So it's been a while since my last post. I've been quite busy with finishing up school and searching for a job, but things have finally begun to settle down in my life so I am going to try sticking to a regular update schedule from now on.
Anyway, a few pieces of business. First off, I am thinking of switching things up on the blog by redefining what I mean by Realms. The change will have me writing about whatever I feel like, but will still primarily be about sci-fi/fantasy topics.
The second piece is just me using the rest of this post to check in on the status of my previous posts and then new stuff will begin to appear next time I write a post (which I hope will be a lot sooner than this one was).
Okay. First is No Ordinary Family. I gave up on this show shortly before the fall finale as it did not live up to my expectations. It has since been cancelled.
Next up is Crossgen Comics. Marvel Comics has begun putting out new material, but it does not continue the stories set up at the original company. So far, they have released two mini-series, one that was radically different from the original and one that stuck very close, with a third one beginning in a few months.
Lastly, Disney has so far not acquired the film rights to any of the Marvel movie properties, but the last time I was at Disneyland I saw some merchandise from this summer's Marvel movies, Thor and Captain America so it is likely just a matter of time before the properties are brought under the Disney umbrella.
That's all for this week. Hopefully, I will actually be able to adhere to a schedule. If I do there should be a new post on a new topic sometime during the upcoming week so keep your eyes peeled.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Saturday, October 23, 2010
What Disney's next move should be
Recently, it was announced that Disney had bought the distribution rights from Paramount for The Avengers movie and the next Iron Man sequel. While this is not a huge surprise given that most people assumed the movies were Disney's primary reason for buying Marvel Comics, it does raise many questions. The biggest of these questions is what other properties is Disney going to buy. There is a lot of speculation about this question and here is what I think Disney should do.
I think that Disney should go ahead and buy the rest of the Marvel movie properties. This would be a good idea because it would allow characters like the X-men and Spider-man to crossover with the Avengers. And given that Spider-man is in the process of being rebooted this is the perfect time for Disney to buy the rights to the character's movies. For the X-men, it would not matter if Disney bought the rights without the property being rebooted because the X-men have always sort of been off in their own little corner of the Marvel Universe.
I don't think Disney will buy all of Marvel's movie properties because of the studios that currently own the properties not being willing to sell them, but I hope that Disney at least tries. Hopefully, there will be more news on Disney's plans in the next few weeks.
I think that Disney should go ahead and buy the rest of the Marvel movie properties. This would be a good idea because it would allow characters like the X-men and Spider-man to crossover with the Avengers. And given that Spider-man is in the process of being rebooted this is the perfect time for Disney to buy the rights to the character's movies. For the X-men, it would not matter if Disney bought the rights without the property being rebooted because the X-men have always sort of been off in their own little corner of the Marvel Universe.
I don't think Disney will buy all of Marvel's movie properties because of the studios that currently own the properties not being willing to sell them, but I hope that Disney at least tries. Hopefully, there will be more news on Disney's plans in the next few weeks.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
A History of CrossGen Comics (kinda Abridged)
So it has been a while since I last posted something here, but now that I have finally begun to really settle into being back at school I will hopefully update once a week. Anyway, I have been thinking about possible topics to write about here and I have now come to a conclusion about what to write about: CrossGen Comics.
CrossGen Comics was a comic publishing company in the late 90s and early 00s. The company was founded with the idea that they would publish non-superhero comics that were connected by a theme, but not by characters, stories or worlds. When the company launched, their first wave of comics were only connected by a symbol that was located in different locations on each of the main characters' bodies. Depending on the character's setting, the symbol, or as they called it the Sigil, would manifest different powers. The only other shared trait of the comics was that each comic had a orange-eyed mentor who would help guide the sigil-bearers.
CrossGen launched with four monthly titles and a bi-monthly title that helped to fill in the history of the characters in the CrossGen universe. The four launch titles had a lot of variety, but equal amounts of story. There was Sigil, a sci-fi space opera, Mystic, a fantasy story set on a world full of magic, Meridian, the closest thing to a soap opera in comic book form, and Scion, a Arthurian-style fantasy adventure set on a world that utilizes sci-fi technology. My personal experience with CrossGen's comics is that they tell a similar story to what one would find in a book, but without relying on one's imagination (super-hero comics don't do that).
