Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor Makes Me Despair for the New Fantastic Four Movie
My purpose here isn’t to praise Gene Hackman’s acting skills, which were superlative, it’s to explain why his turn as Superman’s nemesis makes me itchy about the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. You likely heard Hackman had died. Since the news broke last week that his body had been discovered, there has been much discussion online about his greatest performance. Some argue he was at his peak in Hoosiers. Others say his most impressive turn came in The French Connection or Unforgiven or The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s so much to choose from. But for comic fans of a certain vintage, Gene Hackman will always be Lex Luthor.Starting in 1978, he played the crafty villain in three of the Superman movies that featured Christopher Reeves in the title role. Hackman brought a special blend of arrogance and charm to his version of the criminal mastermind, chewing scenery in a way that communicated to us young nerds that he was having a ton of fun inhabiting the bald bad guy. Wait, I just told you a lie. Yes, Lex Luthor is bald. But not when Hackman played him. And even though I wasn’t the biggest DC fan in the world, I understood enough of the Superman mythos to know that in the comics, Luthor had no hair. Heck, in some continuities Lex hates Supes because he blames the Kryptonian immigrant for his lack of locks. Hackman may have been an Oscar-calibre actor, but 10-year-old me just could not get past the hair. For whatever reason – perhaps the Superman producers wouldn’t pay him enough to shave his entire head – Hackman kept his own hair in those films. My educated guess is he didn’t want to go hairless, and since he was a big star his wishes were accommodated. What does this have to do with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is slated to land in theatres on July 25? Well, Hackman isn’t the only one with the requisite star power to avoid the barber’s blade. You can draw a line directly from Hackman to Pedro Pascal, who plays Mister Fantastic in the FF film. In the trailers and publicity photos we’ve seen so far, Pascal appears with his moustache intact. I fear the folks at Marvel Studios are humouring the Chilean-born actor by not demanding he shave. Granted, it’s a great moustache. For Pascal the celebrity. Not for Reed Richards the cerebral hero. As any fan of the Fantastic Four comics know, the FF leader is clean-shaven – with flecks of grey in the hair above his ears. That’s been his look, more or less, since the Marvel Age was launched with the publication of Fantastic Four No. 1 in 1961. It’s true in a handful of stories Reed is pictured with a beard. He has never, however, been one to rock a 1970s-style stache, no matter which artist is drawing him. Reed is a serious guy, not given to vanity, which is why in all the big-screen adaptations to date, he is free of facial hair. So you can see the problem: Hackman set a precedent that Pascal is following, and it’s got me worried I won’t be able to see past the whiskers when July rolls around. I agree bringing Pascal into the Marvel fold was a good idea. And who knows, there’s so much we don’t know about the FF movie. Maybe the stache disappears at some point in the film. Or perhaps this is a Sonic the Hedgehog situation and the production team will remove the facial hair using CGI before First Steps is released because fans like me are upset. If the producers want a really cool way to get rid of it, have Reed’s brother-in-law, the Human Torch, laser off the moustache the same way he gave the Submariner a shave and haircut way back in Fantastic Four No. 4. Or have Galactus blast it off. Or maybe it comes off when the FF joins the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, as is rumoured. There’s no question both Gene Hackman and Pedro Pascal ooze charm on the big screen. But just as I could not accept a Lex Luthor with a full head of hair back then, I won’t accept a Mister Fantastic with a bushy moustache this summer. No matter how much the Marvel brain trust needs for the FF movie to be a winner at the box office. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
New Comic Back Issue Collection Available Starting Saturday, March 8
A new back issue collection available starting Saturday, March 8 at 10 AM. Eight plus boxes of new back issues! Highlights include CGC graded and ungraded early Amazing Spider-Man, a near complete run of TMNT (Mirage) and more! This collection will be available in store and the following week select comics will be added online. Visit early for best selection! Watch for future emails and Facebook posts for more reveals. See below for a sneak peak! See the collection in person. Collection drops Saturday, March 8, 10 AM. L.A. Mood Comics and Games100 Kellogg Lane, Suite 5, London ON N5W0B4
New Star Wars Comic for Fans Only
