Okay, since we're on the subject of comic book adapatations, did you see the Red Band (R-rated) trailer of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad? I'm very much looking forward to that! I liked the first movie by David Ayer, but it did differ a lot from the feel of the trailer. That's why a lot of people are now asking to #releasetheayercut. Last week the SnyderCut of Justice League came out after a massive fan-campaign for that. I don't think Warner Bros will spend a lot of money on another recut, though, so probably not going to happen. I'm indifferent about it. If they decide to recut it, I'll watch it, if not, I'll patiently wait for Gunn's sorta-sequel.
So in the trailer we get a look at some (but probably not all) of the villians turned heroes. We have Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) reprising their roles from the first Suicide Squad (the one without the 'The'). But there's also a bunch of new characters who look ridicilously good or just plain ridicilous. The new big actor names are Idris Elba, who plays Bloodsport and John Cena who plays Peacemaker (who gets a spin-off TV-series on HBO Max, also written by James Gunn).
Since I'm more of a Marvel-reader and although I read my share of Suicide Squad comics, I actually don't know the characters played by Elba and Cena. Which goes for most of the new characters, except for King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stalone), who is also my favorite in the trailer. King Shark is, like Killer Croc in the first movie, a character that is a humanized animal. And when I say humanized, I mean that he has arms and legs, other that that he's still a bloodthirsty beast. I know King Shark from the comics, but he also appears in the Harley Quinn cartoon (which is quite fun) and in The Flash season 5 (which I did not see yet*). In the Suicide Squad comics he's also a savage monster who, if I remember correctly, gets befriended by Harley. In the trailer of the new movie he's somewhat of a comic relief, even if does eats and rips up people. The 'Hand'-scene cracked me up though.
* Mommy and I are currently watching The Arrow season 1. Mommy and the Boys are big fans of the Arrowverse, especially The Flash and Arrow, so Mommy agreed to rewatch Arrow to get me up to speed.
The other character that I really liked was Weasel, voiced by the director's brother Sean Gunn. He only has little screentime in the trailer, but, to me, it was very funny. Savant is played by Michael Rooker, who often works with James Gunn, for example in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. And that's what I expect form this version of The Suicide Squad: a fun team movie like GotG, but then with DC's most twisted team of villians. Oh and Starro, the alien starfish conqueror is a Kaiju (big monster like Godzilla or King Kong) villian! I don't think he will be the 'big' bad though, but we'll see.
Invincible
Okay, that went on longer than I expected. Now back to the main event: Invincible! Invincible is a cartoon series based on the comic of the same name. It was co-created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker and published by Image Comics.
Image is a big name in the comicbook industry. There's the powerhouses Marvel and DC and then there's a second tier with Image, Dark Horse (Hellboy, Sin City, The Umbrella Academy), Valliant (Bloodshot, Harbringer, X-O Manowar) and IDW Publishing (TMNT, Transformers, Terminator). Image is known for creator-owned comics like Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, Sam Kieth's The Maxx (my personal favorite), Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Jim Lee and Brandon Choi's Wild C.A.T.S. and John Layman's Chew.
Co-creator Robert Kirkman also wrote The Walking Dead for Image comics, which was adapted in 2010 in the AMC TV-series which is currently in it's tenth season and which produced two spin-offs: Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Also two additional spin-off series are announced, but not yet in production. Also it branched out in various games. So Robert Kirkman's work has been gold for AMC and it's only logical that his other work was also looked at for adaptation.
For the TV adaptation of Invincible we have to take a step back to 2016. Comedian Seth Rogen and his childhood friend, writer Evan Goldberg, decide they want to bring Garth Ennis' Preacher (DC Comics Vertigo imprint) to the small screen. Starring Dominic Cooper as the main character, it ran for 4 seasons on AMC. Following that, Rogen and Goldberg bring another Ennis-created comic to the screen: The Boys. It's currently being streamed on Amazon and a 3rd season is in the works, as is a spin-off of the series.
Besides watching almost everything related to comic books and superheroes, I try to read a lot of different stuff as well. Preacher and The Boys were recommended to me by my former colleague Jim, years before the series came out. Other series, like The Umbrella Company and Locke and Key, I either read before the TV-series came out or after (I forgot which was the chicken and which the egg). With Invincible I either heard that they were going to make a series or I found it online at a 'Best Comics' list. So at least I read it before the cartoon series came out this week.
Again executive produced by Rogen and Golberg, as well as by Kirkman himself, the adult cartoon runs on Amazon. The first episode stays very true to the comic drawings of Cory Walker. Walker drew the first 7 comics, after which it was taken over by Ryan Ottley, who had a slightly different style. So the characters are very recognizable. Also the story is true to the comics, although it adds some more background. The story is about Mark Grayson, the son of Omni-man (basically Superman with Henry Cavill's moustache). Being the son of a superhero, it is expected that he will develop powers as well. He gets those in the first episode of the series and maybe a few issues into the comic. Then there is a big twist, which I didn't expect already to come in the first episode, but it does. The rest of it I don't want to spoil, so either watch the series or pick up the comic book.
The comic is very good, but the cartoon adapts this very well. Also it has the added benefit of it being animated (moving pictures) and it has a terrific voice-cast. The series stars the voices of Steven Yeun (Glenn in The Walking Dead) and J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man). So I think on this one I have to declare the Cartoon the winner. I only saw one episode, so my opinion might change, but I doubt that will be the case.
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