Carol Danvers has been a longtime favorite of comic fans, from her first outing as Ms. Marvel, followed by her cosmic run as Binary, and they even stood by her throughout the Warbird phase. Then the return to Ms. Marvel sparked a new golden age for the character as she received a new series and became a mainstay figure in the various Avengers titles. Now we see Carol Danvers finally accepting the role she earned a long time ago, in the pages of her new series Captain Marvel.
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Cartoon Network Cancels ‘Young Justice’ and ‘Green Lantern: TAS’
I have to say, I’m pretty upset right now. For those that have been reading the site for awhile, you should be well aware of my deep seated love for both comics and cartoons. So when you combine both and tease me with the prospect of a comic based cartoon, you can pretty much guarantee I’ll be a die hard fan. And I’m not alone. I mean, I am horribly alone in my personal life, yes, but I have plenty of fan brethren that feel as I do about comics and cartoons.
Continue reading Cartoon Network Cancels ‘Young Justice’ and ‘Green Lantern: TAS’
SNL: 38.11 – Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar
Adam Levine is no stranger to SNL. Actually I think he is the first person to appear as a musical guest (on the Jeremy Renner episode with Maroon 5) and host in the same season. As is often the case with hosts who are familiar to the show, the writers step up their game and the guest stars come out of the wood work and it makes for a great episode. This week was no different.
I have to wonder if one of the writers was looking at a calendar, saw that the inauguration and Martin Luther King Day lined up and a big ol’ light bulb went off. That cold open was fantastic! Keenan Thompson as the ghost of MLK who just wants to talk about the deliciousness of Beyoncé and other the lack of a black member of One Direction. I love when the show starts off strong and man did that sketch deliver.
Given the proclivity this season of musical monologues, I was fairly certain that Adam Levine would be singing. Not that it would be a bad thing but I think we can all agree that perhaps this was the better direction for him.
Even though Adam seemed a little stilted when the monologue started, once Andy Sandberg, Cameron Diaz, and Jerry Seinfeld showed up he settled into the fun quite well. I had feared a sketch of “The Voice” so I was extremely pleased to see it worked into the monologue and of course those three actors make anything better.
The fauxmercial for Rosetta Stone: Thai was entertaining but not one of their best.
When “Circle Work” started I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like it. The talk show sketches in general aren’t my favorite and they tend to over stay their welcome but this one was funny. For some reason Kennan Thompson announcing that he had to poop and that he’d be back in 45 minutes really amused me.
“The Soprano Diaries” has the grand distinction of making me laugh so hard with one line that coffee went
out my nostrils. My sinuses have never been so clean all thanks to “Call me Ishmael, you son of a bitch!”. There is no chance in hell I would watch The Carrie Diaries, but The Soprano Diaries? All day long. Especially with Kate McKinnon as Carmela.
The Fire Department fundraiser sketch had everything going against it. It was extremely random, it was composed mainly of yelling, it went long past it’s time, and yet? Was one of the funniest sketches of the night. I don’t know how but it was. Probably a credit to how entertaining Bill Hader is no matter what he is doing, even if it’s just screaming. Also his reaction to Don’t Trust the B- in Apt. 23 was spot on. That show was so great- smart and funny, always the first to get canceled. Damn you network TV! It was also nice to see Nasim Pedrad in yet another sketch as she’s been quite MIA here of late.
When Andy Samberg showed up in the monologue, everyone in the entire universe immediately started thinking back to 2007 when he teamed up with Adam Levine for perhaps the best fake song ever, “Iran So Far“. When the logo for “SNL Digital Short” came up I think you could hear SNL fans the world over scream in delight. While I think the show is doing just fine in the post-Samberg era, “YOLO” was a great flashback to previous years.
Kendrick Lamar’s performances were good but I’ll admit I enjoyed hearing him singing about responsible financial planning than “drank”, but that could be because I loathe the word drank. I hear it and my skin crawls. Blech.
Weekend Update brought back one of my favorite recurring characters, Arianna Huffington! Nasim Pedrad just does such a good job with that impersonation it’s a joy to watch. Especially when she’s calling Seth Meyers what every fangirl calls him, Sex Meyers.
Of course there was no way that we wouldn’t be seeing Keenan Thompson as a crying, screaming, and dancing Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis probably cried watching Thompson cry.
