Rogue Heroes, Reacher, World War 3.1

I’ve been dragging my feet on getting my thoughts down on this random smattering of media for ages.  Let’s get to it.

Surviving Black Hawk Down

A Netflix documentary series on the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the Mark Bowden book and then the Ridley Scott film.  (Both excellent.)  This didn’t add much to what I already knew, but it was good to hear the story from the people who were there.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Nice

Stalin’s Hammer

I absolutely love John Birmingham’s Axis of Time trilogy.  It’s a super fun, well written “what if a naval task force from the near future dropped into the Battle of Midway” story.  Sci-fi mixed with alternate history, Birmingham does an excellent job of mixing the micro with the macro, kind of like Tom Clancy.  Stalin’s Hammer was his first followup, a trilogy of novellas late collected into this book.  It’s not nearly as good, spending way too much time on two sides of a special ops mission.  This would have been fine as a subplot in a trilogy, it doesn’t hold up on its own.  While I care about this alternate Prince Harry and Julia Duffy, I don’t need to spend a full book on them.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy again: No

Rating: Fine

World War 3.1

Birmingham spins up a new trilogy following the events of Stalin’s Hammer.  This book is almost entirely prologue, setting up the start of the new war between NATO and the Soviet Union.  I love the premise, am a little disappointed by the execution.  Still looking forward to the next book.

Regret reading: No

Would read again: Yes

Would buy again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Rogue Heroes S1-2

Thank goodness for my Youtube algorithm.  I’d never even heard about this BBC show until a few scenes started popping up there.  It’s a wonderfully embellished retelling of the formation of the SAS.  Fun performances by Connor Swindells (of Sex Education fame) and Jack O’Connell lead the way.  The action is decent, and there are some truly inspirational scenes

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I’d watch a third season, for sure.  It’s no Band of Brothers, but what is?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Rogue Heroes

The book by Ben Mcintyre that inspired the show.  I wanted to see just how far the show diverged from the truth.  It turns out not too far.  This is the birth of the world’s first special forces unit, trained (or mostly winging it at the start) to do extraordinary things with a small number of people.  It’s a testament to the ingenuity and determination of the founding members that the unit succeeded, and now there are special forces in every country in the world.     

Regret reading: No

Would read again: No

Would buy: No

Rating: Nice

Reacher S3

This is the first Reacher season where I had already read the book it’s based on.  I’m not sure that had anything to do with it, but I preferred the two previous seasons to this one.  Alan Ritchson is his usual reliable, badass, awesome self.  Maria Sten continues to impress as Neagley, and though I’m still skeptical that she can carry a show as the headliner, I’m definitely going to watch.  

It’s probably the rest of the supporting cast.  Sonya Cassidy doesn’t do much for me.  Maybe it’s the completely distracting Boston accent.  Anthony Michael Hall (the dad) and Johnny Birchold (the son) are pretty forgettable.  Olivier Richters is an amazing villain (he’s huge!), but goes a touch past the line of ridiculousness (through no fault of his own).  I could have done with more of Brian Tee as the uber villain.

I’ll still watch as many of these as Amazon will make.  They’re so much fun.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts

I genuinely liked this movie, and I wish it wasn’t such a rare occurrence in today’s MCU. 

Things I liked:

• Florence Pugh is phenomenal.  She delivers on all of the promise she flashed in Black Widow and Hawkeye, as Yelena is elevated to the headline of what’s essentially Black Widow 2.  She brings depth and emotion to a wonderfully realized character, to an extent that may not have been reached by any other MCU character.  (Maybe Scarlet Witch in WandaVision?)

• Some great action sequences.  Nothing that’s top tier, but the opening building jump, four-way incineration room fight, and futile Sentry confrontation were all well done.

• Shout out to the Bucky v Three Jeeps scene.  A great showcase for the guy who has somehow become a nostalgic fan favorite.  

• David Harbour’s bombastic Red Guardian is hit or miss for me, but he mostly hits here.  His humor works, and I laughed at the majority of it.  He also pulls off the heartfelt moments w/ Pugh.  Some serious acting that almost feels out of place in the MCU.

• Inching up the silo.

