Marvel's Rogue - Megan Coffey - starbuxx

Megan Coffey - starbuxx as Marvel X-Man Rogue.
You can check out her Facebook page here :
https://www.facebook.com/megancoffeystarbuxx/

Photo: BriLan Imagery
Wig: L-email wig

Wolverine Is Still Hanging In There

Those are NOT can openers......

Wolverine is still fighting at the box office.
It did have that second week drop I feared it would have, but that was because of Star Trek.
This weekend saw Wolvie drop down to third place behind the debuting Angels and Demons and Star Trek.
Wolverine still managed to pull in a $151.1 million three week total though.

As for the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"video game, it's kinda like the movie as in I have heard anything from "awesome" to "don't bother".
From what I have heard, the game is very brutal.
Pretty much like what would happen if Wolverine really was allowed to cut loose on someone.
Cut being the operative word.

I'm kinda glad they treat the game this way though.
I know I've complained a lot about dark versus light in superheroes, but Wolverine is one hero that needs to be dark.
Woverine stunning people with his claws doesn't work.
Its like the Punisher with rubber bullets or a stun gun.

I hate to say this, but maybe "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" could have stood to be a little darker.

Wolverine Versus Star Trek

I kind of avoided all the opening weekend Wolverine buzz (maybe not to jinx it like I seem to have Watchmen) but going into the second week I think it's okay to talk now.
I saw Star Trek this weekend and loved it.
(before you start, I watched Star Trek back in it's first run on TV, watched Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, couldn't handle Enterprise, watched all the movies and no I do not know Klingon, I just like Star Trek)
Anyway, despite the fact that I loved the Star Trek movie and its getting mostly favorable reviews, Wolverine still out grossed it in it's first week.

Star Trek pulled in $76.5 million this weekend, and Wolverine pulled in $85 last weekend.
Wolverine dropped to $27 million in it’s second weekend and I dont see that big of a drop for Star Trek coming up.
So Star Trek may out perform Wolvie in the long run.

Just in case you want a little Star Trek/X-Men goodness mixed together, head over to Sir Jorge's blog and take a look at Spock versus Wolverine where the above picture came from.
Appropriate no?

Gotta admit though, Wolverine versus Sylar..now there's a fight I'd like to see.

One Extreme Or The Other.....

It doesn't have to go this far...

As I kinda feared, Watchmen opened well, but the box office dropped suddenly.
Is this the death knell of comic book movies?
Hardly.
You cannot compare Watchmen to say Batman or Iron Man or Spiderman.
I don't think you will see product tie-ins like with the "colorful" superheroes.
Can you imagine a Rorschach Happy Meal?
Or a Comedian dress up set?
Nope, kids aren't supposed to emulate the Watchmen.
It's an adult story.
But Batman, The Hulk, Wolverine, now there are your commercial tie ins.
I think the movie industry had better think twice before "darkening" the more popular heroes.
The Dark Knight was just about as far as Hollywood needs to go and stay profitable.

Actually I keep wondering if we may be looking at a backlash soon.
I watch "Batman: The Brave and The Bold" and I love it.
It's not the dark brooding Batman. It's the 50s and 60s detective with gadgets.
But he's still bad.
They show a lighter Batman, but I don't get it confused with the Dark Knight.
BTW, I absolutely loved Batman: The Animated Series and I think both cartoons work, just on different levels.

Maybe we are making our heroes too dark.
Some of course, it suits.
But a darker, edgier Fantastic Four?
Heck, lets just get Frank Miller to do the Power Puff Girls.
Lets make it all so dark and bloody and gory that you really can't tell the heroes from the bad guys without a scorecard.

We need the dark avengers like Bats and the Punisher.
But we also need the "boy scouts".
I know I seem to keep harping on this, but I feel pretty strongly about it.

Maybe I'm schizophrenic since I liked Watchmen and The Rocketeer.
I like Batman AND Superman.

But there has to be a middle ground.
And no it's not Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin.

Superhero Top Ten. Who's More Popular? Superman...Batman?

Back in the old days, all we had to determine comic book superhero popularity was sales.
Now we have the Interweb!
And I tell you, doing some research on who is the most popular comic book character is a little strange.

