Fantastic Four Movie - Live Action Comic Book Heroes

The Fantastic Four became a popular super hero team after the release of their comic books via Marvel Comics in late 1960. Comic book lovers lost no time taking a liking to the four main characters, who gained super powers after being exposed to cosmic rays during a mission to outer space for the sake of science. Characters that would later be brought to life through live action in these movies.

Who is the Fantastic Four and why are they fantastic? Here's the who and why:

Reed Richards also known as Mister. Fantastic, who can stretch and reshape his body in inhuman ways

Susan Storm Richards also known as Invisible Woman, who is able to use light to make herself as well as others and objects around her invisible

Johnny Storm also known as The Human Torch, who can both control and project fire from his body. Additionally he is able to fly.

Ben Grimm also known as The Thing, who is transformed and has orange rock-like skin and super human strength.

In the film adaptations (The original movie and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) the characters were portrayed by actors Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Micheal Chiklis and actress Jessica Alba.

The Fantastic Four movies were certainly long awaited by comic book fans that enjoy seeing their favorite stories come to life on the big screen.

Like most comic books, the Fantastic Four's success led to much media interest, bringing about animated television series, video games, action figures and other merchandise. Yet, the super foursome wouldn't hit the theaters until 2005; despite the fact that Constantin Film purchased character rights to make a film in the mid-1980's, and even released a low budget version of the Fantastic Four movies in the early 1990's, which would never receive an official release.

20th Century Fox Film Corporation would later pick up the rights to the film and attempt to give it the big budget adaptation comic book fans felt the characters and their story deserved. However, fans of the classic comic books and comic book based movie lovers, as well as critics gave mixed reviews to the first film and again to its sequel. The films were merely called decent in their best reviews. Still, there is talk of another film joining the Fantastic Four movies franchise. A reboot that may feature a whole new cast and give the fearsome foursome a facelift!

Question by Lucas: Who are the 4 actors who have been nominated for comic-book character roles?
I've heard from many sources that Heath Ledger is the only one of four people who have been nominated for an Academy Award for playing a role relating to a comic-book character. Can anyone please tell me who the other actors/actresses were, as well as their roles?

Best answer:

Answer by honky275
William Hurt was nominated in 2005 for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "A History of Violence" - that movie was based on a graphic novel. That's the only thing close I can find so far....

I thought MAYBE Paul Giamatti for playing Harvey Pekar in "American Splendor" (based on a comic book) but it turns out he wasn't Oscar-nominated for that role.

Paul Newman was nominated in 2002 for Best Supporting Actor for "The Road to Perdition", another movie based on a graphic novel.

I'm assuming for the purposes of this question that graphic novel = comic book, though some may disagree.

Anyway, I can only find 2 of the other 3 people: William Hurt and Paul Newman.

What do you think? Answer below!

Comic Book Drawings

If you are into comic book drawings, here are some tips that can help you.

First of all, you have to develop a plot and a good setting. Even the most beautiful or impressive comic book drawings will not interest an audience long unless there's a nice story and background that supports them.

You have to create the background first, and the plot second. The background is important because it gives coherence to every story, no matter what happens. Important information in the background should be places, distances, means of transportation, countries (or kingdoms or any type of political structure), races (if any), level of technology, type and level of magic (or superpowers), etc.

Once you have all this background settles, your characters can maneuver within its laws and be consistent.

Now, when it comes to the actual drawing, there are many techniques. I recommend the following one.

Select a number of panels that you're comfortable working with. Although it doesn't mean you have to follow this format every single time, it'll get you used to a type of work that will let you make comic books drawings faster as well as to plan in advance how you'll tell your story.

Second, divide each panel into two planes. The first plane will have the characters doing the actions that you want them. The second plane will have the scenery against which your characters do their actions.

Comic book drawings use these two planes for different effects. One of them is that the second plane will let you give an idea of the place where the action takes place without so much detail. For example, if you want to draw a crown, only the people in the front have to be somewhat detailed. Another technique common in comic book drawings is using the second plane for effects. For example, if the second plane looks blurry, it'll make it seem that the characters in the first plane are moving fast.

Another thing you have to take into consideration when making comic book drawings is scale. Some people forget to make characters consistent in relation to other characters. In your comic book drawings, if a short character reaches the chin of a taller character, it must never reach higher or lower than that.

Finally, another important thing when making comic book drawings is patience. When we show our comic book drawings to others, we usually expect and instant reaction from them. However, it might take some time and several tries until we make something that appeals to people and can develop into a long series.

Hollywood discovers teen girls’ true grit
LOS ANGELES — “I am about to embark on a great adventure,” says the hero, tucking a Colt revolver into a flour sack, donning a wide-brimmed Stetson and riding out into the wilderness on the trail of a killer. Smart, stoic and purposeful, this avenger is a stock Western-movie protagonist in every way but one — Mattie Ross, the central character in “True Grit,” is a 14-year-old girl.
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Comic Book History

In the United States, the first comic book was published in 1934. Ever since the first comic came out, the leading producer has been the United States. The first comics were similar to the comics found in early newspapers; however, they were published as their own books. The first comic books were mostly about adventure stories and depicted some type of superhero character. Historians break up the history of American comic books into different eras. There are four eras starting with the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Modern age of comic books.

