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Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 4

So, if the cover’s not enough…

I was digitally skipping around Amazon when I saw the solicitation. I can only guess they’re putting out the next giant Omnibus continuing the FF’s adventures because the MCU is slowly, ever so slowly prepping the next FF movie.

Volume 3 came out not too long before the Josh Trank/Fox movie came out. The Omnibus was the one good thing to come out of that scenario.

To be fair, if Fox didn’t screw with the second half of the film and let Trank do what he wanted to in the first place, it would have been a pretty good film. It might not really be a Fantastic Four film, but a good horror film on its own.

But what ho, you might ask “Rick, wouldn’t the FF issues contained within a Vol. 4 (#94 – 125) be well past the golden era of the best Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stuff?”

Yes, but there are very different *good* things in *each* of these four volumes.

In Vol. 1, we see the characters and personalities forming, fascinating new villains introduced and the birth of the Marvel age of comics. The whole book is still “cooking” and a work in progress. Stan’s giving the gang personalities, but hasn’t reached his narrative peak yet, delivering the epic stories that would soon come.

Conversely, Jack was delivering a lot of condensed action in nine panel pages, but hadn’t fully jumped in the deep end with his signature bigger than life shots. The inking was also a bit inconsistent as they hadn’t settled on a main guy yet. But even in its embryonic stage, the magic and magnificence is there. Vol. 1 covers issues 1 – 30 and some annuals.

Vol. 2 sees Lee and Kirby at their best with their most momentous story lines, such as “The Coming of Galactus” and “This Man, This Monster”. More and more Big villains and guest stars are introduced (the Inhumans, Black Panther, etc.) — this is Stan and Jack at their peak, and if you could *only* buy one volume, I’d say vol. 2 is the way to go. Vol. 2 covers issues 31 – 60 and a couple annuals.

In Vol. 3, they turn the page– it’s here that Jack opens things up. This was around the time when Kirby wanted a raise. Publisher Martin Goodman refused, so Stan told Jack to maybe draw fewer panels, basically, doing less work. Jack did so, and things just became more visually epic as the panels got bigger and even more pulse-pounding. Larger panels and splash pages meant that much more Kirby energy and power. Kirby and Sinnott are at their best in this volume, even if the stories aren’t quite as historic as some of the earlier entries. Vol. 3 includes issues 61 – 93 plus annuals.

That brings us to volume 4. Here’s the link. For me, the art’s the driving force in vol. 4. Now yes, shortly after issue 100, Jack Kirby was on his way out, so we only get 8 or 9 issues from him. But after Jack leaves, we get three issues from John Romita sr., who’s no slouch, then a couple issues later, we get the strangest hybrid ever. A piecemeal, very unique issue which has art by Kirby, Romita *and* John Buscema. But the best is yet to come. John Buscema becomes the regular artist with Sinnott inking. This takes us from about 109 or so, through FF #112 (Thing vs Hulk), and all the way through to the end of this volume.

As always, in addition to the stories looking their very best in this prestige format, you also get the original letters pages, which boasts some now famous creators. Art Adams provides a crazy fantastic cover for this book as well (above), based on Kirby’s original illustration for issue #100. In the end, well worth it.

In fact, I’m looking forward to Vol. 5, as it covers the rest of the Buscema/Sinnott era, containing some of their most beautiful work ever, alongside some crazy stories. No idea when Vol. 5 might even come out, but considering the new FF movie probably won’t hit screens until late 2023 at best (guh), I’d say that’s probably when the next one gets the nod.

Time to go back and re-read volumes 1, 2 and 3…

About that Javy play…

And of course every baseball fan knows what I’m talking about. sure, it’s been talked to death, but I had to add a bit of context about an aspect that a lot of people seem to be missing.

Cubs/Pirates last week, 1-0 Cubs, 3rd inning, 2 outs, Contreras on 2nd.

Baez at the plate, grounds to 3rd. Easy out, end of the inning. But no, throw’s wide to 1st. 1st baseman Craig catches the ball in the base path in front of Javy. Baez stops. He starts slowly retreating back to Home plate. Craig moves forward to tag him, but Javy keeps retreating bit by bit, just dangling himself as tagging bait for Craig, who instinctively follows his lead.

