JLA The Deluxe Edition Volume 1 Review

Posted on April 10, 2015 by dreager1

All right, it’s time to read a Justice League comic! Not one of the really old ones or the New 52. This is the Justice League as they were meant to be seen from one of their classic incarnations. No Hal Jordan or Barry Allen so I’ll have to wait to read a comic with the full cast in all their glory, but there replacements are ready to step into their shoes. It was as much fun as I could have expected and I actually remember flipping through this comic in Barnes & Noble back in the day. This volume is always in stores and spoiler alert: I recommend checking this one out as soon as possible!

The main chunk of the story is about the Martian Invasion. A group of martians have come from space claiming to help the planet. They have added water to the desert for starters. Superman warns the world that these are merely “cosmetic changes” as he says and disrupting such a big part of the world will have dangerous side effects. For some reason, the humans are not listening to him. It turns out that they are being mind controlled by the martians, which is severely impacting them all. The Justice League assemble and realize that they must stop this intergalactic threat. It’s only the first issue and the stakes have never been higher!

After that starting arc, we get some mini stories and the collection even brings a bonus issue that shows how the league formed. That’s pretty neat and who doesn’t like to see the League form right? Then we have the second arc which has some more of those religious themes that we’ve been wanting. Another angel is planning to rebel like Lucifer so he has come to Earth because another angel wants to leak his plans. Can the League defeat this being who may be too much for them to comprehend? Time to find out! (There’s also an issue with the Key in it…I’m just saying!)

Let’s look at the members of the Justice League before really getting into the arc. We’ll start with Superman as this is him in all of his glory. He acts like the commanding leader that he should be. The curls look from this era is also classic. I remember owning his action figure a while back. Nothing beats his standard look from the DCAU, but he probably does look a little tougher here with that mean hair style. I certainly have no qualms with his appearance here. He realizes that he is being tricked with a fake kryptonite through hypnotic suggestion and he is able to break out of his prison. It gives his intelligence credit and all of the leaguers certainly respect his impressive abilities. At one point, he randomly switches into his thunder look. You could say that his death took place between two of the issues, which accounts for the random change. We get a mini comic where we see him tryout for the team, which is pretty fun. He may not have his strength anymore, but his thunder abilities essentially give him the same effect. His personality is a little different as he’s more cocky now, but with all of the retcons around, that’s not even too unusual at this point

Batman also looks great and this is one of his better appearances. As expected, Batman is a beast when he has prep time. He manages to sneak into the watchtower and stay there for an hour before he finally had to let the League know that he had been there the whole time. He has an interesting laugh/chuckle which is spelled “hh” and it works well. Maybe it’s more of a scowl effect. Either way, Batman has some epic moments. He also shows the others how to deal with the Starro and he takes on 4 Martians by himself. That’s more than the rest of the league put together, which is awesome. Yes, it’s good to see Batman getting his respect.

Wonder Woman’s role is not as big as the first two, but she looks good during the comic. She wins her matchup with relative ease and brings Aquaman on board to help even the odds. This was before the New 52 push where she was upgraded to Superman level so she’s not quite as impressive power wise, but that’s why she’s an expert in hand to hand combat. It helps to tip the scales. She’s definitely still one of the big three for DC. Aquaman’s role is a lot smaller and I can’t say that he looked very impressive. It wouldn’t have made much of a difference if he was not here. Still, his ability to give a person a seizure by thinking about it is pretty neat. I wonder if we actually inherited part of our brain from fish or if that just applies to martians. Either way, it’s interesting.

The Flash does a good job of living up to the reputation of the original scarlet speedster. He’s still not as brilliant as Barry, but few are. He still knows a good deal about the speed force and uses this to defeat the Martian speedster. None are as fast as the Flash and he made sure to prove this in the battle. Wally West can be a fun hero to root for and I liked this portrayal of him. He was strong and dependable as a Flash should be. It’s a little hard to buy the fact that a Starro managed to jump him, but I’ll just say that he was shocked and leave it at that.

As for Green Lantern, this is Kyle Rayner and not Hal Jordan. I certainly miss Hal since he’s still my favorite Lantern. Kyle does well, but he is the flirting kind of guy, which is a little unfortunate. It holds him back from being easy to root for. His constructs have more of an effect on the holy beings in the latter stories than most of the other heroes, which is interesting. His ring is still supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the universe so it’s nice to see it getting some props. It is no longer weak against the color yellow so Kyle has no weaknesses now. As long as he remembers to focus, there are few who can stop him.

It’s another story with the Martian Manhunter. In this story, the Martians are weaker against fire than ever before. An exploding car would destroy Martian Manhunter if it hit and being near fire causes a martian to lose all of its powers like Superman being near Kryptonite. Batman uses this to his advantage when he goes up against the Martians, but it’s a huge risk. The Manhunter was tempted by these martians, but in the end he made the right call and helped the League out. I would have preferred for him to have helped the League win from the start, but at least the plan worked.

It’s also a good thing that the civilians in DC world are typically more reasonable than on the Marvel side. There were around 70 more martians so the humans had to fend for themselves against a good deal of them. It’s a good thing that they all had their lighters and matches at the ready. When together, even humans can manage to put up a pretty decent defense.

So, the first arc was a blast and a half. The Martians were powerful and a real threat. It’s good that the Justice League is so formidable because none of these guys are throwaway villains. The weakest member is still like a weakened Superman so all of the League members have to stay alert. Their true forms are also nice and sinister. This is another reason why I don’t think the Avengers would have lasted here. The weakest Justice League member is probably Martian Manhunter here and he could still take out most of the Core Avengers…most, if not all. If the Martian group attacked the Avengers, Thor and Hulk are probably the only members who could hold their own. The rest would be speedblitzed and then it would be 8 against 2. Hardly a fair fight.

The angel chapter was interesting. I really just had fun listening to the hype. Simply walking onto Earth would be enough to destroy it. This didn’t happen as the hype fell through, but it was nice to hear. The angels can create barriers that none can breach and everyone looked on with great respect as Superman managed to wrestle the being. The air from the angel’s world would make people blow up, the sights would destroy our eyes, the music would damage our ears, etc. Basically, the angels admit that we should stick to Earth and our galaxy before heading to their plane. The hype was awesome and the villain was certainly very powerful….but the overhype was strong in this issue. On the bright side, the Presence was actually mentioned! It’s rare that the One Above All’s DC counterpart is mentioned so that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, he couldn’t appear to stop the angels because they tricked him. They made an impossible event occur at the beginning of creation to keep the Presence busy fixing the problem. At least they acknowledged his existence, which is more than most comics do at this point.

The art is in the big and bold 90’s style. That means that everyone looks really powerful and intense. Unfortunately, it also means that the artists can get a little lazy with the details. Characters will make odd facial expressions and just look off during various parts of the comics. I love the action scenes for this style, but the talking scenes can certainly use some work. On the bright side, you will always feel a certain sense of amazement and intrigue with this style. You just know that you’re in store for some epic brawls!

Overall, This was a solid start to this JLA series. The characters are in character and the action scenes were great. The Martians made for powerful opponents for the League and the Angel beings from the stars weren’t bad either. I’m definitely going to miss Superman’s classic look as his thunder form will likely stick around for a while, but I suppose that his new form is still good to an extent as well. There is one unnecessary scene as we meet a random guy during the tryouts who just turns out to be a perv so I don’t see how anyone recommended him for that event, but luckily he’ll never appear again. This volume really embodies how I picture a Justice League comic. The roster is one of their strongest ones to date and all of the issues are a lot of fun. I’ve probably read more Marvel comics than DC ones at this point, but DC will always be much more interesting and thought provoking than Marvel’s for me. This volume reminds me of why that is as it’s just so awesome to see the Justice League tackle all incoming threats. Time to get hyped for Batman vs Superman all over again! I highly recommend checking out this graphic novel and you won’t regret tuning in to the intensity that is the JLA. I’m not sure when I’ll be reading another big DC adventure like this one, but the bar has certainly been set rather high.

