Looking Forward to the Comic Book Movies This Year

A quick and dirty look at the comic book movie releases for this year.


Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - February 17th
http://www.thespiritofvengeance.com/

Its a shame that a year full of outstanding comic book film properties that we have to start with Ghost Rider.


I'm sure I was not the only one who left the cinema after the first Ghost Rider film rather disappointed with what we'd just seen. I certainly wasn't thinking "Hmm, what I really want is a sequel".


Instead we're getting a "requal" (not my word I'd like to add), where the first film may or may not have happened. Unfortunately we've also still got Nic Cage back as the titular character.


In some ways, I want to like this film. The special effects look darker and the action in the trailer is over the top. Reading a preview with the directors in SFX made me slightly more interested, as they seem to want to make a fun action packed movie. Given my general lack of knowledge about Ghost Rider, I'm even going to not worry about continuity issues! However, I just can't forget the hash Nic Cage made in the last outing.



Avengers - May 4th
http://marvel.com/avengers_movie


If this was the only comic book movie out this year, I'd still be a happy fan. It has been 4 movies in the making, and will see teaming up some of the biggest guns in the Marvel Universe.


This is the end result of Marvel Studios taking a bigger part in the production of their films, 4 franchises combined in one film! They were able to control the shape of the plots, as well as build up an over arcing world for the film to take place in. Its a shame they can't do similar with X-Men, Spiderman and Fantastic Four properties.


So the trailer hasn't given much away about the plot, Skrulls are presumed but no big bad has been seen. What we have seen is some great snippets of inter team dialogue, as well as some amazing special effects.


I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the SHIELD team on screen, including how the Helicarriers look.


If you only see one comic book film this year, Avengers is my suggestion.

Amazing Spiderman - July 3rd
http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/

Its been 5 years since Spiderman 3, long enough for the pain of seeing emo Peter Parker dancing. Now we get a re-boot of the series with a decidedly angsty looking Peter Parker!


While the film poster may want to make out that this is an "untold story", the Spiderman origin is one of the most know comic book origins there is. So what can we expect from the reboot?


Well, for a start we have Gwen Stacey as his girlfriend, and taking on the role of misunderstood bad guy is Dr Curt Conners aka The Lizard. Peter himself looks less clean cut, more of a scruffy outsider than Maguire's clean cut smart arse.


Its nice we see something of Peter's parents in the trailer, and I'm hoping for plenty of screen time for President Bartlett Martin Sheen as Ben Parker.


The Dark Knight Rises - July 20th
http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/

We now come to DCs only release this year. Christopher Nolan's darker and more modern take on the Batman mythology has been outstanding, and The Dark Knight Rises brings it to a close. Drawing on themes from across the Batman canon, it should prove to be a fitting end to the trilogy.


While not everyone has agreed with the more modern takes on classic Batman characters (personally, Micheal Caine makes a terrible Alfred) you can't deny that these films have once again shown that Batman can be a valid film franchise. I sorely pity the person who is asked to do the next Batman film treatment.



For those of you who care, technically Men in Black 3 counts, as it was originally a comic book published by Aircel Comics. Aircel was bought out by Malibu Comics, which got absorbed by Marvel Comics. However, the least said about MiB3, the better!

Painting 2012 - The starting Pictures

I've located the camera, and taken a few pictures of the starting points for the 15 point Warmachine and Hordes forces. I've snapped a group shot of the miniatures, and a close up of one of the fully painted ones to give an idea of the scheme I'm aiming for.


Cryx
This is the most complete of the armies, with all but the Cankerworm and 3 of the Bane Thralls to do. Unfortunately the Cankerworm is missing its jaw, so I need to order a replacement.


The overall scheme is the same as for my Deneghra force as I intend for the miniatures to be interchangeable between casters. Using a dark metallic brown for the armour, and dark green for cloth areas to tie the army together.

I already have a decent number of upgrade options to include at higher points levels. The Deathjack would add an nice heavy jack, and the Withershard Combine are a nice utility addition. I've also got a painted Revenant Crew with UA and Captain Rengrave and a to be constructed Skarre that forms the core of a pirate themed force.
Future purchases will include the Bane Thrall UA, Bane Lord Tartarus and some more warjacks.

Menoth
This force is a long way off complete. I've not had much luck getting the warjacks to look how I want them to, although I've managed to pull off the scheme I'm after on the infantry much better.

I'm pretty much going with studio colours for them (and most of the armies, I'm attracted just as much to studio schemes as the models) with much of the armour being ivory coloured, sections of dark red and lots of gold!

The Harbringer model has a load of work yet to be done to it, its current state is after the 3rd attempt to put it together. I'm going to need to pin it all over the place!

Future upgrades will be in the form of an Avatar of Menoth and whatever takes my fancy! Considering working up her theme force, but I may get tempted by some of the other great miniatures.





Skorne
This would qualify for the most painted force, if it wasn't for the fact I'm having no luck continuing to paint the Beast Handlers. That'll teach me to half paint something and then come back after I've improved. They'll need to be stripped and started again, and at the same time I'll paint up the Tormenter.

Scheme is again close to studio, lots of blood red, gold and black. There are other close ups of the warbeasts on the blog somewhere if you want a better look.

This is likely to go beast heavy, with a bit of infantry. I want to get a Bronzeback Titan, and have a Titan Cannoner to construct. I have a unit of Pretorians with UA, and a Tyrant Commander. I also fancy getting some of the heavy infantry units, as well as the cavalry, but I'll really have to see what works best.






Legion

The smallest force of them all, mainly because its made up of mostly medium based models!

The Carnivean will be being stripped back along with the Skorne Beast Handlers. Despite the spines coming up nicely, I managed to fail at the skin tones and then destroyed my good work when it was put into storage. Thankfully I've made good progress on the Warmongers, with two already done and the last being completed now.

I intend to see if I can't keep this force to the themed force going up. I already have a Seraph and a box of Warspears. Just means investing in a Spawning Vessel and a Warchief.

Although, I do also have Lylyth and a Sorceress that I can use, and I do love the Raptor miniatures, so I may branch out!

Painting 2012

I've finally picked up the paint brush again!

I've always found winter to be a tough time to paint, the light isn't good and the weather is usually terrible for undercoating anything. As a result, I haven't done much painting since before Christmas.

However, as traditional for the New Year, I'm setting myself some goals. My primary one is to get painted a 15 point army for each of my Warmachine and Hordes factions. In addition, I'm trying to use just what I have, rather than go spending more money.

Cryx
I've already got a 15pt Cryx army painted, but I have enough miniatures (painted and otherwise) to put together a second force, this time under Iron Lich Asphyxious.

Iron Lich Asphyxious (*6pts)
* Cankerworm (5pts)
* Nightwretch (4pts)
* Nightwretch (4pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Pistol Wraith (3pts)


The only things left to paint in this list are the Bane Thralls, and 50% of the Cankerworm. 


Menoth
As I'm likely to play against an Exemplar themed Menoth force, I decided to go in a different direction. This list, in principle, also meets the Harbinger's theme force, but at the moment that gives very little benefits.


Harbinger of Menoth (*5pts)
* Repenter (4pts)
* Crusader (6pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Paladin of the Order of the Wall (2pts)

The only miniature painted so far for this list is the Paladin, and part of the Choir. In fact, I'm having a lot of trouble painting the scheme on the warjacks. I've stripped the Crusader down about 3 times now, and having to do so again. I'm also "enjoying" putting together the Harbinger model. I need to pin it a ridiculous amount, but so far they keep breaking when I attempt the next part. A challenge!

Skorne
Personally, I fell in love with Skorne with the Titan model. Therefore, it makes sense to go beast heavy and run Morghoul out of the battle box.


Master Tormentor Morghoul (*7pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor (2pts)

Now I run the problem that I painted the battle box models one way, and have since "improved" my painting techniques. The Beast Handlers are half painted, but I'm not happy with how I'm painting them now, so I may have to strip them back and start again.


Legion
This force is going to be quite light on models, mainly because I own a lot of the medium based stuff for it. This force also is tier 1, but again the benefits don't kick in at this level.

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (*5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Carnivean (11pts)
Blighted Ogrun Warmongers (Leader and 2 Grunts) (5pts)


The skin tone of the warbeasts has been a problem for me, but I hope another attempt with more confidence will soon get that sorted. Two of the Warmongers are already painted, with the 3rd on its way to being done. I'm actually starting to paint Lylyth first, as she was already undercoated, but Thagrosh is ready to be undercoated.



I shall post some pictures later, I'm not 100% sure where the camera is, and work is beckoning.

My other painting plan for the year is to finally finish off my 40K armies, but more on them later.

Hugo Awards - Revisited

A while back I said I'd read and review the 5 books on the Hugo Awards list for this year.

I did well on this, read 3 out of the 5 books before the awards and managed to review 2 of them. Problem was, I was let down by the library copy of One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms going walkies for a couple of months. Poor excuse I know, but it’s the only one I’ve got.

This year’s winner was Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis, a duology that masquerades itself as a single novel. I managed to read Blackout before it won, but All Clear was only published in the UK after the Hugo was awarded.

Random Pics Of Miniatures

As promised in a previous post, here are some pictures of some of my completed miniatures.

Steam Powered Zombie

More Steam Powered Zombies

A Stitch Thrall

A Pair of Pistol Wraiths

My Fantasycon Experience

What better way to spend a weekend that in a hotel in Brighton with a load of fantasy fans, authors and publishers. So Cathy and I did, by attending Fantasycon 2011 in the blazing heat of last weekend.

This was only our 2nd Con, and the first one away from home. Our first, Eastercon this year, was held within travelling distance of home, although that did mean us leaving at about 8 each evening to make sure we got home. This time, we hoped to engage in that age old Con tradition of staying up late drinking in the bar!