Comics | the m0vie blog

Infinite Crisis: The Adventures of Superman – Lightning Strikes Twice (Review)

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Darren

This month I’m taking a look at DC’s massive “Infinite Crisis” Event. Although it was all published in one massive omnibus, I’ll be breaking down the lead-in to the series to tackle each thread individually, culminating in a review of the event itself. Check back for more.

I think it’s quite nice that DC went to the effort to collect the vast majority of tie-ins to Infinite Crisis inside this gigantic omnibus, even when the book didn’t necessarily get its own miniseries like Villains United or The O.M.A.C. Project. Like Sacrifice, Lightning Strikes Twice was a crossover between the Superman books leading into the events of one of the lead-in miniseries. In this case, writer Judd Winick was setting up the events of Day of Vengeance, the magic-themed crossover designed to tidy up and reenergise the mystical side of the DC Universe.

Super-punch!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: avengers, batman, captain marvel, dc comics, dc universe, Eclipso, gotham central, greg rucka, Ian Churchill, infinite crisis, Jean Loring, judd winick, lois lane, marvel, superman, Villains United, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: Villains United (Review)

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Darren

I have to admit that, as a rule, I have a great deal of respect for DC’s massive event-related tie-ins. Rather than typically offering expanded or deleted scenes from the main crossover, the tie-ins to their gigantic crossovers will frequently serve as prologues or epilogues to new concepts and relaunches. With Final Crisis, for example, Legion of Three Worlds served as prelude to a rebooted Legion of Superheroes and Rogues’ Revenge offered something of a hint of Geoff Johns’ return to The Flash. Infinite Crisis: Villains United is no different. While nominally the story of evil Alexander Luthor Jr.’s evil Secret Society, it’s actually something of a stealth pilot for Gail Simone’s Secret Six, introducing the characters and the concepts that would define the series.

Just an average day at the House of Secrets…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, bane, batman, Batman in film, books, catman, Christopher Nolan, comics comic books, Deadshot, Gail Simone, infinite crisis, Infinite Crisis: Villains United, lex luthor, ragdoll, Scandal Savage, Secret Six, secret society, Talia Al Ghul, The Secret Six, villains, Villains United | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: Superman – Sacrifice (Review)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Darren

I can see how Infinite Crisis earned its reputation as an overly-convoluted event. Even its tie-ins had tie-ins. In this case, the Superman: Sacrifice story, an arc spread across Superman, Action Comics and Wonder Woman, serves as a tie-in to Greg Rucka’s The O.M.A.C. Project, which was itself part of the lead-in to the big event. As you can imagine, it’s a rather strange trail of continuity to follow, as events here play out as a subset of a story that is itself a subset of something larger. While that is a problem of itself, the biggest problem with Superman: Sacrifice is that it takes an interesting enough central concept and reduces it to an over-extended four-issue arc about characters hitting each other really hard.

There’s blood on his hands…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Action Comics, batman, brainiac, dc comics, Gail Simone, greg rucka, infinite crisis, Jimmy, Lois, sinestro corps war, superman, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Infinite Crisis: The OMAC Project (Review)

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Darren

Infinite Crisis was certainly an ambitious project in scope. With the bulk of the major tie-ins collected in a gigantic 1,500-page omnibus, you really get a sense of just how expansive this gigantic crossover was. It’s remarkable how thematically consistent (and yet tonally distinct) so many of these tie-ins were, but The O.M.A.C. Project makes for a suitably grand opening to this gigantic epic crisis crossover, perfectly encapsulating a lot of the core themes that DC seem to have been striving for, while setting up an interesting central conflict.

What do you call a Corps of One-Man-Army-Corps?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, alfred, alfred pennyworth, batman, Blue Beetle, dc comics, dc universe, infinite crisis, justice league, Justice League International, Martian Manhunter, maxwell lord, sue dibny, watchmen | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 4 (Review)

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Darren

This October, to get us in the mood for Halloween, we’re taking a look at some awesome monster comics. Check back in every Monday this month for a review of Scott Snyder’s American Vampire Saga.

American Vampireis a wonderful vehicle for Scott Snyder to explore his obvious fascination with the social history of the United States. In this fourth volume of the series, Snyder brings the action into the fifties. The fifties time that seemed to be rife with great social change coming out of the Second World War. However, despite those origins, they would ultimately just serve as a prelude to the more dramatic social developments during the sixties. This collection of issues allows Snyder to hint on a number of familiar themes that fit quite well with the setting, including the conflict between old and new – something that has been at the heart of the series since the very beginning.

