comic books | the m0vie blog

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 »

Ultimate Iron Man

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Darren

The first member of The Ultimates to get spun-off into his own book, the ultimate version of Iron Man is also the only one to get his own miniseries (and he even supported another miniseries, Ultimate Human, last summer and has a new one, Ultimate Armour Wars, this year). Here we have all the ingredients for a great superhero saga – Andy Kubert as artist on the first six issues and Orson Scott Card as a writer – but it just doesn’t come together quite as well as it should. Though Card posits some interesting theries behind the psychology of Marvel’s current poster-boy, he doesn’t really deliver anything of interest on the story front, and really suffers from attempting to write rebellous teenage characters and somehow feeling required to craft his observations into something resembling a cookie-cutter superhero plot.

Nice Suit...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: andy kubert, comic books, iron man, marvel, orson scott card, pasqual ferry, review, the ultimate, tony stark, ultimate iron man, ultimate marvel, ultimate universe | Leave a comment »

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 2

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Darren

Now we’re getting into it. It seems that Robinson has got all the setup necessary to move the story forward out of the way (or at least the bulk of it) and that Tony Harris has finally found his feet on the series. This collection moves a lot more fluidly than the last one – partially due to the fact that it closes as many threads as it opens, but also because Robinson is no free of having to establish the series’ premise and can now focus on the stories that he wants to tell (almost, we’ll come to the exceptions). Those stories are – by and large – reflective studies of what is known as “The Golden Age” of comic books: the 1930s and 1940s. What happened to the world between then and now? What happened to the heroes? Was it ever really the kinder gentler place we recall?

And it's our first Chrismas-themed image... Earlier every year...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: arts, comic books, Comics, Comics Code Authority, crossovers, dc comics, Eisner Award, jack knight, james robinson, review, sandman, Silver Age of Comic Books, starman, starman omnibus, ted knight, the shade, tony harris, underworld unleashed, wesley dodds, zero hour | Leave a comment »

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 1

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Darren

I’m not quite sure what to make of the collection. I know it’s the first of six volumes which will include the entire 80-issue run of James Robinson’s reimagining the concept (plus extras) and I know that it’s the opening chapter of a much more expansive story. And I know that – as a story – it is structured in a much more dynamic and interesting way than most other superhero adventures. But I’m not feeling it. At least not yet.

No hero here(o)...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: comic books, david mckean, dc comics, dc universe, golden age, grant morrison, graphic novel, jack knight, james robinson, omnibus, Opal City, review, sins of the child, starman, starman omnibus, ted knight, tony harris | Leave a comment »

Batman: Year One

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Darren

This is probably on a shortlist for the best Batman story of all time, alongside Frank Miller’s other definitive work on the character, The Dark Knight Returns. Whereas Millar focused on the eventual end of the character’s crusade against crime, here he focuses on the origin of the character. Expanding from the one-page origin which accompanied Batman #1, Miller brings his keen eye to Batman’s psychology, but also the world in which Batman functions. This isn’t the gothic construction of Tim Burton, but a grimy urban cesspool like Christopher Nolan’s. In the world that Miller carves out for the hero, he greatest opponents aren’t the disfigured freaks who would become his adversaries, but the architecture of greed and corruption that defines Gotham.

Imagine if it had been a seagull that crashed through his window that fateful night...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman begins, batman: year one, comic books, dc comics, frank miller, review, year one | 2 Comments »

Gotham Central – In The Line of Duty & Jokers And Madmen (Review)

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Darren

Just when you think there isn’t an original concept left in comic book storytelling, Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka come up this ingenious concept: what is it like to police a comic book city – and the one populated with the same sorts of loons which give Batman a headache? Brubaker and Rucka construct a truly surprisingly awesome noir police procedure that takes a gutter’s-eye view of one of the darkest cities ever to appear in comic books. It manages to combine the two aspects brilliantly, simultaneously bringing a fresh perspective to both the Batman mythos and the police procedural.

The joke's on Gotham...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, comic books, dc comics, ed brubaker, gotham, gotham central, gotham city, greg rucka, half a life, in the line of duty, motive, review, soft targets, unresolved | Leave a comment »

Paul Dini’s Run on Detective Comics – Detective & Private Casebook

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Darren

Paul Dini is, for my money at least, the best writer writing Batman today. Anyone doubting that would do well to check out his run on Detective Comics. In a return to the character’s pulpy roots (where buying an issue would generally give you at least one story), Dini’s run is dominated by done-in-one stories (with the odd two-parter and then the five-issue The Heart of Hush rounding it off). It’s brave and daring experiment, and that he attempted it is almost as surprising as how brilliantly he succeeded.

Do you want to point out he should keep both hands on the wheel?

Note: Unfortunately I can’t find a library-bound copy of Death and the City for review, so I am missing the middle chunk of Dini’s standalone stories, but he does go to great pains not to lockout readers who haven’t read every issue he has written. If I find a copy anywhere, I’ll update the review.

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, collection, comic books, curtain down, dc comics, detective comics, J.H. Williams III, joker, opening night, paul dini, riddler, Slayride, stalked, The Beautiful People, The Return of Dr. Phosphorus, the suit of sorrow, the suit of sorrows | 2 Comments »

Thor And Internal Consistency…

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Darren

I am growing more and more excited about Thor as every little snippet of rumour leaks out about casting. Which is odd, because Thor is one of the movies coming out on the road to The Avengers which I really don’t care that much about. It’s a superhero movie about a guy with a really big hammer – I don’t want to see that version of Thor. On the other hand, my interest was piqued from the moment that Kenneth Branagh was announced as director. Kenneth Branagh’s Thor I am interested in seeing. Particularly if it stars Robert deNiro and Jude Law. Still, my inner nerd remains skeptical about positioning a film based on myths and magic so firmly as a cornerstone of the on-screen Marvel universe.

What's the point of being the God of Thunder if you can't use it to dramatic effect every now and again?

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Filed under: Comics, Movies | Tagged: brian blessed, chris hemsworth, comic books, Comics, consistency, films, internal consistency, iron man, jude law, kenneth branagh, marvel, odin, robert deniro, the incredible hulk, thor, ultimate thor | Leave a comment »

Ultimate Spider-Man – Vol. 4-6 (Hardcover)

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Darren

It’s probably hard writing the same comic with the same artist for the bones of a decade. Setting things up years in advance only to have them pay off down the line, trying to put a new slant on an existing mythology while updating it for a new audience. This middle section of the Bendis/Bagley run on Ultimate Spider-Man isn’t necessarily bad per se, but it lacks the energy and reckless fun which defined the start of the run and the sense of resolution that approached at the end of the run. It just is.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.