Universal Dork

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  • Does the NEW Luke Skywalker Truly Have What it Takes?!

    I wanted to quickly give my two damn cents worth here about The Book of Boba Fett’s controversial Luke Skywalker appearance! This was much more than a cameo as you already know by now and its got people talkin’ for sure.

     I’ve gotta say, as much as I’m normally against using CGI to replace real actors, the Luke Skywalker that showed up was indeed pretty amazing!  A 1000% improvement from what we got at the end of The Mandorian: Season 2. If I didn’t know any better I probably would’ve thought he was just an ordinary actor on set. It really did feel like it was 1983 all over again. 

    That being said I do think there is still room for improvement and I’m not entirely sure that an full series could be driven yet by this portrayal of Luke Skywalker yet. I think the main issue for me personally comes with his his voice, which from what I understand wasn’t just Mark Hamill speaking all the lines and impersonating his younger self. From what I understand his voice was actually generated using old Star Wars radio broadcasts and using some sort of AI synthetic generator to bust out his lines.

    If that truly is the case it’d be clear why some of Luke’s dialog delivery felt a bit robotic. What I think is most important going forward is to have Mark Hamill involved in the creation of this character in as many ways possible. He’s an incredible voice actor and I think he could easily deliver the lines impersonating a younger version of himself with a little practice.

    I’m also not sure how they are generating Luke Skywalker’s face but clearly they need to be using Mark fully for the facial emotions of the character going forward if they haven’t already. I’m really looking forward to a ‘behind the scenes’ of how this episode was created to see exactly how they did it and exactly what his involvement truly was.

     At this point though they’re definitely moving in the right direction and as quickly as technology seems to be changing it’s clear that they can likely recreate almost any older classic character that they choose. What does this mean for the future of actors in Hollywood and movies? I’m not quite sure. Some of it’s a little creepy to be honest, but in this particular case of bringing back one of the most iconic cinematic heroes, I guess I’m totally fine with this rendition of Skywalker! And for continuity’s sake I hope Disney goes back and replaces The Luke Skywalker from the end of Mando Season 2 with THIS new technology to smooth it out!  I’m also not opposed to the idea of Luke being recast at this point either using Sebastian Stan, though to be honest I would really have to see him in the role to see if he’s actually truly believable as the character. Alden didn’t sell Han Solo for me so I still remain a bit skeptical recasting any of the original trilogy characters!  Though I do think if they would have used Anthony Ingruber in the role of Han Solo I’ll be singing a different tune.  I can’t wait until Wednesday to see what happens next….

  • Comic Cover of the Week: Bill Sienkiewicz Does it Again!

    I’m convinced over & over again, when it comes to comic book covers there is NO one better than Bill Sienkiewicz! Check this mega epic artwork from ‘What If?’ #47 way back from 1984! Bill gets the job done here as usual with some amazing painting and just downright epic imagery featuring Loki. Bill gets the job done here as usual with some beautiful painting and just downright epic imagery of Loki in all of his wicked glory, This easily could have been used as an iconic metal album cover from the era, no questions asked-Bill is the BEST!

  • The Single Greatest Rendition of THE INCREDIBLE HULK?! I Think SO!

    I’m going way out on a limb here to make a very bold statement today- I am going to declare THIS particular piece of artwork as my single favorite image image of The Incredible Hulk! I’ve been thinking about this for quite a while and ever since I was a kid I could never get this beautifully painted rage filled masterpiece by the legendary John Buscema & Joe Jusko out of my mind!

    To me this embodies everything that The Hulk should be: a muscle bound monster that puts utter fear into the souls of anyone who faces him. This cover from The Hulk! magazine #26 from 1981 captures everything I love about the jade giant. A fierce, frightening behemoth And most definitely my favorite super hero of all time, hands down.

    But with this post I figured I would challenge Fellow Universal Dorks out there to prove me wrong, What is your favorite piece of work that features The Hulk in all of his is gamma glory?! Change my mind on this one I challenge you! HULK SMASH!!

  • SHE-HULK #1 Misses the Charm of the 1980s!

    It’s been quite a while since I visited my local comic book shop (Cosmic Monkey in PDX!!) but but the new ‘She-Hulk’ series I’d heard about gave me enough ammo to figure it would be worth finally stopping in for a visit again. I was pretty pumped to hear that She-Hulk was supposedly going back to her “roots” finally, something that’s been presented as more of a return to form to the original John Byrne series of the 1980s. Count me in!

     First I must admit, the cover(s) art for this debut issue is awesome and truly does remind me of the classic She-Hulk I grew to love back in the late eighties. I’m actually quite surprised that Marvel Comics seemingly decided to go back to the “sexy, flirtatious” version of Jennifer Walters. Especially since more recently this version of the character was to an extent considered is somewhat offensive to many.

    People claimed that she was only used as a sex symbol by male writers & never truly fleshed out as a character, something that I actually highly disagree with.

