Tag Archives: DC

Unknown Fan Films – Aquaman: The Cast of the Angler

Comic books have appeared in most people’s lives at some time, whether it be the cheeky antics of comedy comic characters like Dennis the Menace, superhero exploits with titles like Superman or even the funny pages in your local newspaper. Somewhere, somehow, you will have come across this medium. With comic book movies becoming a huge draw at the box office as of late, interest in comic books has never been higher. But there was a time before this when the comic book moviegoer was starved for attention when it came to movies about their favorite superhero teams. So what did these fans do? They just made the movies themselves.

With the introduction of YouTube, it became even easier to make your own superhero movie and be able share it with the world. Now, I am a huge fan of these fan films and have seen quite a few. While browsing through the internet, I decided to do a series of articles highlighting some of these movies. So for your viewing pleasure, here is part one of this series and today we focus on a DC character who never seems to get a fair deal, the lord of the DC Universe oceans, Aquaman.

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Aquaman is a hero that has gone through various character changes to try to make him more relatable to an audience but for the most part, he always seems to get slammed by fans who for some reason see him as a kind of joke. The recent DC Comics New 52 version of Aquaman has helped to change perception of this hero, even making jokes about how people see him as a fishy loser. Gone is the messed up 90s hero with a trident for a hand and a crazy beard and long gone is the campy hero who used to ride a sea-horse to work.

But in 1984, the campy version of the hero was definitely still alive and kicking and made his heroic entrance to the world of entertainment via this film The Cast of the Angler. This has to be one of the greatest attempts so far to put Aquaman onto the small screen (yes, even better than Smallville). Shot for $10,000 by students Thomas Farr and Jeff Klein, with very little crew to help, they were able to create something which when viewed, came off as unique if nothing else. They were also able to secure DC Comics permission to film, something which they may not have been able to pull together in this day and age. It is certainly an amazing achievement to make something like this under the restrictions the team had. Look below to see a quote from Thomas Farr’s YouTube page just to see what they were up against.

Jeff Klein and I (Thomas Farr) produced Aquaman while attending film school at CSUN. Permission was granted by DC COMICS to make the film after we send our script to Jenette Kahn President of DC COMICS at that time. The film won several awards. 

While I was attending a comic book convention in the 90’s, I came across our film inside the Super Hero video bins. It had been pirated and turned into a double feature with a WB pilot of Justice League of America. It was touted as a WB Pilot that was not picked up for series (which I found funny). Most of the crew have gone on to careers in the industry.

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The Adam West Batman influence shows and is the driving force behind this show. Much like Batman, the reason The Cast of the Angler works so well is because Aquaman plays it so straight. Showing its influences even more, it goes so far as to have its own animated intro. You thought Batman was a campy classic? Well, Aquaman managed to fill a whole 20 minutes with camptastic events. The acting is either over-the-top or not there at all with Aquaman being quite a dullard throughout, but still managing to be strangely entertaining. Here we have an Aquaman who uses his fishy friends for more sinister purposes, the main sufferer being the starfish that Aquaman uses as a flying death star. You heard it right, this Aquaman does not take prisoners.

 aquaman cast of angler aquaman swims

If this was not enough to keep you going the main villain of the piece is The Angler, a guy with a fishing hat and mask on his face (similar to The Weather Man in the awful yet amazing JLA TV movie) and needs a daily dose of potassium to keep him going. You read correctly, he is addicted to bananas and they pop up all over this little short. Why they did not attempt to use a more established baddie for this, like say Black Manta, I do not know. For this however, this new villain works perfectly. There is not much more plot than Aquaman going out find The Angler and he gets to kick his goons’ backsides before taking on the big guy himself. To say too much would spoil the fun of watching the events unravel but I will say that it is hilarious. Whether it was meant to be or hardly matters at all. It is a must see for fans of over-the-top superhero action.

http://youtu.be/flWDxkK5kKc

Ben Affleck Responds to his Batman Casting Internet Backlash

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be aware that Phantoms star Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel follow-up, currently titled Batman Vs. Superman. The internet has been up in arms about the casting, and so far the man himself has remained relatively tight-lipped. However, Ben Affleck appeared last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to promote his upcoming movie Runner Runner, co-starring Justin Timberlake, and the subject of Affleck playing Batman inevitably came up:

Affleck talks about how he was warned about the internet backlash following previous casting choices. “They said, ‘Just don’t use the Internet for a couple of days,'” the actor told Fallon. “And I said … ‘I handle shit!'” Ben fAffleck’s curiosity couldn’t prevent him from having a little peek when the news was made official. “I saw the announcement, I look down the thing. The first comment? … ‘Nooooooooooooo. And I was done! We’re going to be Luddites for a while.'”

