Netflix Has Been Building a Cinematic Universe of Christmas Movies

A lot of companies were working at making cinematic universes a short number of years ago due to how popular and successful Marvel had been. Many failures occurred from a false-start of Universal's monsters in a, "Dark Universe," to DC having to get James Gunn to do a reboot for their flicks after they started to crater at the box office. Cinematic Universes don't seem to be much of a focus for companies anymore, so imagine my surprise at reading how Netflix has quietly been building one...with Christmas movies. Yes, seriously.

"Hot Frosty," is a new Netflix flick that looks equally silly and fun. It features Lacey Chabert and a snowman who magically comes to life--he also happens to be a totally ripped hunk played by Dustin Milligan. One assumes the movie features them falling in love, but it just came out the 13th on the streaming service so I haven't watched it yet. That said, I read an article discussing how, "Hot Frosty," ties in slightly with a 2022 film starring Lindsay Lohan known as, "Falling For Christmas," and makes allusions to another movie titled "Single All the Way," where that exists as a fictional production plus, "Christmas Prince," has elements riffed on too. In addition, there are some throwaway jokes that reference, "Mean Girls," just for fun. Still, it is clear that Netflix is building some kind of Christmas-themed movie universe where things tie together, somehow, and that is interesting (the "Mean Girls," stuff is more of a joke than any true continuity, however).

Romance and inter-film continuities!

Could we be leading up to some kind of epic crossover full of wild CGI fights (like Marvel always has) and Christmas cheer? Probably not the former, but I'd imagine we'll get a lot of the latter as even if this is more of a wink-and-nod cinematic universe Netflix has with their holiday flicks, it still is a rare example of one outside of Marvel succeeding so far--even if it is just a handful of films, but that's pretty impressive in some ways considering how many cinematic universes died a terrible death after a single production flopped (sorry, Valiant Comics and your movie plans for after the, "Bloodshot," one). Whether this is a complex multi-layered storyline Netflix is building or just fun easter eggs, I applaud them on inadvertently doing what so few studios have been able to do, make a cinematic universe people actually like watching besides Marvel.

Don Perlin, Co-Creator of Moon Knight, Has Passed

Don Perlin passed on May 14th, 2024. He was 94 years old and responsible for contributing to the creation of characters as recent as Bloodshot, but he actually broke into the comic-boo biz in the 1940s! The thing that I most appreciated Perlin for, however, was how he co-created Moon Knight. He was working at Marvel and drew a big chunk of, "Werewolf by Night," including the issues that introduced Moon Knight which he did with writer  Doug Moench. Thanks to these two gentlemen we have my favorite comic-book character and without their initial work, we wouldn't have all the people who built off of it and made Moon Knight even more popular. Another amazing talent gone; he will be missed.

Valiant Has Signed a Publishing Deal With Alien Books

I have enjoyed a number of comics from Valiant. The company was huge in the 90's then folded in 2000, but came back in 2007 with some excellent titles. Since then they had success and failure with some great comics but also the, "Bloodshot," movie which flopped, and they've dabbled in NFTs (you all know I'm not a fan of those). Lately, they were also having some financial issues, publishing one comic a month or so. It was announced today, however, that Valiant will work with another publisher, Alien Books, and be putting out a chunk more comics. Alien Books also works with FairSquare so we could see solicitations in the future for comics from within Valiant, Alien Books, and FairSquare. As Bleeding Cool somewhat sarcastically put it, we will now get more than comic a month from Valiant. All snark from some sources aside, I am excited to see some cool stuff be put out by this new partnership and wish all the companies well as they work together.

A Review of "Bloodshot," #8

Let's do a simple good old fashioned review of a comic, I haven't done one for a smidgen, after all! I like the comics that Valiant puts out, but I sometimes fall behind on them. I was reading, "Bloodshot," but it has been a bit since I checked it out. We're into issue #8 of the latest series starring him and when I got a press email showing off a beautiful Clayton Crain cover (as seen above) it caught my attention and made me want to dip into this issue and see how lost I would be or if I could follow along. The good news is I was able to keep up pretty well. The bad news is...well, there isn't any bad news! A recap at the opening of the comic explains how Bloodshot has broken free of the evil group that was controlling him back when I read the series more regularly, but now he's set a whole bunch of other dangerous weapons loose and has to track them down. This leads to the issue I read.

