7-11 Hulks Out

I stopped by a local 7-11 today, and saw that the same merchandising/hype effort the chain put into the IRON MAN movie is now going into moving tchotchkes related to the INCREDIBLE HULK movie that will be released on Friday the 13th. There were lenticular Hulk Slurpee cups. There were straws with little Hulk figurines on them. There were temporary tattoos, and stickers by the sheetfull. There were Hulk sandwiches. The store even had Hulk donuts, each one plastered with a photo-perfect portrait of the Jade Giant's cromagnin mug.

The one piece of merchandising the store didn't have that related to this comic book character:

Comic books.

Yes, the old spinner rack, center of many fond childhood memories, has been cast onto the junkheap of obsolescence. The 7-11's inventory of comics has been reduced to a few desultory scattered titles stuck onto the lowest shelf of the magazine rack.

7-11 forbid that they should actually feature comics starring the Hulk or Iron Man in a prominent place in the store. I mean, they might actually sell some and make some money. Who knows, they might trigger an ephiphany in some young Slurpee-slugger who realizes that there is such a thing as comic books; and that they are fun. They they might sell more comics, and make more money.

Gene Colan's Health

As the IRON MAN movie smashes box office records, attention should be focused on one of the all-time great Iron Man comic book artists: Gene Colan, who in the '60's drew perhaps the most invincible-looking Iron Man of all.



Up to now, Colan himself has seemed pretty invincible: He has continued to create fantastic art, and meet his fans at conventions, as he progresses through his eighties.

But now comes the sad news (from Colan's wife) that Colan is in poor health: His liver is failing.

Everyone who enjoys the IRON MAN movies should send their wishes to Colan for a quick and complete recovery.

Tony Stark is So Money

I am pleased to report that the IRON MAN movie lives up to its hype. It not only joins the ranks of the first two SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN movies as superior Marvel adaptations, it rates as the most Marvel-like of the movie adaptations so far.

It not only features superior performances from Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and an extremely disturbing Jeff Bridges (who uses his lovable-guy persona to nasty ends), but the scenes with Iron Man himself are delightful wish-fulfillment. Further, it features a 40-something hero who lives on the westside, and who spends his maiden flight soaring over the Santa Monica Pier and buzzing Sunset Boulevard. What more could I ask for?

That question was answered by the bit after the closing credits.

Jon Favreau (the first Marvel director who has already played a Marvel character -- he was Foggy Nelson in the DAREDEVIL flick -- and who plays a supporting character in this one, the dour "Happy" Hogan) has a wonderful feel for both the dramatic and the action bits. And it looks like the movie has benefited from beating all the other summer movies to the door.

Iron-Clad Memories

Last week was my birthday, and one of my birthday presents from my

wife (besides the dinner at Lawry's Prime Rib -- I got to enjoy two extremely important dishes to natives of Southeastern Washington, prime rib and shrimp cocktail) was a pair of advance tickets to a showing of the IRON MAN movie tomorrow night, at The Bridge Cinemas.

With Iron Man on my mind lately, thanks to the media blitz accompanying the movie, my memories harked back to the very first Iron Man comic I read, the cover of which looked, well, exactly like this:



I recently picked up a copy on Ebay (where memories can be had for the right bid). When I read it, most of the story (written by Mike Friedrich, drawn by veteran artists George Tuska [who celebrated his 92nd birthday last month!] and Vince Colletta) was unfamiliar to me, which indicates to me that most of the tale either went right over my seven-year-old head or eluded my nascent reading skills. About the only scenes that rang a bell to me were the cover scene (where Shellhead's armor is melting like candlewax -- as he thinks, "My armor -- melting like candlewax!") and a bit where Tony Stark hears about trouble at one of his plants while out driving with his fiancee, and then changes into the Iron Man armor in front of her. The fiancee sighs, and thinks, "It's like being married to a doctor!" (I don't know if I was more surprised by Stark changing into his secret identity in front of the young woman -- a startling concept to one who was used to the idea of inviolate secret identities -- or by a man dressing in front of a woman to whom he wasn't married. Hey, I was seven.)

