Something Something Hot Trailers

So, two long awaited trailers dropped this week.

The first was for Thor: Ragnarok which looks incredible. This looks like the sort of epic scale the Thor movies should have always been aiming for. Thus far, the series has been, let’s face it, a series of well produced romcoms with fantasy elements not unlike the white thirst cinema that is Starz’ Outlander. Jane and Thor make doe eyes at each other, Kat Dennings looks hot and cracks jokes, Tom Hiddleston steals the show, Kat Dennings looks hot and…..you get the idea. Rinse and repeat. Thor is one of those properties where each and every adventure should have all of existence hanging in the balance. This franchise and the Hulk’s movies should always be about super destructive epic god battles. For context, Jason Aaron’s God of Thunder series features a future vision in which an older, war worn Thor who now rules Asgard gets into a fist fight with Galactus where he thrown into the moon so hard he comes flying out the other side. I shit you not. So, a slugfest with the Hulk is more than welcome.

Until now, the movies never had that sense of scale and urgency. The trailer alludes to that and it also manages to look fun which, at the end of the day, is really the most important element to maintaining the kind of audience these movies attract or should attract (are you listening, DC?). A movie about a thunder god should go for broke AT LEAST and Ragnarok looks like it does just that.

Then, there was The Last Jedi….

Though I could geek the fuck out about every detail, I’m going to try not to go on very long about about it because I have a feeling I’m going to be talking about Star Wars a lot in the near future. First of all, the Tron inspired poster look spectacular and really gives Rey that epic hero look she needed in the Force Awakens poster.

The trailer was epic, though. I mean, it was only a minute and a half and it threw out thrills and questions to be answered faster than Janet Hubert tweeting during a Fresh Prince marathon. The part I’m most interested in is the part at the end where Luke said, “It’s time for the Jedi to end.” That line alone opens up potential for some interesting directions for Luke’s character to go. Even though the Jedi are mostly about order and learning to center your emotions and letting go of earthly attachments and shit, Skywalkers tend to have a complicated relationship with the Force. With him being literally the LAST of the Jedi, there’s no telling what secrets he learned once he found the Jedi temple. He could have learned the truth of how his father was seduced by the dark side (and how his mother was dating Anakin when he was clearly still a minor) which would be enough to give anyone resentment issues. Who knows? I’ve even heard some theories that we might get introduced to the beginning of the “Grey Order”, something we’ve never seen in mainstream canon. Also, make sure you get a good look at Poe Dameron’s black X-Wing. The ball’s in your court to pump out some quality toys and model kits, Disney. I’ll be waiting.

My review of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure.

The Week In Geek 1/17/15

So, this week, Marvel released the first of its Star Wars comic material and thus far, the reviews have been mainly positive. I'll be talking about the book itself a little further down (with the reviews), but this is a really exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. I can't speak for anyone else, but I wasn't a huge fan of the Dark Horse books at all. I basically regard them the same way I regard David Goyer's idea to develop a Superman show without Superman in it. The timelines usually kicked off either so long before or so long after the movies I grew up with, I didn't quite understand what I was supposed to be relating to. Disney bringing all these elements under one umbrella is a breath of fresh air. As we've seen with their handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney likes their properties and characters being as accessible as humanly possible.

"You know Spider-Man? Sure, come on over. Don't like the movies? Don't worry about it. Here's an entry level cartoon for you. Don't like cartoons? Thinking about jumping into comics? I've got just the thing.

"Oh, you know who Luke Skywalker is? Come on in! You don't play The Old Republic? No problem. Here's this comic book you might dig."

As we get closer to Episode 7, it's going to be interesting to see what other properties Marvel can crank out.

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and share at your leisure. This week, I took a look at....

Batman Eternal: This issue really meant well. It really did. The Bat-family going to break up a Mad Hatter caper should be some exciting shit. But it just didn't come off that way and the art was a huge reason why. As expressive as the faces were, it's strange that Joe Quinones wasn't bigger on detail everywhere else. It came across as a comic book you'd get with a 90s Batman toy. Honestly, this book can't really afford to have an issue that's this lacking visually so close to the end we've been waiting for.

Star Wars: See the problem with the handful of Star Wars I read during Dark Horse's reign was that the level of quality didn't justify the amount of material Dark Horse used to put out. You might find a decent issue once in a while, but you had to wade through a lot of crap. It's a lot like Azelia Banks. Sure, she drops jewels on Twitter once in a while about race relations but you have to sit through the stupid shit she says about everything else. And even when you do find the good books, often times, they were so far removed from the Star Wars universe I was used to (the characters and events in the movies), it only felt like it was just marginally a Star Wars book. Marvel's first new effort was the first time in 30 years I'd read a Star Wars comic that properly recreate the feeling I got at the movies. When the action starts, I was cheering out loud. Jason Aaron has a really good handle on what makes Star Wars so iconic. And it starts at a point where you don't have to feel left out. "If you watched the first movie, you're in. We'll take it from here."