Captain America Set Pics

Yesterday, images of Chris Evans as Captain America on the Cleveland set of The Avengers popped up on every nerd website out there. More on that in a sec.
Here we see someone, an actor or stuntman, wearing what appears to be a motion capture suit. Hmmm... wonder what that's for? Is he playing a shape-shifting Skrull, as has been widely rumored? Is he The Hulk? Something else entirely?
Here we see a spacey-looking ray gun. That certainly seems Skrully.
And now back to Cap.

Y'know... there's something I'm not quite digging about this suit. The fabric kinda bugs me. It looks sort of Power Ranger-y. Oh, you k now what it is? The shoulder pads! He had some shoulder detailing in the WWII costume, but I think it worked better
In a lot of ways, the WWII suit actually looks MORE high tech than the modern costume. It looks more functional and realistic. I think maybe the modern suit is a tad too streamlined and simplified. It actually looks a bit too costume-y. The helmet looks a little weird too. Oh, also, in the movie Captain America, there is absolutely no effort made to conceal Cap's identity, so shouldn't his ID be public knowledge? In that case, he really doesn't even need a mask. (But we all know he has to have it, just because... well, that's the costume!)

Am I being too critical? I don't hate it or anything. It's not bad at all, it's just a bit off for me.
Finally, a straight-forward image of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers. I'm looking forward to more images as filming continues!

Tune In (While You Can) Tuesday - My Surprisingly Emotional Response to the Glee 3D Movie

So we went to see the Glee 3D Concert Movie on Friday and the theater was mostly full and what was sort of neat was that a lot of the viewers acted like they were really at a concert, clapping after the songs... heck clapping along with the songs!... and applauding the actors during the closing credits, as if they were taking a bow in front of them! Oddly, this is not indicative of the movie's performance overall. It TANKED! It didn't even break the top 10 for the weekend! I guess that could be for any number of reasons. I think it's hard to turn a TV show, which is FREE, into something people are willing to pay to see... and it was only in 3D, so that's like $15 a pop. (Also, there was ZERO reason why it needed to be in 3D! NONE!) Also, I know a lot of people are sick of 3D already, so that could be part of it.

As I said in my title, I had a surprisingly emotional reaction to the movie, which I certainly wasn't expecting. NO, it wasn't to the profiles of the three outcast Gleeks in the movie. That was... okay. I could have lived without it, but it was okay. No my reaction was to both the reactions of the audience I was seeing the movie with and the fans in the movie to Chris Colfer/Kurt Hummel.

Obviously, Kurt is my favorite and the main reason I tune in to the show. But it's not just that he's gay, it's that he's gay like me. Effeminate, slight, sassy, jauntily dressed... hell, jaunty all around. I like Blaine. I think it's very cool that they have a laid-back, hip gay kid that other kids, gay and straight, look up to and envy. But I don't see myself in Blaine. I see myself ALL OVER Kurt. Except, being a TV character, with writers providing his dialogue, he's smarter and quicker than I could ever hope to be. Better dressed, too. But it's his feminine mannerisms and way of talking that I really see myself in.


And it was on full display in the movie. I actually didn't know going in that they would all be in character throughout the movie/in concert. I thought they performed as themselves, not Kurt, Blaine, Rachel, etc. But that's what they did. And Kurt was full-on Kurt, performing perched cross-legged, girl-style on a stool, singing "Happy Days Are Here Again/Come On Get Happy" with Rachel... and the crowd just SCREAMED!!! My boy was a full on ROCK GOD! And I cried. Here was this nancy, flouncy theater QUEEN... and this crowd of all ages and backgrounds were just screaming for him like Elvis. It was overwhelming... this wasn't just "support" it was full on love and adulation! I just couldn't believe it. I mean, I know Glee is popular. I know he won the Golden Globe last year and is nominated this year, but seeing that visceral reaction... hearing one woman say that her four year-old daughter wanted Blaine and Kurt to be her two daddies... I was just blown away. This isn't like Elton John or Ricky Martin or any other star that's come out after their biggest successes were behind them. It's not even like Adam Lambert, who is a larger than life personality. This was some down to earth, normal, skinny gay boy and people were crazy about him!
Like I said, the crowd in the theater actually clapped as the names of the actors appeared during the closing credits and Kurt/Chris got one of the loudest outbursts. I get a little lump in the throat thinking about it right now!

