Enter the Thunder God! Thor Film Rocks the Theater!

I cannot recall the last time I was so excited about seeing a movie. As the Thor film approached it's release date I chose not to read reviews, look at the pictures, or take in any knowledge that might affect my view of the film before seeing it. However, since I have seen the film I can honestly say this...it was spectacular!!!

Spoiler Alert: If you have not yet seen the film and do not want to know aspects of what happens do not read any further.

I greatly appreciated the loyalty to the Marvel character's history as it appeared in the comic. While some changes were obviously evident in the storyline, those changes did not take away from the character nor did they define him as something he was not. It proved to be what you would expect from a film that needs to tell decades of history in under 2 hours. It was filled with laughter, action, drama, and special effects that made you believe it was real.

The Asgardians are described as a race from another realm within the physical universe. The Vikings would have believed them to be gods and in the movie it is clearly explained that they are the protectors of the nine worlds that exist. Though they are a higher level of being above humans, they are not without their faults and challenges.

Chris Hemsworth's portrayal of Thor is a perfection in itself capturing his immature hunger for a fight while seeing his on-screen growth to a responsible hero of both Earth and Asgard. He is believably Thor!

Tom Hiddleston was perfect for the role of Loki and captured the underhanded mischievous nature of Thor's adopted brother. His range of expressions, the somber feelings over Thor's banishment, his hurtful anger at Odin for not revealing to him his origin, and his lust for power and revenge were so remarkable that you both hated and felt sorry him.

Who else could have portrayed the authority of Odin and his wisdom better than Anthony Hopkins? From a powerful leader and warrior to a humble king and loving father, Hopkins made the role of Odin epic and alive.

The film also provided us with tastes of what lies ahead from Marvel Studios with a cameo of Hawkeye and a vision of the Cosmic Cube at the end of the credits. Loki, of course, is not out of the picture and it seems he will play a pivotal role in the upcoming Avengers film.

We would like to know what you think of the film. Take part in our poll and leave a comment as to your thoughts. There is so much we could say about the film but we would rather here from you.

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Did You Like the Thor Film?

Aye! It rocked like thunder!
Nay! It was not worthy!
Mine eyes have not yet seen it!
The jury is still out on this one!



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Sabretooth - The Evil Enemy of Marvel's Favorite Mutant, Wolverine

Every great story has a protagonist (the hero) and an antagonist (the villain). This is true even in comic books. Consider for a moment the great hero-villain match ups; Superman & Lex Luthor; Batman & The Joker; Spider-Man & The Green Goblin; Fantastic Four & Doctor Doom. Among the great rivalries in the comic universe is Marvel's favorite mutant, Wolverine, and his arch-villain, Sabretooth.

Sabretooth is easy to describe. He is pure evil. He has no love for people, mutant or otherwise, and he has a craving for violence, terror and blood. His relationship with Wolverine was a mystery for decades until it was explained in Origins and also partially on the big screen in the movie Wolverine. He has drawn, written and portrayed almost always the same. Taylor Mane's character in the 1st X-Men film was somewhat different in that he seemed to be nothing more than Magneto's lap dog. In most other stories, however, he is portrayed as the intelligent villainous being that he is. It is almost as if his mutant ability is evil itself even proving himself the better of Wolverine in most encounters.

In the mainstream Marvel Universe, Sabretooth eventually meets his end at the hands of Wolverine. Using the Muramasa blade, which interferes with their mutant healing factors, Wolverine decapitates Sabretooth for his murderous and criminal acts against humanity and mutantkind. His body and head were left to rot in the snow of the Canadian wilderness. If and when we see a return of Sabretooth remains to be seen.

From the pages of Iron Fist #14 to the big screen, Sabretooth is loved only as a nemesis to Wolverine. As a fan favorite villain, we would like your opinion on which version of Sabretooth is the best. Cast your vote below and feel free to leave your comments about this evil Marvel character.

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Which Sabretooth Is Your Favorite?

