Trailer Tuesdays: Logan

This is the most awesome trailer I’ve seen in ages. I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that I haven’t been this excited for a strictly X-Men movie in a while now, especially one that has Wolverine as the main character. But this? This is all I have ever wanted in a new X-Men movie, and it sets things up for hopefully diverse X-Men movies in the future.

Storm Is Blowing Me Away

We’ve said much on the topic of diversity in Marvel’s recent additions to its comics lineup. However, more is always better, so today I’m back to tell you about the new Storm ongoing series that premiered in July. Spoiler alert: I’m loving it so far.

Trailer Tuesdays: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! X-Men!

I am insanely excited for this movie. Seriously, even though I have been very hard on almost all the X-Men movies and I will probably be very hard on this one, that doesn’t mean I’m not excited.

Trailer Tuesdays: The Wolverine

As released in the middle of last month, ladies and gents, here is the trailer for The Wolverine. I’ll admit that I’m pretty psyched. I’ve long waited for a film which takes on Logan’s relationship to Japan, and the time that he spent there. When the film was announced, I was hoping for a film that would recount his time in Japan before World War II, with his wife, Itsu, and their son, Daken. Perhaps we’ve seen too much in the way of Wolverine fighting those who have the same powers that he does (re: Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike), and I’ll accept that movies are going to be different than Earth-616.

World War II has James Howlett in Japan, performing his typical acts of self-sacrifice and heroism, saving the life of the man who would become Yashida, the yakuza boss and corporate magnate. It does seem, however, that the relationship established there has come to haunt his future, as Yashida seems keen to have Wolverine’s immortality for his own. He is, as the official synopsis has it:

Out of his depth in an unknown world…vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits.

It’s the intrigue around that fact that makes this trailer so exciting for me. What does Wolverine do when his defining ability, the source of some of his greatest triumphs and his most harrowing agonies, could be taken from him? How does he fight Yakuza enforcers and the deadliest assassins in Japan minus the ability to recover instantly from his wounds?

I think it will actually make for a more compelling story, overall. Wolverine is a man who usually only knows emotional and mental desperation. His healing factor means that he’s stronger, moves faster, can fight longer, and fatigues more slowly, and without it he’s going to come up against enemies who can challenge him physically, both superhuman and not. If the true measure of man is “how he stands at times of controversy and challenges”, or “how much of himself he can give,” then surely we will see a more intimate picture of Wolverine when he faces not only defeat, but death with his failures.

There are a few other things that this trailer has me excited about. I’m interested in how the film will take on Viper (whose character you might know as Madame Hydra). She’s portrayed here by Svetlana Khodchenkova (of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), who seems to have all the manipulative Eastern European femme fatale vibes necessary for the role. Director James Mangold has it that she “views Logan like a great hunter might view hunting a lion in his quarry. There’s kind of an admiration, a desire to destroy and a desire to consume and to have and to hold.”

That actually brings me to both of my other points. Between Viper, Mariko Yoshida (in the red wig), and all of the ninjas we see in this trailer, there’s going to be some pretty decent costuming. Now, that could go one of two ways. It could just make the whole thing seem cartoonish and overdone. But given the sources it seems to drawn on, inevitably including Tokyo street fashion and our popular conception of ninjas and samurai, I’m inclined to believe that those over-the-top elements fresh out of anime and comic books could be the right choice, with sufficient individuation to give us a sense of character through costume. That’s what I’m hoping for at least.

I’m also hoping for some strong fight choreography, something I often see as lacking in superhero movies, with The Avengers being a notable exception. I’ve certainly been disappointed by all of the X-Men titles in this regard. So the prospect that I’m going to get my wish with this film leaves me watering at the mouth, frankly. It seems unavoidable. With a cast of master assassins and martial artists, including Yukio and Kenuichio Harada, whom you may know as the Silver Samurai, artfully directed martial arts choreography seems implicit. I, for one, will be sorely upset if this is not the case.

The Wolverine comes out in the US on July 26.

Representation Roll Call, vol. 2: Big in Japan

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my strong suit: pulling comic characters you might not know about from the ether and telling you why they’re awesome. I get to be nerdy and people will read it and even find it interesting. In short, I want to tell you about more of the awesome women of Marvel Comics. We’ve talked about how important it is to pull back the veil on the representation of women in Marvel, and why it’s important to not leave people out of the coolest categories. So, while I’m on the subject on Marvel and the representation of women, I’d like to indulge the basest of my weeaboo instincts. Let’s talk about some Japanese girls.

So You Want To Read Comic Books: Authors and Artists

By this point you have watched the comic book movies and TV shows, looked up characters that interest you, and started reading comic books. But wait, something terrible has happened! Maybe you started reading Runaways, but then the authors and/or artists left and went to a different comic and you just don’t like the  new writers and artists working on the comic. Does this mean that you, all of a sudden, find Superman’s character boring? Or, do you find yourself feeling uncomfortable because of Harley Quinn’s new outfit?

This does not mean that you suddenly don’t like comics, Harley Quinn, or Wolverine, or whatever you are currently reading; it means you don’t like the author/artist.

So You Want to Read Comic Books: Watch the Movies and TV Shows

It has been a while since we talked about getting into comic books, so let’s get started by looking at my first recommendation:

1. Watch the Movies and TV Shows

Chances are this is one thing pretty much all of you have already done, so congratulations! You are officially one step closer to being a regular comic book reader. For those of you that haven’t, I suggest you check some of them out.

“But wait,” you say, “I have heard many comic book fans criticizing the movies and TV shows. How do I know which will enhance my comic book knowledge and which will turn me off comics forever, or worse yet, make me stick out like an obvious comic book noob?”

Excellent question! I personally believe that all comic book knowledge is good knowledge. Even the worst movie will introduce you to the basics. Who’s the hero? Who is the villain? Are there any love interests? What’s the hero’s back story? Etc. It will also introduce you to what most hardcore comic fans hate and why they hate it. Most Batman fans hate the movie Batman and Robin and/or think that the Adam West Batman TV series was ridiculous, but you will still hear comic book fans talking about them and even quoting them. Sometimes you have to understand the bad things to understand the culture.