Star Wars Anthology Talk

Star Wars Anthology Talk
Recently, Collider has reported that the Star Wars stand-alone/ anthology/ A Star Wars Story movies were being put on hold by Lucasfilm.  This news story became widespread enough for ABC to write an article about it, getting a quote from Lucasfilm, saying that multiple Star Wars films are still in development. Although not specifying which films, the source is credible, because ABC and Lucasfilm are both owned by Disney. It is unknown if the films in development are the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi or Boba Fett movies. But, we do know that a trilogy from Rian Johnson and a series of films from David Benioff and DB Weiss are still in development and have both been officially announced by Lucasfilm. As well as Star Wars Episode IX, being released on December 20th of next year.

I think this is all very interesting and it got me think if I want this. And I realized that I don't, because I have liked both of the stand-alones released so far. I would want a schedule of a movie from one of the series one year, then a standalone, and then the other series. An Obi-Wan movie is the stand-alone movie that I most want. Boba Fett on the other hand, while I don't really want a movie all about him, I would love a bounty hunter team-up. It could also continue part of the story set-up by Solo. For the Rian Johnson Trilogy and the Benioff and Weiss series of films (which is likely between 2 and 4) there has been speculation regarding what these movies will be about, the most prominent is that one of the series will be The Old Republic. If I had to guess, I would say that the Benioff and Weiss series is The Old Republic and Rian Johnson's trilogy is focused in wild space and the outer regions of the Star Wars galaxy. There is a problem with any of these movies coming out in 2020. That is because of conflicts in scheduling for Benioff and Weiss and Ewan McGregor for Obi-Wan and it doesn't seem that Rian Johnson's first movie will go into production fast enough. The only possibility for 2020 is Boba Fett, (at least from these options, it could be something completly different. There could also be no movie at all, considering that 2020 is the year after Episode IX and if they want to not have a movie in 2020, it would be the best time for a break. Although, Disney CEO Bob Iger did mention that they have a writer for a 2020 Star Wars movie. If it is something other than Kenobi or Boba Fett, I would want I Knights of Ren movie, because of the different time-era than the other anthologies. That is if they aren't brought back into Episode IX in a major way. JJ abrams was the person who invented them and was also the person who came up with the idea for a Knights of Ren movie, saying, “there’s a Knights of Ren story that I think would be pretty cool to tell.”

Another rumor is that the Obi-Wan movie might be released directly to the upcoming Disney streaming service. And I absolutely despise this idea. For one thing, that would make it a direct-to-video movie, which brings a terrible connotation. It is also negative in that it would make it seem like Disney only cared about the Star Wars movies that were releasing directly in the theatre. So and the movies on the streaming service were of lower quality. I don't believe that if a movie was made for streaming that it would be the same quality or budget as if made for streaming. I want to experience live-action Star Wars movies on a big screen for the first time, not just some direct-to-video movie that you watch on the couch. Star Wars films should be an event. All of that said, I think a TV show could work for Obi-Wan. Considering that there is already a live-action Star Wars series in the works. There just isn't a point to making a movie instead of a series if it's direct-to-streaming. If they are making a movie, it should not be direct to series, but the TV shows can be. Because television series don't release in a movie theatre.

I hope you all enjoyed my second Star Wars news breakdown. I will likely do more of these in the future as we find out details on more in Star Wars and possibly other topics in the future. So, thank you and stay connected.

Read More: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/multiple-films-star-wars-pipeline-sources/story?id=56057987

http://collider.com/star-wars-spinoffs-on-hold/#images

http://collider.com/star-wars-anthology-movie-knights-of-ren-jj-abrams/

History of Marvel Prose Novels

History of Marvel Prose Books

Recently, I have been very interested in reading prose books based on Marvel comics. Other than wikipedia's list, (which I'm not sure is accurate and doesn't give background on most of the novels) there isn't really a comprehensive list of the best books that there is from Marvel over all time. That said, I am starting in the 1980s, which had a tiny amount of books published (1 according to the wiki), so we can see the clean slate and what came from it.

Howard the Duck- 1986
By Ellis Weiner
One of the only Marvel novels published in the eighties also happens to be the only one starring Howard the Duck. It's a novelization of the movie, I haven't read it, but I've seen online that it is actually very self-aware and pretty good.

There weren't many Marvel novels in the 80's, according to wikipedia, Howard was the only one. But, whatever the case for the prior decade, the 1990's is a whole different story. Here is just a small taste of some of the best of what marvel published somewhat later into the decade. Keep in mind, they published many more books around this time and most were the type of book that would never be published in a hardback copy.

The Incredible Hulk: What Savage Beast- 1995
By Peter David
I haven't read this book yet, either but I've also seen on the net that this is one of the most popular and best of the 90's Marvel Prose. This was actually printed in hardcover. It's one of many Hulk books, but apparently it's quite good.

