The Lives of Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko

On November 12 2018 Stan Lee tragically passed away at the age of 95. Earlier this year fellow Marvel artist Steve Ditko tragically passed and last year would have been Jack Kirby's one-hundredth birthday if he had not passed in 1994. Lee, Kirby, and Ditko were some of the biggest driving forces in the comic book industry and Marvel as a whole - you could describe them as possibly being 'Marvel's Trifecta'. This is not to diminish the others who made Marvel what it is today - John Romita Sr. and Larry Lieber are just two of the many artists and writers who contributed to Marvel's rise. Today we'll honour the three and look at how they got into writing comics, and how they greatly shaped popular culture, not just comics.

Origins

Marvel existed before Lee, Kirby, and Ditko came along - in fact it existed before it was even called Marvel. A while ago we discussed Marvel's origins which you can read about here. Jack Kirby, born Jacob Kurtzberg, had been in the comic book industry since 1936 before he joined Marvel's predecessor Timely with artist Joe Simon. Kirby, as a side note, also worked as an assistant animator for Popeye cartoons. The duo immediately jumped into Timely writing several comics which would set up the later comics in the 1960s; Marvel Mystery Comics #13 written by the duo introduced the first character named Vision, however, this character later inspired Roy Thomas and John Buscema who made the Vision we all now. Most importantly, in March 1941 the two created the most important character in Marvel's history - Captain America. Captain America Comics #1 proudly displays Captain America suckerpunching Hitler in one of the most iconic comic book covers of all time. This was even before the US entered the war; both Simon and Kirby was Jewish (due to antisemitism Jack had to write under the name Kirby instead of Kurtzberg) so were naturally very scared of the Nazis. Simon and Kirby would leave Timely after ten issues of Captain America Comics as the publisher of Timely, Martin Goodman, would only pay them $75 a week instead of a combined $500 which they wanted. Before they left they did get a sidekick. An aspiring young writer born in 1922 who wanted to write the 'Great American Novel' happened to be the cousin of Goodman's wife Jean. In 1940 the eighteen year old Stanley Lieber was hired as an assistant. His roles were fairly basic saying in 2009 'In those days [the artists] dipped the pen in ink, [so] I had to make sure the inkwells were filled. I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them'. Lieber even managed to write his first comic under Simon's and Kirby's tutelage, Captain America Comics #3. As he wanted to become a novelist he feared that writing comics would damage his image with publishers, so he invented a pseudonym: Stan Lee.

Lee and Kirby in 1966

Simon and Kirby went to work for National Comics, the company which would soon become DC, and their work soon became well renowned. In 2010 a DC executive said 'Like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster [the creators of Superman], the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby was a mark of quality and a proven track record'. Back with Timely now that Goodman lost two of the greatest comic writers he was left without an editor so made the young Stanley a temporary editor. This turned out to be short lived. The bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the Second World War and in 1942 Stan Lee enlisted so Vince Fago became Timely's editor-in-chief. Kirby was also drafted in 1943 where the lieutenant placed him charge of reconnaissance and mapping enemy lines due to his career as an artist. As Kirby fought at Omaha Lee was drafted into the Signal Corps repairing communications equipment and telegraph poles. After the war Lee returned to Timely and before Kirby rejoined he would hire several key individuals who would later shape Marvel - such as Gene Colan and later Steve Ditko. Kirby, with Simon until the late-1950s, flit around working for different companies, even launching their own (Mainline Publications) in 1956. Kirby would continue to resent Timely (now called Atlas) as Goodman was still in charge. When Atlas created a new Captain America in 1954 to battle communism, bearing in mind this was during the height of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, the duo decided to get their own back. Simon said that 'We thought we'd show them how to do Captain America' in their new comic Fighting America. Only the first issue really took part in the Red-baiting of the 1950s - the duo soon felt uncomfortable so turned it into a comedy as well as a satire of Atlas' Captain America and McCarthyism. Kirby would even write for Archie Comics occasionally. 

Over at DC Julius Schwartz had revived the superhero genre. Throughout the post-war period comic companies focused primarily on Westerns and romances; briefly horror comics dominated the scene but were soon destroyed by the Comics Code of Authority which you can read about here. The only superhero comics to really survive this period were some of the massive DC ones including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. As the Space Race began Schwartz revived superhero comics by bringing back old characters and giving them science-fiction origins; among those to be brought back included the Flash and Green Lantern. Soon enough, Marvel would come onto the scene.

Steve Ditko

So far we've only discussed two of the Trifecta - where was Steve Ditko during this time? It's surprising how Ditko often gets forgotten. He didn't have the large personalities of Lee and Kirby, had radically different politics to them (he was an ardent supporter of Objectivism), and he shied away from interviews saying that his writing was all that was needed. In 2007 the BBC produced a documentary hosted by Jonathan Ross called In Search of Steve Ditko where he refused to directly appear on it. As a result Ditko has unfortunately been swept under the rug. Ditko came from New York, like most of Marvel's staff, and became interested in comics by reading Batman and The Spirit in 1939. Enlisting in the army in 1945 he spent most of his career drawing comics for the army as he was stationed in Germany before being discharged. He soon fell on his feet - his idol and Batman artist Jerry Robinson was teaching at an Illustration school in New York so Ditko enlisted. As he wanted to impress his idol he worked hard and Robinson would later say that 'It was very intense.' Lee even visited the school and became impressed by Ditko's work. After graduating he managed to work under Simon and Kirby as well as several other companies, including Charlton Comics whom he would work for until the company collapsed in 1986. In 1954, during the horror craze, for Charlton he would draw his first comic cover with The Thing #12 depicting vampires attacking in a Gothic building. 

The Thing #12

In 1954 Ditko had to take a break from comics as he contracted tuberculosis but when he recovered he went to work for Atlas first creating Journey into Mystery #33 in 1956. Unlike the early 1960s he was a regular writer for Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, and Tales of Suspense. These comics were well-renowned for featuring out of the ordinary stories and visuals which Ditko would later continue when he created Doctor Strange. He also first started working with Kirby and Lee regularly; Kirby would draw a monster, and he would write a story with Lee. 

