They fight because they both have flaming skulls for heads. Only the Atomic Skull’s flaming head is radioactive, not hellfire.
I drew this by roughing out the drawing digitally on Photoshop, then I printed out the rough drawing as non-photo blue on 11×17 paper and inked it with my Pocket Brush pen. I spotted the backs using my “Special Black” Copic marker.
I then rescanned the drawing in and the non-photo blue didn’t even show up, which was awesome. I wasn’t sure it would work as intended.
I liked doing the art this way. I don’t like inking digitally. It’s nowhere near as fun as doing it with a real brush.
UPDATE:
EB in the comments below wanted to see the rough drawing I did for this piece so I’ve added it below.
MOVIE – 4 Reasons Why Amazing Spider-Man 2 is Now my Favorite Spider-man Movie.
Finally got around to watching Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s now my favorite Spider-Man movie and this post is all about the four reasons why.
I didn’t get to watch Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theater even though I wanted to. I recently bought the Blu ray version and watched the movie. It was a long movie. I ended up watching it in two parts, only because I watched it at night, it was really late and I had to get up early the next day.
I stopped it at the hour and thirty minute mark and really didn’t want to stop the movie. I was really enjoying it.
I finished watching the movie the next night.
Why the Movie Isn’t Great
Before I begin though, I wanted to point out the “elephant in the room.” This movie is NOT the best told Spider-Man movie. That honor belongs to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.
I’m not saying that Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the greatest Spider-Man movie, I’m saying it’s my favorite.
Amazing Spider-Man 2 has one critical flaw that practically ruins and taints the movie, namely, the Green Goblin.
The very fact that he’s in it at all ruins the movie. Not because he’s a bad villain, but because he’s shoe horned into the movie at the end in such an awful way that it ruins the movie.
The movie is about two hours and thirty minutes long and the Green Goblin is in it for about ten minutes. It’s incredible that in those ten minutes he pretty much manages to single handedly ruin the movie. It’s very disappointing.
However, there’s two hours twenty minutes of perfectly fun movie here. If you focus on that instead of the crappy ten minutes of Goblin, then you’d see where I’m coming from.
Why it’s My Favorite Spider-Man Movie
Alright, so if the movie isn’t perfect, why is it my favorite? Why is this my favorite instead of one of the Raimi movies? After all, it seems like the majority people like the Raimi movies and hate the Mark Webb ones.
Well, here are my reasons:
1. Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker
I really like Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. I found him much more likable and relate-able than the Sam Raimi version.
In the Raimi version, Peter is a buffoon. He’s a big clumsy goof. He’s an awful lot like Jar Jar Binks. People like that Peter because he makes them laugh and you feel bad for Peter.
In the comics though, Peter is never a buffoon. If you read the very first Spider-Man comics drawn by Steve Ditko, you’d see that Peter is a smart, normal guy, who happens to be really into and really good at science. Because of this, he’s picked on by Flash Thompson and his girlfriend Liz.
Not only that but because of the way he’s treated, Peter in those comics is often an angry, emo, vengeful guy, who sometimes comes off as a jerk. Flaws he has to get over.
In the Ultimate Spider-Man comics Peter is written by Brian Michael Bendis as a normal but brilliant, kid who’s into science. He’s not a goof or buffoon and he’s very likeable.
In The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 Peter is portrayed by Andrew Garfield as a normal, and brilliant guy who also seems a bit anti-social since he doesn’t seem to have friends. People seem to think he can be taken advantage of. As can be seen in that scene where the pretty girl tries to get him to do her boyfriend’s work.
He’s not a goofball, he’s just an “ordinary Joe.” I like that about him. We also see that he’s brilliant because he develops web shooters after becoming Spider-Man, in the first movie. Which is just like in the comics.
The Amazing Spider-Man movies also did something I thought was smart and necessary to Peter. It rebooted the series so he could be younger.
Peter works a bit better as when he’s younger. If he’s still in high school or even a freshman in college. The Peter in Spider-Man 2 has just graduated high school. He’s still young and trying to figure out his place in the world.
Garfield’s performance is fun, sincere and believable. He’s also a very funny and sometimes awkward guy.
Peter is shown to be a good person, and a very smart guy. This is a Peter I can identify with and he also rings true to the Peter from the comics.
I will also add here that his relationship with Harry Osborn is really nice in this. There’s some really great tension in the movie between the two of them but you can also see that they’re friends.
I think that was done really well.
2. Emma Stones Gwen Stacy
Not only is she pretty, she’s smart too. Smarter than Peter in fact.
She’s also funny, courageous and very confident. She has goals and seems like someone who’s going places.
From the moment she first came on screen in Amazing Spider-Man 1, you start to like her. Emma Stone does a wonderful job portraying her.
You can tell that, if Peter wasn’t in her life, she’d still be okay. She doesn’t need to be in any kind of relationship. She doesn’t need to be saved from her life. She has a great life from the start.
She just happens to also be attracted to Peter and you WANT her to like him.
