Ender's Game; A film review

Ender's Game

Director; Gavin Hood

Starring; Asa Butterfield

Harrison Ford

Sir Ben Kingsley

Created by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is a futuristic tale about the creation of a new form of warfare that humanity creates to combat an alien race that attacked Earth decades before the events of Enders Game. With this hailed as the Sci-Fi Harry Potter and the source material being of such high quality there was a lot riding on this film. With big names like Harrison Ford,Sir Ben Kingsley and Asa Butterfield of Hugo fame I was interested in seeing whether such an unusual cast could bring this all together in a satisfying hundred and fourteen minutes or would it end up like Rick Riordans Percy and the Olympians series or to an even greater degree, Philip Pullmans, His Dark Materials, to you and I that is the Golden Compass film and all its sequels that never came to be.

Andrew "Ender" Wiggins

Andrew "Ender" Wiggins is a genius, a tactical genius who sees all the variables, every little detail, every little possibility and that's what makes him the prime candidate for the military program which has been set up by humanity to defend from the inevitable return from an alien race known as the Formics. Within Ender, Colonel Graff( Harrison Ford) see's humanities last hope for survival against what Graff see's as an overwhelmingly dangerous force. Graff pushes Ender to his limits, physically, emotionally and most of all psychologically. With an escalation in threat midway through the film there is an escalation in plans for Ender and with that comes something I don't think Sci-Fi films have had for awhile, surprises.

Fantastic landscapes

Ender's Game is a visually stunning epic, with absolutely fantastic performances given by a diverse cast of characters, from Harrison Fords monstrous Colonel Graff, who seeks the complete destruction of the enemy regardless of the cost the "soldiers" have to pay, to Asa Butterfields enigmatic and introverted protagonist who just wants to ensure the completion of the mission. On the subject of Asa Butterfield, he portrays Ender superbly,in the beginning he comes off as simply emotionless ,but that hides passion, a sly bit of charm and a caring soul. Asa gives a knock out performance, adding depth to a character who could have easily been written off as emotionless tool. With a fantastic supporting cast, an original and engaging story and an unusual and interesting protagonist, Ender's Game surprised me.

Ender's Game

Like all adaptations there is clearly portions of Ender's Game lost in the translation. Moments that come out of nowhere that are visually grand but just come off as excuses to showcase the CGI and I just felt there was something behind it but it just wasn't explained enough to me, but that's just my opinion. Also there was a nagging feeling that kept creeping into the back of my head, this is Top Gun with kids and I can't lie that did take me out of it at points, especially when there is a character introduced who is basically Iceman. I did feel that the "villains" of the film were undeveloped and were just there as a simple plot device which is unfortunate because I was amped to see the Formics in all glory.

Ender's Game is an original take on a story that's been told time and time again, with an engaging supporting cast and an intriguing protagonist this was a film I can't wait to see again.

Rating; 4/5

AGENTS OF SHIELD: A Universe of possibilities

It has been three weeks now since AGENTS  OF SHIELD graced our screen and with it has comes a barrage of rumours and teases. First there was the huge news that Phil "Son of Coul" Coulson will be a main character and is some how resurrected after being skewered by Loki. The many different theories include a Life Model Decoy, which means Coulson in AGENTS OF SHIELD will be an android. Others include a clone, that he'll be the Vision, which would be fantastic but Clark Gregg has stated that he doesn't want that role. We've been continually bombarded with cast calls as well as various teased at arcs that they may implement into the live action Marvel Universe. What is great about the AGENTS OF SHIELD series is that they can introduce characters and see how the audience likes them, then import the best into the Marvel Movie Universe.

Now I think we can all agree that Avengers was fantastic but one of the unexpected treats was Cobie Smulders aka Maria Hill, in that catsuit. She was absolutely outstanding as the femme fatale we all love to hate. If anyone knows their Marvel Universe they know how much of a bitch Maria Hill is and how she instigates a war within the Marvel Universe which fucks the status quo of the costumed heroes for a long time. If they ever implement this into the Marvel Movie Universe then they could really be on to something. This brings me nicely to my point and the subject matter of this post, with all the cast calls and the fact that Nick Fury will probably have quite a minimal role in AGENTS OF SHIELD a lot of fans hoped Maria Hill would lead the series. What we got was a wonderful cameo from Cobie Smulders who was a treat to see with the rest of the AGENTS OF SHIELD cast. Hopefully she will show up again in increasing frequency, especially since How I Met Your Mother is ending soon.

