It’s been a while since I checked out a disaster film so it’s time to see what happens when a ship comes face to face with a large tidal wave. It’s safe to say that this is a battle where only one side can win and it’s likely not going to be the boat! The film had a pretty good set up, but unfortunately relied a little too heavily on the tragedy elements, which ended up hurting it in the long run.
A lot of characters are enjoying themselves on the boat. As this film has a large cast, we get around 6 or more perspectives from the ship and none of them suspect that this will not be a simple voyage. The ship is ordered to go full speed ahead to meet a deadline and that’s when the Captain notices the large wave coming in. He orders everyone to hold on as the ship flips over entirely. Now that the boat is upside down, the heroes are going to need to head up to the bottom of the ship to escape. Can they really survive against the waves for long or will they all be picked off one by one? With a Detective and a Reverend leading the way, the gang may have the skills needed to survive!
For disaster films, I always like the intros a lot because we get to meet all of the characters. They typically have interesting plots going for themselves and that happens here as well. I don’t think I would say that the characters are likable during the intro, but interesting nonetheless. I was a little sad when the captain got hit by the wave during the beginning because he was certainly one of the more enjoyable characters. Ah well, you do have to expect a high body count here considering that the cast really thins out by the end.
It’s a bit of a double edged blade though because then the characters shouldn’t be made too likable before they end up going overboard. The film remembers this for one character as she insults the other members of the cast several times before the ending. That being said, a few good characters also don’t make it. One of them simply works too hard during the ending and it was a sad way to go. The character did a great job before she perished, but it was a low blow for the film. She didn’t drown, which is good, but a death is still a death.
The film really wanted to show how sad this was so it kept on focusing on the issue. We got to see the husband get torn up over this and are reminded that they were going to visit their grandchild. So, the tragedy elements were certainly there a whole lot. We are used to characters dying, even likable ones. However, the focus should be on the heroic deeds that they have just accomplished and not on how sad things will be as a result. Look at the deaths of Goku, Sonic, etc. The death is sudden and then brushed to the side after a few moments. That brisk way of moving forward would have done wonders for this film. It also would have helped if the film simply didn’t have any kids or seniors. It’s safe to say that it’s a lot easier to just watch teens and adults be defeated by nature than the former categories. It simply isn’t fun to put a senior or a kid in such a dangerous situation. Likewise with adding any animals of course. Now that would be a tragedy!
The main lead is Frank, a pastor who tries to debunk some Christian beliefs as he helps the heroes. He states that God does not care about people on an individual level as he is simply too busy. If you want to survive, then it’s on you to do so. He says to pray to the part of God that is in you as you strive for victory. God not caring about each individual is certainly false and hopefully he didn’t lead anyone down the wrong path. Frank was selling the people an odd package and hopefully they didn’t buy into it.
Apart from that, he still managed to be a fun lead. He is right that you should still try to get out of a problem instead of staying still and hoping for the best. This attitude gets him far and helps to motivate his team. His back and forth debates with Mike also give the film an extra boost. I was always on Frank’s side as Mike was a little unreasonable most of the time. Still, it is always good to have someone who will question your decisions.
Mike was apparently a good detective back in his day. As a result, he has a very individual personality that makes him reluctant to just take orders from Frank without a little back talk. When push comes to shove, Mike still does make the right decisions. He can just be rather annoying at times. He also blamed Frank for many of the deaths that occur in this film, which is a really low blow. Frank is the only reason that anyone survived this ordeal. If Mike had been in charge from the start, they’d be on the bottom of the ocean by now.
I do have to take away some props for the film with one of its subplots. One character was single when the film started and some of the other characters made it their business to try and help him find someone special. The guy even admits that he does want to be married. That’s pretty sad if you ask me. What happened to being proudly single? I get that Hollywood needs some romance in the world, but that character should have been left alone. The moral just makes the whole thing a little dicey if you ask me. It’s like the film is trying to say that you can’t stay single and we know that isn’t true. Am I reading into this too…deeply! (Ocean pun) Maybe, maybe not. Still, that plot didn’t add anything to the film. I could say the same for the detective’s wife. Why give her such an origin story if it will have nothing to do with the rest of the film? There is such a thing as unnecessary character development after all.