     Nonetheless I was excited to see exactly what they were going to bring to the table in 2022. Unfortunately my hopes for this debut issue were squashed pretty quickly by what I consider to be weak and somewhat uninspiring storytelling.

     Most of the issue revolves around a rather pointless fight with her classic nemesis Titania, that I assume they were trying Inject some sort of witty comedy into. The rest of the issue spends a few pages getting into Jennifer Walters more personal problems as she moves back into her former apartment. That’s really about it in a nutshell. I didn’t really find much of anything to be memorable here, the dialogue was pretty flimsy and the artwork at some points was impressive and at others felt a bit rushed. 

     I guess a part of me had built up this return to form as possibly being a consisely comedic version of the character and her absurdly over the top adventures of years ago. Instead what I ultimately ended up with was yet another safely generic Marvel Comics relaunch. I guess in a way it was kind of what I was expecting and it’s certainly not the spark that’s gonna get me going back to drop another $4 to $5 on a comic book that literally takes just over 5 minutes to read in it’s entirety. I’m somewhat astounded that as comic prices dramatically increased the panels grew exponentially in size and now only take a matter of minutes to read. I would have hoped that the opposite would have occurred,  If you’re gonna charge 5 bucks for a comic book you’d better be bringing more bang for your buck!

     I can’t say I’ll be going back for more She-Hulk anytime soon, yet it has inspired me to dig out my old late eighties back issues. Who knows maybe I’m being too damn hard on things and perhaps my memory of the “golden era” of She-Hulk is something that won’t hold up in 2022. If this is any indication though of what the live action MCU series is going to be like I guess I’m gonna be pretty disappointed. There’s so much fun to be had with She-Hulk, a more of a classic “Sex in the City” style approach to the series with some clever writing is what I was hoping more for. I’ll save my true anticipation for the series launch on Disney Plus this year with my fingers firmly crossed....

  • The Craziest Movie Subtitles of ALL Time!

    So for New Years this year I rewatched 1999’s ‘The Last Ghost Standing’. A totally bonkers Hong-Kong horror movie that takes place on New Year’s Eve. If you ever get the chance to check it out I highly recommend it, especially if you like movies like Evil Dead 2, it will not disappoint! Once again I had to freeze frame it and officially document this bizarre subtitle!!  This easily makes the list of the craziest subtitles of all time..

  • Top 10 Rock Album Covers by Comic Book Artists?!

    There are some epic comic book artists out there in the world, true legends who produced some of the most iconic artwork of all time. I’ve always wondered if any big name comic book artists were employed by rock bands to make album covers? Let’s face it, one of the most important things as a musician is having an unforgettable album cover. So I did a little research of my own to see who, if any, throughout time had actually enlisted these talents! Here’s what I found!

    Mark Texiera: Public Enemy, Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994)

    Texiera takes a break from the pages of comic books to spice up Public Enemy’s 1994 release with an awesome LP cover. This is a great example of how wise it is to hire a comic book artist to craft a freakin’ masterpiece cover for your band.

     

    Barry Windsor Smith: The Byrds, Preflyte (1973)

    Barry is easily one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, who the hell wouldn’t ask the guy to do the art work for their record? This one though was a real surprise I had no idea he dabbled in the music genre with his skills!

     

    Bob Camp: Newcleus Jam On Revenge (1984)

    Bob Camp did some great work with Marvel Comics in the eighties on titles like The ‘Nam, Conan the Barbarian and G.I. Joe. But what a lot of people forget is that he actually did this iconic cover art for rap supergroup Newcleus!

     

    John Byrne: Joe Satriani, Surfing With The Alien  (1987)

    Superstar comic book artist John Byrne’s rendering of the Silver Surfer was used for Joe Satriani’s most famous guitar rock album. Apparently no one talked to him about using the artwork and apparently he remains uncredited in the album liner notes!

     

    Todd Mcfarlane: Korn, Follow the Leader (1998)

    I’ve gotta say I’ve never liked Korn, at all.  In fact I can admit that I actually hate their music. But when I found out they hired Todd McFarlane to do the cover art for their album they won me over just a little bit..

     

    Bill Sienkiewicz: RZA, Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998)

    Getting Bill to do your cover artwork Is probably about the wisest thing you could do for your damn musical career. The guy is a living legend and one of the best cover artists in all comic book history!  He nails it for RZA!

     

    Richard Corben: Meatloaf, Bat Out of Hell (1977)

    Corben is responsible for some of the grittiest comic book art out there! He hits a home run here with Meatloaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’. Recently I had to come to my own conclusion about Meatloaf, and I find myself in the same frame of mind as I did with Korn. NOT A FAN! But still Meatloaf wins me over employing Corben to make this iconic album cover…

     

    Vincent Locke: Cannibal Corpse, Butchered at Birth (1991)

    Legendary gore artist extraordinaire, Vincent Locke is best know for his crazy artwork for 80s horror comic Deadworld. With his unforgettable awesome LP cover for Cannibal Corpse he essentially just drew a cover for Deadworld and slapped on their logo and somehow created a truly gore-tas-tic metal massacre masterpiece!