The story itself is heady stuff. It's written in the second person, which is practically a guarantee that the prose will be purple. Stark distinguishes himself with Type A behavior throughout the issue: He wrests control of his company back from a renegade board of directors through ham-fisted tactics that send the stock plunging; he swills down cocktails at a party and then goes tearing around dark country roads while his fiancee panics. And as a reminder that the story takes place in the early seventies, the bad guy, Firebrand, is a student radical turned armored supervillain. That fist insignia on his chest is no accident. And true to his name, Firebrand cannot stop giving incidiary speeches.

Ah, the comics of our past -- the ones that imprint themselves upon us, and shape our perceptions of all of the stories we will read in the future

I Drink Your Slurpee! I Drink It Up!

Iron Man 7-Eleven Movie Items - Superhero Hype!


Seven-Eleven has unleashed Iron Man movie merchandising -- including what looks like an Extreme Big Gulp in the shape of Ol' Shellhead's, well, shellhead. Considering that in the comics Iron Man has had a drinking problem, these tchotkes pose possibilities that are downright -- er -- ironic.

*****

Update -- I swung by the 7-11 at Venice and Sepulveda in West LA today, and picked up a bunch of Iron Man collectibles. They included the Iron Man head cup, which is actually a 28-oz Slurpee cup, complete with the word "Slurpee" imprinted on the Golden Avenger's occipital area. (Has he started sporting sponsor decals?) I got two lenticular Iron Man cups -- one that depicts him dodging a missile from a jet fighter; and one rather ghoulishly reproducing the scene (depicted in one of the trailers) of the Mark I Iron Man immolating a bunch of soldiers with his built-in flame throwers.

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All the Marvelous Movies

Yesterday's LA Times Calendar section featured this story by Geoff Boucher (the LA Times staff writer who handles all things comic-book-ish) about Marvel Studios.  

Folks may recall that a couple of years ago Marvel got tired of studios throughout Hollywood raking in the big bucks on adaptations of Marvel characters, while Marvel itself merely received a licensing fee.  It sought to seize the means of production; and secured half a billion in venture capital to start its own studio.  (Not to be confused with the animation studio Marvel had in the Eighties).  

Now, as the studio's first flick prepares to roll out in May, the paper looks at the studio's prospects.  

On the bad side, it's not a good time to be an independent studio, with New Line dessicating into a division of Warner Brothers.  Plus, other studios have the rights to such cash cows as Spider-Man (Sony), X-Men (Fox) Fantastic Four (Fox again), etc.   And although Marvel struck a deal with the WGA during the writers' strike, the strike still hurt the studio:  It promised its investors 10 movies in five years, but expects to put out only one movie next year.

 On the plus side, Marvel Studios has the rights to such characters as The Hulk (they apparently reverted after Ang Lee's version failed to set the world on fire), Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and numerous minor characters.  

Further, the studio's May release, IRON MAN, looks to be spectacular.   It's got great buzz, helped along by fantastic trailers.  A hit first time out on plate would go a long way toward persuading  folks to make theirs Marvel.  'Nuff said. 

What Are You Building, Stark?

YouTube - Iron Man

The second teaser trailer for next year's IRON MAN movie is up on the web -- and like the first one (seen in slightly different form at Comic-Con), it looks terrific. This flick better not disappoint me.

technorati tags:Iron, Man, Movie, 2nd, Trailer

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Comic-Con International: San Diego -- A Retrospective

I am still feeling the lingering exhaustion of our annual trip to what used to be known as the San Diego Comic-Con; but is now Comic-Con: San Diego. But most of my photos are up now on Photobucket.

I had ambitions of posting blog entries and photos during the con; but the wrinkle in that plan was the meltdown of the con hotel reservation system, which resulted in every room in the convention block being reported as reserved within minutes of reservations going on-line. As a result, we ended up at the Holiday Inn on Hotel Circle, about eight miles from the convention center. Fortunately, despite the dire warnings on the con Website about nonexistent downtown parking, we got to town early every day and found covered parking at a building a block from Petco Park. It was a fair walk (seven blocks) from the convention center -- a trek complicated by the freight train that passed in front of the center every morning and night -- but it beat relying on public transportation to get to the center.

