Comic Book Thought Bubbles

Who is Watching the Watchmen?

2009-03-15T13:15:00.007-04:00

*Spoiler Alert: If you Have Not Seen the Film, Don't Read it Yet*

I have come back from watching the Watchmen movie. It started off real well, it felt very familiar too. Like revisiting an old friend, and then the movie departures happened. Now of course I was not expecting the comic book to be completed translated to film. It was a huge story even for a 12 issue mini series.

Now I should say that at the moment I am still on the fence as to whether I liked the film over all or not. The acting was good, but the pacing was a little choppy for people not familiar with the story (although I think it will cause a massive increase in Watchmen TPBs).

The issue I think I do have is they made Rorschach a little too violent (and by violent I mean chopping someone up). Scenes that were subtle in the book got blown out of proportion. He was made to look a lot more psychotic than he was in the comics. That was disappointing, as were the fight scenes involving the Silk Specter (why was she posing after several kicks?).

I had no issue with John running around bottomless (he did that in the book so no surprise there). So i guess overall I can safely say that Watchmen for a fan would be pretty cool. Watchmen for the man on the street might be a trip down an ultra violent story this side of Sin City.

Now here are some quotes from people who saw Watchmen on Twitter:

Agent_M: Hmm. I definitely enjoyed Watchmen. Certainly didn't love it. The use of music is a major point of conversation right now.

Agent_M: I don't think I can give a fully-formed opinion of Watchmen yet. Gotta let it soak in more.

bclaymoore: Too much for Twitter. Not a movie for the masses, and ultimately pointless (the comic book was the last word). But glad I saw it. Enjoyed it.

stephenfry: Mm enjoyed Watchmen. Man in row in front fell asleep. I didn't but have to say I think it was far too long. Should read the GN now...

Pryde of the X-Men

2009-01-17T19:09:00.004-05:00

Kitty Pryde by far one of the most developed X-Man to date. She has gone from teenage understudy to full fledged ninja and shield agent.

Her recent return to the X-Men in Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, helped me remember why I loved the character so much. Her conflict with Emma, and her rekindled romance with Colossus all were enjoyable moments thru out the story.

It is no wonder Kotobukiya added her to the line of X-Men statues that they have been releasing. The Ogun demon mask and katana makes this bust a must for Kitty fans everywhere.

The Dark Knight Returns

2009-01-15T21:54:00.003-05:00

Final Crisis #6

Written by Grant Morrison

*Warning: The following is an outline of the events which take place in Final Crisis #6*

The story opens with the final gambit of the heroes verses the villains. It comes out in a spectacular array of violence and pandemonium.

Mary Marvel is violently clashing with Supergirl; Black Adam reveals that it’s Dessad that has been in control of Mary. Freddy comes up with the answer on how to defeat him/her. Tawny the Tiger once again proves that he should not be under estimated when he defeats Kalibak in a grizzly dual.

Meanwhile up in the JLA satellite, Black Canary makes the Tattooed Man an honorary member of the JLA. The circuitry copied onto the Tattooed Man is blocking out the effects of the anti-life equation. An army of storm troopers raid the satellite lead by Green Arrow and Black Lightning.

The Flash gathers Jay and Wally for one last run to defeat Darkseid. A new Black Racer has been appointed and seeking Barry Allen. Barry's plan is to lead him to Darkseid.

Luthor and Sivanna team up, realizing that the end of the world really means the end of life itself. They free the Calculator and destroy Libra (yes, this is as anti-climactic as it sounds).

The Atoms (Ray and Choi) are going to navigate the bleed and move everyone left to a new dimension (is it me or does DC really like shedding dimensions like a snake). Montoya (the new Question) is asked if she will lead the law enforcement agency of this new world.

Now for the moment everyone has been waiting for since the end of Batman R.I.P. These are the last few pages of the story, Darkseid (Turpin) is on his throne and asks Batman to come out of hiding. Batman comes out of the shadow with a gun in hand. He recaps all the events that had lead up to the death of Orion. At the end of his story Batman seems to be raving, talking about his oath and guns. "In your case, I will make an exception!" he takes aim and fires
9using the bullet that killed Orion), but not before Darkseid releases his omega beams.

I will leave it there, I have highlighted some of the more revealing points of this story but I will leave you with Batman and Darkseid trapped in their dual, until you read the book. I do caution you though that there are a few more gaps to fill between Batman R.I.P. and Finial Crisis #6.

Don't get on his Darkseid

2008-12-08T13:40:00.003-05:00

DC Comics has just announced an expansion to their Heroes of the DC Universe line. Adding a well sculpted Darkseid to the mix designed by Carlos Pacheco.

The name of the line will become Villains of the DC Universe when he debuts. The lord of Apocalypse has been in dire need of some sculpting action since his key appearances in Final Crisis and Death of the New Gods.

I am looking forward to seeing the release of this bust in July.

The Dark Knight - DC Comics Does it Again!

2008-07-22T09:53:00.011-04:00

In the aftermath of the Dark Knight hoopla, I must admit that this movie is by far the best Batman movie to date. Now, I know that may not be saying much compared to it's movie history. However, with the showing of Batman Begins we see that bat movies can be well done.

The performance by Heath Ledger is amazing, well thought out and not (and I repeat, not) campy. He does quote a few lines from Batman (the Tim Burton one) but all in all an original interpretation. Those of you out there that feared that he was trying to be Jack Nichloson playing the Joker, can lay them to rest. Ledger's characterization and timing are well done, delivering gruesome lines with an eerie silence for punctuation.