On January 26th 2013 an article was released an article that just made my day. I'll give you a quick run down of the article then drop a link to the site.
When asked about AGENTS OF SHIELD and her future in the Marvel Universe Cobie explained that her dedication to How I met your Mother did not matter and that her schedules would not conflict with the scheduling of Agents of Shield.

Cobie Smulders Interview.

This was excellent news as Maria Hills inclusion in AGENTS OF SHIELD allows for a very interesting dynamic in the series. As we saw in the Avengers, Maria Hill does not mind letting her opinion be known and is often conflicted with the use of such eccentric characters, like Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk. She is a woman in a world infested with super heroes, who hates super heroes. It'll be a great kind of subplot to see her grow increasingly paranoid about the escapades of the super humans in both the AGENTS OF SHIELD series and Marvel Movie Universe.

With Maria Hill only going to be an infrequent recurring character I decided to look at the possibilities of other guest characters from the Marvel Universe. With AGENTS OF SHIELD based around the world as a globe trotting team the sky is the limit for guest characters to how up. I was under the impression when the series began that it would be based in and around New York so my idea of guest characters was limited but now knowing that the cast can go anywhere has opened my eyes to a world of heroes and villains. Already one major villain has been born, you might not even realise it but AGENTS OF SHIELD has already created a super villain in the shape of Dr. Franklin Hall or as he may come to be known as, Graviton. A villain who is powerful enough to take on all the Avengers and still keep on kicking even when they defeat him. Then there are the heroes, already AGENTS OF SHIELD has given us a wonderful cast of original characters but there is such opportunity for Marvel heroes to be injected into the mix. Here for your pleasure is some of the most organic and interesting characters that could be introduced into Agents of Shield.

Captain Marvel


Carol Danvers is one of the most prolific super heroines of our time. She has gone from strength to strength in recent history. Since House of M she has had a massive surge in popularity. She is one of the most powerful individuals in the Marvel Universe and she has come from humble beginnings. She was once an AGENTS OF SHIELD, that's right there's your connection, until one day she is caught in an explosion, of alien origin,and then she is imbued with incredible superhuman abilities.

Likelihood Rating: 4/5

The reason this isn't 5/5 is because of a simple one, budget. With Captain Marvels wide range of superhuman abilities there may not be room in the budget for her, but that can easily be remedied with a bigger budget, which the series will probably receive down the line.


Luke Cage & Danny Rand aka Iron Fist


These two come as a package deal since they are a great team. Also they are based in New York which I imagine is going to be the casts home base. Just imagine it, Luke would bump into a bunch of the AGENTS OF SHIELD through a mix up and get into a massive fight over the little guy who Luke feels the AGENTS OF SHIELD are trampling over. Danny would be there as back up for Luke if he got in trouble. They would relate to Skye as fellow assets brought in by Coulson.

Likelihood Rating: 5/5

Luke and Danny are so fun, accessible and the budget can easily accommodate their abilities. Luke needs no visuals, except for the odd bullets bouncing off his indestructible skin. Danny is a little more difficult because his powers are more visual but not to an extreme level. Also since they are based in New York they would be great as recurring characters whenever the team need that a little bit extra muscle.



Daredevil


I know, I know. He's a big fish. He was almost an Avenger and Marvel just got the rights back . some would say he needs more time to rest, relax and recoup from his last outing. I don't believe that, I think it's time for Matt Murdock to come out of the shadows and reign supreme in New Yorks most disturbing neighbourhood, Hells Kitchen. He would be a great addition to the landscape of the series, as a kind of special guest who pops up every now and then. Kind of like Faith out of Buffy The Vampire Slayer series.

Likelihood Rating: 3/5

Just because he is a great candidate doesn't mean he will be in AGENTS OF SHIELD. Whedon and his crew may believe that the series needs to stand on its own two feet without the need of big characters, for now. I do think that AGENTS OF SHIELD would be a great spring board for Daredevil and other characters who need a little help to get into the bigger game.



