New Avengers trailer showcases Hulk, Iron Man, Sam Jackson

The more footage that is shown for the 2012 Avengers movie, the clearer it becomes that this is essentially a popcorn film made with actors posing as action figures amid explosions.

… right on.

My two cents’ worth:

This is the clearest footage that we have seen of the new Mark Ruffalo Hulk and he looks great. The animation is fluid and the brutish design a solid take on the character, similar to the one drawn by Buscema or Byrne. I enjoyed the Incredible Hulk design, but this is more classic. It should finally ‘sell’ the hero to the masses.

Hulk by John Byrne

This is our third time seeing Iron Man on the big screen and he is still just as awesome. The whirring mechanisms, the jetboots and repulsor rays are just spot on.

Both Captain America and Hawkeye share some truly incredible moments as they enter the fray with gymnastic grace and nerves of steel (is Cap falling from the sky at one point??). Still not sure about Black Widow using a sidearm alongside the other Avengers. It just looks a bit silly.

It’s still unclear just who or what Loki has allied himself with to attack the human race, but it appears to be technological rather than mystical in origin. The spacecraft and armored Leviathan see, very unlike anything seen on Asgard in any case.

The Avengers are not the Fantastic Four or the X-Men. Both of those superhero teams have emotional connections and dramatic origins while the Avengers is more like a sampler of the best characters Marvel Comics has to offer. For that reason alone I don’t expect much in the way of story, which still worries me as Whedon has been heavily promoted as the writer (working off of a script already in development when he signed on). I just hope that, unlike Tony Stark, Whedon is a team player and not a diva.

We’ll all see together this May.

New Order Plays “Temptation” Live in the Studio

New Order Plays “Temptation” Live in the Studio

Click on the link to visit the excellent blog biblioklept.

Welcome to Earth 2

A new title joining DC’s New 52 will arrive in just two months. Not just another monthly book, Earth 2 will establish another reality parallel to the established universe (which is still unclear on a few things). Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and other familiar characters exist on this other Earth, but with key differences.

Previously, Earth-2 in the DC Universe was a reality in which the superheroes fought in WWII and aged, had families, etc. The Batman of Earth-2 was an older married man with a daughter, Robin wore a redesigned costume and Power Girl was Superman’s cousin. After the Crisis of 1985, these continuities merged, causing inconsistencies that writers struggled valiantly to resolve. When the Multiverse came back into existence at the close of the year-long comic 52, the possibilities for other realities opened up. Finally those story opportunities are being explored in a new comic by James ‘Starman’ Robinson.

If this all looks familiar, it’s because Geoff Johns attempted something similar back in 2008 in the Justice Society of America monthly series. Likely it was put on the back burner due to the massive shake-up of continuity and DC Entertainment’s formation.

The parallel reality will be explored in a set of new books:

EARTH 2 – Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Nicola Scott. The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.

WORLDS’ FINEST – Writer: Paul Levitz. Artists: George Perez and Kevin Maguire. Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Perez and Maguire will be the artists on alternating story arcs.

Designs by Jim Lee for Wonder Woman and Batman have surfaced along with a new female Robin by Kevin Maguire along with a few snippets of information, reproduced here from CBR:

“I’m excited and eager to let people know all the facts about the new EARTH 2 comic, but for now I have to remain vague,” teased Robinson. “Earth 2 is a world that’s very like our own, but at the same time vastly different. It has known great conflict and danger…a dark menace defeated but at a great cost both to the Earth and to its superheroes of that time. Now, in the present as new menaces emerge to attack the Earth, so new heroes must emerge too, learning to work as a team (or perhaps Society is a better word) while facing these new threats head-on. Who are these heroes? Will their powers include speed, bestial fury, and maybe even green light? Wait and see.”

“Due the events that open the saga of EARTH 2, Wonder Woman is already the last Amazon of this world and she is determined to avenge her sisters…at whatever cost,” Robinson told DC’s blog, The Source. Series editor Pat McCallum weighs in as well, hinting at Earth 2 being a rather violent place, saying, “It’s one of the mysteries we’ll be getting into with the series. While there will be recognizable faces and settings on EARTH 2, don’t for a moment think you’re on familiar ground. Do that, and you let your guard down…and then you’ll end up like the rest of the Amazons.”

“Who will Batman kill to save his own daughter?” series editor Pat McCallum told the blog. “Right out of the gate that should tell you we’re dealing with a different kind of Dark Knight here. More ruthless, dangerous…the costume is familiar and yeah, there is a Wayne under the mask, but we’re looking at a man desperate to save the only family he has left. ‘Earth’ 2 is about to become a very bad place to be a bad guy.”

More as it comes…