The Four Color Media Monitor

Once again, the mainstream makes itself look silly by adapting a comic produced by one of the worst artists in comics history, as Variety reports:

Olivia Wilde, Margot Robbie and “X-Men” producer Simon Kinberg are joining forces for a feature adaptation of “Avengelyne,” a comic book character from “Deadpool” co-creator Rob Liefeld.

[...] There were prior attempts to turn Avengelyne into a big-screen star, but they never got off the ground. In 2013, Gina Carano was attached to star in an adaptation. In 2016, Paramount reportedly nabbed rights for a version from filmmaker Akiva Goldsman.

LuckyChap has been in high demand after the blockbuster success of “Barbie,” which was the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and nominated for eight Academy Awards. Up next, the company is producing Wilde’s new Christmas comedy “Naughty” for Universal Pictures.

On the one hand, it's laughable and sad how such an overrated artist as Liefeld keeps getting sugarcoated in the MSM, and Tinseltown actually believes his products are worthy in the long run. On the other hand, one can't be surprised if any resulting adaptation turns out to be woke, as Softonic news hints could be what the cast and crew of the film project have in mind:

Olivia Wilde, the director of Booksmart and Don’t Worry Darling, has just confirmed in Variety what her next film will be: the film adaptation of Avengelyne. For those who are not familiar with this character, she is a very popular comic book warrior from the 90s created by Rob Liefeld (creator of Deadpool) and Cathy Christian. Although at that time she was an overly sexualized character, it is evident that the adaptation will give a new twist to her image.

Of course it is. After all, isn't that what the actress playing Red Sonja in a new film hinted will be the case? If Liefeld no longer owns the creations, recalling it may have been reported he sold it off, they could surely be using that as an additional excuse to get away with more woke filmmaking. Interesting that the now blacklisted-in-Hollywood Carano, who was fired from her role on the Mandalorian TV show for condemning left-wing assaults on right-wingers. Also interesting that a writer as overrated as Goldsman, whose credits included Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, was once involved in a pitch for the property. And additionally interesting they allude to the regrettably successful Barbie movie, considering how woke it was. That also provides a clue where things could be going with an Avengelyne adaptation. Also note how the writer of the above seems to care more about the heroine being "overly sexualized" than about whether Liefeld's art was bad. That just goes to show what's wrong with modern news coverage for comics.

Deadline (via Filmstories) has more on the premise:

Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. She was the most feared warrior in Heaven’s Warhost, having single-handedly broken into Pandemonium, the outer fortress of Hell, to confront the Devil himself. She is a fallen angel, banished from Heaven by God after being tricked into questioning his love for humans. Avengelyne was stripped of all her angelic abilities, other than her great strength and her blood, which, once extracted from her body, could be used as a weapon or a miracle once empowered by quoting verses from the Bible. Avengelyne uses her powers to fight demons on Earth and is being groomed to be humankind’s last hope in a coming Armageddon.

In the past, Liefeld has explained his heroine this way: “Avengelyne resonated so powerfully with the audience because her story of redemption is one that is so relatable. A fallen angel, sentenced to redeem herself by serving humanity, Earth is a foreign environment to her, she must adapt in order to save herself as well as mankind. Her dilemma provides humor amidst the larger plot engine driving her journey.”

This sounds awfully like some kind of ludicrious attack on religions like Christianity (and the heroine wears a form of cross), so maybe it's not too surprising the overrated Robbie's company could take this up for a project. After all, if there's a sex-negative view for starters, it'll only be a matter of time before a leftist religion-negative view comes next.

Since the subject of Liefeld came up, The Hollywood Reporter says he's publishing a memoir of his past career:

Rob Liefeld, the comic book creator who has spent decades dreaming up fantastical stories, is ready to put his own story down on the printed page.

Liefeld will pen a memoir titled Robservations, which BenBella Publishing will release early next year. As a creator, Liefeld has had a front-row seat to a number of crucial moments in comics over the past 30 years and promises to offer a candid accounting of what went down.

The book chronicles Liefeld’s trajectory from the son of a preacher in Orange County, California, to becoming a rising star at Marvel in the early 1990s, when his work on titles such as X-Force set sales records. He then went on to help disrupt the industry as one of the founders of Image Comics, which launched in 1992 with the premise that comic book creators could retain the rights to their work. In recent decades, Deadpool has become one of the biggest comic book characters in the world thanks to the films starring Ryan Reynolds. [...]

In addition to characters such as Deadpool and Cable, Liefeld is known for Youngblood, Bloodstrike and Prophet, all of which topped 1 million in sales when their first issues hit stands.

Oh, did they? Where's the sales charts from the times? I can't take this at face value. If they premiered today, they'd fare a lot less well in any event. The trade journal predictably refuses to acknowledge Liefeld's art is poor, and do we honestly need to hear the story of a man whose work was overrated and mediocre to begin with? The fluff-coating of his resume is reprehensible.

There's also another subject from the now insufferably woke Hollywood and Marvel studios to ponder. As the Daily Wire reports, it looks like Shalla-Bal is going to be the Silver Surfer instead of Norrin Radd:

Marvel and Disney are once again courting controversy by casting a female actress to take on the typically male “Fantastic Four” role of the Silver Surfer in the upcoming reboot.

Actress Julia Garner has been picked to play a female version of the iconic comic book character and Herald of Galactus, Deadline magazine reported. Sources told the outlet that the Emmy-winning “Ozark” star will play the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer from the comics.

Bounding Into Comics reported that Marvel Studios dived deep into the comic book lore to find justification to not use the Norrin-Radd version of the comic book hero played by a male.

In 1968, in an issue titled “Silver Surfer Vol. 1,” Shalla-Bal is depicted as the Silver Surfer’s love interest. For the next fifty years, her role is just that, a supporting one. Then in 1997, her character is part of the final two issues of “Earth X” when she’s briefly granted her lover’s super powers so she could stop an invading force, the Blaze noted.

But it was only a handful of pages, yet they cherry pick anything they see fit to serve as instant justification of their direction. This is nothing new in comicdom, yet now appears to be gaining ground in Hollywood adaptations. If they want to turn Shalla-Bal into a fighter, that's one thing, but doing it at the male lead's expense is entirely another. All this does is yet again present a tedious example of filmmakers who must be hoping potential film audience members with no interest in the comics will accept it unquestioned. Worst, if Marvel has any plans to exploit what goes on in the movie back in the comics, if they haven't yet, they'll do it regardless of the upcoming movie's box office grosses. Sorry, but I think this is reason enough to avoid a new Fantastic Four movie, if that's where their gender-swap will turn up, and if they're planning a stand-alone Silver Surfer movie, I think that can be skipped too. All this is doing is proving they're not interested in merit-based filmmaking any more than modern comics publishers are.

Labels: dreadful artists, Fantastic Four, history, indie publishers, marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics, sales, women of marvel