Kurt Russell or Jeff Bridges? Quentin Tarantino’s giant head. Nunchucks to the testicles. These are some of the tangents we go on in an episode dedicated to the SKRULLS, the Marvel Comics’ alien race now appearing in the latest MCU film installment, ‘Captain Marvel’!
Mike D & TL are joined by one of the JackedKirby Krew, Big Al Accettura, for the fun-filled 46th episode of the program where we discuss the creation and history of the shapeshifting aliens... and much more!
For the last year or so we have been recording the Jacked Kirby podcast and it has been a blast. But as we closed in on that magical 1 year anniversary Tommy & I decided we needed to do something big... something SUPER SIZED that is fitting of The King! So we rounded up all the usual CCD Suspects (Tommy, Mike D, Reverand Sal, Young James West, Big Al Boulder, Joey Esq and Rob Martin) to put together an ole timey audio play based on the classic Fantastic Four issue #51, "This Man... This Monster!".
We got the whole team together in one room, had tons of laughs and recorded what we like to think turned out to be something very special. So from us here at Jacked Kirby to all you out there who listen.... THANK YOU and ENJOY!!!!
Mike D., TL, and guest Young James West talk about the long-lasting impression left by the 1966 three issue (#48-50) Fantastic Four arc famously known as "The Galactus Trilogy"! The art, the impact, the outfits, and ... the Wu-Tang?! Just another wacky and wild episode of the Jacked Kirby podcast.... it's the end of the world as we know it!!!!!!!!!!!!
On this weeks episode of the Jacked Kirby Podcast hosts Mike D and Tommy take to the far flung reaches of outer space to discuss THE COSMIC KIRBY!!!! The team is joined on this episode by longtime CCD contributors Al Accettura and Joey Armao as they discuss the many forays of Kirby into Outer Space... from his days on the Challengers of the Unknown, through the FF/Thor years at Marvel all the way through his 4th World Saga at DC!!!!
You can find an embedded player with the episode and show notes after the jump!
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Jacked Kirby podcast. Today we are tackling a subject near and dear to any fan of Jack Kirby... THE FANTASTIC FOUR!!!! The First Family of Marvel... hell, of ALL COMICS is an interesting topic to analyze. So hosts Tommy & Mike D welcome James West and Reverend Sal into the mix to offer their unique perspective on the team and all they have meant to comics!
Check out the embedded player, show notes and much more after the jump...
I am very proud of my DVD collection... I have built it over the years since I bought my first DVD in 2000 and it is quite impressive. I have a ton of imports, rare movies, and the such... but the highlight of my collection (especially in my nerd cred portion of the collection) has to be my bootleg copy of the low budget Fantastic Four movie that was made by Roger Corman. Corman has long been known as the 'schlock king of Hollywood', a dude who has made movies out of peanuts and has had tons of success. He is one of the greatest producers/directors of all time when it comes to making magic out of a nothing budget... but that was definitely not the case when he took on one of Marvel's greatest super hero teams. Back in the days before all the current Marvel Cinematic Universe success the company had fallen on hard times and licensed out most of its character stables to various production companies. Most of those deals had expiration dates attached to them: If the company purchased the rights to a character than they had 'X' amount of years to put out a film. In order for the companies to retain the rights to the films they would have to have something constantly in the works (either filming or in development). Some studios never made a product, some made a film and then cut their losses allowing the rights to go back to Marvel, and others have produced products and maintain their licenses (much to the chagrin of Marvel like the X-Men, Spidey, etc). The German film production company Neue Constantin that owned the rights to the Fantsitic Four for numerous years in the late 80s/early 90s had never been able to get the ball rolling on a film. So in a bold move the company teamed up with Corman to make a $1 million dollar version of a Fantastic Four movie just before the deadline expired. By creating the film the company was then able to hold on to the rights and buy more time in order to possibly make another FF movie at a future date. This angered Marvel, and they paid the company to never release the film... And so begins one of the greatest debates in B movie history! Was the movie made just to keep the rights or as a intended low budget/high return venture? Did Marvel really pay for the movie to not be released? Was Corman and Neue Constantin in on the squashing of the film, all the while never telling the cast or crew? And how is it possible that such a terrible version of a movie could have been made yet they got so many things correct in the production (The Thing's costume looks great considering the low budget, and Doom is dope!)? All of these questions have lingered for years, especially when you consider that Neue Constanttin retained the rights to the FF and later produced the two big budget FF movies we got in the mid 2000s. But now we may finally get some answers in the form of a definitive documentary: Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four is about to be released!