The Marvel Revolution

By 1960 DC's revival of superheroes had caused a pop culture craze so Atlas, now called Marvel, with Lee as editor-in-chief decided to bring their own spin on the genre. Traditionally, superheroes were flawless, gallant, and ideal characters; this has actually become a joke in the DC Universe where characters refer to Superman as 'the big, blue boy scout'. Lee's wife, Joan Boocock, played an influential role in creating the character traits of Marvel's heroes. Unlike their DC counterparts the Marvel heroes would be flawed: they could be bad-tempered, argue with their friends and family, have self-doubt, get ill, and had to deal with everyday problems. Marvel was also willing to engage in politics a lot more readily. X-Men is famous for being an allegory for the African-American civil rights, and with the global Cold War Marvel characters would often become involved in global events. It has been suggested that the Lee-Kirby run was the comics equivalent of the British Beatlemania. Comic historian Peter Sanderson wrote:

Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in the process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond. Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further.

Marvel introduced a new way of creating characters. Normally, Lee would throw an idea at a writer, normally Kirby, who would then turn that character into a comic. As a result some writers, like Ditko with Spider-Man, actually contributed more to a comic at times than Lee did. Below is a quite funny example of how this worked. During the 1990s comic writers had a habit of creating violent and dark comics but still aiming them at a young audience. As a result, quite a lot of unrelateable and over-the-top characters came into being. A few were made by Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld, although both made even more good characters, whom Stan Lee decided to mess around with in this video:

Marvel also created a very personal community. Many comics featured letters to Lee and Kirby, and 'Stan's Soapbox' became famous for Stan Lee commenting on and answering questions. These could be about a variety of topics ranging from the price of comics to discussions on people's favourite characters. In 1968 one featured a condemnation of bigotry in society:

Lee and Kirby in particular attracted a lot of attention. Calling fans 'True Believers' and signing off comments with the phrase 'Excelsior!' soon become synonymous with Lee, and Kirby earned the affectionate nickname of 'The King'. Lee and Kirby even appeared in the comics themselves, including the duo being turned away at the wedding of the Fantastic Four. Thanks to Ditko's quieter personality he featured less in the letters compared to other writers but Spider-Man fans did write to him. Through interesting comics and a connection to the creators Marvel soon dominated.

Creations

It is an understatement to say that the trio contributed a lot to popular culture. If you name a Marvel character there is quite a high chance that they were created, or co-created, by Lee, Kirby or Ditko. We'll look at a few of these characters now.

Fantastic Four

We cannot speak about Marvel without mentioning the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four placed Marvel on the map and set the stage for the rest of the Marvel Universe. Seeing the popularity of DC's Justice League Martin Goodman wanted Marvel to have its own superhero team. Inspired by Joan Lee and Kirby created the Fantastic Four. These new heroes didn't talk like normal superheroes and bickered like a real family, the Human Torch was even a hotheaded teenager (literally!). The Thing was far from the typical hero - he looked like a villain and spoke in a broad New York accent. You can tell there is a lot of Kirby in the Thing; they came from a similar background and the Thing's old street gang is clearly based off of Kirby's old gang. Unlike other heroes the Fantastic Four wouldn't even have a secret identity! Together they produced Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961. It was soon a hit. Fantastic Four would be Marvel's biggest comic in the 1960s and when Marvel wanted to introduce or promote a character they would appear in Fantastic Four. The 'Galactus Trilogy' spanning Fantastic Four #48-50 introducing the Silver Surfer and Galactus has been seen as one of the greatest stories in comic book history.

The Hulk

The Incredible Hulk #1 would have been unthinkable ten years earlier. How could a hulking monster fuelled by rage be a hero? The duo wanted to combine Cold War paranoia with The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where a mild-mannered scientist unleashes his dark side thanks to experimental bombs instead of a potion. Lee and Kirby actually clashed during the making of the first comic. Kirby wanted the Hulk to be green while Lee wanted him to be grey - Kirby argued it was easier to keep the same shade of green across panels which they couldn't do at the time with grey. As Lee was editor-in-chief he won out and in the first issue the Hulk was grey; except, Kirby was proven right and he kept changing colour throughout the comic even turning green at one point. From the second issue the Hulk went through a second mutation turning him green.

Spider-Man

When he was younger Lee had enjoyed a pulp magazine called The Spider, Master of Men and that influenced him to want a character with spider powers. Breaking the mould again this character wasn't meant to be a strong, muscular figure like Superman or Batman, instead he was supposed to be small and meek. Kirby originally designed Spider-Man to be a strong character, so Lee instead went with Ditko. Ditko made Peter Parker to be a typical teenager - not very athletic, trying to find his way in the world, and fairly nervous. It hit gold and from his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 Spider-Man soon became one of the world's most influential comic character and the closing lines of the comic is a valuable life lesson. With great power there must also come - great responsibility! Soon, Spider-Man replaced the Hulk as Marvel's new big hero getting his own comic within a year. As the years have gone on we have found out that Ditko did most of the work with Spider-Man, and even decided to insert a joke about Stan Lee in the comics. Lee could be quite demanding so Ditko modelled the infamous J.Jonah Jameson after Lee! Eventually, Ditko got recognition for writing Spider-Man by #25. Thanks to Ditko we have most of the major Spider-Man villains including Dr Octopus, Vulture, Scorpion, and Green Goblin. Spider-Man is easily Marvel's most popular character and we can attribute this to Ditko.

Thor

Kirby wasn't good for Spider-Man but he was good for a different character. Lee had always loved Norse mythology and threw an idea at Kirby so he could focus on other comics. Kirby was joined by Larry Lieber, Stan Lee's younger brother, who had already contributed greatly in creating Marvel characters. Kirby and Lieber had already worked together creating Iron Man, Ant Man, and the Wasp, so they could create fantastic stories together already. Lieber took a more hands-on approach compared to his brother writing full scripts for a comic which Kirby would draw around. They wanted a character stronger than Hulk and took notice of Lee's love for mythology: who was stronger than a mortal but a god? Thanks to Kirby's expert drawing and Lieber's writing we saw Thor appear in Tales Into Mystery #83. They changed the script again by making Thor a god banished to Earth who cannot remember his Norse origins until he lifted his hammer, Mjolnir.

