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Final Crisis (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. I’ll be looking at movies and episodes and even some of the related comic books. Later on today, we’ll be reviewing Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, so I thought I might take a look at a comic book tale which was heavy on Superman, Darkseid and Batman…

This epic elegy for a doomed civilisation, declining from splendor to squalor. This Final Crisis. This last ditch attempt to save creation itself from a loathing and greed beyond measure.

– Grant Morrison outlines the whole point of the book, in case you weren’t paying attention… in a narration which deserves to be read in the most pompously ridiculous style possible

Look, I could hitch a ride back with you. I have a real talent for gritty drama no one’s ever thought to exploit.

– Merryman makes a pitch for “relevance” in the hopes of escaping comic book “limbo”

Destruction or creation. Everything or nothing. A universe full or a universe empty. Life or anti-life. Grant Morrison certainly lives up to his reputation as a frustrating and challenging author – is Final Crisis the statement of a genre looking to make peace with itself, or nonsensical Silver Age surrealism repackaged for a modern world? Is it pretentious or profound? Insightful or devoid of interest? Can’t it be both, or are these mutually exclusive states?

We all knew Obama was Superman…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: analysis, anti-life, arts, barry allen, batman, batman r.i.p., black lightning, comic book, Comics, crisis, darkseid, dc comics, doug mahnke, final crisis, final crisis: submit, final crisis: superman beyond, fire, flash, fourth wall, grant morrison, graphic novels, green lantern, j.g. jones, jack kirby, jg jones, justice league, mandrakk, metafiction, monitors, Narrative, narratives, new gods, retrospective, silver age, stories, superman, superman beyond, the anti-life equation, vampire | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Green Lantern – First Flight

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Darren

This post is part of the DCAU fortnight, a series of articles looking at the Warner Brothers animations featuring DC’s iconic selection of characters. This is one of the “stand-alone” animated movies produced by the creative team that gave us the television shows.

In case you weren’t aware, director Martin Campbell (the man who saved the Bond franchise twice – with both GoldenEye and Casino Royale) will be bringing a big screen adaptation of DC comic’s Green Lantern our way next summer. I am really looking forward to it, which might seem odd – Green Lantern has never really had the popular exposure that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or even Flash has had. Of course, that might be down to the fact that nobody has produced a television show based entirely around the character – hell, even Aquaman had that aborted Ving Rhames pilot and that fictional movie. So, it’s understandable if Green Lantern isn’t exactly lighting up the radar in the same way that, say, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor is. That said, if you’re looking to get a taste for the character, you could do a lot worse than checking out Green Lantern: First Flight.

Shoulda put a ring on it, indeed...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: arts, bruce timm, christopher meloni, comic book, Comics, dc, dc animated universe, dc universe, dcau, geoff johns, green, green lantern, Green Lantern: First Flight, hal jordan, martin campbell, Movie, oa, sinestro, victor garber, yellow | Leave a comment »

The Walking Dead, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Darren

Welcome to the m0vie blog’s zombie week! It’s a week of zombie-related movie discussions and reviews as we come up to Halloween, to celebrate the launch of Frank Darbont’s The Walking Dead on AMC on Halloween night. So be sure to check back all week, as we’ll be running posts on the living dead.

I want to like Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. I really do. I love zombies. I love it when writers use horror to explore socially relevent issues. I totally dig the black-and-white style which is clearly intended to evoke the vibe of George Romero horror films. I love that it’s a mainstream comic book property that has broken into popular culture despite not featuring muscle-bound guys and gals with impossible physiques in ridiculous spandex – proof to the masses that comic books can be about more than superheroes. However, as much as I may want to embrace and love The Walking Dead, I just can’t bring myself to.

Grimes and punishment...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: AMC, arts, charlie adlard, comic book, comic books, Comics, end of the world, feminism, frank darabont, gender, george romero, image comics, michonne, robert kirkman, sexism, sexist, stereotypes, Walking Dead, zombie apocalypse, zombies | 7 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Punisher – WarZone

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Darren

Punisher: WarZone is not a good film. But it’s not necessarily a poorly-made film, either. There’s a fair amount of skill on display here, but the problem is that the movie never seems to be sure how seriously it wants to be taken. Perhaps the closest point of reference is one of the well-made Steven Seagal films: it spends a great deal of its time delivering what amounts to ridiculousness while offering itself to the audience with a stoic face. It’s a fairly entertaining piece of disposable action fare, but it’s nothing to write home about.

Oh shoot, it's another Punisher movie...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: action, Colin Salmon, comic book, Dominic West, film, Garth Ennis, jigsaw, lexi alexander, marvel, Movie, Movies, non-review review, punisher, punisher war zone, punisher warzone, Ray Stevenson, review, the punisher, wayne knight | 2 Comments »

Is TV the Natural Medium of Comic Book Adaptations?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Darren

It recently surfaced that David E. Kelley (creator of Ally McBeal and The Practice) is working on a Wonder Woman television show. Presumably it will be somewhat less campy than the Linda Carter version. Last month news broke that there are plans for a television version of Neil Gaiman’s epic story The Sandman. Later this month we’re see the airing of a live action version of Robert Kirkman’s critically acclaimed zombie comic book The Walking Dead. Part of me wonders if this is the logical shift in the market. After all, comic books arguably have more in common with television than they do with movies. So is this the real future of these adaptations?

It's a Wonder we didn't think of this earlier...

