Movies

Some movies I’ve recently seen:

Challengers

Zendaya is a goddess, and this movie is a perfect showcase for her.  Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor are quite good as well, but without Zendaya, I honestly wouldn’t have watched this film.  It’s a well-executed examination of the psychology of three extremely flawed characters, and while entertaining, it’s nothing that I need to watch again.  (The final scene is pretty classic, though.)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes, but only if someone else wanted to.

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

An amusing action film that I won’t ever think about again.  For a film with such a heist-style plot, the characters are sadly unmemorable.  I remember them as Henry Cavil, Jack Reacher, the scientist from 3-Body Problem, and the doctor from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.  And the big action piece is poorly filmed and horribly inert.  Meh.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

New comics

New comics!

Nightwing 114

Bruno Redondo returns for Tom Taylor’s final Nightwing arc.  It’s so good to see him back.  The story is fine, as Taylor begins tying up all the Heartless threads he’s laid out from the start of his run.

Ultimate X-Men 3

Ultimate Storm (in the form of Mei Igarashi) gets her origin story, and Nico Minoru makes her debut.  It’s intriguing enough to merit a stay of pull list execution for another month.

Wonder Woman 9

Daniel Sampere’s art reaches a new level of beauty, and the followup story has Super and Bat corgis.  A near-perfect issue.

Sunstone TPB 8

New stuff doesn’t ever really happen in Sunstone, but that’s not the point.  It’s about the stunning art, the wonderful development of the relationships, and (coming in at a surprising third) hot sex.   Stjepan Sejic remains one of my favorite creators.

New comics

Always new comics.

Avengers 12

I was sure I cancelled this title, but I guess I got this last one in my sub box.  It’s a tie-in with the Fall of the House of X arc.  It’s fine, but not nearly enough to change my mind.

Rare Flavours 5

Things are wrapping up, and this is still wonderfully engaging.  It’s like Iron Wok Jan, but with cannibalism.  

Helen of Wyndhorn 1-2

Tom King is back with another title.  (Seriously, how is he this frickin’ consistent and good?)  It’s also so nice to see Bilquis Evely again, after her magnificent Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  The story here isn’t groundbreaking, but King’s writing elevates it way above boilerplate.

Wonder Woman 8

Seeing Wonder Woman tied up and humiliated is extremely uncomfortable for me.  It’s a good thing she breaks out at the end of the issue, since she’s a total badass. 

New comics

The neverending battle to stay less than a month behind my new comics continues.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees 6

As I hopefully predicted, creator Patrick Horvath does a great job closing this miniseries out.  Sam executes her endgame flawlessly, and the joy of watching her competence far outweighs the lack of narrative tension.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for Horvath’s future work.

Transformers 8

My review is exactly the same as last month's.  It’s hanging on to my list by a thread, despite its well-done execution.

Birds of Prey 9

As much as I want to like this, it’s on even thinner ice than Transformers.  I love the characters and Kelly Thompson does a decent job w/ their personalities, but these stories are complete snooze fests.

Fantastic Four 20

Johnny and Ben get into an inane, meaningless competition over who’s the better grocery cashier, ending with a predictable “but beneath it all they love each other like family” denouement.  Not Ryan North’s best.  

Fine Print TPB 2

I had to re-read the first trade since I’d forgotten everything that happened previously.  No chore at all, Stjepan Sejic really deserves to be a bigger name in the industry.  He really is one of my favorite creators.  There’s more plot, more sex, and more characterization in this second volume.  Win win win.

Asgardians TPB 1

George O’Connor follows up his excellent Olympians series w/ the next best mythology out there.  And while it’s of the same quality as his original offering, the fact that it’s the next best mythology out there naturally limits its ceiling.  I’ll still be getting all of these.  

Zorro: Man of the Dead 4

This miniseries ends way earlier than I expected it to, but that’s not a bad thing; Sean Murphy got in, did his thing, did it well, and got out cleanly.  It’s better than Plot Holes, worse than Batman: White Knight, and looks great the whole time.  

Get Fury 1

Garth Ennis finally gets back to his “Frank Castle in Vietnam” epic, crossing over w/ the Nick Fury of My War Gone By.  It’s exactly what I want out of it.  I’ve missed Ennis.

Animal Pound 3

Tom King writes what amounts to a historical recitation of facts in the most engaging way possible.  I loved reading this, as the animals’ government succeeds as conceived.  But there’s always an underlying tension as you get the feeling that it could all fall apart at any moment; the peace between the different species is precariously balanced on a knife’s edge, and my expectation was that it would all go to shit once Titan or Fifi inevitably died.  Instead, the twist comes a lot earlier in an ominous, harrowing turn.  Can’t wait to see what happens next.

New comics

It seems like I can’t get to the comic shop more than once a month now.

Batman: Dark Age 1-2

It’s not like I was that impressed by Superman: Space Age.  But I was still compelled to buy this follow up by Mark Russell and Mike Allred.  It’s not a bad Elseworlds, pretty much the definition of Nice.

Ultimate Spider-Man 1-4

I was going to ignore this; a reboot of the Ultimate universe felt completely unnecessary.  Knowing Jonathan Hickman was the chief architect only reinforced my indifference.  He’s a decent idea man, but his execution usually leaves much to be desired.  But I read some good reviews, and picked up the first three issues.  Imagine my pleasant surprise when this turned out to read nothing like a Hickman title; It’s fun, bright, and has a coherent narrative.  I’ll stick around as long as those things continue to be true.

