Fantom Comics

The verdict is in, and Secret Invasion has been found TOTALLY AWESOME!! Marvel doesn't disappoint with the first issue of this 8-part series. It answers some question and raises more of them.

Fantom Comics sold out of #1 on the very first day, but have no fear! We will have lots more copies coming into both of our stores on Friday (that's Friday, April 4th...tomorrow!!)

Be sure to pick up a copy and check out Marvel's big event of the year. Heck, buy a couple copies in case you want to read it more than once.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

DC’s latest direct-to-DVD animated feature represents a monumental step-up from their first effort, Superman Doomsday. It is clear from the very beginning Justice League: The New Frontier, based upon Darwyn Cooke’s series, is not just some sort of extended kids TV episode. The level of violence is not for young children, and the PG-13 rating reflects that the movie is not afraid to show a little blood. The animation, though improved from the poor quality of Doomsday, is nothing special. It is done in typical American style, with strong, thick lines, square faces, and certainly not of the quality of a Japanese Anime feature. While there are some imaginative scenes, for the most part the style is forgettable, except for Wonder Woman who looks a little too manly. The voice acting is strong and well balanced, and filled with notable names (Neil Patrick Harris as The Flash is my favorite). However, without Kevin Conroy as Batman, the character feels flat, perhaps speaking to both Conroy’s ability and the association so many have built between his voice and Batman. The story remains true to the source material as possible given the limited running time (75 minutes). Though some subplots are missing, or in most cases just passingly referred to, the overall plot and tone of Cooke’s work comes through unscathed. This does produce the effect however, that the less familiar one is with the comic, and JLA cannon in general, the less enjoyable the movie will become. In the end the strength of the source material, combined with a solid execution prove this is what animated comic features should be about. Though there is room for improvement in the quality of animation and production values, it is clear that DC is headed in the right direction. This movie earns 3 out of 4 Fantoms.

Posted by Brandon Baker-Rice at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ever wonder what type of person chooses to dress-up as a Superhero every day? The indie documentary, Confessions of a Superhero, follows several down-on-their-luck performers in front of Hollywood's famed Chinese Theatre. Wonder Woman is a faded Homecoming Queen looking for work, while the Hulk uses the money to get by while waiting for his big break. The real stars of the documentary however, are Batman, who claims he has a dark and troubled past, and Superman, who attempts to live by the code of nobility enshrined by his character. Ultimately however, the movie simply reveals what happens to some of those people who didn't "make it". It offers no message of hope or redemption, instead just a depressing look at the people who would choose to dress up as our favorite heroes as a way to pay the rent.

Confessions of a Superhero is currently out on DVD.

Posted by Brandon Baker-Rice at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2 ½ out of 4 Fantoms

The second installment of the Fantastic Four film series was susprising, well, enjoyable. It feels very weird to say that after seeing so many comic book movies that have been just plain stupid, overdone and depressingly un-fun (i.e. Ghost Rider, Hulk, X-Men: TLS, Spider-Man 3, etc.)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (which is loosely based on the "Galactus Trilogy") opens with two big stories happening in their FF movie universe: The first being Reed Richards and Sue Storms wedding, which is turning into a media fiasco and is being called the “Wedding of the Century”. Meanwhile, weather-changing anomalies are occurring all around the earth, as are giant 200-meter craters. This of course, is being caused by the Silver Surfer who is also releasing dangerous radioactive energy everywhere he goes. When no one is able to track down or stop the Surfer, the FF and the Army recruit some help: Victor Von Doom (mwahahahaha!!!!) Eventually, the FF learn that the Surfer is actually just a poor, innocent herald trying to save his home planet from being eaten by his master.