X-Men

Within a couple years Marvel was selling so many comics that they could actually print more titles but Lee and Kirby hit an issue. It was difficult creating new origins: Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider, the Hulk was hit by a bomb, Iron Man had been injured and had to fix himself, and the Fantastic Four were hit with cosmic rays. Then they thought: what if people were born with powers? They knew that one day humanity would evolve so they thought that maybe humanity could evolve to have superpowers. The duo also knew it was difficult for teenagers as they were finding their place in the world and going through puberty many felt like freaks and outcasts. This was also the same time as the Civil Rights movement. It all came together: humanity would evolve into a new species who get superpowers at puberty and face discrimination in society. This teenage super-team was originally going to feature in a comic called The Mutants but Goodman vetoed this idea believing kids wouldn't know what a mutant was. Instead they opted to name the comic The X-Men. Issue one combined fears over the recent Cuba Missile Crisis, teenage issues, and racial discrimination. Professor X even states in the comic 'When I was young, normal people feared me, distrusted me, I realized the human race is not yet ready to accept those with extra powers! So I decided to build a haven...A school for the X-Men.' 

Dr Strange

Strange was, strangely, always acknowledged as Ditko's creation. Ditko in 2008 said 'On my own, I brought in to Lee a five-page, penciled story with a page/panel script of my idea of a new, different kind of character for variety in Marvel Comics. My character wound up being named Dr. Strange because he would appear in Strange Tales.' Reflecting the psychedelic imagery of the 1960s Dr Strange would embrace the absurd and surreal featuring mind-blowing images straight from the far-reaches of Ditko's imagination. Some of Marvel's strangest and greatest images comes from Ditko's run writing Doctor Strange stories. Strange was a magician, and former surgeon, so Ditko used this to create the surreal imagery that we saw in the Marvel adaptation.

She-Hulk

So far we have only scratched the surface of the characters created by the trio - we haven't mentioned yet the Avengers, Black Panther (the first black hero), Dr Doom, and the return of the original Captain America. Instead we'll just look at Stan Lee's last big character that he created: She-Hulk. With the success of a Hulk TV series and The Bionic Woman Marvel executives feared that the TV series would introduce a female Hulk, and they wanted to make sure that they could keep the rights to a female Hulk. By this time Lee had stepped back from writing, and Kirby and Ditko had moved from Marvel, but he decided to help Marvel create a new character. Teaming up with John Buscema Lee wrote the first issue of Savage She-Hulk and because of that She-Hulk went on to be a major Marvel character. People were disappointed that Spider-Woman had nothing to do with Spider-Man so Lee made Jennifer Walters the cousin of the Hulk. A blood transfusion between cousins grants her the powers of the Hulk, but she could keep her mental state combining the strength of the Hulk with her own intelligence.

After the Revolution

By 1971 both Ditko and Kirby had left Marvel. There is controversy behind this. Due to Stan Lee's self-promotion he got virtually all the credit for creating the comics and other contributors were often cast to the sides. Also, it was Marvel, not the creators, who owned the characters - this creator/publisher clash continues to this day in the comic book industry. As a result, Lee got most of the credit, and money, for the comics, and not other creators. This especially angered Kirby who did a lot of the creative process. Ditko quietly left Marvel in 1966 due to creative clashes with Lee. Also, Ditko wanted to push objectivism more in comics which Lee was against. John Romita, who replaced Ditko as Spider-Man's artist, later said 'they disagreed on almost everything, cultural, social, historically, everything, they disagreed on characters'. Ditko would write all the way up to his retirement in 1998 for various companies ranging from DC - where he created Shade, the Changing Man and the Creeper - to Charlton - where he made his objectivist hero Mr A. My personal favourite comic writer, Alan Moore, would parody Mr A in Watchmen with Rorschach - Ditko later joked that Rorschach was 'Mr A but insane'. Kirby left in 1971 over clashes with Goodman, not being credited, and not controlling the rights to the characters. He went over to DC where he would create the New Gods, including Darkseid who soon became a major Superman and Justice League villain. He would return to Marvel in 1975 but would leave again a few years later over the same clashes. After, although he would always write comics he would return to his roots by doing animation - he even teamed up with Stan Lee to create The New Fantastic Four cartoon. Finally, Lee in 1972 would write his last full-time comics for Marvel and take a step back from the creative process with a few exceptions - such as creating She-Hulk and writing a Silver Surfer comic series in 1978 with Kirby. Lee would remain a figurehead and adviser for Marvel throughout the 1970s and 1980s, even briefly acting as president. In the 2000s Lee would help make a manga and even worked for DC writing a series called Just Imagine... where he wrote stories featuring his takes on DC characters - one example is Wonder Woman being an activist called Maria Mendoza granted powers by an Incan God. Of course, we also have his famous cameos across the Marvel movies leading to the theory that he is Uatu the Watcher.

In 1994 Kirby tragically passed away at his home in California thanks to heart failure. Steve Ditko passed away passed away in June 2018. Tragically, he lived alone and was only close to his nephew, and Marvel fans everywhere mourned for the man who brought the world Spider-Man. Stan Lee's mental and physical health had declined rapidly since the passing of Joan the year prior, and making matters worse there were allegations of elder abuse and Lee exposing himself. Suffering from pneumonia for several months Lee unfortunately passed on November 12 2018.

Legacies

Marvel's trio helped shape modern popular culture. The stories created by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko touched the hearts of people across the world and influenced more stories. Alan Moore, John Romita Jr, and Alex Ross are just some in the comic book industry inspired by parts of the trio not even to mention those inspired outside of the industry. In 2010 I was diagnosed with depression and what got me through the self-harm and suicide attempts were comics, in particular Marvel comics. The comics created by Lee, Kirby, and Ditko offered the a way to escape and get me through it all; I may not be here without their stories. Marvel has touched the lives of so many people, and now three of the key figures involved in making those stories are gone. For Stan Lee and Jack Kirby may their memory be a blessing, and for Steve Ditko may he rest in peace.

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Comics Explained: Cable

Deadpool 2 is out soon and its main antagonist is Cable. This will be Cable's first live action appearance despite the fact that he is a major figure in the X-Men universe. As time travel is intricately woven into Cable's backstory his history is extremely complicated - something in keeping with the history of his parents, Cyclops and Phoenix. As a result we won't go over everything in Cable's history and we'll instead look at some key aspects of Cable's life.

Creation

Cable has technically had two debuts: Uncanny X-Men #201 in 1986 and New Mutants #86 in 1990. X-Men writer Chris Claremont wanted Cyclops and his partner Madeline Pryor to become parents and after going into labor in X-Men #200 she gave birth to Nathan Summers the next issue. Through events which we'll explain later Nathan did not appear again under 1990 as the adult Cable. It took a while for Cable and Nathan to become the same person. Editor Rob Harris wanted to shake New Mutants up by introducing a new character to lead the group and writer Louise Simonson thought a military leader, as opposed to Professor X, would be a good fit. They charged artist Rob Liefeld, who also made Deadpool, to make the new character. He said: 

I was given a directive to create a new leader for the New Mutants. There was no name, no description besides a 'man of action', the opposite of Xavier. I created the look, the name, much of the history of the character. After I named him Cable, Bob suggested Quinn and Louise had Commander X.