Affleck still seems very pleased with his casting and told Fallon:

[quote]It’s so awesome, man. I’m so excited. They called me up and asked me if I wanted to do this. And I said, ‘I’m not 25, man, are you sure about this?’ And they said, ‘Come down, we wanna show you what we’re doing.’ Zack Snyder’s directing it and he has this amazing take on it. Obviously you can’t do what Christian [Bale] did, those movies were amazing. But Zack wants to something different but still in keeping with that.[/quote]

There is mixed feeling over here at Grizzly Bomb over Affleck’s casting, I for one am on team Affleck. He is a solid actor and in recent years has proved his salt both in front of and behind the camera. At least the rumor that pop star Justin Bieber being in the running to play Robin in the movie has now been quashed. The Wrap reported on Sunday that the whole thing was potentially set up for an upcoming Funny or Die sketch.

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Affleck will next be seen on the big screen alongside of Justin Timberlake in gambling thriller Runner Runner on September 27. Batman Vs. Superman is aiming for a July 15, 2015 release.

Hero Express! ‘Iron Man 3’ Post-Credit Scene Spoiler, Paul Giamatti in ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, & The ‘Superman:Unbound’ Trailer!

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top five stories in comic based Film & TV news!

Continue reading Hero Express! ‘Iron Man 3’ Post-Credit Scene Spoiler, Paul Giamatti in ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, & The ‘Superman:Unbound’ Trailer!

Comic Rack! Spider-Men 2 Planned, The X-Files Returns & Channel 52 Debuts!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

Smallville Writer Is Kickstarting His Own Graphic Novel

Smallville was one of those shows I always had a love/hate relationship with. I remember being WAY into it when it first started, because it was sort of like Ultimate DC, but before Ultimate Marvel was even really a thing. Then it got progressively sillier, and Lana Lang became one of the must frustrating characters on all of television history, and no amount of watery eyes and doughy pouty lips could save her from fans hatred. Regardless, I did enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. When I read about Bryan Q. Miller trying his hand at his own comic book, it makes me wonder if what I liked was his writing, or just the Superman stuff?

Comic Rack 1:30:13- Earthward- Cover

On top of that, I really like how Kickstarter has actually given a relatively stable platform for budding indie artists and writers to get funding for their books to be published and read. It’s far superior to other traditional publishing venues in that it’s being paid by and directly given to the people who want to read it. Well, the book itself is called Earthward, and takes place in the future on a spaceship and that description alone already has me. The fact that it’s all ages is good too, because I really enjoy comics and shows that are meant to be all ages, but don’t dumb themselves down for the kiddie’s sake.

Find out more here.

DC Bringing All The News, Some Of The Facts With Channel 52

One of my favorite things about comics when I was younger was the letters/promo section at the end. It always felt like after you finished your comic you got a little bonus there, and if you were lucky enough you could write in and get your letter featured in an upcoming issue, and that concept is something I still really like and wish was more prevalent in the industry. Well, at the very least the promo side of it is being retained by DC, who are changing things up. Previously there used to be the All Access pages towards the back of the book, detailing different tie ins or what have you, and lately there’s been the DC Nation that functions in the same way. It looks like DC is looking to change it up once again and have the section be re-branded and interpreted in a new way, as “Channel 52”. It’s a move that looks like it’s establishing their own set of characters, and looks to be a bit more narrative based, so as to give the impression of being more of an extra, rather than just a collection of promos. Hopefully it ends up being as interesting an idea as they want us to think it is.

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Find out more here.

The X- Files Returns! In Comic Form!

The X-Files is one of those shows I remember fondly from my youth. I remember coming home on a Friday and being too scared of the shows opening sequence to actually finish the rest of the episode sometimes. When I was younger aliens and cryptids and things like that all really scared the crap out of me. Now as a staunch skeptic I find them silly, but my love for the show still remains. The ideas behind the show, and the possibilities behind the world not being the boring bit of doldrums we see it as every day is an enticing, refreshing thought. The X-Files also seemed like one of those shows that could have gone on forever, if it didn’t get bogged down with it’s own weirdo mythology, and the increasing fan pressure for Mulder and Scully to drop their platonic friendship for something more. Then there were those two movies that weren’t so good. Hopefully the comic can bring back some of that old goodness in comic form.

