COOL NEWS ROUNDUP!!!

Hey, Everybody!

It’s Paul here! I’m very pleased to say that there’s so much fun, geek news today, that I’m gonna call this: Paul’s Awesome News Round Up! We’ve got fun bits of news from the world of Movies, TV and Comics. I’m going to start with COMICS News, but stick with me now. I know that might not interest some of you as much as movie and TV news. But stay with it because this whole article has some great stuff.

COMICS
So, Marvel is doing and another creative shake up and Relaunch of their books. A lot of fans hate this and I understand why. Sales may not be where Marvel wants them to be, so they trot out some fancy new tiles, creative team shake ups, and a bunch on new #1’s. Beside the danger to the industry by renumbering comics too often. I’m really excited to for this and it begins in May with Avengers as their flagship book, written by Jason Aaron with art by Ed McGuiness. Besides the creative team, why am I so excited about this?
Well, a few months ago Marvell put out a special called Marvel Legacy. In that special we met the characters below (some we know) who fare essentially the first Avengers team: Avengers 1,000,000 B.C.

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Left to Right: The Iron Fist, Starbrand, The Phoenix, Odin, Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Agamotto

 

I loved that concept and hoped Marvel would do something with it soon. Now, in Jason Aaron’s Thor run, the beginning of the series took place across three eras battling the same threat. The young, still unworthy Thor who liked to battle and party with Vikings who worshiped him, the Thor of the present, an Avenger and a hero, and finally Old King Thor millennia beyond millennia into the future. One armed and one eyed, as he watches over what’s left of Midgard.
So this Avengers book will follow a storytelling format, the same threat, fought by two different Avengers teams. One in the present and the other, the first Avengers team the Avengers of 1,000,000 B.C.

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Back Row: Doctor Strange; 3rd Row: Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Iron Man, She-Hulk; 2nd Row: Black Panther, Captain America; Front: Captain Marvel, Thor

Avengers #1 written by Jason Aaron with art by Ed McGuiness will become available where all comic are sold in May

 

TV

Krypton 

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If you asked me a year ago that a Superman prequel series set on Krypton decades before its’s destruction, following Superman‘s grandfather, I’d say its sounds like a really fucking stupid idea. I’m very pleased to say that I’ve been proven wrong when it comes to the show. It looks really cool. And apparently it’s not going to be the stuck following the exact narrative of Superman’s family backstory because it’s largely a time travel story, focusing on Superman’s grandfather Seg-El.

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Superman’s grandfather getting a dire warning from the future via DC comics hero, Adam Strange

Brainiac is going back in time try to stop Superman from ever being born (or something), thus stopping his greatest nemesis from coming into being. Meanwhile, DC hero Adam Strange shows up on past Krypton to warn Seg-El that he’s got a Skynet situation on his hands. In what you ask me is kind of a dick move, Strange tells Seg that his grandson is going to be the greatest hero the universe has ever known ( I mean, no fucking pressure, right?) The guy’s already got to worry about an evil alien artificial intelligence looking to wipe out his family line. That’s a pretty normal situation. Happened to me last week. It was a real pain in the ass, we lost some good people.

 

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Brianiac
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BRAINIAC

What I like about this idea is that continuity doesn’t matter. They have openly said that because the show is in the past and time travel and alternate timelines could be involvedthe show will radically change Superman’s mythology. A crazy, time travel, Superman-prequal, sci-fi adventure series across the cosmos of the DC Universe sounds pretty fucking cool. Apparently this show is going to be shark full of cool DC characters in addition to Brianiac and Adam Strange characters like the Green Lantern Corps, DOOMSDAY, Hawkgirl and The Thanagarians have all been confirmed to appear in the first season. Today they unveiled the first look at the big bad of the series, Brianiac and I’ve got to say he looks pretty fucking cool. Below is his picture and a new trailer for the show. I’ve also put in the original trailer in case anyone hasn’t seen it because it’s relatively short and sets a cool tone. I’ve actually got high hopes for this one. I think it has the potential to be pretty fucking cool. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

Jessica Jones: Season 2

The long awaited second season of Jessica Jones is almost upon us. Here’s a new trailer that shows new material but also splices in some flashbacks from season 1. Check it out here:

Jessica Jones: Season 2 premieres March 8

 

Legends of Tomorrow

For you Legends of Tomorrow fans out there, not only has Kid Flash himself officially joined the team.

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We can also look forward to seeing the return of John Constantine on Episode 15 airing March 13

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Another fan favorite recurring characters confirmed to return in the Season 3 Finale is Jonah Hex

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There have been set photos and other rumors that possibly John Constantine will return for the Finale as well. Maybe setting him up as new crew member of The Waverider in season 4? I know I’d love that.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 Finale airs April 9th

 

MOVIES

Big new for all of us Star Wars fans out there, Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi release dates Digital March 13and the Blu Ray drops March 27. Check out the air work below:

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Here are the listed special features:

The Director and the Jedi – Go deep behind the scenes with writer-director Rian Johnson on an intimate and personal journey through the production of the movie—and experience what it’s like to helm a global franchise and cultural phenomenon.
Balance of the Force – Explore the mythology of the Force and why Rian Johnson chose to interpret its role in such a unique way.
Scene Breakdowns
Lighting the Spark: Creating the Space Battle – Get a close-up look at the epic space battle, from the sounds that help propel the action, through the practical and visual effects, to the characters who bring it all to life.
Snoke and Mirrors – Motion capture and Star Wars collide as the filmmakers take us through the detailed process of creating the movie’s malevolent master villain.
Showdown on Crait – Break down everything that went into creating the stunning world seen in the movie’s final confrontation, including the interplay between real-word locations and visual effects, reimagining the walkers, designing the crystal foxes, and much more.
Andy Serkis Live! (One Night Only) – Writer-director Rian Johnson presents two exclusive sequences from the movie featuring Andy Serkis’ riveting, raw on-set performance before his digital makeover into Snoke.
Deleted Scenes – With an introduction and optional commentary by writer-director Rian Johnson.
Audio Commentary – View the movie with in-depth feature audio commentary by writer-director Rian Johnson.

All of this plus 14 FUCKING DELEATED SCENES!!! That’s crazy! But awesome.

Anyway, thanks as always for reading!

-Paul

MUST WATCH: Crisis On Earth-X (Review)

 

Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4

 

Now this is more like it! This was geek heaven. As I knew it would be, it was the perfect way to cleanse the palette after the disappointment of Justice League. More so than any other crossover The CW has done, this just felt like one big 4 hour movie (well, a 3 hour movie with commercials by the time we see all 4 parts). Tonight’ part one was 2 hours of pure superhero fun. The individual shows don’t even get their typical openings, the title card was only Crisis on Earth-X, which made the whole thing feel a little more special. During last years crossover, there was definitely more of a focus on the characters and the story of each particular show throughout the crossover, like Arrow for example. That’s not the case here at all. This is clearly a movie spread out over 2 nights and the event is far better for it. Personally, I absolutely loved the first night of the annual CW DC Crossover Event. Warner Bros. executives take a look, THIS is how you do an Epic Superhero Team Up Crossover.

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Especially if you’ve been watching all of these shows from the beginning like me, the fun little character beats and interactions makes this more than just wall to wall action. Just like the scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron where the team is having a party, just relaxing and they all take turns trying to lift Thor’s hammer. It’s fun just to watch all of these characters play off each other. Even with all of the characters involved, it never felt over crowded. It’s redundant at this point to keep saying this, but every scene with Mick was gold. I love how a man whose literally tried to kill the groom multiple times, was invited to this event (or he just tagged along for the food and free booze). I loved how chill Sarah was about her one night stand with Alex after the rehearsal dinner. Yet another reminder that Sarah is kind of the Han Solo of Legends. I want to keep this review relatively brief, so I wont go into too much more detail, but it was so much fun seeing these heroes work together and fight the bad guys. And who doesn’t enjoy seeing Nazis’ getting their assess kicked?

When it comes to the villains, a big highlight for me is that we got Tom Cavanagh playing Eobard Thawne again. This wasn’t an alternate Earth Thanwne, this is the same man Barry’ s been fighting for his entire life. I’m not sure how it’s possible (and frankly I don’t care) as good as Matt Letscher was as Reverse-Flash, Tom Cavanagh will always be the true Eobard Thawne to me.

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I thought making Earth-X Oliver and Kara a couple was fun and unexpected. Even in an alternate Earth you would expect someone like Barry to be with Kara, so that relationship was a nice curveball (I’m not 100% sure, but I think they might actually be married).

Of course, I’m sure there were a million fans out there who loved seeing Tommy Merlyn return (even briefly) as Earth-X’s Prometheus. You could really see the pain in Oliver’s face seeing his long dead friend only to lose him all over again. Sure it wasn’t HIS Tommy, but that doesn’t really matter to Oliver in that moment. There were so many moments and Easter Eggs that any DC fan would love to see. Hell, we got to see Metallo show up, like full blown robot, no skin, Metallo. What a treat.

Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1

This wasn’t perfect of course. I have one or two nitpicks. Considering the level of the story they’re telling, with a lot of action set pieces and the use of fully CGI characters like King Shark and Metallo, the budget for this undertaking must have been pushed to the max. As a result, some, but not all, of the VFX looks a little rubbery. Also, considering how many doppelgängers were in play, it was sometimes hard to keep track of who’s who in some of the fight sequences.

I should have mentioned it before, but super villains crashing the wedding of a superhero is a staple of the superhero genre. I’m really interested to see who the “modern day Hitler/ leader” of Earth-X is. My guess is Vandal Savage, which is cool on paper, but he was never well liked as a villain on Legends. The comic book version of Vandal Savage is much more interesting . Ras Al Ghul is another possibility. In the comics at least, he wasn’t afraid to use the Nazi’s as a means to an end. But who know? I’m REALLY looking forward to tomorrow night because, so far this is shaping up to be the best Crossover Event they’ ever done with these shows.

Final Grade: A+

Thanks for reading!

Paul

 

CRISIS ON EARTH-X Trailer

Here’s a nice pallet cleanser if you were disappointed in the Justice League Movie, The CW’s Annual 2-Night Superhero Crossover Event. These are always a blast. I look forward to them every year. It’ll be airing across all 4 Shows, over 2 nights: Mon 11/27 – Tue 11/28 from 8PM to 10PM. So it’s like one big movie! Check out the trailer:

I know I can’t wait!

-Paul