blackest night | the m0vie blog

Peter Tomasi’s Run on Batman & Robin – Blackest Night: Batman (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises, July is “Batman month” here at the m0vie blog. Check back daily for comics, movies and television reviews and discussion of the Caped Crusader.

Okay, so it’s not technically a Batman & Robin book, only featuring Batman in the title, and it doesn’t feature Peter Tomasi’s Batman & Robin collaborator Patrick Gleason on the artwork. Still, Blackest Night: Batman feels very much like a trial run for the hand-picked successor to Grant Morrison’s acclaimed Batman & Robin run. (Arguably much like Blackest Night: Flash led into Geoff Johns’ second on-going Flash series.) While it’s hardly an exceptional three-issue tie-in to Geoff Johns’ massive Blackest Night event, it does show some hint of promise for the author’s forthcoming run on the main title.

Freeze, mofo!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman & robin, Batman and Robin, blackest night, blackest night: batman, comic books, damian wayne, dc comics, death in comics, dick grayson, geoff johns, grant morrison, peter tomasi, review, robin | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Flash – Blackest Night: Flash (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Darren

I have to admit that I quite like DC’s approach to event tie-ins. Whenever a massive series like Infinite Crisis or Final Crisis or Blackest Night emerges, it doesn’t disrupt the on-going narratives being told in the books. Instead, the crossovers are shrewdly isolated to tie-in miniseries, so as to minimise interference. This means that a reader of Grant Morrison’s Batman & Robin doesn’t need to concern themselves with the zombie apocalypse in Blackest Night, as Peter Tomasi is handling a separate miniseries. Blackest Night: Flash, however, is something of a different beast, as there was no on-going Flash series at the time, with Blackest Night: Flash serving as a bridge between Flash: Rebirth and Geoff Johns’ on-going Flash series. The fact that the miniseries was written by the main architect of the event also makes the tie-in seem that little bit more essential, putting Blackest Night: Flash in quite a strange place.

Static eyes...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: blackest night, dc comic, final crisis, flash, geoff johns, Gorilla City, green lantern: rebirth, Greenlantern, John, peter tomasi, speed force, wally west | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns Hawkman Omnibus: Volume 1 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Darren

I’m always glad to see a nice, big and thick DC comics omnibus. Marvel have cornered the market in putting out over-sized gigantic collections of modern and classic runs on iconic characters, and I’m disappointed that it has taken DC so long to follow suit. After all, they have any number of long runs on iconic characters by acclaimed creators deserving some nice love. Geoff Johns’ Hawkman run is perhaps the writer’s run that I was least excited about, but it’s still nice to get the majority of Geoff Johns’ character-defining and continuity-clarifying run on the character handily collected in one gigantic package.

Hawkin' his wares...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, blackest night, booster gold, Brad Meltzer, dark knight returns, dc comic, dc universe, fiction, flash, Gentleman Ghost, geoff johns, grant morrison, green arrow, green lantern, green lantern: rebirth, Greenlantern, High tech, John, justice league, Online Writing, Quantum mechanics, Secret Files & Origins, Television program, The CW Television Network | 3 Comments »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Booster Gold – 52 Pickup & Blue and Gold

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Darren

I guess when you’re as popular as Geoff Johns you can pretty much pick your own projects. He’s pretty much the driving force at the company, having helmed two of the bigger more recent “event” crossovers (Infinite Crisis and Blackest Night) as well as managing the return of Hal Jordan to the pages of Green Lantern and Barry Allen to The Flash. He has always skilfully walked the line between a hardcore nerd who knows everything there is to know about DC’s incredibly complicated history and the source of some of the company’s most accessible output. His runs on the “big” name characters (such as Superman) are some of the easiest to read comic books currently published, however it’s clear he has a somewhat deeper level of knowledge and understanding of the way that the DC universe works, and is read to dive into the nooks and crannies of obscure characters and half-remembered trivia with the fervour of a pure geek. Booster Gold is perhaps the best example of this sort of work.

