Jonah Hex And The Lost Weekend

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Reviews, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Well, I reckon it was bound t’happen, pardners. Jonah Hex has opened to just a $5 million weekend, meaning that it’s officially been labeled a bomb. Too bad. Jonah was – and is – an iconic comic book property, the creation of John Albano and Tony DeZuniga. Maybe the filmmakers should’ve gone with a more traditional western approach like The Outlaw Josey Wales or 3:10 From Yuma instead of the steampunkian world of The Wild Wild West movie? Who’s to say what would’ve worked, but the new one sure doesn’t.

The problem now is that because Jonah Hex is based on a comic book (not a graphic novel as some lazy reporters simply retype) – but one that none of the general public has heard of before – it’ll get tagged as a comic book movie, and worse, a failed comic book movie. And finger wagging along the lines of “is the comic book movie fad finally over” will start appearing as breathless know-it-all headlines in newspapers no one reads anymore.

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Weekend Reading: Kick-Ass, iPads, Vertigo Crime and Richie Rich

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Last week it was Kick Ass, now it’s The Losers, and coming up it’s Scott Pilgrim. Is this not the year of the nerd who loves popcorn? Let’s see what else there is to do while ordering our tickets…

Batman, Robin and Kick-Ass: Over at Something Old, Nothing New, Jaime Weinman longs for the return of a viable Robin character to the Batman movie franchise. Here’s a little taste of the longer and worthwhile read: “The thing about the concept of Kick-Ass is that it deals with an aspect of the Robin character that has been batted around in the comics from The Dark Knight Returns on, and even in the animated shows, but has never been dealt with in the movies: superheroes inspire kid copycats. In a weird way Robin is more ‘realistic’ than a man who, based on no apparent model except a bat, decides to fight crime in his underwear.”

The Losers: “This movie isn’t too violent because…hey look over there: a puppy!” Movie studio publicists work overtime for stories like this.

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SNEAK PEAK: Jack Kirby’s THE LOSERS with Neil Gaiman

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

“It seems to me that the Losers is a ‘people’ thing. A small squad of ‘everymen’ caught up in the crushing tide of events, pushing their ‘know-how’ to the limit in a wild effort to survive.”
Jack Kirby (1975)

After his run on the Fourth World titles (New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle, Jimmy Olsen), Jack Kirby did a number of oddball projects for DC, many tucked away in forgotten corners of the DC Universe. One of them was to take on and reinvent the classic DC war title Our Fighting Forces, which featured the World War II heroes known as the Losers. It was a team-up of some of DC’s secondary WWII characters who at one time either had their own book or their own back-up feature: Captain Storm, Navajo Ace Johnny Cloud, Gunner and Sarge.

The Losers was created by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath in 1969. Kirby took over in 1974 with Our Fighting Forces #151 and stayed on the book until issue #162. His loopy action tales were a drastic change from the previous stories by Kanigher and legend has it that fans of the old were less than pleased. However, taken on their own without the backstory and pre-Kirby logistics, these are really dynamic adventure stories that are based on Kirby’s own experiences during WWII.

Now DC Comics has added Jack Kirby’s The Losers to their fine shelf of hardcovers. The Losers collects the entire run, written and penciled by Kirby, and inked by D. Bruce Berry and Mike Royer. The collection includes a cover by Kirby and Royer. The 240-page book features a foreword by Neil Gaiman (Sandman; Coraline). On sale date is March 17, 2009. As Kirby himself blurbed at one time: “Don’t ask, just buy it!”

Mike Kidson has a great piece online on Kirby’s Losers – he dissects a complete issue with the skill of a comic book surgeon. Longtime Kirby authority Mark Evanier answers a million Kirby-related questions here along with a small bit of information about The Losers.
(Artwork © DC Comics, Inc.)