Amazing Spider-Man

Denis Leary blows through Hollywood job titles the way he used to chain-smoke cigarettes during his Boston comedy club days: actor, screenwriter, producer, author, television pitchman, animation voice actor and, believe it or not, fashion-show emcee and national anthem singer. The next Leary résumé line arrives July 3 with the release of “The Amazing Spider-Man.” “Emma Stone’s dad,” said Leary, referring to his role as the gruff, on-screen father to the film’s lead actress. “That’s the point in my career I’ve reached. It will be ‘Emma Stone’s dad’ now, which, by the way, I’m fine with being. She’s the real thing; she’s fantastic.” Stone, coming off roles in “The Help” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” plays Gwen Stacy, the girl who falls in love with Peter Parker, the brainy teenager who is spider-bit by fate and becomes the hard-luck title hero. […]

This summer, the wall-crawling hero Spider-Man celebrates his 50th anniversary, so in more ways than one, the Marvel Comics creation is a pop-culture icon that sticks. That should be nothing but good news for the filmmaking team behind this summer’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” but instead it views that history as part of its challenge — just like the towering shadow cast by the previous Spider-Man films and their $3.5-billion box office success. “Our movie — with this hero, at this time — has to be great, and we know we have to show people that we know what we’re doing,” said producer Matt Tolmach, who — like director Marc Webb and stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone — is making his first Spider-Man film. “But we’re excited about that because we know what we’ve got.” Webb, Stone and Tolmach appear […]

Fans at WonderCon will be able to pick up a free copy of our new Hero Complex magazine. This is just our second printed edition and inside you’ll find a major exclusive: The only “Dark Shadows” set visit by an American journalist, as well as never-before-seen images from the upcoming Tim Burton movie. The issue also has a cover story on Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary, an in-depth look at “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” a preview of “Before Watchmen” and a new Quizzam trivia challenge. Fans who pick up the magazine also have a chance to attend a free WonderCon screening of “The Cabin in the Woods.” The upcoming horror film will be screened at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ultraluxe Cinemas and, after the credits roll, writer-producer Joss Whedon and writer-director Drew Goddard will participate in an on-stage Q&A. Passes for the Saturday night screening […]

SPIDER-MAN AT 50: It’s the 50th anniversary of Marvel’s greatest icon, and all year Hero Complex will talk to notable names about the character’s success and singular appeal. Today: A few thoughts on the hero from Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of “Lost” and screenwriter of “Prometheus,” ”Cowboys and Aliens” and the upcoming “Star Trek” sequel. GB: It’s the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, is he one of your favorite characters? If so, why? DL: Seriously, who doesn’t like Spider-Man? Tell me who that person is so I can punch them. Why is he so special? There are so many reasons. First and foremost, his entire origin story is wrapped around the idea that he made a horrible error in judgment… that his own selfishness resulted in a terrible tragedy that he is personally responsible for. This would be the equivalent of Kal-El callously ignoring Krypton’s impending […]

“The Mark of the Spider-Man” ARG certainly lived up to its name. First some background: We told you earlier that this alternate reality game started with the delivery of a backpack containing the “personal effects” of Peter Parker, effects that led to a website, which in turn revealed six Twitter accounts that belonged to ARG operatives in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix and Seattle. That far-flung ARG team then tweeted five locations in each city — it was then up to the players to dash to be the first to arrive at one of those destinations. Those players who managed to arrive first (and provide a password that had also been tweeted) were handed a cellphone and a black hoodie with the “Mark of the Spider-Man” logo. I was part of the winning Los Angeles team, and later we each received calls on […]

SPIDER-MAN at 50: This is the 50th anniversary of the Marvel icon and all year Hero Complex will talk to notable names about the character’s success and singular appeal.  Denis Leary didn’t grow up loving Spider-Man – when he picked up a comic book it was usually about Gotham City — but the co-star of “The Amazing Spider-Man” said that in recent years he has come to appreciate the Marvel web-slinger’s everyman aura and hard-luck saga. “I never read Spider-Man comics as a kid,” Leary confessed. “I was always more of a Batman guy. But my wife has always loved the Spider-Man character and found the working class ethos, the young teenager turning into a man melodrama and his orphan back story intriguing — as did I once she’d introduced me to the series. He’s far from a billionaire and he’s born of […]

Jay West writes about fan culture, collectibles and alternate reality games for Hero Complex and a few hours ago he got a special delivery. The mystery began with a backpack delivered to my door. Inside I found a variety of items and, taken together, they created a clear portrait of the bag’s owner: I was rummaging through the possessions of Peter Parker, the hero they call Spider-Man. The items I found: keys, tennis shoes, sunglasses, safety goggles, a chemistry textbook, pencils and a pencil sharpener, a protractor, screws, rubber bands, film rolls, contact sheets, urban-setting photographs, Daily Bugle newspaper article clippings, and a sketchbook filled with costume ideas and various equations by Parker attempting to figure out viable angles and trajectories for web swinging with maximum velocity. This delivery follows a recent trailer debut for “The Amazing Spider-Man” — a trailer that contained […]

The great John Romita celebrated his 82nd birthday last Tuesday but he was the one handing out the gifts — well, no, not really, that’s just how it felt Tuesday morning when I found a copy of “John Romita’s The Amazing Spider-Man: Artist’s Edition” waiting in my mailbox. The title may be a bit ungainly but everything else about this book from IDW Publishing is graceful and sparkling. Or, in a word, amazing. This is the third installment in the Artist’s Edition series — following Dave Stevens’ “The Rocketeer” and Walt Simonson’s “The Mighty Thor” — and the brand already stands as one of the most satisfying archival explorations in the history of comics. The hardcover books aren’t cheap (the Romita edition, which hits stores this week, will set you back $100) but they are true works of art. The approach of the […]

All the gifts are finally unwrapped and the cinematic class of 2011 has finally been presented. There’s not much left to do now but watch as the clock counts down until 2012. It should be a quiet time to backtrack and catch up on all those movies that went unviewed opening weekend, but are now present on nearly every critics’ top 10 list. But the studios have kick-started the anticipation for the new year with a herd of new trailers for some of 2012′s biggest potential blockbusters — three in the last week alone. Holiday moviegoers (or anyone with a decent Internet connection) got their first peeks at “The Hobbit,” “Prometheus” and an extended look at “The Dark Knight Rises.” These trailers joined the already-released group, which includes “The Avengers” and “John Carter” and “The Hunger Games,” among others. So […]

Who was the big Hollywood winner at Comic-Con International this year?  Our vote goes to Andrew Garfield and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” the star and film that will ask moviegoers to start over with a new type of wallcrawler in 2012. Our Geoff Boucher caught up with Garfield to talk about arachnid life, fame and his cupcake-baking costar, Emma Stone. GB: Coming into the role, was there anything you felt like you had to avoid as you put together your version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man? AG: There’s so much to do with it, I didn’t really think about avoiding anything. I just didn’t come at it that way. I wanted him to have fun. I wanted it to feel like Peter Parker could have some fun and wasn’t just trying to save the world. He could have fun even after the responsibility has been thrust upon […]