STEEL was nothin'. You don't know how low 24 Panels will sink until you've walked knee-deep through the swamps of Bywater, Louisiana with your tour guides Dru and David. That's right: on this episode of 24 Panels, it's all about Marvel's oddest oddity, the Sci-Fi Channel original film MAN-THING, directed by Brett "Lawnmower Man" Leonard. Also, we've got the EXCLUSIVE SCOOP on the opening scene for Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT RISES! Only on 24 Panels Per Second!
0:00 - 9:35: Intro banter (EXCLUSIVE! Learn about the first scene of The Dark Knight Rises)
9:35 - 10:34: Man-Thing trailer
10:34 - 48:12: Main discussion: Man-Thing
48:12 - 50:37: Closing remarks
We'll be back in early November to finish up our Marvelous Halloween (a little late - we're sorry) with Mark Steven Johnson's GHOST RIDER. Queue it up!
The few times I read Punisher comics in my youth I thought, "Gee, that Newman from Seinfeld would make a great Microchip." And y'know what? He does. Casting Wayne Knight as Microchip - the Punisher's friend/ally/technology whiz - is one of the few things the third attempt at a Punisher film gets right.
24 Panels Per Second’s Marvel-ous Halloween series will soon continue as we discuss the 2005 Sci-Fi Channel (it wasn’t Sy-Fy yet at the time) film, Man-Thing! No, not Swamp Thing, Man-Thing. You remember Man-Thing, right?
Right?
Well, just to refresh all our memories, Man-Thing is the creation of Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow, (that’s right, it took four people to come up with this one), and the character made his debut in Savage Tales #1 in May of 1971. The story goes that scientist Dr. Ted Sallis was working on recreating the Super Soldier Serum used on Captain America (something tells me Marvel won’t be making this part of their film continuity anytime soon) in Florida when, like an idiot, he ignores all the security protocols to allow his lover into the lab. She betrays him (turns out she works of the terrorist group AIM), but Sallis quickly destroys his notes, injects himself with a work in progress version of the formula, and accidentally crashes his car into the swap. Thanks to the serum and magic (apparently), he becomes the Man-Thing, a silent planet creature that secretes some sort of acid when he is around people in fear. Or something.
The character would go on to star in his own solo title in 1973, which was cancelled 22 issues later. He then received a solo title again in 1979...which was also cancelled. The character then proceeded to show up in a bunch of guest starring spots throughout the 1980s and 1990s before featuring in a few mini-series in the 2000s. These days, he is apparently a cast member of the current version of the Thunderbolts:
But don’t let that history of failure and obscurity in the comics fool you; Man-Thing has appeared in plenty of other media which testify to his popularity! Like…um…well, apparently he was featured in an episode of something called The Super Hero Squad Show:
So there’s that. And, um….oh! The character appears in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3! Not as a playable character, but in an ending cut scene:
Good to see you again Blade!
Anyways, that is about it for Man-Thing. But just because this week's film is a Sci-Fi Channel original featuring an obscure Marvel character doesn’t mean it has to be terrible, right? I mean, let’s look at the director Brett Leonard’s credits. For starters, he directed a music video for Peter Gabriel which I cannot embed by itself for some reason. I can, however, embed the version which includes a brief look at the making of the music video, so we get to see Mr. Leonard himself:
Alright, I’ll grant that is one of the weakest videos Gabriel was ever in, but it was OK. And besides, after that, Leonard went on to direct Lawnmower Man, the film Stephen King took his name off of because it completely ignored his short story:
And then Leonard went on to direct the 1995 film Virtuosity, which was…OK:
After that...um no, nothing I recognize...come on, come on, there has to be something else he has done worthing noting. What about his post-Man-Thing credits…
Oh.
Oh no.
No.
NO!
I'm....going to hold back my rant on that one. For now.
So yeah, tune in next episode as we discuss Man-Thing and live to regret it:
[James weighs in with his thoughts on Martin Campbell's Green Lantern! This review is based on the extended cut, so adjust expectations accordingly.]
For the last decade, Marvel Comics (and by extension, Marvel Studios) have really embraced adaptations of comic books. We’ve seen adaptations from the top-tier, like the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises, down to bottom rung with 2005′s Man-Thing. Essentially, the cinemas have been ruled by Marvel; 2011 alone saw three films from Marvel (X-Men: First Class, Thor, and Captain America: First Avenger). DC, on the other hand, have yet to make such a significant impact on the big screen. Sure, Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) have earned the most critical acclaim of comic book films, but they’ve had trouble successfully translating other characters to the big screen (see Catwoman [2004], Jonah Hex [2010]). And, sadly, it looks like this trend continues with Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern.
2012 may prove to be the biggest year for comic book movies yet. In addition to Marc Webb's reboot The Amazing Spider-Man and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, his final entry in his Batman trilogy, the summer will also see the release of Joss Whedon's The Avengers. The film is a culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing together a number of characters including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and various others that have made appearances in virtually every Marvel-produced film since 2008's Iron Man. Based on this first trailer, it still looks like Robert Downey Jr.'s charismatic Tony Stark will be the centre of attention, but if anyone will be able to balance all of these characters it's Buffy and Firefly creator Joss Whedon. Here's hoping, too, he'll be able to impart his own brilliant brand of wit and style to this juggernaut of a film.
Despite the fact that Dru and David mostly agree that BLADE (1998) is, more or less, an OK movie, the fangs come out (!!) in this episode when it comes to the particulars: for instance, Wesley Snipes: humourless or deadpan? Which music genre would be a better soundtrack: funk or techno? Fight choreography: hard-hitting superhero action or lame So You Think You Can Dance routine? Fang-dar or Blade-sense? Marv Wolfman and Gene Colon's jive-talkin', street-walkin', vamp-slayin' character gets the big-screen treatment here on 24 Panels Per Second.
