“INVINCIBLE” – Episodes 2 & 3 (Spoiler Alert)

Posted by ErikSlader on March 29, 2021

(Review by Erik Slader)

If you haven’t already, go check out my review of INVINCIBLE Episode 1: “It’s About Time”!

Warning: This recap/review will inevitably contain spoilers (especially for Episode 1), so proceed with caution…

Episode 2: “Here Goes Nothing”

Right off the bat, this show continues to impress me – the visuals are stunning, the music is really unique, the sound design is mind-blowing, the story is fast-paced, and the characters are all cast perfectly and fully realized! The animation is so glossy and smooth throughout, all the cityscapes are breathtaking, there are entire sequences that feel like they were ripped directly from the comic with just how well the art-style was emulated, and… seriously, I just can’t get over how good this show looks and sounds! (Have I mentioned how awesome and different the music is?)

Ok, so this episode immediately starts with two extremely clever call backs to the first one – we see the guard from the opening of the first episode with his stepson in London where we see the result of Mark accidentally launching a trash bag into orbit as it explodes around them!

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“INVINCIBLE” – Episode One Review

Posted by ErikSlader on March 26, 2021

(Review by Erik Slader)

“Invincible” is… hard to describe to the uninitiated. First starting in 2003, this Image comic series by Robert Kirkman (of ‘Walking Dead’ fame) follows a young man, Mark Grayson, who just so happens to be the son of the world’s greatest superhero, but when his own powers kick in, everything changes forever. And that summary doesn’t do it justice, but honestly it’s really hard to go into further detail without spoiling the $#!÷ out of it!

Long story short, I’ve read the *entire* run of this comic (all 144 issues!), I have the first printings of the first few issues sealed and graded on my shelf, I have several of the graphic novels, and I even have an Invincible t-shirt that I used to wear to comic cons that doesn’t quite fit the way it used to. Suffice it to say, I’m a fan.

It’s an incredible comic that feels like reading an entire universe of stories told through one title. It’s got everything I’ve ever wanted from a comic book: cool visual storytelling, crazy sci-fi shenanigans, insane superhero brawls, great characters, drama, humor, and gorgeous color-popping panels by artist Ryan Ottley and Kirman’s co-creator, Cory Walker (issues #1-7, 127-132). It’s also has some of the most disturbing moments in comic book history – you guys, it gets dark fast! I mean, Nerdist even called this series “The Game of Thrones of Comics” and I can’t say I disagree.

However, I think one of the most endearing things about this title is that it genuinely feels like an epic saga.

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Podcasters Assemble: KONG-ZILLA-THON!

Posted by ErikSlader on February 2, 2021

“KONG-ZILLA-THON!”

**ProbablyWork.com/Podcasters-Assemble**

This is it, the battle of the century: It’s King vs God, Zilla vs Kong – as a Fire-Breathing Lizard takes on one Giant Angry Ape – in this no-holds barred clash between the King of the Monsters and the Titan of Skull Island! Who will come out on top? Why are they fighting? How that monkey get so big? Will we survive to find out? Find out on the latest season of Podcasters Assemble (probably)…

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The X-MEN movies (Part 3: First Class – Apocalypse)

Posted by ErikSlader on July 7, 2018

Last time in Part 2 we tackled all three Wolverine movies and Deadpool, this time we’re taking a look at the new (and far better) X-Men trilogy – First Class, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse!

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Michael Fassbender (Magneto / Erik Lensherr), James McAvoy (Charles Xavier / Prof X), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven / Mystique), Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw), Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy / Beast), January Jones (Emma Frost), Lucas Till (Alex Summers / Havok), Oliver Platt (CIA agent), Zoë Kravitz (Angel Salvadore), Caleb Landry Jones (Banshee), Jason Flemyng (Azazel), Edi Gathegi (‘Darwin’), Rade Serbedzija (Soviet General), Michael Ironside (US Navy Captain), Don Creech (Stryker Sr.), and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine cameo).

Plot: Realizing that they should have hired Matthew Vaughn for X-Men 3 like he wanted, and that there was nowhere to go with the franchise after Brett “that smell on my thumbs is my ass!” Ratner ‘Batman-and-Robin’d-it’, Fox reboots the franchise with re-casted characters. Magneto hunts for Sebastian Shaw, a mutant that was in charge of the concentration camp he grew up in, while Charles Xavier works with agent Moira Mactaggert and the CIA to gather a team of young mutants. They must team up to stop Shaw from starting World War 3 while learning how to use their powers and accept themselves.