Overall, The Poseidon’s Adventure is a classic disaster film. It played up the tragedy angle a little too much for me to recommend this title, but you should like it if you really like the disaster formula. One by one, each character is picked off so it plays out like your average slasher or Resident Evil film, but instead of a monster attacking, it is simply nature. Disaster films sometimes do this aside from the normal ones so there should almost be a sub genre for it. Either way, you should not get attached to too many of the characters, but you can always have a competition with your fellow viewers to try and guess who dies first from the main characters. It’s the kind of game that I like to play within my head when I see one of these films. So, if this sounds like your cup of tea, then go for it. Otherwise, I recommend re watching the original Godzilla film.
Overall 4/10
It looks like Batman Beyond has returned! His show was certainly a lot of fun so it’s good to see the hero return to the spotlight with his various comic series. Hopefully he will have a place to return to once Convergence is all over. Looking at the future through Batman Beyond’s comics continues to be cool and you won’t be disappointed by this collection.
Terry is still at odds with Bruce so now he’s teaming up with Nightwing instead. I think Terry’s in the wrong here, but I’ll get into that more in a bit. The mayor has been assassinated so it’s up to Terry to stop whoever is behind this. It will be tough though as the new villain has assembled a super powered team to help him and each member is very deadly. After tangling with them, Batman Beyond won’t have much time to rest as the Man Bat returns to cause some chaos. Can Terry save the day while keeping up with his social life?
Terry continues to show his similarities to Peter Parker as he is letting his job as Batman consume him. He’s falling behind in all of his classes and his family relationships are beginning to get strained. It’s not quite as innocent as Peter’s predicament though. Peter didn’t want everything to fall apart, but he couldn’t help being away for long periods of time. Terry is choosing to ignore his social life because being Batman allows him to avoid his problems. The same result as Peter, but Terry certainly had a choice. Still, it’s safe to say that it hasn’t done wonders for his friends.
It’s good that Terry is trying to be a really good hero, but he’s also making some big mistakes. He’s really upset at Bruce’s earlier deceptions from Joker night and he has basically cut all ties with him. I think that’s a huge overreaction as you have to expect some secrets to be kept in this line of work. Does Terry actually think that Nightwing will be completely honest with him as they continue to team up? I highly doubt it and I hope that Terry keeps this in mind. Also, as much as I like Nightwing, he’s no Batman. Bruce Wayne will always be smarter and more prepared to help Terry out from behind the scenes. This comic really showed that as he figured out the whole case from the Batcave. At the end of the comic, Terry is slowly starting to get back into the real world without the Batman suit so hopefully he will also decide to give Bruce Wayne another chance.
The art is solid for this collection and it does a good job of emulating the style of the DCAU shows. We actually get several flashbacks to various DCAU episodes, which is cool. I saw the episodes rather recently so it’s like a good boost of nostalgia. The action scenes also look good with this art style and it is certainly a keeper. Good artwork can really go a long way into making a good comic that much more fun.
The new villain’s abilities were decent, but he definitely seems to be more of a one shot character. Let’s just say that the guy’s secret identity didn’t do the villain any favors. It’s cool that he got his own group, but his abilities aren’t even that great. He has some mild thunder control, but that’s about it. Batman did have a difficult time with him though so I should give the villain some credit. He doesn’t go down without a fight. Inque and Spellbinder don’t look very good, but at least the sonic villain got some good hits on Batman as well. It just goes to show that Batman always has to be careful since the weapons at the villain’s disposal can still pack a punch if they hit.
Compared to the big villain team up, Man Bat’s arc was noticeably less intense. It’s just hard to take the guy seriously. The heroes did feel unprepared for him though as Bruce basically gambles the city on Man Bat actually being a good guy deep down. That’s an incredibly big gamble to make and he’s wagering with lives here. I would have preferred a satisfying victory where the heroes just outfight him. It is fun to see Bruce Wayne actually fight a little bit though as he throws a few batarangs to take out some of the villains.
There’s a mini comic at the end where Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordan decide to hash out their differences. Things didn’t really go well between them so they’re always rather serious in the present. They decide to just forget the past and try to work as allies in the present. Hopefully it works out as they have both been very helpful to Terry during his current crime fighting. Gordan is also going to need some help soon as the new mayor seems to dislike her for some reason. I assume that he may have some kind of secret reason for this, but maybe he actually does think that she is simply too old for the job. It’s not illogical thought to have as she is certainly very old and the average person would have retired by this point. As long as she is making a difference, the mayor should allow her to stay, but that doesn’t seem like it is going to be in the cards. I suspect that he is corrupt anyway.
Naturally, things don’t go well at Arkham once again. It seems like that place is simply doomed to never work in rehabilitating criminals. They are simply too far gone in Gotham and other villains are constantly trying to break them free. Since Batman is the only real hero in the city, it also makes sense that there are simply too many crooks for him to be there all the time. What he needs is a sidekick of his own. Batgirl Beyond could become one if she shows up soon or maybe he’ll find someone else. The only problem is that he’s already pretty young so a “sidekick” could be tricky.