Ghost Rider


Can you imagine what it would be like to see this dude tearing up the streets of New York. With the right treatment and writers behind him Ghost Rider could be a force to be reckoned with. His origin is steeped in the supernatural elements of the Marvel Universe and would allow for the AGENTS OF SHIELD series to bridge the gap between the supernatural and the scientific in the Marvel series.

Likelihood Rating: 4/5

Ghost Rider could be one of the best assets to the team and to the series and the reason I bring him up is because he is being reborn in a new series in the Marvel Universe which would be a great way to cross the comics with AGENTS OF SHIELD.

This is all just my opinion, my hopes and dreams but with Joss Whedon once again behind a team based series, and a super hero team based series like AGENTS OF SHIELD to boot, we could see a lot of the Marvel Universe spill over onto our screens. My final words are this, You won't take the Shield from me!

Huge News from Warner Bros. Gravity has meteoric climb in the US.

WARNER BROS. PICTURES’ “GRAVITY”
HAS FAST CLIMB TO $100 MILLION WORLDWIDE
Alfonso Cuarón’s dramatic thriller, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney,
soars with critics and audiences around the world.

BURBANK, CA – October 9, 2013 – Only five days after its record-breaking launch, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Gravity” has flown past $100 million at the worldwide box office. The film has earned an estimated $68.5 million domestically and $35.8 internationally for a global total to date of $104.3 million. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, and Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Following weeks of enthusiastic critical acclaim and huge anticipation from moviegoers, the Alfonso Cuarón-directed dramatic thriller exceeded all expectations on its opening weekend. Taking in $55.8 million domestically, “Gravity” broke a number of box office records, including those for the biggest October opening for any film, the largest IMAX opening in October ($11.8 million), and the highest opening weekend ever for stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

In making the announcement, Fellman stated, “We are all thrilled by this start—from the tremendous critical acclaim to the fantastic response from audiences. Alfonso Cuarón and his brilliant collaborators crafted a groundbreaking film that succeeds on every level, both creatively and commercially. Word of mouth has been amazing and we expect it only to grow, keeping ‘Gravity’ strong at the box office in the weeks and months ahead.”

Kwan Vandenberg noted, “‘Gravity’ is a riveting and relatable human drama that has struck a chord with moviegoers in countries around the globe. We are excited by these numbers and know this is just the beginning, with much-anticipated openings coming up in major markets such as the UK, France, Japan, Korea, Brazil and Mexico.”

Sue Kroll, Warner Bros. Pictures President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution, said, “The buzz on ‘Gravity’ began building when we unveiled the film at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Critical raves and screening audience reactions reinforced what we already knew—that the combination of thrilling drama, breathtaking visuals, and powerful performances made this a film that had to be experienced on the big screen.” President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production Greg Silverman added, “Sue and I join everyone at Warner Bros. in congratulating Alfonso Cuarón, producer David Heyman, screenwriter Jonás Cuarón, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and all the other talented artists who worked to make ‘Gravity’ an unequivocal cinematic achievement.”



Academy Award® winners Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) and George Clooney (“Syriana”) star in “Gravity,” a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. The film was directed by Oscar® nominee Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men”).

Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) in command. But on a seemingly routine mission, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone—tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left.

But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

“Gravity” was written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, and produced by Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman (the “Harry Potter” films). Chris deFaria, Nikki Penny and Stephen Jones served as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes team includes multiple Oscar®-nominated director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki (“Children of Men,” “The New World”); production designer Andy Nicholson (art director “Alice in Wonderland”); editors Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger (VFX editor “Children of Men”); and costume designer Jany Temime (the “Harry Potter” films). The visual effects were handled by Oscar®-nominated visual effects supervisor Tim Webber (“The Dark Knight”). The music was composed by Steven Price (“Attack the Block”).

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents an Esperanto Filmoj/Heyday Films Production, an Alfonso Cuarón Film, “Gravity.” The film is being released in 3D and 2D and IMAX®, and is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.


facebook.com/GravityMovieIreland


“Gravity” Cert 12A is released in Ireland on November 8th

X-Men: Days of Future Past, Where to next? Possible sequels.