Marvel Sabretooth

Ultimate Sabretooth

Liev Scheiber Sabretooth

Taylor Mane Sabretooth

Sabretooth Tiger




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Thor, Capatin America, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman & the Death of Spider-Man

I can remember when we were approaching Y2K and the world was concerned about a worldwide technological collapse.  Now, we are approaching the end of 2010 and starting another decade in 2011.  In the last ten years we have seen the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, 2 wars, 2 economic recessions, 1 of which nearly collapsed the entire world economy, bank closings, the biggest Ponzi scheme in world history by Bernie Madoff, a major tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Katrina, several typhoons and earthquakes, the world's worst oil spill in human history by BP, the death of Saddam Hussein, a nuclear threat from South Korea and Iran, the rising power of China, several school shootings and the list goes on.  These are just a few of the astonishing events that have taken place!  If the world ever needed a hero/heroes then this has been the decade for it!  That is exactly what we have gotten, too; so to speak!

This last decade, 2001-2010, has seen an increase in the interest of comic books, superheroes and the love of fantasy.  Marvel stock continued to rise even during recessions and was eventually bought by Disney.  Comic book movies have become more and more in demand.  We have seen Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, Superman, the Hulk and more.  Iron Man, probably the biggest success of them all, has become iconic.  Who can look at Robert Downey, Jr. and not see Tony Stark?  We also have animated films and TV shows featuring the X-Men, the Avengers, Batman and, one of my personal favorites, The Super Hero Squad.  We love our heroes and we love to be entertained by them.  Yet this is just the beginning!

2011 is going to be a pivotal year for comic book films and comic book events.  Fans the world over are in expectation of seeing major heroes on the big screen.  Planned for release in 2011 is Thor, Captain America, The First Avenger,  and Green Lantern.  Iron Man 3, Superman, Batman, The Avengers, Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class and Transformers are all scheduled for release in the following years.   While these films are definitely anticipated by comic book fans, they have also generated a new era of fans; movie fans.  This generation loves the movie screen heroes but have no interest in comics themselves.  For comic book companies, however, this avenue has captured new revenue and new customers.  The fact is though that the world wants heroes and lots of them.

As a comic book fan myself, I have longed to see these characters come alive.  While some films have been dismal failures, i.e. Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, it is still a totally cool thing to see living, breathing crime fighting heroes saving the world; even if it is only fictional.

The 2 big guns, Marvel and DC, have lots of plans headed into the new decade.  One in particular is Marvel's plan for Spider-Man in the Ultimate Universe where just about anything goes.  It is basically a recreation of the Marvel Universe but with altered stories and origins from the originals.  The biggest thing to see in early 2011, will be the Death of Spider-Man.  This will prove to be the biggest, boldest move Marvel has attempted in the Ultimate Universe.  Recently we saw the death of Captain America in Marvel's regular titles.  Naturally, it he did not stay dead.  For Ultimate Spider-Man, however, it seems that this may not be the case since many characters in the world of comics always find a way to return (Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Bruce Wayne, Aquaman, Firestorm, Superman, Captain America and others).  It seems the only well known character who has remained dead is Gwen Stacy, unless you count her emergence in the Spider-Man movie trilogy.  In any event, the death of iconic heroes always seems to draw readers.  Whether it is a publicity stunt to sell comics or not it will certainly prove to be a key moment for Marvel and Spider-Man fans.

Of the upcoming films, which do you think will be the best?  Cast your vote!

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Which Upcoming Comic Film Will Be The Best?

Thor
Captain America, The First Avenger
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Green Lantern
Batman
Superman
Transformers
The Wolverine



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Disney & Marvel. A Good Combination?

There's been a lot of speculation on Disney's purchase of Marvel Comics.  I have read positive comments as well as negative.  With the new promotion of Tron Legacy we have seen how Disney has used Marvel characters to promote the movie.  Many fans wonder what impact a company like Disney will have on our favorite characters as they move ahead in the stream of things.  While not everyone can be made happy it will prove to be an interesting development as time goes on.