Daredevil: Predator's Smile- 1996
By Christopher Golden
From Chris Golden, still a popular author on the Marvel prose scene and not the last book of his on the list. Predator's Smile goes over Daredevil when an arsonist tries to commit crime on his turf and what goes down through that. The book looks really good and I want to read it.

Generation X- 1997
By Elliot S Maggin and Scott Lobdell
This story follows Emma Frost and the Generation X, team spin-off from the X-Men. And was co-written by former superman comics writer, Elliot S Maggin. Who also wrote the novelization of Kingdom Come for DC.

Incredible Hulk: Abominations- 1997
By Jason Henderson
This book is not directly a sequel to What Savage Beast, but is the other most popular Hulk book, despite the unoriginal title. I haven't read this but it is by one of the co-authors for the X-Men Time's Arrow series, so I'm interested.

X-Men/ Spider-Man: Time's Arrow series- 1998
By Tom Defalco and Multiple Authors
This trilogy was published all in 1998 in back to back months. And we finally get to something I have read, because I have read the first book in the series. And I really loved it. The novel was captivating, surprisingly scientific, and really showed the X-Men, including odd members like Cable, working together well. Spider-Man included.





2000's

Mary Jane series- 2003-4
By Judith O'Brien
This was a series of two books set in the ultimate comics universe following Mary Jane and how she views Spider-Man/ Peter Parker. They are quite popular books.

Fantastic Four series- 2006-?
By multiple authors
One of the most popular series, widely published in many books.

Ultimates series- 2007-?
By multiple authors
One of the most popular series, widely published in many books.
(Cop-out.)

After the 90's and 2000's, Marvel decided to make a large series of prose novels, novelizing some of their popular comic series, often when relevant to the MCU. Here is a short list of some of them:
Captain America: Dark Designs
Ant-Man: Natural Enemy
Thanos: Death Sentence
Doctor Strange: Fate of Dreams
Civil War
Death of Captain America
New Avengers: Breakout
Daredevil: Man Without Fear
Gotg: Rocket & Groot Steal the Galaxy
Avengers: Everybody Wants to Rule the World

During the series of comic-based novels, Marvel started aiming more of their prose books at middle grade and young adult audiences. With easier books and different superheroes. Marvel is still publishing these, here is just some.

YA Initiative

Rogue Touch- 2013
She-Hulk Diaries- 2013
Black Widow series- 2015-
By Margaret Stohl
This is a popular series of books about Black Widow. It's been nominated for some awards and I am pretty interested in reading these.
Rocket & Groot series- 2016-
By Tom Angelberger
I have actually read the first in this series of books and it is pretty good, while still short and for younger readers. I do want to read the next.

Iron Man: The Gauntlet
By Eoin Colfer
I have read this too, and it is a good book following Tony Stark against the mandarin. I won't spoil too much else, but I would recommend this and Eoin Colfer's other works.
Squirrel Girl series- 2017-
Miles Morales: Spider-man- 2017
Black Panther series- 2018
Loki- 2019 upcoming, spring
By Mackenzi Lee
This is Part one of a three book deal of historical-fiction teen prose novels about marvel anti-heroes (I know it sounds odd.) It will center on Loki and have him as pansexual, since that is already established in the canon. This sounds very interesting and I would like to speculate that the other protagonists might be Gambit, Deadpool, Namor, or Elektra. Although, Gambit would be best.
Captain Marvel- 2020 upcoming

This decade, like the 1980s has a bit of a shortage of original-non-teen novels. But there are some, I'll discuss here.
Iron Man: Virus- 2010
Alexander C Irvine
This was the one of the first Iron Man books written and published after the release of the movie. And, really I feel that it is just an attempt to capitalize on the film's success. It also uses the Extremis storyline, but then that was adapted into a book, so there's not much new here.

                                                      Deadpool: Paws- 2015

By Stefan Petrucha
This is the only book starring Deadpool and one of the only books published directly through Marvel. And although I haven't read it, I will say that it looks very good and I want to read it. The Jaws parody aspect could make for good comedy throughout.

Runaways- 2018
By Christopher Golden
This book is from the same author of Dardevil Predator's Smile and was made because of the Runaways TV series on hulu. Although this is an original novel, I've read the comics so I kind of get the material and if it's like the comic it should be pretty good.

Thanos: Titan Consumed- 2018 upcoming
By Barry Lyga
Although not the first book to feature Thanos it was going to be the first novel set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that is until it was discovered that it was misreporting that led that to be believed. Nonetheless, I am still excited to read this because it will still draw inspiration from Infinity War and the MCU.

Thank you for reading, I hope that this list might be a resource for someone wanting to read these books, and if not it's was a resource for me. I will try to read at least most of these books by this time next year. That's pretty much it, so stay connected.





