[via slashfilm : click to enlarge]

In case you can’t tell, I’m pretty interested in the Thor movie. I know there’s douchey Green Lanterns out there, and that X-Men: First Class movie that’s getting fast tracked and is going to suck. But I’m in it to win it with Norse Thunder and the Asgardian Bromites. So with that said, I’m digging this picture released today, from what I’m assuming is the same issue of EW that has the Green Lantern crap.

It looks decidedly less lame, a bit more in context, and the outfits appear to cost more than $10.

The whirlwind continues! Who the funk shall be playing the nerdy scientist/green avalanche of destruction, rippling muscle, and awesome purple shorts? Mark Ruffalo? Maybe?

via slashfilm:

Deadline reports is that Mark Ruffalo is in ‘late stage talks’ to be the new Bruce Banner and Incredible Hulk in The Avengers. That’s all the info we’ve got right now, but I love the idea. I’ve enjoyed Ruffalo’s work for a long time, and while his basic mode is pretty much the polar opposite of The Avengers, I think he could be great fun. Think of his performance in The Brothers Bloom modulated by his serious but pulpy work in Shutter Island. Yeah, this may do nicely. More details as they come in.

UPDATE: THR says that the deal-making process for Ruffalo isn’t as far along as Deadline made it sound. According to the trade, an offer is out to Ruffalo, which he is considering, but he hasn’t met with Joss Whedon. THR says they may meet late this week or over the pre-Comic Con weekend.

Mark Ruffalo was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That’s enough for me. Sold.com It’s interesting to see as Marvel is scrambling like fuck to get someone cast. You just know their wet dreams involved being able to roll out the entire ensemble at ComiCon.

Edward Norton? No!

Joaquin Phoenix? No!

Mark Ruffalo? Maybe!

Props to my friend Jill for bringing this picture to my attention. And subsequently scarring my poor eyes. Drink in the first official photo of Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Some Dude as Loki.

Thoughts? I think it looks lame as fuck. However, since I’m trying to keep my P(ositive) M(ental) A(ttitude), I’m going to hope the suits and appearance look less barf-full when we see them in context. Remember how goofy Nolan’s Batman suit looked when we all first saw it? It was set against white or something and I was all “Uhhhhh.”

Yeah, maybe it’ll be that way. I hope.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Edward Norton was not gonna be Brucey Banner no more. It was all totally contentious.

Marvel talked shit:

via slashfilm:

Our decision [to recast the role] is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members.

Then Edward Norton’s agent fired back:

via slashfilm:

Here are the facts:   two months ago, Kevin called me and said he wanted Edward to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers.   He told me it would be his fantasy to bring Edward on stage with the rest of the cast at ComiCon and make it the event of the convention.   When I said that Edward was definitely open to this idea, Kevin was very excited and we agreed that Edward should meet with Joss Whedon to discuss the project.   Edward and Joss had a very good meeting (confirmed by Feige to me) at which Edward said he was enthusiastic at the prospect of being a part of the ensemble cast.   Marvel subsequently made him a financial offer to be in the film and both sides started negotiating in good faith.   This past Wednesday, after several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions, but before we had come to terms on a deal, a representative from Marvel called to say they had decided to go in another direction with the part.   This seemed to us to be a financial decision but, whatever the case, it is completely their prerogative, and we accepted their decision with no hard feelings.

And what should have been a quiet weekend letting nerds like me jack off in peace turned into something interesting. I’m pretty bummed that Eddie is out. He’s one of my favorite actors, and the idea that I could have seen him and RDJ on screen at the same time was totally invigorating to my southern continent.

Today it came out that Joaquin Phoenix may be the dude to fill Norton’s shoes in the Avengers movie.

via chud:

Reliable sources tell me that Marvel has already put out an offer, and the actor they’ve spoken to is Joaquin Phoenix, believe it or not. Phoenix is taking time to mull over the offer and the bigger implications – Marvel may yet resurrect the Hulk franchise – but Marvel hopes to have him in place by Comic Con, which is when they want to announce their new Bruce Banner.

Shit be percolating for sure. If Norton has to leave, why not cast someone who is bat shit crazy like Joaquin Phoenix? I’m sort of feeling it. Drop your thoughts in the comments box.

