The Legendary Todd McFarlane Kickstarts Medieval Spawn Action Figure

August 29, 2024November 25, 2024 Mike Manalo

In the 1990s, the comic book industry was changed forever. Emerging young talent such as Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Jeph Loeb, and many more brought superheroes into a modern era of gorgeous, iconic splash pages, and reinvented storylines that popularized characters like the X-Men, and introduced amazing antiheroes like Deadpool. However, if there’s one name that stands out as one of the greatest pioneers in comics during this, or any era, it’s legendary Spawn creator, Todd McFarlane!

Hard N.O.C. Life, Star Wars1 Comment

Hard NOC Life 342: Maybe it’s Time for the Jedi to End After All

June 10, 2024June 10, 2024 Hard NOC Media

After an extended break, Dominic and Keith are back for a new episode of Hard NOC Life. This week, they’re diving into the new Star Wars series, The Acolyte, and why Keith thinks the Jedi kind of suck. They also unpack the Venom: The Last Dance trailer and whether superhero fatigue is real.

Marvel, Movies

Most of Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ Films Swinging to Disney+ This Spring

April 20, 2023April 21, 2023 Michael Lee

In the age where almost every studio has its exclusive streaming service, it’s almost hard to keep up which studio has the right to which content. Sometimes, the only way to have at-home marathons is to have the physical or digital copy on your own. But for those who don’t have that option, streaming is the way to go.

Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel

Hard NOC Life 247: Dive into All the ‘No Way Home’ Spoilers

December 20, 2021 Hard NOC Media

Listeners beware! Lots of things are getting spoiled for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Hawkeye in this episode of Hard NOC Life! Also, Keith returns while Dominic and Britney argue over their diverging opinions on No Way Home. This is also the final episode of 2021. We’ll see you in January! Happy Holidays!

Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Star Wars

Hard NOC Life 237: What The If…?!

October 4, 2021October 5, 2021 Hard NOC Media

On a new episode of Hard NOC Life, Keith, Britney, and Dominic break down the game changing, multiversal-spanning events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and What If!

Marvel, Movies, Reviews

NOC Review: ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ is Fun Enough But Toothless

October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 Mike Manalo

So Venom happened. Back in 2018, the movie came out. And it was fun. Dumb, for sure. But fun enough. It was a movie that benefitted off Tom Hardy’s charisma and greater understanding of what this movie franchise really should be — a ‘00s era tongue-in-cheek, Army of Darkness-toned camp fest released in 2018. And for the most part it was a success with audiences. But for comic book movies in a post-Dark Knight, post-MCU era, I can honestly say it doesn’t register high among my list of greatest superhero films. It frankly doesn’t register at all. While I had fun with the film, to me, that first film set a relatively low bar for its own franchise. So imagine my surprise and disappointment to see that Venom: Let There Be Carnage barely even attempts to clear that bar.

Comics, Marvel

Marvel Celebrates Miles Morales’ 10th Anniversary with Variant Covers

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 Adonis Gonzalez

Like most folk, I’m not too keen on reminders of my ever-increasing age. But this one, well, it’s not too bad of a milestone reminder.

Miles Morales, Marvel’s best Spider-Man, debuted nearly 10 years ago! You read that right, it’s been almost a decade since Miles inherited the Spidey title from Peter Parker and immediately one upped the kid from Queens.

Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel, Streaming

Hard NOC Life 216: Marvel’s Fantastic Phase Four and ‘Venom’ Too

May 10, 2021May 15, 2021 Hard NOC Media

Dominic, Britney, and Keith break down Marvel’s Phase Four announcement video, as well as the trailer for Sony’s Venom sequel. Later, Keith talks to his Secret Identities partner Jerry Ma about his new Kickstarter project, The Monkey King.

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Marvel, Movies

‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Trailer Has Comedy, Carnage… and a Cinematic Universe?

May 10, 2021June 11, 2021 Adonis Gonzalez

Relationships are tough. Whether it’s romantic or platonic, it can be a real challenge holding on to a serious connection. But anyone who has that special person they can’t imagine life without knows that it’s worth it. It’s a fact that Eddie Brock and Venom know all too well.

DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life, Marvel

Hard NOC Life: The Year in Superhero Media

December 21, 2018May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

For the last Hard NOC Life of 2018, Keith is joined by actor, writer, filmmaker, and professional nerd Jon Lee Brody to recap the year in superheroes in film and television.

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Art, Hard N.O.C. Life, Movies

Hard NOC Life: Inktober Surprise

October 5, 2018May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

Since October is officially Filipino American Heritage Month and Inktober, who better to guest host Hard NOC Life than artist Glenn Urieta?!!

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Animation, Marvel, Movies, Video Games1 Comment

The Year of Spider-Mania

October 2, 2018October 2, 2018 Keith Chow

Superhero media is everywhere.

Four of the Top Five movies of 2018 are superhero films, with Black Panther, Infinity War, and The Incredibles 2 taking the top three slots. There are literally dozens of live action superhero shows on TV, cable, and streaming. The number goes up exponentially when you factor in animation. Despite this moment of superhero saturation, there is only one character who can claim the title for Most Ubiquitous of 2018. That would be Spider-Man!

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DC Comics, Recaps, Television2 Comments

When Gotham is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die

October 21, 2014October 30, 2015 Keith Chow

Whatever issues you might have with The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Bane is probably one of the most divisive. Either you loved it or you hated it. Nolan’s take on the villain deviated so much from the comics, it was a wonder why he even chose to go with Bane in the first place. Another strike against Nolan’s Bane is that you could also argue that the character was racebent from the way he’s depicted in the comics. Or not. Personally, I rather enjoyed Hardy’s completely wacky and out there interpretation of the character. Not only are his mannerisms and fuddy-duddy English accent so utterly imitable, but he made a character that is admittedly boring on page really compelling on screen.

The reason that I just spent 100+ words talking about Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is because last night’s episode of Gotham used the opportunity to introduce Venom, the drug responsible for Bane’s abilities in the comic. And the whole time, all I could think about was Tom Hardy in his ridiculous face mask.

Continue reading “When Gotham is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die”