Daredevil SN2 EP1 – ‘Bang’

After a titanic end to season 1 and an overall good first season, the premiere for the second season of Daredevil has a lot to live up to. “Bang” lays its cards on the table early on with Daredevil in action against a group of street hoods. Matt, Karen and Foggy are all on the trail of a criminal who has violently murdered several mafiosos. Seeing Foggy and Karen in action is good because one of my criticisms of the first season overall was the way those two felt like extras.

Foggy and Matt’s relationship is good again, but it has the edge of Foggy being worried about what may happen to his friend. There are some fun scenes where the gang just shoot some pool. This does work in showing their rapport when they are out of action. They are also faced with a moral dilemma. They are officially broke, but they have to decide whether or not to take on a client with a shady past.

This stuff is all good, but this episode introduces the real star: The Punisher. While not referred to by name yet, this episode builds suspense for the character much like the first season built suspense for Fisk. This episode does cut to the chase (which is for the best – the slow burn for Fisk worked ONCE) as we do see his face by the end of the episode. But in the confines of this one episode, the show still builds suspense.

We see quick glimpses of him. He usually appears in shadow or from behind. We see that the Punisher is one tough customer. We see the damage that he caused laying waste to the mafia members – and trust me, this is some gruesome stuff. He waltzes straight into a hospital to take out his targets. He even holds his own and fights off Daredevil. We only get one full shot of the Punisher and says only one word “Bang” on screen. The man says so little with so much.

Overall, this was an excellent start to season 2. Show enough action to get the audience interested, but keep enough secret to make them want more.

The ‘Captain Marvel’ Director Shortlist Just Got Shorter

The ‘Captain Marvel’ film is still a long way off in the eyes of the fans, but it seems Marvel is starting to move things together ready for the film’s production. Now that we’ve got the incredible casting of Brie Larson as the title character out of the way, next up is finding a Director to actually make the darn thing.

The studio had narrowed the search down to just three candidates, however has since added one more. The initial candidates included: Niki Caro (Whale Rider), Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend at the End of the World) and Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland), with the newest name being added to the list: Rebecca Thomas (Electrick Children).

I can’t say i’m familiar with any of these Director’s works, with even ‘Homeland’ somehow managing to elude me all these years, however Thomas seems to be in high demand at the moment. Though neither film has got the official go ahead from their respective studios, Thomas is slated to direct both Universal’s live-action ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Paramount’s John Green adaptation ‘Looking for Alaska’.

In any case Marvel has plenty of time yet to decide, with the film not due to hit theatres until March 8, 2019! It certainly feels like a long way off now, but given what we already know about the film it’ll be worth the wait. With a script currently being penned by ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ co-writer Nicole Perlman, and ‘Inside Out’ co-writer Meg LeFauve, this film is looking set to be a treat.

If all this news is getting you too excited then don’t fret. Marvel has another 7 films releasing between the time of writing and ‘Captain Marvel’s’ release, one of which is the highly anticipated ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ which could likely see Captain Marvel make her first appearance. Between Film and TV Marvel has a lot to get excited about at the moment.

Marvel Developing ‘New Warriors’ Comedy Series Focused On…Squirrel Girl?

That’s right folks, it seems like Marvel’s looking to add to its dominance of everything by introducing another TV show to the mix.

As initially reported by TV Line, Marvel and ABC Studios are currently developing the show, with it “being shopped around to cable and streaming outlets”. Of course nothing has been officially confirmed by Marvel at this point, however given we know they’ve had several projects in the pipeline for a while now, coupled with the recent surge in interest regarding the character of Squirrel Girl, the reports seem highly likely.

Now the New Warriors themselves have always been a more obscure group of characters. Consisting mainly of teenage and young adult heroes; serving as a younger counterpart to the Avengers, the group haven’t had much success in comic book form. Indeed, the most notable appearance for the group was when they sparked Marvel’s Civil War event, an action that killed most of them off in the process.

Given their rocky history, it seems Marvel is looking to put the emphasis on a central character within the team, and in another outlandish move they’ve chosen this character to be Squirrel Girl. As obscure as the character sounds, high profile name Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) has shown interest in playing the character. Speaking to Net-A-Porter she said:

“My brother sent me a Squirrel Girl comic because he thinks I should. I don’t know what Squirrel Girl does other than be half squirrel, but I could be half squirrel!”