The one thing thats better in this sequel is that it’s interesting without trying to hard, and you are actually able to like the characters. As I said before, there is the wedding that is supposed to place between Reed and Sue, before it gets inturrupted by the Surfer. The writers manage to make a nice (or at least bearable) story line about there relationship without being cheesy. There is also a good background story involving Johnny and how he wants have some one to be with (enter Frankie Raye, but sorry – no Nova.) Ben doesn’t do too much, except for being the muscle and… well, that’s kind of it. Of course there is the evil Dr. Doom and the Silver Surfer. Dr. Doom is in the film just long enough to betray everyone, and almost have ultimate power. But the Silver Surfer, he might just be the thing that separates this film from the first. His cool, moral, nice, and tends to do the right thing… except when he’s helping an Omnipotent-like being destroy countless planets.

When you think about what makes this movie unique, first off, its just plain fun. Fun, fun, fun. Secondly, its script doesn’t suck (so that’s always helpful) and the tone of the film feels very natural and relaxed, and most of it isn't trying to be forced. Even the ending is relaxed, and thankfully, the movie doesn’t end 4 times (cough, cough, X-Men 3 and Spier-Man 3.) To be honest, I bet that the only reason I see this movie as good is because I had no expectations (especially after seeing the first movie) and because it looks pretty good when you compare it too everything else that has been so bad (comic book and non-comic movies alike); but that’s what makes this movie worth seeing, because even though its not Fantastic (ha, a pun), its not like any other movie in a while – insted, it lets you have a good time.

Posted by Ari Saperstein at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From Fantom gossip reporter Ari Saperstein:

Spider-Man 3: The Soap Opera… or it might have well has been.
By Ari Saperstein
1 out of 4 stars

After watching a screening of Spider-Man 3 Thursday night, everyone left the theatre with the same though on their mind: “What the hell was that?”

That’s the impression that the third – and by far the worst – Spider-man movie gives you. There are so many bad things about this movie, but I’ll spend my time talking about just two: the script and the plot. The movie actually gets off to a pretty good start with its four main story lines. A black alien goop falls from space and lands in a crater (that happens to be 20 feet away from Peter and MJ, though neither notices). Flint Marko, a convict on the run, accidentally stumbles – literally, stumbles – into a pit during a science experiment separating sand particles, and he becomes the “Sandman.” Eddie Brock (the future Venom) is a photographer trying to steal Peter’s job at the Bugle, no matter what. Harry has taken on the role of the New Goblin, using the same serums on himself that turned his father crazy. In a battle between Harry and Peter (known to some of you as the seven minute scene on Yahoo!), Harry hits his head and develops short term memory loss. Hmm, how lucky for Peter.

Meanwhile, things are really going bad for MJ. She gets fired from her play and cannot manage to tell Peter because whenever she tries, he interrupts her saying the absolutely wrong thing. Or, Peter is off spending time with Gwen Stacy, who just happens to be his lab partner, and she also just happens to be Eddie Brock’s girlfriend, and he just happens to save her, and she just happens to kiss Spidey. Even for a comic book adaptation, there’s a lot I’m not buying.

Now here is where the film starts to go way, way downhill. Just when you think MJ & Peter have everything going wrong for them, revenge and evil consume Peter through the form of the black alien goop. He’s got a new costume, and a new personality – he’s a real jerk dressed in black. The black goop turns him into an ego-centric, selfish, self-centered guy that is the farthest thing from Spider-Man and it makes him seem more like a villain. Tobey McGuire does a great job playing a bad guy – almost too good a job because it is honestly disturbing to see him as Spider-Man act that way. Between Spidey’s personality change and MJ’s depressing life, S3 is more like a 2 ½ hour soap opera. This is one of the main problems with the entire movie: nothing has really evolved from the first film, but at the same time nothing really feels that familiar, whether it’s the relationships, villains, or powers. Plus there is Sandman, who it turns out killed Ben Parker (Peter’s uncle) and apparently feels bad about it, since he was only trying to get money to help his sick daughter (tear – more soap opera…). Does that sound like a villain to you? As you may be able to tell from my description, this character is written as an incredibly sympathetic man who at no point ever actually acts villainous.