The possibilities are endless.

X-Men: An expanded universe.

With the latest incarnation of the X-Men franchise being inspired by the famous three issue arc Days of Future Past I want to answer the inevitable question, What's next for the X-Men? It's no lie, that since X-Men: The Last Stand the franchise has not had a steady stream of successful film, Wolverine: X-Men Origins was a disaster on the exact same scale and even though both X-Men: First Class and The Wolverine were both huge commercial hits they were not perfect, January Jones anyone or a giant Silver Samurai Transformer? Since X-Men 2 have you ever experienced such visceral intensity as the White House scene with Nightcrawler? Never has there been a scene that showcased the unique visual power of a mutant since that film, in my opinion. With Days Of Future Past the possible sequels are enormous, in this article I will list my two favourite and most likely sequels to follow on from X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

Here are the facts you need to know about Days Of Future Past that will lead into the theories I have about the possible sequels. Fact no.1 which is known about the film is it is all about time travel, which will massively affect the universe the X-Men live in, because let's face it by the end of Days Of Future Past one of the cast (my money is on Magneto) will mess up the time-stream and there will a storm of crap coming the X-Men's way. Fact no. 2 this film is introducing a ton of new mutants, Bishop, Sunspot and Quicksilver to name some of the newcomers, with the inclusion of these characters Fox are opening up a possible shared universe of their own, which will be exclusively dominated by mutants, and the Fantastic Four, even though Fox said that is never happening.

With time travel, there are so many ways for the X-Men Universe to fix a lot of the previous problems that arose from the X-Men: Last Stand film. The mutant cure could be wiped out of continuity, meaning various de-powered mutants would be back, Mystique, Rogue and Magneto, even though we know from The Wolverine ending Magneto somehow has regained his abilities and Anna Paquin is back as Rogue. New Mutants could be introduced through the new supporting cast, with Quicksilver comes Scarlet Witch but most importantly with Bishop comes Cable, the insanely layered character that formed the most interesting iteration of the X-Force ever, which Fox are developing into a film, if the rumours are to be believed.

So here is my theory of what will come out of the consequences of what the X-Men do to mess with time. Since they will be changing the future any number of things could come from it, they could create a perfect Utopia where mutants and humans live together in harmony or the more likely consequence, a dystopian future where all mutants have been wiped from the Earth. Too vague? Okay this is where things get interesting.



Theory No.1

Age of Apocalypse

So the X-Men save the day, stop the Sentinels and Bolivar Trask and time begins to distort and for one significant scene every mutant is in one place, future and past incarnations alike. They congratulate each other and then suddenly the future incarnations are pulled back to their timeline. The next scene is Wolverine waking up dazed and confused, he doesn't know where he is, but he notice he is in a cell, then he looks down and he realize's he is missing a hand. He hears a door opening and then a familiar face throws a woman into a cell beside Wolverines cell. The familiar face is Scott Summers and he sneers at Wolverine, with his one eye and his shoulder length hair. Scott then says to Logan, Say hi to your new cellmate Logan, little miss Jean Grey. He leaves the room and Wolverine stares in disbelief as Jean Grey looks up at him clearly frightened. He then hears over a speaker system, All hail, Lord Apocalypse! Ruler of Earth!

This in my eyes would be the perfect sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past, after surviving the onslaught of the Sentinels to be thrown into an all out war with the first mutant, and this is the most interesting story-line, in my opinion, that involves Apocalypse. Also it would allow to bring back dead mutants, Cyclops would be back, Jean would be back and also this would allow the actors to give a new spin on characters some of them have been playing for almost a decade. The title would also jump off the screen, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse.

Here is a link to what this story is all about and why it needs to happen and why X-Men: Days of Future Past is the perfect jump off point: Age Of Apocalypse Details.