By Dan Brown Although it’s well-made, Star Wars: A New Legacy No. 1 will likely appeal mostly to diehard fans of the interstellar epic. If you’re a devotee of characters like Valance, Black Krrsantan and Doctor Aphra, this is the comic for you. The presence of heroes from the movies – Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo – is felt here, but those old favourites aren’t actually part of the action. Instead, this comic contains a trio of tales which were created as vehicles for minor players in Marvel’s Star Wars universe. As Marvel begins a new phase of its Star Wars offerings, they’ve been promoted. Some members of this introductory issue’s cast have a long history. Valance, for instance, originated way back in 1978 in Star Wars No. 16. He was introduced as a self-loathing cyborg, which seemed to be a Marvel specialty back then – the publisher also had Deathlok on its roster in those days. This was years before Star Wars fans got a peek under Darth Vader’s helmet in The Empire Strikes Back. However, there’s no sign of Jaxxon, the giant green alien rabbit, who has gone from being a bad joke to beloved by fans. Hey, if people today can openly express their love for Jar-Jar Binks, then anything’s possible. Marvel got the rights to print Star Wars comics when the original movie debuted in 1977. It was an astute move, as some observers credit that title alone for keeping the company solvent in a financially precarious era. It’s hard to believe now, but over the decades the space fantasy’s appeal faded, so Dark Horse Comics eventually became the official headquarters for Star Wars comics. When Disney brought Marvel under its corporate umbrella, the licence soon reverted back to the House of Ideas. In the first section of A New Legacy, Valance appears on the trail of Doctor Aphra.For years, I wanted to see a Disney+ series featuring Aphra, but my prediction that the gonk droid would get a show before the rogue archeologist seems less and less like hyperbole as Aphra continues to go unloved by the Star Wars brain trust. Even one of her sidekicks, the wookiee called Black Krrsantan, made the leap to the small screen in the Book of Boba Fett without Aphra. She also appears in the back-of-the-book section in a story that inverts the old saying about letting the wookiee win at holographic chess. It turns out that advice doesn’t apply when one of the big, shaggy aliens is playing against a murder robot: “Let the droid win.” Sandwiched between those two stories is a narrative about the Empire’s Scar Squadron, who are also known as Task Force 99. This tale has a slight flavour of the Wild Bunch in that these stormtroopers are men out of time – they embody everything Imperial at a moment when the Rebellion is on the rise. They can’t understand why the crowds that used to cheer them want to rise up at the urging of rebel scum they consider terrorists. “We bring order, while all they have to offer this galaxy is chaos,” their sergeant laments in his inner monologue. This means the white-armoured soldiers – who operate on the outer rim of the outer rim – are on their way to becoming like the U.S. commander in Vietnam who famously said, “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” These grunts are on their way to setting fire to the universe so they can preserve it.Every Star Wars buff has their own favourite obscure characters from the vast universe created by George Lucas. If the one’s I’ve mentioned here are among yours, then you’ll enjoy A New Legacy. If not, you’ll want to give it a miss. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
New Volume Of Public Domain Deepens, Enriches Tale Of Competing Creators
By Dan Brown Out this month, the second volume of Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain graphic novel is a rare thing. It’s a sophomore collection that enriches the storyline of an ongoing comic series, putting the characters in new and surprising situations. Subtitled Build Something New, it grabbed my attention, then left me wanting more.If you haven’t checked it out, Public Domain tells the story of two aging comic creators.One, the writer, is lionized by fans of pop culture who adore him at comic conventions. The other, the artist, is held in high regard by comic purists but got shafted after helping to create an enduring character that has spawned a multimedia empire, including big-screen adaptations. If that sounds like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to you, that’s because it’s supposed to. Here the Lee figure is the crusty Jerry Jasper and the Kirby equivalent is Syd Dallas. The launching point for the first volume, collecting the initial four issues of Public Domain, was something like, “What if Jack Kirby had got legal control of the characters he drew for Marvel Comics in the 1960s?” Like Lee, Jasper’s talents as a scribe are questionable and his true talent is self-promotion. Like Kirby, Dallas was an influential artist but doesn’t get enough props for the