Grabbing the snake by the… whatever it is you grab snakes by…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, Death Race, elvis presley, Marv Wolfman, People, Protagonist, rafael albuquerque, Rock and roll, Scott Snyder, Severed, Skinner Sweet, Snyder, sweet, Tomb of Dracula, Travis, United States, vampire, Vampire Diaries | Leave a comment »

Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Vol. III (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Darren

Darkness spreads across the land like a bone-chilling evening mist. It swirls, boils and froths.

Then, at the moment when midnight madness is at its greatest, the darkness takes form and substance and becomes a thing of hell-born horror.

This is… THE TOMB OF DRACULA.

Pray you can avoid its deadly embrace…

Sometimes classic movie monsters just look better in black and white, eh? Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan told pretty much a complete Tomb of Dracula epic in the seventy issues of the main title produced in the previous two omnibus collections. This third gigantic tome collects a lot of what might be considered “a Tomb of Dracula miscellany”, collecting various odds and ends from Marvel’s Draculacomics during the seventies to sort of expand and enhance the story told in the main title. It isn’t as consistent as that seventy-issue run, with a variety of weaving story threads, one-shots, text stories and a variety of artistic and authorial talent, but it’s still an interesting look at Marvel’s horror comics during the seventies.

Feed your Dracula addiction!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: adam sandler, arts, black swan, Bram Stoker, Colan, Colin Callender, dracula, Exorcist, gene colan, green lantern, hbo, horror, Hotel Transylvania, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, London, Marv Wolfman, marvel comics, NBC, Romania, Selena Gomez, Tomb of Dracula, Vlad, wolfman | 1 Comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 3 (Review)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Darren

Scott Snyder’s American Vampire continues to barrel towards the present, with this third volume in the saga exploring the secret history vampires during the Second World War. As great as the series is, I do find myself feeling just a little bit sad with every step that Snyder takes towards the present day, as it means the series is one step closer to being over and done with, finished. I have no doubts that it will read astonishingly well from cover-to-cover when that happens, but it doesn’t mean I won’t miss watching Snyder’s exploration of American history through a darkly fantastic lens as it unfolds.

Jump on in…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Vampire, Comics, ghost war, rafael albuquerque, Scott Snyder, Sean Murphy, survival of the fittest, vertigo | Leave a comment »

The Demon by Jack Kirby (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Darren

Of all of Jack Kirby’s seventies DC work, I think that everything must be somebody’s favourite. His Fourth World books bristled with ambition and perhaps serve as the most high-profile, influential and long-running of Kirby’s work with the publisher, but you never have to look too hard to find a proponent of the author and artist’s work on O.M.A.C. or Kamandi. While I am fond of all of Kirby’s DC work, enjoying the raw energy and sheer volume of ideas he brings to his high concepts, I have a soft spot for The Demon, if only because it’s a delightfully off-the-wall example of Kirby’s multiple interests bouncing off one another and familiar archetypes to create something that is often quite difficult to pin down.

Night of the Demon!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: art, Arthur C. Clarke, batman, Dan Turpin, dc animated universe, dc comics, Demon, Etrigan the Demon, fourth world, Garth Ennis, gotham city, Hero Initiative, hulk, JackKirby, jason, Kirby, marvel comics, Merlin, Nintendo, Philosopher's Stone, Shopping, superman: the animated series | Leave a comment »

Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Vol. II (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Darren

It’s fantastic that Marvel have gone to such pains to collect all of the classic seventies Tomb of Dracula. The main title is collected in the first of three volumes, with this second oversized hardcover rounding out Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan’s run on the on-going series. Indeed, with Colan’s consistent pencils and Wolfman’s long-form plotting, Tomb of Dracula feels remarkably close to a single long-form story, one massive epic in seventy-odd chapters, with ideas hinted and developed years before they would eventually pay off. As such, the collection holds up remarkably well, and is a joy to read. While the second half of the series might not be as solid as Wolfman and Colan’s work on the first thirty-odd issues, it still makes for a satisfying conclusion to this chapter of Dracula’s story.

Out for the Count?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: boston, Bram Stoker, Brother Voodoo, Doctor Sun, dracula, england, france, gene colan, Harker, Harold H. Harold, history, Jonathan Harker, Marv Wolfman, Mina Harker, New England, Romania, silver surfer, Tomb of Dracula, Transylvania, vampire, wolfman | Leave a comment »

American Vampire, Vol. 2 (Review)

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Darren

What happens to those childhood monsters when there are no more shadows to hide in? Do they leave? Do they move on? Or do they simply learn to live in the light?

– Cashel McCogan pretty much sums up American Vampire

The more I read, the more I like Scott Snyder’s American Vampire. The author has proven himself quite adept when it comes to writing comic books, handling his short stint on Detective Comics with great skill and proving a worthy scribe for Swamp Thing. Outside the mainstream superhero books, Snyder has defined himself as one of the leading writers of comic book horror. He did an outstanding job on Severed, but his on-going American Vampire might be the finest work I have read from the writer.