Iron Man 2: Course Corrected

My impression of Iron Man 2 is that Favreau and Co. held a focus group and made some adjustments from the first wildly popular film to try to give this one even more mass appeal.

For one, the movie was clearly more family-friendly – without losing any of the fun or thrills. While the original Iron Man was riddled with corpses, multiple scenes of torture and civilians being killed, this new and improved Iron Man keeps the killing off-camera. The only “thing” you see biting the dust are machines. (Yes, The Black Widow goes on a rampage through Hammer headquarters, but that’s ass-kicking, there’s no bloody shooting, stabbing, blowing to smithereens as in Tony’s adventures in Afghanistan.) 

Kids and parents will be less uncomfortable watching together since Tony’s not bedding giggling girls or cracking wise about every woman in sight as he did in the first movie. In fact, he mostly gets shot down – and not just by his leggy assistant, Pepper.

The pacing of IM-2 was also a welcome change. The action is spread throughout the movie with less extended fight scenes.  Interestingly enough, the most exciting and tense fight sequence is between Tony Stark and best buddy, Rhodey, soon-to-be War Machine. It’s tense because there’s so much at risk: the onlookers, Tony’s incredible mansion, and most importantly, the friends’ survival and that of their relationship.

The final battle between villain and hero is over quickly without the extended (yawn…), bloated, cartooney CGI of the first movie.

Another big change is the switch in actors playing Rhodey. My husband, Michael, tells me that they didn’t replace Terrance Howard because of his performance, more like his inability to get along. The casting of Don Cheadle reminds of how amazing this cast is: we’ve got Oscar nominated and winning actors in Downey, Paltrow, and Johanssen, now Cheadle.  I admit -  I love him in most anything he does. Again, he doesn’t disappoint.

While I enjoyed most of the movie – much of it even more than the first – there was a downside: way too much time devoted to trying to get me interested in The Avengers. Samuel L. Jackson held my interest but otherwise, sorry, no sale. Will Tony be asked to be an Avenger? Will he want to be one? What do they do? Who cares?  Not me.  I was much more interested in Tony, Tony’s health (that palladium is ruining it!), Tony and Pepper, Tony and Rhodey, and (yes, I’m a crazy bird lady) the fate of Whiplash’s cockatoo.

Mickey Rourke was an excellent villain – subtly menacing. Heck, he’s scary enough looking, he doesn’t need to go around beating people up like most movie bad guys.  It was much more interesting and tense to watch him not take someone down. You kept waiting for it. 

Having spent a good part of my childhood at the ’65 World’s Fair, I loved the Stark Expo set and the significance of the big Unisphere – I’ll never look at my beloved souvenir pin the same way again! Halfway through the movie I thought I was watching an episode of LOST as Tony watched old films of his Dad and finally got some closure. Do all super-heroes have Daddy issues?

Whether you compare IM2 to the original, you’ll still enjoy it. While I love an origin movie, I loved this sequel – more action, more fun, less silly CGI fight scenes, more family-friendly. Kids will love the exchange between Iron Man and a little boy in the midst of the last big battle!

RATING:

I give it a 9.2 – that’s Near Mint Minus (NM-) on the Comic Book Grading Scale!

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Thanks, Tina for your above review and the rating!

And by the way... Here's the Link to Tina's earlier 'My Take' on Iron Man 1: http://bit.ly/abTIOE which she gave an 8.75 out of 10.0 in the comic book grading scale!

AND My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,125 total posts in number!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store carries many different Marvel Comics titles including IRON MAN Comics at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

Usually we see the comic book movies on their Opening Day, but with the staggered world-wide release schedule for this film, it didn't make that big of a deal for us to be there on opening day what with our schedules...

Also, there are just minor SPOILER ALERTS here. Because after all, I am just blogging my reactions to the film in general, not in specific scenes, (for the most part).

Additionally I am doing something different in this blog post, as it is so late, it's 7PM PST here in the San Diego area, and I want to get this blogged ASAP.

So I'm going to post what I believe are my thoughts on the PROS / CONS / SUGGESTED VIEWING FOR / AND MY RATING.  Here's 'My Take':

PROS:

Tony Stark / Iron Man / Robert Downey Jr. - Excellent continuation of the Tony Stark that I enjoyed in Iron Man 1.

'Natalie Rushman' / Natasha Romanov' / "Black Widow" / Scarlett Johansson -  Although not named as such (Black Widow), her real appearance near the end of the film showed how useful she could be, besides being eye candy!

Virginia 'Pepper' Potts / Gwyneth Paltrow - More screen time this time AND worth the wait!  Plus the ending scene was alright in my book!

Whiplash / Ivan Vanko / Mickey Rourke - 'Humanized' with the cockatoo scenes.  I'm glad that he (Mickey) suggested bringing the bird in to the director!

Justin Hammer / Sam Rockwell - Darn good acting in this role. My only thought was that in the comics, Justin was a much older man.  Here in this film he is about Tony's age.  Not Sam's fault, and he plays this role very well.

