New comics

Superman 2

Not as good as the previous issue, mostly because Parasite’s always been a boring villain.  Jamal Campbell’s art is still really nice.

Nightwing 102

The Titans beat the Grinning Man in surprising but not unwelcome short order.  Things are a little more interesting than the previous issue, but I’m really hoping Bruno Redondo comes back soon.

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods 7

Yeah, this is the least successful arc of Tom Taylor’s epic.  The emotional stakes just aren’t there, no matter how hard he tries. 

New comics

Slaughterhouse Five

I’ve never read the original novel, and I’d heard good things about this adaptation.  (I know Ryan North from the Fantastic Four series I’m reading now.  I had no idea until now that he’s the genius behind the web comic Dinosaur Comics, a favorite of mine from years ago.  Good to see him again!)

Maybe Slaughterhouse was revolutionary when it first came out, but its story with all the time jumps and aliens has since been done much better.  It’s similar to when I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time when I was 22; Wish I could have experienced it earlier.

New comics!

Fantastic Four 5

Speaking of Ryan North.  This definitely isn’t my favorite run of FF, but North has been very good every month at taking one nifty hook and using it to carry 22 pages of story.  Once he starts faltering in that realm, I’m probably out.

Danger Street 4

Speaking of out.  I haven’t dropped a Tom King miniseries in as far back as I can remember.  But there’s nothing here that’s keeping my interest.  It’s a super rare fail from a modern master.

New comics

New comics!

Superman: Space Age 2-3

I wasn’t a fan of this the first time around.  Or the second.  But it kept getting good reviews from iFanboy, and I found myself really wanting to like it, for no reason that I can discern.  So I went ahead and bought these last issues hoping that Mark Russell and Mike Allred could pull it off.  

Well, Russell delivered on his end.  The very beginning of the series should have tipped me off, but this is a way darker series than I expected.  (Even with the Flash doubling as the Justice League’s punching bag.)  But it’s done very, very well, and I really wish he had a more suitable (not better, since Allred can do some amazing work) artist.  This could have been so much better.

New comics

New comics!

Nightwing 101

Sigh.  I care so little about the mystical side of the DC universe, so making Neron and some guy named the Grinning Man the next big bads doesn’t make for an auspicious start to this next arc.

DCeased: War of the Undead Gods 6

Not even Tom Taylor can make the Spectre or New Gods interesting to me.  (Only Tom King’s managed that feat.)  And Alfred as the Spectre is as stupid as it sounds.

Human Target 12

Speaking of Tom King, this is so freaking good.  The art by Greg Smallwood, the epilogue nature of the story, each perfectly assembled scene…I need to read this over again.

Superman 1

I only picked this up because of a positive iFanboy review.  I’m glad I did, this is a great “start of a new era” issue.  Joshua Williamson has had his name on a lot of DC stories lately, but this is the first time I’ve read his work.  Jamal Campbell I know, of course, for his wonderful work on Naomi.  This could be the beginning of something awesome, looking forward to the next issue.

Batman: One Bad Day: Clayface 1

This is such a good single issue story.  Clayface goes to Hollywood and tries to make it as an actor.  He does his best to play it straight for a while, but eventually succumbs to his baser instincts.  It’s a wonderful character study for an underdeveloped villain.  Kudos to Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Xermanico.

Do a Powerbomb 1-7

Daniel Warren Johnson’s followup to Beta Ray Bill.  It’s well suited to his dynamic, visceral approach to action sequences, and there are just enough character moments to give it the necessary depth to elevate it above the usual fare.  

And, of course, there are scenes like this:

So good.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

A hot mess.  Let’s get into it.

What I liked:

• It’s so good to see Michelle Pfeiffer again.  I love her.

• Katy O’Brian was pretty badass as Jentorra.  (I had to look up the name, the movie does a poor job of divulging it.)

What I didn’t like:

• Janet Van Dyne’s storyline.  The “I didn’t tell you to protect you” trope is such a tired one, especially when it’s so poorly executed.

• That’s really the problem with this movie.  It’s a ton of generic plot devices: The rebel army fighting the evil ruler, the prison break of the key dissidents, the desperate plea for a final assault, the deus ex machina (ants, this time around), the final fight between hero and villain…It’s all yawn-tastic.

• MODOK.  Should have been a hilarious character, but he turns out to be a grotesque, not-as-funny-as-they-think-he-is monstrosity.

• The Scott/Cassie relationship, always a delight to watch in the first two movies, is reduced to little more than “you don’t understand me!” in the beginning and “I’ll do anything to save my daughter!” in the end.  So much wasted character-building potential here.

• Same with the Scott/Hope relationship.  It’s practically ignored, as is Hope in general.  More missed opportunities.