Only then does Craig realize that Contreras had rounded third and was sliding toward the plate. He flips the ball to the catcher to tag Contreras, but Willson’s safe. Then Javy busts *back* down the line toward 1st, where no one’s covering, ball’s thrown into right field, Baez ends up on 2nd, and the internet atomizes into crazy disbelief.

The elephant in the room was that since there were two outs, all Craig had to do was step on 1st and none of this craziness or the run would count.

Of course, 1st baseman Craig is being crucified, by fans, commenters, broadcasters, you name it, saying he’s either an idiot or just forgot there were two outs. “Oh, he should go coach little league!” “Why wasn’t every member of the Pirates both on the field and in the dugout screaming for him to just step on the bag?!?!?!”

Hmmm, why do you think that is?

I’ll tell you why. A big part of the equation was expecting a player to do what a player normally does in a situation like this. You can say many things about Javy Baez but him being a “normal” player isn’t one of them. there’s a legit reason he’s called El Mago (The Magician) No one foresaw how this would play out.

It’s really easy to criticize from your couch or the booth when something seems obvious to you, even though you’re not facing the actual situation as the 1st baseman. I think folks are being a little too hard on ol’ Craig. Let’s examine it from his perspective.

Javy hits the grounder to third, you’re Craig moving off 1st to catch the ball and right there in front of you is Javy. Now THINK.

99.999999999% of the time, what’s the baserunner going to do in that scenario? Give up. You’ve got him dead to rights. He’s got nowhere to go. He could leap out of the base path but then he’d be called out. Sure, you could walk back a couple steps and step on the bag, but the runner’s RIGHT THERE, and he’s *obviously* going to give up and let you tag him. Like always.

But then this runner does the unexpected and moves back. Craig expects normal human behavior and if he forgets *anything*, it’s not that there are two out but that he’s facing Baez, who’s the king of the unexpected. Now, he’s retreating but he’s still right there, while the base is getting farther away.

Things are suddenly kicking into another gear as Craig and Javy get closer to home and suddenly Craig notices where Contreras is! At that moment, Craig might very well think “Well, this guy keeps squirming away, I’ll flip to the catcher to nail contreras, helluva play! This’ll make highlight reels!” But then he’s safe and everything is insane. A perfect case of circumstances spiraling out of control.

Because of El Mago. He baited Craig with his deer caught in the headlights maneuver, just trying to stall until Contreras got home. Now, it’s possible, very likely in fact, that *Javy* forgot there were two outs. He was just doing what he does, creating havoc on the base paths. It did work like a charm though.

I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a play go viral like this and be talked about so much. The Pirates manager said that was on him, but really, it was a crazy case of things going sideways fast. Craig’s actually a good player who’s been doing this a while. He just got caught in Javy’s latest spell. He’s human, it happens.

Gotta say, the most hilarious part about the whole thing was when Contreras slid in, the umpire called him safe, but Javy *also* did the “SAFE” move before remembering that the play’s still live and he had to get to first. I laugh every time it gets to that bit. Classic Javy.

Different Artists, Same Thing

To close out the gala event that’s been the ALL THING WEEKEND, I’d like to end with a nod to some of the different artists over the years who’ve drawn or sculpted the character. Every artist has his or her own visual take on the character. Here are a few of my favorites…

Here’s a black and white sampling of the great John Buscema, who drew the FF for a number of years back in the early to mid ’70’s. We see a few snippets here of John’s art with the wonderful inking of Joe Sinnott.

Next up, one of the masters of manic detail, Art Adams.

This is one of the Eaglemoss statues—I don’t know who the sculptor is of this mini statue, but I like his take on Ben.

Here’s a statue from the Randy Bowen studio, which has produced loads and loads of the finest superhero statues. This particular one looks to be the Thing based on the art of John Byrne.

Of course, no Thing list is complete without an addition by the King—Jack Kirby.

Finally, *maybe* my favorite take on Ben Grimm, by Jim Cheung. I’m constantly amazed by the work this guys puts out. Just a subtle line full of life and dynamic. Kudos to Mr. Cheung.

There are of course thousands of other artists out there who’ve drawn the Thing —several good ones in fact. I just wanted to end the Thing weekend with a look at some fun options.

Anyway, that’s it for now— go do things.

More Thing weekend, more Thing pieces from The Collection!

