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You gift giving problems are solved—some of them anyway. Guardians of the Galaxy comes out on Digital HD and Disney First n 11/18, and on Blu-ra 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray and On-Demand on December 9th. Bonus features on the DVD:
· Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
· Exclusive Look at “Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron”
And extras on the deluxe formats:
· Making-of Featurettes
· Gag Reel
· Audio Commentary
Now you’ll be able to get “hooked on a feeling” over and over again.
It’s Autumn now, and it’s been a long time since we attempted to ride the coattails of Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014’s breakout stars. But now that the weather is getting colder you may be needing a transitional jacket, for those snappy autumn days (or warming autumn days if you live in the South). Anyway, New American Jackets is selling pleather replicas of Starlord jacket from Guardians of the Galaxy — available in both mens and women’s sizes. It looks to be a nice detailed jacket in a flattering burnt sienna color. Men’s runs $140 and women’s $139 but both are “on sale” now.
New American Jackets sells various other pop culture themed coats, like a Rick Grimes jacket—inexplicably crisp and clean and not gore clotted, bu you can fix that my sleeping in in every day for a month—a Keanu Reaves Hellblalz er trenchcoat—hopefully to be upgraded with the new TV series—a Smallville duster, a Katniss coat, a Drive jacket with the scorpion and all. So whatever your Halloween or cosplay plans, they can be purposed as a practical if nerdy garment for even non-con days.
Via Geek Tyrant
Paramount's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" opened with an estimated $65 million in the United States.
On July 29th, Marvel released a whole bunch of old Howard the Duck comics onto ComiXology for what appears to be no reason. Okay wait, I guess they are fantastic books by the late great Steve Gerber and Gene Colan (among others), but wow, that sure does seem random.
Oh, and Marvel VP David Gabriel recently confirmed that the long out of print Howard the Duck omnibus would be back in print as of October, also for absolutely no reason. What crazy times we live in. Anyway, I’m off to watch the new Guardians of the Galaxy. I hear it’s pretty good.
Perhaps no movie since the last Quentin Tarantino film has used familiar music as effectively to cue emotions as Guardians of The Galaxy. Starting with the trailers, director James Gunn picked out 70s music that has both nostalgic schlock value and hooks as big and irresistible as the universe. The result is music that grounds us in an unfamiliar world, bringing us right into Peter Quinn’s mind-set as ia dramatic link to his earth heritage.
And there’s even dancing and Footloose as the best story. I’d almost call Guardians a musical, in fact. It was probably my favorite part of the movie. And you know that scene at the end, that even bought a tear to my eye,
The official Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack includes Tyler Bates’ stirring if typical score instead of the 70s classics. However, Hollywood Records has a playlist on Spotify that has the whole Awesome Mix Vol. 1:
I dunno if this is 100% legit or not, but who cares. Fire it up and get ready to rob some space orbs.
Whoa, Guardians of the Galaxy…where to start. In a summer of unexceptional sequels and remakes, Marvel and Disney triumphed with a new creation that had a fresh take on the space opera genre, while introducing such comics elements as Thanos, Infinity Gems, and Rocket Raccoon. I never thought I would type that sentence outside of a fever dream.
By the numbers, GotG was the biggest August opening ever by a wide margin with a domestic take of $94 million, handily beating The Bourne Ultimatum $69.2M from 2007. (To be fair I paid like $10 to see Bourne, and $20 [ouch] to see GotG in 3d Imax.) Guardians had the biggest Thursday of the year, and an A tracking on Cinemascore and 90+ on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience was 56%/44% m/f with 59% adults.
At also reversed what has been a generally crappy summer at the box office, at least for one magic weekend. But as Nikki FInke pointed out, it’s not enough to lift the entire summer from the doldrums. Only a scant number of movies have even broken $200 mil domestically this year, and they are:
1 Captain America: The Winter Soldier — $258,923,934
2 The LEGO Movie — $257,709,556
3 Transformers: Age of Extinction — $241,166,000
4 Maleficent — $234,711,000
5 X-Men: Days of Future Past — $231,702,000
6 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 — $202,408,526
Do you sense a pattern here boys and girls, because I sure do. In other words, Marvel movies are going nowhere. Sony may have had to pull back a bit on its Spider-Man plans, but they’ll be back for another hit on the pipe. Because Marvel is the biggest thing in the movies right now.
And Guardians is the biggest triumph for Marvel Studios. Let’s get something straight, people know Iron Man before the movie, but NO ONE went around identifying as “I’m a Guardians of the Galaxy fan!” This success story was completely manufactured from a cauldron of elements including the massive pool of imagination at Marvel Comics, Kevin Feige’s uncanny planning ability, Nicole Perlman’s fearless reinvention of the franchise, James Gunn’s wholehearted empathy with the material, and Disney’s immense marketing machine.
And make no mistake, this was massive. While the spin is that Marvel made a quirky comedy with an indie director, the REALITY is that they spent $170 million dollars to make this the first in a tentpole franchise! That the “quirky indie” story survives at all is testament to good marketing and the inherent charm of the material.
I’ll forego writing a full on review, but as much as I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy as a movie—the opening scene with Star-Lord dancing to an 80s hook more seismic than any weapon in the film was the best musical scene in a Marvel movie since Peter Parker looked vacant to “Raindrops keep Falling on my Head”—it still had the same flaws as must MCU films: no matter how grungy the heroes they must save THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD by the end of the movie, leaving little room to up the excitement in the next film. Except I guess they’ll save the UNIVERSE next time? There was also, by Star Wars standards, a lot less banter than you’d think. In CGI films, the talking scenes are rewards for sitting through the action, whereas in practical effect days the reverse was true.
All that said, Guardians was, like The Matrix, an amazing amalgamation of everything before it: Raiders, Star Wars, Miyazaki, Disney, Full House. It was far and away the most beautifully art directed Marvel movie yet, with breathtaking vistas and wonderfully set up shots that have the characters—all acted totally on point—their due as both ruffians and heroes. And more importantly, it had—oh God I’m choking as I write this but I have no choice—the Marvel Magic. Guardians was set in a world where anything could happen, from a mining colony set in a Celestial’s head to a tree man who was more human than anyone else on screen. From Thanos’s cold star swept throne to a raccoon with a big gun. Ronan was the latest in a run of rather faceless generic world-threatening adversaries, but he looked cool and Lee Pace has the franchise in arrogant, judgmental magical villains. everyone says that in comics you can do ANYTHING whereas movies have budgets, but in Guardians the comics vision was put front and center and it was…magic.
Yet that scene with the mining colony set in the Celestial’s head may be a metaphor a little too close for comfort. This is another Marvel film where original creators could have been shut out, but Marvel Disney did the right thing as Jim Starlin—creator of Gamora, Drax and Thanos—and Bill Mantlo, co-creator of Rocket Raccoon, have both been looked after. But so much of the movie was an homage to Jack Kirby, whose heirs continue to battle with the studio.
And the final post-credits sequence? SPOILERS BELOW! BEWARE BEWARE!
It features Howard the Duck, followed by a card saying “Howard the Duck was created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik.” I don’t know how Marvel dealt with the living Mayerik or Gerber’s surviving family, but I think it’s safe to say Gerber himself is probably spinning in his grave at that one.
That scene says so much though, about Marvel and where it is now. It’s Feige’s ultimate victory lap—even the studio’s worst failure, a movie so horrific it has remained a watchword for awfulness (and a harbinger of George Lucas’s inability to make good movies) for generations. But Haward is back in the pack, Disney owns him, and they’re free to go on mining that head for years to come.
I don’t mean to piss on anyone’s wheaties, here. Guardians of the Galaxy was a triumph of studio filmmaking, and my big regret is that I had seen so much of it before hand covering the story so that I couldn’t experience it freshly and unexpectedly.
Part of the reason for Guardians success has to be James Gunn. The guy’s social media campaign for the movie was sheer genius, something he had to work with ultra-secretive Marvel to develop:
Obviously that’s something you like to do, but at the same time, is it something that you have to talk to Marvel about, due to the studio’s secretive nature?
I did at the beginning. Like at the very beginning, I kind of shut up about the movie when I first got hired. And didn’t say anything for a long time. And then little by little, something would come about and I’d be like “Please let me quench this stupid rumor?” You know, “Please let me say there is no fucking Planet Hulk movie.” That’s the dumbest fucking thing. There’s no fucking Planet Hulk. You know, please let me do that… That’s a way for me to get that out there. I’m like, please let me do whatever. And then sometimes they say, “I don’t really think so. We’d rather not engage in this type of thing.” And then there’s other times they’re like “Yeah, go ahead.”
Likewise, Kevin Feige has legitimately put Marvel in the same breath as Pixar as a trusted studio, and if they haven’t yet made their Ratatouille, Guardians contains perhaps the first genuinely tear jerking moments in Marvel films—if you’ve seen it you know what I mean. They’ve also completely utterly owned the WB’s efforts to get a DC Cinematic universe off the ground. DC gave us Ben Affleck looking jet lagged and puffy for less than a minute in Hall H. Marvel has a charming, fit Chris Pratt offering diet tips as he races across chat shows and social media after starring as a character who got started in a black and white SF magazine.
BUT — read on to the next post for the fatal flaw of Marvel studios!
It looks like Marvel has done the utterly impossible by turning Guardians of the Galaxy—a movie based on an obscure SF team of misfits—in a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, $65 mil at the BO certified feel good movie of the summer.
And their also releasing a bunch of comics that will keep the characters as fresh on the page as the screen. Among them is Thanos: The Infinity Revelation, a standalone graphic novel by Jim Starlin, the greater of GotG mainstays such as Gamora and Thanos. To make sure movie fans are aware of the book, Marvel has just released a newly lettered preview of the book, which goes on ales next Wednesday, 8/6. The story features Thanos and Warlock in the kind of cosmos battle for life and death Starlin is best known for, with guest stars along the way: the Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, the Badoon, the Annihilators and—because this is a book by Jim Starlin—Death.
The book is part of a new line of oversized, original Graphic novels—a genre Marvel hasn’t had much presence in in recent years, but one they are putting some muscle behind. THe book also includes a code for a digital edition redeemable via the Marvel Comics app or online at the Marvel Digital Comics Shop.
THANOS: THE INFINITY REVELATION OGN (APR140765)
Written by JIM STARLIN
Art & Cover by JIM STARLIN
On Sale 08/06/14!
I kind of had an inkling that Guardians of the Galaxy would be the big thing at Comic-Con 2014, and after looking on the floor for a few minutes…I was right. If it isn’t the Lego Rocket and Groot, it’s dioramas or the spaceship (Owl ship?) in the Marvel booth. The Marvel booth is very “under construction” but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see more Guardians imagery. I’ll be peeking back in a bit to see what else I can find but here’s a quick look!
Some of these are blurry spy pics because workers don’t like it when you stand there and take a lot of clear, well framed photos.
All my life I have dreamed of seeing Sean Bean on an airport luggage conveyor belt. Best promo of the show so far, but I just landed.
Nice Guardians of the Galaxy display at Hasbro.
This is a video of JJ Abrams telling you how awesome Star Wars VII is going to be.
Hot Wheels, I think I love you.
Star Wars Rebels
The stars of the show so far.
Seriously the only danger is that Rocket and Groot may be approaching Poochie territory with the exposure they’re getting.
Doings at the Marvel Booth. Is that Kree, Skrull or just part of an air duct?
The Alex Ross booth is always a treat although it’s relatively unchanged in recent years.
More Marvel swagga.
Batman is the big theme of the DC booth! I tried to get a better shot of the Batman costume displays—which will be very impressive—but too many nosy parkers.
Top Shelf’s Leigh Walton is thankful his palette of books just arrived. And MArch 2 coming in January.
Yes SLG and publisher Dan Vado are here. Despite Vado’s recent money troubles, he made it to the show with a lot of merch to sell…
…including this cool shirt. Many more like it. Check out the SLG booth across from the DC booth!
And my favorite booth! The land that time forgot, New England Comics. But I got word of a new Tick…sign coming. Maybe.
Brutal working conditions thus far.
by Brandon Schatz
If you were on the Secret Comics Illuminati Twitter Feed last night, you probably saw folks complaining about John Cena and Brock Lesnar being the anchor match at this year’s Summer Slam in among the plans to destroy your childhood. Oh, and you might have also caught wind of the Guardians of the Galaxy premiere held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Really, it all depends on which part of the illuminati’s feed you were digging through. You all have access to those secret tweets, right?
Oh.
Um… anyway, here’s a smattering of pictures from the event, and uh… forget I said anything about the secret feed, okay? I… don’t want to get in trouble before SDCC.
(Where is that damn edit button…)
The premiere, held at David Lapham’s palatial estate, one assumes. #comicsjokes
Lots of people on a stage
The body of Rocket Raccoon and Glenn Close, standing, totally comfortable.
Vin Diesel catches sight of a bird
Karen Gillen, writer of Phonogram, friend (?) to Jamie McKelvie, beloved by animals everywhere.
Chris Pratt, handsome as the dickens.
Fact: you can not contain Bradley Cooper in a suit. The suit will literally start on fire.
Zoe Saldana is just wonderful. I have not more comments other than this.
Michael Rooker thinks this premiere…
…is out of this world. #hyeeeaaaaahhhhhhhhh
A picture of a cat
“Oh you,” says Lee Pace.
Samm Levine, who has grown up to look exactly like he did in Freaks and Geeks.
Dave Bautista emotes for the camera.
Guardians of the Galaxy premieres on August 1st, 2014. Check your local theatres for listings. If you don’t have a local theatre, yell “Star-Lord!” into the void, and Chris Pratt will arrive, scoop you up in his arms, and carry you to the nearest theatre while whispering about his time on Everwood into your ears.
It’s almost all over but the shouting and the premiere as Guardians of the Galaxy opens a week from Friday. In the meantime you can ask
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, director James Gunn, and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige your own burning questions via a Yahoo Tumblr Q&A tomorrow, July 22nd at 7:00 p.m. EDT/4:00 p.m. PDT. You can upload your own video question (“When will there be a Black Panther movie???”) via Tumblr using #GOTGask and tag @yahooentertainment. Or submit via the above link’s Ask page.
IF you’re a regular Beat reader you know what to ask, although the odds of those kinds of questions being selected are not astronomic. But go for it!
In the meantime, here’s Glenn Close as Nova Prime, John C. Reilly as Corpsman Dey and Michael Rooker as Yondu.
I’ve wondered in the past if Rocket Raccoon would get overexposed before Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Well as long as that exposure is swell variant covers by Jeff Smith, I have no worries about that.
Skottie Young’s brand new Rocket Raccoon series is taking the comic book industry by storm, garnering rave reviews from critics and fans alike! Today, Marvel is proud to unveil that legendary cartoonist Jeff Smith (Bone, RASL) will lend his pen to a jaw-dropping variant cover to the sold-out first issue available exclusively at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International!
“How cool is it to see Jeff Smith — the creator of the seminal Bone — render Marvel’s SDCC exclusive variant cover, featuring this year’s breakout comic character? Pretty cool,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso.
As if you didn’t need another reason to head to the comic event of the year, this stunning cover will only be available for purchase at the Marvel Booth at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Jeff Smith’s Rocket Raccoon #1 variant joins an array of soon to be announced merchandise that will be available exclusively on site at The Marvel Shop in Marvel’s San Diego Comic Con International booth (Booth #2329).
Limited to 5000 pieces and priced at $10.00, don’t miss out on your chance to snag this epic variant cover as comics legend Jeff Smith brings his unique style and charm to two of your favorite Guardians of the Galaxy exclusively at this year’s Marvel Shop for San Diego Comic Con International!
ROCKET RACCOON #1
JEFF SMITH VARIANT ($10.00)
Written by SKOTTIE YOUNG
Art by SKOTTIE YOUNG
Cover by JEFF SMITH
In a perfect movie going world, we would have seen the brilliant “Hooked on a Feeling” Guardians of the Galaxy footage shown at Comic-Con last year and then known nothing more about the film until we sat down to see it on August 1. But this is not that world. Disney/Marvel is confident enough in the film’s quality—yet nervous enough about the reception to such an oddball concept—that they took the precaution of showing 17 minutes of footage at free screenings across the US tonight—and in IMAX 3D to boot.
Phones weren’t confiscated, and enjoinments not to pirate the footage were tepid, so if you hurry you may see it up on YouTube before the dawn….but in any event this is a hit, so the more buzz there is—and the more familiarity with the characters—the better.
Was it any good? Oh yeah. While this isn’t the quirky Steve Gerber-esque Marvel movie of my dreams, it’s still plenty different in tone from every other Marvel movie we’ve seen. And more importantly, the characters are more than one dimensional stereotypes. I had a couple of kvetches—we’ve seen a lot of the footage before so some of it, like the line-up scene, are getting overexposed. And there’s another note which I’ll save for the end.
The screening began with a message from director James Gunn, who seems a likable sort based on his social media presence. This footage is specially done for IMAX as I guess the film itself won’t be IMAXed. The footage began with the usual line-up scene as Starlord, Gamora, Rocket and Groot are arrested by the Nova Corps. Here it was expanded a bit, and with more of the back story introducing Gamora’s dad Thanos, her sister Nebula and her boss, Ronan the Accuser. We also learn Rocket and Groot are bounty hunters.
Next we see Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) getting hosed down, as you do upon entering prison, a fine chance to see Marvel’s trainer’s work in Pratt’s buff, just-underwear ready physique. We see the new team getting introduced into a coed prison with shocking Bruce Lee-yellow uniforms, and get to know more about Rocket and Groot before an escape plan is hatched. Hijinks and SPX ensue with everyone showing off their fighting moves, and Vin Diesel as Groot’s “I am Groot!” getting a workout.
I won’t spoil the scene, but it works on all levels. Maybe because he hasn’t been overexposed before, I liked Drax (Dave Bautista) the best. It turns out he’s not just a giant strong man, but comes from a planet where people take everything literally. Rocket explains that “A metaphor would go right over his head” to which Drax replies “Nothing would go over my head. I would catch it.” There will be humor, boys and girls. Peter Quill and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) are a little predictable as the loser Earth schlump with a love for old cassettes, and the lithe, deadly assassin respectively, but heroes and heroines are usually the least interesting characters. By now, Saldana is to lithe, deadly assassins what Sylvester Stallone is to aging renegades on one last mission.
Groot’s unorthodox powers get a workout in the prison escape scene (which did remind me of The Chronicles of Riddick just a bit.) He can grow shoots and stretch and do all kinds of Ent-like things. Rocket is of course the star of the show, asking as one point “What’s a raccoon?” There’s also a scene where Quill learns that despite being as cute as he is lethal, Rocket is also the result of some painful genetic engineering. I’m sure we’ll see a payoff to all that in the final film.
The special effects here looked great, way more imaginative than the usual Marvel movie fare. This is the first film where we really get to see the crazy world of the comics universe—throwaway concepts and all—put on screen, and the effect is so much fresher than the usual generic CGI bombast. From the head shaped planet Knowhere to the oddballs in the prison population, there is some strong world building going on here. And it’s as toyetic as hell, too. Winning.
Now, the one thing I didn’t like? I saw some people on Twitter comparing this to seeing Star Wars for the first time, and even allowing for the hyperbole of genuine excitement, Star Wars had one thing going for it GotG didn’t and that’s timing. Rocket and Groot are two of THE BEST CGI characters I’ve ever seen not played by Andy Serkis, and everyone is going to love them if they don’t get shoved down our throats too much in the next three weeks. BUT, Guardians aims to be a rapid fire ensemble comedy, and it’s really hard to do that kind of dialog with perfect timing when characters are CGI. Iron Man 2′s leaden screwball comedy was roundly panned, but at least RDJ, Paltrow and ScarJo were real people working against each other. Maybe I’m being too picky, but so much effort and money goes into making these movies hits that sometimes the little things don’t make it to screen.
Despite my minor kvetching, this was a solid preview. After the escape scene they showed an expanded teaser (whch you can see above at the top of this post) with our first look at Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace, aka Thranduil) in all his Jack Kirby-designed splendor, Karen Gillan as Nebula and Michael Rooker as Yondu. And even a veiled look at Thanos (Josh Brolin) as Ronan approaches his throne. ONe thing is certain: this movie will be filled with talk about Ronan and Thanos and Infinity Gems and yadda yadda and I hope it makes more sense than it all did in Thor 2 because that was a real snoozer for motivation.
With all the good buzz spreading out, Marvel released a bunch of new stills, below. Yes you are going to feel like you have seen this movie long before it opens, but I still can’t wait to take in the other 103 minutes or so, and I suspect many will feel the same way after this clever sneak peek.
Karen Gillan as Nebula
Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser as Gillan glowers.
The gang visits Grave of the Fireflies.
Ronan’s ship, the Dark Aster.
Yellow is the new black.
James Gunn directing a life size Rocket stand-in.
Glamourous Gamora.
Gamora is unpopular in the prison because of her past kills.
Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer.
What no wife beater?
Glenn Close as Nova Prime.
Oh man, are the two leads going to flirt?.
What do you think?
He is Groot.
I won’t explain this scene but it has a very funny payoff. .
Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser.
Inside the prison.
James Gunn directing his brother as Rocket.
Everytime I see the Starlord helmet it reminds me of both Mike Mignola and Morpheus..
There’s gonna be a rumble tonight.
Misfits of the galaxy.
Already we see the sausage being made!
Starlord.
Drax.
Bonus screenshot of Michael Rooker as Yondu
You know the first time I saw the Guardians of the Galaxy footage with the Blue Swede ooga-chuckkas it was so fresh and amazing. And now I’ve seen umpty zillion trailers and posters and this and that and all and I’m bored already. =( But that’s how ya gotta sell an unknown quantity in this day and age.
And yet I still signed up to see 17 minutes of IMAX footage for free on July 7th, and you may still be able to, too if you run over here to the GotG facebook page. Tickets are free and available on a first come first served basis. Lucky attendees get a poster, too!
The sneak peek will be held in 150 IMAX theaters across the US and Canada on July 7th at 7 pm. According to director James Gunn, “We’ve re-mastered some of our epic sequences into the IMAX 3D format, taking the scope and scale to new heights while creating a truly immersive, cinematic experience that will take you further into the Marvel Universe than ever before.”
And just in case you still can’t get enough pre August 1 opening footage here is a NEW trailer with NEW music (The Runaways Cherry Bomb) and MORE to make this look like a big summer movie epic.
Guardians of the Galaxy stars stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector…and Josh Brolin as Thanos.
So yeah the next Guardians trailer is up, and…well, I have to say I am still waiting to see this movie, but this is so much safer than the first few scrappy ones we saw. The Disney/Marvel second unit/SFX factory has taken over, making it look like every OTHER Marvel/Disney movie. Which I know is a good thing to many but…this was going to have a different tone, but instead it’s a bunch of misfits saving the universe AGAIN. That has been the plot of every Marvel movie. And…dare I say it, Bradley Cooper as Rocket is just…I dunno, it doesn’t fit.
Meanwhile, as Scott Mendelson at Forbes points out this is stil win/win for Disney/Marvel — if it’s a hit well, they can sell ANYTHING, if it flops — WOW THEY ARE SO BRAVE THEY TRIED!
But with Disney comes a certain amount of security and cover. And with that security comes the freedom to experiment and (most importantly) the freedom to fail. It’s the perception of risk without as much explicit peril. Even if Guardians of the Galaxy “flops” (under $400m worldwide?), Marvel still gets the credit for “trying.” It’s possible (probable?) that Marvel will eventually have a financial disappointment over the next several years with one of their copious properties. If they are to underwhelm, better to do it with something comparatively outside their wheelhouse. Guardians of the Galaxy is not a superhero film, doesn’t feature an Avenger, and its biggest stars are voicing CGI characters.
All that said, make sure to follow director James Gunn on INstagram for some great behind the scene shots, like this one of Chris Pratt minus CGI.
Marvel continue to roll out announcements today, with the news that Sam Humphries and Paco Medina will be the creative team for an ongoing Star Lord series. Following the exploits of the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy (and star of the upcoming movie), the series will see him fighting the good fight off – and, it looks, on – Earth.
The series is pitched as being about Star Lord as a solo hero, rather than as a member of the GOTG – the announcement comes with a brief description of issue #1, in which he’ll be fighting various alien foes and attempting to save an orphanage from destruction. You know – heroic stuff. More details are currently being announced at Wonder Con right now, although it’s made clear that Kitty Pryde will be a member of the supporting cast – having finally ditched Iceman, thank goodness, it looks like she’s set her sights a little higher…
The series is set to start in July. The above cover is by Steve McNiven.
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on 2/28/2014
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Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald.
In this week’s podcast the More to Come Crew – Heidi “The Beat” MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss Special Edition, the new New York comics-only show from ReedPop (the creators of NYCC), convention woes in Denver and South Bend, Osamu Tezuka‘s backlist goes digital, Viz coming to India, the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, casting for the Fantastic Four movie and more on PW Comics World’s More To Come.
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Zoe Saldana might just add to her geek cred by adding Gamora from Guardisna of the Galaxy to her nerd icon roles as Lt. Uhura in the Star Trek reboot and Neytiri in Avatar.
If the gets the role, it would not be her first comic book performance. She played Aisha in The Losers, a role which required her to fearlessly do summersaults clad only in white panties, a useful skill should Gamora’s ultra-skimpy costume be adapted for the film. Saldana is known for being physical in her roles, so she’d be perfect as the tough assassin Gamora. Plus, they both look good in green.
GUARDIANS has previously cast Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, and former wrestler Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer.
Following Parks & Rec star Chris Pratt being signed to play Starlord, Vulture commissioned this mashup of a full on cross over
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The conference calls are back at The Beat! Last night Jeph Loeb participated in a phonecall with member of the comics press to discuss the coming launch of a new Nova series – starring a new Nova. The series will be drawn by Ed McGuinness, and here’s Marcos Martin’s cover for issue #1:
Sam Alexander, the new Nova, has appeared in a few comics over the last year, most notably his role in Marvel’s first-ever ‘Infinite Comics’ story by Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen. He precipitated the Avengers Vs X-Men crossover, and was offered Avengers membership by Thor at the end of the series. But Loeb explained that this is the end-point for Nova’s story, and the new series will rewind back to before Sam even knows what a Nova is. The aim is to pitch Nova as a hero in the vein of Peter Parker – a young, inexperienced, but upbeat figure, who tries to use his new powers for good. He doesn’t even have the helmet yet.
The first issue will be set in a small town in Arizona, where the character lives, and will ultimately throw him into space to fight giant, overpowering threats far beyond his abilities – villains who will really test the character. Loeb noted the popularity of the Sam Alexander character in Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series, saying that the journey for the comic character will ultimately lead him towards the same personality and confidence of his animated counterpart.
When I go to conventions now, the amount of young kids who talk about how they love the show. When I ask them who their favourite characters are, it always comes out as Spider-Man is their favourite, and Nova second.
I asked him about if this has made him consider the title in terms of an all-ages property:
I don’t know that it was as much in my mind as the fact we we were telling a story about a 15 to 16 year-old kid. Part of the Nova story from the beginning, is that he was a very fun character – Rich Rider loved being Nova. I don’t think we’re necessarily writing for an all-ages audience… we’re writing for the Marvel audience.
From Arizona, Nova will then be moving on to outer space, where he’ll come into contact with Brian Michael Bendis‘ Guardians of the Galaxy – Loeb says no plans for the Annihilators as yet, but they may well show up later – and this will be apparently a very important part of Marvel over the next few months. We’ve seen that Guardians of the Galaxy will interact with Iron Man, and that All-New X-Men’s story will have some kind of ramification for the team. This is all a deliberate way of meshing the Universe together, Loeb says – when attempting to establish a character like Nova, it’s important that they’re visible. We’ll likely be seeing the character show up in a variety of books over the next few months.
No plans yet for any more Infinite Comics ventures, but Loeb was very open to the idea.
Finally, in terms of established Nova concepts returning? Loeb was very careful not to give too much away, although there will be a new, rebuilt Nova corps (of a kind, anyway) coming back into the book eventually, as Sam gets used to his powers, the legacy he’s inheriting from Rich Rider, and the importance of the Nova Corps in the Universe. At all times, Loeb spoke glowingly of Rich Rider as a character, and how the shadow of the character will loom over Sam at all times, driving him to be a better Nova.
Nova #1 will be released by Marvel in February, from the creative team of Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness.
Finally, the long national nightmare is over as future GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY director James Gunn has apologized on Facebook for his unwise, unfunny and offensive comments that he wrote on his blog two years ago:
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog that was meant to be satirical and funny. In rereading it over the past day I don’t think it’s funny. The attempted humor in the blog does not represent my actual feelings. However, I can see where statements were poorly worded and offensive to many. I’m sorry and regret making them at all.
People who are familiar with me as evidenced by my Facebook page and other mediums know that I’m an outspoken proponent for the rights of the gay and lesbian community, women and anyone who feels disenfranchised, and it kills me that some other outsider like myself, despite his or her gender or sexuality, might feel hurt or attacked by something I said. We’re all in the same camp, and I want to do my best to make this world a better place for all of us. I’m learning all the time. I promise to be more careful with my words in the future. And I will do my best to be funnier as well. Much love to all – James
I find this apology covers the right bases—not only does it admit the original piece was dumb, but it admits that it was unfunny, and being funnier in the future which is a key aspect of moving forward and making a great GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie.
Oh no!
They put Gamora on the cover!
Now boys won’t watch it!