Even though Rise of the Silver Surfer opens today, I doubt I'll even get to see it this week. Still, I'm looking forward to it, and have moderately high hopes; I liked the first movie regardless of what anyone says. Of course, I didn't think Daredevil was terrible either, and you've seen this blog, so you can draw your own conclusions about my taste.
Not to spoil Spider-Man 3, but I didn't like it as much as the previous two. Most of my complaints are probably typical: three villains is just two many, Mary Jane was kind of annoying this time, Peter was alternately a jerk or a crybaby. Also, while the plainclothes fight with Harry Osborn was great, I see we've reached the point in the series where Tobey Maguire is tired of wearing the mask the whole movie (yeah, I know Spidey's CGI or a stuntman 99% of the time) and has the clout to do something about it.
On my desk at work, I have the Unmasked Spider-Man Minimate--it came with Spider-Woman, and is subtitled Raft Escape or something, from the first storyarc of New Avengers. He comes with a little pseudo-cast, to commerate Spidey breaking his arm for two issues, and not mentioning it in any of his own books (that I know of) but it made me consider something. I think Bendis started the process in Ultimate Spider-Man, then imported it to the regular Marvel Universe: I'm positive I've seen Spidey unmasked or maskless more in the last couple of years, than in the twenty-plus years preceding. Maybe I'm giving too much credit, but it's almost like Bendis was laying the groundwork, like he knew any actor playing Spider-Man would eventually reach a point where he wants his face out there. Then, if you consider all the old issues where Spidey would make a mask out of webbing, scraps of costume, a paper bag, anything to keep his face covered; and the theory seems more plausible, doesn't it?
Well, maybe, maybe not. Anyway, have a good weekend: I think I might need to pick up the new Hellboy Animated (hopefully with the action figure) and comics tomorrow, and maybe Ghost Rider. Haven't seen it yet, but it has to be better than Man-Thing. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Manny's one of my least favorite characters, yet I still rented that. My son wandered in about a quarter of the way in and watched part of it with me, then asked "Is Man-Thing even in this movie? All they've done is drive around the swamp!" Kids don't take that kind of crap, tell you what...
From Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #9, (maybe. Reprinted in Spider-Man: Doom with a View) "Doom with a View" Written by Sean McKeever, pencils by Mike Norton, inks by Norman Lee. I need to get more of the Target reprints of these.
2 comments:
Nice to see a fellow member of the "Man-Thing is the worst comic movie ever" club. There aren't many people that are part of that. Possibly because you and I are the only comic fans who bothered to watch it.
Googum, you're not exaggerating Bendis' influence on unmasking Spider-Man. He seems to hate secret identities in general, and it seems as though barely an arc of Ultimate Spider-Man would go by without him going maskless. It has been a frustrating trend for years. That's why I liked Dan Slott's take in Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm with Stupid so much. He had Peter get fed up with all the unmaskings and realize that he could just use his spider powers to keep the mask stuck to his face.
I'm not so sure it's a matter of Maguire gaining influence. Throughout the trilogy they made sure to damage the mask enough that you could see him a fair amount in each film. I think that's got to be the case for any new superhero movie now -- if you're going to land a name actor, you've got to ensure that they get plenty of face time. Look for it in Iron Man. The street clothes fight just seemed like an attempt to do something different - to show Peter as more vulnerable when faced with an enemy who knows his identity.
Also, you were asking in your Monday post about blog recommendations. I can't recommend Mark Engblom's Comic Coverage (http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/) enough. I just discovered it last month during his Spider-Man Week. It's a great-looking site that's packed with fun and some spiffy original artwork. His shirt designs are fun, too.
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