Today, we feature some of the wonkier bits and pieces from the Thing collection. Some, you may have seen before but frankly, who can keep track…

First, this trio from different countries — the front and right figure were, I think, from fast food giveaways, possibly from other countries— I currently have one on the way from Australia so anything’s possible. The one on the left was a Japanese figure, part of a set. I’ll be damned if Benjy doesn’t look a *bit* like Godzilla around the face a bit.

This duo features a pewter figure from an old Marvel miniatures collection for an RPG on the left (or it might be some chess piece—can’t remember), and on the right, of course the Thing head ring, just waiting for some honyok to scream out “THING RING, DO YOUR THING!”, because it’s important that we never forget the horror that was the old Thing cartoon.

This poor thing is what’s left from one of my old sculpts. It didn’t survive the oven, but I saved a few bits including the face, as I think I got pretty close to a Kirby look.

This is an angry lil bobblehead Thing on the left and I think his even littler buddy on the right might be an eraser to go on the end of a pencil.

This old bugger was my first sculpting attempt at a Kirby Thing a number of years ago. Although I think I got pretty close to the facial resemblance, I somehow really went way way way too big on the feet and hands. The old fella’s really falling apart too. Already had to glue certain chunks back on. Can’t let him disintegrate though, he keeps my count current in the collection!

Finally, a Mexican bootleg import which has a clear plastic upper body, so when you press the button on the back, his organs light up. I’ll bet you didn’t know the thing could do that, hmm? Well, he couldn’t before, but I always marvel at the innovative nature of Mexican bootleg figures and their view of reality.

(Mego Thing screams!) This has been another edition of the Thing is… a collection!

All of Alex Ross’ Things spring from Lou’s Head

Comics artist Alex Ross’ realistic painting style is dependent upon photo reference for detail, surface texture, lighting, etc.

In the case of the Thing, who he’s painted many times…

…he relies on one source and one only, the sculptures of Lou Cella. Years ago, if memory serves, Lou did one Thing bust and I was so impressed with it, I kept bugging him to show it to someone, get it produced, I was a nuisance as usual. Probably all for nothing as I think Lou was already showing it to Alex Ross, who he had met previously. I ended up with one of the original prototypes which had the cigar–later eliminated for the public. The public version, and a few other variants were the ones utilized to this day for Ross’ reference. Lou and Alex have worked together in regards to many of his sculpts since.

I’ve got a few of Lou’s Thing pieces, and some have been mass produced for sale over the years.

I even did one illustration of a raging Thing that I had transformed into a patch for a jacket…

…which Lou turned into a sculpt…

…that Alex turned into a painting.

Side note: way back in the early ’90’s, after Alex’s book Marvels came out, he was doing a signing at Graham Crackers comics. To this day, it’s the only time I ever met him, but we talked about his book. I complimented him on the fine work and related a story to him about a friend’s dad who really liked the chapter during the WWII era. His dad had been around at the time and really liked the authentic look.

That nameless friend in question was Lou Cella, who’d Alex would meet years later and forge their sculpting bonded friendship. Small world.

The Thing. Bringing people together. Yes.

“And They Shall Call him…Champion”

Many of you know my admiration for the character of Benjamin Grimm. I’ve got a 155 piece collection of Thing figures, dolls, statues and various items. Yes, I am fond of this character.

Why exactly do I and so many others live this guy? If you search YouTube, you’ll find that fans of the Thing are some of the most devoted.

Ben’s general approach to most dangerous situations and villains is to go with humor, whether it’s trash talking the bad guys or giving Reed the business because the big brain is over-thinking something. The “coping with humor” technique is very relatable. Back in the Lee/Kirby days, Stan’s dialog had Ben at his comedy best. It was almost as if you expected Ben to go do two shows a weekend in the Catskills.

But I think a lot has to do with the underdog factor, which is particularly interesting, considering Benji is one of the strongest guys on the planet. But as part of the FF, he’s gone up against a lot of super heavyweight threats in his day. Galactus, The Super Skrull, Ronan the Accuser, Doctor Doom, and so SO many others.

He’s tough. And he just doesn’t give up.

Maybe the best illustration of this point is showcased in the 1980’s Marvel Two In One Annual #7 “And they shall call him Champion”

A traveling galactic boxing troupe comes to earth. The master of the proceedings is called The Champion, one of the all powerful Elders of the Universe. Like most of his ilk, The Champion wanders the cosmos a bit bored as to what to actually DO with his power. So, liking a good battle of fisticuffs, he and his entourage would pick a planet, land on it, and challenge the toughest person there to a boxing match.