That logo is so money...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: 52, 52 pick-up, 52 pickup, barry allen, blackest night, blue and gold, booster gold, booster gold: 52 pick-up, booster gold: blue and gold, Comics, dan jurgens, dc comics, geoff johns, green lantern, hal jordan, hexed, infinite crisis, leggo my ego, no joke, review, rip hunter, Sinestro Corp War, time travel | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Green Lantern – Brightest Day (Review)

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Darren

It must be difficult to follow an absolutely huge event like Blackest Night, which cemented Green Lantern as one of DC’s largest franchises (perhaps second only to the Batman books under Grant Morrison). After all, the gigantic crossover was the culmination of over five years of work by architect Geoff Johns, and it might have been easy for the writer to pack it all in and call it a day. However, he didn’t. This collection, covering the entire New Guardians story arc, is very clearly a bridge between two big Green Lantern events – Blackest Night and War of the Green Lanterns. It also works a launching pad for a whole host of other titles, from Brightest Day to Emerald Warriors to Green Lantern Corps. However, the collection works at its very best when it is smaller in scope, and more intimate – when it pauses to wonder what happens to a world-saving superhero when the heat of the great big galactic threat has passed.

Hal's still got really poor self-image...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Abin Sur, blackest night, brightest day, Carol Ferris, comic books, dc comics, geoff johns, grant morrison, green lantern: brightest day, green lantern: rebirth, green lantern: the new guardians, Greenlantern, hal jordan, Hector Hammond, lex luthor, Power ring (DC Comics), ryan reynolds, sinestro, the new gaurdians (review), the new guardians | 2 Comments »

Brightest Day (Hardcover Vol. 1-3) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Darren

This January, I’m going to take a look at some of DC’s biggest “events.” This one’s not so much an “event” as a bi-weekly miniseries, but let’s count it anyway…

Balancing the internal storylines is a tough task for any anthology, especially one running over the course of an entire year. In this respect, 52 feels like the exception rather than the rule. It’s a fairly fundamental problem with Brightest Day that not all of the plotlines are interesting (and certainly not all of the time). It’s a rather strange phenomenon: the early issues try to balance the characters somewhat evenly across the issues, and feels somewhat awkward in trying to devote an equal amount of space to stories that aren’t equally compelling; on the other hand, the second and final thirds seems more comfortable devoting large stretches of single issues to certain characters (and to have other members of the ensemble go unheard from for issues at a time), which has the bizarre effect of meaning that a cliffhanger or two isn’t picked up for two or three chapters. It’s a tough balance to get right, and I’m sad to say that Brightest Day doesn’t acquit itself particularly admirably. It’s a shame, because there are some interesting ideas here.

Everything burns...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: blackest night, boston, brightest day, Brightest Day (DC comics), Captain Boomerang, captain cold, dc universe, flash, geoff johns, green lantern, green lantern: rebirth, Greenlantern, Martian Manhunter, maxwell lord, peter tomasi, reverse flash, The Flash: Rebirth | 2 Comments »

Flashpoint (Review)

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Darren

This January, I’m going to take a look at some of DC’s biggest “events.” I’ll be starting with the most recent one, Flashpoint, following a week full of Flash stories.

Our world is in a violent transition of great change.

– President Obama tells us how it is

I really liked Flashpoint. I liked Flashpoint almost as much as I enjoyed Blackest Night, and far more than I enjoyed most big blockbuster “event” comic books. I think that Flashpoint buckles under the weight of the relaunch that followed – I find it quite sad that so many fans initially ignored the event only to jump on at the last minute because it was “suddenly important.” Does Flashpoint offer a fitting send-off to a version of the DC shared universe that dates back to Crisis on Infinite Earths? It doesn’t really, even if it offers some compelling arguments in favour of the relaunch that followed. Still, it’s a fascinating story about the icons who populate this shared universe, and what makes these enduring characters such heroic figures. Or, rather, what doesn’t make them heroic figures.

