RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - “Disney’s ALIEN Franchise Coming Soon!”

“Disney’s ALIEN Franchise Coming Soon!”

One of the most disturbing aspects of Disney’s acquisition of the 20^th Century Fox assets is that they will now control what happens to the ALIEN and PREDATOR franchises.  The family oriented company has in its control two of the best horror-sci-fi franchises ever made in these two iconic cinematic monsters and yet I can’t help fearing the worst.  My fears have just been realized when Disney announced new versions of both franchises and for the purpose of this article I will only take a look at the Alien franchise mostly because Predator, in my opinion, can work either as a PG-13 or R franchise.

 

The Alien films have all been pretty much individual film-maker endeavors from Ridley Scott (Alien, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant), David Fincher (Alien 3), James Cameron (Aliens), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Alien: Resurrection), Paul WS. Anderson (Alien Vs Predator), and The Brothers Strause (Alien Vs Predator: Requiem).   Despite the mixed audience and critical response between each of the films, they are a singular vision of the director with the exception of Scott who is the only one to do more than one film.

 

Disney, on the other hand, is a company that produces film by committee so that they can appeal to all audiences.  They want their films to be all inclusive and homogenized and to not offend anyone.  So, in reality they don’t want creative filmmakers, they want filmmakers who understand their brand and can continue that brand.  This is most evident in the franchises surrounding their MCU and Star Wars universes which are homogenized and indistinguishable from one another.   These are all PG-13 films that focus on action and adventure and not horror or gore.  The Alien Xenomorph is not like the kaiju from Pacific Rim; these monsters hide in darkness, have acid for blood, and kill everything – violently. 

 

In Anderson’s Alien Vs Predator the horror is toned down for the action and adventure aspects that he is best known for and even though the film was financially successful fans of the franchise felt a little let down, so with the sequel Requiem, The Brothers Strause decided to craft a slasher film with monsters.  Anderson’s film was Rated PG-13 while The Brothers Strause sequel was Rated R and thought to be a return to form but a slasher film is also what audiences didn’t expect from the franchise.  This film did not sit well with anyone.

 

I mention this because at this point 20^th Century Fox had no idea what to do with the franchise as they couldn’t craft a film for all audiences (Alien Vs Predator) nor a film for the fans (Alien Vs Predator: Requiem).  The franchise has been through many different creative hands so why not let the director who started it all come back!

 

Scott’s vision with the franchise was to craft a story that went back to the beginning and in 2012 after a five year gap Prometheus was released to a divided audience that  were disappointed by the film that lacked Xenomorphs and had logic problems.  Scott tried to rectify this with Alien: Covenant but by the time this sequel saw release audiences were no longer interested.  It’s hard to determine what general audiences want from an Alien film especially since the films have had such mixed results, which is not a problem the comic books from Dark Horse Comics have ever had.

 

Two years after Cameron’s Aliens became a Box Office sensation, Dark Horse Comics purchased the rights and created the first mini-series that would help put their company on the map (along with Predator, Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, etc. a lot of film franchises).  This original series was a direct sequel to the film and would bring back popular characters from the films (the character of Ripley would eventually return in the third series Earth War which would conclude the storyline of these film characters).  The most astounding thing about the comic book franchise is the fact that over the last 30+ years the franchise has been kept fresh and interesting and almost at a non-stop pace.  Subsequent series would see the Xenomorphs cross into the DC universe and battle Superman, Batman, and W.I.L.D. Cats as well as battle such iconic figures as Judge Dredd, Hellboy, and Vampirella, to name just a few.  Cross-overs with both the Predators and Prometheus franchises happened on a regular basis but within those thirty years the franchise has remained fresh because of the many different characters and stories that were possible.

 

Dark Horse never had a loss for ideas, so why have the films?