But yeah, the movie bombed hard, so if you wanna see it, get to it! ("Born This Way" was my favorite song, by the way!)

Artist Bill Walko has done some really nifty images. Check out his Deviantart page. He's got quite a few really nice Teen Titans illustrations and I was DELIGHTED to see his take on The Power Squad, the aborted all-female super team that I discussed here.
Looks like I'm not the only one who found this idea delicious! Here are a couple more images from his page that I particularly enjoyed!

Modernized Wonder Twins!
The Spider Friends!
The Herald and Bumble Bee! (This was later integrated into a larger Teen Titans group scene, which you can see on his site.)
Best of all... Jem & The Holograms!
This one is entitled "Who Is He Kissing:"
I like how Rio actually looks Latino here! All of his stuff is super adorbz! I think I'm actually going to order prints of a couple of these!

TV

I don't talk much about TV, so I have a couple of TV-related topics to discuss today. First of all, there's this sitcom that I think started airing earlier this summer called Happy Endings, which is about a group of six Friends friends in their twenties. Okay, I know you THINK you've seen it all before, but this show is set in CHICAGO not New York, so it's totally different. And they hang out in a BAR not a coffee shop! And there's a gay one and a black one, so THERE! It's totally different! Okay, it's similar to the legendary Friends, but I actually like it. The characters are kind of like the ones from Seinfeld, where they are just this close to being unlikeable. So if you want an old fashioned sitcom that's not fucking terrible like all the rest, check this show out. It'll be out on DVD on September 20th, which is closer than any of us want to think about.
I fer serious made David give up tickets to tonight's Reds game to take me to see the Glee 3D movie. I know that makes me sound like a bitch, but I have Friday AND Saturday night free this weekend by some miracle and you think I'ma let him go to a fucking Reds game BOTH those nights (oh yeah, he's going tomorrow, too!) while I sit around drinking and watching The A List-New York?! FUCK THAT! Sorry! I needz to get my Gleek on!
Also, this serves as my goodbye to my beloved Chord Overstreet who won't be returning this fall as Sam, even though they JUST started the storyline where he and Mercedes were dating. (Apparently, she'll have a new fella when the series returns.)
Glee needs to get its shit together. EW did a story along those lines and I agree. First Ryan Murphy prematurely announced that Cory, Lea and Chris were being written out of the show after this season, WITHOUT informing any of them of this. This was apparently because he was planning on spinning them off into a new show, presumably where they move to New York which was heavily hinted at in the finale of last season. BUT apparently Fox wasn't down with the idea and the spin-off was scrapped and Ryan was all "Oh they're aren't necessarily leaving the series after all." (Way to piss fans off FOR NO REASON, there buddy!) But who wants to watch some high school graduates still hanging around high school?! Sad! And the whole appeal of the show is the chemistry between ALL of the characters and you can't just take some of them out of the equation. Also... honestly Kurt is THE reason I watch the show! Everything revolves around him! If he's not on it, I don't think I'll keep watching.
Then there's the atrocious Glee Project. Fox actually passed on this concept all together, which should have killed it right there, but alas, it found a home on Oxygen. Basically a gaggle of unlikeable, under-talented fame whores cover a bunch of Glee songs and one of them will actually appear in at least seven episodes of the show this season. It's really unwatchable, but I still force myself to endure it every week, I guess out of masochism. "New characters" can be hit or miss. Blaine was a hit, but if I never see Sunshine Corazon again, it'll be too soon. The problem with most of the Glee Project contestants is that they aren't "misfits." Most of the girls are "show girls" who would fit in perfectly on American Idol. The red head, big girl might have worked, but she got kicked off and they already have Lauren Zises, anyway. Alex, the flaming black queen would certainly work, so I'm kinda hoping he takes it, although rumor has it, the adorable Irish kid wins, which... what's so "outcast" about him? Nothing! He's a cutie pie with an Irish accent! He'd own that school! Also, it's kinda obvious that the producers are CLEARLY looking for a guy. Week after week, girls get cut even though they may or may not be the worst ones.
Finally we have the shit storm that is The Walking Dead. First Frank Darabont appeared to hype the show at ComiCon and then immediately afterward "stepped down" as show runner, allegedly because he couldn't keep up with the pace of producing a weekly series after only working on feature films all these years. Then rumors bubbled up that the Mad Men budget had skyrocketed and that AMC was scaling back the budgets on TWD and Breaking Bad to compensate. Turns out Darabont was FIRED, but they made sure to keep him employed long enough to appear at ComiCon.

