I got no candy for Halloween.
So a couple months ago, in a previous “End of Civilization” post, I poked a little fun at Wizard‘s promised Spider-Man 4 feature. Well, that issue is now here, so let’s see how well I guessed the contents.
Question #1 from the ad: “Will Sam Raimi Direct?”
What I said a couple months ago:
“Maybe…apparently he was asked at the 2007 San Diego Con about it, and he says he might, if he likes the script. However, they’re still short a scriptwriter for the fourth film.”
What Wizard says in the newest issue:
“‘I don’t know if I’ll just be a producer on it, but if I can work with the writer in such a way that directing would be right for me, I don’t know,’ teased [Raimi].”
Question #2 from the ad: “Does Tobey Maguire Return?”
What I said:
“If the studio dishes out the cash, sure. If not, no.”
What Wizard says:
“[Maguire says] ‘…If they come up with a good movie, and the whole team wants to come back together, then I’m up for it.'”
Article continues, mentioning his Robotech project possibly taking his time away from Spider-Man. Basically comes to similar, if less cynically put, conclusion as I do: maybe yes, maybe no.
Question #3 from the ad: “Who Will Be The Villains?”
What I said:
“Well, there’s that whole no scriptwriter thing, but of course the moneymen may want certain villains used that’ll make good toys, t-shirts, etc. But I’m guessing we’re probably not getting Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Venom, Sandman, or ‘Hobgoblin’ (or whoever Harry was supposed to be). We’re probably not getting Frogman or the White Rabbit, either. Unfortunately.”
What Wizard says:
Venom is “unconfirmed” (i.e. no), Goblin not likely, other new-to-the-film-franchise villains mentioned.
So, for the most part, I came pretty close, I think. The article is, as expected, a whole lot of speculation and no real answers beyond “maybe this’ll happen” and “maybe that actor will come back.” But then again, the movie is three or four years away, so what solid info was anyone expecting?
They also have one of Wizard‘s casting calls, where they do have a great suggestion for a new Peter Parker (you’ll just have to look yourself…or maybe I’ll talk about it on the site later), and Joss Whedon is suggested as a possible replacement for Raimi, to which I say a two word phrase that rhymes with “fat chance.”
That’s enough Wizard for the moment. There is a creator retrospective on “The Death of Superman” which, as readers of this site might guess, I had plenty of interest in, and, for some reason, a video game quiz where I was able to answer the questions about games from before 1984, and had no clue about the later ones.
I’m old.
Random speculation about Death of the New Gods: so, we haven’t seen the newest Mister Miracle, Shiloh Norman, yet. Having escaped the Life Trap in the Seven Soldiers event, perhaps Norman is going around trying to bring the other New Gods through a similar transcendental experience, taking them to a higher plane of being…an act that leaves their old bodies behind, with the appearance of having gone through a violent death.
And if they’re not really dying, perhaps that’s why the Source isn’t responding to their demises.
I realize none of that makes any sense to anyone not “in” on the whole Fourth World thing. My apologies. “It’s a Kirby thing…you wouldn’t understand.”
We had about a half-dozen Countdown and 52 titles this week. Seems to me being hit with so many at once is going to make customers have to pick and choose which ones they buy. And I suspect the ones that are starting this week (like Crime Bible) will be passed over in favor of tie-ins already being read. It’s possible that books skipped this week will be picked up in following weeks, but most of the time, superhero comics do the majority of their selling in their initial week of release. We’ll see what the cycle sheets say in a couple weeks.
Strip reprints of note this week:
Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories – a collection of strips from this site, and it will AFFECT YOUR BRAIN.
Zippy: Walk a Mile in My Muu-Muu – I really don’t know what to tell you about Zippy to convince you to read it at this point. Either you’re a Zippy person or you’re not a Zippy person. If you are a Zippy person…hey, more Zippy is out! Hurrah!
A follow-up to the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 news from Tuesday…the rest of the MST3K cast not involved in other MST-like projects, including the show’s creator (Joel Hodgson), and the original Mads (Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis Weinstein) — i.e. the original cast of the show — are starting Cinematic Titanic, yet another MST-a-like with riffing of bad films, only with the silhouettes at the screen’s side rather than at the bottom. Later additions to MST are also joining in…Mary Jo Pehl and the legendary TV’s Frank, Frank Conniff.
Pretty much the entire on-screen staff from MST3K is now involved in new projects doing what MST popularized…riffing on bad movies, with the seemingly ironic exception of MST3K.com itself, planning to focus (as far as I can tell) on animated shorts.
It’d be nice if all these folks somehow got together, worked out their differences (I seem to recall some word of friction behind the scenes) and produced full-fledged Mystery Science Theatre again. Clearly there’s some demand for MST-like material…a revival of actual MST would probably go great.
I know it really doesn’t matter…listening to Mike, Kevin, and Bill on a Rifftrax or on a Film Crew DVD is nearly identical to watching one of the latter day MSTs. Adding robot puppets and the Satellite of Love and the Hexfield and so on are probably unnecessary extras to the actual point of these things — the riffing on the film — but wouldn’t it be swell to have ’em back?
EDIT: I didn’t realize that the newest Mystery Science Theatre 3000 boxed DVD set, Volume 12, came out this week. There’s now a handy Amazon link to said set in the sidebar HINT HINT NUDGE.
Pretty much the only person I saw in costume at the shop yesterday was Employee Aaron, who was dressed as Air Pirates Mickey Mouse (basically, Mickey in aviator gear). How does one react to that?
Also, on the drive home from work, and on a drive over to a friend’s house that evening, I saw several young women dressed as Elastigirl from The Incredibles…apparently that was a popular costume this year. Who knew?