Bruce | the m0vie blog

Batman: Birth of the Demon (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 18, 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.

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week, today we’ll be reviewing the complete “Demon” trilogy, exploring the relationship between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul.

Birth of the Demon is very much the odd one out of the Demon trilogy. Of the three stories, it is the only one not written by Mike W. Barr. It also is arguably the most reflective of the three stories in the series, focusing on the origin of Ra’s Al Ghul more than in any modern conflict with Bruce Wayne. Still, it all feels strangely appropriate that, more than a decade after his creation, Denny O’Neil should return to tell the back story of his most iconic addition to the Batman mythos.

Shadow of the bat…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Al Ghul, alan moore, batman, Batman: Birth of the Demon, Birth of the Demon, Bruce, caped crusader, Christopher Nolan, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, Denny O'Neil, denny o'neill, Mike W. Barr, norm breyfogle, ra's al ghul, Talia, Talia Al Ghul, thomas wayne, Warner Bros | 6 Comments »

Batman: Son of the Demon (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Darren

To celebrate the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week, today we’ll be reviewing the complete “Demon” trilogy, exploring the relationship between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul.

Son of the Demon is an interesting graphic novel. Written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Jerry Bingham, it occupies a strange place in the Batman canon. A story in which Bruce allies himself with his old enemy Ra’s Al Ghul and marries the villain’s daughter, Talia, the story was all but forgotten for years until Grant Morrison unearthed it for his Batman run, reuniting Batman with the child fathered in this story. Son of the Demon has an intriguing premise, even if Barr’s execution feels a little clumsy and overwrought, and it makes for an interesting exploration of some of Batman’s deeper facets.

He shall become a bat…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Al Ghul, batman, Batman: Son of the Demon, Bruce, caped crusader, christian bale, Christopher Nolan, Dark Knight Rises, DarkKnight Rises, Jerry Bingham, Jesus, Lazarus Pit, Mike W. Barr, ra's al ghul, Talia, Talia Al Ghul, United States | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Batman – Year One

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Darren

With the release of The Dark Knight Rises just around the corner, it makes sense for Warner Brothers to capitalise on one of the greatest influences on Nolan’s trilogy. Frank Miller’s take on Batman – as defined in Year One and The Dark Knight Returns – was bold, brash, clever and iconoclastic. So it’s only fair that both stories are receiving animated adaptations for Warner Brothers. While Batman: Year One might be little more than a shot-for-shot and line-by-line adaptation of Frank Miller’s origin for the Dark Knight, there’s absolutely no shame in that. Year One is perhaps my favourite Batman story, and I think it’s one certainly worth telling.

“I shall become a bat…”

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: batman, batman begins, Bruce, Christopher Nolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, dc animated universe, dcau, film, frank miller, FrankMiller, gordon, Miller, Movie, non-review review, review | 2 Comments »

Batman: The Dynamic Duo Archives, Vol. 2 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Darren

DC’s archive line for their Silver Age Batman and Detective Comics line begins considerably later than it does for most of their other superheroes, including Superman, The Flash and Green Lantern. The Archives series are devoted to offering readers a chance to browse various comics from a character’s history in a chronological manner, often from the first book published featuring a character or at an appropriate point. For Batman, in the Silver Age, the point was deemed to be editor Julius Schwartz’s “new look” Batman.

The first collection of these comics showed potential. It was clear that the editor who had revived The Flash and Green Lantern was trying to pull Batman away from the wacky alien adventures of the fifties. While the creative teams hadn’t yet refined the darker avenger that would take root in the Bronze Age, it felt like a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the second collection of the “new look” Batman and Detective Comics run feels like something of a regression, a step backwards rather than forwards.

“This looks like a job for… err… Batman, I guess!”

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alfred pennyworth, batman, Bruce, Dark Knight Rises, dc comics, detective comics, frank gorshin, gotham city, Grantmorrison, green lantern, joker, Michael Uslan, riddler, robin, silver age, superman | Leave a comment »

Non-Review Review: Batman – Mask of the Phantasm

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Darren

There is a legitimate argument to be made that Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie produced prior to Christopher Nolan taking over the film franchise. While I narrowly prefer Batman Returns, it’s hard to deny that this animated take on the character from the creator behind Batman: The Animated Series isn’t a superb exploration of the Caped Crusader and his world. Kevin Conroy is still, after all these years, my favourite actor to play Batman, and I can’t help but feel like the movie deserves a lavish re-release to celebrate the pending release of The Dark Knight Rises.