Overall, Batman Beyond 2.0 was fun. We got to relive some DCAU moments while watching some entertaining fights. I’m more than a little skeptical of Ten’s supposed allegiance to the good side, but hopefully Terry will continue to be wary of this as he hangs out with her. Getting tricked 3 times by the same person would be pretty embarrassing. I’m not sure how the Dana situation will play out as Terry tries to be a better person outside of the mask, but hopefully the comic doesn’t dwell on that. We had some very mild romance going in this volume, but it was handled well. I would expect no less from Batman Beyond! I recommend checking out this comic as it is still a fun version of DC’s future and the art is really good. If DC’s future actually were to end up playing out this way, I’d be satisfied. It’s a little bleak since there don’t seem to be many heroes anymore, but likewise, most of the super powered villains are gone as well. That means that the heroes from the good ole days essentially succeeded in their mission. Now, I’m just waiting for a time travel comic to happen in this series so that we can see Terry team up with the classic Batman in his prime!
Overall 7/10
The All New X Men series definitely got a lot of praise when it came out. People just seemed to really like the concept of having the classic X Men interact with the modern world and it made headlines for quite a while. It certainly seems like a fun series and I can see why it was liked. It sure does make you take a step back and remember how different everything used to be back then.
The comic starts off rapidly as the original X Men are face to face with Cyclop’s new group. The classic Angel wants to head off with this extreme mutant group and Wolverine’s team is trying to stop him. Tensions fly and we get a brief scuffle, but Angel is eventually allowed to leave. Unfortunately, the heroes don’t get much of a breather because Mystique, Sabertooth, and Lady Mastermind are framing them around the world. The Uncanny Avengers quickly show up to demand that the X Men hide out at their school, but Wolverine decides that they have to clear their names the old fashioned way. The rookies are going to get some real battle experience now!
One of the perks of the series is probably the casual pacing. It’s certainly not slow paced as many things happen, but it’s also not just running full speed to the goal. The issues simply transition well into the next one so the plot is constantly changing and adapting as the heroes learn more about what’s going on. All of the issues are fun except for the last one, which was essentially filler and had some pretty bad art as well.
In terms of the art, I do have to deduct a few points. It is rather inconsistent through the issues. Typically, the faces are the most noticeable as someone may squint their eyes so much that they become black slits or the character models will just be off. It’s too bad because the art is really good for the action scenes. The energy lines look very streamlined and make the battles feel more intense. There is certainly not a ton of action to be found here, but enough action scenes to certainly satisfy you.
As for the original X Men, they seem to essentially be in character for the most part aside from one member. Iceman still cracks a lot of jokes while Cyclops is still a commanding leader, even if he seems to be a little too naive. In the original comics, he certainly wouldn’t back off as much as he does now. He was sure of himself from the start, here the writers seem to want to portray the X Men as being incredibly young and inexperienced so that none of them have a lot of confidence. The Beast is still fairly unlikable and the final comic didn’t help matters. Angel seemed like himself although his role was small. Jean Grey is the main character who’s changed a lot.
It also makes a lot of sense that she would change the most since she is constantly figuring out dark secrets from the other characters thanks to her telepathy. Still, her corruption happened very quickly as she is already trying to force people to do things against their will through her mind. Luckily, there were enough heroes present to stop this, but it still does not help her case. While you can’t root for her, you will still be disappointed that none of her teammates try to assist her. Emma Frost had the three sisters attack Jean’s mind and none of the heroes helped out while she was getting pulverized. Wolverine talked tough, but he did nothing to back it up. Jean Grey shouldn’t have started the fight, but the X Men should have ended it. Storm was talking about how mutant should not fight mutant right now, but the important thing is always to win. If a mild skirmish happened here, so be it right? The Avengers could just arrest everyone later.
Speaking of the Avengers, they really do not look very good. This is still during that point in time where the heroes seem to really dislike mutants. The Avengers grabbed Havok so that he could badmouth the term mutant and Rogue so that they could seem to be unified, but it hasn’t really worked at all. The Avengers brought down the X Men’s plane just so they could threaten the team and send them back home. That was really out of character, but not if you’ve been reading AVX. It just makes the Avengers look rather petty and scared.
