The Week In Geek 1/28/15

So, the trailer for this summer's Fantastic Four reboot film debuted this week and...umm...wow. Now, I'll admit that I have basically maligned the production process of this movie on almost every level. I mean, the studio's elevator pitch sounded pretty bad and far removed enough from the source material that it was a turn off from the start. And the on-set pictures of Doom still look horrible. But then, I thought about a post I wrote a little more than a year ago about how fanboys need to learn to let go a little bit when it comes to movie adaptations. As I mentioned in said post, the thing that fanboys often forget is that over the years, there have been aspects of film adaptations (and television) that are folded into the source material and, at times, heralded as gospel within the lore. Despite my colleague, Jordan Calhoun's disdain for the character's status on Arrow, John Diggle has now been introduced in the current Green Arrow comic due to his notoriety on the show. Phil Coulson, after his becoming so popular, Marvel brought him back from the dead for the express purpose of squeezing a spinoff show out of him...is now a mainstay comic book character that actually doesn't suck in Jeph Loeb's hands (because that shit happens often). In other words, sometimes good things come of movie properties that are SO good, we actually want them to stick around in the comics.

After listening to Josh Trank's commentary about the trailer, getting some insight about his grasp of the source material, it actually sold me on giving this movie an honest shot. I get fandom's perpetual fear of Hollywood gentrifying comics forever, but honestly, I don't think that's the case here. Don't get me wrong. Trailers have deceived me before and for all I know, this movie could very well still be the shitshow I originally predicted. But I am saying the trailer has elevated thinking to a minimum of "Okay, Josh Trank, I'm listening."

Anyway, don't forget to check out my opinion piece on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Also, my comic reviews for the week are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. As always, feel free to like, dislike, share and dissect at your leisure. This week, I took a look at....

Thor: Okay, if it's not completely obvious who Lady Thor is at this point, you haven't been reading Jason Aaron's Thor work as closely as you should have been. I've been saying it since the first issue and the evidence is just piling up now. I'm not going to say it anymore. Just remember who was right all along.

Uncanny X-Men: You know, it's amazing how often these X-Men catch all kinds of trouble and turmoil because of time travel and STILL think this shit is a good idea. And they don't even train the new ones to know better. If I were an X-man, the front door would real, "Fair Warning: The Future WILL try to kill you.

Batman Eternal: I love seeing Bluebird in action at last. Even furthermore, I love that her trademark is just having a giant fucking rifle. I love seeing everything from Batman #28 finally coming to pass. I love when a writer promises you a moment in advance and the resulting story is that writer reverse engineering that moment, unraveling the cogs and gears that sum up such a moment.

Batman: I think we can all agree that Scott Snyder is making Endgame into one of the creepiest Joker stories I have ever read.

My Favorite Things 2014: Comics

Yes, that is Moon Knight
fighting what looks like Morris Day.

Disclaimer: Yes, I left Saga off the list because I would basically just be repeating myself from last year and the year before and the numerous reviews I've done on Saga since it's inception. At this point, it should just go without saying that Saga can do no wrong in my book.

Moon Knight: This is easily one of the best upgrades I've ever read for a second/third tier Marvel character. Leave it to Warren Ellis to make a superhero like Moon Knight memorable again. The task seemed simple for Ellis and his co-conspirators, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. Their aim was to write six standalone issues that would reintroduce the comic world to the many faces of Marc Spector. Ellis pitted "The One You See Coming" against everything from rogue cops to evil dreamscapes to punk rock ghosts. The crown jewel of this short lived run was easily Issue 6 entitled "Scarlet" where Mr. Knight infiltrates a mob safe house to rescue a kidnapped little girl. Wait...."infiltrate" isn't quite accurate. He kicks the front goddamned door in and beats the living shit out of 6 floors of bad guys a la Raid: Redemption. Since Ellis' tenure, Brian Wood has taken the wheel, expanding on the universe already established in the first issues of the relaunch. DC should take meticulous notes from this innovative master class on how to reestablish a character (I'm looking at you, Whoever's Been Writing Mr. Terrific Lately).

Starlight: (I'm not going to repeat myself on why Starlight is one of the best comics of the year, so see here)
Batman: Okay, so it feels really cheap and fanboy-ish to say that Batman is one of the best books of the year, but it's a statement that Scott Snyder has earned. Batman really IS one of the best books of the year. First of all, Zero Year wrapped up in 2014 and we were almost sad to see it go. Snyder had reinvented the origin of a 75 year old character in a way we hadn't seen before. Here, we saw a Bruce Wayne that was less a brooding man on a mission and more of risk taking loose cannon reminiscent of Daniel Craig's James Bond. He smiles once in a while, he improvises, he's unsure of himself at times, he tells bad guys they're full of shit. Batman's New 52 origin is basically the antidote to the Goddamned Batman Problem on basically every level.

