Poptic Nerve

As a rule of thumb, I avoid reading other site's reviews prior to writing my own. So, after posting my review of the documentary, Stan Lee: A Marvelous Life that's available for streaming on Disney Plus, I was not so surprised how a few sites reported on a retaliatory response the Kirby Estate, courtesy of Neal Kirby (Jack Kirby's son) who refuted the documentary about the iconic Marvel pitchman, to which Lee came across as self-aggrandizing and very narcissistic. In "Stan Lee", the writer talks about his many accomplishments while barely mentioning two of his biggest collaborators, Steve Ditko and especially Jack Kirby who came up with the majority of ideas and concepts that Lee has unabashedly taken credit for. My father Neal Kirby (Jack Kirby’s son) has asked me to post this written statement in response to the Stan Lee documentary released yesterday on Disney+. pic.twitter.com/V4be2xyEJg — Jillian Kirby (Granddaughter of Jack Kirby) (@Kirby4Heroes) June 17,

So, I watched this interesting biography of Marvel Comics' legendary founder, writer and at times motivational speaker Stan Lee   A Marvelous Life, which is mostly narrated by Lee himself as he talks about his humble beginnings working within the comic book industry to insurmountable success, as in your typical rags to riches template. Is this just another self-congratulatory hand job about the iconic Marvel writer, turned spokesman when compared to "With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story?" Well, yes and no. While Lee does often mention his "ideas", he provides more of an insight into his personal life, both triumphs and tragedies told throughout the timelines from the 30’s to the present, prior to his passing. Lee is very magnanimous when mentioning his wife and love of his life Joan, who was the catalyst for Marvel's prominence.  With Stan feeling disillusioned about working in the comics field, while contemplating about abandoning his career altogether, she

The path toward Marvel's success in cinema or live action for that matter, has been an arduous journey whose beginnings were perceived as humble and in minor ways, successful but for the most part, not well received as most projects were either entirely dismissed or at best, deemed cult favorites thanks to a loyal fan base. Five years before Marvel Studios' Iron Man which successfully served as the tentpole for what is now commonly known as the "Marvel Cinematic Universe ", there were two projects based on the comic publisher's 1st and 2nd tier characters.  After the success of Blade, X-Men and especially Spider-Man, Marvel was finally realized as a hot property despite past failed attempts such as 1989's The Punisher, Albert Pyun's Captain America, and the biggest culprit of them all, Howard the Duck...well, not exactly as Roger Corman's Fantastic Four takes top honors. Now with studios scrambling to produce nearly any film based on Marvel's prope

Okay here we go again with unfortunately another obit piece. I woke up clicked into social media only to find out that iconic Spider-Man artist and co-creator of two of Marvel's most popular antiheroes, Wolverine and of course, the Punisher, John Romita Sr. has passed.Now if you are a Gen Xer like me, you're more than likely to be familiar with his work on Spider-Man during the Sixties even if it was way before your time. (Ever read Marvel Tales or other reprints?) Romita was born and raised in Bensonhurst Brooklyn, NY to a Sicilian family, started out as a Ghost artist in 1949 for timely comics which would eventually become Marvel Comics. When Steve Ditko the co-creator of Spider-Man had left Marvel due to creative differences, Romita was selected by Stan Lee to work on the Amazing Spider-Man comic which became a top seller during the mid to late Sixties. Romita who was very experienced in illustrating Women, introduced Spidey's alter ego, Peter Parker to a new love intere

Tagline: The Baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad that ever-hit town! Underneath its grindhouse tropes of nudity and violence, 1973's Coffy is an exceptional blaxploitation thriller. Directed by Jack Hill and starring the “Godmother of them all,” Pam Grier as the titular vigilante, who is a nurse out for revenge after drug dealers gets her younger sister hooked on drugs resulting in irreversible brain damage.  This action thriller gains its momentum courtesy of a prologue where a pimp called "Sugarman" gives into his temptation by driving a strung-out attractive junkie to his house for fun and games, only to find out when playing with fire, you get burned as in a double sawed off shotgun blast to the face. But it doesn't stop there where Sugarman's accomplice Grover, gets jabbed with "extra strength " heroin by our heroine. Best line goes to a scared Grover being fearful of how the spiked needle might kill him.  Coffy's reaction is hysterical as fuck!   &q

Bruce Lee was more than an pop culture icon who created the first mixed martial art thanks to Jeet Kwon do, but he was also a philosopher and one of the most influential actors of our time! When Lee, who was born in San Francisco, migrated back to the states, he established a martial arts school who his first student was Jesse Raymond Glover . However, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum for Lee to stop teaching non-Chinese people (Whites and Blacks) their sacred arts. Bruce defiantly refused to comply and was issued a challenge against martial arts practitioner Wong Jack Man. Lee defeated Jack Man in a matter of 3 minutes! Lee was discovered by producer William Dozier who was mostly known for the 1966 Batman series which in fact had Lee guest star as Kato, who looking back should have easily kicked Robin's ass, but that wouldn't look good in the narrow eyes of most Americans during that time. After establishing himself as a bona-fide action celebrity courtesy of the Six