“Hey, I had nothing to do with that first movie design!”
Sonic The Hedgehog #48
Archie Comics Publications (July, 1997)
“Sonic The Fugitive” (I think. Like on the cover the red lettering covering the “Hedgehog” is so light it’s hard to read over the regular logo.)
WRITERS: Kent Taylor & Ken Penders
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Pam Eklund
COLORIST: Karl Bollers
LETTERER: Jeff Powell
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
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When it comes to the current crop of shows doing everything it can to tick off their fans, The Witcher seems to be near the top of the list. I’m not even a fan of the franchise and I can see everything going wrong. First they chased off Henry Cavill for wanting to be accurate to the books, then tried to say he was hard to work with (which failed) and now the producer insists it had to be dumbed down for those stupid Americans.
You know, nobody’s putting a gun to your head and making you work on this show. It’s clearly not where you want to be. The sad thing is one of the people part of this weak attempt to defend the show is writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, the creator of the awesome Middleman franchise. The comics and TV show were great and at least close to each other, so you’d think he would know better when it comes to treating source material properly and not ticking off the fans. Then again, the article linked to there says he worked on Netflix’s demake of Cowboy Bebop. Welcome to modern Hollywood, folks.
The following video, which being from The Critical Drinker obviously has quite a bit of swearing and drinking, is not posted to be the article, but something he said here did lead to the article. You can watch it if you want but my point will be clear with or without it. I just like being thorough.
One of the modern issues with Hollywood’s overblown budget that Drinker touches upon is how big and epic every superhero movie has to be, with the effects to match–which is a problem considering that the situation at Marvel Studios has gotten so bad for the VFX artists that they decided to unionize just to keep their sanity with all the last-minute changes that take time to implement. Script changes, someone in the upper levels or money people demanding a change so they feel better about themselves because “they’re helping” (spoilers: they’re really not) or making their kid happy or something, and all the work and money that goes into it is definitely a problem.
You know what would keep all those effects a bit less obtrusive? Maybe don’t put all your stakes in the first movie. You know you’re making a series, so does the origin need to be that important? If it’s an origin story does it need to be for all the marbles if you already want a second movie and beyond? It’s a symptom of a larger issue I’ve mentioned before, that every story needs to be the most epic thing ever, a problem that’s afflicted comics as well as Hollywood recently so of course the comic-inspired (not really adapted) movies would suffer the same mistake, but they do it right out of the box.
So that’s what I’m here to answer: does the first movie need to be as huge as it is? Short answer: No. Long answer: read on.
“Hulk learn fingerpainting.”
The Incredible Hulk #1 (again)
Marvel Comics (December, 2011)
“Hulk Asunder” part 1
WRITER: Jason Aaron
PENCILERS: Marc Silvestri & Michael Brossard
INKERS: Joe Weems V, Rick Basaldua, & Sal Regla
COLORIST: Sunny Gho
LETTERER: Ed Dukeshire
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jake Thomas
EDITOR: Mark Paniccia
We’re over halfway through the novel and seven chapters away from part 3. I don’t know how far along we are in the corresponding comics though. Last time it was all Bruce and Alfred trying to do the detective part of being Batman. I like how Bruce isn’t simply being kept down. There’s no crisis of faith, even with the concerns that he might never be able to be Batman again. He’s still doing what he feels is right, and not leaving rescuing his friends to the authorities even though he’s injured. Bruce doesn’t give up being who he is even when dealing with restrictions. It’s a quality that makes him a hero. I’m not getting that he’s doing it out of obsession but because…it’s what he does. He helps when nobody else can.
We have a decent length chapter this week so let’s just get to it. Plus we’re nearing that point in a Chapter By Chapter series where I’m starting to run out of stuff to say to pad out the homepage listing.
Are they even old enough to be in a bar?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5
Mirage Studios (October…maybe November, 1985)
This is from the first printing so the reprint’s back-up story isn’t in this release, nor was in the colorized Volume 2 trade from First Publishing that I own. Also, the Turtle fandom wiki has retroactively given this story the title “Teaming Up With Fugitoid”.
WRITERS/ARTISTS: Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird
LETTERER: Steve Lavigne
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
BW Media Spotlight 
BW’s Daily Video> Being Bigger Than Comic History
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on August 8, 2023 in Comic Spotlight and tagged comics, Comics By Perch, commentary.
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