Well it’s only been what? Three months?

Maybe a little less than that.

I’ve been away because work has consumed most of my time. If you haven’t noticed, I also stopped the UncannyDerek Facebook because I never could keep the darn thing updated! It’s good to be back, and I’ll do my best to keep this thing updated regularly again.

But man, do we have some catching up to do!

Marvel’s: The Avengers

A little movie called The Avengers came out shortly after my last real blog post and it kicked a ton of box-office records. I’m obviously not going to go on and talk about the movie that has been talked about to death.

And I’m certainly not going to say how wrong I was about assuming the Skrulls would’ve been in the film either. . . Let’s just forget about that.

What I WILL say about the film is that it was fantastic. I really enjoyed getting to see The Hulk finally BE the Hulk on-screen. I was first worried about Edward Norton’s replacement being a romantic comedy actor, but Mark Ruffalo was definitely an excellent choice as a replacement.

All of the actors did a pretty good job with acting, for that matter. I just found it rather unfortunate that Colbie Smulders as Maria Hill didn’t get more on-screen time or a better chance to show off her butt-kicking skills.

As for the Black Widow – as expected – Joss Whedon made her a power to be reckoned with. Unlike in Iron Man 2, Whedon made a strong and confident female superhero take charge in the film. It was completely refreshing to see the Black Widow used properly rather than the stiff-acting Barbie doll she was in Iron Man 2.

Of course, I also loved that Thanos was put into the film. While I do enjoy Mad Titan’s in my films as much as the next guy, I’m pretty excited to see how he’ll mess around with the next Marvel films.

Kudos to Marvel for putting together one helluva fun movie. Maybe with all the money coming Joss Whedon’s way, maybe we can see more Firefly?

Speaking of Marvel movies. . .

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie

I never in my wildest dreams would’ve imagined Marvel doing something as daring as a Guardians of the Galaxy movie! I mean, with having Thanos in the Avengers film, yeah, it was the next logical step – but how can Marvel pump up something so obscure? I love Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett’s take on the team – especially with the Annihilation and War of Kings sagas (and as a side, I’ll admit that “the Annihilators” is a fun concept for me).

But where will our heroes go? Will the fight Thanos? Is Annihilus even an option, or is his rights owned by Fox with the Fantastic Four? Maybe Korvac? I don’t know?! Either way, I’m very excited to see some more science-fiction in my life!

August 1st, 2014 can’t come fast enough!

L to R: Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora

Canceled Titles

As I seem so busy from pumping up Marvel, why don’t I take on how disappointed I am with them too? At ComicBookResouces, Marvel has announced the cancellation of NINE major titles – four which I collect monthly.

While no, that’s not a big deal that I’M losing books to read – it’s just more upsetting that as a collector I’m stuck falling for Marvel’s marketing plans.

I’ll also add in that yes, I understand this is under the Marvel NOW! campaign and a lot has to do with the current Avengers vs. X-Men debacle, but I’ll be talking about that in a later post.

As Marvel NOW! cancels The Incredible Hulk, New Mutants, Uncanny X-Men, & X-Men: Legacy – marketing the new books as “jumping on points” – I’m using them as jumping off points. I tire of having to lose and re-collect comics. It becomes too much to follow. Mostly, it becomes too much of a headache to stick around. I was upset when Marvel canceled Uncanny not too long ago – and now they’re doing it again – all to gain another dollar.

I say no more!

Upcoming

Soon to be talked about topics on this blog include: Avengers Versus X-Men – my thoughts so far, FanExpo Updates, Comic Sale Updates, The Walking Dead, and how my NaNoWriMo story is doing so far.

And Finally

I have ended just about every blog with me saying, “Keep on Space Truckin’!” In case you hadn’t figured it out, the line is paraphrased from the Deep Purple song, “Space Truckin'” – my favourite Deep Purple song.

Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord passed away July 16th with complications due to pancreatic cancer and suffering from a pulmonary embolism. Lord was an original founding member back in 1968 – he continued with the band up until he retired in 2002. Next to Lord, only drummer Ian Paice was the only remaining original member in the band.

Lord’s keyboards helped defined hard rock keyboardists from Yes to Dream Theater. Anytime I hear a Deep Purple song, I air keyboard Lord’s because his work just gets me moving. He was a genius and an incredible musician. He will be missed.

Keep on Space Truckin’, Mr. Lord.