Tag: greg land

Geekscape Comics: Kieron Gillen Talks About ‘IRON MAN’ Relaunch For Marvel NOW!

by Shawn Madden

Marvel NOW! is coming soon and with it we will see the relaunch of Iron Man by Kierron Gillen and Greg Land. Check out a first look at the book as well as excerpts from the interview with Gillen telling us what to expect from the series.

Gillen on what to expect from the book theme wise:

It’s funny, he’s moved his position a bit and his heart roams but the main thing is the question of belief. Anyone reading AvX can see what Tony is going through and he’s wrestling with stuff he doesn’t normally touch. It’s him looking at two plus two and asking why it equals four. That’s kind of the heart, the underlying theme of [IRON MAN], the idea that Tony Stark starts prodding areas where he hasn’t prodded as much before, while at the same time being a clear scientific, technological book. I stress, I’m not trying to turn Iron Man into Mystic Knight in issue one. That was the joke for a while actually, I had a list of ideas of everything I could possibly do and after looking at it I thought, “This is the worst thing I can possibly do.”

The symbolism that I bring immediately into the book [is] a lot like the Arthurian concept of the grail-knight: the idea that Tony Stark is the grail-knight, or at least aspiring to be the grail-knight. When we meet him he’s left Resilient and he’s digging into what’s going on. Pepper has a line in the first issue saying, “Oh, you’re not having a midlife crisis are you? Just buy yourself a suit of armor.” That’s where we start and he begins to ask questions.

The story will focus on him questioning things about himself and trying to find out exactly how the universe ticks, what’s this all about and why he does this anyway. It’s going to be one of the major themes of the book going forward. For as long as I’m on the book it will be one of the two major themes I’m working on, like on UNCANNY X-MEN [with] the theme of power and the corruption thereof.

On exploring Tony’s relationships with women and single issue stories:

Oh hell yeah. It’s actually a key part of my second theme. I’m going to explore Tony and his relationship with women. I’m interested in Tony’s selection of women in everything, from his mom, to Pepper, to the random people he’s sleeping with and everything that relates to them. He’s a complicated guy and he does bad things occasionally without thinking. Well, not [without] thinking exactly but he’s not always thinking about the right thing. He’s not the distracted genius but he always has something else going on.

Matt Fraction did a brilliant take on the corporate figure and his run is a defining arc, so I’m staying away from it. Tony is still a scientist and will still be working on the armor but it’s all about him going out into the world and the whole grail-knight comparison. All the traditional corporate motifs are there but they’re not the primary drive of the book. Tony will be in the armor a lot, he’ll be going out into the world.

The first five issues will be single stories that will share [both] a defining motif and a plot but it will be Iron Man facing new instances of technology and each is basically a new villain. Each issue will illuminate something about Tony and they’re all very different. Issue two is a lot like the Bruce Lee Kung-Fu Island story; it’s like a joust, it’s all about the knight imagery, essentially going to a tournament. Issue three is like a ninja story, Tony Stark trying to be a full-on stealth master, issue four is a horror story and issue five is something a little more romantic and scientific but I’m going to keep that one under wraps.

I really want to mix it up with single issue stories because I think that quite a few people are feeling the same way. Single issues are an exciting place to go and anyone can jump on with any of the first five issues, not just issue #1. [In] each of those issues I introduce Iron Man; I say something meaningful about a character that you may know already and I want it to be accessible and to pop. That’s the thing with Greg Land: his photorealistic style really pops and it’s a glamorous book in that way.

On Greg Land’s art and if he can draw a “pretty glamorous party”:

He can! Issue #2 is Tony at the top of a hotel sitting in a recliner next to a pool working on an Iron Man helmet with people enjoying a party around him. That’s just how Tony would roll. That stuff is going to be really interesting. The opening scene of the first issue has Tony admiring a view and telling himself that he’s seen so much that any man would question what’s before him and yet he never did. That’s what the end of the five issues [is] going to be like.

As opposed to doing the [morphing] armor, he’s doing precision-based tech. He’ll have to switch out arms and legs. His argument being that you can get more kick out of a specific tool and the theme [of it will] be about making choices and living with it. It will be like choosing a specific suit for a specific mission, taking a certain arm configuration and taking a different piece off. There will be a lot of changes in the armor throughout the series; in the first five issues there will be a different armor every issue.

Source: Marvel

 

Geekscape’s Before First Class: What if a Thunderbolts Movie Had Been Made in the 70’s?!

by Joe Starr

With an announced sequel to X Men: First Class, and the rumors of a rebooted 1960’s Fantastic Four, retro Marvel is officially IN. This has led Geekscape to wonder: what if different Marvel franchises had actually been released in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s?

