Marvel Universe Live! #1 (Family Comic Friday)

This is the prequel comic that came with admission to the Marvel Universe Live! production I went to in July. The comic covers the how and why Thor goes in search of Loki and the Tesseract at the beginning of the show. This comic also features an anachronism. In the production, Peter Parker presents Tony Stark with a device called the ‘Lectro Link.’ In the show, this seems to be a completely new and cool gadget for Tony to play with. But in this comic prelude, Iron Man assigns Spider-man with the job of figuring out the bugs in its design. So, which was it?

The art is very good and clean. There’s not a lot of storyline or dialogue, but it does flesh out some of the storyline that is missing from the beginning of MUL. This issue also ties in the Avengers movie with this multi-media event.

I mentioned this earlier (in July) but I would’ve liked to have the comic before I went to the show. I think what Marvel should’ve done is when someone buys their tickets online then they are sent this comic as a teaser. I understand that if you buy tickets less than 10 days ahead of time, this wouldn’t work and it was used as a ploy to garner interest in buying a program of the show. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have like to have gotten my hands on this at least more than 40 minutes before the show started. (I’m usually anti-web comics but in this case, a code for fans to read the comic beforehand with the promise of a print copy to pick up at will call would’ve worked just as well for me in this case.)

Worth Consuming

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Marvel Universe LIVE! A Reveiw, Part 2

The next Avengers film isn’t due till next year. That means roughly 3 years is going to span between the first movie and its sequel. What a way to keep kids and fans interested but by producing a live action show that keeps the Avengers, Loki, and the Tesseract in the minds of potential movie goers. I also loved that Marvel Universe LIVE! used the many of the voices of the characters from the cartoons. Drake Bell voices was dubbed for Spidey! Adrian Pasdar was speaking for both Tony Stark and Iron Man! Very clever! And the production made sure to use characters from recent Marvel films including the Extremis soldiers and Electro in order to bridge the gap between this show and the movie universe.

Before I sign off, I just want to let you know that you shouldn’t come to this show expecting things to be cheap. Parking was $15 a person and I expect some places like Chicago, Vegas, and New York will be even more pricy. But when you get inside is when things really hit you. For the same price of my parking, you can get a bag of cotton candy and a foam mask of Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-man, or Hulk. The mask is really cool but as my wife pointed out “the day I pay $15 for a bag of cotton candy is the day you need to get my head examined.” Super-hero themed snow cones, lollies, and other sweets are around the same price range.

If you’ve read my blog, you know I am a big fan of t-shirts. Marvel Universe LIVE! Was no exception. They had some sweet ones. But at $30 a pop for an adult shirt, I could buy 3 really nice tees at Wal-Mart (5 if I check out their clearance racks!)

  This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t some really cool merchandise that I wanted or that I didn’t buy anything. I highly recommend the Souvenir Booklet. It’s a full colored book that one part program and one part activity/ trivia book. There’s tons of great artwork but very few live-action shots. Actually, there aren’t any except for a ‘behind the scenes’ section. I would’ve liked to have a few pictures of the show in action. As you can tell, my pics are not the best quality. Maybe the show is too new for this. Another reason to get the book however is the free prequel comic book that comes with the booklet. It’s not available unless you buy the booklet. Plus, I give major kudos to Feld Entertainment for presenting the comics bagged and boarded.

Sure, you can see the wires. Granted, the one-liners were corny. Yeah, paying $40 for a stuffed Hulk is a lot of money. And there was a little controversy over the run time being about 20 minutes shorter than expected. But Marvel, Feld, and of course, the House of Mouse put on a great show. I left the show on a high, ready to save my little corner of the world.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Marvel Universe LIVE! A Review, Part 1

Last night for an anniversary present, my wife took me to go see the new live action production of Marvel Universe LIVE! My wife was a little concerned that it was going to be too childish and that I wouldn’t enjoy it. But I had a blast!

The show is about 2 hours and is a mix between the Circus, Circe du Soleil, a live action comic book, and a motocross competition! Produced by Felt Entertainment, the creative minds behind Ringling Brothers Circus, Monster Jam, and Disney on Ice, there’s tons of pyro, explosions, and great special effects too!

The story involves the cosmic cube. Thor, having snatched it from his evil brother Loki, smashes the cube into 3 pieces. In response to the loss of the cube, Loki has created a clone of the cube and powers it by having kidnapped some of the X-Men. This new cube forces the Avengers to Assemble and they are joined by Wolverine and Spider-man in the search and rescue efforts.

The Avengers determine that they must split off into 3 groups in order to finding the cosmic cube fractals if they want any chance of defeating Loki. This Justice League style move allows the viewers to see their favorite super heroes face some of their biggest foes- AIM, Hydra, and The Sinister Six are just a few of the biggest baddies in the Marvel Universe popping up in this production.

I don’t want to go into too much more detail about the plot as Marvel Universe LIVE! Is a fairly new production. My site city of Raleigh, NC was just the 2^nd stop in a tour that will travel to almost 100 cities nationwide over the next 2 years. But, I hope that these pics will inspire you to check out the show. However, the entire production was a stroke of marketing genius.