"Bloggle Vision" is a weekly, speculative column on topics as near as a day in the future up to as far away as a year. Remember to check back on each entry to see how close the predictions ended up being.
a) The season finale of "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" airs tonight on Sci-Fi. The final two competitors will be The Defuser and Hyper-Strike. Stan Lee will choose The Defuser because he conforms better to Lee's writing style.
b) WWE Monday Night Raw revealed that Mr. Kennedy is not Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son. His son will be revealed next Monday night. It will still end up being Mr. Kennedy despite the attempt at a swerve. This is based on the clue, "things are looking up." Mr. Kennedy's microphone drops down from the ceiling.
c) "Grand Theft Auto IV" is still set to be released around Quarter 2 of next year (it ends on April 30, 2008). The game's more realistic tone will probably rule out the appearance of a jet pack device. In order to allow the player to explore as much of the massive urban environment as possible, Nico will be skilled at parkour.
d) Production for the live action "Street Fighter" movie is to begin in early 2008. Since the plot centers around Chun-Li and is directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak ("Cradle 2 the Grave"), it will pretty much be a rip-off of female revenge films like "Kill Bill" and "The Brave One."
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Bloggle Vision: Round 1
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Who Wants To Be A Superhero: The Comic
I'll admit it. I was a big fan of Who Wants to be a Superhero went it first aired last year. Sure it was corny, but there were some truly awesome moments: Iron Enforcer turning into Dark Enforcer, Major Victory becoming a hero in his daughter's eyes despite being eliminated, and the twists to each mission Stan Lee would introduce to the contestants.
One of the prizes for Feedback, the winning contestant, was the chance to get his character published in a comic written by Stan Lee. That comic hit the shelves last week. While I'm guessing it might have been one of the highlights of Feedback's life, I can't say that I enjoy the comic as much as him.
All the characters are such outrageous cliches, whether it's the mohawked punks that start trouble with Feedback ("Leave some fer me t'whap!") or the villain that double-crosses the hero (if having a robotic metal skull doesn't set off any flags, I don't know what will). Take Sarah, the love interest, as an example. She's a nurse but the uniform she wears is the same type of white, one-piece skirt with a red cross hat you find in old cartoons. Anyone that's ever been inside a hospital knows that nurses don't dress like that anymore. Later, when Feedback needs help sewing a costume, Sarah saves the day by doing it for him. To my surprise she makes a sleek, professional looking suit and all Feedback has to do to pay her back is fix her computer. Sarah's tailoring ability coupled with her technological incompetence can easily be construed as sexist.
This comic just seems so outdated. It pretty much crams every single writing trick Stan Lee's accumulated in his career into a single issue (the flashback that shows how Feedback got his powers, the character talking to himself, the reveal of the villain, the introduction of the love interest, etc). That either means Stan Lee is writing for the same audience he used to back in the Sixties or he's taking a self aware approach to the superhero genre. In either case, this comic serves as nothing more than fan service for Feedback.
I suggest reading Radioactive Man #711, which coincidentally is another comic that came out last week that's part of a multimedia tie-in (found in 7-Elevens to promote the Simpsons movie). This comic also contains the same types of cliches you find in the superhero genre but uses them instead for parody. This doesn't change the fact that I'm still going to watch season 2 of Who Wants to be a Superhero. However, it does make me wonder what would've happened if Fat Momma won the contest. Stan Lee would've had the opportunity to write about a protagonist that could address issues of sex, race, parenthood, and body image. But then that wouldn't be as enjoyable for his audience.