Comics | the m0vie blog

Alan Moore’s Run on Swamp Thing – Saga of the Swamp Thing (Books #1-2)

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Darren

Before Alan Moore was the superstar writer of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V For Vendetta, Watchmen or even From Hell, he was a writer at DC Comics. While he wrote some truly fantastic Superman stories (collected in the well recommended deluxe edition of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?), he was most famously associated with a run on Swamp Thing. When he took over writing duties on the title, Swamp Thing was a series on the verge of cancellation. Which meant that he had a huge amount of freedom to work on the title, with the capacity to do just about anything he wanted.

It isn't swamped with continuity...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, alec holland, arts, comic books, Comics, dc comics, John Constantine, john tottleben, league of extraordinary gentlemen, review, swamp thing, Swamp Thing: Earth to Earth (Vertigo), the anatomy lesson, the monkey king, the saga of the swamp thing, vertigo | 4 Comments »

Robert Kirkman’s Run on Ultimate X-Men – Vol. 7-9 (Hardcover)

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Darren

Ultimate X-Men is a tough title to get a read on. The fact that the run has been broken down into blocks by all manner of superstar writers means that there’s really no consistent underlying principle feeding through the eight-year life of the title. On the other hand, the fact that none of these big name writers like Mark Millar or Brian Michael Bendis could create a book living up to the series’ potential indicates that maybe there wasn’t a writer who could steward the book through its entire life cycle. Ultimate Spider-Man serves in many ways as a fulfillment of the promise of the Ultimate line, it’s almost a single, decade-long story of growth and development, the very evolution of a world of superheroes. Ultimate X-Men is very much the opposite, the constantly bending backwards over itself, jolting, starting and reversing as it seems unable to decide where exactly it’s going at any given moment. Robert Kirkman’s run is perhaps the best examples of the series’ strengths and ultimately (ha!) its weaknesses.

Somebody's been watching Terminator a bit too often...

Note: Some of Aron Coleitte’s work is covered in the Hardcover Volume 9 (with the rest of his short run spilling over into the Ultimatum Hardcover). If I can bring myself to pick up Ultimatum, I will run a review of his rather short tenure on the title. This review is only concerned with Kirkman’s run – up until the end of the Apocalypse arc.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: 1990s, apocalypse, bishop, cable, comic books, date night, magical, marvel, marvel comics, pheonix?, retrospective, review, robert kirkman, sentinels, the magician, ultimate apocalypse, ultimate marvel, ultimate universe, ultimate x-men, x-men | Leave a comment »

Kevin Smith & David Mack’s Runs on Daredevil (Hardcover Vol. #1)

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Darren

It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s also been said that Frank Miller’s Born Again pretty much defined Daredevil. So it should really come as no surprise that Kevin Smith borrowed from that particular story wholesale for his relaunch of the character back in 1999. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – Smith has the decency to admit that the concept isn’t incredibly original – and in a way it provides a suitable note upon which to relaunch the title.

Bring your child to work day was not the resounding success Matt Murdock expected...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: born again, comic books, daredevil, david mack, echo, guardian devil, joe quesada, kevin smith, kingpin, marvel, marvel comics, mysterio, parts of a hole, review | Leave a comment »

Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Darren

I’ve always seen Daredevil as a peculiarly Catholic superhero. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s the devil imagery. Frank Miller clearly sees the character as an Irish Catholic (he admitted that he believes the character practices) in an interview at the end of the first omnibus. It just seems to fit. There’s just something so human and organic about the character – so vulnerable and flawed – that he seems like some sort of lost soul amidst the pantheon of god-like superheroes. A man torn between heaven and earth. The fact that probably the greatest story told using the character is titled Born Again and his mother is a nun (as close as you can plausibly get to a virgin, I suppose) doesn’t exactly hurt, either.

Daredevil puts a novel twist on flag-burning...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bill Sienkiewicz, born again, comic books, daredevil, daredevil by frank miller omnibus, Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion, daredevil: born again, daredevil: love & war, daredevil: love and war, David Mazzucchelli, frank miller, kingpin, love & war, love and war, marvel, marvel omnibus, review, the man without fear | Leave a comment »

Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Omnibus

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Darren

Comics twenty-five years ago were a very different place. Wackiness was more than welcome – it was encouraged. Deus Ex Machina endings were so common it was a wonder that they ever put the god back into the machine in the first place. The thought bubble hadn’t quite faded from use. But – most importantly – the colours were all bright and cheerful and the phrase “grim and gritty” hadn’t yet entered mainstream vocabulary.

Enter Frank Miller.

Frank Miller wasted no time making his mark on the character...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: bullseye, daredevil, daredevil by frank miller, Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson Omnibus, daredevil by frank miller omnibus, Daredevil by Frank Miller Omnibus Companion, daredevil omnibus, elektra, frank miller, kingpin, klaus janson | 2 Comments »

Will Warners Reboot Batman?