Cable would appear in New Mutants #86 in a brief cameo but he would make his full debut in the next issue. Meanwhile, in X-Factor it was decided to get rid of the baby Nathan and they decided to do this by sending him to the future which would open future possibilities for interesting stories. It was during Cable's own series, simply called Cable, starting in 1993 where it was decided to merge the two characters together: Cable was Nathan Summers from the future.

New Mutants #87, when Cable officially appeared

Origins

Cable's parenthood is confusing to say the least. Cable's father is Cyclops, Scott Summers, and his mother is Madeline Pryor who is confusing. One of the X-Men's main villains is Nathaniel Essex, Mr Sinister, who was a Victorian scientist obsessed with genetics. He became what he was thanks to Apocalypse, please see here, altering his biology and Sinister would later seek a way to destroy Apocalypse. Sinister became obsessed with Scott Summers and Jean Grey (Phoenix/Marvel Girl) and his eugenics inspired thinking made him believe that a child of Summers and Grey could destroy Apocalypse. However, Jean Grey was believed to have died (this later turned out to be false) so Sinister decided to clone Grey which led to the birth of Madeline Pryor. She eventually fell in love with Cyclops, married him, and became pregnant with who would become Nathan. However, the marriage was never strong due to Scott's withdrawn nature and longing for Jean, and this became worse when Jean turned out to be alive through the Phoenix force. Before Madeline could be discovered to be a clone Sinister had Nathan kidnapped in order to experiment on him. When Madeline succumbed to the darkness in her and caused a series of events leading to the opening of a gateway to a demonic dimension leading to her death Jean became Nathan's de facto mother. However, Apocalypse learnt of Sinister's plan to use Nathan so he had the infant kidnapped and infected him with the deadly Techno-Organic Virus - a virus which turns the host into a living machine. After they got Nathan back Cyclops was visited by Sister Askani from 2,000 years into the future when Apocalypse had taken power. Nathan would be their savior and they could cure him, but they were unable to return him to the past. Cyclops agreed to send Nathan to the future in order to cure him.

Baby Nathan infected with the virus

In the future Mother Askani feared that Nathan would succumb to the virus so she had him cloned just in case. Apocalypse then attacked and took the clone believing it to be the original Nathan. He raised the clone, calling him Stryfe, with the intention of using him as a vessel when his body failed. In The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix we find out that Mother Askani had the minds of Cyclops and Phoenix sent to the future and placed in two bodies in order for them to raise Nathan. They trained him to use his powers. As the child of Cyclops and Phoenix he inherited both of their powers allowing him to be a powerful telepath and could use psionic blasts. Thanks to the Techno-Organic Virus parts of his body is basically a living machine giving him greater endurance and even regenerative abilities, his bionic eye also allows him to see on more parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum. As he grew up Nathan would fight Apocalypse and his forces, even going back in time to Ancient Egypt to infect Apocalypse with the Virus himself, and he adopted the name Cable.

New Mutants and X-Force

X-Force #1

Cable went back to our present when his clone Stryfe did. Stryfe had formed a mutant terrorist group named the Mutant Liberation Front (MLF) so he could become powerful. Cable went to fight Stryfe and the MLF but as they had kidnapped two members of the New Mutants Cable sought their help. The group brought in Cable and made him their leader, although it would be later that they found out that he was a time traveler. He was particularly interested in one member, Cannonball, whom he found out would survive until the twenty-third century. This led Cable to believe that Cannonball would later become a member of an ageless group called the Eternals so Cable hoped to shape him to be a force for good in the future. While in the New Mutants the team would fight Deadpool who was hired to take them out. With New Mutants #100 Cable decided to reshape the New Mutants into a more efficient fighting force leading to the formation of X-Force the next month in X-Force #1. It was in X-Force where we find out about Cable's time traveling backstory and constant battling against Stryfe and Apocalypse. In X-Force #18 Stryfe even impersonated Cable in order to try and kill Professor X. 

Cable and Deadpool, Messiah Complex and Cable Vol. 2

Deadpool and Cable were never the best of friends

In 2004 Cable teamed up with Deadpool in Cable & Deadpool until it was cancelled in 2008. Cable wanted to be a greater force for good in the world and turned his old spaceship into an island in the Pacific called Providence where the greatest minds in the world could come to plan how to make the world better. Meanwhile, Deadpool had been hired by 'The One-World Church' to get hold of a virus which could turn everyone in the world blue. Through a series of zany events they both get infected, turn the world pink, and then restore everything back to normal (while also accidentally merging their DNA together). After the initial story-arc Deadpool and Cable would square off against one another, or they would begrudgingly work together. It is quite likely that this comic would go on to inspire Deadpool 2. During the end of the run Cable detonated Providence seemingly killing him but he returned at the start of his own comic once more. This led up to the Messiah Complex story which started in 2007. Marvel did an event called House of M which led to most of Earth's mutants losing their powers in 'M-Day'. During Messiah Complex the X-Men find out that a new mutant has been born and when they go to the infant's town they find it destroyed by anti-mutant zealots. We find out that Cable has the baby girl whom he says will be the 'Mutant Messiah'. During this story and after Cable tries to protect the girl, whom he names Hope, from another time traveling member of the X-Men called Bishop. In Bishop's timeline mutants have been murdered systematically and the remainder are kept in concentration camps with 'M' tattooed on their faces as Hope would murder millions of humans. In contrast in Cable's timeline Hope was the one to unite mutants and humans. Hence, Cable wants to protect Hope, whom he adopts as a daughter, while Bishop wants to kill her. Throughout the years jumping through time Cable started succumbing to the Techno-Organic Virus as a teenaged Hope wanted to return to the present. In X-Force #28 Cable ends up sacrificing himself to keep a portal from the future open to allow the X-Force to go through which causes the Virus to overtake him.

Cable's death

Return and After

As always with comics Cable did not remain dead. In the lead up to Avengers vs. X-Men we find out that Cable was transported to the future. There he found out that the world fell apart because the Avengers killed Hope - Hope can harness the Phoenix force which has the potential to destroy the world. Cable returned to the present and beat several of the Avengers, including Captain America and Falcon, before being stopped by Cyclops. Hope does manage to use the Phoenix force to burn the Techno-Organic Virus to cure Cable who vows to protect her no matter what. Since then Cable reformed the X-Force and has fought alongside other superheroes, including having another comic with Deadpool. 