"Bloodshot," #8 has a good chunk of action and intrigue, with it clear some nefarious forces are pulling the strings of all the weaponized people Bloodshot is after whilst he saves some negotiating political groups from one of these old dangers. Tim Seely is the writer, and I'm a fan of his, so I should've known I'd have a good time reading this issue. It had some humor, great action illustrated by artist Marc Laming, and the mysteries that are bubbling up caught my attention too. I was entertained, so I'm pleased. This issue will be for sale this Wednesday, September 16th, so look for that awesome cover in a couple days and then enjoy the stellar issue inside!
5 out of 5 stars.

The Trailer For, "Bloodshot," Has Me Cautiously Optimistic

As can be seen above there is a new trailer for the movie, "Bloodshot," which features Vin Diesel as the titular nano-cyborg hero. Fuss about what it might end up being rated aside, it looks like a flick that is not ground-breaking, but seems kind of interesting. It has Vin Diesel as the hero who is killed and brought-back from the dead to be a super-soldier, but first he wants to avenge his family. The thing is, he maybe is not actually disobeying orders to kill the people who murdered his family, his memories are being fiddled with so that he actually does whatever a clearly evil corporation wants him to do.

This all has a bit of a, "Memento," style-vibe (which the Director, David Wilson, wholly owns up-to) which is funny as none other than Guy Pearce is here as the man who most likely is going to turn-out to be a big villain. I always think movies benefit from having more Guy Pearce so I'm pleased he's in this, and I also have no strong feelings about Vin Diesel whom is a man people seem to either love or absolutely despise (he's perfectly okay, is my opinion). Basically with, "Bloodshot," we get a wild action movie full of crazy special effects and big explosions plus some potentially interesting and trippy memory-alteration scenes. This is either going to inexplicably be a big hit or absolutely bomb, there is probably no in-between. Should it do well however, expect more movies featuring characters owned by the comic Publisher Valiant, I'm sure they're chomping at the bit to make a crazy martial arts movie with Ninjak.

Hearing This Comment About the Rating for The, "Bloodshot," Movie Irritated Me...

The upcoming, "Bloodshot," movie starring Vin Diesel will most likely be rated PG-13, which does not irritate me. Go ahead and make whatever kind of movie you want and if your goal is to fall within a certain standard of the MPAA then fine. Yes, the MPAA is not an actual government organization and movies do not have to be rated thanks to having the 1st amendment to back them up, but most theaters refuse to screen movies not graded by the agency that is by all reasonable accounts corrupt, pointless, and a mess (everyone seriously needs to watch, "This Film is Not Yet Rated," to learn how terrible the MPAA is). I have no problem with the people behind, "Bloodshot," wanting a PG-13 rating, but I was irritated to hear them say how right now, "It is R-rated," but they plan to make some cuts so that it is PG-13 and maybe later a home release will include an R-rated version. Okay then, so if I want the, "Real," version of the movie I should just wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray/DVD, then, is what that sounds like to me.

Seriously, if the authentic version of your movie is not the one you are putting in theaters why should I see it? There are Directors who have fought against companies that take their movies (another movie everyone should see is, "Cleanflix," as it is an amazing documentary) and edit them because they feel it violates their artistic vision, and you've just outright told me the original conception of the movie is sitting there, rated R, but you're going to tweak it so that you can get get more butts in the seats? I am someone who greatly enjoys director cuts of movies because we can see the what the creators fully intended, and I have even been a little sympathetic to Zack Snyder and how often he rambles on about all the great ideas he had for his, "Justice League," movies he never got to make even though at this point its just annoying to hear him go every few months, "Oh, and if they had let me I would've done this too!" I also know movies are sometimes edited in order to be able to be made and make it to theaters/the home video market/streaming. If you're going to tell me before your movie is even out however, "Just wait until we release the real version," you have irritated me.