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Darren

My spidey-sense is tingling. Word on the rumour mill is that we’ll know next month if Christopher Nolan will be making a Batman trilogy, or simply leaving it at a duology. There’s all manner of discussion about what will happen if he isn’t back – but I think it’s looking increasingly like we may be moving away from the Zack Snyder’s The Dark Knight Returns approach, which means a new Batman movie relatively similar to the last two (because nothing succeeds like success). But part of me is wondering what the plan is beyond that. Are we going to see a direct sequel or a reboot? Would Warner Brothers reboot Batman so quickly?

Not only the director we deserve, but the the director we need right now...

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, Christopher Nolan, continuity superman, earth one, film, green lantern, justice league, Movies, reboot, relaunch, ultimate marvel, ultimate universe, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Green Lantern – Secret Origin, The Rage of the Red Lanterns, Agent Orange & Emerald Eclipse

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Darren

It’s no secret that I’ve been greatly enjoying Geoff Johns’ run on the Green Lantern title (along with seemingly everybody else). After successfully resurrecting a fallen hero, reestablishing the various traits of the Green Lantern mythos and giving us a blockbuster summer event, Johns proceeds to make the final moves on the chessboard towards what is likely to be the climax of his saga. But whereas his initial set-up might have suffered slightly from the fact that it was mainly a case of getting a disruly house in order, here Johns has enough elements flowing from his previous collections to make these chapters in the story seem interesting in their own right.

It's like a rainbow of interstellar warriors...

Note: I am aware that Emerald Eclipse is the work of Peter Tomasi – who also worked on some of the alternating chapters of Sinestro Corps War. I would review his work on Green Lantern Corps separately, but it seems that this is the first collection of his work put out in hardcover (for shame). So I’ve bundled my thoughts on Emerald Eclipse in here. Going forward, if DC put out Green Lantern Corps in hardcover trades, I should be able to look at them separately.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: agent orange, atrocitus, capital punishment, comic books, dc comics, emerald twilight, geoff johns, green lantern, green lantern corps, green lantern corps: emerald twilight, green lantern: agent orange, green lantern: rage of the red lanterns, green lantern: secret origin, hal jordan, orange lantern, peter tomasi, rage of the red lanterns, red lanterns, retcon, secret origins, sinestro, sodam yat | Leave a comment »

Grant Morrison’s Run on Justice League of America: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1-2 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Darren

“Never underestimate the sentimentality of a Scotsman, Clark.”

– Batman knows how much Morrison likes comics

‘Tis the season for ever-so-slightly oversized hardback editions, what with DC reissuing the entire run of Starman and this re-release of the relaunch of the original superteam. The fact that they can put creator extraordinaire Grant Morrison’s name on the cover surely isn’t a problem either. Nor is the fact that the book (under his stewardship) was one of the best selling comic books of the nineties. So, what aren’t I getting here? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perfectly adequate book (that isn’t necessarily as smart as it thinks it is), but it’s not gold. It moves at the speed of the Flash and seems intent to throw ideas at the reader at headache-inducing speed. It’s solid, reliable and it manages to recreate the zany madness that defined the group, but it never seems to completely transcend it. And it just keeps trying.

Rocking your world...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, comic books, darkseid, dc comics, dc universe, deluxe edition, elseworlds, flash, grant morrison, green lantern, imaginary stories, invaders from mars, jla, jla: deluxe edition, jla: secret origin, justice league, justice league of america, morrison, rock of ages, secret origin, superman, the day the earth stood still, them! | 6 Comments »

The Batman/Superman Dilemma

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Darren

It began simply enough. “You like Batman better than Superman,” my girlfriend asserted over dinner a few weeks ago. I couldn’t dipute the claim, but mounted a fairly swift defense of the character as “misunderstood”. That prompted an incredulous response which suggested that I “like Batman better because he’s darker”. That’s an interesting assertion. I don’t believe it’s true – certainly not in my case at any rate. I think the public’s perception of Batman as a more enduring, more fascinating and all round ‘cooler’ pop culture icon that the Man of Steel stems from a whole host of factors, that can’t be succinctly summed up with an observation that one is dark and gritty and the other is light and fluffy. So, why are we fonder of the Caped Crusader that the big blue boy scout?

Notice how Superman is trying to look half as badass as Batman...

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: batman, batman vs. superman, dark, darker and edgier, dc comics, fear, hope, light, opposites, superman | 2 Comments »

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 3

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Darren

What makes a hero? Is it a cosmic rod and a kick-ass pair of glare-reducing goggles? Is it being a “grim avenger full of hate for the bad” (one of Robinson’s more subtle jabs at Batman during this run)? Or is it simply “doing what’s right because it is”? Is it the honest desire to make the world a better place with “no vengeful motivation” or “nothing ulterior”? We may be getting ahead of ourselves here, but James Robinson really digs into what constitutes a ‘true’ hero here, looking at the classic simplistic conception of the superhero, rejecting the violence of the anti-hero or the deconstruction which has crept into comics over the past few years (mostly in lieu of character development or to seem darker and edgier). Is that what a hero is?

I don’t know, but I find myself agreeing with Batman. No matter how you cut it, Jack Knight is a hero.