Overall 8/10

Batman Li’l Gotham Volume 1 Review

Posted on April 8, 2015 by dreager1

This series always looked intriguing from the cover. I’ve checked out a mini Hellboy series as well as Tiny Titans so it’s about time that I looked at the Batman series right? I’m not sure why they didn’t just call it Little Gotham, but maybe this way looks cooler. It certainly takes up less space on the title. If you’re into this kind of thing, then you’ll have a blast with it. The actual plots tend to be pretty fun and the writing is good. What holds it back is undoubtedly the art.

As you may have surmised, there isn’t much of an ongoing plot. There are 6 issues in this collection, but it is really difficult to tell when one ends and another begins because the issues have chapters in them and they never say when the issue is over. At least it makes the collection look like a made for trade paperback comic. The first chapters are all about the holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving. After the heroes have handled all of them, we get the day to day adventures that you may have been hoping for. One villain decides to frame everyone else with his green themed crimes. Batman does have a few green themed villains so at least you may have to really think this one through before you think about who is guilty.

We may as well get the main negative out of the way first and foremost. That is naturally the art, which is a contender for some of the worst art of all time. The comic is a comedy so they aren’t supposed to look very accurate to the traditional comics, but the characters can still be a little hard to look at. The artist is particularly bad at drawing skin it would seem as the costumes look good, but not the characters inside of them. It’s a style that has been used in many books in the past and the anime, Accel World, did some of this as well. It’s when the skin gets a red tint that makes it look like everyone is feeling a little sick. Beyond that, the pages can just be really chaotic so you are unsure of what is happening at times. Everything can just be a little too cluttered. So, I really didn’t like the art, which can naturally hurt the comic.

Aside from the art, the other areas of the comic were fairly solid. The jokes never go into crude humor land and it can be fun to see the whole bat family interact. The art sometimes stops you from knowing which character is actually talking, but you can typically figure it out. Batman has some pretty epic moments where he school the villains in a way that only Batman can accomplish. He walks into a diner and decides to pick up the bill for all of the villains, little did they know that he only did it to keep them there for the cops to pick up. It was pretty awesome and an epic twist as you are originally led to believe that Batman was going to let them go because it was a holiday. (I forgot which one)

The writing is fun and that’s always very important for a comic like this one. Even characters like Damian aren’t that bad here. He still talks tough for a kid who typically can’t back it up, but the author decides to use this to poke fun at the character. Every character has some trait that can be used for humor and the writer does a good job of showing them off.

There’s just not much to dislike. It can be fun to take a break from the serious situations that befall the heroes and just enjoy a happy story like this one. Everyone is out of character, but in a good way. They also do retain their personalities, they are simply taken to the extreme to help create the atmosphere that the writer is going for. It’s done in a much better way than we’ve seen in recent times. (Rock Lee spinoff manga, Teen Titans Go TV show, etc)

The comic also does a good job of adding a bunch of characters. If you can think of a Batman character, then they’re likely in it. It’s fun to see the various Robins team up and most of the villains get their time in the spotlight as well. It’s safe to say that Dick Grayson is still the best Robin, but it is sad that his costume apparently has no pockets. That sounds like a pretty big thing for Nightwing to simply overlook. Ah well, it gives the other Robins some bragging rights. We also find out why Batman can keep up with the Justice League. Hint, it involves good ole Monitor Duty!

Overall, Batman Li’l Gotham is a fun comic to read. If you enjoy this style, then you will definitely enjoy it a lot. I preferred Tiny Titans by a little (If my memory serves correctly anyway) but that’s mainly due to the issue with the art. You will need to make sure that you can get past that part, but otherwise you should have no problem here. I have the second volume here so you can expect a review for that one coming up. I anticipate that it will be on the same level as this one. One of the good things about this style is that it is typically consistent. Well, see you around til then!

Overall 6/10

Batman Beyond 2.0 Rewired Review

Posted on April 6, 2015 by dreager1

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

Showcase Presents Blue Beetle Volume 1 Review

Posted on March 31, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for another installment in the Showcase series. Like Marvel’s Essential, this collection brings a bunch of comics and makes for some intense reading. This showcase actually brings the whole Blue Beetle series, which is pretty neat. It’s very self contained comic with few guest stars, which really cements the 60’s vibe that you get from the collection. The 60’s tone is a good thing in this case as it feels retro and engaging.

Blue Beetle is a man named Ted Kord. Ted is rich and he also makes for a great crime fighter. He runs a lab personally along with his two assistants as they try to build things. We never get to see any of their actual inventions, but I’m sure that they’re good. Kord’s main objective is to enforce the peace in his city and stop the villains who show up from time to time. There are subplots, which continue as well since this comic’s continuity is actually very tight. One of his teammates is stealing from him and giving tech to her boss. Another teammate is being blackmailed by a crime boss. Kord’s personal assistant who does most of his actual day to day duties goes from being a potential love interest to threatening him while on the job. Finally, Kord is trying to build his own legacy after the original Blue Beetle died, but it’s a little harder than he thought it would be! You can see that he’s under a lot of pressure eh?

First off, the art for this graphic novel was actually quite good. You can really enjoy the fight scenes here as well as the fun character designs. It was partially thanks to this that I actually thought that I was reading something from the 60’s. I was shocked to find out that this was actually an 80’s series. It does make sense of course when you think of the continuing plot and continuity, but it’s still surreal. Also, The Amazing Spider Man was in the 60’s and it had continuity on its side as well right? Unfortunately, this collection decided to transform the art into black and white, which makes reading it slightly less fun than it would be with color. At least you can appreciate the designs like a manga this way I suppose.

Next, the writing for the collection is very good as I alluded to earlier in the collection. Blue Beetle’s lines are very witty without being too obvious. He replies to villains in a way that is making fun of them, but if taken seriously, the lines would actually make sense. That’s the best kind of pun as it could actually be used in real life if you really wanted too. The villains also make some pretty good comebacks as well. For example, Blue Beetle might say “I wouldn’t want you to put me to sleep with that!” as he dodges a wrecking ball and the villain will say “Actually, I plan to kill you with that.” The villains say it in such a somber and matter of fact tone that it works for the humor.

Blue Beetle is a good lead and he can certainly hold his own collection. Among the many plots, his was typically my favorite. I always liked to see how he handled the office and he didn’t back down to anyone. He was a really nice guy while still being ready to smash into the villains when a fight broke out. What really seals the deal for me was how he handled the ending. It’s really terrific and shows just why he became such a good superhero. What he lacks in actual super powers, he more than makes up for with his intelligence and gadgets.

As I mentioned earlier, the ending for this collection is terrific. Let’s just say that a few of the characters had been giving him a tough time for quite a few issues. They finally go to Ted and admit that they were wrong, but he explains that he simply doesn’t care anymore. Then..he just walks off and leaves them to the their situation. It’s so unexpected and sudden that it’s simply amazing. It would be great to see what his next appearance was after this although I think the character may have been reconnected at that point. I hope not since I don’t think that they will ever be able to make a Ted Kord who is cooler than this one. I don’t even think a Blue Beetle could top him. He’s certainly weaker than the average one, but personality wise, this was really everything I could hope for in a lead. He was a little flirty towards the beginning to be sure, but at least it was only with the love interest and he acted respectfully with everyone else.