Here are some highlights -- and low-lights -- from this year's convention:



--As the above photo shows, Hollywood's love affair with Comic-Con (which waxed with the evolution of the Web, which allows thousands of attendees to rave or rant online as soon as they've seen the latest film preview) continues unabated. One of the best-looking previews I saw was the one at the Warner Brothers panel for the movie remake of GET SMART. Generally I think little of movie remakes of TV series -- particularly comedies -- but this one, starring Steve Carrell as Maxwell Smart, The Rock as his mentor, Anne Hathaway as 99, Alan Arkin as The Chief, Terence Stamp as Siegfried, and Masi Oka from HEROES as an armorer, looks delightful. Reportedly, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry are giving their blessing to this one (especially since it will likely make them a few more sheckels).



--Another highlight of the Warner Brothers panel was the presentation for the upcoming WATCHMEN movie. This project has been in and out of several film creators' hands for over twenty years; but if anyone can get it made, it's Zack Snyder. Snyder showed his adaptation chops this year by making a version of Frank Miller's 300 that had no stars, and yet grossed huge amounts of dinars. Here he poses with the poster WATCHMEN artist Dave Gibbons drew for the film project.



-- But the most exciting film project for me was the preview at the Marvel Studios panel for Jon Favreau's IRON MAN film.

The flick wrapped principle photography last month; and according to Favreau, because he prefers "practical" special effects (i.e., those done on-camera and in the camera) to CGI, the film will not require huge amounts of post-production. Favreau showed four minutes of footage, selected, he said, not to sell the movie to those unfamiliar with the character, but to convince comics fans that he was doing Shellhead right. And, speaking as someone who's been a Marvel fan for over 30 years, he nailed it.

In the footage, Robert Downey, Jr. portrayed IM's alter ego, Tony Stark, as a character reminiscent of Joe Gideon in ALL THAT JAZZ: an arrogant jerk who is so charismatic that people love him despite themselves. He's the sort who will pose for a photo with a soldier; but when the soldier flashes a peace sign, Stark snaps, "No gang signs." And the scenes with the armor. My goodness, people. The scenes with Stark clunking around in the early "Mark I" armor, battling a squad of soldiers, looked taken straight out of Shellhead's first appearance in TALES OF SUSPENSE. And the closing scenes in the trailer, where IM's red-and-gold armor is rocketing through the air, out-running F-16's . . . well, I was suddenly 12 years old again, buying comics at the 7-11 on a warm summer night.

Above is a photo with Favreau, Downey, and co-stars Terence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow.

I was not among those who were lucky enough to see the Mark I armor in all its glory at the Marvel booth; but I did get to see the massive crate in which it was housed -- and to snap a picture when the handler cracked open the crate to give us a glimpse of the gleaming cargo inside.





More photos and con reminisces later. For now, I'll leave you with a photo of Willy Wonka, who's beside himself.

Robert Downey Jr. = Shellhead

Marvel Comics character Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, may have started out as essentially Howard Hughes with a Clark Gable face; but newly-formed studio Marvel Entertainment may have made an inspired choice for the upcoming Iron Man movie by casting Robert Downey Jr. as ol' Shellhead. (Comics fans may recall Stan Lee's fondness for coming up with nicknames for his characters that included the word "head" -- e.g., Webhead (Spider-Man), Winghead (Captain America), Hornhead (Daredevil). For some reason, though, he never called Thor "Godhead" . . . .)

Stark's original weakness was a piece of shrapnel lodged close to his heart, requiring him to wear his chest armor/iron lung 24 hours a day (fortunately, it could be recharged from wall sockets or car cigarette lighters -- no joke). Eventually, the shrapnel was removed; so to find a new problem for the Golden Avenger, Marvel turned to substance abuse. Beset by stress he couldn't do away with by punching something, Stark turned to the bottle; and he's occasionally relapsed into it since. Substance abuse is definitely something Downey knows about.

The recreation of the "Demon in a Bottle" cover is copyright by Marvel. Downey's picture is probably copyrighted by someone, but I don't know who.