A bright spot, however, was the Convergence: Superman book which was excellent and showed how great this dimensional-crossover event could have been.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Review of Convergence 0-2
Jason Book and I discuss our disappointment thus far with the Convergence event from DC Comics, written by Jeff King, Dan Jurgens, and others, with art by Van Sciver, Paz, and others.
A bright spot, however, was the Convergence: Superman book which was excellent and showed how great this dimensional-crossover event could have been.
A bright spot, however, was the Convergence: Superman book which was excellent and showed how great this dimensional-crossover event could have been.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Review of Batman v Superman Trailer 1
Jason Book and I discuss the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer that was released over the weekend.
Both of us had positive reactions to the trailer, praising its tone and the look of Bats and Supes. I was especially thrilled with the deep thematic content that it lays out. And it did a great job of spurring conversation without really giving anything away at all (we don't see Lex, we don't know Lex's plot, we don't see anything after the BvS fight, we don't know if there's kryptonite, etc.).
Both of us had positive reactions to the trailer, praising its tone and the look of Bats and Supes. I was especially thrilled with the deep thematic content that it lays out. And it did a great job of spurring conversation without really giving anything away at all (we don't see Lex, we don't know Lex's plot, we don't see anything after the BvS fight, we don't know if there's kryptonite, etc.).
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Bracket Tournament of Comic Book Movies
The folks at AMC Movie News are currently running a tournament bracket to determine, by popular vote, the best animated movie of all time (my final four would be Sleeping Beauty, Up, The Incredibles, and The Emperor's New Groove). This contest reminded me that last year they ran a bracket to determine the best superhero movie. The final four ended up being The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, The Avengers, and Iron Man, with The Dark Knight defeating The Avengers to take the crown.
I was curious about the breakdown of DC-based movies versus Marvel Studios movies throughout the bracket. Here's what I found.
The fact that DC maintained the edge over Marvel throughout every round of this popularly-voted tournament just reminds me of the fact that, although Marvel has had a solid run of hits in theaters recently, one has to keep in mind that DC had a very large head start, leading off with the original Superman series and the Batman series before Marvel got started. And then even if you restrict your attention to "what have you done for me lately," DC has Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy actually surpassing Marvel Studios according to the AMC results, plus there's Man of Steel right there in the final four.
I do admit that, if you expand out to other Marvel characters, that adds quite a few feathers in Marvel's cap, and I also admit that DC has more than their share of stinkers to go along with their strong showing in the AMC tourney, but I don't think that it should be a foregone conclusion that Marvel Studios is wiping the floor with DC in the film department. If Marvel were the unchallenged king, then I think we should have seen Marvel winning at least one round of the comic book movie tournament!
I was curious about the breakdown of DC-based movies versus Marvel Studios movies throughout the bracket. Here's what I found.
- AMC Movie News seeded the brackets and they included 9 DC movies in the set of 32, 8 from Marvel Studios, 4 X-Men, 3 Spider-man, and 8 miscellaneous (some of which featured Marvel characters, like Blade, but were not produced by Marvel Studios, and none of which moved on to round two). So to start things off, it's DC 9, Marvel 8.
- Then the fans took over. In the first round, 6 DC movies moved on, 5 from Marvel Studios, 3 from the X-Men universe, and 2 featuring Spider-man. So DC maintains its lead, 6 to 5.
- The elite eight featured 4 DC movies to 3 from Marvel, plus X2. So it's still 4 to 3, advantage DC.
- Then, as mentioned above, we had The Dark Knight versus Man of Steel (DC v. DC) and The Avengers versus Iron Man (Marvel v. Marvel) in the final four. This guaranteed a DC v. Marvel showdown in the final, where The Dark Knight trounced The Avengers, getting nearly 3 times the votes from the AMC Movie News fans. So DC comes out on top, hands down. [See the brackets here]
I do admit that, if you expand out to other Marvel characters, that adds quite a few feathers in Marvel's cap, and I also admit that DC has more than their share of stinkers to go along with their strong showing in the AMC tourney, but I don't think that it should be a foregone conclusion that Marvel Studios is wiping the floor with DC in the film department. If Marvel were the unchallenged king, then I think we should have seen Marvel winning at least one round of the comic book movie tournament!
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Reviews of Batman 38 and 39
Jason Book and I discuss the latest installments in the Endgame storyline (Part 4 and Part 5, resp., below) by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, and featuring a new take on the Joker.
Overall we are both enjoying the story arc because of the continued strong collaboration and execution by Snyder and Capullo, but we're not completely sold on the new backstory for the Joker.
Overall we are both enjoying the story arc because of the continued strong collaboration and execution by Snyder and Capullo, but we're not completely sold on the new backstory for the Joker.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Review of DC Comics Television
Jason Book and I discuss the 2014 surge of DC Comics properties on TV.
We both agree that initial run of The Flash is the high point, but Gotham is decent as well, with room to improve, and Constantine has the makings of a great show, if the plug doesn't get pulled too early. We also look forward to a possible Supergirl series on CBS.
We both agree that initial run of The Flash is the high point, but Gotham is decent as well, with room to improve, and Constantine has the makings of a great show, if the plug doesn't get pulled too early. We also look forward to a possible Supergirl series on CBS.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Review of Superman 37
Jason Book (http://houseofjb.blogspot.ca) and I discuss the latest issue of Superman, by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr. This is the Men of Tomorrow story arc (second chapter 5? I think it was supposed to be Chapter 6).
We had some problems with the story and we've come to have a certain appreciation for Romita Jr's artwork. Even given our concerns, there are some important things that happen in this issue and we're curious what will happen next.
We had some problems with the story and we've come to have a certain appreciation for Romita Jr's artwork. Even given our concerns, there are some important things that happen in this issue and we're curious what will happen next.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Review of Superman 36
Jason Book and I discuss the latest issue of Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr.'s run on Superman, the Men of Tomorrow story arc (first chapter 5).
This issue was a step up from the previous one and it is clearly giving us some "rising action" in the plot development. I'm especially curious about the true nature of Ulysses' offer to the Earthlings and the mysterious character who seems to be watching from afar in the previous issues. 36 also explores some important societal issues that are very timely.
This issue was a step up from the previous one and it is clearly giving us some "rising action" in the plot development. I'm especially curious about the true nature of Ulysses' offer to the Earthlings and the mysterious character who seems to be watching from afar in the previous issues. 36 also explores some important societal issues that are very timely.
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