If you are following my work here during the A to Z Blogger Challenge than you are beginning to notice a theme about the movies I am choosing. For F I decided to go with Fantastic Four... not because it is a great film (I don't dislike it... I actually think it is pretty good), but because of the scalding hot actress that occupies the lead role. Alba... Jessica Alba. Good lord... when I heard she was cast as the Invisible Woman Sue Richards I immediately began to hate the idea. Not that she wouldn't make a great Sue Richards... just that she would be spending a whole lot of time invisible, which seems a bit counterproductive to me. How are you going to have such a beautiful actress invisible for half the film? In most super hero movies I can't wait for the film to get going so that the heroes can get their powers and get started being heroes. But in this film I wanted the origin story to go on forever!!! Even though we got Alba in the role twice, I am eager to see who Josh Trank casts in the lead... but for now, we will always have the stunning Alba to disappear before our eyes! You can see more participants in the A to Z Blogger Challenge by clicking here, and you can see Alba's pics after the jump...
Thanks to my main man Joe Fletch I was sent a really cool link to the Youtube page of Mr. Walther PPK that features numerous episodes of the long forgotten Fanatsic Four radio show from 1975. These stories are often word for word read from the pages of the comic books, and there is some really cool stories here featuring characters like Sub Mariner, Ant Man, and many others. But one of the coolest things has to be the casting of a pre-Saturday Night Live Bill Murray to voice the Human Torch! This is an added plus, but truth be told all the voices bring a great set of stories to the audio ear... this is a great way to acclimate younger children to comics and build up their familiarity with the characters for the future. You can watch all the episodes by clicking here (25 episodes in all), and after the jump you can see Part I & II of Attack of the Mole Man featuring Mr. Ghostbuster himself....
I have a friend that works as a producer at MTV. Back in the Spring of 2005, when I was pretty new at doing freelance illustration, he had asked me if I wanted to do drawings of the Fantastic Four that would adorn the set of their upcoming Fantastic Four movie premiere special. Of course I said yes!
The idea was that my drawings would be blown up, life-sized, and then made into big placards that would accompany the actors playing the specific parts. I was excited because I was going to be able to go to the filming of the show and meet "The Commish" himself, Michael Chiklis! (I was also a fan of his because he played Belushi in the not-very-good adaptation of Bob Woodward's Belushi biography, 'Wired'. I didn't like the movie, but I thought Chiklis did a great job.) Plus, I'd get to meet that sweet piece, Jessica Alba. MING!
Click after the jump for more of the story and the pics...
Always on the look out for inspiring art... emblazoned across the chest of humanity. Here's some of the t-shirts I have my eye on to do just the trick but, there's only one problem....they aren't for sale yet! Please click the links below to the Threadless.com voting pages for each and give these beauties '5' ratings so I can throw 'em on my charge card one day.
**Please click READ MORE below..for Mo' Tees...Mo' Tees....Mo' Tees!**
Joe Stone is at it again... first he brought us the X-Men family tree, now he is tackling Marvel's first family, The Fantastic Four. This one is very informative, and nowhere near as confusing as the X-Men one. Hope you enjoy.
Hello, CCDers. I return after a long period of absence caused by being tremendously busy (classes starting again + being elected President of my fraternity + being addicted to Dead Rising 2). Alas, I return with unfortunate and sad news: the Human Torch is dead.
“It’s just a fictional character!”, you might say. Well, yes, but he’s not “just” a fictional character. I will cite Kyle’s speech from Imaginationland regarding the “realness” of character for an explanation on that. “Comic book deaths never last!”, you may jest as well. This is also true. But, just because they’ll be back…they’re still gone. To the characters in the universe they’re dead, for the mean time they’re dead, and if it’s one of your favorite superheroes (like me), the absence is notably felt.
I write this now because I realized today that I was going through the 5 stages of grief. First, I denied it. “No way…he’ll be back. He’s probably not even dead. I’ll give it a year or two.” Then Marvel announced that the Fantastic Four is effectively ending and will now become the Future Foundation. I moved from denial to anger. “How could Marvel do this? Don’t they know he’s a beloved character? Future Foundation?! How could they?!” I skipped over bargaining because…I don’t really think I could have bargained anything. I’m now in depression/acceptance. I’m actually depressed he’s gone. But, I will give credit where credit is due: this is the first superhero death I’ve cared about in a long time. Marvel and Hickman really sold it and made his death suiting for the hero he was. I sound really overdramatic, but what the hey…maybe my priorities aren’t the most in order. Oh well!
So here’s to you, Johnny. Things won’t be the same without you. Until you come back, of course.
