DC Comics Rebirth Continues

A couple weeks back, I looked at the introductory comic, DC Universe Rebirth, and since then more than a few first issues of this new continuity dynamic have come out. Here I'll look at some of them briefly.

Superman - One of the bits in the above-mentioned comic that I didn't care about was the death of the New 52 Superman. This comic picks up on those hanging threads as the pre-Flashpoint Superman visits the Fortress of Solitude and reminisces about Doomsday with the New 52 Lana Lang. It was more fun and much better than I expected. I want to read more, despite the huge amount of baggage here to move forward.

Batman - Much like Superman, I'm not thrilled with the new Batman costume. Sorry, I'm a traditionalist and resistant to most change. If it was an alternate Batman, I'd be cool, but not the 'real' Batman. Much of the issue is taken up by the Calendar Man and his antics, including a weird new supernatural twist of his aging and rejuvenating through the seasons. There is also the inclusion of Duke Thomas, who may or may not be a new Robin, or perhaps a Lark, or something new. Darker and more sociopathic than I like my Batman, I'll pass.

Wonder Woman - Greg Rucka returns to the Amazon Princess in this issue, and while his run was critically acclaimed, it was not by me, as you can see here. This Rebirth issue, while well done, enticing, and encouraging, is one of those 'everything-you-know-is-a-lie' stories that may or may not return Wonder Woman to what I consider greatness, or create yet another version of the character I won't be reading. It's a great start, let's hope it's the former and not the latter.

Titans - I miss the Teen Titans, and yeah, I'm in get-off-my-lawn-mode, but I was never a big fan of the New Teen Titans that everyone went gaga over in the 1980s. They were cool, yeah, but my Titans were the Nick Cardy teen hero generation of the early 1970s. What's weird is that these Rebirth Titans are twisted versions of the ones I dug. I looked forward to this book as Wally West was the best thing about DC Universe Rebirth and I wanted to see more - what I got instead was a distorted revisionist history of characters I thought I knew. It isn't the same, as a matter of fact, it's all-new. I don't know who any of these people are, and I'm not interested.

Green Arrow - One of the tragedies of the new 52 in my opinion was the rejuvenation and Tony Stark-ization of Green Arrow, as well as the removal of Black Canary as his romantic and 'business' partner. Their reunion is about all I liked about this new start, I disliked the art and the story as well.

Green Lanterns - I'm sure Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz are someone's favorite Green Lanterns but I'm just not that into them. This book is more about them than Hal Jordan, and if I'm going to read a Geoff Johns Green Lantern comic, I want Hal Jordan. Pass.

Aquaman - Speaking of Johns, another great bit from the original Rebirth comic was Aquaman proposing to Mera, thereby breaking the unspoken rule about no happy marriages in the DC Universe. The problem of course is that Johns is not writing the new Aquaman series, so who knows what happens next. Dan Abnett, who had been writing the regular series, feels right at home with this soft reboot. I look forward to more of this, and more of Black Manta.

Flash - As I said, Wally West was my favorite part of the book that started all this, so like Titans, this was another I was looking forward to. The first thing that struck me was the art. It's not bad per se, but it's definitely not suited to the character of The Flash. Carmine Di Giadomenico is a terrific artist, and I admire his attempts to pay homage to Carmine Infantino, but for me, it just doesn't work. We don't get much more in the way of story than we did in the initial Rebirth book. It reminded me very much of the retelling going on in Marvel's Civil War II. I'm still on the fence with this one.

DC Universe Rebirth

This was supposed to be the book of the week, the big comic book event, but Marvel Comics trumped it by making Captain America a Hydra agent. Yeah, it sounds like a headline from the Bizarro World doesn't it? I guess that clinches it. Marvel Comics hates superheroes more than Fredric Wertham. But while Marvel is stumbling backward into darkness, DC Comics is forging forward… to rebuild their broken universe, their broken characters, and reach out to readers old and new, rather than drive them away.

On point with this endeavor is writer Geoff Johns, who after fifteen pages of DC Universe Rebirth had me smiling. I don't smile at DC Comics, not in a long time now. The story follows Kid Flash, the real Kid Flash, Wally West from the old days, as he tries to find his way out of the Speed Force, and contact his old friends to warn them. Yeah, warn them of a danger that may have caused the New 52 Universe, and apparently no, it wasn't Flashpoint.

