Tagged: Classic

Fastner & Larsen’s Classic 1980’s Comic Book Paintings!!

As a kid I loved the Fastner & Larsen superhero paintings they did back in the 1980’s which were often sold as portfolios! These two started out drawing fantasy & scantily clad sci fi pin up girls and muscle bound dudes, I’d imagine that Frank Cho must have had mega inspiration from these two. Eventually they were approached by Marvel to do some work and boy did they ever! As a kid I had these portfolios and they still today remain some of my favorite pics of some of my favorite superheroes. Today these guys still do amazing art check out their website, and check out some of these classic comic book paintings from yesteryear! Stuff like this is why I love comic books today sooo much!

The New Batmobile: The Verdict is In!

Today we get a picture of the latest Batmobile for the upcoming Superman Vs. Batman flick. I’m going to say this, to be honest I wasn’t a fan of the Nolan Batmobile and to me this new version looks like it’s on a similar path. These military style combat machines just don’t register for me as a “Batmobile” in any way shape or form. I’m not a fan of Batman crusin’ around in some sort of fast moving tank. To me the Batmobile should be a sleek, fast and powerful vehicle. I know it’s considered cheezy now but I really liked the original from the 1960’s, now that was bad ass! I’m not saying Batman should go retro, though honestly that would be pretty cool if Batman actually had cool style and decided he was going to drive something more classic. Instead of something that looks like it’s headed to War in Iraq.

Not the case in 2014, nope Batman has got one thing in mind, killing people with his huge fucking guns he’s got mounted on his hulking beast of a road machine! I’m a little doubtful of this movie honestly, I’m not a big fan of Zack Snyder to tell you the truth. His movies in my opinion don’t age well and though he’s got good intentions I believe, I think his whole “dark”, “gloomy” & “gritty” approach and look is a bit dated already. The whole “emo dude” Superman didn’t work for me either. I’m not certain DC is gonna have the same success as Marvel with this universe they are trying to create. Time will tell I guess but in the meantime here’s a coupla’ Batmobiles I personally dig….

If Batman was actually a cool guy he’d have this one out on the streets!

 

The Classic is still amazing…

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Vintage Monster Toys: Gre-Gory The Vampire Bat – He’s FUN!

Toys back in the 1970’s were pretty fantastic, they had a particular look & feel to them that the toys of today just can’t match! I’m sure there are some pretty bad ass toys out these days, but back in the 70’s it was pretty random. A toy was created pretty much for the hell of it often times, as just something cool a kid might dig. Thus bringing us to today’s showcased toy- ‘Gre-Gory the Big Bad Vampire Bat”. He wasn’t part of a popular movie franchise, he wasn’t in a cartoon or a comic book-nope he was just a cool ass vampire bat made for the kids!

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The cool thing about this bat that made it a must have for all the cool kids was that you could see it’s inner organs through a see through plastic chest piece, but that ain’t all-it had a button you pressed on it’s back that pumped blood through them!

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1979-80 was a cool time to be a toy vampire  bat-you could use gregory to terrorize your GI Joe’s or attack Ken & barbie on their honeymoon! Gre-Gory is a classic toy monster that should never be forgotten!!

Check out this rad video! Get the scoop on Gre-Gory!

Comic Book Cover of the Week: Superman the Werewolf Slayer!

Superman #422 is quite an interesting issue to say the least, Superman battles werewolves! Yeah back in 1986 Superman had a full on battle with some seriously pesky lycans . To me it’d seem like Supes would have no problem kicking a werewolf’s ass-but that’s apparently not in this issue titled “Bad Moon Rising”. He not only gets his ass handed to him but the werewolf, after the beat down, rips off Superman’s costume and dons it himself! Yeah he leaves Superman naked in the streets of Metropolis and what’s even more funny is that Superman’s worried about “being arrested for indecent exposure”!!!

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This issue certainly leaves something to be desired (I think it’s awesomely funny as hell though), but it has the most terrifying cover of any Superman comic book, brilliantly drawn by The Killing Joke’s Brian Bolland!! It’s funny how such a creepy cover could contain such a ridiculous comic adventure beneath. One thing is for sure, Bolland doesn’t fuck around when he draws comic book covers-it’s one of my personal faves!

 

‘Covered’ is One of the Coolest Comic Book Blogs Around!

Just discovered ‘Covered‘ probably a bit too late in the game, but nonetheless it’s a damn fun blog to look at! It’s a blog that ended it’s run in September 2012. Having 1000 popular and unpopular comic book covers posted with another artists representation posted side by side. At least now we don’t have to wait for them to be posted!

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Most of these artists that recreate the covers are up and coming or mostly unknowns but they all provide a cool new vision of the classics. Apparently there is a “Covered” book on the way in the near future but in the mean time there’s a thousand of these bad boys to check out-Gotta love it!

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What Would Wolverine’s Costume Really Look Like on the Big Screen?!

We’ve all been teased with the alternate ending of The Wolverine movie soon to be released on the unleashed extended cut of the movie which shows Hugh Jackman opening a briefcase containing his “classic” yellow costume. However it seems people in Hollywood still doubt that they could make his comic book costume look good on the big screen.