• I didn’t expect much from the Sentry, as I’m totally not a fan of him in the comic.  But Lewis Pullman does a fine job here.  His fight scene feels like a totally sanitized, watered-down Homelander scene, but still manages to show just how scary a Superman-level threat can be in the MCU.

• The Void vfx, both on the character and with his victim smearing, is fricking awesome.  Those pinpricks of light are terrifying as his eyes.

• Yelena constantly being embarrassed by her dad will always be funny.

• The Avengerz.  

• Loved both post-credits stings.  

• There’s a lot of legitimately troubling psychic trauma on display in this movie.  Tough to watch, but well executed.  

• I can not believe that the group hug ending actually worked for me.  The other instances I can think of are the “It’s not your fault” scene from Good Will Hunting and the finale of season six of Buffy.  I can’t stand either one.  It shouldn’t work here either, but the filmmakers did a surprisingly effective job of selling Yelena’s despair and her ability to fight through it, reach out, and make a human connection with a similarly lost soul.  

Things I didn’t like

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus just doesn’t fit in the MCU.  She’s plain annoying.

• I would have liked to see more of a payoff with Mel the assistant.

• I feel really bad for Olga Kurylenko.  Everyone else gets to come back and make more future Marvel money, while she’s unceremoniously disposed of.  

• It’s not Wyatt Russell’s fault, but John Walker’s a total tool, and I don’t need to see any more of him.

• Ghost has potential, but she’s nothing more than roster-filler here.

• The writers wimped out by bringing back everyone who died by Void smear.  

• Sad that Valentina didn’t get her comeuppance.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Good

Updated MCU rankings

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Avengers: Infinity War

6. Shang-Chi

7. Avengers: Age of Ultron

8. Ant-Man/Wasp

9. Avengers

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Captain America

12. Dr Strange 2

13. Thunderbolts

14. Thor: Love and Thunder

15. Spider-Man: Far From Home

16. Iron Man 2

17. Black Widow

18. Black Panther

19. Iron Man

20. Ant-Man

21. Dr Strange

22. Deadpool & Wolverine

23. Iron Man 3

24. Thor 3

25. Captain Marvel

26. Thor

27. Thor 2

28. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

29. Guardians of the Galaxy

30. Guardians of the Galaxy 2

31. Guardians of the Galaxy 3

32. Hulk

33. Eternals

34. Captain America: Brave New World

35. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania

New comics

New comics!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 7

Juan Ferreyra’s art is so good.  I want to see him on something more high profile.  On the story-side, Jason Aaron has been spending way too much time on the turtles being mad at each other.  They should have reconciled by now, this thing has dragged on past its shelf life. 

DC vs Vampires: World War V 8

I’ve previously written about how impressed I was by Matthew Rosenberg’s ability to juggle multiple engaging plotlines.  With this issue, the pendulum’s swung to the other side.  Nothing’s given enough time to breathe and develop, and it’s hard for me to enjoy any of it.  Also, it’s usually not a good sign when the New Gods show up.  

Absolute Flash 2

Not much happens this issue; Wally tries to run away from the Absolue Rogues’ Gallery with no real development, and I was hoping for much more.  This is the weakest of the Absolute titles, and I don’t see myself sticking around for much longer.

Wonder Woman 20

Diana enlists Batman’s assistance in solving a murder mystery on Olympus.  Tom King utilizes a strict 9-panel grid.  Guillem March is on pencilling duty.  

Detective Comics 1096

Things end in a rather unsatisfactory manner.  Batman prevents Joe Chill’s murder.  Tom Taylor’s addition to Thomas and Martha Wayne’s past doesn’t make things any more interesting.  Mikel Janin is still an amazing artist.  

Absolute Batman 7

A wonderfully creepy take on Mr. Freeze.  A completely unnecessary, gross death that I did not need to see.  Marcos Martin is too good of an artist for his own good, in this rare case. 

New comics

New comics!

Batgirl 6

So the first arc ends, and it turns out what I thought was a miniseries is now an ongoing.  I’m not sure if I’m going to stick around; As with Kelly Thompson’s Birds of Prey, I want to like this more than I actually do.  The pieces are there, but it’s just not clicking.  Maybe one more issue.