And about that, for those who haven't read it, here come the spoilers, so act appropriately. While I loved Watchmen, even the movie, the videogame, and a few of the prequels even, I have never been one of those fans that held it up as holy and untouchable. Alan Moore has written a few good comics, yes, but he is not a god. So the core thrust behind what caused the New 52 Universe and stole a decade from my favorite heroes and sliced and diced their memories is okay with me. I actually kinda dig the idea, and can't wait to see it further explored.

Now that that is out of the way, I can talk about how much I enjoyed this book. I loved seeing Wally again, and his tour of the New 52 Universe made things even better as we got to see Batman, Johnny Thunder, the Atoms, the Blue Beetles, maybe Saturn Girl, and so many others. I loved seeing Wally's origin relived through new artists' eyes, and the mystery of the three Jokers, the sadness of a Green Arrow and Black Canary who don't know each other, Aquaman's proposal to Mera, and really, who didn't cry when Wally encountered Linda Park, and then Barry Allen.

I honestly don't know which, if any, of the new DC Comics I will be picking up, but I will say this - they have my interest, and I sure as hell enjoyed this issue, and want to see what comes next! What did you folks think?

Jessica Jones S01 E03: AKA It's Called Whiskey

For the longest time, superhero sex has been a verboten topic. It's rarely brought up out of immature puberty, Mad magazine, or Kevin Smith movies. There is that great Larry Niven essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," Superman II, and in recent years the seen-but-not-spoken-of red solar lamp in Lois and Clark's bedroom... but for the most part, beyond innuendo, not much else. And yes, I am completely ignoring the Hank and Jan incident in Geoff Johns' Avengers.

In the last episode of "Jessica Jones," when our heroine and Luke Cage realize how strong and durable they both are, of course they have sex. Their first time in "AKA Ladies Night" was full of tentativeness and gentility, and remarks about not breaking each other. This time they can really cut loose, aware that 'normal' boundaries are no longer in the mix. They can relax and go with instinct and not hurt anyone - at least physically.

Just when I was going to make a comment about how Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter might only have chemistry when loving or brawling, I'm proven wrong by a post-coital coffee talk about their powers. It took three episodes, but the two have finally clicked. Colter was always good as Cage, but Sweet Christmas, Ritter finally caught up. I did dislike the idea that their destinies are intertwined however. Cage's wife being killed by a Kilgraved Jessica is a bit much, even for the funny pages.

With Jeri defending Hope, Jessica needs to turn public opinion regarding the case so she asks Trish out to lunch. Maybe some "Trish Talk" might sway some folks about the case. That's when we get a bit of explanation about Trish's training. She's doing Krav Maga, making sure she can defend herself now that Jessica isn't her roommate any more. That's why the training, the bruises, and the bloody nose. And then there's also her mysterious abusive mother. There's a lot more to Rachael Taylor's Trish Walker than at first meets the eye.

Patsy Walker is one of my favorite comic book characters, and not just because she has a cool last name. She first appeared in Miss America Magazine #2 as a romance/comedy feature in 1944, when Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics. Think Betty and Veronica with cooler adventures. There's a very short list of characters who have been around non-stop since their beginnings in the Golden Age, and Patsy is one of them.

I was introduced to her when she popped into Avengers in the 1970s as a subplot that wouldn't go away. When the opportunity arose for Patsy to put on the powered costume of The Cat and join the Avengers in superheroing, she jumped at the chance, rechristening herself as the Hellcat, a more fitting name for this feisty redhead. She's floated around the Marvel Universe ever since, as an Avenger and as a Defender.

Seeing as the Defenders is the endgame for these first four Netflix series, I'm not the only one hoping Rachael Taylor will be donning a catsuit sooner or later. Also notably this is not Taylor's first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as she was also in 2005's Man-Thing.

In this episode, in an attempt to defend Hope, Jeri tricks Trish into putting it all out there on the air of her radio show about Kilgrave and mind control. Of course it tempts the Purple Man out of the shadows and he calls. Was I the only one watching with a stone in my stomach worried he might give a command to the entire listening public? I think not. Later as Jessica and Trish leave the studio they have an encounter with a fan who they suspect is an assassin sent from Kilgrave. The fan says he misses Trish's red hair and has a Patsy Walker comic book for her to sign.

When the real assassin does come in the form of a police officer, Trish does fight like a hellcat, but it's not quite good enough. Good thing Jessica comes to the rescue. And again, she fights with her wits as well as her fists. She follows the assailant back to Kilgrave and we finally get a look at him. He escapes and leaves Jessica in a room walled with images of her. He's been watching and he can be anywhere all the time. The eyes of New York are essentially his eyes...

