Posted at 8:15 a.m. - Wednesday, December 24

The animation wing of Marvel Entertainment has been cranking out a bunch of really cool direct-to-DVD features as of late (i.e. IRON MAN, DOCTOR STRANGE & ULTIMATE AVENGERS) and has a few more in waiting for release in January. They've just put some footage from their new 'HULK VERSUS' DVD on Marvel.Com:

The bit where Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, flies back into his hand is just awesome! They've really been able to capture the essence of the character in motion, if you ask me.

But...

Will the movie be as good as the trailer?  I dunno...

You comments and feedback are always welcome!

Posted at 11:55 a.m. - Thursday, September 11

So...According to Ain't It Cool News, the rumor surrounding Will Smith being offered the role of Captain America in the new Marvel film was completely unfounded. I figured as much, but I take issue with this bit from AICN:

'Marvel never offered the part, nor did they approach or entertain a conversation about Will Smith for CAPTAIN AMERICA. That said - I'm sure they have a few parts that they'd like him for, just not Captain America.

So there ya go.   They haven't gone insane and we don't need to be confused, angry and scared about it anymore.'

Ok, that last part ticks me off cuz I know there were some 'fanboys' who were getting their spidey-underoos in a bunch over Will Smith playing Steve Rogers.  Why get 'confused, angry and scared'?  Would it really have been the end of the world as we knew it?

As I said in my previous post about this rumor, this kind of casting would not have been unprecedented and just might have given the character of Captain America a truly unique re-interpretation.  One that it just might need to make a feature film work.

To go overboard and fill message boards with angry rants over why Will Smith can't play the character just smacks of intolerance and - dare I say it? - racism.  No, in the end, Smith wasn't going to be offered the role in any case, but to read what some self-proclaimed 'fanboys' were saying on the internet really saddened me.  Even the AICN headline was terribly disrespectful of Mr. Smith.

Sigh.  Comic Book readers should be among the most tolerant people in society, if you ask me.  We've been ridiculed and picked on for a long time.  We shouldn't take the scorn we've endured and turn it on others.  That's just my opinion.

What's yours?

Posted at 9:05 p.m. - Tuesday, September 9

What does the term 'Dark Reign' mean for Marvel Comics?  According to the latest 'Marvel Pulse' news release, it's the follow-up to the best-selling mini-series Secret Invasion.  Details are sketchy and the creators are being intentionally vague, but this is what we know: Brian Michael Bendis, the mastermind behind Secret Invasion is leaving Mighty Avengers with issue #20 to start a new title: Dark Avengers.

Also, the 'status quo' in the Marvel Universe will change yet again, as it did after the Civil War mini-series with the super-heroes being divided into two factions.  What this new status quo is going to be, though, has not been disclosed.

I don't know.  As of late, these 'events' with supposedely 'far-reaching repercussions for the Marvel U'  have been geared to get people to read more and more books than is simply necessary, just to get a complete story.  While Marvel has been successful, for the most part, with telling the Secret Invasion story, these types of stunts tend to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

And for how long will these 'far-reaching repercussions' actually matter in the Marvel U?  Civil War saw Spider-man unmask, only to have the whole storyline annulled by Mephisto in the One More Day storyline.

After a while, these 'events' get pretty tiresome and it seems to me that after House of M, then Civil War, closely followed by Secret Invasion, it's getting played out rather quickly.

What say you, Marvelites?

Posted at 8:35 p.m. - Monday, September 8

Captain America [Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics]

Hot on the heels of the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire announcement comes a new development in the world of comic-book cinema: according to MTV Splash Page, Will Smith is the rumored front-runner to play the character of Steve Rogers in the new Captain America live-action feature.  If the rumor proves to be true, it wouldn't be the first time the actor would be taking over the role of a traditionally Caucasian character., i.e. Will Smith taking on the role of James West in the Wild, Wild West film adaptation:

Will Smith as James West [Image courtesy of Warner Bros.]

Or do the folks at Marvel Entertainment have an adaptation of the acclaimed mini-series Captain America:The Truth - Red White & Black in mind?  Whatever the case may be, the idea of Will Smith as the Sentinel of Liberty is certainly intriguing and would make for an interesting dramatic paradigm-shift in the character.

What do the Marvel Zombies think?

Posted at 3:30 p.m. - Sunday, August 31

[Image by Lenil Francis Yu, courtesy of Marvel Comics]

The Skrull Invasion of the Marvel Universe passed its midpoint when Secret Invasion #5 came out a week or so ago.  Writer Brian Michael Bendis has been supplementing the goings-on in the main series with 'flashback' episodes in his Avengers titles (Mighty Avengers & New Avengers) and this past week revealed how the shape-shifting Skrulls figured out how to disguise themselves among us without being detected.

The story takes place in New Avengers #44 and reveals just how cruel and vengeful the Skrulls can be.  I won't go into any detail for those who haven't read it yet, but the torture that Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) endures at the hands of his alien interrogators is unsettling to say the least.

The book continues a trend of BMB taking real-life scenarios (muggings on video; violence against women; torture of 'enemy combatants') and plugging them into his books to give them a real-world resonance. I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet and have debated Bendis' methods with my fellow comic geeks ad nauseum.

I'd like to hear what Geek To Me readers think!  Have you been reading Secret Invasion?  And if so, has it been worth the 3 bucks a pop (for each issue) for you?

Comment away!