If you’re curious about the costume Tom is wearing in today’s comic, it is the assembled product of Madison Avenue in overdrive and is available in most online and brick and mortar retailers.
Noting the success of the Hulk hands from the Hulk movie a few years ago (which some note that the merchandising made more profit than the film), producers of the new Fantastic Four movie decided to up the ante and said “Comically over-sized electronic hands weren’t enough. This year we’re doing feet, a mask and chest plate!”
Incidentally, I did a comic about the erstwhile Hulk hands on June 20, 2003. So it felt only right to do a comic about its profiteering cousin. Enjoy!
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Feb 25, 2004 | MEL THE PANTYWAIST |
Oct 29, 2004 | TO CLEAR UP ANY CONFUSION… |
DON’T MEAN A THING IF YOU AIN’T GOT THAT THING
July 8th, 2005 | by Tom(6 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
T.G.I.F., homeboys and homegirls. “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” indeed!
As most of you know, the big screen adaptation of the classic Marvel comic book Fantastic Four hits screens today. Most are expecting it to land with a resounding thud. Me, on the other hand? I’m… conflicted.
I’ll admit that my initial impression of the film was very negative. The casting of the principle characters was WAY off base for me. Each of the Four felt like an ill fit except for Michael Chiklis as the ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing.
But even my excitement to see the erstwhile Commish in his portrayal was dulled by frequent interviews Chiklis gave complaining about wearing the laytex suit created for the The Thing.
Maybe he earns points for being the only actor that’s even READ the comics, but when you want to get hyped up for a movie, you don’t want to hear the actors complain about what a pain in the ass it was to make.
So time passes. Pictures, teaser posters and trailers come and go. Even the first round of television commercials really sucked. Heap on all of the merchandising on top of that, and I’m far past caring about this movie.
But a little voice in the back of the head keeps nagging me. “But you loved the Fantastic Four growing up! Won’t you see this movie? Won’t you see it just to placate your curiosity?”
And suddenly, as if by magic, the promotional materials started looking more appealing. There was The Thing in his fedora and overcoat trying to look innocuous. There was that commercial where the Human Torch pranks The Thing with the old “shaving cream in the hand while sleeping” routine – perfectly capturing the playfully contentious relationship of the comics. Maybe this movie won’t be so bad after all.
But the tide of negative buzz around this movie is enormous. It seems most people are beyond thinking for themselves on this one. So for even the morbidly curious to step forward and say “Hey, I might actually be interested in seeing this.” is met with a showering chorus of “Are you stupid?! It’s going to be TERRIBLE.”
Oh to be a nerd without a country.
I would totally see the film this weekend if we weren’t getting ready for our big move to the new house next week. So buckle up because that means you’re in store for a WHOLE WEEK of guest strips while my computer is packed away in Styrofoam peanuts. We’ve got some good stuff lined up. You won’t be disapointed.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I’ll see you all again soon!
GUEST STRIP – PHIL KAHN
July 14th, 2005 | by Tom- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(7 votes, average: 3.57 out of 10)
Although I was a little concerned with the direction the punchline might take after the mention of a “bigger Thing” in panel 3, I thought this guest strip from Phil “Insert Obligatory Shatner-esque Scream Here” Kahn did a bang up job writing dialogue that sounds fairly close to how I typically dismiss lousy movies.
Phil actually has his own web comic. But, honoring his wishes, I’m not going to tell you what it’s called! Instead, Phil has asked me to refer you to Biscuit Press – the web comic collective of which he is a member. There are five great comics there for you to check out and Phil’s is one of them. How’s ∗that∗ for solidarity!
Thanks again Phil for the great comic!
SKETCH – FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
June 15th, 2007 | by Tom(4 votes, average: 6.75 out of 10)
As you probably guessed, today’s sketch is in celebration of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, in theater’s today. At this point I’ve pretty much given up any justification as to why I feel the need to see this movie. I’m a comic book nerd. I need to stop apologizing for it. Because I was considerate of other individuals tastes in movies, I totally missed out on seeing The Punisher and Ghost Rider in theaters. Yeah, I know. I probably didn’t miss much. But it’s the principal, you know? Stick with your team. It’s probably the reason so many people voted for Bush in 2004. Just out of habit…
My original sketch was supposed to have the entire Fantastic Four in a groups shot. Since he’s the most awesome, I drew The Thing first. Then, as I got to thinking about it, the one aspect I love most about the Fantastic Four is the ribbing that The Thing and The Human Torch give each other. In the comics, it’s merciless and in the first movie, it was actually one of the few things that they got right! So I put my focus on these two and left The Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic out of it. Their dynamic never really interested me much.
Above the two is The Silver Surfer flying out of frame. Originally, I needed something to fill in some white space, but I really like how it turned out. I think I was able to capture one of his poses with only a few lines and that’s a good feeling.
Commercials for the new movie are everywhere right now. I can’t turn on a TV without seeing one. I think it was all over MySpace yesterday. And even though Jessica Alba still looks like a man (seriously, I saw her Adam’s Apple!) and some of the TV spots are showing Galactus-as-a-cloud, I’m psyched to see it.
I mentioned on Wednesday on how Cami is letting me off my leash and how I’m seeing it by myself. I think we figured out how. I would have felt guilty to leave her and Henry alone on Saturday or Sunday during the day and especially during the evening. I probably wouldn’t even be able to enjoy the movie because I would be paranoid that Henry would say his first word, or something, while I was away. It would probably be “deadbeat,” or something similarly heartbreaking.
So I suggested that I go to the late-late show on Friday night. We typically put Henry to bed around 10:00. Once he’s down for the night, I’ll sneak out of the house to hang out with a couple hundred nerds for two hours and then slink back into bed while Cami is still asleep.
I don’t mean to make a big deal out of seeing a movie alone. I’m an only child, so doing stuff by myself isn’t alien to me. But with movies… well, for Cami and I, it’s been the nucleous of our relationship for almost 13 years. So it’s just weird when I go to one without her. There’s a chance I might go with my sister-in-law. I think Cami told me she was interested. But probably because she just moved into a new townhome and wants to get away from painting for a few hours. I’ll have to confirm that.
All the same, it’s probably for the best Cami isn’t going. She’d probably be too distracted by Alba’s hairy knuckles to enjoy the movie anyway.
Have a great weekend, everyone!