Our Last Hope is the First Class

A confident young man, complete with a full head of hair, swaggers over to a beautiful young woman, spouting off evolutionary facts as off kilter, albeit effective, pick up lines. Ladies and gentleman, meet Charles Xavier, who general audiences now know as Professor X, the wise, benevolent, very bald and wheel-chair bound leader of the super powered squad commonly known as The X-Men.

Set in the early 1960s, X-Men: First Class is a wildly imaginative and stylish film, a loose prequel to the popular film franchise that has brought in over one billion dollars over the course of four installments.

Even though the series had continued to prove profitable, it began to fall out of favor with both critics and audiences, first with the initial trilogy’s concluding chapter, X-Men: The Last Stand, and next with the entertaining, but overall disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Somewhere along the line, the films lost the thematic integrity and smart storytelling with which director Bryan Singer’s X-Men and X2 established the bar for serious, respectable comic adaptations.

Enter director Matthew Vaughn, hot off his success with the no holds barred Kick-Ass, and a limited but impressive resume that also features the British gangster film Layer Cake and the underrated fantasy gem Stardust. Vaughn proves to be just the adrenaline boost that the lagging X-Franchise needs. His presence, coupled with a story from Singer (who also returns in a producing capacity) makes for a fast, fun, thrill ride with real gravitas, a true return to the excellent form of the first two films.

Continue reading the full review here.

Now HERE is the type of Promo Material I've been waiting for

I'm glad they are finally embracing the 60s setting in their marketing.

source.

Russian X-Men: First Class Trailer

Russia's trailer for X-Men: First Class was released a few days ago and, while similar to the U.S. teaser, has some cool new clips (including a shot-for-shot callback to Magneto's origin as portrayed in X1).

Originally posted here.

The Second Thor Movie Trailer Released!

So today they released the second trailer for the Thor movie that comes out on May 6th. Check out the trailer. It might just trump the X-Men First Class trailer





I think it looks awesome, like really awesome. What do you think?

What do you think of January Jones as Emma Frost?

January Jones is going to be playing Emma Frost in this summers X-Men movie. What do you think of this blond vixen?

X-Men: First Class - First Trailer

I have to say after seeing this I am much more enthused about this film then previously, though that could just be because I love Cuban Missile Crisis angle. Also I think January Jones cast as Emma Frost is great, she plays a wonderful bitch on Mad Men.

Follow Up Review: X-Men #7

It seems like yesterday I was writing the review for the first issue of the new X-Men series written by Victor Gischler, and here we are, one arc down and already on issue number seven.

The series just wrapped up its six issue Curse of the Mutants arc, and now the X-Men are starting to gain popularity in the San Francisco area, beginning to be commonly referred to as San Francisco’s X-Men; kind of like how New York has the Avengers. Many of the X-Men are enjoying helping the people of San Francisco with their day-to-day problems, whether it be a house burning down, a robbery, or even a cat stuck in a tree, while others feel as though their powers and abilities could be put to better use.

In this issue a handful of the X-Men are sent to New York City to investigate an issue that is “too small for the Avengers, but too big for local law enforcement”. This group of X-Men find themselves in the NYC sewer system searching for the source of the problem.

Wolverine: The Best There Is

As comic readers looked on the shelf this week, they noticed yet again another Wolverine title. When I saw that this book was coming out, I initially thought that it was a one-shot, since Marvel has the habit of putting out more than a few Wolverine related one-shots, but I was wrong.

Wolverine: The Best There Is, is yet another Wolverine on-going title to go along with his other main title (Wolverine Goes to Hell) and all the other team titles that he is part of. When I found this out, I was very disillusioned, the Wolverine one-shots are usually entertaining at least, but I firmly believe that Wolverine is an over-worked character who, although I am a fan of the character, I do not believe that he needs all of these books, especially, as more and more are made the quality drops.

Generation Hope #1

I have been reading Uncanny X-Men the few months and I was really wondering what they were going to do with Hope and the new mutants that she has been recovering for the past four issues. I was also wondering when Hope was going to get her own book, and with Generation Hope, Marvel has answered both of my questions.