Nick Fury / Samuel L Jackson - More screen time in this film.  Mostly good for me, however, just like in the Marvel Comics, I feel there is a 'continued' story going on.  Will it upset mainstream film goers that there is this 'to be continued story' subplot going on...???

Happy Hogan / Jon Favreau - I'm glad that Jon gave himself more screen time in this film!  I'm a fan of the old Pepper Potss / Happy Hogan  / Tony Stark triangle from the really old days!

CGI usage - Not as overbearing or as tedious as in the 1st Film.  The fight scenes were not as long, which was good for me!  I have found I don't like the long drawn cartoonish CGI scenes in these comic book movies.

Senator Stern / Gary Shandling - Really came across well in this role.

JARVIS / Voice of Paul Bettany - The interchange between JARVIS and Tony was even better this time.

Christine Everheart / Leslie Bibb - Nice to see Leslie reprising her reporter role from the 1st Film.

The Iron Man Armors - Still enjoying the designs by Adi Granov who was involved with both the 1st and 2nd Films!

Stan Lee / as '___" - Well, I'll let you figure that one out!  But I did enjoy the cameo...'Nuff Said! 

CONS:

RATING:

Near Mint Minus (NM-) 9.2 - This 2nd Film appealed to the 'fanboy' in me.  And when I say 'fanboy', I mean way back to 1963 when Iron Man first started in 'Tales of Suspense' #39!

And by the way... Here's the Link to 'My Take' on Iron Man 1: http://bit.ly/dCL7Tk which I gave an 8.5 out of 10.0 in the comic book grading scale!

One last thing... And I couldn't let this review end without saying something about in particular about the film. But Please Note: 

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!

I waited for YEARS for something to happen between Pepper & Tony...Sheesh!

!!! END -  SPOILER ALERT!!!!   

My thanks to Tina LoSasso for attending this Opening Weekend with me and looking forward to reading her review in tomorrow's blog post.

I'll copy it here for all to see at that time!

AND My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,125 total posts in number!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store carries many different Marvel Comics titles including IRON MAN Comics at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

'Belladonna' introduced me to 'her' OGN, as I walked by her table in the Artists Alley section of the comic con.

The cover art of the OGN grabbed me.  Take another look at the orange / black / white colored cover in the photos above.

It also didn't 'hurt' that the model 'Belladonna' was there alongside the display with photos from earlier appearances. I'm sure that alone would have caused several con attendees to stop and talk with 'Belladonna'!

However, I'm reviewing the OGN here... 

So what's it about? Here's the Press Release Info:

"Annabelle, a beautiful woman, is gunned down, smashed up, and wakes up with full amnesia after a long coma, without any clues to her real identity. But when someone tries to execute her, she learns that she was the world’s most vicious assassin. Now she must live under New York City among the homeless, and in the process she becomes the city’s most unlikely hero."

AND THIS:

"Ben Ross (w) • J.K. Woodward (a & c)

The tables are turned on the worlds most beautiful-and most vicious-assassin. Gunned down, comatose in a city hospital for months, and with no clue to her identity, she eventually awakens. Fully recovered but with no memory and few clues to her past, she sets out on a dangerous journey to discover who she is-But will she like what she finds? Art for this special one-shot by Fallen Angel's J.K. Woodward!"

PLUS THIS ONE:

FC • 48 pages • $7.99 ISBN-13: 978-1600107313

"Within Belladonna the tables are turned on the worlds most beautiful-and most vicious-assassin. Gunned down, comatose in a city hospital for months, and with no clue to her identity, she eventually awakens. Fully recovered but with no memory and few clues to her past, she sets out on a dangerous journey to discover who she is-But will she like what she finds? Art for this special one-shot by Fallen Angel's J.K. Woodward!”

So what's 'My Take' on this OGN?

First:  The Front Cover - Very Striking!

Inside Front Cover - Credits plainly stated after such a striking front cover, which BTW are:

Written by Ben Ross / Artwork by J.K. Woodward / Letters by Amauri Osorio & Chris Mowry / Edits by Scott Dunbier / Published by IDW.

Splash Page - Starts right in with the action!

The rest of the interior pages:

The storyline - well written & keeps flowing, drawing me into finishing it in one reading!

The artwork - really well illustrated and excellent use of panels.

The coloring - meshed very well with the mood struck by the storyline, and added, not detracted, to the artwork.

The lettering / sound effects - well placed and very readable without interferring with the artwork.

Plus: No ads within the OGN with the exception of the inside back cover - an IDW 'House' Ad.

Back Cover - Well written promo for the story inside and is awell illustrated page.

This OGN is a very polished, professional publication!

I found it to hold my interest from Front Cover to the Back Cover!

This OGN was released on 2-24-10, so finding it at the April 2010 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con was pretty close to it's initial release date.

For more info on how to obtain the OGN, AND interact with 'Belladonna' herself, please check this Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/belladonna22410

My thanks to 'Belladonna' for bringing her OGN to my attention at the con, and to Ben Ross for submitting it for possible review! 