At least the Breaking Bad folks have the ballz to complain. So far no one from TWD has said shit. (Topless Robot speculated because of the nature of the show, any cast member that complains could easily be zombie chow.) AMC has apparently made some budgetary suggestions like shoot half the scenes indoors and maybe in some cases, the cast could just HEAR zombies and not see them, to save on makeup cost. Oh that sounds just WONDERFUL! SO what that series is all about! The ironic thing is that TWD is AMC's biggest hit! Its ratings are BETTER than that of Mad Men, even! ALL of this sounds horrible. I am concerned and I think I have a right to be. This sounds REALLY ominous!

Black Dynamite Pilot

After yesterday's rant, this is a perfectly fitting follow-up, Adult Swim's Black Dynamite pilot. It's based on Michael Jai White's 2009 live action blaxploitation parody/tribute of the same name. (Which I highly recommend, by the way!) This short is SO THE AWESOME! Enjoy, muthafuckas!

How Can I Not Care And Still Be Completely P.O.'d At The Same Time

Two "big" comic-related stories popped up last week, but they were things I was kinda apathetic about.
First, over in Marvel's "Ultimate" Universe, they recently killed off Spider-Man. They are relaunching the Ultimate comics and will introduce a new successor to Peter Parker, Miles Morales a teenager who happens to be half black, half Latino. Huh. Okay, well, they replaced Ted Kord as the Blue Beetle with a Latino teen and that actually went well. I mean... I don't read the Ultimate books anymore, so what's it matter to me? Sounds like a good idea, though and Spider-Man is about as big a name as they come, so to have him embodied by an ethnic character is pretty bold, if you ask me. Along the lines of having AA female Monica Rambeau go by the name Captain Marvel, but even moreso!
Second, they revealed that Lawrence Fishburn would portray Perry White in the upcoming Superman: The Man of Steel movie. My reaction? Well, heck, Lawrence Fishburn kicks ASS! That's perfect casting! But that movie is so far off that I'm not getting myself worked up over it just yet. But anyway, that's a good choice, right?

Oh fuckin' WRONG! I started reading comments online and it was the skuzziest, most racist shit you could imagine! I was stunned, appalled and ashamed! Ashamed because I am a dyed-in-the-wool NERD! I am DORK to the core and I associate myself with that culture... only to find that these "peers" I align myself with, this culture I feel a part of, consists of such bigoted idiots! I've always tried to brush it off as more of an exclusionary thing. I've always said that hetero white males feel that if a protagonist isn't also a hetero white male and they don't read that character's books or see their movies or whatever, it isn't that they're racist, it's they feel that the character isn't like them, therefore feel that they won't "get" the character or they feel that the book (or movie or whatever) isn't FOR them, it's for individuals that are superficially like the character. But, nope! Turns out fanboys are just racist assholes.
Not even the old school, sheet-wearing, sister-fucking kind where they're just FLAT OUT EVIL. These are people that INSIST they aren't racist at all. They're "traditionalist." "Spider-Man has always been white! This is just PC garbage!" Peter Parker has always been white. The REAL Peter Parker still is. In Ultimate comics, though, Peter Parker is all kindza DEAD! This is a new character. Why does his successor have to be YET ANOTHER Caucasian teen hero? We have a shit ton of them already, 75% of which are in the Legion of Super Heroes. Fuck that! We need another white teen in tights like we need another fucking Green Lantern. What the fuck is everyone's problem?! I don't even get why people are pissed. This isn't Peter Parker! This isn't the REAL Marvel Universe! Why does it always have to be about YOU, white people?!

And who gives a fuck about Perry White?! I can't believe that people are bitching about that when in Iron Man, they turned Caucasian butler Jarvis into a fucking COMPUTER and no one said shit about that! A computer isn't even HUMAN! So what does that say?! White fanboys are okay with characters being dehumanized, but NOT being a different sort of human that is probably more athletic and can dance better than them?! Such ridiculous bullshit! GAH!

Also, it's 2011. Who the fuck is still racist? Are people even still doing that anymore?! Jesus, I know comic fans aren't that hip, but that backwards shit went out with fedoras and cocktails at lunch. (Okay those two things are welcome back in style, but not RACISM!)

