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Truly, the end is nigh…

Now this is a portent of doom if I’ve ever seen one…


A Marmaduke movie?!?! Good gravy!

Back in my college days, we had a free newspaper readership program that allowed me to indulge in the finest in newspaper strips everyday (usually during a boring lecture). Each and every day, I read every strip in the paper, and each and every day Marmaduke just infuriated me. I had a dog growing up and love animals (especially dogs!), but this f@#&ing Marmaduke…Gah!

Oddly enough, I always (ALWAYS!) loved the Family Circus…each and every day.

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An amalgamation of nerdy things I love!

Hey Folks!
If you haven’t seen “Coraline” yet, go see it! It’s great!

“But why is it so great?” you undoubtedly ask. Well, for many reasons, here’s “one”…

The flick is a clay figure stop-motion, 3-D movie based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. It features some choice voice talent, as well! Among the vocal cast is rad dude John Hodgman (who I’ve expressed my complete fan-dom of before) as the voice of Coraline’s father and other father, a character who later becomes (voice-wise) They Might Be Giant’s (my fav band!) John Linnell when an original TMBG song is featured in the flick. TMBG has the song and clip on their myspace, but I’ve brought it here to show you 32 seconds of proof as to why you must see this movie.


Coraline-Other Father Song

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Sam Rockwell should play Hank Pym!

If you’ve heard the rumors about “Iron Man 2,” then I’m sure you’re coming up with theories or rants depending on how you feel about Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell being brought onto the movie.

Personally, I think going with another armor-clad villain in the second flick—it’s speculated Rourke will be Crimson Dynamo—is a mistake and I’d much rather see the Mandarin or Fin Fang Foom—or some other crazy, non-technology based villain—face off against ol’ Shellhead. Either way, Sam Rockwell’s role is supposedly that of rival industrialist Justin Hammer, which I hope is a front for a much cooler role. “What role?” you ask. Well, I’ll tell you!

I think Sam Rockwell is perfect for the role of Hank Pym. Just look at him!



He’s a legit leading man with the charisma and look to pull off one of Marvel’s oldest heroes, plus he’s got the chops to make Pym into a pretty dynamic character by capturing his heroism and charm alongside his faults: the jealously at being the world’s third smartest hero (behind Reed Richards and Tony Stark), the arrogance of a young inventor who dared to create a being like Ultron and the checkered past of an abusive husband.


Seventies Pym with his first version of Ultron?! Possibly!

Plus, if an Ant Man solo flick is in the works, you need a big name to put on that. Sam Rockwell is a little too big for a bit part in “Iron Man 2,” but if it’s a setup role for a solo flick that introduces people to the character before he spins off, well that’d be great! And I mean, who else are you really going to cast as Ant Man? He’s a little too goofy to do a film about him without a heaping helping of humor and putting some beefcake in the role is just not going to fly.


Rockwell in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy” and the helmeted Ant Man…pretty much the same thing!

Couldn’t you see Rockwell easily pulling off these two polarizing moments from the founding Avenger’s past?





I’m not really sure what Marvel would want in an Ant Man film, but I think casting an actor who can bring real humor and real depth to the role of Hank Pym—like Rockwell could—would allow them to present Pym as a fun-loving and suave character or, if they were looking fro another route from his comics history, they could play him as a dark and troubled hero. With Rockwell they really could do either. It’s win-win!

So, you heard it here first: Sam Rockwell is going to be Hank Pym (or at least he should be!).

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She-Hulk: The Coolest Chick in Comics!

So, last week’s She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision by Peter David and Mahmud A. Asrar solidified the green goddess’s position as the Coolest Chick in Comics!


First, Dan Slott’s semi-recent run with the heroine showed that She-Hulk could hold her own in the courtroom, in a brawl and in a quip-fest with villains and other heroes alike.

Then, Peter David had the jade giantess make a “Battlestar Galactica” reference in his World War Hulk prologue story with artist Gary Frank.

And this past week, ol’ Shulkie laid down a double-whammy of super coolness…


She’s upset she might be dead because that would mean she can’t use her tickets to see MY FAVORITE BAND! Awesome!


And she’s well versed in my favorite action movie franchise of all time! EVEN MORE AWESOME!

Props to PAD on those two rad references. I love when you pick up a one-shot and get great little character moments that make reading it an extremely rewarding experience!

Once more, I declare She-Hulk the Coolest Chick in Comics—and that’s it for now folks!

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When Han gets hungry on Hoth…

All I can remember about this concept is that the idea popped into my head during a content planning meeting and made me laugh—hard. Just picturing Han Solo licking his tauntaun here and there as he trudged through the snow (“Damn, this tastes so good…I can’t stop!”) or him defending his love of tauntaun taste (“You’re tauntaun won’t taste good anymore by the time you reach the first marker.” “Then I’ll see you IN HELL!”)…it all just cracked me up. Anyway, the “I thought they smelled bad on the outside” bit has been done by everyone under the sun, so here’s my version!

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Ohtis: it’s music!

I don’t normally transcend nerdiness on this blog, but since there’s actually a very cool tie-in here, I figured “Why not?!”