So I will not spoil the movie for anyone out there, but I urge you to go see it and if you already have go see it again.

DC Comics Green Arrow/Black Canary #9

2008-06-15T23:06:00.015-04:00

The search for Connor Hawke continues.....the challenge find the body and fight the bad guy. The bad guy flavor of the month (or is that story line?) The League of Assassins. Though to tell the truth they have continued to be the villain since the return of Green Arrow and Black Canary.

The reason for Batman's villains to be introduced into a Green Arrow storyline. The Black Canary, during a Birds of Prey storyline she removed the future Lady Shiva from her training camp. You later find out that the training ground was under the control of the League of Assassins.

Judd Winick has made this story line entertaining to say the least. This time he has introduced a strange element, Plastic Man. The rubbery superhero is found by Green Arrow and Black Canary during their search. The League had kidnapped and experimented on Plastic Man (intro sub plot?).

Speedy is out tracking the League with the English sidekick that they had picked up. Unfortunately things take a turn for the worst, and the League decides to take a stand and fight back (against the sidekick, of course).

Then at the end of the book...well you should read it and find out.

DC Comics Titans #3 - What's the Point?

2008-06-14T15:05:00.010-04:00

"We are getting the band back together!" this is what came to mind when I heard they were reintroducing the Titans to the next generation of comic book readers. A team composed of Nightwing (before that Robin), Donna Troy (Wonder Girl), the Flash (Kid Flash), Red Arrow (Speedy), Starfire, Beast Boy (I liked him better as Changeling), Raven and Cyborg.

To give you a recap, The Teen Titans was an excellent team comic book back in the 80's. It had original stories (like the Judas Contract) written by Marv Wolfman and supported by George Perez (one really gifted artist).

Flash forward to the 21st Century we have the original team coming back together all grown up (or I guess more grown up since they were already into adulthood during the Teen Titans) with Judd Winick as the writer and Joe Benitez and Victor Llamas doing the art chores. The storyline so far, someone is killing off the Titans past and present. A good start but where do you go from there?

As the reader I am three issues into the story (four if you count the one shot that was "not" connected to the storyline), and nothing very exciting has happened. We do see some drama start to occur in this issue, but we later find out that the cause of the problems were Trigon's sons. It was revealed at the end of the second issue that Trigon was hunting them down and that he had another child.

However, in looking back at Titan's history we know that all of his children had been hunted down and killed. So what kept Trigon's enemies from getting at this new brood. Why where they hidden from Raven? Newly reborn and seemingly more powerful than before? These are some of the questions that I feel may get lost in the story telling....any thoughts?

Marvel Comics Secret Invasion - Iron Man Traitor?

2008-06-13T16:38:00.007-04:00

So after all this time we are suppose to believe that Tony Stark has been a skrull?

For those of you who are not in the know, this is in reference to Marvel's summer cross over Secret Invasion. The skrulls have their sights on the Earth and they mean to take it by force.

This of course all started back in Avenger's Illuminati, where Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Strange, the Sub Mariner and Black Bolt thought it was a good idea to tell the entire race of skrull to stay away from earth. Well they got their head's handed to them, and ended up as captives for an unknown length of time. So of course the skrulls took the opportunity to study all their powers and figured out how to invade earth undetected.

That was just a quick recap, and now to go on with my commentary. Tony Stark, Iron Man and director of SHIELD a skrull ridiculous. This a red herring if I ever saw one, and this is my reasoning. The Queen decided to stand in for Spider Woman. She would have Spider Woman's powers and be able to use her chemical pheromones to manipulate Iron Man into believing he is a skrull, thus taking out one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe.

Iron Man the Movie

2008-06-13T14:56:00.006-04:00

Iron Man the movie, I know this is kind of late to be talking about it but, I just started writing and this was the last superhero movie I saw.

John Favreau did a great job directing, loved the fight scenes and the evolution of the armor. Robert Downey Jr. made an excellent Tony Stark, fun, witty, and sometimes almost serious.

The dark horse of this movie for me was Obidiah Stane played by Jeff Bridges. When did he get so big? He was barely recognizable bald too. He was ruthless, money hungry, and just plain evil. I loved it!

So with everyone now very aware of the last scene in the film with Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson), will they really introduce the Avengers? Team movies don't seem to be as engaging as the solo ones. Although I thought the X-Men films were ok, there is not enough focus on plot or character developement. If the Avengers were a smaller team it might work (don't kill me but I liked the Fantastic Four films). A team of four characters is a lot easier to handle than six or more.

The Incredible Hulk

2008-06-12T21:44:00.004-04:00

Here we are on the eve of the release of the Incredible Hulk "requel" not a sequel or a remake, but something that will quietly ignore the Ang Lee film of 2003. The cast features Ed Norton a decent choice for Bruce Banner (although I did like Eric Bana). The trailers show a lot of chase scenes giving the movie a feel reminiscent of the earlier Incredible Hulk TV show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno (complete with similar theme music).

They have added a decent villain the Abomination (Emil Blosky played by Tim Roth) who I will admit is an excellent upgrade from the pseudo Absorbing Man that was played by Nick Nolte in the first film. Let's hope that he does not suffer the same fate as most comic book movie villains. Though it may lack the elegance of the film that Ang Lee (I really did like the comic panels on the screen) made, I am sure the action that everyone thought was missing will be more than made up for in this one.

To all who will see it tomorrow, I hope it is the apology you are looking for by Marvel and that it lays the foundation for more Hulk films. I will post my thoughts on the film after I have seen it (most likely when the crowds have died down).