Also up: 'The Spirit' full trailer

The full trailer to Frank Miller's adaptation of "The Spirit" is up at Yahoo! Movies, and it's another one whose look and tone may defy expectations. If clips keep showing up at this rate, there'll be no need to brave the crowds in Hall H next week ...

'Watchmen' trailer hits

The trailer for Zack Snyder's much-anticipated adaptation of 'Watchmen' is out, playing in front of "The Dark Knight" and online at the official site.

Having been skeptical about the ability to translate this to the screen, this turns out to be much more interesting than I expected. The tone of the piece is good and the pieces the showed borrowed almost exactly from the comics. I expect the finished visual effects will be more polished than they are here — especially on Dr. Manhattan. Fan reaction so far has been positive, which is good news for the pic to build on the buzz as we head into Comic-Con week.

Continue reading "'Watchmen' trailer hits"

'Hellboy II' does well; con sked complete; Finger honorees

As expected, "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" topped the weekend box office with a strong $35.9 million gross. That's a big improvement over the $23 million the original grossed its opening weekend in April 2004. "Hellboy II" also benefits from a higher profile for the character and for director Guillermo Del Toro. The big question now is how badly does Universal, which picked up the franchise from Revolution/Sony, want a third Hellboy? Del Toro is heading off to do two "Hobbit" films and admits he won't be free to return to complete his Hellboy trilogy for a good four or five years. Its second weekend gross is expected to take a big dive in the face of the juggernaut that is "The Dark Knight."

in Comic-Con news, the Friday and Saturday schedules are up, and one-day passes are sold out for every day but Sunday — and those should be gone within a day or so. With a little more than a week left to go, the frenzy of plan making and trying to make sense out of this year's show is in overdrive.

Also, Archie Goodwin and Larry Lieber have been named the winners of the this year's Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. Goodwin was one of the most universally admired writers and editors in the history of comics. His credits include stories for Creepy, Eerie, Batman, iron Man, Star Wars and Secret Agent X-9. Goodwin died in 1998. Lieber was a contributor working with his brother, Stan Lee, on the Marvel line since 1950 . Lieber wrote memorable stories for Thor, iron Man and Human Torch. He now draws the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. The award will be presented at the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards ceremony at Comic-Con.

Comic-Con schedule rolls out; Friday sold out

Apologies for such light posting of late; deadlines on other projects conspired to deprive me of time to blog. More later on the pair of big comicbook movies opening this weekend and next, but for now, let's catch up. ... Comic-Con Intl. has released its Thursday schedule; expect another tomorrow, etc. Also, Friday one-day passes have sold out, leaving only Thursday and Sunday one-day passes still available. Publishers Weekly has a look at the state of the con and asks whether it's become a victim of its own success. ... The Comic-Con Intl. Independent Film Festival schedule also is up. I can attest that watching the short film A.W.O.L., which is the first film on the first day of the festival and stars David Morse and John C. McGinley in a Twilight Zone-ish tale of torture and fate, is a great way to kick off the convention. Of course, I'm biased: It was produced by my wife, Jessica Wethington McLean.

SUPERHERO SUMMIT: Execs from DC and WB are huddling this week to work out a master plan for the publisher's slate of superheroes. While the studio has The Dark Knight due out next week, its slate beyond that film currently only features Watchmen, with Justice League and Green Lantern the most likely to next get a green light.  ... Speaking of Watchmen, Coming Soon.net reports that the first trailer for the film will run before The Dark Knight. 

OPTIONS AND PICKUPS: While it's not a DC property, WB has picked up the rights to Wendy and Richard Pini's seminal indie comic Elfquest, with Rawson Thurber set to write and direct. ... WB also picked up Hiding in Time, an Image Shadowline comic by Christopher Long and Ryan Winn, with Beau Thorne attached to adapt. ... Showtime has picked up Simon Oliver and Tony Moore's recently canceled Vertigo comic The Exterminators as a possible TV show to be developed by Sare Colleton of Dexter. ... Eric Powell's The Goon has been optioned by director David Fincher and Blur Studios as a CG-animated feature. ... Marvel has apparently signed Jon Favreau to direct Iron Man 2.

COMICS FOLKS AND EVENTS: Boom! Studios has promoted Matt Gagnon to managing editor. The former buyer and purchasing manager for Meltdown Comics in Hollywood joined the company in March. ...