X-23 #1

For some time I have known that X23 was going to be getting her own series, not only because it was announced awhile ago, but also because her rising popularity over the last 4 years or so made it apparent that Marvel would soon try to start her with her own series.

I cannot say that I was hopeful for this comic. Instead of condemning this book from the start I decided that I would at least read it and give it a shot.

Storm and Gambit One-Shot (Curse of the Mutants tie-in)

When it comes to tie-ins for comic book series I always want to read every single additional book I can so I can get the full story, but the majority of the time I cannot justify doing so because most of the stories aren’t anything crucial or even good for that matter, and it just costs too much. But, I decided to pick up Storm and Gambit because of three reasons. 1. The art is done by Chris Bachalo, 2. Its only a one-shot so even if its not great at least I got the full story, and 3. both Storm and Gambit are both great characters.

When I opened the book I was even happier that I picked it up because I quickly learned that this issue was incredibly important to the main storyline and I knew it would be worth the money it cost.

The story centers around Storm and Gambit and a mission they undertake into a secret Vampire lair in order to recover the body of Dracula. Little do they know is that everything is against them and not only are their mutant abilities going haywire, but there is no way they can get back-up from the other X-Men. The story goes on to have many interesting plot twists, and is action packed with exciting and gruesome battles where you get to see Storm in a form you never imagined. On top of it all, its One-Shot length is prefect and really goes from start to finish without a bump in the road.

On top of a great story, the art of Chris Bachalo (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy) is spectacular in this issue. He really has a style that perfectly fits the dark and dreary atmosphere of Vampires. He also does a great job illustrating the fight scenes, even when there is an overwhelming amount going on in the panels, he never makes them hard to follow or allows them to be jumbled. His art is pure beauty.

Overall this was a great book, and the story really fit perfectly into its One-Shot packaging. I had never read anything by Chuck Kim, but his writing was great and I think that he allowed for great chemistry between Storm and Gambit that really made the issue pop. When it comes to One-Shots and mini-series, comic companies usually slack on whom they have writing and drawing the issues, but with this One-Shot they did the complete opposite and I was very glad to see that. If you are reading Victor Gischler’s X-Men series and any of the other Curse of the Mutants tie-ins then this issue is a must. Don’t miss out.

9 out of 10

*Originally Posted on the Chris' Comics Official Website

Deadpool #1000

Sadly, it is true. It probably has been roughly 100 issues since Deadpool 900 came out, so of course Marvel thought that it would be awesome to put out a Deadpool 1000. I am not trying to complain, I myself am a Deadpool fan, but I do think that his popularity and Marvel’s obsession with the Merc with a Mouth is getting a little out of hand. Regardless, Marvel put out a great issue with Deadpool 1000, way better than my expectations were set at.

Just looking at this issue caused me to think two positive thoughts. Number one, look at the size of this issue! It’s a HUGE book! And for the cover price of $5, it is definitely worth it. The second thing I noticed was the great wrap around cover by Dave Johnson. I always love seeing his covers, and he never lets me down when it comes to Deadpool (if you haven’t already, check out his connecting covers from Prelude to Deadpool Corps). Then when I opened the issue, I was even more impressed.

Shotgun Opera

Shotgun Opera from Victor Gischler is anything short of phenomenal. Follow ex-mobster Mike Foley as he repays his Brother by protecting a nephew he has never met. On top of that, the reader will also follow the Cornwall family and how their highly trained, but highly dysfunctional family becomes intertwined with the Foley’s that will take both families on a ride full of bullets, explosions, and death. This is a story of murder, revenge, and payback is action packed and leaves the reader wanting more after each and every chapter. This is the 4^th book I have read from Gischler, and I am excited that I still have three more of his books to read.

The thing that was really awesome about Shotgun Opera is that the whole time I was reading it I thought that it would make a really awesome movie, and as I got further into the book that thought became stronger and stronger, so I decided that I should take it upon myself to brainstorm who would play each character in the book.