Even ‘Captain America: Civil War’ directors Joe and Anthony Russo said this would be brilliant casting, but given Kendrick has mainly stuck to big screen appearances so far, it’s unclear whether she’d make the transition to TV.

If this rumour turns out to be true, then the series will join a whole heap of Marvel TV shows in the works, including ‘Cloak and Dagger’, ‘The Runaways’, ‘The Defenders’ and ‘The Punisher’. It’s an exciting time indeed to be a Marvel fan.

Karen Gillan Joins ‘Jumanji’ Sequel

Karen Gillan has nabbed the female lead in the continuation of the ‘Jumanji’ series. She will star alongside Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas in the Jake Kasdan directed film being brought to us by Sony.

Gillan was the final piece to slot into place for the film, as filming is now scheduled to begin in Honolulu next month. Set to play Martha, this is the latest in a line of big roles for Gillan that includes Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Having starred in various smaller roles before a leading role in ‘Doctor Who’ kick-started her career, Gillan seems set to continue on her path to Hollywood domination.

 

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Between myself, @kevinhart4real Jack Black and @NickJonas we've searched far and wide to find the one person to complete our #JUMANJI family. This isn't just any role, but in many ways the most important role of the movie. We had to find a girl. But not just any girl. A girl who has "Chutzpah". Guts, nerve and talent to stand her ground and hold her own against Nick's cool rockstar ways, Jack's relentless energy and genius, Kevin's masterful timing and skills and the big, brown, bald tattooed guy who just simply stands there and oooooozes smoldering, captivating, sizzling, can't take your eyes off this brilliant manly man.. never mind I got drunk on the ol' DJ kool aid again. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce a girl who's playing the most important role in our movie – the talented, beautiful and down for a Scottish fight at any time, Ms @KarenGillanOfficial. And yes, this is the girl who is so bad ass she shaved her freaking head for Guardians of the Galaxy. We start production next month in Hawaii and as many of you already know, this isn't a remake or reboot, but a continuation of the awesome JUMANJI story we love. Jake "The Snake" Kasdan directing, Matt "OG" Tolmach producing. Yup, I give everyone nicknames. The adventure and fun continues… #JUMANJI #KarenGillan #RESPECT #GingerTough

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Aug 30, 2016 at 10:00am PDT

 

Dwayne Johnson took to Instagram to confirm the casting that ended a months long search for the right person.

Gillan is set to reprise her role of Nebula in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2’ as well as costar alongside Ethan Hawke in ‘In A Valley of Violence’.

‘Jumanji’ is set to hit theatres July 28, 2017.

Thor Mockumentary Debuts

Ever wondered what Thor was doing during Captain America: Civil War?

Yesterday Marvel released a hilarious short detailing what the God of Thunder was up to whilst his Avenging cohorts were busy duking it out. The hilarious video entitled, ‘While You Were Fighting: A Thor Mockumentary’, was recently shown to audiences attending San-Diego Comic-Con.

Directed by the very man bringing us ‘Thor Ragnarok’, Taika Waititi, the video offers a fantastic look at what Thor gets up to in between his blockbuster film appearances, and it seems he’s just as intrigued by the ‘purple man in the floating chair who doesn’t like standing up’ as the rest of us.

As well as being a brilliant marketing ploy to tide audiences over until the eventual release of Thor’s next outing, this video offers us our first glimpse at the tone and direction the next film could take. And if this is anything to go by, i’d say ‘Thor Ragnarok’ is shaping up to be one of Marvel’s best films to date.

Daredevil Season 1 Overview

After reviewing every single episode from the first season of Daredevil one by one, it’s time to give a look at the first season overall.

Looking at the season overall, it is important to look at how things changed over the course of 13 episodes. The first season relied heavily on suspense and buildup. Matt Murdock’s origins are spaced out through each episode. The opening shot of the series is Matt being blinded and every episode puts together a new piece of the puzzle – meeting and being trained by Stick, becoming friends with Foggy. Daredevil’s story isn’t even complete during the course of the season as he spends most of the season in a cheap ninja costume, never donning the famous red Daredevil suit until the finale.

As entertaining as a lot of the movies are, they have to tell their stories in a two-and-a-half hour time-frame. Pacing these events over 13 hour-long episodes gives us the chance to experience the full story. Matt makes mistakes, he is assaulted by hoods and other villains. Every loss is a lesson, he builds on what he learns.