Erik Smash: Following the unbelievably terrible X-Men: The Last Stand and even worse X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox finally gets it right with director Matthew Vaughn! “X-Men: First Class” is a back-to-basics prequel / reboot that tells the story of how the X-Men were first formed by a young Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto!

xmenfirstclassposter-top-022811

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The X-MEN movies (Part 2: Wolverine and Deadpool)

Posted by ErikSlader on May 19, 2018

Oh boy… well we survived the nightmare that was X3, but we’re not quite out of the woods just yet. After the initial X-Men trilogy (see Part One) started strong before crashing and burning, the studio decided to make a solo Wolverine spin-off, which sounded better on paper than in execution. This time, Erik Smash and I are going to rip into the X-Men spin-offs, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel, because against all odds Fox somehow managed to really turn things around with the release of “Deadpool” and “Logan” – proving to Hollywood that some characters work better with an R rating.

But first up…

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Directed by: Gavin Hood

Starring: Hugh Jackman (Logan / The Wolverine / James Howlett), Liev Schreiber (Victor Creed / Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Lynn Collins (Silverfox), Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson / “Deadpool”), Kevin Durand (Fred Dukes / The Blob), Will.I.Am (Wraith), Daniel Henney (Agent Zero), Taylor Kitsch (Remy LeBeau / Gambit), Tim Pocock (young Scott Summers / Cyclops), and Sir Patrick Stewart (Prof X cameo).

Plot: We finally get to see Wolverine’s history played out on the big screen, and it’s… it’s just awful. When the stars of the film don’t hide their disdain for it (both Jackman and Reynolds) and it is immediately ignored and forgotten by the rest of the franchise, you know you can sleep well as a director. And by sleep well I mean you should be horribly, horribly ashamed. Sigh…

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The X-MEN movies

Posted by ErikSlader on June 23, 2016

Check out our Podcast Episode where we rank the X-Men movies here!

The X-Men movies timeline

There was a long period of time where the only super hero movies we had were the Christopher Reeve Superman films, which (as we discussed HERE), had their considerable ups and downs (mostly downs), and the Batman franchise (which we discussed HERE, HERE, and HERE), but this was before the excellent Christopher Nolan reboot, so it was also mostly bad.

Then the late 90’s hit and Marvel (with New Line Cinema) had a surprise hit on their hands with Blade, and all of a sudden it felt like there might be a chance we’d get some more. That’s when Fox dropped a bombshell and announced they were going to finally, FINALLY, release a live action X-Men film!

Say what you want about the first movie, and we will, but it really opened the floodgates for the huge wave of superhero films (that mostly sucked) for the early 21st century. For better or worse we probably wouldn’t have the Spider-man movies without this one!

Fifteen years later, and the franchise has had its ups and downs (notice a trend?), but found its footing again with X-Men: First Class and Days of Future Past. Now, with X-Men: Apocalypse, Deadpool, and a third Wolverine film looming, the franchise appears to be in as good a shape as it has ever been.

But how did they get here?

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The Superman Movies! (part four)

Posted by ErikSlader on February 18, 2016

Previously on All UR Movies Are Belong to Us, we tore into the Christopher Reeve Superman movies (and then briefly skimmed over Supergirl and Steel), this time we’re looking at the last two outings of the Last Son of Krypton… which could not be more tonally different!

SUPERMAN RETURNS

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Starring: Brandon Routh (Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor), James Marsden (Richard White), Parker Posey (Kitty Kowalski), Frank Langella (Perry White), Sam Huntington (Jimmy Olsen), Eva Marie Saint (Martha Kent), Kal Penn (Henchman #2), and Marlon Brando (space dad hologram).

Plot: Nothing happens for the first 90% of the movie, and then for the last 10% the stakes are finally raised to EVEN MORE nothing happening. Also, Superman is a deadbeat dad who spies on Lois Lane constantly, never punches anything, and has a dorky bastard kid with superpowers and a terrible haircut. Speaking of terrible haircuts, Lex Luthor is back at it again with another ridiculous scheme involving real estate!