Spidey 3 suffers from two life threatening illnesses. The first, Hypedup3rdmovie-itus, which as you may remember, is the same disease that “X-Men: The Last Stand” suffered from. Hypedup3rdmovie-itus, in both cases, puts major pressure on the films to be at least as good as the 1st and 2nd. This ailment results in symptoms such as:
• Writers re-writing the script so many times, because they want it to keep up with the first two movies, but ending up ruining the film.
• The movie not being able to focus on all its many new stories.
• While spend so much time trying to develop all its story lines, the movie forgets to leave room for cool action/fight scenes.
• Not focusing on cool new characters, but spending too much time on the relationships between old characters.

Even worse, the second disease this movie suffers from, which is fatal to all comic book and action films: Takesitselfwaytoseriously Syndrome.

Many hyped-up and supposedly awesome films have suffered from TS, one of the most famous being “Hulk” (2003). “Spider-Man 3” is a sad, depressing and very serious film that in the end is just not fun to watch. The sappy and very cheesy script (especially when it comes to Harry) makes it so much worse. S3, like the “Hulk”, fails at creating a good experience for the audience, which we’ve come to expect. A day after watching S3 a very interesting comparison about the film came to mind; it is just like a panel to panel adaptation of those cheesy dialogued, morality teaching, 70’s comic books.

In the end, I guess the truth is that it could have been worse, like if they’d gone with their original idea of having only one villain, which was Ben Kingsley playing The Falcon.

Be sure to look out for: A framed picture on Peter’s nightstand, which is the one he took in the first film of MJ holding a packet next to the spiders.

Final Word: If the Hulk and X3 are both your favorite films, you’ll love this. If you liked Spider-Man 1 and 2, this is a failure.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill French, your friendly neighborhood Fantom Comics employee, here to fill you in on a superhero book you may have missed in the confusion of Infinite Civil Crisis: Archie and Veronica.

DC Comics has been missing something in its teenage heroes for quite some time. I like to call it the “What the Heck” factor. Superboy was a clone of the Big Blue Boy Scout. Robin is a smart-aleck who sought out the creepiest cuss ever as a mentor. All of these adolescent heroes have in some way strived to emulate or replace their predecessors. Thankfully, DC used the backdrop of last year's Infinite Crisis to breath much needed life into the “kid-on-the-street” theme with Blue Beetle. The first trade of which – Blue Beetle: Shell Shocked – is now available.

Following the destruction of the Rock of Eternity in Days of Vengeance, the Scarab idol owned by the two previous men to claim the title of Blue Beetle was flung onto the streets of El Paso, Texas. While walking home with his friends, Jamie Reyes stubs his toe on the little token. Taking the scarab home with him, his life changes forever as within the week he is shot into space to battle Brother Eye with legends such as Batman and Green Arrow.

Although suffering from some unfortunate art inconsistencies due to a guest artist for the second and third issues, the trade is a strong opening to the series. The dialogue is crisp and snappy, with a certain quality of innocence to it. Melding a style reminiscent of Ed McGuiness (Superman/Batman) with a smart sense of humor, this series reminds me of early Spiderman books: a normal kid thrown into a situation completely above his head who manages to keep afloat with a good sense of humor and a well-developed supporting cast.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Blue Beetle: Shell Shocked a strong 8.5 out of ten.

Every Friday you can expect a new review of comics you may not be reading but are worth taking a look at.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT:
Fantom Comics would like to apologize for the lateness of this review. While this review may no longer apply to the movie in theaters (if you were going to see it, you probably already have), perhaps it will help when the DVD is released.

Also, Fantom is trying to put more original content on its site. If you have a review from comic book related movies or books, please feel free to email it to us. We might put it up.

REVIEW OF GHOST RIDER
by: Christopher Patriquin

Ghost Rider is one of the worst films in recent history. It's difficult to know where to begin with this review, as Ghost Rider cannot be explained easily. The failure of this film cannot be ascribed to any single flaw, but rather a whole mess of them coming together into one giant cinematic fecal explosion. Since the plot of the film is ridiculous in and of itself, it seems appropriate to begin there.

