Logan adds a new sidekick in the R-rated flick.

Okay, so where am I?

It’s a Saturday, so I wrapped some serious wee hours of the morning re-writes of my Japanese television show and powered through the day so I could see Logan in the theaters before the super hero flick gets reduced to one of those 50 seaters and exits to some streaming service and soon-to-be-defunct DVDs.

Logan is a big deal as the only compelling X-Men character that warrants a standalone movie. This one promised us moviegoers our last chance to see Wolverine with Hugh Jackman as the frontman he he first brought to the silver screen nearly 20 years ago in the first X-Men movie.

Even if it was just a brief cameo, Jackman has played the character in each of the franchise’s installments. For super hero aficionados, Jackman’s presence provided a point of consistency in a series of movies that’s jumped through time and offered often conflicting takes on continuity. Of course, who doesn’t want to be some kind of icon at work? Jackman is such an icon and that speaks to his incredible turn in the role and has been possible because the character basically doesn’t age, meaning he can look more or less the same in a story taking place in 1776, 1945 or 2029.

The twist here is the R-rating. Logan, like last year’s Deadpool, is pretty violent. Violent enough to earn itself an R-rating. For those paying attention, Deadpool had a decent amount of sexual content and the related language that helped get the R. These two films are the only exceptions to the PG-13 rule that has dominated movies from both Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment/Warner Bros. In the past, the only comic-based movies that have delved into R-rated territory have been the Blade series starring Wesley Snipes, Lionsgate’s two Punisher films and adaptations of indie books like Barb Wire, Spawn, Kick-Ass and a few others that didn’t need to get the the kids into the theater along with the older crowd.

According to a recent survey from online movie ticket seller Fandango, audiences are anxious for more hard-core superhero movies. The survey reports the 71 per cent of respondents want more R-rated comic book movies, while 86 per cent were specifically anxious to see a more violent Logan this time around.

All of this is working to the tune of $537,138,242 worldwide at the box office as of March 24th. That is quite a nice final bow for Wolverine.

Speaking of super heroes, each one needs a supervillain. And even though you might not be a super hero yourself, you probably have a burgeoning antagonist at work. You night not need to look too far…maybe in the office next you.

Created by TaskWorld, you may find characters like ‘The Joker’ familiar, a term that describes colleagues or superiors that loves to watch you suffer by setting you up with impossible tasks on a tight deadline.

Can you identify these Supervillains in your own workplace? Beware of these supervillains that may take advantage of you, and wear you out with their evil antics.

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Hail ye Spiderman, Superman, Batman. Time to dust off your capes and come out and play. Super heroes, and acting like one, have long been a running theme in The Media Guy Struggles. Connecting with your favorite hero just go easier.

I know that few of you realize, but August 28, is the second annual celebration of International Read A Comic in Public Day. So grab your favorite comic or graphic novel and grab a spot in the park with your kids. Some of you are now wondering—perhaps you already Googled—what a graphic novel might be. Graphic novels and collected editions came into vogue following Marvel Comics’ emergence from bankruptcy in the mid-90’s when they shifted focus away from single issues sold in the direct market to these specialty items sold through mass-market bookstores.

While you’re sitting there saying, “Media Guy! Take off those nerdy Clark Kent goggles and see the forest among the trees…comic books are for booger-eaters living at mom’s house.”

The Blade and X-Men series showed that smaller comic properties could open films and sell DVDs. They revived the superhero film genre almost instantly opening the door for Spider-Man’s $800 million dollar payday.

Recently, The Walt Disney Company proved just how far comics have come with their $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Comics and all of their intellectual property. Even Donald Trump would agree that comics aren’t nerdy any longer.

On a side note, the thing about this media I find ironic is the term “book” in the “comic book.” When we speak of books, we imagine verbose narratives with grand words and deep Lawrence Durrell-like thinking. It’s about the words, right? Comic books are just the opposite. Their narratives are all about the pictures telling the story with minimal words. They are the ultimate “a picture is worth a thousand words” medium. Words aren’t completely dismissed, but a great deal of the word’s value rests in the typography and unique tradition hand-lettering.

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