tmp_amazing_spider-man_2_one_sheet_poster-1438492544Yes, we know, it’s been a couple of weeks since our last podcast, but we have a good excuse: we were drunk we were busy catching up on the latest in pop culture and comics after a weekend pretending we were still young reintroducing ourselves to classic video games!

So we are tan, rested and ready to talk about the biggest comics and geek events of the past week! Including:

  • A discussion of a weekend spent playing video games at the American Classic Arcade Museum at the Funspot Arcade in Laconia, NH
  • A talk about the highs (Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man) and lows (Jamie Foxx as Electro) of The Amazing Spider-Man 2
  • A dissection of the upcoming death of Wolverine, why it feels empty and corporate, why most recent comic book death stories feel the same, and a few comic book death stories that break that mold (and why)
  • A review of Jason Aaron’s and Jason Latour’s Southern Bastards, how it feels like a modern High Noon, and how it plays into (and stymies) views of the South from a couple of inveterate yankees
  • Quick discussion of DC’s Futures End Free Comic Book Day release, and Batman: Eternal #4

And, as usual, here are the disclaimers:

  • This episode was recorded live to tape, which means that there may be more dead air, ill-advised language, and “ummmms” than you are used to in your standard comics / pop culture podcast
  • This show uses explicit and profane language, and is not safe for work. If you have the choice between listening to this show on speakers and being reprimanded for faking a disability for wearing an earplug to listen to this show? Take the write-up. Sure, your hearing-impaired co-workers will give you the stinkeye tomorrow, but at least you’ll still be employed to see it.

Enjoy the show, suckers!

Hi, all. The Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office took itself out to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 last night. We will discuss it on an upcoming podcast soon but, the quick review? Pretty good…if you ignore a whole bunch of stuff.

Meantime, the next Marvel character based movie to hit the big screen, X-Men: Days Of Future Hype Past, has dropped three character-centric promos in advance of its debut in theaters on May 23. We’ll put the first one up front and center because it features Peter “The Dink” Dinklage, continuing to find himself in a situation where he needs the protection of a sell sword. Hopefully, Sentinels will have to do.

Check out the other two, and a bonus credit footage clip from last night’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, after the jump.

amazing_spider-man_2_videogameSo The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the next major superhero flick to come out after last week’s awesome Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but unlike that movie, Spidey is gonna be getting a video game adaptation to go with the new movie.

This, depending on your point of view, is either good, or terrible news.

If you are an optimist, it is good news. Because Activision’s Spider-Man 2, released in 2004, was, at the time, arguably not only the best movie adaptation video game since Tron, but the best superhero video game released until Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009. Spider-Man 2 was the first superhero video game to not only allow a true open world for Spider-Man to explore, but it was the first to force the player to web-sling from actual buildings (Spider-Man on the Dreamcast was the first Spider-Man game in 3D with reasonable web-slinging, but it allowed the player to swing about 3/4s of a mile above Central Park, forcing the player to assume he was webbing off of helicopters, or perhaps The Watcher’s gonads). It had a reasonable and playable main storyline to go with the more realistic web-slinging mechanic, and it was a joy to play.

If you are a pessimist, you will remember that Spider-Man 2 for the original XBox was followed by Spider-Man 3 for the XBox 360, which I returned to Gamespot in disgust after spending nearly two full calendar days trying to get past Sandman in the subway level (I apparently did better than some people). And, while Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was nominally better, it lost its attraction for me about halfway through, when I realized I was web-slinging through what amounted to the zombie apocalypse. I am okay with the zombie apocalypse, but I would really prefer a shotgun to a web shooter. Or to almost anything else.

But with less than a month to go before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game is released, publisher Activision and Beenox have released a trailer for the game, which you can check out after the jump, along with my impressions.

This new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is called “The Rise Of Electro”. It clocks in at just over three minutes long and seems to contain some previously unseen footage. Almost certainly it contains more shots of Jamie Foxx’s Electro in action. However, there are also some great dialogue teasers between Peter and Aunt May about what secrets the family may be keeping regarding the death of his parents. The new incarnation of Harry Osborn comes off as suitably emo and creepy, very much Peter’s opposite. My only concern with this movie is that they’re trying to shoehorn in three villains: Electro, The Rhino, and The Green Goblin. Split focus was a major downfall of Sam Raimi’s final Spider-Man effort, Spider-Man 3. Part of what made the reboot work so well was allowing the story to focus on the battle with one enemy, while the characters were given room in the story to flesh themselves out. I hope this new movie doesn’t give the characters short shrift by trying to stuff too many of them in for the sake of spectacle.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in US theaters on May 2, 2014.

Via Bleeding Cool.

The Super Bowl trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 literally aired about three minutes ago. However, it was only about a minute long, with one or two jokes ar additional scenes in it, and besides: by this point in the game, if you’re anything like us, you are rejoicing in the apparent humbling of Payton Manning, and drunk as a lord because of it.

So in the public interest, here is an extended trailer for the movie that has a bunch more footage that didn’t make the aired commercial.

(via Bleeding Cool)

Happy New Year, everyone! While I am still in the midst of composing my list of favorite, and least favorite, comics for 2013, I wanted to share with you the brand new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that was released last night while the rest of us were getting shitfaced celebrating. In this one, Stan Lee, possibly fresh from his 91st birthday, gives us True Believers a quick intro. Then, we get another shot of the Rhino’s armor and lots of looks at Jamie Foxx’s Electro, in various action poses. Also, we see Spidey do what he does best when up to his neck in danger from his enemies – sling quips (and webs!).

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be released in the US on May 2, 2014.

Greetings from the snowbound headquarters of The Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office! While we spend the day digging out, please enjoy this new international trailer of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. There are some differences from the US version, notably Gwen almost outing Peter Parker’s identity at 1:44 and a good look at the Rhino’s armor at 0:54. Meanwhile, I’m going to try an convince Rob that you can’t clear snow from an icy sidewalk by pouring lighter fluid on snow to light it on fire. You need at least one beefy hobo for that lighter fluid, so that the flames can get some traction in a solid fat source to keep the fire burning longer and melt more snow over a larger surface area. I’m pretty sure that won’t violate the condo agreement, right?

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will open on May 2, 2014.

tmp_amazing_spider-man_2_one_sheet_poster-1438492544I know I’ve been writing a lot about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 this week, but that’s because there’s a lot to write about it. Between the poster teasing the appearance of Green Goblin to yesterday’s teaser trailer, it’s been a big week for the movie… and if I’m honest, after a year of watching Doc Ock pretend to to Spider-Man, it’s nice to see good ol’ Peter Parker again for a few minutes… although considering it’s a British guy pretending to be all-American, wheatcake-eating Peter Parker, you could argue that Otto is a more authentic imposter.

But anyway, yes, there is still more to talk about the movie. Total Film has put together a commentary track for yesterday’s trailer, including comments from director Marc Webb, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx. Which turns the three-minute trailer into a nine-minute video, but it does contain a few tidbits about the flick.

And you can check the video out after the jump. But if you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, fear not: I took a few bullet-point notes while watching it that I’ll include after the video.

tmp_amazing_spider-man_2_one_sheet_poster-1438492544Jesus Christ, was that Doc Ock’s arms and The Vulture’s wings on the wall at Oscorp?

Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, last week the first big promotional poster for next summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released, and it showed not only Rhino and Electro as antagonists, but possibly the Green Goblin. Well, today the first full official trailer for the movie dropped, and it looks like we should be getting at least some ol’ Gobby – or more accurately, probably young Gobby – and at least a teaser for two more villains for the inevitable The Amazing Spider-Man 3.

And that “the inevitable” isn’t weary sarcasm over a perceived future money grab, it’s literally inevitable – movies three and four have already been greenlit and have release dates… but once again, I’m getting ahead of myself. How about that trailer, huh?

Well, you can check it out after the jump.

tmp_amazing_spider-man_2_one_sheet_poster-1438492544We’re still up to our elbows in wires and cables trying to replace the brokedown home theater PC – a new TiVo has been obtained, but upon approaching our cable TV company, we were told, “What is a… cable… card? Um… can you come back tomorrow when Cletus-Bob is here? He’s equally rude and dismissive, but he knows about ‘lectricity and… stuff,” – but there was something that really caught my attention.

Some big posters for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have started showing up in certain movie theaters. The posters are split into three panels, with Spider-Man posed in the foreground with his back to the viewer, with Jamie Foxx as Electro attacking on the right, and Paul Giamatti stampeding on the left… and someone unexpected attacking from the center.

Ah hell; you can check it out for yourself after the jump.