X2 *spoilers*

[Kahuna Burger]

Thank you. It's been bugging me ever since I saw the movie last Friday as to who Stryker was. I remebered the name, and thought it was associated with X-Men, but could not place it. I just checked the Graphic Novel, and the spelling is even the same.

BTW, anyone not familiar with this X-Men Graphic Novel should stop by a comic store to pick up a copy, it's one of the best X-Men stories ever written and Brent Anderson's art is also quite good*.

I'll double up on that - I haven't seen the film yet, but got some details from my bf the other night after he saw it... Somewhere in the middle of the dicussion I went "Stryker?!? You mean REVEREND STRYKER?!? They turned him into a general??????"

God Loves Man Kills is probably the best Xmen story ever told. I also have to say that I hope that the only reason they morphed him from reverendhood was to combine two plot lines - the conflicts of faiths : Kurt's leading him to peace in spite of his life, Stryker's to violence, etc was a wonderful part of the orriginal story. It would be very sad if holywood was so gun-shy about religion in the current american climate that they shied away from the "dark side" of religious ferver even with a chance to counterbalance it in the same movie.

oh yeah...

*But nowhere near the level of his current work on Astro City, which is another comic that I would highly suggest.

Is that back in production again? I followed it when it first started up, but it basically went out of production when Busick (sp?) was having health problems a while back.

Kahuna Burger

 

[John Crichton]

What, have you been keeping this site a secret? It rocks! They have a picture of Ron Perlman as Hellboy! Sweet!

Naw, they've been around for a while. Goes back to my days as a comic-book site webmaster. Plus, I believe there's a link on the ENWorld main page.

Tis a great site for anything to do with comics/movies.

 

[Welverin]

Is that back in production again? I followed it when it first started up, but it basically went out of production when Busick (sp?) was having health problems a while back.

Yep, just started up again a two or three months ago. It's going to be mini-series that will be released once enough work has been done on them for the whole thing to come out on time.

 

[Silver Moon]

Is that back in production again? I followed it when it first started up, but it basically went out of production when Busick was having health problems a while back.[/B]

Yes, Astro City is back. He's currently doing a five-issue run called "Local Heroes", each issue of which focuses on a normal human from the city whose life has changed due to the heroes. Issue #1 focused on a doorman at a major hotel, while issue #2 was a flashback to the early 1960's with a career woman who was involved with a new atomic-powered hero (sort of an anti-Lois Lane story). Issue three should be out in another week.

 

[WizarDru]

God Loves Man Kills is probably the best Xmen story ever told. I also have to say that I hope that the only reason they morphed him from reverendhood was to combine two plot lines - the conflicts of faiths : Kurt's leading him to peace in spite of his life, Stryker's to violence, etc was a wonderful part of the orriginal story. It would be very sad if holywood was so gun-shy about religion in the current american climate that they shied away from the "dark side" of religious ferver even with a chance to counterbalance it in the same movie.[/B]

I don't see it as being so much gunshy as just realizing that it wouldn't add too much to the story, but would require a lot more work to explain. In the movie, Stryker is essentially a highly-connected military project-leader, which puts him in the correct position to enact the main plot. Originally, there were two major stories...but Singer grasped the core concept that so many comic adapting directors don't: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Most major adaptions of comics feature far too much plot and far too many characters to carry the narrative. X2, for the most part, avoids this.

Nightcrawler is added to the main cast, and is given considerable screen time to flesh out his character. Colossus, who is not central or necessary to the plot, is given a cameo. I like Colossus a lot, but there's only so much time in the movie. That Kurt's faith is kept intact is an important element in the movie, and builds on the X-men's core ethos of unity and understanding.