Theory No.2

House Of M

Right, so it's the same premises, X-guys save the day, have a little banter with their past selves and their future selves then boom, ripped back to the present. Again Wolverine wakes up, a bit disorientated and looks over and kisses awake Mystique. He then gets dressed and looks out from his balcony and he is on a helicarrier, you then hear over the intercom, Director Howlett, to the bridge, Director Howlett to the bridge. You see that Logan has a uniform and he is clearly in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D, he meets with a bunch of mutants who are his lieutenants and he is given a message about the massive meeting of world leaders Victor Von Doom, King Namor, and his Majesty King Lensherr. You then flip to another scene where you see a bunch of human heroes preparing to rebel and terrorize the mutant celebration, and boom, titles hit and we get X-Men: House of M.

This film would be a huge alternate dimension thriller, however it would be incredibly difficult to get this off the ground because Marvel owns every other hero in the Marvel Universe including all vehicles etc. Fox could work around it but it would be tough. Here's a link to the comic so you guys can see how it would all work out: House Of M Details.

This has been a fun article for me, I hope you've enjoyed it too. Comment below, tweet and share your thoughts on my article and what do you think? What possible sequels could spring out of X-Men: Days of Future Past? Do you actually care and finally do you even want another X-Men sequel?

Halloween Horror films that you need to see.

Top 10 Horror Films.

It's that time of year again, when we all go out and dress up needlessly and get ridiculously drunk, girls dress up in ridiculously kinky outfits and guys live out their ridiculous fantasies, this year I'm going as an Ash'aman from The Wheel of Time series by the way, that's right it's Halloween. With all this dress up and alcohol a ton of people forget about the real fun of Halloween, watching scary ass films that remind you why you fear the dark. Throughout every Halloween, and during the off seasons,I have watched copious amounts of horror films so I decided I would give you guys my Top Ten Horror films of all time, until there are superior ones in the future. God bless Halloween.

No. 10 An American Werewolf in London.(1981)

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London is one of those fantastic 80's films that sticks in your head for so many reasons, the one particular moment for me would be the first transformation scene. Without a doubt one of the most excruciating scenes in not just cinema history but horror history. When our protagonist blows off the belief that he will turn into a murderous werewolf bent on mutilation and destruction the film lulls you into a false sense of security. With the music on in the background not completely drowning out his horrific screams as parts of his body contorts into a form that is clearly not meant for man to assume you get such a horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach that he may not come back from this. The effects were superb, in my opinion the best transformation of human to werewolf in all forms of media it didn't need any CGI just wonderful practical effects. The gore is of a fairly high level, especially with a sarcastic mutilated ghost walking around for eighty per cent of the film and that is why An American Werewolf in London is in my Top Ten Horror films list.


No.09 The Fly(1986)

The Fly

When Jeff Goldblum decides he wants to create a teleportation device he doesn't count on a frisky little fly getting all up in his junk. After splicing his DNA accidentally with a fly he becomes a superhuman, for ten minutes, then he becomes the most disgusting piece of garbage I have ever seen in cinema. Why you ask, simple, he pukes all over a dude and tries to eat him. Single scariest and nastiest moment in my young life since when I watched this film I was like twelve years old. For that reason The Fly is in my Top Ten Horror films.


No.08 Evil Dead 2(1987)

Evil Dead 2

One of the funnier films in my list, Evil Dead 2 is one of the grossest, depraved and manic horrors in the history of western horror films. It is a true cult classic, between frightening ballet dancing corpses to angry rape trees, this film has so much wrong with it. This film is disgustingly hilarious, between him fighting against his possessed hand to the mounted trophies laughing at Ash until he cracks and tells them all to shut up. This film is so depraved. I just can't decide whether its horror with a comedy tinge or a comedy with a horror mash up. This why Evil Dead 2 is on the lower end of my Top Ten Horror films list.


No.07 Hellraiser(1987)

Hellraiser

I'm going to write this one quick because even thinking about this film freaks me out. Right so a bunch of torture demons have a box, humans are inexplicably drawn to it and when they solve it, all Hell breaks loose. The cast is pretty forgettable except for the demons themselves who have so much lore behind each of them it calls out to you to look them up. There is one of the demons who is just so frightening, all he does is chatter his teeth, I don't why, I can't remember his name but that feature of his sticks with me, and that is why Hellraiser is in my Top Ten Horror films list.