pioneering work he did back in the day. A superhero named the Domain is the duo’s most famous creation. When the series begins, the Domain is the centrepiece of the Singular Comics empire, which includes any number of slick, special-effects driven motion pictures. The face of the actor who plays him is plastered on billboards, buses, you name it. The fact Dallas is forgotten except by the most diehard fans doesn’t sit well with his two sons. After a legal knife fight, Dallas gets the rights to produce Domain comics back, and having missed most of their childhood because he was metaphorically chained to the drawing table, Dallas wants to make the return of his Domain to the printed page a family affair. This leads to a situation that would have delighted many real-life comic fans: Both creators can publish their own versions of the character. In Build Something New, the reader sees the beginnings of a fresh battle, as the former partners prepare to go head-to-head. The second volume goes way beyond the initial premise. The story deepens, broadens, and gets even richer. As in the first Public Domain anthology, there are many twists, almost every one unanticipated by me – which I love. Zdarksy, a Canadian artist/writer, is firing on all cylinders here. His art is economical. His dialogue is lively. The established characters are well on their way to being fully fleshed out, so he introduces interesting new ones. Part of this volume takes place in the 1980s, and those segments had a melancholy-yet-energetic feel that, for whatever reason, reminded me of the flashbacks in the landmark DC series, Watchmen. And even though Public Domain was inspired by actual comics history, Zdarsky keeps the industry in-jokes to a minimum. If you’re at all interested in stories about the people behind the superheroes you love, you should read this new graphic novel. In fact, do yourself a favour: Get BOTH volumes of this engrossing series – the one just published and the previous collection as well. You’ll thank me. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
The United States Wages War on Canada – in the Pages of Comic Books
By Dan BrownCanada and the United States have gone to war only once. Starting in 1812, before Canada was even Canada. But in the realm of pop culture, there have been any number of battles between the True North and its superpower neighbour. There’s Michael Moore’s only fiction film, the comedy Canadian Bacon.There are the pulpy Richard Rohmer novels Ultimatum and Exxoneration from the 1970s. And there are graphic novels such as Little Bird. The focus of this column is on another comic book, We Stand on Guard. In these tense political times, you might want to check it out. Published in trade-paperback form in 2017, We Stand on Guard was a six-issue Image Comics series picturing the armed resistance to a U.S. takeover of our home and native land. It’s packed with all kinds of references only diehard Canucks will get – for example, the action starts in the future in the year 2112. What a rush. And what name do the resistance guerillas give their small band of freedom fighters? Why, the Two-Four of course. Written by veteran hand Brian K. Vaughan, Steve Kroce supplied the art and Matt Hollingsworth the colours. The most dominant colour in the book is white, as much of the action takes place in Canada’s north at an abandoned mine the rebels have turned into their hidden base of operations. The official reason for the American military venturing north is to avenge a surprise attack on Washington, D.C. The real reason? America, dried out from climate change, needs new sources of water to refresh the parched dust bowl the American heartland has become. I love the look of Kroce’s near-future Canada. One of the reasons the graphic novel packs a real punch is the mechanical-versus-organic theme running through the book: Massive hovering metallic war machines face off against the plucky Canadians, who even have a trained coywolf on their side. The invading soldiers also have an N-word they use to refer to people here: Nucks, the shortened form of “Canuck.” There are no superpowered beings coming to Canada’s rescue in We Stand on Guard, it’s ordinary folks who must answer the call. But there are Superman references, which call attention to the fact this is a comic book – the Americans would never declare war on our country in the real world, would they?I hate to say it, but on Sunday, American President Donald Trump confirmed in an interview with Fox News before the Super Bowl that he is serious about his intention to make Canada the 51st state. I don’t even like trade wars, let alone real ones. The problem is, these conflicts often lead to unintended consequences that none of us can anticipate. When pre-Confederation Canada squared off against the U.S. during the War of 1812, the end result was a White House in flames. No one saw that coming. So I hope the friction between our two nations can be worked out soon – and without any violence. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