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Find out more here. 

SpiderMen 2 Is Officially Planned

Last year the Ultimate Spider-Man and the Marvel Spider-Man had a whole story dedicated to them meeting up and having shenanigans.  It was called Spider-Men and I didn’t read it, because you know, Spider-Man. (For those not familiar with this column, I’m not a Spider-Man fan. Sorry.) But I can see the appeal. A lot of folks did, because it was one of the best reviewed and received books of the year, and Brian Michael Bendis is looking to continue that story this year with obviously titled Spider-Men 2. Now I’m sure a more knowledgeable fan could provide better speculation or even answers but I’m wondering how this is going to tie into the recent revelations from Superior-Spider-Man? I’m guessing it’ll just be another Spider-Man to throw into the fray of Spider-Men, and it’ll be an all out Spider War! Which reminds me, I have a pitch for a new reality TV show to write.

Comic Rack 1:30:13- Spider-Men Cover

Find out more here.

Action Comics 17 & 18 Now Supersized

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So there’s good new and bad news about Action Comics this week. The good news is that it’s going to be a dollar cheaper than expected. With the original price at $4.99, and the digital copy combo going for a whopping $5.99, the prices are coming down to a slightly more reasonable $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. The bad news is that the price comes down because they’re being cut from 48 pages to 40, but are still being advertised as Super-Sized, which is confusing. The other bad news is of course, Grant Morrison is leaving the book. By far my favorite writer out there, the fact that he’s leaving the Superman character is depressing, but all good things have to come to an end eventually. Action Comics was one of the books that at the beginning of the New 52, showed me that new things could still be done with iconic classic characters, and really made Superman seem interesting and new again while still being familiar and the same. It’s one of the better Superman books I’ve ever read and I’m really hoping it’ll stay that way once Morrison leaves.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!

Comic Rack: Guillermo del Toro’s DC Movie, Marvel’s New Teasers & More!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

 Guillermo del Toro IS Working On A DC Movie

After a bunch of flip floppy wish wash from PR executives that we’ve previously touched on, lots of rumors and hearsay, it’s finally been confirmed that Guillermo del Toro is actually working on a DC Comics film. Or plans to anyway, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to come out. Not that I wouldn’t love it, because his idea of a dark supernaturally themed DC movie with Constantine (Pronounced Constan- TYNE), sounds totally awesome and something right up his alley.

[box_light]“The movement for this happened before [The Avengers],” del Toro adds about DC building its own cinematic universe. “They were already galvanized to launch ‘Justice League’ and they were galvanized to make their universe cohesive… They are really, really, with ‘Superman’, very, very confident with what they have. They are now feeling they have two pillars. Batman and Superman… There’s a foundation that now they can build on.”[/box_light]

I’ve long been a fan of Guillermo’s, and think he’s one of the most creative and crafty directors out there that knows how to tell supernatural stories in a way that’s neither cheap nor boring. If Man of Steel is a big hit and the Justice League movie does in fact get made, you better believe I’ll be counting down the days until this project comes to fruition.

Find out more here.

Jeff Lemire Is Doubling Down On DC Projects

Comic Rack 1:9:13- Lemire-Projects

I’m such a huge fan of Jeff Lemire that simple, quick news like this can get my imagination running in a thousand different ways. The news is basically that he’s hinted at bringing some old school DC characters back into the modern fray. Which ones you ask? Well, they would consist of Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth, Jemm: Son Of Saturn, Red Tornado, and even The Spectre. Right now it’s all conjecture based on some images he tweeted, so It could all be for naught. I’m sure there’s always the possibility he was being a comics nerd and sharing some cool pictures with his fans, in the same way I share pictures of my cats with my fans. All zero of them. Regardless of my pathetic nature, if Lemire does end up doing something with these projects, you’ll definitely be informed right here the moment it does.

Find out more here.

Marvel Teaser Season Is Back, And One Features Brian Wood!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Brian Wood-XX-Marvel-Now!

In yet another teaser released by Marvel to make us all speculate endlessly until we don’t, we’ve got the vague hint at some new book that will be possibly related to X-women. The teaser released shows a picture of two X’s, with a DNA double hellix behind them, along with Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel’s names. It’s a bit obvious it’s referring to women in some way, what with the XX chromosome being referenced, but the question is who exactly? We all know Brian Wood is pretty familiar with writing women so it’s a question of who he’ll be writing about, rather than if. A solid speculation could be that the DNA helix hints at the genetic code that leads to mutants, and along with the X being such a famously mutant related letter at Marvel it’s a safe bet to make that it’s gonna be an X-Men related title. Some say it could even be called X-Women? I personally think that’s a corny title, but I’m positive it’ll be an interesting book nonetheless.