The stakes? Survival of the planet.

So the Champion uses his futuristic apparatus to locate the strongest, toughest opponents on earth, and teleport them directly to the venue– which now has thousands of fans in attendance to witness event!

After an initial rebellion, The Champion demonstrates that resistance is useless, and the contestants better prepare for a primordial ass-kicking!

Because you see, no one has ever gone three rounds with The Champion, let alone *beat* him.

But of the earth contestants chosen, it’s not smooth sailing. Doc Damson doesn’t make it through the training room without knocking himself out. Disqualified. Namor refuses to step up, not willing to “lower himself”. Disqualified. Some of the opponents, like Colossus and Sasquatch make it into the ring but just get beaten to a pulp and down they go.

When squaring off against The Champion in the ring, Hulk destroys his gloves, reverts to his animalistic nature and attacks, but there are rules in the squared circle and he vanishes, disqualified. Same for Wonderman, as when he’s on his last legs, he starts ripping up the canvas, which is another disqualification. Gone. Thor’s fighting skill in the ring doesn’t quite match his strength, so when fading, he illegally tries to use Mjolnir against The Champion– gone.

Earth’s last hope is the Thing.

And there IS hope albeit a small amount, as even after some initial punishment, Ben manages to connect with some blows. It’s easy to forget with all his massive strength, but Ben Grimm is one of the best fighters, boxers, brawlers around.

The Champion’s retaliation is severe though, as the alien starts to pummel his rocky foe. The nine foot tall, 5,000 lb alien wreaks havoc on his opponent. One blow even breaks Ben’s jaw.

Even though there’s no way on earth he should still be standing, he does, managing to last three rounds against the blue skinned brawler. Longer than anyone ever has. Only *then* does he collapse.

The referee is going to declare The Champion the winner and that earth is forfeit. But…

Broken, bashed and bloody, Ben drags himself across the floor, mumbling that it ain’t over. Ben barely manages to get to his feet and tells The Champion that he’ll never really beat him… that maybe he’s just too stupid or ugly to know when to quit.

The Champion can’t believe his senses. In all eternity, this had never happened before! He realizes that he can crush this man’s body, but he can never crush his spirit. Truly overwhelmed for the first time, he relents, and in admiration of his opponent, leaves earth.

In the end, any fan of the Thing, then or since, either knows of this comic, or should. They should track it down. No, not for the art or some of the dialog, but for the best example of why the Thing is one of, if not THE BEST character in the history of comics.

His bravery, tenacity, his sheer will to never, ever give up, is something we should all strive for. He is human. He is us.

The Thing IS.

I…Am… Ironman

“Tony Stark makes you feel

He’s a cool exec with a heart o’ steel

As Iron Man, all jets ablaze

He’s fightin’ and smitin’ with repulsor rays!

Amazin’ armor! That’s Iron Man!

A blazin’ power! That’s Iron Man!”

That is of course, the catchy lil’ tune from the 1960’s Marvel Super Heroes’ Ironman cartoon. It was a rather cheap affair done more as an animatic than actual animation, meaning mostly static art with a few moving pieces here and there.

They took the actual art from the comic issues by Jack Kirby, Don Heck and others, and as such, there was some pretty cool visuals in there.

With cheap animation. You can check out the old intro HERE.

This was my first exposure to Iron man, much like the accompanying Captain America, Hulk, Thor and Submariner cartoons. Some with very catchy theme songs.

But we’re here to talk about ol’ “Shell head” this time. That was the armored Avenger’s nick-name back in the day. One of Stan Lee’s two main duties back in the ’60’s Marvel Age of Comics was to provide snappy dialog for the characters he created along with Kirby and Steve Ditko. Stan knew how to humanize the heroes, whether it was by giving them vulnerabilities and anxieties, or making everyone feel like part of the gang — including us. Thor was often referred to as “Goldilocks”, Hulk as “Green jeans”, Giant-man as “High pockets”, etc.

The Iron man ‘toon had all the action and drama from the comics. The main suspense came from wondering if Iron man could defeat the villain of the story before his transistorized suit of armor ran out of power. The double threat was that the suit also powered the chest plate that kept his damaged heart beating!