Sources:
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/howard-the-duck/257522/weird-things-we-learned-from-the-howard-the-duck-novel

Star Trek/ X-Men Novel Review:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/5873156/the-star-trek-x-men-crossover-that-no-one-remembers

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_novels_based_on_comics

https://news.marvel.com/comics/25383/marvel_press_unleashes_new_novels_set_for_2016/

https://www.themarysue.com/marvel-ya-novel-loki-genderfluid-pan/

X-men/ spider-man time's arrow book 1: the past

Potential Problems with Ms Marvel in MCU

Potential Problems with Bringing Ms Marvel into the MCU
Kamala Khan is the Marvel superhero, Ms Marvel and was introduced into the comics world in 2013 as a passing down of the Ms Marvel mantle from Carol Danvers, now Captain Marvel. She is also the most prominent muslim superhero and one of my favorite heroes. Since the first movie starring Captain Marvel is coming out next year, the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Fiege said it was possible that Ms Marvel could come to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point in the future. Even though this wasn't a confirmation, there is tons of speculation on what will happen when the character is added to the MCU. Even though I believe that Marvel will bring justice to the character, I just want to point out some potential problems, for blogging's sake.

Ms Marvel problem
As of right now it isn't apparent if Carol Danvers will ever be Ms Marvel in the Captain Marvel movie before she is Captain Marvel. Although we've seen very little from the movie, so I don't know if this is true. It could cause a big problem with Ms Marvel's character. Because if Carol Danvers was never Ms Marvel, it doesn't make sense that Kamala would be and if Carol isn't it doesn't give the necessary connection for the characters.

Inhuman Problem
In comics Kamala gets her powers from the Inhuman terrigen mists released over population centers such as Jersey City. It is still possible that she is an Inhuman, via things from the Agents of SHIELD and Inhumans tv series, it is possible that by the point Ms Marvel gets her powers, neither of these shows might be on the air and these plot points could be rendered null and void.

TV/ Movie Interconnectivity
This also brings me to TV movie interconnectivity, because so far in the MCU the movies haven't liked to acknowledge the TV series. Either that has to change or major aspects of Ms Marvel's character has to. For example, the Inhuman issue I already discussed and if Ms Marvel has a tv show rather than movies, then she needs to meet Captain Marvel and other heroes at some point. Lastly, if she is ever to join the Avengers or Champions, like in the comics, it must connect.

TV Limitation
If Ms Marvel is to have a TV series, as I think would fit the character, it would have to have really good effects and graphics. This is because of Ms Marvel's power-set which basically allows her to change and stretch however she wants. If the show is on the Disney Streaming Service, along with the upcoming live-action Star Wars series, which I assume will have a large budget, then I think it could work.

Casting
I just want to include that speculating on casting for Ms Marvel herself is pointless because, like Spider-Man, she is a teenager and will probably be cast very young. I have also heard it thrown out that she could attend Peter Parker's school. That couldn't work, because she has to live in New Jersey. But it is close to New York and I would like to see the characters cross-over on the screen.

For Ms Marvel to work well, she needs to have a tv series, for the long arcs and story development, that are part of the character. Her being on TV must change some standard practices within Marvel television now, or it can not work. Such as meeting Movie-level superheroes, such as Captain Marvel and appearing in movies and stepping up the special effects for her power-set. The comics read like a tv series. And, such I would like it to translate well to make Ms Marvel marvelous in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stay Connected.

Mario Kart DS Review

Mario Kart DS by Konfucius on DeviantArt

Mario Kart DS Review
I want to take a brief time to write about one of my favorite DS games, being Mario Kart DS. It released in 2005, but is really a timeless game. I haven't played it's predecessor on the Game Boy Advance as much, but from what I can see Mario Kart DS improved upon it. The game takes advantage well of the DS dual screens by following your player on the map and seeing the track, the racers behind you, and all of the obstacles. One thing that I feel the MarioKart series does very well is not just being a generic racing game or a generic licensed cart game. MarioKart DS along with the other games are some of my all-time favorite racing games. Mario Kart DS in particular has great multiplayer features that are a great fun. The balloon battle and shine runners are very fun modes, where you don't have to race, and you can take a break from the track. The music for the series is so great as well and that really goes without saying. For track selection, Mario Kart DS has both old and new, adding some great tracks like Yoshi Falls. Another great addition is the missions, that challenge you to complete some objective within the time-limit, many of them are very original and great. It is still very fun for me to play Mario Kart DS and it will be for much longer. If I had to say one bad thing about the game, it would be that in if you don't have the game in the multiplayer mode you must play as a shy guy. But, that's not really a complaint of the game, is it. My final thought is that Mario Kart DS is a great and classic game and a big 10/10 as one of the best games on the Nintendo DS. Stay Connected!