Thursday, June 23, 2005

New Comic Day June 22

Here are the comics I purchased today:

Girls #2


This is the second issue of the second series by the Luna Brothers and although not quite as good as the first issue, it still has it's moments. The argument between the cop and the main character is pretty good and the dialouge throughout the issue is quite realistic. The second half of the issue has more science fictiony stuff in it and concludes with a VERY bizarre scene. All in all though, this series is shaping up to be very good.

Teen Titans #25


This is the 3rd part in the crossover with the Outsiders and it was much better than the second. Superboy returns and lays another beatdown on the Titans under the orders of Lex Luthor. I'm guessing the next few issue will tie in with the whole "Return of Donna Troy" malarchy that DC is putting out as this issue made several references to her. I for one won't be getting into that kettle of fish and pick up what I need to from Wizard and any other Prolouge that DC puts out. Some of the art in this issue seemed a bit sketchy and rushed though, so that took away from the story somewhat. I imagine there will be a lot of that in the coming months as DC has been faced with some release problems recently, for example the aforementioned "Return of Donna Troy" mini-series. Well the arc finishes in the next issue of Outsiders so it will be interesting to see how things get wrapped up. Hopefully it's better than the previous Outsiders ish.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #20


This was a lackluster finish to the 2 part arc involving a super-smart female villain. I'm seriously considering dropping this series unless this next arc is good. It features a crossover event between the ultimate universe and what I think is the regular marvel universe (groan). If it's not good, then it's going the way of Ultimate Spider-man and X-men

New Avengers #6


Not very much happened this issue other than a bunch of foreshadowing for a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. The Sentry makes a reappearance next issue so hopefully things pick up. Wolverine so does not need to be on this team. So much for Marvel's continuity.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Batman Begins


Best. Batman. Ever. There, I've said it, it's out there. Why should you beleive me? The fact of the matter is that this is not only a great Batman movie, it's a great movie all on its own.

Story


It's about time they did this one right. Every Batman movie shows Bruce's parents getting murdered, then cut forward like 20 years and then he's Batman. This one actually fills in the gap between the two showing the struggles he faced on his path towards becomming the Caped Crusader. His training by the League of Shadows was a cool twist in the origin story and made for an interesting personal grudge between Bruce and Ra's Al Ghoul (which I'm not entirely convince should be pronounced "Rawz". I preferred "Raysh" from the animated series.). The way Bruce obtained all his goodies (from Wayne Enterprises R&D) was a good idea rather than having him make all the stuff himself. I was a little worried about having the whole two villains thing (Ra's and Scarecrow) but it was pulled off with neither character being diluted, though it would have been nice to see more Scarecrow action.

Acting


Just because you have a cast of big name actors, doesn't mean you're going to get a great movie (we all remember Ocean's 12). However, the players in this film did a very good job of portraying the essence of every character. Michael Caine gave a wonderful performance as Alfred and though I was sketchy about Gary Oldman as Jim Gordan, he very much reminded me of the cop in Frank Miller's Year One storyline. Cudos. The actor playing Ra's Al Ghoul seemed like a frightening villain who could very well exist out in the real world. Cillian Murphy showed us a weird and demented Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and as I mentioned above, it would have been nice to see a bit more of him. And last but not least, Christian Bale. Hot damn he makes a great Batman! When he's interrogating Flass (the crooked cop) by dangling him above the street, I got goosebumps from his sheer intensity. This is Batman to a tee. I look forward to seeing him reprise the role (hopefully) several times. I gave it a 4 out of 5 because of Katie Holmes. She didn't really need to be in this movie and I think they included some sort of love interest, just to show Bruce was still human. As well, it kind of takes away from having Batman as this purely singular-goal driven creature. That being said, the ending scene with them was well done and kind of addressed that issue. So maybe 4.5/5.

Special Effects and Sound


Honestly, there didn't seem to be many special effects in this movie. I expected to see an animated Batman (ala Spiderman) sneaking about the rooftops, but there was no instance (that I could tell) of this. The fight scences also all seemed to be done with stuntmen as opposed to digital actors, which I enjoyed. As well, the fight sequences weren't long and drawn out. They were quick and dirty just like a Batman fight should be. If he comes after you, you're going to go down, and go down hard. They really captured the legend of Batman with this movie, not by making it flashy and sexy, but my staying true to the source material.

Now the Batmobile had me worried when I first saw pictures of it, but on screen and in the context of why it was built, it makes perfect sense and it looks really, really cool tearing up the streets of Gotham.

The sound in the movie is top notch and gave a spooky feel to the film. I'll see it again and elaborate a bit more.

Overall


I was really impressed with this movie and it might have to take Spiderman's place as my favorite comic movie ever. I'll definately be seeing it again in theatre and buying whatever "Special Deluxe Edition" dvd they come out with. If you haven't seen it, go see it. If you've seen it, see it again. It's worth it. Hopefully the Superman movie is this good...

Thursday, June 16, 2005

New Comic Day June 15

Here are the comics I purchased today:

Ex Machina #12


This is the beginning of a new storyline and I notice a pattern developing. There is the regular mayor/political stuff, though it sounds boring, is actually quite interesting then there's the more science-fictionay part about Mitch's powers which is also good. Although having them together in each storyline is done well, I'd rather if one was focused on for several issues then switched up. This might deter from the mystery though regarding the subplots. A good issue with the main thing being the mayor being summonded for jury duty with two subplots: a guy who's very interested in getting on the jury with Mitch and a new Great Machine-like character is seen who fights crime. My prediction is it's Kremlin. Check back when I get issue 16 to see if I'm right.