3. Peter and Gwen’s Relationship.
Spider-Man comics really worked best when they’re a combination of romance comics and superhero comics. Amazing Spider-Man 2 really captures this. Amazing Spider-Man 1 also did this well though.
The relationship between Peter and Gwen really works in this movie. First, it works because, as I’ve said above, both Peter and Gwen are likeable people to begin with. When they get together you understand why they like each other.
You can see that they complement each other. They have he same interests, they make each other laugh, and they generally have a good time together. Their relationship feels sincere.
It’s nice to see them together. You like them together. It makes the movie fun.
There’s nothing false of forced about their relationship.
4. The Portrayal of Spider-Man
I think Amazing Spider-Man 2 has the best portrayal of Spider-Man in any movie.
From the first moment I saw him on screen I couldn’t can’t help but smile. First, he looks the part. His costume looks great.
Second, as he swings through the city, you can tell he’s having a blast being Spidey. He’s also hitting as many comic poses as the animators can cram into every shot.
Not only that but you get the thing that was missing in the Raimi movies, Spidey’s banter. As he’s going around preventing crimes all over New York, he’s cracking jokes.
It screams Spider-Man. This the Spidey I always wanted to see in the movies.
There’s even a scene where he’s modifying his webshooters in order to help him confronts the movie’s villain. This is classic Spider-Man. This is the kind of thing Spidey did in the comics.
He also protects little kids and tries to give other people confidence. This is the most likeable portray of Spider-Man there’s ever been.
More Good Than Bad
For all these reasons, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is now my favorite Spider-Man movie. Most of the movie is full of what I wrote about above.
I didn’t write about Jammie Fox’s Electro. He’s a decent villain and a good foil for Spider-Man to fight against. The best part of the Electro scenes is how they emphasize how cool Spider-Man is.
He just let’s Spidey be Spidey, and in that respect, he’s a great villain.
The Rhino is a good bad guy for the same reason. He makes Spidey look cool.
The bad guys just make the good stuff about Spidey in the movie come out more. Like I said at the beginning of the article, the weakest link in the movie is the Green Goblin. It felt rushed and taints the way you perceive the other good stuff in the movie.
Have You Seen It?
What do you think? I know this movie gets a lot of hate from people. I understand their frustration, but I also can see past the flaws.
Have you watched this movie? If you have, what do you think?
MOVIES – 3 Characters That Should Be in a Guardians of the Galaxy Sequel or Other Marvel Cosmic Universe Movie.
After I finished watching Guardians of the Galaxy, there were three cosmic superheroes I left wanting to see. You’ll see who they are and why I want to see them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in this post.
I went to see the Guardians of the Galaxy movie with my eldest son and really enjoyed the movie. It was fun to watch.
That said, if I was to say the movie had a flaw of any kind, it would be that it didn’t have any superheroes in it. Don’t get me wrong, the protagonists were heroes, they were cool and all, but they weren’t superheroes.
The one character in the movie that I would consider a superhero was Groot. He had all those plant powers and stuff, but all the other guardians where just action heroes, not necessarily superheroes. They didn’t have powers like Groot.
The movie left me wanting to see cosmic superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Characters like Silver Surfer. But alas, the rights to Silver Surfer belong to FOX. Seeing him in a Marvel movie, isn’t going to happen.
Fortunately, he’s not the only cosmic superhero in the Marvel Universe. And there are three particular Marvel Universe cosmic superheroes I specifically want to see.
This one is such an obvious one. Guardians was practically screaming “Where’s Nova?!” As we saw in the Guardians movie, the Nova Corp is a peace keeping intergalactic police force. The Nova Corp. is supposed to have access to the “Nova Force,” which gives it’s officers super powers.
Nova, is a human being who gets the powers of the Nova force and joins the Nova Corp.
Where were these super powered Novas in the Guardians movie? I don’t know, but the more I watched the movie the more I wanted them to show up.
I definitely want to see them in the next Guardian movies or in their own movies.
Quasar is like a cross between Green Lantern and Superman. He’s got these “Quantum Bands” that are pretty similar to the Green Lantern’s ring. They’re able to create constructs out of “Quantum energy.”
He’s a very powerful character, and very similar to Superman in moral code and power.
Again, watching Guardians, I couldn’t help but think that Quasar showing up would be really cool. He would have been too powerful a character for the first Guardians movie, but having him show up in the sequel or giving him his own movie would be awesome.
Arguably, Adam Warlock IS in the Guardians movie. At least his Cocoon is. It’s an “Easter egg” in the collectors collection.
Adam Warlock, is a synthetic being. He was born in Cocoon and sometimes uses it to heal himself.
He’s got crazy cosmic superpowers that boarder on magic, but traditionally he uses the “Soul Gem” (one of the Infinity Gems) on his forehead, as his power source.
Adam Warlock is sometimes an antagonist and sometimes a protagonist. He’s a very chaotic figure and it would be fantastic to see him in a Guardians sequel or in his own movie.
Since his cocoon is already in the Guardians movie and because his comic history is so tied up with Thanos and the Infinity Gems, I think he’s got the highest possibility of showing up in an upcoming movie.
Who Would You Like To See?