Along with that came another teaser announcing Phil Noto’s arrival as artist of the new Thunderbolts series. It’s titled Explosive and the image is certainly that:comic-rack-marvel-teasers-explosive

As always there are more teasers from Marvel, some of which are utterly baffling, like this “Birth” one:

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And this trio of obvious ones for Hulk, Deadpool, and Spider-Man, respectively:

Comic Rack-1:9:13-Hulk Teaser Comic Rack 1:9:13-Deadpool-Teaser Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Spiderman-teaser

Find out more here, here, here, here and here.

Dan Slott Keeps Pumping Out The Spider-Man Craziness By Bringing In Spider-Man 2099

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Listen, I haven’t read a Spider-Man book in years. I think the last time I did was when they switched Amazing to 3 times a week. I decided that was way more BS than I could handle at any given time, along with all of the One More Day nonsense that was going on. It pretty much put me off of Spider-Man forever, which hasn’t been remedied by the terrible movies and it’s subsequent reboots and forced sequels. He’s by far always been my least favorite character, and seeing all the wacky stuff Dan Slott has been doing to Spider-Man has done little to raise my interest in that book. Sometimes something is done when it’s done for you, and that’s that. That being said, I do find it interesting he’s bringing back Miguel O’Hara into the current continuity. That’s right, Spider-Man 2099 is going to be integrated into The Superior Spider-Man somehow. I remember reading issues of Spider-Man 2099 in the late nineties and being really stoked when I found his action figure because I thought it was rare. Regardless, the amount of novel things Dan Slott seems to be trying with Spider-Man these days, without getting into spoiler territory, is pretty interesting. It almost makes me wish somebody as gutsy and ballsy as him would try something like that with Batman or Superman, but he’s already gotten death threats and whatnot for stinkin’ Spider-Man, so I wouldn’t blame him for avoiding any other superhero properties for a while.

Find out more here.

Titan Comics Launches A Creator-Owned Based Imprint!

Comic Rack- 1:9:13- Titan Comics

I’m a pretty huge fan of creator owned comics. They’re by far what I read the most of nowadays, and to me are always the more personally rewarding stories. I love me a good superhero book, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing like a perfectly made mini-series that takes chances with its story and uses the medium of comics itself to tell a more effective story than any of the Big Two could. While I’m not very familiar with Titan, I always applaud another indie publisher throwing their hat into the ring and I’m especially fond of the plan to focus on creator owned content. It’d be pretty great if we got another big creative owned hit from them the way Image did with The Walking Dead or Invincible. It’s unlikely, but not impossible.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!

Comic Rack: Pulp Stories, Image Sells You Sex, and Hellboy Is In Hell!

Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…

Out With The Old, In With The New (52?)

Left to right: The Spirit, Doc Savage, The Avenger.
Left to right: The Spirit, Doc Savage, The Avenger.

In a move that should really surprise no one, it was confirmed by DC Publisher Dan DiDio that they’ll be letting their rights to three major pulp heroes franchises expire. The three let go were The Spirit, who was made famous by Will Eisner (who most recently had his own terrible movie directed by Frank Miller), Doc Savage, who was created by Henry W. Ralston, and lastly The Avenger, who was created by Paul Ernst. All of these, with the exception of Will Eisner, are names that have mostly been forgotten by the mainstream comics fan, and almost entirely forgotten by the average movie going populace. That’s not to say these heroes don’t have a future at all, or that pulp is dead. I remember in the mid-nineties there was a bit of a pulp resurgence, what with The Shadow, The Rocketeer and The Phantom all being made into big budget action films. None were particularly successful however, which lends some credence and an accepted sense of fortuitousness to DC’s decision.

It’s hard to summarize if the decision was made in and of itself, or in contrast to the phenomenal success of the New 52 that DC is having. While I’m sure they’ll say it’s something they’ve had in mind for a long time, the New 52 definitely had to play a part. It would be impossible as a publisher to ignore the sheer numbers alone, when all of your new titles are selling hundreds of thousands, and any or all of your older pulp properties continue to sell a few thousand at best. It makes sense as a business decision, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find anybody who would really think DC has been dropping the ball, or rather more accurately, refusing to pick it up. Arguably you could say they haven’t tried to really push the characters heavily, or incorporate them into the New 52 in some way, but I think that wouldn’t work. The world of a pulp hero is starkly different from the world of the New 52, and that level of story wouldn’t compare and contrast as well without making one or the other seem silly.