     

    Alex Ross: Anthrax, We’ve Come for You All (2003)

    Mr. Ross is a true legend and Anthrax made an excellent choice in getting him on deck to craft this beautifully mysterious album cover. Ross is in league of his own and this adds more proof of that bold claim.

     

    Jamie Hewlett: Senseless Things, The First of Too Many (1991)

     An amazing power pop punk album from the Senseless Things! This one was in heavy rotation for me when I was in high school. I didn’t make the connection until recently that this artist went on to produce the iconic Tank Girl comic book series!

     

    Brian Bolland: Beautiful Happiness (1988) 

    Who’d have ever thought that Brian Boland, comic book artist extraordinaire, most well known for Batman: The Killing Joke, was a punk at heart?  Easily one of my favorite comic book artists/cover artists of all time, this shows his true skill in crafting the ultimate punk rock compilation cover!


  • Comic Cover of the Week: The Hulk vs The Big Green Gamma Brain!

    Today I’m showcasing one of my favorite Incredible Hulk comic book covers, issue number 224, which features an epic battle with the Jade Giant versus the biggest brain in Marvel Comics, The Leader! I’ve always loved the dynamic between these two characters being pure brute strength with minimal brain capacity and one being a total weakling with gamma spawned super intellect. I’d go as far to say that The Leader is probably my favorite villain of The Incredible Hulk. He always had to use some sort of weird robotic contraption to actually battle The Hulk head on. This cover perfectly showcases their iconic rivalry with a beautiful cover drawn by Ernie Chan from 1978! Chan is one of my all time favorite Incredible Hulk artists & this in my opinion is one of his best pieces of cover work. I’d love to see something like this scenario materialize in the MCU in an incredible Hulk solo movie sequel which is long overdue…

  • The Craziest Movie Subtitles of ALL Time!

    I’ve been watching a lot of Hong-Kong movies lately from the 80s and good lord let me tell you, there are some amazing unbelievable subtitles to behold! So every now and again I’ll pause the screen to take a snapshot to capture some of these in ALL their insane glory! These first two exhibits come from an amazing action movie from 1989 called ‘Pedicab Driver’ starring Sammo Hung! If you’re a fan of wild, over the fucking top martial arts then check this out ASAP and keep an eye open for these unforgettable words of wisdom within the text of their glorious subtitles!

    Exhibit A:

    Exhibit B:

    WTF??????

  • A COBRA KAI Theory: Will KREESE Meet DUTCH in the Slammer?

    Ok so first off, Cobra Kai ‘Season 4′ was my second favorite of the series and I’m a HUGE Karate Kid fan. That means somehow the damn show is still fully on the right ass kickin’ track! So I ‘ve been thinking quite a bit lately about just where it’s plot might go, particularly wondering about it’s iconic villain John Kreese (played by the legendary Martin Kove) who has ****SPOILER ALERT**** just been arrested! 

     Of course this has led me down the wild rabbit hole of Cobra Kai plot ideas, as we heard in an earlier season that former Cobra Kai bad-ass bully “Dutch” was reportedly in prison. The show’s creators originally of course wanted to feature Dutch (Chad Mcqueen) in the reunion episode where Johnny and the rest of the old Cobra Kai gang went on their raucous booze-laden motorcycle road trip. However McQueen was not available to film any of the scenes due to prior engagements from his moto racing company which occupies the majority of his days these days.

    However, from what they’ve said, it still sounded to me like a Dutch appearance is NOT out of the question for possibly a future installment/season of the show. This would be the perfect opportunity for Kreese to enter the slammer to meet his former student Dutch for his official appearance on Cobra Kai?!

     How cool would it be for the fans to finally see Dutch again and even stranger witness the reunion between him and his former sensei in the flesh within the walls of dangerous prison life? I think this just might be a real possibility and I’m certain in my gut that the creators of the show might indeed have this planned out for a sweet surprise in season 5 (hey just throwing it out there!). There’s quite an interesting tale to be told if indeed Kreese gets locked up and even more so if his former Cobra Kai student is there with him!  It’s anyone’s guess at this point how that would go down..but you tell me, what do you think about this possible story arc?!  A season side story of Kreese in prison with Dutch would surely be a treat for us die hard Karate Kid fanatics!

  • Comic Cover of the Week: She-Hulk Savagely STOPS Traffic!

    I’m super stoked for the new She-Hulk series that will be coming out on Disney Plus!  From what I’ve seen so far it looks to be a  pretty good representation of the classic character we’ve all come to love. Back in 1980 the 2nd issue dropped of She’Hulk with a cover to remember from one of my all time favorites-John Buscema!  This might be my personal favorite covet of the classic Savage She-Hulk run! Whatta total bad ass babe!