Ohtis is a little band out of Bloomington, IL and a real good listen for anyone who’s down with some poppy Folk Rock. Their most recent, self-released effort is entitled “If This Country Had A Heart, That’s Where I Was Born” (a title that really appeals to this Midwestern born-and-raised blogger) and features album art by my good buddy Seaby Bess.

Seaby, as long time Loudest Monkey readers will remember, is the man responsible for my ridiculously rad blog logo.

So ok, yeah, this post is a bit of shameless promotion for a friend (who’s now playing with Ohtis, as well) and the band (which I’ve just heard is performing at this year’s South by Southwest), but I’ve been binging on the available tracks at their MySpace music page and figured you all could use some tunes to go along with your blog reading (Also, for Ohtis bloggy goodness to accompany the tracks, head to http://ohtis.com/!).

And hey, if you like what you hear, grab the tracks over at Amazon or grab the disc at Undertow Music Collective’s site.

Ok, that’s it for now, time to get back to those comics!

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‘Quantum of Solace’ meets The Flintstones

So, I saw the new Bond flick, “Quantum of Solace,” this weekend. While reviews calling it an “extended epilogue to ‘Casino Royale'” are mostly correct and my initial criticism of the movie based on trailers (“What is this?! The ‘Bond Ultimatum!?’ This shakey-cam, fast-action overload looks more like a Bourne movie than Bond!”) followed through to my actual viewing, I noticed something that I haven’t seen written about elsewhere. What was this movie’s weird Flintstones fascination?

First, Bond kills a geologist named Mr. Slate. Bad “Slate’s a rock, he’s a geologist, get it?!” joke aside, that’s Fred’s boss!

Secondly, the redheaded Bond girl, Strawberry Fields, played by Gemma Arterton shows up at a party with Bond seemingly dressed as Wilma Flintstone.

Oh, and then there was the part where Daniel Craig offed a guy and yells, “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”
Ok, that last one didn’t happen, but seriously, what’s up with that? Is director Marc Forster just a big “Flintstones” fan, or what?!

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[DVD REVIEW] “Hellboy II” Three-Disc Special Edition

“Hellboy II” had a lot to live up to after Big Red’s first theatrical outing, as well as being Guillermo Del Toro’s first film after “Pan’s Labyrinth,” and it definitely delivered more imagination and impressive effects than most of the summer’s movie fare combined. Appropriately, the “Making of” documentary of this film—one with tons of effort put into each tiny creature it contained—is longer than the feature presentation, and that’s without the deleted scenes, troll market set tour and commentary by Del Toro.

While the copious amounts of features offer a great view behind the scenes, the features are comprised mostly of long, rarely-cut shots of Del Toro directing occasionally mixed in with interviews. This style, at times, feels like a very natural look at how the movie was put together, but mostly leaves you wishing they put as much effort into the production of the special features as they did the movie. Still, it’s a look worth having when the movie has so many “I wonder what went into that shot” moments, especially to see Mignola and Del Toro riffing ideas about monsters for the flick.

Still, the whole two-disc set is pretty much worth purchase for the amazingly cool hologram on the cover that morphs from the live-action Ron Perlman Hellboy to an illustrated Mike Mignola Hellboy. At the very least, head to Best Buy and just watch that thing work its magic for a while!

The best this amateur photog/blogger can do to capture the magic.

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That Herc’s one mean CRAKKAJAMMA!

Hopefully I am preaching to the nerd choir when I confess my affection for Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente’s Incredible Herc—easily one of, if not the most, fun book on the shelves right now! Following the Lion of Olympus and is ward, boy genius Amadeus Cho, after the events of “World War Hulk,” this book has been a nonstop thrill ride and the best buddy comedy in comics, hands down!

This last issue (#122), Clayton Henry—with Salva Espin on a flashback sequence—continues art duties, and the book looks great! In this reader’s humble opinion, it’s the best his art has ever looked, and Herc is the perfect title for his style! I loved Khoi Pham’s kinetic action sequences on this title and Rafa Sandoval’s Secret Invasion tie-in was beautiful, but I think Henry may be the best artist to illustrate an arc of this sex-filled, bar-brawl of a book! The humor of this book is amplified so much by facial expressions, and Henry’s proving himself to be some sort of amplifying machine of an artist with each expressive panel (Not too mention Espin’s humorous insert into the issue)!

Here are a few examples of just how fantastic this book looks:

Without a doubt, the most hilarious sound effect ever! And, alongside Herc’s anger, courtesy of Henry, it’s that much greater!

Here’s Herc escaping the Amazonians after seducing Hippolyta. Espin delivers an example of some of this series’ epic comedy.

Back to Henry, we see Herc with the thumbs up for his sidekick, who he presumes is about to get his schwerve on. And in response, Amadeus looking none to pleased that Herc may ruin his chance to score with a mythic beauty.

Not only can Henry do teeth-gritting anger and comic mugging, but the guy can also capture Herc dumbfounded and melancholy upon finding an Amazonian head on a pike.

I’ve got more praise for this book than Homer had epithets for Greek and Trojan warriors! Save me the trouble of typing them all out, go read Herc and construct some descriptive phrases of praise for it yourself!

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