FPcast for July 20th 2015: Ant-Man!

This week we put Marvel's newest hero under the microscope when we review Ant-Man! And then we pick on people our own size by giving a rigorous look at this weeks trailers and pop culture news! Let us shrink down into your ears and tell you everything we think about it!

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And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group! And you can now get bonus episodes by subscribing/supporting us on Patreon!

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for February 16th 2015! Fifty Shades of Gravy!

Happy belated Valentines Day! We take the bullet and review the not-remotely-sexy but wonderfully hilarious Fifty Shades of Grey! Plus we talk Spider-Man in the MCU, Del Toro's Crimson Peak, Australia joins Eurovision, Baldwin Supanova update, and we redo our lists of celebrities we have super crushes on. Love love love love!

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And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group!

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for November 3rd 2014! Meet John Wick!

This week we dissect and discuss Marvel's announced movie plans for the next bazillion years. We review the absolutely beautiful new Studio Ghibli film The Tale of Princess Kaguya, and the slick Keanu Reeves revenge flick, John Wick! And, as promised, we eat a bizarre selection of American Halloween treats! Put what we put in our mouths in your ears!

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And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group!

Guardians of the Galaxy

You should absolutely believe the hype about Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. It's funny; it has some great characters, great special effects and a great little self-contained story. On the eve of it's release in Australia I recommend you all see it. More than once.

Follow me under the cut for a little more.

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for November 18th 2013! Pieces of Eight!

It's a short one this week as Luke and Courtney sleepily muse on the ancient Angelina Jolie in the Maleficent trailer, Big Russ Crowe as Noah, a new Star Trek director, Monster High, the Lego Marvel video game and... Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor's, return to the screen! Plug this lean 35 minutes into your face!

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FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits podcast for November 11th, 2013! Nightwhinge!

This week Luke and Jacinta soberly and succinctly discuss new Nightwing rumours in Superman vs Batman movie, Ghostbusters III, leaked Transformers 4 dinobots, Marvel television news, new World of Warcraft and MORE! Stick it in your nerd hole!

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And why not subscribe to our nonsense on iTunes?

Thor: The Dark World Review

There's nothing I live for more than sitting down and checking out the latest movie from Marvel Studios. I may be a little biased with the Avengers logo tattooed on my wrist but I don't think there's been a series as solid and enjoyable over the course of so many films.

This movie is our eighth film the series. Eight movies that can both stand on their own and stand together in a cohesive universe. That's a remarkable achievement. Personally I don't think there's been a bad movie in the bunch. Iron Man 2 and the Incredible Hulk may be often bagged out but they aren't horrible by any means. Some of my friends may disagree but I really enjoyed Iron Man 3. Marvel have the formula down to a fine art.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Perth premiere of Thor: The Dark World last night at Event Cinemas Innaloo. (The goings on at the premiere itself were fantastic and I'll cover those in a separate post.)

Does the movie continue Marvel's run of fantastic blockbusters?

Thursday Threesome: Marvel Now!

These days I will read comics from any source. From the blockbuster Marvel and DC books to alternative stuff from Vertigo and Image to self published stuff funded on Kickstarter. If it's good, I'll read it. Deep down though, I'm a lifelong Marvel guy. I cut my teeth on Spider-Man during the Clone Saga and haven't missed an issue since. I delved further into the universe on the back of Heroes Return picking up The Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Iron Man. I resisted X-Men for a very long time but finally succumbed during Schism. I now read almost the entire Marvel line.

This may be a big call, but I think this current crop of books launched during Marvel Now! is some of the highest quality I've read in 20 years of reading from the House of Ideas.

Marvel Now is, of course, in response to DC's New 52 relaunch. Same kind of idea, just a little less harsh. Instead of rebooting the whole universe from scratch Marvel kept their universe and history intact and simply launched a bunch of new series which made great jumping on points for new readers. While we still had an Iron Man, Thor, Hulk (etc) series they were fresh new takes on the characters with great new creative teams.

I've now set myself the difficult task of picking my favourite three ongoings of the line.

Who made the cut? Let's find out in this week's Thursday Threesome.

The Book Was Better Podcast Episode 57 - Elektra (with guest host Brett!)

The Book Was Better is the podcast where we read, discuss and make fun of the (often) hastily written novelizations of (usually) terrible films!

This week we ninja-flip into Marvel's most maligned movie monstrosity by reading the junior novelization of the Daredevil spin-off that nobody wanted - Elektra! And helping me unravel all this convoluted nonsense is comic aficionado and friend of the show, Brett. This is the one Marvel film I had never seen, and not even resurrection, Terence Stamp, spontaneous combustion or cartoon snakes can rescue this one, friends!

You can download it right now on the official site!

Or why not subscribe to us on iTunes, like us on Facebook, or join the heady discussion on our Facebook group!