Ghost Rider follows Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), a stunt biker who sells his soul to the Devil (Peter Fonda) in exchange for curing his father of cancer. Blaze leaves behind his childhood love, Roxanne, to keep her from being hurt by what he's done. This is all the audience gets for the first 40 minutes of the film.

Cut to the future, and Johnny is now a famous Evil Knievel-esque figure, performing death defying stunts that sometimes result in horrific crashes. Because of his "condition," these crashes never scratch Blaze, but soon the Devil's son, Blackheart (played by Wes Bentley, who played Kevin Spacey's brooding, pot-slinging neighbor in "American Beauty" but whose career is apparently going nowhere), eventually comes to Earth to try and overthrow his father and end the world. The Devil calls upon Blaze to assume the mantle of the Ghost Rider, a flaming skeleton with a range of fiery superpowers, to hunt down Blackheart and his army of fallen angels. That's really it. The rest of the plot is filled in with Blaze's eccentricities (i.e. drinking jelly beans out of martini glasses), bad jokes and fight scenes that are mediocre at best.

Half the people in this film have no business being anywhere near it, especially Peter Fonda. Fonda is a great actor, and he tries to do well with what he's given. It almost works, but his efforts are futile due to the movie's mediocrity. Sam Elliott is in a similar situation. He is a fine actor but his character is utterly wasted.

Eva Mendes does no better. Her role is as empty as her head appears to be every time she's on screen as Johnny Blaze's former love interest-turned-reporter. Her role has no visible purpose, and she contributes absolutely nothing to the plot. Ostensibly, she's meant to give Blaze inspiration to be good and take control of the curse placed upon him, but she really could have been anyone.

Cage has wanted to do a superhero movie for a long time. His performance is rocky at best and definitely not up to the level of greatness that he reached with Face/Off, The Rockand Gone in 60 Seconds. There is little that can be said about his performance other than it is dull.

Beyond the actors, the script is absolutely terrible. The dialogue is hackneyed and stilted, and the film is nonsensical at times. The director must have decided to blow the entire budget on special effects, and it shows. The fire effects are actually impressive and the transformation sequence was interesting as well. The effects and the Fonda/Elliott quotient are the only redeeming features of a movie that was long, badly written and absurd. However, no special effects in the world can save a movie that was doomed from the start.

To be blunt, people should not see this movie, even if potential viewers are fans of the Ghost Rider series. It is an utter bore and a waste of money.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While this comic might first strike you as a shameless gimmick, designed only to make easy money by slapping two popular franchises together, it is in fact a funny, clever, well thought out story.

The comic seems - by all appearances - to take place in regular Marvel continuity...or the regular continuity involving the Marvel Universe in which earth gets invaded by zombies, anyway (you following...?).

Ash, popping through yet another inter-dimensional vortex, still on the run/pursuit (it gets blurred sometimes) of the Deadites, lands in New York City on Marvel Zombie earth mere hours before Zombie Sentry/Superman lands. After getting his bearings by reading the Daily Bugle, he realizes he’s landed in a “dimension full of these costumed clowns." He tries to warn the Avengers of the coming Deadite invasion but they won't listen, and the story develops just as we know it must...zombie infection begins.

The best line in the comic belongs to Ash (of course). Having made a nuisance of himself, he gets carried away from the upcoming battle by Spider-Man. Ash tells him: "That newspaper was right! You really are a menace!"

Very much looking forward to issue #2 of this 5-part series.

Posted by Matt Klokel at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Before you read this review, a couple of notes:
1) Beware!! There are spoilers in this review!
2) This review contains an unhealthy level of over-analysis that may make you roll your eyes!
3) This review contains what many of you might call heresy!

Okay, I'm going to review Superman Returns in two parts. The first part is my review of the movie as a movie. The second part is my review of the Superman story and how they chose to tell/retell it in Superman Returns.