And I’m *guessing* that the Mandarin didn’t have any convenient AC outlets in his castle for recharging!

It was in the ’70’s when I started grabbing the actual Iron man comics amidst so many others. I was always a bit fascinated by this curious “armor mesh” Stark sported. He was always flying around, shooting repulsor rays, but was very flexible in his movements because of the seemingly very thin mesh armor that comprised his red and gold suit. It was also kind of brilliant because his arms and legs almost looked like tights that other superheroes would wear but it was actually armor. Thin armor.

Like chain mail.

Only thinner.

With much less detail to actually draw.

His chest plate, gloves, boots and helmet looked a bit more technological though. There was obviously a ton of micro-circuitry in that armor to make it SO unbelievably THIN, because he had jets in his boots (and sometimes roller-skates!), repulsors in his gloves, some kind of blaster beam in his chest circle, and … metal nipples that for some reason no one cared about because Iron man was pretty cool.

Although when I *did* catch up to Tony’s alter ego in the comics, his mask had a very unfortunate metal noise attached.

Crudely.

As an afterthought.

The upgrade (?) didn’t last long and was actually a miscommunication taken from Stan. The way Ironman’s metal faceplate was drawn, at times it almost seemed as if there was no room for his nose under there. Stan was simply thinking aloud about that one day while visiting the Marvel bullpen in the ’70’s. As Stan was the top dog, he didn’t realize that his random thought would make an editor nervous enough to hurriedly command all artists on all IM-related books to hastily add a crappy pointed nose on Shell head’s face. Stan didn’t want a nose added. Oops. In fact I think it was a few months later that Stan finally noticed the nose and made a call to New York. “What’s with the stupid nose?”

But I really enjoyed the old red and gold armor. Most people did, because that standard look was kept for over 25 years. They tried out numerous variations for different missions, and storylines, but they mostly stuck with the basic, or reverted back to it regularly until the 21st century.

Gene Colan was an artist on ol’ Shell head for numerous years in the ’60’s into the ’70’s, and he had a kinda brilliant method of injecting “emotion” onto the face of Tony’s helmet. In the movies, we usually peeked inside Stark’s helmet to see RDJ emote, but back in the day, artists such as Colan didn’t have the page count or narrative luxury to add frames just to show Stark’s emotions. It probably never occurred to him. No, even though the actual eye and mouth slits on the armored helmet could never move to form expressions, Colan did the next best thing.

Factoring in the curved nature of the faceplate on the helmet, when Iron man was nervous, in pain, worried, in anguish, etc., Gene would tilt Iron man’s back so the eye slits tilted up in the middle for the desired emotion. When IM was angry, determined, or just plain old confident, he’d tilt the head down, so the eye slits angled down in the middle.

Easy-peasy armor-squeezy!

Manufacturing multiple emotions just by tilting the head. A master class by Mr. Colan.

That was really the main bit I wanted to talk about. Just the illustrative Magic of Gene Colan.

Oh sure, I can talk about “Demon in a bottle” (the story of Tony’s alcoholism), some of the other great creative teams on the book over the years, or how RDJ single handedly changed how the comics wrote the character of Tony Stark (they gave him a personality). Or how they’ve needlessly over-complicated the looks of the armor over the years (yes, simple is better).

But really, I just wanted to give some love to the old red and gold and the Colan head tilt.

Excelsior!

Sportsmanship? Nah, Let The Kids PLAY!

The other day, the Chicago White Sox (first place in the AL central) were beating up on the Minnesota Twins (last place in the AL central).

It was late in the game and with the Sox winning 15 to 4, the Twins did what most teams do nowadays — they put in a position player to pitch.

The reason teams do this is that when it seems hopeless, they don’t want to burn up a legit pitcher from the bullpen. So they throw a position player on the mound. Basically, they’ve given up. This use to be a fairly rare occurrence but it’s been happening a lot over the past few years.

*Just to be clear, when you grab a position player and put him on the mound, you are saying “uncle”, and it really doesn’t matter how much worse it gets, because you’re already way way down, with little to no hope of a comeback. You throw a first baseman on the mound, you’ve sent up the white flag.

So, it’s late in the game, and Willians Astudillo (who throws about 47mph) is on the mound for the Twins. Yermin Mercedes steps up to the plate for the Sox.

Astudillo lobs three pitches and the count is 3 balls, no strikes.