Thor: The Dark World Trailer Analysis

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek: Into Darkness and now Thor:The Dark World, darkness everywhere! But really no one's bothering to put any effort into these titles anymore are they?

 Avengers seems like it would be a hard act to follow, it's like the Apocalypse in Supernatural, where do you go after the biggest possible event has already happened? Why don't the Avengers call on each other for assistance in future films? How do you keep them separate? But Marvel seems to have everything nicely planned out, Iron Man 3 was just as big and just as fun and we see how Tony Stark dealt with the events of the Avengers and he's put in a situation where he's not only unable to call his team mates for back-up, but he's out of contact with everyone.

Not that they would be able to help, seems like the rest of the Avengers are busy with their own problems, we are now seeing on-screen what we have had in comics for decades, superheroes easily forming teams and just as easily going off on their own adventures. That's a really difficult thing to do in film, it requires all the individual components to work just as well autonomously as they do united.
And I must give Marvel props for that, each member of the Avengers can carry a film, or a series of them on their own.

 So what's the God of Thunder up to?

New Thor: The Dark World Trailer Hits

DROP EVERYTHING.

The new trailer for Thor: The Dark World has just been unleashed on us puny mortals. Let's take a few minutes from our short, insignificant lives and have a look!

Well, Marvel sure know their audience. That sure was Loki heavy. If you listen closely you can hear tumblr collectively squeeing. The scope and stakes look a hell of a lot higher this time around and we get a role reversal with Jane being the outsider in Thor's home.

Look for our favourite god (and Thor as well) to rise again in theatres on October 31st here in Australia.

SDCC 13 MARVEL Panel: Avengers 2 is called Age of Ultron, Karen Gillan is Bald, Loki Wants You to Kneel and MORE!

Have just been following the barrage of tweets from Marvel's Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic Con and the hyperbole would lead me to believe that it was the best one yet. I assume far more info will be teased out over the coming days, but here's the key things you need to know...

Marvel kicked things off in a big way when Tom Hiddleston, in full costume and character as Loki took to the stage to tell everyone to kneel... Watch this new HD video...

But although the response to Thor 2 was strong, more excitement has been generated for the first trailer for Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. Both Chris Evans and Scarlett Johannsson where in attendance and the relationship between Cap and Black Widow is said to be very integral to the story. Described as an "odd couple" it has been said that they very much share the movie. Also there was Samuel L. Jackson who will reprise the role of Nick Fury, and newcomer Anthony Mackie who plays the flying hero Falcon. People are going nuts over the footage shown, which is said to be packed full of badassery (including Black Widow badassery) and even some Robert Redford who I believe plays Fury's boss.

But it was the Guardians of the Galaxy part of the panel - followed by a big announcement regarding The Avengers 2, that garnered the most surprising reveals! For more on that, join me... after the jump!

Supanova: George Perez's Comics Masterclass

Supanova is upon us once again. The really dedicated geeks amongst us descended upon Claremont Showgrounds in the cold for Preview Night. It's a chance to see some of the guests a little early at the official opening, see a couple special panels and get a head start on autograph tokens.

For me it was a chance to get some time with a living legend of the comics world. George Perez hosted an intimate little seminar, his comics masterclass. It was an opportunity to watch him explain his craft both verbally and physically as he sketched some rough pages live in front of the audience.

George of course is one of the legends of the industry. Having broke his teeth on The Avengers in the late seventies he moved on to such seminal works as The New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Man of Steel, The Infinity Gauntlet and the true classic Crisis on Infinite Earths. Personally, my favourite work was his late nineties run on The Avengers with Kurt Busiek. This is still, to this day, the definitive run on Earth's Mightiest Heroes in my opinion

So what did I learn from the old master tonight?  Hit the jump and find out!

Supanova Perth - Supastar Guests of Comics! (by Cem Selamet!)

Here's a first post by new contributor Cem Selamet! Please make him welcome and look for more of him on the site soon...

There’s something really electrifying about meeting the very legends of industry who you’ve spent hours, months or years idolising their work. Like me, most fans will find it liberating to talk a writer about a scene that touched them, or an art panel that blew them away, having them turn the page back and re-read it a few more times.

This week in Perth, Supanova Pop Culture Expo will host a phenomenal lineup of writers, artists, and collaborators from the Comic industry. These Silver, Bronze and Modern Age comic creators are a definite must-see.

If you’ve ever been a fan of X-Men stories The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, or even nostalgically recall the 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series, you’ve got to meet Chris Claremont, the writer responsible for so much of Marvel’s X-Universe. Claremont’s time on X-Men holds the record for the longest stint (running from 1975 to 1991), and during this time he created and expanded not only the cast, but also explored a variety of social issues not being covered at the time in the comics industry. Claremont will be hosting a seminar (Saturday 3:10pm), and will be in the Supa-Star Signing Area over the course of the weekend. 