This series really tries to be a solo title in its truest form so there are very few guest stars. That being said, they do pop up from time to time. Batman and the Justice League of America appear at one point, but Blue Beetle tells them to stay back since he can handle this. The Teen Titans also arrive for some backup support, but they actually don’t look great. As characters, they’re likable and they’re epic, but when it came down to a fight…I dunno. I feel like any team that has three powerhouses in the form of Starfire, Cyborg, and Wonder Girl should be able to vanquish a team of cadets who were engaging in their first ever fight. It was a surprisingly close battle considering this. Finally, we can’t forget the Question. The Question has one moment that is pretty humorous when he jumps from Blue Beetle’s ship and barely survives the landing. He claims that he had to do it as a matter of pride, but if he had actually died, it probably would have been the saddest way to go. Seriously….for honor!

The villains aren’t very imaginative here on the whole, but at least we had some decent ones. The original Blue Beetle returns from the grave to destroy Ted Kord. The Scarab is manipulating him so the original Beetle seems pretty upset and fierce. Not to worry though, Ted Kord knows how to defend himself. Ignoring plot hax, it’s easy to see why the original Blue Bettle would win in a fight. Ted can try to out think the guy, but it would really be a futile effort. I am glad that the original one regained his mind though and showed us some true will power. A villain who came from another comic series was the Time Lord or Chronos. It was one of those names anyway I believe as time was his gimmick. His abilities are deadly, but he never uses them correctly so he was hardly a threat. Likewise, there was a guy who could do anything with his mind like transforming a kid into an animal, but he didn’t think to use those tricks on Blue Beetle. His loss I suppose.

One of the subplots that was a lot of fun was Lt. Fisher and how he wanted to put the Blue Beetle out of business. Eventually, the guy went to an island and discovered an immensely powerful robot. That robot was pretty cool and his abilities were certainly impressive. You almost feel bad for the guy who inhabited the suit as he really thought that he had surpassed the original Blue Beetle for a second there. Little did he know that he was seriously out of his depths here.

Blue Beetle’s strength really lies in its continuity and how much you enjoy each plot since they will be sticking around. There were times when I’d actually be waiting for Blue Beetle’s plot to end because I wanted to see what was happening in the meanwhile. The plots were simply fun that way and it’s why I ended up giving the comic an extra star. It really reminded me of The Amazing Spider Man from back in the day. I don’t know why Blue Beetle never hit it off the same way.

Overall, You’re bound to like this comic if you like Blue Beetle as the lead. Since Ted Kord gets a lot of screen time, you really need to like him to thoroughly enjoy the collection. Naturally, the same goes for the subplots since they will be around the whole time. If both of those turn out to be winners for you, then you will really like this collection. The art is solid and the writing is very witty, which leads to a pretty powerful combo here. This collection is also much longer than the average one as it is around 600 pages instead of just being over 400. You certainly get a lot of value for your purchase here. It is regrettable that this concludes the Blue Beetle series since I would have liked to have seen him go on more adventures, but I suppose that it was simply his time. I recommend checking this out when you get the chance!

Overall 8/10

Showcase Presents Super Friends Volume 1 Review

Posted on March 28, 2015 by dreager1

It’s been a while since I checked out a Showcase Presents collection hasn’t it? Well, the Super Friends was one that I definitely needed to get and I was shocked to see it at the library. I loved the cartoon and still own one of the box sets, but I never really thought that I would see it in comic form. It certainly holds up well and the collection goes really quickly.

The Super Friends is mostly filled up with comics that act as stand alone issues. Typically, the adventure will be a multi part one so the adventure will last for 2-3 issues or more. That helps to make sure that each story isn’t rushed. The issues also tend to follow a very formulaic route. Each issue will have the Super Friends split up into 3-4 teams and then we see each of them try to stop a villain. Typically, you can guess what will happen to the other teams on the missions. If the first group succeeded, then the rest will, but if the first group lost, the rest of the heroes will lose. It does make each story a little predictable, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Figuring out how the heroes will lose it typically the exciting part.

There is a plot in the background that is around…slightly. The first half of the collection features a pair of kids and their dog. They are being trained by the super friends and they eventually graduate as they become full fledged heroes. They leave the series at that point and are replaced by the Wonder Twins. I can’t say that I missed the kids because they felt out of place here. They are just kids so how can they hope to keep up with the actual heroes when it becomes time for serious business? The plot hax was a little too heavy when they were around.

The Wonder Twins aren’t much better I’m afraid. They arrived on Earth because they ran away from their home planet, but they are eventually freed from their charges. The problem is that they save the Super Friends several times to show us that they have certainly earned a spot on the team. I don’t mind them joining, but they are certainly weaker than most of the heroes so I don’t see why they got so much hype. They are also not familiar with Earth customs and that’s a trope that I’ve never cared for. They make mistakes when trying to utter Earth sayings and that gets old very quickly.

Luckily, that’s one of the only things that gets old here. It should also be noted that the Wonder Twins aren’t good characters here, but they would probably be a lot more likable in comparison if the super friends weren’t so likable. The Wonder Twins certainly aren’t nearly as bad as the average unlikable character. The art looks really sharp here as expected. Unfortunately, the collection is in black and white so it’s a little hard to say exactly how good it looks, but the art is clear and you can always tell what is happening. The action scenes always look good and that’s one of the most important factors for a comic book. You really feel it when a characters punches Superman around.

This took place during an interesting time where the Justice League was around as well as the Super Friends. This meant that most members of the Super Friends had to juggle their responsibilities. Some members like Green Lantern basically decided to be with the Justice League and to ignore the Super Friends. This is the kind of thing that probably wouldn’t fly nowadays, but it gave us an excuse to have our favorite heroes have more than one adventure at a time with the various comics on the shelves,s which was pretty neat.

Showcase Presents may take away the colorful aspect of the art, but at least it also bundles together a good amount of issues. This particular collection was a little over 400 pages, which is certainly a lot. You’ll be having a blast so the pages will be over in no time, but at least you can definitely be confident that you are getting your money’s worth.

As for the adventures in question, there are a bunch of them, but I’ll quickly mention some of them. One adventure has a villain robbing people by making circus animals tiny and then bringing them back to normal size when it came time for a heist. A monster woke up from its slumber in another issue and proved to be virtually unstoppable as even Superman could not defeat it. The Mirror Master came closer than most of the other villains to winning as he trapped the heroes in a mirror world. Unfortunately for him, Superman’s FTL so he just dragged the other heroes back to reality.

Naturally, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of adventures and by the end of them, you’ll certainly have bonded with the heroes. They’re all in character for the duration, which is always good. One scene where I questioned Flash though was in the Mirror Master plot. With the Justice League trapped, the Wonder Twins would have to fend off the villain on their own. Flash knew that they were a target, but he decided to stay on Watchtower duty instead of going to help them. That felt a little out of character as his speed would have enabled him to help right away. I know that he trusts the heroes, but it was still a bit much.

It’s always nice to see the classic Batman here. Robin is around as well and he’s always got some puns at the ready. He is always paired up with Wonder Woman for missions, which is a little dicey for him since he never really gets to help out as a result of this. At least he still has some puns at the ready and he always fires a few off. This was back when Batman was very chipper so it’s nice to see him throw in a pun once in a while. Superman is at his best as he is extremely confident. He’s still a nice guy of course, but he realizes that he is the strongest. Unfortunately, almost all of the villains have kryptonite up their sleeve, but this doesn’t stop Superman from getting serious when the time is just right.