Ultimate X-Men 2

This isn’t a bad comic, but it’s not an X-Men comic.  And I’m not in the market for a horror high school manga.  This’ll get one more issue.

Love Everlasting 14

I don’t have anything to say about this, but it’s still good.  This’ll be interesting to read all at once.

Nightwing 113

It’s good to see Daniele Di Nicuolo, Tom Taylor’s Seven Secrets partner, back in action.  It’s even better seeing the return to Bruno Redondo, getting his feet wet before next month begins Taylor’s final Nightwing story arc.  Howard Porter is unrecognizable (in a good way) in the backup story.  

Batman: Off-World 4

This is losing its initial appeal, but I’m pot-committed at this point.

Transformers 7

Does Jorge Corona pass the art test?  Yes, but I’m still on the fence with this title.  It’s not bad by any stretch, but I find myself emotionally uninvested.

Birds of Prey 8

Certainly amusing, enough to keep it around.  But not really memorable.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees 5

Sam engages in some soul searching, embarks on a vision quest, and decides to fight back. Very much a filler issue, but I expect things to get back on track next month.

Crave 5

Penultimate issue.  I’d stop buying if it weren’t ending next month.

Fantastic Four 19

Ryan North writes a film noir.  Carlos Gomez’s art is perfect for it, but the story isn’t one of North’s stronger ones.  

Penguin 9

A set up issue as Tom King uses a bunch of inner monologues to give us insights into a number of characters. 

New Comics

So many things to catch up on.  

Somna 3

Hrm.  Tula Lotay’s art barely makes this worth it, even with the frankly nonsense story.

Transformers 6

Another instance where the art outpaces the story.  Daniel Warren Johnson hands off the penciling duties to Jorge Corona next issue, who has exactly that long to convince me to stick around.

Crave 4

Interestingly, not as good as previous issues as the plot kicks in.  “The app is spyware, data mining is evil, privacy rights, yadda yadda.”  Only two issues left, I’ll stick around.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees 4

Once again, less fun now that the killer’s been revealed.  There’s nothing original about the frame job that ends the issue, but I’m holding out hope that it leads somewhere more intriguing next month.  

Wonder Woman 7

Wonder Woman and Superman shopping for Batman’s birthday present should be a no-brainer home run for Tom King (to go along with shades of Alan Moore’s “For the Man Who Has Everything”), but it’s way too cute for its own sake.  I love the concept of Superman getting a mani-pedi, but this wasn’t the place for it.  (Though to be fair, I’m hard pressed to come up with the proper circumstances…)

Fantastic Four 18

Not Ryan North’s strongest issue.  Franklin Richards tries to prevent a bad future, fails, but discovers that the Fantastic Four have no fate but what they make for themselves.

Nightwing 112

Batman and Nightwing finish up this two-part team-up.  Bruce Wayne internally narrates how proud he is of Dick, and it’s all very sweet.  

Penguin 8

Penguin returns to Gotham, preparing to take it back from his children (!).  (Seriously, when did that happen?)  Standard Tom King goodness.

Fables 162

Essentially an epilogue issue, this would no doubt have been an awesome issue if it hadn’t been almost two years since I read the series.  I just don’t care as much anymore about these characters.  (Bigby and Snow’s kids, to be precise.)

The Peter Pan situation is cleaned up neatly and satisfactorily.  

Avengers 11

This was going to be the deciding issue for whether or not I’d keep reading; I wanted to see Jarvis back in action.  He’s fine, the Avengers fight a villain of the month, and the art by Ivan Fiorelli is not good at all.  I’m out.  I tried, Jed MacKay, I really tried.

Birds of Prey 7

Really like the Javier Pina art, and Jordie Bellaire’s retro colors are still a delight.  But the story’s completely forgettable, even with the lingerie show at the end.  

Action Comics 1063

Nope.  Not even Jason Aaron can make Bizarro good.  This was a pretty miserable experience.  John Timms’ art is great though, and the next arc certainly couldn’t be any worse.  This gets one more arc.

Ultimate X-Men 1

My first exposure to Peach Momoko, I think.  I’ve heard her name come up a lot as a creator lately, but never had the chance until now.  This is basically a manga take on X-Men through the POV of Hisako Ichiki (Armor).  A new enough twist that I’ll read some more.

Love Everlasting 13

This really needs to be read in one go when it’s all done.  Even still, I’m super happy Tom King and Elsa Charretier are doing this.

Swan Songs 1-6

iFanboy kept going on about how good this title is, so I gave the trade a shot.  Each issue is a self-contained story about an ending.  The concept is better than the execution, but special shout out to the Shel Silverstein-inspired final issue.  A work of art and homage that I wouldn’t have imagined was possible.  

Zorro: Man of the Dead 1-3

Totally missed that this Sean Murphy title had started.  He makes a bold move by moving the Zorro myth to the modern day, reincarnating the Fox through the delusions of a traumatized young man.  He makes it work, helped in large part by his usual standout art.  I love this man’s work, he’s one of the strongest writer/artists out there today.