Marvel Comics – Deconstructing Comics

#839 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007)

Rise of the Silver Surfer

This week we look at the movie that was based on the “Galactus Trilogy” of Fantastic Four #48-50, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. How does it stand up against the comics, and against the 2005 film? How do we feel about Galactus being a cloud of smoke? Does Doom finally have a real plan in this one? Once again, Tim is joined by Kumar and Jordan of the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast to dig into this film, as we count down to the upcoming MCU debut of the FF.

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#838 The Fantastic Four on Film: The Galactus Trilogy

FF 50 cover

One of the most famous Fantastic Four stories is the “Galactus Trilogy” from Fantastic Four 48-50 in 1966. This story has been adopted more than once, including in the 1990s FF cartoon, and in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Leading into our discussion of that movie next week, this week Tim, Kumar, and Jordan, in another crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast, look at the original comics story. While it’s been quite lauded, and very influential, why can it also be considered flawed?

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#837 Jack Kirby’s Captain America 206-208: The Tiger, the Swine…and the Fish

The Tiger and the Swine

When Steve and Sam foil an attempt by police from south of the border to arrest their friendly waiter, the cops decide to arrest Steve instead! Hey, beats heading home empty handed! What looks like it’s going to be a story about Cap (and maybe Falcon?) locked up in a Central American prison takes several odd turns: Cap is never locked up, Sam never even arrives there, and then a fish monster shows up! These three issues conclude with the coming of a then-new Cap villain who we all know and loathe. Tim and Emmet try to avoid saying “Ay caramba!”

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#834 Jack Kirby’s “Cap and Falcon” vs a bodybuilding corpse

Cap 204-205

What’s that Kirby Crackle octopus chasing Cap and Falcon? And didn’t it used to be an oddly muscular, bald (naturally) corpse? It’s Agron, who gives our heroes some headaches in Captain America and the Falcon issues 204 and 205. Not the best Jack Kirby Cap adventure ever, but it produces at least one wildly T-shirt-worthy panel! Tim and Emmet discuss.

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#833 Jack Kirby’s “Cap and Falcon” 201-203: Who are “the Night People”?

The Night People

The Night People are looking for a superhero. But who are the Night People? Where do they come from? And what does one have to sacrifice to become their superhero? Tim and Emmet discuss Captain America and the Falcon issues 201-203!

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#831 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Fantastic Four” (2005) pt 2: What does Doom want?!

FF 2005 pt 2

While the 2005 film Fantastic Four gives us, debatably, a well-casted group of heroes, with plenty of comics-accurate details, the script does no favors to Dr. Doom. What are his goals, other than “taking everything back” from Reed? Why is he a CEO instead of a despot? Who the heck gives a frightening metal mask as a thank-you gift?? This time, Tim, Kumar, and Jordan (in a crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast) conclude their look at this film, and cap it off with a review of its endless development process.

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#830 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Fantastic Four” (2005) pt 1: “I am hot, and I’m not afraid to cry”

Fantastic Four 2005

After the fiasco of the 1994 unreleased Fantastic Four movie, development proceeded on a big-budget FF film, which finally hit theaters in 2005 — a better film than the ’94 attempt in some ways, but frustratingly as bad or worse in others. This week, in another crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast, Tim is joined by Kumar and Jordan to begin a two-part look at this film (as well as a few 1980s FF comics).

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#829 Jack Kirby’s “Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles”

Bicentennial Battles Captain America was the obvious choice of a character to help Marvel celebrate the USA’s bicentennial in 1976. The job of doing that went to Jack Kirby, co-creator of the character. Naturally, that meant a story full of hard-hitting moments, and one that gets a bit treacly at the end, but also doesn’t back away from difficult moments in US history. This week, Tim and Emmet discuss the treasury-size special Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles.

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#823 Jack Kirby’s “Eternals,” #17-19: Lots o’ Ikaris (or Ikarus?)

We’ve reached the end of Jack Kirby‘s Eternals series. Sure, it was a weird series, but introducing a Hulk robot apparently did little for the sales numbers. How did Kirby wrap things up? For a series that featured so many characters (though not as many as the freakin’ movie, which we’ll get to soon!), he took the odd step of giving us an Ikaris solo adventure, with a Celestial-in-the-machine ending. Not really what we wanted from a series that we initially found enjoyable. Tim and Emmet discuss the series wrapup.

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#821 The Fantastic Four on Film: “The Fantastic Four” (1994), a Roger Corman production (part one)

Fantastic Four - Corman 1

By the early ’90s, Superman and Batman were blockbuster movie franchises, but Marvel had yet to find a way to get a big-budget film made based on their characters, let alone succeed at the box office. Bernd Eichinger of Constantin Film owned the film rights to the Fantastic Four, but those rights were soon to expire. So he teamed up with B-movie producer Roger Corman to bang out an FF film — which, for somewhat unclear reasons, never came out. This week, in a crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast, Tim is joined by Kumar and Jordan; some early FF comics are evaluated, and then we begin a two-part discussion of the film, what’s good and bad about it, and the (apparent) reasons it never hit screens.