AND My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,125 total posts in number!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store carries many different genres of comics and graphic novels, including CRIME Comics at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

 

This print copy is officially available in May and can be purchased via the Facebook Fan Page that I will link to at the bottom of this review.

This 'Zero Issue' is the introduction to the five part mini-series that will follow this Summer.

If the name of the title sounds familar, it's because "The Enforcers: Zero Issue was originally released in limited edition in 2005. 5 years later, Three J Productions, LLC is proud to now release The Director's Cut, expanded and colorized".

So what's it about? Here's the Press Release Info:

"Senator Lawrence Fulton brings together the most unlikely candidates to make up his elite group of D.E.A. agents known as The Enforcers.  Their mission is to put an end to the east coast drug cartel known as The Alliance.”

So what's 'My Take' on this?

First:  The Front Cover - From the number of characters on the front cover, I could see it was going to be a 'team book', which generally when one of those are first introduced, a new reader may be a little hesitant to jump in on, because of lack of knowledge of the characters presented on the front cover...

So, if I was looking at this comic book on the shelf at my LCBS, would I pick it up and look inside?  After all, it's the logo / title / artwork / front cover scene that would entice me to do so... or not.

In this case the characters and the title showed me enough to want to open up to the inside page.

Which led to the explanation of the names credited on the bottom of the front cover, plus more.  Good presentation there on the inside front cover!

Then what would have been the 'splash page' turned out to be  the first of two pages of intro / character bios & sketches to The Enforcers, (see 2nd photo top left of this blog), who are the 'Good Guys',and then the 'Bad Guys' on the next page.

Great idea!  With TEN different characters presented with character sketches and brief bios - I as the reader had a 'scorecard' to help me through the story which was next!

The story started immediately with a full page art page, which served as the 'splash page', and then the action started when turning that page!

Action... plus character introductions... Plus good pacing!

Actually very good pacing, considering there are to be five more issues of this mini-series!

What would be considered 'house ads' were left for the ending pages of this issue... Three pages of those, then the Editor's Page with 'the history of Three J Productions LLC'.

The inside back cover could also be considered a semi-house ad, telling the reader that this comic was 'designed, colored, and lettered by Ed Traquino', with an email addy and web site.

The Back Cover was the Ka-Blam (the printer) ad, with the Ka-Blam Girl pictured, which was the only thing that seemed out of place in this entire issue.  Don't get me wrong... when I see this printer's page, I know that the printing job will be a good one, but the Ka-Blam Girl seemed a little out of place after seeing all of the earlier pages on the back cover itself. 

(Note: I do know that the page itself can be removed if the publisher pays more for the removal of the printer's house ad on the back cover, which most comics creators elect not to do, because of the additional cost.)

So, you ask me... What's My Take on this issue?

I'll tell you this much... I'm ready for the next issue to be published!

Why?  This was a Good Set Up of character sketches / bios to introduce the characters, plus sets up an actual storyline... EXACTLY what a 'Zero Issue' should do!

I'm suggesting that you get on board with this mini-series at the very begining with this Zero Issue.

This Zero Issue written by Carl Herring Jr. starts this series off right IMO. 

The artwork by Tod Smith fits perfectly with this genre!

I'm not for sure why the 'guest inker', Steve Montano, only inked pages 1 - 6, but I didn't see any real 'break' in style in the latter pages.

The colors, letters, and design by Ed Traquino flowed well with the storyline and art.

This was a Very Good Start for this series and I look forward to seeing the series' "1st Issue" this Summer!  As I stated earlier, producing at 'team book' is much harder to do well, than most readers would think!

Here is the link for seeing more on this series and YOUR chance to be interactive with the creators.  Plus the link as to where to buy this Zero Issue:

You don't have to be a Facebook member to see the Fan Page. But if YOU are a Facebook Member feel free to 'Like' / 'Fan' them at their Facebook Fan Page by clicking here!

My thanks to Carl Herring Jr. for submitting the Zero Issue of this comic book title for possible review!

(Oh...Carl also submitted an earlier title to me. To see my review on Crime Wave Anthology Volume 1, just click here!)

AND My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,125 total posts in number!

~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com

Note: Our online comic book store carries many different genres of comics and graphic novels, including CRIME and Team Titles at:

http://www.comicbookscircus.com/

 

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"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!"       Note: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:     Make It So Marketing Inc. PO Box 130653 Carlsbad, CA 92013

Check Out More Of Our Own Endeavors:   Yeah, that's me in the photo shown to the left, taken at the 1973 San Diego Comic Con! I first set up as a 'dealer' at the 1972 SDCC at the El Cortez Hotel. So I've been around comic conventions for a little while, LOL!   Tina and I now have an on-line exhibitor table at the first "virtual" comic con titled the "Facebook Comic Con" (FBCC)! You can view our table and interact with us there on Facebook by clicking this link.  So if YOU are a Facebook member, please 'join' our Facebook Comic Con - Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, links to this blog, and other wall comments that we post every day!    Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.         ------------------- Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed. Just click on the link provided in this paragraph! ~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com   WEB PAGE NOTE:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently. The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768. NOTE; All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.