Then, we have the Scarlet Witch part of course. Jean found out that she basically destroyed over 95% of the mutant race and became an Avenger after that. It certainly makes you wonder how she got off so easy while fighters like the Hulk and Cyclops were dismissed as evil so quickly. It’s certainly late to attack Scarlet Witch now as the deed has been done, but it makes the Avengers look even more dicey than usual. They don’t even try to defend their action as Cap basically says that it doesn’t matter what she did since the X Men are fugitives. The line may make you chuckle or quickly look away. Either way, this was not Cap’s best appearance.
As for the villains, Mystique’s goals seem to be rather small at the moment. Owning a villainous island wouldn’t be so bad I suppose, but I just wonder what it has to do with anything. This is Mystique though so I’m expecting quite a few more twists with her plan. That being said, she’ll need better teammates if she wants to take down the X Men. Mastermind and Silver Samurai simply aren’t going to cut it when the X Men have a Jean Grey who is not afraid to use her telepathy at their disposal. I’m a little surprised that the illusions worked so well at tricking most of the superheroes, but I suppose that Iron Man and Mr Fantastic were too busy to look into this at the time. Without them, the X Men and Avengers are lacking in genius members.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to the team once this is all over though. They’ve already had many new experiences so how can they go back in time and keep reality from being altered? Unfortunately, it’s likely going to need their minds to be rebooted to that point. Jean Grey is the likely candidate for that at the moment. There is no way that they can keep their memories unless they are sent to an alternate timeline or something. Perhaps they won’t have to worry about that with the Secret Wars coming up anyway. Still, the ending to this series will be intriguing as it will test the morals of the heroes. If they really do decide to wipe the minds of the young heroes, that will be pretty disappointing and I’ll need to lecture them again through my reviews!
Overall, This was a fun collection of comics. All New X Men certainly is a lot of fun and has a great amount of potential. I do think that the X Men should be portrayed as being a little more confident and powerful though. Their abilities are shown to be very weak, which is odd since they were weaker, but still very potent back in the day. The team certainly needs to find a way to put a handle on Jean Grey since she is quickly succumbing to the dark side. Towards the end, Wolverine was allowing her to mess with the villain’s minds, but that’s just as unethical as using it against fellow heroes. He should have told her to stop from the beginning instead of encouraging it with Sabretooth. Putting the villains to sleep is all right, but not humiliating them through their mind. While the Avengers did not look great, it was still fun to see them jump in and remind us of the expanded universe. Nowadays, guest stars are common place and I think that’s a good thing. Solo adventures are still a lot of fun, but with hundreds or even thousands of heroes running around on Earth, it really doesn’t make sense to not see another hero very often. There’s only so much space on Earth right now after all. I recommend checking this volume out. All New X Men is a title that’s easy to jump into and makes for a fun read. You can expect another review for this series in the near future.
Overall 7/10
It’s time for the next Essential review! I’ve read the first Iron Man essential a long time ago so now we will be jumping to the distant future here in volume 5. It’s a fun collection as expected and nothing beats checking out some of the older comics once in a while. You can always count on a fun experience.
The comic picks up with Happy Hogan and Pepper having a disagreement. Happy wants her to retire from being Stark’s second in command and being separated has really taken its toll on both of them. Tony Stark tries to help them resolve their differences, but it’s tough. Meanwhile, a mysterious villain named the Black Lama has started a villain war for power among the local adversaries. While big players like Magneto, Dr Doom, and Red Skull decided not to join, that didn’t stop Black Lama’s plans. Modok, Yellow Claw, The Mad Thinker, and other villains decide to join anyway. This puts Iron Man in a lot of dangerous situations and he decides to stop Black Lama at any cost!
Another plot occurring in the background is a lady named Roxie who is slowly beginning to see that Tony Stark is not the gun making capitalist that he once was. She gives him a hard time about this, but it slowly coming around. Although, she seems to prefer Iron Man to Tony Stark at this point. There aren’t any real 1 shot stories aside from an origin flashback and a one shot adventure involving a run down hotel. So, each of the villains typically gets 2-4 stories for themselves. We had The Freak, (It’s his actual villain name) a Prism villain, and the Melter’s team up with some of the other fighters. The collection does a good job of showing us a great number of Iron Man villains during this journey.
As expected, the art is very good for the collection. The character models are always consistent and the action scenes are fun to watch. It helps the pages really breeze by although I was still impressed with the amount of pages per issue. They certainly didn’t feel as short as the ones that we get nowadays. Even more important than the art is the good dialogue that we have here. The Stan Lee era of comics never did disappoint in this area.