Speaking of changes, I talked time and again in individual episodes of what a draw Fisk/Kingpin was. First, the series builds suspense for the character by showing little of him. Once we finally do see him, he does not disappoint. His subordinates built him up as a violent threat and they weren’t joking. He seems willing to kill anyone, even his right hand men, he can hold his own in fighting. His romance with Vanessa shows his unique honor system and every episode features a new face to the man’s personality.

Speaking of the 13 episodes, the first season is paced wonderfully. I was tempted to do a best/worst comparison, but it was hard because there were no real bad episodes or weak links. There were slower episodes and episodes lighter on action, but EVERY episode served some purpose – they established character, established part of a character’s origin or at least kept the flow of the story going. Some of these slower episodes worked because instead of cramming every episode with action, they were able to pace things out in a cinematic way – heavy action, then a slower episode to pace things out and not overwhelm the viewers.

There were a few weak links. Foggy and Karen largely seemed to just be there. Both had moments to shine. Foggy was a little more engaging with his relationship with Matt, which was explored greatly in “Nelson vs. Murdock”, but he also had a relationship with an old flame that really didn’t add up to match. Karen was an alright character, her subplot of hunting Fisk through investigating with Urich. Her intro is exciting when she is wrongly accused of murder and toward the end of the season, she actually commits a murder to save her life. In between that is little to write home about. However, those were minor nitpicks.

Overall, the first season was superb. There was a perfect balance of story, action and good character development.

Stan Lee VS Jack (King) Kirby

Stan Lee is the most recognisable name in comic books. His name and Marvel go hand in hand in everyday conversations among comic fans and MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movie watchers. Stan is perceived as the happy old man who makes iconic cameos in movies based on “his” creation, but did Stan create the likes of the Fantastic Four, The Incredible  Hulk, Iron Man, The Avengers, The X-Men and, the most famous of all Spider-Man?

This is not the first time this question has been brought up, in fact in the past few years it has come up more frequently. While the average person or Stan Lee fanboy might think this is a ridiculous notion, there is quite a lot of evidence to support the challenge of Stan’s Legacy.

When you get into reading comic books regardless of age, you are told that back in the 1960’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Created what we know today as the Marvel Universe. With Stan getting the majority of the credit, and for the most part the only name mentioned regarding who created what. Stan’s story is that he would come up with an idea or plot then give it to Jack, and he would return the art to him with a few suggestions. Stan would then write in dialogue to fit the art.

The other side of the coin is that it was Jack Kirby who did the majority or the creating. It is said that Jack would not only do the art but write the majority of each issue, key concepts and plot lines. Stan would have no idea about the story or even the idea till very late in the publication process. What Stan did do was make Kirby’s writing a little more appealing to read.

According to this interview, Jack and his wife Roz Kirby did with The Comics Journal in 1990, four years before his death, Stan had virtually nothing to do with creating the Marvel Universe.

GROTH; When did you meet Stan Lee for the first time?

KIRBY: I met Stan Lee when I first went to work for Marvel. He was a little boy. When Joe and I were doing Captain America. He was about 13 years old. He’s about five years younger than me.

GROTH: Did you keep in touch with him at all?

KIRBY: No, I thought Stan Lee was a bother.

GROTH: [Laughter.]

KIRBY: I did!

GROTH: What do you mean by “bother”?

KIRBY: You know he was the kind of kid that liked to fool around — open and close doors on you. Yeah. In fact, once I told Joe to throw him out of the room.

GROTH; Because he was a pest?

KIRBY: Yes, he was a pest. Stan Lee was a pest. He liked to irk people and it was one thing I couldn’t take.

GROTH: Hasn’t changed a bit, huh?

KIRBY: He hasn’t changed a bit. I couldn’t do anything about Stan Lee because he was the publisher’s cousin. He ran back and forth around New York doing things that he was told to do. He would slam doors and come up to you and look over your shoulder and annoy you in a lot of ways. Joe would probably elaborate on it.

GROTH: When you went to Marvel in ’58 and ’59, Stan was obviously there.

KIRBY: Yes, and he was the same way.

 GROTH:And you two collaborated on all the monster stories?

KIRBY: Stan Lee and I never collaborated on anything! I’ve never seen Stan Lee write anything. I used to write the stories just like I always did.

GROTH:On all the monster stories it says “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” What did he do to warrant his name being on them?

KIRBY: Nothing! OK?

GROTH:Did he dialogue them?