Huff huff! Deep breaths! (Pass me a cocktail.)

Lady Biznazz

First up, this image of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman popped up yesterday and basically no one gives a shit. I certainly don't. I just hate these Nolan Batmovies. I hate how boringly realistic they are. What I love about Captain America and Thor is how they embrace their source material and don't apologize for it. They're realistic to a degree, but are colorful and fun at the same time. But anyhoo, as for Catwoman, I mean, she's just wearing black clothes. That's it. It's not as stylized as Michelle Pfeifer's cut-up raincoat from Batman Returns. It's not as stylish as Julie Newmar's (et.al.) from the 60s. It's not a purple dress or catsuit. It's not as functional looking as Darwyn Cooke's design from the most recent comics. It's just, like, a black motorcycle suit with high tech goggles and apparently a flared domino mask that does, in fact, look like the 60s version. I.e., it's perfect for the Nolan Batmovies. Moving on!
Artist Kelly Turnbull took this alternate cover for Justice League #1 (left) and Wonder Woman's ridiculous pose and depicted her co-stars in both costumes that mimicked hers and in the exact same pose. I didn't quite get how sexual it was that her lasso was hanging between her legs, until I saw the guys in the same pose. DC really seems to be stepping backward in time, with its recent handling of its female characters. I hope it's just a coincidence and not truly indicative of how they plan to move forward. Also, I don't know what's going on with Wonder Woman and her trunks. First every image of her in the upcoming comics featured her in long tights, now all of a sudden, every image has her in shorts, including artwork that had already been shown! It's been re-done to depict her in shorts. But why those stupid navy boots?! I HATE them!

Finally, from DC Women Kicking Ass, and interview with Jack C. Harris, DC's go-to writer for female heroes in the 70s (Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Isis) wherein he reveals that around 1980, he and artist Trevor Von Eeden pitched a team book that would have starred Supergirl, Batgirl, Vixen and The Enchantress!
This would have been my favorite comic book EVER had it happened! I already loved Supergirl and Batgirl. I was never aware of The Enchantress until she popped up in the mid-80s in Suicide Squad, but she was a minor magical character that Harris had used as a villain in Supergirl. Vixen, at this point, I don't believe had ever actually appeared in a comic, since hers was aborted before it saw release. I think this period was before she finally popped up in Superman. But we all know how I love the sistahs, so you know I'd have been all over her, if this book had happened!
You've got a nice mix of powers there. Batgirl and Supergirl would have filled essentially the same roles as their male counterparts do in the Justice League, basically Batgirl = Smarts, Supergirl = Power. The Enchantress brings a magical angle and Vixen mystical, animal-based powers. I think they'd have blended well together. (Also, it would have been the most racially balanced super team around, since Enchantress is Asian and Vixen is black.)
The name Power Squad is generic as all hell, though. Could have been why DC didn't pick up the proposal? I will say at least, that it isn't some silly female centric name like Girl Gang or Sheroes or Femme Fighters. But it just isn't "Pow!" enough. If I couldn't see the cover and that it was an all-girl team, if I just had to base my interest on the title alone, I probably would have passed.
Maybe DC passed simply because they thought women couldn't sell comics. I think, at the time, that was kind of true. Supergirl had her own book off and on, but it was inconsistent and Batgirl had her own strip that ran in other Batbooks, but never her own series. Wonder Woman was the only one who had her own series that ran nonstop and I've read that it wasn't that big a seller, it's just that DC HAD to produce a monthly WW comic to retain rights to the character. But combine two household names like Supergirl and Batgirl and add two more female characters to the mix, I think that might have gained more attention than the characters could on their own!
I dunno. This whole concept captivates me. For one thing, and not to sound arrogant, it's unusual that there is an idea like this that I don't already know about! I love it when I can get schooled on comics from my era. And the whole "what if?" aspect... what if this book had been successful? Would things have turned out differently for Supergirl and Batgirl in the 80s? Would Supergirl have survived Crisis and would Batgirl never have become paralyzed... and therefore never become Oracle and therefore never founded the first REAL all-female super team Birds of Prey?! (Okay, so in that case, maybe it's best that this never really happened...) It's just neat, that's all. I know I'd have loved this comic as a kid, but it never happened, so...

Fun discovery!