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Gatsby77

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Everything posted by Gatsby77

  1. Gatsby77
    I remember some coverage on this collection when it first was discovered and came-to-market. Consensus was, while an interesting origin story, it was so heavily weighted towards the modern books (vs. Golden / Silver Age) that it was actually underwhelming.
  2. Gatsby77
    Again, I've not read the -script. I don't even know the plot of this film. Just judging from the trailers, that's how *I'd* write it: Step one: big reveal is that mom (Rachel Weisz) is actually Taskmaster Step two: ultimately, Yelena (Florence Pugh) proves herself worthy of the Black Widow title / steps out of her big sister's shadow by...killing mom in the final act Thus, she's finally "ready" - primed to take on the mantle of a Black Widow, yet goes into hiding as the credits role (as this is a prequel). Bam - Natasha's dead? Doesn't matter - as the MCU (and Avengers) can move forward with Yelena as the new Black Widow...Kamala Khan Captain Marvel-style.
  3. Gatsby77
    Maybe...unless the "Black Widow" referred to in the title is actually Yelena - and sets her up to take the mantle going forward. My only question is whether Natasha or Yelena ultimately kills their mom (Taskmaster).
  4. Gatsby77
    Are you high? As noted above, the Fast and the Furious films have *at least* as big an audience & devoted following. Stating it right here - Fast and the Furious 9 will outdo Black Widow in the worldwide box office. More than that, it'll outperform it by $200 million+ Or...is this why you qualified your statement with "after July 4," because you know Fast 9 comes out in June?
  5. Gatsby77
    No - you're talking about one scene - the climax of the film at Zemo's lair. Which ignores, oh i dunno...the entire plot of the film up until that point. Marvel itself structured, marketed and continues to market this as an Avengers film.
  6. Gatsby77
    Okay - how about this - this is literally the official plot synopsis Marvel itself released for the movie in late 2015 (pre-release). Ironically, it mirrors the comic storyline summary exactly. Literally no mention of Bucky, or (Avengers villain) Zemo - but four mentions of the Avengers. Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability
  7. Gatsby77
    And there's been a massive shift in the definition of "keys" now weighted almost exclusively to first appearances. Artist books, key storyline runs, origin issues and battle issues have been (with few exceptions) largely forgotten. Example: Daredevil 158 (1st Miller) vs. Daredevil 168 (1st Elektra). 2003: 158, CGC 9.6 in GPA: $360 2021: 158, CGC 9.6 in GPA: $363 vs. 2003: 168, CGC 9.6 in GPA: $616 2021: 168, 9.6 in GPA: $900 Flat (artist book) vs. + 46% (1st appearance book - and this includes that both books were really hot in 2003 due to the Daredevil movie, vs. no imminent movie hype today).
  8. Gatsby77
    Weird how Iron Man is featured first in that image - and that Civil War is highlighted in the text, with "Captain America" minimized.
  9. Gatsby77
    Umm...yeah. I'm well aware of the differences between the film and the comic. But my point stands - yes - the Russo Bros. chose to tell this story from Captain America's POV - but it could *just as easily* have been a straight-up Iron Man or Avengers story. You know that Baron Zemo was originally an Avengers villain, yes? Whatever...I'm done. If you can't accept the blatant reality that the film was structured - and marketed - as an "Avengers 2.5" - to the extent that they negotiated a Sony-owned Spider-Man appearance because Spidey was pivotal in the original comic storyline, whatever. I deal in reality, not wishful thinking that willfully ignores it.
  10. Gatsby77
    Bro - Did you even read the Civil War comics? It was a universe-wide hero vs. hero mega crossover (a la Secret Wars and the Infinity Gauntlet before it) but the two teams were led by Captain America and Iron Man. As in the film, virtually every hero lined up behind one or the other. While the Civil War film was (necessarily) different, it retained the heart of the Captain America v Iron Man conflict. It could just as easily have been titled Iron Man: Civil War or Avengers: Civil War.
  11. Gatsby77
    While # 38 was the first one I read off the shelves (and I continued through to the end), # 5 has a special place in my heart because it was the first expensive Sandman back issue I bought - with my first real summer job paycheck when I was 18. Think it was $12, and I bought it from a cool little LCS in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Was astonished to see Martian Manhunter in it, as up to that point I thought Sandman was basically disconnected from the rest of the DC universe. I also only figured out later that it was Sam Kieth art - I only knew who he was from his work in Marvel Comics Presents, and (later) Maxx.
  12. Gatsby77
    Oooh...forgot about the Sandman Special, that was Orpheus & Eurydice. Although I remember at the time thinking the $3.50 cover price was extortionate. I need to reread 1-5. For multi-issue storylines, I think Season of the Mists was the high point, although Garth Ennis's Dangerous Habits storyline in Hellblazer just a few months later covered much of the same ground, but did it better.
