As part of Marvel’s practice of announcing things literally years before they will occur in any meaningful way, they’ve announced that James Spader will play the eeeevil robot Ultron in The Avengers 2: Printin’ Money. James Spader will face off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as the villain in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sequel […]
Comic Books
Posted inMovies & TV
Point/Counterpoint: BEN AFFLECK AS BATMAN??? WHAAAAT??!!!?!1
BATMAN & SUPERMAN Buddies. Last night, the internet ERUPTED with NERD RAGE just as it does when anything meaningless happens when Warner Bros. announced that in the sequel to the surprisingly solid Man of Steel, Batman will be played by none other than BEN AFFLECK. Just as fanboys flipped their shit when Heath Ledger was […]
Posted inComic Books
Win Tickets to Comics Underground!
Hi friends, I’m taking off my Mercury hat but leaving on my Mercury fingers to tell you about tomorrow’s installment of Comics Underground, the quarterly comics reading series that Erik Henriksen and I produce. We’ve got a great show tomorrow night: Periscope Studio member Terry Blas will be presenting an excerpt from his charming webcomic […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Why Batman Can’t Be Black
To be a fan of anything is to be an amateur casting director. There’s more joy in imagining potential entertainments than in their actual consumption; it’s why we leave a movie after waiting patiently for the now-traditional mid-credits stinger, and immediately start brainstorming ideas for the sequel the instant our feet touch lobby carpet. The […]
Posted inTV
“Boy Wonder, I Love You!”: Robin Teams Up With Zappa
Tomorrow is the release party for Batman ’66—a comic return to the days when Bats wasn’t such a goddamn Grumpy Gus—at Bridge City Comics, which of course reminds me of the campy late ’60s Batman TV series, and this hilarious vintage record recorded by Burt Ward (who played Robin) with a veeeeerrrry interesting cohort. From […]
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This Is Peter Dinklage As a Mad Scientist. You’re Welcome.
A bunch of viral marketing for X-Men: Days of Future Past went online a few hours ago, and I’m not going to post any of it because I don’t feel like posting ads for a movie that doesn’t come out for 11 goddamn months. HOWEVER. I will make ONE exception, which is posting this Days […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Wolverine Has Something to Tell You
The Wolverine starts screening at midnight tonight; despite going in thinking it was probably going to be as shitty as X-Men Origins: Wolverine (or, at best, as underwhelming as X-Men: The Last Stand or X-Men: First Class and holy shit there have been a lot of X-movies), I quite enjoyed it. Would I recommend it? […]
Posted inComic Books
The Projects Announces Expanded August Lineup
Portland’s comics scene saw two intriguing arrivals last year, new shows that made successful debuts and are now back for a second term. The pop-culture oriented Rose City Comic Con was by all accounts a success, and it returns in September; and the ambitious, focused little show The Projects just released the program for their […]
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Matt Bors Cartoon-Battles Jake Tapper on CNN’s The Lead
Local political cartoonist Matt Bors—whom you may recognize from the comics page of The Mercury, his recent book Life Begins at Incorporation, or that great strip about millennials that made the rounds last week—appeared on CNN’s The Lead yesterday. He talked to Jake Tapper about the state of political cartooning, and then the two had […]
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Matt Bors: Voice of the “Me” Generation.
BUT SERIOUSLY, local cartoonist/Mercury pal Matt Bors’ new comic “Stop Trashing Millennials,” over at CNN.com is hilarious and well worth a read. I’m not sure if my favorite part is lazy Adam and Eve, meta-rage reading, or Matt’s jewel-gathering mom. Go read it!
Posted inMovies & TV
ADDENDUM: Something Else I Will Never, Ever Get Sick Of
Last week, I told you that this was a thing I would never, ever get sick of. And I still won’t! HOWEVER! I am now morally obligated to inform you that there’s something else that I will never, ever get sick of even more: Behind-the-scenes photos of Paul Giamatti on the set of The Amazing […]
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Things I Will Never, Ever Get Sick of: Behind-the-Scenes Photos of the new Ninja Turtles Movie
via Superhero Hype Because unlike previous attempts to bring the turtles to life, the new movie—produced by Michael Bay, directed by Battle Los Angeles and Wrath of the Titans mastermind Jonathan Liebesman—is using motion capture. And Megan Fox! Which leads to images like the picture above, which is so perfect exactly as it is that […]