The Punisher: Netflix Daredevil Spin-Off Series & Thoughts

     Hell's Kitchen is about to lose a lot more criminals soon, because according to Entertainment Weekly, Netflix and Marvel's team up has now officially announced a Punisher series.  Vigilante Frank Castle will be bringing his unique and bloody justice to the streets in his very own series.

     After his run as The Punisher, Jon Bernthal has made such an impact that the creators and fans want more.  Steve Lightfoot (Hannibal) will serve as showrunner, being both writer and executive producer for the show.  Hopefully it can compete with how perfectly they handled Frank Castle from Daredevil season 2.

         I've written before about how they should handle the Punisher, and Marvel/Netflix did not disappoint.  Now that the origin has been handled, it's time to ramp up the tension and story.  I want to see a Martin Scorsese level of quality Punisher tale.  It needs the depth of Goodfellas, and the genius underlying The Departed.  We want crime, corruption, and violence.  We want dark and gritty and cerebral.  We want a Punisher worth our time, and I completely believe it can happen.

     I'm also still pulling for Terry Crews to play Barracuda.  I've been saying this for years, oddly enough, since I saw him on the Damon Wayans show My Wife and Kids.  It'd be a perfect chance for him to keep his upbeat and positive nature, but flipped on its head and used as a focus for a villain that is rarely seen in any media.  And maybe even give one-time Punisher actor Dolph Lundgren a cameo as the toughened albino Tombstone...

     Source [ Entertainment Weekly ]

451 Media: Ex Mortis 5 (of 7): Comic Review

     It's 1944 and the world is at war, but Hitler has been creating an army of the undead called the Ex Mortis.  What can the Allies do against a group unstoppable Nazi soldiers?  Create a special group of their own monsters called the Dreadnaughts.

     The team is comprised of all the essential classic horror creatures.  There's Jack Glendon (Wolfman), Captain Demeter (Vampire), Junior (Frankenstein's original Promethean creation!), Nereus (A Fishman), Eric Leroux (Explosives Expert/Phantom), and  Corporal Cushing- just a normal human woman looking to find someone from her past.

     This team of super soldiers just can't catch a break.  They've been brought together on a suicide mission to stop a seemingly invincible army, crashed- then ruined- a military sock hop dance, accidentally decapitated their commanding officer, and then they were shot down behind enemy lines .  Things can't possibly get any worse, right?

     After last issue's skirmish, the team is regrouping.  Cushing is helping sew parts onto Junior, the Captain is feeding, and the team gets only the briefest of respites.  They are quickly divided, ambushed, and taken captive by the Ex Mortis who've been aided by a traitor.  Things are looking very bleak for the Allied monsters.  

     ...but...  they find someone that may be able to help them in their holding cells while another army moves towards their location.  

     The series was been created and written by Paul and Pete Williams, and has been adapted by Andi Ewington.  Ex Mortis has done quite well with it's horror material.  It could've easily fallen into a mish-mash of garbage like so many other stories tend to do, but is handled superbly here.  There's plenty of comics, books, and movies out there attempting to capitalize on the stereotypical horror lineup, but very few do it in such a deft manner.  They don't dwell on the angst of their characters like Penny Dreadful, they don't have incomprehensibly long and drawn out stories like Hemlock Grove, and it certainly doesn't neuter vampires and werewolves like Twilight.  Like the Dreadnaughts themselves, Ex Mortis has a mission and it cuts right to it.  Each issue gives us a little more story, a bit more tension, and a hell of a lot more action.

     What makes this story really shine, though, is the art.  It isn't often a black and white comic can really hold it's own with so many of the full-colored comics out there, but Raymund Bermudez's art is a true descendant of all that made old pulp horror comics so great.  It's got a dynamic flow, great layouts, and even the splatters between the panels are evocative of all the blood that is being spilled in these pages.  It doesn't need to be red to know what it is.  This book is a worthy heir to The Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt.  To give credit where it is due though, this issue also has Ty Dazo listed as penciler, and David Forrest assisting on inking.

     Every single book that 451 Media is putting out is great, and I'm continually impressed by them.  Seriously, Self Storage and Sunflower are absolutely great, Humbug is a genuine delight, and SIX is every bit as riveting as any military crime novel I've ever read.  This is a company to watch as the quality of work they've been publishing is staggering.  These books are all well worth reading!