No.06 The Sixth Sense.(1999)

Sixth Sense

Nothing freaks me out more than ghosts, and M Nigh Shymalan. Combine those two elements together and you have a jump fest cinema experience. Between gross puking ghost girls and a creepy soundtrack, this film had a lot going for it. There was genuine human dialogue and a great story behind it, which fifty per cent of horror films don't have, which added to the tension and the growing sense of alienation in the film. Add the disturbing twist at the end and you have an unorthodox horror but an original one at least. With that I chose The Sixth Sense to be in my Top Ten Horror films list.


No.05 Dawn of The Dead(1978)

Dawn of the Dead

An oldie but definitely a goodie. This film for a long time defined zombies for me, there was something about the zombies in this film that just disturbed me, right inside me. I could never explain it but there was genuine terror when I watched the zombies limp to the characters, even though they were slow and cumbersome they still achieved their goals which I respect, as much I can respect the undead. It is this reason why I put Dawn of The Dead in my Top Ten Horror films list.


No.04 28 Days Later(2002)

28 Days Later

It had been awhile since zombies had posed any real threat to humanity, lets face it  after awhile you get bored of the lumbering vacant stares of the undead. Then 2002 hit and Danny  Boyle gave us something to really fear. Not just the rage zombies, I'm talking about humans, the real monsters of the that film. When everything is stripped away, all our comforts and our society, the monsters rear their ugly heads. That's why  28 Days Later is on my Top Ten Horror films list.

No.03 Angel Heart(1987)

Angel Heart

Angel Heart, a true mind fuck of film. Mickey Rourke at his most charming and the story about a detective trying to find a missing person that eventually leads to some of the most disturbing death scenes I have ever seen in cinema. One includes a chicken, that's all I'll say. Between Robert De Niros creepy egg eating scene and Mickey Rourkes screams at later points of the film there is a lot to be freaked out about in this film. The film is so well written and so disturbing I highly recommend it. I don't want to go into too much detail otherwise I'll ruin your opportunity to see a real original horror film. For that reason I have included Angel Heart in my Top Ten Horror films list.

No.02 Cabin in the Woods(2012)

Cabin in the Woods

When I got to the last two films I had a hard time deciding which would take the top spot, I went on the decision that I've been going with since the beginning of the article, entertainment value not just horror value. Cabin in the Woods is without a doubt one of the most entertaining horror films of all time but the reason it didn't get the top spot is it is a fantastic comedy that satires all the cliches of horror while giving an intense horror experience. The characters, the monsters and the sheer level of entertainment value is fantastic,but it's not my no.1, that honor is left to a real classic, however it still deserves this spot in my Top Ten Horror films list.

No.01 The Thing(1982)

The Thing.

Frightening, well acted, killer dialogue and incredible effects.The Thing is a triumph of horror films, there is terror that cannot ever be matched in my opinion. Kurt Russell is on form in this film but so are the rest of the cast, there are so many iconic scenes that come to mind, for example there is one scene where a dudes head fell off and then became another monster, that same dudes stomach was also a monster which ate another guys hands, deeply disturbing I know. There is so much going for this film, and here is a little bit of trivia that you'll absolutely love, at the very beginning of the film when the Norwegian sniper is shooting at the husky he tells everyone,in Norwegian, what the dog really is, so basically all Norwegian cinema goers got the film ruined for them in the first ten minutes, and that's why I picked The Thing for my Top Ten Horror films list.


So what are you guys doing for Halloween, what are you dressing up as, comment below, drop me a Tweet or send me on your Top Ten list. Doesn't even have to be about Horrors.

D.I.C.E International Expo with all star interviews. Part 1

Dublin.International.Comic.Expo or D.I.C.E came to Ireland on September 28th and 29th last weekend and it was a sight to behold. This was a stripped down old school comic con with an emphasis on two things, comics and Irish talent. This being my first D.I.C.E I didn't know what kind of convention I was going to,so I asked the owners of Big Bang Comics in Dundrum town centre. They explained to me that it was a no frills comic convention, no television promotions, no film trailers, just creative teams from MARVEL, DC and various indie publishers, signing autographs and doing panels on their projects, past, present and most interestingly future. The talent on hand was top notch, from DC's Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo of Batman fame to MARVEL's Kieron Gillen and C.B Cebulski of numerous titles that I won't even try to name here. The line up was spectacular. The quality of talent was not just limited to the international names however, as a ton of Irish talent littered the event. From Stephen Mooney to Declan Shalvey, the talent that the Irish brought was fantastic, but more of that in the second part.