The Maroon 5 vs. Train rumble was entertaining mainly thanks to Jason Sudekis as Jason Mraz and Bill Hader again as John Mayer. Well seeing Taran Killam as Pat Monahan motorboat Adam Levine was also a highlight, but that’s a given.
I have seen one episode of MTV’s Catfish and that was enough for me to know that the SNL sketch was about as perfect as you could imagine, especially Adam Levine as the annoying Nev. Of course if you take to the internet regarding this episode, you’ll find a lot of complaining about Levine reading off the cue cards too much. The fact they were visible in the Catfish sketch didn’t help but come on, the guy sings the same songs over and over each night, he’s not an actor, and frankly the cast members themselves have been really bad about reading cue cards so perhaps the internet is being a bit too harsh. Either way, Catfish was actually really funny. Frighteningly accurate, but really funny at the same time.
“Janet’s Apartment” was equally hysterical and disturbing. On one hand, a Murphy bed with Danny Glover’s face on it sounds fantastic but when Bobby Moynihan in drag is the one pulling it down, things get really creepy.
Nothing creepy with the “Biden Bash”- I’d attend that shindig any day of the year. If this truly is Jason Sudekis’ last year on SNL, he’s going about it the right way and ending with some high notes.
Overall? It might be my favorite episode of the season. There were quite a few “wtf” moments but all together it was very entertaining. Thankfully because after next week’s rerun (Jeremy Renner), the Feb. 9th episode will be Justin Bieber. I will watch the episode with an open mind, but I’ll admit I’m not really looking forward to it.
Until then SNL fans!
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Casts More Stars From Movies Past
In the X-Men Universe, I always thought that Days of Future Past was one of the best storylines out there and helped define them as the go-to comic for me. While the Phoenix Saga ranks as number one to me, I remember reading the comics for Days of Future Past at a friend’s house and loved the story of alternate futures and seeing it as a possibility if things were to go wrong. Imagine my own glee when I heard that the sequel to X-Men: First Class was going to be an adaptation of the Days of Future Past storyline. I got even more excited due to the return of Bryan Singer as director, the excitement after X2: X-Men United got squandered immediately with Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand (HOLY CRAP, it was awful). I did think that Matthew Vaughn did a terrific job in X-Men: First Class and am glad that he still helped write the script for this sequel. However, this seemed to be Singer’s baby and I am happy he returns to fold. As it turns out, he won’t be the only one…
Also slated to return according to SuperheroHype, are Rogue, Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) and Bobby Drake (Iceman), which means you get to see Anna Paquin, Ellen Page and Shawn Ashmore back in the mutant world once more. They join the list of several coming back, with Hugh Jackman coming back as Wolverine and Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart returning as Magneto and Professor X, respectively. Obviously with the time jumps and alternate realities, we were going to get glimpses of the cast but just hearing their involvement in the series makes me giddy.
Also confirmed back are Michael Fassbender (THE reason to watch X-Men: First Class), Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, and Nicholas Hoult. No word yet on anyone else joining the fun parade from the old movies as Famke Janssen is still waiting on her invite as Phoenix/Jean Grey along with James Marsden as Cyclops. Seeing as Ratner killed them off (seriously, every third Marvel movie blows, I’m so scared for Iron Man 3), it’s still open ended on who’s going to be in or out. We do know that Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert and January Jones as Emma Frost have yet to hear back on their odds in returning after First Class so I’m sure once we get closer to the date, we’ll get more information.
The Kitty Pryde thing seems to be the most significant casting considering her role in the comic storyline. It still remains to be seen as how big Ellen Page’s role will be once the movie hits the screen but that doesn’t damper the high hopes for the movie, or the fact that they care enough about the fans to bring back the same people in the old roles. I guess we’ll find out July 18, 2014 to see exactly how this bit of awesome news translates to the screen.
Marvel Preview: Nova #3
Marvel continues to unveil more from the upcoming Nova series, which promises not only a new character wearing the helmet of Nova, but what looks to be a pretty deep connection with the Guardians of the Galaxy, another group with a new series coming out soon. We’ve taken a look at the first 2 issues from Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness, and we have a great new preview of the third issue that show off some great pencils before any of the finishing. Click through below to check it out.
Arrow, 1:11 – “Trust But Verify”
Yao Fei why have you betrayed me?!?!?!
Sorry I just had to get that out-of-the-way.