And a thousand thunders uttered, welcome to Variant Covers! Your hostel, your refuge from intelligent comic book talk. No sir, here at Variant Covers I pledge to inundate your unsuspecting brainstem with talk of superheroes, superpowers, and super fanboy-boners over things that are exciting me this current week in comic books. Don’t say I didn’t never warn you, ya’lll!

This week is chock full of fucking righteous comic book dalliances awaiting all of my kindred spirits. The sort of week that makes up for every installment of my blathering here which sounds like “Oh golly gee whiz, ain’t nothing droppin’ whine whine whine blah blah.”

Buckle up, I got a chubby for panels and pencils and dialogue boxes this week.

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Casanova #1
If you spend any amount of time loitering within the halls of Variant Covers, you know that one of my most revered writers is Matt Fraction. I think his ability to manipulate serious political issues within the realms of robot suits and billionaire playboys is amazing. In my more fanboyish moments, I am certain he’s doing something special with Tony Stark during a period in which the character’s popularity is unfathomably enormous. Pick up Invincible Iron Man, and you’re getting all the big budget theatrics of the movies interfacing with all the sort of culturally aware political commentary that you wouldn’t expect.

This week, Fraction’s getting his original work, Casanova, reprinted through Marvel’s Icon line. If you didn’t check out Casanova, you’re not alone. Penned back in 2006, it was where Fraction cut his teeth, and was to my understanding, not widely printed. I also understand nothing, so I could be completely incorrect. Whatever! Fraction takes you on a journey with intergalactic superspy Casanova Quinn, and it is absolutely insane. I’ve gotten to read the first couple of issues, and it really rocks out like nothing in Fraction’s Marvel catalog.

The series is getting reprinted in two four-issue arcs and in full color for the first time, and then Fraction is going to tackle the third volume of the series. I’m looking forward to it; it’ll be intriguing to see embryonic Fraction, fumbling through his first moments in comic book crafting. It’s a bit gushy, but the guy is extremely well-spoken, and beyond talented, and this is going to dominate my reading tomorrow.

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Batman: Odyssey #1
This week, we be getting the first issue of Neal Adam’s extravaganza. Adams has been instrumental in crafting the god damn Batman that we’ve come to know and love. His work in the 1970’s, were the “eggs [he] laid all those years ago” that have resulted in what “Batman has finally become”. Adams has returned to the Flying Rodent to examine the “now what” of Batman in this day and age. This meditation is arriving in the form of a six-issue extravaganza, and the man himself will be writing and drawing the entire storyline, as well as inking the first two issues.

I’m stoked.

Whether or not you’ve read Adam’s work on Batman, you’ve felt the repercussions if you’ve dallied in the world of Bruce Wayne. For someone who helped sculpt the character to return and give us a new storyline is pretty stellar. Frank Miller tried to do that with All-Star Batman and Robin, but I have a better chance of actually graduating from my Master’s Degree and entering the real world before it actually wraps up. So I’m going to have to cling Adams to deliver me some interesting new spins by someone who delivered a seminal work.

Read the rest of this entry »

Emma Frost has become, in recent years, a ridiculously over sexualized member of the X-Men universe. To the point where even I, horndog personified, have been like: alright, c’mon now, calm down. Nonetheless,   Alice Eve, also known as That Chick from She’s Out Of My League has been cast as the White Queen.

via slashfilm:

Briefly: Alice Eve, the lead actress from She’s Out of My League, is in talks with Fox to play Emma Frost in Matthew Vaughn’s upcoming X-Men: First Class, reports Deadline. Not long ago, very tenuous rumor had suggested the role might go to Rosamund Pike, but Pike has also been linked to the role of Moira McTaggert.

Yes? No? What do you guys think.

Jeph Loeb as Marvel Executive VP, and Head of Television? Oh noes.

via comics alliance:

Marvel Entertainment has announced that Jeph Loeb, writer of comic books like “Batman: The Long Halloween” and “Ultimatum,” has been named an Executive Vice-President and Head of Television at the company. Loeb, who previously worked as a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the Emmy-nominated NBC superhero TV show “Heroes” and a writer and producer on “Lost” and the Superman series “Smallville,” will be tasked with developing both animated and live-action television projects for Marvel properties as well as direct-to-DVD content.

Jeph Loeb used to be awesome. Superman: For All Season, The Long Halloween, and other tales were fantastic. He used to be one of my favorite writers. But for awhile he’s been meddling in the gulches of bullshit, penning titles that are so painfully painful, they’re either meta-amusing, or like watching your Dad trying to slow dance at some club. His “edgy” storylines on Ultimatum and Ultimates 3 were train wrecks, and either elicited groans or sympathy.

