cackling laugh of the Joker. Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn looks like she might be the breakout star of this tale. And what a great cover of the Bee Gees' "I Started A Joke" to use in the trailer.

Man-Thing and Monster Energy Drinks - What they have in common

It used to be that when you wanted a quick buzz in the morning or a pick me up to get you through the end of your work day, you'd hit up the old coffee pot for that caffeine buzz.

Nowadays, energy drinks are - to borrow a phrase from Bounty paper towels - the "quicker-picker-upper."

Monster Energy Drinks seem to be a big deal out there, but ever notice something funny about the stylized "M"?  I think it looks just like the face of Marvel's Man-Thing swamp bog monster (tagline, "Whatever knows fear, burns at the Man-Thing's touch!").

Judge for yourself below.

 "Whatever knows thirst, quenches at the Monster's sips!"

 Images copyright their respective rights holders.

Family Guy's Peter Griffin Roams NY Comic-Con

In the future (or at least during the annual New York Comic-Con) everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes. 

Just ask a man named Robert Franzese, who in his own words: "I'm like a nobody—I have a nobody job, making nobody pay—but I go to New York Comic-Con...I'm freakin' Brad Pitt. It makes me feel like a million bucks."

Well, he's not exactly Brad Pitt, but Franzese does don a white dress shirt, green pants and round eyeglasses to dress up as Family Guy head of the household Peter Griffin, complete with a voice impression that would do creator/star Seth MacFarlane proud.

Franzese looks to be having a great time, and the crowds genuinely seem to love him.  

The friggin schweetness was first found at AdWeek.

Buffy Fights a Demon She Can't Defeat: HD Reformatting

Do you want to watch the acclaimed TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer in High Definition?  It is 2014, after all, well into the 21st century, so why not?

Well, according to this article, titled "What's Wrong With Buffy's HD?" you might want to stick with your old standard definition DVDs.

Apparently the cable channel Pivot has been airing a much-maligned HD version of creator Joss Whedon's Buffy in 16:9 format, so it fills up the whole rectangular screen.  Trouble is, Buffy, which premiered in 1997, was shot in the TV standard-of-the-time 4:3 closer-to-a-square ratio. 

Just as wide-screen theatrical movies have long been bastardized when they aired on old square TVs in chopped up, panned and scanned versions, now the same thing is happening with TV shows being converted to HD screens.

Good grief.  Just slap some black bars on the sides and give me the WHOLE remastered HD picture.  Don't do this bad, often silly, re-framing and cropping; to illustrate what the issue is, just have a little five second intro showing WHY reformatting 4:3 images to the full 16:9 screen is a bad idea (visually, aesthetically, artistically).  I would hope viewers today would be more informed of this kind of thing.  Maybe not.

Comic Book Art from the 1980s

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I'm a firm believer in that old adage.

The awesome blog Marvel Comics of the 1980s has many pictures worth many thousands of words.  Two posts recently caught my eye there: Favorite Last Pages from the 1980s.

Here is a sample, an incredible piece from Bill Sienkiewicz's run as artist on The New Mutants.

The second post was Favorite Splash Pages from the 1980s.  Below is a fun splash page by penciller Paul Smith and inker Bob Wiacek from The Uncanny X-Men.

(Artwork and characters copyright 2014 by Marvel Comics.  No infringement is intended.)

It's A Genre World, We Just Live In It

Lotta things happening in the genre worlds right now:

Christopher Nolan' s Instellar is set to move and thrill us in early November.

The super-cult TV favorite Twin Peaks is coming back, with original creators David Lynch and Mark Frost returning to run things.

Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man is rumored to be the "villain" in the upcoming Captain America 3.

And Warner Brothers is banking A LOT on their stable of DC Comics characters translating into movie blockbuster franchises.