Eventually, CrossGen began adding more titles to their prime universe that ranged from mythological stories to some not so down to earth detective stories. Soon after that, the company began to publish licensed comics (that would be comics based off of books, TV shows, etc.) at which point they changed their name to CrossGen Entertainment. Shortly after the name change, the company went against their original mandate and began to build to a company wide story that would take place in a six issue mini-series. Before beginning this story, all of the original, and several of the later, titles were canceled so that the company was not making their readers pay more to get this story. However, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy before the mini-series was finished which also resulted in several of their other comics being canceled mid-story.
That would have been the end of CrossGen except that Disney had an interest in one of their properties and decided to buy up all of CrossGen's intellectual properties. However, in the six years since Disney bought the properties nothing has been done with them other than there being a few collections released by Checker Books. Well, nothing until this past summer. At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Comic's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada teased the possibility of a revival for the properties at Marvel (this is a real possibility since Disney now owns Marvel). So far nothing has been announced, but all of the original CrossGen creators seem to be behind this idea so I will remain optimistic that there will be new life for these characters.
CrossGen Comics was a comic publishing company in the late 90s and early 00s. The company was founded with the idea that they would publish non-superhero comics that were connected by a theme, but not by characters, stories or worlds. When the company launched, their first wave of comics were only connected by a symbol that was located in different locations on each of the main characters' bodies. Depending on the character's setting, the symbol, or as they called it the Sigil, would manifest different powers. The only other shared trait of the comics was that each comic had a orange-eyed mentor who would help guide the sigil-bearers.
CrossGen launched with four monthly titles and a bi-monthly title that helped to fill in the history of the characters in the CrossGen universe. The four launch titles had a lot of variety, but equal amounts of story. There was Sigil, a sci-fi space opera, Mystic, a fantasy story set on a world full of magic, Meridian, the closest thing to a soap opera in comic book form, and Scion, a Arthurian-style fantasy adventure set on a world that utilizes sci-fi technology. My personal experience with CrossGen's comics is that they tell a similar story to what one would find in a book, but without relying on one's imagination (super-hero comics don't do that).
Eventually, CrossGen began adding more titles to their prime universe that ranged from mythological stories to some not so down to earth detective stories. Soon after that, the company began to publish licensed comics (that would be comics based off of books, TV shows, etc.) at which point they changed their name to CrossGen Entertainment. Shortly after the name change, the company went against their original mandate and began to build to a company wide story that would take place in a six issue mini-series. Before beginning this story, all of the original, and several of the later, titles were canceled so that the company was not making their readers pay more to get this story. However, the company ended up filing for bankruptcy before the mini-series was finished which also resulted in several of their other comics being canceled mid-story.
That would have been the end of CrossGen except that Disney had an interest in one of their properties and decided to buy up all of CrossGen's intellectual properties. However, in the six years since Disney bought the properties nothing has been done with them other than there being a few collections released by Checker Books. Well, nothing until this past summer. At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Comic's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada teased the possibility of a revival for the properties at Marvel (this is a real possibility since Disney now owns Marvel). So far nothing has been announced, but all of the original CrossGen creators seem to be behind this idea so I will remain optimistic that there will be new life for these characters.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
No Ordinary Family Pilot Review
First off let me say that I was not expecting to review No Ordinary Family until it officially premieres on the 28th of September, but I was invited to watch a sneak peek of the pilot earlier today. That being said I think this show has promise.
No Ordinary Family is about a dysfunctional family that is trying to become functional again when they get super powers as the result of a plane crash while on vacation in Brazil. Prior to discovering their powers, the parents, Jim and Stephanie, are kind of boring and dead. Jim is a sketch artist for the police and Stephanie is a high ranking executive for a pharmaceutical company with little time for her family. This leaves Jim as a kind of Mr Mom character. Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz who portray the two parents showed this very well, but neither of the characters were particularly real for the majority of the pilot. Once their powers manifest, they become more alive. Jim gets super strength and limited invulnerability while Stephanie gets super speed. These new powers help them begin to salvage their marriage.