The Sox third base coach gives him the “take” sign. So in no uncertain terms, do NOT swing at the next pitch.

He gave the sign because A) Astudillo is so bad, he’ll probably walk him anyway and B) they’ve already beat them silly. Piling on would be considered a classless move.

The latter is part of The Unwritten Rules.

It’s generally considered bad sportsmanship if you rub your opponent’s nose in the fact that they’ve been slaughtered.

Astudillo threw the next pitch and Mercedes belted it out of the park, ran the bases, happy as a lark. Took a quick sec to point to the heavens and issued a quick thanks as well.

Now we once again come to the two schools of thought.

1.This was a crappy thing to do. Sox manager Tony La Russa is old school — and was pissed off. Doing this is VERY unsportsmanlike. AND Mercedes ignored the sign he was given. If I’m La Russa, I’m more annoyed by that.

2.Oh, let the kids play! Who cares about dumb unwritten rules. There’s a reason they’re UNwritten!

But….Is it unwritten because this one shouldn’t HAVE to be? It’s usually understood that good sportsmanship is supposed to be a major component of how the players comport themselves.

Conversely, if they’re indeed unwritten, there’s nothing saying you HAVE to follow them.

The day after, a Twins pitcher threw behind Mercedes the next time he came to the plate. A warning. Because if you pull something like he did the night before, there will always be consequences. Not only will your manager be angry at you but so will the pitchers on the other team.

But hey, let the kids play! That’s been the motto for the latest baseball gen.

The problem is, letting the kids loose to do what they want just leads to the adults and the other kids getting pissed off when they’re on the receiving end. All the kids just want to have fun, and celebrate, and don’t want any of the inevitable consequences.

And then there are the stats. YouTube personality Jomboy reminds us that all these guys are always trying to do their best at all times because they’re playing towards future contracts and arbitration. The more hits, homers, etc. they achieve just heightens their value. This is true and fair.

But in that blow-out scenario, what’s more important, maintaining sportsmanlike conduct, or taking advantage of the situation to pump your stats?

I mean, it’s a real game after all. Just because the opponent’s given up, does that mean you’ve got to as well, just for the sake of social graces?

Maybe it’s important to hold on to a few social graces?

Let’s not forget that the Twins manufactured the whole situation in the first place by putting Astudillo on the mound. So really, who’s to blame here?

And….how mad are we supposed to get at a hitter …who hits?

If *everyone* is to supposed to just give up, one side throws a non-pitcher on the mound, and the other team is not supposed to really try that hard, what’s the point? Just end the damn game. Call it a forfeit.

And 99 times out of a hundred, the batter always gets the take sign on 3-0.

Drives me crazy. You know there’s an excellent chance the pitch will be right down the middle. Swing away, unless it’s way outside, and take your walk.

But ignoring the sign from third… hoo boy.

I don’t think La Russa is going to let the kid wriggle out of that.

Unwritten rules. Hey, maybe write ’em?

Let the kids play, or act like the grown-ass men they’re supposed to?

Godzilla VS Kong and The Monsterverse

There’s been a LOT of King Kong. His origin story has been told at least three times, along with sequels and reimaginings. But if there’s anyone that has even *more* films about him or connected to him, it’s Godzilla. Even though Kong’s first appearance predates the big G by 20 years, the Lizard God has more than caught up in content.

Oh, not all of it’s been good– for either one. There was a whole run of comical misadventures where Godzilla was played for goofiness. In the original King Kong vs Godzilla back in the ’60’s, Kong was also dragged down into the embarrassing muck. Cringeworthy. Yet there was also a bit of goofy fun for some. Godzooky!

We tried an American version of Godzilla in the late ’90’s, starring Matthew Broderick, which we shouldn’t have done. Listen, mistakes have been made over the many decades. Peter Jackson did his 2005 Kong remake and it was technically brilliant, and loooong.

In 2014, we took another shot at bringing a Monsterverse together, starting with Godzilla. Originally, I went into this with certain preconceived notions–which I should never do– and that backfired on me. Upon a second watch, I liked it a lot more than I did originally. This was followed up in 2017 with Kong: Skull island, then Godzilla: King of the Monsters in ’19 and then GVK in ’21. The SFX throughout were top notch. Excellent.