Cable in the Uncanny Avengers

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How I would bring the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel back together?

One of the big topics to be on the minds of every comic book fan recently is Disney purchasing a lot of Fox's movie and TV rights. Currently, we do not have a clear image how much Disney has bought but we do know that the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool have all been at least partially acquired by Disney. CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, has released a statement declaring that the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool will be worked into the MCU. Iger has also stated that R-rated Marvel films are not out of the question. Many comic book fans have been debating how they would bring these characters in, and I would highly recommend watching this YouTube video by Rob from ComicsExplained and Benny from Comicstorian on how they would do it. Rob on his own channel has also done several videos on how he would do the MCU X-Men/Fantastic Four. Today I thought I would do personally bring these characters into the MCU.

Fantastic Four

Also Fantastic Four not Fan4stic

The Fantastic Four must be treated with respect. Although I am not a big fan of the Fantastic Four comics they are incredibly influential and important in making Marvel what it is today. Marvel started out as Timely Comics and evolved into Atlas Comics during the 1950s, (which you can read about here), when the superhero trend started to dip after the Second World War. When DC made it big with the Justice League this brought superheroes back. Atlas was re-branded as Marvel and they made their own superhero team with the Fantastic Four. Unlike the Justice League, the Fantastic Four were a family and had family squabbles, and readers loved this. They had interstellar battles while going through family drama grounding the characters in reality. Up until the end of the 1970s the Fantastic Four was Marvel's biggest sellers, and when they wanted another team/character to explode in popularity they would team up with the Fantastic Four for an issue or two. Galactus, Silver Surfer, Black Panther and Dr Doom all made their debut in the pages of Fantastic Four. The MCU can do the Fantastic Four right compared to the previous three abysmal movies done by Fox.

I have not watched Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D but to my knowledge they have teased S.W.O.R.D. In the comics SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) is a branch of S.H.I.E.L.D designed to deal with intelligent alien life. We can imagine that following the events of The Avengers, Guardians Vol. 2 and Thor: The Dark World S.H.I.E.L.D decided that it needed its own division to combat alien threats if the Avengers were unavailable. I would have the Fantastic Four be part of S.W.O.R.D. A big issue then comes up: Reed Richards, (Mr Fantastic). In the comics Richards is the world's smartest person, possibly second only to Dr Doom or his daughter. Audiences would be wondering if he's so smart why hasn't Tony Stark or Bruce Banner mentioned him yet? The easy answer could simply be that we don't bring up Stephen Hawking in everyday conversation, but that is an easy way out. Richards could be a part-time lecturer at somewhere like MIT who has been secretly working for S.H.I.E.L.D, alongside Susan Storm, but the information was classified. They could have designed the Helicarriers etc. but Nick Fury has had their involvement classified so S.H.I.E.L.D's secrets could not get out. Then we get to Infinity War. When Thanos is invading we can have a simple comment from someone like Black Widow saying that S.W.O.R.D's best two scientists have gone up with two expert pilots to fortify the ISS or S.W.O.R.D's orbital base. Another comment would be made that solar rays released by Thanos' usage of the Infinity Stones has caused them to go silent. At the end of the movie, or in a post-credit scene, the ship arrives back on Earth and it turns out those who went up have powers thanks to the space rays. Thus we have the Fantastic Four in the MCU.

For the first Fantastic Four movie do not have Doctor Doom as the primary antagonist. Mention Doom but do not feature him. Tim Burton's Batman and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man could have the Joker and Green Goblin as the key antagonists because of how varied Batman's and Spider-Man's Rogues Galleries are. The Fantastic Four's Earth-based enemies are largely limited to Doom. However, most of Marvel's celestial universe originated with the Fantastic Four. Disney had to do a deal with Fox in order to get Ego in Guardians Vol. 2. The first Fantastic Four movie would work well if they went to space and we can link it back to S.W.O.R.D. Like how Iron Man was in The Amazing Spider-Man we can have Black Panther serve a similar role. There is so much to work with; we can introduce the Skrulls, the Shi'ar, the Titans. Maybe Annihilus could be the primary antagonist so we can bring in the Negative Zone and expand on the Multiverse as set out in Doctor Strange. After this first film we can have the Fantastic Four cameo, or star in, other MCU movies until they get sequels. 

Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom is one of my favorite Marvel villains and has yet to be done justice. We hit a problem though. Latveria is the joint most advanced country in Marvel's version of Earth - tying with Wakanda - and Dr Doom's quest for dominance knows no bounds. Wakanda so far in the movies has been quite effectively explained - it is an isolated advanced country hiding behind a facade of a poor, rural country. There is a simple way to explain why Doom and Latveria has yet to appear: Latveria until Infinity War was a regular Balkan country. I would have Doom take control of Latveria during the events of Infinity War. Someone could even make a passing comment. I can imagine Black Panther looking at a screen commenting where Thanos is invading and he makes a comment like 'The Latverian government has fallen to someone with advanced technology but I do not believe that this is related to Thanos' army.' That is Doom's introduction to the MCU. Then when we have our first Fantastic Four movie we have a Doom movie. In the Fantastic Four movie we have Mr Fantastic commenting to Black Panther in a brief conversation that he knows Doom, and that his heart is in the right place despite a massive ego. In the Marvel movies until we have the Fantastic Four v. Doom we show that despite an intense egomania Doom has toppled an apartheid state, brought equality, improved the rights of women, increased the standard of living for all Latverians, and has ended crime with his Doombots. Meanwhile, the Doom movie is basically an origin story for Doom. It sets up Latveria as a state virulently oppressing the Roma population, it establishes that Doom's mother is a witch who teaches him magic, and that he had been using technology mixed with magic to help his family. Maybe we can even bring in Mephisto who was influential in Doom's origins. Doom goes to the USA where he meets Richards and then Nepal where he trains with the Ancient One. We can even have a Doctor Strange cameo where Doom leaves, bumps into Strange, and then goes on his way. He returns to Latveria building up a resistance movement and then during the events of Infinity War he takes power. The movie closes with the first Doombot executing the other leaders of the resistance who oppose Doom's increased authoritarianism. Then in future movies he becomes a full blown antagonist.

