Suicide Squad, New comics

New comics!

Public Domain 4

Can’t tell if this is the last issue or not.  Either way, I might be done with this.  None of the characters are likable, and the industry parts of the comic aren’t as interesting as I’d have hoped.

Love Everlasting 2

This doesn’t follow the formula of the first issue.  (Three similar stories where the protagonist gets more and more self-aware.)  This scenario takes the full issue, only getting weird in the final third.  Still no idea what’s going on, but Tom King and Elsa Charretier’s subversion of the old romance comic is excellent.  

Nightwing 96

Big fight between Nightwing and Blockbuster, ending the arc, but the highlight is the DTR conversation between Dick and Barbara.  

Love her hand on his butt.

Suicide Squad 1-11

This isn’t Suicide Squad so much as an excuse for Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo to create a new team of likable characters and put them through their paces alongside Harley Quinn and Deadshot.  I’m not complaining at all, this is a rollicking fun story with some real heart, hallmarks of a Taylor title.  I’d love to see the Revolutionaries in their own title.  (Apparently they’ve shown up in Superman: Son of Kal-El, but I’m not going back to that.)

I love Portal-type shenanigans.

Maybe.  But it'd be fun to see in action.

Taylor writes a funny Harley.

Batman can't be the butt of the jokes that often, but when it works...

Hee.

Ollie's gesticulations in the last panel.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Movies

Suicide Squad

Finally had the chance to catch up on this.  (The James Gunn version.  The David Ayer one sucks.)  Gunn’s irreverence is perfect for this movie, and his attitude shines through the whole movie.  Highlights include:

1. Margot Robbie as Harley.  I don’t care what else she does, this will forever be her iconic role in my book.  I can’t imagine a more perfect casting.  As with the Birds of Prey movie, she has a wonderful solo fight scene.  And everything else with her never fails to entertain.

2. Ratcatcher 2 adds some nice heart to the film, somehow avoiding sentimentality.  Taika Waititi as her father is a sweet cameo.

3. The cameos in general.  Everyone must have had a blast filming this.  

4. Sylvester Stallone as King Shark.  Any more and it would have gotten old, but he’s in this for the perfect amount.

5. Somehow making Starro the Conquerer the big bad work?  Impressive.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

Matrix Resurrections

Wow.  I went into this with zero expectations.  It could have sucked or rocked, and I was going to watch it either way.  

Whatever I expected, this wasn’t it - A super meta commentary on the original trilogy tied up in an epic love story.  Kudos to director Lana Wachowski for coming up with something totally original and off of the beaten path.  It’s fair to say that no one else could have ever come up with this.  

What was good:

1. Jessica Henwick as Bugs.  Between this, Colleen Wing, and a minor minor role in Force Awakens, her geek cred keeps getting stronger.  I’m so happy she took this part instead of whatever she was up for in Shang-Chi.  This is the far better showcase.

2. Keanu Reeves has evolved into someone who’s always awesome to see on screen.

3. Good to see Carrie-Anne Moss again in her signature role.

4. All the meta stuff at the beginning.  It definitely makes the brain work.

5. I still don’t buy Neo and Trinity as this transcendent love couple, but I respect the sentiment.  It’s also sweet to see Trinity on the same power level as Neo at the end.

What was meh:

1. The action’s a major letdown, especially considering how genre-defining it was in the original.  I mean, it’s really disappointing.  

2. Jonathan Groff didn’t suck as the new Agent Smith, but I still don’t see the point of the character in the movie aside from nostalgia.

3. I love NPH, but not sure if he’s the right actor for The Analyst.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes, I think.

Rating: Pretty good

Batman: Contagion, New comics

New comics!

Suicide Squad 1-11

Another Tom Taylor title!  Picked up the hardcover collection after hearing some good stuff about this.  Super fun, with a mostly-original (Harley Quinn and Deadshot also show up) cast of characters that I hope Taylor is able to revisit someday.  

Azrael 15-16

Batman 529

Batman: Shadow of the Bat 48-49

Batman Chronicles 4

Catwoman 31-32

Detective Comics 695-696

Robin 27-28

The Contagion event.  Ebola is set loose in Gotham, and the race is on to find a cure.  Turns out the search was a MacGuffin the whole time and none of it matters, while the actual antidote is discovered and distributed in the span of one issue when Azrael’s team discovers that they had the formula in one of their books (and one of the few people in the world who can translate it) all along.  

Here Chuck Dixon falls in one of all time my biggest fiction pet peeves: The magical cure that brings a victim back from the brink of death to perfect health in absolutely no time at all.  You can’t get cured from Ebola when your body’s that far gone!  Tim Drake’s jumping around performing heroics literally hours after experiencing these symptoms:

I.  Don't.  Buy.  It.

The first couple of issues are pretty well done.  Especially with COVID going on IRL, watching the spread of another virus from Patient Zero is unsettling.  There’s a feeling of dread and inevitability that permeates the story that’s all too real before the more comic book-y aspects kick in.

Overall, better in concept than execution.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine