Earth's Mightiest Cartoon Heroes

With the premiere of Season 2 of Earth's Mightiest Heroes last week, I thought it best to finally tackle the Avengers' animated incarnations over the years.

I suppose if I were to be really strict about it, my adventures with the Avengers didn't begin when I picked up my very first issue. It began during the last three weeks of my time in Canada as it was then that I caught the first three episodes of Avengers: United They Stand (along with Spider-man Unlimited, which debuted at the same time).

At the time, my knowledge of the Avengers was limited to what I gathered from the trading cards and the only members of the cast familiar to me then were the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, Hawkeye, and the Falcon. Ant-man, Tigra, Wonder Man, and the classic Avengers villains Ultron and Kang were completely alien to me.

We've got ourselves some bulked up bad asses here.

For all that the show was panned by fans and critics alike and did not rate high enough for a second season to commence, I enjoyed those episodes that I managed to catch before flying back to Manila
Maybe it's because I had zero expectations and no attachment or inclination towards the source material whatsoever. Or maybe because I was young and stupid.

I actually like this roster if only because it's made up of some of my favorites.

When I became a fan of the Avengers, this is one of the things that hounded me for years! Where was I to get all the episodes to this?
Enter YouTube, Firefox Portable and the extension VideoDownloadHelper, and the Wimply FLV player - all in 2006! Somebody uploaded majority of the episodes and all I had to do was go to the nearest Internet cafe (didn't have my own broadband connection then), plug my flash disk in, and using all those tools, download the videos and watch them when I get home!

I can't remember why but the uploader was missing some episodes (I think it was the last four) and it wasn't until I stumbled upon a bootleg compilation DVD at a toy fair later that year that I finally got to watch all 13 episodes of the show! And I gotta say: Even with my significantly heightened involvement with the characters by this time, I still enjoyed it! I wouldn't go so far as say the show was even good but I would still love to see what they would've done with season 2!

Speaking of bootleg, around the time that all this was happening came the announcement that they're doing Ultimate Avengers. Once again, Manila was out of the distribution plans (initially) and it took a while before I finally got to see it. Luckily, a relative tipped me about a store in Ali Mall that sells bootleg DVDs of animated shows and movies. I remember going there immediately and was pleasantly surprised that they had a copy of the movie - devoid of special features of course.

Didn't realize they were popular enough to be bootlegged.

I can't remember if I had already read the Ultimates by the time I watched the movie but I was already familiar with the source material enough to know what to expect, and it still blew me away!
I remember getting chills upon watching the first few, introductory scenes alone. For the first time I was watching the classic Avengers lineup with Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Giant-man and the Wasp and, of course, Captain America and even the Black Widow! It's their Ultimate versions, to be sure, but it was still better than nothing!
Production value isn't all that bad either. The animation was superb, the script and the voice actors were spot on, and the music was awesome!

The movie eventually spawned a sequel that I also (initially) got a bootleg of. I wanted to be excited about it, especially since it added an Avenger I rarely saw in the comics let alone in the animated adaptations: the Black Panther; but I found the movie quite lacking. A lot of things just seemed forced - the character tensions, their personal struggles, the supposedly heroic sacrifice at the end. Even the music just didn't tug at my heartstrings as much as the first one did. I really don't know what it is. Maybe it's because it diverged from the source material too much. It was still fun though.

My dad got me a copy of the original DVDs  from the States sometime later and watched  both movies again - with special features this time!
I would've loved to see a couple more sequels, if only to experience more of their adventures outside of the Chitauri. Expand the cast to include their versions of Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch (fine, Quicksilver too), and the Vision PLUS Kang and Ultron and color me rabid! And since they've already done Wakanda, why not explore Atlantis? Ah, fanboy dreams!

Both DVDs are available at local stores.

Instead of any of that, we got Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.
Once again, the DVD wasn't made available locally but I managed to get a copy of the movie anyway a few weeks after its release. I remember falling asleep through it the first time I watched it more because I was really tired that day but do I remember enjoying it immensely when I finally got to watch the whole thing!

I wish they had just instead done a second Ultimate Avengers sequel and tied everything up into a nice trilogy OR adapted one of the classic storylines (Kree-Skrull War, Operation: Galactic Storm quickly come to mind) OR, if they really wanted to do an original story, featured these kids' parents - the real Avengers! Why even create a whole new set of characters when we already have the next generation of Avengers from the comics?

Replace the Widow with the Scarlet Witch and this lineup is perfect!

To be fair, though, it was still an enjoyable movie and the soundtrack was just as kicking as the first Ultimate Avengers movie. I guess it also expanded the Avengers mythos just a bit as evidenced when the Next Avengers made their way into the comics by way of the Heroic Age relaunch. Though, I feel their sudden appearance mostly fueled hype as they did practically nothing (I blame the writer)!

At the time of this movie's release in 2008, Marvel was also busy with the first two offerings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, which was probably why they featured prominently in the story and on the cover of the DVD.

It's still not available locally.
I had to order my copy from Amazon.ca last year and had it shipped to my grandma who was flying back to Manila. 

In the midst of all this hype came the announcement I've been waiting for since I became a fan:
They were finally working on an Avengers cartoon series featuring the classic team and the classic stories!
I couldn't contain my excitement! I was at the office when the news first broke and I joked with my colleague how I'd be pushing 30 by the time the cartoon hits but I didn't care!

The teaser/test footage above was released (or was it leaked?) along with the news and I was planning to download it (with the tools I enumerated some paragraphs above) but I didn't get to it right away.
By the time I was going to, the footage had already been taken down! The footage would surface again a couple of years later just as the show was about to premiere and I was finally able to download a copy to store in my media player to watch at my leisure!

This clip from SDCC 2010 (also notable for having assembled the Avengers movie cast for the first time) was also the first time we heard the theme song by Bad City, which sounded like a bad idea at first, but I'm one with the all the fans when I say I love it now! Producer Joshua Fine recently responded to a fan's tweet about it saying if we want the full version of the song released, we need to let Marvel know!

The show itself is amazing!
It took a lot of cues from the classic stories and somehow managed to incorporate elements from the newer comics as well as the Marvel movies, and even introduced a few new bold concepts as well (e.g., the connection between Asgard and Nazi Germany preceded the movies)!
For example: The first two episodes combined the original Avengers from the Avengers Vol. 1 No. 1, Graviton from West Coast Avengers No. 1, and the super villain prison breakout from New Avengers Vol. 1 No. 1!
Hulk left the team in issue 3 of the original comics and did so again in episode 3 of EMH!
Meanwhile, Captain America joined the team in issue 4 of the comics and in episode 4 of the series!

Replace Hawkeye with the Widow and we have the cast of Ultimate Avengers 2!

If there's one gripe I have it's that Season 1 just seemed too short. When they said that there's gonna be a microseries preceding the series premiere, I thought the rest of the 26 episodes for the season were gonna be all new stories.
Alas! They compiled the microseries into five of those episodes, leaving me with just 21 new episodes!
Oh well. That's already more than what the previous series had, and we still have Season 2!

As far as the roster is concerned, I have no complaint. This is my ideal line-up, especially with the addition of  the Vision in Season 2. Still no Scarlet Witch though, but Miss Marvel makes for a logical alternative. After all, Wanda only brings magic to the team (something Thor already has) while Carol contributes something new: cosmic power!

One thing I would really love is a Justice League Unlimited approach to the cast!

I first got to watch the show on YouTube because someone managed to upload the episodes, sometimes even way ahead of the US airing! But I'm not gonna go the bootleg route - I'll just wait til the series wraps up later this year and hope they release a complete DVD set of all 2 seasons (unless they make a Season 3 though)!

History repeats itself:  EMH  marketed along with new series Ultimate Spider-man.
Just like when UTS was marketed with Spider-man Unlimited. 

Too bad they don't have toys or games connected to the show.
Apparently that's not the way things are done now.
At least the toy line tied with UTS had a cool Quinjet! 

Songs in the Key of A

Missed blogging last week for a number of different reasons - one of them being a busy schedule, another being that the subject I wanted to blog about just didn't seem relevant at the time.

Since I blogged about games regardless of whether they'd tie into the movie or not, I wanted to delve into another aspect of movie marketing: The soundtrack. I also wanted to cover the music of the Avengers outside of the movie, but like I said, it just wasn't a timely topic.

Then a few days later, as if the universe took a cue from my mind, something magical happened.

Yep, Soundgarden is doing a new song for the movie, but I don't really know anything about Soundgarden - their songs and who they are, so that's not really what excites me about the whole thing. Soundgarden fans are gonna be happy though as this is apparently their first song in 15 years, but for me it's just the whole exercise of having a soundtrack with a new song, which I'm sure will be coupled with a music video! It just gives me something to look forward to!

Then came the announcement that there are definitely gonna be two albums tying into the movie: the compilation "Avengers Assemble: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture" and the motion picture soundtrack featuring Alan Silvestri's score!

It's clear that they're milking the franchise for all that it's worth but whatever! I'm buying into it anyway! I haven't been this excited about a soundtrack in years, and probably for all the wrong reasons because I'm not really a fan of the very few artists I recognize from the track list:

Most of my favorite music growing up were from soundtrack compilations (Romeo + Juliet, Space Jam, Set It Off, the Joel Schumacher Batman movies quickly come to mind) and either I knew only a few songs (mainly because they released it prior to the movie) or only a few of the artists. But I enjoyed the albums anyway - I loved discovering new artists and new songs. In a way, getting soundtrack compilations is like getting an Avengers comic - I get a bit of everybody in one take, which I guess is a thing with me.

As for the movie score, I'm sure Alan Silvestri will do great, though I'm going to skip looking through the track list (online or IRL) until I watch the movie as those things tend to reveal too much and I still want to be shocked and surprised.

With all these songs and scores, I do hope they come up with a definitive tune for the Avengers. For the longest time, all we had was this one from the 90s animated series:

I remember that I had to use a MIDI of the X-men cartoon theme for a PowerPoint presentation about the Avengers I did for computer class back in college. This was around 2002, mind you, and while I knew the opening music above existed, it wasn't popular enough for someone on the Internet to do a MIDI of it (which was the only music I could find and download at the time).

With the new show, the Avengers also got a new theme song courtesy of Bad City.

When I first heard it, I was like "WTF were they thinking?" But, just like many fans of the show and the Avengers in general, the song quickly grew on me. I actually want to get my hands on the full version of the song, which I hope they release once they wrap up season 2! At the very least, they can include the song as a special feature on the DVD when they release it!

Speaking of DVDs, I love Guy Michelmore's score for the Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2. The soundtracks were available for purchase and thankfully I managed to secure a copy of both before the Disney take over of Marvel made Michelmore's work a little bit harder to find. I'm still looking to get a copy of his soundtrack for Next Avengers, which is just as amazing.

If I were to graduate from the PowerPoint of 10 years ago and do a video tribute to the Avengers, I would probably use Michelmore's scores if only because they're rousing enough to compete with the one from Justice League Unlimited:

I guess I'll have to wait and see what Soundgarden and Silvestri come up with. In the meantime, there's this ad for the Hasbro toys that features a cool track that I also wouldn't mind getting the full version of.

UPDATE:
The track listing and samples of Silvestri's score have been released.
Not gonna look at it for fear of spoilers though.

Bring On the A Game!

One of the things I'm really looking forward to with the release of the movie is the tie-in game.
The likelihood of one seems bleak at the moment considering:

a) THQ Studios, who was already working on a tie-in game, shut down their operations. Check out the leaked video of what their game would've been:

b) Marvel and Sega, who published the widely panned tie-in games to the entire Marvel Cinemetic Universe, recently parted ways - but not without giving this rabid fan boy something to latch my hope on to, thanks to Marvel Games Production VP TQ Jefferson:

"Marvel: Avengers Alliance on Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg. This is the first in a much larger effort to support the Avengers franchise across not just one but multiple video game touch points. Look for more announcements in the weeks to come."

Then came yesterday's announcement that the Avengers are coming to Marvel Pinball!

Not exactly what I had in mind, but the characters are there and there's a standalone release for the PlayStation Vita as opposed to just downloadable add-on for the X-box and Playstation versions of the game. 

That's probably the only thing I dread about any game that will come out: The platform.
I'm no hardcore gamer. My only gaming gadget is my GameBoy Micro. Tough luck they're gonna release a game for that.
Hopefully whatever games they plan to have will also be for a portable console like the Vita (but my personal preference is the DS) or for Windows (if only because the hardware is here already).

Yes, I want a  console game - not an online/social game like Avengers Alliance, which by the way, has less to do with the Avengers and more to do with the Marvel Universe in general.

Another possibility that I don't mind is a game for Android or iOS! I've been holding off getting an Android tablet or even a marked down iPad 2 because I want to get the right device if they do release a game or an app.

So what type of game would I want to play?

If I had it my way, I'd like the game to be a side scrolling platform game like the classic Captain America and the Avengers (so far the only Avengers console game). I'd rather not have a first person shooter like THQ's game above.

ComicBookResources hit on the right idea to port to iOS and other consoles because I once tried to play the game on my laptop with an emulator and a USB game pad but it just wasn't working (the game pad wasn't as responsive and using the keyboard was hell). I'm also trying to figure out how to set up an emulator for my Micro and play the game.
I also wouldn't mind adding a complete package of the original cartridge to my collection, but I'm not sure I want to part with a significant amount of money (cheapest I found was US$74) for a game that I will never get to play because the console is obsolete.

I also don't mind a fighting game. After all, the Avengers have had one arcade fighting game already. Plus I did enjoy Street Fighter back in the day, so a fighting game doesn't sound so bad.

But what I would really love is an RPG in the tradition of Final Fantasy and Golden Sun! We can have a cast of four to six Avengers (the movie roster) in a single company and go around from Atlantis to Wakanda to Latveria and even Asgard! It would be nice to tie in to the plot of the movie, but I think there's an opportunity here to explore the rest of the Marvel geography. I also hope that they won't be restricted to the movie timeline.


Outside of the video games, I'd really like there to be an Avengers board game. Sadly, it looks like the one from Jakks Pacific won't happen anytime soon.

Thankfully, there's still Heroclix and Hero Attax.

UPDATE: In an interview, artist Ryan Meneirding, who's worked on all the Marvel Studios films, said that there is no official video game tie-in to the movie. At least not one that he's a part of. Check out the interview below. Discussion about the Avengers game starts at 2:45.

We Have An Army

I don't normally post a new entry mid-week, but the reason for the delay of this week's entry should be made immediately clear at the very end.

Anyway, unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably cried yourself to sleep over the awesomeness of the Superbowl trailer that features, among other things, this one memorable line:

Well, if Wonder Man from last week's final issue of the Avengers: Children's Crusade is to be believed, so do the Avengers.

Art by Edward Cherniga for the upcoming Upper Deck trading cards set.

Of course, the movie's continuity is worlds away from that of the current comics but I couldn't help noting the irony.
I did mention in a previous entry how the Avengers is neither a family nor a school.
But an army?

Okay, maybe that sounds about right considering that since the revamp and reorganization of the Avengers franchise about two years ago, there have been four different squads running about regularly and two assembled for only brief periods (i.e., miniseries), including the Young Avengers.

Heroic Age Avengers by Marko Djurdjevic

So here now are my thoughts on the Avengers teams and titles of the past couple of years, quite notable for being the period with the most number of legit A-teams simultaneously in operation. Thankfully Fear Itself hasn't quite shaken up the status quo unlike in previous years when we've seen radically new lineups and titles following the Civil War and Secret Invasion.

We may as well get started with the Young Avengers.
Marvel did right by me when they decided not to let any other creative team alter this group other than their creators, writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung. Sure, they've been involved in a few scuffles here and there, but for the most part, their membership have remained intact... at least until the very end of Heinberg and Cheung's Children's Crusade.

Speaking of which, yes, it was was almost near-torture to endure almost two years plagued with delays for a 9-issue miniseries plus a special one-shot (that Heinberg did with Allan Davis), but every issue that came out left me completely satisfied me as a fan not just of the Young Avengers, but the Avengers in general! And that is already more than I can say about some of the current story lines running through the titles.

As for the main team, the folks we have on the left is pretty much the same as who we had in the beginning of the relaunch. Just swap Thor with Storm and Bucky Cap with the real thing plus add in the Red Hulk, the original Vision, and Quake (No, that's not Maria Hill). Oh, and yes - no more Wolverine and Spider-man!

I don't want this to turn into a case of Bendis-ranting (there'll be time enough for that later), so I'm not gonna comment on the quality of this book so I'm just gonna tackle the cast.

I want to be thrilled that Storm is finally among earth's mightiest heroes but her induction was kinda lame and she so far has not done anything significant. And the Red Hulk and Quake are like Ares and Echo all over again! They just don't belong on this team!

As for Bendis' other group, the New Avengers. Again, not much has changed since the relaunch except for the addition of Daredevil! (Not in picture are Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Mockingbird, and Jessica Jones.) I've been waiting for him to join and now he's finally here!

I want to like this book and its lineup, I really do. It's just that Bendis' writing, supposedly better with these street-level characters, just really left me disappointed with the first 14 issues (WTF was Mockingbird doing with the iPhone?), except for issues 7 and 8.

I'd like to see this team intact when Bendis finally leaves the Avengers alone and let other writers work them. Well, almost intact. Ms. Marvel should really be on the main team along with Storm and Spider-woman. Now that she's poised to become Captain Marvel, who knows?

Throwing a bit of a curve ball here, but this is the other miniseries I mentioned earlier: The Dead Avengers featuring original Captain Marvel, the original Swordsman, Doctor Druid, Deathcry, Yellowjacket, and once again the original Vision! (This storyline took place way before his re-introduction above).

