100 Years, 100 Creators – Part 1

Over a few posts, I’m going to choose a different creator or creative team–novelist, composer, scriptwriter, comic book artist, etc–who has influenced or inspired me, and in most cases brought me a lot of enjoyment.

This idea came to when when I saw a similar list recently, on another blog, identifying 25 creators who had inspired or influenced the writer.  It made me think about who would be on my list.  But I felt like I had more than 25 that I wanted to talk about, and so I came upon this idea.

Weekly Geeky Question #39: My Fantastic Four Movie

Every week in 2018, the plan is that my friend Rod is going to ask me some geeky question that will answer in a post. This week is Week #39, we explore a possible direction for Marvel’s first family?

How would I make a “Fantastic Four” movie?

Favorite Fictional Heroes Countdown–Part 8 (#30-21)

And the countdown to my favorite fictional hero continues.  In today’s post, we have 10 characters who again are all male, and include in their number four really smart young people, two galactic defenders, two military commanders, three fathers (one biologically, one through adoption, and one both), and one anthropormorphic animal.

Read previous posts here:
• Part 1 (102-91) and rationale for the lists
• Part 2 (90-81)
• Part 3 (80-71)
• Part 4 (70-61)
• Part 5 (60-51)
• Park 6 (50-41)
• Part 7 (40-31)

Favorite Fictional Heroes Countdown–Part 5 (#60-51)

And the countdown to my favorite fictional hero continues.  In today’s episode, we have three comic book characters, two starship captains, one lawyer, one resistance leader, one Jedi knight, one former spy, and one simple warrant officer on an ordinary mining ship.

Read previous posts here:
• Part 1 (102-91) and rational for the lists
• Part 2 (90-81)
• Part 3 (80-71)
• Part 4 (70-61)

Weekly Geeky Question #17: How I Got Into Comics

Every week in 2018, the plan is that my friend Rod is going to ask me some geeky question that will answer in a post. This week is Week #17:

How did I originally get into comics, and when did they first “grab” me?

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World: Mister Miracle

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World – simultaneously a cosmic, multi-series, comic book epic that was ahead of its time and was a huge influence upon a multitude of subsequent stories across a wide range of media forms…and a massive exercise in unfulfilled expectations thanks to the concept’s inability to catch on with enough of an audience to continue to justify its existence in the 1970’s comic book market.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

There are a number of things that make Captain America: The Winter Soldier not quite perfect. Natasha’s speech to the governmental enquiry at the end is a bit self-righteous and silly. SHIELD seems to have been infiltrated absurdly easily. Arnim Zola is abruptly re-introduced and then destroyed in one exposition-filled scene. The villain is immediately obvious from his first appearance—and really, ever since the film’s advanced publicity material began to be released (although at least that’s overtly revealed quite early on). And there’s something more than a bit convenient about how the three giant Death Stars in the sky can be overcome by replacing three easy-to-access, unguarded circuits boards.

Yet in spite of this the movie is a huge success, and continue to show that Marvel has learned a thing or two about keeping this franchise strong, as all of their films since The Avengers can attest.