  13. Gatsby77
    Agreed that Civil War was less a Captain America film (at all) than it was Avengers 2.5 (and - given the storyline, rightfully so). But Ragnarok was overtly a Thor/Hulk film - it literally adapted one of the most famous / well-regarded Hulk storylines of the last 20 years - which drove the entire reason Thor was even on-planet. BTW - Silvermane is wrong about a great many things, particularly as regards Captain Marvel, but he's not wrong that it was a buddy team-up film between Carol Danvers and Nick Fury.
  14. Gatsby77
    100% false. It was overtly a buddy team-up movie between Hulk and Thor (or, at least Banner and Thor) - and an ingenious way to give us large aspects of the Planet Hulk storyline without having to do a solo (live action) Planet Hulk movie. And yes - by the end they're an entire team, including the (then-unlikely) Loki team-up and Valkyrie as well. If you think it was another solo Thor movie (a la Thor or The Dark World), you need to re-watch all three...
  15. Gatsby77
    Comics sales have no bearing on the success of comic book movies. None of the Spider-Man movies appreciably sales of the monthly Spider-Man sales - and those too, are far down from their 1990-1992 levels. The Christopher Nolan films didn't appreciably impact monthly Batman titles. Literally the only exceptions to this I can think of are: 1) the 1989 Batman movie - which not only increased Batman sales across-the-board but led to a dramatic increase in comic book collectors, period; and 2) The Walking Dead TV show - which dramatically increased the sales of - and interest in - the monthly book.
  16. Gatsby77
    If that's all you got out of it, I can't help you. That's like saying Titanic was garbage because all that happened was the ship sunk and some people died. Anyone who'd read House of M knew that to do this show right, all they had to do was show two things: 1) Wanda's one of the most powerful people in the MCU (esp. vs. say...Dr. Strange); and 2) She's totally bat-sh*t f--kn' nuts. It did exactly that, and did it beautifully.
  17. Gatsby77
    The story didn't lead "nowhere" just because it wasn't Mephisto, etc. Aside from the fact that the show announced in Ep. 7 that it was Agatha all along, the whole point was Wanda (and her fractured psyche) was the true villain. That was the appropriate choice - and similar in theme to those explored in Jessica Jones season 1.
  18. Gatsby77
    I'll take that bet. Even if 2021 (w/ Black Widow / Shang-Chi and The Eternals) turns out to be a "rebuilding year" for the MCU - I wouldn't bet against regular $1 bn.+ box offices for films (including Thor 4, Spider-Man 3, & Dr. Strange 3). The "only Avengers matters" theory ignores the $1b+ grosses of the following films: Captain Marvel: $1.1 bn. Spider-Man: Far From Home: $1.1 bn. Iron Man 3: $1.2 bn. Black Panther: $1.35 bn. And again - the argument that "Captain Marvel only made $1 bn.+ because of its relevance to Endgame" ignores that Ant Man & The Wasp was also in-between and critical to Endgame (with the introduction of the time travel tech) yet made less than $625 million worldwide. Captain Marvel was an unmitigated success on its own terms, not just because of the character hype from Infinity War/Endgame.
  19. Gatsby77
    WandaVision wasn't meant to appeal to your usual comic book fans. So I'll take the data over the individual opinions of geeks on a comic book message board. And it was (clearly) successful, given that it trended on Twitter every Friday it was released - sometimes Saturdays as well. But since we're trading anecdotes, most of the people I know who watched (and loved it) were: a) women; and b) non-comic book fans.
  20. Gatsby77
    ? Did you miss that both Wandavision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier had huge audiences? Even if Black Widow is a huge miss (can't wait what the reactions on this board will be if it grosses less than Captain Marvel), it's *far* too early to pass judgment on The Eternals.
  21. Gatsby77
    That's a great book, but "Dream of 1000 Cats" isn't even in my top 5 self-contained issues. I'd pick # 13, 19, 30, 50 and 38 over it. Those are the ones that have stuck with me most over the years. Although 18 would be # 6
  22. Gatsby77
    It's been so long that in the interim a Cloak and Dagger TV show was announced, cast, shot, ran two seasons and went off the air two years ago already.
  23. Gatsby77
    Flash's time travel powers so great we're sitting here in 2021 still waiting for a Flash movie announced in 2016.
  24. Gatsby77
    Nah - it’s because I was misremembering the CGC label. I used to own a few copies of Strange Tales 110 - the label notes “1st Paste Pot Pete and Wizard team-up.”
  25. Gatsby77
    Fair. I don’t collect & haven’t read Strange Tales before 110. But it still proves the point - he’s not a Fox character the way say...Kang arguably was (via Rama Tut). Rather, it’s likely they wanted to preserve the character because they have bigger plans for The Trapster in the MCU.