After last week’s lackluster episode, Arrow came back this week quite strongly and had a little bit for everyone in ‘Trust But Verify’.
So Oliver is back in the swing of things, working out as usual, and keeping his eye on the news. This time a rash of armored car heists catches his eye and shock of all shocks, there is a connection to his list! Diggle and Ollie have always had their little love spats but I really thought this one was going to put them over the edge. What I liked about this episode was the fact this back and forth between Diggle and Oliver[pullquote_right]I won’t let you William Tell an innocent man. -Diggle[/pullquote_right]needed to happen. Seriously Diggle is a saint for putting up with Ollie’s somewhat premenstrual mood swings not to mention the fact that he has gone into this whole superhero-but-not thing with little to no information and does Oliver appreciate that? Up until this week, it didn’t really seem like it. Thankfully they had the Blackhawk Protection Group and Ted Gaynor to bring them together. Oh and if this episode did nothing else, it provided more great one-liners to the show’s repertoire and finally someone (Diggle) named the lair, “Arrow Cave”! It’s about time, only took 11 episodes which means we’ll finally get a real name for the vigilante in about episode 23.
There was a lot going on with the rest of the friends and family, mostly temperamental brooding. Tommy I can understand as Malcolm does seem to be quite an ass using a “family” dinner with the girlfriend to hide his real intention of getting Tommy to sign off on the closing of his dead mom’s clinic. Of course we do find out that it appears as if Malcolm really does miss his wife and isn’t the heartless bastard we once thought but still, that was low. So yes, I think we can go ahead and forgive Tommy for his brooding.
However, Thea? Someone either needs to kick some sense into her ass or just find her a therapist because sweet heavens above, she is messed up and not in that “oh this psychosis is cute” kind of way. She is reaching Dana from Homeland levels of ridiculousness when it comes to her mom. Granted a person’s first thought wouldn’t go to nefarious mystery kidnappings and boat sinking activities but a person can’t even talk to another without it being an affair? Come on Thea. Not only that but she is suffering badly from “I’m 18 and therefore know everything” disease. Sadly it will be at least another three or four years until she realizes she was completely wrong about everything. I don’t know if I can deal with her ridiculousness for that long. So much for the producers promising Thea would be less annoying this half of the season. Not even a car accident can make her less obnoxious. LIES!
As for lies, whoa Malcolm and Moira. I don’t even know what is going on with you two but it seems shady. And dangerous. And scary. What is Malcolm doing to Walter? Does he have him held hostage in some jail cell somewhere without access to a decent razor? Poor man was looking quite ragged. Of course no matter how smarmy Malcolm is, I can’t help but be intrigued by him. Why was his wife killed? Why is he such an ass to his son? Why did he become the Dark Archer? What are his life’s goal and aspirations? Why is he so good-looking? These are important questions that will hopefully be addressed soon.
Easily the most underrated person on the show? Felicity Smoak!
She’s still hunkered down in her dark office (seriously it’s not good for the eyes to stare at a computer that long in the dark) thinking the Queen family is done with her services. But no! Here comes Oliver with a security fob that was obviously part of a search for a box of wine… or armored car heists, close enough. Of course it takes Felicity no time because she’s an intellectual badass. Unfortunately she’s an intellectual badass with no bottle of wine. Poor Felicity.
Which brings me to the most distressing part of this week’s episode. I am hurt and betrayed. As founding member and president of the Yao Fei fan club, I was blind to the inevitable and just went about my days
believing that everything with Yao Fei and the island and Edward Fryers and Deathstroke was all hunky-dory when, as we all know now, it was not. As it turns out, Fei is working with Fryers and set up Oliver in a somewhat elaborate and seemingly unnecessary trap. If Fei was working with Fryers from the beginning, why didn’t he just bring Oliver to him when he found him? What was the purpose of “rescuing” him and teaching him cute little lessons all this time? Do we have a Most Dangerous Game situation on our hands? All I know is the fan club is over. Okay, maybe not completely over but at the very last disbanded until we have further information. For now, I’m with Oliver, I’m going to find it difficult to trust anyone. Damn you Yao Fei!
Overall, this was a great episode. Like I said earlier, had something for everyone. Going to have to go ahead and give this one a four out of five.
This episode nicely set up next week where we get to meet Starling City’s version of Count Vertigo- until then Arrow fans!
Grizzly Bomb 