Similar to the Hulk Theme I posted a few weeks ago, this gem comes from an era when disco was king. Geoff Love and His Orchestra do a great job of taking the classic Spider-Man theme from the animated series and turning it into a tune of the times.
Tag: superheroes
Iron Man Trailer Arrives Early
The Iron Man trailer is going to premiere tonight on several Paramount television stations. The first tv airing is scheduled to air just before MTV’s “The Hills” at 8:30 p.m. Central time. The rest of the showings are:
Comedy Central: The Daily Show 10-Sep
MTV: The Hills 10-Sep (the break leading into the show)
Spike TV : CSI 11-Sep
VH1: The Rock Life 10-Sep
BET: Baldwin Hills 11-Sep
CMT : Trick My Truck 10-Sep
Logo : Rick & Steve 11-Sep
MTV2: Room 401 10-Sep
NAN : Fresh Prince 10-Sep
The N: Fresh Prince 11-Sep
TV Land: Andy Griffith 11-Sep
You don’t have to wait. Apple has released the online version of the Iron Man trailer more than a day early. It’s a great two minute clip. It shows the genesis and personality of Tony Stark (Iron Man), shows multiple versions of the armor in great detail, and even shows a quick glimpse of the villain Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger, played by Jeff Bridges.
That’s definitely Bridges in the over-sized Iron Monger armor in that image from the trailer. Obadiah Stane was a businessman who overthrew Tony Stark’s company and later tried to destroy Stark. A lot of people were expecting the Mandarin as the villain, but Stane makes a much better introductory villain in my opinion. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Mandarin make an appearance in the new film as a setup for a sequel, since the character is currently receiving a lot of attention in the comics.
Bizarro Returns in Action Comics #855
Bizarro returns to Action Comics in issue #855 (on sale 08/29/2007) courtesy of Geoff Johns, Richard Donner and artist Eric Powell. Just look at that cover to issue #857 with the Bizarro Justice League. It’s hilarious. The fat Flash and happy Batman are the best.
I can’t imagine the story being anything but amazing. Johns has excelled at integrating past history into the recent continuity of the DC Universe and director/producer Richard Donner has invigorated the Superman franchise with new takes on old ideas. Top it off with art by Eric Powell, who is THE perfect artist for a story involving Bizarro, and I’m ready to start reading.
Swamp Thing TV Series Coming to DVD
According to TVShows on DVD, that seems to be the case. Shout Factory, the same group that produced the amazing Freeks and Geeks DVD set has supposedly acquired the DVD rights to the 1990 USA Network series. Based on the DC comics character, the series took the basic idea of the character and spun it into a genre heavy series that thrived on a threat/monster of the week theme.
I remember watching this show off and on the last few years of high school. It was just a few years before that I had gotten into the classic Swamp Thing series from DC. Writer Alan Moore took a stock horror character and transformed him into one of the most interesting books that DC had at the time. Rick Veitch continued the trend after Moore left, but the series floundered for direction after Veitch abruptly left. The comic had the character increasing in power to near god-like levels and it was hard to find anyone or anything that could challenge the character.
Several attempts have been made to bring the character back, but all have failed. With the success of the 1985-1996 series and the fact that it help found DC’s now popular Vertigo line, DC editorial have been hesitant to remove the character from his horror filled roots and return him to the super-hero filled DC universe proper (despite the recent, constant pleas from DC editorial). I say let them have the character. Past history and success is keeping the character tied to a formula that a few writers had success with, but others have not been able to duplicate in over a decade. Give someone else a chance to see what they can do with Swampy.
For a full history of the character and TV show, be sure to check out Arcane Knowledge and Cult TV Man’s Swamp Thing page.
Ben 10 Live Action Movie
I had heard there was a Ben 10 live action movie in the works. I had no idea that it was practically complete and will be released in November of this year. For those that don’t know, Ben 10 is one of the more recent cartoons produced by the cartoon Network.
The show revolves around Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and his grandfather Max. During the start of their summer camping trip, Ben is nearly hit by an alien pod that fell from space and crashed next to him. When he examines it, he finds a mysterious, watch-like device, called the Omnitrix, stored inside. The device attaches to his wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien lifeforms, each with their own unique powers, quite similar to DC’s “Dial H for Hero” comic. Although Ben realizes that he has a responsibility to help others with these new abilities at his disposal, he is not above a little super-powered mischief now and then.
It’s a very traditional cartoon, which is rare nowadays on Cartoon Network. I found a trailer for the film on director Alex Winter’s website. Yes, it’s that Alex Winter of Bill and Ted fame.
I can’t say that I’m overly impressed by the trailer. It looks a little too kid friendly. I’m worried that they took a half-decent cartoon plot and have dumped it in favor of a dumbed-down kids movie. The villain in the trailer doesn’t look like the Season 1 villain Vilgax, but just a generic alien/warlord. Still, it should be an entertaining enough to watch once with Carter. I wonder how many of the alien transformations they will showcase in the movie.
Digging around, it looks like it will be a TV movie instead of a theatrical release. That kind of surprises me, but it makes sense for Cartoon Network. One big plus (in my book) is that Grandpa Max is played by Lee Majors. How cool is that? TV’s The Fall Guy is now someone’s grandfather in a film. Actually, that’s not as cool as I originally thought, because now I feel old.