Absolute Superman 6

We find out how the Kents fit into the Absolute universe.  And in a haunting, harrowing twist, Kal-El was essentially in solitary confinement for seventeen months on the journey from Krypton to Earth.  No cryosleep.  He just about went crazy from the isolation.

Absolute Green Lantern 1

As with the rest of Absolute Wave 2, not as strong as the first batch.  But I’ll stick around for at least a little longer.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell 1

Charles Soule and Steve McNiven do their Dark Knight Returns spin on Matt Murdock.  McNiven channels Kaare Andrews circa Iron Fist: Living Weapon, which is just fine by me.  

Battle Action 4-5

Nothing new to say about these.  Serviceable, I’ll keep supporting Garth Ennis doing war comics.

Big Burn 3

I can’t remember the last time a comic brought such a broad smile to my face;  The final scene is absolutely pitch perfect, I loved it so much.  Joe Henderson and Lee Garbett continue to be one of the top creative teams out there.

New comics

Batgirl 5

Cassandra Cain fights more of the blue ninja.  Entertaining enough, and my daughter is getting a kick out of this title.  

Batman: The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween 6

I’m not familiar with Enrico Marini, but he’s got a mega Matt Wagner vibe going, which I’m never going to complain about.  I stopped caring about the plot months ago.

Batman 158

I suspect it’s going to be the same for this Jeph Loeb-plotted story as well.  I wasn’t impressed with the original arc, and I certainly wasn’t clamoring for a sequel.  I’m only getting this for the Jim Lee art, and even that doesn’t have the same luster that it used to.  Hard to say if I’m going to make it through this whole story.

Wonder Woman 19

Tom King wraps up this storyline and starts the next one, foreshadowing the death of Diana and the rest of the Wonder Women.  It’s not the strongest of issues, but it’s still a good effort from King and Daniel Sampere.

Black Canary: Best of the Best 5

More of the same, which is pretty underwhelming.  Ryan Sook isn’t a bad artist by any stretch, but I think this title would have been so much better if drawn by someone capable of more dynamic action sequences.  This fight between Black Canary and Lady Shiva should be way more engaging.  Also, for two of the world’s top martial artists, there are way too many moves straight out of the WWE.  It really detracts from the supposed high stakes of the bout.

Absolute Martian Manhunter 1

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Deniz Camp.  The jury’s still out on this title, it’s one of those mindfuck “man’s world is falling apart around him as he starts to question the reality he’s living in” kind of things.  Javier Rodriguez is perfectly suited for this, I just hope that the story lives up to the artwork. 

Ultimate Spider-Man 15

Absolute Sandman shows up.  Not much else happens, but it’s still a lot of fun.

 

New comics

New comics!

Free for All

I picked this up because I recognized Patrick Horvath’s name from Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees.  This one-shot has an intriguing concept: randomly selected billionaires, chosen by lottery, must either donate half their money to the public or fight to the death to retain it.  A wonderful basis for a story, but the execution is just a touch lacking.  Still entertaining, but it focuses on the combat, while I would have liked to see more about the society in which this policy exists.

Absolute Wonder Woman 6

Mattia de Iulis is the guest artist for this two issue arc, and he’s an excellent stand in.  This continues Kelly Thompson’s streak of awesome issues in this title, digging into the origin of Diana’s arsenal of weapons.

Absolute Flash 1

Wave 2 of the Absolute line begins here.  Jeff Lemire doesn’t immediately grab my attention the way Thompson and Scott Snyder did, but things are still interesting enough for me to stick around for at least a little longer.

One World Under Doom 2

Doom continues to outmaneuver the good guys, and turns Ben Grimm back into a human.  

Fantastic Four 30

Those ramifications are handled here.  In a nice twist, Ryan North writes Ben as someone who’s gotten used to, and indeed loves, being the Thing.  After spending so many years wanting to return to normal, he’s completely turned around on the issue, understandably so.  It’s a nice character study by North.

Detective Comics 1095

A filler issue by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janin where not much happens, but at least it looks beautiful.  

Absolute Batman 6

Big, burly Bruce Wayne resolves the Black Mask situation.  This’ll be fun to re-read all at once.  I’m definitely around for more of this.