     They have more than enough #ImaginationToBurn!

     

     451 Media on [ Comixology ]

     Official site [ 4five1 ] [ 451 Youtube ] [ Twitter ]

*Review copy provided by 451 Media, Thank you!

Marvel Future Fight: Captain America: Civil War Update & Thoughts

     Once again the amazing Marvel Future Fight mobile game has received a truly monstrous update.  This one as a large tie-in to the upcoming Captain America: Civil War film.

     We are getting a slew of new costumes (currently only for Team Cap, with the exception of Ant-Man, whose will be added soon along with Team Iron Man's).  There's also 3 new boss fight characters- Supergiant, Ebony Maw, and Thanos himself- have joined the battle, as well as one more playable character- Crossbones.
     The new costumes are a welcome addition, but I am unimpressed by Crossbones' play style so far.  He's got nothing interesting or new, but perhaps he'll grow on me.

     An added bonus is for this update there's a limited time event in which players can choose sides in the civil war and earn points in hopes of receiving some spoils and awards.  The Faction Battle is either Team Cap or Team Iron Man and has some nice back and forth as players get their points and time in.

     My one huge disappointment is that the Timelines PvP is still completely ridiculous and horribly imbalanced.  How has this remained a staple to play for daily achievements and also largely left to be a broken mess?  Either eliminate the daily mission, or fix the match ups.

     Overall, things are continuously improving with plenty of things to keep players engaged and happy, it's just that nagging PvP area that is causing problems.  Although... the equipment areas- namely the cards and the highly irritating upgrading system are kind of terrible. What's the point of upgrading items you like if they change into a random different item?!?  I was super angry my +48% burn damage boost became a Speed resist item.  Seriously Netmarble, that is a terrible idea.  If it's a gamble on what you get out of upgrading valuable items, then upgrading is something we won't necessarily want to do.

     For the full update info [ Marvel Future Fight Official ]

Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later: Announced by Netflix!

     In a very awesome bit of news, Netflix has officially announced a follow up series to their Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, which was itself a prequel to the amazing 2001 cult comedy film set in a fictional 1981 summer camp Wet Hot American Summer.

     The Wet Hot American Summer sequel, Ten Years Later, is a take on an end of the movie segment where the group makes a promise to meet up 10 years later.  It'll be an eight episode series set to premiere in 2017 and taking place in 1991.  David Wain and Michael Showalter are both returning as writers, with Wain once again helming the director's seat.  As for the rest of the cast, we can only guess that most of the original cast will make at least an appearance as they did for First Day of Camp, as well as the possibility of many of the new faces introduced in that series.

     Perhaps we'll get to see a remake of the original film's post-credits 10 years later sequence as well...

     Source [ Deadline ]

Nintendo: E3, Wii U, and Zelda vs The Players

YOUR GAME IS ON ANOTHER SYSTEM

     It's been two years since the original announcement for The Legend of Zelda for Wii U and we now get some more disappointing news for it.  Nintendo has let it be known today that it will be delayed another whole year, until March 2017, to coincide with the release of their new system code named NX.

     This has been rumored for a while now that this would probably be happening, and honestly it feels like Nintendo just screwed over the Wii U supporters as a whole.  Because their new system is supposed to be "The next generation of Nintendo" we can assume the new system to be superior in every way to the current Wii U, which would make us then ask, "Why even bother playing The Legend of Zelda on the old system?"  It would make much more sense to play it on the newer system, with the newer and better hardware, and presumably a much better all-around experience to go along with it.

     The Wii U hasn't been great at anything, and is quite a huge disappointment overall.  Where's all the 3rd party support?  Even when it comes to their first-party games the system has been a massive letdown.  All the once great Nintendo franchises have been relatively lackluster or missing completely.  And now that the one game that could revitalize interest in the system and boost sales comes along, it'll be used instead as a flagship launch title for another system entirely.

     And to top it off, this new Legend of Zelda will be the sole focus of Nintendo at E3.  What a wonderful way to place your one EGG in a singular basket and simultaneously shit on your customers in the mean time.