As far as the Showcase Presents go, this is easily one of the best ones. I definitely can’t say that it is the very best of course. As long as Justice League and regular Superman is around, that will be extremely difficult. Nonetheless, Super Friends puts up an admirable fight and it reminds me why I’ve always been a fan of the series. It’s essentially the Justice League series, but with more of a light tone and a roster that tends to include Robin on the team. You can’t go wrong there!

Now, this collection is practically a comedy and it’s meant to be cheesy, but it’s still worth noting that there is a lot of plot hax to be found here. It’s always a stretch when someone like the Riddler is able to take out Superman, but that’s why we have Kryptonite right? I just feel like Superman isn’t as susceptible to Kryptonite as the comics would have you believe. He can still melt it or just stay away. There are also quite a few villains who are able to just overpower Superman, which is certainly surreal. Almost every comic has a moment that is a little iffy like when Batman or Superman is defeated, but the scenes are typically funny so I suppose that we can live with it. Aquaman fans may be sad as his weakness of being away from water for too long becomes a liability for him more than a few times. It’s tough being a fish guy before The New 52.

Finally, the comic has fun showing off guest star heroes as well. The Super Friends have to team up with global heroes on more than one occasion. This includes another Batman who doesn’t seem to be as cool and a guy who uses objects from biblical times to help him fight. The guest stars are pretty cool and while they all seem weaker than their Super Friend counterpart, it’s nice to know that the other countries aren’t completely defenseless. After all, it seems like the US area with Gotham and Metropolis is extremely secure with so many heroes helping out.

Overall, The Super Friends is a really fun collection to read. The comics will certainly keep you busy for a while and the cast is filled with well known characters. Batman and Superman are regulars along with the other heroes and it’s always neat to see how the villains will try to win against such odds. The art is very good as well. The original characters certainly weren’t great and I didn’t miss them when they were gone, but it’s not like they really hurt the comic either. All’s well that ends well right?

Overall 8/10

Justice League 3000 Volume 1 Yesterday Lives Review

Posted on March 21, 2015 by dreager1

Booooooooooooooo. Okay, Justice League 3000 wasn’t terrible, but it was certainly pretty bad. This is a plot that had a lot of potential and it was a little similar to Future’s End. Unfortunately, the series couldn’t live up to its potential and you can tell that things are going south right from the get go. I just don’t understand why the writers made some of the decisions that they did.

It has been ages since the Justice League formed. The year is now 3000 and the universe is essentially ruled by The Five. They are super villains who did what no other ever could, they conquered everything. If a hero tries to rise up, they just blow up his/her planet and move on. The only thing that stands in their way is Cadmus and they aren’t much better. Cadmus is basically what’s left of the government. The only problem is that they have no real heroes and there are spies everywhere. Nowhere is safe from them! Cadmus decides to change this by bringing the famous Justice League back to life. They do this by placing their DNA in normal humans, so that the DNA takes over the vessel and essentially becomes the hero. With the exception of Cyborg, The New 52 Justice League roster is back…with some changes. Can they defeat The Five and liberate their future?

The plot should have been good, but it just didn’t work out. The main reason is the twist that the heroes have lost some key memories so they are not acting as they once did. Superman is now much meaner than usual and he’s about as likable as the average horror film protagonist. He’s extremely unintelligent and he basically acts like a cave man. Wonder Woman is back to being extreme in her views on how she strongly dislikes all men and likes to slaughter any foe she comes across. Green Lantern, Batman, and the Flash are mostly like their usual selves although Batman doesn’t mind cracking a joke once in a while. It essentially plays out like a fanfic and that’s the last thing that I could have wanted here.

Superman is also badly nerfed to help move the plot along. He can no longer fly and his physical abilities seem to be a lot worse as well. Wonder Woman and Superman were getting crushed by a goddess, one of The Five, and that’s something that I can’t see happening to their true New 52 selves. This lady may be strong, but one simply doesn’t take out the top 2 Justice League members so easily. The humiliation doesn’t end there as the strongest member of The Five, a Reality Warper, defeats the League with ease. Already, you can tell that this is going to be the kind of series where the heroes are on the run for the whole time and that can certainly get old rather quickly.

Towards the second half of the graphic novel, Firestorm joins the ranks and the sad thing is that he’s the most likable member of the team. It’s just sad because he’s essentially a villain here as his mind is even more corrupted than the other members. He wants to slaughter anyone who gets in his path and luckily he has the power to do it. His abilities come in handy against the villains, but it’s too bad that he couldn’t have kept his moral compass along the way. Ah well, at least the Justice League has one member who can fight.

Let’s talk about The Five. One of their members is named Locus and she appears to be the strongest member by far. She is the reality warper that I mentioned and her abilities are limitless. The only way to beat her is to knock her out before she can form a thought Naturally, this leads to plot hax whenever she has to fight and cannot win at the moment. She’s a psycho, but I’m sure that we expected this. Kali is a warrior whose strength seems to surpass that of Superman and Wonder Woman’s. Both of these villains have yet to be on the losing edge of a fight aside from a knockout blow from behind and Firestorm’s impressive debut. Convert is one of the more useful members of The Five even if he’s not a fighter. He invades people like a plague or the Phalanx. He currently controls billions of people across the universe and he can literally turn an entire population against you by controlling them. Finally, we have Coeval who attacks from the cyber world. He seeks to weaken the wills of the heroes by playing on their doubts.

Naturally, to be The Five, those 4 need a leader. He does end up appearing at the end of the graphic novel and it should come across as a decent surprise. It certainly makes things look a little dicier for the heroes as there is not much they can do about the situation anymore. The leader is probably the weakest member aside from Coeval as the average human could probably beat him, but I’m sure that the leader will dig up a robot somewhere to finish the job.

Technically, it’s a good idea to have a supervillain team to face the League. Kali and Locus were good starts even if they were overpowered, but the other members can’t fight, which limits the potential. One thing that hurts the comic is the natural need for it to be gritty. A lot of Superman’s lines revolve around him flirting, making suggestive comments or threatening to hurt people. Locus literally rips one of the heroes to shreds and while the page has a lot of energy and spacial effects to distract you, the scene is much more violent than it needs to be. We have the classic Man of Steel moment as well to make sure that the comic covered all of the bases. An eye stab also happens and nothing Narutoesque happens since the opponent is basically invurlnable, but I always found that to be a rather dirty fighting technique that crosses the lines of justice and injustice.

Really, the comic just isn’t that good. Even the art isn’t up to par with the high level of quality that DC is known for. It helps that the character designs are mostly lacking. Only Batman’s looks good from the original team although Firestorm joins him later on. Green Lantern’s cloak is cool, but without it, he doesn’t have a very good design. The fight scenes are where the art shines, but there aren’t many true fight scenes to see so this is pretty limited.

It goes without saying that the writing isn’t very good either. Meanwhile, it has certainly been a long time since the year 2000, but I find it hard to believe that some of this happened. How could the Five conquer the galaxy and the Green Lantern race was eliminated so easily? I don’t buy it and I don’t see how Earth fell so quickly as well considering that we have such an unstoppable army of superheroes. Locus is strong, but Kali would be defeated by a good fighter like Supergirl or Darkseid and the rest of the team could seriously be beaten by the Teen Titans. Where’s Lex Luthor when you need him!?

This is only the first volume so the series still has some hope, but it’s going to have to move quickly. For starters, the series should not try to be as dark and gritty as can be. Right now, the heroes really have no hope unless they can revive the other heroes, but what then? Even if they defeat The Five, they’re living in a future where just about everything was eradicated. It’s not going to be much of a life. Toning down the dark atmosphere should be enough to tip the scales, but the comic also needs to make the Justice League a whole lot more likable. Superman’s already getting some development, which is a start, but we’re going to need the writers to accelerate the process.