X-Men

The X-Men has a huge roster which could appear in the MCU

The X-Men is far trickier than the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom. Do we keep the old X-Men cast or do we get a new one? I cannot imagine Wolverine, Magneto and Professor X as anyone other than Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, but it would be confusing if we kept them and not everyone else. However, due to their age I doubt they all would be able to continue playing characters for several more movies for about ten more years. For Fox's Marvel TV series keep them in continuity when possible (I have yet to see them) but recast the main movies. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D introduced the Inhumans as the MCU's version of the mutants; we can keep that but use 'mutant' as a slur. Rob at ComicsExplained did an excellent video about how he would bring in the X-Men (please see here) but my idea is a mix between his and a user on Reddit u/TheUglyBuck back when the trailer for Infinity War was released. To summarize Rob's idea mutants and the X-Men have always been in existence but Professor X used Cerebro to wipe them from history, but after Infinity War everyone remembers. u/TheUglyBuck mentioned a reverse of 'No More Mutants.' In the comics Scarlet Witch and Vision couldn't have kids so using her reality warping powers she created twins. When they were wiped out of existence by Mephisto (whose soul she used to create them) she lost her mind, and Magneto manipulated her into making mutants the majority and humans the minority. Called The House of M it resulted in Scarlet Witch saying 'No More Mutants' and depowering over 90% of Earth's mutants. 

My plan sort of mixes the two. Throughout humanity mutants have existed but in very small numbers; maybe one hundred existing at once max at any point in time. Apocalypse, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Mystique, Professor X, Magneto, Storm and Jean Grey are just some mutants who had powers at birth. Over the last few years more and more have been appearing which are shown in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, Earth's mutant population still remains tinny, maybe 150 in total. Then Infinity War happens, Vision is killed, and Scarlet Witch loses control and suddenly turns hundreds of thousands of people into mutants. Suddenly fear of superpowered beings turn from a rather niche fear to a full blown, worldwide panic. The word 'inhuman' is replaced by 'mutant.' Then we have our first five MCU X-Men movies: a Professor X movie, a Magneto movie, a Wolverine movie, a Storm movie, and the X-Men movie. The Professor X movie is like how Rob explains in his video which is slower paced, more character driven, and goes into the history of mutants in the MCU. The Storm movie is similar where she encounters Black Panther as a child setting up their future relationship. The Magneto movie acts like Spike Lee's adaptation of Malcolm X's autobiography where he sees the persecution of mutants as the same as the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust, and becomes involved in radical mutant activism. The Wolverine movie is basically X-Men Origins: Wolverine done right. Finally the X-Men movie adapts the first issue of the comics where Professor X brings together Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Angel to prevent Magneto from using stolen nuclear weapons to wipe out cities. Then we get a second Wolverine movie (featuring his time in Japan and possibly introducing Daken), a Jean Grey movie, a Mystique movie, a Gambit movie and then the second X-Men movie. This second movie blends Giant Size X-Men #1 and God Loves, Man Kills where the first X-Men are kidnapped so Professor X recruits Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Kitty Pryde, Polaris, Nightcrawler, Sunspot and Havok to rescue them. Meanwhile, they face the repercussions of the last movie with hate preacher William Stryker denouncing mutants, and we later find out that it is connected.

Do not do Avengers vs. X-Men immediately. We all know how the DCEU fared when it jumped straight to Batman v. Superman. One thing I want to mention is bringing the MCU together. A criticism of the MCU movies is why don't other characters appear in other movies? Where was Thor, Hulk and Iron Man in Captain America: Winter Soldier? Why didn't Iron Man get hold of Captain America in Iron Man 3? Earlier I mentioned Fantastic Four was Marvel's biggest seller until the 1970s, the reason why this stopped being the case was because of the X-Men. Everyone would be wondering why the Avengers aren't mentioned in the X-Men movies. A simple comment/cameo could fix all this. Like in the first X-Men Iron Man could offer his assistance but Professor X rejects this saying that mutants have to stop Magneto. It can even be smaller references like Magneto seeing a Captain America movie in his own movie. Of course the Wolverine movie specifically has to mention Captain America seen as the Weapon X program, which gave Wolverine adamantium covered bones, was an attempt to replicate the Super Solider serum. We can build the relationship up so the X-Men appear in an Avengers movie, the Avengers fully appear in a X-Men movie, and finally we get Avengers vs. X-Men.

Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds tweeted this saying 'Apparently you can't blow the Matterhorn.'

Deadpool is simple. Keep Ryan Reynolds and just have him acknowledge that he's in a new continuity. Deadpool should appear in the Avengers and X-Men movies where he wants to do his usual stuff but 'the Mouse won't allow it.' The entire movie he tries to say the f-word but can't, and PG-13 movies are allowed one f-bomb so he tries to save it for the end, but then Wolverine uses it. Deadpool could also make jokes that Chris Evans once played the Human Torch and says 'Aren't you supposed to be on fire or something?' We could even have a Spider-man/Deadpool movie. The comics are hilarious, it worked in the cartoons, and would work perfectly with Ryan Reynolds and Tom Holland together. The Deadpool solo movies would remain just as they are and the first one should open with a joke about Disney. For example, Deadpool could be thrown out of Disneyland for destroying the animatronics on the It's a Small World Ride, and when he gets kicked out he could yell 'Does that mean that I can't be in Kingdom Hearts 3 then?' Deadpool in the MCU would be great, and we could get an adaptation of Deadpool Vol. 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Final Thoughts

The Family back Together?

Although I am very much against Disney slowly monopolizing the US entertainment industry, seen as it is a company which has rewritten copyright law to stop Mickey Mouse appearing in the public domain, I am excited for Marvel to have its characters back. Soon hopefully Namor and the rest of the Spider-Man roster can be back in Marvel's hands. Did you like my plans to bring the Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and X-Men into the MCU? How would you bring them in?

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Marvel's First Comic

Marvel

Several weeks ago we looked at the origin of DC comics so it is only fitting that we look at the other great comic book company: Marvel. From early beginnings in 1939 Marvel has brought to the world countless of characters and stories which have inspired generations. Spider-Man, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are just some of the characters and teams to come out of Marvel. Today we'll look at the early origins of Marvel but first we'll look at the world which Marvel came into.