Boom! also is set to publish Pulp Tales as a benefit for artist Josh Medors, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. An advance print run will be available at the publisher's booth at Comic-Con in San Diego. ...The Brave New World comic shop in Santa Clarita plays host this Satruday to An Evening with Top Cow Productions. Original artwork from Marc Silvestri, Eric Basaldua, Michael Broussard and Sheldon Mitchell will be on display and for sale, with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society in honor of artist Michael Turner, who died June 27 at the age of 37 from cancer. ... Thom Beers, creator of the History ChannelIce Road Truckers series and Monster Garage, has created a comic Chopper Zombie coming July 30 from Devil's Due Press. Book will be written by Todd Livingston and drawn by Scott Keating.

Way draws on comics, films, music for 'Umbrella' (Part 2)

Like most kids reading comics in the late 1980s, "The Uncanny X-Men" was at the top of the stack for  Gerard Way. The writer of The Umbrella Academy and lead singer of My Chemical Romance says he particularly liked the late 1980s run by artist Marc Silvestri and writer Chris Claremont, and the 1989 crossover “Inferno” remains a favorite to this day.
“I loved the action, and because they were complete underdogs,” Way says. “They were invisible, they didn’t get any credit for what they did, they had personal issues with each other.”
Having discussed the experience of making comics in part one of our interview, Way says it was while he worked in a comics shop that he began to see the range of experimentation going in on comics at the time. One comicbook from that era — writer Grant Morrison's run on "Doom Patrol" — became a major influence on Way, who says it was for him the bridge between "X-Men" and "Sandman."
Beyond comics, Way was a fan of films with strong visuals. Directors David Lynch and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s "City of Lost Children" were particular favorites.
After joining a band in middle school that Way was later thrown out of for not being a good guitarist, he was more attracted to creating his own comics.
“I wanted to do something where I could be self-reliant,” Way says. “I said I’m going to write comics and I’m going to teach myself how to draw properly so I could draw and write them, so I didn’t really need other people.”

Continue reading "Way draws on comics, films, music for 'Umbrella' (Part 2)"

Giveaway — Batman: The Movie Special Edition (1966) on Blu-Ray!

Bam! Boom! Zap! "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"

Grab your can of Bat-anti-shark spray — the campy 1966 classic Batman: The Movie, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, is released as a Special Edition on Blu-Ray this week — and we've got five copies to hand out as prizes in the first-ever Bags and Boards giveaway.

In addition to the camp classic in full HD glory, the disc includes vital features for every Bat-fan, including commentary tracks by Adam West & Burt Ward, and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr.; an isolated score track, a long list of documentary features, original teasers and trailers and footage from the film's premiere. This will be the ideal way to brush up on your Bat-mania while waiting for the amazing The Dark Knight (we can say it's awesome because we've seen it and love it).

To win, be one of the first five to leave a comment to this post explaining who is your favorite Batman villain and why. (Be sure to leave an email address in the comments form so we can contact you!) Do you love the Clown Prince of Crime or the purrrr-fectly sexy Catwoman? Do you waddle along with the Penguin or always have the right answer for the Riddler? You tell us, Bat-fans!

Way rocks comics with 'Umbrella Academy,' Part 1

Gerard Way is not your normal comic-book writer.

Better known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance, which formed in 2001 and has released three albums culminating in the 2006 smash hit The Black Parade.

To comics fans, he’s best known as the creator of The Umbrella Academy, a quirky and inventive tale of postmodern superheroes that debuted with a short tale in 2007’s Free Comic Book Day offering from Dark Horse Comics. That was followed by a six-issue series called "Apocalypse Suite" that has just been collected in trade paperback. Drawn by Brazilian artist Gabriel Ba, the series was a strong seller and a critical success.

The story begins with seven extraordinary children, brought together at birth by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, an inventor and entrepreneur who raised them to use their unusual abilities to save the world. It sounds like standard superhero stuff, but the joy is in the execution of the comic, which is skillfully written and drawn as a shady and bizarre world that draws as much from Grant Morrison and Mike Mignola as X-Men.

Way says he has always loved art and comics as much as music. A former comic shop employee, he grew up on 1980s superhero comics and went to New York’s School of Visual Arts intending to become a comic book artist. But music came to the fore after the 9/11 attack, leading to the creation and success of My Chemical Romance.