The movie itself was entertaining. There was enough eye candy to satisfy even the most demanding geeks, and Kevin Spacey's Luther was fantastic. Perhaps some of Spacey's best work. I kid you not.

On the negative side, the story did drag on a bit, and Spacey aside, the acting could have been better. Let me put it this way, the second best acting in the movie was performed by Kal Penn (Kumar of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle). And he didn't utter a word the entire movie! Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen came in a close third. He managed to do the impossible: make the Olsen character more lovable and funny than he is annoying.

Overall, I recommend seeing this movie. It's a lot of fun.

As to how they handled the Superman story itself, there were serious problems. Granted, many of the weaknesses come from the Superman story itself, and couldn't be helped by the filmmakers. That truth makes these flaws no less bothersome. Let's start with Lois, why not.

When one chooses to see a Superman movie, they have to be prepared to suspend disbelief. Therefore, I can accept that an adult man in a cape and tights can fly and lift entire islands. But even with that mentality I'm unable to accept the fact that Lois Lane, a Pulitzer-prize winner and famous journalist, can't tell Superman from Clark Kent. The man's glasses are his only disguise! I realize this is an old joke, but that makes it no less ridiculous when we see her leave Clark Kent in one room (wearing glasses), and minutes later practically kissing Superman (no glasses) without making the connection. Perhaps she suffers from prosopagnosia.

While density is annoying enough, what really upset me was her utter inability to put anyone else's interests above her own. She has no qualms dragging her 5-year old son with her as she trespasses on private property in the hope of getting a good story. Nor, after escaping death by the thinnest of margins, does she hesitate in forcing her quasi-fiancé Richard to turn his plane around and bring her, him and their son back into the deathtrap they just barely escaped in the hope that maybe she can do something to help Superman!

Which brings me to her final and arguably worst flaw. Her obsession with Superman. Let us not forget that her Pulitzer-prizewinning article, Why the World Doesn't Need Superman, was written not by a professional reporter stating her deep-held beliefs, but by a scorned woman wanting to spite her ex. As soon as Superman is back in the picture, she's prepared to cheat on her fiancé with him and put her child in mortal danger for his sake. Lois has the free will of a Stockholm syndrome victim, and can best be described as the Squeaky Fromme to Superman's Charles Manson.

Lois's fiancé Richard, is a tragic character if there ever was one. Richard is played by James Marsden - Cyclops from the X-Men movies - who seems to be typecast as the nice guy doomed to lose his girl to the hot-shot superhero. Lois kind of likes Richard. That is, until the second Superman is back in her life. True, she doesn't dump Richard, but that's probably so he can continue to support Superman's child, who she never bothers to tell him is not his own.

On that note, a friend of mine and I agreed that if we ever found out our fiancé has the name of her ex-lover as her computer password, she's drop-kicked out the door. Richard must really, really love Lois. Or be a really, really big tool.

The character of Superman, Jr. had problems, too. The son of Lois Lane and (unknown to the child) Clark Kent, seemed completely unfazed that he took a man's life. No matter the rightness of such an act, surely any well-adjusted person would need therapy. Not this spunky tyke. Perhaps he's a sociopath.

Or perhaps he just takes after his Dad, the man who got his mother knocked up before running off and abandoning them for 5 years. The man who, upon finding out the truth, offers Lois no help in raising the child or financial support of any kind. The man who feels perfectly comfortable leaving the poor sucker Richard to raise a child he thinks is his own.

Ah yes, Superman. The man himself. I had a lot of problems with this Superman. First of all, the man has no concept of proportionality. Here's a guy who wastes his time stopping runaway cars while ignoring the truly serious problems the world faces. I notice Superman has no qualms hopping over to France to stop a house fire, but couldn't be bothered with atrocities like the slaughter in Darfur or the madman in control of North Korea!

