The Marvel Movie Puzzle

By Randy Gentile

Font You! Weekly Rambling

Last Tuesday I attended the Comic Book Club at the People's Improv Theater here in NYC. What's The Comic Book Club, you say? Think of it as The Tonight Show with comic creators making bad jokes and plugging their work instead of actors.

Tuesday's show featured Brian Michael Bendis (Secret Invasion), Ed Brubaker (Captain America) and Matt Fraction (Invincible Iron Man). At show time a few other creators were added to the list. Jeph Loeb (Incredible Hulk), Joe Quesada (Marvel EIC) and Jeff Katz, an executive on the upcoming Wolverine movies as well as a bunch of other flicks like Shoot 'Em Up, Snakes on a Plane and Jason vs. Freddy. He's also a co-writer on DC's Booster Gold, along with Jeff Johns.

Like I said earlier the show was a lot fun and joking around, but sprinkled in were some nice tidbits of information. The reason all these big name creators were in NYC at the same time was for the Marvel Retreat. The retreat takes place a few times a year and is basically a creator think tank where Marvel's direction for the future is laid out book-by-book. If you're hoping for some insight into what's going down next year, I didn't get much but one thing that did pique my interest was a new direction for the Ultimate line.

JQ, Loeb and Bendis are looking to sharpen up a line that has become very stale. What was once all the rage with Bendis and Mark Millar taking Spider-Man, the X-Men and Ultimates in exciting new directions has taken a back seat to the core Marvel Universe.

When Amazing Spider-Man was revamping yet again, Ultimate Spider-Man was the Spider-Book to read… now Amazing Spider-Man is on sale three times a month featuring top tier talent… Bendis is still going strong on Ultimate Spidey but it's safe to say the book doesn't have the zip it once had.

Brubaker and Fraction are revamping the X-Books, moving them out of Westchester, New York to San Francisco, California. I don't have any clue who is writing and drawing Ultimate X-Men right now… do you?

And how about the Ultimates? Under Millar and Hitch the title was as hot as any book in recent memory. Arguably, one of the best books Marvel has ever published. Today, we've got Jeph Loeb and Joe Madureira on a book that is a shadow of its former self. Meanwhile, New Avengers and Mighty Avengers are Marvel's best-selling titles.

But Marvel is hoping to change all that with the release of this month's Ultimatum by Jeph Loeb and David Finch. While I fear it might turn up being another one of those "Nothing will be the same" hype filled storylines, the rumor that books will be cancelled as a result of this 5-issue storyline makes it a bit more intriguing. We'll see. That David Finch art is always nice, though.

Anyway, getting back on topic. One of the most interesting things talked about at the Comic Book Club was the future of the Marvel movie franchises. We all know that Iron Man was a huge hit and with Iron Man 2 on the way, the Hulk revamp a success, an upcoming Captain America movie directed by Joe Johnston… (How cool is that, by the way?) Follow that up with Thor (rumored to be directed by Kenneth Branagh) and we're well on our way to an Avengers movie.

Quesada talked about how "Marvel West and Publishing" were working together to bring these iconic characters to the big screen as closely to their comic book counterparts as possible. It worked with Iron Man and it's great to hear that Marvel is following the same recipe with their follow up films.

Katz spoke briefly about the Wolverine solo movie calling it "very dark" and mentioning the possibility of a Deadpool spin-off starring Ryan Reynolds. I did raise my eyebrows when Katz followed up his "very dark" comment with Deadpool and I can't say I'm a huge Deadpool fan but the character does have a bit of a cult following. It'll be interesting to see if that translates to Joe Moviegoer.

Font You! Cover of the Week: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #101
April, 1985
By John Byrne
This is such a great cover. Black and white for the black and white costume. Why isn't this a poster?

Font You! "What I'm reading": Kick Drum Comix #2
By Jim Mahfood

I talked about Kick Drum Comix #1 a few columns back and I can't say enough good things about the latest from Jim Mahfood. He continues to push his art style and writing in exciting new directions. It's not often that you see Mahfood's art colored but the work by S. Steven Struble and Justin Stewart are top notch.

Batman Cacophony #1 (of 3)
By Kevin Smith and Walt Flanagan
I picked this one up on a whim because I do love Kevin Smith written comics. Yeah, he left a few books unfinished back at Marvel but his history with DC seems a bit more consistent. Plus, I'm interested in seeing his take on Batman and the Joker. All in all, it was a decent read. The art by Walt Flanagan was decent but not Earth shattering. I'll pick up the next issue.

Savage Dragon #140
By Erik Larsen
I'm really digging this storyline. Larsen's art is really clicking for me, I think it's the best work he's done on the book in quite some time. The colorist, Nikos Koutsis, does phenomenal work. I doubt this will be the last we hear of him. If you're a former reader of Dragon, give this book another shot. It's as good as it's ever been.