KIRBY: No, I dialogued them. If Stan Lee ever got a thing dialogued, he would get it from someone working in the office. I would write out the whole story on the back of every page. I would write the dialogue on the back or a description of what was going on. Then Stan Lee would hand them to some guy and he would write in the dialogue. In this way Stan Lee made more pay than he did as an editor. This is the way Stan Lee became the writer. Besides collecting the editor’s pay, he collected writer’s pay. I’m not saying Stan Lee had a bad business head on. I think he took advantage of whoever was working for him.

GROTH:But he was essentially serving in a capacity as an editorial liaison between you and the publisher?

KIRBY: Yes, he wasn’t exactly an editor, or anything like that. Even as a young boy, he’d be hopping around — I think he had a flute, and he was playing on his flute.

GROTH:The Pied Piper.

KIRBY: Yeah. He’d come up and annoy me, and I told Joe to throw him out.

GROTH:Stan wrote, “Jack and I were having a ball turning out monster stories.’’ Were you having a ball. Jack?

KIRBY: Stan Lee was having the ball.

GROTH:You turned out monster stories for two or three years I think. Then the first comic that rejuvenated superheroes that you did was The Fantastic four. Can you explain how that came about?

KIRBY: I had to do something different. The monster stories have their limitations — you can just do so many of them. And then it becomes a monster book month after month, so there had to be a switch because the times weren’t exactly conducive to good sales. So I felt the idea was to come up with new stuff all the time — in other words there had to be a blitz. And I came up with this blitz. I came up withThe Fantastic Four, I came up with Thor (I knew the Thor legends very well), and the Hulk, the X-Men, and The Avengers. I revived what I could and came up with what I could. I tried to blitz the stands with new stuff. The new stuff seemed to gain momentum.

GROTH:Let me ask you something that I think is an important point: Stan wrote the way you guys worked — and I think he’s referring to the monster stories specifically here — he wrote, “I had only to give Jack an outline of the story and he would draw the entire strip breaking down the outline into exactly the right number of panels. Then it remained for me to take Jack’s artwork and add the captions and dialogue which would hopefully add a dimension of reality to sharply delineated characterization.” So he’s saying that he gave you a plot, and you would draw it, and he would add the captions and dialogue.

ROZ KIRBY: I remember Jack would call him up and say it’s going to be this kind of story or that kind of story and just send him the story. And he’d write in everything on the side.

KIRBY: Remember this: Stan Lee was an editor. He worked from nine to five doing business for Martin Goodman. In other words he didn’t do any writing in the office. He did Martin Goodman’s business. That was his function. There were people coming up to the office to talk all the time. They weren’t always artists, they were business people. Stan Lee was the first man they would see and Stan Lee would see if he could get them in to see Martin Goodman. That was Stan Lee’s function.

When asked about the creation of the Fantastic Four Jack continues with blunt honesty.

GROTH:Can you tell me give me your version of how The Fantastic Four came about? Did Stan go to you…?

KIRBY: No, Stan didn’t know what a mutation was. I was studying that kind of stuff all the time. I would spot it in the newspapers and science magazines. I still buy magazines that are fanciful. I don’t read as much science fiction as I did at that time. 1 was a student of science fiction and I began to make up my own story patterns, my own type of people. Stan Lee doesn’t think the way I do. Stan Lee doesn’t think of people when he thinks of [characters]. I think of [characters] as real people. If I drew a war story it would be two guys caught in the war. The Fantastic Four to me are people who were in a jam — suddenly you find yourself invisible, suddenly you find yourself flexible.

ROZ KIRBY: Gary wants to know how you created The Fantastic Four.

GROTH: Did you approach Marvel or —

KIRBY: It came about very simply. I came in [to the Marvel offices] and they were moving out the furniture, they were taking desks out — and I needed the work! I had a family and a house and all of a sudden Marvel is coming apart. Stan Lee is sitting on a chair crying. He didn’t know what to do, he’s sitting in a chair crying —he was just still out of his adolescence. I told him to stop crying. I says. “Go in to Martin and tell him to stop moving the furniture out, and I’ll see that the books make money.” And I came up with a raft of new books and all these books began to make money. Somehow they had faith in me. I knew 1 could do it, but I had to come up with fresh characters that nobody had seen before. I came up with The Fantastic Four. I came up with Thor. Whatever it took to sell a book I came up with. Stan Lee has never been editorial minded. It wasn’t possible for a man like Stan Lee to come up with new things — or old things for that matter. Stan Lee wasn’t a guy that read or that told stories. Stan Lee was a guy that knew where the papers were or who was coming to visit that day. Stan Lee is essentially an office worker, OK? I’m essentially something else: I’m a storyteller. My job is to sell my stories. When I saw this happening at Marvel I stopped the whole damned bunch. I stopped them from moving the furniture! Stan Lee was sitting on some kind of a stool, and he was crying.

