Six Sixteen (Page 7)

Top-class breeding, Polygon on Emma Frost across comics and film

A great collection of stories on the X-Men's villain turned hero, or is it anti-hero?

With the casting announcement of Samara Weaving as the MCU’s Emma Frost, Polygon has a fantastic piece comparing Emma Frost in the comics with her on-screen counterpart in X-Men: First Class.

Thomas Hindmarch writes in How Emma Frost became a good guy in X-Men (and why it never happened in the movies):

That leads naturally to the question of whether Weaving's Frost is planned as an antagonist, an ally, or somewhere in between. Since she's apparently playing a significant role in the next era of the MCU, now's as good a time as any to take a look back at Emma's history in the comics, how she evolved from a villain of the week to a front-line member of the X-Men, and how that differs from her history in Fox's X-Men films.

I never considered myself an Emma Frost fan, but as I was reading the list of comics here, I found myself nodding along. There are several stories I really loved when I read them. There are some significant stories in my relationship with the X-Men here. Guess I’m more of an Emma Frost fan that I realized.

That spectacular subhead on this piece, too: “Breeding, darling; top-class breeding.”

Fantastic Four #15 Review

Celebrating 65 years of the FF. What a fantastic life, indeed.

I mentioned earlier this week how excited I was for Fantastic Four #15. The issue celebrates the 65th anniversary of The Fantastic Four. As the solicits for the issue describe it, the comic features:

an extra-large, extra-fantastic adventure […] starring everyone's favorite adventurers, spanning centuries of history and a universe of scientific progress! The Fantastic Four have been defeated: with their personal arrows of time reversed, they're careening into the past with no hope of salvation - unless a complete stranger can find out what they need.

It’s a tricky thing to setup—a story that is original and also reflecting on the past. Many retrospective tales like this fail. This comic manages to pull it off, using time travel as a clever hook for the Fantastic Four to bear witness to their own adventures.

The Fantastic Four watch their past selves

The opening chapter sets it all up, as the team jumps through time continuing to bump into the same stranger. That stranger becomes a stand in for us, the readers who have met the Fantastic Four ourselves, at all the different points in our lives, often when we need them the most. It’s a beautiful opening and reminds us all of the power of these stories.

I am grateful to have met the Fantastic Four, too, and I agree: what a fantastic life, indeed.

Confession: I Still Haven’t Watched X-Men ‘97

Don’t worry! I’m working on catching up on X-Men animation and correcting a grave mistake.

You’d think with my love of the X-Men, and given all the recent coverage here, that I would have watched everything X-Men-related as originally released. That is the case, normally. With X-Men ’97, I let the pressure of expectations get the best of me, kept putting it off, and now, I’m in the minority of X fans who haven’t seen even one episode of the show.

I’m finally working on correcting that mistake now.

How Did We Get Here?

Even though I’ve been a comics and X-Men fan my whole life, the original X-Men animated series came out at a time when I wasn’t able to watch. I was newly married and we were traveling a lot, trying to make a life for ourselves as musicians. I caught an episode here and there—and loved what I saw!—but being up early on a Saturday morning, even for X-Men cartoons, wasn’t realistic for me then.

Also, this was all before streaming. Without watching regularly, there wasn’t a good way to catch up on missed episodes. When the new X-Men ’97 series came out a couple years ago, I thought it was a good time to go back and watch the original show first.

Best laid plans and all. That never happened, and here we are.

I’ve Got a Plan Now

I still want to watch the original series first. It just makes sense. Missing out on the original animated X-Men is a wrong I need to correct! To do this, I’m binging the original series on the weekends, giving the show the old Saturday-morning cartoon series feel that it deserves.

I’m a few episodes into season 3 now. I think that puts me a little over halfway through the series. That's progress, finally! Once that’s done, I’ll switch over to the new series and spend more time with each episode.

It’s a shame I missed out in the first place, but hey, with everything X-Men related lately, it’s a good time to go deep on all things mutants.

IGN on watching the X-Men movies in timeline order

Join in the fun, even if all the Fox X-Men movies aren't necessarily consistently good.

I’ve been in an X-Men mood lately—maybe it’s the recent Spider-Man movie, oops, soft spoiler in that statement—but if you know, then you know, with a certain aspect in the new Spider-Man movie. I find I’m liking this timeline order IGN posted as I make my way through all the X-Men movies.

It starts with X-Men: First Class, which feels right.

X-Men: First Class is the start of a new X-Men chapter that rewinds the clock to the earliest point on the film franchise’s timeline. The film begins in 1944 at the Auschwitz concentration camp before jumping ahead to 1962. The story follows a young Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and the origins of both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants.

—from IGN's How to Watch the X-Men Movies in Order

This Fox X-Men timeline actually makes no sense, especially if you're a long-time X-Men comics fan. And not all these films are great. There are some I actually forgot about. The original solo Wolverine is a distant memory, for example. But still, this is a fun watch order. I’m working my way through it all. You should join the fun, too!

Comics Beat on the new era in Marvel Comics

In which I find myself nodding along with this quote about want we all want to see from Marvel Comics

Hire interesting talent and pair them up with fantastic artists. Don’t have a house style where everything looks like a slightly crappy cover of Stuart Immonen. Make each book feel unique and interesting. And let them do whatever they want with the books.

From Sean Dillion in a roundtable reflecting on a previous Marvel Comics editorial transition, describing what they would like to see from the new editor in chief in this current Marvel editorial transition.