Black Science: (see here on why Black Science is one of the best things to happen to comics)

Ms. Marvel: Now, this is where Marvel ran circles around DC in the way of taking risks as far as representing characters of color. G. Willow Wilson is a godsend to comics for her book that's part coming of age tale, part superhero epic. All uber fangirl, Kamala Khan, has ever wanted to be was her idol, Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers...strong, fearless and "perfectly beautiful." Instead, she's a brown girl with a funny name and religious ways the kids at her school don't always understand. Then, she stumbles headfirst into weird shapeshifting powers that cause more problems for her personal life than she expected. "Ms. Marvel" is a courageous story that young girls of all walks of life could take something away from, a story about how the most heroic thing you can possibly be in life is yourself.

The Week In Geek 1/21/15

So, this week Marvel broke the internet by announcing that the "end of the Marvel Universe as we know it." It turns out the end of Jonathan Hickman's run is the prologue to Secret War, which will put the 616 Marvel U and the Ultimate Universe in "Battleworld." The outcome will be "All New Marvel." People should really calm down. It's highly doubtful Marvel will do a full reboot and risk sucking like DC's New 52 did for the first year or two. At best, this is just going to fold a few Ultimate characters into the 616 and by "a few Ultimate characters," I'm really talking about Miles Morales Spider-Man. After all, the Ultimate line spent so much time killing their characters, there's not a whole lot of them left to throw into 616 continuity. Marvel's gotten pretty good at "soft" reboots, so I say it's not going to be that big a deal.

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. As always, feel free to like, share, comment and share again at your leisure. This week, I took a look at...

Batman Eternal: As much as I LOVE this book, this week's "thing" is The Whole Thing with this series. The writing has mainly been consistently good and running according to Scott Snyder's master plan. Now, it's great that DC is letting some different talent get their feet wet on a medium to high profile series and all, but getting experimental with the artwork is always going to be the thing that makes or breaks this book. Putting three different people with prevailing weaknesses in their styles on the same issue just turned out to be a profoundly bad idea.

All New X-Men: It's nice that Bendis' story arc has picked up speed again, but I can't help but feel like Marvel kinda took the wind out of this plot's sails by announcing that they're about to phase out the Ultimate line completely (I mean, let's face it....Ultimate Spider Man's the only book that isn't absolute trash anyway, so...). The crossovers aren't as exciting when you know they're going to meet again soon anyhow. And Young Jean's transformation from "a hair's breath away from losing her shit, going Phoenix and ending mankind" to "Damn, I have to do absolutely everything around here" is a little bizarre. I do like that Bendis has taken this opportunity to give agency to a character that, historically speaking, hasn't had a whole lot in the past. On the other hand, it's kinda diminished some really strong characters that have to stand next to her (Professor Kitty, for one).

The Week In Geek 1/17/15

So, this week, Marvel released the first of its Star Wars comic material and thus far, the reviews have been mainly positive. I'll be talking about the book itself a little further down (with the reviews), but this is a really exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. I can't speak for anyone else, but I wasn't a huge fan of the Dark Horse books at all. I basically regard them the same way I regard David Goyer's idea to develop a Superman show without Superman in it. The timelines usually kicked off either so long before or so long after the movies I grew up with, I didn't quite understand what I was supposed to be relating to. Disney bringing all these elements under one umbrella is a breath of fresh air. As we've seen with their handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney likes their properties and characters being as accessible as humanly possible.

"You know Spider-Man? Sure, come on over. Don't like the movies? Don't worry about it. Here's an entry level cartoon for you. Don't like cartoons? Thinking about jumping into comics? I've got just the thing.

"Oh, you know who Luke Skywalker is? Come on in! You don't play The Old Republic? No problem. Here's this comic book you might dig."

As we get closer to Episode 7, it's going to be interesting to see what other properties Marvel can crank out.

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and share at your leisure. This week, I took a look at....

Batman Eternal: This issue really meant well. It really did. The Bat-family going to break up a Mad Hatter caper should be some exciting shit. But it just didn't come off that way and the art was a huge reason why. As expressive as the faces were, it's strange that Joe Quinones wasn't bigger on detail everywhere else. It came across as a comic book you'd get with a 90s Batman toy. Honestly, this book can't really afford to have an issue that's this lacking visually so close to the end we've been waiting for.

Star Wars: See the problem with the handful of Star Wars I read during Dark Horse's reign was that the level of quality didn't justify the amount of material Dark Horse used to put out. You might find a decent issue once in a while, but you had to wade through a lot of crap. It's a lot like Azelia Banks. Sure, she drops jewels on Twitter once in a while about race relations but you have to sit through the stupid shit she says about everything else. And even when you do find the good books, often times, they were so far removed from the Star Wars universe I was used to (the characters and events in the movies), it only felt like it was just marginally a Star Wars book. Marvel's first new effort was the first time in 30 years I'd read a Star Wars comic that properly recreate the feeling I got at the movies. When the action starts, I was cheering out loud. Jason Aaron has a really good handle on what makes Star Wars so iconic. And it starts at a point where you don't have to feel left out. "If you watched the first movie, you're in. We'll take it from here."