Dav Pilkey Proves My Theory About Childhood Crimes
By Dan Brown I have a theory. It goes like this: All the things we got punished for as kids, are the same things that make us successful as adults. Dav Pilkey is certainly proof of that. (It’s pronounced “Dave.”) Who’s he? He’s the guy who failed at childhood but is an astonishing success as a grownup. And the things that got him in trouble when he was younger are the same attributes behind his outrageous triumphs now that he’s older. Pilkey is in the news this week because a movie he inspired, Dog Man, is the top-earning film in theatres right now. Pilkey drew and wrote the comic series upon which the animated Dog Man motion picture is based. It features a dog-headed police officer and was popular enough to seize the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office. Pilkey has also created many other comics series, including the Captain Underpants books, which you may have heard of. But the adults in his life weren’t always encouraging. In fact, his fantastic creativity is the reason why as a young learner, Pilkey’s desk was placed outside the classroom – in the school corridor away from other students. “When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia,” the author’s note in one of his books explains, “Dav was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day.” However, he was not deterred: “Luckily, Dav loved to draw and make up stories. He spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books – the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.” At least one of his teachers tried to put a stop to this. “In the second grade, Dav’s teacher ripped up his comics and told him he couldn’t spend the rest of his life making silly books. Fortunately, Dav was not a very good listener.”And thus a comic empire was born. Pilkey’s other characters include Big Dog and Little Dog, Dragon, Cat Kid and Super Diaper Baby. I don’t know about you, but the unnamed Grade 2 teacher from Pilkey’s past calls to my mind these Pink Floyd lyrics: “When we grew up and went to schoolThere were certain teachers whoWould hurt the children in any way they couldBy pouring their derision upon anything we didExposing every weakness, however carefully hidden by the kid” I know there are many supportive adults out there, but the ones at Pilkey’s school aimed to crush his spirit; all they actually accomplished was to guarantee he would become one of pop culture’s best-known and most successful creators. Almost every other author working today would love to have his track record. Nor does my theory apply just to the creator of Dog Man. Not to make this about myself, but I feel like I was treated the same way by a few of my teachers – even if my desk never got permanently moved out to the hall. When report card time came around, mine were filled with comments from teachers that went something like this:“Daniel spends his time in class socializing and talking too much with the other children.”“Daniel would rather read his comic books than the class-assigned readings.”“Daniel doesn’t care enough about his school work and prefers to draw superheroes.” You can probably guess where I’m going with this. Eventually, I graduated from elementary and high school. Then, years later, my job path took me into journalism, a career in which I’m required to strike up conversations with the people around me all the time. For decades, I’ve made my living talking to strangers. Turns out all that socializing was good practice. As a kid, I read Marvel comics like Fantastic Four and the Uncanny X-Men. Now I write about the entertainment industry and report on the latest superhero blockbusters because those throwaway comics of my school years have moved to the centre of the cultural discourse, a development my teachers didn’t see coming. And as I look back on all the sketching I did in elementary school, I realize that was when I started developing the observational skills that would serve me so well as a reporter. So, parents, take note. If your child has their nose stuck in a book all the time, that habit will likely pay off down the road. It will open doors you can’t even see from this point in their life. They may very well wind up a writer like me. Or, if your son’s or daughter’s favourite thing to do is play hockey, you may have a future athlete or coach on your hands. If your progeny seem to have an unhealthy interest in bugs and animals, they may one day turn out to be a scientist or veterinarian. You get the idea. Look, I don’t know what your kids like to do. But I do know there’s a more-than-fair chance that what seems like a silly pursuit could one day turn out to be more than just a childish fixation; it just might become their life’s work. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 32 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly graphic-novel group.
