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American Vampire, Vol. 1 (Review)

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Darren

This October, to get us in the mood for Halloween, we’re taking a look at some awesome monster comics. Check back in every Monday this month for a review of Scott Snyder’s American Vampire Saga.

In the end, though, it’s all about giving back the teeth that the current “sweetie-vamp” craze has, by and large, stolen from the blood suckers.

– Stephen King’s introduction to the collection

Stephen King, who wrote the origin half of this collection based off Scott Snyder’s notes, remarks in his wonderful foreword, “Here’s what vampires shouldn’t be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and only work at night; lovelorn southern gentlement; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes.” American Vampire seems to be a strong rebuttal to all those modern and soft depictions of the blood-sucking monsters we’ve been swamped with over the last decade or so.

If that isn’t enough to at least interest you, then I don’t know what will.

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: American Century, American Vampire, comic books, Comics, danse macabre, dc, dc comics, horror, los angeles, monsters, rafael albuquerque, Scott Snyder, Skinner Sweet, stephen king, United States, vampire, vampires, vertigo | Leave a comment »

Severed by Scott Snyder, Scott Tuft & Attila Futaki (Review)

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Darren

Severed is a distinctly American horror story, feeling like something of a companion piece to author Scott Snyder’s American Vampire or even the work of Stephen King. Set during the dark days of the first world war, it’s an exploration of the darker side of the American Dream, to the point where it’s quite telling that our narrator refers to the anonymous villain merely as “the Nightmare.” It’s rich, sophisticated and atmospheric storytelling, a modern American fable co-written by Scott Tuft and with bone-chilling illustrations from Attila Futaki that are sure to unsettle.

Not too far afield…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: american dream, arts, batman, Chicago, dc comics, detective comics, elvis presley, Incandescent light bulb, jack, Mark Twain, Scott Snyder, Snyder, stephen king, United States, World War I | Leave a comment »

Justice League Unlimited – Flashpoint (Review)

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Darren

This September marks the twentieth anniversary of Batman: The Animated Series, and the birth of the shared DC animated universe that would eventually expand to present one of the most comprehensive and thorough explorations of a comic book mythology in any medium. To celebrate, we’re going back into the past and looking at some classic episodes.

While Question Authority kicked off this four-part climax to the arc that had been building through the first season of Justice League Unlimited, it’s Flashpoint that really serves to bring things into focus. Question Authority had been told mostly from the point of view of the Question, an outsider looking in – but Flashpoint explores the consequences of this inevitable conflict for the core of the Justice League. It’s amazing just how thoroughly and carefully writer Dwayne McDuffie was able to explore the concept of the superhero in this cynical post-9/11 world. While Divided We Fall would sidestep quite a few of the issues raised, I’m quite impressed to see them even broached in a half-hour cartoon action series.

All fired up…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: alan moore, animation, art, batman, batman animated series, Captain Atom, christopher reeve, comic book, Comics, dc animated universe, dc comic, dc comics, Dwayne McDuffie, green arrow, justice league, paul dini, supergirl, superman, United States | 6 Comments »

Warren Ellis’ Stormwatch, Vol. 1 (Hardcover) (Review)

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Darren

Warren Ellis in free flow is a truly beautiful thing to watch. In the right frame of mind, working on the right idea, Ellis has a unique ability to throw out radical ideas, fascinating constructs and subversive notions, all without ever losing his step or his flow. With Bryan Hitch, Ellis’ acclaimed and respected run on The Authority firmly altered the trajectory of mainstream comic books. Part of it was definitely the style that Ellis and Hitch brought to the book, promising “widescreen” dynamic action. However, it was the ideas that gave the book a significant amount of weight. Ellis demonstrated that you could take realpolitick and graft it into a superhero book, lending the adventures a bit more depth, potency and relevance than any publisher would have dared attempt before. These ideas are all present in Ellis’ original run on Stormwatch, the series that led into that iconic game-changing comic book.

I blame it on the Weatherman…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Bryan Hitch, dc comics, Ellis, Henry Bendix, japan, Jenny Sparks, justice league, Kaizen Gamorra, midnighter, New York City, Paul Cornell, Paul Jenkins, Peter Milligan, Red Lantern, stormwatch, United States, warren ellis, wildstorm, world war ii | Leave a comment »

Justice League Unlimited – Task Force X (Review)

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Darren

I’ll freely concede that I’m not as fond of Bruce Timm’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited shows as most seem to be. With a larger and more expansive cast, and an impressively epic backdrop, the shows often felt a little too impersonal, when compared to the work that Timm did on Batman: The Animated Series or Superman: The Animated Series. As a result, I tend to favour the smaller and more intimate episodes of those two spin-offs, the ones very clearly focused on the characters rather than on the larger story arcs. I think Task Force X is one instalment that stands among the very best that the animated DC universe has to offer.

X marks the spot…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: batman, batman: the animated series, bruce timm, dc animated universe, dc comics, Dwayne McDuffie, justice league, justice league unlimited, LexCorp, suicide squad | Leave a comment »

Superman: The Animated Series – Stolen Memories (Review)

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Darren

Superman: The Animated Series gets a bit of a hard time among the Bruce Timm “DC animated universe” shows. I think it’s fair to say that the show never reaches the highs (or even the average consistency) of Batman: The Animated Series, and it never matches the scale of Justice League, the pace of Justice League Unlimited or the ambition of Batman Beyond. However, it actually does a fairly wonderful job working with a character who has proved quite difficult to handle. I think Superman: The Animated Series was at its strongest when it distinguished itself from its direct predecessor, Batman: The Animated Series, and I think that Stolen Memoriesis the perfect example of that.