My son Mikey has been fascinated by Marvel's Superhero Squad toys ever since he first laid eyes on him. You got to admit that the little figures are extremely cool due to their amazing likenesses and cool selection of characters that are included in the set. They have released a shitload of these guys over the past few years, and Mikey has an extraordinary amount of them. I thought it would be cool to set up a mock "heroes vs villians" battle scene on the kitchen table, pitting all the teams we love from the Marvel Universe against their mortal enemies. Due to Marvel trying to capitalize on the success of Wolverine, Spiderman, and Iron Man, there are an obscene amount of these characters present (especially Iron Man!!!). Unfortunately, you must keep buying these duplicates in order to get some of the cooler figures in the two packs they come in. Anyway, I shot some awesome pics as well as a video of the "great battle". Hope you enjoy.
Side View
Front View
***Please click Read more below to see all of the individual figures pics***
Abe Sapien. The Faun. The Pale Man. The Silver Surfer... if you have ever seen these characters on the big screen in their respective movies (Hellboy I & II, Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic Four 2:Rise of the Silver Surfer) than you have seen Doug Jones in action, even if you didn't know it. Under all that makeup and digital effects lies the man who truly brings those characters to life... and frankly, the actor that makes those movies as great as they are. Jones steals everything he is in, and its a combination of his sweepingly graceful body motions and ability to bring humanity through layers of latex & paint. The dude is just a beast, and he is the best at what he does.
I had the pleasure of meeting Doug at the 2010 Big Apple Comic Con last week. When it comes to celebrities, Jones is really a breath of fresh air. He is so nice, and caring when he speaks to you. When Tommy & I came up to his table and asked him for an interview, he damn near hurdled the table to get in front of the camera for us. No begging or pleading necessary... he was more then happy to oblige. Also, let me be clear, it was not because no one was coming up to his table. He was constantly getting visits from fans, as you will see in our video clip (a fan bum rushes our interview for like 2 minutes... hysterical). Listen to Doug's thoughts on playing characters in makeup, bringing the Silver Surfer to life, recommending lines to the director that disn't get into the FF film, what kind of comics he read as a kid, whether or not he will appear in Guillermo del Torro's anticipated Lovercraftian opus "At The Mountains of Madness", and much more. We chatted with Doug for quite a bit, and here are the videos to prove it. Watch for yourself:
So, Doug has tons of stuff on the horizon. Make sure you pre-order a copy of My Name Is Jerry (click here), check out Carnies, and Pretend Time on Comedy Central. Also make sure you have seen Hellboy I & II and the animated Hellboy Films, Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Pan's Labyrinth. Thanks for all the love Mr. Jones... we wish you all the best!!!
Monster Faces with the man himself, Doug Jones
P.S.- On a side note, I brought my son Mikey to the con the next day and Doug was unbelievable towards him. He came around the table, hugged him, took pictures, and even gave us some autographed pictures for nothing!!! He signed Mikey's Silver Surfer picture "Listen to the hero in your heart" and he signed my photo of the infamous Hellboy 2 "Drunk Karaoke" scene "You know I can't smile without Mike". I can not wait to get Ron Pearlman's signature on that pic to complete the piece!!! Very cool dude. Thanks for all the love!!!!
Bruce Willis is one of my favorite actors, and to be honest with you guys, it's not why you think. It's not because of the Die Hard movies (I do love them) or The Last Boyscout (unreal!!!) or any of the other billion dollar movies he has made... no, its because of his role as Hudson Hawk.
Now I know that this is not his best work, but this is the film that made me love Willis as an actor. Not to mention the fact its one of my all time favorites (don't knock it till you re-watch it... it holds up!!!)
Anyway, over the weekend there has been some grumbles about some really cool projects that may include the great Bruce in some capacity, and to be perfectly frank, his involvement in both of these projects makes them much more exciting for me.
First up, Sylvester Stallone has joined Twitter and one of his first Tweets was that he had a great idea for The Expendables Pt. 2. Why not bring back possible CIA affiliate Church (who was played by Willis) and make him the new villain? He was not totally honest with Sly and the team when he hired them to overthrow the drug trade in Vilena, so maybe the gang wants to go exact some revenge on Mr. Church? I like this because its not often big name actors get to play villains, and this can be fun. Especially if we get to see these 5 guys back in action again:
Next, we have a rumor that Willis himself is calling executives over at Marvel's movie division and is expressing interest in portraying Benjamin Grimm in the new Fantastic Four reboot. He would appear shortly in the beginning of the movie, and would voice the CGI version of the Big Orange Machine throughout the rest of the movie. Also rumored to be involved in this film are Adrien Brody for Mr. Fantastic and Amber Heard as Invisible Girl, and True Bloods favorite good guy vamp Stephen Moyer as the evil Dr. Doom. I kinda liked the campyness of the two FF movies, but I know they were cheesy. Can they make a truly cutting edge/ sci-fi version of FF??? With this cast they can.... lets see how this all plays out. If these rumors are true, please Bruce: Say YES!!!!
