Tag: Superhero

THE WORLD’S GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE – my thoughts on John Byrne’s run on Marvel’s first family

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Comic Books, Opinion1 Comment

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In 1981, fresh off a defining run on the X-Men with writer Chris Claremont, Canadian comic book creator John Byrne turned his attention on The Fantastic Four. Once Marvel Comics’ flagship title, The Fantastic Four had become a middling comic book in the 70s, its position usurped by the X-Men due to engaging, tight plotting, well-defined characters, and a strong sense of realism in both the writing and artwork, not to mention powerful, cinematic drama. The Uncanny X-Men was the premier comic book title of the time, and John Byrne was a major component in its rise to prominence. When creative differences with Claremont and editor-in-chief Jim Shooter soured Byrne on The X-Men, he asked for, and was given, full creative rein on The Fantastic Four, beginning with issue 232, with a cover date of July 1981.

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Movie Review: BRIGHTBURN – how they managed to make this horror movie take on Superboy is beyond me – but I loved it

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews3 Comments

While I’m a sucker for the Marvel movies, my personal favourite movie about superhumans is 2012’s Chronicle, a movie that appeals to the side of me that sees the crossover potential of the superhuman in fiction, and not keep it limited to the kind of material that’s been pounding the cinemas for decades now, and now Brightburn, a modestly made indie movie produced by Guardians of the Galaxy‘s James Gunn has cemented itself right by it.

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Movie Review: SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME a serviceable addition to Marvel’s growing list of franchise pics, but nothing more than that.

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

It’s hard to believe, but as of this year’s Avengers: Endgame, Tom Holland has donned the spider-suit in more movies than any other actor, and it’s only been three years since his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War!  To my knowledge, only Nicholas Hammond has played the character more than him.  This time around, it’s in his second solo outing, subtitled Far From Home.

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Movie Review: AVENGERS: ENDGAME – impressive, emotional end to the Avengers saga, but where can the studio possibly go from here?

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie Reviews1 Comment

Just about a year after Avengers: Infinity War was released, the second part of the story, Avengers: Endgame has descended upon the Earth, much like the kind of invading alien force audiences are all too familiar with, ironically, because of movies just like this.  I write this on Saturday, April 7 – opening weekend – and the movie is projected to have an opening weekend gross in excess of $1 billion, and that’s in addition to other cinematic records it is crushing.  Of course, the age-old question asks: is it any good?  My reaction is similar to that of Infinity War: it’s really good, and I really liked it, but it doesn’t get 5 stars, and left me with questions about the future of the entire Marvel franchise.

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Movie Review: SHAZAM! takes a lighter approach than recent DC movies, but the script is a horrendous, weak mess.

On By ANDREW HOPEIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

You’d be forgiven for not knowing this is the second Captain Marvel movie released this year, even though Brie Larson’s titular character was never actually called by that name, and Zachary Levi’s character doesn’t even have a name – but yes, the guy in the red costume and yellow lightning bolt is actually named Captain Marvel.  Marvel Comics won the copyright battle on that one, and so from that day, he’s been referred to colloquially by his activation word, Shazam! I will not even try to give you a canned history of the character, as I didn’t grow up reading him and don’t have any particular affinity for him either.  In fact, the only personal relationship I have to a version of this character is to the British rip-off character, Marvelman, so a little more of that later.  But right here, all you get is the movie.

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