     Sources [ Nintendo Twitter ] [ NintendoLife ]

ALIEN DAY: In Space, No One Can Hear You Celebrate: April 26 (LV-426)

IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU CELEBRATE

     Because every day is some sort of celebratory day now, 20th Century Fox has made today "Alien Day."  It was announced back on March 29th, and of course there's probably a monetary component involved at the bottom of this decision to help hype the 30th anniversary of the original Alien film this July as well as boosting info for both the upcoming films- Ridley Scott's Prometheus follow up and Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 film.

     The date itself should be a familiar number to fans of the series as it is the number of the planetary body LV-426.  The distress signal came from that the Nostromo picked up, then later to be colonized and nuked from orbit to complete the Colonial Marines' disastrous bug hunt.

     To kick things off Jeffrey Godsick (President of 20th Fox Consumer Products) had this to say:

“The ALIEN franchise holds a special place not only within the universe of Fox but with movie enthusiasts across the galaxy.  We noticed that fans of the ALIEN films were starting to rally around the calendar date of April 26th - given the connection to the planet LV-426. Quite simply, it gave us the idea to do something special on this day; to officially mark the occasion alongside fans and to build excitement online, in stores and once again, in theaters."

     And then, from the official press release:

"Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products announced today an out-of-this-world global celebration of the ALIEN franchise culminating with a special 24 hour, fan-focused social media event on April 26th – a nod to LV-426, the planet from the iconic ALIEN films. ALIEN DAY (#AlienDay426) to encompass a wide range of executions including nationwide screenings, never-before-seen consumer product activations and the kickoff of the ALIEN: Ultimate Trivia Challenge*, allowing fans to test their ALIEN knowledge – with the chance to win memorable prizes every 42.6 minutes on Twitter."

#ALIENDAY426

     I'm not going to lie, I'm really into this.  Dark Horse Comics has a ton of the Alien comics on sale for 50% off on Comixology (sale ends on 05/02 leaving plenty of time to shop), so I'll buy a bunch of those.  Although I've already got Alien: Salvation and can safely recommend that to any Alien fan or any Mike Mignola fans, it's a great short book.  There's a wealth of great material in there for fans.

     NECA and Funko have new figures on the way, Titan and Audible books, and other special edition merchandise will be available.  Zen Studios made an Alien Pinball app game available on iTunes, Google Play, or Xbox.  In addition, participating theaters will be showing an Alien and Aliens double feature!  But the coolest item might be the fact Reebok is issuing the iconic high-top ALIEN STOMPERS!  Sadly though, the shoes are all sold out and going for ridiculous Weyland-Yutani prices on Ebay.

     To join in on the face-hugging fun just go on over to Twitter and Instagram @AlienAnthology or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/alienanthology.  The horror here will be how much we all spend on all this cool merchandise.

     Personally, I'll be celebrating by playing some Alien: Isolation.

     Sources [ Blastr ] [ Inquisitr ]

*Trivia participants must pre-register their handles In advance of the contest kickoff at http://AlienAnthology.com.

Ghostbusters: Ecto Cooler Returning to Store Shelves May 30th!

     Fan campaigns to bring it back combined with hype for the new Ghostbusters movie has persuaded the Coca-Cola company to re-issue the delicious Hi-C Ecto Coolers!

     Way back in 1987 the slime colored citrus beverage was made as a tie-in to The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, and actually ran far longer than the show.  It made it all the way to 2001.

     Of course, the appeal of the magical color of green means it'll be a guaranteed money-making tie-in for the new film.  Beginning on May 30th, Slimer's ooze-juice will be available for a limited time in either packs of 6oz. boxes or in 11.5oz. cans- all set to haunt our digestive tracks with nostalgic goodness.

     Ghostbusters is set to hit theaters July 15th.

     Source [ Hi-C Ecto Cooler ]

X-Men: Apocalypse: The Final Trailer Has Arrived

     At long last, the last trailer for the latest installment of the mutant-filled franchise has come.  In this X-Men: Apocalypse trailer, we get a whole lot of new footage, a little new info, and one great big, albeit a completely unsurprising, return of a character.

     X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters May 27th.

Borderlands 3: Pitchford Teases the Next Installment

     Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox, hinted towards the future of their beloved Borderlands series during a PAX East panel earlier today.