The team was assembled in a 3-issue miniseries that tied in to Chaos War. It was exciting for me to see these characters (who I haven't seen in forever on account of being, well, dead) back in action even for a little while. This isn't the first time I enjoyed an adventure with deceased Avengers, but I'm curious why the Wasp, Scott Lang, and the Jack of Hearts weren't included in the lineup.

And now for the two titles I'm currently enjoying immensely:

Avengers Academy! And no - it's not a girl power book like what the cover on the left seems to suggest. It is, however, very empowering. It started out with the Avengers steering an all new set of characters who also had the biggest potential to end up villains towards the right path.

Now the Academy has opened its campus, which has relocated to the old West Coast compound following Fear Itself, to any young (and already established) superheroes including Lightspeed of the Power Pack, the new White Tiger, and even X-23! Reminds me of the time when the Initiative brought in new recruits also made up of existing characters, including the new Ant-man!

Speaking of the Initiative, I'm glad those guys still frequently make guest appearances at the Academy - even if they're on opposing sides now!

And going back a bit to Ant-man, I'm glad writer Rick Remender kept the little guy around when he took over Secret Avengers after the runs of Warren Ellis, Nick Spencer, and the team creator Ed Brubaker.

Now that Steve Rogers is back with the main team as Captain America, he appointed Hawkeye as the new leader of this covert group, which now also includes Giant Man, the original Human Torch, and new inductees into the Avengers' ranks - Captain Britain and the new Venom!

Though one of the biggest disappointments I had with the original cast was Nova. Hope he can come back so they can do more with him. I hope Shang-Chi comes back also since there's an awful shortage of Asian Avengers!


And now for the reason I was late with this blog.

The first issue of Avengers Assemble featuring the movie cast just hit stores yesterday. Once again, in true Bendis fashion, issue number 1 was just one big prologue that you wouldn't understand until subsequent issues!

It's not exactly an entirely new group, but it is set in regular continuity so it would be very interesting to see the Hulk back in action with his former teammates.

The book will feature a rolling cast from the team's long history, so I hope they feature characters I haven't seen in a while!

This is so far the only regular title I'll be getting when everyone else ties into Avengers vs. X-men since this title won't be affected by that mess! Here's hoping it's worth my while!

Not included in this entry are defunct teams and titles. For a comparison of past and present Avengers lineups, check out Newsarama!

My Avengers Assembly

It's officially 50 days until the movie hits Philippine cinemas, which means I'm halfway through this blasted countdown! As much I'd like to go on a long exposition of anything related to the Avengers, I've had a really long day and I have an even longer day tomorrow! So I'll make this quick.

Here are two recent additions to my ever-expanding Avengers collection that I just nabbed a few hours ago from Greenhills:

The Falcon and the Black Widow loose Superhero Squad figures.

I was hoping to find enough loose figures to complete this lineup:

SDCC 2010 Exclusive Avengers  Lithograph by Alex Ross

The thing about me is that I rarely collect loose toys. I prefer them packaged with Avengers branding.

Avengers Face-Off Superhero Squad

Hasbro Marvel Universe Original Avengers

SDCC 2011 Exclusive Avengers Mini Muggs 

Toy Biz Marvel Collectors Edition Original Avengers

Original Avengers MiniMates

Of course, that's not all I have!

My collection circa 2007.
Click here for detailed descriptions.

Updated collection 2012.

Evidently I have a penchant for smaller items mainly because I'm collecting a team here and I need to conserve space!

Anyway, some of the newer items added to my collection not covered in the previous blog:

Superhero Squad Quinjet

Emperor Doom Graphic Novel and Next Avengers DVD

More books and hardcover collections!

More than 10 years worth of adventures - now in two boxes! 

There's a very special story about this poster. Click here.

Siege / New Year 2010 swag

Huge-ass Marko Djurdjevik Avengers Heroic Age poster!

As you can see, I got everything I wanted and more!
Of course, my collection is expected to grow even more what with all the merchandise tied to the movie and all. Actually, I just placed an order for the following items not related to the movie:

Avengers 7-piece play set figurines

Marvel Universe (more like New Avengers + Hulk!) 7-piece play set figurines

And now I'm also hunting for these items:

Avengers Mini-kit featuring a Captain America figure, an official Avengers logo pin and a 48-page guide book!

Avengers Resin Figures Set of 8

Yep, it's definitely gonna get expensive and expansive here when the movie hits.
Speaking of which, user frenxy77 of the Pinoy Toy Kolektors forums shared this little tidbit:

Looks like we have the schedule of the toys’ local release!

I really hope to add some nice apparel and games to this collection.
Maybe the next time I update my collections blog there will be!