GROTH: Stan says he conceptualized virtually everything in The Fantastic Four — that he came up with all the characters. And then he said that he wrote a detailed synopsis for Jack to follow.

ROZ KIRBY: I’ve never seen anything.

KIRBY: I’ve never seen it, and of course I would say that’s an outright lie.

GROTH:Stan pretty much takes credit in an introduction to one of his books for creating all the characters in The Fantastic Four. He also said he created the name.

KIRBY: No, he didn’t.

GROTH: The next character, if I remember correctly, was The Hulk. If I remember correctly you drew a six-issue run of that, then it was cancelled for a little while, then Steve Ditko started it in an anthology book called Tales to Astonish. Can you talk a little bit about how you were involved in creating The Hulk?

KIRBY: The Hulk I created when I saw a woman lift a car. Her baby was caught under the running board of this car. The little child was playing in the gutter and he was crawling from the gutter onto the sidewalk under the running board of this car — he was playing in the gutter. His mother was horrified. She looked from the rear window of the car, and this woman in desperation lifted the rear end of the car. It suddenly came to me that in desperation we can all do that — we can knock down walls, we can go berserk, which we do. You know what happens when we’re in a rage — you can tear a house down. I created a character who did all that and called him the Hulk. I inserted him in a lot of the stories I was doing. Whatever the Hulk was at the beginning I got from that incident. A character to me can’t be contrived. I don’t like to contrive characters. They have to have an element of truth. This woman proved to me that the ordinary person in desperate circumstances can transcend himself and do things that he wouldn’t ordinarily do. I’ve done it myself. I’ve bent steel.

GROTH:Well, this is probably going to shock you, but Stan takes full credit for creating the Hulk. He’s written, “Actually, ideas have always been the easiest part of my various chores.” And then he went on to say that in creating The Hulk, “It would be my job to take a clichéd concept and make it seem new and fresh and exciting and relevant. Once again, I decided that Jack Kirby would be the artist to breathe life into our latest creation. So the next time we met, I outlined the concept I’d been toying with for weeks.”

KIRBY: Yes, he was always toying with concepts. On the contrary, it was I who brought the ideas to Stan. I brought the ideas to DC as well, and that’s how business was done from the beginning.

GROTH:Stan also claimed he created the name. “the Hulk.”

KIRBY: No, he didn’t.

ROZ KIRBY: It’s just his word against Stan’s.

GROTH:There was a period between ’61 and ’63 when you were just drawing a tremendous number of books.

ROZ KIRBY: May I make one point? In all these years, when Jack was still creating things, Stan Lee hasn’t been creating things. When Jack left Stan, there wasn’t anything new created by Stan.

KIRBY: Yeah. Stan never created anything new after that. If he says he created things all that easily, what did he create after I left? That’s the point. Have they done anything new? He’ll probably tell you, “I didn’t have to.”

GROTH:Can I ask what your involvement in Spider-Man was?

KIRBY: I created Spider-Man. We decided to give it to Steve Ditko. I drew the first Spider-Man cover. I created the character. I created the costume. I created all those books, but I couldn’t do them all. We decided to give the book to Steve Ditko who was the right man for the job. He did a wonderful job on that.

So you have two people telling two completely different stories, surprise right? Sadly there is practically no one alive from that time that was involved with Marvel at the time except Steve Ditko who still continues to produce independent comics and has remained silent and out of the public eye for years.

Many Creators have supported the fact that Kirby did the majority if not sole creating of Marvels most famous heroes. Even controversial and designated grumpy old man of comics Alan Moore believes Jack to be workhorse behind the creations. Check out a short video of him answering a fan question about Stan Lee here

Needless to say, I’m inclined to believe the Kirby camp. I have always thought if Stan was this creative machine how come he has not created anything significant since Jack left Marvel? Jack and Roz even pointed that out in The Comics Journal interview. Let’s be honest any of Stan’s new comic properties suck or are certainly not anywhere close to the quality of his claimed previous “creations.”

