Back in April, our own Rob Frappier reviewed an episode of Marvel Knights Animation's Iron Man: Extremis Motion Comic. While a the motion comic industry is still something of a work in progress, Rob was genuinely impressed with the level of splendor Marvel was bringing to writer Warren Ellis and artist Adi Granov's Extremis miniseries.
In anticipation of the Iron Man: Extremis complete motion comic hitting DVD shelves, we have clips from the film to share with you. Who knows, maybe they'll inspire you to give the motion comic medium a chance if you haven't already.
For those who haven't checked out the Extremis comic book miniseries (and if you're an Iron Man fan you definitely should have), the story deals with Tony Stark's attempts to advance his Iron Man armor even further into the future. Despite his best attempts, Tony simply can't breach the limitations of technology to make his armor stronger, faster and more efficient. That failure literally gets hammered into Tony as he is nearly killed by young militant who has enhanced himself with a powerful nanotechnology known as "Extremis." Tony realizes that in order to defeat the foes of tomorrow, his armor is not the machine that needs an upgrade - it's his own flesh and blood.
Iron Man: Extremis had many subplots which had an obvious influence on Jon Favreau's Iron Man movies, such as a modernized re-telling of Iron Man's origin and Adi Granov's armor designs, which were clearly the bases for the Mark VI armor (with the triangular chest piece) featured at the end of Iron Man 2.
Extremis was also a fantastic Iron Man story that explored deep (and topical) themes associated with the character - such as the debate over the ethical advancement of technology, the ties between politics, economics and warfare, and Tony Stark's core reasons for being a superhero. Definitely read the series if you have a chance - OR, simply check out the clips below and, if you like them, snag the DVD of the Iron Man: Extremis motion comic:
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What you see in the clips is actually Adi Granov's artwork from the comic series. What's great about Granov's art is that it is already so crisp and cinematic that it lends itself quite well to the motion comic medium. As pointed out by Rob Frappier, there is that somewhat awkward in-between where motion is not quite static (like on a comic book page) and not quite fluid (like in a cartoon), but to me, that's never been an issue. I find motion comics to be a fun and different way to explore the comic book stories I know and love.
The Iron Man: Extremis Motion Comic DVD will be available on November 30th. It is priced at $14.97 and the special features are listed below, along with a trailer for the motion comic:
SPECIAL FEATURES
- A Conversation With Adi Granov
- Behind-The-Scenes Look At Marvel Knights Animation
- Marvel Super Heroes™: What The —? Starring Iron Man
- Visual History Of Iron Man
- Exclusive Music Video
- Trailers - and More!
Source: Marvel