Having watched and reviewed several motion comics, I am never surprised by the mixed reviews that fans give them. Some folks hate them outright while others are at least appreciative of some great storylines seeing a new medium. I’m sure Wolverine Weapon X: Tomorrow Dies Today will be no different. At least this time there is time travel involved. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the new X-Men movie is coming out this month, right?
Well, this story is all about the Deathloks. Their primary mission is to travel through time and kill superheroes in the past before they become a problem in the future. This includes slaying children outright and even murdering parents who are destined to have superhero children. Being cyborgs (that’s a mix of robot and human, in case you didn’t know), they are programmed to kill and follow their orders without fail, using their enhanced abilities to do so. I won’t bury you in details but suffice to say that they are making great headway on their list when the movie starts in.
Wolverine vs. Sabretooth DVD
Based on the comic written by Jeph Loeb
Screenplay adapted by Jeph Loeb
Illustrated by Simone Bianchi
Directed by Carl Upsdell Shout! Factory
Not Rated | 66 Minutes
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Cover Price: $14.97
Welcome, one and all, to the world of Marvel Knights and the animated features available therein. This week I am pleased to bring you the motion comic Marvel Knights: Wolverine Versus Sabretooth. I will admit that I’m still on the fence as to whether I like this medium or not. I do appreciate that it’s one more way to grab the attention of folks who might otherwise not pick up a comic, but I wonder sometimes if this format will stand the test of time.
If you are unaware of how this all works then allow me to enlighten you. Taking the original comic, frame by frame, parts are dissected and given life by allowing for some basic movement on screen. By stringing together the panels, we are given some fairly clean motion that preserves the integrity of the source material…mostly. Sometimes, as with all adaptations, parts of the original must be sacrificed for the sake of fluidity and continuity. This particular motion comic seemed to be more or less intact, though it might still confuse the newbies.
The fine folks at Shout Factory, along with Marvel Knights, have come together to bring the 6-issue comic book miniseries of Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk to life and onto your TV screen with the Marvel Knights: Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk motion comic.
When the comic book series initially came out, I picked up the first couple of issues, mostly because I wanted to see what Damon Lindelof (Lost) would bring to the table. But as with many comic book titles, a series of delays turned this into a four-year run. But now I can see what I missed, and see it come to life without having to track down the rest of the print run.
Marvel Knights: Wolverine Origin DVD
Based on the comic written by Paul Jenkins
Screenplay adapted by Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins and Bill Jemas
Original Art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove
Directed by Carl Upsdell Shout! Factory
Rated R | 66 Minutes
Release Date: July 9, 2013
Many of you may not of heard of this new comic format. It’s referred to as a motion comic. Essentially it’s a comic or graphic novel that is adapted to film by basically dissecting each panel and moving pieces of it to create the illusion of action. It is probably pretty painstaking work since we don’t see too much of it. Marvel Knights: Wolverine Origin is the first of these I have seen from Marvel, though I do own one from another comic company.
Being referred to as “the greatest story never told” is a tough bill, but ever since being introduced in 1975, Wolverine has been one of the most enigmatic comic characters around. Whereas other heroes had their backstories filled in fairly well, poor Logan’s has long remained a mystery. Until Paul Jenkins wrote the graphic novel Wolverine Origin and revealed the past for all to see, that is. I must admit, I remember reading the story back in 2009 and pretty much liking it. There were still some obvious gaps that I figured were there to create places to add in new stories later. Remembering all of this I went into the viewing of this motion comic with a pretty open mind.
In Attilan, no one can, or should, hear Black Bolt scream.
The Marvel Knights: Inhumans movie has been released. It is an adaptation of the 12 issue Marvel Knights comic written by Paul Jenkins with art by Jae Lee. Come ponder with me the reasoning of the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, as he navigates the politics of humans and near gods.
This Shout! Factory release is a motion comic. I can’t say that I was entirely pleased by that prospect. A lot of motion comics take away from the internal experience of reading comics. And the limited motion does no favors to the animation genre. For a long time, the motion comic did nothing for me. Then the Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D., Iron Man: Extremis, and the Astonishing X-Men: Gifted series were released and changed my opinion of this new medium to a more positive outlook. That is when I figured out subtlety is the key to a good motion comic execution.
How does the Inhumans movie measure up in this bold new genre? Have a look below the jump to find out.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