My Favorite Things 2014: Movies and TV

Television

True Detective: If someone had told me a year ago that "American Horror Story For Murder Mysteries" would be one of the most awesome things to happen to television in 2014, I would have laughed heartily at them. And I would have been dead wrong. Nic Pizzolato took everything that's enjoyable about the experience of a hard boiled mystery novel and packaged it into a well-produced, streamlined series. I mean, these were some of the most beautifully shot parts of Louisiana I've ever seen. And it took full advantage of Matthew McConaughey's new season in the limelight. Rustin Cohle is one of the most compelling (at times, confounding) characters I've seen on a show like this in years. The only sin committed was that we didn't get to spend more time with these backwater super sleuths.

The Flash: I have to say this one took just about everyone by surprise. CW finally has the expanded superhero franchise its wanted so badly. The best thing about the Scarlet Speedster's series is that it never attempts to capitalize off of Arrow's success with creating a dark, gritty, Nolan-esque universe for it's lead to play in. In fact, it does the opposite. It's genuinely hopeful and intentionally trite, making Grant Gustin's Scarlet Speedster a Superman surrogate of sorts. And Jesse L. Martin playing Joe West does this show so many favors on so many levels.

Movies-

Captain America: The Winter Soldier- TWS is easily the best representation of where Marvel is in terms of production quality and representation of source material on the screen. This is what it looks like when you manage to tell a decent story and still deliver fast paced action without really compromising either element. Who would have thought the same guy who killed it as Johnny Storm (the only real standout aspect of the Fantastic Four movies) would go on to become and, basically, OWN the role of Captain America?

The Week In Geek 12/24/14

So, this week saw me with a pull list WAY over my usual budget which is good because it takes a lot of comics to wash the taste of AXIS out of my mouth. I feels like my editor and I (we took turns reviewing it for Black Nerd Problems) are finally free from an evil curse placed upon us by the Comic Gods. I was going to do an "Anatomy of a Comic" piece, dissecting why it was so horrible, but honestly, I'd like to relive as little of that as possible.

This is probably why I think the Comic Gods for the existence of Black Science. This is easily one of my favorite comic books of the past ten years. I mean, if you're into comics and not reading this book, you're doing yourself a disservice. It's so good, it's sort of hard to mentally resolve the fact that Rick Remender writes this AND Axis. He takes the Lost in Space concept and completely turns it on its ear so effectively that the book's Evil Dr. Smith ends up becoming the hero. And Matteo Scalera's artwork is essentially above reproach. For him to create so many new, unique seeming worlds for the characters to jump to without much repetition is a fairly outstanding accomplishment. For me, someone who reviews books weekly and tries to be as meticulous as a comic reader can about his budget, the highest compliment I can give is that I have NEVER finished a single issue of Black Science, wondering if I was going to be back for the next one. There have been times when I was ready to drop Batman Eternal and I love that book. Furthermore, it's one of those books that makes the case for non-superhero comics. Image is really prevailing as a top shelf refuge for people that want a break from the Big Two. It comes with as high a recommendation as I can think to give outside of just walking around and handing the goddamned book to people.

My reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. This week, I took a look at....

Avengers/X-Men: Axis- (see first paragraph)

Batman Eternal: Although I really enjoyed this issue, it's a shame the action slowed down because this book is proving to be at its most effective when Batman is punching people in the face while teaching Alfred's daughter how to run operations for him. The whole "Batman on a Budget" concept is pretty awesome, though.

Uncanny X-Men: As much as I enjoy reading Cyclops having it out in a duel of ideologies with pretty much every branch of the X-family there is (because that's a lot of what this book has been thus far), it would be really nice if this book picked up speed again only because I want to know more about Charles Xavier being married to Mystique. Because at this point, she could write a tell all book about the men of the mutant community a la Karrine Steffans.

The Week In Geek 12/17/14

My comic reviews for the week are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. As always, feel free to click, like, dislike, agree, disagree and share at your leisure (and your supreme leader's bidding). This week, I took a look at.....

Batman: I love what Scott Snyder's doing with what I call "The Last Joker Story," but I have to say I feel bad for whoever has to come after him. It was a couple of years after "Death in the Family" before Snyder himself could use Joker again just to give him the proper gravitas. If Endgame is headed towards an appropriately horrifying conclusion like I think it is, it's going to be tough to follow up.

Batman Eternal: So, the issue slowed the main plotline down a little bit, but the creative team definitely has a better handle on juggling multiple storylines. However, Jason Bard's character feels a little too whiny now that he doesn't have any real power and basically bungled his takedown of Batman. It was a good move to create some degree of sympathy for the character, but this version of Bard that seems to kick himself when he's down and is desperate for friends now that he's fucked up is a little depressing.

All New X-Men: For a story that has been moving so slowly, this book is SUPER entertaining. Young Beast taken captive by Doctor Doom, spilling his feelings for Jean Grey is worth its weight in gold. And Young Iceman versus the Mole Man's monsters was outstanding. Young Bobby Drake is proving to be this book's Spider Man (because every Bendis book needs a voice like Spider-Man's).