Mike Foley: Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight)

Andrew Foley: James McAvoy (Wanted)

The Man with the Voice: Kevin Spacy (K-Pax)

Nikki Enders: Angelina Jolie (Changeling)

Meredith Cornwall-Jenkins: Kate Beckinsale (Underworld)

Linda: Vivica A Fox (Independence Day)

Lizzy Cornwall: Lyndsy Fonceca (Kick-Ass)

Ortega: Benicio Del Toro (The Wolfman)

Enrique Mars: Óscar Jaenada (The Losers)

I think these are some pretty good guesses for many of the main chracters in this book. If you want to know why, you will just have to read the book and find out, because it is definitely worth the read.

Buy the Shotgun Opera here

Victor Gischler's X-Men #1 Comic Review

On X-Men day 2010, Marvel Comics released the much-anticipated X-Men series, the first X-men #1 in 20 years! The creative team behind the book is Victor Gischler (Deadpool Corps) and Paco Medina (Deadpool), using the storyline “Curse of the Mutants” as their first story arc. I have been excited for this issue to come out for quite some time now because I am a huge Victor Gischler fan.

One of the main concerns I had about this issue was the fact that it was coming out prior to the conclusion of X-Men Second Coming, fearing that the issue would release spoilers for the cross-over X-fans have been enjoying for the last few months. And to my surprise, there were no spoilers, no mention to Second Coming at all, and did well standing alone as a new X-book without any support of the many other X-titles.

The arc starts off focusing around a character that has been absent from the X-Men universe for some time, Jubilee; which is an exciting surprise to many X-Fans. After an incident involving a frightening character in a San Francisco park, the X-Men find themselves facing a new terrorist threat and what follows after said incident lays out an interesting premise for the next several issues of this series.

Without spoiling any more of the story, the main idea of this first arc stems out of Victor

Gischler’s one-shot “The Death of Dracula” and the X-Men discover that they have a Vampire problem on their hands. The one problem that I have is that I feel that Marvel released a little too much information about this new series, which kind of dulled down the surprises that occurred in this first issue. Also, I think that being able to read ‘The Death of Dracula” prior to this issue also spoiled a number of surprises and allowed me to kinda figure out all the secrets and twists that the book insinuates.

Overall, this was a great starting issue. It kept my interest the entire duration of the story, had great writing and great art, and met all the expectations I had, except for one. The one thing that I was very disappointed about was that, there were a ton of promo pin-ups that were released in many of Marvel’s issues the past few months that were awesome. I was hoping that they would be the variant covers for this first issue, but they were not. But aside from that, everything was great and I am eagerly awaiting the next issue. Welcome to the X-Universe X-Men.

9.5 out of 10

*Originally posted on the Chris' Comics Official Website

Kicking Ass With First Class?

According to Entertainment Weekly, 20th Century Fox has approached director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) to helm X-Men: First Class. Interestingly enough, Vaughn was originally signed on to direct X-Men: The Last Stand (responsible for the casting of both Kelsey Grammer and Vinnie Jones), but dropped out because he felt Fox's short schedule didn't give him enough time to make the movie he wanted to. I thought that he had left on bad terms, but apparently not too bad if Fox is offering the X-franchise to him once again.

As a director, Vaughn is more than capable. He only has three films under his belt: Kick-Ass, Stardust, and Layer Cake, all three of which - while vastly different in tone and style - I enjoyed greatly. My guess is the higher-ups at Fox...

Continue reading here.

Cornbread's Favorite and Least Favorite Comics of the Week - 3/17

I had a big week in comics this week, but after talking to everyone else, it seems like I was the only one really. But alas, I was able to select a favorite and least favorite for this week and now all of you can read (or not read) about them.


Favorite Comic: Choker #2
*Warning Possible Spoiler Alert*

First off, I want to say that this book is beautiful. Templesmith's art really never lets me down. Also, the physical quality of the book itself is great as well, using high quality art paper for each and every page.

Aside from the way the book looks, this issue topped my list this week was the story and how it is developing. The events of this issue are even more messed up than the last, introducing the threat of man eating human monsters that seem to be attacking civilians in Shotgun city. This is on top of the introduction of a vampire attack in the last issue, which the reader still knows nothing about because it was hardly mentioned in this issue. I think it will be interesting if that in every issue McCool and Templesmith introduce a new threat that Jackson has to deal with and then in the last issue(s) it all ties together and you learn how it is all connected to the (as of right now) main antagonist Cassidy.