Here, here.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the Six Sixteen Review

The latest Spider-Man film jumps into my top 3 in the MCU, maybe even rising to number 1.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is filled with comic accurate shots

I grew up as a fan of two things: Marvel Comics and film. I was that kid who would fight you about Marvel being better than DC. As I wrote in the post launching this site, I found X-Men #137 at age 7 in a gas station and was hooked. The first movie I can remember going to with my dad was Star Wars, which was even earlier in my life. I passed this love of Marvel and film to my daughters. We have this long-running discussion in our family about which of Marvel’s films or TV shows are in our top 3.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has cracked my top 3. It might even be my favorite Marvel Studios film of all time.

The Look & Feel Is There

This is the best looking Marvel film. The knock on that Marvel film look is real—those flat colors and lack of depth—but the new Spider-Man film is gorgeous. When talking about this with my wife, I said this Spider-Man film looks like it has a classic film look. The lighting is warm. The shadows are deep and give each shot so much depth. That scene, the one featured in trailers where Peter is at the same party as MJ and Ned, is just so beautiful to look at. Watching this movie felt like I stepped back into the classic cinema era, back when everything was shot on real film.

And yet, somehow, there’s still such a vibrant superhero color palette. The action is cinematic, huge. The fights look real. They feel real. It’s hard to do a grounded film that feels like something straight out of a comic book.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day manages to pull this off. No small feat by itself.

An NYC Filled with Marvel Characters

Then, there’s New York City and all the Marvel characters walking around. This New York felt like the NYC of the Marvel Comics I grew up on. Characters bump into each other naturally. These aren’t just cameos. These are fully realized characters who bump into each other in natural ways.

When I saw the trailers I had that sinking feeling—uh oh, here we go again with another movie stuffing an endless parade of characters into it. That’s not the case. Each character matters. Each character emerges naturally in the plot.

This is how a connected universe should work. It's how good writing works, and the best of comics have always been well written.

Relevant in the Way the Best Comics Are

When Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15, it was a revelation of what comics could be. A super hero was no longer a muscle-bound, picture-perfect all-American like Superman. He was a kid from Queens dealing with the same issues as any other teen. Spider-Man was relevant to the culture of the 60s.

That idea—heroic characters dealing with what the rest of us are dealing with—has been at the heart of Marvel ever since. The best stories in this genre are like that. This film does it well too. It’s somehow a movie about the isolation and loneliness we all feel, about the need each of us have for our friends. It’s a reminder. But it’s not preachy or too on the nose. We’re just watching Peter Parker dealing with the consequences of the life he’s been given, and then realizing, oh yeah, that’s kind of like me!

Worth Watching Again, and Again

I know I’m full of praise here, but I’m realistic about this film, too. It’s not a perfect film. I could quibble about some aspects. The changing nature of Peter’s powers felt a little bolted on. I suspect if you removed that aspect from the film, it wouldn’t change the meaning or pace at all.

I also don’t get the need to keep Sadie Sink’s character such a secret. It felt pretty obvious in the trailer who she was. Long-time comics fans already figured it out. If you’re not a long-time fan, then the reveal in the film likely meant nothing to you. The secret keeping was just a little over-done and silly. But still, I loved her character in this movie. Such a great performance from Sadie Sink, too.

This is a spectacular film despite those quibbles. It well deserves the opening weekend success it has had. Now I need to find an open date where I can go see it again before it leaves theaters. Then I’ll watch it again when it comes to streaming. And probably again and again. It’s just really that good, the best of the MCU and the best of what Marvel Comics and Marvel movies can be.

New Rockstars on Marvel’s mutant plan

Have mutants and the X-Men been in the MCU all along? It sure seems that way now.

New Rockstars is my go to YouTube channel for MCU breakdowns and interesting ideas. Now that I’m getting excited about our X-Men future in the MCU, I can’t get enough of videos like these. Erik Voss pulls on the thread of where we’re headed now that mutants and the X-Men are in the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I’m fascinated by this idea that mutants have been in the MCU all along. We’ll see if that’s the direction Marvel takes.

Not long now.

Two Comics I’m Excited About This Week

There’s a recurring theme of history in today’s Marvel Comics haul.

Happy new comic book day today to all who celebrate! I’ve got a couple issues I’m excited about picking up today.

First up—Fantastic Four #15. This is the 65th Anniversary issue. That alone—well, and that cover!—make me excited for this one. But also, I’ve really been enjoying Ryan North and Humberto Ramos’s run on this title.

Then, there’s X-Men of Apocalypse Omega #1. I loved the Age of Apocalypse event back in the day, and this is just X-Men throwback goodness. I’m not normally nostalgic—for comics or anything really—but this series has been a tasteful bit of throwback for me.

Both of these comics have a connection to comics history, which is kind of cool. I can’t wait to get started reading.

Get excited for the future of the MCU

Kevin Feige on what Sadie Sink's character means

Rebecca Rubin at Variety has Kevin Feige on ‘Brand New Day’ Breaking Records, Sadie Sink’s Reveal and Tom Holland Getting a ‘Restful Victory Lap’ Before a Potential ‘Spider-Man 5’. The most interesting quote here is on Sadie Sink's character.

It’s purely about creating the best possible opening weekend experience for the audience. Sadie’s character is one that our fans know has immense significance within the Marvel Universe, and she plays a key role in the future of the MCU. I’m just happy that the secret is finally out and that Sadie can stop dodging the question.

Emphasis mine above. Obviously this was going to be the case, but also, it makes me excited for the future of the MCU.

Spidey beats End Game opening weekend record

That second place finish didn't last long.

Yesterday, I wrote about Spider-Man: Brand New Day nearly overtaking Avengers:End Game for all-time best opening weekend. That was a short lived second place finish.

Ryan Gajewski at The Hollywood Reporter on this Spidey Surprise:

There is a brand new title topping the list for the all-time biggest domestic opening weekend at the box office, as Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s debut has been adjusted in final numbers and will now surpass Avengers: Endgame, which previously led the way.

It's a truly incredible feat, one that I'm not sure anyone would have predicted.