While I was at D.I.C.E, I got the opportunity to interview many of the creative teams at both MARVEL and DC. In each interview I asked how they were getting on, how were their Irish fans treating them and in the case of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, how much longer their run together would last. It was a weekend to remember and all of the guys and girls, Becky Cloonan was there and she was an absolute laugh, were on top form. Following are my interviews with some of the international talent which decided to come to Ireland and have the craic(don't worry it's a general Irish term for good times).

I started the con off with Paul Cornell, a man of many talents, he has worked on Doctor Who, DC's Demon Knights title and is currently working on Wolverine in which he is penning the Killable arc where Wolverines whole perspective on life is changed when events lead to him losing his healing factor forever. When I caught up with him he was gracious and willing with his time and told me all kinds of things that will be coming up in the future regarding our favourite Canadian. I congratulated him on the birth of his son and asked how it went with deciding on his name, there had been a lively debate on what he should call his son on twitter, every name under the sun was suggested from all the various comics Paul has worked on over the years, in the end he went with Tom, which I think is lovely. When asked whether he'd be watching the 50th anniversary Doctor Who episode he said definitely and the explained how he was there at the 20th and it was wonderful to be around for the 50th anniversary.

Becky Cloonan was an absolute treat, she gave me such wonderful and interesting stories about how she came to be the first woman to ever work on the main Batman series. She explained how she didn't know at the time that she was the first woman and how it probably helped since she already felt the pressure going into the Batman series after Greg Capullo was taking a break for an issue. She went on about how she has a soft spot for Harper Row and how she came up with some of the characters quirks, there was even a moment at the end where Becky and I mused about the possibility that Jokers "Daughter" could be Harper as we haven't seen her face and she has a similar look. We quickly laughed off the idea but I think both of us were still worried at the end. Becky did a panel with Scott and Greg all about their work on the Batman series and because there was such a demand they even did a second one directly afterwards, which in my eyes is pure class.

There was then Kieron Gillen who gave an incredibly in-depth interview about what he and his creative team are doing with the Secret Origin of Tony Stark, an unusual take on an event in a characters life which we all take for granted at this stage in our reading of comics. He then discussed with me on his run with the Young Avengers and finally we both talked at length on how he was part of the team which turned Scott Summers aka Cyclops into the most hated yet most interesting character in the Marvel universe right now. Kieron was a true force unto himself, explaining in such great detail how he dealt with all these various characters over the years, he went on to compare Scott's journey into madness as an almost Walter White excursion, with him going through such layers of chaos and destruction.

When I went over to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo I'm not going to lie, I was intimidated. These two men made Batman interesting for me again. These two had created a narrative that was both beautifully written and visually stunning, I was in awe. Lucky for me Scott and Greg are two of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Between wonderful anecdotes of how Greg had been finding Ireland to Scott and Greg's adorable bromance, I was having so much fun. Scott and Greg went into how they feel the Zero Year arc is going and how they appreciate the fandom. When I asked Greg about the visual side of Zero Year in regard to that fantastic Riddler game splash page, he explained how Scott had wanted a crossword puzzle but Greg thought it wasn't enough so Scott found an ancient Egyptian board-game which actually fitted the mood they were going for. Scott divulged that during the next part of Zero Year we would be seeing the origin of many of Batman's rogue's, the next one being Poison Ivy. I then asked Scott a little on his run on Superman: Unchained, particularly on the identity of the uber powerful being running around, he said that all would be revealed in issue five because issue four is going to be all about the fighting.



Well that concludes the first part of my journey into D.I.C.E, head over to the second part linked below to see how I got on with the Irish talent, who are it's safe to say, a great bunch of lads. As always comment below and let me know your experience at various comic conventions around the world. Here's a link to the article at Agent of Geek, which includes the audio for the interviews as well. Enjoy.

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Agents of Geek Interviews with audio.