Which leads us to my biggest problem with Superman. He's willing to help us humans tidy up a bit by stopping the occasional bank robber, but he can't make the time to share the collective wisdom of his native Krypton with mankind? This issue is at the heart of why - up until the point he professed his desire to kill billions of people - I was kind of rooting for Lex Luthor. I found his casting himself as Prometheus, attempting to steal fire (i.e. advanced Kryptonian technology) from selfish gods (Superman) quite inspirational. While I would never advocate the theft of private property for the greater good, Luther's speech did raise an interesting point. Why hasn't Superman used all that advanced Kryptonian knowledge that's collecting dust in his Fortress of Solitude to help the human race? Perhaps he feels we're not enlightened enough to handle the responsibilities of, say, curing cancer or mastering perpetual motion. He must feel we're not as mature as him: a guy who followed Lois Lane to her home, where he used his x-ray vision and super-hearing to spy on her and her family.

Ultimately, the only characters I respected in this movie were Luther and Olsen: a homicidal madman and a half-wit.

On the bright side, the Spider-Man 3 trailer looked awesome!!

Posted by Matt Klokel at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember, remember...this movie!

Well, I did it. I set aside my comic book snobbery and saw what I was sure would be the latest in a string of disastrous Alan Moore comic book movies. Yet as I left the elegant Cleveland Park Uptown, one undeniable truth left me bewildered and confused, questioning my very qualifications as a connoisseur of fine comic books.

I LOVED THIS MOVIE.

True, I went in with low expectations, having been stung by past experience, bad reviews and Alan Moore's own disparaging remarks. I mean, surely anything short of complete feces would seem okay after all that, right? But that's not it. There were plenty of reasons to love this movie.

For starters, the guy manning the lowest common denominator lever must have been asleep at the switch, because the movie ended up remaining completely true to the theme of the comic book. Sure, they made changes to better adapt the story to the screen, but to paraphrase the book, they did not surrendered that final inch. They didn't lose it, or sell it, or give it away.

In fact, I will state for the record that I found the movie V for Vendetta SUPERIOR to Alan Moore's comic book. Hey! Stop cussing and foaming at the mouth and let me explain, okay?

Alan Moore wrote V for Vendetta as a serial. It took him seven years from start to finish, which included a five year hiatus in the middle. Crafting a story in such a way almost assures sloppy storytelling. What Hollywood did so well was to turn the disadvantage of having to stuff so much story into a 120 minute movie and make it an asset. They managed to cut or simplify the bad material, while keeping and even enhancing the best.

On the technical side, Alan Moore created a comic book that is packed to the brim with one montage after another. This is a novel and interesting concept for a comic book, and I applaud Moore for trying it. But only on screen does the montage truly work, and the director pulled off several of them spectacularly.

The casting was also top-notch. Hugo Weaving was excellent as the voice of V. That he wasn't their first choice for the role is irrelevant. Natalie Portman nailed the difficult role of Evey Hammond, perhaps having perfected the art of acting opposite someone in an expressionless mask from her time as costar to that mannequin-like kid they cast as young Anakin Skywalker in the first Star Wars movie.

Another of the movie's charms was the limited number of eye-rolling scenes. You know the ones I'm talking about the crazy parts that make the whole film lose credibility. Don't get me wrong, there were a few eye-rollers, such as the gratuitous Matrix rip-off towards the end of the movie, or the fact that in a tightly controlled police state, V somehow manages to find and distribute fifty-thousand Guy Fawkes masks and cloaks. But to balance that, there are sequences in the movie that were written more credibly than they were in the book. To take just one example, Evey succumbs to V's influence pretty casually in the comic book. That she remains suspicious of him for a longer period in the movie rings much truer.

And finally, the ending, arguably the most important part of any movie, was fantastic. Quite moving. And it wasn't just comic book nerds like myself that felt so. Tell me the last movie you were at in which the audience applauded at the end. They did at the end of this one.

I give V for Vendetta a full four out of four fantoms. V for Vendetta Prevails!

Posted by Matt Klokel at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)