 

One of my fears with Disney is that they will take the franchise and craft something more in line with their MCU and Star Wars franchises.  As the Dark Horse Comics have proven, there is a way to integrate all the different franchises into a “shared” universe (which will make Disney happy) but it couldn’t happen unless you could find a way to make it darker and Rated R (to make the fans happy).  Borrowing from the Dark Horse huge history of storylines would be the best way but since I’m sure Disney will yank their license with the characters (like they did with Star Wars) is soon coming if it already hasn’t happened (I’ve heard that Marvel is now doing a series which I’ll have to see how that all comes about).  It’s not too far off to see the Xenomorphs show up in a MCU television series since they already know aliens of all types exist (so why not just add the Xenomorphs?).

 

I can’t really see Disney making an R Rated film that will be in line with the original franchise.  What I do see is a remake or reboot to fit the Disney mandate which is not something I’d be interested in.  I’ve been a huge fan of the films and comic books since the Cameron film so I’m not looking forward to seeing anything Disney has planned either for the films or comic books.  I can only see it as a complete disaster, but then again I can’t say that all the films in the current franchise have been all that successful but at least they had a vision from their respective directors.

 

Only time will tell what will become of the Xenomorphs under the guidance of the Disney machine and unfortunately if I want to see another film come to fruition that is the only version I’ll be able to see.

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR - “A Look at the Fall of the Terminator Franchise”

I’ve been a fan of the Terminator franchise since the original film The Terminator (1984).  It was a refreshing look at a post-apocalyptic world ruled by robots that took place in the modern world.  Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) improved upon the original film and expanded the mythology.  What I love about the films is not just the amazing action sequences but the suspense and thriller aspects as well as the fact that each film was aiming to show audiences things they had never seen before both in terms of story and action.  Neither film was predictable and both were exciting even though the original film had more elements of a horror film verses the more action oriented sequel. 

We’ll stop here a moment to take a look at where the franchise went from there which was in the four-color comic book realm with the amazing series The Terminator from NOW Comics published from ’88 to ’90 which told stories about new characters in John Conner’s resistance movement.  NOW Comics also produced the fondly remembered series The Burning Earth before relinquishing the rights to Dark Horse Comics.  Dark Horse Comics produced comics from ’90 to present day giving stories both using characters from the films and branching out to new stories and expanding the mythology from the films unlike the NOW Comics stories which existed for the most part in their own alternate universe.   The comics saw the Terminators battle everyone from Superman, Robocop, Aliens & Predators, and various other characters from other universes.  Other comics from other publishers include Marvel who produced the comic adaptation for the film Terminator 2 while Malibu and Dynamite Comics published sequel comics to the second film.  Beckett Comics did the comics based on the third film Rise of the Machines while IDW Publishing did comics based on the forth film Salvation.  As can be seen, the rights for the films ended up getting split among multiple publishers while the main rights stayed with Dark Horse the longest.

I mention the comics as they are the place where the most freedom for the franchise can be seen.  The stories expand past the main characters of the original film to present a whole world of characters that contribute to the resistance as well as the different types of Terminators developed by Skynet.  This is something that subsequent films have failed to do.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) is, in my opinion, the worst of all the films.  There was nothing in that film that was new to the story or added to the mythology in a major way.  They created a new Terminator which they foreshadowed the way in which she would be killed half way through the film.  The main characters were less interesting and as typical the story revolves around John Conner.  These elements are not as interesting considering that the previous two films had gone a long way in telling all of this info already.  The action sequences are not as innovative and very little suspense is had, which is surprising considering how much suspense and great action sequences director Jonathon Mostow had in his previous films Breakdown (1997) and U-571 (2000).

The forth film Terminator: Salvation (2009) is the first to actually be set in a post-apocalyptic world of the future but it still relies on telling the story of John Conner.  This film introduces a new hybrid human/Terminator in Marcus Wright which many thought odd considering that he was built before the regular Terminators.  I used to agree with this, but the film showcased a lot of different generations of Terminators and (finally) showed the future in all its devastation.  I really enjoyed this film as it wanted to establish more of the mythology while expanding the parameters of what a Terminator film could be.  This film was designed to jump start a new franchise but its lukewarm response killed that idea.

The most recent film Terminator: Genysis (2015) was another attempt to jump start the franchise once again by re-writing events that had come before in previous films and focusing on Sarah Conner (the protagonist of the original film) and Kyle Reese (Sarah’s savior of the original film and father of John Conner).  By re-writing and changing events from the previous films this film was designed as a way to start the franchise over from the beginning (similar to the rebooted Star Trek franchise).  Although there are some interesting concepts to be had in the film it is hampered by poor acting and too many comedic elements designed to appeal to a younger audience.  This is not a good film but not nearly as bad as Rise of the Machines.  This film also received a lukewarm response and the sequel has been shelved for the time being.  I’m sure that there will be another film soon and it will probably try to re-start the franchise again but in my opinion, the only way for this franchise to survive (again) is to just start from a new vantage point with new characters.

For me, it is a shame that the studios are so afraid to try something new with the films and just tell a new and compelling story within the same world.  I may not have liked the film Jurassic World (2015) but there is no denying that they took a chance ditching all the characters from the original trilogy for something new. 

What made me stop and take a look at the Terminator franchise is that I just finished reading the Terminator: Salvation – The Final Battle (volumes 1 & 2) which is the sequel to the film.  Considering that the original idea was to craft a new franchise from the film, this story is the closest audiences are going to see what a sequel could have been.  Written by J. Michael Straczynski with artwork by Pete Woods this is a massive twelve part story that explains how the character of Marcus Wright was created and for what purpose including an all new villain that threatens Skynet and the Resistance forcing them into an alliance.  Straczynski manages to make sense of all the elements of the film while also crafting the battle to end all battles.  This is a smart and creative story which jumps time periods but has a whole set of new characters to compliment the John Connor story.  Anyone who enjoyed the Salvation film will enjoy the way it is finished in this story.  In fact, this is one of the best Terminator stories thus far crafted for the comics’ medium.  The Final Battle proves that there is enough story left in the world of the Terminator if writers (and by extension the Studio) are willing to take chances.

Regardless of whenever the next Terminator film arrives there will always be comics (and novels) that extend the franchise.  The world of the Terminator is rich with so many possibilities that it would be a shame if we fans didn’t have these options.

2015 YEAR IN REVIEW: “GRAPHIC NOVELS”

Despite not reading a lot of novels and books in 2015, I read over 150 graphic novels from the mainstream companies of Marvel and DC to the more independent Image, Dark Horse and Boom! Studios.  What may surprise many of you is that I didn’t read a single superhero comic in all of 2015.  I don’t really like superhero comics and haven’t really read one in almost twenty years (no lie) and even though most of what I was reading in the ‘00s was manga I read very little of that this year as well.  Most of tastes in reading material was more serious or avant garde or surreal. 

First I’ll break down just what I was reading in 2015 by company and then get into the real interest of what you probably want to know which is just what I was reading.  Dark Horse was the clear winner this year with a whopping 47 graphic novels read, almost twice as many as any other company.  A lot of this you can thank Mike Mignola for as I read all of his work from Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien , Lobster Johnson, Baltimore, and Sir Edward Grey: Witchfinder, which all had several new graphic novels published last year.  Another huge contributor is the Aliens franchise which had the 4-part “Fire & Stone” saga with Aliens/Predator/Alien V. Predator/Prometheus all with parts.  Going to some order titles that I missed I read the entire 3-volume saga of “Mail” as well as several volumes of Astro Boy (Volumes 12-14) and two massive Omnibus collections of Ghost (Vol. 4-5), which is the closest to a superhero comic that I’ll get.  Another huge oldie-but-goodie is Sergio Aragones’ Groo of which I read seven volumes; I was really interested in reading something I hadn’t read since I was a kid and none of these volumes I had ever read before including the most recent release of “Groo Vs. Conan.”  I caught up with Bryan Talbot’s Sherlock Holmes homage Grandville (with 3 volumes I hadn’t read before) as well as a surprise to me, three volumes of the video game adaptation Halo (which took over the property from Marvel). I’ve never played the game nor seen the animated film so this was a complete gamble on my part that I actually really enjoyed.  Dark Horse also finished up one of my all-time favorite series “The Massive” (2-volumes read), which I highly recommend to everyone.  There are some other stand alone titles that I read but as you can see, I really enjoy the vast variety that this company has to offer.

 

IDW is up next with twenty-six graphic novels that I read.  The big winner here is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since I read twelve volumes from this series.  I’m a huge fan of the turtles and IDW has done an amazing job with reprinting the old comics as well as the new ones; 80% of these included reprints of the classics while the rest was made up of the new series and spin-offs.  The other major contributor was Godzilla with the “Cataclysm” and “Rulers of the Earth” series (4-volumes in all).  I tried out a couple new titles with Sam Kieth & Chris Ryall’s “The Hollows” and the first volume of “Edward Scissorhands”  but most of what I also read had me catching up with various volumes of “The Crow” and “Deadworld.”  IDW also happens to have brought back new iterations of “Winterworld” and “The X-Files” Season 10.”

Image has the luck of having most of the ongoing series that I read (with 18 volumes overall).  Here is where I read the latest from “Black Science” (2-volumes), “Hack/Slash” (“Son of Samhain” story), “Intersect” (1-volume), “Low” (2-volumes), “The Manhattan Projects” (2-volumes), “Outcasts” (2-volumes), “Pretty Deadly” (1-volume), “Revival” (1-volume), “Trees” (1-volume), “Chew” (1-volume, “Wytches” (1-volume), and everyone’s favorite “The Walking Dead” (2-volumes).  The only Image volume I picked up not associated with an ongoing series was the third volume of Joseph Michal Linsner’s “Dawn” (the story “Three Tiers”), which I original had in single issue form but now have it on my shelf with the others (plus it gave me a chance to reread the story all at once).

Boom! Studios doesn’t have many series that I continuously read but they do produce a lot of great one-offs (10 volumes read).   Of the series that I do read “John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China” (1-volume), “Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: The Death Watch” (1-volume), “Clive Barker’s Nightbreed” (1-volume), “The Woods” (1-volume), and “Planet of the Apes: Cataclysm” (3-volumes).  The special one-offs I read (that are note worthy) are “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – Official Graphic Novel Prelude”, “The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles”, and “Tag: Deluxe Edition.”  As you can see, the only books I read from this company are properties licensed from films.  I’m not even sure if they publish that many original properties.

Down further on the list we come to Viz Media (8 volumes read).   They had a big year (for me any ways) with the release of the five-volume “Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire”.  I love the Resident Evil franchise and even though I thought this was only a mediocre series it kept me entertained throughout the year.  The other monumental releases for the company (in my opinion) were Inio Asano’s “Solanin” and the Battle Royale prequel “Battle Royale: Angels’ Border.”  I also read the first volume in Kazuo Umezu’s “Cat Eyed Boy.”

Now we get down to Marvel, which I only read eight volumes for the whole year three of which belong to “George A. Romero’s Empire of the Dead.”  I read more zombies with “Marvel Zombies Christmas Carol” and had a great time Down Under with “Dexter Down Under” based on the novels and television series.  I also read the last volume of “Halo: The Fall of Reach – Invasion” (before that series moved to Dark Horse) and the first volume in the “Kick-Ass” saga (so I will at least have to finish that series in 2016) but the one volume I truly loved was reading Mark Millar & Terry Dodson’s “Trouble,” which I recommend to everyone.

With DC/Vertigo I decided to catch up with everything I had missed (6 volumes read) starting off with the original “Sandman” (1-volume) and “American Vampire” (2-volumes).  “American Vampire” was suggested to me and I overlooked at first because I really don’t care for vampire stories (hence why I wasn’t a big fan of Romero’s “Empire of the Dead”), but I must say that this is an excellent series that I will continue to read all the way through.  I also read both the “Prelude to the Blockbuster Film” and the “Inspired Artists” graphic novels for Mad Max: Fury Road but the true stand-out was the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl Who Played With Fire: A Graphic Novel.”  This was truly an amazing read and overall book and I can’t wait to read the final book in the trilogy.

There are twenty-six more graphic novels that I read from a variety of companies but I’ll just highlight the major ones worth reading.  At the top of the list “March: Book Two” (Top Shelf Publishing), which is one of my favorite graphic novels of the year.  This series should be at the top of everyone’s reading list.  Another great read is “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel” (Yen Press), Osamu Tezuka’s “Barbara” (Platnum Manga), “Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths Vol. III” (Archaia), “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” (Self Made Hero), Grant Calof’s “H20: Graphic Novel” (Liquid Comics), Max Brooks & Caanan White’s “The Harlem Hellfighters” (Broadway Books), “Killing Geronimo: The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden” (Gallery Books), Inio Asano’s “Nuigahara Holograph” (Fantagraphics Books), “Trick ‘R Treat: Days of the Dead” (Legendary), Jeff Lemire’s “The Underwater Welder” (Top Shelf Publishing) and Anne Rice’s “The Wolf Gift: The Graphic Novel” (Yen Press).

As you can see, I was very busy reading a lot of graphic novels in 2015 and I didn’t even mention all the ones I didn’t really care for.  The reason why the list is so massive this year compared to previous years is the fact that I’m able to read so many more on my Nook.  I would say that a good 60-70% of these books are on my Nook which I find makes it faster for me to read and more often (I’ve managed to read all of Mike Mignola’s series on my Nook).  As for my favorites, I will just list them below.  These are all titles I highly recommend to everyone:

 

*”Fire & Stone” Saga – Alien/Predator/AVP/Prometheus

*”Barbara” by Osamu Tezuka

*”The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths”

*”The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”

*”The Harlem Hellfighters”

*”March” (Book One and Two)

*”The Massive”

*”Chew”

*”The Hollows” by Sam Kieth & Chris Ryall

*”Killing Geronimo: The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden”

*”Low”

*”Nuigahara Holograph” and “Solanin” by Inio Asano

*”Trees”

*”Wytches”

*”The Underwater Welder” by Jeff Lemire

*”Trouble” by Mark Millar & Terry Dodson

"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"

Week 25: "ALIEN 5 - WHY!?!"
I want to be excited about another ALIEN film but the idea that yet another franchise is getting a reboot in the form of Neil Bloomkamp's ALIEN 5 which takes place after James Cameron's ALIENS just doesn't sit well with me.  Personally I think that the Ellen Ripley story is over.  It is done and everyone needs to move on.  There are a million different stories out there to tell that have nothing to do with the Ellen Ripley character.  Dark Horse Comics has made it its life's mission to present fans with new and creative stories and yet the stories are so dumb out of ideas they decided it was a good idea to go back and do it again with the same characters.  Bloomkamp has so far had an amazing career with original sci-fi ideas from DISTRICT 9 (2009) to ELYSIUM (2013) to CHAPPIE (2015) so why waste his time going back to a well tapped out of story.

Ripley's story was done in ALIEN 3 and despite the stylistic change which ALIEN RESURRECTION bringing Ripley back as a clone wasn't exactly a great idea.

After having read a different version of the events after the movie ALIENS in the original 3 Dark Horse comics (ALIENS/ALIENS II/ALIENS: EARTH WAR) Dark Horse had the great idea to split off into a multitude of different ideas because the possibilities are endless.  One of those ideas was the ALIEN Vs. PREDATOR comic books not to mention the long running ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES.

In the current climate of Hollywood's let's just bring back all our dead franchises (see JURASSIC WORLD, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D, THE X-FILES, TWIN PEAKS, STAR WARS, STAR TREK, FULL HOUSE, the list is now endless) why are we really wasting our time.  Despite the lukewarm reception of ELYSIUM and CHAPPIE there is no denying that BloomKamp is a director with a unique vision and that's what the sci-fi genre really needs.  What it doesn't need is yet another "reboot" of something that doesn't need a reboot or start over again.

Like I said, I want to be excited about ALIEN 5 but I have absolutely no interest whatsoever.  I'd rather just wait for PROMETHEUS 2 which despite all its many confusing ideas wanted to tell something new and fresh in the same world yet not try to "reboot" anything (which is actually slightly debatable considering how the comics did the origin of the Xenomorphs verses how director Ridley Scott decided to ignore the comics and do his own thing).