Or, maybe you think it’s stupid to cast a Marvel movie in a different decade, justify the lineup, and pitch a plot. Well, that’s why we at Geekscape consider ourselves to be heroes, in a way. We waste our time doing the stupid things the world is afraid to do. Last time, we shook the 90’s to their very core with a 1994 X Men film. And then people dared to believe that John Ritter had no place in an 80’s Avengers movie! Now it’s time to annoy the internet with the power of the 70’s!

The Pitch: The superheroes are all dead. In the distant future of 2009, masked vigilantes have been outlawed, and the government has tasked Norman Osborn, formerly the psychotic criminal Green Goblin, to lead a wetworks team of villains to track them down in exchange for full pardons. Only a few remain…Will the Thunderbolts silence these heroic outlaws, or can Power Man, Iron Fist, and Misty Knight make the nation believe in heroes once more?!

Justice…like 70’s grindhouse lightning!

I’ve got some NSFW video evidence for you.

I can’t even think of any jokes, really. Charles Napier is the god damn Goblin. Next.

Screw Fun With Dick and Jane and screw it’s eventual remake. Thunderbolts is Jane Fonda’s comeback film. Plus, the Moonstone Workout is going to sell like crazy. Since a lot of the feedback on these articles has been “special effects weren’t up to par to do these movies,” we’re going to adapt the characters for the grindhouse cult classic that we’re making. Even though that opinion is dumb and misses the point of the articles, which is to have fun and talk about John Ritter and watch Charles Napier murder someone. Anyway, 70’s Grindhouse Moonstone has the power of making herself intangible and being a manipulative bitch. And showing her boobs, probably.

If the 70’s taught us anything, it’s that David Carradine is the best Asian actor in the world. I can’t think of a better actor to represent China. 70’s Grindhouse Radioactive Man is radioactive. He probably melts people’s faces off. And since David Carradine is the greatest martial artist of the 70’s, he probably knows Kung Fu AND Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.

A movie like this is all about getting credibility with the fans. We’ve got David Carradine on board, and he is the greatest martial arts star to grace the small and big screens. Some other folks are bringing the Hollywood cred, so now we need to play to the nerds with Songbird being played by Mara Jensen, AKA Athena on Battlestar Galactica! BONUS: She’s dating Don Henley, so keep your fingers crossed and we can get ‘Thunderbolts of Summer’ on the soundtrack. 70’s Grindhouse Songbird uses her sonic scream to reluctantly fight for the man.

In my yearbook, I got the senior superlative of ‘most likely to be an actor.’ Lame and way off the mark. Malcolm McDowell’s was ‘most likely to bind the skin of a dead loved one into the handle of a sword to retain her power’ so I feel like Andreas von Strucker is a good fit for him. Plus he may not have gotten the message across in Clockwork Orange. 70’s Grindhouse Swordsman bound the skin of his dead sister onto the handle of a sword and he’s a bad ass crazy swordsman. What’s the point of that? Would you want to mess with a guy that probably turned his parents into lamps? Hell, give me Superman’s powers. I’m still not going near this guy.

Sweet Christmas, its Black Caesar! Shaft may have been a bad mother, but he didn’t have the build for Power Man. There’s only one hero of blaxploitation that can wear the tiara: Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson! 70’s Grindhouse Luke Cage has bulletproof skin, dreamy eyes, and the ability to be the subject of fierce debate about movie racism in some film history class someday.

His grand return as a martial arts hero! The lead character and star of Enter of the Dragon, JOHN SAXON! He’s already got the kung fu credibility, AND Saxon can pull off the billionaire playboy side of Bruce Wayne Tony Stark Lamont Cranston Danny Rand. I wanted to put Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu in this movie too, but there weren’t any big Asian action stars at the time and David Carradine is already playing Radioactive Man. Is this joke old yet?

There’s no one else to play Misty Knight except for Pam Grier. Misty IS Pam. If Greg Land was drawing a Misty Knight book, he’d be tracing Pam Grier. And porn. Greg Land traces porn.

The man that can’t miss should also be the man with no punctuation: Christopher Walken. If Bullseye wasted time worrying about having a normal human sounding flow to his voice, he might start not hitting people with sharp things. Honestly, Walken already has a lot in common with Bullseye. He’s done the Russian roulette thing in Deer Hunter, he’s got crazy eyes and he’s killed a Greek woman.

The Director

It’s got to be Paul Bartel, the director of the most important landmark movie in the 70’s: DEATH RACE 2000! And some episodes of Clueless: The TV Series.

Watch the credits bump scene for a special appearance by THE DOBERMAN GANG!