Movie Talk - Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther

Well, I got two more movies left before I go see Avengers: Infinity War. Since I'm not really into sitting in movie screens today (finally got new glasses), I'll be seeing it this weekend. Anyway, I was able to see Black Panther with my family the weekend it was released. It was pretty cool since we don't do that much. I think the last movie we saw together in theaters was Ghostbusters. What sucks is that I kinda called off a date... hey, I tried to invite her at least, but her job got in the way. Thor: Ragnarok is actually one I didn't see until last weekend at home. I just felt like holding off for this one. So, how were these two vastly different movies?

Movie Talk - Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Doctor Strange

Since Avengers: Infinity War is finally hitting theaters in April (I’m glad they moved it up so I can use that weekend for other things), it’s finally time to look at the other movies in the MCU. Right before Avengers: Age of Ultron was released, I pretty much went through every MCU movie released at that time. While I’ve given a little opinion on these movies in other posts, it’s time to revisit some of them. I was trying to get this out but one, "little" movie kept holding me up.

Since I got seven movies (Infinity War will be its own post), I’m splitting this up. Today, it’s Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and Doctor Strange. I pretty much saw all of these movies in theaters. I was able to re-watch Civil War and Dr. Strange on Netflix somewhat recently. As for Ant Man, I had to look for that elsewhere.

Tales From The Library! - Black Panther Vol. 1: Who Is The Black Panther?

I wanted to start this themed month off with a character that I’ve liked but haven’t read a lot of: The Black Panther. He was introduced in Fantastic Four and has been around since then. He’s been a part of the Avengers and has had a few series during his time in the limelight. He was even married to Storm which could have been cool if Marvel did anything cool with it. T’Challa may be the Marvel character who is most like Batman in a lot of ways. He’s rich (Royalty, man!!), he’s a master at fighting styles and tactics, he’s pretty smart, he uses an animal with the name, and he’s lost family members to crime. There are differences of course. His world is much more expansive than Gotham, the Black Panther is a title given to him, he has no secret identity, and he will cross the line in ending his enemies permanently.

Earlier in the year, I looked at a Panther story from the 80’s. I’ve wanted to look for more stories but really haven’t yet. For this character, I decided to once again visit the library and I found something. “Who is the Black Panther” was the arc that revamped the character for his series in 2005. The trade contains the first six issues of Black Panther. It was even adapted into a kind of lackluster animated series/motion comic. At least it had good voice casting. Hollywood director and former BET Pres. Of Entertainment Reginald Hudlin handled the writing duties for the series. Coming in on art duties are John Romita Jr. for pencils and Klaus Jansen with inks.

Black Panther Vol. 1: Who Is The Black Panther?

Writer: Reginald Hudlin

Pencils: John Romita Jr.

Inks: Klaus Jansen

Colors: Dean White

Letters: Randy Gentile and Chris Eliopoulos

Assistant Editor: Cory Sedlmeier

Editor: Axel Alonso

Bat-Homage? Bat-Knockoff? Bat-Analogue? Bat-Similarities? Ah, Screw It!

What’s up, Internet? Since the year is coming to an end, I’ve decided to try something a bit different for December. Back in September, I did something different for Superman Month. Instead of just looking at Superman, I looked at the different analogues/homages/ripoffs that were based off of Superman’s world and status. I had fun with it and wondered what other character I could do this with. Suddenly, a Bat Signal went off in my head and I started to look for the many characters that are analogues to Batman.

A bit over-exaggerated in my research. I also think this gif perfectly works when you see something messed up on the Internet.

I had the inverse for what I had with Superman. It got harder when I got to looking. It was pretty easy with Superman. If the guy could fly, have a cape, and stand for Truth and Justice, he fit the role. With Batman, it was a little different. They are out there, but they aren’t as easy to find. Ultimately, I decided to include characters that may not be direct analogues but have enough similarities to Batman. I also have a couple of surprises toward the end. Who are they? Only The Shad… uh, I mean, only I know!

Since I want to look at different characters across the medium, I won’t be including a lot of Batman’s supporting cast here. While they are the first to look at when looking for characters like Batman, I want to look at other characters this time. I may look at one story that features ones like Nightwing, Robin, and others but I’m not sure yet. So, stay tuned. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

Movie Talk - Marvel Animated Features Part 1: The Avengers

For my first step into the world of the Avengers, I’m actually going to look at some direct-to-DVD movies that Marvel did a few years ago. Before DC got its stuff together with its animated market, Marvel started off with its own in 2006 with its release of Ultimate Avengers.  They teamed up with Lions Gate Films to put out movies at about twice a year.  All of the movies from that line are on Netflix, so you know what I’m gonna do. Instead of talking about them all in one post, I’ll spread them out according to hero. Today, it’s the Avengers.

Ultimate Avengers was released in early 2006 while its sequel, Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther, was released in the fall of 2006. The next Avengers-themed movie to come out from this venture was Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow and it was released in 2008. I bought the first movie and still own it to this day. I rented Rise of the Panther from Hollywood Video while I was in college. As for Next Avengers, I waited a long time until I just decided to see it on Netflix some months ago. Since the Ultimate Avengers movies are also on Netflix, I decided to re-watch them again. So, what do I think about them now? Find out below.

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Black Panther (1988)

You know, I realized something back in December during my DC kick: I haven’t looked at anything Marvel-related since April of last year. I knew I liked DC, but dang! I left Marvel out in the cold like a dog. My excuse is simple: I had no time for it. So, I think I need to make up for that time with a hero who I really don’t know much about: The Black Panther. For those who don’t know, T’Challa is the king of the African country, Wakanda. Whenever someone becomes the king, they take the title of the Black Panther. He was also one of the first black superheroes in comics which makes it even nicer since it is Black History Month. If you want to know more about the guy, go to Wikipedia or something  since I don’t know everything about the dude.

I’ll go on and admit that T’Challa isn’t one of my favorite superheroes but I do like him. I’ve tried to get into some of the different runs in the last few years, but I haven’t made the chance to do it. I think I like it more when he interacts with other heroes like the Avengers or Marvel’s Illuminati group. I enjoyed the character in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as well as Jonathan Hickman’s New Avengers run which is something I need to catch up on one of these days. I haven’t gone past issue 5 yet since Marvel had the “bright” idea to have their books cost about $4 an issue.

I found this four-issue miniseries in the 50 cent bin some time ago. Since it had Black Panther and all four issues were available, I decided to get it. It was released in 1988. I haven’t heard of any of the creators on this except for the editors and the penciler. So, let’s get to it.

Black Panther (1988)

Writer: Peter B. Gillis

Pencils: Denys Cowan

Inks: Sam de LaRosa

Colors: Bob Sharen (#1-#3) and Max Scheele (#4)

Letters: Rick Parker

Editor: Mark Gruenwald

Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco