Is Hollywood the "Kiss of Death" for Marvel Comics?

[FuXnDajenariht]

screw all that. they need a silver surfer movie!!

if they could get George Lucas' production company to do the effects.... and Sam Raimi to direct... the possibilties.

drooool~~

[red5angel]

not sure if this was mentioned or not yet but my brother-in-law was just telling me that Marvel was about to declare bankruptcy or some other such issue when X-men came out.

[@PLUGO]

Marvel's decared bankruptcy several times over as I understand it. Not sure about the whens, what etc... but yeah. if I recall correctly that was part of why they restructured themselves as a sort of development studio for licences. They are currently own by TOYBIZ who prettymuch writes off all of marvel's costs as developments expenses.

PS: red that's a pretty harsh Avatar you're sporting. Need a higher Rez version to er play with?

[red5angel]

DS, I couldn't get it any sharper, I'm not the digital art guy I should be to do Helen any good

[brothernumber9]

If they do a Thor flick, it would be great if they could base it around the ragnarock saga/legend, make it more of a fantasy piece like LOTR instead of the typical super hero/bad guy re hash.
no beta ray bill please.
Surtyr, Fafnir, the Fenris wolf, forst giants, and of course the norse gods, I think could be a great movie.

I agree with Design, A Cap'n America movie is primed for right now, and doesn't need to involve any super powers that would be difficult to translate onto screen. The first one was abysmal, the movie was more like a motorcyle cop with some ghey costume on riding around on a way oversized interstate bike doing nothing.

Hulk was good, although a teaser to a possible sequel with the Leader, or abomination, or the Ufoes or even Doc Samson would have been cool. and it would have been cool if they could have included the old "hulk is the strongest there is!" or something along that lines.

[Chizica]

Hopefully, someone will do a version of Dr. Strange. The way it's supposed to be done, not the sappy, poorly produced version from 1978.

[@PLUGO]

According to Fangoria, Lions Gate Films and Marvel Studios' Man-Thing, directed by Brett Leonard, will by-pass theaters and will air on Sci Fi Channel in April. The movie will then come to DVD on June 14.

[Shaolinlueb]

marvel's stock was an over the counter stock for like 1 dollar before xmen and spiderman came out. blade helped it a bit but not much. the movie's helped boost readers and profits by a lot. so technically it was the kiss of life for marvel. if they start to go bad though, expect same profits for marvel too.

[NeedsPractice]

If they could pull off x-men they could pull off the avengers but just depending on what characters they use ( like the x-men) the movie could go way over the top as far as special effects. Remember often the avengers were fighting alien races and galactic level or world threatening villians. i think the xmen movie worked because although they had mutants they kept the scale of powers small to a degree. Storm didnt create hurricanes every 5 seconds etc. In other words more story than special effects.
Also the original avengers were thor, captain america, iron man, ant man and the hulk.Thats one heck of a cast.
I think instead of live action they should go with R rated anime,then they could stick to the comic story and special effects arent a problem.
I liked daredevil it wasnt too bad a movie, it would be nice if they could get the daredevil kingpin in the spiderman movie even for a cameo.
Blade 3 would have been a nice way to intro ghostrider in a cameo, instead of the nightstalker crap.

[Vash]

Ghost Rider would have kicked blade's pansy ass.

Blade II, though, would roxors all over the Flaming Headed Dude's bony ass.

[@PLUGO]

Q: Where does a short ant go on vacation?



A: Antwerp!

[Jimbo]

Old thread I know, yet interesting.

I first discovered comic books in the late '60s and read/collected them until around 1980 or so. My main focus was the Marvel comics, but I also had various comics from DC, Warren, etc. When I attended five of the SD Comic Cons (1976 through '80), there was a very heavy focus on the comics themselves, then various celebrities. Back then, the Con was comparatively tiny and barely got much mention even in the local news. I met my first celebrities at the '76 Con, but all were comics or cartoon-related, such as artists, writers, etc. Also met Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc., voices) and got his autograph. To get in on the first day, you could still just show up and line up in front, and pay maybe $20 for the full four days.

Fast forward to today. I couldn't get into the Con now even if I wanted to. Now the focus of the Con is on Hollywood celebrities and cosplay. Comic books are only a tiny niche anymore. I'm betting the majority of attendees probably don't even read actual comic books anymore, and probably never have. It's the Hollywood movies that Marvel has put out that has saved Marvel from the brink. More people worldwide have watched the Avengers and X-Men movies alone than have ever read all the Marvel Comics ever printed. And IMO, Marvel's more recent movies have improved considerably since the early ones, due to superior FX that allow them to be done like never before. Are the movies perfect? No, but they've become better than was ever possible before.

[MarathonTmatt]

Old thread I know, yet interesting.

I first discovered comic books in the late '60s and read/collected them until around 1980 or so. My main focus was the Marvel comics, but I also had various comics from DC, Warren, etc. When I attended five of the SD Comic Cons (1976 through '80), there was a very heavy focus on the comics themselves, then various celebrities. Back then, the Con was comparatively tiny and barely got much mention even in the local news. I met my first celebrities at the '76 Con, but all were comics or cartoon-related, such as artists, writers, etc. Also met Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc., voices) and got his autograph. To get in on the first day, you could still just show up and line up in front, and pay maybe $20 for the full four days.

Fast forward to today. I couldn't get into the Con now even if I wanted to. Now the focus of the Con is on Hollywood celebrities and cosplay. Comic books are only a tiny niche anymore. I'm betting the majority of attendees probably don't even read actual comic books anymore, and probably never have. It's the Hollywood movies that Marvel has put out that has saved Marvel from the brink. More people worldwide have watched the Avengers and X-Men movies alone than have ever read all the Marvel Comics ever printed. And IMO, Marvel's more recent movies have improved considerably since the early ones, due to superior FX that allow them to be done like never before. Are the movies perfect? No, but they've become better than was ever possible before.

Wow, really great insight & points Jimbo. Even though I am younger I would have to agree with everything you said. I went to a small comic convention in New Hampshire maybe 10 or 11 years ago, it was very low key, not really advertised. One of the original creators/ writer/ artists of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was there (it was originally a black and white indy comic)- I got a quick skecth and autograph from him for like $2 (he drew/ signed on a special sheet of paper).

When I get comics I usually go for 1960's- early 1990's stuff. Mostly I have 80's/ early 90's stuff. I go for the 50 cent and $1 bins of comics at the shops- they surprisingly have some good stuff in there. I got Daredevil #181 for $1, by Frank Miller (the death of Elektra), and in surprisingly good condition too. When I was a kid that book in that condition would have been at least $15. And I'll say to myself, remember Namor the Submariner (early 90's series) #17 my brother and I had as kids? (written/drawn by john byrne). Well, what happened in issues #1-16. And bam. I find them all in the 50 cent bin, and I build up a nice little collection that way. No harm in doing that every now and then. When I was very young I liked the Marvel/ DC. Stopped collecting in high school. Picked up again 18/19 yrs old, but I went for stuff like "Preacher" "Cerebus the Aardvark" and Alan Moore stuff. Than I stopped collecting. Than a few years ago I started getting stuff again, mostly like 1980's Frank Miller Daredevil, John Byrne 1980's Fantastic Four/ Superman/ etc. like I just described

I think you are right. That small low key New Hampshire convention was the only convention I've been to. These bigger events and things like cosplay are totally alien to me, and I think most of the people don't even read/ have the comics, they are just movie fans! Makes me feel like an old soul! (and I guess I am.)

[GeneChing]

Read ANT-MAN: An Ant and a Neo-Cubist Sneak into a Rave… by Patrick Lugo

[Jimbo]

A

Wow, really great insight & points Jimbo. Even though I am younger I would have to agree with everything you said. I went to a small comic convention in New Hampshire maybe 10 or 11 years ago, it was very low key, not really advertised. One of the original creators/ writer/ artists of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was there (it was originally a black and white indy comic)- I got a quick skecth and autograph from him for like $2 (he drew/ signed on a special sheet of paper).

When I get comics I usually go for 1960's- early 1990's stuff. Mostly I have 80's/ early 90's stuff. I go for the 50 cent and $1 bins of comics at the shops- they surprisingly have some good stuff in there. I got Daredevil #181 for $1, by Frank Miller (the death of Elektra), and in surprisingly good condition too. When I was a kid that book in that condition would have been at least $15. And I'll say to myself, remember Namor the Submariner (early 90's series) #17 my brother and I had as kids? (written/drawn by john byrne). Well, what happened in issues #1-16. And bam. I find them all in the 50 cent bin, and I build up a nice little collection that way. No harm in doing that every now and then. When I was very young I liked the Marvel/ DC. Stopped collecting in high school. Picked up again 18/19 yrs old, but I went for stuff like "Preacher" "Cerebus the Aardvark" and Alan Moore stuff. Than I stopped collecting. Than a few years ago I started getting stuff again, mostly like 1980's Frank Miller Daredevil, John Byrne 1980's Fantastic Four/ Superman/ etc. like I just described

I think you are right. That small low key New Hampshire convention was the only convention I've been to. These bigger events and things like cosplay are totally alien to me, and I think most of the people don't even read/ have the comics, they are just movie fans! Makes me feel like an old soul! (and I guess I am.)

Thanks for sharing, Matt! Glad to see you enjoyed comics as well. Sounds like there was a lot of good stuff that came out during the '80s and '90s.

I learned to read with comic books from 4 years old. There will always be a special place in my heart for them, even though I mostly got out of them at 17. I got into comics a bit again later on when I lived in Taiwan. I would go to a marketplace that sold all kinds of stuff, including Japanese manga translated into Chinese. I developed my ability to read Chinese that way. It was great, because it was like reading conversational speech, as opposed to formalized stuff. My favorites of those were Kenji (Chuan Er in Mandarin), about a Japanese kid who trains Baji style and investigates other various CMA; and the City Hunter series. BTW, that marketplace also sold old 1970s issues of the Hong Kong Kung fu magazine New Martial Hero, which I also used to read. Alas, my ability to read and speak Chinese has declined a bit since those days.

As far as Marvel's focus on movies, IMO it's a good thing, as without them, I'm betting few if any younger people nowadays would even know about the Marvel characters. And it has increased the financial success of the company that would have probably gone under by now.