Comic Zombie: Superman Returns is the exhibit A some people point to when they say that superhero movies shouldn’t be made by fanboys (to which I counter with The Avengers). It seemed like a no-brainer: Brian Singer had just made two very successful X-Men movies, it has a solid cast (on paper), a huge budget, and was a do-over for parts 3 and 4, which this film pretends never happened. Just like the rest of us.

I mean, nothing could go wrong this time around, right? Right??!!

WRONG! - Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey)

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The Superman Movies! (part one)

Posted by ErikSlader on September 21, 2015

Superman 1978

The first, and greatest, super hero, Superman has had a rather mixed bag when it comes to adaptations of his comic book adventures. There have been numerous television shows, radio serials, animated series, animated movies, video games, and live action movies, more of which were either just ok or straight up more bad than good.

Superman actors What is it about the big, blue boy scout that leads to so much crap?

You would think the elements that have been in place for 75 years now would be easy to adapt to the big screen, or the small screen. It’s not like there aren’t literally hundreds of pre-made stories in his publication history that are begging to be filmed and thrown on the screen, yet time and time again people think they can ‘improve’ upon the man of steel and his epically large library of awesomeness, and time and time again they fail miserably.

That’s not to say there haven’t been some success stories… “Superman: The Movie” was a high point, as were the Bruce Timm animated series and his representation in that same universe’s “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited”, as well as a handful of direct to DVD animated movies that did well. Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” may have divided some fans on its quality, but both Erik and I will go to our graves defending it.

Man of Steel

But for each of those, there are Superman 3, Superman Returns, Lois and Clark, most seasons of Smallville and the dreaded Superman 64! It’s curious. And as bad as those are, you wouldn’t believe some of the utter shit that almost got made. (6 Terrible Superman movies, you won’t believe almost happened!)

For now, just to keep things relatively simple Erik and I are skipping 1951’s “Superman vs the Mole Men” and are only going to discuss the live action feature films, starting with…

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Super Hero Beach: Tales from the Spider-verse!

Posted by ErikSlader on June 7, 2015

Erik: Over the past year, I’ve been putting together articles for SuperHeroBeach.com. A few months back, I invited Comic Zombie and several others to share their favorite Spider-man comics to promote the Spider-verse comics event. This was the result…

Ever since his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-man has had some of the most iconic story arcs in comics history. Since 1962, Spidey has been swinging across the New York skyline from page to screen in numerous incarnations, from web headed teenager to star crossed lover to fighting alongside the Avengers.

Now that Marvel’s “Spider-verse” event is upon us, I thought I’d ask a few people around town to share some of their favorite Web-slinging adventures from our favorite wall-crawler: Jonathan Sanders (manager of Super Hero Hive), Badr Milligan (of The Short Box Pod Cast), Adam Wollet (local comic creator), Brett Ricketts (creator ofTheDirectEdition.com), Comic Zombie(blogger @ comiczombie.wordpress.com), and of course myself, Erik Slader (writer of the blog Epik Fails of History and content creator for this here site).

For those of you living in the Negative Zone these past few months, Spider-verse is a current story line where every single Spider-man ever from all corners of the multi-verse must unite against a common threat.

Click here for the rest!

The …um… other Spider-man Movies! (Part Two)

Posted by ErikSlader on April 14, 2015

So we covered the flawed, yet still pretty awesome, trilogy of Spider-Man films here, and while there was still plenty of room for stories to tell with the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man and the universe Sam Raimi crafted, Sony Pictures decided that Spider-Man 3 was to be the last installment in the series. They rebooted the franchise, and drafted director Marc Webb (kind of ironic) and cast Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man for the new series. The new franchise improved on the work the previous group did in a lot of ways, most notably casting and effects, and had some missteps of their own, which we will try to cover below.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Directed by: Marc Webb

Starring: Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker / Spider-man), Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), Rhys Ifans (Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard), Dennis Leary (Captain Stacy), Martin Sheen (Uncle Ben), Sally Field (Aunt May), and Chris Zylka (Flash Thompson)

Plot: Peter Parker is bit by a genetically modified spider gaining the proportionate strength and agility of a human spider. When his Uncle Ben is killed by a robber he could have stopped, he learns that ‘with great power must come great responsibility’. Now, as Spider-Man he must battle the monstrous Lizard to save the people of New York, and as Peter Parker explore his new relationship with Gwen Stacy while working with Dr. Curt Connors to learn more about the mysterious death of his parents and his father’s work they may have been killed for.

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