dc comics | the m0vie blog

Has Jonah Hex Killed the Comic Book B-Movie?

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Darren

The reviews for Jonah Hex are not good. The box office for Jonah Hex is equally not good. I think it’s safe to say that there won’t be a sequel. But are the implications deeper than that? I’ve certainly read some suggestions that this might not just be a bad result for the bad ass, facially-scarred cowboy, but for fans of minor comic book characters in general:

Remember all those ambitious plans DC and Marvel’s film crews had to use their massive character libraries as movie R&D? After sub par returns for Kick-Ass, The Losers (two movies that deserved better box-office) and with Jonah Hex a near-certain bomb, fans may want to dial down those dreams of an Ant-Man or Booster Gold movie.

When the bell finally tolls in Hollywood for films based on B-list comic book characters – and you can bet Quasimodo is warming up in the bell tower — you might be able to blame Jonah Hex for being the tipping point.

So, has Jonah Hex killed any chance for lesser known characters on the big screen?

Has Jonah put a Hex on less popular comic book characters?

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: comic book films, comic books, dc comics, films, jonah hex, marvel comics, Movies, sueprheroes | 13 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 »

The Absolute League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. II (Review)

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Darren

I don’t think it’s really fair to split up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen into two separate volumes. I’d argue that they are instead two halves of the same tale. It’s to the credit of this second storyline that it doesn’t feel like a sequel to the original – it feels like the second half of a circle, closing it out.

Out of this world!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute, absolute edition, alan moore, allan quartermain, comic books, Comics, dc comics, dr. jekyl, dr. mornaeu, h.g. wells, hg wells, hyde, jekyl, kevin o'neill, league of extraordinary gentlemen, league of gentlemen, martians, metafiction, mr. hyde, pulp fiction, the absolute leage of extraordinary gentlemen, the league of extraordinary gentlemen, the war of the worlds, victorian fiction, war of the worlds | 8 Comments »

The Absolute League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. I (Review)

Posted on June 4, 2010 by Darren

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is, like most works from writer Alan Moore, a strange beast. Essentially a pulp comic book narrative banding together several iconic fictional characters from Victorian fiction (Allan Quartermain, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Hawley Griffin and Edward Jekyll form the main cast), the series is much more than that. Cleverly and insidious cross-referencing and weaving its way through a slew of existing fictional and non-fictional elements. I spent as much time googling a rake of obscure and semi-obscure names and events and locations, all tying back to the great authors at the turn of the last century. How ironic that a pulpy Victorian tale would be perhaps the first classic of the internet age.

Nothing to Hyde...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute, absolute edition, alan moore, allan quartermain, comic books, Comics, dc comics, dr. jekyl, fu manchu, hyde, jekyl, kevin o'neill, league of extraordinary gentlemen, league of gentlemen, metafiction, moriarty, mr. hyde, pulp fiction, sherlock holmes, the absolute leage of extraordinary gentlemen, the league of extraordinary gentlemen, victorian fiction | 2 Comments »

Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth (Review/Retrospective)

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Darren

Face facts, John. The real Hal Jordan is back. And he’s bringing the past with him.

– Batman

Batman states the above as if it’s some sort of dire threat. Perhaps to him, one of the darker of the superhero community, it is. However, to writer Geoff Johns, it’s a mission statement. Let the reconstruction begin. It’s easy to balk at a relatively recent superhero comic being given DC’s prestige ‘Absolute’ format (it’s even easier when you realise it’s only six issues long for that hefty price tag), but Green Lantern: Rebirth deserves it. Not because it’s as iconic as, say, Alan Moore’s Watchmen or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, because it isn’t. Nor is it because of the series’ increasingly important place in the DC canon. It deserves the treatment because of what it represents. This was the moment that the pendulum swung back in mainstream comics, a conscious rejection of the “darker and edgier” philosophy that gripped the medium in the nineties. It’s also a pretty good read.

Shine a light...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: absolute edition, absolute green lantern, absolute green lantern: rebirth, absolute rebirth, alan moore, comic books, dc comics, dc universe, ethan van sciver, geoff johns, green lantern, green lantern: rebirth, Guy Gardner, hal jordan, Kyle Rayner, parallax, rebirth, retcon | 4 Comments »

Stories That Mattered: Essential Stories From DC Comics’ 75 Years

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Darren

We’re a bit late to the party, but this week we’ll be celebrating the 75th anniversary of DC Comics, with a look at the medium, the company and the characters in a selection of bonus features running Monday through Friday. This is one of those articles. Be sure to join us for the rest.