See you later.

Superman Unbound

Superman Unbound ~ I was not expecting to like this. Many of the recent DC animated flicks have been just okay, significantly altered from the source material, or just plain mediocre. True, there have been a few winners, but for the most part, not.

When I saw this preview with my Injustice: Gods Among Us PS3 game I was nonplussed. Another retelling of the Brainiac story, and more bratty Supergirl? No thanks. My Brainiac is neither Darkseid nor Galactus, and my Supergirl died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I haven't seen her since. Still, I finally sat down and watched Superman Unbound, and I gotta say, they made it work.

This movie is surprisingly good, and despite being based on Geoff Johns' complex "Brainiac" story arc from 2008, they keep things pretty simple with a Silver Age vibe. They do try to put Brainiac in the same league with Darkseid and Galactus, but I didn't mind it. Supergirl is the newer teenaged version but also very Silver Age. I dug this a lot.

The voice cast is phenomenal - Matt Bomer, Molly Quinn, Diedrich Bader, and especially John Noble as Brainiac and Stana Katic as Lois Lane are terrific. Katic's Lois is one of the best, and her relationship with Clark is a subplot that would have been fluff in other hands. Here it's real and believable.

Superman Unbound is an animated movie that I think will, for once, appeal to both old school and newer fans. This was awesome.

This Week's All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast features co-hosts Allison (Deadpool) Eckel, and Glenn (Red Lantern) Walker, as they discuss the new comics out this week! You can see the show here, come see it happen live at All Things Fun! in West Berlin NJ on Wednesday afternoons, or check it out below.

Discussion featured in this week's Special No Trades Episode includes: Young Avengers #1, Uncanny X-Force #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #24, Avengers #3, FF #3, A+X #4, Deadpool #4, Masks #3, Star Trek Countdown Into Darkness #1, Batman: Death of the Family, Justice League #16, Superman: H'El on Earth, Green Lantern: Rise of the Third Army, Volthoom!, Allison's Amethyst update, ski-jacket Orion, Doctor Who toys and goodies, and what happened to the trades this week?

Be sure to check out the All Things Fun! website, and the newly revamped All Things Fun! Blogs, written by Allison and Glenn, featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and watch ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics, toys and gaming store - every Wednesday afternoon, located on Route 73 in West Berlin, NJ. Come on down and see the show live!

Don't forget to visit us at Facebook!

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for 12-21-2011

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 Ed (Santa) Evans, Allison ("Holy Codpiece, Batman!") Eckel and Glenn (The Grinch) Walker 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: A little something something for the holidays, the Last Minute Midnight Madness Sale at All Things Fun!, Justice League #4 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, Scott Snyder's Batman #4, Judd Winick's Catwoman #4, the rest of the Bat-books, Batman Inc.: Leviathan Strikes, DC Comics Presents #4 featuring Deadman, Blue Beetle #4, and Nick Spencer's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #2.



The discussion continues in segment two including: Pop Heroes, Han Solo and X-23, the X-titles, Ed's Marvels, Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man #676, Deadpool and the Hydra muu-muu, how to use a comics index, Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers #20, more Marvels, Ed's indies including G.I. Joe, Invincible and the death of Optimus Prime, Allison's kids comics, Ed's trades, and the Last Minute Midnight Madness Sale.



Be sure to check out the crazy new 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!

And don't forget The Last Minute Midnight Madness Sale at All Things Fun! in West Berlin NJ - 30% off almost everything in the store! It starts at 11:00 PM Friday, December 23rd and goes to 1:00 AM!

Meet and talk with comic creators Neil Vokes (Flesh & Blood, Eagle), Harvey Award winning Bryan J.L. Glass (Thor, Mice Templar), Tony DiGerolamo (Super Frat, Jersey Devil), Mark Poulton (Avengelyne, Koni Waves), inker Tom Schloendorn, and inker, artist and writer Bob Petrecca!

If you're in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, come on down, and if not, join us here to watch the live interviews and vidcast with Allison and Glenn!

Green Lantern

Green Lantern ~ My earliest memory of the superhero Green Lantern is from the Justice League of America comics, and he was awesome. Hal Jordan was a space hero who had a Power Ring that could do just about anything - shoot an energy beam, make a force field, allowed him to fly, and he could make stuff with it, just about anything he could imagine. Like I said, awesome.