So for Way, carving out time from touring and recording to write a comic book was a labor of love. “The real simple reason is I love comics so much,” Way says. “It’s not even that I read an awful lot of comics anymore. I’m real specific about what I like, but I’ve always truly loved the artform and I’ve loved it since I was a kid.”

Continue reading "Way rocks comics with 'Umbrella Academy,' Part 1"

Artist Michael Turner dies at age 37

Heidi MacDonald at The Beat reports that comics artist Michael Turner died Friday night in Santa Monica at the age of 37.

Turner, best known for portraying sexy heroines  such as Witchblade and Fathom and covers for such high-profile series as Identity Crisis and Civil War, had been battling bone cancer for the past eight years.

More details are forthcoming from Aspen Comics, the comics publishing company Turner founded in 2002. More on Turner can be found at Newsarama.

'Wanted's' success heralds next age of comics pics

"Wanted" opens today at 3,175 theaters and looks to defy expectations of being an R-rated action movie that’s based on a relatively unknown comicbook from a novice overseas director opening against another sure-fire hit from Pixar.

But the power of an all-star cast that includes Angelina Jolie, the most beautiful and popular actress on the planet right now, the always-trustworthy Morgan Freeman, newcomer Common and up-and-coming star James McAvoy has piqued interest in the pic. As such, "Wanted" has capitalized on its chances and won over audiences and, surprisingly, even critics of all stripes by being an inventive, entertaining and engaging R-rated action film of a type long absent from summer movie screens.

There’s no way “Wanted,” directed by Timur Bekmambetov based on the 2004 Top Cow comic by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones (original review), will trump “Wall-E” at the box office this weekend. But with prognosticators still estimating as much as a $40 million opening gross, second place is nothing to sneeze at.

Should that scenario play out, “Wanted” also will make a significant mark on the comics to film evolution, joining the likes of “300,” “Sin City,” “Hellboy” and its upcoming sequel and the heavily anticipated “Watchmen” as comic films that aren’t based on long-running Marvel or DC superhero franchises.

Continue reading "'Wanted's' success heralds next age of comics pics"

'Spirit' rough cut complete, awaits VFX

A few things to catch up on that were impossible to post about last week during a DSL line outage that actually forced me to use dial-up for three days.

We recently spoke with "The Spirit" producer Deborah Del Prete, who says a green-screen cut of the film has been completed and has everyone very excited about the results. The production is now waiting as more than 1,800 VFX shots are coming in from San Francisco-based house The Orphanage. ... Expect to see some new footage from the film at Comic-Con ... Meanwhile, four new posters have been released for the film, each featuring one of the femme fatales from the Frank Miller-directed film. Head over to Yahoo! to hear the actresses speak the lines. Can't say I'm thrilled to see the "keep the mask on" line reappear after All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder #7, but it should work better with The Spirit than Batman.

INTERVIEWS AND UPDATES: "Get Smart" director Peter Segal talks about his planned "Shazam!" movie at SciFi Scanner. ... View and vote on entries in the "Veidt Enterprises Advertising Contest" for the "Watchmen" movie at YouTube. ... Rumors abound that director Zack Snyder is lobbying Warner Bros. for a longer running time on "Watchmen," a trailer for which is expected to be attached to "The Dark Knight."... Guillermo del Toro says he plans to complete his "Hellboy" trilogy with a third film — after he directs the two-part "Hobbit" feature ... Apparently, Frank Miller is working on the screenplay to a prequel to "300."

NEW AND NOTABLE: Time magazine notices that Hollywood likes comics. ... Midtown Comics puts together a funny series of webvideos titled "Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist." ... Oni Press has teamed up with 60Frames to produce comics from TV scribes such as Tom Fontana of "Oz" and showrunners of the new "Beverly Hills 90210" series Gabe Sachs and Jeff Juday. ... Webcomics site Zuda is bringing back series that failed to win their month's competition, but that fans wanted to see more of in its "2008 Invitational" event.
AWARDS, EH?: The winners of the 2008 Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards were given out recently in Toronto, with top honors going to writer Cecil Castellucci for The Plain Janes; artist Dale Eaglesham for his work on DC's Justice Society of America; and cartoonist Jeff Lemire for Essex County Vol. 1 and 2. The full list of winners can be found here. ... The noms have been announced for The Harvey Awards. Creators can download and cast ballots here, with the winners to be announced at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Sept. 27. ... A list of this year's Lulu Awards winners can  be found here.

