Archive for May, 2010

Like the rest of America this weekend, I ventured to my local cineplex to catch a showing of that quaint indie flick everyone’s talking about, Iron Man 2. As you probably know, I don’t really like reviewing things, but I have been trying to figure out why the first Iron Man film was so much better than this sequel – or at least why I enjoyed the original more – and in the process, started making lists in my head of the things I liked and didn’t. Now you get to share in that process:

Pj’s Four Favorite Things About Iron Man 2

1. Suitcase armor – Well, duh. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve probably seen the scene where Tony Stark’s armor forms around him from a red-and-silver suitcase – a very comic book moment. How can you not love that?
2. Captain America’s shield – Clever moment tying together Stark’s father to the iconic patriotic superhero, amusingly punctuated by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson asking Tony if he knows what the shield is even as Tony’s using it to prop up a steel conduit.
3. Black Widow in action – Really, it’s not just because Scarlett Johansson is in a skin-tight suit. While her take-down of Happy Hogan in the boxing ring earlier in the film was amusing, Natasha finally getting to cut loose by taking out an entire building’s worth of armed security forces single-handedly was brilliantly choreographed and just plain awesome.
4. Final battle – I guess if you’re still reading, you know this post has been a little spoiler-ish, but I’ll still try to not give away too much. But I think I’m safe by saying Rhodey and Tony teaming up to kick the metal arses of dozens of robot drones and a vodka-fueled Mickey Rourke in giant armor was a goddamn delight.

Pj’s Four Least-Favorite Things About Iron Man 2

1. Drunk party scene – While not nearly as bad as the “evil Peter Parker singing-and-dancing” scene from Spider-Man 3, Tony Stark stumbling around and pissing himself in the Iron Man suit was just … ingratiating. I get that it’s there to establish his frame of mind and Rhodes’ obtaining of the armor, but it was just ludicrous and over the top, DJ AM’s (R.I.P.) appearance notwithstanding.
2. Justin Hammer – I love Sam Rockwell. I love every character he’s every played. He was brilliant carrying Moon as a one-man tour-de-force. But combined with scenes such as the aforementioned drunk Iron Man debacle, Rockwell’s over-the-top performance as a moustache-twirling “evil” CEO detracted from the realism that anchored the first film and enabled it to be pure awesome. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark is already glib and showy – having a buffoon attempt to one-up that so obviously just didn’t work for me. Especially the scene where Hammer awaits Ivan Vanko’s deplaning with a gourmet meal inside an airplane bunker. It was camp, plain and simple.
3. Randy’s Donuts meeting with Nick Fury – You’ve seen the snippet from this, right? Where Tony’s armored up, sitting inside the iconic giant donut, eating donuts when S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury shows up to chastise him? That was clever. But taking the scene inside the donut shop for Natalie/Natasha’s reveal as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was amateur hour. I mean, here’s this top-secret espionage organization having a meeting in a public place with everyone in their silly costumes.
4. Length – The Randy’s Donuts and Stark birthday party scenes – along with many other iffy moments – give Iron Man 2 the feeling of a film that crammed in a lot of scenes that sounded cool on paper but should have been left on the cutting room floor, making the film leaner and meaner. And less damn silly.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was enjoyable. But it felt very full of itself, like director Jon Favreau got a little cocky following the success of Iron Man and just went balls out with everything he could. And really, you can’t blame the guy for trying, but if there’s to be a third film – and after Iron Man 2 hauled in $133 million in three days, does anyone think there won’t be? – Favreau (and writer Justin Theroux) would do well to trim the fat and avoid the mistakes of other superhero film franchises such as X-Men and Spider-Man (both of which were bloated and nonsensical by their third installments).

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (and if you’re reading this, you probably are), you likely know I took a quick trip down to Los Angeles a few weeks ago. Aside from enjoying, um, endless traffic jams and the company of old and new friends, I was primarily there to chat with Stan Lee for this week’s Vegas Seven summer movie cover package. The resulting article, “Iron Stan,” is now available on the mean streets of Vegas, as well as online in both HTML and Flash versions.

A lot of people — including my editor — suggested that the meeting should have been exciting, especially for a guy such as me, who grew up reading comics Lee either wrote or created. But at this point, I’ve developed such a professional detachment from my assignments, that I merely did what needed to be done and got on my way. The situation itself was underwhelming anyway. As described in the article, Lee’s offices are smallish, his staff nearly nonexistent, and the interview was sort of rushed and subdued. But Lee was accommodating, gracious and funny, which is really the best you can ever hope for in these situations.

But you know I couldn’t leave without documenting the occasion, right?

Excelsior!

A few months ago, someone suggested on Twitter — or I did, not sure which — that I should get a table at Las Vegas’ monthly art walk, First Friday, from which to sell comics and stuff. So without really putting too much thought into it, I contacted the powers-that-be at Whirlygig (the non-profit that runs First Friday), and before I knew it, I was booked for May’s event. At the time, I told Cindy Funkhouser from Whirlygig that I’d be selling prints and sketches too … except at the time I had no prints or sketches.

I know, right?

Well … I kind of got my sh*t together. As most of you know, I work almost exclusively digitally when I do any illustration, so I don’t really have any original art, and I don’t have many sketches that aren’t 15 years old (something that really deserves a blog post unto its own). But I conjured up a few new-ish items for you kids to possibly enjoy. So if you find yourself at First Friday this week (that’s May 7, assuming you’re not waiting in line to see one of the first showings of Iron Man 2), look for me on the sidewalk outside the Funk House (corner of Casino Center and Colorado) with the following items:

This is actually one of the sketches I drew while manning a table at Emerald City Comicon in March. The original is just black Sharpie on paper. After I got back home, I got some good feedback on it, so I decided to digitally color it and make it into a print. So I’ll have 100 of these available, as well as the original piece if anyone wants it.

This piece — clever, ain’t it? — was made for my good friend Daniella, who is, of course, a knitting diva. I got a limit run of prints made — 10? — so if you want it, this is the time.

I’ll have 10 each of these postcards at First Friday. They’re from a series of celebrity/newsmaker digital art I debuted at my old Pop! Goes the Icon blog called “Newsicons.” I dunno, I think they’re kinda cool.

And of course, the whole reason I’m doing this in the first place: Comics. I’ll have copies of all three issues of The Utopian shown above (that last one DEBUTS this week … and I haven’t received the shipment yet, so I sure hope I’ll have it!), as well as the first issue of Omega Comics Presents, which features a new, nine-page story from yours truly. I’ll be doing bulk discounts if you want to get caught up on this stuff.

There you have it. I hope you’ll at least swing by between 6 and 10 on Friday to say “hi.” I’ll also take requests for sketches, though I can’t guarantee they’ll be any good.