He’s got the whole world, in his hands…

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Filed under: Television | Tagged: batman, batman animated series, brainiac, dc comics, Earth, joker, justice league, justice league unlimited, krypton, lex luthor, LexCorp, lois lane, National security, New 52, superman, Superman Animated Series, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Geoff Johns’ (and Jim Lee’s) Run on Justice League – Origin (Review)

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Darren

It has been a year since DC revamped their whole line, cancelling all their on-goings and launching 52 new series each with a shiny new “#1.” Okay, technically the first in the line, Justice League #1, was published at the end of August, but I figure it’s appropriate to look back on DC’s flagship book and reflect on that first six-issue arc that served to launch the new DC universe (which is being affectionately referred to as the “DCnU”). Putting Geoff Johns and Jim Lee on the Justice League title just seems like common sense.

Johns has, after all, written pretty much all the characters already, and Jim Lee is respected as one of the greatest artists of his generation. However, Origins is far from the perfect reintroduction to DC’s iconic superheroes. While both writer and artist are doing solid work, there’s a sense that these first six issues are simply trying to do too much.

Chains that don’t quite bind…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: aquaman, batman, batman: hush, Coast City, Cyborg, darkseid, dc comics, dc universe, flash, Free Comic Book Day, geoff johns, green lantern, jim lee, Johns, justice league, superman, wonder woman | Leave a comment »

Judd Winick’s Run on Batman & Robin – Streets Run Red (Review)

Posted on July 25, 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.

Today we’re taking a look at three of the authors who followed Grant Morrison’s groundbreaking Batman & Robin run. And, rounding off our day of reviews, is Judd Winick’s three-issue arc.

I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed at how DC editorial handled Batman & Robin after Morrison departed. In hindsight, it’s apparent that they were waiting until the high-profile post-Flashpoint DCnU to relaunch the title with its new creative team of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, but that still means there were ten issues between the end of Morrison’s run and the proper start of Tomasi and Gleason’s. While using fill-in writers and artists might have seemed logical, I can’t help but feel like there should have been tighter editorial control of the book.

While Paul Cornell and Tomasi both maintained some association with Morrison’s well-loved run, Judd Winick uses the title to tell a three-issue story arc that doesn’t necessarily fit. Instead, this three issue story-arc feels like it should have been a miniseries or featured in an anthology title, fitting more easily within the character continuity of Winick’s resurrected Jason Todd than within any framework of Batman & Robin.

All good for the Hood?

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: batman, batman & robin, batman & robin: streets run red, bruce wayne, damian wayne, Dark Knight Rises, dc comics, dick grayson, grant morrison, Grantmorrison, IGN, Jason Todd, judd winick, morrison, patrick gleason, peter tomasi, robin, robin (jason todd), streets run red, under the red hood, Winick | 2 Comments »

Paul Cornell’s Run on Batman & Robin – The Sum of Her Parts (Review)

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Darren

Today we’re taking a look at three of the authors who followed Grant Morrison’s groundbreaking Batman & Robin run. We’ll start with Paul Cornell.

I’m going to be entirely honest here. I am very disappointed that Paul Cornell hasn’t really got a shot at an on-going Batman book. The author has been something of a rising star at DC comics for what seems like years, and recently provided the best Superman run in recent memory with his wonderful Lex Luthor story in Action Comics. He’s a writer who is astutely aware of the genre conventions, while being shrewd enough to exploit them to his advantage. He writes distinctly “comic book!” comic books, but without following the standard plot patterns just for the sake of adhering to formula. His three-issue Batman & Robin fill-in arc might not be his best work, or the best work on the title, but I do admire Cornell’s willingness to provide a compelling criticism of the Batman mythos instead of merely offering a generic paint-by-numbers treading-water adventure. Even if it doesn’t quite stick the landing, Cornell’s story is certainly ambitious.

Drilling it into them…

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Filed under: Comics | Tagged: Action Comics, alfred, batman, batman & robin, batman & robin: the sum of her parts, Bruce, bruce wayne, Comics, Cornell, damian wayne, Dark Knight Rises, dc comics, feminism, Grantmorrison, lex luthor, morrison, Paul Cornell, peter tomasi, robin, sexism, the sum of her parts | 1 Comment »

Batman/Planetary: Night on Earth (Review)

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Darren

Warren Ellis gets Batman. He gets all of Batman. he gets the Caped Crusader, the Dark Knight, the Knight of Vengeance, the Bat-Man and more. He understands that the various pop culture iterations of the character, from Bob Kane’s gun-totting vigilante to Adam West’s “peace officer” to Frank Miller’s one-man army, are all just different facets of the same idea, reflected differently in various takes on the character. It’s hard to reconcile all of these different interpretations – in fact, I’d argue that Grant Morrison’s Batman run suffered for making the attempt – but Ellis does it with remarkable style, without every seeming like he’s cramming too much in or leaving too much out.