PEOPLE AND ORGS: A scholarship has been established in the name of comicbook artist Mike Weiringo, who died unexpectedly last year at the age of 44. The scholarship is designed to benefit students at the Savannah College of Art and Design interested in pursuing a career as a comicbook artist. ... The Hero Initiative  has published a tribute book to Weiringo, completing the "What If?" storyline he was drawing for Marvel at the time of death and including tributes from artists and writers in the comics biz. ... Hero Initiative also continues to assist former Marvel artist Gene Colan, who needs assistance paying medical bills, selling prints featuring his Iron Man art at conventions and through AtomicComics.com. ... Even more Hero news: all 100 original covers from the Ultimate Hulk project will be on display in a special "green room" at Wizard World Chicago this weekend. Also, the first 10 covers will be auctioned at the show. ... James Perham, a former editor for Valiant Comics, has died at the age of 43 from heart failure.

Buyers beware scalped Comic-Con tickets

As soon as sellouts became a possibility, it was inevitable that folks would try to sell their tickets to next month's Comic-Con Intl. in San Diego at a profit.

Right now, there are about a dozen or so auctions up on eBay for Comic-Con passes. Prices on completed auctions show people willing to pay more than $100 for a sold-out one-day Saturday pass that originally sold for $35. Four-day passes, which originally cost $75 each and have been sold out for weeks, are going for as much as $300 each. Plus, there's this solicit right here in the comments section of this very blog.

But buyers should beware. It looks like many folks are selling the emailed confirmation notice that would then be presented at the con to receive a badge. Problem is, if the buyer's name doesn't match yours, you may not get what you paid for.

I checked with David Glanzer, spokesman for the Con, who emails that con-goers will need to present both their confirmation printout and a matching photo ID to pick up their badge.

Additionally, Glanzer writes this even applies to complimentary passes:

I would also discourage people from purchasing Complimentary Passes that may appear on auction sites or online community sites.  These passes can be invalid.

Each complimentary pass is encoded with a bar code/number system. Each complimentary pass has been pre-scanned with the recipients information (whether that be an individual or a group). Even if the complimentary pass is left blank (as many are) the information is still recorded in our database.

If someone tries to redeem the complimentary pass and their ID doesn't match what is on file, the pass becomes invalid.

This won't stop everyone (or perhaps even most people who want to do so) from selling their badges, though it may force a few to secure the actual badge before transferring ownership rather than just forwarding the email confirmation. There also are a number of auctions promising to "transfer" the membership, promising they've secured special permission to do even even though there apparently was a deadline for this and it's passed.

All of which makes this a definite case of buyer beware, and should prompt anyone who absolutely must attend the show to get the still-available one-day passes for Thursday, Friday and Sunday before they, too, are gone.

DC Didio ouster rumors prove false, expose fan discontent

The just-wrapped Heroes Con in Charlotte, N.C., was dominated by rumors and speculation about a big shakeup at DC Comics. Most of the focus was on exec VP Dan Didio, who is the point man for all things superhero and has born the brunt of criticism regarding the failures, both perceived and real, of the line.

But while fans were primed for some kind of major shakeup, the resulting news that John Nee had resigned as DC's senior VP of business development was not what fans were expecting. Add in that Nee was well-liked, parent company Warner Bros. was pleased with his performance and that his decision to leave was completely his own, and the whole thing could have been written off as yet another overblown Internet rumor were it not for the vehemence with which fans voiced their discontent with DC in general and Didio in particular.

And fans do have some legitimate complaints. Countdown to Final Crisis, the weekly series that was to serve as the "spine" of the DC Universe for the past year, was a creative mess. The first issue of Final Crisis, the big event series that DC has been building to for two years, came in a distant second on the May sales charts to the second issue of Marvel's Secret Invasion. DC only landed eight titles in the top 30 comics releases that month, with all but one of the rest coming from Marvel. Plus, writer Grant Morrison had to go online to explain and clarify apparent continuity conflicts between Final Crisis, which he wrote starting in 2006, and lead-in series such as Countdown and Death of the New Gods. Fans fill blogs and boards full of complaints and debate about the quality of DC Comics, with many taking particular relish in predicting or hoping for Didio's ouster. Even Deadline Hollywood Daily blogger Nikki Finke picked up on the story, speculating that WB was going to shakeup DC to improve appearances that all is well in time for Comic-Con.