Overall, I currently don’t see the point of this title. The future is grim and the heroes must save the day again, but this kind of story has already been done and with much greater efficiency. Typically, a future story is extremely interesting and that’s what keeps you reading. The new villains have conquered to be sure, but the heroes are still ready to deal out some damage. Here, the writers have stacked the deck so much in the villain’s favor that the heroes really do not stand a chance. Locus just has to think and they’re all dead. So, there’s literally no way that they should win and the amount of plot hax in future issues is going to be immense. Just check out the time travel episode in Justice League Unlimited and you’ll witness what this comic should have been like. Likewise, Hitman Reborn had an arc with this kind of plot that was infinitely superior. The heroes should have definitely been in character and I guarantee that this comic would have been much more enjoyable. Well, if I do check out volume 2 anytime soon, we’ll see if the series will have managed to improve. As of now, I recommend checking out Superman Unchained instead as it’s an epic action story with some guest stars to help you out as well.

Overall 4/10

Batman & Mr. Freeze SubZero Review

Posted on January 6, 2015 by dreager1

Time to revisit another Batman classic! After the success of the Phantasm film, it was good to see Batman make another theatrical appearance. SubZero is definitely a solid film, but it makes the controversial choice to place plot over action. This will likely work for the critics, but it definitely works against the film on this site. It’s a good film experience, but it could have been better.

Batman and Robin are enjoying themselves at a party when Mr Freeze decides to strike. He has been resting at a hideout far away from Gotham, but the villain was forced to make his move when some humans decided to blow away his kingdom. It was accidental as they panicked and crashed through the ice instead of through the water, but it was a mistake that they won’t get to make again. To restore his wife, Mr Freeze needs someone with the same blood type so that the doctor can unleash a fatal operation on her. Barbara Gordon fits the bill so he kidnaps her. Can the Dynamic Duo reach her in time or is it already too late?

The plot in itself isn’t bad. Mr Freeze has always been one of the better DCAU villains and this is a pretty good portrayal of him. As always, he’s not being evil for the lolz, but he is actually doing it to help Nora. It’s a pretty sympathetic goal although the way that he goes about it is not the best. Considering how advanced science is in the DC world, a hospital would probably be able to do something about her condition. Not a normal hospital though, he would have to get some connections to help her. Instead, he opts to just do the transfusion and naturally this makes him a villain, but one that you can sympathize with.

I’ve always had a soft spot for characters who place those closest to them at higher priority than the rest of the world. A Sword Art Online example is Kirito basically saying that he’ll leave everyone to die so that he can take Asuna to safety during one of the final battles or Sasuke deciding to do whatever he had too in order to avenge his clan. You can tell that the acts aren’t exactly heroic, but you can still root for the characters. Naturally, it’s hard to root for Mr Freeze here since it would mean the death of Batgirl, but in his position it’s easy to see why he would make the choice. (Assuming that there is no other way) If it’s between Nora and Barbara, he’s going to pick Nora every time. For us, if it’s a stranger or a family member in a random circumstance, like a sudden fire and you can only pick one, who wouldn’t pick the family member? Naturally, a “true” hero may factor in something like who is younger, who will have a better life, or other things to decide who to save, but it would be hard not to save the family member. Thus, I don’t excuse Mr Freeze’s goal, but it’s one of the reasons why he has always been one of Batman’s best written villains.

Robin gets a bigger role here than usual. Unfortunately, it’s mostly a romance subplot for him as he doesn’t get to act as Robin for a very long time here. There’s not a whole lot of action here so that makes sense, but it doesn’t help his case as a character. I think it’s safe to say that Batman is more likable here. Robin still needs more experience so while he is a good fighter, he still has a ways to go. I would have liked to have seen some more effort from him so that he could save Batgirl. (At least he doesn’t try to throw the fight like Batman does at times) He’s still one of my favorite Batman characters, but this probably wasn’t his best appearance.

Batgirl also gets a big role, but only in her normal identity. She doesn’t put up the greatest fight against Mr Freeze and I think that she should have been able to escape at one point. Not off of the ship of course, but heading to the very top would have bought her a lot of time. She did a good job of buying time for herself, but I’m just saying that she could have done even better if she really put the effort in. Her brief moment as Batgirl made her look pretty good though so that was a preview of how the film could have gone for her. She could have probably given Mr Freeze and his minions a decent fight if she had been prepared.

Batman’s portrayal is pretty spot on as expected. He quickly starts to assemble the clues that he had gotten throughout the film and then he found out where Mr Freeze was hiding. He still is the world’s greatest detective so nothing is too tricky for him to figure out. He also looks pretty tough in the fight scenes and he’s a hero from start to finish. There’s nothing more that you can really ask for from Batman so the portrayal is just about perfect.

The animation is pretty sharp as you would expect. Batman always makes full use of the theater budget so the cape and cowl are sleek and sharp. There are no scenes where they look pale or out of focus. That being said, the film made the unwise choice of deciding to add a lot of CGI to the film. I’ve always thought that CGI is inferior to hand drawn animation so deciding to add some of it to a film because you can is still not a good reason to add it. The normal scenes look better than the CGI moments so they don’t help the film. It’s intriguing to look at since the scenes really stand out. It’s not like it’ll hurt the score or anything like that, but the film would have looked even better without the CGI moments.

Batman’s soundtrack is also about as good as you would expect. The intro theme is pretty good and it gets you in the mood for a good adventure. After that, the themes become a little more generic, but they definitely age well. It gives the film the look and feel of a theater film and that’s what I always expect. Nowadays, that isn’t always a guarantee. It’s not as good as the soundtrack was in Mask of the Phantasm, but it’s definitely good enough.

Mr Freeze didn’t have any human minions this time as he just teamed up with two Polar Bears and I have to say that this was another dicey move on the film’s part. Adding in animals means that there is a chance that they will have to fight so that’s always sad to see. The heroes are pretty passive when fighting them for the most part, but who wants to see the evil bears get blasted with water? I definitely could have done without them having to engage in the fights, but it certainly could have been a whole lot worse.

The main thing that stops this film from getting the usual 7 stars is the lack of action. We only see Batman at the very beginning when he fights a robber and at the very ending where he moves in to save Batgirl. It’s hard to call the movie a Batman film when the main star barely gets to appear. We get some Bruce Wayne scenes of course and Dick Grayson gets development, but I need action. Mr Freeze doesn’t even get to fight the heroes since it’s too late by that point. That’s definitely a missed opportunity right there. Sometimes, the gamble to have more plot than action works out, but that is very rarely and it typically only works when the action scenes wouldn’t have been enjoyable anyway. That is definitely not the case here so the strategy never really had a chance.

You could also argue that the film had a little too much romance in it. I definitely wouldn’t stop that argument since I agree with it. The romance is handled decently well at least since the scenes typically won’t leave you cringing, but it’s still a plot that I could do without. Batgirl and Robin should always stay as just friends especially when you know that it’s not going to last. It also stopped the characters from being as likable as they could have been.

Overall, SubZero is a pretty decent Batman film. As far as the DCAU titles go, it’s probably going to have to take last place, but that’s more of a “by default” thing. 6 stars is still pretty good after all so the film was still fun. The animation and soundtrack are good and Batman looks great. The brief action scenes that we do get are pretty good. The film may drag on a little towards the middle and the romance was probably too heavy as well, but it’s still a film that you will want to see as a Batman fan. I definitely recommend it to DC fans and if you want an even better Batman tale, just check out Mystery of the Batwoman.