• Poor Michael Douglas, 80% of his time on screen is spent holding his hands up to pilot an alien ship.  I’m sure he loved that.  Still, his acerbic wit is probably the funniest part of the movie.

• No Michael Pena!

• Mega Star Wars vibes, and not in a good way.  More in a “everything is so blatantly green screened, there’s no sense of tactility to ground the film to anything.”

• Bill Murray.  I’m so tired of his schtick.

• What a waste of William Jackson Harper.  This whole film is such a waste of talent.

• So many plot holes, I didn’t even try to keep track during the movie.  Some that come to mind after:

• Shrinking in the quantum realm with no suit.  “Why aren’t we dead?”  “I don’t know.”  That’s some “Somehow Palpatine has returned”-level laziness right there.

• So the multiversal engine is needed to open up the portal they use at the end to get home.  What did Cassie use to power the portal to retrieve Scott and Hope?

• Hated No Holes guy.

Meh:

• Jonathan Majors does a much better job here than he did in the Loki finale, though that really doesn’t mean much.  

• Kathryn Newton is fine as Cassie, but I could take or leave her.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Didn’t suck

How low does this rank overall?  Is it worse than Thor 2?  At least that’s got two moments I like (Natalie talking about the scanning machine, and the final kiss when Thor comes back.).  I don’t think this movie has even one moment I’ll ever want to watch again, or even think about.  Hrm.

1. Avengers: Endgame

2. Captain America: Civil War

3. Captain America: Winter Soldier

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home

5. Ant Man/Wasp

6. Avengers: Infinity War

7. Shang-Chi

8. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

9. Captain America: First Avenger

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

11. Avengers

12. Thor: Love and Thunder

13. Avengers: Age of Ultron

14. Black Panther

15. Spider-Man: Far From Home

16. Thor: Ragnarok

17. Iron Man 2

18. Captain Marvel

19. Black Widow

20. Ant-Man

21. Iron Man 1

22. Iron Man 3

23. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

24. Doctor Strange

25. Guardians 1

26. Guardians 2

27. Thor

28. Eternals

29. Thor 2

30. Hulk

31. Ant-Man/Wasp: Quantumania

Movies

Begin Again

Directed by John Carney, who also did Once.  This time, it’s Mark Ruffalo and Kiera Knightely who develop an unconsummated bond during the creation of a music album.  Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, and Catherine Keener fill out the excellent cast, but the movie itself is pretty forgettable.  It fails to capture the emotion of Once, and the songs aren’t nearly as good either.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Fine

RRR

Holy shit.  There were multiple times where I literally said out loud, “This might be the best movie I’ve ever seen.”  This is a batshit crazy movie with an audacity and energy that I haven’t experienced in a long time.  It’s so cheesy and campy, but revels in it instead of winking at the audience, and that’s why it succeeds.  The rescue at the bridge, the musical dance number, the bromance montage, the attack of the animals, the musical martyr number, the sniper defense of the village, the rescue at the end…The number of memorable scenes are astounding.  

There’s an excitement here that I would love to see in Marvel movies, a “Fuck it, I’m swinging for the fences” mindset that would inject so much life into what’s become a formulaic slog.

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes (If I could find it.)

Rating: Really good

New Comics

New comics!

Junkyard Joe 1-4

Picked this up after a strong iFanboy recommendation.  Geoff Johns and Gary Frank tell the story of a robot (made by the US government?) that joins a platoon of US soldiers in Vietnam.  After the war, the sole platoon survivor achieves acclaim through the comic strip he creates starring his pal, the robotic Junkyard Joe.  

Now, in the present day, the real Junkyard Joe finally returns, bringing with him a mess of trouble.  It’s a slow burn, but a great start with two remaining issues to go.  Johns’ excellent work here has me considering whether I should check out the rest of the titles in this universe he’s created.

Fantastic Four 4

Ryan North reveals why the team’s been split up for the last three issues.  It turns out Reed sent the FF Tower, all of the surrounding buildings, and all of their inhabitants one year into the future.  This includes all of their children.  The resultant public and internal backlash led to their separation.  But now they’re back together and more adventures will commence.  Not bad at all, it’s a nice take on the family.

Batman: Beyond the White Knight 8

So not as good as the first two series.  I’d say I was done with the Murphyverse, but the promise of Superman in the next arc, whenever it comes out, is too tempting to pass up.  Though I’ll be skipping the non-Sean Murphy penned spin off that’s coming out next.

Danger Street 2

Things are in the usual Tom King set up phase, but for the first time in a while, I’m really not feeling this one.  Aside from Lady Cop (I know she hates being called that, but King doesn’t give us another name to go with), every other character is annoying as fuck.  It makes for a hard-to-enjoy series.  

Gotham City: Year One 5

More is revealed as Tom King and Phil Hester’s noir tale approaches the end.  A nice, straightforward, entertaining tale.