Many more... after the jump!

Capey's Comic Convention Commission Etiquette

It’s 9am and freezing cold out the front of some convention centre. Geeks of all shapes and sizes are queued up, ready to pounce. For some it will be a mad dash to get a chance for a photo with their favourite celebrity, for others it’s to get that first bargain or rarity before someone else snaps it up. For me, it’s a sprint to artist’s alley to meet my artistic heroes of the comic world.

The comic penciler is part artist, part cinematographer, director, set designer and choreographer. In the film industry this would be the job of many talented people. In comics, it’s one supremely talented person. Also, unlike those other professions, you can get an original piece of their work, created just for you.  You can’t go and get yourself an original piece from legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins but you can have an original piece by the immortal George Perez on your wall. It’s really a unique thing in pop culture.

Now I’ve gotten good handful of pieces done and often get questions from people on the cost, how to go about it and so forth. I have commissions from Nicola Scott, Francis Manapul, David Yardin, Mark Brooks and Matthew Clark among others on my wall. I figured with Supanova coming up this week in Perth, Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne the week after and SDCC fast approaching, why not delve into it for you lovely readers.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Teaser

Look what dropped this morning! The new Joss Whedon series containing our collective hopes and dreams! Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is going to be magnificent.

Check out the trailer below, complete with our favourite Agent.

Free Comic Book Day 2013 Reviews and Recommendations: Part 1!

Saturday May 4th is not just Star Wars Day, but also happens to be this year’s Free Comic Book Day, and thanks to our dear friends at Perth’s Quality Comics, we have a slew of the books in hand and have been covetously rubbing our eyeballs all over them. Yes, we’ve read them, and we’re going to tell you what you can expect and what we heartily recommend. And this year there’s some really great ones!

If you’re local, be sure to check out Quality’s event page. There’s always discounts and extra fun to be had, and I know there’s going to be a lot of customers showing up in costume. And if you want a preview of Marvel’s Infinity, Star Wars, Mass Effect, The Tick, Atomic Robo, Judge Dredd and 2000 AD, be sure to join me for part one... after the jump!

Spoiler Free Review: Iron Man 3!

Luke here! I'm actually posting this for Jacinta who is not near her computer. My own spoilery thoughts on the film tomorrow! Here's Jacinta's take on the exclusive premiere....

I was lucky enough to receive a ticket to the Perth premiere of Iron Man 3 on Monday night, and what a premiere it was. We were greeted with a red carpet, an Iron Man cosplayer (who you may have also seen in our Oz Comic Con coverage), a caricature artist doing sketches of people as Iron Man, and a stack of goodies for the nerds who were lined up and positively chomping at the bit to get their eyes on Tony Stark's new adventure.

Now, seeing as Iron Man isn't coming out in other regions for a little while, I'm going to do our stateside friends a solid by doing a SPOILER FREE review. The only stuff I'll mention will be stuff that has been featured in the trailers, so if you're curious as to the vibe of the movie, but don't want the story ruined, read on safely.

Join me below the cut for a bit more on the premiere, and all those Starky questions I know you want answered.

Pre-order Hot Toys Iron Man Mark XLII DIECAST 1/6th Scale Figure!

Hot on the tail of the 1/6th scale Iron Patriot, Hot Toys presents the next in their new diecast series: a metal, shiny version of Iron Man Mark XLII, just one of the 3,500 suits that Stark appears to have in his audaciously large collection. However, this time Tony's not looking so hot...

But fear not! This figure actually has interchangeable parts, so if you're not so keen on displaying an Iron Man that has just had the crap kicked out of it by the terrorist antics of Fu Manchu-sporting villain, then you can also display him clean and factory new.

If that's enough to sell you, pre-order him straight away from our friends at Sideshow here:
Hot Toys Die Cast Marvel Series Iron Man Mark XLII Limited Edition Sixth Scale Figure - MMS Diecast Series (Hot Toys) Or to see more pictures, join me... after the jump!

Pre-Order Hot Toys Iron Patriot Sixth Scale Figure! (Diecast Series!)

The mighty artisans at Hot Toys have just revealed the Iron Man 3 figure that everybody has been waiting for - the 1/6th scale, star-spangled Iron Patriot, now lovingly rendered for extra realism in heavy, shiny diecast metal! Complete with light up eyes, chest, and palms, take a look at the following patriotic image and just try to tell me that it doesn't make you want to eat a cheeseburger astride a crying bald eagle on the 4th of July...

And the best part is that our pals at Sideshow Collectibles already have him up for pre-order so you can secure yours before they triple on ebay. So if you're already convinced, order him right here:

Hot Toys Die Cast Marvel Series Iron Patriot Limited Edition Sixth Scale Figure - MMS Diecast Series (Hot Toys) Or if you'd like to see more images... join me after the jump!