Today we've got the second part of our roundup of some videos from Bob "MovieBob" Chipman's The Big Picture series about superheroes, politics and related pop culture. Incidentally the last video is the most recent, so if you want more I recommend checking out the rest of the Big Picture videos.
A examination of politics with the help of superheroes, as well as other cool things
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Big Picture Part 1
Today we've got a roundup of some videos from Bob "MovieBob" Chipman's The Big Picture series about superheroes, politics and related pop culture. Tune in tomorrow for the second part.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Influence of EC Comics
The AV Club has an interesting article about EC Comics, a comics publisher popular in the 1950s that produced primarily crime, horror, and war comics, and some of it's seminal stories, writers and artists and how they've influenced the comic industry since, especially in underground comics.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
More Cracked Lists and Video
Today we've got some new superhero related lists from Crack, which are 6 Pathetic Attempts by Corporations to Create a Superhero, 5 Superhero Movie Scenes They'll Never Let You See, and the only-a-few-superheroes-on-the-list 6 Insane but Convincing Fan Theories about Kids Cartoons. And finally a video by Cracked on why some supervillians keep the good guy alive.
Why Supervillains Always Keep the Good Guy Alive -- powered by Cracked.com
Monday, November 26, 2012
Superhero 411: Mr. Incredible
Mr. Incredible
Occupation: Professional Superhero/Insurance Claims
Religion: Episcopalian
Religion: Episcopalian
Operates in: Metroville
Bob Parr was once Mr. Incredible, the most celebrated hero of Metroville, but after saving a man's life when he tried to commit suicide and subsequently being sued by the man for injuring him in the process, opening up the flood gates for other superheroes to be sued for personnel injury and collateral damage. This causes superheroing to be outlawed and forces all the superheroes into hiding through a government relocation program, including Bob and his new wife Helen, aka the superhero Elastigirl.
15 years later, Bob is working at an insurance company dealing with insurance claims and living a typical suburban life with his wife and three children, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Bob however finds this life unfulfilling, as he has to secretly help his clients navigate his insurance company's roundabout system to ensure they aren't cheated and regularly goes out superheroing with his old superfriend Lucius, aka Frozone, despite Helen's desire that they just live a normal life without superpowers.
It all comes to a head one day when, while being lectured by his boss about his clients' strange ability to get their claims by his boss, he witnesses a mugging and is prevented from helping by his boss, causing Bob to punch his boss through several walls, exposing his superpowers and costing Bob his job. Bob returns home depressed, and while trying to figure out what to tell Helen finds a package for him from the mysterious Mirage, offering him a job requiring his superpowers. Eager to relive his glory days while being able to support his family, he quickly agrees, telling his family he's going a business trip. Bob is taken to a tropical island where a rogue robot has been on a rampage and quickly defeats it. Bob is handsomely rewarded for his efforts, and upon returning home pretends to go to work everyday while secretly spending the day working out and getting back into peak shape. Bob is soon called back by Mirage for another mission, and this time encounters an improved robot that he is unable to defeat. The robot's creator, Syndrome, reveals himself, and Bob realizes that 15 years ago Syndrome was the kid who tried to be his sidekick before being rebuffed by Bob. Syndrome had vowed revenge for this, setting out to prove that he was better than all the other superheroes, and had been inviting any superheroes he could find to fight his "rampaging" robot to the death, improving his robot any time it was defeated before having a rematch. Bob is taken hostage so he can watch Syndrome "defeat" the robot with his remote after he unleashes it on Metrocity. His family comes to his rescue, but when their plane is shot down Bob believes his family is dead, however they survive and are eventually captured as Syndrome launches his robot towards Metrocity. The Incredibles are eventually able to escape, return to Metrocity and work together to defeat the robot and Syndrome, saving the city from being destroyed.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Saucer Contry
Comic Book Resources has an article about the television potential of the DC Comics' Vertigo series Saucer Country, which is about a Governor running for President when she is apparently abducted by aliens, and the implications as everyone as they try to figure out what's going on. The series started in March 2012 and has so far released 8 issues.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
There's a new documentary in the works called "Wonder Woman! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" which talks about the history of Wonder Woman and the parallels of the feminist movement, and you can watch the trailer below.
Friday, November 23, 2012
President Wonder Woman
I've told you about the times Superman, Captain America and Batman were President, but how about the time Wonder Woman was President? And she did it in 1943 in her 7th issue, long before the others. The flip side of it is that it's a vision of the future, the year 3000, when women rule the world after the creation of the "Life Vitamin" that grants eternal youth. I'm not sure what to take from that. Did the writer and Wonder Woman creator, William Moulton Marston, think that there could never be equality, only one sex dominating the other? Did he also think that women wouldn't achieve any such gains for a thousand years? Given that the issue also features an electronic dictation machine that makes your hands auto-type on a typewriter, numerous ridiculous outfits and prisoners find copious amounts of rope and chain in an abandoned dungeon in the prison, I'd say this issue is full of the typical craziness that was in comics at the time, and I haven't even gotten to some of the crazier stuff.
That's only half the comic. The other half has a brief story about Joan of Arc (which isn't bad if over simplified), a story of a 3700 President Diana going on a diplomatic mission to Primal Island, which turns out to be kidnapping and enslaving girls, so she takes over the island with an army of women equipped with rings that squirt muscle relaxant on to people when you punch them, and finally a story about Wonder Woman teaching a little girl the importance of kindness by fighting a giant octopus. If you think I'm making these up, you can read the issue, along with the rest of the first 8 Wonder Woman Comics, here at Old Comics World.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Comic Book Commentary and Anti-Bully Superheroes
Urban Times has an interesting article about how graphic novels have been used for social and political commentary over the years, which can be read here.
Some children in New York won an Anti-Bullying contests featuring a child superhero called Super Nice Guy explaining why bullying is wrong to two bullies, which you can watch below. You can read more about the contest and the contestants here.
Some children in New York won an Anti-Bullying contests featuring a child superhero called Super Nice Guy explaining why bullying is wrong to two bullies, which you can watch below. You can read more about the contest and the contestants here.
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