Flash sideways…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alternate universe, andy kubert, barry allen, blackest night, bruce wayne, comic, comic book, dark knight returns, dc comic, dc universe, dcnu, dcu, flashpoint, flashpoint (comics), geoff johns, grant morrison, Hector Hammond, richard donner, the flash, thomas wayne | 3 Comments »

Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Darren

This January, I’m going to take a look at some of DC’s biggest “events.” I’ll be starting with the most recent one, Flashpoint, but – in the spirit of the character – we’re going to have a marathon run through Flash stories before we get there. Check back daily this week for more Flash-ified goodness…

Rumours on the street are that Jesse James bought it. I thought you might be dead, too. Tar pit said Zoom buried you under the Flash Museum. Computron swore you were banished to some kinda war planet. And Double Down bet me a grand the Titans had you locked up in their tower.

But you’re here. You escaped!

– The Trickster just about sums up everything that happened since Geoff Johns left

It was a touch period for the Flash after Geoff Johns finished his rather tremendous run on the character. Although Mark Waid’s first run with Wally West was a celebrated comic book run, his brief tenure on the title following Johns’ departure was not nearly as well received. Wally West was shipped off to an alternate dimension, and then brought back. The teenage Bart Allen was turned into the Flash, and then unceremoniously killed. The Rogues were sent to another planet, and the supporting cast suffered the indignity of Countdown to Final Crisis. All of this happened in a few years, and transformed DC’s Flash comic books from some of the best on the market to something of a joke.

However, Geoff Johns’ Final Crisis tie-in miniseries seems intended to assure the faithful that everything is going to be okay. Even Captain Cold dismisses everything that’s happened as “one %%@#$@-up year.”Let’s just put it behind us.

Cold warriors...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: barry allen, Bart Allen, blackest night, captain cold, comic books, crossover, dc comics, dc universe, dcu, final crisis, Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge, flashpoint, geoff johns, scott kolins, the flash, The Flash: Rebirth, wally west | Leave a comment »

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 6 (The Grand Guignol) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Darren

March is Superman month here at the m0vie blog, what with the release of the animated adaptation of Grant Morrison’s superb All-Star Superman. We’ll be reviewing a Superman-related book/story arc every Wednesday this month, so check on back – and we might have a surprise or two along the way. Earlier today we reviewed the New Krypton crossover, which was largely driven by author James Robinson, so we thought we’d end the day by taking a look at the final collection of Robinson’s work on Starman.

This volume represents perhaps my favourite stories that James and the wonderful group of artists he worked with created because it has something that nearly every on-going superhero series doesn’t have – a definitive ending – and a whole satisfying one at that.

– Geoff Johns’ introduction

We’ve come a long way, baby. 80 issues, six hardcover collections, countless extras (including supplements, specials and miniseries). A collection of diaries written by James Robinson documenting his time writing the saga, collected in the back of each collection. Starman has been collected nearly perfectly, and the sixth volume is no exception. It’s still something of a mixed blessing, because – no matter how much I appreciate the sense of closure – I’m still sad to see the series end.

Birds of a feather...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: arts, blackest night, dc comics, geoff johns, guginol, jack knight, james robinson, lee s, starman, the grang guginol, Thom Kallor | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns’ Run on Green Lantern – Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps (Vol. I & II) & Rise of the Black Lanterns

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Darren

All right, gang. Let’s go shoot some zombies.

– Captain Cold, Blackest Night: Flash

It wouldn’t be a massive world-ending crisis of a DC Universe cross-over if there weren’t tie-in issues by the bucketful. Sinestro Corps War, Geoff Johns’ earlier Green Lantern mega-event, was relatively low-key in its ambitions, only really spilling across into four specials that dealt with the wider DC Universe. This time there’s close to thirty, which is, as you’d imagine, quite a lot. Given the relatively simplistic nature of the event (it’s basically “superhero zombies”), you’d be forgiven for expecting that the crossovers and tie-ins would become dull or monotonous, but they mostly avoid that. It’s partially due to the variety of perspectives offered, but also due to the extremely talented pool of writers and artists on hand.