The scene at the beginning where Stark quickly asks Pepper about one of his employees was great since now we know why he always seems to know about all of his employees. Well, the twist is that he doesn’t, he just has Pepper debrief him right before talking to his men. It’s an intense twist that we’ve always suspected, but never proven so it’s nice to see that there. Tony Stark definitely makes for a good lead. He’s still a bit of a flirt, but at least he’s really only focusing on one person for a change. That certainly helps his character. He has one sad scene involving Pepper that definitely hurt him, but hopefully he won’t make that mistake again.
As Iron Man, he is constantly said to be very cold and aloof, but you wouldn’t typically be able to tell if you were watching his battles. He makes jokes and quips just like the rest of the heroes. Granted, I’m sure that the civilians in the street aren’t usually in a position to actually hear what he’s saying so he probably still seems cold and aloof to them.
The stakes are somewhat higher in this comic than you would expect from the age. Modok and the Mandarin are actually destroyed. I was somewhat surprised with the Mandarin at least since I had been expecting him to have beaten the Yellow Claw. It’s too bad that he was defeated. Of course, Iron Man did weaken him a lot so the villain does have a valid excuse for losing this round. The fatalities were certainly more than you would expect, but it goes to show why a hero is always needed in the world.
Mostly, this collection just brings in issues from the Iron Man series, but we also get a special annual to finish things off. In that story, the Molecule Man returns once more and Iron Man finds himself on the losing side of this tough battle. Luckily, Swamp Thing is here to help out and he looks as impressive as you would expect. There just seems to be no stopping this guy at times. He’s not quite as meta as Swamp Thing, which is lucky for his opponents, but he can still pack a punch when he really wants too.
One constant theme in the comics is how Iron Man doesn’t want to make weapons anymore. As such, he is always distressed when he has to go to Vietnam and look at all of the suffering that his weapons have caused. The comic definitely has a firm stance on how we shouldn’t have gone to Vietnam. I’m not extremely familiar with the situation so it’s hard for me to say. I saw a documentary on it, but it was heavily slanted towards not being in the war, likewise with a film that I saw on it so I haven’t really heard both sides yet. Those parts are certainly not as good as the rest of the comic, but at least it gives Iron Man a chance for some development.
There is really only one guest star who gets to really help out and that would be Thor. Thor arrives once Iron Man has seemingly been taken over by the prism’s consciousness. Thor is holding back, but still manages to claim victory very easily. His fans will be pleased with his portrayal as Thor is shown to clearly be more powerful than anything Iron Man can throw at him. It is a good example of how likable Thor can be when he is written well. These were the golden years so it is to be expected that the writers could handle the task. Actually, we also have Sunfire, but it’s easy to forget him. Sunfire is a villain here as he agrees to destroy Iron Man for economic reasons. Suffice it to say, Iron Man quickly outmaneuvers him and Sunfire leaves rather quickly. He’s loyal to Japan, but he’s certainly no hero as he does it for all of the wrong reasons.
The collection does leave some doors open for future plots. One that did not get resolved here involves a crazed investigator who is positive that Iron Man murdered his brother. Iron Man denies it, but the guy won’t take no for an answer and he constantly appears to give Tony Stark some grief about it. I have a feeling that this guy is going to start taking more drastic measures to finish the hero off. Hopefully Iron Man is prepared for this and can take him out in time.
Iron Man briefly toys with the idea of adding a nose to his costume, but I’m glad that he got rid of it so quickly. Trust me, it wasn’t a look that really suited the armored hero. From his villains, none of them looked particularly likable. I typically like the Melter and Crimson Dynamo, but in a parodyish way as I just like them for humor. They live up to that here as they are quickly dismissed. Iron Man’s gallery of rogues may not be as powerful as the average hero’s, but they did have some really good designs back in these days.
Overall, This volume of Essential Iron Man was very good. We got to see him fight against many opponents and I haven’t read many of the old Iron Man comics so it’s fun to see how he operates. Being rich certainly has its perks and he must be one of the only heroes who is liked in both of his identities. Spider Man would love to have the same respect that Iron Man gets in these issues. It certainly makes things a lot easier when the civilians in the street are willing to help out instead of making things more difficult for the heroes. I highly recommend this collection if you’re looking for a fun group of comics with good art and writing. The sheer size will last you a while and it is in black and white, which may deter some comic readers, but just think of it like you’re looking at the original copies before they went to color. It makes them look very sophisticated to be sure. I still have one more Essential review coming up in the near future, but you can expect some smaller comic reviews in the mean time. Hopefully I can find another good Iron Man comic soon as well.
Overall 7/10
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