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I however disagree, I say bring it on and this little episode of Super Power Beat Down(which I just first saw now) looks pretty damn cool as we see Wolverine in his yellow costume take on the Predator! Skip to the 4 minute mark in the video if you wanna skip over the the “geek” questioning on the issue of who would win between Wolverine and The Predator. It’s obvious to me Wolverine would destroy the  Predator-I mean Danny Glover, Arnold and Adrien Brody did it!

Comic Book Cover of the Week! Bill Sienkiewicz & The New Mutants!

Here’s on of my fave covers from the 1980’s era New Mutants. Issue number 19  from 1984 always stuck in my head clearly because of the incredible skills of Mr. Bill Sienkiewicz! Seriously, this guy’s artwork is some of the most unforgettable in comic book history. The comic master of the abstract, you always know you’re getting something special when his name’s attached. Back in the mid 1980’s he did some incredible artwork for The New Mutants, most of which was very dark, jagged and gritty. It further set the tone of the mutant based books in the 80’s as just that. Something a little more hard edged than the regular superhero books. This is one of my faves from that era of the New Mutants but believe me all of his cover artwork for the title is breathtaking. He’s a true comic book legend in every way….

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The Wolverine Sequel: Top 5 Classic Comic Storylines for the Next Movie!

So today we got the news that Hugh Jackman and James Mangold will be back for another solo Wolverine adventure. I say this is good news overall as “The Wolverine” was actually pretty decent until it’s out of place cartoony finale. It was a solid PG-13 attempt at telling a classic yet highly altered Wolverine movie comic book adaptation taken from the legendary Chris Claremont / Frank Miller limited series from 1982. They almost pulled it off too, until in the film’s final act when Mangold suddenly remembered he was making a Hollywood blockbuster and shoved a giant robot version of The Silver Samurai down our throats….uggh…Hollywood can really be the pits sometimes.

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So anyway I’ve put together five classic Wolverine stories from the comic books that should be contenders for the next movie. At this point it’s common knowledge they’ll butcher some part of the story, but hey a guy can dream right? So listen up all you Hollywood numbskulls cause here at Universal Dork you’ll get my guidance toward making a movie that Wolverine flick fans deserve. Before I start the list though let me set up a few rules for the next flick.

First make this damn installment “Rated R”! The fans have spoken, we want some blood and guts in the next film. I wanna see him slice some people’s arms off, cut people in half ect ect. There’s no way a guy with adamantium claws wouldn’t cause a complete bloodbath while in battle. So give us some realism this time. Second let’s keep the story and visuals consistent if it’s gonna be cartoony then keep the whole flick that way, don’t insert some cartoon bullshit into an otherwise serious storyline. Keep with the tone of the movie. Lastly lets keep it character driven, keep it personal and let’s not get too many other characters or mutants in the mix, the last film was good in this way. Wolverine wasn’t saving the world, he was on a personal mission. These stories are where he works best, as a loner, when he’s out in the real world, drinkin’ at the bar and some serious shit goes down. Ok now onto my plot suggestions:

#5. Old Man Logan- This was quite an interesting modern Wolverine storyline and since Jackman is getting a bit older this might be a great one to make into a movie. However there could be some problems as The Hulk and Hawkeye are owned now by Disney. Perhaps they could settle on something that’d make it possible for these characters to cross over? Or Maybe this movie could be filmed in 10 years from now when Jackman is truly age appropriate for the story line. A futuristic Wolverine story with Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye would be pretty awesome and of course seeing Logan take on The Hulk would be quite a treat as well!!

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#4. Kitty Pryde and Wolverine:  Movie based on the 1984 mini-series could be a great sequel to “The Wolverine” as it takes Logan and Kitty Pryde who would of course be played by Ellen Page, who’s already stated she wants to make a solo film of her character from the movies, on an adventure together. So what better way to do this than add Jackman into the mix and kill two birds with one stone? Continue reading

Comic Book Cover of the Week! Deathlok LIVES!

Everybody knows that back in the 1980’s cyborgs were ALL the rage! So naturally one of my favorite classic covers comes from Mike Zeck on Captain America #286 from 1983! Since Deathlok has had a sort of new popularity since he appeared in X-force I thought I’d show this today as proof that no one can top Mike Zeck when it comes to covers! We need this guy back Marvel!!

Asia’s Answer to Snow White…Oh & Superman Too!

I was watching some old cartoons today starting out with some of the awesome Max Fleischer animated Superman stuff. I hadn’t even realized that the animation was based on rotoscoping, which is essentially tracing over real actors to get the smooth real life movements into cartoon form. That explains a lot as to why those Superman cartoons feel so damn special. I knew that technique was employed by Ralph Bakshi for many of his films but had no idea that Fleischer was the originator of that style. Shows how much I know huh?

Well this also lead me to another amazing cartoon, Princess Iron Fan which was Asia’s first feature length animated film. They too used the rotoscope style of animation back in 1941.

What we get as a result is one truly breath taking little film. Directly influenced by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the films directors, The Wan Brothers tried to rival it with this Chinese epic. Check it out…

Later in 1966 we got this awesome live action version-Amazing!!