It’s been 75 years since DC burst on the scene. I don’t imagine too many of the suits behind the scenes expected it to last quite this long. The wonderful folks over at io9 came up with a 75-book list of essentials and it’s a pretty good list, but it’s heavily toned towards “important” narratives rather than “good” narratives. It’s a fair distinction. Comic books are a young medium, and – being frank – most of the early writing sucks. The Golden Age Batman and Superman narratives were semi-decent stories (in many ways better than those that followed), but the truly awful dialogue makes them nigh impossible to read. I thought I’d just put together a list of some of the highly recommended DC stories I’ve picked up over the years.

Definitely important... not so sure it's essential...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, batman, comic books, Comics, dc comics, green lantern, sandman, starman, superman, swamp thing, watchmen, y: the last man | 3 Comments »

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 4

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Darren

It did take me a while to get into the series, but it’s hard to describe James Robinson’s fantastic superhero saga as anything other than mandatory reading material for anyone with an interest in the genre, its history or its evolution. Starman was the comic book of the nineties, and a fresh look at an already classic concept. Alan Moore picked apart the superhero genre in Watchmen, declaring that the medium was growing creatively bankrupt. Robinson seems intent to prove otherwise. Brick by brick and strand by strand, Robinson has painstakingly given us one of the most interesting and complex creations in the medium. Often exploring and questioning the roots and the clichés of the superhero genre, Robinson is prone to revel in them. If we are interested in the evolution of the genre, Starman is the book for you.

Everything is better with Nazis...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, captain marvel, Comics, dc comics, hellboy, james robinson, magic, power of shazam, review, science, starman omnibus, starman omnibus volume 4, the power of shazam, The Starman Omnibus, the starman omnibus: volume 4, tony harris | Leave a comment »

The Crisis Surrounding “Crisis Crossovers”

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Darren

In 2012, we will witness the first true superhero crossover on the big screen, with Iron Man, Captain America and Thor joining forces as The Avengers to battle evil. The Hulk may even get in on the action. However,this sort of overlap is hardly new to the source material which will inform the film. It seems that the comic book medium is dominated by the crossover fad, with the two major companies churning out massive event after massive event. Is this a good thing which demonstrates the strength and flexibility of the monthly-publishing schedule, or does this style of writing only serve to make the medium even more insular?

Yeah, see how messy this picture looks? Multiply that by about 42 and that gives you the idea of the complexity we're looking at...

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman rip, blackest night, brightest day, comic books, continuity, crisis crossover, crisis on infinite earths, dc comics, final crissi, graphic novels, hypertextuality, intertextuality, marvel comics, medium, seige, the herois age | Leave a comment »

Comics for Grown Ups?

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Darren

Comic books are what Neil Gaiman once famously described as “the medium that’s always confused with a genre”. The fact that they are typically populated with spandex-wearing superheroes has led to a bit of a pop culture stigma around the medium, as stories about grown men in their underwear pounding each other are the only stories that could be told in that format. Anyone even loosely familiar with the history of the genre will know better, but I’ve always imagined comic books having a hard time fitting in to popular culture in the same way that books or film or television do. So can comic books ever really draw in that elusive adult audience?

Smoking? In a comic book? That will not stand!

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: alan moore, comic books, dc comics, films, for kids, grant morrison, graphic novel, kids, marvel, mature, maturity, neil gaiman, pop culture, sandman, vertigo, watchmen | 5 Comments »

It’s the 75th Anniversary of DC Comics…

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Darren

… and to celebrate, we’ll be running a selection of comic book themed posts throughout the week.

We've come a long way, baby...

We’ll be looking at:

Those interested in this might like to check out The Dark Week, a week-long Batman-related event we ran to celebrate the anniversary of The Dark Knight and Batman’s birthday last year.

For those here for the movie news and reviews, don’t worry, this won’t itnerrupt with regularly-scheduled posting.

Filed under: Comics | Tagged: 75th birthdau, comic books, Comics, dc comics, graphic novels, media, medium | Leave a comment »