I'll always remain an ALIEN fan and I'll continue to read Dark Horse's comics which are superior in every way to the films (just pick up the 4-Part graphic novel series "FIRE & STONE" cross-over series between ALIENS/PROMETHEUS/ALIEN VS. PREDATOR/PREDATORS as Dark Horse tries to link the Prometheus films to the comic book world).

Here's a little something for you fans looking forward to Bloomkamp's "vision":

http://www.scified.com/site/alien5/neill-blomkamp-releases-new-alien-5-concept-art-says-production-is-going-very-well

"Rants & Ravings About Horror" - Week 15: “The World of Comic Books”

Week 15: “The World of Comic Books”

A friend of mine recently asked me why I dislike most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and I responded with the fact that most all of them are based on comic books I stopped reading almost fifteen years ago and the films are geared more towards people who currently read them rather than those who read them at the height of the comic book boom of the ‘90s (and the implosion of the ‘00s).  I still read comics, just not superhero comics and almost nothing from DC or Marvel comics who make their bread and butter from the genre.  Most of what I read will appeal more to this crowd so I decided to dedicate this week’s column to the comics that I read.

I love a good horror story and nothing gets better than George A. Romero’s return to the zombie genre with Empire of the Dead (from Marvel comics) which sees his undead ghouls inhabit the supernatural world of the vampires.  Despite having rarely ever played the video games I also love VIZ Media’s Resident Evil: The Marhawa Desire, which takes place before Resident Evil 6.  This is a guilty pleasure since I’m a huge fan of the films (both live action and animated).  Another great comic based on a previous licensed property is what IDW is doing with the Godzilla franchise.  A lot of limited series have come from the creative minds at IDW by a wide variety of creators and the results are mixed at best but I love a good monster destroying cities story whenever I can get one.  

Mike Mignola is one of the greatest comic book creators out there right now.  In addition to the Hellboy character who’s currently in Hellboy In Hell, there is the ongoing adventures of Abe Sapien, B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth, Baltimore, Lobster Johnson, and Witchfinder.  He and his talented group of creators have crafted one of the greatest interconnected universes of characters that continue to defy expectations.  These comics meld horror, myth, legend, and the supernatural seamlessly.

Most of what I like to read is creator owned.  Tim Seeley (of Hack/Slash fame) has created one of the most original undead stories in Revival (Image Comics).  Next to Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, Seeley is one of the great creators out there because he writes for us horror fans (much like Mignola) and this is a title everyone should be reading.  Kirkman’s own Outcast (Image Comics) is slow coming but because I enjoy most all of his work I’m willing to stick it out.  Brian Wood’s The Massive (Dark Horse) is also one of my favorites.  It is one of the best reads out there and by far one of the most imaginative stories about a post-apocalyptic world. This goes double for Chuck Dixon’s return to the frozen apocalypse of WInterworld (IDW).  This is a welcomed return for Dixon as I’ve missed his own work away from the comic book majors.

I’ve taken some chances with a few new titles like The Woods (Boom! Studios) and Pretty Deadly (Image) and Black Science (Image) which interested me just by reading the synopsis on the back cover.  The Woods reminds me of The Drifting Classroom manga, which is a great thing since I loved that story and The Woods has a very promising start (I’ve only read the first collected volume so far).   Black Science mixes horror and sci-fi in a very time jumping and action way and it never stops and it’s completely unpredictable which is why I love it.  There is no set up or narration, it just starts from the word go and never stops.  Another great science based story is The Manhattan Projects (Image) which will test your ability to follow one of the most complex and entertaining Lynchian comics out there.  It doesn’t get more weird yet fascinating than this one.  I also love Kevin Eastman’s re-imagined Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) which is heavy on action and science fiction with less of the fantasy that previous versions became filled with.

That’s pretty much the bulk of what I’m trying to keep up with right now.  There are plenty of other great stories out there in addition to these but I just don’t have time to get around to everything.  Maybe you don’t either which is why I’ve presented you with a few of my favorites but if you don’t read comics then this is has all probably been a waste of time.