The Golden Age of comics is said to have last from the 1930s to the late 1940s. During this time, comics became main stream and readers were introduced to superheroes such as Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman. Superman was the first known superhero and made his debut in 1938. After Superman, almost all comics featured a superhero, and the Golden Age is classified by their appearances. World War II had a big impact on the popularity of the superhero comic books during this era. What made them so popular was showcasing that good triumphs over evil. There were even some comic books that showed characters punching Adolf Hitler.

The Silver Age of comics was more about commercial success and artistic advancement. The Golden Age proved that comics were popular and readable, and the Silver Age maintained that success. This ere lasted from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s. During this time, comics were blamed for juvenile crimes occurring more frequently. As a result of this, comic sales went down and writers had to rethink their story plot. Comics started to represent authority. The characters went through a dynamic change and the stars of the comics started to appear as aliens and other science fiction characters. Also during this time, underground comics made for adults started to emerge.

The Bronze Age lasted from the 1970s to the mid 1980s. The look of the comic book didn’t change during this era, however, the story plot changed dramatically. Although the pages and pictures were bright and colorful, the story line was more dramatic, realistic, and dark. Real world issues were brought to attention in the comics of this era. Drug use was an issue addressed. The comics became more mature and life like.

The Modern Age of comic books started in the 1980s and continues on in to the present. In addition to the characters in comics, the writers are also more recognizable. There are more publishing houses that produce comics and there are independent comic books too. The larger publishing houses became more commercialized. The characters also change during this era. They are now more complex, show self doubt, and the villains are darker.

Book By You Announces Personalized Same-Sex Romance Novels
LONDON, ON--(Marketwire - January 31, 2011) - With Valentine's Day nearly here, Book By You ® today announced the launch of its first personalized same-sex romance books for gay and lesbian couples. With the release of Hot Blooded (for men) and Seduction Games (for women), Book By You now offers a diverse range of personalized romance novels perfect for Valentine's Day , anniversaries, weddings ...
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Can a Comic Book Hero Explain Retrograde Mercury?

To begin with, let's set the record stright: Mercury is not the only planet to go retrograde. We hear about it a lot because it happens 3 times a year, but actually every planet and asteroid except for the Sun and Moon go retrograde at one time or the other. It is actually rare for there to be a time when we aren't experiencing some retrograde or the other. Every planet from Mercury which is closest to the Sun all the way out to Pluto and Ceres at the outer edge of our solar system goes retrograde. And so do all the Astroids, like Chiron, Vesta, Sedna, Pallas and Juno.

We can better understand retrograde Mercury by taking a favorite comic book character as an example - let's say Zorro with a capital Z. When the planets change directions (and they all do) they make a kind of "moonwalk" in the sky as they appear to zig backwards in their orbit.

These Mercury Retrogrades (and Mars, Venus, Pluto, Chiron or Jupiter Retrogrades). Are zig-zags that the planets make in the sky and they take various amounts of time. A retrograde of Mercury takes 3 weeks, but larger planets like Pluto or Saturn spend up to 6 months or longer in retrograde motion. But just looking at retrograde is to overlook some of the most important elements of the retrograde cycle. That's a lot like eating the frosting and ignoring the cake. Since we want to have our cake and eat it too - we need to understand the whole picture. The picture that retrograde makes starts weeks or months before the retrograde begins, and ends the same amount of time AFTER the retrograde ends. It is a three part process.

The three distinct parts of a mercury retrograde, or other planetary retrograde cycle each have a different character and meaning. Taking one without the others means missing some of the most important pieces of the puzzle. These three phases are 1) the pre-retrograde phase - called Entering the Shadow 2) the Retrograde Phase and 3) the post-retrograde phase - called Exiting the Shadow. Part one is like when Zorro draws the first part of his signature Z. It begins when the planet hits the degree it will return to at the very end of Retrograde. During the Retrograde time the planet appears to move backwards - all the way to the same degree where it began. This resembles the second / slash that Zorro draws with his blade when making his signature as it returns to the same level that the Z began at. Finally the planet changes directions again and makes it's final pass across the same degrees that it has crossed twice already - first when entering the shadow, then in retrograde, and now finally as it is exiting the shadow. And this resembles Zorro's final sword stroke as he finishes off the last flourish of the Z and moves on to new things.

To illustrate what happens during a Mercury Retrograde cycle, just imagine that our Hero Zorro is out and about, doing what he does when he spies a problem. He quickly get's into his "superhero" outfit. We can think of this preparation time as entering the Shadow. Then he runs off and fights the bad guys. We can think of this time as Retrograde, because he has come back to a situation in order to fix it. Finally he turns the bad guys over to the authorities and gets back into his street clothes; which we can compare to the phase of leaving the shadow. Job well done! And he moves on to other things.

By understanding this deceptively simple concept we can see how to make use of any mercury retrograde, or retrograde of Saturn, Mars, Venus, Pluto and even the Astroids. At least we begin to understand how to use the "foreshadowing" period to gain insight as to what we will be reviewing and making changes to during the actual retrograde. This allows us to prepare for what may be coming. Each planet has it's own domain however and they all mean different things. To learn how to make use of the current Mercury Retrograde (or other retrograde planet) cycle visit: http://www.astrologychick.com/RxMercury.shtml

The 'voice of the Simpsons', Hank Azaria, talks about how he came up with Professor Frink, Comic Book Guy, and meeting Jerry Lewis.
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