Many people believe Marvel put Stan in cameos in the Marvel movies cause well he’s Stan Lee. No. He sued Marvel for not making any money from the original Spider-Man movie. Not only did he win the suit (He is also the only one to sue Marvel successfully) Stan won the right to be in every Marvel property and receives a reported million dollar a year salary from Marvel.

We are talking about a man who used to have “Stan Lee Presents” on every Marvel comic book. Not “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Present”. He even said one time publicly that he created Captian America. He didn’t create Captian America that was Joe Simion and Jack Kirby. While Stan has talked highly of Kirby and his other “collaborators”, he will kind of backpedal on questions of contribution and creation for a legal reason as well as moral I suppose.

Stan Lee is one of the best self-promoters and even managed a couple of catchy (if not sometimes annoying) catch phrases Excelsior! And True Believer. Is he evil? No. Shaddy? I’d say yes. He is not the first person to profit off of someone else’s work, and he won’t be the last.  

The reason credit is such an important issue in the comic book industry is because of the amount of work creators put into creating fantastic entertainment. It’s a genuinely collaborative medium, and back in the early days of comics artists were fighting for recognition and fair pay. Even today pencilers, letterers, inkers and colourists are struggling for recognition, while writers are given most of the credit.

It’s important to point out (and this is of course widely debated among fans and pros alike) that you can create a comic without a writer. If the artist is a talented storyteller, you don’t need words to tell a story. A writer without an artist is essentially a short story or script writer. Without pictures with the words, there is no comic book, but so long as there are pictures you have a comic. Jack was proof of this.

At this point you might be thinking this is a pretty one-sided article favouring  Jack Kirby, well it is. If you want to hear Stan’s side, there is no shortage of him talking about how he created the Marvel Universe. Just google search and take you pick of written and video interviews. What I found hard to find when I googled Jack Kirby was his side of the story, and the fact not too many people know about it. People are going to make their own choice on who to believe (at least I hope so).

Many Stan Lee supports say that without Stan there would be no Jack Kirby. They could not be more wrong. Jack had already made a name for himself when he co-created Captain America in 1940 a good 20 years before the start of the Marvel Universe, so it’s not like Jack wasn’t known before being associated with Stan. If anything without Jack Kirby there would be no Stan Lee.

To be fair Stan has been the face of Marvel for a long time, even during bad times when Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy, his tireless promotion kept marvel in the public eye, and it was also a great benefit for him to so. It seems Stan does nothing that will not help him personally.

Stan has said that the 2016 convention season will be his last, and at the age of 93 I don’t blame him. For anyone wanting to get there Stan Lee comic signed this will be your last chance, but before you rush to your long box or hit up your local comic shop to find some vintage comics of “his” make sure you got enough cash to get each one signed. Yes, the man who “created” much also profits much. Stan is charging  $100 Canadian per signature at Fanexpo Canada (our dollar sucks so I get why it has to be higher) so about $70-80 American. The line usually spans the majority of the convention floor, so we’re talking hours of wait time. The general notion with fans is that his signature will be worth a lot when he eventually passes away, and others just want it for sentimental value and there belief that he created whatever comic there getting signed. To contrast that most creators even legends in the industry charge nothing or a more reasonable fee like 10 or 15 dollars a signature (It’s only reasonable compared to Stan’s fee, I’m not a fan of signature fee’s, in general, i do however understand charging for retailer exclusive variant comics)

The reality is there is no shortage of his signature’s, and unless you get the comic, graded and got the signature verified by a CGC (Certified Guaranty Company) employee in person it’s worth next to nothing. Signatures do not always increase the value of the comic in fact it can hurt the value, what does make a comic valuable is the rarity, and or cultural significance of it. I think once people start to realise Stan had little to do with Jacks creations the less his signature will be worth in the collectors market.

So is Stan Lee the Creator or co- creator of the Marvel Universe? The evidence suggests that he is not either. Jack Kirby and his family never reaped the benefits of his hard work, thankfully after a lengthy battle in the courts recently the family got a settlement out of court and Jack Kirby is starting to get the recognition he deserves even if it is too late. It was Marvel and not the Kirby family who sued. Marvel was suing over the Kirbys termination of copyright assignment they had filed.

I bring this all up just a  before what would have Jack’s 99th birthday (August 28th). It is also nice to see Marvel Acknowledge Kirby by having a week long celebration of his work, although this was probably worked out over the settlement out of court with the Kirby family. Marvel would barely mention him before the lawsuit.

