“Hulk” tops “”John Lennon” as the most read post in your entire blog.

Not that there is anything wrong with the Hulk, of course…

He really does. I mean I do realize that people’re making fun of him for his  ultra stretchy purple pants. But that just means he’s sharing good company with Nacho Libre, right?

For a character that might or might not still be in current comic continuity, it was one hell of a movie. It IS obvious to everyone that the stakes of obscure characters tend to rise drastically once their movies hit the big screens, right? Where were Blade and Elektra before their big screen debut? (yes, I know, Elektra might’ve been a Skrull, but still..)

Anyway, Hulk boasts big action, gratitious amount of explosions and the use of cgi to a pornographic extent (what’d you expect? He IS a big green giant) but unlike other shows it doesn’t lose itself in the visual overload. *cough* Superman Returns *cough* In an either or situation, a mediocre story trumps top notch cgi, anytime.

And at the centre of Hulk was the story of Bruce and Betty, the story of Thunderbolt and Betty, and of course the story of Bruce and Emil around which the movie revolves. While Iron Man was a fun watch, it was a story of, well, ermm… a super rich man defending his money with his shiny, new toy. (don’t be mistaken, I’m still a fan of Iron Man) (a lil brainless popcorn dun never hurts anyone).

My point? Marvel’s been doing a pretty swell job of churning out epic, fun  (and slightly deep?) flicks that are accessible to the casual audience while not alienating it’s (hard)core audiences: pimply fan boys. Whoohoo!!

I know Lee Ang wanted his version of Hulk to be a tribute to fan boys everywhere and for the style of the show to be faithful to the genre (guilty confession: I am one of the rare fans. Gamma transformed poodles and all) but this Hulk is so much better. Both as a film and as a Easter Egg hunt for nerds (like me). It not only pays tribute to the comics but the old television series as well.

I’m still deciding which got me more excited, Getting the old Hulk in as a security guard or that McGee was a campus reporter who captured the Hulk attack with his mobile. And one particularly nice touch is of course, the appearance of Stern and his eventual fate. Leader, anyone?

Very nice indeed.

I had the scare of my life.

Just finished Annihilation (Marvel’s space event of 2007) and thought that I’ve finally *gasp* grown out of superhero comics. I bought book 1 and 2 of the trades based on reviews of how it totally redefined story telling of space adventure stories.

I’ve not been much of a fan of space adventures/sci fi stories in the first place but thought that this’ll be  as good a chance as any to try it out.

First off, the art (or at least cover art) of the entire series is to die for. Seriously, they’re gorgeous! And the story telling and pacing ain’t bad either. I’m not that familiar with Marvel’s pantheon of space characters (I think they’re pretty lame. I mean, seriously… Ronan the Accuser??) but it was still pretty cool to see a newer, streamlined Drax the Destroyer (see!) tear (literally) Thanos a new one. Of course no one expect THAT to last for long (reference: Super Skrull) (actually, reference: any comic character that’s been dead. I’m looking at you, Uncle Ben!)

So what sucked so badly about the Annihilation series then? The interior art? Not really. They’re not exactly Mignola or Ross standard (ah… The pleasure of geeky name dropping. Being a nerd rules!) but they’re alright. The epic fight scenes are believeable (well…as believeable as any intergalactic fights between super powered beings can be) and not too messy. You can still make out who was on the receiving end of who’s power blasts.

My main gripe was that at the end of book 2, I was told that it was only book 2 of 3! That’s right. To follow the whole series, I’ll need to buy 3 not too cheap trades (setting me back almost 100 bucks) which is a reflection on the industries over bloated and kinda exploitative marketing mechanism. The last calculation for anyone who wanna follow the full story of DC’s “Final Crisis” or Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” was AT LEAST US$115 and US$317 respectively. Shocking!

At that point, I was all but ready to swear off super hero comics.

Then I watched “Hulk” in the cinemas and was reminded why spandex (in this case, stretchy purple pants) rocks. (also, as of now, “Secret Invasion” is living up to all the hype)

Did I mention my wallet’s gonna be dry?