Jeff Lemire Always Delights AKA Bloodshot Salvation #1 Review

I am of course a big fan of Jeff Lemire and have also enjoyed a variety of Valiant titles. I've dipped my toe off-and-on into his, "Bloodshot," work and the latest series, "Bloodshot: Salvation," is both quite accessible to newer readers and a solid continuation of what he has done before. With great artwork by Lewis LaRosa and Mico Suayan, the story jumps around a bit from a clearly unpleasant future to a currently-mellow present. Bloodshot has settled down with a lovely woman and had a child, all is well, and Lemire makes it clear that ain't gonna last.

I appreciated that the book laid-out everything from past books even if it resulted in us having to read a bunch of exposition--still, I would rather have things be a tad wordy and make sense than suffer being real confused. Plus, as a first issue it makes sense that we need to establish the foundation of what came before and the trouble that will also be on its way. I also really liked how the art/artists change depending on if we are looking at the upcoming future or back in the past/present. The smooth and flowing look of the present has a good counter to the more harsh and scratchy artwork in our glimpses of what is to come.

"Bloodshot: Salvation," is both a great continuation and a solid start to the latest comic starring the titular hero. Lemire is a superb talent and the artwork meshes with his writing fantastically (if that's a word). I'm already eagerly awaiting the next issue and award this a glowing 4 out of 5 stars. You can find the new, "Bloodshot: Salvation," at Things from Another World or as always eBay is a stellar resource.

Bloodshot Volume 1 Review

Let's do a review of the 1st trade from the series, "Bloodshot," put out by the new publisher Valiant comics. Well, sort-of new, they existed before and these other folk bought the line and have been putting out some quality stuff since. I haven't read too much of it for various reasons, thinking I would pick up the trades. Well,  I did just as I said I would and have enjoyed this first volume of the kind-of super-hero Bloodshot. Let's discuss!

Bloodshot is a character I never read the old material of, so I cannot claim to know much of anything about his 1992-era incarnation. This new version however is pretty cool. He isn't so much a super-hero as he is a marvel of science. He is basically a man pumped so full of nanomachines/nanites that as long as he is kept fed with protein he can heal from essentially any wound and have his mind messed with as easily as reprogramming a computer. This leads to how Bloodshot basically has no memory of who he truly is, due to the many times he's been used by the US on missions of questionable legality and ethics before having his brain wiped.

Bloodshot took part in some really bad things for the US.

Duane Swiercyznski writes and does a good job keeping the momentum going. The trade's first chapter/issue sets up the concept and by the end of the second, Bloodshot is running loose. The third and fourth sections show us a dark secret kept by the government about how the nanites can go horribly wrong, and introduce us to another powered-individual who can send out electro-magnetic pulses and basically fry anything electronic within a decent radius. Seeing as how Bloodshot is powered by machines you can see where the government's need for, "Pulse," as they call her, comes from as she arguably is the only person who can render Bloodshot powerless and possible to kill. By the end of the trade however a team of sorts has been formed between Bloodshot, Pulse, and another female who is an ex-soldier Bloodshot meets along the way named Kara.

Manuel Garcia provides some stellar artwork, with a bit of a Neal Adams-feel to it. I especially like how in the flash-back sequences (both real ones and fake memories implanted into Bloodshot) the style changes to a softer-look as if to represent the haziness of the past.

Bloodshot lives up to his name and gets shot, a lot.

I enjoyed this comic a good amount. Between the mystery of just who or what Bloodshot really is, the interesting characters we meet, and the well-drawn action it is a fun read. In conclusion  I'd check this or some of Valiant's other offerings out if you want to expose your eyeballs to some enjoyable images and story, and isn't that the right thing to do? Your eyeballs must be tired from staring at the computer so much (not that I'm complaining if its my blog your computer is showing).
4 out of 5 stars.