The World in 1939

Marvel first appeared in May 1939. Like with the origins of DC Marvel came into the world in a time of darkness. Despite Roosevelt's New Deal the USA still faced mass unemployment and poverty thanks to the Great Depression. Similarly, most of the world, bar perhaps the USSR which had remained politically isolated, had seen their economies plummet and very few had recovered. The ones that did, (Nazi Germany), were soon plunged back into economic depredation. Europe and Asia faced threats from the far-right and ultra-nationalists. By 1939 Hitler had stripped German Jews of their rights; annexed Austria and what is now Czechia; and started to set his sights on Poland starting the Second World War. In 1939 a non-aggression pact was signed between the USSR and Germany named the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which later allowed the division of Poland in September. In Spain right-wing authoritarian forces under General Francisco Franco won a ferocious civil war spelling the end of Spanish democracy until the late-1970s. Japan, meanwhile, was tearing apart China to create its own empire in Asia. In fear that Hitler was developing nuclear weapons Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt about developing a nuclear weapon, (something that Einstein would later campaign against). Culturally 1939 saw several movies and comics which would be highly influential. Two book adaptations were released in 1939. One was Gone with the Wind, a three and a half hour long epic about a family in the South during the US Civil War which remains one of the most successful movies of all time. The other was The Wizard of Oz the famous technicolor musical which strangely was almost a financial loss for MGM. In regards to comics in 1938 Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1 and in 1939 in Detective Comics #27 Batman made his debut.

Marvel's Founder

Marvel's Founder

Marvel was founded by Martin Goodman in 1939. Unlike the founder of DC, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Goodman came from a more humble background. Martin's parents were Jewish immigrants from Vilnius who had met in the United States he was the first of thirteen children to be raised by the pair in New York. When the Depression hit he would travel across the USA occasionally living in hobo camps, called 'Hoovervilles' in a sarcastic homage to then president Herbert Hoover. In late 1929 he would start working for the future co-founder of Archie Comics, Louis Silberkleit, and would take over his role as circulation manager of pulp magazines. Silberkleit would later get Martin to be the editor of his new company called Newsstand Publication Inc. With Newsstand Publication Inc. he would publish principally Western stories. In 1936 he released a new pulp magazine called Ka-Zar. Marvel fans will recognize the name but this one is different to the current Ka-Zar. Replicating Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan it features a white family crash-landing in the Congo. The mother soon dies of disease and the father raises his son with a lion, Zar, and the boy grows up to be basically Tarzan. The boy then calls himself Ka, brother of Zar.

The Ka-Zar Comic

Two years before the arrival of Ka-Zar a title named Famous Funnies pioneered the comic book. Then in 1938 the Man of Steel Superman made his debut from the minds of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. This caused a craze for superheroes which Martin recognized. In 1939 he would begin a new publication to do this.

Marvel Comics #1

Marvel Comics #1

In 1938 Martin had been publishing science-fiction magazines called Marvel Science Stories. In the 1930s a comic book packaging company was founded called Funnies Inc. This company would package and help distribute comic books of different companies. The sales manager of Funnies Inc., Frank Torpey, struck up a friendship with Goodman. Torpey talked to Goodman and tried to convince him to form a publishing company. They struck up an agreement: Goodman would form a company to publish superhero stories and Torpey would package them. Thus Timely Publications was founded and their first publication was Marvel Comics #1.

Marvel Comics #1 featured several stories. One included a Ka-Zar story but it featured several others. Unlike with DC Marvel immediately had superhero stories and several would remain major Marvel characters until this very day. Two were most important: The Human Torch and The Sub-Mariner. Created by Carols Burgos, (The Human Torch), and Bill Everett (Sub-Mariner), these stories would foreshadow Marvel's trend for having heroes who were outsiders in a 'normal' society. They weren't conventional heroes either. The Human Torch wasn't human but instead an android made by Professor Phineas T. Horton which combusted when it came into contact with oxygen. The Sub-Mariner featured Captain Leonard McKenzie who fell in love with Princess Fen of Atlantis. Their son was named Namor and was half-human, half-Atlantean. Namor's grandfather later had Namor attack New York. It was a strange feat by Everett getting readers to understand the character of Namor who was not fully human, (bear in mind many US states prohibited mixed-race relationships), and viewed the USA as a threat. Both the Human Torch and Namor would become major characters in the Marvel Universe. Years later the title Human Torch would be recycled and the two have even met.

Torch vs. Torch

Becoming Marvel

In 1940 Goodman hired writer/artist Joe Simon from Funnies Inc. and with Simon came artist Jack Kirby. Simon and Kirby would revolutionize the Golden Age of Comic Books. With a dynamic style of visual telling they attracted many readers. Even before the USA went to war with Germany Kirby and Simon started their own war with the Nazis. In Marvel Mystery Comics #4 Namor fought Nazis on a U-Boat. At the end of the year Simon and Kirby got an assistant in the 17-year old cousin of Goodman's wife. This kid was called Stanley Lieber and was an avid writer, and in 1941 with Captain America Comics #3 even got to write a comic. He said, 'I felt someday I'd write The Great American Novel and I didn't want to use my real name on these silly little comics'. So he used a pseudonym which eventually became his actual name: Stan Lee. However, after the end of the war love for superheroes died down. With sales dropping Goodman turned Timely into Atlas in 1952. Goodman decided to sacrifice quality for quantity having 400 releases in 1952 alone. These reflected new trends like shock-horror with Journey Into Mystery, (which in my opinion were the better ones), Westerns like Two Gun Western and inspired by Archie Comics teen dramas/romance like Girl Confessions. With the popularity of the radio show Adventures of Superman introducing new people to superheroes there was an attempt to bring back superheroes, (mainly Human Torch, Captain America, and Namor). However, Atlas was going downhill and needed a change.

In the late-1950s superheroes were coming back. The Space Race between the USA and USSR had made science-fiction a very popular genre. DC was returning to power reinventing the Flash and Green Lantern to have sci-fi origins, (they left Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman alone). Throughout the 1950s Stan Lee had been working for Atlus after leaving the army he had been thinking of quitting. That is until Goodman asked him and Jack Kirby to make a superhero team. DC had struck gold with their superheroes and in 1960 had created the Justice League. Changing itself to Marvel with Lee as editor/writer and Kirby as artist they began creating a new team. At the request of Joan Boocock Lee, his wife, Stan made these new characters flawed. Instead of having secret identities everyone would know who they are, one would be a hotheaded teenager, and another would be an ugly, antisocial monster. Together Kirby and Lee in 1961 produced their title which would revolutionize comic books. This was Fantastic Four #1.