Overall 6/10

Batman Mask of the Phantasm Review

Posted on December 29, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the first great Batman films to finally be reviewed and Mask of the Phantasm was certainly a film that turned the tides for animated superhero films as we know them. This film was in the same continuity as the 90’s Batman TV show so that was definitely a draw for many since it was known as the definitive version of Batman. I can’t argue there and seeing him on the big screen was probably a lot of fun. This is a pretty solid film that also contains the Joker so expectations were certainly high coming into it. I’ve seen it several times at this point and it’s always been one of the better Batman films.

Batman is framed by a new vigilante in Gotham, but this new figure is willing to cross the line. He has already vanquished several members of a mob and he intends to finish off the last survivors. Batman won’t have this and he decides that he’s going to have to take this Phantasm down. Will Batman really have what it takes to pull off such a feat? The film also deals with Batman’s meeting with a lady named Andrea. She has something to do with his past and now she has returned after 10 years…what’s her angle!? The Joker also decides to show himself towards the second half of the film so he adds to the intrigue.

Mask of the Phantasm certainly delivers on the animation front as Batman’s cloak looks very crisp and modern. You would think that this was a high budget episode of Justice League and that’s what I expect from a theatrical film. I think that the beginning of the film certainly got the most attention as it looks considerably better than the rest of the film, but the whole thing still looks really good. For a film, it also makes sense to trow most of your budget into the opening to really hook people in as opposed to a show where you want to put some budget into the beginning, but then you’ll want to save a lot of it for the climax. A good indicator of how good the animation looks here is to look at Batman’s design. The way that they design his cape and cowl are pretty good indicators of if the animation is good or great. Mask of the Phantasm is definitely on the latter side of that.

This film’s soundtrack uses a few tunes from the TV show while also inventing a new theme that plays during the intro and ending. It’s an operatic piece that works pretty well with Batman since it lets you know that something serious is about to happen. It’s more fitting with the ending than the beginning since it highlights a key decision that has now been made. It’s rather dramatic and it works well. You definitely won’t doubt that this is a theater film while you’re listening to the soundtrack.

Batman looks pretty good for the most part although I certainly have some qualms with his portrayal here. It naturally revolves around his scenes with Andrea. Many of the events with them take place 10 years earlier during Batman’s first adventures as a crime fighter. She arrived and he started to consider hanging up the mantle before he had even begun so that he could lead a normal life. It’s not the “I am the night. I am vengeance. I am Batman!!!” character that I remember, but this was fairly early on in his career so I could cut him a tiny bit of slack. Now, what I can’t simply overlook is that 10 years later Batman is once again in shambles because Andrea has returned.

No matter how close they were, there’s no way that anything would cause Batman to hesitate at this point. He’s already decided that being Batman is something that he’s going to do until he’s physically unable to handle the job anymore. He definitely wouldn’t consider stopping now for any reason. So, that subplot was definitely a pretty big stretch and it was a little sad how his secret identity was found out so easily. I don’t think he would typically make the mistake of standing in front of the Wayne’s grave or at least being caught doing so. He just didn’t look too good there and I have warned films about the possible traps involved where romance is concerned. I think it did hurt his portrayal here.

That aside, Batman tended to look pretty good in the fight scenes. It’s safe to say that he had the edge against the Phantasm and he took out the Joker with sufficient strength and finesse. It was only close because Joker had the home field advantage and I can live with that. He is still a tough villain after all so a close fight is to be expected. Batman put together the clues for the mysteries pretty quickly here and he also put Alfred in his place when he started to go a little too far. This is definitely the Batman that I am used too and it will be tough for any continuity to ever surpass the DCAU version of Batman.

The Phantasm is a pretty intense villain. I naturally won’t disclose his secret identity even though the film is so old because spoilers must be protected through thin and thin. So, naturally these lines just pertain to when he is in costume. He’s a pretty intense villain and he seems to show no fear as he hunts down gang boss after gang boss. He is equipped with a pretty sharp gauntlet that can cut through guns without effort and he is quite adept at moving through smoke. I think that some of his feats are certainly a little exaggerated since there is no possible way (Barring supernatural powers) that he can accomplish them. One example is where he throws a smoke bomb and Batman immediately grabs at him, but the Phantasm is gone. It’s pretty spooky, but a little hard to buy.

Andrea is one of the new characters for this film and she’s pretty decent although it can be tough for Batman fans since we don’t like to see him give up like this. Unfortunately, Andrea is in a pretty tricky situation since her father got involved with gangsters so now their lives are in jeopardy. That’s why she ended up leaving Batman 10 years ago and then she returns for this film. She seems nice enough, but also a little too easy and the whole affair with Batman happened way too quickly. Naturally, both of them are to blame for this, but also allowing the flirting by Reeves was a bit much on her part. I probably prefer some of the original characters from the final film in the Batman DCAU trilogy, but Andrea certainly could have been worse. At it stands, Andrea didn’t make the film lose any stars. (A star probably could have been gained without her subplot though)

Joker appears to give the film some star power on the villain front. Admittedly, the film probably wouldn’t have been quite as exciting without him. A super villain is always appreciated and you feel pretty confident that he will be able to stand up to the Phantasm. He is the Joker after all and he’s always prepared for every eventuality. His home base is pretty cool and he’s just a very charismatic character. I always did like him in the DCAU even if he’s not my favorite villain in most of the other forms of media. His fans will certainly be pleased with his portrayal here and he is seen as a pretty big threat from the get go.

Arthur Reeves is one of those guys who likes to be at the top of the Anti Batman game. He appears on TV constantly to remind people that Batman is a menace and you would almost think that he was Harvey Dent at first. It makes you wonder how this guy always manages to get on TV, but he is a politician. Let’s just say that all original characters tend to have something to do with the plot so he’s entangled in the past full of mysteries in this film. He’s definitely not a good character and I wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t been in it. I guess we do need more villains though and he beats some of the sub villains. He just brings shame to the Arthur name! If it helps….he does have the courage to laugh at the Batman!

You may wonder about a certain figure on a boat as the film ends and what it all means. Well, I like to think that the figure threw another figure away as a certain explosion hit and quickly escaped, which is how the figure is here. That also explains why the other figure continues to appear in future media in this continuity. I think it makes sense, but it also undermines one character’s big moment at the ending. Ah well, at least it means that the character resisted from crossing the line one last time…even if it was accidental. This may sound vague, but you’ll know what I’m talking about as you watch the film.

One scene that may make you wince is when Batman takes on the cops. Typically, that is an easy feat for Batman, but they were probably trying to make it a little more realistic for the casual moviegoers so Batman actually doesn’t look good. We’ve seen him take on a planet full of enemies in the past so no true Batman fan will really be able to buy the scene. It’s also sad since Batman ultimately has to be saved. I think it would have been more appropriate for Alfred to have saved Batman since it would have left the crimefighter with more dignity. As the scene stood, it was a pretty sad moment for the Dark Knight. It also makes Bullock look worse than usual since he just shot someone who has been helping him out since day one. That’s definitely what I call being not grateful to someone.

The main plot is a lot more interesting than the flashbacks, but I did enjoy this rendition of Batman’s origin. It was fun to see his first fights against the hoodlums of Gotham. I just think that it would have been even more fun without the romance in Andrea’s subplot. This film definitely has a lot of romance in it and it’s interesting that the other two Batman films have romance plots involved in some way. It may help the general audience I suppose since they expect that, but you can certainly do a good Batman film without such a subplot. After all…what would the fans have to say about all of this? Batman is the ~~solitary~~ Dark Knight…end of story.