With Didio reported to have signed a significant contract extension, it's clear that Warner Bros. doesn't share these fans' dismay. And the reasons for that may not do much for comicbook readers' self-esteem. First, DC is a small part of the WB that, unlike its main rival Marvel, is pretty much exclusively concerned with publishing comicbooks. And that's definitely small potatoes: ICV2.com estimated the graphic novel and comicbook market at retail in 2007 at just over $700 million — a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.8 billion in revenues that Warner Bros. Filmed Entertainment reported in just the first quarter of 2008. DC's value is in its vast catalog of intellectual properties and its ability to generate and incubate new ones.

That said, media interest in comics is massively disproportionate to the number of people that read them, and the one thing that may prompt WB execs to scrutinize DC's efforts is bad press. Fan discontent, while vocal, can quickly turn around with a couple of hits. And DC arguably has a few of those, such as the popularity of Geoff John's run on Green Lantern and Morrison's Batman R.I.P. crossover, though it could use a few more. The pendulum of fan favor has long swung back and forth between DC and Marvel, and while it's right now mostly on Marvel's side, it will swing back at some point. Of course, coming up with a new hit series is increasingly difficult — witness the constant recycling and reviving of old characters, and the struggles new series starring even such well-known characters as Flash and Wonder Woman have had in recent years.

But even a few hits are unlikely to satisfy DC and Didio's critics any time soon. Even if the company decided big changes were in order, it would take months for them to show up in the books. Even if DC were to replace Didio, the number of candidates qualified to appease fanboys, run a publishing operation and imbue the company's characters with the kind of new energy they need to attract new readers is astoundingly short.

For DC to gain ground on Marvel will require both creativity and consistency. Raiding talent alone will help, but not as much as finding new writers and artists and letting them loose on the DCU. It also apparently requires some internal editorial issues — editors and creators working on superheroes have to do better job of coordinating their storylines and characters if the idea of the DCU as a cohesive world is going to work.

And lastly, WB could help out immensely by getting more DC-based movies made. It's a lot harder for DC than for Marvel to get movies made: WB only makes so many movies a year and DC movies have to compete for those slots with everything from Clint Eastwood's latest to Harry Potter; Marvel, as a stand-alone company, in many ways needs to make movies to survive. And it's not fair to throw the comics operation in with the movie operation in DC's case anyway, as everyone I've ever talked to at DC Comics says no one at the publishing operation has much of anything to do with movie or TV projects.

Fair or not, fans always will see comics as a Marvel vs. DC thing, and movie success plays a huge part in that. It'd be hard to argue DC was falling behind if they had a Green Lantern movie to answer the box office success of Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk. And while it seems unlikely now that major changes are imminent at DC, the company also has to address that a lot of folks who read comics are unhappy with what they're seeing at DC.

Summit's 'Red' deal first DC-related project to leave WB

Warren Ellis reports that the film rights to "Red," a graphic novella he and artist Cully Hamner did a few years back for for DC/Wildstorm have been sold to Summit Entertainment. Brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber, who also scripted the upcoming adaptation of Greg Rucka's "Whiteout," have been tapped to write the script. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing

Interestingly, this has been reported as the first time a DC-affiliated project has left Warner Bros., though DC's VP of creative affairs Gregory Noveck will be an exec producer on the film. It apparently took two years to extricate "Red" from WB, which should surprise no one who attended the panel I moderated at Book Expo America a few weeks back, where one of the panelists (I honestly can't remember who — I was in panicked moderator mode and not taking notes the way I would if I were covering it) explained that WB has to actively pass on a DC project before it can go out to another studio. In a town where the easiest way to get fired is to have passed on a project that becomes a big hit for someone else, don't expect this to happen again any time soon.

Universal, meanwhile, has picked up the rights to Vasilis Lolos' graphic novel "Last Call" from Oni. Barry Josephson will produce.

On the "Justice League" movie front, Variety's Michael Fleming examines the changing nature of deals in Hollywood and mentions the studio is likely to revisit a gross deal made with director George Miller on the project, whose status has been indeterminate for a while now.

