Wonder Woman 2017

Wonder Woman ~ I hated the first two film entries in the DC Extended Universe, absolutely hated them. Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice were seriously bad enough to put me off DC superhero movies forever. That said, I gave number three, Suicide Squad a chance, and while it wasn't great, it wasn't bad. Maybe DC movies weren't cursed after all. I sincerely hoped not, because number four in their film plan was very special to me. Wonder Woman is one of my favorite characters in comics, and a misstep with this one would cut the cord for me and DC Comics movies. I shouldn't have worried. Wonder Woman was amazing and astonishing, better than any of us could have hoped.

Arrow: Trust But Verify

I have to say, I am starting to like the episode titles with dual meanings. They never quite mean what we think they mean, and revelation doesn't come until the very end. Nice.

Weird. This is the first episode where Oliver and Tommy actually act like they are, or once were, best friends. It was nice. I guess the employer/employee dynamic suits them.

The plot of the week has armored truck robbers using tactics from the Afghan War. Turns out the guy behind it is not only Diggle's old mentor, but he's also on 'the list.' Diggle didn't know that last part. I was surprised. I thought Oliver trusted Diggle. It's been quite a while now - you mean in all that time Diggle's never seen 'the list'? I find that implausible.

Nice shout out for the Arrowcave, and also an interesting name for the baddies' security firm - Blackhawk. The Arrowcave is a call back to the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics where Green Arrow was simply a Robin Hood knock-off of Batman, essentially Batman with a bow. He was a millionaire with a ward sidekick, he had the Arrowplane (which doubled as the Arrowcar), and of course, his headquarters was the Arrowcave - honestly not much different from his current basement below the nightclub.

The Blackhawks were an international team of pilots during World War II who fought against the Axis under the command of the man called Blackhawk. Later they became soldiers of fortune, adventurers, superheroes, and mercenaries. I love the Blackhawks, you can read more about that, and them here. However, on "Arrow," the Blackhawks are just armored truck robbers. Sigh. These are bad days for the name Blackhawk.

Speaking of DC Comics characters, it's always nice to see Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, and sad to see she's become a nerd girl with glasses and a crush on our hero. What a waste. So much potential, so little effort.

I'm starting to zone out on the soap opera aspects of the show. I don't care about Thea worrying Mom is having an affair, or if Tommy makes up with Daddy Merlyn. This kind of crap is why I stayed away from "Smallville" for so long. I don't know about you folks, but I watch superhero shows for the superheroes, not the soap.

The episode ends in disappointment, and a tempting cliffhanger. Where last time Oliver needed to do something and was robbed if his chance, this time it's Diggle's turn. Two weeks in a row of this and I'm about to throw in the towel. The cliffhanger keeps me though. Not only is Yao Fei not who we thought he was, but there's a drug in The Glades called Vertigo... could it be...? Finally Count Vertigo?

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for 9-28-2011

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live in a real comics and gaming store in West Berlin, NJ - All Things Fun! - co-hosts Allison (Con Voodoo) Eckel and Glenn (Pro Voodoo) Walker (giver of leis Ed Evans jumps in once or twice) discuss the new comics out this week in two fun video segments, now in high definition, and also available on YouTube. See it here!

The first segment includes discussion of the following topics: Gifts from Hawaii, The New DC 52 including Geoff Johns' fantastic Aquaman #1, also Peter Milligan's Justice League Dark #1, Francis Manapul's Flash #1, Savage Hawkman #1, Blackhawks #1, Gail Simone's Fury of Firestorm #1 and Superman #1.



The discussion continues in segment two including: The Avengers and orange comic book covers, Mighty Thor #6, FF #9, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #2, Spider-Island and the rest of the Marvels, Brilliant #1 and Castle: Deadly Storm both by Brian Michael Bendis, I Vampire #1, Batman The Dark Knight #1, New Guardians #1, Teen Titans #1, Superman HeroClix, Star Trek Fleet Captains, a million trades, and much discussion of Ron Marz' Voodoo #1.



Be sure to check out the All Things Fun! website, and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, and ATF! on YouTube.

And be back here every Wednesday morning at 11:30 AM EST to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

The Fire and Water Podcast

I'm a big fan of my friend Rob Kelly's Aquaman Shrine (as well as both Rob and Aquaman separately too), and recently he, along with the Irredeemable Shag of the Firestorm Fan site got together to do a podcast about their mutual loves of the characters Aquaman and Firestorm - The Fire and Water Podcast.

The first episode is an entertaining voyage into the hows and whys of doing blogs devoted to Aquaman and Firestorm, the new DC 52 and what it has in store for their favorite characters and just some really fun chemistry that doesn't often happen in many podcasts. Rob and Shag are a good team and provide a really good listen. And it's not just Aquaman and Firestorm talk here, there's a bit of comics history as well and even some love for the classic Mark Evanier/Dan Spiegle Blackhawk, always a plus for me. Recommended, check it out here or on iTunes.