Their children, on the other hand, did come off as real teenagers trying to deal with life even with powers. Before getting powers, the son, JJ, was apparently suffering from a learning disability so for him, as well as his parents, his new power was a blessing. However, for the daughter, Daphne, the manifestation of her powers is a curse. She gets telepathy which promptly begins to ruin her social life.
However, the real highlight of the pilot was the supporting characters portrayed by Romany Malco and Autumn Reeser. Malco plays Jim's confidant, George, who encourages Jim to explore the limits of his power as well as use them for good. Reeser's character, on the other hand, works for Stephanie and is a complete nerd. She is also the first person Stephanie tells about her powers. My favorite part of the pilot involved Reeser's character questioning how Stephanie's super speed powers work while using a radar gun to track how fast her boss is running.
In the end, the pilot suffers from a lot of the things that most pilots do, but the foreshadowing near the end of the episode makes me think that the eventual payoff will be good. So if you are looking for a replacement for Heroes or nice sci-fi show on the broadcast networks No Ordinary Family looks like a good place to start.
No Ordinary Family is about a dysfunctional family that is trying to become functional again when they get super powers as the result of a plane crash while on vacation in Brazil. Prior to discovering their powers, the parents, Jim and Stephanie, are kind of boring and dead. Jim is a sketch artist for the police and Stephanie is a high ranking executive for a pharmaceutical company with little time for her family. This leaves Jim as a kind of Mr Mom character. Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz who portray the two parents showed this very well, but neither of the characters were particularly real for the majority of the pilot. Once their powers manifest, they become more alive. Jim gets super strength and limited invulnerability while Stephanie gets super speed. These new powers help them begin to salvage their marriage.
Their children, on the other hand, did come off as real teenagers trying to deal with life even with powers. Before getting powers, the son, JJ, was apparently suffering from a learning disability so for him, as well as his parents, his new power was a blessing. However, for the daughter, Daphne, the manifestation of her powers is a curse. She gets telepathy which promptly begins to ruin her social life.
However, the real highlight of the pilot was the supporting characters portrayed by Romany Malco and Autumn Reeser. Malco plays Jim's confidant, George, who encourages Jim to explore the limits of his power as well as use them for good. Reeser's character, on the other hand, works for Stephanie and is a complete nerd. She is also the first person Stephanie tells about her powers. My favorite part of the pilot involved Reeser's character questioning how Stephanie's super speed powers work while using a radar gun to track how fast her boss is running.
In the end, the pilot suffers from a lot of the things that most pilots do, but the foreshadowing near the end of the episode makes me think that the eventual payoff will be good. So if you are looking for a replacement for Heroes or nice sci-fi show on the broadcast networks No Ordinary Family looks like a good place to start.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Introduction to the Journey
Hello and welcome to my blog, Journey Through the Realms. What I will be doing here is using this space to write various reviews and articles on the science fiction and fantasy genres, hence the title. This would include movies, TV shows, books, comic books, etc. I am going to try to update it at least once a week. At the moment, I intend to do comic reviews once a week, but I am not going to limit myself to just those in any given week.
I will now give an overview of what can be expected to be seen in this space. For movies and TV, I will mostly be writing reviews, but there will likely be some articles on a movie or TV series that I really enjoyed. The same goes for books. However, I will likely write more articles about books than movies or TV. As mentioned above, I will be writing reviews of comics. They will mostly be on whatever I usually read (which is mostly superhero comics), but there will also be some reviews of comic strips as well as articles about publishers and completed series. Occasionally, I may break from these two primary genres and write something about a book,, movie, TV show etc., that I am currently obsessed with.
Anyway, please check back this weekend for my first real article.
I will now give an overview of what can be expected to be seen in this space. For movies and TV, I will mostly be writing reviews, but there will likely be some articles on a movie or TV series that I really enjoyed. The same goes for books. However, I will likely write more articles about books than movies or TV. As mentioned above, I will be writing reviews of comics. They will mostly be on whatever I usually read (which is mostly superhero comics), but there will also be some reviews of comic strips as well as articles about publishers and completed series. Occasionally, I may break from these two primary genres and write something about a book,, movie, TV show etc., that I am currently obsessed with.
Anyway, please check back this weekend for my first real article.
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