     "Obviously, there is going to be another Borderlands."  -R. Pitchford

     Though, for reasons clear to anyone that's played through to the end of Borderlands 2, it may have a completely different name.  Personally, I would think something along the lines of Borderworlds might be much more appropriate.

     In addition, the Battleborn art director will be carried over to the next Borderlands game, and it will be written by Mikey Neumann.  Nuemann has already written the Brothers in Arms games, and is the iconic voice of Borderlands' own Claptrap.

     In the end Pitchford told players to "look deeply" at the upcoming Battleborn DLC for references to the series.

     I'm quite grateful that they've been taking their time, and a break from the series.  It's been quite some time since we heard about a sequel last back in February of 2014, the franchise wasn't being worked on.  It was merely a couple ideas, and now it seems they are actually going to begin with the preliminary stages.  This could be a massive undertaking that could rightfully pay off greatly if handled as well as Borderlands 2 was, especially with the sheer amount of DLC output.

     Source [ Gamespot ] 

     For my other posts from Pandora [ Borderlands ]

Wolverine 3: Old Man Logan... and Possibly X23

     It isn't a huge surprise to know that after Deadpool's recent box office destruction, that both the fast-tracked X-Force film and Wolverine sequel are potentially getting R ratings.  What is only slightly surprising, however, is the fact that the female Wolverine clone Laura "X-23" Kinney may have a role in the film.

     Personally, it just makes sense- keeping the Wolverine legacy going with a female in the lead is tantamount to a cinematic gold mine, and I've already mentioned in another post that I think they'll use her in the upcoming X-Force film, so it would make sense to begin her journey from her current namesake's last movie.  Just because Hugh Jackman's last film will be Wolverine 3, doesn't mean that Fox wants to let the franchise character go.

     I mean, I have a very strong feeling Marvel's "Phase 4" will be doing the same thing- eliminating the current generation and usurping their roles with younger people.  So we'll probably be seeing the diversity checklist that the Avengers has become as the next set of heroes and villains.  It could be quite good, but then again, it could also turn out horribly.  I'm crossing my fingers for the former.
     The X-Men are kind of already doing it with the original X-Men team and the First Class teams, then we'll be seeing X-Force and The New Mutants, so it's already kind of in the process.

     What genuinely surprises me a little is they aren't going the Daken route with this awesome segment about Wolverine wondering about his life as a failed father and then his tragic need to end the cycle he unintentionally created.  Back in 2013 I wrote:

     If they took the child he never knew he had.  The kid would be an absolute monster- enjoying all the killing and abusing his powers.  Following Wolverine around and wreaking havoc on anyone he comes in contact with.  In the end Wolverine would be forced to kill him.  If it was handled correctly the impact of the story could be immense.  A small intimate scale of personal, character driven plot.  Subtle, yet powerful.  Uncanny X-Force 34 did it very well with Daken imagining the ways life could've been different with a father around as he is dying at his father's hands. 

     While doubt the film will follow this path, I do think this tale could still work in part, but have X-23 helping Logan with the task of taking on the role of mentor or father figure.  It could be a tremendously moving story if handled correctly.  But, I am a bit worried that James Mangold is directing again, and it's being penned by relatively unknown David James Kelley

     I've ranted about it over, and over, and over, and OVER again- Fox needs to pull off the kiddie gloves.  Learn from the fan response to Deadpool.  Give us what we should've had years ago- a Wolverine story full of depth, blood, and gore.  Look at the best of his stories- Weapon X by the incomperable Barry Windsor-Smith, the Wolverine run by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, or even the Old Man Logan series- they all deal with the inescapable nature of Logan's path as a killer.  If X23 is to join, make this every bit as emotionally impactful as the Daken scenes from Uncanny X-Force.

     During a FOX Marvel Comic Con panel last year (starting at 18:40) Hugh Jackman said, "When we haven't always got it right, you've told us," to the fans- well, this is the chance to fix that mistake.  It's about damn time to get this right.  Wolverine's motto has always been, "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice..."  Maybe it's finally time to show us this aspect of the character and truly unsheathe his claws with the famous berserker rage he is known for.  Push the limits of the character, make us believe that Wolverine really is the best there is.

     Wolverine 3 is set to hit theaters March 3rd, 2017.