Fantastic Four #1

Over the next few years Marvel would release more and more characters inspired by the success of Fantastic Four. In 1962 they created a story of a feeble scientist who would turn into a monster powered by rage during a bomb test gone wrong. The same year Lee and Steve Ditko created a skinny, bullied teenager who gains powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider who then becomes a hero after his own greed let his uncle get shot. Lee and Kirby then created a story of a Norse God who becomes disgraced and banished to Earth. In 1963 Marvel released another story about a hero group hated because they exist in an allegory to the Civil Rights Movement with the X-Men. Thus comic, and cultural, history was made.

Thank you for reading. For future posts please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-The Age of Extremes: 1917-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm

-Marvel Year by Year: A Visual History edited by Cefn Ridout

Review: Logan (2017)

Warning: May Contain Spoilers

Logan

Logan is the newest entry into Fox's X-Men franchise with it being the third Wolverine movie. By far this has to be the best entry in the X-Men franchise, and definitely in my top ten comic movie adaptations. When I first heard that they were adapting the Old Man Logan I was initially hesitant as Fox, (who has made the movie), only had access to the X-Men characters while Old Man Logan featured characters from across the Marvel Universe. For example, the other protagonist is Hawkeye who is owned by Marvel Entertainment/Disney. However, they managed to make a great adaptation. 

Plot

Logan and Laura

Logan is set in 2029 where mutants are on the verge of extinction. Logan (Hugh Jackman) has given up on being a superhero and is now working as a chauffeur. His regenerative ability is failing, one of his claws occasionally gets jammed, and he is suffering through adamantium poisoning (the metal which covers his skeleton). He is also taking underhand drugs for Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease and keeps losing control of his telepathy. Logan and the mutant Caliban (Stephen Merchant) have to act as carers for Xavier. One day Logan is contacted by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) who is looking for a young girl. Xavier has been in contact with the young girl, Laura (Dafne Keen), and they have to get her from one side of the country to the other before Pierce can get her. Then we find out that Laura isn't human but instead a mutant...

The plot is extremely good. I was initially hesitant as James Mangold was one of the screenwriters, as well as being director, as he made The Wolverine whose third act went badly, and in my opinion ruined the movie. However, this did not happen. The first and third acts were high paced thrilling action, (very brutal action as well), while the second was a slower paced character building act. This worked very well making it an enjoyable film throughout, although the second act could have done with more character development. It felt very much like a Clint Eastwood or John Wayne movie, in fact the Western Shane is shown and quoted, which was Mangold's intention. He did a very good with this and captured the feel of Old Man Logan. Logan manages to blend brutal action with quite dramatic emotional parts making viewing more enjoyable. The violence was intense and the emotional scenes really wrenched at your heart. Throughout the movie you get an idea that hope has been lost, perfectly matching the tone of the comic, but there is always a glimmer of hope in the horizon. I really like the tone that they took with Logan. Mangold and the other writers did a fantastic job.

Characters and Acting

The recurring characters were done well as well as being acted well. Hugh Jackman as Logan managed to balance his character's berserker rage and the broken old man aspect. It fits very well with the movie's tone of hope being lost. Patrick Stewart as always was very good. He effectively portrayed a character who is trying to stay positive in a world that is falling around them. Contrasting with Jackman as Logan it made the two aspects of the movie come together. Surprisingly for a child actor Dafne Keen did a fantastic job. Through the writing and the acting I really felt that X-23 came to life on the screen. Outside the three protagonists the acting and characters were less memorable although that is largely because of how much screen time is given to the protagonists. Even the antagonists were done well with Richard E. Grant giving a good performance which is a change from the antagonists from the last few years in comic book movies. They weren't memorable as Magneto, for example, but I definitely felt that they weren't given the same treatment as the Marvel villains. 

Action and Effects

Logan at the end of a fight

The effects were good although at times the CGI was a bit off. When the CGI was less good it happened to occur during the action scenes but as the action was so fast paced you had to specifically look for it. These included things like arms, heads and legs being sliced off by Logan. With one exception the poorer CGI only lasted for a split second so for the most part you would be unable to spot it, but if you did it would be off-putting. However, surprisingly most of the rest of the CGI was quite well done. Although I would have preferred more practical effects (with a lower budget compared to most other comic book movies using CGI was more cost effective) at times the CGI honestly tricked me. At one point in the second act there are remote controlled HGVs which are made by CGI. I could be mistaken though as they at times could be made through practical effects. When first seeing them I originally believed that they were made of practical effects.

The action is fantastic throughout the movie and extremely brutal. It is so brutal. Deapool's violence was intense but that was nothing compared to Logan. Limbs and heads fly off, people are impaled, people are brutally stabbed with lots of blood, and bodies practically explode when Logan slashes them. Especially in the final fight scene this violence is brutal and done extremely well. I am an anime fan and my biggest criticisms of Elfen Lied and Hellsing Ultimate is that the violence and gore in those anime was too over-the-top. However, in Logan the violence was excessive but not excessive enough to detract from the movie. I hope future comic book adaptations copy this style of violence if they go down the 'R-rated' route.

World

X-Men Comic

Shown throughout the movie are X-Men comics. I really liked this addition as it shows that the X-Men managed to achieve some veneration among the public. As Fox doesn't have the rights to show actual Marvel comics these comics were specifically created for the movie, and they got the excellent Joe Quesada, the Chief Creative Officer at Marvel, to make them. In the mainstream Marvel universe Marvel comics exists as an actual company (where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby tried to gatecrash the Invisible Woman's and Mr Fantastic's marriage). This was a nice touch. I also liked how they sneakily referenced the Legacy virus and other subtle hints to the X-Men universe. Although I thought that X-24 could have been Daken (Wolverine's son) instead of what we got even though I did like what they did with X-24. We also see a samurai sword in reference to Logan's time in Japan in The Wolverine. Finally, the way that they explained what happened to the X-Men having a similar fate to their counterparts in Old Man Logan. However, by the trailer I assumed this was done by Wolverine like in the comic itself. Nevertheless I did like how they inferred the X-Men's fate. Also, tigers are extinct by 2029 in this world.

Conclusion

Logan is easily one of the best comic book movies that I have seen. It is emotional, action packed and homages Westerns. If comic book movies do go down the serious route I hope they go down this route instead of the Batman v. Superman route. If they ever plan to make a Spawn, Preacher, Nemesis or Authority movie I hope they make it like Logan. Through all the reasons mentioned above I give Logan a score of 8/10. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review.