These days I rather hear more about Jack Kirby than Stan Lee, and while I know I didn’t cover all the different variables and topics, it is a very in-depth issue, and I can only hold people’s attention for so long. So perhaps I will do another article on the topic later on down the line.

Happy Birthday to Jack King Kirby The King of Comics.

ICYMI – Last Week in Skatronixxx!

Here at Skatronixxx we have awesome writers who are working towards WORLD DOMINATION in the pop culture news site industry. Potential Advertisers, take a look at what we have accomplished in the past year, and imagine where we can be in the next year with your help. Big Guys take note! We’re coming for ya! We even have a shop! Yep, we do. It has Tees, Tanks, Hoodies, and Sweatshirts for now; stay tuned for MUGS!

I have changed up the format of ICYMI to include an article from every one of our writers, because they all deserve mention! There is crossover in about every category but I have put each writer in only one category for this article. We pretty much ALL do the TV section.

Here’s a taste of the articles we published for the week of August 13th to August 20th for our incredible and loyal readers and followers, and our occasional readers whom we would love to be followers. All of you are AWESOME! Just so you know! On to the articles!

ANIME:

In Anime this week @MCPomarRossello talks about Tonari no Totoro, an Anime movie fondly remembered from childhood, about childhood; growing up in a new environment, learning, adapting, playing and working through the emotions of having a sick Mother. @darrick_scott takes us all back to the days of Saturday Morning cartoons (loved those!), with the 1984 classic Transformers.

BOOKS:

This week’s Weekly Bookette by @darthaybak features indie books. The reviewed books include both light and dark material, from the lightness of “Let’s Dance On Our Wedding Day” to the far darker “The Hat That Danced in the Wind” trilogy. Even though The Little Librarian tied the knot this summer, @alyjoshaver managed to read a LOAD of books. Check out her June & July Haul and Wrap Up of Doom!

COMICS:

Read why @concreteshawzee made a recommendation for the Alterna Comics 10th AnniverSERIES Anthology. Don’t forget, we LOVE Indie! Indie games, indie comics, indie shorts… For a change of pace, and a return to the campy 60’s, @dammitrooster waxes nostalgic about the return of Adam West and Burt Ward in an animated adventure, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.

GAMES:

In our Games section this week, @auburn_geek is excited for the release of NVIDIA’s Indie Spotlight Program which will help good indie games get to where they should be. Check out what @dellarscott wrote in his No Man’s Sky “Idiot’s Log”. Meanwhile, @gaming8811 happily reviewed an Indie game called Never Alone. Find out what he thought about it, and have I mentioned? We LOVE Indie!

MOVIES:

Last week @franpan was all about Spider-Man: Homecoming, and @starkwyvrngamer brought us BIG news about the Mary Poppins Sequel. And on the sequel front, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is not really going to be a sequel, says @sohodoll, but she’s excited about it, and would love to hear your thoughts.

MUSIC:

Our music writers are very busy people! @presh81 did reviews on American Horror Story, the Top 50 Weekly Singles Chart, The Weekend Box Office Movie Chart, and Fresh Friday as well as other articles! @Deadpool_1984 not only does the UFC, he also picked Massachusetts Punk band The Unseen and their track Scream Out for his Track of the Week, and also talked about The Punisher.

VLOGS:

In our vlog section, @alyjoshaver went to the St. Louis Zoo to catch Pokemon, and dance to kpop. Girls just wanna have fun! Join her, @meaganprecourt and @chellybean4894 for the Uglies readalong. @heyankitverma took a well deserved break last week, but you can catch his earlier video review of Suicide Squad.

TELEVISION:

Last week in Television, @DalekBuster523 tried to decide which high profile Marvel character would make a cameo in the coming season of Agents of Shield. The Walking Dead will open its new season with a major death. Read @Netta_Bear13 speculations about who it might be. Writer @este_guy reviewed the season finale of Scream. @luvnidleness introduced us to Peaky Blinder, the best show you’ve never watched, @langlangbrenda wondered about the possible return of those ghastly Weeping Angels, and @awesomect98 teases with the Scream Queens season 2 trailer. Writer @devenbhagwandin catches up on The Expanse. Meanwhile, @MaliaYourTita of LoyalBloodline.clothing, hangs out with Ballers, @reille78 has discovered that Joss Whedon may be involved with an upcoming favorite show, and @b2daitch continues her Summer Binge Watch with Charmed. @fondofjesus marvels  at the DC Extended Universe take worldwide. The Doctor Who Fan Film Web Series caught @alexthed’s eye, and The Fast8 trailer news caught @chellybean4894’s.