Those are my three characters. There are many more cosmic characters in the Marvel Universe I didn’t mention but the ones above are the ones I was to see most. What do you think?
What about you? Do you have a Marvel cosmic character you want to see? sound off in the comics below.
TV SHOW – The One Thing That Would Make The GOTHAM TV Show Epic.
Lots of people seem to be very excited about the TV show Gotham. Lots of people, except me. That said, there is ONE thing they can do to make me excited to watch it. This is an article about that one thing.
In social media, I’ve made it clear that I wasn’t very interested in watching the new Gotham TV show. Everything I’ve seen or read about it doesn’t seem to interest me.
Thing is, I’d LIKE to be excited about it. It’s another show based on a superhero comic. But there’s no superhero in it!
Below is some videos that previews the show, and explain what it’s about. You can watch them, if you want, so you can understand what I’m going to be talking about here:
http://youtu.be/Xjn_n4ixpMo
http://youtu.be/8oI_P4xGURY
My Thoughts on the Show Based on the Preview
The show looks well produced, well acted, and well written.
BUT, from what I can see so far, the first thing that sticks out here and the worst thing about this show is that it DOESN’T have Batman in it. Bruce Wayne is eight years old and traumatized. He seems to be a side character in the show.
What does this show seems to be about? Basically, what I got from the video above is that the show is Smallville for the Gotham villains. Or maybe The Sopranos or Breaking Bad for Gotham villains.
Which actually makes it sound interesting enough, except the video really emphasizes the police procedural aspect of the show. Which I could care less about, and it’s the one thing I don’t understand most.
They try to emphasize how this good cop, Jim Gordon, is going to make a difference in Gotham city. Which, if he manages to do, there’s no point in Batman showing up to save the city.
So really the show is about how this good cop can’t really do anything. And if he manages to succeed in doing something good, it would actually cause even worse villains to come into power, making the city worse.
This means the show is about how Jim Gordon, messed up and failed Gotham city. Why would I want to watch that show?
As a superhero nerd, when I hear the title “Gotham” for a TV show, I don’t think “Police procedural” or “Smallville for villains,” I think, BATMAN.
I’ve been thinking hard about the premise of this show. The way it’s being sold, doesn’t appeal to me one bit. BUT what WOULD make me WANT to watch this show?
I came to one conclusion.
The One Thing That Would Make the GOTHAM Show Epic
More of a Bruce Wayne Focus.
They can keep the Jim Gordon stuff and the villain stuff BUT as a superhero nerd, what I want to see is an emphasis on young Bruce Wayne. This is actually the perfect time to really focus on him.
This would be when he first starts getting the idea that he should become a vigilante. Early in the show, by the first, second or third episode, the idea to become one should take seed. That way the rest of the series could be about his obsession to become one.
I want to see young rich Bruce Wayne:
Learn to fight – he hires one or many of the best fighters in the world to teach him to fight. Either as Bruce Wayne or using an alias.
Learns to become an escape artist – Don’t know how but he needs to.
Learns gymnastics – He kinda need this too.
Learn engineering, gadget making, chemistry, etc. – Lot’s of way for him to do this.
Learns guerrilla warfare – Maybe he joins a military school or hires a mercenary to teach him all he knows, or maybe Alfred is ex-military.
Learns Detective work – This is when it starts fitting in more with what is already in the Gotham TV show. He can learns detective work from Jim Gordon somehow.
Learns to be a Hacker – This is ideal so that he could actually start messing and thwarting villains without revealing who he is by doing it in cyberspace.
All this stuff is set up for the ultimate point of all this stuff, young Bruce Wayne would be like a proto-Batman. A kind of “Robin-in-training.” He hacks and occasionally goes out into the city and does things in secret to help the police catch the bad guys, even as a kid.
Which is cool because is lays the foundation for why he doesn’t see a problem training Dick Grayson to become Robin. He remembered what he used to do when he was younger.
Gordon would only know him by his hacker name “DK” or “Dark Knight” or some other Batman like nickname. Gordon thinks Bruce is an adult, but he’s just a really smart kid, doing things to help him out.
That way, Bruce is doing Batman type things, which makes any success that Gordon has much more successful. And for superhero nerds like me, we get the secret joy of seeing a young Bruce Wayne be cool and Batman like.
And as the show goes on, you see the actor grow up and become more and more Batman like.
THIS would be the thing I want to see in this Gotham show. The young boy, Bruce Wayne, training and secretly helping the cops do good. Making Gotham safer, learning and failing, but slowly becoming a badass at a young age.
That would be cool, and I think that’s what seems to be missing in the trailers and previews that I’ve seen of Gotham so far.
I think that’s what Batman fans watching the show really want to see as well.
Are you Going to Watch GOTHAM?
What do you think? Would you like to see that in the Gotham TV show? Do you like what you’ve seen so far and don’t want to see what I suggested.
Do you think it looks fine the way it is? Let me know. Sound off on the comments below.
Also, if the stuff I’ve written happens in the show, let me know so I can start watching it because I’m not going to be watching this show based on what I’ve seen so far.