Now, the biggest hurdle in any Kaiju movie is the quality of the scenes containing the pesky humans. Well, good effects, action, and the humans. I contend that this series does a pretty decent job of presenting the human element, and making their contributions valuable–some, more than others, but still. They also sport a decent guest cast. In fact, off the top of my head, over the course of the four films, Charles Dance, Tom Hiddleston, John C. Reilly, Samuel Jackson, Millie Bobby Brown, John Goodman, and many more.

Across all four films, there is a tangential connection that builds and grows stronger, telling us about all these giant monsters who used to walk the land and were masters of the planet. The two biggest alphas were Kong and Godzilla. Then we get to the title match in Godzilla vs Kong. This is THE heavyweight bout. It’s already established in the Skull island film that Kong is much larger than the old version, who was a mere 50 feet, so this Titan would already be a size match for Godzilla. However, even though this monkey packs the most devastating punch of the bunch, he still has to deal with G’s claws, tail, and worst of all, nuclear breath.

Still, it is an epic battle, which provides a couple encounters throughout the film, culminating in a big brouhaha at the end, which tactically, and entertainingly, is very well done. No, I’m not spoiling anything. If you want to immerse yourself in this Monsterverse, I’d say either grab the blu-rays, or if you have HBOMAX, they have them all in there.

Now, as far as allegiance, it’s funny, because sure, Godzilla is over all more deadly, with a lot more weapons at his disposal, and the bigger cinema profile. But Kong is just a big, and at times, lovable monkey, and a bit of an underdog in a head to head battle. Maybe it’s the underdog thing, or maybe I’m just a specist who likes my primate over the lizard? I know a few high profile, hard core Godzilla fans, who actually have a bit more love for Kong. Go figure. Anyway, I’m team Kong.

As for the best Kong film, honestly, I’d go with the 1933 original because it’s really a technical marvel in its own right, especially for 1933. It’s chilling, scary and thrilling–and the black and white film only enhances that. Do yourself a favor and find a digitally remastered cut of it. After that, I think Kong: Skull Island is a good choice, with an excellent guest cast.

Maybe the best over all Godzilla flick ever done though is Shin Godzilla from 2016. It hits all the right notes and frankly, delivers the best, or at least most lethal and well realized version of the character. It’s unconnected to any of the Monsterverse films, but it does have important ties to the original 1954 film, which was also brilliantly done. If you can catch the original ’54 Japanese version, that would be my other choice.

Shin Godzilla also takes an unusual approach to the human element, in that they deal with the behind the scenes actions of the government as it reacts to the appearance of the monster. It’s quite intense and times, well constructed, and a realistic byproduct of the events.

So… you have your assignments. Go, run free!

GET YOUR KAIJU ON!

Review- Falcon and the Winter Soldier Spoilers

This was my most eagerly anticipated series from the MCU/Disney+ stable. Had to really shift gears from WandaVision, as this was a very different story — the story of Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, John Walker, and who gets that shield.

Whereas WandaVision was an experimental tour of Wanda’s tragic life as seen through sitcoms, FATWS is a socio-political thriller more in line with Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie.

It’s gratifying to see a *whole* Bucky Barnes again in every way possible. I’m still blown away by the fact that no name young actor Sebastian Stan played Bucky Barnes in the first Cap movie, yet Marvel never recast, sticking with Stan on this whole incredible journey for this character. And for us viewers, the *investment* in this Bucky Barnes pays off so so big here.

The Winter Soldier coming back in the comics was one of the greatest additions to comics in decades. It even took the “nobody stays dead in comics” cliche, and presented such a strong story, it blew away the cliche. Then they went and did it just as well if not better on screen. Truly amazing.

And as great as Bucky is, I really love the character of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). He’s just … well, he’s a great, down to earth guy, and will make a great Captain America. He’s had his own journey as well since CATWS. Here, seeing his home town, sister and nephews just brings us deeper into his world, where real world problems exist for Avengers too. Sam’s interaction with Isaiah are powerful and heartbreaking (the mere fact that Marvel even WENT there with Isaiah was bold but probably necessary). After this series, seriously, I could see the formation of a new Avengers led by Sam as Cap. Eventually. Plenty o films ahead on the docket already.

It’s also wonderful to see Sam and Bucky tightening the bond between them.