1. Batman
Of course with the awesome movie and dying (what..twice recently?) I figured this would happen.
2. Robin
Robin? The Boy Hostage? He hasn't even been in a good movie. Unless you count the amazing "Grayson" fan film.
3. Spiderman
Even Obama couldnt help Spidey get up over Bats.
4. Superman
Superman Returns....meh
5. Iron Man
The movie rocked, no question.
6. X-Men
Through ups and downs, bad and good, I've always considered The X-Men to be Marvel's flagship.
7. The Incredible Hulk
Second movie was decent. And the Hulk stirs that "Forget logic, I just wanna pound something" feeling we all get from time to time.
8. Wolverine
He goes anywhere from maniac with razor sharp blades to Byronic hero. And he has a movie coming out.
9. Watchmen
I really expected them to be higher.
10. Wonder Woman
One of DC comics Trinity. And if they EVER finally make a movie.......

Notice that with the exception of Robin, and maybe Wonder Woman, all of these have movie tie ins?

Obama, Spiderman and Batman

With the sales of the Obama/Spiderman book doing so well and "The Dark Knight" raking in awards, 2009 looks like it's off to a good start for the comic book industry.

Amazing Spider-Man #583 with President Obama and Spiderman sold out, so another run is scheduled to hit comic book stores on Wednesday.
The Jan. 21 issue will have a variant cover.

The Dark Knight has already garnered tons of awards and nominations. Now everyone is looking at the Oscars and waiting.
On January 23rd, The Dark Knight will be re-released to stir up even more Oscar buzz.
Could the late Heath Ledger get an Oscar nomination? He's already won a posthumous Golden Globe award for his portrayal of the Joker.
A comic book movie getting an Oscar?
Even if that doesn't pan out, there's Iron Man in the special effects catagory.
Comic book movies (plural this time) getting Oscars?
And let's not forget Wolverine is hosting the show.

I checked out Grant Morrison's website (I like Grant. He is one person I would really LOVE to sit down and talk to) and Grant not only raved about The Dark Knight, but he said he thinks the movie screen is the future of Super Heroes.

I have to agree with him, but I'm biased because I can't actually say there has been a comic book based movie I have hated.
Okay, not counting the Superman movies after 2, and the dread Joel Schumacher Batman Forever.
And the Dolph Lundgren Punisher.
Okay. I've liked MOST of the Comic Book Movies.
What scares me is that if The Dark Knight does well in the Oscars, the movie studios will just start tossing out Super Hero movies left and right.

But here is my question.
Who is going to create the first all original superhero, make a movie and turn that character into an icon?
A non comic book based superhero that captures the imagination and reaches the Spiderman, Batman, Superman level?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine seems to be getting the big PR push now.
The trailer is online now ( you can see it here) and next years release (May 1st, 2009) seems to be going full steam.
At least Fox hopes so.
X-Men Origins: Magneto has been put on hold until they see how well the Wolverine movie does.
I like the main cast.....
Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine (of course), Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed / Sabretooth ( Okay, I thought Tyler Mane was an impressive visual Sabretooth, but could he pull off a whole movie?), Danny Huston as William Stryker (Not Brian Cox from the original movie. I guess the CGI would have been too time consuming), Lynn Collins as Kayla Silver Fox ( I would have preferred Michelle Monaghan but that didn't work out), Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool (I'm the one person on the Internet that likes Ryan Reynolds), Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau / Gambit ( Don't know a lot about Taylor but his Gambit looks good in the trailer), Kevin Durand as Frederick J. Dukes / The Blob (is that CGI or makeup? Either way it looks good).
So without actually seeing the movie, I'll have to just go with how it looks visually.
And visually it looks really good.

The Superhero as Society’s Mirror, From World War II to Iraq

The Superhero as Society’s Mirror, From World War II to Iraq
By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
Published: July 14, 2007

MONTCLAIR, N.J., July 11 — Michael E. Uslan is a lifelong comic-book fan, but “crusader” might be more accurate. For years, Mr. Uslan, a film producer (“Batman Begins,” among others), has collected comics and original art, written books about the industry and produced movies about his muscled and macabre childhood heroes.

full story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/arts/design/14comi.html?ref=design


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