Prelude to Infinite Crisis


This is a 96 page trade paperback-like issue that collects 3 issues and several parts of issues which have little Infinite Crisis tidbits that have been seeded in the DC Univers for the past 2-3 years. I for one think this was a really good idea on DC's part. Instead of forcing consumers to purchase all the individual issues which lead to Infinite Crisis so they know what's going on, they present key information wrapped up all in one place (and for ONLY $8.00!). As well, like any good movie thats based on a book, it leaves the reader with interest in the original material. I can easily see someone that only had interest in the main mini-series for Infinite Crisis reading this and then going out and searching for all of the back issues to try and piece together the puzzle. Not me personally, but someone. I don't want to know too much about Crisis before it happens because that's what happened for Identity Crisis when I went on the message boards looking at theories. None of that this time around.

Oh yeah, don't let the cover fool you, the actual cover has some cool blue lightning effect around the eye and along the divisions between the four panels.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

New Comic Day June 11

Here are the comics I purchased yesterday:

Fables #38


This is the third part of the Homelands storyline and sees Boy Blue enter the Imperial City to dispatch with the Emperor. I enjoyed the previous issue more than this one and it seemed overwith too quickly. However, the surprise cliffhanger ending left me wanting more and judging from the tag for next issue, it seems like we'll be hanging on for quite a while.

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel #4


The true motives behind Lex's Science Spire start to become a bit more clear in this issue, but the series itself seems somewhat disjointed. There is an overall theme of mankind reaching beyond itself, but the context with which that theme is embedded doesn't seem to fit. This is mainly because of issue three I think with the random Batman/Superman encounter. Seems like Azzarello can't be consistent (see his and Jim Lee's recent run on Superman). With one issue left in this mini-series, I don't really see how it will come together.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #19


This is a fill in issue as will be the next, but it wasn't too bad. It was definately more science-fictiony than other issues as a rejected think tank candidate takes over the Baxter building and takes out all the FF members but Reed. Jae Lee's art goes very well with the story and I look forward to the conclusion next issue to see what Reed does to get himself and his teammates out of this pickle.

JLA #115


This is the arc that leads in to Fall's Infinite Crisis series and it wasn't what I was expecting at all. That's not a bad thing though. Someone is giving old villains all of their memories back and they take out the JLA with frighteningly fast efficientcy. Batman is also supposed to confront the JLA about his mindwipe, which is what I was looking for only to be dissapointed. Hopefully next issue.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

New Comic Day June 8

Hi all,
I'm in beautiful (but cloudy/rainy) Whistler, BC this week so won't be able to get my comics until Sunday :( Look for a post then.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

New Comic Day June 1

Here are the comics I purchased today:

WE3 Trade Paperback

I was pretty blown away by this three issue mini-series. Morrison's tale of three cybernetically enhanced animals (a dog, cat and rabbit) is very well done and is made more so by Frank Quitely's art and pacing. Several of the pages had a style that I've not really seen before. For example, during the breakout scene there were 4 pages of 18 or so panels each which really slowed down the action to the benefit of the reader! As well, different panel shapes and sizes offered a refreshing visual experience. I could easily see this comic being made into a movie, sort of a Homeward Bound meets Terminator type dealy. Anyways, I highly recommend this trade and here are some more shots of the interior artwork.




Y: The Last Man #34


This was somewhat of a lackluster issue and we see 355 kind of act out of character by yelling at Yorrick. More detail is given as the to the nature of the heroin operation being run, but I didn't really find it interesting. I really want the reason for all the men's death's to become clear/ I realize that's what the book is about, but I feel it's being dragged out a bit too much. At this point in the story, I'm just looking for 355 and Dr. Mann to get bizay again.

Strange #6


This wraps up the mini-series and it did not meet my expectations. I felt the Dormammu fight was way too short and I didn't care for how Strange got godlike. I figured under the extreme stress of the situation, something would open up inside him and enable his inert powers, rather than the Ancient One sending his power to Strange before he died. It didn't seem like Strange was really special and was simply given great power, which didn't really work for me. However, the issue did have some good points. I enjoyed the idea of Strange having to sacrifice everything he ever knew in order to be the sorceror supreme. The artwork was also quite good, despite the cover not being as cool as last month's.

Superman/Batman #20


I didn't really want to get this issue, but was obligated to buy it because I cancelled it after Elfsar had already ordered it. Not a big deal really. This issue starts a new storyline that seems as confusing as the last one. That's one thing about comics lately that really starting to annoy me. The writer's have a story arc in mind, but instead of making each issue of the arc consistent and enjoyable, they make them really confusing for the first 2/3 of it (usually 4 issues) then start explaining stuff in the last few issues. I read comics to be entertained and this method does not do a good job. This is also part of the reason why I stopped getting Ultimate Spider-man. The Hobgoblin arc was SO dragged out, and a few of the issues lacked any real substance. This is the last SB issue I'll get.

Invincible #23


On a similar note to the rant in SB #20, the fact that there aren't really story arcs in Invincible is what makes this series so great. Every issue is consistent and enjoyable without the subplots and forshadowing over-powering the story. #23 is no exception and it was written a little differently that other issues. There were references made to events that happened in previous issues and an editor's text box telling you what issue to find it in. This harkens back to the pre-90's comics where these notes were everywhere in DC and Marvel comics and I thought it was pretty neat. There aren't many times in comics when my eyes bulge out in surprise/shock, but turing the page to see the result of the Viltrumites beating on Allen the Alien. It was like "wow". Again this is why this comic is so good. It actually gives the reader "wow" moments. It's one of the few comics that does.