Sam was perhaps a bit naive thinking he could just retire the shield and that the government wouldn’t just take it. I get that he might feel unworthy. I mean who *wouldn’t* when comparing themselves to Steve Rogers? But the whole John Walker experiment had to play out, so Sam would see the light and Walker would become USAgent.

The addition of Julia Louis Dreyfus as the Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is very interesting, because *in the 1960’s comics*, aside from Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan, Val was one of the top officers in SHIELD. Who this incarnation is associated with is anyone’s guess. Seems like Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp) is destined to be a villain in future installments. Aunt Peggy would not be amused. A shame to see her go rogue but all things considered, she did get branded a traitor after Civil War, even after her loyal service time, so she’s understandably ticked off.

It was great to see Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) join the party. He’s a great foil for Sam and especially Bucky. And thanks to his butler on the outside, who’s seemingly very proficient with car bombs, Zemo wins again. Really, he smashed all but one of the remaining vials of the serum, killed the scientist who made it, and orchestrated the car bomb. His goal of eradicating all things Super soldier made incredible strides in this show. We even got to see the purple mask!

The purple mask.

In the past, I’ve gone on about how the MCU tends to elevate or enhance the characters when transplanting them from comics to the screen. Zemo’s no different. Although in the comics, there were two generations of Zemo villains, the original fought Cap in WWII. His big invention was creating Adhesive X! A … really strong glue. He kept it in a vat. Cap shattered said vat with his shield, sending Adhesive X! pouring all over Zemo’s head, causing the purple mask to be stuck on his head forever. Thus, the 80 year vendetta of his family against Cap. Gotta say, I like the movie version better.

Batroc’s another one. In the comics, he was an over the top Frenchman with a crazy pointy mustache. “Wee wee, mon capitan! Are you ready for zee fight?!” Score another for the MCU.

John Walker (Wyatt Russell) is presented as a cautionary tale and is sympathetic enough at first, until it’s clear he’s a bit in over his head, and then he loses it after his partner Lamar (Cle Bennett) gets killed by the main antagonist, Karly Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman).

CHOP CHOP! SPLURT! Two points guessing which scene that refers to.

Karly’s a worthy opponent who Sam’s trying to sincerely help but in the end, there was always going to be bloodshed. Karly and her Flag-Smashers were doomed to fail. I did like that no one’s shying away from the total cluster*** that occurred in the world is now that all the people came back after five years. Seriously, everyone moved on. Abandoned homes were taken over by other people. People got on with their lives and married other people, or at least started relationships that lasted years. Suddenly there was shelter and food for everyone and things were miserable for a time, and then they got better. Much better. I guarantee you, that in the backs of many people’s minds, in that dark little corner, amongst all the survivor guilt, some had that subversive little thought…

…that maybe Thanos was right?

Then, everyone showed up on everybody else’s doorstep, as if NO time at all had passed, seeing their houses gone, loved ones with other people, or dead, jobs gone. Suddenly, the unwashed masses who were finally accepted where they never were before, were all on the verge of being kicked to the curb again, because the missing people came back. Governments were suddenly in just as bad a spot, making decisions which gave rise to a group of super soldier terrorists led by Karly.

Oh, what a mess, but again, one that I’m glad they began addressing.

Also interesting to see such a heavy Wakandan presence here, with a substantial impact on the story, even if there was no mention of the current regime shift over there due to T’challa’s death. The Wakandan Dora Milaje corral Zemo, were responsible for finally getting Bucky’s mind right, showed how quickly they could literally disarm him, and made one hell of an awesome Cap suit for Sam.

And man oh man, he rocked the costume. Yet ANOTHER point for the MCU. See, in the comics, Sam’s wings were really a lot simpler and just *attached* to his arms. So when he became Cap in the comics, the very act of throwing the shield AND staying aloft on wing power was problematic at best (they kinda cheated over it). But the separate jet pack/wings construction in the films make everything easier and workable.

Sam really acquits himself well, right down to a moving and impassioned speech which cements his new identity.

Of course, even more moving is his end reveal to the previously mentioned Isaiah Bradley, whose personal story is a horrifying mirror of real world events such as the Tuskegee Airmen. I’m glad they added Isaiah’s story.

It’s actually very impressive that they fit ALL of this into six 45 minute episodes. I’ve got to believe they’ll be at least another season coming, if for no other reason than to see the cool new logo for “Captain America and The Winter Soldier”.

…and Marvel has “Captain America 4” in the works now.