BETWEEN PANELS: Avengers Assemble! (Part Two)

We saw it, and based on the boffo box office (this is one of those rare times when a word like "boffo" is truly appropriate), you did too! On this bonus episode of 24 Panels Per Second, we discuss The Avengers: what it does right, where it's lacking, and what it means both for the future of Marvel Studios and the future of the superhero genre in film. It takes us almost 100 minutes.

Send all feedback to twentyfourpanels@gmail.com. Stay up to date with our blog at 24panelspersecond.blogspot.com. Follow Dave on Twitter @24panels and Dru @violetbooth. Like us on Facebook. And don't forget to subscribe (and review us) in iTunes!

Next time on 24 Panels: The Crow...

BETWEEN PANELS: Avengers Assemble! (Part One)

Dru and Dave's excitement about The Avengers could not be contained in a single Between Panels bonus episode! In the first half of this epic, two-part Between Panels, D&D discuss their impressions of the  "Road to The Avengers" films and what they're hoping to get out of Joss Whedon's upcoming team-up film. Stay tuned for next week's exciting conclusion, in which we nurse a post-Avengers hangover.

THIS IS A BONUS EPISODE. If you're new to the show, we'd recommend starting elsewhere.

Send all feedback to twentyfourpanels@gmail.com. Stay up to date with our blog at 24panelspersecond.blogspot.com. Follow Dave on Twitter @24panels and Dru @violetbooth. Like us on Facebook. And don't forget to subscribe (and review us) in iTunes!

Episode 25. NICK FURY: AGENT OF SHIELD

Alright guys, we made it. Let's do a head count.

We're finally through with the surprisingly challenging MADE-FOR-TV AVENGERS series, but only once we reckon with 1998's Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD starring David Hasselhoff. Dru spends most of the episode trying to change the subject while David tries to veer us back on course. Both agree that Nick Fury has camp classic written all over it.

Episode breakdown:
0:00 - 22:05: Intro banter (The Dark Knight Rises runtime, The Three Stooges, miscellaneous bickering)
22:05 - 22:32: Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD trailer (likely fan-made)
22:32 - 1:19:00: Main discussion: Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD

1:19:00 - 1:26:54: Closing remarks

Send all feedback to twentyfourpanels@gmail.com. Stay up to date with our blog at 24panelspersecond.blogspot.com. Follow Dave on Twitter @24panels and Dru @violetbooth. Like us on Facebook. And don't forget to subscribe (and review us) in iTunes!

Additional links:

Next time on 24 Panels: The Crow...

Episode 24. THE INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS (1988)

This week, Dru and David are back with the second instalment of the MADE-FOR-TV AVENGERS series with The Incredible Hulk Returns, the classic team-up between the Hulk and Thor. The film was originally intended as a backdoor pilot for a proposed ongoing Thor television series, but like Dru's proposed spinoff from 24 Panels - Hot Toddy Talk - it sadly never came to be. By Odin's beard!

Episode breakdown:
0:00 - 13:37: Intro banter (Sin City 2 and Sabrina the Teenage Witch announced, Avengers buzz, #hoganfacts)
13:37 - 14:07: The Incredible Hulk Returns trailer
14:07 - 1:23:09: Main discussion: The Incredible Hulk Returns
1:23:09 - 1:26:28: Closing remarks

Send all feedback to twentyfourpanels@gmail.com. Stay up to date with our blog at 24panelspersecond.blogspot.com. Follow Dave on Twitter @24panels and Dru @violetbooth. Like us on Facebook. And don't forget to subscribe (and review us) in iTunes!

Next time on 24 Panels: Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D....

Reviews@24 Panels: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)

Ever since that tag on the end credits of 2008's Iron Man, the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building towards the big team-up film The Avengers, and Joe Johnston's Captain America: The First Avenger is the final stop before that film's summer 2012 release.

The primary action of Captain America occurs during the height of the U.S.'s involvement in World War II. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans, formerly The Human Torch from Fantastic Four and its sequel) is small, asthmatic, and weak, but by golly, does he love the good ol' U-S-of-A. So much so he's attempted to sign up for service overseas no less than five times, and each time rejected because he's, well, small, asthmatic, and weak. At the funnest looking fun fair this side of Disney World, Rogers meets German emigrant scientist Abraham Erskine (an always welcome Stanley Tucci), who selects the young lad for a "super-soldier" experiment. The experiment is a success and Rogers becomes insanely buff and strong, yet, after a German spy infiltrates and kills Erskine, he becomes relegated to a cog in the propaganda machine selling war bonds, now dubbed Captain America. While doing a USO show in Italy, Cap leads an unsanctioned mission to rescue captured soldiers. Here the Army learns of the Red Skull's plans for World Domination. Can Cap and his ragtag squad of colourful personalities save democracy?

Coming Soon! THE AVENGERS

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.