For investors the move was great!  It sent Marvel stock soaring and several shareholders made money on the deal.  Not that Marvel Entertainment needed it as their stock had continued to climb throughout the recession.  The growing interest in Marvel characters has been due to some successful movies and with Marvel creating their own studio it was just a matter of time before a bigger fish came along.  It reminds me of Qui Gon Jinn's words in Episode I, "There's always a bigger fish!"  Disney certainly is that.  As to my own personal opinion over the Marvel purchase I am undecided.  As a business man and investment professional I am in agreement with it.  As a comic book fan and store owner I am not sure.  I think I will have to wait to see what directions the company goes in order to formulate an opinion.  What do you think? 

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Do you think Marvel being owned by Disney is a positive move forward?

Yes
No
I'm not sure. I'll have to wait and see.



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Daredevil #1 CGC 9.2 Sells for $10,800 On ComicLink

The all-star cast of the Daredevil movie could not save it from being a bad movie.  It's a shame, too, because Daredevil is such a popular character among Marvel fans.  Fortunately the bad movie has not affected the loyalty of fans nor the popularity of The Man Without Fear.

To prove this fact, ComicLink recently auctioned a Daredevil #1 with a CGC grade of 9.2 with off-white to white pages.  Any collector would love to have a copy of this and if I have to explain why then, simply put, you are not a collector.  For what amount did this book finally sell?  With 15 seconds left on the auction the bid went from $6500 to $7450.  Then with only 2 seconds left, the final bid came in at $10,800.  Not only a beautiful book but a beautiful price, especially for the seller. 

My favorite Daredevil story was "Guardian Devil" written by Kevin Smith and drawn by Joe Quesada.  (I have a couple of issues signed by Joe Quesada.  View them here.)  The story forces Matt Murdock, DD, to protect a baby that he is led to believe will be either a Messiah or an Antichrist.  In the process he struggles with the death of  love interest Karen Page who was killed by DD's archenemy, Bullseye.  In the end, there is a surprise villain behind it all, one that no reader expected.  This storyline began the Marvel Knights series and revived the the popularity of Daredevil.

What's your favorite Daredevil story?
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Is Brian Michael Bendis the Best Comic Book Writer Ever?

With the creation of the Illuminati, Civil War and Secret Invasion, Brian Michael Bendis has done more than just make the Marvel Universe exciting again. He has unified the Universe bringing past and present together, cleaning up story holes from times past, made crappy characters cool and made cool characters awesome. His twists and turns and exciting plots keep us wanting more and more and more just as it should be. With the popularity of Marvel and the story arcs that are taking place, most of which originate in the mind of Bendis, many would argue that he is the greatest comic writer in the history of comics. What do you think? Is this the case?

I love reading Bendis' work. He has made me want to read more and more. I feel like I did when I was 16 reading Claremont's X-men stories, or when I was in my 20's and Alex Ross recreated the DC Universe with Kingdom Come. I love reading Bendi's work, plain and simple. I think he is the best writer in the industry at this time. However, comparing Bendis' to past writers is like comparing Barry Bonds to Babe Ruth or Mark McGwire to Hank Aaron. The comparisons are not quite that simple to make. Different eras brought about different creators; creators that were needed at the time. Is it fair to compare Alex Ross with Jack Kirby? Both have displayed talent above the expectation of the time and set a new bar for others to reach. Brian Michael Bendis certainly has done that for the industry. Comparing him to the likes of Stan Lee, a most humble creator, would not be fair. Why?

Stan Lee changed the face of comics in a way that Bendis has not done. He did not just create story-lines and plots, he created characters that have been come national icons. Spider-Man and the X-Men are international icons. They are known the world over. In fact, most of the popular Marvel characters were created during an era when they were most needed and have held their popularity even now. Iit was Stan Lee and his buddies who brought that about.

Bendis is an awesome writer and I love what he has done with the Marvel Universe. Without Stan Lee and his friends, however, none of it would be possible. What do you think? Who is the greatest comic book writer of all time?

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