Robert Downey Jr. may venture further into the comic book fold, as he's in talks to star in DreamWorks/Universal's "Cowboys & Aliens," based on the Platinum Studios graphic novel of the same name.

Sam Raimi tells Sci Fi Wire that he's waiting to see a script for "Spider-Man 4" before deciding whether he'll return to direct another installment in the series.

Bloody Disgusting reports that "Battlestar Galactica" helmer Michael Rymer has signed on to direct the live-action "Witchblade" feature.

'Hulk' does well, but is it a hit?

"The Incredible Hulk" smashed its way to the top of the box office last weekend with a domestic gross of $55 million. What's especially interesting is that the film is being hailed as a success all around when compared to the 2003 Ang Lee version, which opened with $62 million. Seems like it may be a bit early to declare victory on the b.o. front, even though the new film is fun, engaging and easy to watch in a way that Lee's more complicated version was not.

The story behind the movie continues to fascinate, with Anne Thompson setting the record straight on the matter. Turns out while there's something there, it's far less salacious than most sites have made it out to be.

Meanwhile, "Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier says that the eventual Blu-Ray DVD release of the film will include 70 minutes of additional footage, including the cut Captain America scene. As for a sequel, Leterrier tells MTV that he'd like to leave it up to the fans to decide whether a sequel would feature the Leader or Doc Samson as the villain. Fans over at ComicBookMovie.com are voting in an impromptu poll, with the Leader way out in front, followed most closely by the option for "both."

In other Marvel movie news: Fans' joy over the success of "Iron Man" has turned to worries about director Jon Favreau not having been signed to direct the sequel. Word went out a while back that Marvel had not signed the director to helm a second film for the Golden Avenger. Reports have since surfaced that talks have begun. Favreau appears up for it, though he's questioned on his MySpace group whether the planned release date of 2010 isn't pushing it. He also talks about possible villains for a sequel, with The Mandarin being a likely candidate.

As for the rest of the Marvel movie lineup, the most recent oddball-unlikely rumor concerns a report from LatinoReview that Leonardo DiCaprio sits atop Marvel's wish list to play Captain America.

And lastly, new pics from next summer's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" have been showing up online, confirming the film will follow the comics' lead in turning Logan onto a meaner, mutant version of Forrest Gump — i.e, a really old guy who's been involved in every historic event of the 20th century.

Revamped Hulk is pretty incredible

Perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid to Marvels' "The Incredible Hulk" is that watching the movie is almost exactly like reading a classic Hulk comicbook.

And, yes, that is a big compliment.

You can check out Variety's official review from Todd McCarthy here; what follows is my take on the film, which I'll try to keep spoiler free.

Perhaps even more than "Iron Man" — which in retrospect has proven somewhat unsatisfying for being extremely conservative and taking few chances — "Incredible Hulk" is as close to a pure translation of a comicbook to the screen as anything we've seen to date.

That means the film has a lot of the great elements of the comic — including a fast pace and some really great mayhem — as well as some of the bad — the plot loses some emotional oomph in the third act as it becomes a typical comicbook-style superbrawl.

The big question all along about the film has been the visual effects and the look of the Hulk himself. The Hulk looks much better than he did in the 2003 Ang Lee film and is likely about as good as the current technology will allow. You're still aware you're looking at a CGI creation, though, and comic fans in particular will likely get different mileage based on how willing they are to forgive the flaws. The film does take some nice cues from the TV series by keeping the Hulk in shadows and he's only partially seen for a large part of the film. That buys the film some time to get into the story before fully exposing the CG Hulk, making it easier to accept since by this point the film is rolling along at a pretty good clip.

Performances are all very good and the action sequences are fast and exciting, if not the most innovative ever filmed. The addition of humor is extremely welcome — Tim Blake Nelson is great as Sam Sterns, who's set up to become The Leader in a sequel — as are the quick tips of the hat to the old TV series and the by-now de rigeur cameos by Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno. There are plenty of Easter eggs for fans of the comics, the most exciting being the Tony Stark cameo that continues to lay the groundwork for an eventual Avengers film.

Bottom line is Marvel has made a very entertaining Hulk movie that likely will surprise most comicbook fans and moviegoers by exceeding expectations. Unlike the last film, the word of mouth should be very good and bring some of that huge "Iron Man" audience back for the summer's second helping of Marvel goodness.