To be fair though, he has been in charge of Smallville, and despite ripping off Watchmen for Heroes, both of them were eminently watchable. Perhaps the dude is more suited for the moving pictures these days.

I don’t want to be too harsh, like I said, Loeb’s penned some excellent, excellent stuff in his lifetime, and has more creative talent in his used toilet paper than I ever will. But like Claremont, I will be forever grateful for his past work, while skeptical of his future endeavors.

Variant Covers: guaranteed to aggrandize superpowers, outside the pants underwear, and splash pages. I spent a lot of last week catching up on the ridiculous backlog of comic books that I hadn’t touched in a while. And I remembered something: good god damn, I fucking love comic books. Seems a bit obvious, dunnit? Alas. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with the concept of ingesting the funny mags that I forget that at the core of them are the same tireless themes that I could read ad nauseam. Aristotle rocked out in the Poetics stating that not only do us wacky monkeys with self-awareness love narrative, but we can never get full, and we seem to gravitate towards the same concepts over and over again.

I think the dude is on to something. I’ve watched Magneto get his ass owned so many times, and yet his ironic struggle towards fascism born out of his own oppression still gets me. Bravo Aristotle, we may keep you around yet.

Superman #700
Superman turns 700 this week. Good lord, that’s a lot of dialogue bubbles. Superman hits its 700th issue, and of course, like every comic that hooks a something-hundredth milestone, the issue is packed to the brim with stories, artists, blah, blah blah.

I’m bored with Superman. And I love him. That’s the tragedy really. Everyone seems to dog on the dude, and even I, who loves the guy, can’t stand him. 700 issues. Let’s do something new with him. J. Michael is coming aboard with #701, and I’m hoping he uses it as a springboard towards something new.

Maybe I’m alone in this, but can we stop jerking off a 32 year-old movie? Am I the only one who is tired of seeing Clark Kent/Superman drawn to reflect Reeves? There’s so much homage paid to it, that it feels creatively stifling to me. I’ll take Kingdom Come’s Superman, or All Star-Superman, or Superman: For All Season’s depiction of the Man of Steel any day. I get it – we all love Reeves. It’s fantastic. But I prefer the beefy bumbling Clark Kent as a farm boy to the sexy grin of Reeves as Superman that Gary Frank loves penciling.

It isn’t about a disrespect for the movie, it’s about turning the page.

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Elsewhere in the DC Universe:
I’ve spent a good amount of time masturbating to Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, and perhaps its because it does everything that Superman doesn’t do in comics today: something new. The third issue comes out this week, and if it is as ballin’ as the first two, I’m fucking sold. As well, the newest issue of Green Lantern Corps is coming out, and you can get your sexy magician fix in Zatanna #2.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, welcome to Variant Covers! I’ve been slacking like a fucking asshole. I have a thick ass stack of stretchy-limbs, sociopaths, mutants and blind dudes with nunchucks to catch up with. Float me this week and I’ll float your boat. Instead of previewing what is coming out this week, I’m going to give you the lowdown on the shit I heartily recommend you check out, if not follow with an insatiable ass-lust.

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Choker:
Choker is the demented love child of Blade Runner and super-vulgarity. It’s super profane, super gritty, superly super. It’s a detective story at the peak of expletive-laden blood-soaked awesomeness.

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Daredevil:
Daredevil. Oh, do I love thee. One man’s internal struggle with his demons made literal, as the bro attempts to control the Hand. This is going to end in tears. Or maybe it already has. Like I’ve said, I haven’t read the latest issue. Inorite? Fuck me.

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Fantastic Four:
Jonathan Hickman is fucking fantastic. Puns ahoy! But seriously. I don’t read enough comic books that can intertwine the intergalactic with the heart. Or really, I don’t read any besides this.

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[via comics alliance: click images to enlarge]

I’m already pretty stoked for Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry to be taking over Thor this September. And now I’m geeking out Viking-stylee over the new mini-series Thor: For Asgard by Robert Rodi and Simone Bianchi also dropping in September. Why? Jesus Christ, look at Simone Bianchi’s pencils. They’re like getting eye-fucked and loving it. Thor’s hammer of justice is crushing you, and you’re going to love it.

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