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Filed under: Comics, Movies, Television | Tagged: adaptations, arts, batman, comic book, Comics, david e. kelley, miniseries, neil gaiman, sandman, Smallville, Television program, wonder woman | 2 Comments »

House of M (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Darren

This is the third in a series of comic book reviews that will look at the direction of Marvel’s “Avengers” franchise over the past five or so years, as they’ve been attempting to position the property at the heart of their fictional universe. With The Avengers planned for a cinematic release in 2012, I thought I’d bring myself up to speed by taking a look at Marvel’s tangled web of continuity. Get an overview of what I’m trying to take a look at here.

The X-Men represent the oddball of mainstream superhero comic books. In a genre and medium dedicated offering a static setup – things never really change or resolve – the X-Men are built upon the very idea of evolution. The whole basis of the franchise is the pursuit of equality by the genetically distinct mutant population, the idea that they and mankind can grow together. It has even been frequently suggested that these super-powered individuals represent out future or our replacements. However, the only way to actually tell a story like that is to follow it through to its logical conclusion – to let the ball roll and to let the world change. It feels a little counterproductive for Charles Xavier and his students to still be fighting for the same rights as everyone else nearly fifty years on – it might even seem a little stale. Grant Morrison’s superb New X-Men run offered a solution of sorts – it gave us a world where humanity would be extinct in a couple of generations and showed the growth and relationship between human and mutant subculture. Gone was the minority struggling against an oppressive majority – a more complex example of race relations had come into play with “mutant music” and “mutant slang” making their impression on the youth, amid a silent and almost invisible middle-class backlash. This was an ingenious approach which demonstrated the relevance of the franchise. Unfortunately, Marvel were not quite pleased with this – some people even, ridiculously, accused Morrison of telling all the remaining X-Men stories – and decided to set things right. They did that through House of M.

Dive in...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: astonishing x-men, brian michael bendis, captain america, comic book, comic book event, comic books, Comics, continuity, crossover, ed brubaker, event, grant morrison, house of m, house of m: captain america, house of m: hulk, house of m: iron man, house of m: spider-man, house of m: wolverine, iron man, joss whedon, marvel, marvel universe, miniseries, new avengers, new x-men, oliver coipel, Scarlet Witch, superhero, the avengers, x-men | 2 Comments »

Hulk: Grey (Review)

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Darren

So far the final book in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s superhero “colour” series (although there was a planned Captain America: White and a rumoured Iron Man: Gold which never got off the ground), Hulk: Grey is perhaps the most fascinating of the three novels. Loeb would go on to writing the on-going Hulk series (to near universal damnation, it should be conceded), suggesting perhaps a closer tie between the author and the character here than in Daredevil: Yellow or Spider-Man: Blue. As opposed to those two novels which covered a relatively large portion of the central character’s life, the flashbacks which provide the core of this particular tale cover a single night – the first night. Perhaps befitting the nature of the Hulk, the narration isn’t provided in monologue here, as it was in the other two titles, instead offering a dialogue between Bruce Banner and Doctor Leonard Sampson, his psycho-therapist. It’s a lovely little story that perhaps isn’t as strong as Daredevil: Yellow, but is still a fascinating read.

It took the Hulk a while to figure out the whole "door" concept...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: bruce banner, comic book, gray, grey, hulk, hulk: gray, hulk: grey, jeph loeb, jeph loeb & tim sale, marvel, pop culture, the hulk, the incredible hulk, tim sale | 4 Comments »

Joker

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Darren

Joker was released over the summer of 2008, and had the great fortune to closely mirror the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Author Brian Azzarello claims that the similarities in the character here and on the big screen are a coincidence, but there’s something uncanny in watching this version of the character, with his Glasgow smile and foul teeth, attempt to take control of Gotham’s criminal underworld in a manner that his big screen counterpart would probably approve of. Azzarello paints a grim and gritty version of the Gotham City underworld, avoiding the more obvious superhero clichés and instead offering an exploration of the madness of one of the medium’s enduring antagonists.

This Joker has his own toxins...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, brian azzarello, comic book, Comics, dc, dc comics, gotham, graphic novel, joker, jonny frost, lee bermejo | 12 Comments »

Kick-Ass

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Darren

Remember how I said during my review of The Ultimates that Mark Millar was a love ‘im or hate ‘im writer, sometimes within the same work? Well, Kick-Ass offers Millar at his best and at his worst. He gets the superhero genre, understands why and how it works the way it does. That’s why he’s so good at deconstructing and reconstructing it. He grasps the escapism element and knows his target audience like the back of his hand. However, he’s a writer who refuses to ever accept that there is such a thing as “too far”. There is no taste, there is no top to go over. But, more than that, there’s no restraint. And there’s the problem with Kick-Ass: for a novel so interested in giving us a relatable protagonist and heroes grounded in “the real world”, it’s too absurdist to really work.

"They should call him ass-kick..."

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: big daddy, comic book, controversy, film, graphic novel, hit girl, john romita, kick-ass, mark millar | 10 Comments »

The Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Darren

My name is Daniel Rand. I am the Immortal Iron Fist. And though it may be in chaos, my world just got a little bigger. My sense of self has grown ten thousandfold.

– Danny Rand reflects on the first half of his run

Who the hell is the Immortal Iron Fist, I hear you ask? It’s a good question. The character traces his roots back to 1974, with Marvel attempting to work off the success of the period’s kung-fu films with a line of martial arts comics. Just like they used to have western comics and war comics and so on. However, the character – despite enjoying success at the time and creating a vocal supportive fan base – never really breached pop culture consciousness in the same way that the truly big comic book characters did. He remained mostly a cult figure, beloved of some and virtually unknown to others. Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker, two very talented comic book creators who had recently found a home at Marvel, decided to stage a revival of the character in the middle of the last decade. Apparently Marvel was so happen with the result that they omnibus’ed it, releasing it in one giant collection.

Okay, maybe ‘giant’ is exaggerating, but it’s certainly impressive.