Overall, Batman Mask of the Phantasm is a pretty good way to start off the classic Batman trilogy of animated films in the DCAU continuity. The soundtrack is pretty good and the animation is superb. It tops several of the DC films that have come out in the last few years and that’s no small feat. Batman’s portrayal is hardly perfect, but he still looks smart and tough, which is good. The Phantasm makes for a nice villain and the Joker’s certainly a classic villain to use. The opening action scene is pretty great and you really feel the blows. The film may only be a little over an hour, but there are a lot of danger/combat scenes to help make up for that and the action never get boring. I definitely recommend checking this film out whether you’ve watched the TV show or not. It’s good as a stand alone Batman film no matter how much experience with Batman you have. Even if you’ve never heard of Batman before, (Is that even possible?) this is a pretty good place to start.

Overall 7/10

Aquaman Volume 3 Throne of Atlantis Review

Posted on November 17, 2014 by dreager1

The Throne of Atlantis film is coming up soon so let’s take a look at the source material. I think DC could do better with other Justice League stories, but this is one of the best ones to pick if you want to start establishing Aquaman as a big player again. After all, he’s essentially the main character here so he gets a lot of screentime. It’s a fun Justice League story to read even if it’s not a game changer.

The collection starts off with a quick glimpse into Aquaman’s past and how he rejected the throne to live above ground. He had some adventures as he hid his powers and he just faded away into obscurity. Well, that doesn’t last long as Aquaman is forced back onto the field when the Atlanteans decide to attack the surface world. Gotham and Metropolis are some of the targets, but ultimately the human race itself is in the crossfire. The Justice League retaliate and Aquaman is forced to choose between his allies and his people.

The New 52 may get a lot of criticism from consumers, but the art has never been a problem. This graphic novel continues DC’s trend of having great art in its titles. It is easily still some of the best artwork in the business and you could almost read the graphic novel for that alone. The fight scenes really pop out at you and all of the character designs are spot on. There are no questionable looks (Superman in vs the Elite) that will have you take a step back. This is the Justice League as they were meant to be seen.

One of the big worries for this arc was the fact that there are no powerful villains in it. At least, this was a concern of mine. How would Superman even be challenged? (Rhetorical question as well since I was well aware of what would happen to him before I read the comic) Unfortunately, a not very subtle mix of plot hax and villain hype is the comic’s solution. Ocean Master even landing a hit on Batman is another story altogether! I think that the writers do need to be very careful when including villains who can’t even level a city to be the opponent of the Justice League. Keep in mind that Green Lantern and the Flash are busy so the Justice League is weakened at the moment, but the Atlanteans are not a threat.

They are a threat in the sense that they will do a lot of damage to the cities, but they aren’t a threat to the heroes. You won’t think for a second that they will be able to take out the superheroes. It’s just not going to happen. As for their invasion, they will deal a lot of damage, but the government in DC is actually pretty competent when necessary. I’m sure that Amanda Waller and her various groups of heroes/villains would be able to drive the invaders back. A lot of civilians would be taken out, but that part is inevitable since this is a war.

Naturally, this does affect the fight scenes. We actually don’t get a whole lot of action here. We have a brief dispute with Aquaman and a short fight with the Ocean Master at the end, but that’s about it. Most of the comic involves Aquaman’s history and the fight against the Atlanteans. The art and character portrayals still keep this as an above average comic with room to spare, but I would have liked to have seen some more action.

Batman’s portrayed very well as he’s still the smart member of the group and he’s not about to back down when the going gets tough. His role isn’t huge, but he still plays a pretty big role in protecting Gotham and getting Aquaman to see that what he’s doing is madness. His scene with Ocean Master does leave a lot to be desired though and it felt like the writers didn’t know how to actually make Batman lose. Truth be told, it’s a pretty tough feat to accomplish.

Superman also looks pretty great and we get to see a solid glimpse of his heat vision. The only problem is that his vaunted strength isn’t enough to help him endure a lightning blast when it should have been easy for him. If Batman could live through such a blast, there’s no way that Superman would be knocked out. Magic or no magic. (Wonder Woman was also knocked out and she has a pretty good immunity to magic so there’s that as well) Superman was definitely nerfed here, but his portrayal was still pretty spot on aside from one issue that I will address.

Wonder Woman has been upgraded to Superman level in the New 52 although some may try to say that she was always this strong. Wonder Woman has been tough for a long time, but her lack of speed has typically kept her a little under Superman’s level. Their speed seems to be more or less equalized under normal circumstances so she’s definitely a heavy hitter here. She seems to be a little quicker to strike with lethal blows as opposed to the rest of the League, but she is a warrior first and foremost. She was a pretty solid character as well, but she had the same negative as Superman.

The negative is the rushed romance between the two heroes. We don’t really need a Superman and Wonder Woman pairing since it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the grand scheme of things. There’s just no point and teammates should know that it’s better to just stay friends rather than risking it all falling apart before their eyes. It’s simply not worth it and the comic didn’t need to add the romance to sell some more copies. I’m sure that sales were good enough and the brief spike wouldn’t last for very long. That was too bad.

Aquaman is the main character, but it’s hard to root for him at times. Choosing to attack the Justice League was not the right call. It’s true that he was actually making a little progress before they jumped in, but I doubt that the Ocean Master would have ultimately backed down. At that point, Aquaman just needed to follow Batman’s lead since the Dark Knight typically handles these situations pretty well. Aquaman is pretty tough and it’s good to see him actually trade blows with Superman and Wonder Woman, but I don’t think for a second that he could actually hold his own against them in a prolonged battle. I’m also unsure about his decision to just abandon Atlantis to live on the surface world. The whole thing was a little odd and you can’t help, but feel bad for the Atlanteans. It’s sad when you can sympathize more with the main villain than with the main character. Aquaman’s decision to banish Ocean Master to Earth was just adding insult to injury. Aquaman’s a good character overall, but you can’t forget how he was so quick to attack the Justice League. I wouldn’t trust him all that much after this if I was one of the heroes.

Ocean Master is the main villain and the comic portrayed him very differently than what you may be used too. He is played by another character into attacking the surface world and he’s really doing it to help the Atlanteans. He willingly stepped down from the throne the first time Aquaman went to Atlantis and he seems like a pretty reasonable villain. He was willing to talk to Aquaman during the war and he wasn’t the raving madman that you would have expected. He was calm and he made some valid points about how the surface world is always attacking the ocean. (BP does a good job of that on their own with the big oil spills!) I actually liked Ocean Master to a degree. He’s certainly not going to become one of my favorite DC villains, but he’s good enough to be an interesting antagonist and I’m wondering how the film is going to portray him. I have a feeling that he’ll be more evil and less sympathetic in the animated version, but I suppose that we’ll find out soon enough. He is very weak though so he needs a significant amount of plot hax during each of his fights. He’s really just a guy with mild super strength and a thunder staff.

Throne of Atlantis was a pretty fun Justice League adventure and if you just think of it as an Aquaman arc, then it’s probably the best one yet. I do miss the Flash and Green Lantern since the League is pretty incomplete without them. Cyborg gets a very brief role where he loses more of his humanity to save the league. It was supposed to be very emotional, but it didn’t seem too tragic when you really think about it since he didn’t lose any parts of his soul. This is still an Aquaman arc first and foremost so that’s one of the only reasons why it’s okay that the Justice League’s role was decently small at times. I do think that the government should have stepped in a little sooner with their super weapons to deal with the Atlanteans, but all’s well that ends well.