You’d have to finally go batty to do this in the long-term…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: alfred pennyworth, Andrea, batman, Bruce, bruce wayne, Christopher Nolan, danny elfman, Dark Knight Rises, Dick Sprang, film, frank miller, gotham, gotham city, Harley Quinn, joker, kevin conroy, Movie, non-review review, Phantasm, review, Shirley Walker, tim burton | 2 Comments »

Batman: Ego (and Other Tails) (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Darren

“It’s at times like this…. In the cold… in the dark… I feel that I’m losing my way.”

– Batman’s opening monologue, Ego

Few modern comic book artists and writers are as respected as Darwyn Cooke. The illustrator began his career on Batman: The Animated Series, and then expanded out into the comic books that inspired it. He’s worked on any number of iconic projects, including the miniseries New Frontier and the adaptations of Richard Stark’s Parker books. This summer, he’s a major part of DC’s Before Watchmen initiative, writing Silk Spectre and writing and illustrating The Minutemen. Batman: Ego and Other Tails collects the bulk of the writer/illustrator’s work on the Caped Crusader, with Selina’s Big Score included for good measure. In his introduction, the writer confesses that the story was”an earnest yet flawed first effort”, and it seems like he’s being remarkably fair.

He’s created a monster!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman: the animated series, Bruce, caped crusader, Christopher Nolan, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, darwyn cooke, death, frank miller, grant morrison, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, joker, Kurt Cobain, new frontier | Leave a comment »

The Dark Knight Rises 101: Or, Tell Me About Bane…

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Darren

Read our in-depth review of the film here.

To help get everybody in the mood for The Dark Knight Rises later this month, I thought it might be worth taking a look at the third film in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, the sequel to both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: bane, batman, batman begins, Batman: Knightfall, Bruce, bruce wayne, caped crusader, christian bale, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight [Blu-ray], DarkKnight Rises, Knightfall, nolan, ra's al ghul, superman: the animated series | 12 Comments »

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1 (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Darren

I figured, what with Christopher Nolan releasing the final part of his Batman trilogy this month, it might be worth going back and taking a look at the early days of the Dark Knight. DC have done a rather wonderful job collecting classic material featuring their iconic heroes as part of their “Archives” line, a line that seemed to have died last year, but I am very glad to see undergoing a resurgence. The idea is that each archive edition collects roughly a year’s worth of classic comics. The premium format pays for the restoration of the material, with DC then making it available in more cost-effective packaging, like their paperback “Chronicles” line that collects every appearance in order, or their “Omnibus” line, which collects larger chunks.

Batman: The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1 doesn’t collect Batman’s very first appearance in Detective Comics. However, it does collect the first four quarterly publications of his self-titled Batman comic book in 1940, each collecting several stories of Batman’s crusade against crime.

Batman Begins in six panels…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Amazing Spider-Man, batman, Batman: Dark Detective, Bob Kane, Bruce, Christopher Nolan, ChristopherNolan, dark knight, dark knight returns, Dark Knight Rises, detective comics, gotham city, Harley Quinn, jack kirby, joker, Kane, Lego, murder, Oliver Twist, Recreation, robin, Spirit, stan lee, United States, Will Eisner | 3 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Bruce Almighty

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Darren

I like Bruce Almighty. I’ll concede that I might even like it more than any other of Jim Carrey’s madcap comedies. I think that it’s easily among the best of the comedies he produced after the millennium, doing well from a strong supporting cast and nice central moral. It isn’t deep or profound, and it’s unlikely to offer any more philosophical insight than anybody had going in, but it also manages to avoid being completely vacuous or empty. It’s remarkably satisfying for a light screwball comedy, even if it is a little on-the-nose.

All at sea...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Bruce, Bruce Almighty, Carrey, film, god, jennifer aniston, jim carrey, Morgan Freeman, Movie, non-review review, review, Steve Carell | 2 Comments »

Brad Meltzer’s Run on Justice League – The Tornado’s Path (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Darren

This January, I’m going to take a look at some of DC’s biggest “events.” This week I’ll be taking a look at Brad Meltzer’s impact on the DC universe.

Justice League has always been a bit of a funny little book. The concept is so straight-forward that you’d imagine it would be quite difficult to muck up. After all, it’s a series about DC’s most powerful and iconic heroes teaming up to do impossibly cool stuff and to look good while doing it. DC has been doing this long enough to have an idea of what works on the title and what doesn’t. While Justice League International has its fans, it’s hard to argue that the appeal of the Justice League wasn’t encapsulated by Grant Morrison’s hugely successful nineties run. As such, putting the big characters back on the title shouldn’t seem like a big event of itself – it should be the default setting. So it always seems to me a bit strange when DC relaunch the series with a big name writer and the iconic line-up, only for editorial to inevitably screw things up down the line.