The best thing to come out of this I think, is that somebody will pick up the rights to these characters and use them again. Personally I’m hoping for some fun and exciting Doc Savage stories, as he’s always been a character I’ve enjoyed. His “cameos” in Warren Ellis’ Planetary gave us a glimpse of what a creative writer could do with his character, and I’m positive the same could be done for any of the pulp heroes that aren’t around today. If I were a daring publisher, I’d release an experiment similar to DC’s Wednesday Comics line, but with pulp heroes. The rumor is that Dynamite will probably snatch up the properties to start making books about them, and to be honest, that sounds entirely accurate, and entirely boring. I’m not trying to knock Dynamite directly here, because I think what they do works for them and their small audience. Which is the problem, as pulps heroes already have a pretty small audience. I think the best thing would be to have them debut from a bigger publisher, and have their own universe to interact in. Imagine if Marvel opened up a side publishing line like Icon, called it Pulp Now! or something, and released competing pulp stories against Dynamite’s current lineup of The Shadow and The Phantom? I know I’d be pretty thrilled, and I think pulp fans, and comics fans would be too.

Learn more here.

DC Keeps the Publishing Rights To The Spirit Archives!

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In a related story, a move that absolutely doesn’t surprise anyone, DC decides that while they have no interest in making NEW Spirit stories, they don’t want to give up the right to publish and make money off of all the old ones. This reeks of the classic adage, “have your cake and eat it too” if you ask me. I guess it makes sense, since they’re probably going to be two totally different properties once Dynamite (or whoever) picks up The Spirit and starts modernizing him for contemporary audiences. Let’s just hope it’ll end up better then that awful movie.

Find out more here.

In Other Pulp News…

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Since the inadvertent theme today is pulp comics, it’s of important note to recognize that the genre itself is very much still alive. Case in point, Five Ghosts. A comic which was at first funded by Kickstarter, enough so as to fund the entire first run of the mini-series consisting of 5 issues.  The book itself is about a 1930’s treasure hunter, who is “haunted” by the titular five ghosts. However they all resemble classic figures of pulp and literary history. The five in question are Robin Hood, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Musashi and Merlin. Even if you didn’t have their collective powers & knowledge, just their spirits assisting you would be enough. Put them all together and you’ve got a recipe for a superhero who is potentially an unkillable super-genius magical man-god. The series is being reprinted by Image, and I can’t wait to read the whole thing.

Find out more here.

Hellboy In Hell Sells Out!

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I have a terrible confession to make, and that’s that I’ve never read an issue of Hellboy. I know, it’s awful, but there’s a lot of stuff I read and it’s just one of those things I’ve never gotten around to. I’ve always been a fan of the character however, and I’ve enjoyed the two movies immensely. I’m a fan of the world, the concepts and really it’s a book I should have read by now. It may seem now that I finally have an incentive to take those books off the back burners of my reading list, and that reason is the incredibly acclaimed first issue of Hellboy In Hell. Having died by sacrificing himself to save the world, Hellboy naturally ends up in Hell, with a throne awaiting his arrival. It’s a fascinating concept and idea, and I can’t say I’m surprised it’s sold out. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Hellboy raves about how good it is, and the praise for Hellboy In Hell is no different. Perhaps with the renewed acclaim and interest in the character we can get another movie, but until then I’ve got some reading to do.

Find out more here.

Image Comics Will Soon be Selling ‘Sex’

Comic Rack- 1:2:13- Sex- Image

I really enjoy stories about superheroes when they’re not flying around, being superheroes. It’s one of the things that made the first couple of arcs of Invincible so appealing to me, and it’s a theme I’ve seen explored really well by The Luna Bros in Ultra as well. If superheroes are our reflections of idealized figures, morally, physically, and emotionally, why not sexually as well? It’s this idea that what happens when superheroes stop fighting, and start living their lives, that encompasses the main idea of Sex. When the superheroes and super villains decide enough is enough how do they live with themselves? Besides, who here hasn’t wondered how the sex lives of their favorite superheroes works? I know I certainly have, but that may or may not be because I’m an insane pervert. Regardless, Sex sounds like a fascinating book that’s sure to gain attention, and not only because of its scandalous sounding name.

Find out more here.

That’s all for this week’s edition! We’ll see you next time at the Comic Rack!