Overall, Throne of Atlantis is a pretty good story. There is not a whole lot of fight scenes to keep you occupied, but we have action in other ways like the giant flood that the Atlanteans cause when they start to invade. Ocean Master is actually a pretty compelling villain and aside from a brief romance between Superman and Wonder Woman, the Justice League were portrayed accurately. The artwork is stunning as always and there weren’t any really big negatives here. The collection was fun/decently long read from start to finish and I’m looking forward to seeing how the animated feature turns out. We already know that there will be some significant changes to it will be interesting to see how this affects things in the long run. Now’s your chance to see the New 52 Aquaman so this is a must read!

Overall 8/10

Justice League of America Sanctuary Review

Posted on October 17, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for a classic (Pre 52 anyway) Justice League story. This isn’t an iconic event and it’s not even the climax to an arc. No, this is just an installment in the middle of the Justice League of America’s run back in the day so this is a perfect way to see how it holds up. Is it new reader friendly? Is it action packed? Luckily, I can say yes to both of those questions.

The title actually hints at the plot as many villains are on the run since they are being targeted by the Suicide Squad. You would think that the villains would have a clear edge, but the Squad has grown tougher over the years. They have a man who has the strength of a wild animal, The Sargent/General (DC’s version of Red Hulk) and several other members, but I’ll admit that none of them left a lasting impression. They have already gotten some of the big guns like the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Grodd so the final villains realize what they have to do…..they have to turn themselves in to the Justice League! This starts a pretty interesting plot as the League does tend to be at odds with the government on several occasions. Has Amanda Waller overstepped her boundaries?

The other half of the comic deals with what the heroes find when they try to track down the mission villains and we also get a long discussion with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. They talk about the team and there are a few hidden insults as well as the three of them try to out think the other two members.

Cliffhanger wise, I can’t say that it was an amazing one, but it was what I would consider solid. The villains have plans of their own and this makes them look a lot better since you may have assumed the worst when we heard that they had all been beaten by the government. As Luthor basically states, this particular twist has been done a few times already though so it’s not shocking, but it does have the potential to give us a lot of great fights. The Martian Manhunter is also dealing with troubles of his own. (By the way, this graphic novel apparently leads into Final Crisis so I guess it was sort of related to an event after all!)

This collection deals with a lot of government intrigue and political talk as we have to decide whether it’s a good thing that the government is capturing all of the thugs or not. Naturally, I agreed with Batman that when nobody can see what the government is doing, they start to cross the law. As always, the government looks shady to the point where you can say that Waller and her group are just as evil as some of the villains. They just want to eliminate the villains for good. It would save hundreds if not thousands of lives, but resorting to destroying the villains is just as bad. Their prison is basically a death sentence after all.

Batman’s portrayal plays out as you would hope. He doesn’t get a lot of action, but he’s always a step ahead of Waller. Instead of making threats, he’s busy finding out where the prison is and alerting his teammates to Waller’s assault on the Watchtower. (You have to admit…it would have been Awesome if that had happened during the TV show. Her gang wouldn’t have stood a chance if Superman and the others had shown up) The Dark Knight doesn’t really get much better than this and he was a highlight of the collection!

Superman also looks pretty sharp. There seems to be an event that happened with Vixen a while back, but it evidently wasn’t Superman’s fault (Too much) although he should have been able to dodge. He has the speed and that must have been a character plot hole. Regardless, he’s still the heart of the team and he likes to take an optimistic look at what the team is doing..even if it’s shady. He’s probably the only hero who keeps up a polite pre tense with Amanda Waller.

From the big three, Wonder Woman definitely gets the smallest role or at least it felt that way. Technically, she does get a team up issue with the Flash that helps to even things out. You can even argue that technically she appears the most and it just feels like she didn’t appear as much because she didn’t get as many memorable scenes. She looked pretty good in the team up although I was mostly busy feeling sympathetic for the Flash. You can definitely tell that she’s one of the big leaguers.

The Flash only gets a brief appearance in his team up issue, but he seems like a nice guy. The Flash has easily been one of my favorite leaguers, but I’m usually talking about Barry Allen. I like Wally West, but I can’t say that I find him as likable as Barry…usually. He was definitely very good here and he may have been blowing the league off, but I’m sure that he has his reasons. His super speed always comes in handy and personality wise, he’s a pretty complete hero. (Like Mega Man) Hopefully we will see more of him in future issues.

Vixen gets a rather large role in this graphic novel due to a side plot that revolves around her. She used to harness the powers of animals through her amulet, but now she has been able to absorb the powers of heroes around her. This means that she can have the strength of Superman and she can even use Green Lantern’s energy blasts. It’s pretty surreal and it’s definitely something that is useful to have. Because of this, you could say that she’s one of the League’s power hitters although she only gets into a brief skirmish with one of the Suicide Squad’s members. It’s a pretty interesting plot and I’ll be sure to stay tuned.

Red Arrow doesn’t look very good though and his plot isn’t very interesting either. He is pretty desperate in his search for Cheshire and it doesn’t do his team any favors. The last thing they need is for him to start falling into traps. He usually has a pretty cool air about him, but he’s not very likable here. Hopefully he gets over that situation pretty soon.

We also can’t forget the surprise villain at the end. I guess I won’t spoil who it is, but he’s usually not a fighter. Luckily, he stumbled onto a piece of tech (Or something or magical origin) that allows him to give the Justice League a decent challenge. Even Superman can’t snap these blue threads, which was a little of a stretch to be honest. You can tell from his design that this villain isn’t going to be taken seriously very often, but his plan was decent and pretty well thought out. I’m not a fan and I don’t find him terribly interesting, but I’ll give him some props for the attempt. Think of it as a little filler before the real battles.

Amanda Waller makes for a pretty interesting villain as per usual. I don’t like her methods as a hero, but she does usually make for a fun antagonist. She gets to trade hidden insults with Batman and their mind games always tend to be pretty intense. I’m sure that we’ll see a lot more of her in the future, although I have to say that she really didn’t think through her plan that much here. Sending the villains away to the “prison” is good (for her) and all, but she should at least check to see what’s happening once and a while. In the DC universe, you never know what’s going to happen with a situation like that.

I’ll admit that I liked the Key’s confidence. With a power like his, it’s easy to see why he’s like that. I like to think that the villains still could have put up a decent fight against the Suicide Squad, but I guess it does pay off to play it safe sometimes. It gave the beginning an event feel as the group is on the run and we have to hope that the villains make it out…unless we just wait for the League to take them all down.

The art is pretty solid. It’s admittedly not as sleek as the New 52 comics, but that also allows the heroes to look a little more built as well. Superman is definitely pretty muscular here and I like how he takes charge. (Unlike the Avengers) Superman stands up to Waller’s cronies and he doesn’t give an inch. This is why he’s Superman! Whoops, I diverged from the art a bit. Needless to say, the art is pretty good.

One thing to note is that there is not a whole lot of action to be found here. There are a few skirmishes and a small battle with Queen Bee, but that’s about it. This collection is mostly plot based, but The Justice League of America manages to pull this off pretty well. More action is almost always better, but I can deal with a break from it if everything else is top notch. It’s also heavily implied that the next volume will have a lot more action since the plot is really getting close to the climax.

Overall, This is a fun Justice League comic. Unfortunately, we don’t really get to see the big 3 get a lot of action, but their meeting helps since they still get a decent amount of screen time. Superman gets to stand up to Waller and Batman quickly uncovers the enemy plans. It’s really everything that you could want in a Justice League comic and naturally, we have some fight scenes ready as well. It’s a title that I recommend to any comic fan, whether you are reading it for the action or the plot. Either way, it is just an interesting read from start to finish and you can tell that this is the calm before the storm.

Overall 8/10

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