This will date me, but Green Lantern also seemed inextricably linked to Green Arrow and Black Canary and they were always doing something political or with social relevance (a big word back then) and other stuff I wasn't old enough to understand. Also I knew he was buddies with the Flash, they were a team like Superman and Batman, maybe not as old as them, but they were friends and teammates. Such good friends, that when GL's comic got canceled, Flash let him appear in the back of his comic - now that's friendship!

Green Lantern has been through some changes since then. He's been replaced, replaced again, turned evil, killed, brought back to life, and turned into a moneymaker by genius comic writer Geoff Johns. With that last turn of events, we all knew it wouldn't be long before Green Lantern hit the big screen. The wait is over.

Being a comics geek, I usually look forward to most films based on comics, Green Lantern was no different. If you ask The Bride, she'll tell you I've keeping a mental countdown clock. Advance reviews were not good however, and as I waited until Saturday to see the flick, I can tell you I was a little bit worried. Now, having seen it, I have to wonder what film the critics saw.

This isn't Iron Man and nor is it the first two Superman films - it is so not the perfect superhero movie, but it is great. Personally I think Pat Travers of Rolling Stone must have lost a bet on this flick the way he ravaged it - it's really not that bad. As a matter of fact, I thought it was pretty good.

The story is pretty simple, close to the comics with a few differences. Hal Jordan is a reckless test pilot who finds a dying alien whose Power Ring has chosen him as the new Green Lantern. He trains on Oa with other Lanterns and eventually faces off against the villain Hector Hammond and the evil alien entity Parallax. There are spoilers coming, so some folks might want to skip to the end.

Ryan Reynolds is good as the clunky Hal Jordan but even better as the hero Green Lantern. This is a facet of the reason I like origin stories in movies. I don't want to see the young, reckless untrained hero - I want to see the complete good guy fight for right hero, and in this case, I am validated. Reynolds is so much better at the latter. Blake Lively is just pretty, and other than that, not believable. I wanted more of Taika Waititi as Tom Kalmaku. And Angela Bassett - wow, who would have ever thunk that Amanda Waller would have shown up in a Green Lantern movie?

Peter Sarsgaard is properly creepy as Hammond. But, while he is good, it's the make-up and the CGI that goes too far with the character. Does Hector Hammond need to be a drooling monstrous maniac? He's just got a big head in the comics. Really, for me, that would have been disturbing enough. Parallax, is all CGI, and basically a Galactus cloud with the Wizard of Oz' face crossed with the Akira monster. This is not pretty. Again, a reference to the comics - Parallax's real form, that of a giant insect is also pretty monstrous and scary, and of course accurate. The Guardians too could have been less scary. Details like this might put some folks off this flick, and sequels if it goes to franchise.

The voice acting of the CGI characters is dead on. Mark Strong is fantastic as Sinestro, playing him with just the right amount of contempt and menace. I loved Geoffrey Rush as Tomar-Re (one of my fave Green Lanterns) and Michael Clarke Duncan is a perfect Kilowog. I didn't think I would say that after I loved Henry Rollins in the role in the animated Emerald Knights, but it's true.

There are as many plot holes in this flick however, as there are Easter eggs for comics fans. Unfortunately the former seems to overshadow the latter. The plot jumps rather quickly from the main story with Hal to the subplots with Hammond and Parallax, which is fine, but too much time is spent on minor details that could have been deleted for meatier bits with other characters. Did we really need the flashbacks of Hal's father in a bad homage to the opening of Speed Racer? Did we need to know all of Hal's family? I would have rather had more interaction with Carol, Tom, Sinestro and the other Lanterns quite frankly.

I would have rather had more of a fight against both Hammond and Parallax, their defeats seemed too easy to me, and the fact that Hal doesn't even really defeat Hammond is very bothersome. Come on, he's supposed to be the hero here, ya know? But I suppose these are things that happen when a film has so many writers credited. The 3-D, while in the previews it made me want to see it in 3-D, was unnecessary. Save your money.

All in all, I had fun, and with a movie that cost upwards of thirty bucks all inclusive, that's what counts. I came out of the film excited and hoping for a sequel. Not a great film, but a great superhero adventure, visually stunning. And for the folks who liked Thor and Wolverine for certain reasons - Ryan Reynolds is shirtless quite a bit. Recommended.