Comictastic + News?
Following up from my previous post about online comics, here is another one about the transfer of comics to film.
Marvel has raised $525 million to independently finance 10 movies based on its comics over seven years. The titles named are Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. The company's also changing its name from Marvel Enterprises to Marvel Entertainment
Sounds good doesn't it? I do like the recent transfers, with Tim Burton's Batman/Returns and Batman Begins, plus the Spider-Man and Hulk ones. They were very good indeed.
Haven't seen Fantastic Four yet, just haven't had time to go to the cinema with Icy. Though we spent her birthday (yesterday) together and we had a great time :)
On another note, New Orleans is dominating the news right now. But I am wondering - what exactly is happening in Afghanistan (new era), Iran (new leader), Iraq (new freedom), and SE Asia (recently flooded)? The news is very particular - so its a question of 'where to go to get REAL news' rather than the stuff they want you to read?
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tnn
Marvel has raised $525 million to independently finance 10 movies based on its comics over seven years. The titles named are Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack and Shang-Chi. The company's also changing its name from Marvel Enterprises to Marvel Entertainment
Sounds good doesn't it? I do like the recent transfers, with Tim Burton's Batman/Returns and Batman Begins, plus the Spider-Man and Hulk ones. They were very good indeed.
Haven't seen Fantastic Four yet, just haven't had time to go to the cinema with Icy. Though we spent her birthday (yesterday) together and we had a great time :)
On another note, New Orleans is dominating the news right now. But I am wondering - what exactly is happening in Afghanistan (new era), Iran (new leader), Iraq (new freedom), and SE Asia (recently flooded)? The news is very particular - so its a question of 'where to go to get REAL news' rather than the stuff they want you to read?
--
tnn
I'm also sad to say that I got a little bit excited to see some pictures from the new (Bryan Singer directed) Superman film in a magazine. Looks good.
FF is entertaining, but not as good as the spidey films (IMHO)... it's straightforward entertainment, and none the worse for that.
flame on!
ST
Have you heard of the City of Heroes/Villains MMORPG computer game?
Well, Marvel are taking NCSoft, the makers to court over
"copyright" issues because players are making "characters" that look like their superheroes.
I'm sorry but that's just stupid. They might as well serve notices to all the school kids who call themselves "Wolverine" as they run around playgrounds.
I do like Marvel comics but I won't be buying or watching any of their movies until they stop their business practise of bullying other companies.
There is NO point in hollywood of making a film if it is not for Money! Profit is the keystone of our advanced society (I'm damn sure of this, its bloomin scary but it differentiates capitalism from communism according to my narrow and incorrect view of things ;-)
So tell me Crucifer, if Marvel were NOT in the market for making money, why would they ever create new superheros or pay Stan Lee to draw em?
Hence, their suing of another company is just another american-legalese way of making (actually protecting) profit. Though in most sue-cases, money is made in penalty payments.
I for one, have no issues with this, since I do believe profit is a good motivator for innovation and stuff like that. However, I do believe in a thick line between profit and obscene rip off as my posts on Tesco/BP/etc have remarked when said companies posted profits in the order of BILLIONS of pounds! (and now we ask - why is my petrol so expensive?)
Marvel makes comics, sure. Comics get made into films and games, sure.
Of course Marvel should defend their copyrights but who exactly are they defending it from?
In this particular case, Marvel's argument is that their audience cannot create superheroes that resemble - even remotely in any way - their products in any medium whatsoever (be it a computer game, lego, clay, etc).
Want another example of Marvel's anal retentiveness?
Try Marvel's lawsuit against Marvelman (now Miracleman). A British comic book character from the 50's (predating Marvel) that was blocked from publication because "it could be seen to infringe upon Marvel's identity" - never mind that any reader could see the character was in no way affiliated with Marvel.
Take into consideration that DC Comics have not said anything about NCSoft infringing upon THEIR copyrighted characters and you have a lot of people who were once Marvel fans wondering why their idol are trying to stop them from enjoying themselves.