The Big Picture: Miracle, Man.

[Gatx]

As much as I've been loving the whole Marvel Movies era, I would honestly consider not going to any more of them if Angela does actually appear in GoG purely for petty vengeance and stupid tie-ins. The move wouldn't just be in bad taste: the entire facade of the Marvel cinematic universe would be destroyed for me, and I was pissed when they teased Iron Man getting killed in the Avengers while details for Iron Man 3 were coming out.

I think currently Angela is just going to appear in the comics, the Guardians of the Galaxy connection was just a tangential thing or possibly a promotional thing to bring their comics into the spotlight a bit before the movie comes out. The movie universe is still working on bringing in their weirder A-listers so we don't need to worry about Angela yet.

 

[Mr_Terrific]

I find it fascinating that Marvel is interested in, yet another, knock off of some other publisher's character. At least Marvel Man is, roughly, 94% less generic than the original knock off, Capt. Marvel Mar-Veil or whatever that idiots name is.

Oh...and Age of Ultron is awful.

 

[Darth_Payn]

I really hope Bob's wrong about Marvel maybe introducing Marvel/Miracleman in Age of Ultron. See, Marveleman was really only notable for Alan Moore's reworking of him, before that he was just a generic,ripoff of Captain Marvel and by extension Superman. The Eclipse Comics stuff though, put him down into a world where there were no other superheroes and Moore wasn't bound by a status quo, which allowed Moore to go crazy with the character, throwing him into apocalyptic battles and dark conspiracies and questions about identity, ultimately ending the series as a quasi-benevolent dictator of a transformed Earth.

Putting Marvelman into the the Marvel universe though, would mean that he can't do any of that stuff, because at the end of the day Marvel Comics wants their fictional universe intact so that they can still tell stories and sell comics with the X-Men and Thor and all their other properties.

We saw the same thing when Marvel introduced the Sentry, that kind of superman-analogue just doesn't fit into the Marvel Universe's paradigm, so they're left awkwardly shuffling from story to story, no writer ever quite sure what to do with them.

This goes with my question: why go through all this trouble for a Captain Marvel (and as you pointed out, therefore a Superman) ripoff? I've never read any Marvelman books, but after your description of Moore's run, I'm also not seeing how he'd fit into the Marvel Universe. So again, why does Gaiman give so much of damn about this character that he would sink his own comic book profits into buying him?

Oh, and it wasn't just the Sentry. Marvel has tried this shtick before with other characters like Hyperion, and it didn't take off then either. I don't get why Marvel has such a Superman envy.

I remember hearing on some comic news sites around the time Marvel was planning to release the Miracleman collections that Miracleman was already IN the Marvel Universe, and he was the Sentry (this was during the SIEGE event, btw). You can thank/blame former Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis for making the Sentry a more messed-up Superman analogue.
As for Hyperion, how many are there? Each time I see one pop up in the comics, he's from a different universe. I think at this point, all the heroes know about the multiverse and their counterparts inn them. There's even a Hyperion on the current line-up of Avengers, written by Jonathan Hickman, and so far he's alright.

captcha: deal me in
how apppropriate, seeing as how it sounds like Marvel's betting the farm on such a risk

 

[TheSchaef]

No one give Todd MacFarlane a Muffin Button. Please.

 

[saintdane05]

This reminds me of the recent Archie comics case, where teh former head writer sued Archie for using his characters IN THE SAME COMIC. They weren't even making money off them!
It ended with Archie losing the intellectual and publishing rights to any characters not introduced in Issue one or outside media, and before episode 150.

That is about, oh, 90% of the supporting cast, including Ixus Nagus, every echidna, Sally's family, etc...

 

[vid87]

The movie universe is still working on bringing in their weirder A-listers so we don't need to worry about Angela yet.

I don't really read comics so I don't have a good reference, but, outside Rocket Raccoon, UFC's George St. Pierre as "Batroc the Leaper" in Cap 2 is still the most WTF thing I've heard coming out of this series so far. *Fingers crossed for Stilt Man*

 

[JimB]

Does anyone know why Bob used a picture of Big Bird as the "giant middle finger" (around five minutes in)?

What the other guys said about it being a visual pun; which, by the way, I found so funny I almost snorted coffee ice cream out of my nose when I saw it. Well played, Mr. Chipman.

 

[lazinesslord]

So comics are weird, but intellectual property rights are weirder. Here's hoping that Gaiman gets the rights to Miracle Man and Medieval Spawn, then writes a comic where the former kills the latter.

Also, does anyone know why Bob used a picture of Big Bird as the "giant middle finger" (around 5 minutes in)?

Another way of saying "he gave him the middle finger" is "flipping the bird."

 

[Baresark]

That analysis was very intriguing. I do look forward to these videos on a weekly basis. Though I would have to disagree with you that Angela isn't that interesting of a character. Her origin, as far as heavenly and/or celestial characters is concerned, is far more interesting than any other of the type. I feel she was largely under utilized in any good way though. When I was in middle school I wrote some pretty mean fan fiction that explored that even more (I felt it was mean at the time, anyway. No one can really write in the 7th grade). I honestly would love to see an ongoing series written by Neil Gaiman again. He is one of my top 5 favorite writes still.

 

[Tradjus]

So, most of what I got out of this two video series is that Todd Mcfarlane is a gigantic douchebag and everyone in the Comics industry hates him. Yeah, every industry needs one of those, Microsoft just got theirs in the form of "Deal with it" Orth.

 

[GamerKT]

Welp.



http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=77305

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Since I have not known Marvel to be incredibly stupid, (I don't read Marvel, so anything really stupid they did would be new to me) I think the Angela red Herring to be spot on. Either way, I still feel that even Marvelman would be overshadowed quickly.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Wow. I guess I can't say I'm surprised, but I honestly didn't know that McFarlane was such a greedy douchebag.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yeah, I can't follow comics. All of these "Comics Are Weird!" episodes exemplify exactly why that is.

Yeah, and if they really do try and make more crossover movies, even those will be poisoned for me. Kinda sucks.

Actually, really sucks. Especially when you consider how expensive it makes the movies.

 

[dakkster]

I don't think I've ever seen Todd MacFarlane come off as anything other than the biggest asshole in the world.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

...so why can't I get a trade paperback copy of Alan Moore's Miracleman for less than $300? Seriously, I'm four books into the Swamp Thing run and I just want some more of this stuff. Will we get a reprint if they integrate Miracleman into the Marvel universe?

 

[The Random One]

Bob, my dearest friend, for the sake of all that is good and weird, when you mention a web link in your video, have it show up under the video so we can follow it without having to type MACHINE CODE. I almost 404'd myself because I thought Todd's last name was McFarland.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Nah, Bob, you've got it all wrong, Angela showing up doesn't set a precursor to Miracleman showing up, it's a feint to get Morpheus and the Endless to show up. What a Twist!

 

[daxterx2005]

Wow, to think they could all be so petty.