UFC:

@Deadpool_1984 brought some surprising news on a meeting of the minds between rival fighters McGregor and Diaz. Stay tuned for his upcoming review of the UFC 202 in Vegas.

WRESTLING:

The week of August 13th to 20th saw @alexthed sharing his thoughts on WrestleMania’s Brock Lesnar – Dean Ambrose wingding. @mak10gator discovered some shocking news about superstar suspensions just days before SummerSlam. WWE Raw fan-atic @therealdills was first excited, then got to flinching over the over use of the term “Demon King” by the end of the show. @mitch_rated brought us his review of NXT – August 17th. @oliverwoodster talks Smack…. Down Live after a brief hiatus.

INTERVIEWS:

Cosplayer interviewer, @skatronixxx did interviews with the Maid of Might and MCubed, both very talented cosplayers. And what did I do, you ask? Well, I did an interview of Satinder Kassoana and a writeup for his Indie Drama production – Don’t Walk Among the Dead. Told you we love Indie!

Well folks, that was it for last week. Let me know what you think about the format of this week’s ICYMI… too long, too much, too short, not enough?
Until next time! Luv from me, @AlexMi6!

Marvel Avenger’s Academy Daredevil Event

Marvel Avengers Academy is a fantastic game in which it makes the Marvel characters College Age. This game is constantly bringing in new characters from the Marvel universe.

The next event is the Daredevil event and it is bringing in quite the cast of characters. Of course this event stars the one and only Daredevil and the big bad Wilson Fisk. Though the character additions don’t stop there as the residents of Hell’s Kitchen are coming to play. We have the fantastic Jessica Jones, the wild Hellcat, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Elektra, and even the Punisher come in hot.

This event will last a solid 28 days and that is a lot of time to collect as many of these heroes as you can.  Some will be pay to play but you will still get a few gems just for playing.

I am excited to see what characters will be given and what will cost gems, from the outset Jessica Jones is only recruitable by spending either gems or real money. Which is understandable as she is quite popular especially after her show’s success.

I really wonder what will happen in this update as I think the story telling in this game is actually pretty good. I really enjoy seeing what these versions of the characters will look like out of costume as you level them up they change form until they reach their true costume.

If you haven’t played this game, I suggest you do it. If you like Marvel it may be another fun diversion, but as it is Freemium it may not be for everyone. I am into games like this where you get to build a town or something like that, and collect characters, with a little story thrown in for good measure.

This event has started so head on over to the academy and help Dardevil take down the Kingpin!

 

‘Avengers Infinity War’ May Feature New Characters

If you have been following the Marvel Universe on the big screen, then you may have noticed a trend when it comes to the way they introduce new characters, and that’s in the movie itself, be it in the end after the credits with a piece of the characters costume, or a cameo appearance… And it sounds like we may have another character fall in love with in the Infinity War movie.

The Russo Bros, Joe and Anthony, have been working on the Infinity War and Avengers 4, shooting them back to back, and they have even teased that there may be a little more people for us to ‘marvel’ over (like what I did there?) and so far with each movie they have left people at the edge of their seats, talking and wondering what they will do next and with whom will they bring in. With the last movie, Captain America: Civil War, they gave us the Black Panther and Spiderman. In other movies we met Scarlet Witch (I seriously considered being Scarlet Witch this year for comic con) her brother Quicksilver, and Bucky from Captain America: Winter Soldier, plus our main men starting with the first Iron Man back in 2008.

 

Although they are keeping hush about who they may bring to life this time, they are informing us that this movie Infinity War is supposed to be the climax of the stories so far, and a new beginning which brings the new characters. Anthony Russo tells IGN: “…these two movies are intended to be the culmination of everything that has happened in the MCU since the very first Iron Man movie.”

The Marvel/Avengers world is huge. In the comics it seems at least everyone in there has been an Avenger at least once, including Wolverine, Hercules, Beast, Hellcat, Thing, and so on. We have do have Ant-Man now in Civil War, makes you wonder if his lady friend the Wasp will show up….. I mean they did tease her in the Ant-Man movie…..hmmmm. ^_^